I don't know, I still don't know what I'm gonna do here. Somebody pray. Oh, my wife is not gonna like this. You got your Bible, turn, hmm. Y'all ever been undecided about what you're gonna do, brother Mike? I'm gonna leave you something tonight. I'm telling you, it's crude, it's crude as can be. Matter of fact, I wouldn't even preach it anywhere except here at my church. Ain't too many places you get by where it's crude. But we are in the last days, and this might be a help to you, and I hope it will. Father, thank you for your mercy. Thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray, dear God, you'd help us tonight to preach. Dear God, help us not to say anything that would displease you. Father, I pray what we say would please you and might be a help to your people. Forgive us where we fail you, in Jesus' most precious name. Amen. Well, I wanted to preach a shouter, and I don't have liberty to do it. Wanted to preach about going back And I don't really have the liberty to do that. So if I mess this up, it's just on me Genesis 32 in your Bible Genesis 32 when they buzzed my last night I can leave Genesis 32 verse 18 Now Jacob and the children of Israel going home Not only going home. They're going back to the house of God and going back to their people, going back where they belong. They've been down there in Laban's place for too long. He's lied and cheated them, and this world mistreated them, and now they're on the way home. I'm gonna preach this for a few minutes tonight on the path home, amen? The path home. Verse 18 says, 32, 18, And let me see, let me get 13 first and then I'll start there. And he lies dead that same night and took of that which came to his hand, a present for Esau, his brother. He's scared to death to face Esau because he thinks Esau's going to kill him. He's got about 400 men with him. 200, watch this, what he brought with him. 200 she-goats. She-goats, that's a lot of goats. Matter of fact, one goat is plenty. I hate goats. My kids, grandkids have got goats all over the place. And they'll leave the house a good feed to come up there and eat our flowers. You have to build a fence out of whole water to keep goats in. Amen? 200 she goats and 20 he goats, 200 ewes and 20 rams, 30 milk camels with their coats, 40 can, 10 bulls, 20 she asses, 10 foals. That's a lot of animals. And he delivered them in the hand of his servants. Every drove by themselves, and said to his servants, pass over before me, for the space betwixt drove and drove. He put the animals in front of them going home. They've got to follow them all the way home. And he commanded foremost, saying, when Esau, my brother, meeteth and asketh thee, saying, who art thou, and where are the gods thou, and whose are these before thee? Then thou shalt say, they be thy servant Jacob, is a present sinner to my lord Esau, and behold, also he is behind us. He's scared to death. But he said, they're all coming behind these animals. They're lined up back there and they're coming through. And I'll preach about that for a few minutes tonight if I could, and we'll see how it goes. God help us. 33 in verse one, and Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau came, and with him 400 men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. Look at this. In case they get killed, here's the ones going behind the animals first. And he put the handmaids and their children foremost. and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost. And he passed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times until he came near his brother Esau. I'm gonna preach about that a little bit tonight. And like I said, this is a very crude message, but I think it'll help you on the path home. We are on the path home. We are going home. We'll soon be home with the Lord. And they were heading home back to the Father. Going back to Isaac. These were God's chosen people. Consider the path they're taking. They're following every one of those animals through the desert. You're talking about smell. And you're talking about all over the ground. In the parade up home, we have a parade. They make them put the handles in the back because you can't walk through there and track your way through. I mean, you're stepping in all kinds of stuff. Most of the time, brother Sid, they had to go through it. They didn't have a choice. They had to go through it. And most of the time, you and I, brother and sister, when we go through it, it's because of us. They didn't have a choice. It wasn't their fault. They just had to go through it. Me and you go through it sometimes too, and we get dirty and messed up too, but it's our fault. You don't raise your kids right, you'll go through it. Ain't no doubt about it. You don't have your family in a good church, you're gonna go through it. Amen. You didn't raise your kids in a good church, you're going to reap that. And it's easy to watch. You marry a boy or girl that don't serve or love God, boy, you're going to go through it. You talking about men. The old folks used to say it's a bad thing if you don't have God when you go to the altar. If you can't leave alcohol alone, you're going to go through it. The way it is. If you can't leave tobacco alone, sooner or later, I'm not here preaching on smoking, but if you can't leave it alone sooner or later, you're going to go through it. Sooner or later, it'll get you down the line somewhere. Most of the time, we go through it, it's our fault, but not these folks. It wasn't their fault. They walked the path that their father told them to walk. They walked the path, he said, walk, he said, you head home, you follow those animals. We're going home. Can you imagine this walk behind all these animals? You better walk this one in the light. God said for us to walk in the light because he's in the light. You better walk this one in the light. You don't want to do this. You better watch your step where you walk on this walk. He says, see that you walk circumspectly and not as fools. But be careful how you walk, but be careful where you step. Amen. He said, but not as fools, but as wise. Listen, this world is full of places on our path home. This world is full of places where you can really step off in it if you're not careful. And brother, sister, it's all over the place. I want to say this. I want to say a few things about this, and I'll quit. I promise. I want you to notice, number one, they were going home, back to the promised land. This was the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were heading back to the promised land. You and I are heading to the promised land. They were heading back. They heard the stories all their life. They were passed down from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They said, it's a beautiful land. God said it was a land flooded with milk and honey. He said there's springs and valleys and rivers and vineyards. He said, it's a wonderful place to go. And he said, we're heading back today. And don't you hear tonight, don't you get down with this stinking world and forget that we are going home. We're going to a city whose builder and maker is God. Where mommas and daddies never say goodbye. Children up there, they never cry. I'm going to a land, amen. We are on the path home, all of us. Some morning, you'll find me touring that city, Rosay. There's a son of God that's the light. You find me there on the street so pretty, made of gold, so pure and so bright. Listen, we're not citizens of this earth trying to make the world a better place. We're citizens of heaven, and we're on our way home. Our goal is not retirement. We're not going to an old folks home. We're going to a home where you never grow old. That's where we're going. Thank God for it. I told my wife, you know, we're getting older. I said if we ever get to a point where anybody mentions nursing home, we're gonna fight. And I said as long as if I can get on my hands and knees and crawl to my pickup truck, I'm going where I want to go. And it'll take a lot of people to stop me, amen? Listen, we are going home to a beautiful place. My mama and daddy's up there. My brother's up there. I got folks up there I long to see. Listen, it's real. Don't let this world lull you to sleep. We are going home. They're waiting up there. Heard about it, read about it all our life, and now we're heading home. This is your path home. I want you to notice this. This is where it got a little crude. There are God's chosen people, but that don't mean you never have to go through it. They had to walk through it to get home. Just because you're saved, you think you're never going to have to go through anything? There's people all over this building that have gone through it, and you wonder, why me? Everybody has to go through it sometimes. Brothers and sisters, that's just part of it. Everybody does. Some of this walk wasn't very pleasant. The smell, the manure. Nobody's exempt from difficulties in this life. Jack Wood's son, I think it was, he told us one time that he was loading cows. And he said he got a big old cow, and he was loading her in the trailer. and she had some kind of a diarrhea attack. He said he's putting out, he just was shutting the gate and all of a sudden, boom, all over him from head to toe. I said, knocked his hat off his head. He was covered. They had to take a water hose and wash him down with a water hose. And he was out there, he was preaching at that time and he's out there, God, why? Why? Why this? And you know what he said the Lord told him? That's what he said. He said, Jack, sometimes in this life you just get it on you. There is no sugar candy coated walk to heaven. Sometimes in this life you have to go through things. Sometimes you just get it on you. It can't be avoided. Everybody has to go through something. I told you it was crude. Amen. They were in a mess. No pun intended. They were in a mess, but that don't mean God was done with them. Just cause they were going through it don't mean God hated them. God wasn't mad at them. They were going where he told them to go. They were doing the best they can. God wasn't mad at them. But boy, they were going through it. Levi was in it. They were the chosen priesthood. The holy of the holy. They were going through it. They were the keepers of the tabernacle and the commandments. Judah was in it. David came out of Judah and Christ came out of there. He had to go through it too, like everybody else. If you're not careful down here in this world, you get to thinking, well, God saved me and things ain't getting no better. Listen, if he saved you, they're already better. If he saves you, you're not going to hell. You are going to heaven. You got a home forever. And God told me in our church one time, he said, since I joined church and surrendered my life to Christ, he said, it's just been one problem after another. He said, why would God let me go through that? Well, everybody has to go through it sometimes. Judah was in line. The Lord came out of that bunch. I'm glad they didn't quit because they were going through it. I sure hope you don't quit. We're getting to the day of quitters. You get a job you don't like, just quit. You get a marriage you don't like, just quit. You go to church, they say something to fit in, you just quit. I sure hope you don't quit just because you go through it. My first year of Bible school, they invited me to a barbecue. Brother Bobby Utley was there. That's when I met him for the first time. And the guy that was doing the barbecue, I think his name was Burl Hunt. And I think it was Lou Gehrig's disease. I'm not sure what it was he had, but he was in the last stages of it. He was in bad shape. He was in a wheelchair constantly. He never could get out of the wheelchair. They wheeled him around everywhere. And he had a printing press. He'd wheel himself around everywhere. And he'd go over and he'd print gospel tracts. And he'd put out gospel tracts till the day he died. He would keep printing. He'd keep going. Nobody could stop him. He was going through it. He didn't quit. Who in the world do you think you are? That you never have to go through it. Sometimes we go through it because we just do dumb things. And if you're going through it just because you've done something dumb, just take your licks. Don't fuss at God about it, it wasn't his fault. I got a friend who jumped off over Everett's Lake. You remember where Everett's Lake was? I got a friend who jumped off a little cliff over at Everett's Lake, dove off head first, acted a fool, dove off at 18 inches of water. He had no idea it was 18 inches, he thought it was over his head. And he was paralyzed, the wheelchair from his neck down for the rest of his life and finally died from complications of that. Sometimes you go through it because you just do dumb things. I don't ever go through something and I turn around and say, Lord, why me? Lord, why me? Good grief, I do enough stupid stuff, I just figure I got it coming. I mess up enough, I fail the Lord enough, I don't ever ask why me. I figure I'm lucky I didn't get worse than what I got. I have no persecution complex whatsoever. I figure we deserve a lot worse than what we got. Amen. Sure hope you don't quit. Sometimes, brother and sister, you go through it. just because it's part of the journey. That's all. You didn't do nothing wrong. And your family didn't do anything wrong sometimes. Sometimes you just go through it because it's part of the journey. I told you about my little friend Megan up there who died, I think, 27 years old but was in a wheelchair all of her life. She served the Lord every day she's here and finally died from heart complications. Going out into eternity, she suffered. I'm telling you, they had to cut her toes and stuff off. You know why they cut her toes and stuff off? What her great fear was? That she would hinder the revival that week. That was her only concern. So why'd she go through it? Sometimes, brother and sister, it's just part of the trip. You go through things. Listen, if you're saved by the grace of God, God will get you through. You just stay true to Him. If you can't figure it out, you can't understand it, just say, God, I know you're right. I know you love me, and I'm sticking with you. It's just part of the trip. The Lord still loves you, and the Lord will bless you. I'll tell you something else. None of them chose their position. They didn't choose their position. The Bible says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. He'll direct your path. He's the director. None of them chose their position. Well, brother, you might think I ought to have a little more of what I got for serving the Lord. Well, he's the one that directs the path. He's the one that chooses the position. Well, I don't think I get all I deserve. I thank God I don't get all I deserve. Can't you hear them? Can't you hear those front kids walking through that line right behind them animals? Stinking, filthy animals, dodging stuff as they walk. Well, Rachel and Joseph, they ain't even hardly getting their feet dirty. They're back there in the back, my daddy. They're back there by the father. They probably ain't even getting none on them. We're tracking it all up before we even get there. Why do they get to go back there? We have to go out front. If anybody gets killed, it'll be us. Why are we up here? Why ain't we back there? Well, the father's the one that positioned them. The father's the one that put them where he wanted them. Hey man, well we concubine kids are getting the worst of it. We get all nasty and dirty. What about the goody two-shoes back there? What about them? Why we have to go through? It ain't fair! We walk after these nasty critters and we'll be the most in danger if we're attacked. It's us. Why in the world would the Pope Father put us up here? Why didn't he put us back over them? Somebody had to go first. It ain't fair. How come sister and brother so-and-so got it so good and we have to go through it? Did you ever wonder about that on our journey home? Did you ever wonder in a church why some people have to go through what they go through and others don't have to go through what they go through? If you're not careful, you'll get a little bit bitter about that. If you're not careful, well, so-and-so, she got this and she got that. And she gets the best boyfriends. And he gets the best girlfriends. And he's a preacher's pet. He loves them better than he does us. If you're not careful, you know, you'll get bitter with that thing. Be careful, you ever wonder why? Why does so and so, you reckon, have, why do they have to go through that? My associate pastor's wife over there's got brain cancer right now, and it's bad, bad stuff. He said it's the mother of all cancers, bad stuff. And I don't know of a thing she did wrong. I don't know, she's been a blessing and a help to our church ever since she's been there. We love her with all of our heart. We'd do anything for her. I don't know why she's going through it. And some others ain't. I don't understand that. The Lord took Brother Ron Sims home out of my church, one of the best men I ever had. Mike McCarroll, one of the best men I've ever had. Why'd he take him and leave so-and-so? Amen. You think, man, I could've done without him. I know y'all would never think stuff like that. You ever wonder? Well listen, the father's the one that chose the order. The father's the one that placed them on the journey and put them in the position on the journey he wanted them in. Who you gonna fuss with? Hey, maybe they couldn't have took what you've took. Maybe if God had put them where you are and going through what you're going through, maybe they couldn't have took it. That's right. Maybe you're stronger than them. Yeah, right. Maybe you got through some stuff they couldn't get through. You're right. Amen. Did you ever think about that? Maybe they would have quit where you didn't. God might be teaching you something you need. Maybe humility. Maybe patience. I hate patience. But you got to have it. I stand in front of the microwave and scream, hurry up. No patience whatsoever. Angela, I have no patience, do I? None whatsoever. Miss Angela, it's your play. Well, maybe God might be trying to teach you a little bit about humility or patience. We should sing, some through the water, some through the flood, some through the fire, but all through the blood. Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song in the night season and all the day long. Some going through the fire, some through the water, some through the floods. Amen. But praise God all through the blood. I don't know how I'd do with the death of a child. I have no idea. I don't even want to think about it. Even some of the children in our church, I can't think about it. I don't know how I would do. But if I faced that, I know who I'd come talk to. I'd talk to some who've been through it. That's who I'd talk to. I know that. I don't know how I would react to the death of a spouse. But some of you have. And if I had to face that, I hope to God I never do. But if I have to face it, I know some people I could go talk to. I know someone that could help me. I don't know how I would do with a horrible disease, but I know several people in my church I can go to and ask them how it was. Brother and sister, you know, why, Brother Jim? Because they've been through it. Why them? I have no idea why them. But God placed them in there. You say, well, God wouldn't do something like that. Hey, he could have stopped it, couldn't he? He's God. This world's not my home. I'm just passing through. Don't get your eye on the world. Our eye's on the prize. That's heaven. Some terrible things that happened on our path, brother and sister, every now and then. I know how others have done it. You know why? Because they're still walking. They're still on the path. They stayed with the Lord. Some of them have gone through it. I've got a couple in my church, I'm not going to name them in case this is extreme, but Bruce Nim, you know who I'm talking about, they lost a son, boy. I mean, he had a bad, bad wreck and broke his back. And he was paralyzed from the waist down. What was it, 21 years old? 21, 23 years old, somewhere in there. And man, it broke their heart like it killed them. I went down to the hospital to see him. They went down there and seen him. Man, it was the awfulest thing you've ever seen. Big old strong guy, couldn't move either one of his legs. Terrible thing. And they, you know what they told me? They said, well, Brother Jim, at least we're taking him home. He's alive and we're taking him home. Got home three days later, blood caught him in his heart and killed him. How do they do that? But I'm telling you, it crushed them. It crushed the life out of them. It liked to kill them. But you know what? Today, you come to my church, they're still walking. They've gone through it, but they're still walking and still serving the Lord. Amen. Praise God. Thank God. The Father didn't ask any of them where they wanted to walk. He placed them where He wanted them to walk. He said, concubines here, or handmaids here, Leah's bunch here, Rachel and Joseph back here with me, because I love them better than anybody else. That's what He said. I want them back here with me. The Father placed them, but He loved every one of them. He placed some of them in a better spot, but He loved every one of them. Amen. I'd just like to say this last tonight. You know, The handmaids, concubines, was out front with their kids, following those stinking animals. And then Leah and all her brood was behind that, following them stinking animals. And then last of all, after it was mostly tracked up, here comes Rachel and Joseph and them, walking through the end of it. And you say, what about that, Brunseum? Do you know the ones that got home the cleanest, or the ones that was closest to the father? The one that was closest to Jacob, the Father, that's the ones that got home the cleanest. And I don't know what's in your path, and I don't know what you're going to face tomorrow, but I'd leave you this church. We're in terrible times in America, and there's going to be things in your path. I'm going to tell you, we're all going home. If you're born again by God's grace, you are going home to Heaven. But I'm telling you, you'll get there a lot cleaner if you'll stay close to the Father. That's the best place you could be is close to him. That don't mean they didn't have anything to go through. That don't mean they didn't get any of it on them. Some dirt in this world is unavoidable. It's unavoidable, some of it. And some trouble's unavoidable. Job said, yet man is born into trouble as the sparks fly over it. But in all Job's trouble, the Bible says, he sinned not against God with his lips. He never said, why me? God, you got no right. He never said that. I know people got mad at God. I know people in our churches got mad at God and said things, boy, they wish to God, now they never said. But in all that trouble, Job never sinned against God with his lips. Say, what are you trying to say, Brother Jim? I'm saying you'll fare better on this road we're traveling if you'll stay close to the Father. Lord, I don't know why. I don't know why you let that happen. I have no idea. I see it in our church all the time. I don't know why in the world the Lord did that, but I trust Him. Lord, I don't know why, and Lord, I don't know why me. Sometimes I don't know why me, but I trust Him. leaning on the everlasting arms. God, I don't know why you would do this, and I don't know why you would allow this to happen to us. I don't know why you would allow this to happen to our family. But I know you, and I know you're right. And I trust you. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. Listen, if you can trust Him with your soul, can't you trust Him with your life? Can't you trust Him with your kids? With your money? With your home? Lord, I don't know why. And God, I'm going through it right now. But I'll tell you, in the midst of all this, I'm going through it. But you know, you've always given me better than I deserve. You've made the good times outnumber the bad. You've been the best friend I've ever had. Help me, Lord, to stay close in these last days. Lord, I'm going to go through it. There's people watching. The Bible said when David ran from Absalom, he had to climb the mountain. The Bible said he hung his head and wept as he went up the mountain. And the Bible said everybody that followed him hung their head, wept, and followed him up the mountain. You know brother sister when it gets time you going through it and hard times there's people watching see how you climb Don't you think these youngins up here ain't gonna watch you see how you go through difficulty They're gonna watch how you climb too They're gonna see how you go through it. There's people watching. There's people in heaven probably watching We're foreseeing we are accomplished about so great a cloud of witnesses Let us lay aside every weight and seeing what this leaves and beset us Let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Let's finish the course There's people watching. Lord, let me be a good example. Let how I handle this be an example and a help to other people. By your grace.