Viola Solid Rock Assembly
Don't Quit
[APPLAUSE] Hey, back there in the booth. I forgot to mention this to you. We sent a movie trailer to Pastor Joe's email. I don't know if you have that. It's made a movie in 2019 in Thailand. And I wanted you to see the little two-minute trailer. It's about trafficking, so parents be aware of that. No weird scenes in it or anything like that. But we made this film because the Lord told us to do it. And then COVID hit. And we couldn't go into the theaters with it, OK? We just couldn't do it because they shut the theaters down. So then I decided I met with a lawyer, and we rolled out these licensing agreements. And we showed it nine times in eight states. And then when my wife had a heart attack on January 2, 2021, and we didn't know if she'd live or die, I noticed something that happened. We made a film about trafficking, which is right in the enemy's backyard. We went to Thailand and made this film. And then my daughter got long haul or COVID. And she was in the hospital for seven days. I got weird blood clots, Mom. My wife almost died of a heart attack. And I thought, OK, I see what's happening here. We pushed light into the darkness. And the darkness has pushed back really hard. But when the darkness pushes back, you don't lay down in a corner and suck your thumb. You got to stand up in Jesus' name and keep going and push back. So I said, OK, I see what this is. I think the licensing agreements were like $3,900, a showing of the film. I said, OK, we're going to give this film away to the whole wide world for absolutely nothing and get this message far and wide. It's on the inspiration network. You can get it. There's a thing on my table. You can scan it. I don't know how all that stuff works. You can scan it with your phone, and then it'll come right up to you. It's 59 minutes. And I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out. Are we good? Do we have that or no? All right, it's a little dark. So it's called, Aren't You Somebody? [VIDEO PLAYBACK] I'll sing a solo while we're waiting. [LAUGHTER] ♪ A long and winding road ♪ That's all I got. That's all that I know. And it's OK if we can't get. I see it back there on that screen. If you could show it on that screen, well, just turn our heads around and go to the chiropractor later. [LAUGHTER] [INAUDIBLE] [MUSIC PLAYING] [INAUDIBLE] [MUSIC PLAYING] [INAUDIBLE] [MUSIC PLAYING] [INAUDIBLE] [INAUDIBLE] [INAUDIBLE] [MUSIC PLAYING] [INAUDIBLE] [MUSIC PLAYING] And I'd like you to have it for free if you want it. No gimmicks, no strings attached. That little girl, when I said, but you are perfect. That's a little Thai girl. We use the cast. There's a bunch of Thai kids, teenagers in it. The first night we filmed, I looked at the missionary, and his mouth was hanging open. I said, Terry, are you all right? Are you OK, buddy? You look concerned. I said, are you OK? He said, Joe, I've been here for 38 years in Thailand. I had no idea that this kind of talent rested in any of these people, let alone all of these people. That girl was phenomenal. She never acted a day in her life. God can use young people. That's what I've been really encouraged about at this revival, seeing all the young people, and their hunger, and their spark. And all us old taxpayers, we're glad to see it, aren't we? We're happy as we can be to see God moving in the next generation. My life is in ministries like a track, like a high school track at Viola, it's four lapses a mile. My first lap was youth ministry. I loved it so much. My next lap has been evangelism for now for 17, 18 years. I love it so much. My next lap, I'm just starting, is going to be productions, and film, and plays, and illustrated stuff. And then if I make it to the last lap, if Jesus doesn't come, I'm going to try to coach the younger generation and try to help them. Anything you do with those books and stuff, that helps us keep making product and production. Thank you for being kind. Thank you for your generosity. Thank you for your friendship. And perhaps, Joe, thank you for inviting me. And thank you for taking such great care of me and hospitality and host. Love it here. Really do. I really love coming here. This is Galatians chapter 6, and I'm going to pray, and then we're going to get started. The Lord showed me last night on the front row what I'm supposed to preach tonight. He gave me this topic and gave me this message. It's called Don't Quit. Father, help us now to hear what the Spirit says to the church. Help us to God to redeem the time and make the most of this opportunity. I thank you for this church. I thank you for the light that they are in this community, for how much they give and outreach and for the community. I thank you for the young people that are here. It's so encouraging to this grisly old youth pastor. I love seeing all the bright young faces. Now God, help us. Encourage us. Support us. Maybe even some of us rescue us. Resuscitate. Do everything you need to do, Lord. We don't care what you're doing as long as you're the one doing it, and we give you the praise and the glory forward in Jesus' name when everybody said. The picture on the screen is a young lady, Florence Chadwick, a swimmer in 1952, a woman named Florence Chadwick decided to attempt a 26-mile swim between the California coastline and Catalina Island, 26 miles. During her swim, Chadwick traveled with a team whose job it was to keep an eye out for sharks and be prepared to assist in the event of unexpected cramps, injury, or fatigue. Roughly, 15 hours into her swim, a thick fall began to set in, a thick fall began to set in, and clouding Chadwick's vision and confidence. Her mother happened to be in one of the boats at the time. Chadwick relayed to her team. She didn't think she could complete the swim. She swam for another hour that she decided to call it quits. As she sat in the teetering boat, she discovered that she was only about a mile from Catalina Island. And she could have just continued for one more mile. She would have reached her goal. The lesson is that many people quit a dream on the brink of its realization. It's when the challenges feel the most daunting that we're often closer to our destination than we feel ourselves to be. Two months after her failed attempt, she tried to swim again. And once again, a thick fog set in. But this time, she had a mental image of the shoreline in her mind as she pushed herself along. And not only did she succeed, but she ended up making the swim an additional two times for good measure. She became the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions, and she did so in record time. Galatians, Galatians chapter six, and verse number seven. Galatians six, seven, do not be deceived. God is not mocked for whatever a man so's that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will love the flesh, reap corruption, but he who sows to the spirit will love the spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow, we're grow, we're grow, we're glad. That's not grow weary while doing good for induced season. Induced season, we shall reap if we do not lose heart. It won't be on the screen. But verse 10 says, therefore as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. The message tonight is, don't quit. You ever met somebody that quit too soon? I meet them all the time, quit too soon. I met a guy that, he quit college with two classes left, 50, 60 years old. He was right there at the finish line, and he quit. I remember being a chaplain at a high school football team, and I remember a kid separated his shoulder. His shoulder was hanging down like this. He ran off the sideline, I was a chaplain, I was praying for him and tried to encourage him, he was begging the coach, pop it back in please, pop it back in, my team needs me please, pop it back in. One week later, an assistant coach said something that offended him, and he quit. Not because of his shoulder, he just quit, 'cause he got his feelings hurt. Old people like me, we don't like changes. I got a whole comedy bit on changes, and I probably did it over in the gym a couple years ago, so I won't bore you with that again. But there've been a lot of changes in ministry. A lot of changes in the church. COVID-19 brought all kinds of stuff our way, and it exposed some of the dumb things that we're doing. I got exposed in Arkansas in 2022. August on a Tuesday in Arkansas, I ran five miles in Rogers with my friend James Longmate, ran, I mean, run is a relative term. You didn't need to time me with a stopwatch, more like a calendar, but I made it, I never quit, I never stopped, and I had my picture like this. My thumbs up didn't hurt me, didn't hurt me at all. I wasn't sore, five miles, 58 years old. Friday of that same week, I put on a backpack of 30 pounds and walked, didn't run a step, five miles up a mountain on the Appalachian Trail in Virginia, and I felt like I'd been in a bar fight. I mean, I could not move, they had to set up my tent, they had to pay, I didn't think I could even lay down, I was so frozen and I realized I was a fake, I was a phony, it exposed me as a phony, and COVID exposed some things in the church. And all of a sudden, ministry gets very hard. And I'd like to tell everybody in this room, including the youngest kid in here that's born again, you have a spiritual gift. Three times this book says that we have been given a spiritual gift. So all of us in that sense are clergy, everybody that I'm talking to is in the ministry. There are vocational ministers like Pastor Joe and I, and that's kind of a, it's not a better or worse, it's just a different category, but all of us are in the ministry. And I'm talking to all of us and telling you that the Lord does not want you to quit the call of God on your life. There's stress, there's isolation, there's political division, factor in the pastor's desires to quit. So I'm talking about the clergy and I'm on the talk about us as the rest of us lay people. As of March 2022, the percentage of pastors who considered quitting full-time ministry sits at 42% consistent with data from born in 2021. Pastoral burnout, sharp increase. And I would say lay people burnout as well. Confirms a growing number of pastors who are considering resignation. And I'm gonna give you some slides here. Let's run through this back there in the booth. The immense stress of the job, these are some of the reasons that pastors are leaving. I feel lonely and I feel isolated. Next, current political division. Next, I'm unhappy with the effect this role has had on my family next. I'm not optimistic about the future of my church next. My vision for the church conflicts with the church's direction next. My church is steadily declining next. These are reasons the guys are getting out of it. Ladies are getting out. I don't feel as respected by my congregation as next. I don't feel equipped to cope with my ministry demands next. Ministry is not what I thought it would be. Is that it, is there another one? Yeah, I think that's it. As a few more that didn't make the slide, I'm not satisfied with my job. I don't have what I need to be successful. There's an article right here that I have not got time to reference much, but this is from May, USA Today, May 26th. American clergy, the burdens of their calling, increasingly threatened mental wellbeing. All of you in this congregation, that's a call for us to pray for those who are in authority over us, that's a call for you to pray for your pastor. I see it all over America. The stress of this thing called the vocational ministry is immense. It's immense and so much of life for all of us comes down to this concept, this notion. Pick your pain, pick your pain. There's gonna be pain in life. I had a young man, when I were talking about this young man, I tried to adopt and then he grew up to be an adult and he got married and had a couple of kids. He called me one day and said, "Dad, I think my marriage is terrible, I don't know what to do, I think I'm gonna get a divorce." And I told him what I'm telling you, pick your pain. Here's the pain, either you can pick having the respect and love of your children on the rest of their life, but be stuck in what you consider a bad marriage, or you can take the stress of the marriage off of you and have the pain of not being respected by your children. He decided to be divorced and it was prophetic because just about 10 years later, he is completely alienated and isolated from his kids. He had to choose his pain. Life comes down to picking your pain and God doesn't want us to quit. He doesn't want us to quit. Now there are certain things we need to quit and not be offended to quit. I know we've heard a winner never quits and a quitter never wins, but there are certain things you need to quit. If you're wet in the bed, it's a good idea to quit doing that. - You get a job at McDonald's somewhere and you're working. There's no shame in that whatsoever, but you don't have to say, oh, I'm never gonna quit 'cause I was taught never to quit. There are things that you do to advance. The Bible is filled with a series of hello and goodbye. And Paul wasn't a quitter. He said, "I bring you greetings." And then later on, he's kneeling at the beach, weeping, hugging people's necks. He's not a quitter. There are certain things that it's all right to quit, but I'm talking about your calling, your destiny, your faith, your vocation, those kinds of things, what I'm talking about. And I wanna give you some arguments for not quitting. I'm gonna ask two questions and give a bunch of answers. I'm gonna give you some arguments. I was on the debate team in high school. I liked being a debater. I was a pre-law major in my freshman year in college. My son, speaking of debating, my son came in one day, he was in the sixth grade. And he said, "Dad, can I go to Harvard?" I said, "But he can do anything you want to do." Sky's the limit, God's a big God. You can go to Harvard. He said, "I'm talking about like next week." I said, "What are you talking about next week?" You know, my school wants me to go to Harvard. I said, "Harvard, what?" "Harvard, Louisiana, what are you talking about Harvard?" I said, "No, Dad, it's a national debate." They're having a national debate tournament next weekend at Harvard, and they want me to go. I said, "You ain't even on the debate team." He said, "I know, but I argue in class all the time." They said, "I'd be good at it." I said, "How much is it gonna cause?" He said, "It's probably gonna be pretty expensive." I said, "Well, I'm gonna pray about it." I got four of you people and everyone. If you like to eat food in your mouth every day, I gotta keep up with that. So the next day he came home and he said, "Dad, they really want me to go." They said, "They paid my whole way." I said, "Speak, Lord, nice servant, hear of thee." Now may us go, he went up there on a week, maybe we can have a preparation, came in sixth in the nation. That's kind of, that's the way he's wired. He thinks he's always right. So he thought he could win all the debates at the house. He'd say things to me like, "Dad, I see the, "I see the inherency of your logic, "but your deductive reasoning and your inductive reasoning "are kind of off. "They're messed up a little bit, "so I have to offer this refutation." And I said, "Okay, I hear you. "Let me give you this rebuttal. "I will knock your head off." (congregation laughing) He said, "That's a good point, Dad. "That's a good point. "I was winning all the little debates. "I'm gonna give some debates here. "Here's some arguments for not quitting this thing "called the kingdom of God. "This thing called the gifts of the Holy Spirit. "This thing called ministry for the Lord." Question number one, why shouldn't I quit? Why shouldn't I quit? And it's because of Romans chapter 11 verse 29 for the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. That's one of the reasons that I wrote this novel, irrevocable, and that's one of the reasons that I tried to get into as many pastors' hands as possible, many leaders' hands as possible. I had a youth pastor tell me last week on social media, he said, "I went through a horrible time "in the deep south. "I almost wrecked my ministry. "My dad made me read this book." And he said, "I just wept. "I just wept. "It was such a tremendous encouragement to me." Not that he needs it, but I told him early, I was gonna give him one, I wanna honor my word. Irrevocable, the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. That's the first answer. The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. It should be on the slide, another slide is. Because this thing we're in right now, this thing we call church, it's really, really a big deal. Hebrews chapter 10, let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together a summer in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another. And all the more, as you see the day approaching. One of the things we saw across the country during the pandemic was people quit going to church. But the pastor's over and over, almost 99% of them will say, "Our attendance is completely, completely messed up, "but our giving is more than ever." I heard that all over America. People, when we were allowed to come back and worship together, people are not coming, but they're giving. But now I've heard over the last year that the giving is kind of dry up. And the giving will dry up if we don't meet together. That's just my personal opinion about that. There are a lot of reasons that people don't attend church. I came up with 50, I looked it up, I found 50, probably four are legitimate, and I'm gonna just run through 'em real quick. This is not the clergy, this is the lay people. There are some reasons that people stop going to church. They practice their faith in other ways. I hear that sometime next. They haven't found a house of worship that they like. Throw a rock, and you can find a house of worship, especially in the deep south. Now, I mean, in some rural areas, I know it may be different, that might be legitimate, but most of the time that's not really a legitimate answer. They don't have the time. And next, I don't feel any closer to God after going. Oh, they only care about the numbers. Next, they only preach hell and damnation. Next, they don't teach hell and damnation enough. Next, they only want your money. Next, I've been hurt in the church. Hear that a lot. Church has become political. Next, church is not political enough. Next, I can worship on my own. Now, let's go back to that one. I hear that, I hear that sometimes. We just have in church at the house, I don't like organized religion. You may not have ever heard that. I hear it, I don't like organized religion, and I always say the same thing. Do you like disorganized religion? Because if you just have church at the house in the neighborhood, because you don't like the rules, regulation, the parameters, and all the stuff, the first time in that little Bible study at the house, quick going to church, that becomes a church. First time that you come into the house and say, "Listen, guys, just quick announcement." My neighbor, Larry, he didn't want us to park on the grass. You have organized your religion right there. I can worship on my own. All right, next. The church is, my church is nature. That's where I feel closest to God, and I kind of get that. I've been out in nature and I feel close to God, but it does not replace the church. I don't like organized religion. We already hit that next. Okay, here's some other little quick reasons, people quit going. They talk down to their members. Church's filled with hypocrites. I probably told this story when I was here before. I did a funeral last week of a lady. Her son never had a job. He was 45 years old, lives at the house, and there was a story about a guy who was in his 40s, living with his mama. It was Sunday, and the mama knocked on the door, opened the door, turned the light on, said, "Good morning, baby, time to go to church." He said, "Cut the light off." I ain't going to church. Just turned the light off, sweet older lady. She comes back in 10 minutes. Honey, you gotta get up. It's time to go to church, turn the light back on. Turn the light off, I ain't going. You're gonna go to church. I don't like it down there. I don't like it, I ain't going to. That church is full of hypocrites. People remain. I don't like them. I don't like going, I'm not going. Finally, mama had enough, put her foot down, said, "I don't care, baby. You're the pastor. You got to go down there." Obligations on the weekend. There was a day, all you old people like me remember. There was a day that Sunday was sacred. It was sacred. There was a day in the '80s and '90s, in the charismatic movement. If someone said, "I can't go to church, 'cause I got to take my kid to a soccer tournament." We would've gone, (gasping) Now it's prevalent. I see it every weekend when I go, the hotel's full, the little baseball players, the little soccer players, and all that. Listen, I was an athlete and I love athletics. I played four high schools and two colleges, and I love athletics, but when I got to be 22, it was over for me. The Bible says exercise profits a little, but godliness profits to all things. So there's some reasons. Now go to that scripture that you had up there, Matthew, chapter 24. The Bible predicts what we are now seeing. And many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. Lawlessness will be increased and the love of many will grow cold. That's what I'm preaching against in this pulpit tonight. We cannot let our love grow cold, but the one who doesn't quit, the one who endures to the end will be saved. I got a buddy that I love, and he says this, and I love this quote. He says, Joe, I'm not very talented and gifted at many things. He is, he passes the church about 2,000 people in a metropolitan area, but he's self-deprecating a little bit, and honestly, I'm not very good. I'm not talented like other people, but there's one thing I've always been really, really good at, and that is I'm good at not quitting. And that's what I'm calling us to do. Be good at not quitting. Be good at not giving up. 1 Timothy 3.1, know this, and in the last days, perilous times shall come, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such turn away. Another reason not to quit is that the church is a big deal because Jesus Christ is building it. He's building it, he says, I say to you, you are Peter, Matthew 16a, and on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. I wanna be a part of whatever Jesus Christ is the contractor of and whatever he is building, and he is building the church. The church is a big deal because of the two ordinances and sacraments, baptism and communion, holy communion, water baptism. They can be done at home. It'd be all right to take communion at home, but there's something about coming together. Something about coming, it's memorable. I remember baptizing 101 people after a Heaven's Gate's Hell's Flame outreach. 101 people being baptized. Do you know what the water looks like at the 100th and one person? Half the tank is empty 'cause they've drug it out with 'em and there's a quarter inch film on top of it, oily film with little hairs in it and stuff. I told the guy that was 101 guys said, the last shall be first. No deadly things shall harm you. Let's get in that water out. There's something about the sacraments that happen at church that makes it such a big, big deal. The church is a big deal 'cause it gets us ready for Heaven. The Bible says there's a lot of worshiping in Heaven. Why do we sit down and get on the piano and lead songs, revelation? Chapter four, verse eight says, the four living creatures having six wings were full of eyes all around and they never cease day and night to say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. I do not want anybody to have a leg up on me when I get to Heaven. I don't want collective worshipers to have a leg up on me 'cause I've decided I'm not gonna worship with the multitude in the congregation on this earth. Solitude makes us weird worshipers. I mean, if we're on the isle of Patmos, we have no other choice, but we are not on the isle of Patmos. So we get together on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, during the revival, on Wednesday nights and we worship God 'cause it kind of gets us in practice for what we're gonna do for all of eternity. Church is a big deal because of accountability. Hebrews 13, 17 says obey your leaders and submit to them for they're keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account, let them do this with joy and not groaning for that would be of no advantage to you. Accountability for the soul happens in church. I told you before, there are people that we're gonna need in life. Some of us are gonna need lawyers. Some of us will need bankers, doctors, dentists, accountants, but everybody needs a pastor. My pastor was my former intern. I hired him right out of Bible college. He came an intern, he became my assistant. And now all these many years later, I don't call him my boy, I call him my pastor. I need a pastor and Doug Witherp is my pastor. Church is important because it's God's tool for the discipleship mandate. Matthew 28 tells us to go into all the world and preach the gospel. So with technology, it's possible to disciple in our homes alone, but it was not intended as a solo proposition. Second Timothy two two should be on the screen. And the things that you've heard from me among many witnesses commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. I'm gonna show you a picture. Please don't throw rocks or tomatoes at me 'cause I do not like this television show. It's not my favorite show by any stretch of the imagination and I do not watch it. But however, there's something interesting in this picture. There's something very interesting in this picture. Barbara Walters is retiring. I think she's passed away now. She started this show called The View, not a fan, but all of these women that are in this photograph right here, all of those women, all these journalists and most of them all liberal journalists, all of them were inspired. Oprah, Diane Sawyer, Katie, all of them were inspired because this woman right here opened the door. That's what I would call an example of biblical. And that's not biblical, but what it's a picture of is what God wants us to do in biblical discipleship. The things that you have heard trust to other people. It's like Nick Saban and coaching, the coaching tree or Bill Walsh and the coaching tree. All the people that have gone and been super, super successful because of a person. When we come into the house of God, not quitting, not giving up, what happens is we are able to be influenced by people and we spread that influence in the world. That's called discipleship. I told a Assembly of God, Deacon, I live with a lot of people growing up in my teenage years. I live with them with Catherine's and the Ammons and the Woods and the Hitals and the Grendles. I live with a lot of people that took me in. And I was about 19 working at Fort Benning as a pipe fitter's helper. And there was a guy in the church, Charles Wood. He took me in, we called him Uncle Charles. He was a sign post-digger. In fact, in the novel, I've got an homage to him. I pay him respect in that. I use him as a character. He was a sign-maker and he would dig post-holds. His shoulders were strong, but he's soft-spoken. I said, Uncle Charles, I'm confused about something. I got a little problem. He said, Josie, call me Josie like Josie in the post against Josie. What's your problem? I said, Uncle Charles, I was an illegitimate child. The dictionary calls an illegitimate child a cuss word. I was not playing. I was thrown away at three. I don't see how God could use an illegitimate child to be in the ministry. And I was as serious as I could be. I was crying. He said, I'll never forget it. He said, Josie, Josie, haven't you ever read that we were all conceived in iniquity? And from that moment to this, I never doubted my call. That happened because of discipleship and the discipleship happens in church. These are reasons not to quit. The church is a big deal because of memories that happen at the church. I remember going to church like these little kids that crying to move around doesn't bother me at all, because I remember when I was a little kid at the collet church of the Nazarene in the cornfields of Indiana, seeing the picture of Jesus in the Narthex and the little flannel grass. Memories are collected in church. Remember preaching my first sermon at the age of 13 on a Sunday morning at a Presbyterian church? The sermon was called, Jesus can be your best friend. He wasn't mine for another five years, but nobody would preach on you Sunday so they tapped me, and I remember that happened in church. I remember going to Brownsville, the revival, and Bobby Gladstone laid his hands on me, and he said faith to heal, and when I got up off the floor from that moment, it seemed like everywhere I went, I was praying for sick people. That happened in a church. Remember when I was 19 at an altar on a Saturday at a youth conference, and the Lord gave me a vision. I've only had one or two in my life, but I had one that day, and the vision was of Jesus that happened in a church. I remember being a youth pastor, and that very day, that very day, because I had fits of rage modeled to me growing up, and I had an anger problem, and that very day we had four services on Sunday morning, and I told my little kids, I said, "Now, daddy's gonna take a nap, I'm exhausted. Don't wake me up," and they start playing, and like kids are doing, and they woke me up, and I remember walking out, and I slapped my son. I said, "I told you not to wake me up. I didn't bait him or abuse him, but I slapped him." That night, when I got to church, I was under such heavy conviction, I hit the altar. I hit the altar, and I began to weep and repent, and say, "God, I'm not even worthy to be in the ministry," and he reached down, gave me another vision on that night, and in that vision, he showed me that he was setting me free, and from that moment to this, I've never had another fit of rage like that. That happened in church. Memories happened in church. Some of the greatest people you will ever meet are in this church. I agree with Psalm 122. I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the Lord." I love the church. I love the urban church, the rural church, the mega church, the just planted church, the traditional church, the charismatic church, the cool bros church, the tiny church, the city church, the country church, the trailer church, cathedral church, I love the church. And it's important because there's a supernatural atmosphere that happens in church. I think about things when I read the Bible, sort of with a third eye like a comedian. I read about Jesus in Luke chapter four. I know the temple in the church are two different things, but work with me. In Luke chapter four, they hand him the scroll. He opens the scroll and reads Isaiah, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. He hath an ornament of preach. Good news of the poor by it. Then he rolls the scroll back, hands it to the attendant, sits down and says, "Today, this is fulfilled in your presence today." Could you imagine if you missed the church that day, if you missed temple that day, when Jesus Christ said, "I am the Messiah publicly "for the first time," and you talk to your buddy. Ruben, where were you temple man? Where were you Saturday? Well, Junior had a camel race down there at Bessie, then I had to run down there at the best western. We sent the best western. Oh, all you missed was Jesus Christ revealed that he is the Son of God, publicly. I don't want to miss church, 'cause something spectacular might happen in the church service at any moment. Now, sometimes it might be boring. If you can push through the boring, something powerful happens when we gather. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I'm there in the midst of them. Just last Sunday, Sunday in Clanton, Alabama. Two Sundays ago in Clanton, Alabama. It was a Sunday night or Monday night, and we were praying for people, and there was a Baptist guy, I didn't know who he was. He came down, and I just put my hand on him. I'm not a pusher, I don't push people, I don't believe in that. I just pray for this guy, just touched him. It was like he got shot with a gun. He was a big boy, too. He flew backwards. He flew back, hit an old lady. She fell down, got a goose egg on her head. I thought, "Oh, boy." She was perfectly fine. She was a sweet little old saint. She said, "It's okay." I thought they might be suing me, but I hadn't gotten a note from the lawyer yet, but I'll never forget that guy. That happened in the supernatural atmosphere of a church. Supernatural answers to prayer happened. Look at this verse. Again, I say to you, if two or three agree on the earth is touching anything, it'll be done by my father in heaven. I've seen some miracles in churches. How is it a community revival in Indianapolis 14 years ago? And I came off the stage, I gathered my stuff, wiping the sweat off my brow, and everybody starts kind of going crazy, and the services over there start going crazy in the service. And I looked up to figure out what there, and a woman was on the stage in a wheelchair, and she started walking like Frankenstein like this. I know those people knew who she was. She hadn't walked in 10 years. I got so excited. I had a water bottle in my head. I thought I'd be rude. I don't know what got into me. I thought I was gonna spike it like Peyton Manning, and I spiked and it flew at me right in the head. And I regretted my decision. That happened in a church. I'm gonna be praying for sick people Saturday night and Sunday morning in Rogers, Arkansas. There was an executive at Wal-Mart. She had a disease, but she could not cry. And she came to an altar, and she said it's embarrassing when I go to funerals of my employees, and I can't cry, and everybody's looking at me, and I cannot produce tears. And when we laid hands on her, it was like the dam broke, and she was weeping, and she continued to this very day to be able. That happened in the supernatural atmosphere of a church. It's past summer in a little Appalachian church, very small church. It might've been 21 people in the church. I remember saying in the altar, I said, "There's somebody in this room. "You've been in prison and bondage for eight years, "and God is putting a key in your hand, "and He's gonna let you out of that prison." The youth pastor told me the little teenage girl met her in the lobby, and she said, "Are you okay?" The girl was crying so hard. The youth pastor's a lady, and she said, "Are you okay?" And the little girl said, "You know, "I've been in a lesbian relationship for eight years, "and the man in that pulpit has never met me, "just called it out." She said, "That was the spirit of God." That happened in the supernatural atmosphere of church, blindness and deafness, et cetera. So that's the first question. Here's the second question. How can I keep from quitting? And this is not gonna be as long. How can I keep from quitting? How can I not be weary in well-doing? How can I stay in this thing called the kingdom of God, the church, the ministry, and doing what God's called me to do? Number one, stop comparing, stop comparing. I really love Simon and Peter 'cause I relate to him. One of my favorite scriptures is Peter not knowing what to say, spoke. I've done that. Have you? Hey, how you doing? When's the baby do? What baby? Oh, I'll be over here at the painting weenies. All right, God bless you. Oh, that's nice to meet you. Is this your daughter? She's my wife. Oh, that's fantastic. Nice to meet you. God bless you. You can't talk as much as we talking, not say stupid things. Simon Peter has just been restored on a beach. He was backslidden. He might as well been in a nightclub selling cocaine according to some preachers because he wasn't supposed to be fishing for fish. He'd been called to fish for men, but he was backslidden fishing for fish. He got restored on a beach. Jesus restores him publicly after he had denied him publicly. And what does he have the audacity to do? Peter turning around, John 21, 20, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, John following. Peter seeing him said to Jesus, what about this man? In other words, how do I compare to this guy? Jesus said to him, if I will that John remains until I come, what's that to you? You follow me, you follow me. You remember when TVN was a big thing 'cause we didn't have so much content as we have today? They asked me to be on a TVN show, Trinity Broadcasting Network, live via satellite, coast to coast and around the world. I was on a panel for youth ministry. There was a cool singer from Nashville hosting it. There was a body builder from South Carolina that was the biggest guy I've ever seen. There was a cool bro, Virginia Youth Pastor. There was somebody else in the right beside me, Mark Jackson, the New York Knicks point guard was sitting beside me. Well, they asked questions. They never asked me a question. For one hour and 20 minutes, I just sat there. Finally, the host realized, hey, we haven't heard from this guy, he's looking at his paper. He says, well, the Virginia Youth Pastor, he said, he said, you can't really build a youth ministry. He kind of had this explosive growth. He said, you really can't build a youth ministry unless you have about $6,000 worth of special lights. That's what he said. So when they asked me, what's this guy's name? Joe Phillips, what do you think? I said, well, I don't want to be disagreeable, but I believe if you do these five things, you can build a youth ministry anywhere in the world. If you're praying fast, if you work hard, if you love kids, if you have a purpose, if you preach the gospel, you can build a youth ministry. Even if you've got a comb over, you're 45 years old, you're wearing polyester pants, white socks and black patent leather suit. Shoot you, you can build a youth ministry and the guy pushed back said, I don't know about that. I said, every one of you from out of this state, I can take you to a county right here in this state. They don't have $6,000 worth of lights in the whole tri-county area, but there's a guy that grinds tree stumps and he's got a youth ministry and a barn and he's got 85 kids in there tonight. I can take you right down there. Comparison will kill us. Stop comparing what you do to what somebody else does and just follow Jesus. Number two, do it for the love. Jesus said, Peter, do you love me on that beach? He said, yeah, I do. Do you love me? Do you love me? Yes, Lord, I love you. And Jesus said, feed my sheep. So one of the ways not to quit is to have the right priority in your love. I'm away from my wife tonight and my kids and grandkids. No, 'cause I love Joe and Chelsea. My son's name is Joe and his wife's name is Chelsea. So if I ever forget their names, I am really disabled in my learning. I'm here away from all of them. Not 'cause I love them and I do love them. Or 'cause I love you and I do love you or 'cause I love Arkansas. I do love Arkansas. I'm holding this microphone today because I love Jesus. That's why we do what we do. Well, I'm a church every night 'cause it's my church. Bless God if the doors are open, I'm gonna be there. That's a great attitude, but the primary attitude is I'm in this thing 'cause I really love Jesus. The lady that works in the nursery, the guy that works in the nursery. I just love babies, I love 'em so much. I love babies, 'cause I love babies. There's a diaper in her future. I prophesy that will challenge her love. She better be there first 'cause she loves Jesus. If you and I will maintain that love with him, we can stay and not quit. Number three, keep the cells empty. Forgive, don't let anything be in your heart. Get all the unforgiveness, penitentiary doors open. Forgive like Joseph, forgive like David, forgive like Steven, who said forgive them father as they were killing him, he said forgive them and lay nothing to their charge. Stop sending invoices for apologies, for explanation, or for money, just forgive the way you were forgiven, free of charge, Jesus forgave us, we didn't earn it, or deserve it if you can just be unoffendable. You'll have a superpower and you'll stay in it. Number four, remember the reward. There's laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord will give me on that day. Don't quit, don't quit. Told pastor this last night, it's an awkward story. I got a minute to tell it to you. Since we're family, I'll tell it to you. That little trailer you saw, I don't know how to make a movie. I'm a youth pastor, I do lock-ins and weeny roasts, I don't know how to make a movie. God wouldn't let it go, he speaks, I believe in desire. And I just desire to make this movie. And I remember grabbing a big post-it note thing, you know, that wall post-it notes, there are a dollar a sheet. I interviewed a guy who started an orphanage, or children's home entirely, and I had a 14 page, single space transcript, that's all I had, and some sharpies, I don't know how to make a movie. And I'm driving to a cabin in the mountains by myself, and I'm saying, I'm saying, God, take this out of my heart, I don't want this, I do not, I don't have time to make a movie, I don't even know how to make a movie. There'll be no production, or there'll be profit, any kind of way, spiritually or otherwise, for years to come, take this out of my heart. And as I'm praying that prayer, nature called urgently. Usually my bladder sends my brain an email and say, Hey fat boy, you got about four minutes, we're gonna have a problem. There was no email, memo, text message, nothing, it was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And so right then, I just pulled, there was a big swath of gravel, and I pulled off on a curve in the mountains of North Carolina, and it was misting rain, and I got out of my truck, and I went back behind the tailgate, from here to the wall, there was a four foot trash pile. And as I'm walking around the back of the truck, I heard the Holy Spirit say to me, I've got a message for you in that trash pile. That's an odd thing to hear, and a very odd time to hear it. Transacted my little business, I walked out of that woods, I walked over to that trash pile, rain's still just misting on it. On top of the trash pile, and I couldn't see it when I walked up in the woods. On top of that trash pile, there was an open hymnal. There's a hymnal laying on the very top, and it was open to a hymn I've never heard of. I found a guy in West Virginia that's heard of it. It was open to a hymn entitled, Endure to the End. From that moment to this, I'd never doubted whether I was supposed to make that film. That's the message of the Holy Spirit to all of you, especially you young people. Endure to the end, fight through every temptation. Endure to the end, and lean on the herd. Lean on the herd, like we talked about last night, that little water buffalo when the herd turned around and got all the lions away from it. So in conclusion, I've come to make an argument for the assembling and not the quitting. Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Don't give up meeting together a summer in the habit of doing, but encourage one another and all the more as you see the day approaching. When we were going through COVID, virtual was better than nothing, but all of you know that actual is a thousand times better than virtual. Doesn't matter how much I've been heard in churches. I've gone through church splits, abusive bosses, bombastic board members, belligerent people, petitions. It's still the best boat floating and I've devoted my life to the head of the church and to his body. Don't quit. One last word, don't throw away your confidence, which will be greatly rewarded, Hebrews 1035, for you need patience so that after you have done the will of God, you'll receive the promise. We're not yet a little while. He was to come or come and he will not wait. Well, I'm gonna conclude with this. Couple years ago, I was invited to do the youth convention for the Central California Hispanic District. I told my kids, I'm not very cool in California, they probably expect you to be cool. Can you get me looking a little bit cool? So dad, you need some different shoes. You need some Jordans. I said, okay, they took me to a store. I got weird feet and they got special requirements and finally they found a pair. I took them up to the cash register and the guy told me how much they cost and I thought I was at a spelling bee. I was like, could you repeat that? Could you use that in a sentence? Yeah, these, could you give me the origin of it? I knew the origin of it was a devil. So I told, I said, you gonna pay for this? He said, no, dad, this is your deal. So I laid, I told the kid, I only paid $200 more for my first car than I'm paying for these shoes. Did not make me feel one ounce cooler. Well, actually, it was before that in California that I did their district council. That's the, I'm mixing my two stories. So I had an interpreter, church service started at 6.30 in this Hispanic district. I did not get the pulpit pastor's show until 9.20 p.m. Those people been there since 8 a.m. at district council and I made a decision. I made a decision. I'm only gonna give a little 20 minute homily and let these people get to the hotel and go to sleep and the Lord chastised me right on the front row and reminded me what I'm gonna tell you about in this closing illustration. He reminded me that when I got off that plane and went to the hotel and had a little jet lag nap, that in that nap as I'm waking up, I wouldn't call this a vision. I'm just calling this a thought from God. He showed me, he showed me a car on a California interstate. It's going in the right direction. It's full of gas. It's got the right goal, but it's not going anywhere because it needs a spark. So I got up and I preached the message that he gave me and I said to the people, I said, you know, you pastors that are tired, you lay people that are tired, weary. The Lord showed me this dream and I told him about it. And I said, some of you in your ministries, in your life, in your destinies, you're in the right vehicle, you're with the right people. You've got the right fuel. The only thing you need is you just need a spark. And he showed me in that little vision or dream that I had of a car coming up and putting the spark plugs and putting the charging cords on the battery and giving them a jump. I said, God wants to give you a jump. And oh, did we see a move of God that night. Hispanic ministers and laypeople just weeping before the Lord. Would you all stand to your feet? You may be here in this room. You're in the right place. You're in the right direction. You're going in the right direction. You've got the right fuel. You're with the right people. You've got everything you need to accomplish the dream and destiny and goal of your life. You just need a spark. So I'm gonna pray and either the musician will come or we'll put on a CD or whatever, play some worship music. And I'm gonna pray when I finish praying. If you feel tired, you feel a little tired. I remind you that the Lord says, do not become weary in well-doing. If you feel a little tired, I believe the Holy Spirit wants to give you a spark. The same spirit that raises Jesus from the dead can quicken your mortal body, mind, soul and spirit. He'll put the Holy Ghost jumper cables on you and he'll quicken you and give you a spark and help you keep persevering and going in the direction. See, he wants you, according to Galatians, to run with perseverance, the race that is marked out for you. You don't run my race, I don't run your race. We run our own race, but we have to have that energy and perseverance. So just listen to the Holy Spirit and you respond accordingly. Father, that's the message that you gave me for your people tonight, not to quit, to get good at not quitting. Of all their talents, abilities and spiritual gifts, add the talent, Lord, of not quitting, of not giving up. When things are said and things are done and challenges happen and peer pressure happens and a little bit of persecution happens, God give them the power and the ability not to quit. God put those cords on their spirit and quicken them, energize them, give them the spark that they need to get back in the race and do everything that you have called them to do. So I believe God will do that, young people, mom and dad, grandma, grandpa. I believe God would do that for any of us. I'm not just calling for the young people, I'm calling for anybody. You feel a little weary. That's normal and natural. That's exhausting. Uticus was sitting on the third floor. Paul preached on and on, droned on and on. You think I'm long winded, this dude here, he's preaching and finally the kid just fell out of the window dead. Paul went down with his crooked legs and his bony finger. He walked over, put his hands on that dead kid, raised him from the dead. Do you think he learned a lesson about preaching long? No, he went back up and continued preaching 'til the sun came up. Hey, there was no quit in him. I know we want to be comfortable. God calls some of us, calls all of us at times to do hard things, to do difficult things. He'll bless you for doing something hard and difficult 'cause you've picked your pain. You can pick the pain of doing nothing and being apathetic and lazy or laissez-faire or whatever and just keep on rolling. There's pain in that. There's pain in that 'cause you won't see what God has called you to do and accomplish what God has called you to do but you can take the pain of being fatigued a little bit and pick that pain and see the fruit, see the fruit. People who work out, they have to pick their pain. They pick the pain so they can have the results. God, when we layer our hands on young people and adults, I'm asking that you would quicken them, that you would give them of the Holy Spirit. You would put the cables on them. You would touch their lives, their spirits, their minds, their souls. If this message was for you and you want God to give you the power not to quit, I will agree with you. I will agree with you in prayer 'cause two or three of us will agree and it shall be accomplished. In this atmosphere of the church, supernatural atmosphere, I will pray for you but I need to know where you are and who you are. So when she begins to sing or continues to play when I shut up, this altar's open. I want you to come and I'll start praying for you. As soon as you come, the altar's open. Go ahead. (gentle music) (gentle music) ♪ God, I will know you ♪ ♪ Give me a fresh, fresh fire ♪ ♪ Give me a fresh, fresh fire ♪ ♪ I will know you desire ♪ ♪ I will know you ♪ ♪ Give me a fresh, fresh fire ♪ ♪ Give me a fresh, fresh fire ♪ ♪ I will know you desire ♪ ♪ I will know you and I will know you ♪ ♪ So come in like a fire ♪ ♪ Come in like a fire ♪ ♪ I don't care what it looks like ♪ ♪ 'Cause I'm so in love ♪ ♪ I'm coming like a fire ♪ ♪ I'm coming like a fire ♪ ♪ I don't care what it looks like ♪ ♪ 'Cause I'm so in love ♪ ♪ Give me a fresh, fresh fire ♪ ♪ Give me a fresh, fresh fire ♪ ♪ I will know you desire ♪ ♪ God, I will know you ♪ ♪ Give me a fresh, fresh fire ♪ ♪ Give me a fresh, fresh fire ♪ ♪ I will know you desire ♪ ♪ I will know you ♪ ♪ Give me a fresh, fresh fire ♪ ♪ Give me a fresh, fresh fire ♪ ♪ I want you to desire ♪ ♪ God, I will know you ♪ ♪ Give me a fresh, fresh fire ♪ ♪ Give me a fresh, fresh fire ♪ ♪ I want you to desire ♪ ♪ I will know you ♪ (gentle piano music) ♪ We're only wandering in the mountains ♪ ♪ Worry your son if but in the righteous and mine ♪ ♪ We raise you and you ♪ ♪ We magnify, glorify, we insult you ♪ ♪ We adore you, we adore you ♪ ♪ For you are holy, wonderful, marvelous ♪ ♪ Lorry is omnipotent, righteous and mighty ♪ ♪ Lorry brings you, we lift you up ♪ ♪ We magnify, we glorify, we insult you ♪ ♪ We adore you, we adore you ♪ ♪ For you are holy, wonderful, marvelous ♪ ♪ Lorry is omnipotent, righteous and mighty ♪ ♪ Lorry brings you, we lift you up ♪ ♪ We magnify, we glorify, we insult you ♪ ♪ We adore you, we adore you ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Holy, wonderful, marvelous, glorious ♪ ♪ Worry is omnipotent, righteous and mighty ♪ ♪ Lorry brings you, we lift you up ♪ ♪ We magnify, we glorify, we insult you ♪ ♪ We adore you, we adore you ♪ ♪ For you are holy, wonderful, marvelous ♪ ♪ Lorry is omnipotent, righteous and mighty ♪ ♪ Lorry brings you, we lift you up ♪ ♪ We magnify, we glorify, we insult you ♪ ♪ We extore you, we adore you ♪ ♪ For you are holy, wonderful, wonderful ♪ ♪ For you are holy, wonderful, wonderful ♪ ♪ For you are holy, wonderful, wonderful ♪ ♪ Lorry brings you, we lift you up ♪ ♪ We magnify, we glorify, we insult you ♪ ♪ Nothing else, nothing else will do ♪ ♪ I just want you, nothing else ♪ ♪ Nothing else, nothing else will do ♪ ♪ I just want you, nothing else ♪ ♪ Nothing else, nothing else will do ♪ ♪ I just want you, nothing else ♪ ♪ Nothing else, nothing else will do ♪ ♪ I just want you, nothing else ♪ ♪ Nothing else, nothing else will do ♪ ♪ I just want you, nothing else ♪ ♪ Nothing else, nothing else will do ♪ ♪ I just want you, nothing else ♪ - Thank you, God, thank you for the power and the victory. We'll spoke this word over at Dear Saint just now. I'll speak it over to the church. Acts 1038, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost in power. And Jesus went about doing good. And healing all who reflected or possessed of the devil. May God help us not to quit, to keep doing good. Aren't you glad that Jesus didn't quit? He started to quit in the garden. He wanted to quit. If it be, is there any way you can let this hard thing, this cup leave me. Nevertheless, not my will, but die will be done. He didn't quit. When they were beating him with a Roman lictor with metal and bone and the leather and they beat him until his organs were exposed. He didn't quit. They put crowns on his head. He didn't quit. Nails in his feet and hands, he didn't quit. He could have called 10,000 angels and shut it down and quit right there, but he didn't do it for us. And I'm glad that Jesus didn't quit. And we have a certain amount of days and we're supposed to number those days and God does not want us to quit doing what He's called us to do. He showed us how to do it. I'm gonna give you one more scripture. I'll give you one more scripture. It came to me during my prayer time, just wasn't preparing for the sermon or anything. I'm just reading my regular scriptures. I read for a day in Exodus. I'm in Exodus Psalm Jonah and in the book of Acts. There was a shipwreck that ran aground on a certain island. There were 14 days they didn't eat, they didn't have daylight. It was a terrible time. Paul told them not to sail, but they sailed anyway. And he told the boat, he said, "God told me last night that all 276 of us are gonna be okay. "We're gonna be okay." But some of the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship and they let down the skiff into the sea under the pretense of putting out anchors from the prowl. And here's the verse. Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay in the ship, "you cannot be saved." There are times when God will tell us, you got to stay in the boat. You may want to jump on a piece of wood and float to the beach, but you got to stay in the boat. If you stay in the boat, you're gonna be all right. The boat will stink, the boat has human beings, the boat will not be perfect. Paul said, "You got to stay in the boat." And because of that, everybody was saved on that island, Publius' dad was healed of dysentery and everybody on the island got healed just because those guys said, "All right, I'm gonna stay in the boat." God, you're doing something in Viola, Arkansas. You're doing something a solid rock. I pray that you'll give men and women and young people the passion to stay in the boat, to stay in the body, not to give up, not to deconstruct their faith, not to be ex-evangelicals, not to be any of that stuff. We are not a cult, we are the church of the living God with autonomy and freedom for every believer, let them choose in their free will to remain in the body connected, in the kingdom, helping one another, loving one another and serving one another to the person in this room. And I don't have any knowledge, human knowledge of this, but if you may have had your feelings hurt because you've been in pain and nobody seemed to reach out to you, I have a word from the Lord for you. You go reach out to somebody else. You go love somebody else. You go help somebody else, and you will reap what you have sown. God bless this house, bless this pastor, his wife, precious family, the pastor Chris and his precious family, the team that's here, the deacons and all the people, bless this house, bless them. Before pastor comes, I just wanna say, I feel like saying this, I'm not even sure why. But one of the things that will help us stay in the boat and not to quit is the words of our mouth. In that book, I have a chapter on 10 things I say almost every day I did today, and I've been doing it for 20 years. I was pastoring just a handful of people on the backside of a mountain in West Virginia, and I started saying this, I'd stand on the Ohio River and stretch out my hands. Now they have been tweaked a few of them, but most of them are exactly as they were 20 years ago. I say, your servant is living a rich life successfully making Jesus known family, friends, even the enemies that I have on this earth. See this manifest, your servant is a creative preacher, writer, entrepreneur, comedian, actor, director, producer, filmmaker, playwright, your servant. He is an entrepreneur that creates outstanding growth resources for the body of Christ, your servant volunteers wherever he chooses because he's successful. But the reason your servant is successful, he has committed his ways to the Lord. Your servant's children, grandchildren, all of God, they're gonna serve God all the days of the long lives in an unbroken fashion. Your servant's family has wide margins of blessing and resources are attracted to us like magnets are attracted to metal. Your servant's marriage is fruitful and prosperous like a fruitful vine. Your servant is preaching a life-changing message of Jesus Christ to the nation and to the nations and your servant is in the will of God. I started saying that there were no books or plays or productions or films, just a handful of people in me. And I didn't speak it into existence like a magic formula, but when I speak those things, it calibrates my expectation that I'm gonna walk out into those things and God has allowed us to see those things. And so I'm telling you, one of the ways not to quit is making your mouth cooperate with that goal. I am more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ who strengthens me. Whatever he gives you, just say two or three things a day, every day, I'm more than a conqueror. I'm his workmanship, created to do good works, whatever it is, just say it, say it and start, and you start walking in that expectation, God. Bless the house here in Biola, Arkansas, in every way, bless the pastor, keep your hand in the blood of Jesus over every life. And it's in his name we pray, amen. - Praise God. - Amen, amen. It's been a good week, it's been a good week. This won't apply to most of you, it'll apply to some of you. We're not gonna have prayer in the morning because of a revival that we've had this week. We'll regain, we'll start prayer back up next week. We will not have prayer in the morning. You can pray at home, how about that? Hey, Lord, we just thank you for these people. I pray that you watch over them and you protect them as they travel to their homes and bring them back here safely in your name we pray. Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]