Guest Speaker – Bishop Gary Trail

the masses this morning in the scripture lesson. I have a couple lessons and I’ll probably be using a few other lessons in the midst of this message. Matthew ten thirty seven three thirty nine Matthew ten thirty seven through thirty nine let’s look at that one first. Matthew ten thirty seven two thirty nine. Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. That’s pretty heavy isn’t it. And then Matthew six thirty one to thirty three. Matthew six thirty one to thirty three. Matthew six thirty one to thirty three. This is not easy either. Do not worry saying what you eat or what you eat drink or what your we wear. For the pagans run after all these things and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will give them to be given to you as well as a great promises. Here is this lesson from the Gospels and from the the word of the Lord Jesus let us pray. Sometimes Lord Your word is hard. Sometimes it’s hard to understand and even harder to live that. And yet as you teach us you desire for us to have the abundant life because that’s why U.K. life abundant while we walked this earth and abundant in the eternity of eternities touches each and every one here this morning that we will know that we know that we are yours and you are ours and that we have eternal life in his name we pray Amen. Many times preachers are tempted to pull out old sermon notes when they’re been asked to preach but I’ve not been allowed to do that today and it seemed to me that the Spirit of God or a thought from above seem to say what would you preach if this were your last sermon. Well of my age I have to wonder will this be my last word. Now I preach five or six thousand sermons from Pay Go pay go to bug area. Can you imagine how many groans as that has elicited from people’s hearts. How many people have fallen asleep. How many people have been bored to tears and how many have. Said to their family members. Is he going to drone on and on. Well he never stopped. Well I guess that’s why I might be my last term of nobody ever invited me to preach again. Because I don’t have a church as pastor but truly I really do not know. And I wonder to the kind of world we live in will we ever be able to go to church again. And should we not praise God just for this hour because it is a gift we do not know that we do not know how well the gifts will last and along with that question you know God asking me what would you preach of this would be your last sermon. What is the most important. What is the most important thing. And I would say that since I love you all. I would like and love to have all of us spend eternity in heaven. I love you all and want you to be there and I want to be there. But as a part and parcel of heaven to have some eternal life right now my freshman year trawls berg when it was still college after being challenged whether I knew that I had eternal life or not I got angry and began to search the scriptures because I didn’t really know and I was told I should know. And I search the Scriptures and the moment I trusted the Jesus. And his work on the cross and his resurrection power took away my sins even mine and cancelled out the penalty for so that the time I was a freshman in college I don’t massed a whole bunch of them. And I would ask two diagnostic questions of you this morning because I want I love you and I want you to spend eternity with me and with each other and for us to have some of the stuff of eternal life right now. If you were to die tonight would you know for certain that you would go to hell. I hope and pray that no one will leave this place without being able to answer that in the affirmative. But also that they’ll be able to answer why. So I would ask a second question if you were to die tonight and you were to appear before God and God were to ask you why should I let you into my heaven. What would you answer God. And I hope that no one leaves this place without being able to answer that in the Gospel way and in the kind of world we live in you need to know now why because this is a dangerous world out there no one is safe anymore. America is experiencing experiencing spiritual dry rot. Corruption is in the three branches of our national government. It’s also in our state county and our local level. We do not need to read Revelation to be afraid. All we have to do is read the newspaper or watch the news or listen to some of the local rumor mill. There is corruption in clergy in church and clergy and I’m sorry to say that because Jesus Christ died for the church and I love the church and when I mean church for me it means everybody that loves Jesus throughout this planet and I want everybody to join that church by having Christ in their hearts. It doesn’t matter what denomination they are. That’s the way I am a retard so I’m allowed to say greatest things. But not only is corruption among the clergy in the church in an awesome fashion it’s in the sports arena in the educational system as the Old Testament says there is none righteous no not one. Reminds me of the Methodist and Baptists each having services and the masses are saying whether be any stars in my crown the Baptists are saying no not one no not one. We have a little fun on the way. But we must soon choose as a nation. Either we will crumble as a country or we will have a crisis center to Holy Ghost awakening. Those are the only two choices I see left for our country and the awakening starts here today. They in our hearts. This past week I had the sad duty of ministering to a person whom the doctors pretty much say is terminal. He and I have the same worry because I’m getting close to terminal. We are both concerned about what our grandchildren will have to go through just reading the signs of the times. But I want you to know that you can have eternal life now with these conditions John seventeen three Jesus on the night that he was betrayed he prayed these words to The Heavenly Father he says now this is eternal life is not will be it is eternal life that they may know you are the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Do you know God as the only true God and Jesus Christ whom that true God is sent. At the Kensington for the last several Wednesdays we’ve been studying the Gospel of John. Mary and I have been leaning that it over and over again John records who Jesus Christ is and what he says that is of utmost importance to all of us. John The Baptist says in one twenty nine Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and I will tell you unequivocally for me that is absolutely true he took away my sins even mine. And in chapter one thirty three he says he will baptize with the Holy Spirit. It’s great to baptize with water. Water symbolizes the washing away of our sin. It’s and there’s something mysterious happens when we baptize I don’t know what all it is that I don’t know what it does but it points to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. John Chapter three he tells nicotine this. You must be born again and then seven times while he’s talking to make a nicotine. He uses the word believe believe believe believe in the word believe there is to put one’s absolute trust and confidence in Jesus Christ. Do you put your absolute trust and confidence in Jesus Christ that He died for your sins even yours and you have no longer the penalty of those sins and you will live forever with him. But he used Jesus uses the word seven times in that passage. The word believe John the Baptist in chapter three thirty six. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Now these are not my words they are beloved people adults and children. These are not my words. These are the words of Scripture. These are words of the Gospel of John. Even if that’s all we ever had even if that’s all we ever saw. If all we had was a Gospel of John it would be enough. But thank God we have the rest of the Bible to show why God and how God dealt with human beings throughout the ages and how everyone needed a Savior Jesus Christ. But in John we have eternal life. If we trust him. Chapter four Mary. Thought last week or week before last at the to the Samaritan woman verse forty two the Samaritans come out and say say after they meet Jesus after the Samaritan woman to well has told them about Jesus. We know that this man really is the savior of the world. Now that’s only a few chapters in John. I can hardly wait for the rest. So I want you to have eternal life now because I love you and I want that eternal life to just keep growing in you until you die and you explodes in joy unspeakable and full glory. That’s what I want you to have. So this is my last sermon helmeted. But you Omar also said you have Jesus in your life. You need to be serious about discipleship. This is no time to play around with church or God or anything of real faith. No time to play games. And so for those who are attending churches all throughout this land and they’re playing games it’s got to stop now. We need to be serious about our discipleship now disciple of a disciple in Jesus time. If they were basically students and if they were going to learn they learned a certain way they learned by following the rabbi or teacher or master they lived with a master night and day they travelled with a master they walked the dusty road with the master and every day and every hour and they would hear what he says they would see what he does. They would see how he dealt with certain situations and one day that Master would say to them OK you’ve been following me now you go do it. Has the time come for you to go do it. And so Jesus and I had to twelve when they did what he did. But you see there were other disciples than the twelve apostles in lucre says he sends out seventy. And they say even the demons bade us. I’ve heard people say well I’m not going to church that church anymore because I’m not being fed. When are you going to come to the place where you’re feeding other people. It’s time the world is full of people that are perishing. Somehow we need to follow and be serious about a disciple. And as the twelve were sent out as the seventy or so that and we’re either one or the other. The gates of hell can’t stop you. I think he’s dead said a century ago. Some people want to live within the sound of church and chapel bell but I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell. Why because we want to snatch people from the very gates of hell today and be a part of that which is happening now if you’re going to be a disciple of Jesus you must be purposeful about your prayer life. How can you develop a relationship with Jesus. When I prayed to hear. Even the smallest child ought to be able to spend ten minutes with Jesus every every morning or before they go to sleep at night. The Bible says everything by prayer why because prayer connects us to the one who walks the earth. And folks people say we’re in a post Christian era. Now some people say we’ve lost two generations who are living in a post post Christian era but I say unto you this morning we live in the age of the saw and we are disciples of Messiah and any wonderful thing could happen as we pray and as we share and as we witness yes heal the sick cleanse the lepers raise the dead cast out demons. That’s what he told the twelve. And there’s a lot of evil that needs to be confronted out there in all kinds of levels. But not only do we need to be purposeful about prayer our prayer life but we need to read Jesus’ words if you’ve never read the Gospel of John decide to do it today. If you want to change your life take the twenty one day experiment you and one other person decide. Even if even if you don’t really believe. If you don’t believe you read one chapter of John a day for twenty one days there are twenty one chapters. Spend about a half hour discussing it maybe even over the phone with another human being and say what this chapter means and then praying a prayer something like this. Jesus if you are like John says you are in this gospel come into my life and give me that power that you have. Twenty one day experience was twenty one days. Well the twenty one chapters in John but they say when you do something good. When one day is it becomes a habit. We need Christians who are serious about good habits. So read Jesus’ words read what is said by him in the Scriptures. Now let me just outline a couple choices here that we have because this is a time of choices. John twelve twenty five John twelve twenty five. The one who loves his life will lose it while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. That’s a hard saying isn’t it. Can you hang loose with Jesus and love your true self that’s more than you love your own physical life. Tough choice but that’s what he says. But let’s look at Luke fourteen twenty six and twenty seven. Luke fourteen twenty six and twenty seven. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother his wife and children his brothers and sisters yes even his own life he cannot be My disciple and anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be My disciple. The word there means you must love your Those who are great ties with you people who have great ties to you gotta love them less than you love Jesus. And that’s tough. I’m not saying it’s not tough. I remember when God called me into the ministry. I don’t wonderful father. He was tough tough teacher. There was no democracy in his classrooms especially in the grades and thirty five. But I told him I wanted to go in the ministry. He thought Oh that’s awful what you got to do. Well I got to go four years to college then I’m going to go to three years of seminary. You’re going to be all that you’re going to live off of peoples the Netherlands. Because he didn’t he didn’t he didn’t figure the Methodist would have a minimum salary but I didn’t see among the Methodists you got a minimum salary and some got a church somewhere. It might be Smith Island but you get some kind of a church and minimum salary. So I don’t really have to to live all people’s charity but why or why not become a lawyer or a doctor and get where the real money is. You know but I do I listen to my heavenly father or my earthly father and I love my father he was a good man. He became a deeper dedicated Christian. After I went into ministry you had to think that you know maybe the old boy or the young young boys right. Well but those are the choices you and I think it was. If I had made the wrong choice then I would not have watched practically every person in my immediate family become a Christian. You understand it was tough. I was tough I never went against him because I was scared of it just a little bit more scared of the Heavenly Father. Tough choice. Luke eighteen is gay teens twenty nine to thirty. This is a promise. Jesus said to them no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and in the age to come eternal life. That’s where the saying gets better. Yeah you have tough choices. You know I have to admit there were other places where for example you know I’m a romantic you know and I fell in love with my wife. It’s really hard to love God more than her sometimes. But I knew what I had to do because I knew that if I did not love God before everybody else I would not love my wife as much in the long run. You understand because unless I love Jesus more I would not have the power to love that way. Never. Things got going badly. See what I’m saying. You cannot be true to yourself unless Jesus Christ is first in your life. I am more true to myself now than ever because Jesus has been very gracious to me. Now I also tell you yeah I have left children at times. Parents wife. But you know I had I had an awful lot of mothers were not special I was a young preacher you know these churches little churches you know they were these women I love the mother and the young pastor. A lot of mothers and spiritual fathers too. And I have spiritual children in this day and spiritual growth. Children spiritual great grandchildren involved area and in some other places in fact I probably have scores of them. And all these other things are at it you know I remember you know I’ll never be able to afford to have a big swimming pool. But I remember one place we lived with our kids were small. This is one of this one of the men in the parish. He had built a swimming pool beautiful in ground pool and his kids have grown up and nobody was using it anymore. He practically begged us to come to their pool every day and swim in the summertime. I didn’t have to clean it. I didn’t have to service it. All I had to do was take my kids there and jump in it. Jesus promises are true and absolute now. I didn’t know I was going to have more than one wife and I started that. But even that happens a lot of the way and I don’t mean for that to happen in one respect but God has blessed me with a wonderful wife now. So the most important thing in life is not to seek to be happy not to seek to be fulfilled not to seek to be rich not to seek to be famous but to be serious with God and to seek first his kingdom and then have a life that really matters according to Christ in the kingdom because when all’s said and done with this Earth is dust and ashes. You have so much more. And so I believe in Jesus for salvation believe in Jesus way is the best way to live your life. And then do it. Let’s pray. Lord if there’s anyone here this morning that does not trust you to know you does not have eternal life now. Help them to be brave and bold and to say OK Jesus. The best people I know have believed that you died on the cross for our sins. I believe it too. I accept your sacrifice for my sins even mine and I trust you for the abundant life on Earth and eternal life. Through time the sages help me to be serious about my discipleship help me to be serious about prayer help me to be serious about searching the scriptures and that precious name Amen to those of you have been watching if you pray that prayer and you really meant it. Tell somebody what to somebody I asked Jesus in the my life today. Now don’t don’t tell the greatest unbeliever but tell someone who’s a believer then maybe later on as you get stronger and stronger then you can tell the unbeliever. God bless you wherever you are whether you’re on the Internet or whether you’re here in this place.