This Book is All You Need

[Music] For I will live. I rise to the peace. No we. I will. Here is God of me from you. God is you. Give me. In time of the storm. You are the source of my strength. You are the strength of my life. I live. I have been so long to raise to you. For I will live. I rise to the peace. No we. I have. It's coming from you. God is you. Give me. In time of the storm. You are the source of my strength. You are the strength of my life. In time of the storm. You are the source of my strength. You are the source of my strength. You are the source of my strength. You are the source of my life. You are the strength of my life. In time of the storm.

You are the strength of my life. You are the source of my life. You are the source of my life. You are the source of my strength. ♪ I am the day ♪ ♪ And I'll tell you ♪ ♪ Don't tell me ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ You ♪ ♪ You are so, so, so ♪ ♪ We are home to worship you ♪ ♪ You are ♪ ♪ And I'll say ♪ ♪ Don't tell me ♪ ♪ Don't tell me, don't tell me ♪ ♪ Don't tell me, don't tell me ♪ ♪ Don't tell me ♪ ♪ Don't tell me ♪ ♪ Don't tell me ♪ ♪ Don't tell me ♪ ♪ The name of the world is a strong time ♪ ♪ And the righteous runnin' and they are safe ♪ ♪ They're all in you ♪ ♪ His name is the name above all names ♪ ♪ And at the niche of the left thing every knee will bow ♪ ♪ Every tongue will confess that ♪ ♪ He is yours, somebody else is over ♪ ♪ But in the end they cannot ♪ ♪ Don't tell me ♪ ♪ Don't tell me ♪

♪ Don't tell me ♪ ♪ Don't tell me ♪ (audience applauding) - The whole church said, "Praise the Lord." - Amen, Lord. - Dennis, David, everybody, at the end, when we gather around the altar, I'd like to do that the course you did, the alphan Omega, and then when we've sufficiently sung that, I want Chris to come back up here and sing your song because this is a holiday, and they don't have anything to do tomorrow. (audience laughing) So I think we all just have a good time with that. (audience applauding) Every time I walk up here, I realize that I am looking into the eyes of people who will be in eternity, somewhere, someday. That's a very heavy thing to ponder. Every one of us, and I'm looking at you, you're looking at me. Every single one of us will be in eternity, somewhere, someday. So if you ever begin to wonder why does he yell and pound the pulpit, I'll tell you why. Every one of us is going to be in eternity, somewhere, someday, and the only way to spend it with Christ Jesus the Lord is to believe what this book says. That's why I do it.

So now Lord, I thank you for the opportunity one more time to speak to your people, shepherd your sheep, break the bread with them, reveal your greatness and goodness to them, and I pray today for help. No mortal man can do this without divine help. Thank you for that now. Thank you for what you will do as people receive your word with gladness and apply it to their lives. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. How many of you brought your Bible? Reach down and get it. I'll wait, just get it. (congregation laughing) I want to see, sure. We're Christians, this is church, this is what we do, but we're soldiers, you never go into battle without a weapon. So for those of you that don't have one, you say, I'm embarrassed, good, good. Good. This week we're going to do, did you enjoy Jude? (congregation laughing) Really learn some things, don't you? This week we're going to second Peter. There are three chapters. starting on Thursday, read the first, those three again. And by next weekend, I'll be preaching out of Jude, I think, for some time and 2nd Peter, so you'll be more familiar, familiar with what's going on. But right now I want us to read together from 2nd Peter chapter 1 beginning with verse 16. Everybody look right here, let me give you an instruction. Everybody's reading. Nobody's

thinking, meditating, whispering. Everybody's speaking the word of the Lord from the balcony to the floor, from wall to wall. Read with me. For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the excellent glory. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the Holy Mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Knowing this first that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Amen. Thank you for being seated. Now in Jude, I read these words, Jude, a bond servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. Let's just review this. Jude and Jesus were half brothers. James and Jesus were half brothers. Jude and James were full brothers. So Jesus was the oldest sibling. He had four brothers and sisters. We don't know how many sisters, but He had sisters. Can you imagine that household? Can you imagine the oldest sibling, the youngest ones? Mary making a meal for everybody to eat. Joseph, who's probably elderly by this time, if he's even still alive, offering a prayer to Yahweh Almighty God and there sits the Son of God. That touches me. Can you imagine how they used to play together? In fact, Jude and James and Simon and Joseph and the sisters and even the mother even doubted Jesus one time and thought he was crazy, tried to get him out of the crowd. He's losing his mind, but now he writes, "Jude, a bond servant of Jesus Christ." Never refers to him as a family member or a half brother. He said, "He's my master. I am his bond servant and I am also the brother of James." To those who were called, sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ, mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, what he's saying is, I sat down to write to you about this beautiful thing that our master did for us when he

died on Calvary's cross and paid for our sins. That's what I wanted to write about, but I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend earnestly, fight fervently for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. I wanted to encourage you, but now I'm telling you, you got to fight because this beautiful faith is under attack. isn't that something? Certain men have crept in unnoticed who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men who turned the grace of our God into lewdness. That just means they had no shame. It teaches that the grace of God allows you to be and do anything you want, no shame whatsoever, and they deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what false prophets and false teachers and false brethren do. They sneak in and they teach subversive doctrines that oppose scripture and they take a word like grace and they add to it and make it something that it isn't. That God's grace allows you just to live any way you wish to live, and eventually that thought process will cause you to deny the only Lord God and the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to preach this again. I do it often. You know how I am. The Bible is about preachers reminding people. It's about apostles reminding the church, remind, remind. People always want something new, but the ministry is about reminding you of what you already know. And so I want to remind you today that our Lord Jesus Christ vehemently warned against deception and said that in the last days, deception would be so strong that if it were possible, even the elect would be deceived. It will be so forceful, so convincing, the redefining of words, the reinterpretation of scripture, the personalities of the false teachers and false prophets would be so hypnotizing that people would turn from the faith. Even powerful enough that if it were possible, the very elect of God would do the same thing. I want to remind the church again, unless you were full of the Spirit and full of the truth, you are going to be deceived. We're in the last days. The Spirit of deception is multiplying. It's forceful. It's like a storm building. And if you do not know what this book says, if you don't hide it in your heart every day, if you don't eat it every day and talk it all day long and apply it to every phase of life, you will be deceived. I know I'm abrasive. I say that often. I know it. I am talking to some people right now in this room and who are watching me online, who are going to be deceived. You're going to fall for the wrong thing and follow a false gospel and a false Christ.

Why? Because you don't read. You don't pray. You think that's a Sunday morning thing. You think it's a light devotional thing. But never in scripture are you told that this is a done deal until we get to heaven. Folks, I made this comment to Sandra the other day, just right out of my spirit. I said, you know, Jesus didn't promise to carry us to heaven. He said, follow me. If you've got the idea that you say, I believe in Jesus and he picks you up like a little lamb or a little baby and will walk you through the gates of pearl and down the streets of gold, you're wrong. Jesus said, this is a narrow path and you've got to walk it. Every day you get up and walk it. And veering off of this narrow path are other paths that lead to other things and other people. And if you don't stay close behind me, if you don't have a made up mind, if you're not fair with the Spirit, if you don't know the truth, you are apt to wander to the left or to the right. So I as a pastor in the last days, in the last moments of get overwhelmed because I try to be conversant or familiar with a lot of the false teachings and the false stuff that's going on. And I find myself every day investigating a doctrine, a new idea, this new preacher, this new pastor, this new prophetess, so I can come and warn you about it. And the other day after I had spent too much time doing that, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, "You're spending more time studying what's wrong than you are studying what's right." I've been reminded by the Lord, "You can't be on top of everything as a pastor. Your job is to preach the Word." I can't come up here and explain to you what's wrong with this movement and that doctrine all the time. I can hit it on the surface. I study enough to stay away from it, but as far as going in depth, God didn't call me to do that. He called me to stand up and preach the whole counsel of God to declare the truth that is in Jesus Christ and tell you to fill yourself full of Christ and the Word and be full of the grace of God all the time and be alert at all times. Folks, I'm coming to tell you today that the world is full of enough stuff that people who sit in churches just like this are being lured away. I had someone say, "Have you heard about the Ethiopian Bible that has been discovered?" Anybody heard about that? Oh, yeah. Oh, it's all over the internet now. There's this Bible that's been laid up in some dusty old cabinet somewhere in the hills of Ethiopia and the Ethiopian priests and followers have been studying it and reading it for years, but now it's public and it's the real Bible. Shocking, isn't it? They actually found the real Bible and the one we've been preaching out of and living

is a false Bible. The Roman Catholic Church and all the Orthodox churches are the ones that gave us this Bible with just 66 books, but the Ethiopian Bible has 88 books. Oh and it tells you how the angels operated in heaven and the names of other angels and creatures, the names of Noah's wife. It's full of mysticism, Babylonian mysticism and myths and yet people have just gone stark, raven, man. A new Bible? Wow, maybe I can learn something I didn't know. Well, if you'd learn this, folks, and things like the Passion Bible, we've offered this warning to you many times. You may have one with you today. The Passion translation? Don't even take it home. Put it on the floor and we'll put it in the trash can when you leave. It's horrible. It's wrong. It's demonic. That Passion translation is written by one deluded man, wrote a Bible so it would fit into a new movement called the New Apostolic Reformation, which declares that Jesus can't come back until the church gets the earth ready. It's all, it's nothing but false teaching and heresy. This guy wrote it. It's selling by the tens of thousands and people just lap it up because it's a whole lot easier to read, but he translated it from his own mind, you see? Folks, there's only one Bible. This Bible and I just read it to you. We just read it together. There is no such thing as a man deciding what to write in the Bible. This says, "Holy men were moved by the Holy Spirit to write the Holy Bible." It is not up for discussion. There are no errors. There are no mistakes. God has used men to pin these words and God has divinely preserved this word. Everything you need to live on this earth and go to heaven is in this book right ear you don't need to know when I do that. You don't need to know about all those angels and what they talked about before Lucifer failed. That foolishness is Tommy right, just we God's word. And that's why I've already gone too far now. Let me go ahead and finish this. More and more, we're going to hear about replacement theology. Every time I get on that, I start coughing for some reason. Where the church has taken Israel's place, there's no such thing as an Israel anymore. Folks that's been going around, but now it's gaining added vitality.

God has not replaced Israel with the church. If you just read Romans 9, 10 and 11, you'll see that Paul said God's not done with Israel yet. He's in the church working right now. He's getting a bride for his son right now. You see for 2,000 years God did work with Israel. And then when Christ was crucified, God turned to the Gentiles and some Jewish believers for 2,000 years it's been the church. But soon the church is going to be gone. We're going to beat the Lord in the clouds. And then God will renew his work with the nation of Israel. And in Israel there is a remnant. You see not all of Israel is Israel. Israel's not a holy nation right now. Jerusalem's not a holy place. It's a God defiling, blaspheming place. But when God gets through with it during the tribulation, the true Israel is going to be saved. Oh, Israel's going to be saved. And Jerusalem will be the center of earth's activity on this earth. All right. People arguing about the Trinity. You know what a cult does? You know it's a cult when it has another Bible. If there's another Bible besides this one, it's a cult. They argue about the Trinity. I heard one little podcast the other day where a Jewish scholar, Jewish scholars hate Christianity. And he was arguing that Mark, which is the oldest gospel, was never convinced that Jesus was God's Son. The whole book was written with a great big question Mark over it.

I don't know how he came to that conclusion, but I want to tell you, in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God. There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And I could go on and on, but we believe in the Trinity. And then they want to argue about the church going through the tribulation. And they say that the church is impure right now, and it needs to be corrected and refined. So the church, because there's no Israel, has to go through the tribulation. Which brings up so many questions I don't have time to answer. Why just this generation's got to go through the tribulation? Not about all the others of our brothers and sisters that have already died. They didn't need to be cleansed. Well let me just tell you something about the tribulation, it's not for the church. In fact, we've been delivered from the wrath to come, and God's going to come back and deliver us from seals and vials and trumpets and bowls and misery. Why? Because we've been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. We've been perfected by the blood of Jesus. We've been justified by the resurrection of Jesus. Hallelujah to God. He suffered it all for us. Then we, you know that whole thing about prayerism, that movement that says all of the Bible prophecies have already been fulfilled. They were fulfilled when Rome destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD. Well folks, that's just foolish. And there are people who are willingly ignorant, and people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. But Paul said, in the last days they would be deceived, and they, which means deceivers get worse. Deceivers deceive people. They live a lie.

They tell an untruth. And so when you read what we just read out of first, second people, let me just read it again. You have time? I'm going to switch into a different mode here. For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power in coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. Peter's saying, James and John and I saw it. Jesus was transformed on the amount of transfiguration we saw it. We saw Moses and Elijah talking with him. We saw it. We heard the Father say, this is my beloved son at whom I am well pleased. Hear him. For he received the Father, honor and glory when such a voice came to him from the excellent glory. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And we heard this voice, which came from heaven, when we were with him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirm. Another translation out of the old King James says, we have a more sure word of prophecy. Do you know what that means? Prophecy is more powerful, more potent than what we saw. What we saw will diminish as time goes on. Any experience you have will get smaller as time goes on. Details are forgotten.

The effects of it, forgotten. But this word of prophecy never changes. You can't forget this, it doesn't wear off, it doesn't wear out. Which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, till the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Folks, it's getting dark out there. You're gonna be blind and you're gonna be deceived. Be deceived if you don't hide this lamp in your heart. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation. No man just sat down and said, hmm, I think I'll write this. No, never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. So here it is, you have yours, you need nothing else. You don't need a supplement, you don't need an addition. You don't need some guy on a podcast saying, wow, a new Greek word has just been discovered that changes everything in the Bible. Boy, that's how they do it. No, sir, you can rest assured that all God wanted you to have, He gave you in this book. It's not everything about God, because God reserves some secrets for Himself. He doesn't tell us everything, but He has told us everything we need to know

to live a holy, godly life and to make it to heaven. So people always kind of get a little upset with the preacher. And I'm just reminding you of people who come out of charismatic churches. We're not charismatic. Hello, this is not a charismatic church. This is a spirit field Pentecostal church. Charismatic churches are crazy. I do not apologize for the choice of words because all they seem to measure on are miracles, signs and wonders. You know, during the tribulation, most of the world is going to be deceived by miracles, signs and wonders, from the false prophet, to glorify the etiquette. And you know what? If I were to stand here right now and say, "Everybody that needs a miracle, raise your hand. Don't, don't, don't, don't." Everybody that needs a miracle, raise your hand. You'd be surprised how many hands would go up. But then I'd have to say put them down because it's not a miracle you need, you need faith. You don't need a miracle, you need faith. You need to believe that all things work together for them that love God who are the call according to His purpose. You need to know that God is sovereign and He loves you. He has a plan for your life and for every day He has given you. He has designed everything that you will approach or that will approach you. No, you don't need a miracle to get out of a mess. You need faith to stand in the middle of it and say, "I know my redeemer lives.

My God is alive. My soul is saved." You need faith. So again, because we have visitors, we've got some visitors from Woodstock, Georgia here today, brother. It's good to have y'all today. So I'm going to preach to you a little bit, how about that? Oh, Pastor Livingston, if we could just get the spirit to move in our church, what are you talking about? Oh, you know, if somebody could just fall out in the spirit, what are you talking about? You see, that conjures up bad memories for me of a Benny Hinn service. You know, he's still around with his poison foolishness, but for you young ones who don't remember that, he waited until everybody was sky high emotionally and he'd walk out in a white suit and he'd take his coat off and begin to sling it and people would fall out. I've seen him do that over a whole choir of a hundred people. The whole choir goes out and went out for what, Pastor? I don't know. What is it you want when you go out? See, I don't believe any of that. I don't believe the spirit of God will make you roll around in the floor or quake like you have a demon. I don't believe it. I believe the spirit of God brings peace, brings calm and it brings power into your life. You don't need some false prophet to slap you on your head, knock you down and then you shake around for a while. I used to watch Kenneth Hagan do that very thing, walk around through a congregation and his tongue was slithering or sticking out like a snake's tongue and he would just hit people and they would fall out and I could go on and on to me that's a demon working right there.

Oh, you better be careful, careful of what? I'm preaching the truth to you today. I'm telling you, it's not miracles and it's not fantastic services and it's not being knocked out and it's not rolling around. That is the power of God. No, the power of God is when you walk out of this church into a dark world and the devil hates you and the demons will destroy you but they can't lay their hand on you. What does the Bible say? I remind you when the rich man died, the one that didn't feed Lazarus at the gate, I know I preached it not long ago. The rich man died and went to hell and he's talking to Abraham, he said, "Abraham, just let somebody go and tell my brothers not to come here." Well, that's a long story but he essentially said that can't happen. He said, "If somebody would rise from the dead and go to my brothers, they would not come here. They would believe." Abraham said, "But Jesus said," Nope. If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe though one rise from the dead. That's why I minimize miracles. I don't eliminate them. I minimize them because I know that there's more power in the Word of God hidden in your heart than in some experience you might have temporarily. I don't ever mean to put them down, but I want you to know that when God's Word is being preached, why are you hearing it right now? You don't need extra-curricular things, you don't need any proofs, any fantastic stuff. By the Word of God is quick, that means it's alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. It has the power to pierce down into the soul and spirit, the joints and marrow, and is a deserner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Now, let's go to Jude for a moment. Verse 5, "But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe." Whoa! They saw the miracles. They came across the red sea on dry ground. They saw walls of seawater on either side, and then when they watched Egypt's army drown the waves clapped back together, and it was just them and their God. They were delivered from Egyptian bondage, they were saved, but they didn't continue in their belief. And the ones that came across the sea on dry land couldn't believe that God could give them the drop of water to drink or food to eat. And there it is. I didn't make this up. The Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt afterward, destroyed those who did not believe. Everybody listen, when you got saved, you got to keep walking in Jesus. Keep believing in Jesus. You don't just get saved and the door slams and you're in. Let me say it maybe for the third time. This did not say He'd carry you to heaven. He said, "Follow me." That means trust me, obey me, love me, serve me when nothing is working in your life. But let's keep on going. Verse 6, "And the angels who did not keep their proper domain but left their own abode, He has reserved an everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day." What's He talking about? Angels who did not keep their proper domain left their abode, you see, God made everything for a specific purpose and for everything to be in a specific order. Angels were made for heaven and these angels who were in the presence of God decided that

they would rather leave heaven and come down and mix with human women. They left their proper order. They left their designated place and made a decision on their own to be with human women. What does the Bible say? He has reserved an everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day. While I'm talking to you right now, somewhere in the heart of the earth is a very, very dark place. And there are angels in that very dark place who are chained up. And they are waiting for the great day called the Great White Throne Judgment when they will be cast into the eternal lake of fire. Huh, next verse, "As Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them in a similar manner to these," what does that mean, "similar manner to these?" He's saying, "This is the," Sodom and Gomorrah did the same thing. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah left their proper domain, their order. They began to do strange things with strange flesh, let's read it. And the cities around them in a similar manner to these have been given themselves over to sexual immorality, I'm sorry, immorality and gone after strange flesh. Men with men, women with women, or humans with animals, people leaving their proper domain. That's what the angels did. That's what they did in Sodom and Gomorrah. And he said, "They are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." An example to whom? Me? God says, "Look at this. This is what happens when you leave your proper domain, when you don't obey Me, when you go after strange flesh." In the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, they were destroyed by fire, but they're going to be thrown into eternal fire one of these days. And that's the danger of not realizing that God has order. God is the head of all things. Jesus Christ is the head of the church. Man is the head of the woman. There is an order. Men are the pastors of the church, bishops and deacons of the church. There's an order. And anytime that order is interrupted, the vengeance of God will be poured out on whoever does it. He says, likewise also, these dreamers defile the flesh. There's a terrible word, defile the flesh, dreamers. Church, can I be really honest with you? Because some of you are just so hungry to know so much. And you read all the books. You read every book you can,

but you don't read this enough. You don't read this enough. You read what some pastor writes. You read what some theologian writes. You need to read this. Here it is. These dreamers. Anytime a man or a woman starts talking about the dream he had, she had visiting Jesus in heaven or Jesus visits them on earth. Run. You shouldn't be there to start with, but run. Get right up. Even if you're with somebody, say, either you come with me or I'll leave you behind. Get up. Run out. Jump in your car, slam it and drive and squall all the way out of the parking lot. Get away from these dreamers because people are making these dreams up. Pastor Livingston, I mean it. They're making them up. Satan is helping them think that these are dreams from God. He said these dreamers defile the flesh sooner or later these guys are caught in immorality. I said sooner or later they're caught in immorality. They reject authority. They say, nobody's over me. I follow Jesus. I don't submit to anybody. God called me. I only answer to God Almighty and they speak evil of dignitaries. That means they have no respect for the unseen world. Number one, a true man of God will submit himself to somebody in the Lord. I have a general overseer that's over me. I have a state overseer that's over me. I have a church council here that I answer to. I have a wife that I truly answer to. So anybody that says I don't have to listen to anybody is a dreamer and a rebel and he says they speak evil of dignitaries. I'm going to close with this. I want to tell you something. Speaking evil of dignitaries, that has reference to angelic and spiritual authority. Have you ever heard anybody say, I bind the devil in services, charismatic services? Everybody agree we bind the devil? Some of you have done it. I bind you devil. How long did he stay bound? You can't bind the devil with your mouth. Why? Michael, here it is right here. Michael. dared not bring a railing accusation against the devil but said the Lord rebuke you. Even Michael understood the order that Satan is loose. He's the God of this world. He's the prince of the power of the air. God is letting him do his thing. Michael didn't say, "I'll slap you devil." He didn't say, "I cast you out devil." He just said, "The Lord will take care of you. The Lord will rebuke you." Now listen to me church everybody. This idea that you just bind the devil is wrong. The only way you can bind him is to obey him. I've never met anybody who bound him. Have you passed a grave? Y'all from woodstock, you ever met anybody that bound the devil?

Has anybody ever met somebody? I bound him. You didn't bind him. You got tricked into thinking that you have more power than you have. And you are dealing with a high-ranking power that God has put in order. Listen to me now church. I'll say it again. I can bind him in my life by obedience. When I obey this book, there's not a thing Satan can do. When I walk in this truth, there's not a thing Satan can do. The wicked one cannot touch me. Even when God gave the devil permission to attack Job, God set limits on him. So the devil may let, I should say, God may let the devil mess with me a little bit. But when the time comes and I say, "No, I know my Redeemer lives." And I know who I serve. I know what the Bible says. I won't give in. I won't give up. I will not sin. I will not listen to the devil. I'll do what the say of the Lord. I think God just says, "See there I told you." I told you devil, "This one belongs to me." I bind him by obedience. Can somebody say, "Amen." Stand with me, please. Okay, it's Labor Day. I didn't preach too long. Let's have a little music here. I want to tell you something when you get down here. This is the fourth Sunday we've done this. I wish you would come on down around the altar with me. And I will tell you for those that don't or weren't there in the old days at the old church. This is how we finished every service. We only had a couple of hundred people and every service we finished up around the altar, singing. Come on down. That's a beautiful sight, isn't it? Everybody here is going to be an eternity someday. Isn't that beautiful? For those of you who are watching online, just get a little closer to the camera. Just smile. I want to tell you something that's been very, very meaningful to me for many years. Back in the old days when my father-in-law Pastor Weatherby, what a great man of God. He and I were starting this church together. We had a family tragedy. It was bad. It was really bad. It was a tragedy. And I remember one day he just spoke up. We were all taught. He said, "Well, I don't know about y'all, but I'm going to heaven." He said, "I'm not going to let my children steal my joy. They're going to do what they want to do. I gave them to God, but I'm going to heaven. I'm not going to let unruly church members steal my joy. They're going to do what they do, but I'm going to heaven. I want to know how many here will join with me

right now in my life because I'm going to heaven." Come on. I'm going to heaven. Won't you just say it one time? I just made the devil mad. I promise you that. Say it again. I'm going to heaven. Got a made-up mind. You can't stop me. The devil can't. No, sir. I'm going to heaven. I don't know what my children will do in the long run, but I'm going to heaven. I don't know how my grandchildren are going to turn out, but I'm going to heaven. My Lord died so I could see Him in glory. And I'm going to enjoy a little bit of that heaven right here on this earth. We pray that today, as you watch Pastor Livingston's message, you will be encouraged and ready to dig deeper into a life with Jesus. To help you on this journey, central has two resources for you. First, you can sign up to receive Central's Jalen Prison Correspondents' Course through the mail by writing to Central Church, Jalen Prison Ministry's Discipleship Center, 5143 Sardis Road, Charlotte, North Carolina, 28270.

Second, by using Central's app and clicking on the button below, you can read a short daily devotional that will encourage you to read and pray daily as you draw closer to Jesus. Thank you for watching. (gentle music) [MUSIC PLAYING]