Stand Alone in Christ

Girl, you're a tough act to follow. That's beautiful. I'd like to hear her every week. She's an incredible talent. God has blessed you with a gift. Thank you. Welcome, Moses. Again. Tyrese. Okay, let's start this thing. Watch my watch. It's become very important to me to have a family here. Family here in Florida. And that's what you feel like. It's also important to me that we as a church come together as a family, and that we can pull upon each other.

We can lean on each other, and when one hurts, we all hurt. When one celebrates, we all celebrate. I want to build that. That's why I want to work even more on some agape sermons, and spend more time and do my part to help us bond even closer and closer together.

Because it doesn't take any readings of the Scripture to realize that we are in the last days. I don't know how many, but we are in the last days, and we need to focus on what's important in life, what's important in our lives, what's important to God. That's what's most important. It should be to us. So with that, I have a sermon I wrote on July 17, 2011, on an airplane, when I was flying back from the island of St. Vincent. I was inspired because I visited a man who was the only man on that island.

He's been the only man on that island obeying God, following God, for quite a few years, close to two decades. And he inspired me because I went there to see if we had some growth, and Mr. Zimmerman is actually going now to go in a couple more weeks, because other people want to see about God's way of life and what's in the Scriptures. Because that's what we strive to do. We strive to teach what's in the Bible, and we strive to live it.

But John Donne, writer, most famous for his words, no man is an island. But what if you were the only man on an island truly obeying God? God said, let us not forsake assembling of ourselves, because we need each other, whether you think you do or not. And so interesting, the public Bible lecture I did a couple weeks ago in Fort Myers, we found that there were people there who had been by themselves trying to obey God the best that they knew how, not knowing that there was a congregation or even anywhere near that they could go to.

But now they have one. Those people are starting to come. We have more work to do. Because as you talked to a few of them, they actually were so surprised and so happy to see that they could spend time with someone else who believed like they believed. They're excited. And how we're going to take care of that with the manpower? God will provide. That's why all of us have the obligation for those people to step up. Step up and do what we can. But what if you were the only person? And you may be. You may be the only person truly obeying God in your family, in your home, in your city, in your town.

How do you handle that? And could you get used to being obeying God alone? Silence for seven days. When Job's friends came, they just sat with him for seven days. Not speaking a word. That's why I actually had a man send it to me and said, well, you knew all three of us friends were men because women couldn't stay quiet for seven days. But that's definitely not disparaging women, because I love it when my wife talks. But then you had Elijah, who got used to dwelling by himself in a desert and caves.

He had an ostracized Jeremiah. His whole city, the whole nation hated him, despised him. But he kept obeying God. Abraham was called a sojourner, a stranger. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. I think he questioned sometimes, man. Am I the only one around here? Can you stand alone if need be? Can you stand alone and follow God, no matter what happens? Or do you need this society? Do you look back and say, well, no, I need to be.

I need to be around people in this world. I thought about it because living in Deerfield Beach, not like living in downtown Miami, but it's nothing like Milton, Tennessee, where I grew up. My father has a farm, about 100 acres there, and you can hardly see your nearest neighbor. And I realize how important it is for us together as a group, but individually we need to be able to stand alone with God, if necessary. See, as the world goes, so goes the church.

As I've said before, all of us are affected by this world that we have to live in. That's why the Bible says we have to live in the world, but we're not to be a part of the world, because it will corrupt us, infect us, if we're not careful. You know, William Penn, it's interesting, I went back and looked at some writers, religious writers, other writers, men from the centuries before us, 400-500 years up to now, who looked at the Bible and cherished it. Didn't follow it perfectly, we know, but they strove too.

In today's world, Bible is not considered very important. Our society is getting farther and farther away from God. We have to make sure we do not allow that to infect us. That's why I've always strove to tell you, read the book. God speaking to us. William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, said, Right is right, even if everyone is against it.

And wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it. One turned to Isaiah 5, verse 20, if you will. Isaiah 5, verse 20. God is speaking through the prophet Isaiah, and he said, Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight, who describes the world.

If they think it's right, it's right. The only thing that's right is what's right in God's Word. Revelation 18, verse 4, I'd like you to turn there.

Revelation 18, verse 4, talking about the end of this age, before Christ comes. That's the seal talked about, sang about. And in Revelation 18, verse 4, Said, And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people. Come out of her, my people. Lest you share in her plagues, unless you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Come out of her, my people. God is talking to the ones who are followers of Him at the end time. But they're stuck, mentally, spiritually, in Babylon. He's wanting them to come out of her, my people. See, we are here today in His presence, proclaiming, professing, or pretending to be His people. Turn to 1 John.

1 John 2.

Verse 15. John, as he's finishing up his life, it's almost over. I believe he was in his mid to late 90s here. He didn't have much time when he wrote 1, 2, 3 John. And he was trying to get the message across to the people, because he was the last of the disciples. He was the last one alive that had spent time with Christ. And he's trying to teach the church and trying to teach us almost 2,000 years later. He said, Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever. And isn't that what it's all about? How about us? Where do we spend our time? Time is something that we can give to God. Time is something that God can see. As a man once told me, it isn't hard for God to check. If we kept a day calendar, he could see how we spend our time. He could check our checkbooks and see where we spend our money. The thing is, God doesn't need a day timer. He can see. He knows how we spend our time, where our heart is. How about you use a computer more than the Bible? Some people use a computer along with the Bible, I have. But here people are amazed at people, even in the church. They say, man, I spent two or three hours on Facebook. There's a way to connect family, but yet they don't have the time to spend an hour, thirty minutes with God in the Bible. Come out of here, my people. We have to make sure. You know, C.S. Lewis said, there will be two kinds of people at the end of this world. One who says to God, thy will be done, and one whom God will say, thy will be done. Will we be doing His will? Or will we be doing our will as the time comes to a close? Romans 14, verse 4, you don't have to turn there. Romans 14, verse 4, because it just makes this statement. God is able to make you stand. Sometimes it's hard to stand in this whole world. You get pressures from everywhere. The pressures of life, tear you down. Pressures from people, employers, family.

They want to take you apart. Late in the 1800s, there was a famous preacher by the name of Charles Spurgeon. I have a book of his greatest sermons. He was the Billy Graham, I would say, of his day. He was very famous. And he was a hammer at home preacher. He tried to make sure that people read their Bibles. In the 1800s, he felt like it was slipping away. People were becoming more worldly. What would he think today? Because he observed everyone and then observed the world, and saw that things weren't like they should be. Because he realized that this is supposed to be one nation under God. He realized that our nation was supposed to be a godly nation. And I love this quote. Think about it, the 1800s, late 1800s. He said, I believe that one reason why the Church of God at this present moment has so little influence over the world is because the world has so much influence over the Church. Strong words from a hundred years ago, over a hundred years. How about a Church? Individually, it starts with us. A one-on-one relationship with God. Because God doesn't want anyone playing Church. Just coming here and acting like this is your number one thing in life. That your relationship with Him is. There's an old saying when I was growing up, my father used to say it one way or the other. One way or the other. He would give me something to do on the farm. I said, I can't do all that. Yeah, you can. One way or the other. He usually gave me, you ought to be done with that by noon. Knowing I wouldn't get done till five or six o'clock at night. One way or the other. Oh, brethren, that's so true about life. And what God expects. Because in this world there's one way or the other. And that one way is God's way. One way or the other. And we need to be going just one way, His way. So the man I met, who's actually speaking at the feast this year for me in St. Lucia. His name is Darnley Hazel. He's a member of God's Church. He's been on St. Vincent all these years. I asked him, how do you do it? How have you been able, when everybody else has turned away or there's no one else, how do you do it? And he actually gave me three things and I added one more as we were talking. Because he gave me three Ps. Three words that started with P. I added the fourth one. Now that is important. But also tells us how we can survive in a godless society and not be polluted. To be able to stand and endure to the end. A man that lives about four miles from my dad's house, I spent yesterday, you know? No, the day before and the day before. Visiting him because he's dying. He's 78 years old. 79, I guess. He had cancer for the last three years. He was one of my father's very good friends. And he asked my father and myself, he sent us a letter asking us to do the funeral. And my father actually talked to me and told me, well, you know, I've never done a funeral before. Not sure I can do it, but I'm going to try because he asked me to. He's good friends with this man for many years. Man is going to die, probably this week or next week. I told my dad, just you tell about the man and I'll tell about what he believed. Because that's who he was. But he's going to endure to the end. This man, my wife, met him and talked to him. Kissed him, I'm sure, hugged him because it's probably the last time we will see him. Accepted the resurrection.

We need to make sure that we endure to the end. First thing, and I give these, this is not all encompassing, I could give a sermon on each one of these, but this split sermon and I have 15 minutes to make sure my friend in the back has plenty of time. The first one is patience. Darn they told me patience. And that really wasn't what I was expecting to hear. Patience. Patience. They suggest patience with God, patience with man, and patience with ourselves. Because we have to learn patience. You know, Pat is patient with others because he knew so well his own frailties. Remember that? 1 Timothy 1. I've spent a lot of time in 1 Timothy lately. 1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy 1, verse 15. So this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Or first. He knew he was a sinner. And when you know you're a sinner, when you know you're a sinner, it gives you a little more patience with other people. As we're going through problems, we all will. Thomas Kempis, 13th century writer, author. So do not be angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be. That is true. But Christ is coming back. He is coming back. I believe it. The Word says it. That's enough. Will we be ready? Will we be ready, as Steele said in the song, will we be ready? Will we change in a moment and twinkling of an eye if we're alive? Our resurrected. God decides it's our time. Psalm 37, verse 7 says, Rest in the Lord and wait patiently, wait patiently for Him. How many times I've... I wanted God to go ahead and do something. Hurry up! I've anointed people and said, Come on, God, I want this!

Second point that... Second p... Darnley told me was perseverance. Perseverance! Perseverance! Let's go to Revelation 3. Revelation 3. Revelation 3, verse 10 says, Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour trial, which shall come upon the whole earth, to test those who dwell on the earth. Will we be able to persevere? Fight through it. Second Thessalonians 3.13 talked about never tiring of doing good. Because we all get tired, don't we? Of just life. But God says, don't just get tired of doing good. Hmm. Perseverance. It's a command to persevere. As the saying goes, by perseverance, the snail reached the ark. And he did.

I like the saying by Chuck Swindoll, that anyone who influences others is a leader. Anyone who influences others is a leader. And a leader needs to cultivate two things. A righteous heart and rhinoceros skin. And that's true. The third thing. Darnley Hazel gave me. Outstand alone is prayer. Prayer! Do we pray long enough, fervent enough, good enough? Like John Bunyan said, the author of Pilgrim's Progress back in the 1600s, his soul rings true because he was thrown in prison for a very long time for reading the Bible. Just reading. Standing on the street, reading the Bible. And so his country threw him in prison. He said, prayer will make a man cease from sin. Our sin will entice a man to cease from praying. I think it's important for us to remember. Prayer will make a man cease from sin. Our sin will entice a man to cease from praying. I can give a testimony to that. Because it does. Because it does. It does. Most of you can, too. You see a cut-off in your prayer life? It goes back to something you don't want to talk about. Your Father. Prayer is very important. That's why Christ talked about it on the greatest sermon ever given, the Sermon on the Mount. And he started with it. In Matthew 6, you'll turn there. It's very important for us to hope to give you something to study this week. Some people think that's the only thing you need to pray. This is more of an outline as he was telling us to pray. But I look at this. I always knew this prayer. Matthew 6, verse 9. He said, in this manner therefore pray, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Patience. Talking about patience. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Perseverance. Day by day. I mean, God's not going to give it... He's not going to feed us that great word and give it to us all at once. So all of a sudden, we know everything. But it's day by day, just like you eat food every day to stay alive. God gives us that spiritual food. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Look at that. It's word, make sure. And sometimes we want more food. And sometimes we want more from God. We want to speed this thing up, God. We need to persevere. We need patience. And so do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Boy, we need to pray, because we're not going to be able to deliver ourselves from that evil one. We need God. We need Him. Prayer is so important, as it says. An angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer that fetched the angel. Let's remember that. Starts with prayer. And then it goes down and says, as he's finishing this prayer, For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. And that's the fourth point, the power. Power. Patience, perseverance, prayer, and power. The power of the Holy Spirit. The power that God has given us. It's power that we have this book in front of us. It's power that comes from that book. It's power that comes from the Holy Spirit, as the Holy Spirit can help to make you understand or help you to understand things that you've read five times before you read 50 times before, and all of a sudden you read it again, and now all of a sudden it's like, man, I understand that. Where did that come from? It comes from God, and we've all felt it. Every single one of us has felt that. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here today. And I definitely wouldn't be here today.

Second Corinthians 5, as we wrap this up. Second Corinthians 5.

Second Corinthians 5 and verse 10. Verse 10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. We will all stand before Christ. We've done good. We'll be told. Well done, my good and faithful servant. When you stand before him, what will he say to you? What will he say to you? Because at that time, there's no stories to be told. There's nothing we can hide. That's why it's important that we prepare now. Prepare today. Prepare tomorrow. Come out of her, my people. Make sure. And I talk to you because no matter what you say, see, do, read, listen to, this world is trying to contaminate you. Because this is not God's world yet. TV shows. Billboards. It's simply amazing that this country on 4th of July was founded on godly principles, on knowing and believing on divine providence, that God made this country what it is and look what it's become. And as one man told me the other day, if God doesn't condemn us and take this nation apart, He's going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. But we, brethren, are to come out of this world, and we are to stand. We are to stand tall. We are to stand strong. We are to stand for God. And so when so many others fall around us, we are to stand.

The reward is too great. What He's promised us, I has not seen nor heard nor has entered into the heart of man the things that God has planned for those who love Him. It's great. It's worth standing for. Let's do our best to stand apart and to stand together as a church so that people know they want to know about God. Come and visit this congregation, because there we have people who can stand.