Arthur F. Hopkins

Transcription

When I came here, six years ago, I was ministering with Alisha Williamson Garcia at a women in worship thing and I came to the campus, did a radio program and sat and talked to Jerry. It was just before he died. Before the Lord took him home. And I told him, I said, "I feel like the queen of Sheba who has come to see Solomon." And when I'm on this campus, I think the half has not been told of what God has done. Now that, you all, was 6 years ago. Now I'm back on campus and I am blown out of the water, I have had the best time here and I am so thankful to be here and I would love to tell you more about how much I appreciate this school but I only have 45 minutes and I want to share the word of God with you. But before I share the word of God, and I have a message that I know that God has given me for you. I have sought Him, I don't bring the same message wherever I go. One of the greatest angsts of my life is, what is your message for these people, for this time. And so I do have a message. But God laid on my heart that what I needed to do was share with you just a little bit, a very abbreviated portion of my life. I didn't come to know the Lord Jesus Christ until I was 29 years old. That was 50 years ago. You want me to save you the math? I'm 79, I'll be 80 in November. Thank you. I had a religion but not a relationship. I was raised in the church. I knew how to sing cute little songs like "Oh I had a little chicken and it wouldn't lay an egg, so I poured hot water up and down it's leg, and the little chickie hollered and the little chickie begged, the little chickie laid a hard boiled egg. Boom-badee-adee, some chick." I could sing it better then because I hadn't talked so much. But anyway, I thought I was some chick. And as I grew up, the most important thing for me was to have sex appeal, the most important thing, and this 60 something years ago, when I was in high school was to be attractive. Because I wanted to be married more than anything else in the world, I wanted to be married to one man. I wanted us to belong to the country club. I wanted to be a mother, it wasn't a question of stay at home, you did stay at home in those days. And I wanted this family, I wanted what I saw my parents have, although we didn't have the money. But I wanted that. I met, at Case Institute of Technology, when I was a nurse, I met a very sharp man, outstanding, voted most likely to succeed from his prep school, outstanding athlete, offered contracts by the Yankees, the Pirates, and the Indians, and the Phillies to pitch ball for them and he was just outstanding. Outstanding golfer, just a natural athlete. We got married, we walked the aisle, I had a huge diamond ring on my hand and we stood there and we made our vows to love each other until death do us part. That marriage lasted for six years and that's all. My husband was bipolar and we didn't know it. I was a nurse, I had just finished my psych training but I didn't understand him. I didn't see what his problem was. I went to two different ministers and those ministers both told me to leave my husband. When one finished, he came up, put his arms around me, kissed me on the neck, whispered in my ear, "You sure are a good looking gal, Kay." I'm sorry to say but I moved back to that area, my husband had been to seminary there. He had dropped out of seminary because of his bipolar condition, and I moved back and I stayed in Ed's house and I slept. I had a bedroom downstairs and I did everything short of going all the way with that man. The Bible says that you sink down into a pit that you dig with your own hands. And you go deeper, and deeper, and deeper into sin. Sin will take you farther than you wanted to go. It will keep you longer than you ever intended to stay. And it will cost you more than you ever expected to pay. I left my husband, I stood in the living room of my home, and I shook my fist to God and the face of God and I said, "To hell with you, God. I'll see you around town. I'm going to find someone to love me." And I went out to look for love in all the wrong places not realizing, and would not realize it until later, that when I said, "To hell with you, God," that Jesus said to me, "To heaven with you." Because He sent His son to hell for me so that He might be raised from the dead and pay the penalty of my sins and so that before the foundation of the world, as Ephesians 1 says, that He can say, "Blessed be the God who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing and heavenly places just as He God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world." I went from one man to another man looking for someone that would love me unconditionally. I had two boys in tow, and they suffered as a result of that. I ended up having an affair with a married man for 2 years, didn't know he was married when I was dating him. When I found out, I didn't care because I loved him, and then on top of that, I found out that his wife was pregnant with her sixth child. I begin to think about the fact that I would stand before god, whatever put that in my mind, I know who put it, but however He put it in my mind, I don't know. But I thought, I'm going to stand before a holy God, and I'm going to quit sinning, I'm going to quit, I didn't call it sin, but I'm going to quit being immoral. But the good that I wanted to do, I couldn't do. And the evil that I didn't want to do, I did. And as Romans 7 says, "Oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? For whosoever commits sin become the slave of sin," but he says, "but the son shall set you free. You shall be free indeed." On July 16th, 1963, I ran up, and I was working at a research team at Johns Hopkins, I didn't go to work that day, I ran upstairs, I fell down beside my bed, and I said, "God, I don't care what you do to me. I don't care if I never see another man as long as I live, I don't care if you paralyze me from the neck down, I don't care what you do to my two boys. If you'll just give me peace." And there on my knees He gave me the Prince of Peace. And the bible says, "And He called her 'beloved,' when there was nothing lovely about her." My husband had been telling me that he was going to commit suicide. And the philosophy of the day was kid him out of it. And so I would say to him, "Do a good job so I get your money." After I became a Christian, I knew that God hated divorce and I told God, "I don't love Tom, but I will go back to him. If You can change me and make me into a new creature, You can do that with Tom." But I never got around to calling him. And the phone call came, and my husband was dead. He had hung himself at the age of 31 on a closet door. I knew he didn't want to die because I looked at his hands and they were broken, and his watch was broken. And I knew that he was an engineer and he had engineered that rope so well that he couldn't get it off the door and nobody came and nobody rescued him. Sin is very, very costly. I want to talk to you today, I'm not going to go on with all the other things, because it would take too long and that's not what God has laid on my heart for you. I just wanted you to know that any old bush will do to set on fire with the fire of God. Because it doesn't matter where you come from, but if you are in Christ, you are a new creature. Old things have passed away, and all things have become new, and the spirit of God now resides in you and you can be everything that God wants you to be. I've come to tell you that I have a great burden on my heart. A great, great burden! And it is such a privilege to speak to you because of that burden. Because as Johnnie and I were talking, is you can change this group right in this room, if you are absolutely and totally and completely sold out to God, YOU can change this world. But listen, it's going to take living at the cross. It's going to take living a crucified life. It is going to take saying to God, "Not my will, but yours be done." And the only way that you and I are in this auditorium today worshipping God was because our savior said to the Lord, "Not my will, but your will be done." And so this is my prayer, I want you to pray with me before we open with word of God. Oh Father, I beseech you in the name of your Son, that your word would go deep into our souls. That it would cut and divide and that it would discern and Lord that you would take it today and that you would release us, that you would cut through any chain, any bondage, Father, that is keeping us from being a woman of God, a man of God, holding forth the word of God in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation. Now Father, unto You who is able to do exceedingly abundant or I wouldn't stand here, according to the power that works in us, to you Father, in our lives may be honor and glory and praise and dominion for ever and ever. And all God's people said, what, amen. I want you to take out your cell phones or open your Bibles, either one, to Romans chapter 1. And when you turn to Romans chapter 1, Paul in 1, verse 16, says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes: to the Jew first, and to the Greek also. For in it," in that gospel, "the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith." And it says, "But ... for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness." I personally, and you can check it out, but I personally believe that America is in the midst of the judgment of God but hasn't seen anything yet, and I believe because we, we, as a nation, have aborted so many children and God's word tells us in the Torah that blood pollutes a land and God will not tolerate the innocent of another person but what he will require that blood at our hands. And because we have a President of the United States of America that has stood said that same sex marriages are to be accepted, I believe what has happened is that we have set ourselves above God and above the word of God and I believe that the judgment of God can no longer be restrained but that it is coming upon our nation. And God needs valiant men and women. He needs valiant men and women who will stand and hold forth the word of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. In Romans chapter 1, he tells that the wrath is going to be poured out and why is it going to be poured out? Because it says in verse 21, "Even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, they became futile and their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise-" and that's what we are in this nation. We think we know it all. We think that we've got life down. And it is life apart from God. It is life apart from the restraints. It is a life without morals in our nation now and God will not tolerate it. It says, "They exchanged the glory of an incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures." I want to ask you a question. What are you enamored with? What are you enamored with? When Tim Tebow comes here, what happens to you girls? Do you go crazy? Did you go crazy when Tim Tebow was here? See, what are we enamored with? Now, he's a fine man. But so many times we are enamored in the United States with the heroes, with the glamorous, with the stars, with the ones that stand on platforms and have audiences and are just what we, in a sense, aspire to be. And he says, they took, and they took the glory of God and they exchanged it for an image. Verse 24, "Therefore, God gave them over ..." And I believe, precious ones, that this is what God is going to do with the United States of America. I believe that He is going to give us over to our lusts and we are going to reap an awful, awful, harvest. Look at what happens when he gives them over. Three times He says He gives them over. Three times He says they exchanged things. So in verse 24, "God gave them over to the lusts of their hearts, to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them." I want to ask you a question. What did you do, single person, with your body? Within this past week, within this past month? Did you give your body over to impurity? Did you give your eyes over to impurity on the internet? Did you girls give your bodies over to a man, to fondle and to caress and to excite? If you did, if you did, just know this, that God will not tolerate that. He goes on to say, "That they exchanged the truth of God for a lie. They worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator." If you don't have your flesh under the control of the Holy Spirit, you are worshipping and serving the creature, this creature, rather than the creator who made you in his image and made you for His glory. He goes on to say, "For this reason, God gave them over to degrading passions. For the women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural." Lesbianism is unnatural. And I know that in our society today, we're not supposed to say these things and we're not supposed to speak these things. But I'm telling you, the reason that America is in the trouble that it's in was because the church of God abandoned the word of God because they got involved in programs and instead of teaching people to know the word of God, to study the word of God, and to live accordingly in the fear of the Lord. This is why we're in the state that we're in! We didn't know the word. We didn't go out and hold it forth in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. We did not call sin, sin, but we covered our sin and we excused our sin and God won't let that happen. He says, "God gave them over to degrading passions in the same way also, the men abandoned the natural function of the woman. They burned in their desire towards one another." Men with men! Listen to what God says, "committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind." Talk to the people! You're out there in the midst of these people. Talk to them and you will see that they have a depraved mind. There's no fear of God before their eyes, and so they "do things that are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, they are slanderers, they are haters of God," are hateful to God, they are "insolent, they are arrogant, they are boastful, they are inventors of evil, they are disobedient to parents, they are without understanding, they are untrustworthy, they are unloving, they are unmerciful, and although they know the ordinance of God," they know inside that there is a God because God bears witness within them. They know there's a God and although they know the ordinances of God, it says that they practice, "those who practice such things are worthy of death." In other words, they know that there is a judgment for sin and a judgment for disobedience. Now I don't think many of them know it today, but I think they don't know it because we're not telling them. We're not telling them in love. We're not telling them in kindness. We're not telling them in mercy. We're not telling them, because we will be deemed "intolerant." We will be deemed "out of the step of society." We will be deemed "unloving." But listen, if I'm in sin, and you know the consequences of sin as He tells us here, then you can know this: if I really love them, I'm willing to tell them, no matter how they will respond to me, no matter what they will say, no matter if they want to shut me up. They will stand and they will hold forth the truth in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. He says that these people, "Although they know the ordinance of God, and those who practice these things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but they give hardy approval to those who also practice (the things that they're practicing.)" Sin loves company. Sin does not want to sin alone. And so what does God tell? He turns from those that have turned their back on God, to those that are religious and this is what He says to them that He "will render to each person according to his deeds, to those who by perseverance and doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life." Not eternal life because they think they've earned it, but eternal life because they live in the fear and the respect of God. Why is this university here? This university is here because Jerry Falwell and his wife persevered. Because they believed God. Because they were willing to take whatever the world said. I remember one of my friends telling me that when she hugged Jerry, she felt this thing on his chest and she said, "what is that?" And he said, "It's my bulletproof vest." But this is a man that persevered. And then it talks about "those who selfishly are ambitious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation will come upon them." And then He says there's no partiality with God. God is God. He never changes. He never alters. He is the sovereign ruler of the universe. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He has given us a book and this book tells us all about life. This is a sacred book. It is a God-breathed book. When you and I study this book, we are studying the very words of God, we know the very mind of God, we know the very character of God and we know how we are to live. If you go with me to 1 Corinthians, chapter 6. And 1 Corinthians, chapter 6 and I believe and I hope you'll understand my heart. I hope you'll understand my heart. But I believe that this verse pertains to some of you at this school. I believe you're at this school and you're at this school because it's a top university and you can get a top education and you can excel. But listen, if you walk in the doors of this school and out the doors of this school without having a relationship with God, you will perish and that's not the reason that this school is here. The reason that this school is here is to raise "Champions for Christ," not champions for yourself. Not champions for the world, but Champions for Christ! And 1 Corinthians, chapter 6, he says, "Do you not know?" Listen carefully precious ones, "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?" Do not be deceived." Do not be deceived. "Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate," -effeminate are like cross-dressers- "nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor the drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." Do you know that? Do you understand that? When you're out in the world and you see these people that are in these kind of sins, living these kinds of lifestyles, precious ones, are you out there holding forth the Word of Life in the midst of those, that group, and telling them that they will suffer eternal punishment in they do not repent, if they do not have a change of mind, if they do not come and fall before God and acknowledge their sin? Do you really believe that? Do you really believe that? What are you going to do when the government, and I believe that this what's going to happen in the United States of America, I believe that in America, that the Christians are going to become like the Jews were in the days of Hitler. Get them out of the culture, shut them up in the ghettos, tell them they can do their thing as long as they don't come out of those four walls and bring the word of God to us, because that, we will not tolerate. I believe that great persecution is coming and I am so burdened. I am so burdened because I believe that the church is ill-prepared for the days ahead. I believe we have entangled ourselves with the affairs of this life. I believe that we have grown up and we don't know the word of God, and we don't know it first-hand. We get it from people like me, or we get it from others in church, but are we getting it straight from God so that I know "thus says the Lord," and that God watches over his word to perform it, and that God is going to hold me accountable and that "righteousness is living by every word that come out the mouth of God"? And so when I step out into the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, I'm out there holding forth the Word of Life so that they might understand that they're sinners, who need a savior. Who needs a savior? Tell me, who needs a savior? Tell me. What's the word? Sinners. Everybody! Sinners need a savior. Sinners need a savior to save them from their sins. So He says, "Such were some of you." I was the adulteress. Some of you were the homosexual. Some of you were the covetous. Some of you were the drunkards. But He says, "Such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of God." Paul is so burdened that he wants to make sure they totally and completely understand, that they understand that they are not to be deceived. The unrighteous have no inheritance in the kingdom of God. And so in Ephesians, chapter 5, in verse 1, he says, "Be imitators of God as beloved children." I want to ask you a question. Are you an imitator of God? Can you turn to someone, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11, and say, "Be an imitator of me as I am of Christ Jesus"? Our life should be Holy. Our lives should be righteous. Our lives should show people what God is really like. So he says, "Walk in love, just as Christ loved you and gave himself up for you, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. But immorality, impurity, greed, must not even be named among you." He says, "As is proper among saints, there is to be no filthiness, no silly talk, no coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather a giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty: That no immoral or impure person or covetous man," I want what you got and I'm going to get what you got because that's what I want. And this is why crime is rampant in this country. He says, "No covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things, the wrath of God comes on the sons of disobedience." He says, "Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead," what, "expose them." Just recently, I was walking out of a store and I said, "I've got a long distance to go, Tyler, I want to know about you. Tell me about you." In essence, and I have to give it briefly, Tyler told me that he's dropped out of college, he's dropped out of college because he's found the love of his life. And the love of his life is another man. God made him that way. I said, "Tyler, God did not make you that way. You're a sinner, this is a result of sin as my adultery was a result of sin. Tyler, Tyler, do you know what's going to happen to you if you do not turn around and come to God, and ask Jesus to take over your life. Do you know what's going to happen? Tyler, there is a place called the lake of fire where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched. Tyler, don't be deceived. No homosexual has any inheritance in the kingdom of God." What if I hadn't told him that? What if I just walked out of the store and said, "Oh, what a shame. How awful." Would his blood be upon my hands as Ezekiel says and as Paul says? Yes, his blood would be upon my hands. When I talked to him, he said to me, "You're such a sweet lady. Can I hug you?" And twice, that homosexual guy hugged me, who just told him he was going to go to hell, because he knew I cared. And he knew I cared enough to tell him. Precious ones, in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation, we have people that have no concept of sin, no understanding of sin, but you and I understand it. Because we understand the word of God and we've got to be willing to share the word of God with them. And 2 Timothy, chapter 4. Second Timothy, chapter 4. Paul, his final epistle. He's about to die. And he's writing to his son Timothy and this is what he says. And I want to tell you something. At the age of 80, well I'll be 80 in November, if I make it. But at the age of 80, I'm numbering my days. I don't have long. I don't have - this is why I'm so thrilled to be here, because you're the future, and I get to talk to the future. And I get to tell you, not what I believe and what I think, but I get to tell you what God says. I get to challenge you to come to the floor, to stand, to be soldiers of Christ. I get to tell you what Paul told Timothy, "I solemnly charge you, in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ who is to judge the living and the dead." Do you realize that as Christians, that you're going to stand according to Romans 14:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:10, that you as a child of God are going to stand at the judgment seat of Christ? That you're going to answer for the deeds done in your body since you became a child of God? Do I realize that I'm not to be many teachers, because we will receive the greater judgment. If I come here to you and I bring you just any old message and I don't get a message from God, and I don't deliver it without compromise, then I am going to be held accountable to God. And you are going to be held accountable also. He says, "Preach the word." Preach the word! You can't preach something that you do not know. You can't preach something that does not dwell in you richly. This is the whole counsel of God. 66 books! How many does God expect you to know? How many does he expect you to know? Could you tell me? How many? 66! Good for you. 66 books! How well are you doing? How important is this word in your life? Or is your profession or your sports or whatever more important? When you go out to do humanitarian work, would you go out to love people and to be used of God, to rescue those that are in sex trafficking, to minister to others that are hungry and that are poor, and that are in these countries. Listen, don't ever minister to them without ministering the word of God because it's the word of God that causes us and gives us life and causes us to live forever and ever and ever. Preach the word! Be ready. "Be ready in season and out of season." It was just before Christmas. It was Christmas Eve when I was with Tyler. Was I ready when he told me, did I expect that from Tyler? No, I never met him before. I didn't know what to expect. I just knew that this is a human being and that I've been given the responsibility proclaiming the gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation, it can save anyone from the deepest and deepest pit. It saved me but I could not have known it, if I did not know that there was a God and that there was a Christ, the Son of God, who lived and died for me and who rose again from the dead. Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season, when it's convenient, when it's not convenient. Do not be afraid of people, you all. Do not fear the face of man. Jesus said, "Do not fear man who's able to kill the body, but fear Him who is able to cast both soul and body in to hell." When you and I walk out in any given spot, in any given situation, you and I are ambassadors for Jesus Christ. The way you dress, the way you talk, the way you behave, the way you react with people says who you represent. So I want to ask you, what is your life saying? What is your life saying? Are you ready to proclaim the Word, and are you able to proclaim it because you're not feeling like a hypocrite because of what you did last night or what you did to this friend or what you are pursuing or what you are living for? He says, "Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season." Reprove and rebuke. "Reprove and rebuke" is a play on words. One means that you're going to tell them that they're wrong and they're not going to pay any attention, it's going to fly over their head. The other one means you're going to tell them and all of a sudden they're going to feel the Sword of the Spirit and they're going to know that something is wrong and wrong with them and they need a solution and please take the knife and pull it out and heal me. Send your Word and heal me. So you reprove and you rebuke. Whether they listen or do not listen, you are to preach the Word. You are to be ready. You are to exhort. You are to come along side and say, "Listen, this is not what God intends for you. God has something so much higher. God wants you in his family. God wants you to live like this." Maybe you know some kids that you really believe are genuine Christians, and yet they're not living like it. They're caught in a relationship. They're caught in a habit. They're caught in a passion, a desire for exaltation and desire to be you know, somebody or something. Either way, you're to come along side, you're to exhort that person. And then he says on top of that, "You are to do it with great patience and instruction." Great patience and instruction! Instruction from the word of God. If you're caught in a sin, this is how you get out. Let me help you be restored to God. Let me show you how to do. Do you realize that you are accountable for those that you know? Do you realize that you're going to answer to God? If you have a friend or an acquaintance that is walking contrary to the word of God and you don't preach the word to them, and you don't show them that, you don't patiently and lovingly exhort them. He goes on to say this, he says, "The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine." That is where America is. Sound teaching. "Wanting to have their ears tickled," -and this is many in the church- "they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, you, be sober in all things," -That means have your head screwed on right- "Endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." This was written by Paul, and in 2 Corinthians, he tells us what he went through. In 2 Corinthians he tells us, wait a minute, let me find it real quick, I'm fighting the clock. He tells us in 2 Corinthians -- well, just one minute, I've lost my paper clip. There it is! He tells us in 2 Corinthians in chapter 6, again, "Now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation." I'm telling you, the hour is now. The hour is late. He says, "Giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry may not be discredited, but in everything, commending ourselves as servants of God in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beating, in imprisonments, in tumults, and labor, and sleeplessness, and hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God, by the weapons of righteousness, for the right hand to the left." And then he says, "by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report, regarded as deceivers and yet true, as known, unknown, yet well known, as dying yet behold we live, as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, as poor making many rich, having nothing but possessing all things." Does that describe you? That's to describe us. We are to be willing to take the beatings, the imprisonments. We work in 185 countries. We work in 70-something languages. We've got one man that was just threatened when the Muslims came into Syria, took over the prison and said, "If you don't become a Muslim, we'll kill you." He was the only one that stood and said, "No, I'm a believer in Jesus Christ. You'll have to kill me." And they said, "We'll be back in four hours." Don't you know how fervently we were praying and apparently he's still alive. But we have another that disappeared. We couldn't find out where he was, until one day his wife went to the market and his head was on display in the market. Jesus was willing to die for you. Are you willing to lay down your life for Jesus Christ and for the sake of the gospel? How do you do it? In 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, in verse 16, he says, "Therefore, we do not lose heart. That though our outer man is decaying," -You don't understand that right now, but when you get to be 79 you will- "though our outer man is decaying, our inner man is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison." Now listen, "while we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." I beg you, I beg you that you would "present your body to Jesus Christ as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is simply your reasonable service of worship." I beg you not to become conformed to this world. I beg you to "be transformed by the renewing of your mind." That you might prove, that you might put to test what is the good and acceptable will of God, for whatever God wills for you. This life is temporal but you have eternity to live with Him face-to-face and what will you see and what will you hear when you die and you step into eternity? Will it be "well done, my good and faithful servant," or as 1 John says, "Will you shrink back in shame because you did not live fully for Jesus Christ?" Oh, beloved I know, I know that I know that I know that if we would live in the courage of faith, if we would take God at His word, if we would fear no man but fear God, I know that this nation would not know what hit them because, as the homosexuals have risen up, as the abortionists have risen up, as the others have risen up, we would arise and we would hold forth the word of God in the midst of the crooked and perverse generation and we would live as if we believed it. That's what I'm calling you to! That's the burden on my heart! And I know it's not socially acceptable for me to talk about immorality and homosexuality, and they're both sins, and they're both equal, but somebody has to be willing to lay down their life. I close with this illustration. Hugh McHale was licensed to preach at the age of 20. At the age of 29, I'm sorry, at the age of 21, Hugh McHale preached his last sermon. And when he preached his last sermon, this is what he said, and I want to get it right. He said, "The people of God have been persecuted, sometimes by an Ahab on the throne, sometimes by a Haman in the states, and sometimes by a Judas in the church." The reformation was coming to the fore and they were hated by the church because they were teaching the word of God, of Christianity, that was lived out. They arrested him. They took him. They put him on trial. He would not recant. They put him in the midst of the group and they put an iron boot around his knee. Then they took a huge sledge hammer and in one hand and a spike in the other, and they came down through his kneecap into his bone. Not once, not twice, but 11 times he sat there in that excruciating agony. At any moment he could have denied what he had said. He could have denied the word of God, but he did not deny it. They watched as the blood seeped out through the bottom of the boot all over the floor. They took him out and of course he could not walk. They took him to prison and one of his friends said, "How's your leg?" He said, "It's not my leg that I'm concerned about, it's my neck." And a few days later they took him out to hang him. He could hardly climb the steps up to the platform where the hangman's noose awaited. As he got up there, he said, "I care no more for anything but the fact that I am going to see my God." And he took his Bible, and he read the final chapter of Revelation that says, "Come everyone that thirsts. Come and drink the fountain of water of life, freely." The rope was jerked, his feet dangled in the air, as his soul ascended into the presence of Almighty God. And I'm sure he heard, "Well done, well done, my good and faithful servant." What will you hear when you see God face-to-face? And are you willing to live for him even though it costs you your reputation, your job, your life? When Jesus went to the cross, He called us to a cross. And if you're not willing to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Him. If you're not willing to lose your life for his sake, and for the gospel's, you're not a disciple. Thank you, it was worth the hours of seeking God for His message. Thank you. I'm sure that heaven is rejoicing in you, in you, in you. Thank you.