NO TURNING BACK!!!!

good morning church how's everybody doing it's good to see everybody i just got in from spokane washington last night and it was 26 degrees there what a difference it's hot and humid here does not feel like october i hope you guys doing good i want to welcome you all i want to welcome all the people online we sure appreciate you guys we have some announcements to give you take it kiki all right pastor danny being on the scene no i'm just kidding um i don't know about you guys today but i came with an expectation today for some reason yeah the atmosphere is different so i came with an expectation today but let's go ahead and get started with announcements our 6 a.m bible study with pastor greg is tomorrow morning at courtney's and then at 6 30 that evening at courtney's is the ironman men's ministry we have an awesome guest speaker my father-in-law's in town from charleston south carolina and he has decades of ministry and wisdom he's going to bring you don't want to miss it it's always awesome when pastor bob speaks at iron man that's right all right um our global vision young adults that is me and my husband's ministry that we just started we meet every saturday night at 6 00 pm we um i cook and i don't mean to brag but i know how to cook so if you are ages 18 to 25 come see me or my husband on the front row cooking bible study good time with fellowship people your age like-minded people is what we all need so we also have a big event coming up on october 30th we're going to go to a pumpkin patch the corn maze and then we're going to get tiny pumpkins and we're going to come back and paint them so we're going to have a little paint off on the tiny pumpkins we're going to have dinner and then we are going to have a bonfire and testimony night so it is an all day thing so if you're again ages 18 to 25 come see us and get plugged into that you may not know this but i'm a pretty good judge of cooking and i haven't had any of your cooking yet that's just wrong pastor danny i i tried to give you my famous strawberry banana smoothie and you never let me know so yeah all right moving on youth ministry there's no youth ministry tonight uh pastor jesse oh i'm not pastor jesse is on his anniversary i think they're in gatlinburg or knoxville i'm jealous yeah i am too so there's no youth tonight all right and we need volunteers if you feel that little tug in your heart that you need to get plugged in you need to act on that go to the volunteer booth it's my left your right in that corner and go see kylie and scott and get plugged in yeah all right i'm excited about this next announcement all you married couples the marriage matters ministry is doing a one-day saturday seminar on saturday november 6th and it's going to be awesome we're limiting it to 100 people so it will sell out we're having it at the hilton garden inn it's going to be awesome we're going to have child care as well the hotel for all the online people we're expecting a lot of online people to come rolling in they're giving you discounts on hotel rooms if you stay there for the for the conference and also uh that uh deal ends on the 22nd of this month so there's a window of opportunity to get a room with at a discount so the uh the saturday seminar is going to be about nine lives that will destroy your marriage and um it's going to be awesome you don't want to miss it there will be child care that's important so if you if that's a situation you're like well i can't come because it's not child care we've got you covered and so we have these little flyer things that we're handing out if you haven't gotten one come see me or my wife suzanne we're here on the second row right behind pastor greg and sister ty and and we'll glad to give you one and give you any information that you need did i miss anything the earrings oh it is catered that's important there's food i i don't know how i missed that part right it is catered and it's italian it's gonna be awesome and glorious no sandwiches at this thing it's gonna be good eating so anyway that's the thing that's gonna be catered and that's it um one more one more announcement um our parking ministry yes really needs help guys our um brother milo he's the leader of it unfortunately he just did have knee surgery and so let's be praying for brother milo yes but we need more people to get plugged in for the parking lot ministry i'm sure y'all see all the cars canned in like sardines but we need some more help so if you guys are interested in that again go to the volunteer booth and get plugged into that amen and we hope to see you guys wednesday night or wednesday night services are awesome so i just wanted to remind everybody to be here on wednesday night as well thanks um i have all right less than a minute yes good morning church ((music playing)) come on let's put our hands together ((music playing)) shape who could carry that kind of weight it was my turn till i met you and i was breathing but not a lot all my failures i tried too high it was my tune jesus till i made and you called my name ((music playing)) out of the darkness into your glorious day ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) it's a glorious day ((music playing)) now your mercy has saved my soul and your freedom and your freedom is ((music playing)) is ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) out of yes darkness ((music playing)) ((music playing)) my chains break at the weight of your glory i need a shelter i was an orphan but you called me citizen of heaven when i was broken ((applause)) is ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) to your glorious day ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) darkness ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) it's a glorious day ((music playing)) are you awake this morning come on it's time to be awake ((music playing)) it's time for the sleeper to wait it's time for the old winds to change and i hear the spirits ((music playing)) to rise it's time for the great light to shine and i hear the spirit say it's time ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) let ((music playing)) ((music playing)) let the king of glory let the king ((music playing)) it's time for the sleeper to wake it's time for the old winds ((music playing)) to rise ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) oh here you are ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) let the king ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) let ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) let the kingdom ((music playing)) open up ((music playing)) ((music playing)) open up the windows ((music playing)) us ((music playing)) ((music playing)) is ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) yes ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) we welcome you in this place ((music playing)) ((music playing)) let the light ((music playing)) the ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) i ((music playing)) ((music playing)) give him some praise in this house this morning church shout shout shout shout shout to the lord hallelujah yes hallelujah you may be seated all over the house if you're glad to be here say amen well i am so honored to host each and every one of you of course our folks our regular folks are i call them normal folks but if you go to global vision you don't get a lot of normalcy about you amen but uh we welcome all of our visitors i know we still got people parking still got people coming in but i love to ask this question and lest i forget later i need to ask right now if you are not from the great state of tennessee and you have traveled here one way or another to be in this service today and you're an out-of-stater we want to honor you in the house would you stand up all over the house if you are not from tennessee stand up stand up send them wow look at that woo man alive amen and amen thank you so much good to have so many of you here and i already met people in the in the first meet and greet we'll have another one in a few moments but i met folks in the first meet and greet that somebody moved here two days ago i never met amen now they're here and had three other families say that they're heading back and moving back and so man it's just like every month we have like five families a month that just pick up and leave everything and just come to be a part of the church it's it's unbelievable really it's unheard of it's just we've never seen it on this fashion and i'm not saying that everybody needs to move back but maybe everybody needs to move back i mean i don't know but i'm telling you guys just doing something and life's too short to try to serve in a boring church amen so you might as well be somewhere in these last days where god's doing something where somebody's being courageous we're actually standing up and pushing back against all this tyrannical nonsense because how many know there's a lot of tyrannical nonsense going on in america right now a lot of it and so we're just not uh we're just not part of it we're not participating in the nine cents amen but uh we're glad you're here let me get a couple of i know our our folks did a bang-up job a moment ago pastor danny and miss kiki and every single week they got the little sing song going back and forth and the routine with the announcements but let me give you a couple of announcements that i want you to have personally and of course we have our men's bible study in the morning at six o'clock at courtney's we don't like to miss that and then tomorrow night again at courtney's at 6 30 with pastor danny the iron men fellowship don't miss out on that my wife i have something she'll talk to you about about a new ladies bible study that she'll be doing here very very soon amen so that's going to be exciting and she's getting back in the saddle on that but a couple of things i want you to know about many folks have asked about today's meeting it's unusual that i'll be this close tonight i'll be in jackson tennessee first assembly and so that'll be this evening at their six o'clock i think it's the same time so a lot of folks are wanting to go my family and several folks will be taking the rv so you can follow us i know the gv young adults with chance and kiki are going to be going a good number of them and so we can do some carpooling uh you can follow us whatever we'll be leaving just before three o'clock so get here about 2 45 i know that makes for a short and a long day a short lunch but a long day but i'll be in jackson tonight preaching there and i know a number of our folks wanted to go and uh so i would love to have you along for that trip and so again about 2 45 show up today and we'll make sure that you get a ride now rarely if ever do i give especially online with as many people as we have that watch and follow us rarely do i ever give preemptive warning or encouragement along the lines of what i'm going to be speaking on in the future all right but this wednesday night i don't want you to miss i know politically we're controversial and biblically and all of that but uh this wednesday night i'm gonna do something that i've never done and it's because i've grown in a certain way and listen the closer you get to the lord the more you learn things right and so i've never been a proponent of this but i've also never been diametrically opposed as much as i am now in my spiritual walk and so this wednesday night online and in house we've been having by the way amazing wednesday night crowds it's been unbelievably amazing it's a little cool but it's fun and so we want you to be back but this wednesday night i'm gonna really step out on a limb and uh i may make a few people upset but i'm beyond the opinion realm at this point and so wednesday night we got a graphic get a graphic for that this wednesday night i'm going to preach on why i told halloween to go to hell ((applause)) so there there used to be a time and i'd be like oh well you know i just i love candy and i love my i'm done with that i ain't playing with demons no more closer i get to god the less i fool with that mess so i'm gonna give you a historical overview we'll give you a biblical overview and uh i'll give you a few of my opinions on some things but most of it's not gonna be opinion and so i'm telling you i know look i got six kids i get it okay but you better love god more than you love your kids you better love truth and you better love the bible more than you love candy and cavities okay so i'm not entertaining demons we even cut out trunk or treat at the church we ain't fooling with that man we ain't doing alternative halloween stuff at our church we just ain't doing it my alternative to halloween is jesus is alive praise god that's my alternative right there he's alive every day so we ain't doing it i know other churches down the road oh yeah they well they have trunk or treat yeah they close too yeah yeah they close too okay so we're not the church down the road we're not the church you grew up in we're not your grandmama's church right we're just not we're not that church we're this church we're global vision and so this wednesday night as controversial as i know it will be not that we're scared of that uh i'm going to talk biblically on why i gave it up well i have nothing to do with it whatsoever and we're going to call it out and so i think you ought to be here because i think it's going to give you a lot of good understanding and a lot of good ideas and listen we cut out i found out so much information in the last couple of years we cut out our family pumpkin carving contest i got three amens on that now you can carve all the pumpkins you want to we believe in individual soul liberty i ain't cramming down your throat i'm not the pope i'm a pastor every bucket sits on its own bottom but i'm here to tell you the nefarious evil history of pumpkin carving will blow your mind it'll blow your mind so look it's okay if we can spend 30 minutes on a wednesday night preaching against how wicked the masonic lodge is then certainly we can preach on how wicked halloween is okay and so don't miss this wednesday night it's going to be a a wonderful wonderful time and so i just want to preemptively give you that and i rarely ever do all right let's transition let's do some giving amen let's go from halloween to offering time but uh listen if you gave last week for our uh number one for our missionary that we unbelievably blessed that needed the surgery his daughter needed a surgery in the philippines we took care of that above and beyond and we were able to help a lot of people this week but hey guess what to god be the glory this past week we closed on that final sliver of land we on all of it now amen we own the whole thing we own the land beside us we own the land on this side we own the land behind us we are completely locked in by the road we we own it all to the glory of god because it's not about the expansion of our campus it's about the expansion of his kingdom amen and so we're going to just be able to tear out some trees get some more handicapped parking get some more accessibility to get people in here and make things a little bit more visible from the road and so we went from a little bitty 285 seat auditorium on one acre to a 3 000 seat tent on 17 acres and don't owe anybody a dime amen to god be the glory great things he have done we don't go to the bank to borrow money because the bar is servant to the lender and so if god wants us to have it he just gives us the cash for it right he gives us what we need i don't need the bank's permission to do what the holy spirit has told us to do and so to god be the glory he owns all of it and so every single bit of it now is paid for and we just thank the lord for that and we thank the lord for your giving so let's be faithful today as we give both in-house here in the tent and also online globalvisionbc.com give and just so many people around the world even people that are visiting today you give on a regular basis he said hey it's my first time here and hug my wife and i and take pictures and all that but we've been giving we've been tithing and so your faithfulness is encouraging because it keeps us allowing us to be bold and courageous and step out there and give give give give give give i tell pastors everywhere i go they want to know what's the secret to what god is doing we give more away in a month's time than we spend on ourself that's our secret right there because you can't out give god you can't out give god and so we got some big things coming down the pike we will begin tonight actually and tomorrow to to drop the first round of events uh on our site and we we had to wait because there was another event in the area that i'll actually be speaking at the gaylord that we did not want to be in competition but on october the 25th that's not a sunday that's a monday but plan on being here on the 24th and staying over for the 25th even our folks that are watching right now can make an event trip we're going to be having from six to eight o'clock a global vision town hall revival discussion that night there's going to be talk and there's going to be preaching there's going to be a glorious time but that is the night on october 25th when roger stone our dear friend is going to enter back into the house amen and so roger stone will be with us pastor mark burns will be with us charlene bollinger will be with us and uh i'll be preaching and speaking that night as well and so we're going to have a glorious glorious time six to eight o'clock on monday october the 25th do not miss out on that but let's pray that the lord will release us in a spirit of giving in a spirit of generosity a lot of people this week we want to help a lot of people that we want to bless we were able to get that check off to that church in indiana this week amen and they even snapped a picture of it and sent it to one of my friends and he said wow you guys are crazy because if you don't know i told you wednesday night last week when i was preaching in muncie while i was preaching the holy spirit said i want you to pay all of this church's mortgage off and to god be the glory we stroked him a check for forty thousand dollars paid their whole building off amen because they're reaching the people that nobody else wants they're reaching prostitutes gang bangers drug addicts and they have a men's home and a women's home and a little christian school and man they're doing it for the kingdom's sake and for the gospel and so we gave them a check for 40 000 paid their entire debt and so thanks be unto god that's what we like to do at global vision that's why we give that's why we sow that's why we invest and so let's give today and i know god will bless us father thank you so much for the privilege we have of being here lord there's always so much to say there's always so much to talk about but i pray father that today you would be glorified you would be honored may your presence radiate in this tent we thank you for all that you have done but lord we thank you in advance by faith for what you will do we thank you for all the people that you bring every single sunday every single wednesday but lord at the end of the day global vision exists for the people who aren't here yet so help us to go out to the highways and byways and compel them to come in that your house may be filled we thank you for redemption every week that we see we thank you for the baptismal celebrations every single weekend we do not take that for granted we say to god be the glory great things you are doing in our midst lord anoint this offering bless it break it and multiply it so that it can be distributed to many many churches many many missionaries many many single parents widows the hurting the homeless those in our community those around the world lord i pray that you would help us to be good stewards of every single dime that you entrust to us because lord you're not looking for a church that you can bless you're looking for a church that you can trust and when you trust us more you do bless us more so that we can give to others and so help us to be released today in a spirit of extravagant generosity and we're going to thank you for it in jesus name and all of god's people said god bless you as you give ((music playing)) i don't know about you guys but i get pumped up about offering time because i never know what kind of a text or email or message pastor's going to tell us about the good things that our tithe is doing in the kingdom of god and the lives that are being changed i also got pumped up because as he was talking about halloween i felt like the lord told me how can we celebrate a day of the dead when we serve the living god whose whole existence he breathes life into situations he brings dead bones to life he brings situations to life he causes things to live that were once dead so how can we spend a whole day celebrating a day of the dead when we serve the living jesus christ man i got pumped up i'm excited for wednesday don't miss it i love this time together to worship would you stand with me father we just pray that you would inhabit the praise of your people that we would be your living sacrifices here on earth we come into agreement with your word with your holy spirit in obedience to listen to that still small voice when you convict us when you make us more like you and less like the world we thank you god for this time of worship where we can worship the one true living king of kings and lord of lords the creator of the universe father we worship you in this place today we pray that you would be honored and glorified ((music playing)) ((music playing)) surrendered again ((music playing)) freely i lay down ((music playing)) my everything ((music playing)) this is my honor ((music playing)) the gift that i ((music playing)) all my heart and soul to glorify i offer nothing less than all my life for jesus christ i just wanna bless you ((music playing)) whatever it takes ((music playing)) my spirit is straight if you are the fire ((music playing)) you set me up ((music playing)) all my heart and soul ((music playing)) for jesus christ ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) we give you our obedience we give you our worship ((music playing)) we live to worship you jesus ((applause)) come on let's give it up ((music playing)) oh ((music playing)) you know ((music playing)) ((applause)) oh ((music playing)) oh ((applause)) ((music playing)) hope to ((music playing)) is ((music playing)) ((music playing)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((music playing)) ((music playing)) i offer nothing less than all my life for jesus christ come on are we going to be living sacrifices and i will be a little things i criticize all my heart and soul to glorify i offer nothing less than all my life for jesus christ come on just the voices ((music playing)) ((music playing)) we offer nothing less than all our lives for jesus ((applause)) come on let's give him some worship the one true living god we offer you our living sacrifice father come on amen amen you may be seated all over the house beautiful well i want to invite you in the word of god today to the gospel of luke if you turned there for just a few moments the ninth chapter luke chapter number nine is where we'll be in our text here in a few moments and again i want to say thank you and i know we still got some people looking for some seats and pastor danny said we need to buy some chairs and we do so we'll have to invest in some more chairs they made a good problem to have i never thought we'd outgrow the first tent much less the fifth one and so praise the lord for that glad you're here but we still got plenty of room to move people around and and kind of scrunch people in before the winter gets here and went out there before the winter gets here and make no mistake we will have the tent heated okay it's heated right now but it will be heated for the winter we use big diesel heaters it's easier to heat it than it is to cool it so we'll have ductwork system in here and the whole deal and so keep bringing friends and keep watching god show out when we show up amen and so thank you so much for being here in just a moment we will be in the gospel of luke and the ninth chapter and it's always a beautiful time to have every single visitor especially that drives so far and i met people this morning that's flown from washington state and people from california people from texas people have driven here we have like three families here from new york where's my new yachts right we have some new yorkers here wow just people here from all over and then i noticed a moment ago when i when i hopped up and uh evangelist steve pickett's here stand up brother brother steve right there this man right here give this man a god of ham wow this guy is a powerhouse for the gospel some of our folks heard him he spoke uh just before me at uh one of the last planned parenthood church at planned parenthoods that we did and he is a dear friend with pastor ken and has been traveling the road for many many years been an evangelism and been just a dear inspiration to me a lot of the same circles a lot of the same traveling areas we've come out of we know a lot of the same pastors and missionaries and i i appreciate you being here brother god bless you and here's what i know about evangelists because i was in evangelism for 10 years full time almost 11 before i started global vision i know that whenever an evangelist is sitting in a service that means they're not getting a love offering somewhere else because they're not preaching so we'll make sure he gets one today for just being in this tent amen because i know what the life of an evangelist is like it's not just seven suits and seven sermons and blow in blow up and blow out get bills to pay and mouths to feed and all of that and so we'll make sure we take care of him i think we've got some pastors in the house i know i met a couple of them i like them extra special not because they're pastors but because they're pastors and they cycle they ride bicycles right where are some pastors that how many pastors we got if you're a pastor i want you to stand up all over the room if you're a pastor stand up stand up stand up stand up look at that boom boom boom boom got pastor boom right back there praise the lord well we're glad you're here well we've got a lot to talk about so let's jump in luke chapter nine let's pray and we'll hit the ground running father thank you again for the lord jesus we gather under this tent in the banner of his name and through the power of his gospel and his blood i pray that you'd help me as i teach the scriptures for these next few moments i pray lord that as i preach you would empty me of myself and feel me to overflowing with wisdom power unction from the holy spirit and lord may the word of god be taught in a way that is clear that is concise that is understood that is powerful but most of all that is life changing so lord we need you to do what greg locke and global vision cannot do we thank you for every person here nobody has bebop under this tent by accident we are here by the divine providence of god thank you for all you're doing continue to strengthen my voice as i'm getting overlord just being just being tired and running the roads a lot we thank you for what you're about to do set us on fire with the power of the gospel in jesus name and all of god's people said in luke chapter number nine jesus is in an extraordinarily busy aspect of his ministry which is not strange or unusual he's going from place to place village to village preaching the unsearchable riches of christ indeed the unsearchable riches of himself and everywhere he goes there are two things that captivate the crowds what he says and what he does never a man spake like this man spake when jesus opened his heart like the front door of a house it was like theological niagara falls began to usher forth from his voice and when people heard jesus preach they knew it was the unfiltered word of god and they were hungry then and you in this hot tent are a testimony that people today are still hungry for the truth of the word of the living god you're hungry that's why you're here we're not here for a man show we're not here for a circus act we're not here for anything other than to hear the word of god and when jesus preached people were fed but i must remind you that it wasn't what he did but what he said is the very reason that the government and the politicians and the church wanted to stop him because what he said was so powerful and yet everywhere he went when he would say things and do things crowds would gather by the thousands sometimes by the tens of thousands the holy spirit uses the word on a number of occasions multitudes multitudes that's not a dozen that's not a handful that's not a hundred multitudes of people like a staunt ant bed were there to hear what jesus had to say and in the midst of it here's the unique thing about the attention span of jesus he had this uncanny ability i wished i had it more i'm working on it as a pastor he had this uncanny ability to be able to be surrounded by thousands of people and yet focus on one individual at a time and so in this context some people are going to come for the attention of jesus they want to ask him some questions matter of fact the first one wants to make a very audacious and bold statement to which jesus called him on it because how many of you know sometimes we make promises that mean nothing the bible says you would be better off to not even make a vow or a promise as to make one and not keep it you see god doesn't take that lightly we may how many of you remember in this town and in your town especially the the old timers the blue hairs i mean that respectfully but you can remember there was a time in your city you could go to the bank and borrow money on a handshake but not today now you got to have a sample in a cup and you got to cut half your hair out and give blood dna because nobody keeps the word anymore and a lot of times that's filtered into the church and we tell jesus we're going to do all of these huge grandiose things and we go up like a rocket and the first time we see opposition we come down like a meteorite we have all of this hocus pocus in our mind of what it looks like to serve jesus it's going to be glitter and gold everybody's going to like me and i'm never going to be unfriended on facebook jesus said beware when all men speak well of you if what you say in what you do makes everybody happy you are following somebody but you are not following jesus christ because there is an ability within those of us that follow jesus to make people mad on accident and it just happens not everybody's going to like you not everybody needs to like you and you need to loosen yourself from the bondage of what i call the disease to please stop trying to make everybody happy and live a life that is honoring and glorified to the god that made you for that very reason you are not called to please them you are called to please him now for everybody that likes to make us shirts around here there's your one right there right you are not called to please him you are called to please him and we get that twisted sometimes so notice the promise that falls out of this man's mouth very quickly i don't believe he sat back and actually counted the cost of what this was going to take we'll pick up our reading towards the end of chapter 9 the gospel of luke verse number 57 it says it came to pass that as they went in the way people following jesus he's preaching he's teaching he's healing all manner of sickness and disease amongst the people while he's going in the way a certain man said unto him lord now watch please his promise i will that's affirmative no doubt about that i will follow thee whithersoever thou goest now let me ask you a couple of questions you ever heard somebody say something like that man i'm telling you i'll follow jesus no matter what second question have you ever told yourself that and then not followed through with it the answer is probably yes because we are like the people in luke chapter 14 we sit down to build a tower we sit down to fight a battle because building and battling is everything that we do in our walk with christ and sometimes we have these huge ideas of what we would like to accomplish for the glory of god and for the expansion of his kingdom but we don't sit down and count the cost that some people aren't going to like you when you make those decisions sometimes you may lose your job when you stand by your conviction somebody say amen sometimes they won't invite you back to the family reunion because you're just a little bit too political a little bit too jesus freaked if you will right people like well you know brother like i'll just be honest with you i want to serve the lord but i don't want people to think i'm crazy i'm counting on it i'm counting on it i'm counting on walking to a room and making people nervous right people's conversation ought to change when you walk in and out of change when you walk out and this guy very casually very haphazardly very willy-nilly if you will just walks in throws his shoulders back and says hey jesus i will follow you no matter what whithersoever thou goest and we have heard that drill before oh we'll never walk away from the things of god you know we've raised a generation of people that say well i tell you when it all comes down to it and by the way it is all come down to it right now okay get that out of your mind we're not looking at 50 years down the road we're looking at 50 minutes down the road it's happening now and people say well you know when it all comes down to it i'll go to jail for my faith the same people saying that don't even go to church for their faith we have raised an entire generation of people that talk about dying for someone they don't even live for every single day consistently well i'm gonna die for jesus i just want you to live for him because he came to give you life and life more abundantly i'm not talking about dying for it it may come down to that but you'll never die for someone you don't live for consistently and faithfully every single day and there's a lot of people that make these half-hearted haphazard problems i will serve you i will live for you i will die for you whithersoever thou goest i'm there sign me up i'm too legit to quit jesus so this guy makes this this massive announcement i'll be honest i cannot doubt the sincerity of his heart in the text because i wasn't there i'll let jesus do that to which he does but this guy says i will go wither so ever maybe he would maybe he thought he would in sincerity he really believed that i will do whatever you want me to do and there's a lot of people that speak that way but when the bullets start flying you wouldn't want to be in a foxhole with them because they talk like that but they don't walk like that now i've told you a thousand times i'll tell you a thousand or maybe a million more my granddaddy used to say your talk talks and your walk talks but your walk talks louder than your talk talks okay that's terminology that means we don't care what comes out of your mouth we want to see what you do with your life it better visibly and verbally match because there's a lot of people that say one thing and do something else and think about this we'll get there in the context but think about this all the churches we're going to stand having done all to stand they were the first cowards to baal pastors for years been talking about these are places of healing our house is a house of miracles we're a house of faith we're a house of worship you know there was a time that we invited sick people to church to be healed and now we're freaked out and afraid oh my goodness you spiked the fever you can't come to church for two years in the name of god we can't lay hands on you oh my goodness we got to be six feet apart jesus laid his hands on lepers on lepers and they won't even let pastors go to the hospitals these days and by the way can i just say something politically supercharged it's not that they won't let me go into the hospital because they just don't want me to pray with the people that are there they won't let me go into the hospital because i pull my camera out and i prove the lie that these ers are not overrun the way that the left and cnn is trying to make you think they're overrun that's why they won't let you in the hospital they don't want you to know they lying the devil's a lie the devil's alive so anyhow he said wherever you go i'm going now watch how jesus checked him on it i love this verse 58 and jesus said unto him foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the son of man hath not were to lay his head now that does a couple of things for me number one it encourages me number two it discounts and blows apart the nefarious plan of the prosperity gospel which is no gospel at all do i believe god bless us yes do i believe god gives back when we give luke 6 38 yes do i believe god provides for his kids philippians 4 19 yes do i believe the gospel is about prosperity no you see if the gospel we preach doesn't work in every single context it's not the true gospel prosperity gospel works well in america because people don't read their bible the prosperity gospel works well in african nations because the pastors take advantage of the poor and the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and they say well if you had enough faith you would have the biggest car in town if you really loved god you would live in a mansion with a 47-foot deep swimming pool if you loved god you would have more money than you would ever be able to spend or spare let me tell you something before i got saved i smoked a lot of dope i've never been that high or that stupid that's nonsense well you can tell how spiritual somebody is by how much money they have don't believe such dumbness some of the most godly people i know are broke as dirt they could sit on a dime and dangle both legs ask granny you say you know that poor is job's turkey i don't even know what job's turkey means but that's poor so jesus said let me tell you something sir if you're in this for the glitz and the glamour and the cameras and the lights and the action you better get out now because foxes have a place to go and the birds have a place to go but i ain't got a hotel room in which to lay my head tonight it wasn't that he didn't have a plan it's that jesus was willing to sacrifice whatever for the overarching goal of getting the gospel of the kingdom into the hearts of the people he said look i didn't come to be served i came to serve and to give my life a ransom for many that's why the disciples freaked out when jesus of all people unclothed himself put on the robe the towel of a servant of a slave and knelt down before them with a basin of water and washed their feet and said what i have done needs to be a memorial wherever the gospel is preached around the world so jesus didn't come to be famous jesus came to be faithful his face was set as a flint toward jerusalem no matter how much they tried to stop him and malign him and castigate him it mattered not he came for one purpose to seek and to say that which was lost luke 19 10. and so in this context this guy says hey i'm going to follow you wherever jesus said okay back up for a moment and think about what you just said sir because we're bad and you pastors and evangelists especially you know this sometimes we give an invitation and people make all of these huge decisions oh i'm for you lord i'm gonna die for you i'm gonna give my family i'm gonna surrender to preach i'm gonna give all my money away i'm gonna sell my house in the name of god and give it to the kingdom i'm never gonna miss a service i'm gonna read my bible i'm going to gonna gonna and jesus said okay take a deep breath wait for it do you know what that's going to cost you he says animals of the earth have a place to sleep and i'm a nomadic individual that goes from place to place to place to place having to live off the benevolence and the kindness and the generosity of others and he says make sure you know what you're asking in this context make sure you know what you're stating because he wasn't asking permission he was declaratively saying i'm going to do this and i think everybody's like look at this cat this guy's got some influence in town this man is going to follow jesus wither so ever and they're like wow that's a big king james word right this guy will go anywhere and jesus said let me tell you something there's a cost that you're going to have to sign up for and pay if you're going to follow me jesus is not a genie in a bottle he's not a wishlist sears catalog gumball machine that just gives you anything and everything that you want now god is good he grants many times the desires of his children but at the end of the day sometimes our desires are not in cohesion and unity if you will and in fellowship with what god has for us and at the end of the day we talk about how much we want to serve god but when it goes against what we really want to do we bail on him and we walk away from the things of god because it's uncomfortable and i'm going to tell you something because i love you enough as your shepherd both in-house and online to tell you something if you're going to serve jesus prepare to be uncomfortable and i ain't just talking about having a fan in a hot tent you better prepare to be uncomfortable on the job you better prepare to be uncomfortable in a restaurant in walmart listen i didn't even know what it was like to go to a walmart we went to walmart yesterday to pick up a couple of things and we're used to like ordering groceries online and all that bunch of high-tech redneck nonsense i ain't been to a walmart in months i mean i ain't been doing and i'm walking around walmart and i'm thinking to myself people really have believed all of this nonsense we just flew back from miami people look at us when we don't wear a mask like we got 47 eyes in our forehead right i mean people are something aren't they at the first sign of opposition they're like oh my goodness i i got to back down i got to build i got to bow i got a compromise in jesus let me tell you something sir if you're a bendy person okay what was that little dude's name gumby if you're a gumby if everybody has to like you then you can talk about how much you want to follow jesus but i promise at the end of the day in six weeks you won't be following anybody but yourself so jesus said you better count the cost sir count the cost so watch this verse 59 and he said unto now watch this shift another now wait a minute once the guy made his initial statement jesus gave his initial reaction and then ignored him ignored him it says and jesus said unto another he didn't keep talking to that guy no he set that guy straight and he's like you know what you talk a big game but we'll see what happens tomorrow when your family finds out what you just told me so then he turns around starts talking to somebody else he just completely ignored him it was almost like jesus said talk to the hand because the ears ain't listening and jesus turned and said into another he said all he needed to say why because what he said was so heavy there was so much gravity theologically in what he said there was no need in carrying on the conversation that guy needed to sit in it for a little bit and i'm gonna say something some of you need to sit in it before you run the isle and start making all these grandiose ideas of what you're gonna do for the kingdom because you better know some not everybody's gonna like your stuff and i'll go one step further and say this be careful who you share what god tells you with huh it's not because they're evil people it's because if somebody is not getting the download that you are getting they can get jealous over your download you don't believe me read the book of genesis when joseph showed up and said hey i've had a dream and they said oh behold the dreamer cometh and they stripped him of his clothes they ridiculed him and they threw him in a pit and what the enemy meant for evil god meant for good but at the end of the day his brothers didn't get the same download so be careful that you don't show all your cards to the wrong people sometimes you got to play things close to the vest because not everybody in your boat is rowing in the same direction some people are secretly turned around with a drill and they're drilling holes in the back of your boat and you wonder why you ain't getting what you're supposed to get it's cause you got the wrong people in the boat with you be careful who you share information with so jesus turns from this guy just totally ignores him absolutely ignores him and he said unto another watch this follow me now let me tell you why that's interesting the first guy made the statement that he was going to do it the second guy got the question from jesus got the command follow me that's what i want this is what this guy's talking about but it's really what i want you to do follow me which gives every implication of what this guy would just heard jesus say to this other guy he said look do you hear what i said yes sir follow me you know you ain't going to have a place to sleep people are not going to like you devil's going to come against you sometimes you're going to be poor and broke sometimes you're going to be blessed that's what paul meant by the way when he said in philippians 4 13 i can do all things through christ that's a great sports verse but it's not about winning basketball games that verse is about look i know how to be rich i know how to be poor i know how to be hungry i know how to be full i know how to be all these things i can do all things through christ which strengthens me context makes a difference no matter what the lifeway coffee mug says right context makes a difference and so jesus said you heard what i just said to this guy so based off of that follow me that was the command that's it no song and a dance no change your life and do it in 15 years from now no not when you got more money in the bank not when you have more education everybody uses excuses of what they would do for god if they had more when the problem is you don't recognize the fact that what you have is enough right now jesus did not say now sir i want you to get more education and then follow me i want you to get more people liking you on facebook and then you can come and follow me you need a bigger tent and a bigger platform and a better look to yourself mr gq then you can follow me no jesus said like you are right this very second just as i am without one plea just this very moment follow me he did not give him the opportunity to make a bunch of excuses and yet he does just that check it out he said unto another follow me but he said lord suffer me first to go and bury my father now there are two words in this context that readily help us to understand what he meant and what he did not people look at this and they're like this guy just wanted to go bury his dad that had died no that is not what's happening he's not saying let me go bury my dead father he's saying my father is getting old therefore let me go back and get my affairs in order and make sure the nurse at home is going to take care of him and the insurance is going to come through and let me go back and get everything squared away and then when he passes i'll bury him i'll get what i need by way of an inheritance and then i'll follow you that's what he meant he wasn't saying dad's dead on the couch and i got to go home and bury him jesus was not being you know like mean-spirited and uncompassionate in the situation when he answered and says let the dead bear the dead that's not what he meant this guy's like look i got a lot to do in life and i really will follow you but i'll tell you what i'll obey that command when daddy's gone but here are the two words that give us the clue as to why he thought that way check this out he said suffer watch this me thirst there's your problem right there you know why you don't follow jesus because you first husbands you know why you don't love your wife as christ loved the church because you first wives you know why you don't love your husband the way the bible says cause you first you know why kids don't obey their parents because you first you know why parents don't raise their children in the nurture and admonition the lord because you first and this guy gave away the secret as to why we talk a big game but really don't follow jesus because it's all about me first and tell me we're not there in america by the way tell me we're not there in the american church huh let me tell you something an us first church will never reach a me first world i hope you heard what i just said and us first church will never reach a me first world do you know why we are not reaching the culture because we are just as selfish as the stinking culture is it's about our comfort it's about our level of involvement it's about us me first me first me first that's the mantra that's the pledge of allegiance me first and i don't know that he was overtly arrogant when he said it it's doubtful that he was but he said it and you let somebody talk long enough and they'll say it you let somebody talk long enough and they'll tell on themselves remember the old timer said you give a person enough rope they'll hang themselves with it you let a person run their mouth long enough and they'll tell on themselves and jesus said hey this guy knows what to do so he can figure it out but you sir i'm commanding you follow me now and this guy said i'd love to but suffer me first to go and bury my father well jesus shot his theology slap out of the water watch this verse 60. jesus said unto him let the dead bury their dead whoo and stop there for a moment that's like falling down a flight of steps let the dead bury the dead you ever read something in the bible especially in red letters not greg letters read letters and thought that's tight jesus that's like tight as a tick wow this guy said well i'd love to follow you but let me go home and take care of my ailing father and when he's dead then i'll come and follow you in jesus let me tell you something bucko bucko's implied in the text let the dead bear the dead he's like look your dad's gonna die and he's not being heartless he's getting people to understand you mean to tell me you're going to spend the rest of your life doing something for someone that's not going to change the inevitable your dad's going to die and you're waiting until things get comfortable for you he said let the dead bear the dead by the way i preach to multitudes of people in this church and in lots of churches and rallies and political gatherings all of america they're just like that well you know when i get my affairs in order i'm going to serve the lord you better get over that you know what when i finally get to the place where i feel financially stable it's like young people that come to me all the time they're like you know what we would love to get married and we know we should but we're trying to save up money to get married wow when you get married you're going to be broke you're going to be broker than a joker right it don't make no difference you might as well just go ahead and do it because you're going to be broke when you say i do because she's going to spend all of it on purses and shoes if you love her you'll let her praise god amen baby my wife's got a motto if the shoe fits bite in every color amen i wish i could find that shoe store that god shopped at when they walked around in the wilderness for 40 years the bible says that the shoes didn't even wear off their feet glory to god i would invest in that let the shoes stay good for 40 years they get a spot on like oh i got to go back to the mill and get some more but nonetheless i digress we try to have everything in order and this guy said uh i'll serve you when when i get my affairs taken care of and jesus said oh no people gonna die your daddy's gonna die you're gonna serve me now or guess what you're not gonna serve me then because between now and then are too many distractions and things will tear you away and we make all of these decisions half-hearted oh i'm gonna do it whoa i'm gonna serve the lord there's something about young people they get this weird idea that when they graduate they'll start serving god when they drive a car they'll start serving god when they're 21 they'll start serving god when i'm 25 and married with four kids and a dog then i'm gonna serve god look if you don't do it in 20 minutes you won't do it in 20 years you better get over this notion that getting everything exactly the way that you want it to be is the way that it needs to be no sometimes you got to jump out of the boat and quit listening to all the critical people that stayed in the boat that's telling you how to do what you know god called you to do you know one of the things that i find myself doing often is encouraging people lately not just from the pulpit not just from the platform but personally i find myself everywhere i go even in our church telling people stop letting others talk you out of what you know the holy ghost talked you into stop it if god told you to do it you do not need anybody else's approval and permission stop it just do it you'd be shocked how many letters i get maybe you would maybe wouldn't in a month's time from good pastors faithful pastors broken-hearted pastors that say things like this oh brother locke i would say what you're saying and i would do what you're doing but my deacons would fire me you ain't got deacons you got demons you got deemed in trouble you ain't got deacon trouble you better start asking the holy ghost what he wants you to do not what some unholy businessman wants you to do based off what his granddaddy did and his granddaddy did and his granddad there was probably a mason say amen right there amen but nonetheless you better start taking your cues from god and not your boss you know it's interesting the other night we were coming back from that tent meet when we gave that forty thousand dollars away and i said a little bit about this on wednesday but i think it needs to be said it was interesting i called my wife when we got in the car and she answered on facetime and she's getting ready to go to bed and was traveling through the night and i said baby i said i may or may not have just given away forty thousand dollars and she's like if that's what god told you to do baby that's cool pastors ask me all the time well do y'all vote on giving all that money away i was like if we had to vote on it we wouldn't give none of it away the holy ghost voted on how we give our money away praise god the proof's in the pudding god says give it we give it god says blessed we bless god says stroke it out we stroke it out god says sign it we sign it why because at the end of the day we're going to have to get to a place where what we're saying and what we're doing match up and some of you in this tent right now you know what you're clapping you're excited you're standing but it's a little different spirit than normal you know why because some of you god has rang your bail bing bing bing bing bing wing winner chicken dinner it's you it's you bucko it's you and you know what you're sensing right now what you've been trying to do is put god on a piece of paper well you know when i get this taken care of i'll do this oh no no you'll never do that because it'll never be taken care of the way that you think it ought to be taken care of you'll never move in this area because the devil will make sure that you have to flow over here in this area and you'll always be so distracted by what you don't accomplish you'll never step out and guess what life is too short to live a me first theology it's too short you better do it while you can do your giving while you're living so you know and where it's going huh serve now now at the end of the day we all have excuses but not one of them will hold water in god's canteen will you stand the judgment seat of christ god is not going to ask somebody else why you didn't do it he's going to ask you why you didn't do it why didn't you reach them why didn't you preach why didn't you teach why didn't you start that church why didn't you do this why didn't you give that away why didn't you bless that why didn't you go to the mission field why didn't you write that book why didn't you sing that song why didn't you write that song why didn't you do it why didn't you why didn't you why didn't you and heaven at least until god wipes away our tears in memory heaven's going to be filled of a lot of people that understood they missed opportunities because they were too stinking me first well you know i'll get around to it one day no you won't you've been saying that for 20 years and you still ain't got around to it you know why me first me first we have been baptized in selfishness in the american culture and jesus said let me tell you something let the dead bear the dead but go thou and preach the kingdom of god he's like look guess what whether you take care of your daddy or not as heartless as it may sound he's going to die preach the bible so at the end of the day what jesus is showing us in the context in this narrative strangely enough sometimes god teaches us things through the back door not the front door is that at the end of the day this guy cared more about what his daddy thought than what his father thought now let that sink in for a minute some of us care far too much about what others would think about us if we verbalize what god told us than we actually do obeying simply what god told us now i know i'm kind of hovering the airport before i bring things down to the tarmac because we got a couple of verses but i'm doing that on purpose because i believe there's a thick spirit in this room right now of some people that recognize the fact you've been living me first and you've been talking for months weeks years decades of something you would do if you had all of the resources if you had the backing if you had the help if if your family let you you know there's a lot of people that are waiting for others to let them do what god's already released them to do that's a shame you ain't got to ask my permission you ain't got to ask somebody else's permission well you know should i do what the lord says yes you should have done it when he said it but the problem is we're me first and jesus said you let the dead bear the dead but you go and you preach the kingdom now watch this verse 61 we're almost done and another say another so somebody else he just like leaves him he just cuts the conversation quick and another also said lord i will you told that guy follow me let me tell you something i will follow thee but check this out let what's the next two words no the whole guy not even the same dude and they interesting human nature two guys that probably even remotely had never met and they both said the same thing you know why because that's who we are in our nature let me first let me first go bid them farewell which are at home at my house now i got to be honest with you that only seems reasonable doesn't it i mean come on he's like okay lord i'll follow you but let me first just go home and tell everybody sayonara i'm following jesus that just seems reasonable let me go back and you know turn the alarm on make sure the dog's fed and you know let's go back and you know tell my family later tater i'm gonna follow jesus whoa i'm gonna be a water walker this is gonna be great right right it just seems reasonable that jesus would let the guy go back and tell his family bye but again it was this mismanaged idea that as long as i get to do what i want to first as long as i get to serve god but do it my way i'm okay with it as long as i get church on my terms i'm cool with it as long as marriage meets my expectations i'll roll with it as long as you do what i say there's no vitriolic bitterness as long as it's a me first context and i don't think the guy was fussing and cussing and jumping around acting a fool he said look lord i will follow you but here's my one stipulation let me just go back and tell my folks bye let me pet my dog one last time and it'll all be good in the hood and i'll follow you just let me get things fixed and i'll follow you but check this out this is this is strong verse 62. and jesus not greg not just one of the disciples no jesus said no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of god ouch is right that's the gospel of ouch right there maybe we got to write that book the gospel of ouch he said let me tell you something about going back and telling everybody bye he's like that's all good that all sounds wonderful that's all hokey pokey that's all beautiful that's all quesara sera care bear smurf like works out when a disney movie we don't work that way when you obey god right jesus said no man that has decided to put his hand to the plow looks back because if he does he's not even fit to be at the plow to begin with not even fit for the kingdom of god how many farmers we got in the house stick your hand up if you're a farmer any farmers all right there's a few of you thank you for feeding us praise god and thank you for not burning your crops because the biden administration wanted you to amen but nonetheless thank you for that but let me tell you what farmers know farmers know that when you dig in a trench when you dig in a ditch when you dig in a furrow when you're trying to plant stuff you gotta focus now our plows and their plows are ten thousand degrees different you get it but when they would get these oxen and they would pull this plow and you would get behind it and you would dig deep into the ground you can't be looking around right you can't be looking around because you're going to get crooked you're going to lead them off astray you're going to get crooked you ain't going to be straight but we got some we got some cyclists here and i hate to use cycling terminology but i i like to cycle and and ride bikes they have this phrase you go where you look so if you're riding a bicycle if you're looking in front of you you'll go in front of it but what you'll find is if you start looking off on that little white line what's going to happen is pretty soon you're going to be off on that white line and so it's the same thing you got to focus what mr miyagi say your focus need more focus some of you need some dadgum focus you need to focus quit looking around okay figure out why my family's crooked stay straight i can't figure out why my kids don't believe me stay straight i can't figure out why the church isn't going the direction it should be and growing for the kingdom stay straight quit looking back quit looking back quit looking back forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth and those things which are before i press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of god in christ jesus let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded and if anything you'd be other minds minded god shall reveal even this unto you we gotta sweat bleed strain we gotta agonize remember wednesday we gotta strain push i gotta push and jesus said okay cool go back tell anybody you want to buy but let me remind you when you look back you're not even fit for the job you're signing up for and there's a lot of you that will never be able to step into the future god has for you because you can't get over the past that the devil used against you you better forget the good and you better forget the bad and i mean that equally here's why there's a lot of people they can't get over he did this she did this and we don't minimize what they did forgiving people does not make them right it keeps you right there's a difference but sometimes you've got to burn them toxic relationships and just walk away and quit looking back you got to get over that abuse you got to get over that bitterness you got to get over that divorce you got to get over that disease you got to get over that firing from your job you got to get past that church hurt that you got you got to get past it you got to get past it you've got to get past it life's not fair you might as well get over that but some of you need to leave the good stuff behind too because you know why some of you don't read your bible because 10 years ago you read it through one time well i'm a scholar i read the bible from cover to cover well i wish you'd read it again and start living it praise god we'd set this town we'd set this world on fire if we'd quit looking back and start looking forward i'll tell you all the time there's a reason your windshield is way bigger than your rear view mirror you ain't driving like this unless you're in a fast and furious movie and that's a movie you better start looking forward better start looking forward and jesus said look if you look back you're not even fit for the kingdom and we got a lot of people that make all these huge goals i'm gonna serve jesus but they keep looking back and they keep looking back and by the way it's not just looking back it's looking around to see who's gonna go with you though no one joined me still i will follow the cross before me the world behind me no turning back no turning back i could say a thousand things i can tell the lord's already beginning to release some people and we ain't got protocol we got all to call you can come get right anytime you want to but i'm gonna finish with this because i believe it's important how many of you when you go to the grocery store or sometimes when you're driving down the road you'll you'll see a certain logo of a big brown truck and it's got a little milk cow on the side of it and it says boarding milk raise your hand you know i'm talking about board and milk all right did you know the next time you see that at kroger publix or walmart the next time you see a truck pull up beside you you ought to have a spiritual spitzer ringtone fit you know why border milk was started by a gentleman by the name of borden but it was inherited by his son at the age of 16 in 1904 by the name of william borden boredom milk is still a billion-dollar industry in the dairy world to this very day and william borden graduated with honors from high school at the age of 16 in 1904 he died at the hands of a sickness heading to china in egypt in 1913 do the math he was just still a young man but i'll tell you why he died and how it went about when he graduated his graduation gift from his millionaire parents was a trip around the world and william borden got on a ship and he began to take a trip around the world and fall in love with other people in other cultures and he was such a young man of faith and of understanding the gospel that he began to say to himself why aren't other people being reached why can't i use my father's resources to reach the world and he committed to be a missionary to china in days of hostility and unbelievable persecution you remember that next time you buy some boredom milk and you see some boredom cheese in the supermarket every time a truck rolls up and i'll see it at a red light i'm reminded of this young man he came back from that trip and he told his millionaire parents with which he was going to inherit everything god's come to be a missionary i will not take over the business what yes i will not take over the business i don't want the money i don't need the millions i don't need the prestige i don't want the fame i don't want the headache god's called me to be a missionary he went to yale sounds like a strange place to go to be a missionary but i remind you that harvard and yale and princeton were started as seminaries not hotbeds of cnn leftism and liberalism like they are to this day they were seminaries and he went to yale and they they laughed at him this guy was going to be worth millions which in today's economy would be billions this is william borden there's a book you ought to read sometime called borden of yale change your life he began to lead guys and gals to christ he began to lead bible studies but it was getting to that time upon graduation he was going to go to china he told the press i'm out he told his family i'm done he told the bankers i don't need your money i'm going to serve god he got on a boat he began to travel around the world trying to get to china he got to egypt he got sick they're not even exactly sure historically what he got but he got some type of infection he was getting extraordinarily sick day by day moment by moment kid worth millions could have had an easy street life could have had anything and everything he would have ever wanted an endless vast supply of riches and wealth and he got on that boat heading to china by way of egypt at this point he got sicker and sicker and sicker the more the days went on the sicker he got and before he ever got to china 1913 william borden died died people say oh what a wasted life what a waste of money what a waste of goals what a waste of dreams what a waste of talent what a waste and they found his bible that he had been reading every single day that he had been marking every single day that he had been memorizing every single day and the next time you see a borden milk truck be reminded that when they opened to the front of his bible young william borden simply had written these words no reserves no retreats no regrets no reserves no retreats no regrets so my question to you this morning is simply this are you willing to live a life of no turning back every head bound please every eye closed all over the house today everyone bowed before the lord though no one joined me still i will follow the world behind me the cross before me no turning back no turning back all over this room now look we've already had some folks come forward right in the middle of the message to get the release and the help that they need now whether you want to spend time in god's presence all by yourself is perfectly fine or if you want somebody some man some lady on our prayer team to pray for you pray with you pray over you lay hands on you i don't know what you need today but some of you need a full tilt surrender not just with your mouth but with your life a full surrender to what you know the holy spirit's been telling you i'm going to ask some of our men and some of our ladies to begin to come and just stand right down here towards the front and i wonder all over this room now we'll i'll be talking to everybody here in a moment but i'm talking to those of you in this room right now you know god has more for you you know you should have surrendered a long time ago and some of you surrendered 15 times and you keep going back me first me first me first be done with that it better be him first not them first him first and maybe you want to come pray by yourself or maybe you just want somebody to lay hands on you to encourage you looking in the eyes and let you know it's going to be all right i'm asking you whether you've been here a thousand times or a hundred times or this is the first time no matter where you're from across the street or across the state or another state another country i want you right now sir i want you right now ma'am just begin to come we're gonna kneel at the front of this platform we're gonna kneel before the lord in his presence and say god i'm done running i'm going to stop i'm going to do what you say no reserves no retreats no regrets if you need prayer you come let them pray over you if you just want to pray by yourself you come if you want to kneel and have somebody come lay hands on you slip your hand up somebody will come and lay hands on you and pray for you all over the room come on all over the room come on come on be released to do what god says be at peace be it freedom at joy to do what god says come on it's time to surrender some of you need to surrender the ministry and you know it you've been running some of you need to surrender and quit being a coward and start having some convictions that you'll live by and die by come on some of you been saying well i got to get everything in order oh no god will get it in order you just walk in line with him just walk in line with him i see shirts every single day of my life and there's four or five i'm under this tent faith over fear faith over fear look that's not just because of something going on in the nation that's because your faith needs to be bigger than your fear don't worry about what's happening at work god's bigger than your job he's bigger than your boss he's bigger than your spouse he's bigger than the situation that you're facing he's bigger than covet he's bigger than cancer he's bigger than bankruptcy he's bigger than divorce he's bigger than all that people are kneeling everywhere people being prayed for come on be released slip out slip out slip out don't miss your moment today don't miss your moment today i want to say this as we're bowed before the lord just quietly where you are i want to talk to you for a minute we do this every week every week i wonder how many of you right now would say you know what pastor locke i'm going to be honest i've never even surrendered my life to jesus i've never even repented and believed the gospel i've never been saved i've never been what the bible clearly calls on a number of occasions born again i didn't ask you are you wicked and i don't care if you're religious i don't care if you're a baptist i don't care if you're a catholic i don't care if you grew up pentecostal church of god church of christ i'm asking are you born again are you safe from your sin are you a new creature in christ ((music playing)) do you know that you're seated with christ in heavenly places do you know that sir do you know that ma'am do you know that young person if you don't know christ whom to know his life eternal you can know him today in the free pardon of sin you can know it today today while these many many folks are praying and kneeling while folks are praying online whether you're in house or online if you need to repent if you need to ask god to forgive you of your rebellion and trust him alone to be your savior ((music playing)) to cleanse you and take you to his kingdom when you leave this world if you need that today if you do not know jesus christ i won't embarrass you you have my word as a gentleman i'm not going to call you out i require nothing more of you than that which the holy spirit does and i wonder sir i wonder ma'am right now all over this room would you be willing to quickly quietly silently but sincerely would you slip your hand up into the air and you are signifying pastor i need prayer i want to be saved i want to know jesus when i leave this tent i want to repent i want to believe the gospel today would you hold your hand up high all over the room god bless you god bless you god bless you thank you god bless you here is there others come on come on is there others god bless you right here sir in the middle anybody god bless you god bless you god bless you dear sir anybody back here god bless you just hold him up for a moment god bless you there holding the hat i see you thank you thank you thank you here's what i want you to do you can put your hands down because i may see a hand but i serve a sovereign god that sees your heart and right now between you and god i'm going to help you have a conversation i don't have any pixie dust i can sprinkle on you it's not about the words of a prayer a prayer didn't die for you a person named jesus did and if you today will receive that person named jesus you can be set free you can be saved you can be delivered right now on the spot and you can become a child of god a son a daughter of the most high right now as you are bowed before the lord between you and god i want you to say something like this dear father ((music playing)) i know for my sin i deserve hell but i believe jesus died for me to take away my rebellion i believe he was buried and that he rose again from the dead and the best i know how lord jesus i trust you and you alone as my lord and savior forgive me of my sin cleanse me of my self-righteousness transform my life and by faith i trust that you will bring me into your kingdom when i leave this world now as we're about before the lord i want to ask you a question so we can rejoice is there a man is there a lady is there a young person is there somebody here whether you raised it a moment ago or not you'd say i unapologetically i'm not ashamed jesus said if you're ashamed of me before me and i'll be ashamed of you before my father in heaven how many you'd say preacher i believe today i believe i've met the grace of god i have trusted the gospel i've repented of my way i've i've conversed with god in this way and today i have trusted jesus christ and i am not ashamed of that fact if you have done that today would you slip your hand up all over this room all of this room just slip your hand up all over this room all over this room rejoice church praise be to god god bless this whole family right here wow thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you you may put your hands down now listen closely i want to talk to our folks that are here today for baptismal celebration you come here on a regular basis or you've been watching you got saved online and you've come here today to be baptized i want you right now to my left your right once you get over here with miss billy and the volunteers and we're going to baptize you in the name of the lord jesus you're going to follow him and let them know publicly what jesus has done privately and inwardly in your life just start lining up right now all over there every week every week we have people that come here from all over the world to follow the lord publicly in believer's baptism every week you begin to sign up and line up right now ((music playing)) i want to say this to everyone that just trusted the lord jesus christ you're as saved right now as you ever will be but if you want to go ahead and follow the lord today you can wait next week you can do it wednesday you can wait a month but you need to follow the lord it's the first step it's the first sign of obedience if you want to do it today we got enough towels for everybody you just slip over here and just line up with all these folks lined up right now we'll baptize you on the spot right here today if you follow the lord so all of these folks are being prayed with folks are still praying themselves be respectful and mindful of them all these people that are coming for baptism today you slip right over here you just begin to stand in line and if you trusted christ and you want to go ahead and just do it strike by the iron's heart they used to say then you come over you stand in line we'll baptize you right now in the name of the lord jesus christ and we will rejoice publicly with what god's doing in your life privately come on you know this is going to be kind of hard for me but i'm going to say something and in the middle of it i'm going to give a shameless plug for our new women's ministry that we're going to start on tuesday the 19th at 7 o'clock if you want to come join us we will have child care available listen this is hard for me because today as i was sitting there and pastor was preaching i felt the lord impress upon my heart that especially for some women under the tent today you know the reason that you only come to church on sunday and warm a seat and you don't get involved during the week and you don't get plugged in in different life groups and things like that because it's not so much that you haven't counted the cost you haven't counted anything except for the abuse that you have endured in your life and often times we are so busy looking back at what happened to us that we don't realize the stronghold that that has in our lives we don't realize that if we would get out of our comfort zone if we would face some things that are deep within us in the secret places of who we are that we can hide from everybody else but we will never truly hide from god because he knows all and he sees all and there are some of you under the tent today and the reason that you cannot go forward in your life is because you are so consumed in the abuse that you endured for so many years of your life but can i tell you today friends that the lord has spoken today and said that today is a day of breakthrough today is a day that you can find healing and you can find restoration because what happened to you does not define who you are what defines who you are is the fact that you have lived in that for so many years of your life that you look yourself in the mirror and you have no idea who you are and today the lord is saying to you you are a child of the most high god you are a daughter of the king the majesty on high and so as we go into our week this week i know it's not a topic that's talked about too much but you joined the me too movement a long time ago and it gave you a me first mentality and i don't you know minimize what happened to you because i've been there and god knows that i know how you feel however there comes a point in your life that you have to say i'm going to leave old things behind you have to ask god to put a new song in your mouth so that you can sing praises unto god i'm going to read to you real quickly today something that i walk around my house and read often honestly i'm the kind of person when i feel like something's going on in the house and there's a lot of spiritual warfare i just open up the book of psalms and i just walk through the house and read book psalms all over the whole house but this is a verse that god used to set me free many years ago and i'm prayerful today that it will help you the lord is my light and my salvation whom shall i fear the lord is my strength of my life of whom shall i be afraid one thing have i desired of the lord that i will seek after that i may dwell in the house of the lord all the days of my life and to behold the beauty of who he is and to inquire of his temple some of us today need to behold the beauty of the lord we need to go into the temple and inquire of god i think about david and the bible says he encouraged himself in the lord but not only did he encourage himself the bible says that he inquired of god and if you are needing a breakthrough today i encourage you to go into the temple and behold the beauty of who god is to inquire of him what his will would be for you moving forward we're going to pray real quick and then we'll go into a time of baptisms there's a whole line it's such a beautiful time for us on sunday i'm thankful for all of you that stuck around it's my most favorite part of sunday morning amen is watching everybody stand in line and profess their faith to the lord jesus so thank you so very much for staying and celebrating with us we need to celebrate what god celebrates and he celebrates salvation amen let's pray father god we thank you so much for this day god lord we thank you that we can come in and we can feast on the word of the bible god lord that you cleanse us and change us lord today no doubt it was a heavy message all of us in some way can relate to the fact that we have put ourselves first lord we have played games for far too long but there has been a line drawn in the sand father we truly are going to have to choose this day whom we will serve and lord sometimes that looks like letting go of some bitterness lord sometimes that looks like letting go of some really deep hurt within us but lord we know that your word says that you are our shepherd and our strong tower and so lord today we come to you as sheep that need a shepherd and lord we ask you to lead us and to guide us into the secret places of who we are into the places that only you know father the places that only you see father and lord that you would heal us god that you would restore us because in doing so it will restore our marriages it will restore relationships with our children lord we have held on to so many things that you are asking us today to let go of and so god today i just ask for the courage to let go because sometimes that seems like the hardest thing to do to just lay it down we sing songs like oh lord we're gonna be a living sacrifice all of our lives to glorify you and lord there really isn't much inside of us that does glorify you we've lived speaking death over places in our lives that lord you have called us to speak life your word says that life and death are in the power of the tongue so lord what was ever was dead inside of us would you breathe life into those places of us father lord would you allow us to begin to speak life over things that are dead because lord we know that you're still the god that shows up to the tomb of lazarus you can still raise from the dead father lord you can still bring dry bones to life god and so lord we just thank you that we serve an almighty god an on-time god a god that shows up and says right now child right ((music playing)) you can let it all go you can bring it to the foot of the cross and you can let it all go and i will restore you i will give back to you the years that the locust has taken and lord we thank you for that promise we thank you that we serve a resurrected king that is still in the business of bringing death to life in jesus name amen well ladies and gentlemen i want you to give the lord a good round of applause for what he's doing in this place we're going to go to our baptismal celebrations now it'll be on the screens intermittently and so i know a lot of people are going to be trying to get out of the parking lot we will be having a second meet and greet line right here to my uh right your left on the far side of the hospitality tent and i want to make sure that we meet some folks but if you want to come up if you want to do pictures now look here's what i want you to get because you know these pastors brother piggott others can tell you god's doing something extraordinary in our church and today by the looks i i'm not counting word about nickels and noses but i can just tell by how many people are standing over here in the last 15 months today right now with this crowd we will cross 2 000 people that we have seen converted and that we baptized 2 000 people we baptized in 15 or 16 months in the midst of the worst time in american history in the church in a very very very long time and so i say to god be the glory god's doing some good stuff amen church ((music playing)) all right ((music playing)) all right summer upon your public profession of faith in the lord jesus christ and the power and glory of his gospel it gives me a great opportunity before these witnesses to baptize you my sister in the lord in the name of the father son the holy spirit bear in baptism raised to walk in newness of life ((music playing)) all right catherine upon your public profession of faith in jesus and the power of his gospel it gives me a great honor before these witnesses to baptize you in the name of the father son the holy spirit buried in baptism raised to walk in newness of life ((music playing)) ((music playing)) all right miss sarah upon your public profession of faith in jesus the power of his gospel it could be a great honor before these witnesses to baptize you my sister in the lord the name of the father son the holy spirit buried baptism raised to walk in new life ((music playing)) all right brother dennis upon your public profession of faith in jesus and the power and glory of his gospel it gives me a great honor my brother the lord to baptize you sir in the name of the father son the holy spirit buried in baptism raised to walk in newness of life ((music playing)) get me out of here brother all right vanilla be upon your public profession of faith in jesus the power of his gospel it gives us a great honor today to baptize you my young sister in the lord the name of the father son the holy spirit bear in baptism raised to walk and then it's alive ((music playing)) ((music playing)) rosemary upon your public profession of faith in jesus in the part of his gospel it gives me a great honor my sister in the lord before these witnesses to baptize you today in the name of the father son the holy spirit married in baptism raised to walk and leaders of life ((music playing)) all right my brother matthew upon your public profession of faith in jesus and the power of his gospel it gives me a great honor my brother in the lord before these witnesses to baptize you sir in the name of the father son the holy spirit buried baptism praise to walk and then is alive ((music playing)) all right tailor upon your public profession of faith in jesus the fire of his gospel it gives me a great honor my sister in the lord to baptize you before these witnesses the name of the father son the holy spirit buried baptism raised to walk in this life ((music playing)) all right gavin my young brother and the lord upon your public profession of faith in jesus and the power of his gospel it gives me a great honor sir to baptize you in the name of the father son the holy spirit bury baptism raise to walk and hit us alive ((music playing)) ((music playing)) i like a man with the name country amen all right country upon your profession of faith in jesus and the power and glory of his gospel it gives me a great honor sir to baptize you in the name of the father son the holy spirit buried in baptism raised to walk in innocent ((music playing)) ((music playing)) all right miss laura upon your public profession of faith in jesus and the power and glory of his gospel it gives me a great honor my sister to baptize you before these witnesses the name of the father son the holy spirit great baptism raised to walk in lunacy life ((music playing)) all right my brother mark upon your public profession of faith in jesus the power and glory of his gospel and your desire to follow him before these witnesses it gives me a great honor to baptize you sir in the name of the father son of the holy spirit buried baptism race to walk in this life ((music playing)) mr becky upon your public profession of faith in jesus and the power and glory of his gospel it gives me a great honor before these witnesses my sister in the lord to baptize you in the name of the father son the holy spirit buried baptism raised to walk in who is alive ((music playing)) ((music playing)) all right christie upon your public profession of faith in jesus and the purpose gospel your desire to follow him publicly it gives me a great honor to baptize you my sister the lord the name of the father son of the holy spirit married baptism to walk in luna's alive ((music playing)) i engage upon your public confession of faith in jesus and the power of his gospel it gives me a great honor before these witnesses to baptize you in the name of the father the son of the holy spirit buried baptism raised to walk and then is alive ((music playing)) all right my brother chris upon your public profession of faith in jesus and the power of his gospel it gives me a great honor my brother the lord before these witnesses to baptize you sir in the name of the father the son the holy spirit baptism praise the wall can lead us alive ((music playing)) all right sister lindsay upon your public profession of faith in jesus the power of his gospel it's my great honor my friend of the lord to baptize you before these witnesses in the name of the father son the holy spirit buried in baptism raised to walk in newness of life ((music playing)) all right robin upon your public profession of faith in jesus and the power and glory of his gospel it gives me a great honor my sister in the lord to baptize you in the name of the father the son the holy spirit buried in baptism praise to walk in lunas alive ((music playing)) of faith in jesus and the power and glory of his gospel gives me a great honor before these witnesses my sister the lord to baptize you in the name of the father son the holy spirit bear in baptism raised to walk in lewiston ((music playing)) all right miss hannah upon your public profession of faith in jesus the power of his gospel it gives me a great honor before these witnesses to baptize you my sister in the lord in the name of the father son of the holy spirit and baptism raised ((music playing)) ((music playing)) all right zoe upon your public profession of faith in jesus and the power and glory of his gospel it gives me a great honor before these witnesses today to baptize you in the name of the father son of the holy spirit buried baptism raised to walk in newness ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) power of his gospel he gives me great honor my young brother the lord to baptize you in the name of the father son the holy spirit bearing baptism raised ((music playing)) all right miss cathy upon your public profession of faith in jesus the power glory of his gospel it gives me a great honor before these witnesses my sister of the lord to baptize in the name of the father son the holy spirit baptism raised to walk in newness ((music playing)) all right brother james upon your public profession of faith in jesus and the power and glory of his gospel gives me a great honor before these witnesses today to baptize you sir in the name of the father son the holy spirit baptism raised to walk in london ((music playing)) well give the lord a shout of praise amen for what he's doing in this place i want you to line up over here to my right your left the hospitality tent we'd love to meet all of you security make sure brother pigott gets down there so i could meet with him so we didn't have to wait for the whole meet and greet line make sure he gets down there as well we love you guys we'll see you soon god bless you you're dismissed