If you've got your Bibles Matthew 4, I've been going through the book of Matthew in our church and Just being led by the Lord to show me exactly what he wants me to preach and you pray for your pastor It's not easy to get a message Amen, you can get a sermon online, but a message comes from God. And I know he wants to give you something fresh every time that you come. He wants to give you something encouraging. And so you pray for him and you hold his hands up in prayer and pray that God will make it easy for him and he'll have the messages that you need and it'll help him. And when he's up here preaching, I want you to egg him on. Amen, you say he preaches long enough as it is. Well, egg him on, praise the Lord. And preach him and it encourages him whenever you're out there helping him preach. And so help him out whenever he's preaching, amen. Matthew chapter number one talks about the background of Christ. Matthew chapter number two deals with the birth of Christ. Matthew chapter number three deals with the baptism of Christ. And here in Matthew chapter number four, it deals with the battle of Christ. We know it as the temptation of Christ. And let me read a verse here in Matthew four, and then I'm gonna go through some things in this chapter, work my way through it, and I promise you we'll be out by midnight. Amen. Matthew four, look at verse number 17. From that time Jesus began to preach and to say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea for they were fishers. And he said unto them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother in a ship with Zebedee the father, mending their nets and they called them. And verse 22 again, notice what they did. They immediately left the ship and their father and they followed him. Father, I pray that you'd bless the reading and preaching of the word of God this evening. Lord, I realize I stand in need of your grace and your power, your love, your wisdom, and your compassion. I pray, Lord, that you'd bind and rebuke every demonic force of hell and the devil himself that would hinder us from responding to the Holy Spirit, that would distract us from hearing the Word of God. I pray tonight that we'd receive with meekness the engrafted Word that is able to save our soul. I pray God that you'd help us to be like Mary told the servants when Jesus turned the water into wine. Lord, help us to do whatsoever you tell us to do. Help us to be obedient and mindful. Lord, if there's one among us that is lost and undone, needs to be saved, I pray today would be the day of their salvation. And I pray they'd get it settled before it's eternally too late. I pray for those that are struggling, those that have strongholds, I pray you'd set the captive free. I pray you'd heal the brokenhearted, and I pray, Lord, that you'd help us to be ready for the return of Christ. In Jesus' name, all God's people said amen. In Matthew 4, in the first part of the chapter, you see the temptation of Christ. In that temptation, there's three main subjects. You've got the target, you've got the tempter, and you've got the truth. The target was Jesus, the tempter was Satan, and the truth was the scriptures. Listen carefully. The Savior used the scriptures to defeat Satan. And Jesus Christ, we know he couldn't have sinned. The Bible says in Titus 1, 2, in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie. Anybody ever ask you if God can't do something, you'll say God can't lie. God couldn't have sinned. You know why? Because in order to sin, you have to have a sin nature. Jesus Christ didn't have a sinful nature. He had a human nature, but he didn't have a sinful nature. So why do we have Matthew 4? Because Jesus Christ is gonna give us an example of how you and I are to overcome temptation. And the Bible says when the tempter came, and I don't really think this is exactly what I want you to preach, but I think you understand that you and I, no matter how young you are or how old you are or what year in between you are, I'm gonna grab my water. Temptations all around the corner. The Bible says every man is tempted when he's drawn away from his own lust and enticed. The Bible says there's no temptation taken to you but such as common to man. If you ever think you're the only one going through it, I got news for you. You're not the only one going through your temptation. but there's other people probably that are struggling with the same thing, even though you haven't met them yet. They're still going through battles. You're going through battles. All the teenagers go through the same peer pressure. They go through the same problems. Older people go through the same problems. There's no temptation taken, but such is common to man. But listen, church, I'm glad that God can make a way of escape, amen. I'm glad greater is he that's in us than he that is in the world. I'm glad that we and you and I can be more than conquerors through him that loved us and we don't have to sin. Any sin that a man commits after he's saved, he does it willfully. According to Hebrews, if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of truth, there remaineth no more sacrifices for sin. Before salvation, we were deceived by sin and according to the Apostle Paul, we were slain by sin. but after salvation is something that we choose to do. And here in Matthew 4, 1, here in the first part of the temptation of Christ, listen, Satan tempted Jesus with the same thing he tempted Eve with. the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Right there in Genesis chapter number three, when she saw the tree that was good for food and desired to make one wise and pleasant to the eyes, she took of the fruit, gave to her husband with her, and he did eat. And the Bible says, wherefore is by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. So death passed upon all men, for that all had sinned. She could succumb to that temptation of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Is anybody with me tonight? The same thing happened to Lot. You know the story about Lot, the Bible says he lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plains of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the prod of life. Satan defeated Eve with it, he defeated Adam with it, he defeated Lot with it, and he came to Jesus and he says, you know what, I'm gonna get him with the same thing, but I'm glad Satan met his match and Jesus overcame the devil. Amen for that. Satan only raises his head three times in the scriptures. He did it there in Genesis, and then he did it with Job, and then he did it in Matthew. And he was so defeated here in the book of Matthew that he doesn't raise his head again. Aren't you thankful for the day one day we won't be tempted? When we're in heaven and we're not tempted by the devil, but I want you to know the devil's tempted you and I with the same thing, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Narrowing that down, he tempts us with bitterness, greed, and immorality. You trace everything down to those three sins and the root of those three sins is pride. And the worst demon, listen, the worst demon that you and I will ever try to overcome in our life is the demon of pride. Bible says, pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. It was pride that entered in the heart of Lucifer when he was in heaven. And pride entered his heart. And what did he say? Five times he said, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will. Five times, I will. I will be like the most high God. And Jesus or God there in Isaiah said, you will be brought down to hell. Notice the difference between Satan and Christ. Satan said, I will. Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane said, not my will, but thy will be done. Anytime we want to do our own will and do our own thing, and we want to do it away from God, we're acting in the realm of Satan, but when we come to an altar, whether it's salvation, whether it's with our life, and we surrender our life to him, and we say, not my will, but thine be done, we're acting like Jesus did when he was in the garden of Gethsemane. I'm telling you, we need some Christians, we need some people, we need some churches, we need some of God's people to say, not my will again, amen. Amen, Matthew, we see that, the temptation of Christ right here in Matthew 1. And then you see the travels of Christ. They go on there in verse number, I think it's here in verse 13, he left Nazareth. The Bible says he came to Capernaum, Zebulun, Naphtali. He was around the Sea of Galilee there. And there's two main, and this is where I believe God wants me to focus tonight, there's two main messages when Jesus Christ was walking by the Sea of Galilee that he gave to those people that were following him. He had two truths that he wanted to give in his travels. We see his travels. Before I say that, I want you to look with me please at verse number 16. The Bible says the people which sat in darkness saw great light. Notice where they sat. They sat in darkness. And how many of you would agree tonight that we live in a world that is sitting in darkness? We're in a dark world. Men love darkness rather than light. Why? Because their deeds are evil. The Bible says people are in darkness. The Bible teaches that Satan hath blinded the eyes of people. Last Wednesday night, not yesterday, but Wednesday before, a lady in our church text Christy and said, my brother's visiting from Miami. He's coming to church tonight. He's got some battles going on in his life. Wondering if Brother Jeff was going to be at the service tonight. Of course I was. And so he came and he sat down and we preached. And after the service, he came up to me. I just looked at him. I just felt like I just need to say it. Sir, have you ever been saved? He just kind of shrugged his shoulders and didn't know. I gave him the gospel. I told him how to be saved. Right there on the front. He said, yeah. He said, but you gotta be ready for that. And I looked at him. I said, if somebody's not ready to be saved, it's because they're not willing to give up something that's in their life. They're wanting to hold on to something else and they'd rather have that other than Jesus. I said, when I was in Bible college down in Florida, I was witnessing to a man, I gave him the gospel, he opened his coat, he took out a fifth, he said, I wanna be saved, but I'm not willing to give that up. I said, don't you let that liquor bottle take you to hell. And I said, don't you, and I looked at, and I told him, I said, don't you let the devil lie to you and say, you want that liquor bottle more than you want Jesus. And he looked at me and he said, well, it's funny you said that, because that's exactly what I'm battling. I said, man, I said, the devil's gonna lie to you. He's gonna tell you want that more than you want Jesus. And the devil's a liar and he's the father thereof. And I wanna be reminded tonight that the devil is a liar. Amen, he's been fighting me all day. I don't understand why he wants to fight somebody like me, but he's been fighting me and he's gonna fight you and he's fighting because he don't wanna see the work of God done. Somebody might need to get saved tonight. Somebody might need to get surrendered tonight. or the devil's been fighting all day, I wanna encourage you to say yes to Jesus and no to Satan, amen. I talked to him about the Lord. I said, let me pray with you. I put my arm around him, and I said, Lord, I pray you'd bind every demon of hell and the devil that's fighting in this guy's mind right now. Pray hedge about his mind. I pleaded the blood of Jesus over his mind. and pray that God would tear down any strongholds in his life. I said, amen, and I looked at him and I said, well, man, when you're ready, I said, you can call me. I said, you can call your sister. You can call her brother. They know how to be saved. They can tell you. And I said, sir, are you sure you're not ready? He said, no, I am ready. He said, I want to be saved right now. We sat on the front row and he bowed his head and he went through the gospel. He got saved and born again. And what happened? Why did he not want to be saved at the beginning? Why did he say he wasn't ready? Because Satan is blind in the eyes of people. We gotta know how to pray for people. Hey, listen, a lot of times, God will hold us back from witnessing because we haven't prayed for them before we go witness to them, and we need to pray that the devil will tear, or God will tear down the strongholds in the minds and hearts of people so that they're open and ready to receive the truth of the word of God. They sat in darkness. We live in a dark world, but the Bible says this group saw great light. What was that great light? His name was Jesus. Jesus said, as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Jesus left, guess what? Who's the light now? You and I are the light. Almost preached on this over in Matthew, he said this. He said, you're the salt of the earth and you're the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid, nor can men hide a candle under a bushel and under a candlestick, and give it light to all that are in that house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Hey, listen, Jesus is that light. The Bible says the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? I am glad that God is light. The Bible says the entrance of thy words giveth light. If you wanna get some light in your life, if you want light in your marriage, hey, I feel like preaching. If you want light in your family and in your home, if you want light to know what to do and what not to do and where to go and when to stop, what God wants, get into the word of God, he'll give you light, he'll give you wisdom, he'll give you discernment, he'll give you discretion, he'll help you, church, there's nothing like the light of God in your life. Listen, get some wisdom from God. He'll give you that light, amen. If you ask for it, praise God. Amen. Y'all must be tired this evening, praise the Lord. Amen. So we see in the first part of the chapter, the temptation of Christ, and then we see the travels of Christ, Then I want you to notice the truths of Christ. Two truths he preached while he was in this area. First thing he says, verse number 17. If you're there, say amen. Notice what he said. From that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He taught about two truths. The first truth he taught about was salvation. What'd he say? He said, repent. There's six words in the Bible that deal with salvation. You might wanna write these down, because when you're talking to people about Jesus, you need to use one of these six words, and you don't need to use other words. It's not found in the Bible that doesn't deal with salvation, but they deal with other things. Number one, trust. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to the humble understanding. Everybody say trust. Trust. The second word is look. Look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. Everybody say look. Look. The next word is receive. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Everybody say receive. Receive. The next word is repent. The Bible says repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Everybody say repent. Amen, y'all doing good. Y'all gonna get an A plus tonight. I don't know how many I've told you, but here's another one. Are you ready? Believe. The Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and now shout, be saved. Everybody say believe. Believe. There's one more. Everybody wanna guess it? Not everybody at one time, please. How about call? For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So you've got trust, you've got look, you've got believe, you've got receive, you've got repent, and you've got call. And they all mean the same thing, they're just words that's used in different ways, and Jesus is dealing with salvation here, and he says repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. In order to get to heaven, remember, for the kingdom of heaven, he's dealing with heaven. So in order to get to heaven, somebody's gotta do what? What did he say? Repent. He said repent. Now there's, you start talking to different preachers and people and man, you hear all different kinds of things on this subject of repent. What does it mean to repent? Well, I got news for you. The first person ever to repent in the Bible was not man. It was God. Go to Genesis chapter number six, please. I wanna show it to you. Hey, I'm not preaching right now, I'm telling the truth. You ever heard that one? That's a joke. Amen. Genesis chapter number six, first person to ever repent in the Bible was God. Notice what the Bible says in verse number five, Genesis 6-5, and God saw the wickedness of man, that it was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Hey, listen, Brother Brian, we weren't perfect growing up, and I know that most people can relate to this, but when we was growing up, we was Genesis chapter number three. We was sinful. We were. We was sinful, we done stupid things. Have you done stupid things in your life? Raise your right hand. Have you done a bunch of stupid things? Raise this hand. I mean, if you could, raise your feet right now. We were in Genesis three. We're living in a society that's past Genesis chapter number three. We're in Genesis chapter six now. We're living in a society that's not just simple, it's satanic. Wicked. Things going on you never thought they'd be going on. The last judgment of God upon a nation is not homosexuality, it's cannibalism. When a society reaches cannibalism, that's when you can put Ichabod over that society and we are not far from cannibalism the way people live their life today. But we say Genesis chapter number three, now in six, and every imagination of the faults of his heart was only evil continually. I was listening to David Jeremiah the other day, and he did, he was doing a word study on this, and he said the imagination of the faults of hearts, he said that deals with pornography. And he made this statement, and he gave this statistic. He said in the society, and I don't even like talking about it because it's so perverted, but people need to know, we live in a society today that 28% of pornography is child pornography. 28%, that's one out of four, almost a little bit more than that. Let me just pause and say this real quick to all of us, especially us men, we gotta be real careful what we look at on these phones. Boy, it got quiet on me right there. Did you feel that kickback? I felt like I just talked to my mother-in-law. Hey, is everybody okay? Gotta be careful. I said, we gotta be careful. Things pop up here and pop up there. And it don't take long before a person's mind gets to wondering and we gotta be on guard. We gotta be sober and vigilant for our adversary, the devil is as a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may devour. Oh, listen to me, it's not just for you, it's for preachers. I heard a statistic the other day, and I'm not sure if it's true or not. I don't know, I don't follow that, I don't study it, but I heard somebody say that 80% of pastors struggle with pornography. Think about that. You used to, you had to get in your car, and you went down to the road, and you had to buy something in front of somebody, and they know what you bought, and you had to take a look at it. Now it's not like that anymore. Somebody can sit in their office, somebody can get on their phone, somebody can be by themselves, and they can get on their phone, they can plug up anything, or click on anything, and it pops up right there. I wanna tell you church, we gotta guard our hearts, amen. We gotta guard our hearts. It's not worth our family. It's not worth our marriage. It's not worth our testimony. It's not worth the cost of Christ. We gotta clean our act up, amen. Oh, listen, church. Every imagination was evil continually. Watch verse six. We're supposed to be on repentance. I appreciate y'all getting me off track right here. Verse six. And it repented the Lord that he made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I've created from the face of the earth. If you look up the word repent, it means to change your mind. What God was saying right here, it said that when he repented the Lord that he made man, the Bible teaches that he wished he had never made man. Number two, it grieved him at his heart. Number three, he said, I'm gonna destroy him. The same attitude that God had towards man is the same attitude that you and I are to have towards sin. I wish I'd have never sinned. Can I hit a witness? Amen. Can I hit a witness? Number two, it grieved him in his heart. Sin ought to grieve us in our heart. And we gotta be able to say, I'm gonna destroy that or get rid of that out of my life. Now when somebody gets saved, they gotta repent. Now they might not have all these thoughts in their mind about I'm grieved over it, I don't want it anymore, but they just gotta get sick of sin. And they gotta want Jesus more than they want their sin. Listen, somebody comes down the aisle, popping gun telling jokes and saying, oh yeah, I'll pray with you, but I'm gonna walk out that door and keep living the life I'm living. Friend, they ain't praying with me, because that's not repentance. Repentance is when you're sorry for your sin, and you're grieving over it, and you don't want it anymore, and you ask God to forgive you, which means to take away. Take it away, Lord. And so, what do you repent from? What do you change your mind of? You change your mind about sin, and number two, you change your mind about the Savior. I don't want to sin, but I do want Jesus. It's repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Anybody that tells you anything more than that's muddying up the gospel. Has there ever been a time when you said, oh, I'm a sinner, and it doesn't have to be these exact words. Man, that man walked into the temple, and what'd he say? He said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And we gotta say, Lord, I've seen him, be merciful, forgive me, I trust you, Jesus, as my Savior, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made into salvation. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Aren't you thankful for the simplicity of the gospel? Amen. Hey, I was on my way to the meeting tonight, and my son Christian called me. I worked with a guy today, he was working landscaping, mowing, weed eating, all that stuff. And he said, I worked with a guy today, 17 year old young man. He said, I got a chance to witness to him. I don't have time to tell you everything that he told me. And he said, I saw that young man, 17 years old, bow his head and ask Jesus to come into his heart and say, amen. Repentance. By the way, after you get saved, you still need to repent. He said, not to be saved. But man, the devil seems to throw tricks in our life. The Bible says, if we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. We don't need to get cleaner. We need to get clean. We can be cleaner, but not clean. One of the problems in our churches today, one of the problems in Christianity today, and it might not be in this church as much as other churches, because I know you've got a preacher that preaches the Bible, and when you're under old-fashioned, heaven-sent, holy ghost, window-rattling, shingle-pulling, sin-fighting, Bible-toting, biscuit-eating, say amen, Baptist preaching, you're gonna have to make some decisions, amen. Y'all like your biscuits, don't you? They're gravy biscuits. But we gotta learn to confess, it means to agree with God. We gotta quit justifying our sin. Hey, this is revival, isn't it? Are we trying to have revival? Revival starts, the Bible says judgment must begin at the house of God. Our problem, my problem, the biggest problem, the biggest person that I face, my biggest problem every day is a person I look in the mirror. If I could get this right and keep this right and maintain this right here, everything else would be all right. Our problems are not horizontal. Our problems are vertical. You say, well, you don't know the man I live with. He's a head, but he's an empty head. Well, you might be right about that. You don't know the woman I live with. You don't know my kids. Hey, let me tell you this. The Bible says Paul said in Acts 24, 16, and herein do I exercise myself to always have a conscience void of offense towards God and towards man. He started out with God and then he went with man. The Bible says about Jesus, he was in favor with God and man. It's a vertical thing. We gotta be right vertical. We gotta go back. We gotta confess our sins. We gotta be right. If we got hurt in our life, we need to forgive. Somebody say amen. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Has anybody hurt you to where you've had a hard time forgiving them? You said, but preacher, it happened so long ago. Why are you still remembering it tonight? Because the Holy Ghost got a pretty good memory. And we gotta learn to forgive. Let me tell you, if you don't forgive, you'll be depressed. You'll have anxiety, you'll struggle with anger, and lust, and depression, and all that, all that's tormentors. Listen, people go, people go to the psychiatrist, to the hospital all the time, dealing with anger, anger management. They deal with lust, they deal with doubts, they deal with depression, people are on so many pills and medications nowadays, you gotta be careful about that stuff. Man, my mind's going 100 miles an hour, I gotta slow down and stop, but we gotta be careful about just taking anything in our body. Hey man, you don't hear that preached much, but it needs to be preached because people are so sedated now and people are taking so much pills and they don't even know how to make a decision for God anymore. Oh listen, we've got to make sure that we have forgiven those who hurt us. Who's hurt you? And I'm trying to help you because I love you because we all fight bitterness. I said we all fight bitterness, every one of us. And by the way, our elementary kids, our young children that are in elementary school and teenagers, hey, listen, their problems and what they face at school is just the drills and no problems. That's right. I was at camp one time. This kid, he raised his hand for salvation. I wasn't preaching. I was just a worker right there. And I took him to the back. I said, tell me when he got saved. And he told me. I said, well, are you sure you're saved? He said, no. I said, do you want to make sure? He said, yes. He bowed his head. He asked God to save him. I said, man, I said, did you mean it? He said, yeah. Did you call him? He said, yeah. I said, are you sure you're saved? He said, I don't know. But he meant it. And he called on God. And he wasn't holding on to sin. I said, anybody had a virtue where you had a hard time forgiving him? He said, yeah. I said, who was it? He said, there's a girl at school who makes fun of me. Because I'm overweight. And he really wasn't. He was a little husky. That's what I like to call myself. And he said, I come home, and I tell my grandma. He said, I live with my grandma, and I tell her. He said, she makes fun of me. And what happened was he went to bed. He let the sun go down upon his wrath. Moses, let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Why? "'cause you'll do the next verse, "'neither give place to the devil.'" He gave the devil a stronghold in his life of sin, of bitterness, and anger. And so I said, well, I said, are you willing to forgive her? And he said, yes, and so he prayed a prayer like this, Lord, I confess I've been bitter at that lady for making fun of me for being overweight. I confess that as sin, I plead to blow over, take it out of my heart, tear down that stronghold, and help me to forgive. He prayed that prayer and meant it with all his heart, because he wanted to forgive her. As soon as he prayed that prayer, he looked at me and said, if you died right now, do you know for sure you go to heaven? He said, yes, I do. I know I'm saved. You see, one of the functions of the Holy Spirit is to give you and I the assurance of our salvation. And the Bible says we're not to grieve the Holy Spirit. The Bible says we're not to quench the Holy Spirit. What quenches the Holy Spirit? Bitterness. It quenches the Holy Spirit from being able to fill one of his punctures in our life or one of his punctures to give us the assurance of our salvation. The Bible says the Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. But if he's quenched, then he's grieved. And not everybody can struggle with that, but some people could. And so once he got that bitterness out, the Holy Spirit gave him the assurance that he was saved. God's people, we know lost people need to repent. Bible says, it said, you repent, you shall likewise perish. In order to go to heaven, you gotta repent. But listen, we as God's people, we need to repent too. We need to make sure that there's nobody that's ever hurt us. By the way, let me ask you this question. I don't know why I'm saying all this, but I feel like I want to spend a second. How about this one? Is there anything about you which you can change that you can't change? You say, yeah, Preacher, I'm like you. I'm not talking about something you can't change. We can all change that, amen. A few less coats and a few less dove chocolates. How many of you like dove chocolates? Only four of us? We need revival. Right now. If you don't like a dove chocolate, you need the Holy Ghost, amen. It's spiritual, it's a dove. Amen. I'm talking about what is it about you that you can't change. Well, I'm not tall enough or I'm not I want different color eyes and different color of this or whatever. I wish I could change this. What is it you wish you could change about yourself? You know what a lot of people or a lot of teenagers struggle with, especially in this social media society, with all the stuff that comes online and what they're seeing is they're struggling with self-acceptance. There's a model, there's a program that the world is putting forth of what a guy ought to look like and what a lady ought to look like. And they're these models. And by the way, you take all that makeup and you take all that stuff off, they don't look like that. That's right. That's right. Help us. And by the way, if that was the answer, then all these Hollywood stars and all these people wouldn't be getting divorced and cheating on each other. That's right. And so here's the deal. You got all these teenagers looking at this model that they're supposed to be at. Then they go look in the mirror. And they don't like what they see because it don't measure up. Well, I wish I had this, and they don't realize it, but who made them like they are? God did. The Bible says, hath not the potter power over the clay? Shall the thing formed say to the thing that formeth, why hath thou made me thus? And we got a bunch of young people saying, why did you make me like this? Why couldn't I have been more like them? Her. Brother Jeff. Brother Brian. Everybody. Oh, say it again. I cannot preach on the blood because of salvation. I talk about how good looking he is and he starts shouting. Yeah, amen. And so they look in the mirror. They don't like what they see in the mirror. And they realize that it's God that made them that way. And so they go to bed angry at God. And we're in here trying to trust, telling them, you've got to surrender your life to God. You've got to do what God wants you to do. But in their heart, they don't want to because they're blaming him for how they look. I got news for you, young people, adults, everybody, God makes no mistakes. Amen. He made us exactly like he wanted us. The Bible says in Psalm, I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works in that thy soul doeth right. Well, I'm made in the image of God. Amen. You know, it's a proven fact. that these ladies that are in these beauty contests and Mr. and Miss, Mr. Olympia and Miss North Carolina and Miss Universe and all that, they have more temptations than the average person. You know, the Bible says about Jesus that there's, he wasn't a good looking man. The Bible says about Moses that he was. Josephus, if you read the story, the Bible talks about Josephus, or Moses, being a very good looking man. And the Bible talks about Sarah being a beautiful lady, even when she was 90. But the Bible says about Jesus that he was just an ordinary guy. The Bible says there's no beauty. Isaiah 53, there's no beauty that we should desire of him. He didn't stand out. He's just an ordinary guy. So listen, if you're an ordinary looking person, you're in good company with Jesus Christ, amen? I hope you're getting a little bit tonight. I wish I could change what in my life. Here's one. What did you expect God to do for you and He didn't do it? How do you believe God loves you? Stay with me. I'm gonna ask that one again. How many of you believe God loves you? Let me ask you this, how many of you believe God likes you? Why don't you think God likes you? I asked God that one time, I said, his name's Terry, I said, brother Terry, I said, you believe God loves you? He said, yeah. I said, you believe God likes you? He said, no. I said, why? He said, he took my twin babies. What happened? He was bitter at God for taking his babies. Why don't you thank God like you? What happened in your life and you've been blaming him ever since? I want you to know God loves you. He's not here to hurt you, he's here to help you. He allows things to happen in our life. And we gotta learn to trust him. We gotta realize he knows best. He's in control, he's sovereign, he's God. Amen, are you with me? Say amen. If you've ever had a relationship outside of marriage and you was underneath the authority of your parents, you better go back to your dad and confess that. Where's that in the Bible? The son left. Ended up with the pigs. The Bible says he came to himself. I will arise and go back to my father. He went back to his father. And he said this, he said, Dad, he said, I've sinned against heaven. He got right with God. He said, I've sinned in your sight. He confessed to his dad his lifestyle. He said, I'm no more worthy to be called thy son. He said, make me a servant. You see, you read the beginning of that story, he said, get me. You read the end of that story, he said, make me. Amen? That's right. I'm talking about bitterness, greed, and immorality. And I'm preaching to the choir right here. I understand I am. Boy, I feel after this message, I ain't going to get no love. Amen. I made a bar some gas money, praise God. Listen, I know this is, I'm preaching to a revival crowd, but as far as your tithe that you give to this church, and by the looks of it, it looks like, according to your numbers, by the way, you're above average. So that's a blessing. But if you and I don't tithe and give an offering, we're greedy. Let me tell you how God will bless you, and I'll try to quit and move on. I need to do what I want to preach. Where to get a tie, that means 10. Anything that you get comes in at 10. That's just what we owe them. And then there's an offer, and that's anything above a tie. If it's $5 more than a tie, that's an offer. You get it. We support missionaries. My family now, my wife now, we support a missionary every month. And then, if there ever comes a chance that you can help out, and this is above that, that you can help somebody out in need, you give them some money, and you watch what God does. And let me tell you what else did I do. This crowd looks like they didn't see what I did last Saturday. I was praying one time in the morning. We have a straight-edged porch. I was praying as we got, all of a sudden, God, I heard a bird start chirping. And the Lord spoke to my heart and says, if you take care of the birds, I'll take care of you. As soon as that happened, I went and got me a bird feeder. We hung it up and we started feeding birds. Every time I fill that bird feeder up, it seemed like God gives me an extra blessing. He loves his little sparrow. It can't fall without him knowing it. That's right. We might be going to get 10 or 12 more birthdays. How are you going to get a birthday without me? But if you see somebody in need, and by the way, they might not even be in need, but the Holy Ghost says, give them some money. It's more blessing to give than receiving. this business will allow me to make some extra money. And I was having the time of my life. I was giving extra money to my kids. I was giving extra money to my wife. I was able to give and even, I would be able to have a preacher, a hundred dollar bill here, buy a preacher, a Bible here and just start giving. And during that time, man, God just started showing how strong and mighty he is. Let me tell you something, greed has no place in the heart of a Christian. What'll keep us from getting greedy is us Give it to those in need. Hey, forgive those that hurt you. Make things right if there's been immorality. And make sure there's no greed in your life. Repent from these things. So in order to go to heaven, you've got to repent. That's the first command Jesus ever gave. Or y'all, can I quote some scripture to you real quick? How about Matthew 28? Go ye now, Lord, and preach the gospel of every creature. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them, it's what Jesus said, teaching them to observe whatsoever things I've commanded you. Well, what did Jesus command? He says right here, repent. That's the first commandment Jesus ever preached when he started preaching. The second commandment's two verses below it. Look what it says. Let me get in Matthew, I'm still in Genesis. Look at verse number 19. And he saith unto them, What's those next two words? Follow me. And I'll make you fishers of men. And the Bible says, and they straightway left their nets and followed him. So there is the command to follow Jesus. The word follow means this. Are you with me? It says this. Come follow me now. That's what it means. Don't wait, don't hesitate, don't see if anybody else is gonna follow, don't see if anybody else is gonna join the crowd. Hey, listen, no matter what anybody else does, no matter what anybody else says, by the grace of God, we gotta follow Jesus, amen. We need to go back to that song that says, I have decided to follow Jesus. A lot of people say, well, if you want to get saved, you've got to follow Jesus. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says if you get saved, you've got to repent. And if you repent and get saved, now you have another decision in your life, and so do I. Am I going to follow Jesus now that I'm saved? You know Jordan Perkins? He's in a crime court. My daughter Esther and Jay, he's evangelist, they were singing out there and he was preaching. We went to their revival last week or sometime, and Jordan Perkins got up and said this. He said, I lived my life saved for a long time, but I wasn't surrendered. Man, when he said that, I thought, man, there's a message. Living saved, but not living surrendered. Surrendered is when you and I take that next step right here, this commandment. Follow me. Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. You know what's a burden on my heart of recent days? Is us as Christians telling other people about Jesus. Hey, it's not just me standing up and preaching. It's when I'm on the streets. It's when I'm here and when I'm there. I'm actively, compassionately talking to other people about Jesus. You know what Jesus said? He said, if you follow me, I'll make a fixture for you. If we ain't fixing it, it's because we ain't following. If we're not active, hey, I'm glad you're at church tonight. I'm glad you're here. You know what? I preached at Inky Cries Dinner Club. I preached to a bunch of youths. I know how that's like. That ain't no fun. So thank you for coming. I'm glad you're here. If you wasn't here, I wouldn't be here. But hey, it's just because we're in church tonight. I'm talking to me, too. Don't think we're following Jesus. You can be in church to a routine. I've done it, I've gone inside, I'm preaching to me. But when I go home, and when I see God in the Word, and seek Him in prayer, and I go out, and I'm God conscious, and I'm soul conscious, and I say, God, open up doors of opportunity when I go out, so I can tell others about Christ. Listen, if you're looking for an opportunity, I promise you'll find it. If all of God's people started witnessing and fishing for man, we'd start seeing more people say, nowhere in the Bible does it tell us, sir, to come to church. No work. But it tells God's people to come to church to get fed. But it tells us to go in all the world and preach the gospel to lose them. There's a difference between an evangelistic church and a soul-winning church. An evangelistic church, which is a time for this, and it's even a night. Evangelistic church preaches the gospel, sees people walk down the aisle and get saved. I got saved that way. I'm for that. A soul-winning church is a church of people that's been saved, but they go out to the highways and hedges, and they compel them to come in. He said, which one do we want to be? We want to be both. That's right. We want to be an evangelistic church that preaches the gospel, and we want to be a soul-winning church. And he can't do it all by himself. If you're going to meet people in your life, you better meet. That's right. And if he's going to meet people, you better meet. And so we've got to all be in this together. Hey, listen. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seeds, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. I was that soul in conference when I was 19-something years old. Curtis Sessom was preaching on soul winning. I got a burden from my neighbor across the street. God spoke to my heart. I walked across the street. His name's Harold. We used to go buy a shoe pool. It ain't a sin to shoe pool, is it? Well, it ain't tonight. And I asked him, I said, if you die, we know for sure you're going to heaven. And he bowed his head and his lips started to quiver. His wife said, you've been saved. His son said, he had been saved. I gave him the gospel and herald us Jesus to come in his heart and save him right there. He's in his 70s at that time. He's the heavenly old man. where to be about the thought. Jesus said, I come to sit here and say that which was lost. Listen, if we're really following Jesus close enough, we're gonna be fishing for men. Now a lot of times in my life, and I'm just as gifted as the next person, I'm following Jesus like Peter did whenever he was taking the cactus away. God says he followed him afar. That's the way a lot of Christians are today. Just far enough where nobody can see, nobody can tell. The people you work with, it's time you started asking them about Jesus. It's time you start inviting them to church. It's time you start telling them, hey, I've been working with you for five years or two years or six months. I want you to know I go to church, and I've been saved. If you die, do you know for sure you're going to heaven? You say, preacher, I don't know what to say. Well, pray that God will put the words in your mouth, and guess what? When you open your mouth, God's gonna feel it. You can talk about other stuff. Hello? You can talk about how husky the preacher is. Can we talk about Jesus? You talk about that latest post, you talk about what's going on on Facebook, you talk about what's going on in the world, you talk about your favorite sports team. Let's talk about Jesus. So, Matthew 4, the temptation of Christ, the travels of Christ, the truth of Christ, and last of all, you read the Bible, you'll see the touch of Christ. The Bible says Jesus went teaching and preaching and healing. And I don't preach the Bible. But if you're sick tonight and you want to be healed, I ain't been healed. Being healed ain't been healed. I can't come up here and say, here, let me slay you and the Holy Ghost and you'll be healed. I can't do that. I'll tell you what I can do. If you call for those of the church, we can pray over you and anoint you with oil. The prayer of faith shall save the sick. If you have any sins, they shall be forgiven you. That's in the Bible. That's in the New Testament. but I pray for somebody, that Jesus has the power to heal. I don't know what's going on in your body. I remember years ago, I don't even know why I prayed that. I was feeling good, I was fit, I didn't look like I look now. I was in the closet and I was praying, I said, God, I don't know what's going on in my body, but if there is anything going on in my body, That's not right. I pray you touch me and heal me. All of a sudden peace just came over me. Now he either healed me of something or he gave me a peace that everything was alright. God can still heal. I'm not going to let some other denomination and thus some other movement keep me from trusting and claiming the promises of God that God can still heal the body. He can. You know, there's a man in the Bible, he was a king, and the Bible says he was diseased in his feet. And the Bible says that he didn't seek the Lord, he sought physicians and he died. No, I don't need this physician, and Jesus wouldn't either, because he said they that are sick need a physician. I might need one tonight. You might too. But let me just encourage you, if something's not going right in your body, won't you give God a chance first? Won't you call this man up and say, man, I've got something going on. I've got a pain. Doctor told me this. He's wanting to have surgery. He won't do the MRI. He won't do all this stuff in my body. And in any pain way, I'm not saying that God won't lead you to do that. But won't we come to God first? Because I want to do James 4. If there's any sick among you, let me call for the elders of the church and let them pray over them in the morning, then with all, all the supply of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost can heal you. The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and if you have any sins, they shall be forgiven. Jesus, the touch of Christ. I don't know what's going on in your life. I don't know if you need a touch. I don't know if you need a repent. I don't know if you want to follow Jesus. I don't know if you need to forgive somebody. I preached everything tonight. But I hope something's there to help you. We need the Bible. Heads are bowed, eyes are closed. I don't know who's going to come to the canon and play. But you listen well. As the pianist comes, let me ask you, who's hurt you where you've had a hard time forgiving? A preacher, there's been somebody in my life that's hurt me. And I'll be honest, I have had a difficult time forgiving them. Would you pray for me? Would you slip that hand up? Anybody? I see that hand and that hand. Keep them up, and that hand and that hand. And I see that hand and that hand and that hand and that hand and that hand and that hand and that hand. And God bless you, I see that hand. Here's how you forgive them. You call their name out and say, Lord, I confess I've had bitterness and resentment towards, and you call their name out to God, and you say, for, and you name what they did to you that hurts you. Forgive me for that bitterness and take it out of my heart and help me to forgive them. You ought to pray that right now. He'll set you free. Grudge is too heavy to carry. You don't need that stuff in your heart. Neither do I. Preacher, God spoke to me. Go ahead and start playing something. I need to follow Jesus. I need to be a witness. God spoke to my heart about following him. Would you set your hand up, anybody? Anybody? I need to follow him. I need to follow him. God bless you, and God bless you, and God bless you, and God bless you. God bless you. Is there anybody here tonight who say, Preacher, I'm not 100% sure that if I die, I'm going to heaven. I'm not sure I'm saved. Preacher, I may need to repent. Would you pray for me? Would you slip your hand up? Is anybody not? I'm not sure. If I die, I'm going to heaven. I see that hand. God bless you. Anybody else? Anybody else? Stand, please, all over the church. Hands were raised about different things. This altar's open. Why don't you come to the Lord? Come to the altar tonight. Do business with God. Amen. Do business with God. Obey the Lord. I like that song. You can bring it all to Him. You can bring your bitterness. You can bring it all to Him. Amen. He remembers that you're dust. He'll have compassion on you. He's ready for you. ♪ When the world is getting so heavy ♪ ♪ And the sun is getting too late ♪ Go ahead and forgive them. Don't wait. Give them the night. Amen. Amen. Amen. Whatever it is tonight that God's spoken to your heart about, I pray that you bring it to the altar this evening. Make sure you leave it here and don't take it back home with you. All of us here tonight got some things, we've been hurt, Things that's been said, things that's been done. Grudges that maybe we've held on to for a long time. Things that's put us in prison in our hearts and lives. What a great opportunity tonight to bring it to the bird and bear, the one that is willing to release us and forgive us and help us to forgive others. and give us that strength that we couldn't find in our own cells, in our own flesh. And we're relying on the power of God tonight to help us do something that we can't do on our own, which is maybe to perhaps release that bitterness and unforgiveness that we may have in our life towards somebody else. Could be beset in sin, something that's in our life that we've just been hanging on. We've been trying to fight it on our own, and we can't, and we understand that we can't, but here tonight we find ourself at the altar, praying and asking God to help us to give us strength to set these things aside in our life. I'm thankful that we have a God today that is able, that there is nothing that God can't do, and we serve the God that can do the impossible with man. Some of us may be praying for folks to get saved. Family members, maybe we've been praying for a long time. Listen, don't quit, don't give up. Maybe here this evening, and I believe all of us here tonight, I've heard so many things that we can take and apply to our hearts and lives today about being a better witness. being a better people, being a better church, being a better Christian. He gives it to you when you're helpless in consolation. And I believe you ought to be able to practice freedom, yeah. And no one understands. I'm thankful tonight that I can bring it all to Him. Every single bit of it. The Bible tells us, cast all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. That means everything that you got. We have a Savior tonight that lets us know that, listen, we can just pour ourselves out, to empty ourselves, just to give God all we have. Does not the Bible say that he knows we have need of before we ever even ask? Listen, God already knows. We pour ourselves out to him this evening, and just give him all we got. If you're here tonight and you're not saved, and you raised your hand and you need to get saved, I encourage you to make sure You work that out before you leave the house of God tonight. The Bible says in this truth, what is your life is but a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. It is appointed unto a man once to die and after this the judgment. You need to make sure you're ready. Make sure you're prepared. None of us are guaranteed to get in our cars and make it home tonight. I was coming from town today, and I was on my way from town, and they got the yard sale stuff going on, and there was two cars that was in a wreck right in front of Yellow Branch up here. And I thought to myself as I was going through, because every year when we have these things, there's always wrecks, and there's always things like this that's going on. I was just like, Lord, I just pray God that you just wrap your hands around people that are traveling through here this week. tomorrow and Saturday, but every day. And I don't know anything about their situation, but I was just like, Lord, just help those people. All of us here tonight, we're not guaranteed the next second. So making sure that we're prepared in our hearts is one of the best things that we can do when we leave out here tonight. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you so much Lord, for this day, God, you have been so good. Lord, just pray. that you'll just continue to use this message, Lord, to speak to our hearts. Lord, I pray that you would help us, God, to take these things we've heard tonight, and Lord, not let them just to be something that passes through this ear and goes out the other, but God, we'd grab ahold of it, we'd take these thoughts captive and take your word captive. God, you said it, when it went out, it would not return void, and so I pray, Lord, you'd help us tonight to grab ahold of it, apply it to our lives, and help us to walk out of here tonight saying, you know what, Lord, there is some things I need to let go of, there is some things that I need to do, there are some things I need to change and God, I can't do it without you. Lord, I need your help. I need your strength. I need your power. I need your presence. God, I need all these things in my life. Lord, I pray to you to help me tonight. Help me this week and just help me to be a better man. Help me be a better leader, a better father. Help me be a better wife, a better servant, a better whatever it is that we need to be better at. We know that God can help us with that. And we pray that you just bless the night. I pray that you bless the preachers. He makes his way home here in just a little while. Lord, I pray, God, you'd wrap your arms around him. Pray, Lord, you'd help his church. Lord, that you would just help him, Lord, as he leads it, and Lord, I pray to give him guidance and direction in his life as the younger shepherd of Victory Baptist Church. I pray, Lord, that you would just fill it, Lord. I pray, God, that you would help him, God, to be freshly known that every time he gets into the pulpit that, Lord, that he would have your power and a sense of your presence with him every time. Lord, I pray to build a hedge of protection about him and his family. And Lord, all of us here tonight as we make our way homes here in just a little bit, I pray God to bring us back tomorrow. Lord, as we have another night of revival meeting and just pray, God, that you'd use the preacher tomorrow. Keep him safe as he makes his way up as well. And God, you'd use him just as you've used Brother Mabe here tonight and just as you used Kenny Baldwin this week. And Lord, I pray that you'd just use all these men and all the songs that we sing just to point people to you and bring you honor and glory. God, we know without you, we can do nothing. And so we just ask God you'd help us to make sure that we keep you the center in all that we do. This we pray in Jesus name, amen. If you would be seated here for just a moment, if we could get brother Jeff, he would make his way to the back and folks can just kind of shake your hand and meet you as they leave here tonight. If we could get some men to come up as we take a love offering for brother Jeff and you make sure you pray for him