Lord save me. And so, so grateful to be here.
It's hard to put into words just how much this church means to
us, the young people, just last night, watching them stand up
here and sing. And just to think about the
commitment that was made several years ago when we wanted to see
our young people grow up and live for the Lord.
And, and man, we've done so many things together and we've seen
them make so many good decisions.
And I'm really excited about what God is doing in their
hearts, what they're doing for the Lord.
Both here at Mount Victory also put gospel at Baptist Church.
So. Let's turn the Divine library
this evening to the Book of Luke.
The Book of Luke chapter #11 Luke chapter. #11 and while
you're turning there, my heart really does go out to Pastor
Shifflett last night he mentioned that.
One of the biggest challenges? Of this Bell's palsy that he's
going through is that he's looking more and more like.
Me, brother, when you. Said that how my heart went out
to you. That's a cross nobody should
have to bear. I mean that from Obama heart.
I know I carry it every day. But take comfort brother.
Take comfort because you're starting to resemble me in other
areas as well. I got to thinking like you.
Not only does he look like me, but he's also starting to preach
like me. If this thing lasts.
You know too much longer, brother.
Folks aren't going to be able to tell the difference very much,
right? Anyways, I don't know.
I'm not going to comebacks, but Luke, Luke chapter #11 I trust
that God will be will bless you through the preaching of his
Word. Let's begin reading verse #14.
And my text is Luke. Chapter #11 Verse 14 down to
verse #23 the Bible says and he was casting.
Out a devil. And it was dumb.
And it came to pass. When the devil was gone, out the
dumb spake. And the people wondered, but
some of them said he casteth. Out devils, through Beelzebub,
the chief of the devils, and others tempting him, sought of
him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts,
said unto them, Every Kingdom divided against itself cannot
stand. And how?
Every Kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation,
and a house divided against the house falleth.
If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his Kingdom
stand? Because you say that I cast out
devils through Beelzebub. And if I by.
Beelzebub cast out devils. By whom do your sons cast them
out? Therefore shall they be your
judges. But if I.
With the finger of God cast out devils.
No doubt the Kingdom of God is come upon you when a strong.
Man armed, keepeth his palace. His goods are in peace, but when
a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him.
He taketh from him all. His armor wherein he trusted and
divided his spoils. He that is not with me is
against me. He that gathereth not with me
scattereth. May God bless the reading of His
Word. This evening I'm printing a
message. To you entitled the wrong.
Side of history, the wrong side of history.
Let's pray as we begin. Lord, we look to you now for
help. Lord, we look to you for grace.
I pray now that you would give us ears to hear as we listen to
your word. Give us a heart of faith.
Lord, help us to respond. Lord, I pray that you would fill
me and fill every person in this room with Your Holy Spirit.
May the Spirit guide us into all truth this evening.
Lord, may we be. Stirred, stirred by your Spirit
Lord, to take action in our lives, grow our faith, grow our
love for you. Help us Lord, not to end up on
the wrong side of history. And I pray these things now in
Jesus name, Amen. We think about the wrong side of
history. We think about people who.
Made the wrong choice, right they they picked the wrong.
Side they had an opportunity to. Be on the winning side, but for
whatever reason they picked the wrong side.
And and history has. Proven that right as time goes
on it. Shows that they made.
The wrong choice now people have ended.
Up on the wrong. Side of history in a number of
different areas, and some of some of those areas are more
serious than. Others I.
Think about the area of. Business.
Some people. Ended up on the wrong side.
Of history in the area. Of.
Business and in that case maybe all they.
Lost out on was a little bit of money.
I don't think about Western Union all the way back in 1876.
They dismissed the. Telephone as having quote no
value UN quote. We might.
We would say they ended up on the wrong side of history.
IBM in 1943 what was hired to estimate the world market for
computers? And they came back after.
Doing their research. And they estimated that the
world. Market for computers would be 5.
Five computers would be about. All that the world would need,
all right, I think. History has kind of shown.
That they ended up on the wrong side of history, I'm told.
That BlackBerry. Laughed off touch screen phones
as something that that would never take off right and and and
so we think about the wrong side of history.
We think how? How?
Who? Who made that?
Decision, but for whatever reason there they have their own
reasons they made the wrong choice.
But there are some other areas that are more serious thinking
about Voltaire, the atheist who predicted that within 50 years
of. His death no one would believe
the Bible that it. Would go out of print due to a
lack of demand. Within 50 years of his death a
Bible society had purchased his home and they were printing
Bibles is very house. He ended up on the wrong side of
history. I think of Pastor Martin
Niemuller, a German pastor in the 1930s, and even though there
were other pastors. Who were warning about.
Hitler and the regime. That was taking over an.
Attack against Christianity there in Germany.
And Niemiller could not be convinced to use his influence
to. To, to, to, to, to.
To fight against the Nazis and eventually he.
Came around, but it was too late.
Martin Niemiller is famous for his quote.
First they came for the Socialist and I did not speak
out because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionist.
And I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came. For the Jews and I did not speak
out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there
was no one left to speak for me. Niemmeler refused to use his
influence with the pastors there in Germany, even though he went
to prison for many years. He ended up on the wrong side of
history. But I think there's examples in
the Bible of some people that ended up on the wrong side of
history and I think. That we can be warned.
When we look at it in our text, we find some people ended up on
the wrong side of history. Jesus is here and he he's.
His ministry is picking up speed and yet.
The more it seems that. He's winning the victory and the
more miracles he does, he does and the more devils he casts out
and and the more sermons he preaches, the more this group of
people. End up on the opposite side,
opposing him fighting. Him tooth and nail, trying to
catch him in his. Own words trying to trip.
Him up. These Pharisees and Scribes and
Sadducees and. High.
Priest, we know now many. Years later, history has proven
that they ended up. On the wrong side of history.
Jesus is trying to point that out to them in this passage of
Scripture. He's referencing things that
they were very familiar with and he's.
Drawing examples from Israel's past and their.
History that they were well. Familiar with about people who
ended up fighting against the wrong or ended up on the wrong
side of history in verse #20 Jesus says.
But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, now that
expression really jumps off the page.
And it was not something that the Jews were unfamiliar with.
They had known about the finger of God.
In fact, it went all the way back to the great deliverance
that God gave in Egypt. And here when Moses showed up
and God told Moses, I'm going to deliver my people out of the
hand of the Egyptians and from Pharaoh.
And that great deliverance at the party of the Red Sea, there
was a showdown that took place before that great deliverance.
And we you know that as the 10 plagues, as one after the other
God took down the Egyptian gods. And you know those first few
plagues, Pharaoh was able to call his magicians and they were
able to come and they were able to duplicate what was going on.
But in. Exodus chapter #8 verses 18
through 19. The Bible says this, and the
magicians did so. With their enchantments to bring
forth lies, but they could not. So there was lice upon man and
upon beast. Then the magician said unto
Pharaoh, This is the finger of God.
And Pharaoh's heart was hardened.
And he hearkened. Not unto them as the.
Lord had said, here's what's going on.
Jesus said, hey, look, I'm here to give an even greater
deliverance than when God made you a nation.
I'm showing up on the scene to deliver you from sin and from
death and from hell. I'm going to the cross and I'm
going to win the victory by shedding my blood, and I'm going
to come out of that grave. Amen.
And I'm here. But before that great victory is
going to take place, I'm having a showdown with the devil.
And every time Jesus was confronted with Satan, Jesus
wins. We see that in our text.
The Bible says he runs into a man who had a devil.
Jesus cast that devil out. That devil was dumb and the dumb
spake And the people wondered every time that the Kingdom of
light came into contact with the Kingdom of darkness, light one.
And Jesus is going back to their history and he's saying, hey,
remember when God took on Pharaoh?
Remember when God took upon the gods of the Egyptians and one
after the other, he won and he destroyed them.
And then there was that moment to time when those magicians
came to Pharaoh and they said, hey, listen, we can't replicate
it. We can't duplicate it.
We're up against something that we cannot defeat.
This is the finger of God. We better change tactics here.
We better reconsider our our plan of action moving forward
because we he cannot stand against it.
The Bible says that Pharaoh. 'S heart was hardened.
Despite the fact. That he was confronted with
these miracles. And that his.
Own magicians were telling him. We don't have an answer.
Pharaoh still ended. Up on the wrong side of history?
That's right. Jesus is saying, hey, look.
Pharisees, I'm here. There's a great deliverance.
Coming darkness cannot stand the light, the Bible says, shined in
darkness, and the darkness cannot comprehend it.
You guys better. You guys better get with the
program. That's right.
How is it that I'm doing all these works and proving who I
said I am, proving whom the Bible says I am, and you keep
fighting against me, you keep going against it?
This. Is this is it?
That's what's going on in our passage of Scripture.
And Pharaoh wasn't the only one. Belshazzar, Merrill Belshazzar,
Daniel chap #5 He had his drunken.
Party. And he called out for them to
bring out the the golden vessels, God's choice vessels,
and he began to drink out of that, and he began to party.
And you remember what happened. God showed up the hand.
The Bible says the. Fingers of a man's hand begin to
write on that wall. Many, many Tegel you Farshan,
you've been found. You've been weighed in the
balances and you've been found wanting.
That's right. That's right.
Belshazzar took on God and God, and God defeated him.
He lost. That's right.
He lost. They knew what was going on with
the finger of God describes in these Pharisees.
Now we're ending up on the wrong side of history.
Now, friend, I want to draw some application today because there
are differences. The circumstances have changed.
The situation is different. We don't have Jesus physically
present with us. But I'm here to tell you that
there is a conflict that is going on right now in the day
and age that we're living in. And to make it really practical,
there's a battle that's taking up place right here in this
Greater Richmond area. There's a fight between the
Kingdom of Light, the Kingdom of Darkness.
God has called out his. Church, he's predicted, he's
foretold that there's going to be a great conflict between the
gates of hell and his church, and the Bible says the gates of
hell cannot prevail against it. Amen.
And I'm telling you. What?
There's a great deliverance coming.
Yes, we know. Christ has died.
And he's risen. Again.
But friend, he's coming again and the trumpets going to sound.
And in the meantime, we are waging warfare against the devil
and praise the Lord. God is winning.
Praise the Lord. God is doing things.
People are getting saved. Our lives are being changed
right here in this community, right here in this church.
Something's happening. Whose side are you going to end
up on? Are you going to end up on the
wrong side of history? When it comes not.
Not to the Pharisees and what they did.
We're not talking about them. You can't make that mistake.
You live back then. How about the battle that's
taking place right now in our day and age?
You're going to end up on the wrong side of history in that
battle, in that conflict. I, I, I know many of you would
say now the pastor, there's no way.
There's no way I would choose the wrong side.
There's no way that I want to help Satan win the battle in my
community. There's no way I want to see the
devil win in our marriages. There's no way that I want to
see the devil win with our youth group and our child and in our
area. I want to see God win.
I want to see more people get saved.
And I know that's what you would say.
But I want to examine this passage of Scripture.
Let's be warned, because while we might.
Say we want to be. On the right side, sometimes our
actions say differently, do they not?
Well, we've had some good We've had some good Nerf wars between
Mount Victory Baptist Church and Gospel at Baptist Church right
here in this building. In fact, I remember sitting up
here with a 50 Cal Nerf gun just you know, and we picked up sides
and every once in a. While, you know, I get shot by
somebody. On my own team, you know, I bet
I was crawling through them chairs right there trying to get
some of these teenagers and. Man got shot.
By my own daughter. She's laughing.
I'm like, well, who's side are you on?
But you know if it. Happens and it happens and it
happens. There comes a point when you're
like, man, whose side are you really on?
There's some church. Members, come on.
Yeah. Sometimes you just you wonder,
man, whose side are you on? Good.
Come on. Whose side are you on?
Say, how do I how do I end up on the wrong side of history?
Well, you, if you don't want to end up on the wrong side of
history, you need to check whose side are you on right now?
That's right. That's good.
What side are you on right now? Can I ask you something?
Whose side are you on when it comes to the prayer meeting?
See one of the ways. That you can help Satan.
And end up on the wrong side of history is by being silent in
your prayer. And I find it interesting in
this chapter in in in the first part of Luke chapter #11 Jesus
talking about prayer. His disciples come and they say,
Lord, teach us to pray. Jesus was a man.
Of prayer you read through. The book of Luke and we're going
verse. By verse through the book of
Luke right now, I mean Jesus was praying all the time he was at
the throne of the Father and he he was seeking wisdom and and
power and and he was a man of prayer and the disciples knew
and they said, Lord teach us to pray.
He took them aside. He said, when you pray, say our
Father, which art in heaven hallowed be thy name, thy
Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is is in heaven.
Give us this day Our Daily Bread and lead us not into temptation,
right? Deliver us from evil.
We know the prayer. We know that Jesus was praying
and for the victory and he was teaching his disciples to pray
and he's given them examples of how to pray in stories.
You read through those first few verses of of Luke chapter #11 of
this chapter and you could see Jesus trying to tell him, hey,
if you want to get in the battle, the spiritual warfare
that we're talking about, you want to be on the right side,
then you're going to do battle with the devil on your knees in
prayer. Ephesians chapter 6 says be
strong in the Lord and in the power of his mind.
Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to
withstand against the Wiles of the devil.
And you read on as he admonishes us to take the breastplate of
righteousness, right, and have our loins good about with truth,
and the shield of faith, and the to the Spirit and the helmet of
salvation. And then he says, praying always
with all prayer and supplication.
And I'm here today to tell you that while you may not ever want
to help the devil win the battle, you are assisting evil
by staying silent in your prayers.
Christians have abandoned the midweek prayer service.
Christians have abandoned the the prayer closet in their
homes. Christians have abandoned the
all night prayer meetings. They've just disappeared from
our churches. And I ask you tonight, Mount
Victory Baptist Church, do you care about Jesus winning the
victory here in the Richmond area?
Do you care about your marriages?
Do you care about your church? Do you care about your child,
your children? Then you've got to pray.
Amen. You got to go to warfare, war
with the devil in prayer. You stay silent.
You stay. Silent, you're assisting the
rulers of the darkness of this world.
You know it's not lost, at least on me.
And in verse 14, the first thing after Jesus teaches on prayer,
he meets a man with a devil who was dumb, couldn't speak.
You know, I know Christians who can talk to just about anybody,
but they can't talk to God. It's almost as if we got a dumb
spirit in our churches. They can't.
They they can speak about. Just about anything with.
Anyone, any topic but they can't talk.
About the Word of God. It's a dumb spirit.
They know all the stats of all the sports teams, but as Pastor
have already mentioned, they know very little about the word
of God. It's a dumb spirit.
We used to we. Used the expression cat got your
tongue. The devil's got.
Some of your tongues. Your praise is silent, Your
prayer is non existent. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said silence
in the face of evil is evil itself.
There's a Irish proverb. Many of us know it by all that
all that's needed for evil to prevails, for good men to stand
by and do nothing. I'm here to challenge you
tonight. Whose side are you on when you
stand before God? One day he talks about what's
going on in the battle that's taking place.
I was going to say, where were you?
It was time for prayer, you know, six years ago.
To almost, you know, we're right on.
We're in step as far as the days of the week with when COVID hit.
I remember because we were having a friend day.
It was our very first friend day at Gospel Light Baptist Church.
We had just moved over to the Promised Land Camp and I had
sold my business. And I mean, I was nervous.
It was a make. Or break here, I remember
telling my wife, I said. Honey, 2020 is going to be a
make or break here now. We, we got to do it.
We didn't have no, we didn't have an income coming in.
I had sold it. We had stepped out in faith.
We had moved into the area. The house need a lot of work and
I and my plan was January, February, it's cold, it's dark,
we're going to work. On the House and as soon.
As time change happens, we are going to have.
A friend day, March 15th. I had an evangelist come in and
the week before we were going to knock doors all week long and we
did, but things were going haywire.
Now remember, as we were getting ready to do that, we planned an
all night prayer meeting. It was the very first all night
prayer meeting I'd ever come to. Now, I'm ashamed to say this,
but you know, I've been, I've been saved for many, many years.
But to me, I'd always thought that all night prayer meetings
were like a gimmick. That's what I I thought.
No, that's just, that's just like, you know, some, you know,
some sort of promotion or some sort of yeah, they say that.
But but for whatever reason, I believe the Lord LED us.
We are going to have an all night pyramid that was supposed
to be for the friend day. On Friday, March 13th.
The governor of Pennsylvania shut down all schools.
I mean, this is right when it happened.
This is right right now what we're dealing with.
It was on this day that the president declared 2 weeks to
stop the spread. Jog our memories a little man.
We prayed all night. We had the friend day the Lord
blessed. We had our highest day.
We had 50 that day, 10 first time visitors.
That's a number. That's a number.
We hit bump status. But you know, as the weeks went
on with that and we were like man, I meant like many of you,
my head was spinning. I had no clue what was going on
and I'm trying to figure out what do we do?
What do we do? And the only thing I could think
of was we need to pray. We need to pray.
I called a number of pastors around our area.
I said, hey, let's have a prayer meeting.
Let's do an all night prayer meeting.
I I. Again, I'm not going to name
their names, you know, but I'll never forget.
They were like, are there going to be more than 10 people there?
Because we're not allowed to have more than 10 people.
I remember thinking, man, that you're supposed to be the
hospital, the soul, if there's ever a time.
When we need to gather together to to beg God for our country
and our nation, when we don't know what's going on, it's right
now. And so we didn't cancel.
We just, I just put it out there.
I said, hey guys, I'm getting together, going to be more than
ten of us. We start having all night prayer
meetings Friday night and the Lord began to bless people,
start getting saved. The church started growing.
We're growing through COVID. Everybody else shut down.
Everybody else shut. Down and we're we're just.
Growing, we're seeing miracles and and and this had been on.
For several. Months and we're growing and.
One Sunday night it was late at night and.
Me and me and me and Anna were were just rejoicing in the Lord,
and I said something. To the effect of man, I have no
idea. What is happening?
I have no idea. What's going on here?
And my wife looked at me and she said maybe it's because you guys
have been praying. I'll never forget it.
I never even equated the two, never even equated the two.
You know what I'm saying? Mount victory.
There's a battle going on. Get involved by prayer, by
prayer. Get behind the pastor for the
men's prayer breakfast, for the prayer meetings, the midweek
service, that prayer meeting. You know what?
Those early days when there was only five of us on Thursday
night, man, we're meeting downstairs.
Some of the hardest challenges is try to encourage the people
that this is important. I'm here tonight to tell you
it's important. Doesn't matter if they're just a
handful of you. Whose side are you on?
Can I ask you this? Whose side are you on when it
comes to living by faith? See, I think we help the devil
when we walk by sight. See what Jesus says here in the
passage of Scripture when it says that in verse 16 that
others tempting him sought of him a sign from heaven.
That Jesus was doing all. Sorts of Miracles 1 after.
The other he just got done casting out a devil.
But it wasn't enough. And here's the truth.
The truth of the matter is that the signs were not the important
thing. The signs were given to confirm
the truth. It's always been the truth
that's important. God told the Jews, I'm going to
confirm that what the prophet is saying is true by giving him a
sign. But the sign was not what God
wanted them to be focused on. It was the truth that the
prophet was delivering that was important.
And that's why, as Jesus was doing the signs, it wasn't
enough for these people, because the truth wasn't enough for
them. We're living in a day and age.
Today, where many Christians. Want to see?
They want to be. Wow.
They want to come to church and they want to see healing
services and they want to see people speaking in tongues, and
they want to see a devil's being cast out because the truth is
not enough for them anymore. And Jesus said a wicked and an
adulterous generation seeketh a sign.
I want to remind you tonight the Bible says trust in the Lord
with all thine heart. And lean not into thine own
understanding, and all thy ways acknowledge him, and he a shall
direct thy paths. But without faith it is
impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must
believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. For the which 'cause we faint
not, the Bible says, But though our outward man perish, yet our
inward man is renewed day by day.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment worketh for
us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while
we look not at the things which 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.
So then, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word
of God. Listen folks, we got to get
back. To living by faith.
We got to get back to walking by faith and not by sight.
Well, I want to ask you tonight, are you just giving what?
You think you can give? That's not faith.
Friend, are you giving what God wants you to give?
Are you in the ministry because you think you can do it?
You think you've got enough talent?
Are you got enough time? Are you doing it because God
told you to do it? We got to get back to living by
faith, not. Leaning on our own
understanding, well, I just don't know if we can take on
that, that step of faith, whatever it might be, we might
as well just give the give the victory to the spiritual
wickedness in high places. Say, well, we'd never say that,
but this is what was going on in this.
That's what's going on there. They ended up on the wrong side
of history because they were not walking by faith.
They weren't reading their Bibles and following what God
said. They were going by sight and
their sight told them that Jesus wasn't all that impressive.
I really believe if Jesus were here, we would all be shocked
when we we see him physically. I don't think he's going to look
like what we all think he's going to look like.
The Bible tells us. In the book of Isaiah that he
was of no form or comeliness. If Jesus were amongst us, then
most people would be like man. That's not my idea of the
Messiah. You say.
Why? Because it was not supposed to
be by sight. Jesus said you look at the
things that I do because I'm doing things only God can do,
and you listen to the things I'm saying because I'm only I'm.
Saying things only God. Can say don't walk by sight.
We need to walk by faith friend. You know, several years ago,
Sunday morning we had a man walk into our church, brother Paul
Lambert. We didn't know him at that time.
He was, he was a little odd. He was an artist and he had
these, he had this crazy hairdo and he had these, these weird
looking glasses and mothers were like gathering their children.
I'm not. I'm not.
Lying, you know everybody's. Like most of the time you're
excited when visitors come and that, that that morning,
everybody was like, woo Paul Lambert.
He was listening that morning and I was preaching out of Mark
four and Mark chapter #5 and just talking about the
difference between sitting there and listening to Jesus teach and
Mark 4. Jesus is teaching by the by the
hillside. The multitudes are there.
And then you know. Right there at the tail end of
Mark four, he compels the disciples to get into the ship
and you know the story. The storm comes up and it just
scares the fire out of them disciples.
But then in Mark 5, they get to the other side.
On the other side, Jesus performs miracle after miracle
after miracle. He casts out the devils from the
the man, the maniac of Gadara, the the diseased are healed.
He ends, he ends the chapter by raising a person from the dead.
And I was talking about the fact that, you know, it's time to go
from just sitting and listening to Jesus teach to seeing Jesus
change people's lives. And the.
Difference is you got to go with, you got to get a little
scared. In the boat, got to.
Get a little scared. He's going to test your faith in
the boat that morning, Paul Lambert came up to me
afterwards, tears running down his eyes, and he said, pastor,
I'm going to get in the boat. I'm going to get in the boat.
I didn't know what was going on in his life.
He was a talented artist, but he had been using it for the wrong
things. He had been using it.
He's going to end up on the wrong side of history.
He was in trouble with the law because you have to have this
tag in Pennsylvania for your car to get inspected.
And he had forged those tags that use the gifts and the
skills that got it given to him. He's forging tags.
I went with him to the courthouse and got to answer
prayers. We all started coming to church
faithfully, started using those gifts, started using those
talents, began to do all the artistry work for our special
events, began to do all the decorations for our float.
Every year that we put a float in the Millersville Parade, we
give out thousands of tracks that I mean, we went from
heaven. Just this simple little.
Basic float to we were winning. Prizes for the best float.
Well, because this guy was. Unbelievable.
The Lord called Paul home. He got cancer, took him home,
but before he did, he came to me and he had a framed picture or
something he had drawn, drawn for me.
That was a picture of the disciples in that boat.
And I have it in my office sitting on my desk.
He said, Pastor, I'm so glad I got in the boat.
I'm so glad I got in a boat. My our church, that church that
was gathering their children because they were, they love
that man. When we had his funeral, we
packed the church out. All of his unsaved friends that
knew him and all the partying he did and they could not believe
the change happened in that man's life.
You said, what are you trying to say?
I'm trying to say we need to walk by faith and not by sight.
We're going to start seeing the victory.
But if you want to help the devil win in Richmond, so just
start walking by sight. And lastly, and we'll close with
this, but I see in this pat picture in this passage of
Scripture that we help the devil by scattering in our inactivity.
Notice the last verse, that of our text in verse #23 Jesus says
this. He that is not with me is
against me, and he that gathereth not with me
scattereth. You know what Jesus said?
He says it's time to get busy helping me gather.
And if you're not helping me gather, then you're scattering.
But could you? Imagine seeing the good.
Shepherd rounding up the sheep. The Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want. Jesus said.
I'm the Good Shepherd. I give my life.
Here's Jesus he's. Showing up on the.
On the scene. He's trying to gather.
The lost sheep of. Israel and and just picture with
me for a moment Jesus out there gathering and somebody comes in
and starts scattering the sheep. He'd be like, what are you?
Doing That's what most of us would do, even.
If we didn't know it was Jesus, if we saw somebody, the shepherd
trying to gather a flog of sheep and you saw somebody come in,
you would be like, hey, that's not.
Right, you're scattering the sheep.
I'm here to tell you, friend. That Jesus is in the.
Soul saving business of gathering people into the fold.
And he's and this church is in the soul saving business of
gathering. There's a harvest out there that
God wants to send you forth as a laborer.
But some of you are not gathering with Jesus.
And Jesus says, if you're not gathering with me, then you are
scattering. You're working against me.
You're fighting the work that we're doing.
You're. Going to end up on the wrong
side of history. We gather a harvest in our
witnessing. Listen if you don't.
Show up for soul winning if you. Don't if you don't, jump.
Into the many outreaches of this church, then you're fighting
against this church. We gather an offering through
our generosity. You know, it takes a lot of
money. We all give in.
We all pitch in to keep the lights on, to keep the buses
running. To keep the work of.
That to buy the tracks to print the invitations and you know
there are people here that are giving and they're giving and
they're giving towards the work of God.
And when the the offering plate is passed and gathered together,
right, they're doing their part. But some of you are helping the
devil by being stingy with your finances.
Let's just say it. You're going to end up on the
wrong side of history one day when you stand before God, he
says how how come everybody else it was lifting the load but you
weren't giving. You're not gathering.
You know we gather an assembly with our presence.
The Bible says forsake not the assembling of ourselves
together. Gather together.
You know some of you fighting the church just by not showing
up can't really get going because half the church be
missing. I'm done.
But John Newton was a man who started out on the wrong side of
history. He was a wicked man.
He was a slave trader, slave owner, just a very wicked man.
We can't even go into all of these things.
Rebelled against his Christian mother.
So many people who prayed for him, but God got a hold of his
heart. One day in a storm, he repented.
God saved. Amen.
Gloriously born again. He wrote that to him.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound.
He also wrote this poem. I wanted to share it with you as
I close. An evil long.
I took the light on, awed by. Shame or fear, till a new object
struck my sight and stopped my wild career.
I saw. One hanging on a tree in agonies
and blood. Who?
Fixed his languid. Eyes on me as near his cross, I
stood, sure never to my latest breath can I forget that look.
It seemed to charge me with his death, though not a.
Word he spoke, my conscience felt and owned the guilt.
And plunged me in despair. I saw my sins.
His blood had spilt. And helped to nail him there.
A second look he gave which said I freely all forgive.
This blood is for thy ransom paid.
I die that thou mayest live thus while my thus while his death My
sin displays in all its blackest hue such.
Is the mystery of grace. It seals my pardon to think
about that with. Pleasing grief and mournful joy.
My spirit now is. Filled that I should such a life
destroy yet live by him. I kill, I tell you as I close.
The greatest mistake that you could ever make, greatest
mistake to end up on the wrong side of history, is to refuse
the salvation that was paid for you by the Lord Jesus Christ
when He shed His blood for your sins and for my sins and for the
sins of the entire world, And He offers it as a free gift.
For by, for by, the Bible says for by grace.
Are you saved through faith? And that not of yourselves It is
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
For the wages of sin is death, the Bible says, but the gift of
God is eternal length through Jesus Christ our Lord.
I'm telling you friend, he left heaven and he came down and he
took on that cross. He shed his blood.
The Bible says he tasted death for every man and as many as
received him to them give you power to become the sons of God.
It's there and it's offered to you freely if you would just
repent of your sins and. Believe on him, but if you want
to end up on the wrong side of history and you refuse that
gift. You reject the Lord Jesus.
Christ and He. Will say to you.
One day depart from me. I never knew you all tonight,
friend, don't end up on the wrong side of history.
Let's close in prayer, Pastor, if you come.
Father, I pray now for these folks.
What I believe that many if not all of them claim to be
Christians, claim to be saved. But I pray, Lord, if there's
somebody here tonight has never trusted Jesus Christ to be their
savior, Lord, that they would repent and turn to you now.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Lord, I pray for the dear folks of Mount Victory Baptist Church
that they not end up on the wrong side.
History, Lord, we're in a battle against principalities and
powers and rulers of darkness and spiritual rickness.
High places, Lord, the weapons of our warfare are spiritual,
and they're mighty to the pulling down of strongholds.
The Lord, we can be assisting the enemy by staying silent in
our prayers, by living by sight and not by faith, Lord, by
scattering.