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February 04, 2024 | Living to Please God
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Good morning, good morning! We got a special treat this morning, so y'all get the coffee and the gossip or the donuts done, 5-10. Alright. You need help finding the seat, well I'll get some of our armed ushers to send you through the crowd. If you didn't hear me, lift your hand. Good, do I need to repeat it? Sit down! Y'all find a place to sit down. We're going to start a little bit early, we got the scouts going to do the flag ceremony this morning. We got to get the scouts kicked in gear here so we don't keep them up past their bedtime. Alright, I will open with prayer here, then we're going to turn our scouts loose. Is there anybody not ready to pray yet? Let me know. I can deal with that. I can help you. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we just thank you Lord for the blessings of this day and each one that's here, Father. We ask your blessing upon the service this morning, Father, upon your word, worship, praise, and sending, Father. We pray that you'd heal those that are sick, we've got a lot of it around us, Father. Get us healthy and strong. We thank you for your grace and your mercy and for taking good care of us, Father. There'd be one here that doesn't know Jesus their Savior today, Father. Let it be upon their heart, let it receive him as Savior and Lord today, Father. We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Church says! Amen! And Cowboy Church says! Yeah! It's all up to you. It's all up to you. Glory. Alright, good morning everyone. How are you doing? Good. Good. Color Guard, attention. Will the audience please rise. Color Guard, advance. Alright! Color Guard, halt. Color Guard, prepare to post the colors. Color Guard, post the flag of the United States of America. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Oh, post the colors of the United States of America. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Two. Audience may be seated. All the Scouters, please join me in the Scout Oath. On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty, to guide my country, and to obey the Scout Law, to help other people at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. Two. Scouters, please join me in the Scout Law. The Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, friendly, brave, clean, and generous. Two. Color Guard, return to your ranks. Color Guard is dismissed. So in case you're wondering what this is all about, this is Scout Sunday, recognized by Boy Scouts of America, or Scouts USA, as it is called now. And the reason for that is that BSA, Boy Scouts of America, started in 1910. So I'll tell you a little story about that. It was because of a boy that did a good turn, an act of kindness for which he expected no reward. It happened many years ago on the foggy streets of London, England, when an American named William D. Boyce lost his way. A boy walked up and asked him if he could be of assistance. Mr. Boyce explained where he wanted to go, and the boy led him to his destination. But when Mr. Boyce offered to give some money to the boy, the boy said, No, thank you, sir. I am a Scout, and won't take anything for helping. William Boyce was so impressed by the boy's kindness that he met with Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts in Great Britain. He liked what Baden-Powell told him, and he knew that boys in the United States would want to be Scouts too. So on February 8, 1910, Mr. Boyce and a group of businessmen, educators, and political leaders founded the Boy Scouts of America. The Scouts celebrate February 8 as the birthday of the BSA. No one knows what happened to the boy who guided Mr. Boyce through the London Fog, but he will never be forgotten. Like many acts of kindness, what was done proved to be far more significant than who did it. The boy's good turn helped bring Scouting to America. So that's why we did a Scout Sunday here at this church, and hopefully they're doing that at other churches in the community. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. And we also want to say good morning all around the world, because we are being heard all around the world. Okay, Saturday morning, 9 o'clock, come and rope mechanical moose, the dummy steer. I think I got that. Moses. Oh, Moses, isn't it? It's not a moose, it's Moses. There's only one O in moose. Moses, it's here. Is that a moose or a steer? It's a steer. They told me it was a steer. And I do know the difference. Now, where was I? Oh, yeah. We need greeters at the front gate. If you would like to be a greeter, see Dewey, and he'll tell you when to be here and what to do. Dinner on the grounds this month is spaghetti with red sauce and meatballs. It would be good if we could have green salad. It would be good if we could have some bread and other salads, and you can bring another sauce, just let me know, and dessert. There will be no chuck wagon this month, because Tina doesn't want to cook on her birthday. No, that's not true. They just don't want to do anything this month. I told her the same thing. Okay, the other thing is that I don't know who all knows who's going to be in the Super Bowl this year, but two of us know. We know who's going to be there, and we know who's going to win. Yeah, so Kansas City will stomp the 49ers. So we are going to have a Super Bowl party. It will start at 4 o'clock that afternoon, Sunday. We're going to have some finger sandwiches, chips and salsa, and if anybody wants to bring anything else they may to share, that's fine. Now the only thing that we ask is you take the front seats for Kansas City and those 49ers can sit in the back. Oh, okay, Nan said they can sit outside. So we hope it's raining. What? Well, I don't know. Is there 49ers fans? I'm sorry. Pastor wants to put a fence up. And we want to thank Fred, Kathy and Mike. They brought us some bread today. If you can, they would like some money for gas. Put it in their little red buckets. And... Oh, Zone 2 is having a meeting over here in the corner after church. Oh, are you having a meeting over there too? Well, they can meet over that corner then. The back corner. They can actually meet wherever they want. Wherever you want to go. I don't care. There you go. And seeing how this is the first Sunday of the month, we want to just kind of give you a little safety talk here. We have a safety team that has to say, stay down. Yeah, whatever. If they tell you to get on the floor, do it. And stay there until they give you the all-clear to get up. Do not run to the doors. And if you are in the parking lot and you need help to get into the building, just lay on your horn. We have safety team in the parking lot and they will help you get up to the doors. I think that's it, but I do reserve the right to make another announcement later if I remember one. Is that ok? Oh! We weren't going to do that. There it is. Yeah, we're working Tuesday, 9 o'clock. Be here. Be square. Oh, yeah. I was ready just saying happy birthday. Well, we can do that. Good morning, Cubway Church. Good morning. Welcome, everybody. Any first-timers here coming to visit, welcome. I think I've seen you once or twice. Oh, you too. Yeah. I wanted to welcome everybody here. Cell phones, would you please just silence them now. I know we have some interruptions during the service, so if you can just silence them now, we'd appreciate that. Announcements were handed out, so just check the bulletins and see what's going on in our church. We don't pass the hat here at Cubway Church. We have birdhouses in the back. That's for tidings and all the birds and that's for tidings and offerings, so whatever the Lord leads you to give, we would appreciate that. Just make a deposit over there at the birdhouse. We have a White House outside the East Door. It's a two-holer, but it's more efficient than the one in D.C. because our flexes. Sandy has always been so gracious as to offer her services for name tags, so if you have not got a name tag and would like one, please see Sandy after service. For babies, they're always welcome here. Just make sure that they're not a tripping hazard for others, and so please clean up after them. If you'd like to become a member of Cubway Church, there is a sign-up sheet in the back, so just put your name and phone number and we'll get in touch with you. Baptisms, I believe, are still ongoing, so if you'd like to get baptized and profess your faith in front of everybody, for the Lord Jesus Christ, go ahead and sign up in the back. Okay, our membership meeting is the third Sunday of this month, so go ahead and look on your calendar to check the date, but it's the third Sunday. The membership meeting? Okay, after dinner on the grounds we'll have our meeting. We'll have full bellies. It'll be good. Oh, bring your plate to the meeting. There we go. We'll have a twofer. The Neighborhood Watch meetings, it sounds like are up and going, so I appreciate that. All of the hard work everybody has put in to get this coordinated. I know ours, for Zone 4, was scheduled, but due to the inclement weather and the unpredictable roads, we canceled it. So Zone 4 meeting will be rescheduled and resuming on March 1st, the first Friday of the month. So thank you so much. I want to thank everybody for working Tuesday. We're getting a lot of stuff done, so I appreciate it. We, last week I started the February, the birthdays, happy birthdays. I got too many complaints that I missed people. So we're just going to do it for the month of February, so it'll be happy birthday for February. Okay? Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to February. Happy birthday to you. Alright, do we have any new lords in the house? New lords. We got one. I'm a new lord. Come on. Come on, guys. You can all get up and sing it. It's easy. Steve will sing the first line and state the same right through it. New lord, oh, new lord, do remember me. New lord, oh, new lord, do remember me. New lord, oh, new lord, do remember me. Way beyond blue. I got home in glory land that I'll shine the sun. I got home in glory land that I'll shine the sun. I got home in glory land that I'll shine the sun. Way beyond blue. New lord, oh, new lord, do remember me. New lord, oh, new lord, do remember me. New lord, oh, new lord, do remember me. Way beyond blue. I took Jesus as my savior to take me through. I took Jesus as my savior to take me through. I took Jesus as my savior to take me through. Way beyond blue. New lord, oh, new lord, do remember me. New lord, oh, new lord, do remember me. New lord, oh, new lord, do remember me. Way beyond blue. If you can't bear the cross, you can't bear the crown. If you can't bear the cross, you can't bear the crown. If you can't bear the cross, you can't bear the crown. Way beyond blue. New lord, oh, new lord, do remember me. New lord, oh, new lord, do remember me. New lord, oh, new lord, do remember me. Way beyond blue. This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. Oh, this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. Alright! Thank y'all! Thank you, New Lord! We're gonna start playing harder! Yeah! Oh! Five years ago, you deserve even one of the blessings that I have. Thank you. Oh, five years ago, I was worth loving you in the kindness you showed. Lord, help me, Jesus, I'm wishing it. So help me, Jesus, I know what I am. And now that I know that I've pleaded, so help me, Jesus, my soul's in your hands. I know you think there's a way I can find you to replace all I didn't want to. Hey, Lord, I could show someone else what I've been through. I said, I'm on the way back to you. Lord, help me, Jesus, I'm wishing it. So help me, Jesus, I know what I am. And now that I know that I've pleaded, so help me, Jesus, my soul's in your hands. Lord, help me, Jesus, I'm wishing it. So help me, Jesus, I know what I am. And now that I know that I've pleaded, so help me, Jesus, my soul's in your hands. Thank you. Oh, let there be peace in the world Jesus, God, and Son Rest in the light of God The triumphant one Jesus, my Redeemer Name above all names Precious Lamb of God Messiah, Lord Jesus Oh, thank you, oh, my Father For giving us your Son And leaving your Spirit Till the work on earth is done When I stand in glory I will seek respect There I'll serve my King Forever in that holy place Oh, thank you, oh, my Father For giving us your Son And leaving your Spirit Till the work on earth is done Well, there is a Redeemer Jesus, God, and Son Precious Lamb of God Messiah, Lord Jesus Oh, thank you, oh, my Father For giving us your Son And leaving your Spirit Till the work on earth is done And leaving your Spirit Till the work on earth is done Thank you. I am a poor Wayfaring stranger Traveling through This world of woe But there's something There's a source of danger In that world To which I go I'm going there To see my Father I'm going there No more to go I'm only going Over Jordan I'm only going Over home I know a dark cloud Will gather round me I know my way Is rough and steep But beauty of sin Lies just before me With God's redeems Come on. I'm going there To see my mother She says she needs me When I go I'm only going Over Jordan I'm only going Over home I want to wear That crown of glory When I get home To that bright land I want to shout Salvation's glory In concert with That blood-washed hand I'm going there To see my father I'm going there No more to roam I'm only going Over Jordan I'm only going Over home I'm only going Over home Applause Applause And the honey wants to sing another song. Yeah. Yeah. Oh. I heard her singing. Little Wranglers. Little Wranglers ain't about the west side. Scouts or Little Wranglers is a kid's bible study. Over in Traylor. You can go. You don't have to. How about some appreciation for our scouts being here with us today. Applause I was in Scouts. And then when my kids got old enough to be in Scouts I was in Scouts. I was a pack leader and troop leader. Which you weren't supposed to do at the same time. But I did. But um. You boys do any Pinewood Derby racing? Yeah. Yeah. Well I tell you the all-star fastest car in troop Texas was the bloodshot banana. It was yellow and red. And it would get down the track the fastest. The bloodshot banana. Alright. You know it's hard for me to believe it's February. I mean I need to be thinking about planting garden or something. I only got six pages today. Alright. One of the goals of Cowboy Church is for people to learn how to get along with God. In my own experience I was going to church for 30 years and never learned how to get along with God. And it was so discouraging because I was a believer. And I'd read the Bible and I studied the Bible. And yet I was frustrated in my Christian life of getting along with God because like when I made my professional faith when I was 14 when I baptized I thought I'd be a little Jesus and you know I just made it public and I wouldn't be what I was. And so Mount Pleasant Baptist Church on Sunday night baptized and made my profession and then Monday morning back in junior high school I was the same rogue devil I was before. The only difference was I had a different zip code for eternity. And there's only two you know. And eternity. You ought to be listening. Eternity is a long time. There's only two zip codes in eternity. You want the good one. In Cowboy Church we make it different. You know in a lot of our evangelical churches we have this one four syllable word that we attach to our lives and we say, Jesus is my Lord and Savior. That's four syllables. It's like one word in an evangelical church. Lord and Savior. He's my Lord and Savior. Folks if we don't mind him and say pray that stuff and well fed he's not your Lord he'd be your Savior. But he's not the Lord of your life if he's not guiding and directing your steps and you're listening to him. So this morning I want to talk about a little bit about living to please God. And when you learn how to get along with God we brought it down in Cowboy Church to pray to talk to God. God what do you want me to do today? Being a Christian is an everyday thing. It's not just for an hour on Sunday. Some Sundays. Right? Being a Christian is an everyday all day thing. It's 24-7. Because you're a new person in Christ. And when God called me to preach I was 16 and already a drunk. And I said you know there ain't no way God that I can do that. And he says watch this. You know. And 14 years later he finally got me cornered and I'd had enough of the learning experience and I said I guess we'll give this a try. And that was 50 years ago. You know my wife makes the best lemon pie. And I can remember what they used to taste like. But you ain't never had lemon pie like what she makes. And it's just the best lemon pie there ever was. I get pieces of lemon stuff around here all the time and everything. And it's all real good. I like lemon stuff. But there's nothing like her lemon pie. But if you just lick the spoon or lick around the edges of the pie pan you will never experience what the great joy is in the depth of that pie. It's the same way with learning to please God and walking and talking with God and living with God. If you just lick around the edges and I call licking around the edges you know just keeping the 911 number handy. You know God I messed up. Get me out of this. You was all good at that. Fess up weren't you. Weren't you good at that? Yeah. Yeah. See I got this 911 number now God. Get me out of this mess right. And the other. We always kept the other phone number too which was the Santa Claus line. You know God would you give me this. God could you give me that. Would you do this for me God. And Christians are really good at that. We think that's being a Christian you know if we call on God. But when you learn how to get along with God then you need to start learning how to live to please God. And that's part of it. We might as well go back to the beginning. In the beginning was God. And God created everything there is. And when he created man it says he gave man a spiritual quality. He put spirit in man. Do you know why he put spirit in man? I mean he didn't in apricot. Or he didn't in bloodshot banana. But he put the spirit in man. Because God is spirit. The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit is all spirit. And God wanted to have fellowship with man. He created man to have fellowship with him. And to bless him in their relationship with man. And for man to be blessed, protected and to have eternal life with him. You know God gave us an example of how to get along with him. And you never hear much about it but you do hear. God gave you a mom and dad because it's a very similar relationship than it is with God the Father. How do you get along with your mom and dad? You got DNA from your mom. You got DNA from your dad. And when you're born, you're born. You're who you are. Now when you're born you are a trinity. The same as God. Because he said we'll create you in our image. When he created man, he created man with spirit. So they can have a relationship together. With a soul, which is your eternal identity. It's your mind. I call it your mew. Your mind, your emotions, your will. It's who you are. And you had that before you were conceived. Isn't that interesting? God told Jeremiah, Jeremiah said I want you to preach for me, kid. And Jeremiah says, ain't no way. Too young, no way baby. And God said, hey Jeremiah, before I formed you in your mother's womb, I knew you. And I predestined you. What? It's not a big spider, that's a little spider. It's a little black widow. Big spiders like this, you just ain't seen them. It's a pretty good size. Yeah, it looks like one. You want it? Now there's bound to be a widower around here. You're not going to get this at Red Brick Church down there. Remember what page I was on? Page one. Jeremiah? Yeah. God told Jeremiah, he said before I formed you in your mother's womb, I knew you. You know, when we all get to heaven, this old body we got, it ain't going to be there. It's going to be a different kind of body. Paul in the Bible says there's two kinds of bodies on this earth. And in creation there's celestial bodies which are the heavenly host, the spiritual dimensions that we can't understand. And Jesus, the resurrected Jesus demonstrated that celestial body after his resurrection when he appeared to the church and to his witnesses and to the apostles. He has a body that could come right through the walls and you wouldn't even see him come in. All of a sudden he's there. And yet you sit down and ate sacrilege with him. You know, he ate. And they could feel him. He told Thomas, stick your finger in the hole in my hand here. Stick your hand in my side. Thomas said, unless I do that, I won't ever believe you. And Jesus showed up and said, you're going to eat those words. And there it was, he showed up. He said, well, I believe. So he appeared in a physical celestial body. Well, you know, you hear people talk about UFOs. Is that right? They've renamed them now, so it confuses us old folks. But I believe all that stuff is that stuff that comes in and out of a dimension that we as human beings are not even aware of. I mean, we're aware of it if we see something, you know. But then when that something disappears, we're not aware of where it went. And so there's other dimensions of existence out there in existence, in the creation, that we're not aware of. We will be aware of because we'll be a citizen of it. And when we get a body that says it's going to be like Jesus' body, a celestial body, the resurrected Christ, so we can pop in, pop out, you know, show up and do that right now. But he told Jeremiah, he said, Jeremiah, before I knew, before I formed you in your mother's womb, I knew you. So God has given all of us pre-creation or pre-birth existence. He's identified us. How does he know us? Does he know us by our body? No, he knew us by our mind, our will, our emotions, what our, he said he predestined us, he foreordained us, the directions we take, what we're going to do. And it's best to learn how to get along with him, take advantage of that situation, you know, get along with God. So living to please God, when you learn how to get along with God, you get it, you start licking around the edges of that living by. When you start living every day, pray to God, what do you want me to do today? Yeah, I did this wrong, I'm sorry, God. As soon as you mess up, mess up, because there's a difference between the words relationship and fellowship. Biblically speaking, seminary don't know the difference, but the Bible does. And relationship is genetics. Relationship is you got a mom and a dad, and when you believe and accept God's plan for your life and ask him for forgiveness of your sins, he puts his DNA in you, which is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's got the DNA. Well, preacher, why do you think that? Well, Mary wondered about that herself. And she said, how can I be, how am I going to give birth to this Son of God? I don't know, man. The Bible says the Holy Spirit will come upon you and you'll conceive of the Holy Spirit. That's the Father's DNA. And he puts that Holy Spirit in you to give you eternal life when you believe. And you are a child of God, then you're his child. He's adopted you into his family because you believe in his salvation plan and have accepted his program. Just like the thief on the cross that said, Lord, remember me, Lord. The key word there is remember me, Lord. He has accepted him as his Lord. And the only one and true Lord there is is the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's evidence that he has accepted him as his Lord. And what'd Jesus say? Today you'll be with me in paradise. Right now, he didn't have time to go to church and beat tambourine or teach Sunday school or clean the arena. No, I was just thinking, today it's getting close to time for goat heads to start popping up, isn't it? We need a goat head team here. Because you can get lots of exercise standing up on goat heads as soon as they pop up. We've got lots of them here. That's not on page 1. 2 Corinthians 6.14, God gives us pauses. Dog hair. Paul's giving us instructions on how to get along with God and how to live the Christian life so you won't be frustrated in it. In 2 Corinthians 6.14, he says, Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. I still run with the same crowd after I made a profession of faith as I did before. And you know, it's an interesting thing. In the last 10-15 years, 20 years, how many of that bunch has contacted me, which none of them would ever believe that I was a preacher back then, for sure. But they've contacted me back through the years and we're glad we're believers too. We're glad we're believers too. But you can't just run with your old pack of dogs once you get cleaned up. You know, if you do, you're going to mess up. And what does messing up do? Do you lose your salvation? Does God take His Holy Spirit out of you? His DNA out of you? Well, did your mom or dad take their DNA back when you didn't mind them? No. But what they would do is put a stick on your backside, wouldn't they? Or, I don't know, nowadays I guess what they do is put thumb locks on your kids. I don't know, that'd be punishment, wouldn't it? Put thumb locks on where they can't go like this. I don't know, my mom and dad used to just whip me, get it over with. Hey, where was that black widow at? You hungry? No, I just wanted to know if I should scream now or later. I'm anxious. You don't get this kind of stuff at Red Brick Church, you know. Paul teaches us, he says, if you're going to walk in the fire of the Spirit of God, if you're going to truly call Jesus Christ your Lord and walk in obedience to Him, you can't live the old way. You don't want to go to the old hangouts, you know. You don't want to look at the same stuff on the computer that the devil and Google keep throwing up in front of you. And I tell you, this week has been a trial for me and my hooter. I haven't updated my computer, so the browser I was using that's pretty clean won't work anymore because I need an updated version of operating system on my computer. So the only thing that would work is Gargoyle or Google. And I've never had so many interruptions in my life. They do. They throw up advertisements in everything you do. You know, I'd be typing an email and there'd be an advertisement pop up or something like that. I've got to figure out how to get a new operating system on my hooter. Well, what do they do to punish kids nowadays? They take their phone away. That's what they say. Lock their thumbs. They take screens. Take the... Screens. Screens. Is that right? Is that what they do? Does that work? No. I never got whooped twice by my dad for the same thing, I guarantee you. He was serious about it. When it come time to the shillelagh coming out, you knew that you didn't want to ever do that again. Listen to what Paul writes. He says, Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? Communion is the same as, like, fellowship, the way it's used here. And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God. As God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Wherefore, and whenever you see wherefore, it's there for a reason. And that reason is, listen to what it says, Come out from among them and be ye separate. Don't run with the pigs. If you got cleaned up out of the pig pen, don't run with the pigs. You can't do it. Otherwise, you'll never know what lemon pie tastes like. Saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I'll receive you and will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord God Almighty. Well, Paul uses a lot of words that I always stumbled over, so I'm going to read it in the East Texas version of the Bible. 2 Corinthians 6.14 Don't team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? Have any of you ever been in them caves, took them cave tours where they turned all the lights out and it was really dark? Have you ever been to one of them? Yeah. I think that's the neatest thing where they use the example of one little candle lit, like in Merrimack Caverns up there by Missouri somewhere. I've been in there, and dark, you stick your finger in your eye and you couldn't see it. And somebody would light a candle, and it wasn't dark in there anymore. It's just unbelievable with light. Well, God compares His children to being light in the darkness. One witness in a whole bunch of lost people can make a lot of difference. Can make a lot of difference. Can shed a lot of light. 2 Corinthians 6.15 What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? They don't get along. And therefore, God's people don't get along with the devil. If you get along with the devil, you better check things out. How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God's temple and idols? We are the temple of the living God. You know what that means? That's what I said. When you believe in Christ, God puts His Holy Spirit in you to live in you, to dwell in you. When you say, Lord, forgive me of my sins, God goes, there's your Holy Spirit right there. You don't have to do nothing else. You don't have to climb trees or beat tambourines or jump over pews. The thief on the cross didn't have time for any of that. You're saved because you believe. And you have accepted God as your Lord. Say like the thief. Doesn't mean you always mind him. I've had bosses that wanted to do stuff that wasn't right. And wasn't long I had to find another job. They'd fire me. But I wasn't going to do what was wrong. I just wasn't going to do what was wrong. I'll live in them. God said, I'll live in them and walk among them. I'll be their God and they'll be my people. Therefore, come out from among unbelievers and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don't touch their filthy things and I will welcome you. You know, you don't have to worry too much about coming out from among them. If you let your light shine and you speak God's Word, they'll stay away from you. You know, they'll stay away from you. The old crowd just follows the way. When we moved out from Lancaster, Texas out to Troop, Texas, we had friends in Lancaster, Texas. Used to come out and spend weekends with us and stuff. But once I become pastor of that church across the road from our place out there, then the things started being different in our family. It just got thinner and thinner and fewer and fewer until there wasn't none coming anymore. Live to please God. 1 Thessalonians 4 says, Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God as we've taught you. You live this way. You live this way already when you accept Him. You're living that way. Acceptance is how He wants you to be. And we encourage you to do so even more. You see, I never had any trouble growing up with church teaching me how to be saved. But for 30 years in church, no church ever taught me how to get along with God. It's never... You know, I learned Greek words and learned Hebrew words and even remembered what some of them meant. And I had 400 gold stars from Emory Verses when I was a kid. We used to get a gold star from Emory Verses on Sunday school. I'd read through the whole Bible by the time I was 7 years old. I was still frustrated at being a Christian because I didn't know how to get along with God. Nobody told me that if you're going to get along with God, you've got to be in fellowship with Him. And how you be in fellowship with Him, you confess your sins. You'd be fessed up. I was coming into town today. We'd go by a Catholic church out there on Pierce Ferry. There wasn't a car there. Not this morning. They'd been doing their church on Saturday nights out there. I guess that's when the priests would go out there. And I got to thinking, that priest hears all the stuff these people are doing. They come in and they're supposed to fess up. They have to fess up to a Catholic priest telling them what they're doing. And then the Catholic priest tells them what they've got to do. You know, to make up for it. Or because of it. It's like, I'm sure glad I don't have to listen to y'all. I mean, I don't want to tell you. I'd be blackmailing some of you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more. For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. God's will is for you to be holy. What does holy mean? It means without sin. How do you live without sin? You fess up what you've done to get rid of it, to get it covered, to get it blocked out of your record. That's how you be holy. You're never going to be holy like God's holy. I might have to have you come up and finish this. We've led the truth, ain't we? For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. God's will is for you to be holy. So stay away from all sexual sin. That's different from what Hollywood teaches, isn't it? Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor. Not in lustful passion, like the pagans who do not know God and His ways. Never harm or cheat a Christian brother in this matter by violating his wife. For the Lord avenges all such things as we have solemnly warned you before. You know, everybody knew about the church in Corinth where they had a man there that was running his stepmama, having an affair. Church stuff and everything. Nobody was paying any attention to him. Nobody said anything about it. The guy got called on the carpet for it. They were never taught it was wrong, I guess. Paul says, you throw that sucker out. He repents. Let the devil thrash his flesh around for a while. He says, for the destruction of his body, though his soul shall be saved. You see, that's an example of a Christian that's saved, but living in the flesh. Not living an obedient life, Christ. Paul says, throw him out there to the devil. Let the devil tear him up. But his soul shall be saved. God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. No compromise. No compromise. I remember one time I had a truck equipment company and I was selling garbage trucks. And the way you sell a garbage truck is you get a demonstrator and you drive into town with the old boy across the tracks and collected the garbage that nobody wanted to do anything with and he was probably a wino. And that's the way small-town garbage trucks used to be. And he had two or three boys throwing cans up in his dump truck and you'd go talk to him and say, hey, let me run your route with you, you know, and see how you like a garbage truck. And so I'd drive the garbage truck and encourage the boys to fill that back end up quick and keep moving. And we'd be done by the third of the time of what they was doing, throwing them up in dump trucks and stuff. And before I'd leave there because all these garbage people paid cash, you know, they had shoeboxes. I had one boy give me $8,000 in shoeboxes out from under his bed and I left him my demonstrator and I had a fellow come get me. Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God who gives his Holy Spirit to you. You know, these boys that were with the garbage trucks, I sold a few garbage trucks and I had run into a deal where there's a bunch of strip mines and the county was advertising for I found I could lease some of that strip mine land for near nothing, open pits. And the county was leasing for landfill. And I thought, well, I'm going to make some money off this and put some of my garbage truck's work to take over the garbage business and run a landfill and everything. And three of those supervisors, each one come to me privately and wanted to know what percentage cut they'd get off if we voted you in. I said, none. They said, well, you won't get a contract then. I said, so be it. You get some other sucker in here, it's crooked, it'll be crooked, and you'll be crooked, and the whole place will stink. I couldn't do it. You know, I couldn't do that. And I know the company that went in there and got that big landfill down there in Marion County probably made millions off of it. And maybe the supervisor's got a new Jeep or something, I don't know. You see how corrupt our government is? I think it needs to be swept clean from Dog Catcher through wherever that guy's name is in Washington. Clean them all out. Do you know how much power you've got as an individual to show up and speak your mind and do stuff? I was a janitor and bus driver at our school out there in Texas, and I found that there was a little corruption going on with the superintendent. Well, I ran for the school board, got elected, and then I was president of the school board. And then I fired the superintendent. And it was a little shaky. Some of the school board was a little shaky on there, I think. I never knew anything in particular, and nobody ever propositioned me. You've got to stand up for right, and be honest, that school, we used to put that thing in, pass some rules and stuff in that school, and policies, that it's run good for 30 years. But you know what's happened? We've become so prosperous in this country, so used to being entertained and pleased, that we forget about God, forget about serving Him, forget about standing up for what's right, and look at the mess we're in. Are we in a mess? Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching, but is rejecting God, who gives His Holy Spirit to you. But we don't need to write to you about the importance of loving each other. For God Himself has taught you to love one another, and boy, this church has had to love. I tell you, I've been so pleased, so blessed, with the bunch that God put together here. Some of you just showing up, looking around the edges for a second time, or you know, you jump right in. Because you've got a loving family right here. God Himself taught you to love one another. Indeed, you already show your love for all the believers throughout this Macedonia. Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you to love them even more. Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business, and working with your hands, just as we instructed you therefore. Then people who are not Christians will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others. Any of you ever have telephone as a party line? Do you kids know that telephones used to be hooked up to wires? They did. And if somebody had to hook up on the same wire you had on, they'd listen to everything you were saying. And then they'd gossip about it and make up their own story, as far as I know. It was a piking. We used to call it a piking. I don't know what they called it around. But we had a real interesting situation because a retired pastor of the church that I ended up going over and becoming pastor, his wife wrote the gossip column for the newspaper for our local neighborhood. And she also happened to be on the same phone line I was. And we used to have rings, you know, two longs and a short or whatever. You know what your phone line is. Well, you knew what everybody else's ring was, too. And so somebody would give me a call, and the next thing I know, you click, click, click, click. You know, the whole line would pick up. And then it would show up in the gossip column. 1 Corinthians 1-9, God is faithful, by whom you were called unto the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Prayed up, fested up, well fed. That's how you do fellowship. Relationship's a one-time thing. You get saved, you get born again. You're going to go to heaven. If you're never ever in fellowship with God again because you don't want to live right, you're still going to go to heaven. I promise you that. Jesus promised that. But man, you're going to miss a lot of good lemon pie. Psalms 34-8 says, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. What's that mean? It means try Him. Just try Him. You know when you're living like you're supposed to and when you're not. God put His Spirit in you, and it taps you on the shoulder every time you mess up. You know when you're not doing what you're supposed to. And when the Holy Spirit's tapping you on the shoulder, you need to take time and say, Lord, you're right, I'm wrong, I'm sorry. I want to do right. And when you start living like that, you're going to be messing with the middle of the pie. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusts in Him. And Hebrews 2-9 says, But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. Jesus died in your place for your sins. And He offers His blood for your forgiveness of your sins. You can have forgiveness from Him by just accepting God's plan for that. I believe it. I trust it. 1 Corinthians 15-3 says, For I have delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. You don't want to die for your sins. That's a dying you never get through. It's a dying for bad, sick, cold, all eternity. And eternity is still awake. Romans 8-1, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. John 8 says, Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. The gospel of good news is that Jesus died so you can be saved. And they said, What must I do to be saved? And they were told, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. No strings attached. That establishes that relationship with your Heavenly Father. But how you get along with your Heavenly Father depends on how you act. And that's fellowship. Second time, third time, third time through college is psychology. And my professors had no clue the difference between relationship and fellowship. And I regularly explained it to them. And we had quite some conversations. You know, I went back for counseling, for rehab, drug rehab, alcohol rehab, and just general cleaning up life, work with prisoners and stuff. And the psychology professor, secular psychology, has two issues. They deal with man's soul and they deal with man's flesh. They try to change your personality so you don't want to be what you've been doing. And they also give you drugs to control your physical reactions. And I told them, I said, the reason your secular programs don't work is because man's a trinity and you don't deal with the spiritual aspects of man. Our mission program, Set Free, deals with the trinity. When Chuck Colson got out of prison and started Christian Prison Fellowship, and I know when we got it into the Texas prisons down there, the first-time offender recidivism, I've got to stay away from them five syllable words, Fred. Repeaters. First-time repeaters. Eighty-five percent of them come back again. First-timers. General population. Those that went through the 18-month program that we put in the prison system, 85% never came back. We got into state prisons, we got into federal prisons, and our Set Free ministries is the exact same system. That's why we support it here. And it treats body, spirit, and soul because it takes the power of God to overcome the power of sin. You do not possess the power in your flesh. It's a matter of creation. You're outranked. It's an absolute. Man in the flesh is created lower than angels, the heavenly host, and they outrank you like the ranks of an army. Look at it like sin. Sin's a drill sergeant. It's a spiritual entity. And you, in the flesh, are a raw recruit. And I guarantee you, as a raw recruit, you don't tell your DI where to go the second time. Be worse than daddy coming after you. But when you're walking in the power of the Spirit, when you're walking fessed up, prayed up, well fed, you have the fellowship of the Holy Spirit in you which gives you the power and authority over sin. And that's what you need, is the power and authority over sin to walk a satisfying Christian life. Because you've got the authority and the power of the commander-in-chief. And the drill sergeant just don't tell the commander-in-chief what to do. He's outranked. And it's power and it's authority, and you have to have power and authority to outrank sin if you're going to have a successful Christian life. I never learned that in 30 years of regular church. Prayed up, fessed up, well fed. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house. In Romans 10, 9 it says that thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. And then if you pay attention to minding and live prayed up, fessed up, well fed, you walk in fellowship with him and you'll get the middle of that lemon pie. You know? You won't be just licking around the edges. 1 John 2. My little children, these things write unto you that you sin not. See? The Bible teaches it. It's a whole lot better if you don't sin. But if any man does sin, and we all do, we have an advocate. That's a lawyer. And he is the propitiation for our sins. He's the one that carries, that covered our sins. He's the one that made salvation possible for us and makes it possible for us to walk and live in fellowship with the God of creation in the air. What difference does it make if we walk in fellowship with him? What difference does it make? What if we just give her a ticket and we believe and we're going to be saved and then we just live like hogs not? You know? You can do that. But the first thing that happens when you come to the judgment seat of Christ, you're going to give an account of all the things that you could have, should have, would have done. And I've got a feeling that things in heaven are going to be different levels. Like in a ballpark, maybe, you know? And boy, we used to sit right behind the third base of the Texas Rangers games and I used to talk to Nolan Ryan and Kenny Boyer and Pudge Rodriguez, you know, that'd be right there. And it was great. And I hadn't been to a game in years and years and they built a new ballpark in Arlington there somewhere and my son got tickets and took me there. And boy, it's a beautiful park. And we had tickets behind home plate. But I wasn't sure we were still in Arlington when we were so far away. And it looked like ants down there. I knew what was going on, but you know, I was in the ballpark. But it wasn't like sitting behind the third base. I don't know if it's going to be like that, but I know there's rewards. And I'd be about like Jesus for something like that to be. You know, He don't want you to be out, but you can sit up there in the nosebleed section and think about it, you know. But what a day it's going to be to be there. Amen. Thank God for saving us. All right. What? I see you. What? Safety meeting. Okay, where are we going? What? Over the trailer. Okay. All right, safety meeting. Right over here where Steven Dewey is sitting we'll have green team. Yep. And there's some other team meeting. Safety meeting. Safety meeting. In the trailer. Are we in here? Zone 2. Zone 2 over there by the fire. Sounds good. Okay. All right. If you've never trusted Jesus to be your Savior, if you haven't asked Him to forgive you, man, you ought to do it. You know, kick this thing off and get started. And if you've done that and you've had a real frustrating Christian life, maybe it's time to start living prayed up, fessed up, well fed. Boy, I guarantee you, and God's Word guarantees you, it's worth it. The blessings that God puts on you that you know you don't deserve is unbelievable. Unbelievable. I've had 50 years of it. Wonderful. God is good. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we just thank You, Lord, for the blessings of this day and we just ask that there be one here, Father, who needs to trust You to forgive them for their sins and receive Jesus as their Lord, Father. I pray that You give them the courage and the strength to make that statement of faith. And Lord, give us all a hunger to want to walk in fellowship with You, Father. Give us a hunger to read Your Word. Give us a hunger to want to be obedient, Father, and to be holy in that. Father, I just thank You for the blessings. I thank You for provision, for protection. God be with us till we meet again. In Jesus' name I pray. Church says? Church says? Calvary says? Calvary says? And Deb said, y'all stay seated until Joe sings. Joe sings. Deb says? Happy trails to you until we meet again. Happy trails to you. Keep smiling until then. Who cares about the clouds when we're together? Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather. Happy trails to you till we meet again. Be safe. Y'all come back now, you hear? Thank you again, Scouts.
