SPEAKER_00: Genesis chapter 33.
SPEAKER_00: Notice if you would verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 12, and you're holding Nehemiah 8.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Let us take our journey and let us go.
SPEAKER_00: I will go before thee.
SPEAKER_00: And he said unto him, My Lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and the herds are young with young are with me.
SPEAKER_00: And if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die.
SPEAKER_00: And I just like to talk to you because God's words here, I think, are very carefully chosen.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, God just didn't say, hey, we've got to fill up a page in the book.
SPEAKER_00: Why don't we just throw that in there?
SPEAKER_00: Every word is purified, amen.
SPEAKER_00: It's in there for a purpose.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, hey, the herds, they're with young, the ones that are with me.
SPEAKER_00: And we can't overdrive the flock because if we do, some of the flock will die.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I looked up the word overdrive, and it said this to drive too hard beyond one's strength.
SPEAKER_00: You know it's possible to get too busy?
SPEAKER_00: It's possible to go and go and go and go and go and go and go, even if it's in ministry and be too busy and overdrive.
SPEAKER_00: It's possible to get entangled in this world, in business, or in just the things of this world and the affairs of this life and overdrive.
SPEAKER_00: It's possible to go beyond our strength and be overdriven.
SPEAKER_00: The thing he said here is, hey, listen, be careful not to overdrive them.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to hinder and disrupt and destroy the flock.
SPEAKER_00: Now, uh, studying sheep, uh, what goes on in the morning, the sheep uh take in a lot of food, and then for the first part of the day, they'll sit and they'll they'll chew on that food and re-chew it.
SPEAKER_00: They have multiple stomachs and they they re-chew it and meditate on that food, if you would.
SPEAKER_00: And then maybe the shepherd will move them that day.
SPEAKER_00: But he makes sure that every day those that flock has the opportunity to eat again and to lay down and rest, and then there's a balance between moving and eating, and moving and eating, and letting the growth and realizing, okay, it's not time to move.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just let them here for a couple days.
SPEAKER_00: They've got a tough trail ahead of them.
SPEAKER_00: And if you watch the cycle of our church during the course of a year, that's what happens.
SPEAKER_00: We drive and we drive and we drive and then we back off.
SPEAKER_00: And then we drive and we back off and we drive and we back off.
SPEAKER_00: And your life and my life should be balanced that way.
SPEAKER_00: We have to be careful that we don't overdrive, that we don't go beyond the strength that we've been accustomed to receiving.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you see, I don't understand, preacher.
SPEAKER_00: A Christian can get so busy with the things of the Lord they can backslide.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_00: A Christian can get so busy with the things of the Lord that they can backslide to overdrive and destroy themselves.
SPEAKER_00: Are you listening to me?
SPEAKER_00: A Christian can get so involved with, I do this and then I do this, and I do this, and I do this, and now I just I just don't have any more time.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, brother, where does our strength come from?
SPEAKER_00: Look at Nehemiah 8.
SPEAKER_00: Nehemiah chapter 8.
SPEAKER_00: A little scripture in here that we sing a song about, but I want you to see it in the book.
SPEAKER_00: Nehemiah chapter 8.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared.
SPEAKER_00: For this day is holy unto the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Neither be ye sorry, and you know this next little phrase, for the joy of the Lord is your what?
SPEAKER_00: Is your strength.
SPEAKER_00: Brother, now you have to understand, and I have to understand, we don't operate down here in our own strength spiritually.
SPEAKER_00: It comes from him.
SPEAKER_00: And if it doesn't continue to come from him, we could overdrive, go beyond what our strength is, and destroy ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: You say, I don't understand.
SPEAKER_00: You mean we'll die?
SPEAKER_00: No, I mean one day you'll be in church and the next day you'll be a burnout.
SPEAKER_00: You'll be burnt out with the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is very appropriate, the Sunday before to say, man, you've been pushing and pushing and pushing.
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we're pushing, but with all in the way, it doesn't push our Bible reading out the side, it doesn't push our prayer life out, it doesn't push our walk with God out.
SPEAKER_00: There's no excuse for not having a meditation time in our day.
SPEAKER_00: There is no excuse.
SPEAKER_00: You say, You don't know my schedule.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, we don't need that much sleep.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We don't need to read the newspaper.
SPEAKER_00: We don't need to read the magazine.
SPEAKER_00: We don't need to watch the TV.
SPEAKER_00: We don't need to listen to the radio.
SPEAKER_00: There's times we can find if we look for it and we know that we need that strength.
SPEAKER_00: There's times we can find time for God.
SPEAKER_00: If we're not careful, we'll overdrive.
SPEAKER_00: I could go into names and illustrations.
SPEAKER_00: But suffice it to say that it has happened to those in our generation, and it may happen to those in here tonight that has laid aside your Bible reading and your prayer life.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you've picked something else up.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what it is, but it's taken the place of that quiet time of meditation.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, but my work's busy.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, the Bible says not to be entangled.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't say not to do what's supposed to be done in this life.
SPEAKER_00: Uh work, yes.
SPEAKER_00: Uh work hard, yes, do it with thy mind.
SPEAKER_00: But don't get entangled to where it strangulates our strength.
SPEAKER_00: The joy of the Lord is our strength.
SPEAKER_00: Now, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_00: Where does joy come from?
SPEAKER_00: It comes from abiding with God.
SPEAKER_00: It comes from walking with him.
SPEAKER_00: Martha, Martha, thou art cumbered about with much service.
SPEAKER_00: But you know, Martha, one thing's needful.
SPEAKER_00: You're out of balance.
SPEAKER_00: And Mary hath chosen that good thing which shall not be taken away from her, and that was sitting at the feet of Jesus and hearing his word.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it true that we get so busy sometimes with our life, doesn't matter whether you're young or old, married or unmarried, that sometimes it squeezes out the very strength that we need to drive on.
SPEAKER_00: And our joy begins to dissipate.
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: I'm just not, I'm just not, I don't know, I'm just not joyous in the ministry anymore.
SPEAKER_00: It's not the ministry.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have the joy coming to church anymore.
SPEAKER_00: It's not the church.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, statement.
SPEAKER_00: Preaching should be supplemental to our daily devotional life.
SPEAKER_00: This should not be the mainstay.
SPEAKER_00: Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night is not the mainstay of our Christian walk.
SPEAKER_00: Would you agree with that?
SPEAKER_00: Don't just say amen.
SPEAKER_00: Think about it.
SPEAKER_00: If this is the mainstay of your Christian walk, you're not getting enough strength.
SPEAKER_00: It's not enough.
SPEAKER_00: Say, I come and I'm supposed to be preached to and fed, but just as it doesn't seem like you know I'm getting fed enough.
SPEAKER_00: What are you doing in your personal daily Bible devotions?
SPEAKER_00: What are you getting out of your personal walk?
SPEAKER_00: Hey, you don't just eat Sunday morning and Sunday night and fast till Wednesday?
SPEAKER_00: And then come back and get a morsel on Wednesday night, and some of you work, you don't even get that, and you fast through to Sunday morning and back to Sunday night again?
SPEAKER_00: You wouldn't do that.
SPEAKER_00: Your flesh would be crying out, feed me, feed me, we're going down.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, amen.
SPEAKER_00: But Christians treat it that way sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: We eat daily, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We ought to make sure spiritually we're getting fed daily, lest we overdrive.
SPEAKER_00: Lest we get to the place where the strength that we need to go on just isn't there.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, God says, I got all you need.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't run out of strength.
SPEAKER_00: He'll give us more.
SPEAKER_00: Preaching, and I want to say it again, should not be the main supplement, teenager.
SPEAKER_00: Preaching should not be the supplement, but nothing but a supplement.
SPEAKER_00: Preaching is not the main course.
SPEAKER_00: Ma'am?
SPEAKER_00: And sir, you above everybody, and I above everybody should make sure if we're supposed to be leading and be those that are getting direction from God, that cause we're getting is just not a Sunday morning, a Sunday night, or a Wednesday night.
SPEAKER_00: You say, I'm busy, you don't know what I do.
SPEAKER_00: You're too busy then.
SPEAKER_00: If you're laying aside the Bible, the word of God, that daily time with God, that daily walk with God, you need to get up earlier or stay up later, or miss a meal, or shut off the radio, or turn off the television, or put away the newspaper.
SPEAKER_00: Something needs to change.
SPEAKER_00: Because if we're not careful, we're not looking in that mirror daily at ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: That's the whole point.
SPEAKER_00: And that joy, that strength comes to keep us going.
SPEAKER_00: Look with me at another set of scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: Look at 1 Chronicles chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Chronicles 10.
SPEAKER_00: A quarter of the message is already done.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Chronicles 10 and Joshua chapter 7.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Chronicles, not Corinthians, 1 Chronicles chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, I'd like to joke with you a little bit more tonight, but this is too serious.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Chronicles 10 and Joshua 7.
SPEAKER_00: In 1 Chronicles chapter 10, it goes along with this concept.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 13 of 1 Chronicles 10.
SPEAKER_00: So Saul died for his transgression.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: Which he committed against the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Eve against the word of the Lord, which he kept not.
SPEAKER_00: And also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit to inquire of it.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: Underline it.
SPEAKER_00: And inquired not of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore he slew him.
SPEAKER_00: And turned the kingdom unto David, the son of Jesse.
SPEAKER_00: You mean why?
SPEAKER_00: Because Saul stopped asking God his counsel and his opinion.
SPEAKER_00: Look at chapter 13.
SPEAKER_00: Just flip over a couple of chapters.
SPEAKER_00: Look at chapter 13.
SPEAKER_00: It's reiterated again.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, you know what daily meditation and daily walk does?
SPEAKER_00: It makes us ask God what he thinks.
SPEAKER_00: We inquire of him through our daily reading and our daily prayer life and our daily meditation.
SPEAKER_00: Look at chapter 13.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: David says, And let us bring again the ark of God, our God, to us.
SPEAKER_00: For we inquired not at it in the days of who?
SPEAKER_00: Saul.
SPEAKER_00: Brethren, when you're in the Bible, isn't it true that you talk to God more?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it true when we're doing that devotion in the morning or in the evening or whatever it is?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it true we talk to God more?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it true when our minds are on this book that we say, God, what do you think?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it true that we make more decisions asking Him first before we make the decision?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it true we get better direction when we're walking with Him?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't all of that true?
SPEAKER_00: And isn't it true also if we lay aside our book, we begin to do things without even asking?
SPEAKER_00: We begin to make decisions without even asking.
SPEAKER_00: And it may be weeks before we've even said, God, what do you think about this?
SPEAKER_00: We just say, well, I think I have the mind of the Lord, I'm just going to do it this way and this way and this way and this way.
SPEAKER_00: We don't even ask him to guide our minds anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Look at Joshua.
SPEAKER_00: Look at Joshua chapter 7.
SPEAKER_00: It correlates.
SPEAKER_00: You know the story.
SPEAKER_00: They had just one at Jericho and they come back in verse 3 of Joshua 7.
SPEAKER_00: And they returned to Joshua and said unto him, let not all the people, chapter 7, verse 3, go up.
SPEAKER_00: But let about two or 3,000 men go up and smite Adai.
SPEAKER_00: And make not all the people to labor thither, but they are but a few.
SPEAKER_00: You know what's going on here?
SPEAKER_00: They're going on without asking God.
SPEAKER_00: Haven't we done that?
SPEAKER_00: And haven't some of us got into some trouble?
SPEAKER_00: That we later had to say, Lord, oh, I messed up.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I should have asked you.
SPEAKER_00: I just took it for granted.
SPEAKER_00: I just presumed that that.
SPEAKER_00: I got so busy, Lord, I, you know, I didn't even stop.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what happened here?
SPEAKER_00: Because the accursed thing crept in.
SPEAKER_00: They were just driving and driving and driving and just thought, hey, we'll just go up as before.
SPEAKER_00: There's only a couple thousand up there.
SPEAKER_00: And they forgot to inquire of God.
SPEAKER_00: They forgot to ask him.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua wants to quit.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought the people over Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us?
SPEAKER_00: Then he says, This, what a statement.
SPEAKER_00: God put that in there for our admonition.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not the man and not the leader Joshua is, but haven't we got to this place somewhere?
SPEAKER_00: Would to God we had been content and dwelt on the other side of Jordan.
SPEAKER_00: What am I doing out here?
SPEAKER_00: How did I get this far out on faith?
SPEAKER_00: Hey, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: The problem wasn't where he was at.
SPEAKER_00: The problem was he forgot to ask God, and God said, wait a minute, there's something wrong.
SPEAKER_00: You need to stop, you need to examine, you need to look at it, what's going on in there.
SPEAKER_00: Something has crept in, and I want it taken care of because that accursed thing, I'm not going to be with you anymore until that's taken care of.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies.
SPEAKER_00: Watch it.
SPEAKER_00: Because they were what?
SPEAKER_00: Accursed.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because somebody had disobeyed God's commandment and went out and took some things they weren't supposed to take and had hidden them away.
SPEAKER_00: Look what he says in verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: Neither will I be with you anymore, except you destroy the cursed from among you.
SPEAKER_00: Brethren.
SPEAKER_00: The same holds true today.
SPEAKER_00: The whole idea of devotions is a self-examination, so we get the opportunity to say, you know what, I've got to get that out of my life.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want that to get a foothold.
SPEAKER_00: Boy, I don't want that to creep in.
SPEAKER_00: Man, that thing's grabbing me again.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, God, help me with that thing.
SPEAKER_00: If we go without devotions and we lay our Bible aside and we lay our devotional aside and we give it five minutes here and a few minutes there, and the whole time of our devotionals for the week is maybe a half an hour.
SPEAKER_00: I'll guarantee you, something's gonna creep in.
SPEAKER_00: And before long, we're going through the motions of the ministry, but nothing's happening.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they went up to fight just like before, but it didn't work.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, we can have a big day just like last year.
SPEAKER_00: Or we can have all the motion of the big day.
SPEAKER_00: But God says, I'm not gonna be with you.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why we have the Lord's Supper.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord's Supper is a time of self-examination, a time of memorial.
SPEAKER_00: He says, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Until you destroy that accursed thing, I'm not gonna be with you anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Haven't you had God show up in your prayer life or your devotional life and say, stop it.
SPEAKER_00: Stop it.
SPEAKER_00: Stop the way you're treating your spouse.
SPEAKER_00: Stop it.
SPEAKER_00: Stop that retaliatory spirit towards those other people.
SPEAKER_00: Stop it.
SPEAKER_00: Stop that victim mentality.
SPEAKER_00: You're a child of the king, not a victim.
SPEAKER_00: Stop it.
SPEAKER_00: I told your trials are gonna come.
SPEAKER_00: Stop it.
SPEAKER_00: Stop the pity party.
SPEAKER_00: Stop it.
SPEAKER_00: Stop what your eyes are doing.
SPEAKER_00: Stop setting those things before your eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Stop it.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you have God dealt with you that way?
SPEAKER_00: Stop it.
SPEAKER_00: Stop dwelling in that area in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Stop it.
SPEAKER_00: It comes through our devotional life, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Samson.
SPEAKER_00: That's a good one.
SPEAKER_00: He played around, played around, and played around.
SPEAKER_00: Didn't think anything would happen.
SPEAKER_00: Broke his word.
SPEAKER_00: Rose up one day, ready to go to battle, and with his knot, that the Lord was departed.
SPEAKER_00: He got his hair shaved.
SPEAKER_00: But he broke a vow.
SPEAKER_00: He said, He didn't break it, they did it for him.
SPEAKER_00: But he set himself into a place where they could do it.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I'll shake myself as before.
SPEAKER_00: But he didn't realize his strength was gone.
SPEAKER_00: The strength that God had provided was gone.
SPEAKER_00: And brother, we need strength in our marriages, in our relationships, in our ministries, in our business.
SPEAKER_00: You try to do it without God and watch it fall apart.
SPEAKER_00: I've heard people say over the years, you can't believe the many people I've heard say, I can't believe this has happened to us.
SPEAKER_00: I never would have thought it was going to happen to us.
SPEAKER_00: God makes all things consist.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians 5.
SPEAKER_00: And 1 Corinthians 11, over halfway done with the message.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to give you a kind of a running update where we're at, because you're thinking we still got the Lord's Supper.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians 5.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians 11.
SPEAKER_00: Preaching as a supplement that provides some strength, but never enough.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians 5 and 1 Corinthians 11.
SPEAKER_00: Now watch specifically at the Lord's Supper.
SPEAKER_00: Watch this, please, carefully.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, if you were in this morning's message, you would understand that the New Testament Lord's Supper is really a New Testament feast of the Passover, if you would, with Christ being our Passover lamb.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians 5, 7.
SPEAKER_00: Purge out, therefore, the what?
SPEAKER_00: The old leaven.
SPEAKER_00: That ye may be a what?
SPEAKER_00: A new lump.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, we're supposed to be new creatures.
SPEAKER_00: As ye are unleavened.
SPEAKER_00: For even Christ, our Passover is sacrificed for us.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to vocus in on the context, verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: Purge out.
SPEAKER_00: Keep that old out of there.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, let us keep verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: The what?
SPEAKER_00: The feast.
SPEAKER_00: Not with old leaven, neither with the leaven.
SPEAKER_00: And here he describes what leaven is.
SPEAKER_00: Of what?
SPEAKER_00: Malice and wickedness.
SPEAKER_00: He says that's supposed to be purged out.
SPEAKER_00: Purge out that malice and that wickedness.
SPEAKER_00: But with the unleavened bread of what?
SPEAKER_00: Sincerity and truth.
SPEAKER_00: And then he goes on to tell you more about this leaven that we're supposed to purge out.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I wrote unto you an epistle, not to company with who?
SPEAKER_00: Fornicators.
SPEAKER_00: You're saying, well, man, I work with men and with women who are out doing that.
SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't mean you go out to cocktails with them.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean you hang around them.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean they become great friends.
SPEAKER_00: It says we're not supposed to keep company with them.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I had acquaintances in business.
SPEAKER_00: But I wouldn't consider them people I kept company with.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: I didn't hang out with them after hours because they would affect me.
SPEAKER_00: Are you listening to me?
SPEAKER_00: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world.
SPEAKER_00: Or with the covenants or exorcists with the dollars, just for then must we needs go out of the world.
SPEAKER_00: But now I've written unto you not to keep company of any man that is called a brother.
SPEAKER_00: Be a fornicator or covetous or idolater, a railer, a drunkard, or extortioner.
SPEAKER_00: And then he's specific, which such an one know not to eat.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody says, I don't think that's a way to express love.
SPEAKER_00: Who's talking about expressing love?
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, hey, keep yourself clean.
SPEAKER_00: Purge it out.
SPEAKER_00: You're not to be the old lump anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Keep yourself clean.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, if a brother is a habitual fornicator, a covetous, or adulterer, a railer, a drunk, or an extortioner, hey, don't hang around them.
SPEAKER_00: A little leaven leaven's a lump.
SPEAKER_00: For what have I to do to judge them also that are without?
SPEAKER_00: Look what he asks then.
SPEAKER_00: Watch it.
SPEAKER_00: Do not ye judge them that are where?
SPEAKER_00: Within.
SPEAKER_00: But them that are without God judges.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
SPEAKER_00: And somebody says, Well, see, that's what the church is supposed to do.
SPEAKER_00: No, that's what you're supposed to do.
SPEAKER_00: In your personal life.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, if there's a lot of gossip going on, don't hang around the person.
SPEAKER_00: If there's backbiting going on, don't hang around the person.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I might hurt them.
SPEAKER_00: Well, tell them why.
SPEAKER_00: Just tell them let's get that out of our conversation.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I it could be the accursed thing.
SPEAKER_00: And God might judge.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse chapter 11.
SPEAKER_00: Stay with me.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 11.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 23, this feast.
SPEAKER_00: I have received the Lord that which also I delivered unto you.
SPEAKER_00: Stay with me.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 23, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes into what we'll be going into in just a moment.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says in verse 27, Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But let a man do what?
SPEAKER_00: It didn't say, go examine someone else.
SPEAKER_00: Tonight I'm not trying to examine you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm examining myself.
SPEAKER_00: And so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup, for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, this is a reason that many are weak and sickly among you.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 31, watch it.
SPEAKER_00: For if we would do what?
SPEAKER_00: Judge ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: We should not be judged.
SPEAKER_00: But when we are judged, we are what?
SPEAKER_00: Chasten of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You know what those two scriptures in verse 31 and 32, look at them.
SPEAKER_00: If we'll judge ourselves, then he won't have to chasten us.
SPEAKER_00: Is that right?
SPEAKER_00: Come on, that's what he says.
SPEAKER_00: If we'll judge ourselves, then he won't have to chasten us.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_00: If we'll judge ourselves, and you know what he says?
SPEAKER_00: That's the Lord's supper.
SPEAKER_00: Do it in remembrance of me, but make sure you examine yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Judge yourself, and that way I won't have to chasten you.
SPEAKER_00: Clean it up.
SPEAKER_00: Purge.
SPEAKER_00: Purify.
SPEAKER_00: Last set of scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: Look at Exodus 12 and 2 Peter 3.
SPEAKER_00: And let me wrap this together tonight.
SPEAKER_00: Exodus 12 and 2 Peter 3.
SPEAKER_00: The message doesn't have to be long.
SPEAKER_00: The scriptures are point blank.
SPEAKER_00: Exodus 12 and 2 Peter 3.
SPEAKER_00: I appreciate more than you know.
SPEAKER_00: Exodus 12 and 2 Peter 3.
SPEAKER_00: I appreciate, as a pastor, being able to come to this church on a Sunday night, a Sunday morning, or Wednesday night, and preach with liberty.
SPEAKER_00: Without fear of a group of men coming to me and saying, we'd like to approve your sermon, Pastor.
SPEAKER_00: I appreciate being able to say to you some things, even though myself I'm a man.
SPEAKER_00: And I've got problems and things in my life.
SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you coming because, you know, after a while you kind of think, hey, I'm just a man.
SPEAKER_00: What do I have got to say?
SPEAKER_00: And then you think, it's not me, it's the book.
SPEAKER_00: And I appreciate being able to come up and say these things over the years and encourage you and I to do better.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not like, well, what does he walk on water?
SPEAKER_00: The answer is no.
SPEAKER_00: I'd like to be able to come in here and stomp just a little bit when God wants me to.
SPEAKER_00: But you know, while I'm stomping, you've got to understand it's a stomp on myself, too.
SPEAKER_00: Thank God we got some people that believe the book, accept the book, and aren't listening just for some kumbaya ear tickling message.
SPEAKER_00: We came to grow, we came to get stronger in God, amen.
SPEAKER_00: We've got the big day next week, and what we want is God's power.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to get up on Sunday morning and shake myself and have everybody shake themselves and go about their business and whist not the Lord's departed.
SPEAKER_00: It's just not Wally Davis, it's the whole church.
SPEAKER_00: Look at Exodus 12.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: Speak yeah to all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a what?
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, you know about that lamb in verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be without blemish.
SPEAKER_00: The reference is Peter, where Christ is a lamb without blemish.
SPEAKER_00: He's our Passover lamb.
SPEAKER_00: But I want you to notice verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: And ye shall keep it unto the 14th day of the same month.
SPEAKER_00: Watch.
SPEAKER_00: And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel, watch this, shall kill it when?
SPEAKER_00: In the evening.
SPEAKER_00: You know, uh, you ever thought about they didn't they didn't kill it in the morning.
SPEAKER_00: They killed it when God told them to.
SPEAKER_00: And they shall take the blood and strike it on the two sideposts and on the upper doorpost of the house wherein they shall eat it.
SPEAKER_00: And they shall eat the flesh in that what?
SPEAKER_00: In that night.
SPEAKER_00: Roast with fire.
SPEAKER_00: So he said, kill it in the evening, drain the blood, put the blood on the doorpost, roast it, and eat it that night unleavened.
SPEAKER_00: Huh.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: And thus shall ye eat it.
SPEAKER_00: Here's your attitude.
SPEAKER_00: In the night when you're eating it, I want you to eat it this way.
SPEAKER_00: Your loins girded.
SPEAKER_00: I want you dressed.
SPEAKER_00: Your shoes on your feet.
SPEAKER_00: Your staff in your hand.
SPEAKER_00: Ye shall eat it in what?
SPEAKER_00: Do it quickly.
SPEAKER_00: It's the Lord's Passover.
SPEAKER_00: They're supposed to kill it in the night, put the blood on in the night, roast it, and when they eat it, they're all supposed to be dressed.
SPEAKER_00: Staff in hand, shoes on.
SPEAKER_00: Quickly, let's eat.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord's going to pass over.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to call us out.
SPEAKER_00: Get ready.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord's going to call us out.
SPEAKER_00: Get ready.
SPEAKER_00: It won't be long.
SPEAKER_00: He's coming.
SPEAKER_00: And that's supposed to be our attitude.
SPEAKER_00: Brethren, we are just on a pilgrimage down here.
SPEAKER_00: We're just on a journey.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how entangled you are with this world tonight, but I hope that as you eat this Passover tonight, as you partake of the Lord's, the precious blood of the Lamb, without blemish, killed for us in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Are you listening to me?
SPEAKER_00: That you're not so entangled that you'd say, if the Lord comes tonight, I've got so many things to take care of.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not ready to go.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I want to leave.
SPEAKER_00: I'm starting to like it down here.
SPEAKER_00: A car accident can change all that, amen.
SPEAKER_00: If we get to the place where we like this too much, then we're not eating it with the right attitude.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Peter.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 8 of chapter 3, 2 Peter 3, watch it.
SPEAKER_00: Last scripture.
SPEAKER_00: But my beloved, that's us.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Peter 3.8.
SPEAKER_00: Be not ignorant of this one thing.
SPEAKER_00: That one day is with the Lord is a thousand years.
SPEAKER_00: A thousand years is one day.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 9, watch it.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is not slack concerning his promise.
SPEAKER_00: And some men count slackness, but his long suffering to usward.
SPEAKER_00: Not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what he says?
SPEAKER_00: Hey, the Lord's waiting.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to save some people, but the day of the Lord will come.
SPEAKER_00: How is it going to come?
SPEAKER_00: As a thief in the what?
SPEAKER_00: In the night.
SPEAKER_00: In the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.
SPEAKER_00: The earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
SPEAKER_00: Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved.
SPEAKER_00: Don't get too attached to it.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: The car.
SPEAKER_00: The house.
SPEAKER_00: The job.
SPEAKER_00: This life.
SPEAKER_00: Dissolved means dissolved.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Seeing that all these things shall be dissolved.
SPEAKER_00: What manner of persons ought ye to be?
SPEAKER_00: In all holy conversations of godliness, watch.
SPEAKER_00: Looking for.
SPEAKER_00: And what?
SPEAKER_00: Say it?
SPEAKER_00: Hasting to the coming of the day of God.
SPEAKER_00: Wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved.
SPEAKER_00: And the elements shall melt with fervent heat.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens, newer.
SPEAKER_00: Wherein dwelleth righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says this thing, watch verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: Because of all that, brethren, because he's going to come as a thief in a night, and it's going to come quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Because of all that, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent, that ye may be found of him in peace.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the way they were supposed to leave that night was hastily to eat, ready to go, on their way out of Egypt, their days of being a slave was over.
SPEAKER_00: Their days of being in bondage was over.
SPEAKER_00: Their days of this world telling them what to do, the Egyptians was over.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know about you, but one of the things that excites me is that this world will no longer have an influence on me or on you and all of the things that are going on in the leadership and whoever's elected and how society changes and as it deteriorates more and more, it won't affect us anymore.
SPEAKER_00: I'm looking forward to be part of a kingdom where there's the perfect monarch.
SPEAKER_00: That judges righteously.
SPEAKER_00: There's no more heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Thank God we have elections, but thank God the one who's going to be the monarch has already been chosen by God.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, brothers, we partake of this tonight.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, examine ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, look and study what has crept in.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, look and study what am I doing with my daily meditation?
SPEAKER_00: And am I overdriving to the place where I'm gone beyond the strength and the joy of the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: And I need to get back to that abiding and examine myself.
SPEAKER_00: But also ought to look forward to what's coming in the future and eat this thing with haste tonight and joy that God has something planned for me beyond this life.
SPEAKER_00: There's life beyond the big day.
SPEAKER_00: The big day ought to not be a letdown.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's over.
SPEAKER_00: Now what?
SPEAKER_00: Now rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Now we're going to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what if God doesn't come?
SPEAKER_00: We ought to live like He's coming.
SPEAKER_00: And plan like we're going to have a long life.
SPEAKER_00: But even a long life is temporarily.
SPEAKER_00: Even a long life is a vapor.
SPEAKER_00: About that long.
SPEAKER_00: It appeareth for a while and vanisheth away.
SPEAKER_00: It's just a moment compared to eternity.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it good to be a Christian tonight?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it good to be able to look back and say, hey, there's years maybe I wasted, but I'm not wasting it now.
SPEAKER_00: I'm part of something that's going on for God.
SPEAKER_00: I'm part of this big day.
SPEAKER_00: I'm part of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: I'm part of cooking.
SPEAKER_00: I'm part of, I'm going to the normal workers' meeting.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to give everything I can to this thing.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to try to lead somebody to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Even if God blows the trumpet next Sunday night, maybe I'm going to lead somebody to Christ in that last night.
SPEAKER_00: Out of love.
SPEAKER_00: Tonight.
SPEAKER_00: We gotta be ready to go.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm not one of those who say I'm so ready to go that I'm not doing nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Some people are so ready to go, they just keep putting off what they're gonna do for God.
SPEAKER_00: Well, he's coming back, so I don't know if I want to do it.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, I want to be ready to go.
SPEAKER_00: Let's sell it all.
SPEAKER_00: Careful.
SPEAKER_00: Get discouraged.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he's coming back.
SPEAKER_00: When?
SPEAKER_00: We don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Thief in the night.
SPEAKER_00: So tonight.
SPEAKER_00: Are your loins good?
SPEAKER_00: Staff and hand, shoes on.
SPEAKER_00: Ready to go?
SPEAKER_00: Or a little entangled.
SPEAKER_00: Tonight.
SPEAKER_00: Let's examine ourselves before we partake of symbolically his body and his blood.
SPEAKER_00: Let's stand.
SPEAKER_00: Don't leave.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let your children leave.
SPEAKER_00: They can wait.
SPEAKER_00: In just a moment, we're gonna let the instrument play.
SPEAKER_00: And I'd like you to consider the message tonight.
SPEAKER_00: And quietly, without much congestion and distraction, our ushers will get ready for Lord's Supper.
SPEAKER_00: Tonight.
SPEAKER_00: Examine.
SPEAKER_00: Meditation.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'm too busy.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I've left off some things.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I've let some things crowd in that I shouldn't.
SPEAKER_00: Time to get back to it.
SPEAKER_00: God, your grace and your mercy.