Viola Solid Rock Assembly
Climbing Higher
- Amen, man, man, what a beautiful time of worship. It's so reminded me of Psalm 34. I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul will make its boast in the Lord. The humble will hear of it and be glad. O magnified the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together, and that's what we did. The Bible goes on to say this, I sought the Lord and he heard me and he delivered me from all of my fears. You know God can do that, right? They looked at him and were radiant, their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried and the Lord heard me and delivered me and saved me from all my troubles. He can do that. The angels of the Lord camp around about those who fear him and deliver them. So taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is a man who trusts in him. That's what revival is about. Let's taste and see that the Lord is good. O fear the Lord you his saints, there is no one to those who fear him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger, but those who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing. What a great Sunday morning crowd this is. Can you percentage wise? I looked it up on the Google so it has to be true. And Viola Arkansas population, according to 2022 census like 367 people, look at all the people in this room. If you put that percentage in Chicago, Illinois, there would be 100,000 people in the room. This is amazing to me. I love it here and I honor your pastor and his wife, Joe and Chelsea Garner are not just respected in this community, but all over the state. In fact, all over the country, he was a featured speaker at our MVP call. We have a call every single Thursday at 8, 30 year time, and he was a guest speaker. There were 70 ministers around the country, I think seven, sometimes there's more than that, sometimes a little less. And the feedback they gave him was tremendous. He spoke into our lives. Ministry is tough, it's a tough slog. And more people were jumping ship than ever before, but the Bible says the call of God is irrevocable. It is without repentance. And so we're doing everything we can to encourage people to stay in this thing called the ministry. What a beautiful worship. So that was a beautiful song, I never heard that. That song, I'll give it to you, and I don't want it back. That was incredible, I'm really really glad to be here. I'm looking forward to it, and I just want to not apologize, but let you know, we're gonna preach a couple of illustrated sermons at least, maybe more than that. My old age, I'm doing productions. That's why my hair looks like this. I play Ebenezer's Scrooge every year, and I look like one of the golden girls. I've got a thyroid problem. Grow my own beard, my own wig, 'cause I got sick of it flying off. But 1,800 people have come to know Jesus Christ, because Ebenezer's Scrooge prayed with him, so we thank God for that. And so my message today will be metaphorical. And some of you might like, "Yeah, that's kind of a stretch, Joe, eh, that's okay." Well, that's my stretch, so just work with me, okay? I know you're not children's church, and there's not an object lesson, but some of us are visual learners, and so when we see something, it kind of stays with it, with us a little bit longer. Now on tonight, if you've been filled with the Holy Spirit for 80 years, you've been carrying the water a long time, or you're brand new, you never even hardly heard there was a Holy Spirit. I'm gonna preach a message, not my favorite message, but it's one that God's got me on right now. It's effective, I'm not bragging or complaining, I'm just telling you, the Assistant Superintendent in Mississippi, Jody Gurley said it was the clearest message he's ever heard on the Holy Spirit. You'll learn some things, I hope, and we're gonna talk about our friend, the Holy Spirit tonight, in a unique way. But this morning is an illustrated message, so I want you to take your Bibles and turn to our text Psalm 24, verse three, and I'm gonna read it in a moment. Let me pray, and then I'm gonna kind of set up the message and then read the text. God, I love I O'lark, and so I love being here. I love being in your house today. I was glad when they said to me, let's go to the house of the Lord. I feel your presence here in a special, special way. We don't care what you're doing, God, as long as you're the one who's doing it, do whatever you wanna do. You can heal the sick, you can quicken our mortal bodies with the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. You're welcome to fill us with overflowing of your Holy Spirit. Whatever you wanna do, we just worship you. We don't want it back. I pray, God, that you'll help me. Earnestly desire, spiritual gifts, especially prophecy, and I pray to prophesy today. When I was a young man, Lord, because I was given away and rejected and thrown away as a young boy, I never wanted anybody to do that again, and I'd ask you to help people like me, help 'em like me, give me favor. But God, now that I'm an old man, I'm asking you for two things. Give me the courage to obey whatever you tell me to say and whatever you tell me to do. And through this transaction of preaching and the Holy Ghost and the gifts of the Spirit, I pray your help, your people. Help your people today in Jesus' name, amen. During COVID, I finished in the red. So for about three years ago, I decided I'm not gonna finish in the red in the ministry. I wanna finish in the black if it kills me. And I walked 100 miles on the Appalachian Trail and it almost killed me. But we finished in the black. Last year, I did 110 miles. And for some ridiculous reason, I decided to tackle the physical challenge right there, Mount Adams, in Washington State. On July 22nd, on a Tuesday, I climbed to the top of that mountain. I do not recommend this activity if you're 60 years old. I cannot with good conscious recommend that. My West Virginia Mountaineer coach and leaders, they've been with me the other two years and he kept saying, you can do it, man, you can do it. You'd have to really try hard to die on that mountain. You'd have to work at dying on that mountain. But now we're gonna give you an ice axe. If you start sliding down, you put the ice axe in so you don't reach terminal velocity. Terminal velocity is what he said. And for some reason, he talked me into it. Might have been the dumbest thing I've ever tried. And the most amazing thing as well. Well, I don't wanna give you a slideshow this morning, but I wanna communicate to you something that God showed me on that hill called Mount Adams. Psalm 24, verse three. Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart who has not lifted up his soul to an idol nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, Celon. This passage of course follows the famous 23rd Psalm that Pastor Joe reads every funeral like I do. Did it last week. Some traditions hold that Psalm 24 was uttered by David as he was carrying the ark of the covenant back into the tabernacle from Obed Edom's house. What is the hill of the Lord? What is this hill? Well, the hill of the Lord in my estimation is the beauty of God. It's the presence of God. It's the essence of God. It's the glory of God. It's being with God. And he says, who may ascend to the hill or the mountain of the Lord? How many of you in this room, if you go on vacation, you get a chance to, you're beach people. You love to go to the beach, raise your hand. Any beach people? Yeah, yeah. My wife's a beach person. How many of you are like me though, and you love the mountains? Anybody a mountain person? Yeah, I'm a mountain person. So every year my family goes on vacation to the beach. That's a snapshot. It's a snapshot into our marriage right there. Cheryl Hadley said, I know many people whose happy place is the beach, but mine is the mountains. The grandeur, immensity, faraway beauty, the winding ascent to the heavens, called to me in a special way. To climb one is to see the natural beauty step by step, but standing at the summit, beholding the view, speaks to the soul in a way that few other natural experiences can. And the Bible speaks of mountains over 500 times. It's a pretty big deal in the Bible. They have special significance in our faith. Let's just examine just a handful of mountains just real quickly. Mount Ararat is where Noah's ark landed. Mount Zion also synonymous with Mount Moriah's where Abraham was willing to offer Isaac and it's also the place where the temple of the Lord was. Mount Sinai, Moses visited that mountain. He climbed that mountain eight times. That's where he saw the burning bush, where he got the 10 commandments written by the finger of God. Mount Carmel's where Elijah took on the 400 false priests of Baal. Mount Tabor was, Jesus was transfigured, the Mount of Transfiguration. The Mount of the Beatitudes is more like a hill, but it's worthy of mention where Jesus gave his great sermon on the Mount. Then Mount Calvary, we sing about that in the Sunday school today. They talked about Mount Calvary and all the things that Jesus went through. Mountains represent stability and unchanging permanence. They're vast, they're mysterious, they're powerful and they're timeless, they're splendid and majestic. In ancient times, they represented a stronghold where you would go to be protected. They appeal to our sense of wonder and they call us to something higher. It's an invitation from God. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? Mountains call us home. The woman at the well said to Jesus, "Our daddy has worshipped on that mountain right there." David asked in the new living translation, "Who may climb the mountain? Who can climb the hill to the tabernacle and find the wealth of his divine presence?" And he asked a question and then he answers it. The one with clean hands, the one with a pure heart, the one who's honest, who has not lifted up their soul to an iron or sworn deceitfully. Those people are eligible to climb the mountain. He says, "If you do these things, you are the divine promises, blessing and righteousness." Blessing and righteousness. Now I'm not a mountaineer, but I did learn some valuable things about ascending the hill and I want to share them with you. It's often been equated. The top of the mountain is the top of the heap. It's success. It's the highest you can go. It's winning and I'm going to tell you that there is no greater success than ascending to the place where God dwells and walking in his presence. That's the best winning you can do. Well, I learned there's four regular things that I'm going to talk about that you need and then there's four pretty big things. It won't take long. This is what I learned. Excuse me for a moment. I'm not leaving. I just want to grab something. You got to have the right equipment. That's a pretty big deal. You got-- because up there on that mountain, there are no wallmarks. Whatever you take, that's about 35 pounds of equipment right there. You got to have the right equipment because if you get up there and realize you don't have it, guess what, you just don't have it. These are trekking poles and I thought it was kind of silly but they ain't silly. They stabilize you as you walk. Then you got to have-- you got to have the right footwear. And my buddy-- my mountain coach from West Virginia, he's on my board. He owns a trucking company. I said to him, you've loaned me your shoes. I've tried them out. I worked out with them. They're really uncomfortable. I found these shoes at an outdoor place, got a good price on them. I sent them a picture. You think I could just wear these up going on the mountain? And he said, yeah, if you want to die, you can. Well, I didn't actually wear them. But these $800 boots that I borrowed, these are so uncomfortable and so heavy. So I wore these hoke-a-trail shoes that I'd worn on Appalachian Trail last year. I kept those in my pack but I was going to just go up there. And when I got on some volcanic rock and ash and I slid down and the other coach was an investment banker, AC Hilton. He grabbed me and keep me from sliding down the mountain. I'm not saying I'd have died. But a helicopter would have been involved. That's what I'm saying. And as soon as I scrambled up where I could sit down, I took those things off and put those other things on. Because you've got to have the right sleeping system. You've got to have the right outdoor gear. You just have to have the right equipment. And the good news is for us in the kingdom of God that we have been given the right equipment. The Bible says Ephesians 6, 11, put on the whole armor of God that you might be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And the equipment that he gives to us is perfectly, perfectly fit to ascend the hill of the Lord. The belt of truth, girding our loins, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the sword of the spirit, and praying at all times. You've got to have the right equipment. Then you've got to have the right supply. This is, here's the thing. I think it's probably better to have too much and not need it than need it and not have it. This is all the stuff I had left. Let me tell you, when you walk up a mountain, by the time you get to the top of Q-tip weighs 18 pounds, I mean, it's just unbelievable. Let me tell you what climbing a mountain was like. And I'm glad I did it. I'm glad I'm never going to do it again. Here's what it was like. It's like skiing down a black double diamond ski slope in Colorado and you get to the bottom and realize yourself on fell out at the top. You kick your skis off, put a 30 pound kid on your back and walk up seven straight hours to get it. So, you know, this is all the food I had left and I've been eating it on the road. Imagine, that's too much stuff. That's just too much stuff. And so many of us take too much stuff. The Bible says that we ought to take his yoke upon us 'cause his yoke is easy and his burden is light. You got to have the right supply. You got to have the right attitude. You got to have the right attitude. Here are my statistics, I think. This is A.C. Hilton, we walk step-per-step. So, from that screenshot, this is what it looked like. Climbing is hard. You got to have that in your mind. Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord? Climbing is hard. Life can be hard. There was a great athlete that played at Auburn named Bo Jackson. He hit a ball right back at Nolan Ryan. I think it was around 1990. Splitting Nolan Ryan's lip, split it and he had to have like six or seven stitches, put a two inch gash in it and the blood poured. Nolan Ryan didn't even wipe his mouth. The trainer starts coming out of the dugout and he tells him to go back in the dugout with some very colorful language. He goes on to throw a one hit, seven inning ball game. They ask him about it. Ask him, he said, the injury is not a factor. Whatever happens during the game, you got to put it out of your mind and that's the definition of hard work. Keep going, if you hurt, if you're tired, you just keep going for your team, for your family, no matter what. I think we have another slide. The elevation gain, the number of steps, all that stuff. I hear a lot of people when I travel the country talking about church hurt, yeah, they hurt me in church. They hurt me. Well, you get hit in the mouth sometimes and you know what you got to do? Just deal with it and go on. It doesn't prevent me from coming to the house of God 'cause somebody hurt me. I've been prison shanked in church. I mean, I've been devastated in church. It's still the best boat floating. I've got to ice up man up and go on through the herd and the challenge. You got to have the right attitude. Two years ago, three years ago, and I walked 100 miles on the Appalachian Trail. My coach, Steve Crowe, the trucker, he said, how you doing, Joe? Now, I got a lot of foot issues. I mean, I don't go barefoot hardly on the beach or the shower. I don't want anybody looking at my ugly feet. They're horrible and I got issues. I'd plant her fasciitis three years ago. How you doing, Joe? Well, I got plantar fasciitis. It's pretty sore, Steve. About 20 minutes later. How you doing, Joe? Well, I'm a knee just tweaked. I don't know what's going on with that. About an hour later. How you doing, Joe? Well, I know my toenails are falling off. I know it, I can feel it. That's truth that a bunch of them fell off. About three more questions and he said, you know, you might need to change the way you talk. I said, you might need to shut up 'cause you don't want to ask me and I hate liars. But if you're gonna be on a team, you need to be teachable and coachable. And so, it doesn't matter if he's younger than me, I started taking his advice. Changing my talk immediately. How you doing, Joe? You know, I can do all things through Jesus Christ who gives me strength. How you doing, Joe? I'm taking it step by step. How you doing, Joe? Every step I take on this fundraising talk, hike and walk is another soul in the kingdom of it. How you doing, Joe? I'm overcoming, did it change my pain? Ah, my feet still hurt. But it changed my perspective and it changed my experience. You gotta have the right attitude if you're gonna send the hilt of the Lord. You gotta talk the right talk. I'm not talking about positive faith and all that kind of stuff. I'm talking about just making out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks out of a fruit of a man's mouth. Your stomach is filled with good things. Change the vocabulary. If you're gonna walk with the Lord, I can do all things through Jesus. And then you gotta have the right training. I wanna show you a picture of me on vacation. You can't hardly see it. It's my backside on a step machine. All my kids and grandkids were out by the swimming pool in the low country, South Carolina. That's me. Hours stepping on that machine. I didn't wanna be on that machine, but the Bible says in first Corinthians chapter nine, I don't run like someone running aimlessly. I don't fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I preach to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. My friend went with me, he's 45, I'm 60. He's a missionary, he walks the Appalachian. He's a missionary to the Appalachian Trail and he hikes all the time. We would tell him, you gotta train. He says, I'm in the best shape in my life. I've lost 20 pounds. You gotta do box steps. You gotta go up, up. You gotta step up. Not just straight ahead, you gotta step up. And he wasn't able to make it to the summit on summit day because he didn't train the right way. And let me show you this picture. I was really glad laying in that tent right there. That was me down for the night. I mean, it's daylight outside, I was done. I was exhausted. Laying in that tent, I was glad that I had trained the right way. Hey, Jesus is coming soon. It isn't getting easier in the world. It's getting crazier. So you and I gotta tighten up everything in our lives and if there's anything not pleasing to the Lord, we gotta confess that and be forgiven and he'll do it because the Bible says he'll do it. Train the right way. So those are the four normal things, regular things. Here are four things that I think that are big four. They're the big four that you need. And they're no particular order. They're just how it came out. Number one, you need inspiration. Inspiration. This is a lovely scripture that I've been preaching lately and I bet Pastor Joe's never preached it. And if he has, I'll give him 20 bucks. Put that scripture up here. Yet again, there was war at Gath where there was a man of great stature who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, 24 in number. And he also was born to the giants. So when he defied Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimea, David's brother killed him. That's sweet, isn't it? That's an odd scripture, but I love it. And here's why I love it. Because there was this giant, this man who was defying Israel. And Jonathan did something. Now, when we think of David, we think of David and Goliath, David and Bathsheba, David, the city of David, David, a man after God's own heart, David and the cave. You think of David in a lot of ways, but I bet you don't ever think of Uncle David. He was an uncle, like Jesus was probably an uncle. Uncle Jesus, hey Uncle Jesus. David had a nephew, Jonathan, son of Shimea, David's brother, and he sees this Sasquatch looking dude, humongous guy. And he gets, I would think probably initially afraid and then something kicks in. Wait a minute, hey, oh, wait a minute. My whole life, I've been hearing about my uncle David killing an early giant, look this about like you named Goliath, ha ha ha. And if my uncle can do it, I know I can do it. So I'm gonna give you 12 seconds to get out of my face. And then he killed him. So we think about people who are falling in the ministry, and we wag our heads and wag our tongues. But for every one of those famous people that have fallen, there are people in highways and byways and hamlets and villages across this country who are remaining faithful to God. And there are people that have gone ahead of us that have remained faithful to God. And the Bible says my eyes will be on the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me. He whose walk is perfect, he shall serve me. So on this trip, on this trip, this was towards the top, it doesn't look that steep. When I've got a picture of me sitting down on the mountain, it looks like I'm standing up, it's that steep. When we got towards the top, my coaches would say, "Hey man, don't reinvent the wheel." Joe, you see where we're just putting our foot? You put your foot right there. And they'd go ahead of me and they'd leave a trail for me. They inspired me. And so if I'm going to ascend the hill of the Lord, I don't wanna reinvent the wheel. I need to look at guys like Jimmy Griggs, my father-in-law. He's been gone since 2012, but he showed me how to pray for your family. Voting Lambert in Alabama showed us how to preach. I could talk about Bobby Barefield. I could talk about James Hennessy. I could talk about the founding pastor, the church that I'm a part of, Tom Whidden. He knocked on doors 65 years ago and said, "I'm the new pastor in town, how can I pray for you?" And at his end, just before he died, he couldn't get to church, but he sat in front of a window and people would walk on the sidewalk in front of his house and he'd lift his hands up, his daughter said, and he'd just start praying. Some he knew and some he didn't know. He shows us where to step. There are people in your past and in your life. They have shown you where to step and how to get to the top of the hill. If you believe that, give me a good amen. You need a team, you need inspiration, you need a team. The Bible says, "Bare one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." This picture means a lot to me right here. This picture means a lot to me. If you put that picture of my buddy, Steve. So I got on the side of this mountain and I had the wrong shoes on. And you can see them right there. That's the wrong shoe. As soon as I could stand up, I put the right shoe on. We got back to that ledge and my buddy, Steve, said, "Joe, drop your pack." I said, "Why? Joe, drop your pack. I'm gonna carry it." And I said like a kid in the nursery, "I do it myself. I'll be boy." And the Holy Ghost said, "Don't be a hero." So he had all the cooking equipment and everything. He put his 50-pound pack on his front and put my 35-pound pack on his back. Did he save my life? Maybe, 'cause the wind was whipping. What's the application? There are people in this church that are for you. They're gonna pick up the pack for you. They're strong and they believe that you're gonna get stronger and carry the load for someone else in the future. Now, he couldn't have done that for 12.91 miles. I can tell you that, but he could do it at getting across the ledge. And on this morning, if you need somebody to help you with the pack, there's a people in this church. There's an evangelist from Charlotte, North Carolina that will help you get across the ledge. We'll bear your burden and fulfill the law of Christ. And with three, you need faith. You need faith. You're gonna make it. You can't have the attitude of, well, that's the big hill. I'm gonna give it a try. When I walked on that first day, I had 500 milliliters of water and it's now a gene cup right here. That's all the water I had for three days. I'm not really good at science, but I looked on the internet and it said water's important for human beings to live. I knew that wouldn't last me very long. And there's not a water fountain on that mountain. They're not a bathroom. They're not a McDonald's. There's a dollar general. I'm kidding. (laughs) I knew that wouldn't last me about two or three hours. And those two guys from West Virginia, their world-class athletes, they were way ahead of us. And my 45-year-old buddy and I, we were coming up. And we ran out of water. We ran out of water. And my buddy said, "Joe, he's Alabama boy." He said, "I can see how Esau sold his birthright "for some porridge. "I would sell my birthright for a bottle of water. "I told him if a kid walked beside me right now "and had a half a liter, I'd give him 50 bucks "for I was thirsty, but I had faith." Now, why would you go up with just that little bit of water? I had faith. I knew that we were gonna be there for three days, maybe more. I had faith because of this picture right here. See, this means a lot to me. The reason I had faith is because in the other two years, those two men right there, those two men, when we were on Appalachian Trail, they'd put a little pump into a little brook that a cow just walked across and pour out perfectly filtered water on the other side. The reason I had faith had to do with their past performance. And the reason that I have faith today that I can ascend the hill of the Lord is because of the past performance of God. Has he been faithful to you in the past? He gonna get you where you need to be in the future, put your confidence in what God has done for you. Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. And if you don't have any faith, go back to what I said earlier, change the way you talk, just believe God, speak words of faith over your life. And then finally, you gotta have a guide. You gotta have a guide. Jesus said in John 16, 13, and we'll talk about this guide more tonight. When the spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He speaks or He hears, He will speak and He'll declare to you what is to come. Well, when I got saved, I mean, I was hungry and devoured, everything I could get my hands on. I used to subscribe to a magazine that my Father-in-law, my future father-in-law saw on the bus when we were going on a road trip for the basketball team, and he said, "Joe, that's a cult magazine." I said, "Well, I didn't know. "I just subscribed to everything. "I was hungry. "I watched Christian television so much." My grandmother back then, she loved three things on this, sir. Joey Phillips, her grandson, which was me, she loved professional wrestling and Christian television, and those two things were very similar in the 1980s now. (audience laughing) And all in that Christian TV station, though, I learned a lot of stuff. I learned this, got him Arthur Blesson. I don't know if anybody ever remember the evangelist Arthur Blesson. He was ahead of his time. He wore blue jeans and flannel shirts on TV in the 1980s when everybody's wearing suits and silk ties. He was an evangelist that carried the cross around the world, and he said when he was a little boy, walking with God, ascending the head of the Lord, he would just practice listening to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would say, "Now, take that plow "and go three rows over." And he'd let the mule carry him three rows over. Now go two rows to the right, and that's what he did growing up as a teenager. He was carrying the cross around the world. He's carrying the cross around the world. He heard that same voice walk across the street to that newspaper sign. So he walked across the street to the newspaper sign and where he was standing, a bomb exploded. It was in Lebanon or somewhere, a bomb exploded. That's what I'm talking about with the guide. Here's a picture of our coach's guiding us. Not just inspiring us, but guiding us. Steve's way out there at the top. He told us, he said, now, you guys stay here 'cause I don't remember the best way to get down here, but I'll be right back. And then he would show us exactly where to go. Go back there. Now these two guys down here, they came blowing by us, young guys full of energy, and they walked in a way they shouldn't have walked. And my buddy Steve saw 'em and said, yeah, that's gonna come back to bite 'em. There ain't no way to get down to 'em out in the way they walk about two hours later. They come walking back by us and Steve said, that stunk didn't, yeah, it stunk. The Holy Spirit shows us where to go. That's why we need to be full of the Holy Spirit. We need to be completely consumed by the Holy Spirit so he can show us what to say, where to walk and what to do. We need a guide. We need a guide. Well, I'm glad I did it. Glad I'm not gonna do it again. I don't know if we can play the video. Is the video eligible to play? Maybe just a picture, there it is. I've done some really cool things in 40 years of ministry. I have swam with piranha in the Amazon fish form as well. I don't recommend that. I've wrestled professional wrestlers a couple times. Don't recommend that. I have skied, bought a low charge a team. But when I turned around at the top of that mountain and looked at Mount Rainier from the distance, it took my breath away. It's probably the most incredible thing I've ever seen in my life. There are 7.95 billion people on the earth. The percentage has very been a school of people that have ever seen what I was allowed to see that day. And you can only get there by climbing. Joe Garner cannot ascend the hill for me. The only way for me to get there is to climb myself. The only way for you to get into that revival attitude and spirit is for you to ascend the hill yourself. You don't have to climb a physical mountain, but you have to do the work to get to the very essence, glory, beauty, nature and presence of God. Will it be worth it? There ain't no escalators going up there. Will it be worth it to climb high and stay with God when the whole world is losing its collective mind? But there is a higher place to go. And when you and I get to where God is, walking with him, the beauty will astound us, the peace, the purpose and the provision of the God of the hill. Last verse, last verse is us. 2 Corinthians 3, 18, but we are with unveiled faces, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord of being transformed into the same image. From glory, from glory to glory, just as by the spirit of the Lord. We'll see you planter that seed in my mind on the Appalachian Trail. You can do it, you can do it, you can do it. I mean, I'm trying to plant a seed with you this week that we can do it and it will be worth it for us to be as close. Here's the frightening thing, I'm as close to God right now as I want to be. So are you. And if you're not as close as you've ever been, take an inventory like Revelation says, examine the height, Joe. Joe, examine the height from which you fall and repent and do the things you did at first. Well, I was on a dance floor at 18 years of age. I'd gone to church, Pentecostal Church. Here's why I went to Pentecostal Church. The guy that was taking me to the farm, every Saturday when I graduated from high school with no hope of a future. He gave me $10 a day to work all day like a Hebrew slave. I mean $10 in a turkey baloney sandwich, an RC Cola and a faded banana. I took out $10, I sneak into the Smuggler's Inn nightclub in Columbus, Georgia. Now it's a Longhorn steakhouse, much better use of the space. (audience laughing) One day I got out of his 1969 step-size Chevrolet blue pickup truck and he said, now Joe, if you walk back up here to my house tomorrow morning we'll carry you to church. I said, I'm not very religious, Mr. Reader, but thank you, I appreciate it. Then he cheated. They said, well now, it's huge sale, but if you come up here, we'll carry you to church and then we'll bring you back and patrician, my wife will make you homemade fried chicken butter, beans, mashed potatoes, and gravy, banana pudding, so good you slap somebody. I said, what kind of religion are you, Mr. Reader? Well, I was a starving kid, I was hungry. I mean, we didn't always have food at the house and that's on the real. I mean, I can be Baptist for butter beans, I can be Nazarene for Nana pudding, Catholic for cornbread, whatever you got, let's roll with it. I walked into church, I remember in the 80s, there were men and women all on the stage and they were wearing the same dress with the same collar and they were the friendliest people I'd ever seen, they were all waving at me with their eyes closed, like, hey, y'all, I sat down, they had a bag, like y'all had while ago, I'd been in church two or three times, they had plates, they had a bag and I'm looking for juicy fruit in the bag, I didn't know what it was, to my rub grease on somebody said, I said, keep your eyes on the prize, fried chicken, fried chicken, fried chicken, fried chicken, the guy spoke Swahili, that threw me a little bit, just power through for the banana pudding. But I was an invisible eternal presence in that room, the same presence that's in this room that I could not get away from and I was on the dance floor after I graduated from high school, I'd been to the farm all day, I was going to the church and the lunch the next day, but tonight I'm on the dance floor, probably dancing like a typical white guy, you know, thinks he's kind of cool, look like I got the palsy or something. I thought I was cool. And I heard a voice and it was louder than Rick James, cool in the gang and all of them. And that voice said, Joe, I love you, I got something better for you than this. And I quit dancing and I started crying hard. Some of you cry really pretty tears, you know, Pastor Joe, that was so good, oh, I just love you, sir. When I cry, you can sell tickets, it's an event, I mean shoulder, shaken, nasty fluids, and four-bending guys, I could read their lips, he's drunk, I was too poor to be drunk, I hadn't had anything to drink that night, I heard God call me to ascend the hill of the Lord that he loved me and I walked out of darkness, I walked in the light, I've been walking in the light every year for 42 years without any regrets, ladies and gentlemen, I heard him calling me to climb with him and I made the decision to ascend that hill and to walk with him, to know him, to love him. I got one more picture before we pray, one more picture, actually, I got two more pictures, that was me and my buddy at the top, the next picture. This is where I was camping and I kept looking, and it doesn't look that tall, but when we see climbers on that mountain, they look like Legos, they're tiny, you can't even see them, they're imperceptible, and I thought I don't think I could ever get to the top of that thing, but on summit day, on the 22nd of July, when I got to that top, I said we did it, oh thank you Jesus, and Steve said, now this is called the fall summit, turn around and I look and there's another huge thing you gotta climb, I said I hit you in the mouth, (congregation laughing) it's called Pikers Peak, you can't read it, but that's what it is, it's called the fall summit. Ah, no, it's not a big day, you just go through a little snow field and you just got a little scramble, three hours scramble, but I'm telling you what God showed me about the Pikers Peak and the fall summit is, some people in the body think that they get to Pikers Peak and that's it, they think they've already arrived, you know, maybe you get, those holy ghosts do dads, going up and down your spine, you feel a little annoying and you pay your tithe, you have good church and you think you've arrived, I'm here today to tell you that all of us, including me, there is from glory to glory, there is another place, there's another level in God that he wants to take us to so that we can even almost feel his breath on the back of our neck that he talks to us and walks with us and if that's what you want, I can promise you that's what he wants, what would you buy your head, the musician would come, Lord, that's the message that you gave me, it's a little awkward, but I know you inspire me to write it and to speak it and I pray for people in this room that may not have even gotten the base camp, maybe they hadn't even gotten out of the car to start. With your heads bowed, I want to talk to the one who, maybe you're not walking with God. I'm here today to tell you that God loves you with an everlasting love, you're the apple of his eyes crazy about you if he had a refrigerator in heaven, he'd have your picture right on it. I probably shared this three years ago when I was here but six years ago, my brother-in-law had nobody fat, ran 10 miles a day, 54 years old, two-time national football champion, was a great athletic director and coach in a public school, he was on a run, he was on a run, six years ago, last month, and he dropped dead. The doctor said before his face hit the Georgia clay that he was dead, I preached his funeral, there were 2,000 people in the room. They say, live your life in such a way that the preacher doesn't have to lie at your funeral, I didn't have to lie, I said, my brother-in-law, Danny, my only brother-in-law, he's in heaven today, not because he was a national football champion at Georgia Southern University, not because he was a great coach and athletic director and a loved administrator, he's in heaven today because at some time in his life, he opened up his heart and received the free gift of the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb of God they talked about in Sunday school today, he opened up his heart and received Jesus Christ as his savior. So if the doctor is right, and the Bible is right, the Bible that says absent from the body present with the Lord, before Danny's face hit the Georgia clay, his feet hit the streets that are paved with gold, do you have that assurance? You can know it, you can know it. Joe, you don't know what I've done, the dirty things I've thought and said and done and not done that I should have done. Can I ask you a question? Have you ever killed Christians? Answers probably know, no, I haven't done that. The Apostle Paul was a accessory to murdering Christians and ended up writing a third of the New Testament because whosoever will can be saved. The people that he martyred when he got to heaven, they embraced him, that's how heaven works. There's nothing you've thought or done that can preclude you from getting into the kingdom of heaven, whosoever will. So this morning, if you feel a million miles from God or a hundred feet from God, he's not far from any of us. The Bible says, he wants to walk with you. He wants to forgive you. Do you know your name is in that book? If you do not know, I'm gonna ask you to do something. When I count the three, I'm gonna ask you to raise your hand and lift it up and leave it there for a beat or two. And is that a preacher gimmick kind of maybe, I guess? I don't know, here's why I do it. The Bible says Jesus saw their faith. I'm not Jesus, but when I see your hand, I see your faith and it is a testimony, not just to me, but it strengthens you 'cause if you can do it in here, you have a better shot of doing it out there in the world. If you're away from God, when I say the number three, I want you to lift your hand up. I'm gonna pray with you right where you sit, but I wanna see where you're at. One, Joe, I don't need you to tell me that I thought wrong, said wrong, done wrong. I woke up knowing it today. I went, I walked in here knowing it. I don't need anybody to tell me that. Two, I don't wanna go to bed tonight like I did last night. When I put my head on the pillow, I wanna know that if my breath stops here, my next one's in heaven, if my heart quits beating here, my next heartbeat is in heaven. That's what I wanna know. I wanna be forgiven. I want to receive Jesus. I wanna be registered in that book in heaven. Are you ready? He's ready. He's not willing to any should perish, but all should come to repentance. When I say this number, if that you lift your hand up and leave it up a bead or two, and I'm gonna pray with you right where you sit, it's not a fancy prayer away. It's a childlike prayer away. Are you ready? Here it is. Three. Yeah, just slip your hand up. Praise God. Praise God. You can put your hands down. I'd like everyone in the room to stand, please, from the front to the back that can. I drove it about 800 miles yesterday, and for the two of you that raised your hand, it's immensely worth it. I'd do it every day the rest of my life. That's the power of the gospel and the promise of heaven. I'm gonna pray for you, and then I'm gonna pray with you a simple stuttering on purpose prayer. And then I'll pray for you at the end. It sounds like it will take long. It really will not take long. I'm always amazed, God, how good your love is. It's the love of Jesus that compels us. Your love has compelled this man and woman to raise their hand. Your love has reached out to them, and your spirit has brought sweet conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come, and they have responded to your love and your spirit. And I pray that they'll understand what they need to understand, that they'll make a U-turn, the thing that grieves the Holy Spirit, they'll go the other direction, and more than anything else, more than anything else. They'll trust only in Jesus Christ for their eternal life, as they say, a simple prayer. So here's the prayer stutter on purpose. You just make it your prayer. Fill in the blank. It's a fill in the blank deal. Dear God, dear God, dear God, dear God, two of you that raise your hand, pray something like, here I am, God, dear God, this is me. I really apologize for hurting and grieving the spirit of God. I'm sorry for my thoughts and my words and my actions. I'm sorry for my sin. I confess my sin. Tell him that, I confess my sin. But I also confess something else. I'm gonna count to three, and if everybody in the room, from pastor on down, just everybody would say, with your mouth out loud, Jesus is Lord, all of us. This is our public prayer, ready? One, two, three. Jesus is Lord. Perfect, now back to the two of you. I confess my sin, but you heard me say, with my mouth, I confess Jesus is Lord, and believe in my heart. God raised Jesus from the dead. I do not understand all this, but I want all of this. I want all of this, so help me today, God, help me. I receive and accept your son, Jesus Christ. I receive and accept your son, Jesus Christ as my Lord. Register me in heaven. I give you my life, and I receive years. Now Lord, this wonderful church, all rock in Viola, Arkansas, we pray for those two that prayed that prayer, that the roots are gonna go way down deep and find the living water, and the fruit of discipleship is gonna go up high, and nothing, no thing will steal what you planted in their heart, no cares of the earth, no difficult places, no birds of the air, no challenges, but they're gonna bear fruit that remains in Jesus' name. Amen, can we say Hallelujah for these two people? Hey, Hallelujah! The second level of the altar is a prayer, we're not gonna take all day to do it. But maybe you're in a place in your life that you need some inspiration. God, show me, show me the faithful of the land that I can keep my eyes on. This altar, this altar is for you. Well, maybe, maybe you need some faith. Maybe you need some faith. You know, faith is powerful. It's the victory that overcomes the world, and if you're low on faith, ask God to give it to you. Ask Him, give me more faith, God. I wanna please you without faith, it's impossible to please you. Maybe you got some decisions that you gotta make and you need some guidance and you need the Holy Ghost to point where you're supposed to go. Or maybe it's too much. Maybe there's somebody in here, you're a caregiver. People admire how tough you are, caring for someone who needs it, but you are drained, you are tired, you are dangerously tired, you need some help. You need somebody to grab the pack and put it on. I volunteer to do it, I can't do it 12.91 miles, but this morning for four minutes, I can pray with you that God will help you get across the ledge, that He'll help you, and I'll bear your burden. I'll grab that pack with you, and so will pastor. I never shared this until today. There's only one way I could make it 100 miles three years ago, and there's only one way that I could have made it on top of that mountain. That was on Summit Day. We call it slack packing, instead of 35 or 40 pounds, you put a bottle of water and a protein bar, and here's lip balm and sunscreen, and you go hard after God, slack packing. You know what slack packing reminds me of? Take my yoke upon you, my yoke is easy, my burden is light, Jesus, and He'll let you slack pack. In fact, He'll take the slack pack off of you. Martha, Martha, you're troubled by so many things, but there's only one thing that's needful, and your sister, Mary, have chosen the best part. So if you need any of these things, well, this dear girl leads us in some song, whatever's on her heart, I'm here to pray for you. I'm first down here that I'm saying, I need the help of God. I need Him to help me. I need Him to give me faith and inspiration. I need to lessen the load. Guide me, Lord. If you'd like to join me, I'd be honored to pray for you as we worship the Lord together. Come on, the altars up. (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music)