That's about my favorite song on earth. And it still is, and man, I'm telling you what, every time I hear it. He to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood. Whoo, I remember the day, don't you? You know what's wrong with Baptists? They forget the day. You forget the day God got you in, what kind of shape he's in when he got you. And I'm not browbeating, you're just like me, you're just like our people at home. Christians are Christians everywhere you find them. We get caught up in the world and the things this world and the job and trouble and money and kids and you forget the day he rescued you and if you forget that day you'll lose your joy. And so this week we're gonna try to remind you about that a little bit, amen? You got your Bible night turn to 1st Samuel chapter 17. I'll read you one of the most familiar stories in this Bible. First Samuel 17, everybody knows it, most of the kids could probably tell you about it. Story of David. I'll preach tonight a little bit, and we hillbillies, man, we have our way of thinking, and it ain't always right, but we have our way of doing things. I reminded them of two boys from Arkansas who went big game hunting up in Alaska, and they got up there and they killed a moose. That's what they went after. And they asked the pilot, they said, we're ready to go. He said, well, I'll take y'all out of here. They said, we're going to take this moose with us. And he said, no, you can't take the moose with you. He weighs too much for my plane to get off the ground. They said, we're going to take the moose. He said, no, you're not taking the moose. He said, well, the pilot last year took the moose and us out of here. He said, the pilot last year didn't have no problem with it. He said, well, if he didn't have a problem with it, he said, I guess I'll try it. So man, they took off up through there, man, sailing out through there. And they couldn't quite clear the trees. Man, they crashed that plane, almost killed both of them. Got in there, man, and one of them looked at the other, he said, Billy Bob? He said, where are we? He said, man, I think it's pretty close to where we crashed last year. So him anyway ain't always the best way of looking at things. He said, man, you got your Bible night and 1 Samuel 17. Bible does say a merry heart doeth good like a medicine. It'll do you good to laugh in church a little bit, amen? Let your cork out, brother and sister. We ain't going to be here long. Lord's coming back. Amen first Samuel 17 and it is a it's an honor to be here and I love brother bears and the many has here what he's trying to do. We don't fellowship any we don't talk on the phone a lot But I love him. I love this work. I love his family and I love the man He's put here and I pray I pray that you'll have what God wants you to have here when you've done it, man When the shout comes and we leave here, I pray we will have accomplished what God put us here to do. Amen First Samuel chapter 17 says this, verse 1, gathered together at Shokoh, which belonged to Judah, and pitched between Shokoh and Azekah and Elphastamum. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together and pitched by the valley of Elah and set the battle in Arreah against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, you got to get this picture, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side and there was a valley between them. And there went out a champion out of the camp, of the Philistines, named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. It sounded like some angel just got their wings or something. I heard a tinkling out through there. And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of brass. And he had greens of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. I always thought that was good, a man wear a target between his shoulder or be shot, amen? And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron, and one baron's shield went before him. This is a big dude. And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? Am not I Philistine, and ye servants of Saul? Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me and kill me, then will we be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. And the Philistines said, here's where he got in trouble, I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together. And most of you know the rest of the story. The rest of the story is David went down there in verse 39. It says, And David girded his sword upon his armor, and he is saved to go, for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not proved them. And David put them off him. And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag, which he had even a script, and his sling was in his hand, and he drew near the Philistine." What a story! It's been told in Sunday school, it's been told over and over again. One of the greatest stories in the Bible, as far as I'm concerned. I like it. But I'm going to hit that thing from a little different angle tonight. David went out there on that field, and all the armies of God were there. And all the Philistine armies there. And the Bible said David was a stripling. The Bible said David was a little guy. Saul said, find out whose son this stripling is. He's a little bitty guy. And I want to preach about that for a few minutes tonight. Oh, why was David out there alone? Why did David stand alone on this day? And so I'll preach about that, why David stood alone for just a few minutes. Say, Brother Jim, why did he stand alone? I don't know. There's more people there with more experience than he had. Man, some of those were career soldiers there. They had more experience than he did. What in the world was a stripling kid doing out there by himself? There were certainly some there that had—the whole army of Israel was there. It was everybody's fight, was it not? I mean, it was everybody's fight. How come he's out there by himself? But he was out there by himself. Why did he stand alone? That old song says, and David gathered a handful of stone. And where the soldiers had fallen, he waited alone with a prayer and a little rock. The giant fell right on the spot, because that's what David prayed for. I love the Lutherans singing that. And that's what David got, for you can't ask too much of my God. I bet it was lonely on the battlefield that day for a kid. I bet you he walked out there and saw that giant all by himself. I bet you he was lonesome. Now I know spiritually speaking, he wasn't alone. I know that. I got enough sense to know that. But sometimes in this world, brother and sister, you know what you're going to find out? If you get anything done for God, you're going to have to step out by yourself. I got folks in my church. I got men who come by their self. Their wife won't darken the door of the church. I got ladies in our church who come by their self, but they're determined to try to serve God. We have teenagers and little kids that come by their selves. Nobody will bring them. They're up there alone trying to do something for God, and you're going to find out if you're waiting on a crowd, you're going to be waiting a while. Brother and sister, you look right and look left right now. If you're waiting on them to do something for God, you may have a long wait. And I'm not talking about your church, I'm talking about any church. My church, your church, it don't make any difference. Look to your right and your left. If you're waiting on them to step out, you may never do anything for God. Tonight I'm going to challenge you to step out. I'm looking for a teenager to step out. I'm looking for a a mom who step out, a dad who step out, sometimes alone. Sometimes in this world, you just gotta step out alone. Without mama, sometimes, oh, it'd be better if mama go with you, but sometimes you have to go alone. Without daddy, maybe, sometimes daddy stay home, too sorry to go to church. You may have to step out without a young person. Maybe without your spouse. Maybe without your brothers and sisters. Are you willing to go? I mean, right here at Wesatch Baptist Church, if you have to, are you ready to go it alone if it means doing something for God? Well, brother and sister, I'm here to tell you right now, you're in a fantasy world. You think we're all going to get together one day and everybody gets spiritual and we just all step up together. It ain't gonna be that way. It never has been that way. I want to say why David stood alone. Number one, I want to say he was alone out there, brother and sister, because of the place of the battle. Did you see that in verse 3? It said, brother and sister, there was a valley between them. He was alone, brother and sister, because he was down in the valley. You ever think about that? Nobody wants to leave the mountain. Well, they were on the mountaintop on one side. Philistines were on the mountaintop on the other side. We Christians, we love the mountains. I mean, we get it. Well, we like being up there with Elijah on Mount Carmel. We like shouting the victory. We like hallelujah, glory to God. We love the mountain. Nobody wants to go down in the valley. Down in the valley is where you get hurt sometimes. Sometimes down in the valley, you have to suffer a little bit. Sometimes down in the valley, people turn their back on you. Nobody wants to fight the battle down the valley. Everybody wants to stay on the mountain, brother and sister. Why? In the valley, there's trouble. In the valley, sometimes there's suffering. But did you know, brother and sister, the only victory to be had that day was in the valley. So I don't want to go in the valley. No victory. The only victory anybody could get that day was in the valley. There was no victories to be had on the mountain that day. Allah allowed you to have it on Karma, but there was no victories on the mountain that day. If you wanted to victory, you had to go down in the valley, and not one person in the army of Israel was willing to go down the valley for that victory, except David. That's why David was down there alone. The only victory to be had was there. No victory on the mountain. In the valley of blindness, Fanny Crosby wrote, I Shall Know Him. Fanny Crosby, blind, I think from the time she was a baby from a poultice they put on her eyes. And she was blind most of her life, all her life. Wrote all those hymns. And down in the valley of blindness, she wrote, when my life work has ended and I cross the swelling tide, on that bright and glorious morning, I shall see. Amen. Say what? Most of the songs she wrote was about seeing something. She never saw anything. But she knew one day she was going to. Say, where'd she get that victory? Down the valley. That's where the victory was. Because of that, Danny D. Hall had the touch of God on him, boy. Brother Danny Hall buried his daddy, a lost drunk. Buried him knowing he went out into eternity without God. Danny Hall's mom burned up in a house fire. She lived several days after that. He stood by her side and held her hand in the hospital until she died and went home to be with the Lord. Brother Danny Hall had open heart surgery on his little baby girl. She liked to die. Danny Hall had to bury his other little baby girl. She did die. Just a few days old, she died. They buried her over in Tennessee. Brother Danny Hall, brother, seen some sorrow and stuff. But I'm telling you, because of all the sorrow he saw, do y'all know Brother Danny Hall? He had the touch of God on him, man. I'm telling you, Brother Danny Hall could walk up to anybody in this building, complete stranger, and put his arm around you and tell you he loves you and make you believe it. I don't know, ain't just everybody got that gift. Because brother and sister of the valley that Danny Hall went through, he sang, riches on this earth won't last forever. Flowers all fade and die. All little things on earth we cherish vanish into by and by. But the joys of heaven will last forever, where the saints will never die. There'll be a happy, glad reunion over on the other side. Woo! Amen! I still get a chill from him singing that. And he ain't even here no more. He's dead. Because of that, Frankie sings, drinking from my saucer. How many of you know the Enlighteners? Anybody know the Enlighteners? They come to our church, and I preach with them out on the Indian reservation out there. There's two blind girls. They've been blind all their life. One of them said, she said, the first thing I'll ever see, brother Jim, be Jesus. I said, that ain't bad, sister. She said, no, that ain't bad. And Frankie, the other one, she'd get in the middle of the song, and she'd just about preach. But boy, she'll sing. She'll get out of that thing. Frankie, she's a big, heavyset gal, man. She can't see nothing, never seen anything. And she'll get down that song, and she'll say, I ain't got a lot of riches. Sometimes the going's rough. But I got a friend in Jesus that makes me rich enough. I'm telling you, it's about two verses that. Our whole church is just jumping pews. I mean, they're running the aisles, jumping pews, having a hallelujah night. Say, where'd she get that touch? Down the valley. Blind her whole life. She got hurt, brother and sister. That's where the victory was. Listen, I'm telling you, if all you want's a picture on the mountain, you ain't gonna have very many pictures in your life. Most of the pictures you'll get where God will help you and show you something will be down in the valley. But ain't too many people wants to go! Why, down in the valley, brother and sister, is where the lily is. Down in the valley where the rose of Sharon blooms. God never lets you go down the valley alone. He'll never let you go alone. But I'm telling you, David stood alone that day because nobody wanted to go to the valley for the victory. Things hadn't changed a bit. Our church, your church, they don't make no difference. Nobody wants to suffer anything anymore. We all want the velvet path, boy. Give us the velvet path. Give us the easy, the smooth route. That's us. David was a lone brother and sister because of the place of the battle, the valley. But David was also alone because God's people were entrenched. Did you see that verse 20? Look at this. And David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep for the keeper and took and went as Jesse commanded him and he came to the trench. As the host was going forth to fight and shouted for the battle, he come to the trench. Did you see that? He come to a trench. God told them to go take the land. God said, you go out there and I'll go with you. And I want you to be victorious and take the whole land of Canaan. He said, you go out there. It's all yours, boy. Go fight the fight. And here they are. They're in a trench. God never told them to go get in a trench. God told them to go fight. What in the world was they doing dug in? God said, fight. God didn't tell them to dig in. Ain't that weird? Say, what happened, Brother Jim? Well, they'd been there for 40 days, according to verse 16. 40 days in the trench. God said, go take the land. What are you doing dug in? But they dug in right there. You know what they done? They reached a place where they said, this far enough. I ain't going down there no further. This is far enough. Hey! We ain't got the whole land. We ain't won all the battles yet, but we've won a bunch. I mean, we ain't done everything we should do, but we're not in Egypt anymore. We ain't done everything we should've done, but we've crossed Jordan. We out perfect. We ain't got what we ought to have, but we're a whole lot better than what we was. Let's dig in right here. Yeah, there's more ground to take, but hey, this ain't bad right here. We've already quit smoking and drinking and cussing. We've accomplished a lot. We're not where we ought to be yet. We ain't reached the place God wants us to be yet, but this ain't bad. It ain't great, but it's better than where we was. We're a lot better shape where we was. You lick a few little things in your life and God give you a few victories over little things and you think you have arrived. It ain't time to dig in. God said, go take the land, go fight the good fight. And they dug in right there. Wasn't going no further. Hey, David, I don't know if you noticed, but we're on the mountaintop. We've accomplished a lot. Our friends are here with us. Our family's saved. We ain't perfect, but this ain't bad. We could just wait the Lord's return out right here. I mean, no, we ain't done everything here at Wee Sats we ought to do, and we haven't accomplished everything God said to accomplish, but we're pretty comfortable. And we ain't out there in the world, we ain't out in sin like we used to be. We could wait the Lord's return out right here. If you want to dig in, you can do that. I don't recommend you do. Look, brother Jim, we're saved. We're even tithing now. Man, we're giving to the church. We're shouting a little bit every now and then. Hey, we got the right Bible. We got the King James Bible. Woo, we've accomplished a lot. We ain't where we ought to be, but we're a lot better off than we was. Man, you should have seen where the Lord got me, Brother Jim. I just never forget that night. We got the right songs. We got the right music. We got the right shout. We got a nice place right here on top of the mountain. Like I said, we're sure better off. We've come a long way, Brother Jim. We've come a long way. But the preacher said something one day. You didn't like it. You dug in. You ain't going no further. The Lord convict your heart about something one day, and you said, boy, I'll consider it. But you dug in right there. And brother and sister, some of you say, how do you know us, Brother Jim? Because I know people. If I was preaching my church, I'd preach the same thing I'm preaching here right now. Some of you hadn't grown an inch in six months. Some of you hadn't grown an inch in a year. Some of you are now a bit more spiritual right now than you was two years ago. What's happened? Well, I'll tell you what happened. You're in a trench. Brother, sister team, get out of that trench. There's no more victories for you. They'd won every battle up to that point. They dug in right there. You know what would happen if they never got out of the trench? If nobody had ever stepped out, if nobody had ever stepped out of that thing and took the field again, every one of their victories was behind them. Every victory they had was behind them. Are you comfortable there where you're at? Are you comfortable knowing that most of your victories are behind you? Ain't nothing to look forward to tomorrow. Well, I'm telling you, if you don't get out of the trenches, nothing to look forward to tomorrow. Only thing you got to look forward to is the Lord's return, and that's a big deal. Thank God. But boy, God wants more. And he sure wants more out of you, and I think he deserves more out of you. God may call you to the mission field. Uh-uh. I'll get shoveled out right there. God may call you to preach. Nope, I'll dig in right there. God may call you to be a soul in him. Nope, I'll dig in right there. The trench, brother and sister, will kill you. It'll kill you. In the trench, you'll stop fighting the battle. You know what David did when he went up there and saw Bathsheba bathing? He had stopped fighting the battle. He stayed home from the fight. Say, what happened? Oh, he got comfortable. The trench will kill you. You know what children of Israel did? They started fighting amongst themselves. You're a dangerous thing in a church. When a church quits going forward and fighting a battle, you know what you do? You start to find fault with each other. Amen. No, not me, brother Jim. I know that high spiritual plane you dwell on. You'd never think about that. But brother and sister, some do. You start picking off each other. and the enemies start picking them off. Everybody that I've lost at my church, Brother Bez was talking about a while ago, it always breaks your heart to see people going out the door. It does to me. I've heard preachers get up and preach, that door swings both ways. Some of you look as good going as you do coming. Not to me, they don't. You look better coming to me than you do going. I don't know what kind of idiot pastor that was to say that. Anybody would rather have them coming than going. That's not a pastor said that to you. Who said that? Yeah, he ain't got a pastor. He ain't gonna worry about it. They come in muddy up the water and leave Brothers, I'll tell you a pastor and I'll tell you for the best. He'd rather see you coming and going Now I guarantee there's some that's gone and thank God for it But a pastor would always rather see and he told me nothing. He told me anybody that left for any reason He told me no reason. No, no, I don't ever ask them I don't never ask the pastor that stuff because I don't know Because I won't preach what I won't preach and just let the chip fly where they will Amen. But everybody I've seen picked off at our church had quit fighting the battle. That's when the devil picks them off. When you lay down your armor and your weapons and you quit fighting the battle, he'll pick you off. Let me ask you this tonight. How long have you been dug in right there where you're at? When's the last time you stepped out? Hey, brother, you might have to go by myself. Yeah, maybe God would have you do that. My wife might not be willing to step her up a notch. Okay, you step up a notch. Maybe she'll follow. Maybe my husband might not be willing to go. Okay, sister, you step it up. And I'm tired of hearing this excuse. I'm just following my husband. He wants me to be a dead Christian. That's what I'll be. Bull, your first duty is to God. Your husband comes second down the line. Some of your husbands maybe third or fourth, I don't know. I don't know who he was his sight or who it was. He said, I'd rather my daughter be an old man than to have someone say hello. So we all got a man. He was alone, brother and sister, because God's people were entrenched. They were in the trench. When's the last time you stepped out? I'll tell you something else. He was alone because some of the warriors were gone. Brothers, sisters, they were gone. They were going home. Gideon took 300 men, destroyed the Midianites. Gideon's gone. He's not on the field anymore, right here. Joshua said, that's for me and my house. We'll serve the Lord. Joshua shouted down the walls of Jericho. He said, buddy, we'll take it, but Joshua ain't here. Joshua wasn't there when David was on the field. They're gone. Joshua shouted down the walls of Jericho. How would you like that to be in the average Baptist church? Average Baptist church, they'd all still be standing there. They ain't gonna shout. You say, well, y'all put too much stock in that shouting. No, man, the Bible said, let everything have breath. Praise the Lord. You know what the Bible says? He said, God inhabits our praise. You know what that means? He lives in your praise. He dwells in praise. God likes it. It's a big deal to him. Listen, they could have preached a four-hour sermon that day. The wall would still be up. They could have had a six-hour Bible study. doctrinal Bible study, and the walls would still be up. The only thing that brought the walls down that day was shouting, because God said, shout her down. That's the only thing that would have brought it down. I've seen times when nothing else would move it for me. I've seen times I couldn't pray through. I've seen times we couldn't worry our way through, and then finally just start praising the Lord for what he's done for us, and God gets through it. I've seen times when shouting's the only way out of trouble. I've prayed my way out of trouble and I've shouted my way out a few times. George Wright. Caleb. Caleb said, don't tell me I'm too old. Caleb said, 85 years old. He said, I want the land. I promise. He said, don't you tell me I'm too old. He said, I'm as strong right now as I was when we went and spied out the land 40-something years ago. He said, I'm as strong today as I was then. I can go out. I can come in, just like I always did. He said, I can fight right now as good as I ever fought. Don't you tell me I'm too old. I'd love to have a church full of people like that, wouldn't you? All of our good people, by the time they get some wisdom and where they know what God wants them to do, they won't turn it over to young people. My soul, they don't know nothing. God's put all this wisdom in you and wasted all this on you, and you want to quit and let the young people do it? Stay in the fight. We need you. Caleb, I like that. We're not too old. Me and my wife was in Niagara Falls. We was in Niagara Falls, and there was a waitress come to our table. We went to it. We go up there every few years or so, and we go up there, sit on a bench by the Niagara River, just watch water go by. Say, what do you do? That's it. Hold hands, watch water go by. that big deal. It's a big deal. So that sounds corny to me. That's why your wife's not smiling. But we go up there and do that. And we was in a restaurant there one night. And she reached over the middle table held by hand while we wait on our order to come in. That waitress came by and she said that is so cute. I'm telling you what, that burnt me up. What do you think I'm some feeble daughter and old fool? Cute. We're not cute. We still fight the fight. Amen. Cute. Hate cute. Lester Roloff went down to Baylor Bible College with a milk cow. Worked his way through Baylor Bible School. He shook that part of Texas down there for the Lord in his day. Jack Woods down in Houston. Brothers and sisters saved off of dope and all these kind of things. He turned Houston upside down for a while, man, during his years down there. Vance Abner started out preaching 12 years old. He'd go off and preach the Bibles by himself. His daddy put him on the train. 12 years old, he'd go preach the revival. When he'd come back around the curve, his daddy'd be at the turnstile waiting to pick him up and take him back home. 12 years old. Say, what about them brothers of him? Carl Lackey, over in White Plains, Carolina. Carl Lackey, man, I'm telling you, he'd run down those hills and preach. I mean, he preached hell so hot you could smell the smoke. Had the real deal. Listen, Lester Roloff ain't on the field today. Jack Woods ain't on the field. Vance Havner ain't on the field no more. Carl Lackey is not on the field anymore. Danny Hall is not on the battlefield today. If he was, he'd stand with you. He wouldn't let you stand alone. Earl Hughes is not fighting a good fight today. He's going home to be with the Lord. Y'all know Brother Earl? Anybody know Earl Hughes? He's something, ain't he? Brother Earl, he'd preach, he'd say, amen! Amen, Brother Jim! He told me one time, full of wisdom, he said, Brother Jim, he said, one day you'll get out there and you won't know what to do and won't know where to turn. He said, when that happens, I don't know what to tell you. I said, thanks, Brother Earl. Brother Earl would say things. He'd say, did you ever go in a hotel room and turn on the light and wonder where the dark went? I'd think about that for a while. What'd he say? He was a sight. You know what else he said, though? He said to Lord, he said, take my yoke upon you. He said, Lord wants you to get in the yoke with him and plow together and pool with him. He said, our church one night, he said, did you know if you apply with the Lord in the same yoke with him? He said, every now and then you can't help but bump up against him a little bit. Woo! That's good right there. But Brother Earl ain't on the field today. He had a stroke and died over there in Georgia. Went on home to be with the Lord. I'll tell you all this. I wouldn't tell anybody else. I ain't that kind of man. I went and seen Brother Earl after he had his stroke, and he hadn't hardly recognized nobody. And I went and he recognized me and he's got to get my attention. I got down there close. He knew it was personal. I got down and he couldn't move his other arm or anything. He put his hand on his cheek. He said, Yes. Yes. I kissed him on the cheeks. I love you, brother. Oh, him and my daddy don't do been our kiss my life. And that's the last two aspects. Somebody says you worry about age. I said, No, thank you. One way to get it. I ain't ever gonna have it. Amen. I don't have no feminine side. Not an ounce. Not a scrap. Don't like them. Don't like nobody does. Amen. Amen. Brother Earl Hughes is not on the field today, and I don't see anybody taking their place, brother and sister. He was alone because some of the old warriors are gone. Let me ask you tonight, some of the old warriors you know are gone. Who's going to step up? Who's going to step up and take their place? Well, I guarantee you, I couldn't take Brother Earl's place. I couldn't take Brother Danny. I couldn't take any of those guys' place. I don't see nobody taking their place. Brother, sister, he's on the field alone that day because some of the old soldiers were gone. You may have to step out now that the old soldiers are gone. It might be your turn to step out alone. Would you be willing to? I'll tell you this. He was alone on the field that day because somebody had to take the first step. Oh, they all came a little later, but somebody had to go fight the battle and kill the Giants. He was alone that day on the field because somebody had to step out first. Maybe it's you tonight that needs to step out. You know, there wasn't anybody on the field I know of when Dr. Rubin stepped out. I don't know, back in the early 70s, 60s and 70s, I don't know of anybody that stepped out defending the King James Bible back there when he did. Maybe there was somebody else. I don't know. I don't even know how you feel about Dr. Rubin. I like him. He's been a friend to me. I like him a lot. But there wasn't nobody on the field when he stepped out there. He stepped out alone. But he got the job done. Brother Sidney, there was no one down there at Ryman's place in Delaware when he stepped out. He stepped out there and took that church, but there wasn't nobody out there. He stepped out alone. A brother Stocker down there in Amarillo, there wasn't nobody on the field when he stepped out down there. He went down to Amarillo and started a church from scratch. There wasn't nobody down there. He went down there by himself, stepped out, started a work in Amarillo. He got a good church down. They got probably 150 or so people now in their faith. Got a good church down there, praise the Lord. My brother says, sometimes you might need to be the one. When I was a kid, I was chopping cotton with my daddy over in Tennessee one time. And I told you about that. And those rows seemed like they was a mile long. It seemed like we'd go there, and we'd chop back toward the water bucket. And it seemed like we'd never get back to that water bucket to get a drink. Man, it'd be hot over there. We was chopping hoe and cotton along down through there. And me and my dad was at the other end of the field one day working our way back toward the water bucket. And somebody got out in a little white car down there, man, and got out, looked like a little dot from where we was at. And then we could see him jump the ditch. And he started walking down through the cotton field where we was at. And he walked up there and introduced himself to my dad to, for the life of me, I can't remember his name now. But he introduced himself to my dad. I was just a little kid, man. I was only about six year old. He introduced himself to my dad. He said, Mr. Chandler, He's all come to ask you today, if you know Jesus Christ is your savior. And he said, Do you know where you go today, Mr. Chandler? My daddy said, I'd probably go to hell. I remember that. He said, Mr. Chandler, I come to tell you, you don't have to. Boy, he went through the whole thing, man. He walked along there as we chopped along. I was back there and I was getting further behind all scared me to death. Brother says that he witnessed my dad. My dad didn't accept Christ as a savior that day. He did later, about 70 years old, he got saved. But my dad didn't accept the Lord as Savior that day. But I was back there, a little old kid, and I'm telling you, that shook me to my boots. But he said, you're going to burn in hell forever without Christ, and there's no hope for you. Man, that scared me. Brother Bez, I never got past that. I never got past it. That bothered me until I got saved. I never got past it. Say, what happened? Just one guy. Don't even know who he was. Still don't know who he was. I don't even know what church he's from. But one guy stepped out alone, by himself. And because he did, I eventually got saved. We have a church up there, three, four hundred people up there. We've had hundreds and hundreds of people saved down at the camp and at the church through the years, all because one guy stepped up. One guy. You don't know where it's going to end. You don't know what God's going to do with it. You say, bro, Jim, I'm not much. I don't amount to much. Maybe you step out and see what you gotta do with it. I'm sure that guy had better things to do that day than step out and walk through a cotton field with 100 degrees. But he did. And he walked down it. And I'm sure he never saw any fruit there. I bet on the way back to the car, he said, man, I wish that old boy got saved. I bet he felt like he was a failure that day. He had no idea what he sold in my heart. I never got past it. I only went to one vacation Bible school in my life when I was a little kid. I never got over that. Never got, you VBS teachers and stuff, you have no idea what you're doing. I remember I only got to go to one, didn't finish the week on it. But I never got past what they taught me there. That's get in the fight, brother and sister. Even if it's just taking a job at VBS, get in the fight. Somebody got to step out alone. Now tonight, God's looking for a mama to step out. He's looking for a daddy who might step out. Maybe a teenager. Why don't you step up? Maybe your whole group's waiting on you. Maybe if you stepped out, the rest of your family followed. But God's looking for somebody this week. We're trying to have revival this week. Like I said this morning, I sure can't bring it. I can't cause one. But I'll tell you the truth and hope God will send you one. I'll do that. God might be looking for one. Is there a young man who stepped out tonight? Is there a young lady, teenager, a senior? Would you step out tonight? You might be the key. I think it was Watchman Knee who said, expect great things from God and attempt great things for God. But brother, sister, until you step out, you'll never know. So what do I do, brother Jim? You can do what we did. One night, Dr. Rubin challenged us to come to the altar and just tell God, by his grace, we would try to do anything he put on our heart. I remember going up there. It scared me to death. I don't care if it's called the mission field, if it's called to be a witness, if it's called to be a teacher, preacher, or just called to be a good faithful church member. He said, whatever God puts on your heart, he said, go up there and surrender to it. Step out of your seat. We'll give an invitation here in a minute. Scary, ain't it? Scary to think that God might actually give you something to do. I hope he does. I'll say this last night. David was alone that day because he didn't listen to the people. Thank God he didn't listen to the people. You want the people said they said he's too big. You can't go is too big. But I got up there to our church. And like I said this morning, I will never I'm never anytime you hear me talking about our church. I'm bragging on the Lord. I have no interest in bragging on me or church. I know who I am. but brother sister we got up there that church and they had a little old ragtag building there and little bitty and man our church grew real fast people getting saved and we just want to build a little addition on their church and it was gonna cost us a hundred and fifty more dollars a month to build that addition and a deacon came to me he said we can't afford it he said we can't do that he said we don't have that kind of money up here he said we can't do it I said well I really wasn't looking to you to give me the money I said, I'm really looking to God to give me the money. That'd be all right. Oh, well, I know God got it, but we ain't got it. I saw what we can. Well, that day that he went on, he's still up there living in the hills. He just dead, dried up right now as he was there. He'll go church with us anymore. He got mad because we built that building. He really he left because we built that building. Roses that we paid a building off all that building off three or four years ago, maybe five, six years ago now. We paid all that off that little church for the $300 a week income. We paid all that off a million dollar note. $1,000,000 we built. We have built 12 or 13 new buildings now since I've been there. We paid off a $1,000,000 note. Never was late. Never in the red. So what is it? That's the Lord. But you want the people say they say it's too big. You can't do this to be. Brothers and sisters, God said it ain't too big. Thank God David didn't listen to the people, he wasn't too big. You know what his brethren said? His brethren said, you got no business trying. They said, why aren't you back there with the sheep, you little brat? You just come down here to watch a fight, didn't you? His brethren said, you got no business going out there. You know what the brethren tell you? They'll tell you, you're not qualified. You can't go, you're not qualified to go. You got no business out there. Thank God he didn't listen to the brethren. You'll find out, brother and sister, that God don't use the rich a lot, and he don't necessarily use the wise a lot. God'll use anybody. Preachers, he said, we're the base things. Man, we're the bottom of the barrel. But that's what God wants to use. That's what he uses. You know what the king said? The king said, son, you can't go without these. You need my armor, my mail, my weapons. The king said, you can't go without these. Boy, I'm glad he didn't listen to the people that shoot. He went out there alone that day because he didn't listen to the people. You know what they'll tell you? You can't build a big church without some programs. I'm not against programs. I don't care. But brothers and sisters, there ain't no recipe for building a big church. Anybody tell you this is a lie. There ain't no recipe. You get in there, you serve God, give it all you got. If God's in it, you'll have a church. You have big, small, it don't make no difference as long as you're doing what God said to do. Oh my, no, they'll tell you, you gotta have this program, this many programs, and you gotta delegate all this, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, to build the big churches. Well, I've seen the big churches. They're deader than four o'clock in the morning, most of them. I don't know if that's the price of having a big one, I just keep a little one. King said, you can't go without these, you can't do it that way, you gotta do it our way. You know what the enemy told him? The enemy told him he was nothing. They said, you wart. Your dog, y'all sent this dog out here to fight me. Enemy told him said you ain't nothing. You got no business even being out here. You're not qualified, you're small, you have nothing, you're stupid, you have no business even trying. The enemy said you're nothing. Don't that make you wanna fight? When somebody tells you you're nothing, don't that make you wanna fight? I don't know if there's any red-blooded men left in America anymore, but if there are, there'll be a few in churches like this. Somebody that's not politically correct. Step out on the field today. People have no confidence in God anymore. They say, you can't have a church unless you do this, this, this, this, this. I've seen them put on a show while they preach, brother. I've seen them walk, run across the communion table, jump five, six pews, put on a Broadway production, man, preaching. And people love it. Man, people love the show. And I don't mind showing myself. I can enjoy it too. But brother Sidney, if that's what you got to do to have a crowd, you'll have to do something bigger next week. If you jump three pews this week, you'll have jumped six next time. If it's just a show, they'll lose interest in the show. You better give them God. Hey, that's all we got to offer. Brother Bez right here, he don't have anything to offer you except the Lord and God's word. That's what he has to offer you. Oh, he's smart. I think he's smarter probably than the average preacher. He's young. He's got all these things. But brother, what he has to offer you is the word of God and the Lord. That's what he's got to offer. That's all any of us have got to offer. So what do you quote? I don't have no qualifications. All if I can't give you God, I can't give you nothing. I'll say this brother and sister step out on the field. Did you know many more came out after they saw David do it? I'll tell you something else too. You'll make a name for yourself among God's people. I mean, that's not your goal, but man, they'll know you. They'll know you. All of you know Lester Roloff. He didn't seek that, but he stepped out. and he made a name for himself. Everybody knows who Jack Woods was. Everybody knows who Dr. Ruppman was. They made a name for themselves, brother and sister, because they did something for God. You know, David, mighty men he had, Shama and all those, you know, who slew all those people, and they fought to their hands, claimed the sword, you know, Elkanah and all the, you know, did you ever think about that? Why did all those, those were mighty men, those were killers. Why did they follow a little skinny, ruddy, red-complected kid? You ever think about that? Why did those men dedicate their lives to him so much that they'd go down and fight all the way through the Philistines just to get him a drink of water out of a well? Why did they love him that much, and why were they so dedicated to him? You know what I believe, without a doubt in my mind? I believe they was in the trench that day. I believe they was there. I believe they saw what he'd done. I believe they said, yeah, I'll follow him. Woo! Yeah, hey, I'll go. Whatever way he's going, I'll go. I'll follow a man like that. Make a name for yourself. Brothers, let me ask you tonight, church, when's the last time you stepped out? Some of you have been dug in right there where you're at a long time. Maybe tonight, Lord speak to your heart about stepping it up a notch. Maybe, oh, you don't have to do this now, but maybe you want to stop by Brother Baz sometime and say, Brother Baz, I want to do my best to do more. I'm in. Brother Baz, you can count on me. Brother Baz, you can't offend me. You can't preach me out. You can't preach too hard. Brother Baz, I'm in. I'm in. I'm stepping her up a notch. Pray for me. He'll help you. You say, well, Brother Jim, I'm not willing to do that tonight. Well, I'll tell you this much. All your victories that God's given you are back there. All your victories are behind you if you don't step out again and do anything for God. Don't you want some more? that brothers and sisters, I don't want to fight. There's fights. Everybody tells you it won't be fights. They're crazy. They fought twice as much as they crossed Georgia as they did before they crossed Georgia. 10 times as much. There's fight. There's fight. But boy, that's where all the victories are. All your victories are behind you. If you stay where you're in. God spoke in your heart, would you come with somebody come play something? Yeah, I'm a little bit. Would you come do whatever you want to do? Just how are you feeling?