faces and sure good to see a lot of new faces amen that's a blessing always and it's good to be here thank you so much Kimberly for the song she went to the same college we did and not at the same time she's not my age so anyway so but anyway I'm glad she She's doing fine, faithful, and serving God, you know. And I appreciate Connor and Jessica. And of course, the brand new baby, Amy and Collins. Somebody to keep him on his toes, you know. And so glad that... But anyway, I pastored him for a while, him and Jessica, over at Perry when I was pastoring. And I'm so glad that when he was moving up here that He joined over here at Liberty Baptist Church. Amen? And so now y'all have to put up with him, right? But anyway, it's good to be here. Appreciate your pastor. Love him. He's been a dear friend and just Just, you know, you got a great pastor. That's why I say he's faithful, he's serving the Lord, and just doing great things. You know, they're hard to find. Our pastors don't stick, but he has, amen? And to planted this church from the beginning, and Karen, how old is the church now? 27 years, amen. So praise the Lord for that. And we got several good friends around the state. We went to college with both Floyd Folson and several others that's been faithful in serving the Lord. If you have your Bibles, turn if you would to Matthew chapter 17. Matthew chapter 17. So glad to have my wife here with me. She's holding Collins over there, Israel. for Roman, amen, what a blessing. And so she likes to hold babies, I'm gonna tell you that. So she gets every chance she gets, she'll do it, amen. And I think she adopted about every one of them, or at least every other one anyway. So, but anyway, it's good being in the house of the Lord, amen. He's usually here, right? I love coming to church, amen? I mean, everything good happened to me, happened in church. I got saved in church. I met my wife in church. Man, I surrendered to the Lord in church. Man, I just thank God for the church, amen? And I live a blessed life. I wouldn't want to live a different life. Man, I've been blessed through my life, and it's not always been rosy. I've had up and down and heartaches and problems and been through despair times and all that. but the Lord has never forsaken me. His promises are true. We can stand on the promises of God, amen? And this will be a familiar text with you. It's in three of the four gospels. It's here in Matthew, it's also in Mark and Luke. And let's begin reading in verse one. If you would, why don't you stand for the reading of the word of God. And if you're able, if you're not, that's fine. I understand. The Bible says these words, And after six days, Jesus, taking Peter and James and John, his brother, and bringeth them up to a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto him Moses and Elias talking with him. and then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If thou will, let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias. While he gets spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased, Hear ye Him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and were so afraid. And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your many blessings. Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to be in your house once again. Heavenly Father, we need to hear from you. We don't need to hear from me, Lord. We need the message. the Spirit of God to take the Word of God and pierce our heart. Do a work that only you can do, Lord, and we'll thank you and give you that praise for everything that's done this morning for your honor and your glory. In Jesus' precious name we ask all these things. Amen. You may be seated. I want to preach a message entitled Watch after the mountaintop. Watch after the mountaintop. Now I want to tell you, here the Lord, Jesus Christ, takes his inner circle. It seems like when he ever called three out, it was always Peter, James, and John. And they were dear friends. You know, they were fishermen. And of course, it seemed like these three kind of was just kind of wanted to get closer to the Lord. The Lord didn't show favoritism. The Lord blesses those that stay close to Him. The closer you get to Him, He'll draw nigh unto you as you draw nigh unto Him, right? The closer we get to the Lord, the closer the Lord will be with us. And we just need to realize that comfort, that strength, and all that comes from the Lord through His Word, through the Spirit of God, and through our prayer as we pray faithfully unto the Lord. But here they are, Jesus takes them apart and takes them up on a high mountain with them and Jesus is transformed before them. In Luke chapter 9, you find out, that Jesus was talking with Moses and Elijah about what was going to be accomplished at Calvary. And he is discussing that with them. But when they see him, he is transfigured. I mean, he begins to glow above the brightness of the sun. they begin to see his clothes shine and they see him transfigured like Moses and Elijah is there. And I want you to think about this. You know, as being saved and I hope if you're here this morning that you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior. If you don't, let me tell you something. God loves you. He sent his son to die for you. There's nothing greater God would want for you in your life than you to receive His dear Son as your Lord and Savior and take you to heaven when you die. That's God's goal. That's God's love for you. That's God's commission to the church is to reach the world with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want to tell you, there's been in my life a lot of mountaintop experiences. Now, you're talking about on the mountain Here appeared Moses and Elijah, the lawgiver, and Elijah that represented the prophets of the Old Testament. And they're meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ. You're talking about a meeting. How would you like to have been there on that mountain and been with Peter and James when he was transfigured and all of a sudden you see two dear saints of the past show up? I want to tell you something. I don't know how they figured out it was Moses and Elijah before they knew who they were, amen? But I want to tell you something. You're talking about a Mount Tomas. You're talking about a camp meeting, a revival. I mean, I go to a lot of revivals. Sometimes I'm in some revivals. But I want to tell you something. Man, you're talking about getting stirred up. You're talking about being on cloud nine. This would have been it if you'd have been in the presence when the Lord was transfigured before them and to see all God do his wonderful and mighty works. And they had already seen the many miracles that Jesus had done. And here they're on the mountaintop and they're there and they're witnessing to all what's going on on the mountaintop. And no doubt they're excited. No doubt they're overwhelmed just because of the way Peter reacts. And you can see he just didn't know what to do. And you know, I remember the day I got saved. I remember the day I got called to preach. I remember God getting a hold of my heart where I surrendered to the Lord. I remember all those things and those great things that God did in my life that I could testify of the goodness and the greatness of God. And here in Matthew chapter 17 in verse one through nine, we have this great story of the Lord being transfigured on the mountaintop. And here the disciples are with him. just the three inner circle that's witnessing this great event. And then a lot of times that when you have revival meetings, camp meetings, or any of those things that you attend, it seems like some of them get really held to God. You know, I'll never forget my pastor when I went to Bible college. He said, David, there's two groups of students in Bible college. I said, there is? He said, yeah. He said, the ones that want to be there and the ones that were made to go there. The ones that want to be there, you get around them because they're going to be excited about what God has done. Amen? In their life and soul. The ones that have been made to come, they're just enduring. But the others, we're enjoying. And I'll tell you, Peter and James and John, They're over there enjoying what they're seeing. They saw something the other disciples never got to see. And that's the way about sometimes, oh no, those mountaintop areas in your life that God seems to show to you that's special to you. And it might be some Bible conference. It might be some meeting. It might be an answer to prayer. It might be when you're in your war closet and you're praying and God seems to touch your heart and stirs your life and it makes a difference within you. And I'm talking about the Spirit of God getting a hold of your heart and your life. We're living in a day and age that's getting dark. We're getting in a day and age where they want to try to make the doctrine, the truth of God's Word milky. and not keep it sound doctrinally. And I will tell you, this is a time and age where Jesus warned us about that if it was possible, the very elect could be deceived. That's the day and time we're living in, and we need to be aware of that. But these mountaintop experiences, what do you do when the revival meeting's over? What do you do when the Bible conference's over? What do you do when you just come in on Sunday and it just seems like You know, it's the same old, same old. Man, it's just another week. I'm here, but it's out of duty. It's not out of delight. And it seems like I'm just going through the motions. When I was associate pastor for Brother Eddie Fliers in Conway, Arkansas, we had a lady that played the piano. and she did a very well job. Well, she got upset about something, and Brother Eddie wanted me to try to straighten it out because he was out of town. So I went and talked to her. I said, man, you sure you want me to? And so it went from bad to worse. Anyway, she leaves the church. And anyway, it was over kids. What can you say? But anyway, she leaves the church. And Brother Eddie gets back. And so we're up there trying to sing. no piano player when I've started churches and I had no piano. I can't play the piano. My wife can't play the piano. We're just going to do acapulco, right? I mean, that's just the way it goes, you know? And more truth than that than not, you know? So we're doing that. You know what it did? When she left, it felt like she took God with her. That's the way it felt in the service. God did. And Brother Eddie was going to preach a meeting a couple weeks after that up to the Indian Reservation in Oklahoma. And he goes up there and he calls me the second night and said, David, you need to come up here. You need to come up to the meeting with me. So I run up there with him. He said, you won't believe what's happened. Well, I get up there, and man, revivals breaking out in that church. They don't have a piano player. Revivals broke out. And I mean, those Indians would get together, anybody could play a guitar or whatever. They was up there playing before the service started. So Brother Eddie gets back and he said, I want to tell you right now, I want the church to quit praying for a piano player. Anybody can play an instrument, guitar, whatever. You come up, we're going to start the services that way. You know what happened? God moved back in. God wanted to get our attention that it wouldn't a piano that made the services. It's him. I want the power of God on my life. No, I want him. If I got him, I got the power. Moses figured that. He said, I'll send my angel to carry y'all over in the promised land. Moses said, if you ain't going, I ain't going. Right? God said, okay, I'll go, amen. I want God, amen. You got God, you got his power. You got God, you got his word. You got God, you got his strength, amen. So you gotta keep God in the faith. So I'm gonna give you several things pretty quickly this morning about what do you do after the mountaintop experience. Look at verse two. It said, and he was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And you look down here in verse nine. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them and said, tell no man this vision until the Son of Man be risen again. Listen, Jesus brought them up to the mountaintop. This was a moment of time. This was an experience the Lord wanted them to go through. But I want to tell you something. God wants you to remember the mountaintop experience. He said you don't tell them till I be risen again. And you find out in 2 Peter, Peter mentions this also again about being on the holy mount of God. And so he remembers and God wants you to remember. I remember the day I got saved. I was in the service just like this. I had been in Sunday school and God got me under conviction about my lost sinful condition. And I was sitting on the right hand of the auditorium, your left over there about halfway back. My brother was on the far left. The invitation was given. I didn't much hear what the preacher said because, man, God had convicted me about being lost and dying and going to hell. I saw my brother get up and come down at the time. I didn't know what he was coming for, but he was coming to get baptized. I come down forward. The preacher took the Word of God and showed me what I have to do and everybody has to do in order to get saved. And that Sunday morning when I accepted what God said, God saved my soul. If you're here this morning and you're not saved, let me tell you something, God wants to save you. And there's several things that's gonna happen when you get saved. First of all, you're gonna be forgiven of all your sin. Secondly, you're gonna be born into the family of God. And thirdly, God's gonna give you a purpose for your life. That's more than just today. It'll be a lifetime altering journey. God wants to give you something special. But God wants you to remember that. I remember the day I got saved. I remember all those years ago when God touched my heart and I was on my way to hell and I got saved. I remember when I followed in believers baptism. Afterwards, I remember when I was at Myrtle, Mississippi in Camp Zion, when I had another mountaintop experience at a meeting where God got a hold of my heart and I went down and I surrendered my life to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. I remember three weeks after that when God called me to preach. I remember that. I remember when I went to Bible college. I remember the times that God has stirred my heart. I remember the times he answered my despair and prayer. We ought to remember the Lord. You ought to remember those mountaintops. What a blessing it is to be able to remember, not forget the precious times. the sweet times that God has touched you. I want you to remember the second thing God wants you to do is look at verse four. Then after Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If that will, let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias. Second thing you need to realize or recognize not only remember the mountaintop experience, but recognize God's work is not done on the mountaintop. God's work on the mountaintop is done in me. That's where God works on me. On the mountaintop is where I got saved. That was a work on me. When I surrendered my life, that was a mountaintop where God worked in me. When God answered my prayer, that was a God working in me. But God's work is not done on the mountaintop. And a lot of times, that's a moment in time, very precious and very dear, but it is not the work of God. It's not done on the mountaintop. Thank God for Peter. He was very enthusiastic, amen? But sometimes his enthusiasm was wrong. No way God wanted a tabernacle built for Moses and Elijah, right? No way, amen? This is my son. in whom I'm well pleased, hear ye him. So the Lord makes it, the father makes that plain about his son. So Peter got caught up in all the amazement, which a lot of times we do and we should be excited about it, but we need to make sure that we realize that the work of God is not done on the mountaintop. It's done in the valley. The real battle of the Christian life is in the valley, not on the mountaintop. It's your everyday today choices that you make in your life. That's where the fight is. That's where the work of God is. And let me give you some examples. Moses went up on the mountain and met with God face to face. What a mountaintop experience. I mean, man, God met with him a bush that wouldn't consume on holy ground. I mean, just talking with God. and hearing his voice encouraged him to do something. Moses, so all right, Lord, what do you want me to do? I want you to leave the mountaintop. I want you to go to Egypt. I want you to go down the valley because my work's in the valley. Souls are saved in the valley. Lives are changed down in the valley. The fight with the devil is in the valley. Not on the mountaintop. Elijah, think about Elijah. He's up on the mountain. Boy, fire fell down. Boy, the glory of God. I mean, man, I'm gonna tell you, it fell down, consumed the fire, and they killed all the prophets. You talking about a mountaintop experience. But it's just a few verses later, you find him under the juniper tree saying, Lord, just kill me. Where was the battle? In the valley. The battle for your testing, for your life, for your growth, for your development in our Christian walk is in the valley, not on the mountaintop. Mountaintop, God works in me. In the valley, I work for God. Where did David tell Goliath? In the valley. Think about it. It's in the valley is the real fight. The valley reveals us. It reveals our strength. It reveals our Christianity. It also reveals our weakness and where we need to strengthen ourselves. So the valley reveals us. Amen? The mountaintop, well, that has set you on fire. You want to attack hell with a water can, you know, but in the valley is where we're put to the test. Job was in the valley. going through everything he went, losing all of his kids, all of his wealth. I mean, balls from the top of his head to the sole of his feet. But it was in the valley that he stayed in a close relationship with God. Shall we not receive evil and good from God? They came out in this world, they cannot leave. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Amen. That was Job's response. Amen? So I'm saying it's in the valley is where we're tested. Jesus could not do His Father's will on that mountain. He had to come down to Jerusalem and be crucified. It's in the valley that we do the work of God. Let me give you the third thing. Look at verse 5. And while he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. Now, I don't know about you, but I have been tested a lot in my Christian life. And if you've been saved very long, you have too. But you know what? I can say God's been faithful. Have I always been good? No. Am I an authority on anything? No. That book is, but I'm not. Right? I mean, the word of God is 100% absolutely true from one end to the other. Amen? The Lord said, not one jot nor one tittle shall fail from this book. Amen? It liveth and abideth forever. And our fate needs to be based on that. But I want you to realize here what God is saying. Notice he said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased Hear ye him. Realize hearing is better than seeing. Hearing is better than seeing. Faith comes by hearing, not by seeing. So I'm saying your hearing is better than seeing. Well, you wouldn't see then. That's what Jesus said. Watch out for the signs. Somebody says, well, Christ is here or Christ is over there. He said his coming is as the lightning shining from the east to the west. He said that's the way his coming will be, amen? So he was warning them about walking by sight instead of walking by faith. And he's saying here that we need to hear from God. We live in a sinful, wicked world. It's getting worse all the time. Things that young children listen to now would have never been imaginable in my day. And y'all that's been around for a while, you know exactly that in school. They didn't have all this going on. My last year in high school, our history teacher, she started every morning with prayer and reading a verse or two out of the Bible. That's the way it was started. And that was in Little Rock. Well, there are not many that do that anymore. Sad to say that our young people are being barbarded with all kinds of stuff. That's the reason it's important as a believer that we need to train our children and more often teach our children at home and just don't rely on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night to get them the Word of God and get them saturated where they can stand on their own faith. Let me tell you about this. You know in my faith as a young person you know when I got saved I believed God, I loved God and I prayed. But you know the first time I went through testing and I prayed for the situation myself with no one else included in that prayer. I mean as far as them praying for me or anything. and God answered it. You're talking about increasing my faith because God heard my prayer. God answered my prayer. God did what he said he would do. I wouldn't lean in on mama's prayer or daddy's. I wouldn't lean in on granny's prayer. God answered my prayer. and if I was gonna step out by faith, that's what I needed to do. Hutchin Taylor, the great missionary to China, did the same thing. He went to college to be a doctor at that time, but God called him to preach, so he's gonna be a missionary to China. So when he, he got a letter from the mission board that wanted him to go after him, said, well, we'll pay for your college if you'll represent us out of our board. His mom and dad sent a letter to him, said, son, we want to help you with your college. He wrote his mom and dad and said, listen, the mission board has offered to pay my schooling, so you won't need to pay. He wrote the school board and told them my mom and dad has offered to help. I don't need yours. Because he said, if God can't take care of me here, how's he going to take care of me in China? He was out witnessing one day, walking back home, and from, I think it was a Saturday, but he was walking back, and a gentleman come up to him, and kind of pretty well middle-aged guy, kind of ragged clothes, and he come up to him and he said, hey, sir, can you help me? Any way you can help me? I don't have any money. Me and my wife, we got children. You got any money? He said, can you help me? He said, no, I can't help you. Oh, oh, please come help me. Could you come and pray for me? Well, he asked him, he said, well, what faith are you? He said, I'm a Catholic. And he said, why don't you go get the priest to pray for you? And he was kind of getting a little disturbed about that. And he said, well, he wouldn't come. He said, would you come? So he said, the spirit of God told him to go. So he goes. He goes in there. It's a bar down below, kind of like a beer joint. And he goes up into the top loft from the outside. And there's an apartment up there. And that man, his wife, and two children over there. And he begins to pray. And every time he prays, the Lord finds somebody to help him, he gets stuttered and stopped. And he said, sir, if you can help me anyway. He said, no, I can't. Because he had a college bill coming up, and he didn't know what to do. So anyway, he finally reached in his pocket. And he had two coins in his pocket. And he gave him those two coins. He said, that's all I got. And he left. He started walking back to his apartment. He had lived with a lady who had a boarding house. He was in one of the rooms. He walked up there, and on the way up there he said, Lord, you said if I lend unto the poor, I lend unto you. If I give to the poor, I lend it unto the Lord. He said, make it a short loan. He said he got back to his room, and shortly after he got back to his room, there was a knock on the door. And the lady that owned the boarding house said, hey, you got a package that came in. Here it is. It was a little box. And he carries it over, and he opens it up. And there's a pair of socks in there. So he pulls the socks up. And what he does, a coin rose out that equals to be a crown, which was four times what he'd give that guy. I'm just saying, you've got to learn to walk by faith. You got to learn to trust God. Amen? And you got to do it by remembering what God has already done for you. Amen? Do you know 1 Corinthians tells us all those things were written for our admonition, for our learning? So when we look at the Old Testament, we see where they went through, it's all for our learning, for our growth. And so when we gotta realize, we gotta remember what God had done for us, but we also need to remember that we need to realize hearing from God is better than seeing. Because when you hear from God and talk with God and put your faith in God, and I wanna tell you something about faith. Faith ends up being trust, okay? Me and my wife stood at the altar, many years ago and stood and she promised to give her life to me and I promised to give my life to her. I didn't know it was going to be more me than her. No, I'm just kidding. But anyway, so, you know, but we took each other by faith. Now it's not faith, it's trust. See, Lord saved me. I trust him on my salvation. Look at that again. Hey, God answered my prayer in finances before. When I was about to go bankrupt, me and my wife, when I was associate pastor, I was in business and almost went bankrupt because God was suing us and wouldn't pay us. Hey, God answered that prayer. Well, hey, all these steps of last experiences, when I look back and see what all God done, I can trust him tomorrow because I can look what God's done so far. Faith, the Bible says in Romans, it's faith to faith. God wants you to increase your faith and grow your faith. And I'm saying those experiences in your life ought to be a proof that God's gonna do it tomorrow because he done it yesterday. And he's the same yesterday and today forever. Let me give you the fourth thing. Now I want to jump to the last thing. Fourth thing is refocus on Jesus on the mountaintop. Look at verse 8. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. And let me tell you, in the critical times of your life, in the desperate times of your life, that's who you need to be refocused on. is Jesus, amen? I mean, they saw no one else. Elijah wasn't there, Moses wasn't there, but Jesus was there. He's that faithful servant, amen? He's that faithful one, that he's a faithful savior. He's a faithful Lord that'll never leave you nor forsake you. No matter how deep it goes, no matter how hard it gets, The Lord Jesus Christ is going to be there with you through every battle you face. And by the way, the victory's already won. We just need to trust God. I want to give you the last thing. Look at verse 7. And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, be not afraid. Arise, be not afraid. The last thing is, a renewed touch is better than the mountaintop. Listen, I want to tell you, Jesus came and touched them. Has there been times in your life, I don't know about yours, but it had been mine, that no consoling, no counseling, no books to live a better Christian life or anything, no tears, or any other human thing can solve the problem in your life. You might be going through trials and difficulties right now that seem like there is no answer. But I got good news for you, there is an answer. And what you need is a touch from the Lord. If you're here and you're not saved, you need a touch from the Lord. I'm glad that God touched me in that Sunday morning service. When I knew I was lost and headed devil's hell and he wanted to save me because he loved me. He didn't love me because I was worth anything. But because he loves me I'm worth value. And you are too. You're worth something because Jesus died for you. You're worth something because he loved you. I'm telling you, Jesus came and touched them. And sometimes there's not a pill for the problem, there's a person for the problem. Sometimes we just need a touch from the master's hand to re-fire our soul up. You think about this. What did Elijah need when he was underneath the juniper tree? God sent that angel to hit him on the side and said, get up and eat. And go, I got a job for you. Right? Just think about it. What did Daniel need in the lion's den? What about when he prayed and he didn't seem to get any answer but God sent the angel to him? What did three Hebrew children need when they stood against Nebuchadnezzar and that wicked ungodly nation? that hated God, an idolatrous nation. And then could you imagine me bringing three young people up here and all of y'all turn your back on them and they have to stand for God only because you turned your back. Think about this, all the other Israelites never got to experience what the three Hebrew children did because they stood strong. They were willing to die for the Lord. Matter of fact, when they were walking up to the fire, as far as they were concerned, they were going to be burned up. And no doubt it got a little warmer when they got up there, and then all of a sudden it didn't get any hotter. And when they fell in, they looked back, no doubt, and saw those soldiers die off. Because it killed them that put them in there. What did they need? They needed a Savior. They need the Lord. Think about it. There's going to be times in your life that you're going to go through hardship. There's times you're going to go through trials, all kinds of trials. I mean, people doing you wrong, turn your back on you. Difficulties just arise. It might be sickness. It might be illness. But whatever it is, you need a touch from God. Paul in Acts chapter 27 was out on the sea. The ship was about to sink. In fact, it was gonna sink. It was gonna be destroyed. And they started hustling around there. Everybody was throwing the wares overboard. Now these are fishermen, I mean, excuse me, these are seamen that used to be in on the sea with these ships. And they're throwing all the cargo overboard. And they're no doubt pulling sails down, doing everything they can to keep the ship alive. And all of a sudden, Apostle Paul, back it up and said, men, be of good cheer. Verse 22 of chapter 27, he says this. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer, for there is no loss of any man's life among you but the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, who I am and who I serve. Listen, I will tell you, what did he need? He needed a touch! Turn, if you would, to Revelation chapter one. Revelation chapter one, the last book of the Bible. Chapter one, here's John, the beloved on the alphabet. John here, of course, getting the complete revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ and what's going to end events is going to happen. And the first thing it starts out with in chapter one is John seeing the glory of God on who he is and how he is. Look at Luke B. Wood here, he says, in verse seven. Behold, I come with clouds, and every eye shall see me. In verse seven, they also which pierce me, and all kindred of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, amen, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord, which is, which was, and which is to come. Notice down in verse 10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice as a trumpet. saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. Note down if you would here when he turns to look at him, verse 12. And I turned to see the voice which spake unto me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. Now jump on down to verse 14. His head and his hairs was white as wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were a flame of fire, and his feet, like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars. Now look at verse 17. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead, and he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last. You know what John needed? He needed a touch from Jesus. And when Jesus touched him, no doubt John said, oh I recognize that hand. I remember that hand from the mountain. That mountaintop experience we had, I remember that touch. I don't know where you're at in your Christian life. I sure don't know what you're going through day-to-day problems, difficulties. Your pastor might know some. I don't know, but God knows everything. God knows the temptation you face. God knows the heartaches you face. God knows the suffering you're going through. God knows the pain you're going through. He knows your weakness. He knows everything about you. He knows your secret sins. He knows your love for Him. It may be that you just need a touch from Jesus this morning. I get up and say, Lord, touch me today. I don't want to make a day without Jesus. I don't want to face a day without, I'd hate to know I had to face a day without Jesus. But if you're here this morning and you've never been saved, you might say, well, I know about Jesus. Well that's good, but do you know him? Well, preacher, you don't understand. I've been in church. I grew up in church. I know all these things about God, but you know him. You know the works of God. See, that's where the Israelites failed. They saw the works of God, but they didn't know the ways of God. So they didn't know him. Moses knew him. Elijah knew Him. Daniel knew Him. King David knew Him. Paul knew Him. Mary knew Him. Do you know Him? If you don't know Him, God so loved you that He was willing to send His Son to take your place on Calvary. greatest day to ever happen in my life was the day I took loose and come down forward and asked Jesus to save me and he forgave me of all my sin and he gave me a life worth living and I become part of his family. That's what can happen to you this morning. The youngest funeral I ever preached, the baby was six months old. Six months. Oldest funeral, he was 82. Brother Knee. Brother Knee, I was visiting with him We went over, it was actually another pastor's church just a little ways from where I pastored in Guthrie, Oklahoma. And I went over there to preach a revival and we went over to visit Brother Knee. And Brother Knee was, he wasn't a brother then, he was 82 years old. Went down, sat down with him and said, Brother Knee, do you know for sure if you was to die this week, you'd go to heaven? Do you know that for sure? Do you know for sure you'd be in heaven? He said, no, I don't know. So I sat down with him, opened up the Word of God, and showed him what that preacher showed me so many years ago. And Brother Need bowed his head and asked Christ to come in his heart and save him. He was in Brother Channel's church for six months. Came every week. Six months later, he died. Six months earlier, he would have been in hell. God has given you, if you're here this morning, grace to accept his son today. You can walk out of the building, but if you do, you're going to walk over his word. and reject God's love, you'll be stepping over God's love for you to reject his son for your salvation. If you die that way, you'll spend eternity without God. Not because God hates you and wants to send you to hell, because you didn't want God and you went to hell. God sent his son to save you from that. If you're here and you're saved, don't forget those wonderful things God has done in the past, those mountaintop times that God has, and whatever you're going through now, if it's health problems, financial or whatever, it could be family problems, get on your knees and realize that God, you're still the same yesterday and today and forever. I'm your child. I need a touch from you. Would you please answer this prayer? Get along with God. He'll do it. But if, I don't know what you need this morning, but whatever it is, I'm gonna invite you to come in just a minute. Let's have every head bowed, every eye closed. Watch after the mountaintop, there's so much. There's a great purpose to live. We can keep our eyes on Jesus. We can get a touch through life as we serve him, because we're his children and he loves us. I wonder if you're here this morning and say, Preacher, if I was honest with you, I'm going to pray here in a minute. I just would like to know how to pray. If you'd say, Preacher, if I was honest with you, I'm not sure I'm saved. If I was truly honest.