MCM Convention Night #1

Well, praise the Lord, I'm accustomed as I am to public speaking. It is good to see everyone. I came ready to listen, but I also don't want to shut down anything the Lord wants to say. I don't know that what I have will take a great deal of time, but I just I've had some thoughts recently that I feel are simple on one level and yet profound on another. And it's come to me several times over the last few weeks, and it comes from 2nd Timothy, the beginning of the book. We know that Timothy was a, when Paul first, you know, began working with him, was a young man who had a gift and a calling. And it even says in here that Paul laid his hands on him. There was evidently a witness to those around him that he had something unusual. And it wasn't just a local elder, he was one who could go out and really help to establish churches and build them up and just basically do what Paul was doing as part of Paul's, you know, greater ministry. And we know that in the first book of Timothy, he was actually sent by Paul to Ephesus and spent some time there with the people and to set things in order and to help the people and encourage them. But this is his last letter to Timothy, and it really is right at the end of Paul's life. Paul is in prison in Rome. He's gone through a lot. It sounds like at the end of it that he's actually had one trial and come through that. Now he's been brought back before Caesar again, and he feels like it's now it's about to end. But anyway, he wants to encourage and reach out and encourage. Anybody here need encouragement tonight? Yeah. How many of you believe that God has called us to live in the time that we live? Is there some accident that we're here? Do we have a purpose? And this, so the things that Paul is writing to Timothy apply to everything, to everybody. Because every member of the body of Christ has a gift of some kind to minister to others. And the Lord wants us to be ready, and he knows the hour in which we live. And even though there's a sense of, compared to many other places in the world, we have it easy outwardly. But inwardly, and you know, the devil is gaining strength by the hour. And we see him, we see the loosing of Satan that we've talked about so many times happening. And yet here we are. We're meant to shine like lights in a dark world, and to find what God has for us to do, and to do it. And of course that's what Timothy, that was Timothy's place. Paul was going, passing, ready to pass off the scene, and he knew he wanted to leave a word of simple encouragement to Timothy. I'll just read, I'll start with verse one, just so we can pick up the context. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, thank God, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve, as my ancestors did with a clear conscience,

as night and day, I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois, and in your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded now lives in you also. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. Now that's a reminder, and it's a reminder I need. If God's given us a gift, it's possible for us just to start coasting, just to kind of go through the motions, and go with the, go through the flow, and do all the outward stuff. And before we know it, we've turned something that's real into religion. And like I said in a recent sermon, God hates religion, but he's got something that's real. And I just, I just pray that God will help me, because I'm the, I need this probably as much as anybody in here. But anyway, this was the main scripture, and this translation says, for the spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline. And of course we're familiar with the language, we haven't received the spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and of a sound mind. Well those are the meanings of those words. are way difficult to translate with a single word in English. All of those concepts are there. Timidity is a word that is used in this translation and basically it's just a form of fear, isn't it? And what Paul is emphasizing here is something we know that we live in the midst of a battleground. There is a kingdom of light. That kingdom is founded upon truth and life. It's founded upon God invading our space and making himself known across the globe and reaching a people. But there's another kingdom that we're very well aware of and that's a kingdom that operates on lies and does everything in its power to bring to hinder what God is doing in the earth. And so that's what Paul was concerned about because when you think about it, you have a contrast here, don't you? You have a spirit that that produces fear. Now, where is that coming from? Yeah, you know, there's, that's obvious, isn't it? God doesn't, there's a godly fear, but it's not a god, it's not that kind of a fear that he's talking about here. This would be a fear that would hinder you. This would get in your way. Now, is there anybody here who never experiences fear? No. See, we know we all do. It's just part of life. It's part of our makeup. And the devil knows exactly how to approach every one of us to inject some measure of fear into our lives.

And, you know, I didn't try to organize any of this. You could, you could cover the gamut. I don't care what, whatever it is. Every lie that the devil tells is designed ultimately to separate us from what God would say and to put us in a place where uncertainty and fear and something reigns other than the rest that God wants to bring us to, and the effectiveness that God wants to bring us to. And Paul realized that Timothy could easily get in that place. He talked about fighting the good fight of faith himself. He realized that serving God is a battle. That the devil is constantly going to, going to be doing something to try to break, to hinder us, to limit us and cause us not to be able to walk in the simplicity of what we know. There isn't anything in this scripture that we don't know. We know these things with our, with our heads, don't we? How do you, you know, obviously we learn what the scripture says and what God says, but boy, I wonder what would happen if we actually believed it. That's scary, isn't it? If we actually believed what God said, because the devil is constantly doing everything in his power to undermine it one way or another. Now, how do you think that God helps us in this battle? How do you think he helps to, helps to bring us to the place that Paul was trying to encourage Timothy to get to? How does it happen? Does he just take us in a classroom and explain it? It's the school of hard knocks, isn't it? The only way that we learn what this truth means in a practical sense is going through stuff where we have to either rely on this or we're going to listen to the voice of the enemy. So if you said, if there is an area of your life where the devil has just seems to be able to make you afraid and make you unsettled and uncertain, don't be surprised if God lets the devil do that. Now, why would he do that? Because he wants to teach me and you to actually believe what he says and to recognize what's going on and say, wait a minute, devil, I know where that's coming from. And I don't have to listen to you because you are a liar. You are going to put my situation in such a way that I don't know how I stand. I don't know. Can I do this? Am I, does he really love me? Does he really care? You can go through the gamut of questions that the devil will raise in your, in your mind. Just the ability to do stuff. We talked about I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. We all know that. But do we feel, do we actually live that? How do you learn that? Except God has to throw us into the deep end of the pool to where we actually have to reach out and trust him. And then it becomes personal experience. Then we know something that we didn't know before. And we have a faith that we can do it.

we didn't have before. Has God done that with anybody lately? Yeah, thank you, Lord. Wouldn't it be good if we learned to say thank you, Lord, when he does the hard stuff that actually brings us to a place where we can walk in what he has said? There are so many simple things that we just know we could recite the verse. We know all about it. We can profess it and say, I believe that. But I wonder if people are looking at our lives, would they say, oh yeah, they really believe that. They know what it's talking about. Do you see where God wants to bring us? And we're in the danger that Paul saw, that Timothy, the devil would look at Timothy, know what his weaknesses were, and then begin to inject just some part of his lies. You know, the power. We sing the song, we've got the power. But how many of us got it in a practical sense when we need it? God, do you think that God actually wants to? I mean, look what he says. God has not given us. Isn't that an awesome word? There's so much baked into that simple word that God is not rewarding our efforts. We're not earning something. We don't get something from God because we deserve it.

We know that doctrinally. But how many of you right now are struggling in your life because you see the devil's got you so focused on what you can't do and what you aren't feeling and aren't seeing and are worried about. And it goes on and on and on and on and on. And you're worried. You know, I know it says God loves me, but does he really? Can I really do all things through him who strengthens me? And it goes on and on and on. What does he really think of me? Can I really go to him right now? Oh, look at that weakness. I just, here I am again. I'm struggling with the same thing. What has God, and we're trying to come, and the devil is so focused on us. And the message, the baked in message, when we see, when we're focused on what's wrong with us, the baked in message is you've got to do something. You've got to fix it. You can't go to God until you fix this or make yourself better in some fashion. Isn't that right? Every part of his message is focused on me and what I can become and what I am and my efforts. And all of God is saying, I know that you can't do it. In fact, I let that happen because I wanted you to know it. Didn't he do that with Paul? He let that devil bother him until Paul understood.

He wants to put me in a place, not so that I can't do it, so that I'll learn that I really can't do anything without him. But that's okay. He knows that. It's not like he's expecting me to do something. When I mess up, he's not saying, what's the matter with you? Come on, try harder. How many of you have ever tried the religion of try harder? That doesn't work. The wisdom behind that comes straight out of the pit. You don't need God. You can be your own God. You can do it yourself. You've got to do it yourself. You've got to qualify yourself. Oh, thank God. Whatever he has put before us to do, that's what Paul was trying to convey to Timothy. If God puts something in front of you, don't get your eyes on your lack in anything. God's power is there. If he's told you to do something and he's put it in front of you, you have the power to do it. And he doesn't require that you earn it. And if we don't get it all exactly right, praise God, there's an answer for all of that.

But it comes from God's heart and his grace and his love and his mercy. It's his gift to us. Don't you think the Lord knows what we're made of and what's wrong with us and that we are all works in progress at best? There's not one of us that can look in the mirror and say, well, praise God. I know he's going to use me because. You know, the more we learn that we can't and that basically without God, we're broken, the better off we are, because then we just lay it down and say, Lord, I'm yours. I'm yours. And all I want to do is just let you live in me because I ain't got it, but you have everything. And you use the word give. Give, oh, I need to hear this. Every one of us gets focused on what's wrong with us and how we failed and how we just quit. I didn't pray long enough. I got my mind on this and on that. Oh Lord, I tried and I failed again. And it goes on, it's an endless thing if we'll listen to the lies. Instead of looking at Him, fixing our eyes on Jesus. And I'll tell you, did the Lord Jesus mean it that we could learn from Him and find rest for our souls? How many of us have that kind of rest? I think the Lord has got a lot of work to do,

but He's faithful. And He's not upset with us because we haven't arrived yet. Do we realize that? Do we actually believe that? That He is willing to give us power and how about love? God's love does not have to be earned. It's something He freely has given and He demonstrated at the cross. Praise God. But how many of you have struggled with feeling like you've got to qualify yourself to be loved? How could He love me now? Right. Or if He loved me, it wouldn't be this way or that wouldn't have happened or they wouldn't have said what they... There's no end to that. If we can't get back to the simple fact that God, I know you love me now in spite of everything that's wrong. I'm entrusting you to finish the work you started. I know you're gonna do it because you're God and you're able and you're willing. And you're not saying, I'm gonna start this and then it's up to you to qualify yourself now or else you're out. Boy, He finishes what He starts and His love is given, not earned. Now, what does that mean in practice

for every single person here? Does God really love you? We know to say it. Well, if He really loved me, I'd feel differently. Okay. Since when do we live by our feelings? We're gonna have to learn how to take God at His word and thank Him for it. And I'll tell you, even when the feelings don't arrive like we'd like them to, God's word is still true and He respects and He listens to faith. He responds to faith. And the wonderful thing is He'll give you the power to believe in the first place. I haven't got that. I mean, everything that I need comes from Him. Isn't that what Peter said? He's given us all, everything we need for life and godliness. Anybody need some of that? I do. Thank God. That's the message that we have. And God wants a people who are willing to do whatever it takes to come to this place where these truths that we know in our heads become real in our lives to the point that other people can see them and we're not just sitting there waiting for it to get right before we can do stuff.

God wants to set us free from the lies of the enemy in whatever form they come. Praise God. Praise God. And this last one, you know, power. I need power, don't you? I need something that's got some force because I'm up against power. It's gotta be God's power, it's not mine. But He is more than willing if I'm willing. If I'm willing to open my heart and let Him live in here and teach me what to do and empower me to do it, the devil knows that. That's the one thing he's afraid of. And for me to know that God loves me even when it doesn't look like it, feel like it, and the devil's trying to focus me on me. But the last one, you know, sound mind or self-control, both of those meanings are baked into the original word. And I see a relationship between this and what Peter said. Because here you have a person that has gained some experience, they understand how the devil works, and they realize they're standing in God, but now they're actually having to put it into practice. Like Peter says, you know, be sober, be vigilant, be watchful. Why? Your adversary, the devil, goes about like a roaring lion.

He's looking for lunch, basically. Looking for somebody to eat. That's where the devil gets his nourishment, is feeding on our old nature. Well, do we have what it takes to beat that? Not in ourselves, we don't. But in Christ, we have what we need. And what God wants to do with every single one of us is so teach and train us that we just don't know the classroom material. We learn how to recognize the enemy. We learn how to stand upon what God has said is my standing with him. I'm not down here in the pit. I'm sitting on the throne with him. The devil has no right to me. I have declared my body to be a part of a sacrifice to him for him to use. And this body doesn't belong to you, devil. It doesn't even belong to me. It belongs to him. You don't have the right to tell me what to do or to control me. I have the power to say no. Because he's already put me in the ground 2,000 years ago. And he didn't bring the old me out when he came. Boy, isn't that something? He left everything in that tomb. Came forth with a brand new heart, a brand new life, a brand new everything. And all that he could share with us. And there's a brand new you and me that's alive. Well, God wants that to come to life in this hour. And I just, I feel my need, but I also see God's mercy in doing what he is doing and teaching. And I'll tell you again, I'm going to go back to this because it's true of every truth in this book. We could sit here and talk about it and just educate our minds and profess to believe it. But God is going to put every one of us in real life battles. Where we need to take hold of this and believe it, actually believe it. Instead of just saying we believe it. It needs to be believed on the field of battle.

And I'll tell you, we've got a God who will help us and strengthen us and enable us if we'll believe him. That's what Paul was concerned about with Timothy. Timothy, I know the devil is going to come against you with everything in his power to keep you from being effective. But I want you to know that God has given us something and he's given it. You don't have to earn this. God put his call in your life. You are his. He will give you the power. He loves you. Even when you fall in the mud, he doesn't stop loving you. He will lift you up. If there's something wrong, he'll tell you about it, but never with condemnation, always with hope. Always to bring you forth and give you something to look to him about and rejoice in. And he's going to train your brain to recognize what's going on. So you can say, I get that. I see what's going on here. Devil, you get out of here. You don't have any right to me. God says this and that's what I'm standing on and I'm going by. I'll tell you to God be the glory. I don't know if this needs anything, at least more for me. But I appreciate God's faithfulness tonight. He's certainly doing these things in me and the older I get, obviously the weaker I feel in many ways. Some of you know what I'm talking about, but I'll tell you, we've got a God who is with us to the end. And none of it depends upon human ability or worthiness or resource of any kind. He is training a people who will just let go and let God have his way. And he is more than enough. And I don't have to earn it. I just need to surrender to it and believe it and learn in the field of battle to lay hold of it. I guess I'm saying the same thing over, but that's all right. Anybody here need any of this? Yeah. Well, I'm right there with you. Praise God. Praise the Lord. What was that term you used? Baked brains. What was it that you said something about brains or train your brain? That's it. That would be a great T-shirt. Train your brain. Nobody would know what it meant if we could testify at the same time. You know, it sings me that song about going to the river. It had everything to do with what Phil was talking about. Every fear, inadequacy we got, if we get to the river, if we can get to the river, we can have some.

You know, I was thinking about Stephen. And right before he was brought into trial, they were talking to him. And in the last verse of Acts chapter 6, it says, And all that sat in the council looking steadfast on him saw his face as it had been the face of an angel. You know, the anointing of God, if we can get, God's anointing is, once we're born again, it stays with it. Now we forget about it. But I was just thinking, turn over to 2 Kings chapter 6, and I've actually been barred from speaking on this in Jacksonville. But you know, the chapters, one of the great chapters about how Elijah, you know, came down to the, he was encumbered by the Syrian armies, and you know, that's where we get more, there's more with us than we can see. He saw angels and chariots ran around him. But I don't want to talk about that. I want to talk about the first chapter, the first part of this chapter. And something that happened, it's very real to me lately, and I'm going to start reading verse 1 of chapter 6. And the sons of the prophets said unto Elijah, behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too straight for us. Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there where we may dwell. And he answered, go ye. This reminds me of the church y'all had here, what's it called, the Calvary Chapel, a little small church. He went through this. He said, let's each man, let's build a bigger church. That's what was happening here. And one said, be content, I pray thee, go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go. So he went with them, and when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood.

But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water, and he cried and said, alas, my master, it was borrowed. You know, this obviously, this happened, this is not a story that was made up. But I read this, first time I read this, and I never lost an axe head. But I had many times where I lost a rake, a bee raking leaves, and it was loose. And I knew it was loose, but I didn't do anything to fix it. And I eventually was raking leaves, in the end, the leaves get pretty high up there. And I lost the top, the part of the, well, this is what happened to the axe. You can tell, if you're using an axe, you can tell if it's loose. There's a little, what do you call a little piece? What is it? Wedge. I grew up in the city. Anyway, that wedge is pressed down, and it splits, basically, it holds the thing tight. And the axe head, even though it has to be attached to a stick, the stick, you couldn't cut through problems with a stick. You have to have the axe head. And you know, our lives as Christians, sometimes we know, you know, the Holy Spirit will tell us your axe head, in one sense, it's loose. You know, it may be just this sense of just not spending time with the Lord. It may be, it may be a hundred different things. But inevitably, it's bringing this guy, us down to where this guy was. He just lost the axe head in the water. And he knew it was borrowed. God, the gifts that God gives us, he is, he's given everybody a gift. If we're a Christian, we have the Holy Spirit. But here's what I wanted to get at. He asked this guy, he said, and the man of God said, where fell it? He had to show him where he lost. And I was thinking about the river.

You know, all these issues are going on with people, but if they could get to the river. But this, the prophet wanted him to tell him, where did you lose it? And you know, I went through something recently where, I don't know if it was anger or maybe a depression. But I remember, I remember where, where it happened. I had to go back there and repent and realize that God wants us to have, he wants us to have the same revelation, talk about power, love and sound mind. The, the, the men that were walking on the road to Emmaus, they were so discouraged. And this is what I'm talking about. And when they got done talking with Jesus, it was a couple of hours based on the, I ran out of numbers. It was, it was around, it was around six or seven. miles, I think, so it's a couple of hour walk. And, you know, back in those days, you had to be careful what you walked on. Brother Thomas used to tell the stories about his farming days, you know, you had to be careful, be on a caravan trail. But when they got done and Jesus broke the bread, they realized something that we should never forget. Didn't our hearts burn as he spoke the Word of God? There's something so encouraging about our hearts burning. And that's what he was telling Timothy. He said, you didn't get it, spirit of fear. You didn't, you didn't, you know, when you, if you lose your axe, just go back and go back to where it was and ask the Lord to recover it for you. He said, but I gave you a spirit of love, power, and sound mind. And that's what those two, two men or three men that were on the road of Emmaus, they were so discouraged. But when they got done at the end of that day, when they broke bread with Jesus, they were so fired up. They were, they were full of love, power, and a sound mind. And I may be getting off the subject, but when we were singing that song about the river, we've got, I don't care where you are tonight, you've got a place, you've got a place to come and you're here. You're here now. Amen. Tim told me if the spirit moves you, stand up and let it be heard. I met some of you here. My name is Bob Smith. And my, I've told a couple of people when the name like Bob Smith, I say, when I get to know you better, I tell you my real name. Well, my real name is embedded in my testimony. Lord took my name away a long time ago. So it's embedded

in my testimony. Here's my testimony. I used to hate the church and all you hypocrites. And the Lord, when I was 48 years old, now 71, drug me by the ears. I didn't perform. What's your name again? I can't hear. But thank you Bill so much for, that was very encouraging and so true. We are but filthy rags, all of us sinners, if not for the grace of God. And I want to say to all you people that came from Calvary Springs churches here and abroad, you're blessed. You're blessed. Because when I was going through that phase and wasn't converted until I was 48 years old, because I hated the church and all of its hypocrisy, the Lord turned me into this, turned me into a cry baby. And He made me love the church and hate my own hypocrisy. I got to walk in this flesh. I have to battle it every single day. And don't we all? And it's encouraging to know that we have the scriptures to comfort us. My favorite is simple. Psalm 48, 10, 46, 10. Be still and know that I am God. So when I start getting astray, you know, you're supposed to walk by the Spirit, but we often are, you know, walking by the flesh. And that Holy Spirit wakes us up and says, Hey, wait a minute, Bob. I said, be still and know that I am God. Just today I had a situation where there was, and I won't go into the long story, but it was, could have been a situation in the flesh. And we call that conflict. And I learned that a long time ago now that when there's conflict, we should never try to avoid it. But we should take the lesson from Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, when Nebuchadnezzar turned the furnace up and they walked into that furnace. And who was in there? But Jesus. And not a hair on their head was cinched. Just as an encouragement, anytime conflict comes our way, number one, we have our testimony. I have a testimony. It's getting longer and longer and longer. Now visiting with you people. I'm about to share another one about churches that I've visited all over in my quest to find out, is God true? I traveled from California to Florida, been in all kinds of healing ceremonies, did all kinds of things, chasing God for 48 years, 48 years. And I was always held back by people that would come to my home. My parents were Mormons. So they weren't devout Mormons. Dad would hide the liquor when the elders would come. So there wasn't any devout Mormonism.

And so religion became really nasty to me. So I went to Eastern religions, and I became a Buddhist. Not so much a Buddhist, but a Taoist. And I had a really nice little Buddha doll with an incense burner on each side, and I could sit down in front of it on a white table and go, um, um. You know what the difference between that and prayer is? Prayer is bidirectional. You're talking to your father. And in those conversations, we can then, in our deepest sin I've experienced, as you get older, man, you find out that you just get, more and more sin just gets uncovered. You know, perfection isn't going to be here for me. I think as an older man, the last one to go was pride. What do you think? Pride. And we're so prideful. Oh, we can do it. You know, let me get a list, as Bill was saying. But I just want to just encourage y'all that Calvary Springs Church, you saw me in there taking pictures of the, I was like being a spy, right? This church gives me a great feeling, y'all. I've been in churches that did not give me good feelings. I've been in churches where the guy stands up there with a credit card machine. And he goes, prosperity kind of preaching thing going on, and a credit card machine and people bringing up their credit cards and they're, and they're giving the money. How did I get there? There was a mechanic, husband and wife, they had O-rings for wedding bands. And I said, Oh, you guys, you've got O-rings for wedding bands. That's really sweet. You own your own business. Oh, no, we gave those to the offering plate, our real wedding bands.

You ought to come to our church, they're going to have a healing thing where one man's leg is shorter than the other, and he's going to make it the same size. And I said, man, that's some holy orthopedic, I got to go see some of that. So I go to this church. And I sit, you see me, I like to sit in the front row, especially because I can't hear real good. But I also like to be up close and, and see what's going on. And so in this particular church, after they get done collecting the money, the guy gets up, he's, he's, you know, just more prosperity kind of preaching, getting people's money. And that's what I was thinking, getting the people's money. When you guys started singing a contrast, okay, my heart felt so full of joy and so peaceful. And it was very, very good. You know, even though it's different than the church I'm in, but it's the same church because you believe in that scripture from old to new. You believe in the gospel. I'm telling you, we got a problem in the churches today. Not everybody believes in the gospel. Not everybody believes in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Not everybody believes that that spirit can live inside of you and, and teach you and comfort you. People don't believe it. We just heard it today. And we, I struggle from time to time to believe it, but we have the book to go to in the morning and sit down with it and read it and have it replenish us, replenish why the Lord says man does not live on bread alone. You know, bread's good for this part, makes you fat, but the word is good for this part. Makes you, yeah, heals you. So I just want to just say, you know, in that church that I was referring to, I was going to go three times because I have a belief, do things three times, three times.

When I was converted at 48, my son was in Atlanta and he was an actor and he was off to New York to become a famous actor. And I'm going, and I was just recently converted about a year by then. And I'm saying, you need to come to my house and stay with me for a while. I want you to go to church with me three times, just three times. And he did. And if he were here to share his testimony, he would say, I went because I thought my dad was dying, because you'd never find him in a church. He came the third night, the Lord converted him. He's a pastor today at King's Church in Irmo. And what a blessing, you know, what a blessing. So that church, going back to it, because I wanted to make this point in contrast to what I've experienced in churches and what I'm experiencing here and what I experienced tonight, is that they would stand up and they were singing and doing and plodding and doing stuff. And I have a little bit of a problem with praise music kind of stuff, because people can get emotionally stirred up so much that they end up worshiping the musician rather than the Lord. I didn't have that feeling tonight, y'all. You worshiping the Lord. Praise God. I mean, it's so good. And that church, in contrast, they were standing up all of a sudden, they banging on the feet and people started going, you know, and all this kind of stuff going on. And I'm just sitting there being still and knowing that he is God. And I'm going, Lord, where you got me? What's going on here, man? This is weird. And then I hear somebody say, everybody stand up. And I'm going, there ain't no way I'm standing up and not being a part of that.

I'm not going to be a part of that. And so I just sat there and I couldn't wait to the end because I wanted to go up and see the pastor guy that was there. And I noticed a gal over in the side all by herself, looked like she was there for the first time. She was all by herself. And I waited for that guy. He even did an oil anointing. And I stood in line for the oil anointing. You don't need an oil anointing. So I was there. And he said some things that I looked him right in the eye because I wanted him to know who I was. And I wanted to talk to him afterwards. I wanted to ask him, why do you use a credit card machine? Why did you take those people's rings? Why do you do that? I just want to know why. And he disappeared like Elvis left the building. He was nowhere to be found. So I said, well, Lord, could you use a raven to feed your people? Yeah. So I went over to that young woman that was there and I witnessed to her and I told her to find another church and to stay in that Bible. So in 2 Timothy 2, I think it says that we were not given a spirit of timidity. Even when, you know, I'm sitting over there and I'm going, I'm a little bit nervous about coming up here and talking to y'all. But my spirit is not timid. My spirit. All our lovely people, just all lovely people.

Let me pray for you. Father in heaven, Lord God, thank you. Thank you for our testimonies that are refreshed every single day. If we turn our eyes inward and look and see, we have stories to tell our neighbors. We have true stories to tell them as our life is being converted more and more into the likeness of you. Father, we praise you for that. Father, I thank you for this experience at Calvary Springs Church. These are a lovely people. You can tell a lovely people when you come into a congregation and you feel at peace. Father, I just give you thanks for that. I pray this in Jesus' name, the name that is most loved. And as we say in circles that don't like that name and most hated, amen. Praise God. Thank y'all. Praise the Lord. Bob, thank you for giving up and sharing. Appreciate that. My name is Phil. P-H-I-L. Phil. Thank you, Phil. Yeah. I was reading a scripture earlier. I'm just real quick. If anybody else's life is like mine right now, you've gone a million miles an hour or you have a million different things going on all at the same time. And life is just moving fast. a lot. And if you're not in that place, just get ready. It's getting ready to happen. It's just around the corner. But as I was reading the scripture, it really just kind of blessed

me because it really just almost feels like they're talking about this here today. In Romans 1 verse 12, Paul says, I think it's Paul. Who wrote Romans? Paul. Excuse me. When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by you. He's telling them, before this, he has been away, but he's writing ahead of time. I can't wait to be there with you. I just can't wait to be here with y'all. This is an opportunity for us to be able to come together and be refreshed, to be encouraged. And I appreciate the word that's been brought forth and the testimony that's been given. You know, God wants to do great and mighty things in and through us. And as Phil was talking there, I was thinking about the trial of our faith, the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being in the fiery furnace. All of these things, they exercise our faith, right? And I was thinking about just, there's a scripture in 2 Timothy, I think, or 1 Timothy 4, I believe, where Paul's writing and he talks about, well, you know, exercise is good for the flesh a little bit, but it's better for you to be godly. But I was thinking specifically about the flesh. If you watch people who work out a lot, I have a neighbor across the street who is retired Army, is about 48 years old, and all he does all day long is work out in his garage. And he's like big and buff, you know. But, you know, the only way for him to ever get that or anybody to ever get stronger is you have to start with a little weight at the beginning and you have to keep working your way up and you get more and you get more and you get more. And the whole time it's difficult, right? And if you're trying to bench press a thousand pounds, I guarantee you a baby ain't never going to do it, right? I can't ever do it because I don't put the effort into it. I don't want that kind of pain and effort. But, you know, God wants to work and grow us up in Him and He wants us to be able to be His light unto this world. And the only way that you and I can have the testimonies that you shared and all of us, every single person here has a testimony of what God's taken you through. And it's unique for you and your perspective, but it's also not just for you. For us to take this light and put a bushel over it, what is that worth? Nothing. But if we take that bushel and we let that light shine up on a hill, what do we got then? We got some bright light, something that's helping. Is it just helping me? It's for everybody all around me, right? So now, exercising that, the other word that really came out to me was this, God has not given us a spirit of fear or timidity. He covered

both sides of that spectrum of fear. Not just this like devil hunching over you, you know, cowering and you're like, because the situation is really, really difficult. But He's also like what you just said, Bob. He don't want us to be timid. Are you ashamed of the God that saved you from your sin? Who's given you eternal life? Smack that devil around. He's a liar. Don't be timid. Be able to let your light shine. Do we have to force God down anybody's throat? No, He didn't do it to us, but He will make a way for us to be able to let our light shine to those people at just the right moment. And we just need to share that with whenever the Lord gives us an opportunity, we need to be able to share the testimony that God's given us. And I appreciate this time. Y'all just don't know how much I really needed this. And it's been really difficult lately. And my heart's really been going out to Joanne for all the work that you've been putting. I'm sorry to call you out, but we've missed you here locally. We do love you dearly and you have been missed, but God bless you for the work you put in for support and sharing. I know it blessed everybody in Florida. Nobody's even said anything. I just know it. It's a fact. And when we do these things for one another. Man, I can't think, there's so many people in this assembly. Over my life, I'm only 57, so it's not very long, but over my life so many people in here have had some part to play in touching my life and building that testimony that I have. And that's to God be the glory. I'm not giving you glory, I'm giving God the glory that you let your light shine for me. And when Paul was talking here in Romans, he goes on and he says, I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that I planned sometimes with you, but I was preventing until... That was not what I was wondering. Sorry. I don't know why I've highlighted that part. Well, he goes on and he says, I want to work among you and see spiritual fruit. That's what I want to see here in this assembly this week. I want to see spiritual fruit just ripe, ready to be munched on, right? Do we have anything to be timid about? Do we have anything to be ashamed about?

I want y'all to really think about that. Because it's easy sometimes just quickly say, no, I've got nothing to be ashamed about. You have nothing to be ashamed about. Why? Why? Somebody tell me. He took away our shame. He took it away, all of it. We have everything to glory in, everything. Tell me what we don't have glory in. Not in ourselves, right? Yes. Yes. True. Thank you for correction. It's the truth. But I'm just saying, we have everything to glory in God in. Because He's worthy. He's so worthy. I'm just so blessed to be here. God bless y'all. Well, y'all know me. I can sing, but I can't talk. I just want to put a thought in your head. Does anybody notice any extra trials this week? I'm going to throw both hands up. The enemy knows what's happening here. We're gathered together, worshiping our God, praising Jesus, and he does not like it. So he's going to throw a couple extra fiery darts. Happened to me today.

Man, I've been so excited to be here. I got off of work. It was a decent day. I'm like, I'm done. I'm getting off on time. Go home and get ready. We're going to show up. And I had a flat tire. And it was a giant screw. I just immediately thought like, well, praise God, it's started. You know, like I said, the enemy knows what's happening here, but like Phil said, we have no reason to fear. Actually it's encouraging. It actually encouraged me to know, I mean, you know, it doesn't, it doesn't seem rational to think about it that way, but I'm like, it's like this, I expected it and I'm expecting it next week too, once all this is over and we've gone home, but you know, it is encouraging because the devil's going to work extra hard to picket our faith and to picket our, um, our freedom that we get. But I don't know, I just, I just wanted to, to, to bring that to y'all's attention. Like the trials are going to come, the devil's going to work extra hard and he's defeated. Thank you. That's what I was looking for. That's where I was. He is defeated. So, uh, be encouraged in your trials. More is coming, but we are free.