Try Me

Oh, so are you weary and troubled, no light in the darkness you see, but just one hope But just one look at the Savior is life more abundant and free So just look up, help is on the way Turn, turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full, look full in His wonderful face And the things of earth will grow strangely dim Oh, when you turn, turn your eyes upon Him Oh, turn your eyes upon Him His Word forever unfailing, His promise an anchor to fold Here in the midst of our sorrow, Oh, His presence is healing your soul So just look up, help is on the way Turn, turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full, look full in His wonderful face And the things of earth will grow strangely dim Oh, when you turn, turn your eyes upon Him Oh, turn your eyes Oh, just look up, turn your eyes In the light of His glory and grace There is freedom, healing, fill in this place In the light of His glory and grace There is freedom, healing, fill in this place In the light of His glory and grace There is revival stirring, shaking this place In the light of His glory and grace There is revival stirring, shaking this place In the light of His glory and grace There is revival stirring, shaking this place In the light of His glory and grace There is revival stirring, shaking this place In the light of His glory and grace

There is revival stirring, shaking this place Oh, when it's plain to see. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. In the light of His glory and grace Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Oh, when it's plain to see. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Oh, when it's plain to see. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Oh, when it's plain to see. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Oh, when it's plain to see. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Oh, there is freedom here. Oh, in the light of His glory and grace. Oh, we need it this morning, Lord. Oh, there is revival. Oh, there is something more, Lord. We need it. We need it. Oh, in the light of His glory and grace. Oh, there is revival. Oh, in the light of His glory and grace. Oh, there is freedom. Oh, in the light of His glory and grace. Hallelujah. In the change of the crown of glory. In the change of the crown of glory. In the change of the crown of glory. In the change of the crown of glory.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. If you're saved this morning, you ought to feel free to praise the Lord for this great salvation. We've been blessed by this great music, and I think you know the person we're centered on today just from the music. His name is Jesus. How many of you brought your Bible? I'd like to see it. Let's hold it up. Yeah. The floor is way ahead of the balcony. Even, yeah. Last week, we read together 1 and 2 Timothy. I hope you enjoyed doing that together. This week, I have a different assignment for you. The book of Jude. There's only one chapter, 21 verses. Let's read it seven times this week. One time a day, ponder it, meditate on it, make notes. Ask the Holy Spirit for insight. You'll be amazed. You find out that this word of God is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Pierces down into the soul and spirit, the bone and the marrow. Nothing is hidden from God, but all things are open before Him with whom we have to do. I love this book.

I love this life. I love the Lord. And I said to the early crowd, I'm happy now. I'm in the pulpit. I even addressed my wife as babe and said, aren't we happy to be here today? She agreed. Are you happy to be in God's house today? You could not, you could not pay me to be anywhere else today. Paris, well, I don't even want to get into it. I don't want to be anywhere else. I'm exactly where I want to be right now. So Father, we've gathered in your presence. We've come here to worship your son. Your son taught us who you are. Your son sent us the Holy Spirit to teach us more about you. Holy Spirit, thank you for enabling me to worship today. Thank you for the truth that you will peel back and open up and reveal to us who are hungry for it. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And in this message today, Lord, let us all realize how important it is to have pure hearts and clean hands. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Just before you're seated, I'm in Acts chapter 8. Let us read the first three verses together. That'll get us started and then you can be seated. Ready? What in the world was that? Okay.

My hearing is bad and things don't sound the way they're supposed to sound. Okay, we'll go ahead. Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time, a great persecution arose against the church, which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. You may be seated. So Stephen, the first martyr, has been murdered. They've buried him. The Bible says Saul watched it all and approved of it. And Saul hated the church, this new thing called the way, so much that he went and asked the authorities for papers so that he could go and arrest anybody that claimed to be a Christian. He wanted them dead or imprisoned. And that's why it said he made havoc of the church. He would just burst into homes and drag off people who were accused of being Christian. Chapter 4, in verse 4, those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the Word. That's the good thing about persecution. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. What did he preach? Christ. What else is there to preach? Now since we've used that word, preaching and preached, let's stop a moment and go back and review. In Matthew chapter 13, Mark chapter 4, Luke chapter 8, the Lord gave the parable of the sower of seeds. It's very simple. Jesus said, a sower went out to sow, and he's talking about preaching the gospel. So I'm going to sow seed this morning.

A sower went out to sow, and some of the seed fell by the wayside. Got it? That means it was a footpath, it was trampled down, it was hard, dry, the seed could not take root, and it died. The birds of the air came and snapped it up and ate it. Then Jesus said, some seed fell on rocky ground. Not much earth, but just enough for the plant to grow a root, a short root. And all of a sudden, it grew. But because there was not much rootage, and the sun was hot, and little water, it lived for a while, and then it withered away. Jesus said, there's a third group. The seed goes out. It actually produces a plant, but then thorns and weeds and thistles grow up around it and choke it and it does not bear fruit. So the fourth group is the seed that fell on good, fertile, receptive ground. And it grew and it produced 30, 60, 100-fold return. But what we have to keep in mind is that everybody who has ever heard or will ever hear the gospel will be in one of those four groups. You today will be in one of these four groups. There will be people who will hear me. I used to just say, here in this congregation, but oh no, it's everywhere now. You will hear this and it will go right over your head. It will fall on stony ground and the devil will steal it from you and keep you from being saved. Others of you will hear it and go, that's wonderful, I want to be a part of that. And instead of growing and finding their roots deep, they believe for a while. Just for a while. The initial growth starts, but then they wither for a while. Then there's a third group. People who love the Word, who really want to get in, but they just don't want to give up this life. They really like all the thorns and thistles and weeds of this world.

Things that choke them, distract them, steal from them. When they could have much truth and growth and glory in Christ, they just cannot separate themselves from this world and they bear no fruit and they are lost. Oh, but there are some of you today who will hear it and you will love it. You will cherish it. It will be precious to you. You will meditate on it, think about it, study it, pray about it, and love the God who gave it. So that's what preaching does. That's God's chosen method of getting people saved, preaching. Not singing. Singing is when those who have been saved by grace come together and magnify the Lord. Preaching is the only God-anointed, God-appointed method of getting the truth into the hearts of people. Whether it be on a stony path, on stony ground, in weeds, or in a good and fertile heart. So there we are. They went everywhere preaching the Word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes, with one accord, heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed, and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city. Sounds like a city-wide revival to me. But, there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city. Magic. He was an evil guy dealing with evil spirits. And he astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, this is what the people are saying, this man is the great power of God. And they heeded him, because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time.

But, when they believed Philip, as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. Revival. They heard the gospel. They heard about Jesus. They believed and they got baptized. Then Simon himself also believed. And when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs. which were done. I contend, going back to the parable of the sower of seeds, I contend he never got saved to start with. And I'm going to show it to you in a moment. Now, verse 14 says, When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. But I thought they were already saved. They were. They were filled with joy. They were baptized. They believed. They heeded the words of the kingdom. They were saved. But the apostles said, They're saved, but they need this power from on high. This is the promise of the Father

that Jesus said He would send to us. Who when they had come down, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Now that's confusing. And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands, the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money. Hang on a minute now. What did he see? Something happened. It wasn't just that they laid hands on them and said receive the Spirit. Something visible happened. And I contend it was that they were filled with the Spirit just like they were on the day of Pentecost. And they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Can you prove it, preacher? It's implied so strongly. I don't know what else you would see that would make a man say, I'd like to have that kind of power. So let's read it again. When he saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands, the Holy Spirit was given,

he offered them money saying, give me this power also that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. Oh, here we go. Now we're beginning to see who this man really is. We've already read that he believed and was baptized and hung around with the church folk. But now the contents of his heart are being made manifest because he wasn't any different. He was saying, people used to regard me, adore me, need me, give me attention. I was the man in town. But now it's this Philip and this Jesus. They're getting all the attention. People don't even look at me anymore. I'm out of it. I'd like to get back in it. So if I can do what I was doing and call myself a Christian, then I won't lose my place. If I can still amaze people, get them to look at me, get them to need me, adore me, that's what I'm really after. And I'll just say, I'm one of you anyway. But his heart had not been changed. And I can show you this. Peter said, your money perish with you. Again, I'm not a Greek expert, but I do read and study Greek.

Peter was saying, you're lost. You never were saved. You might have believed and you might have gone down in the water, but your heart was not changed. He said, you're in the process of perishing right now. You're on your way to hell. The wrath of God is upon you. There is nothing different about you. You think that you can buy God's blessings with money? You offered me money to have the gift of God? Okay, I'll just be real short with this. The same thing is happening today with a lot of TV evangelists. Send me $1,000 and your grandkids will be saved. Send this ministry $5,000 and you will be healed. It is a doctrine of devils. They are selling the gift of God. I don't care how they explain it. I don't care what excuses they use. It is the same spirit of Simon that says if money can get something from God. Money has never gotten any. from God. God only responds to one thing, a broken heart and a heart full of faith. And when you have both, God listens to you and God will respond to you. Somebody say amen this morning. Your money perished with you because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money. Boy, listen to this condemnation. You have neither part nor portion in this matter. What matter? The matter of God moving in the city. You're not a part of this. You don't belong to us. For your heart is not right in the sight of God. He's being judgmental. No,

he's examining fruit. And sometimes I just get tired of hearing self-righteous people call me self-righteous because I make a judgment on somebody else. Jesus said you'll know them by the fruit that they bear. From the abundance of the heart, the mouth talks. So if you're bearing bad fruit and saying bad words, you're a bad person. Your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent. That's the next word. Repent. As I say often, I don't know how many people we've baptized over the years. I wouldn't even venture to guess, but I've seen all kinds say they believe and then they get baptized. I've seen people practicing the gay lifestyle say I believe and I've seen them get baptized and they've not left the lifestyle. They're lost. They're on their way to hell. I've seen the drug dealers and the drug addicts and the wife beaters and the deceitful people and the cheaters. I believe. See, they just want to belong to the church. They want to be mix in with church. I believe and they get baptized. But you're just as lost when you come out of that water as you were when you went down in that water. Because baptism cannot save you. Water cannot save you. Even saying I believe in Jesus does not save you. Only one thing is evidence that you've been saved by the grace of God and that is the life you start living. From that moment on, you start living your life for the glory of God. You deny your flesh. You say no to the world and the devil. Every day you get up you put on the armor of light. You put on the righteousness of God and you say to the world I don't belong to you anymore. I have been baptized and I do believe but my life will prove that something happened way down deep in my soul. I'm not the man I used to be. Repent. Repent. The church in America does not like that word. Repent. It means turn around. It means stop doing what you were doing. It means stop drinking. Stop doing drugs. Stop chasing women. Stop chasing men. Stop cheating on your taxes. Stop deceiving people. Quit living a double life. Lay your old self down at the foot of the cross. Tell Jesus you can't make it without him. Ask for forgiveness. Let his precious blood wash you whiter than snow. Let him fill you with his spirit and then get up and walk like a born-again believer until Jesus comes back to get you. Repent. Therefore of this your wickedness and pray God if

perhaps. Strange words. Peter said you better repent of this. This is your wickedness and you ask God and maybe the thought of your heart can be forgiven you. Perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. Peter says for I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity. Isn't that something? And isn't that just so typical of American church people today? They don't want to leave the old life but they want They want to be in the church. They want to run with the crowd. But they only want to do it on Sunday. Oh, and when we have crusades in town. Then they want to be on the stage. Or they want to be known as a contributor, a financial contributor to the mission. They're always placing themselves somewhere in the church, among the evangelical church. But they are not willing to break ties with society and their status in society. I'm not going to get on that because I will lose total control. Say, well, here it comes. I'll just say it gently and I'm going to grip this right here. If you're a born-again Christian, the Holy Spirit won't let you stay in a dead, dry, liberal church where a woman is pastoring and they marry homosexuals. Do not tell me God put you there to make a difference.

Because you haven't made a difference. And it's making a difference in you. I think that when a man gets saved, he'll run as far away from that kind of religion as he possibly can. He'll start looking for a warm fire to get around. And he won't be by himself. There'll be a whole multitude of men and women, boys and girls, that said, I had to come out of that too. I can't live like that. That's not even the truth. I want the truth! I want fire in my life! I want God in my life! I want the Bible! I don't want a compromising church. I won't go to a church just because it's a status symbol. I don't care what it costs me. I'm gonna march with those who've been redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Want to read something really strange now? Then Simon answered and said, Pray to the Lord for me that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.

Now this is just Loran. I'm a born-again, Spirit-filled believer. So I'm looking at it from a totally different perspective as Simon would see it. If a man of God came to me and said, You're still bound in sin. And I was if I was still a sinner. I'm looking at it from a Christian standpoint. You are bound and you are bitter and you're full of poison and you're perishing. Do you think I'd stand there and say, Well, could you just pray a prayer with me right now? That I don't want anything bad to happen. Could you just kind of pray that nothing like that will happen to me? Folks, that's why I say, Are you ready to be upset with me again? Are you ready? That's why I say again with greater fervor than I've ever said it in my life. The sinner's prayer is sending more people to hell than we will ever know about. He said, Can you pray for me? I can pray for you, but I can't do your praying for you. You see?

And there's a difference. It disturbs me greatly when people come down because of the, you know, there's an atmosphere. Just come down. And they don't know what to say. And you can tell there's really no conviction. See, when I was growing up and people got saved, they acted like they got saved. And when the Gospel was preached, it tore them up. They were under conviction. They would cry and sniff and shake and go to the altar. And they would cry out, scream out to God for forgiveness. I don't know what's going on in American churches today, but people are thinking they are saved because they repeated a prayer from somebody else's mouth. But repentance can't come from somebody else's mouth. It's got to come out of your inner man. You've got to see that you are a sinner on your way to eternal hell and that you are perishing and that sin has got you bound up and you're full of bitterness.

And instead of trying to be polite and not be embarrassed, you cry out, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Thank you. Let's think about it for a moment. King David's sitting on the throne. He's got it all, but he's got a secret. He's had a man killed. He's gotten a woman pregnant. He's an adulterer and a murderer and a liar, and he's on the throne. And Nathan the prophet comes in, tells him a story about a rich man stealing a lamb from a poor man. And David said, where is this man? He'll pay. Nathan said, you're the man. You stole the lamb. And David did not say, well, Nathan, could you just pray with me right now? Nathan said, your family's going to be torn up. You're going to have to fight every day of your life from now on. God is displeased with what you've done. Okay, but could you just pray with me right now? That none of this will really happen. It's embarrassing, Nathan. I'm the king. I can't be standing around here sniveling and humbling myself. No, that's not what David did at all.

As soon as Nathan left the courtyard, David fell on his face and said, have mercy upon me, O God. According to Your loving kindness and tender mercy, blot out my transgressions. O God, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. Against You and You only have I sinned and done this great evil in Your sight. No, he wasn't just superficially disturbed. He was from the bottom of his bones, from his heart. He didn't care what anybody thought. He didn't care who heard him praying that way. He said, I'm a lost man. I'm under God's judgment. And the only one I know that can forgive me is God Himself. So why would I try to be polite and king-like in the presence of the King of glory? Have mercy upon me, O God. This very day, someone pointed out this proverb to me. Proverb number 13. And for all of those people, you know, sometimes I grieve for people like this. Other times, you make me mad. Well, the mercy of the Lord. God understands. I'm still doing all that stuff, but God's a merciful God. God's a merciful God. He who covers his sin will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.

You know how you get mercy? You admit it. You confess that you've sinned. And then you forsake your sin. Don't you dare be deceived by the devil or any other liberal preacher or unbiblical teacher that no matter what you do, the mercy of God is going to override and veto it. No, God will send you straight to hell if you walk in sin. And if you want mercy, you confess your sin and forsake your sin and walk in the ways of righteousness. See, it's possible to be dead while you're alive. You read 1 Timothy this week, didn't you? Okay, what did he say about the widows? Now, she who is really a widow and left alone trusts in God and continues in supplication and prayers night and day. But the one who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives. Still in the church, but living in sin, enjoying the world and the church. He said she's dead in sin. A few verses later, he begins to talk about those same widows and says, having condemnation because they have cast off their first faith. Uh-oh, they believed for a while. I said, they believed for a while. Then they cast off their first faith. Three more verses later, for some have already turned aside after Satan.

Now, these are people who believed, who were baptized, who were in the church, but now the thorns and weeds of... Pleasure have choked the fruit. Now they have lasted only a little while, and now they've turned after Satan. Here's how it works, church. The Holy Spirit draws you to Christ. You can't come to Christ unless there's a powerful divine drawing from God. But when that drawing awakens you, and when you become alert and aware of the drawing, you must repent. He is drawing you to repentance before Christ. God is too holy to look upon sin. So when the Spirit draws you, you will feel this need to go to your knees and repent of your sin. I said earlier, in the Garden of Eden, God meticulously put a man together. Everything a man was supposed to be, God with His fingers and with dirt, put him together and there lay Adam. But he couldn't blink or think until God said, and breathed His breath into him. I think we've got a lot of people who look put together,

but they're operating in death. I read where Ezekiel walked into a valley of dry bones. And they were very dry! The Bible says there were feet bones and leg bones and ankle bones and ribs and skeletons of all kinds. And God said to Ezekiel, prophesy, preach! And as he preached, those bones began to come together. And what was a scattered graveyard became a mighty army, but it was still dead. He said, now preach again! And when he preached, the breath of God came down and filled all of those skeletons and bodies. And they stood up and they became a mighty marching army unto the Lord. Hear me, when I tell you, I think there are a lot of people, again, who've got it all together, whose lives look like they're all put together. And you're even in church and you've been baptized and you do devotions and you do it all! But you've never let the breath of God come inside of you.

It's all superficial. It's all flesh. It's all religious. But when God's Spirit breathes life into you, you won't have to pretend this ain't party time anymore! No playtime! It's serious spiritual warfare! And when God breathes into you, you become a living, powerful being! Say amen, somebody! So I thumbed over to Revelation chapter 3 and to the angel of the church in Sardis. That's our address, you know. Truth be told, way back 39 years ago, when I was praying about moving the church over here, that came to my mind. I don't believe I want to go to Sardis! But here we are. To the angel of the church in Sardis write, These things says He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. Listen to this. I know your works, that you have a name,

that you are alive, but you are dead. See, it's possible for people to think you're alive. For people to think that you're a great Christian because you give money or because you have conservative values. It's possible that you can fool people into thinking that that's a good, strong believer right there. But God says, I see deeper than they do and you are dead. This is where for a pastor, you know, I don't just preach and then go home. I preach and then I carry this with me. This is where for me it becomes the most important thing I've ever done in my life. You see, it might be possible that some of us think we're alive. But God says, No, you're dead. You've done all that stuff, but you have never had a heart change. Church, I cannot pray for you or in your stead. You have to do your own searching and praying.

So I asked the church this morning, how long has it been, if ever? Since you, listen, I want you to nudge your neighbor. Wake your neighbor up right now. Everybody wake up, please. This sounds really bad on video, I know. But I want people to hear me today. How long has it been since you crawled into a closet and closed the door behind you and buried your face into the carpet or whatever and cried out to God? Without looking at your watch, how long has it been, if ever? Has it been since you felt so empty and needy and worldly that you just feel like you need a touch from heaven and you need a refreshing? You need forgiveness. You need a new unction, a new fire. How long has it been since you crawled in there all by yourself and said, search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. O God, I fool myself. I can fool people. I cannot fool you. Hear me? How long has it been? I don't preach what I don't do. And I encourage our leadership this very morning. Get somewhere along with God.

Crawl up alone and lay before Him and ask to be searched, to be tested, to be tried. If I've got words in my life that I have given permission to stay or thoughts or feelings. If we have sins that we're so tired of fighting, we just say, alright, you can stay. I want God to bring it up. And I want it to stink. And I want it to offend me like it offends Him. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there's any wicked way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting. See, brothers and sisters, Jesus could come today. I cannot depend on yesterday's devotions. I need Him today. He could come today. I could die today. Sam, you and I are on up there now. We are. Yes, sir. Ready. I'm ready, too, brother. So I can't afford to get loose and lax. I want my eyes to be on Jesus. I don't want the weeds of prosperity, money, to choke Jesus out of me. See, you can't serve two masters. You know that, don't you? I don't want my life to be shallow

so that when a test comes, I wither up. I want to be that ground that is fertile and soft and receptive. And when the seed falls in it, it has no trouble finding rootage. I want to know Him. Do you? Stand up with me, please. We've done this. This will be the third week. I hope I don't wear you out doing it. But I'm calling. I'm calling everybody forward. It's so easy just to observe, but I'm calling you forward. Just move in some direction. Let it be known far and wide there is no sin that the blood of Jesus cannot wash away. Everybody understand? Come on up. I won't hurt you. You're safe, right? They're safe. Did everybody hear what I just said? There's no sin the blood of Jesus cannot wash away. Here's something else you need to understand. I am not an evangelist. I'm a pastor. The job of the evangelist is to go and proclaim it. Proclaim it.

The job of a pastor is to shepherd the flock. Evangelists don't shepherd flocks. They go and preach. But shepherds stay home and they stay with the flock. They preach messages like this. And they train and protect the flock. That's what I do. So I tell you, Jesus can save you from any sin you've ever committed. All you have to do is call on His name. In brokenness, God be merciful to me, a sinner. But for you that belong here, have been here, for you that call this your home church, I preach this message for you this morning. Because I want you to get to the place where you say, I cannot live a day without being before my God. I cannot get up and just drink coffee and eat breakfast and go to work and do my stuff. No sir, I give this day to God. I dedicate this day to God. I am with Him first. First! I fill myself with this before I ever eat breakfast. This is my breakfast. So I'm before my God and I eat His Word. And then I am equipped to walk out and live a life that pleases Him.

Say amen. Amen. But you also need to know, in case I haven't said it lately, I am a desperate man. I am charged to take care of this church and it never leaves me. You are on me all the time. And I told the Lord again yesterday, I'll feed these people, I don't care what it costs me. I plan to make sure they're ready when the trumpet sounds Lord. Thank you for your help. But you got to be desperate. Let's sing it. And I, I'm desperate for you. And I, I'm lost without you. Sing it as a prayer. And I, I'm desperate for you. And I, I'm lost without you. Amen. So we're about to dismiss. I can't go home with you, Michael. I can't go home with you, Jack. I can't go home with you guys. But I can send you home with instructions. And if you'll get up this week and you'll read God's Word, and you will spend time alone with Him,

crying out to Him. Yes, I said crying out. What would that hurt? He's not, you don't shock God. But I promise you, if you do these things, this week will be like no week you've ever had in your life. And it could just be Tuesday morning when you get up and you pick up the phone. up your breakfast and you head to that quiet place, a trumpet will sound. And before you get to open your Bible, you'll see Him face to face. Now that's what I'm working for. That's what I'm preaching for. That's what I'm doing. Getting ready. So this is the benediction. Now may the God of all peace that brought our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every way to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. Amen. Love you, church. I'll see you next time unless Jesus comes. 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 Jail and Prison Correspondence course through

the mail by writing to Central Church, Jail and Prison Ministries 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.