There Will Be Signs - Pastor Otis Amey | Sacramento

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        Pastor Otis Amey is a former record-setting S.F. 49er wide receiver and punt returner. He was Born and raised in Union City, CA, Otis now lives in Sacramento and serves as the Associate Pastor for Midtown Church overseeing Men's, Young Professionals, and Serve Ministries. He is also a keynote speaker and workshop developer, empowering people everywhere he goes. In addition, Otis serves as the Area Director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, where he coordinates on-campus events, sports camps, and mentors coaches and student-athletes. As a Life Skills Coach for Sac State's Football team, Otis is dedicated to transforming lives from the inside out, starting with himself, his home, and his community. As a married father of three, Otis strives to be the role model and mentor he never had.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:14

We've been in a sermon series and we will be throughout all the way up to Easter. And Easter is just three weeks away. We're in the Gospel of Mark. The sermon series is titled Put It Into Practice. So the title of the message, I'm gonna dive right in. The title of the message, this what's the what time? This afternoon? Afternoon? Uh morning still? This morning, this morning, is There Will Be Signs. There will be signs. So you may be looking at this title and thinking, I've heard that saying before. What is it from? It's actually from a pretty hilarious memes if you've seen any. Really the saying is that, you know, I may win the lottery, and if I do, I won't tell anybody, but there will be signs. You know, such things as like, bruh, your gas tank is always full. Uh yeah, yeah, there will be signs. Um you go to Costco and you leave with 10 cratons, 10 crates of eggs, yes. There there will be signs. I even saw one that had this toilet, uh, this commode, and I said, Oh, yeah, if I came to your house and that was your toilet, there there's signs. You you got some you got some real, real money. Um one meme said, one meme said, if I win the lottery, no one around me will be broke. And I mean that with all of my heart, because I will move to a rich neighborhood. I thought he was gonna talk about taking care of the homies or something. Uh my wife and I experienced our own version of this, but in a different way. And you'll only feel this if you're a parent. Uh uh, we didn't tell anybody that we no longer had to pay for daycare, but there there were signs. There were signs. Uh when we found out, I think it happened out of nowhere, we found out that the school was now gonna uh launch TK. So that means an entire year of paying, whatever the amount was, we no longer had to pay it. And so if you saw us out eating at different restaurants, those were the signs. Those were the signs. One of the ways that people tell you and communicate how they're really feeling inside is their body language. Whether we know it or not, we're constantly given signs that are often more powerful than the words that we speak. For instance, if I looked at you right now and you were sleeping or something, I would know. Maybe you say it up later, you're not feeling the message. If you're slouching in your seat, it would communicate that you're uninterested or disengaged. Youngsters rolling their eyes is a sign that they want to get slapped. Um that is the best sign you can give. Putting your hands on your knees indicates to your competitors that you're exhausted, that they can that you're vulnerable, you can be taken advantage of. Speaking of giving your competitors a sign, I don't know if you saw this, this was maybe a week or two ago. Uh, the LA Marathon. So a teacher ends up winning the race, but there was a brother from Kenya that led the race from start to finish. He was way in the lead. But he ends up losing barely, and it's pretty, it's a pretty embarrassing picture because he falls flat on his face at the finish line. So I'm like, man, let me do a little bit of research on this. So sure enough, the brother from Kenya, uh, as he begins to do the final sprint, you see him looking back several signs several times, which was a sign to the other guy. Oh, he's tired. He doesn't have anything left in the tank. So they have about 800 meters left, which is about two, which is two laps, and he keeps looking back. And so I said, there has to be more to this story, and sure enough, there are. There's signs. So there's a motorcycle cop that's leading the way to the final sprint. The motorcycle cop, uh about a lap away, 400 meters away, veers off to the right to make way for the runners to do their final sprint. But the Kingan runner that was in the front followed the motorcycle cop. Followed him just off course, just outside the barrier. So I watched the video several times and I counted how long did it take for him to get back on track? It took him eight seconds. From the time people are like, no, no, no, you're following the wrong sign, you're going the wrong way, you're following the wrong person. It took him eight seconds to turn back around, come back, and get on track, and he ends up losing by 0.01 seconds. Understand this, following the wrong people or the wrong signs will get you off track in this life. Um I'm I'm taking a class. Amen. Amen. I'm taking a class right now that's making me think differently about, making me think different about signs. How there's more to each sign than we could have ever imagined. For instance, the stop sign, right? There's a common shape. What's the shape? Octagon, there's a common color, there's a common wording, you know what it says. There's even common positioning. If if the stop sign was in the middle of the block, you'd be like, well, wait, wait, what's happening? What am I supposed to do here? There's common positioning over where they even put the sign. So the combination of those things is so common to us, our brains don't have to process long or think hard to know what we should do when we see one. But what if the stop sign was blue? Or what if it was red octagon, but didn't have the words? Would you stop? Everybody, no. And like, look, listen, we live in Sacramento, they have the worst drivers in the country. This fact, worst drivers in the country in Sacramento. I'm not stopping. Um I'm definitely not stopping at no strange-looking stop sign. But but the point is this signs are strategically created and put in place for a purpose. And signs are designed for us to pay attention to them. Maybe, maybe God has given or is giving you, given us, giving me some signs right now. But the question I ask myself that I ask that I'll pose to you is are we, are you paying attention? A little bit of background. Uh, for those of you that have your Bibles, we'll be in Mark chapter 13. It's a transitional chapter because in chapters 11 and 12, Jesus is dealing with all kinds of controversy. I just like to label them as his haters, but it's the the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, all of these grown men are jealous of Jesus because he shows up, he shows up on the scene with real power and authority. Even people ask questions like, wait, he doesn't teach like y'all, he teaches with real authority. He got the juice, he got the sauce. He would have said, if you're looking for the man, the man right here, y'all don't get that reference. Have you ever been in a work environment where your supervisor felt threatened by you because they knew you had something that they didn't? Even though you did absolutely nothing but show up and be yourself. The the best illustration I can give of this is my favorite movie. It's called Crimson Tide. Uh uh uh in this movie is a younger Denzel, right? And he's he comes onto this ship, it's Gene Hackman's ship, and it's the USS Alabama, it's his submarine, he's been operating it for years. This is his show. And Denzel is highly educated. I think from yeah, I'm not, I don't remember correctly, but from the very opening scene, you see Denzel walking with the suit and the cultures clash. From the opening scene, you can tell Gene Hackman is bothered by the presence that he arrives with, even though he did nothing wrong but just be himself. This is what Jesus is dealing with, but at the most extreme level. See, Jesus, there's a saying these days, I'm him. Everybody likes to say I'm him. But Jesus is literally him. Jesus is him. Based on the scriptures that they memorized, they knew all about him, but still couldn't recognize God in the flesh when he was walking amongst them. I find it interesting that they devoted themselves to learning about the word, but when the word became flesh and dwelt among them, they became devoted to killing the one that the word is all about because he is the word. In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word was God. Everything that was created was created through him. So when God said, Let there be, Jesus was a part of that creative process over every single thing that was created and spoken. In Mark chapter 13, Jesus gives the Olivet discourse. This is an extended teaching on the Mount of Olives. I mentioned chapter 13 being a transitional chapter because Jesus shifts his his his his focus to from dealing with the strong opposition to focusing on eschatology, which means the talking about the end times, what happens after you die, the second coming, all of those things, new creation, these signs. So when I was studying, and I was like, the word eschatology, where have I heard that word from? And I remembered it was the elderly living facilities that are all across Sacramento called eschaton. And I said, hold on, what? That is cold. Did they name that? You know, the eschatology means the end times. So are they naming this complex, telling these elderly people that this is their end times? That's crazy. Um that ain't got nothing to do with the message, but uh I was thinking about that. And what they did, they tried to change it and take out the CH and put a K, eschaton. But really, the homes is letting these folks know if you watch the movie Life, they they on deck for the upper room. Um I love about this story is that Jesus is talking about the end times. This is pretty cool for the nerds in the room. Jesus is talking about the end times from the exact location that he'll be returning to. Uh his feet are standing then where Zechariah 14 and 4 prophesies that he'll be standing on the day of the Lord, aka the second coming of Christ. This is a sign. So the big question that I ask myself that I'll ask you now is what sign are you waiting for? It's the big question in this message: what sign are you waiting for? Point number one is this there are plenty of signs. There are signs all around us. I'll give a quick disclaimer. Some of the things in this chapter and this message are so deep and controversial that this should be multiple sermons followed by a deep dive or two. I remember Pastor Rich some months back did a couple uh Tuesday night studies on eschatology in the end times. So, this sermon today, for the next 25 minutes or so, this is an overview that's taking us on a brief eschatological journey, but landing the plane on the biggest decision that any of us will ever make. See, Mark 13 talks about age-long signs and age-ending signs. Age-long meaning signs that if you're just paying attention while you're living, you will see them. Wars, rumors of wars, uh, false messiahs, earthquakes and strange places, plagues, natural disasters, all of these things. And age-ending meaning signs that will signal the end of the church age, which is the age that we're in right now. So let's open up scripture to Mark chapter 13, and I'm gonna read verses 1 through 8. Under the title The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times. As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Look, teacher, what massive stones, what magnificent buildings. Then Jesus says, Do you see all these great buildings? Not one stone here will be left on another, everyone will be thrown down. As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled? Jesus said to them, Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming I am he or I am him, and will deceive many. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen. But the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains. These are the beginning of birth pains. The chapter begins with uh a disciple pointing Jesus' attention to how huge and how amazing and extravagant the temple is. They're talking about the third temple. Uh the first temple was built by Solomon, then the next one was Zerubbabel's temple, then Herod took it upon himself to rebuild the temple, and it was absolutely amazing. See, we have this saying we want to build things brick by brick. So when we think about foundational stones, we usually think about bricks that are built uh on top of each other. But some of these foundational stones were 40 feet long, 12 feet high, and 18 feet wide. The side of the temple was gold, and these foundational stones were pure white, so they would reflect the light in such an amazing way that people would have to turn their gaze when the sun directly shined upon the temple because the reflection was so bright. So, what was Jesus' response to this man-made building? He said, Do you see all these great things, all these great buildings? It'll all be destroyed. As I was reading this, a big question popped in my mind that I really wrestled with and I'm still thinking about. Here's the question: Am I building something to make my name great that God is planning on completely destroying? It reminded me of the first verse in Psalm 127 that warns us it says, Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Here's the translation: if God didn't give you the vision and the blueprint and the green light to build whatever it is that you're building or planning on building, whether it's a church or a business or a team or even a relationship, you are wasting your time because you are eventually going to get exposed and people will discover that people may have you may have shouted Jesus' name from the rooftop, but there was no Jesus in your foundation. Any person, any institution, any church, any government or empire who dares to rival God will come to an end. Scripture says it very plainly, God will not be mocked. Maybe you're in a space right now where you need to repent on half on behalf of how others built what you're now standing on? Could it be that a big part of your battle is naming what was built in vain and then allowing the Lord to rebuild it from the ground up with the proper foundation? I had to go through this becoming a man. I grew up in a house where there was constant yelling and cussing and verbal abuse almost every single day. So how do I become a man that's been married now for 16 years and have never even yelled at my wife? And even though she's given me countless opportunities, too. And she's sitting right here. Only God can strip what was, only God can strip that past trauma and rebuild you into someone new. But you have to give him, you have to give him your hurt, you have to give him your past, you have to give him your pain and your trauma and your mouth, and you have to most importantly, you have to give him your heart. Right? The doctor can't heal what you won't come in and see him about. If you could change you, you would already be changed. But God see, Jesus was prophesying the destruction of the temple, which ended up taking place in AD 70. He uses the destruction of the temple as a parallel event to a greater judgment of God called the Great Tribulation. The Great Tribulation is the last three and a half years of the seven-year tribulation in the end times. This is where God's wrath will greatly intensify. It'll begin with uh the revealing of the Antichrist, and then it'll end with Jesus Christ's second coming. So, one thing that I want to focus on for the sake of this message are age-long signs, signs that we'll see throughout our life. So, depending on your age, you may have been alive to witness people who claim to be the savior. For the younger folks, y'all boy Kanye likes to say that he's a god, right? But for some of the more seasoned saints, can you name some people in the past that have claimed to be him, claimed to be the Messiah? Jim Jones, yes, Jim. Yes. Uh I don't know why the rapper Jim Jones named himself after. Anyway, uh Jim Jones was an American cult leader and preacher who founded and led the People's Temple between 1955 and 1978. Him and his inner circle planned and orchestrated a mass murder suicide that resulted in the death of more than 900 people, including more than 300 children. He described it as a revolutionary suicide. Necessary. See, all of this took place in Jonestown, Guyana, in South America on November 18th, 1978. Uh if you've ever heard the saying before, oh, they didn't drunk the Kool-Aid, it's from this story. They ended up drinking uh cyanide laced flavorade. Some of them were forced to do it, some of them were injected. Um, also David Koresh, he led the branch dividians on April 19, 1993. Koresh died from a gunshot wound following a 51-day siege in Waco, Texas. I remember seeing that on the news when I was a youngster. 76 of his members ended up dying in a fire in his compound. See, these are the men that claimed to be the Messiah. It's wild that stories like this are true. And for a while I asked the question, what's even more wild is that there's people that follow them. But as I went deeper and thought about it, like, nah, I follow celebrities that I didn't know. We we all have done this in some regard. It's not that wild when I consider how easily people get hoodwinked, bamboozled, and finessed. All of the time, all of the time, uh uh, we follow imperfect human beings. We follow uh celebrities, leaders, presidents, and even pastors without stopping long enough to allow common sense to guide our thinking. This individual right here is an imperfect human being wrapped in sinful flesh that is capable, fully capable of doing some of the most evil and wicked things if I'm not connected to the vine, if I'm not connected to Jesus and have an abiding relationship. This also applies to every single one of you in this room. That's why Jesus says, Don't be deceived, don't get played. See, concerning men claiming to be the Messiah, this is exactly what Jesus is saying. He said, Watch out that no one deceives you, no matter what title they have. He goes on to say that many will be deceived. Then Jesus tells us not to be alarmed when we hear about wars. Have you heard about any wars lately? Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. These signs that we are actively experiencing are just the beginning of the birth pains, meaning the beginning of a period of suffering prior to the return of Christ. So right now we're experiencing God's passive wrath. Now, lock in, because this this is scary. It's when God withdraws his restraining grace and allows individuals, societies, or or even nations to experience the natural destructive consequences of living life their own way, of their sin. Just, I mean, the story that comes to mind is the story of Job when Satan was trying to get to Job and he said, Oh no, I couldn't get to him because God had a hedge of protection around him. And can you imagine rejecting God so much that he says, Okay, I'm gonna take my uh grace from around you and your family. Just sit in that for a second. That that if we keep rejecting God's way, rejecting Yahweh to live our way, we will be sorry. God is not to be trifled with. This is why, in my heart, under my breath, and even sometimes out loud, countless times every day, I'm walking around. Lord, I need you, Lord, I need you, Lord, I need you, Lord, help your boy, Lord, I need you, Lord, I need you. I I praise God that I'll never know the pains of childbirth. But I know that women would prefer the labor to be brief. Our daughter, I think it was a six-hour labor, then our big-headed son, it only took 50 minutes for him to come, right? Um I remember, I remember when we had uh 14 years ago or so, we were about to give birth to my daughter who's sitting right here, and me and my wife, this is our first time, you know, uh uh uh, and my wife is in labor, and none of us knows how to navigate this. And you know, I physiologically, psychologically, all the logically, I'm like, how does a baby anyway? Um, so so I'm just looking at the stomach and I'm like, how is this gonna work, Lord? And so I go into, I've done more than a thousand assemblies all across the country. So I go into motivational speaker mode. And if you want to succeed, as bad as you want to breathe, and I'm holding her hand and I'm just like, you can do it, and then she gives me this look. She didn't say nothing, but she gave me this look that said, brother, if you don't shut your mouth and just hold my hand tight and enjoy this ride, I'm gonna find a way to slap you, right? What we both realized in that moment is that only God could help her get through those pains. And only God can help us raise our first child as brand new parents. It's no different today as we are seeing and experiencing different signs that Jesus prophesied would take place. We must turn our attention to Christ, regardless of what signs we see, and to being about the Father's business. Amen. I want to clarify one thing. Point number one is the longest before we move to point number two. Um, in Mark 13 and 10, it says, and the gospel must first be preached to all nations. I just want to clarify this isn't a declaration Jesus is making that he's gonna wait on us to preach the gospel to everybody until he comes back. We are not that important. Um He does not need us, we need Him. Here's how it's gonna happen, though, just so you know, for you know takers, Revelation chapter 14, verse 6 through 7 is how it's gonna happen. It says, Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth, to every nation, tribe, and Language and people. He said in a loud voice, Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, and the sea and the springs of water. So this is how it will happen. So all these signs are happening. What he's essentially saying, not essentially, what he's saying to us, is you're gonna see and experience all these signs. There's gonna be more signs as it gets closer and closer. It's gonna get tougher, it's gonna be get more challenging. But remain focused on what I've called you to do. Point number two is this stay woke. Even as I said, I saw some of your faces. Because that word I guess is not too popular right now. See, when we were kids, we we used to have sleepovers, and we we we played a cruel game that used to punish whoever fell asleep first. And some of you start laughing because you played it too, right? It was simple. Whoever fell asleep first got a bucket of water tossed on their face. But we're the the cruel part is we would put some ice in it and we would wait until you took a big inhale and you sleep, snort. Inhale, big bucket of water right on your face. And so you would jump up, and right when we threw the water on your face, we would shout out, Don't sleep! So you would make you'll wake up and you would be big mad, but then you would wake up enough to realize I can't be mad because I came to this, I came to this sleepover, so I signed up to be a part of this nonsense. Don't sleep. In the 1930s and 40s, the phrase stay woke was used as a metaphor for awareness about racial injustice. But since around 2017, the phrase has been reappropriated and often used as a derogatory blanket statement by political talking heads. But the Bible, but the Bible says to stay woke, to stay vigilant, and to stay alert. It's a call to remain spiritually conscious, to not allow culture to desensitize us, to be on guard against false teachings, to avoid spiritual apathy, meaning that, oh, I just came to church, I'm good enough. He's saying, no, stay woke. It's not a negative term in proper context. Mark 13, 33, 1 Thessalonians 5 and 6, Matthew 24, 42, all urge us to operate with spiritual alertness and to stay prayed up and ready. Because if you stay ready, you ain't got to get ready. In the Garden of Gethsemane, what's crazy is, never mind. Y'all, y'all, y'all just know that. Um Bible verse to that one, but y'all know it. All right. Uh in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus told his inner circle, Peter, James, and John, to what? To keep watch, to stay woke, to stay ready while he went off and prayed before doing the thing that we all needed him to do. And they disappointed him, they failed him. He says, Stay woke. Mark chapter 13, verse 32 through 37. Says, but about that day or hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the sun, but only the father. Be on guard, be alert. You do not know when that time will come. It's like a man going away. He leaves his home, uh, he leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back, whether in the evening or at midnight. Here's the part that's scary about this is that there are signs that will uh clue us in to when the end times are coming, but the rapture, Jesus doesn't come back in the rapture, he catches us uh up, he catches us up in the sky. We have no idea. That can happen right now while I'm preaching. We have no idea. This is why I tell you stay woke, stay alert, stay vigilant, stay ready. Therefore, keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back, whether in the evening or at midnight or when the rooster crows or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone, watch. But wait, how does Jesus not know the hour or the time? Somebody has to be thinking that. I thought that he's the Son of God. See, this verse shouldn't cause us to question Christ's divinity, it should help us better realize and understand how amazing what he did for us is. That in his humanity, the Son of God did not know, because he was submitted to the will of the Father, Jesus Christ was willing to set aside certain things and certain attributes so he could be fully submitted to God's plan. Why? In order that our sins could be forgiven. I hope that you're catching this. There was and is no other way for us to be saved. No human achievement, no degree, no dollar amount, no scholarship, no NIL, no guest list to get into heaven. So if Jesus did not know the time, then we sure don't. But if we're being honest, most of the time we act like we have a lot of time. When I was young, I had all these plans. I'm on 25, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna say this, I'm gonna buy this house, I'm gonna do all this, and we do not know. Verse 34. It says, it's like a man going away. So this is talking about uh Jesus resurrecting and leaving. And he actually says, It's good that I go. Like what? If I was walking with Jesus, I'd be like, nah, nah, don't leave. He said, It's good that I go, because as Jesus, I can only be in one place. But if I leave, I'm gonna send the helper, the Holy Spirit, to be within every single one of you. So essentially, it should be like Jesus is everywhere in Greater Sacramento, everywhere across this planet. Amen. In verse 36, Jesus isn't talking about literally sleeping because that wouldn't be fair. We sleep about a third of our lives. But what he's referring to is he's talking about our heart posture and the fruit that our lives are producing. Does your heart long to please God? And does that compel you to take action, to be who you, to be who he's called you to be? It is not good enough to just say that you know God or love God unless you're saying that you know God in the context of what he means by to know. In Genesis 4 and 1, it says Adam knew Eve. Do you know what it's talking about? The NIV makes it plain. It says, Adam made love to his wife. Adam knew. Adam knew Eve, and she became pregnant. Do you long to know God in an intimate way like that? Right? Because intimacy is required in order for something new to be birthed. You're saying you want something new to be birthed in your life. God's saying we need to be intimate first. There needs to be an intimacy so I can plant a seed. Once I plant a seed, there's gonna be a time of period where you continue to be in a relationship with me, then something will give birth. Nothing can give birth if you're never intimate. You want a new you? Get intimate with God. You want to transform mind, get intimate with the word of God. See, the Old Testament was written in Hebrew. The Hebrew word for uh the Hebrew word yaddah means to know, but in an intimate and experiential way. So if you want to stay awoke or stay alert, it requires spending time with the one that can wake you up. We can't stay spiritually conscious with the worldly mindset. We need renewed minds to win the internal and external wars that we face on a daily battle. You're gonna go to work tomorrow, you're gonna have to deal with some challenging people and situations. You need to be set apart. We are called to be those who are set apart, but far too many of us are found to be blending in. See, we live as a sneak preview of God's kingdom. There's people that may never set foot in this church, but they're watching you. They're interested, but they're watching you. Oh, you say you're a Christian, but huh? The way you talk, the way you move sounds nothing like this Jesus I hear you talking about. See, we're Christ's ambassadors and witnesses in this fallen world. People should be able to look at our lives and know that God is real. So if you've been asleep, it's time to wake up. Here's a final point as I pre as I prepare to close. I'm gonna jump jump to Luke, and I've talked about this story before, but it's powerful. This is this is your sign. Point number three, this is your sign. The rich man and Lazarus. I'm gonna read it and give a few bullet points and then close. There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. Two different lives. You see, a rich man living in opulence. He has money, which means he had power, he had influence, but he didn't care for the marginalized, he didn't care for the orphan and the widow. He did his own thing, lived life his own way. And we find this beggar who was hoping to get crumbs that fell from the master's table. So it says the time came when both of them died. The beggar died, and the angels carried him to Abraham's side, heaven. The rich man died and was buried in Hades, hell, in hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire. But Abraham replied, Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things. For people that never placed their faith in Christ, enjoy this time. This is your heaven. Enjoy your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you is a great chasm that has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, from heaven to hell, nor can anyone cross from there to us. It's final. He answered, Then I beg you, Father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them so that they will not also come to this place of torment. Abraham replied, They have Moses a sign, they have the prophets a sign. Let them listen to them. No, Father Abraham, he said, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent. He said to him, If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced, even if someone rises from the dead. Abraham is letting us know that for some people, hopefully, no one in this room, no matter what sign you hear, no matter what encouraging message, no matter how the Spirit may convict you, some people will never surrender their lives to Christ. They will never repent and turn to God. It'll never be enough. Maybe it's the pride, maybe it's the ego, maybe it's the money, maybe it's the status. I don't know. He makes it plain that some will never be convinced. Here's a few other things that the story highlights. It says the decisions that we make right now matter. And what we see in this story, how we treat people matters. How we treat people matters. Especially when you're in a position of this story of influence, of power, you have money. You can do things that you maybe can get away with. How we treat people matters. Also, once we die, our eternal destination is determined. I know you don't hear this word in church very often, but you will be in heaven or you will be in hell. No more sickness in heaven, no more pain, no more trauma, no more disease. You will now be comforted. Or eternal torment and agony. Then there's a great chasm that has been set between heaven and hell. It's final. So as I close, I want to make it very plain and simple. If you want to be ready for the end, there's two things you need to do: get saved and get busy. Get saved, surrender your life to Christ. Even in this moment, you don't fully understand what that is. We have people that will walk you through that. Get saved and then start getting busy doing what he's called you to do. Because none of us knows the hour or the day. And so as I close, this is the altar call for today. You can begin to make your way forward if you need prayer for anything. But for some of you in here that may have lost focus, for some of you in here that have businesses or consider building something, and you know that, man, maybe I've been building it for me. Maybe I've been trying to build my name instead of the Lord's name. Maybe I've been building on the wrong foundation this altar calls for you. Or maybe what you declare with your mouth and what you've been demonstrating with your life are not congruent. Saying, Lord, I repent, I'm sorry. But the most important thing is salvation. When Jesus healed the paralyzed man, uh, some of the youngsters I was talking to, they said, Why did he forgive his sins before he healed what he really needed? I said, nah. What he really needed was not new lays. What's the point of having new lays with a dead soul? What matters most is salvation. So if there's anyone in here today that if you've never given your life to Christ, in this moment right now, I would ask that your faith step would be to just have the faith to stand up right where you're at right now to say, Jesus Christ, I believe that you're my Lord and Savior. I need you to come and take the rightful place on the throne of my heart. I want you to have your way in and through me for the rest of my days. So I'll take a minute just for you guys to respond to that. The altar is open, and then we'll close in prayer. Father God, we thank you for who you are. For every single one sitting in their seat, for all of us, regardless of what we're dealing with or going through, regardless of how we look, the clothes that we put on, the smile that we put on our face, you know that we're all dealing with something. So speak to us, dear Lord. Have our hearts, whether we've been building on the wrong foundation, whether we've never surrendered our lives to you, whatever it may be, meet us, dear Lord, convict us. John 6.44 says that no one comes to Christ unless God draws them in. So as seeds are planted and watered, continue to bring your sons, bring your daughters home. Clean us, wash us in the blood, and let us be exactly who you need us to be, who you called us to be. So that when people look at our lives, it is so evident and plain that we are yours. Continue to have your way in and through us. Let us be led by the power and presence of your indwelling Holy Spirit. We give you all the praise, the honor, and the glory, Father God. To you and you alone it is due. In Jesus' name, Amen.