From Dead to Alive

Music at Heritage Baptist Church.

I love it.

I love it because it prepares.

Not only is it always beautifully sung, but it prepares the heart for the preaching.

And that is the goal for music and church, I believe.

You know, change is inevitable.

I don't always like it.

I'm not opposed to change, but change is inevitable.

And there are things that change in our society that, you know, sometimes it has an impact, and then there are other changes that actually change the fabric of how we live.

Change.

Change it dramatically and can't get away from that.

It's going to happen.

Electricity changed how we live.

Changed everything.

I just wrote a few things down here.

The telephone.

Telephone.

Not the cell phone.

Telephone.

You remember that telephone.

You remember the phones?

You remember you used to be able to walk across the.

Sometimes you could walk across the room with the phone.

Now you can leave the house with the phone.

I remember that, man.

I'm telling on myself.

Television.

You remember television?

Yeah.

Boy, it changed everything, didn't it?

How many of you had your antenna up on your roof and your dad made you go outside and turn it till the game got clear?

Amen.

Aren't you glad we don't have those anymore?

I like flat screens, televisions, personal computers.

I remember when I worked for the phone company in Houston, I had to run some lines at IBM underneath the floor.

It was their computer room.

Well, it was IBM's computers, but I was in one of the rooms cold, man.

And those computers, oh, my goodness.

I mean, we didn't have them on our desks at that time.

Home computers, that wasn't even a thought, not to the common guy, but they were huge.

I mean, those refrigerators are as big as one of the.

One of the big refrigerators that we've got in the.

In the kitchen here.

Just one.

And there was a whole lot, a wall lined with them.

Just huge.

And now look at us.

Look where we've come.

Look how far we've gone with computers.

And then, of course, cell phones.

I mean, so you can do everything now, Everything on your cell phone.

Everything.

I mean, mean, seriously, 15, 20 years ago, I'd have said, you are crazy if you think I'm going to pay my bills over the phone.

And not by talking to a teller, but, I mean, with my phone.

When I first got it, I just wanted to be able to call somebody when I broke down on the road.

But now look at it changes.

Facebook changed.

I mean, it changed everything.

It really did.

All the things out there, like what else you have, you have TikTok and some of Them didn't make it.

Right.

Like, what was the one before Facebook?

It didn't make it.

MySpace.

Yeah, that didn't make it.

There was a couple others, those didn't make it.

But Facebook and Instagram, I guess TikTok.

Still hanging in there, huh?

But all those things, technology, it moves so fast and just changes everything.

Okay, here's a good one.

How about this one?

Talk about something that changed the way we live.

I mean, it changed everything about life.

Seriously.

The coronavirus, the pandemic, it changed everything.

And we didn't even have time to get used to it.

I mean, you changed overnight.

Overnight, everything.

It detached us from society.

It changed how people live all across the world in America.

It changed how we shop.

It changed how we eat out.

It changed how we gather socially, how we attended church, how we approach people, how we judge people, how we worship.

Everything.

It changed everything.

But one thing is for certain.

And you knew I was going to get here, right?

Jesus Christ has never changed.

And none of these things has ever changed Jesus Christ.

I mean, you might change.

You will change.

You might get smaller, you might get bigger, you will certainly get older, you might get wiser, might get more handsome, might grow ugly.

But we are going to change.

Now, I wouldn't.

Why did you look at him when I said that?

He looked at me.

One thing is for certain.

We're all going to change.

I may change so much that you don't like me anymore.

I hope that doesn't happen.

But you may change and I don't like you anymore.

I hope that doesn't happen.

I'm going to try to.

You can change.

I'm going to try to love you anyway.

And I hope you'll do the same.

But I'm grateful that I know Jesus Christ will never change.

He is still doing what he's always done.

I don't do things the way I did 20 years ago.

I don't do hardly anything the way I did for sure, 40 years ago, even 10 years ago, five years ago.

So many things in my life has changed.

But I am sure glad that he is still doing what he's always done.

I am so glad that in easy times and hard times, he's still doing what he's always done.

I am glad that in pleasant weather and in the storms of life, he is still doing what he's always done.

Jesus Christ is not going to change.

He's my rock.

He's steadfast.

He's our strong tower.

And he is never going to change.

The righteous run to the Strong tower when times are bad and they'll find fortification there.

He's still doing what he's always done.

I'm glad that he's not bound by time to be changed by it.

I'm glad that he's not bound by cultures and societies to be changed by it.

You think about how quickly and how much and how quickly our society and culture has changed in the last 10 years.

I mean, seriously, it's mind boggling.

I'm not going to go into it all, but just all you have to do is consider it and then be grateful that God doesn't change with the societies.

Jesus doesn't change as culture changes.

He's rock, he's rock steady.

He's like a rock.

He's.

He's steadfast.

And I'm glad that he's doing now what he's always done.

He said in Malachi chapter three, verse six, for I am the Lord.

By the way, I'm sorry, if you want to go ahead and turn to Luke chapter 18, I'll be there in just a moment, but Jesus said, or God said in Malachi 3, 6, I am the Lord, I change not.

I am the Lord, I change not.

We need that.

We think we love change.

But how much of us would really enjoy it if God were to change on us like we change on Him?

Not at all.

I change not.

I'm glad we have that promise.

I change not.

And in Hebrews 13:8, Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and what?

Oh come on now.

Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever.

Forever.

I change not.

Praise the Lord.

So what he is still doing.

So what is he still doing today that he's always done?

I want to look at a couple of things that he did in the past and I want to see how he's still doing those things today.

So first of all, you and I understand and we know this.

And if you don't know it, please read the Bible or trust me.

He raised the dead to life.

Jesus Christ raised the dead to life.

Luke chapter seven tells us that he raised to life the son of the widow of Nain.

If you read in Luke chapter seven and then in Luke chapter eight, we see that he raised to life the daughter of jairus.

Luke chapter 8.

And then of course in John chapter 11, he said, Lazarus come forth.

And we all know that story.

He brought Lazarus back to life.

Alright, well, he did that back then.

I mean, there are a lot of false prophets out there.

Not many.

I've heard of a few false prophets out there who claim to have raised the dead to life.

But if that had happened, every one of us in here would have heard that that didn't happen.

Nobody can raise the dead to life today like Jesus did when he was walking the earth.

So how is he doing it today?

You're looking at one.

You're looking at one.

I was dead in sin, and he raised me to life.

He raised me from the dead.

Romans 5:12 says this.

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, that one man was Adam.

And as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men.

For that all have sinned.

Now, we're all going to eventually die.

But when we were born, we inherited that sinful nature.

And so because of that, we are already born dead.

I mean, dead in sin.

We don't have.

We did not have that inherent communication with God that we have now that we're saved.

Our spirit was dead to the things of God.

Dead.

Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 1 says, and you.

He's talking to me, and I'm talking to you.

And you, if you're saved, you hath he quickened.

And that word quickened means made alive.

Well, why would you need to be made alive if you weren't dead?

I was dead, and Jesus Christ raised me from the dead because I was dead in my trespasses and sins.

But wait a minute.

That was just the beginning of what he did.

That was just the beginning.

In Philippians 1, verse 6 says, this being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

He's going to keep me alive.

I'm glad that it doesn't depend on me.

There are a lot of folks out there, a lot of Christians, a lot of churches that do not believe once saved, always saved.

You say, I'm saved.

Jesus saved me from my sins, and I can't lose my salvation.

I can't lose it because it's not dependent upon me.

If I could lose it, I would.

I mean, listen to this.

How arrogant do you think a person has to be?

How arrogant, how pompous, how full of themselves does a person have to be to say, you know, I'm saved by grace?

God saved me.

Jesus shed his blood on the cross and he saved me by his grace.

And I'm saved and I'm on my way to heaven.

But I'm telling you what, there is a chance that I might mess this thing up and lose it along the way.

But I haven't.

Do you understand?

How pompous, how arrogant does a person have to be to say I'm saved and I could lose it, But I haven't.

There's not a one of us would make it out of here.

We wouldn't make it through tomorrow.

If we had to depend on our good works, on our goodness to get us to heaven.

Every one of us in here, we'd find our way on a quick path to hell.

There's no doubt about that.

But I'm glad that it doesn't depend on me.

It's not dependent on me.

Jesus Christ saved me.

And that thing that he started in me, I'm confident that that which he hath begun, he will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Until he comes to give me, I'm redeemed.

And he said, you know what a redeemer, you know what a redemption ticket is, right?

How many of you ever pawned your guitar?

Am I the only one who ever pawns your guitar?

Come on now.

How many ever pawned something?

Oh, my soul.

Come on.

If you pawn something in your life, go ahead and raise your hand.

All right, that's more like it.

Well, I'm surprised more of you have not pawned anything.

Well, you know what happens when you take something to the pawn shop?

They give you.

Well, first they ask you, you want to sell it or pawn it.

And if you say, well, I want to come back and get it, I'll just pawn it, they'll give you a ticket, it's called a redemption ticket.

And you hold onto that.

And then when you're ready to come get it back, you give them that redemption ticket and they give you your item back.

Do you know that Jesus Christ redeemed us?

He redeemed us our salvation.

A word is called redemption.

I've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

I've been bought back.

I was lost and undone and Jesus Christ bought me back with his blood.

He redeemed me.

I'm his, I'm not my own.

And his blood is keeping me.

Oh, I want to show you something.

Look at this.

I always get carried away when I do this, but I love it.

Look at Romans chapter 6.

Don't lose your place in Luke.

We'll come back there in a minute.

But I want you to look at Romans chapter six.

No, I believe it's chapter seven.

Look at Romans chapter seven.

Yeah.

Romans chapter seven.

Say amen when you get there.

Romans chapter seven.

Alright, this side, right here.

Are you there?

Right here, right here.

Romans, chapter seven.

Y'all here?

Romans, chapter seven.

Look at the very first, look at the first verse.

He says, know ye not, brethren, for I speak to them that know the law.

Alright, now he's talking to the church at Rome.

And within the church of Rome, there are a lot of Jews, a lot of Jewish Christians.

That's why he says, I speak to them that know the law.

He says, I speak to them that know the law how that the law hath dominion over man as long as he liveth.

Now he's asking them, you know how that happens?

He says, all right, so he says, for the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he lives.

But if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

So then if while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress.

But if her husband be dead, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

And then he jumps into, wherefore, my brethren?

He says, because of all of this, wherefore, my brethren, you are also become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that you should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead.

All right, now let me say the context is not marriage and divorce.

The context in that passage right there is eternal security.

He's talking to those.

He's using the law, which the Gentiles are not under the law.

And so he's not trying to bring the law into their life.

He's just using the law as an illustration to make a spiritual point.

All right, so now I want you to go ahead and turn with me to Revelation, chapter one.

So what he's saying is that, hey guys, you know how that in the law, a woman, when she's married, she's bound by the law to her husband as long as he's alive, but when he dies, she's free from the law.

And then she can be married to whoever she wants.

And then the same rule applies.

She's bound to him until he dies.

And then he says, that's what happened to us.

He said, we were bound to the law.

We were bound to the law.

And he says, but then when Jesus Christ died on the cross, in essence the law went with him, the law, not dead.

Jesus said, I didn't come to destroy the law, but to fulfill the law.

So the law went with him to the cross.

And so when we Accepted Christ as our Savior.

We entered into his death.

Then.

Now, I want you to notice.

And then when we.

So when we were free from the law, we need a new wife, so to speak.

I mean, a husband.

We need a new husband, so to speak.

And that new husband that we chose was Jesus Christ.

We are the bride of Christ.

Now I want you to notice.

Are you in Revelation, chapter one?

All right, now I want you to look at.

Let's see, verse.

Look at verse, boy.

It's this.

This can get way up here.

Let's just go to verse 17.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.

And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, fear not.

I am the first and the last.

Now, don't let.

Don't, don't let this be lost on you.

I am he that liveth.

I was dead.

And behold, I am alive forevermore.

Do you understand?

Do you see the connection here?

He said In Romans, chapter 7 that the marriage contract is contingent upon the life of the husband.

And if the husband dies, then the wife is free.

But look what we have right here.

Do you see what our husband just said?

He said, I am he that liveth.

I'm alive right now.

I was dead.

But behold, I am alive forevermore.

I cannot lose my salvation because it's not.

Not contingent upon me.

It's contingent upon Jesus Christ dying again.

And he's never going to do that.

He's going to live forever.

Hallelujah.

He changes not.

I'm telling you, I am so glad that I am saved.

But that was just.

That's not even in my notes.

That's how I always end up going past time.

Because that's not in my notes.

But that's a good rabbit right there, isn't it?

That's a good one.

Now, I want you to notice something.

He raised the dead to life back then, and he's still doing it today.

I'm living proof of that.

Man, when I was dead, I was nasty, ugly, smelt bad and everything.

It was just a rotten life that I lived.

Dead to the things of God.

I didn't want anything to do with God.

Nothing.

The only thing I had to do with God when I was lost was use his name in vain.

That's it.

But not anymore.

He brought me to life.

He brought me to life.

He quickened me by his spirit.

When I trusted in him as my savior, He.

Well, the second thing is this.

He gave sight to the blind back then when he was on the earth.

He gave sight to the blind.

He hasn't changed a bit.

I mean, he has not changed.

He gave sight to the blind.

Luke 18.

I'm going to go ahead and read it.

Luke 18, you're there.

Verse 35 through 43.

And it came to pass that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the wayside, begging.

When y'all read the Bible, do you actually.

Do you picture all this?

Do you put yourself there?

Do you try to, you know, are you walking down the streets?

Isn't that awesome?

He said he sat by the wayside, begging.

And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant.

And they told him, jesus of Nazareth passeth by.

And he cried, saying, jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.

And they which went before rebuked him that he should hold his peace.

But he cried so much the more, thou son of David, have mercy on me.

And Jesus stood and commanded him to be brought unto him.

And when he was come near, he asked him, saying, what wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?

And he said, lord, that I may receive my sight.

And Jesus said unto him, receive thy sight.

Thy faith hath saved thee.

And immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God.

And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.

I'm telling you, when I received this new life in Christ.

And this is your testimony as well.

If you're saved this morning, you have the same testimony.

When you receive that new life, you also receive new sight.

I mean, when you were born again, he opened up your eyes to the truth.

To the truth.

We might have known smidgens of truth here and there.

We weren't completely ignorant.

We knew truth.

We were academically astute, maybe, but we didn't really know truth.

We didn't know God's truth.

When I got saved, all of a sudden things were different.

I mean, I had a whole new worldview.

I knew all of a sudden it was abortion was wrong.

I knew homosexuality was wrong.

I knew that drugs and alcohol.

I just knew that Christians didn't live like that.

There were just truths that just came to me.

He opened my eyes.

He gave me understanding.

And he did the same for you, I suppose.

You know, the problem is, the older we get, the less we keep our eyes open, the older we get in the Lord.

We have a tendency to shut our eyes to certain things, but that doesn't make it right.

He still gave us truth.

He gave us truth.

He opened my eyes to the truth.

He said of himself, I am the way, the truth.

And the life.

First he gave me life and then he gave me truth.

He opened up my eyes to the truth.

Truth of what?

Everything.

Truth about life, truth about death.

I learned where I didn't learn.

It was honestly, it was an aha moment.

It was a epiphany.

It was the Holy Spirit moment.

All of a sudden I knew where I came from.

I honestly, like everybody else, I thought it came from monkeys.

I really did.

I mean, that's probably how many of you thought you came from monkeys till you got saved.

Why I feel so alone here today.

You're going to tell me there's nobody in this room that believed in evolution.

When you were growing up, how many of you went to public school?

Alright, you went to public school, you believed in evolution because they crammed it down your throat.

They didn't give you a choice.

I went to public school and I've said it many times.

You know, I may have had a lot of relatives swung by their neck, never had any of them swing by their tail, but I believed I did.

When I went through public school, that's all I knew.

I just accepted it, right?

But one day I was driving down the road, I mean, just not long.

It couldn't have been more than a few days to a week after I received Christ as my Savior.

And I began having these thoughts, all these new things, seeing life from totally different eyes.

And I remember, I remember at a red light in the company truck, just all of a sudden I remember saying out loud, wait a minute.

If I'm a Christian now and the Bible is true, and I believe that it is, that means I didn't come from a monkey.

Adam and Eve are my first parents.

I'm serious.

It came to me like that.

God gave me truth.

He gave me life.

And then he opened up my eyes and gave me truth.

He's still doing today what he did back then when he was walking the earth.

He gave life and he helped people to see who were blind.

He gave sight to the blind.

The scales were lifted off of my eyes, of my understanding.

All of a sudden I knew why I was here.

I had no clue before that my life had no purpose.

I thought my purpose was to work, get my paycheck, party work, get my paycheck, party work, get my paycheck, etc.

Etc.

Boy, when I got saved, when he gave me life and he opened up my eyes and gave me sight, I also I understood.

I'm here to serve him.

I'm here.

My life is here for a purpose.

And that purpose is to glorify God the Creator, the One who made me.

And I understood, without even having a sermon thrown at me, that I was going to have to go back to him one of these days and give an account for this life.

And I wanted to make it count.

I didn't want to go back empty handed.

I knew I was going to have to meet him one day.

I just knew that I didn't have a sermon on it.

He gave me understanding.

And then I want you to notice something else.

He calls the deaf to hear and the mute to speak when he was walking the earth, didn't He?

He caused the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.

I'm going to Read Mark Chapter 7 if you want to turn over there as well.

I'm going to go ahead and begin in Mark chapter 7, beginning in verse 31.

I'm going to read down through 37 Mark 7, verse 31.

The Bible says, and again, departing from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, he came into the Sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coast of Decapolis.

And they bring unto him one that was deaf and had an impediment in his speech.

And they beseeched him to put his hand upon him.

And he took him aside from the multitude and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit and touched his tongue, and looking up to heaven, he sighed.

And he said unto me, ephatha, that is, be opened.

And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.

And he charged them that they should tell no man.

But the more he charged them so much more a great deal.

They published it, and were beyond measure astonished, saying, he hath done all things well.

He maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak.

You know, I now can hear and understand the word of God in a way I could not before Jesus saved me.

First Corinthians, chapter two.

Let me just read it to you and I'll make a comment.

As it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him.

But God has revealed them unto his Spirit, unto us by his spirit.

For the spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

For what man knows the things of a man, except save the spirit of man which is in him.

Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God.

Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God.

That we might know the things that are freely given to us by God.

I didn't have the spirit of God dwelling within me before I got saved.

This book made no sense to me.

I mean, I understood.

I didn't understand, but I could recite Psalm 23.

I could recite part of it, not even all of it.

I didn't understand it.

Why didn't I understand it?

Because I didn't have the spirit of God in me.

Because this is a spiritual book and it's only spiritually discerned.

The only way that we can understand it is if the Holy Spirit gives us understanding and teaches us.

And I'm glad to say that now I know a little bit more than I did before I got saved.

I'm here to tell you when you do get saved.

Can I get an amen right here?

When you do get saved and you begin to open this book, you realize how much you don't know.

In fact, I don't even know how much I don't even know.

There's so much in here.

It's so vast.

It's a treasure chest of wisdom, the Word of God.

But now I can understand it some.

I try my best to study it.

I try my best to teach it.

And I leave us all hanging with my finite knowledge of the Word of God.

But I do know a little bit about it now.

Praise the Lord.

He gave me new ears to understand His Word and how it applies to me and what my responsibilities are and what his expectations are for me and how I'm to relate to others and to Him.

By the way, he did give us this so that we could live for Him.

He gave us understanding.

This tells you how to live for Him.

This will tell you every role in life.

It'll tell you how to be a teenager.

I mean, if you're a teenager, it'll tell you exactly what you're supposed to do.

If you're a young, unmarried adult, a single adult, it'll tell you exactly how you're supposed to live your life if you're a married adult.

If you're married with young children, it'll tell you exactly how you're supposed to live your life to the glory of God as a young parent.

If you got kids that are teenagers.

I don't know.

No.

It'll tell you exactly, exactly how to live as a parent with teenagers.

It'll tell you how to love them.

It'll tell you don't provoke them to anger.

It'll tell you how to love them.

It'll tell you how to raise them if you're a couple who do not have children.

Do you know that the word of God tells us that the first family was called Adam and Eve?

Yeah, that's true.

If your kids are out of the house after you start, stop celebrating.

God will tell you in his word how you're to live your life as two people whose kids are gone.

You know what he tells you?

Love those grandbabies, spoil them as much as you can, and then give them back to the kids.

The fact of the matter is, when my kids were getting up to where they got ready to move out, I was kind of like, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up.

I wanted that empty nest syndrome.

I really did.

I was looking forward to it.

Then I told him for the first year, I would tell him, I say I love you, but I don't miss you.

But then about year two, I was whining, crying, and then grandkids came into play.

Oh, man.

Now we move close to where the grandkids are.

And now if you're a senior citizen, I'm not there yet.

Almost.

But if you're a senior citizen, guess what?

The word of God tells you exactly how you and that hoary head are supposed to live.

Every role in life is laid out in the word of God.

And if you're saved, this is your instruction book.

And you can understand it.

God will teach you if you'll just open it.

There's no reason for us to live an ungodly life as a child of God.

What about the tongue?

Did he give me a new tongue?

He did.

As I said before, the only way I managed to talk about God before I got saved was to use his name in vain.

But listen to this.

I claim this as my life verse in Psalm chapter 40.

In verse one through three, I waited patiently for the Lord.

He inclined unto me and heard my cry.

He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay.

And he set my feet upon a rock and established my goings.

Now watch this.

And he put a new song in my mouth.

He put a new song in my mouth.

Even praise unto our God and many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord.

Yeah.

He loosened my tongue.

He loosened my tongue.

When I first got saved, I couldn't shut up about him.

It got me fired.

I couldn't shut up about Jesus Christ.

He changed my life so much.

I mean, he.

He gave me new life.

He opened my eyes.

He gave me understanding.

He helped me to realize what my purpose in life was.

And I couldn't help but to share it.

I wanted to help people understand that they could miss hell and make heaven.

And I just couldn't shut up about it.

Zeal but no knowledge.

I didn't have any knowledge, but I had a lot of zeal.

Just wanted to tell people about Jesus Christ, how he changed me.

I led this guy to Christ.

When I first came to Fort Worth from Houston, when I came to Fort Worth to go to Bible college after talking with him, he was my neighbor.

And I just got under conviction that I needed to talk to him about Jesus.

And I wasn't even in Bible college yet.

And I didn't know there was a Romans road.

I didn't know there was a systematic way to lead people to Jesus.

I just knocked on his door and I went and he invited me in.

He let me come in and I sat down for two hours.

I told him about what Jesus did for me.

And I didn't know if he was even convinced.

And I finally.

I just said, matt, man, if I could just knock off your head and pour into you what I got in me, you'd want it.

I didn't know how to explain it because you know, when you're saved, it's experiential.

And you know what he said?

Okay.

I said, what?

I mean, two hours I just talked about Jesus and what he did for me.

I had a story and I shared it with him and he said, okay.

I didn't know any better.

I thought he had to go back to the same barn, get kicked by the same mule I did.

And so I said, okay, well, let's get down on our knees and pray.

I didn't realize we didn't have to be on our knees to pray.

But that's how I did it.

So I thought he did too.

So he knelt down on his knees and he prayed and asked Jesus to save him.

Him and his wife, little girl.

I just had to tell people.

Just.

God loosened my tongue.

He gave me new words.

He gave me something to talk about.

Acts chapter 1, verse 8 says, but when you receive power, after that, you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto Me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

We're to be witnesses.

We ought to tell people what we know.

Hey, folks, you were dead.

You were dead in your sins and Jesus gave you life.

And not just life upon this earth, but life eternally.

You're going to miss Hell, and you're going to make heaven.

You're going to spend eternity with God and the angels.

And you've got neighbors that are going to hell because you've never told them.

You've got friends that are going to hell because you never told them.

You've got family that are going to die, and they're going to spend an eternity in a lake of fire because you never told them your story.

Isn't it amazing?

Before we got saved, and even after we're saved, we can talk about everything else under the sun, even things I don't understand.

I try to talk about them.

I make a good guess.

People find out pretty quick how ignorant I am about the things I don't understand.

And let me tell you.

Let me help you with something.

When you talk to the people who don't know Jesus, you know 100% more about Jesus than they do.

So share your story.

Tell somebody how to be saved.

You got God put that word in you, and he gave you the spirit of God to give you.

He said, when?

I'm going to read it again, because a lot of times people think this is a verse for missionaries.

When he says, ye shall receive power.

After that, the Holy Ghost shall come upon you.

Well, when did the Holy Ghost come upon you?

Well, he indwelt you when you got saved.

So you can say, he came upon you when you got saved.

You have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you.

And so you have everything you need to be able to share that story effectively and with power.

New life, new eyes, new ears, new tongue.

He gave me new everything.

And you know what he's still doing now?

What he did back then?

Still doing the same thing.

He hadn't changed a bit.

He healed the lame.

I've got to quit.

He healed the lame.

Let me just say this.

Luke, chapter six.

He healed the man with the withered hand.

He healed him.

John, chapter five.

He healed the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda.

And he healed me.

He gave me a new purpose for living.

And he that loseth his life for my sa.

There is pleasure in sin.

There is no doubt about that.

There is pleasure.

The word of God says there's pleasure, but it's fleeting.

It's here for a few minutes and then it's gone.

But eternity is forever.

Eternity is forever.

I find no greater joy in life than serving the Lord.

I had the privilege of.

Was telling this couple over here, I had the privilege of winning, leading my wife To Jesus Christ.

And you know, my wife, she was 18 years old.

By the time she was 21, I was in Bible College.

So I still had three years to go.

So by the time I finished Bible College, she was 21.

By the time she was 21, she was a pastor's wife.

But she was in ministry because Bible college was ministry.

And if you went to the church I went to down south, Fort Worth, believe me, you were in full time ministry without pay.

And she was right there with me by my side.

And my wife has never known an adult life without being full time ministry, full time service to the Lord.

And I can promise you this, and I'm speaking for, because we've been together a long time.

We wouldn't change a thing.

We wouldn't want.

Not one day where we just left all this behind just so we could spend a day living it out in the world.

Not one day.

I only have one regret about being saved.

Two.

Two regrets about being saved.

One, I didn't get saved sooner.

And then two, I regret that I'm not a better Christian today.

That's it.

He didn't save me and give me all of these things just so I could leave him out of my life.

He saved you for him.

For him.

You're his.

You're bought with a price.

You're his.

Live for him.

Jesus is still doing what he's always done.

He's still raising the dead.

He's still giving sight to the blind.

He is still causing the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.

He is still healing the lame.

And there's one more back in the day.

And I don't reckon any of us.

Maybe you have.

I haven't.

You ever seen a leper?

I've never seen a leper.

Some of you may have.

There are still leper colonies in the world and there are still missionaries that actually go to leper colonies and share Jesus Christ.

But here's what I know.

In the word of God, I read that he cleansed the leper.

And Luke, chapter 17, verse 11 through 14 tells us about that leprosy while.

And I have this written out.

If you wanted to read that, just read it.

Leprosy, while absolutely real, it is in the word of God.

It is always symbolic of sin.

It is always a picture of sin.

Jesus healed the leprosy.

And here's what we know about leprosy.

It creates separation.

If you have leprosy, you can't be around the other, the regular population.

And.

And when we are sin sick, it separates us From God.

We can't have the blessings of God.

We can't.

People say, why?

I don't understand why God didn't do this for me.

Or why he allowed this to happen.

Or why he allowed this to happen.

Listen to me.

When you're on the front porch of your house and you've got 10 kids in the backyard that are playing the neighbor kids, and your kids, even your brother's kids or your sister's kids, and you hear 10 kids screaming and yelling and then all of a sudden yours falls off the trampoline and cries.

Do you think you can distinguish your child from all the others?

You bet you can, because it's your child.

You're familiar with that child, that scream.

There's only one scream like that scream.

I can just hear brother Sam right now saying, ah, that's Bodie or whoever.

How many boys you got?

Three boys.

Four boys?

Yeah, that's right.

I knew that.

You got a new one, newish.

And you can pick them all out, can't you?

There's no doubt.

And folks, there's a reason why sometimes God doesn't intervene.

Because there is no such thing as the fatherhood of God.

No such thing.

That's not a Bible term.

That is a man made term.

The fatherhood of God.

There is no such thing as the fatherhood of God.

Jesus said to those religious leaders who were rejecting him, he said, you are of your father, the devil.

So until a person actually becomes saved, we're not a child of God.

Isaiah 59, verse 1 and 2 says, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.

But your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear.

Listen, if you're here this morning and you're not 100% convinced that Jesus Christ is your savior, if you're not 100% convinced that you're going to heaven when you die, you can take care of that right now.

Because Jesus is still doing now what he did back then.

He wants to save you.

He wants to give you life.

You are dead in your sins.

And we all were who are now saved.

We were at one point dead in our sins.

And if you're not 100% sure, you're saved.

If you're not 100% sure that you're going to heaven when you die, you are.

You're dead in your sin and Jesus wants to give you life.

And I'm telling you, once you get life.

You think you love now.

You wait till Jesus gives you his love.

And then I had my first Christmas.

I was 20 years old.

I was 21 by that time when I had my first Christmas as a saved person.

And I remember saying, wow, I feel like I've never even had Christmas before because now I recognize that this truly really is about Jesus Christ and about God.

And it opened up my entire life.

I'm telling you, look, all things change.

Time changes everything.

But if you want something that doesn't change, why don't you receive Jesus Christ as your savior this morning?

He'll give you life that you cannot lose.

Eternal life.

Eternal.

Eternal.

It's funny.

Whenever we run into somebody who wants to debute, wants to debate eternal life, I said, well, quote John 3:16.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have what?

Everlasting.

It's amazing how we just change the definition.

Everlasting life.

If you're here this morning and you've never been saved, you don't know for sure that Jesus is your savior.

You can be sure today.

In a moment, we're going to have an invitation.

Music's going to play, folks are going to stand.

I'm going to invite you to come down here and talk with our counselors.

If you want to get saved, we'll have men or women.

If you're a lady, we'll put you with a lady.

If you're a man who wants to get saved, if you're a young person who you need to get saved, you can come this morning and get saved.

We want to show you from the Bible, beyond a shadow of a doubt, heaven's your home.

Let's stand together this morning.

Then we'll have an invitation.