The California Collection/TheCaliforniaCollection.cdr/his116/prather3.txt

Text File | 1990-05-06 | 37.8 KB | 694 lines

We're going to be in two different places in the Bible.  If you'll
please go to 2 Peter chapter 3, and as you're turning there, I want to
ask the question, does anyone know what day this is?  This is an all-
important day, brother.  EARTH DAY!

Now "Earth Day" has been around for twenty years, but I want to tell
you, they have really put the hype on this day.  This day is not only
a great day in America, but internationally speaking, it is a great
day.  The reason that it is such a great day is because this is one of
the most far-reaching movements that the New Age Movement has ever put
together.  They didn't start it, but, boy, they sure have jumped in on
it.

To refresh your memory a little bit about the New Age Movement, that's
a baby-boomer-type thing, and they're going to bring peace and
prosperity to the world.  Really and truly, this is what's behind
their theology: They're going to bring the kingdom in without the
King.  Their whole thinking is that you need to do something about
ecology; you need to do something about the world.  The truth is, if
you're going to need this world and this earth, then you've got to
save it.  That's the whole thing behind this movement.

It's an amazing thing.  They've got all these actors now, and all the
politicians, and they're going to make ecology the thing for the 1992
elections.  You don't understand the magnitude of this thing.  This is
where the New Age Movement has put their staff.  They've raised the
banner up and said, "This is how we'll rally the world, through
ecology.  And this is how we'll rally all religions together."

Brother Smith, the missionary, was telling us over dinner that on the
news media they were saying that, in the coming '90s, the thing that
will help ecology into the forefront is religion.  Religion will play
a foremost part in it, because there are so many people who worship
the sun and so many people who worship.  This is going to be their day
to do something for the world.

I want to give you a little insight into this.  Their big thing is to
go and plant trees.  We're not going to plant a tree, but we're going
to plant the truth from God's word, and trust that it will help you to
understand just how exciting are the times we're living in today.

Take your Bibles and look here at 2 Peter chapter 3.  There are some
things that the one-world movers and kingdom-builders are going to
have to do.  They're going to have to clean the world up to make it a
better place to live in.  That's their thing about drugs, what with
the drug czars and all that stuff.  I heard a preacher say something,
and I believe it to be true: "You're not going to have anything done
in the drug war."  There is no such thing as a drug war, really,
because it's not even being waged right.  They can't do anything about
that drug war, because of the money influence.  They found down here
in part of Baja California, Mexico, down in that area, ten drums
packed with money.  Did you hear about that?  It was a crazy thing.
People started buying homes worth $170,000.00--paying cash for them!
And they started looking around and finding out that these people
weren't getting their money from real estate--they found it down
there.  Ten barrels of it!  So the FBI showed up, and while they were
down there, someone asked the FBI, "What do you think is going on?"
And they said, "Well, this is drug money. There's no doubt about it.
These people are crazies.  There are a bunch of crazy people who put
that money into the barrels, and now someone has taken the money.  We
can't find out who the people are who took the money, but I guarantee
you they'll find out who they are!"

All these people now who bought these homes with that money have put
them all up for sale; they're trying to give that money back and wash
their hands of it.  You don't mess with that kind of stuff!

The point I'm trying to make is this: You're not going to stop the
drug war until you do something about that money.  That's how they're
going to bring in a currency that's going to be all credit cards. If
you had a credit card-based currency that consisted of no hard cash
whatsoever, you'll cut the drug thing right off, man.  People won't be
able to buy it, because you'll be able to control it.  That's how that
movement is going to come in.

But right now, today, the emphasis is on the earth and on the world.
And they've got to do that!  When you kick God out of the matter, then
you've got to come up with ecology to protect yourself.  When you kick
God out of the situation, the world is going to wind up on the dump
heap--and that's what's happening.  When you kick God out of the
situation like they did three years ago with the "We Are the World"
movement, the world will wind up on a dump heap.  You know what was so
wonderful about that "We Are the World" movement? People always get
mad at me when I hit this thing.  You know, that's not a good
testimony when you say, "We Are the World."  You say, "What did they
do?"  Well, they all came together, all the rock-and-roll singers, and
made a song called "We Are the World," and sold millions and millions
of copies, and they said, "We're going to feed the world."

Three years later, they're still hungry.  Three years later, they're
still down there on Santa Monica Boulevard.  You stop one of those
guys on Santa Monica Boulevard, where they hang out, and say, "Hey?
Did you ever get any money from 'We Are the World?'"

They'll say, "Never got a dime."

What happened?  Just a big hype--that's all it is.

This thing here is a big hype that the news media got into because
they're all New Age Movement proponents.  All the people got into it.
They showed a fellow here selling spas.  You know what he calls it?
He calls it the New Earth Spa.  For $10,000.00 you can have it
installed.  You know what it is?  It is a spa decorated with all kinds
of scenery that looks like what they think the earth looked like
before man arrived.  It has all these waterfalls in it, and all this
kind of stuff.  He's getting free advertising.  There is an exposition
going on right now either at the L.A. Coliseum or the Anaheim
Convention Center, where there are just thousands and thousands of
folks down there to peddle their wares.

You know how they're doing it?  New Age Movement!  "Clean up the
world, and this is the way to do it!"  Boy, they're selling toilets
down there, they're selling water conditioners--it's just crazy, man!
And the world is saying, "Oh yeah, if you're going to clean it up, buy
this product right here!"  So you buy the product, put it in your
home, and you're doing your part.

They've projected in America that they're going to plant five million
trees, so the trees will take in the carbon dioxide and give out the
air.  You say, "Are you against that?"  I'm not against it; I'm really
not!  I'm not against some kind of ecology--I'm really not.  But I'm
not an environmentalist; I'm a fundamentalist.  Amen?

You say, "Why wouldn't you want to be an environmentalist?"  Because
all environmentalists are evolutionists.  And all evolutionists are
atheists.  So, I don't want to be around any of that crowd.  Yet, I am
glad that they're trying to clean up some things.  No doubt it's true
that we Americans waste more than anything.  No doubt that our
garbage, some of the food that we throw away and let go to waste,
could feed Ethiopia.  And no doubt the paper we use is wasteful.
There's no doubt about it.  But that's what the devil always does; he
always takes a little element of truth and surrounds it with so much
deception that when you stand against it, all people want to do is
just say, "Well, listen, you're standing against something that's
true."

It is good what they're doing.  But, behind it, folks, is what you
have to be careful about.  It's not what they say up front; it's the
theology that's behind this movement.  And this movement is, "We're
going to make the world a better place to live in."

No, you won't!

Not no-how.

Not no-way.

No attempts of any one government is going to do it.  No attempts at
getting the world to come together is going to do it, because God
Himself is against it.  If you don't believe it, read over there in
Genesis 11 about the tower of Babel.  Over there, they were going to
get together and make sure God could never destroy them.  And all the
world was one nation and one language.  God came down, and He Himself
confounded it, because whenever everybody gets together, they always
kick God out.

Let me show you where we're at.  Look at 2Peter 3:7.  Now, what is God
going to do with this present-day earth that mankind is so concerned
about?  Here is what God is going to do: "But the heavens and the
earth, which are now"--that's what we're living in right now--"by the
same word are kept in store." What is keeping the world in store right
now?  The word of God--this thing right here--the Bible.  You say, "I
don't believe it."  Well, that's you're problem.  But God says His
word is making sure that this world does not obliterate itself.  God's
word is making sure that the water is just what it needs to be.  God's
word is making sure that everything is right and staying what it ought
to be, that the world doesn't slow down, or that we lose our
gravitational pull.  God is doing all this; it's His word that's doing
it.

Now, why is He doing it?  Watch it: "...reserved unto fire against the
day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."

I don't care what they do and how many trees they plant; I don't care
how they plant them and what they do--this world has an appointment, a
reservation, for the day of judgment, which will be a day of fire.

Let me show you how far it will go.  Look at verse 10: "But the day of
the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be
burned up."

Now, I'm not a physicist, but I've heard this said over and over
again, that this right here is really a description of an atomic bomb.
Now, I don't know how God would blow the earth up better than with an
atomic bomb.

You say, "Now, wait a minute! I believe in peace, and Gorbachev is
fixing the thing up, and he's this, and he's that..."  Hey, listen!
I'll say one thing about ol' Gorbachev--he is the smartest politician
in shoe leather today.  That fellow saw the Russian economy falling
apart, and Russia falling apart, and he game out with Glasnost and
Perestroika, and it all looks like he did it.  They were falling apart
anyhow; but he fixed it up and is fixing it up to where the one-world
government is going to come back.  North Korea and South Korea are
going to get back together.  Mainland China is going to accept Taiwan
back.  Hong Kong is going to go toward China.  Hey, the Germanys are
going to get back together.  It's been predicted in scripture!  We're
looking at it!

You know, it's like the world is spinning by so fast, and it's like
something unbelievable, that we as God's people had better wake up.
We're living in some exciting times.  We're seeing the very thing the
Bible prophesied about come to pass right before our eyes!  And we get
so busy listen to the commentators; don't let the news commentators
tell you what that stuff is all about!  Let the Bible tell you what
it's all about.

Notice here; look at verse 11: "Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved..."  What things?  Heaven and earth!  "...what
manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and
godliness."  What is God saying?  God is saying that He's going to
destroy it; make sure you're not a part of it.  That's what He's
saying.

But look at verse 12; here's where we're at: "Looking for and hasting
unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire
shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?"

Verse 13: "Nevertheless"--even though all these things are going to
happen--"we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." That's what we're looking for.
You want to clean it up?  Help yourself.  Listen, I'll even help you
clean it up.  When I go to the store, I'll get the right kind of bag--
I can't remember whether it's paper or plastic, but I'll sure ask
somebody.  I'll be ecology-conscious, and do my part and do what I'm
supposed to.  But, hey, don't look for me to get on your bandwagon.
Don't look for me to stand up and say, "Yeah, let's clean this world
up," because this world isn't going to get cleaned up.  It's done gone
down that road.  You see, the world, the earth, has a spiritual
problem--not a physical problem.  You can't fix it by just taking care
of the physical, you have to take care of the spiritual as well.

So don't get caught up in all this "ecology." I mean, if you want to
plant a tree, bless God, plant a tree.  I cut 'em down!  Now, the city
came by and they planted a little tree outside my house, and I've
watered it.  You know, I hope it takes off--stuff like that.  But, if
it becomes a mess and pollutes my yard, I'm going to cut the dumb
thing down!  I didn't want it up there to start off with.  Isn't it
amazing how the government says, "Here's what you're going to do; do
it."

The point I want to make is in Genesis chapter 1.  In Genesis chapter
1, you know as well as I do if you know anything about the Bible that
this is the creation of God.  And the creation speaks of God's power.
We won't take time to read all the verses, but I just want to give you
some things about the unbelieving world, the world that doesn't
believe there is a God.  I got this from a magazine that is
evolutionist through and through, atheistic.  And yet, they study the
ends of the earth, and they study the creation of God.  Now, I want
you to notice; they never give God the credit for anything!  This
"Earth Day" thing opens with prayer; but they won't close it with
prayer.  And you'd be hard-pressed to find them say anything at all
about who really created the world.  But here's what one unsaved man
found.  He says this: "Swallows can fly 7,000 miles without compass or
radio beam and land at the place they left six months before."
Mankind can't do that; we take all kinds of instruments along with us
to navigate our airplanes, etc.   He found out that spiders can make a
silk rope, creating materials in their own chemical laboratory.  The
very fiber is strong is enough to allow their own transportation
through the air.  He studied the beavers; you know what he found out
about the beavers?  He said beavers are engineers, constructing
without aid or tools, cement or precision instruments; they build
bridges, tunnels, roadways, canals, and dams that last for years.  He
studied the bees; he found out the bees, wasps and ants solve their
own housing problems by building well-ventilated, waterproof, well-
designed practical apartment houses.  He went down to the sea and
studied the young squid; he found out that the young squid travels by
jet propulsion.  He said as he swims by, pumping water through a tube
along its streamlined body, when pulsated, he can gather great speeds,
and he always jets backwards.  He observed that the squid can get
going so fast that he has little fins on his body, and he can turn
them up, and he's clocked them as fast as 60 miles an hour, breaking
through the water and jumping up something like 100 feet in the air,
and then landing back in the water, and leaving their foe completely
behind.

What's going on?  The creation of God speaks of the power of God.  He
went on.  He said not long ago a couple of scientists got together in
Chicago for an experiment.  They found a female moth of rare species,
and placed it in the room.  Four miles away they found a male moth.
Then they placed him in another room and let him go.  Remember, this
is in Chicago.  He said that, in spite of the density of the smoke in
the city and in spite of the distance and in spite of the fact that
the female moth was in an enclosed room--a few hours later, the male
moth was beating its wings upon the door of the female moth, wanting
to get in.

How do you explain all that?  There's only one way to explain it; it's
GOD!  God's in it all through and through.  His designs are wonderful,
and they're performed without a doubt.  This is common knowledge, but
this experimenter also tagged a salmon and released it in the Columbia
River.  That salmon spent four years in the Pacific, and then
consistently returned back to the same spawning place, through many
dangers and waters, and finally even died in an attempt to go back to
where it was spawned.

What's going on?  God creates wonderful and beautiful things, amen?

He goes on down through here and talks about wild ducks and geese and
other birds that can wing their way over their original locales.  He
found something out.  Over in the Book of Psalms, it says that if you
study creation, it will tell you something about God.  Do you know
those ancient air streams that have been up over our world for eons
and eons, and nobody knew about them?  One day they started studying
the ducks and the geese.  And they found out those ducks and geese got
'way up there; Somebody told them to fly so high and then just open
their wings, and they would just skate across the universe of our
world, and they would make headway.  People never could figure out how
they did it.  One day they followed them up there, and they found out
that they could take the airplane and literally turn the engine off of
an airplane, and skim along with the stream as it went through there.

What's going on? God's well designed.  Amen?  He does it right; He
never does it wrong.

With that thought in mind, let's take our Bibles and look at Genesis
chapter 1.  The creation speaks of God's power, but also the first
chapter of Genesis speaks of our power as God's people.  Look in
Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
Then verse 2: "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness
was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the
face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was
light."

Now, I want you to notice in verse 2, where it says, "And the earth
was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the
deep," do you know what that speaks of in our lives?  That speaks of
what you and I were before we got saved.  That's what it is; you
couldn't describe it any better: "without form, void and darkness."
That's what every lost person is; they're without God; they're in the
deep pits of darkness; they have no relationship with God; they have
no joy.  They can't even come to church.  I've seen them come to
church time and time again; they came last Sunday and the Sunday
before that.  They just sit there; they can't sing, they can't get
involved.  When somebody shouts, it makes them turn embarrassed.  When
somebody gives a testimony, it bothers them.  They can't understand
it.  What's the problem?  They're without form and void, and they're
full of darkness.

But, I want to tell you something.  The God of creation is also the
God of the Christian.  Notice what He did; it says, "...and the Spirit
of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be
light: and there was light."

That's the first thing God wants to give us.  If you're here and
you're saved, you were lost, but now you're saved, and the reason
you're saved is because God gave you light in your darkened condition.
I want to tell you something else; you won't have light until the
Spirit of God moves upon the waters in the face of the deep.  That's
why it's so important, even now as a Christian, that we learn not to
quench the Holy Spirit, learn not to grieve Him, and learn to hold on
and be truthful and stay true to God.

If you don't accept the light that God gives you, brother, it becomes
lightning.  I'm glad that when God moved upon my darkness, that I
responded to it.

I want you to notice something else; light comes from sound.  It's not
the opposite; God said, "Let there be light," and there was light in
creation.  The same is true in our new creation that God created in
you and me.  Thank God I'm a new created being, because I was without
form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.

Notice something else.  That was the first day.  The second day, it
talks about in verse 7, "And God made the firmament, and divided the
waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above
the firmament: and it was so."  That was the second day.  I'll tell
you what that says to me.  That speaks of the baptism which you and I
need after we're saved.  I'm not talking about a spiritual baptism.
I'm talking about a physical water-dunking that God requires for you
and me.  He doesn't require it for salvation, but He requires it
because we are saved.  There is something that speaks of the death,
burial, and resurrection; when a person goes into the pool of water,
and when a man dunks him down, he baptizes him in the name of the
Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and he raises him back up.

Let me ask you something, Christian.  Have you divided the waters in
baptism?  Have you divided the waters in faithfulness?  Have you
divided the waters and have done what God told you to do as being a
Christian?  I'll tell you what; there are a lot of Christians out
there who have got a real hang-up about water baptism.  They think you
ought to sprinkle them; they think you ought to pour it on them--all
this.  But water baptism speaks of the death that happened on Calvary;
it speaks of our death when we got saved; and we're to be resurrected
anew.  That's what it means.  When you sprinkle somebody, all you're
showing is nothing.  Zero.  Nobody ever got sprinkled in the Bible.
When you bury somebody, you don't sprinkle dirt on them; you bury
them.  That's what this speaks of; this is the creation of God that is
created in our lives.  Have you divided the waters?  Do you need to be
baptized?  You ought to be baptized.  Why?  So God can be pleased with
your life.  Amen?

People say, "Well, I can go to heaven without being baptized."  Hey,
amen, that's true.  But, buddy, you better watch out when you do get
there, because there's a judgment seat, and God is going to ask you
why you never got baptized.

I was dealing with a fellow one time in this town, and he was
sprinkled.  And the guy got saved, but he never wanted to get
baptized.  He said, "Well, I've been baptized once; that sprinkling
was good enough."  I tried to show him the word of God, where God said
it is in much water that Jesus baptized, and Jesus Himself was
baptized, went into the water, went down and came back up. God
commands it; it's a figure of death; and so forth and so on.  This
fellow said, "Naaah, I'm just not going to buy it.  I'm saved, I'm
going on to heaven.  Hallelujah!  Praise God!"  To this day, this
guy's still not baptized.

You say, "What's going to happen to him, Preacher?"  One of these
days, the Big Preacher is going to ask him, "Why didn't you get
baptized the way I told you to? Because that is symbolic of what I did
for you."  And that's something that is needed in every Christian's
life, just for a sign of obedience.  Amen?

Away with this nonsense that we can be saved and not be obedient!
Listen, God makes demands on our lives, and we ought to just bow unto
them, and be under His control.  People say, "Well, I don't like
anybody making demands on my life."  I know; that's why you're a
miserable Christian.  Somebody's going to demand something in your
life, and you ought to let God demand it in your life.  Have you been
baptized?  Have you divided the waters?

Notice something else, down here in verses 11 and 12--the third day:
"And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding
seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, and the tree
yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after hid kind: and God saw
that it was good."

I'll tell you the next thing God wants us to do; speak about His
yielding of fruit in your own life.  Listen to me.  The fruit of a
Christian ought to be another Christian.  Amen?  You know what the
fruit of the Holy Spirit is--"love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness,"
so forth and so on?  And we have that.  Thank God, that's in your
life.  But do you, and have you, and will you produce the fruit of
another Christian?  You say, what is it?  That's Christian fruit.

You know what the fruit of a preacher is?  Another preacher.  You know
what the fruit of a missionary is?  Another missionary.  And that's
the way it ought to be.  I hope that, before I die or God calls me
home in the rapture, that I can produce another preacher after my
kind.  You say, "Two of you?"  Yeah, I'd like for there to be two of
us!  That'd make you doubly miserable, amen?  But I sure would like to
do that.

I think the fruit of a teenage Christian ought to be another teenage
Christian.  You say, "That's your own personal opinion."  Yeah, but
it's as good as yours; you ought to try it out sometime."  Have you
produced any fruit?

One fellow got saved while I was in the military.  He was one of those
fellows that I had to just nurture along.  It was like having a little
pet.  This guy's name is Mike Sotheby.  He's been here one time in the
church.  Ol' Mike got saved.  Mike is almost a borderline genius in my
book.  This guy can do anything; he's just one of those kinds of guys.

After we left the military, Mike got away from sound doctrine; he went
off to one of those "funny" colleges.  They put a lot of strange ideas
in him; one of the ideas was not to be a Baptist, but to be
"interdenominational."  And so, for the last six years, ol' Mike has
been up in Indiana, and he's been wrapped up in all these
interdenominational churches.  And God's really been dealing with him.
And so Mike led a little expedition over to the Dominican Republic, to
feed the poor people.  That's what the liberals like to do; they like
to feed poor people; that makes them feel good.  Mike got over there,
and the preacher said, "Mike, you seem to have a unique talent in
leadership.  I want you to go over there and, every night, I want you
to lead these people in a little devotion.  Would you do that, Mike?"

Mike said, "Sure."

The preacher said, "If you'll do that, Mike, we'll pay your way over
there, and you be the kind-of spiritual leader."

Ol' Mike went over there.  I want to tell you that Mike is saved, and
he loves God.  Mike went over there, and he sat down.  That day, they
saw the people parading with their cross, and all that kind of stuff.
So Mike thought it would be really good to bring a little devotion on
the difference between what we believe and what the Catholic Church
believes.  Mike opened up the Bible that night and said, "Now, I want
to show you that there's a difference between the Catholic Church and
our church."

Man, that thing just went sky high, because there were seven Catholics
there that night!  What were they doing?  They were there in the
interdenominational church because they spoke English and felt more
comfortable there.

But Mike said the fight was on!  That was the first night.  By the
seventh night, he tried to give a devotional, but those people just
would not hear it.  They would have nothing to do with it.  They said,
"Put the Bible away, and just talk to us about a little love!  Don't
talk to us about the difference between religions.  We will not hear
it!"  So he said, "Well, I don't know what to do."

So one night he said, "I'll just show a little difference between the
charismatic church and our church."

The fan went up again, and people walked out on him. These people were
tongue-speakers, man!  They believed you've got to have this
charismatic, and they started praying for him, that he'll get the
"baptism of the Holy Spirit."

Mike said, "Man, my God, what have I gotten into?"

He got back there and reflected: "The church is running 2,000, doing
well, paying me a salary.  What's going on?"

One day there was a knock on his door.  Someone said, "Mike, the
pastor wants to talk to you."

Mike walked over there and went into the office.  There were all these
people there.  The preacher said, "Mike, I heard that you were a
rebel-rouser!  Mike, you have said some things that have offended
people.  We've got people in this church who've been members for a
long time, and they're upset."

Mike said, "Oh, listen, preacher, just between you and me, we've got
people in this church who are Catholics!  We've got people in this
church who are charismatics!"

The preacher said, "Mike, I know!"

Mike said, "What are you going to do about it?"

The preacher said, "Nothing!  Haven't done anything about it for
twenty years; what should I do about it now?  They pay my salary!"

Mike said to himself, "My God, what have I gotten into for the past
six years?"

You see, Christians just get their eyes closed.  They just walk
around.  Mike is the only guy I know who would seek me out at 10
o'clock down there in a border town, where I was.  I got a phone call,
and it was Mike Sotheby.  He called everybody and found out where I
was, and he said, "Preacher, I need some wise counsel."  He told me
all that he did.

I said, "The first thing you need to do is get on your knees and ask
God to forgive you and repent from getting wrapped up in a situation
where God has never been."

He said, "OK, I'll be right back."

What happened?  Mike said, "I have not borne any fruit for God in the
six years that I've been tied up in this organization.  I don't know.
I've been tagged a rebel-rouser."

If you knew Mike, you would know how funny that is, because Mike is so
meek and mild-mannered. He said, "All I did was just open the Bible
and give them a little old Bible verse, and they couldn't handle it."

What am I saying?  Mike is learning what it means to bear fruit after
his own kind.

Listen to me.  You better be careful of Christians who say, "Yes, I'm
saved," but they never get baptized, and they never go to church, and
they never bear fruit.  God so decided in His creation that trees are
to bear fruit. I don't know what kind of fruit it should bear, but it
should bear something.  It should grow.  Why?  Because designed it
that way in His creation.  And, brother, God designed it that way in
His "new" creation, the Christian.  We are new creatures in Christ.
Amen?  You say, "When did that happen?"  When God shone some light in
your life, and you got saved.

Let me show you something else. Look at verses 14-18; this is the
fourth.  Notice what God did here: "And God said, Let there be lights
in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and
let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years."  Did
you know that God is a separatist?  Did you know that God separates
things?  Man, look up here in verses 4 and 5.  God separated the day
from the night.  And here God separated the lights, and gives lights
so they'll separate--day from night.

Did you know that you and I are called the light of this world?  And
brother, when you turn your light on, do you know what you're going to
do?  You're going to expel darkness.

Maybe tonight you don't believe a whole lot about this thing called
"separation."  But it is a Biblical, sound doctrine for you and me to
practice.  Biblical separation--separation from the world, separation
from those who do not believe in like faith and practice.

Now, I always get into trouble when I hit this, but let me ask you
something.  Is the ecumenical movement of God?  When the Roman
Catholic Church, the Presbyterians, the Lutherans, the Unitarians, the
Mormons, and the Jehovah's Witnesses--all these people--get together
and say, "Our purpose for getting together is love, and we're going to
do something for God"?  Let me tell you something; our purpose for
getting together is NOT love!  Our purpose for getting together is the
truth. Amen?  The truth!

Isn't it funny that Jesus said, "You will know the truth."  He didn't
say, "You will know love, and love will make you free."  But, "The
truth will make you free."  And you better be careful when you start
hanging around the so-called "Christians"--and there are some of them
who really are Christians, but they're liberal in their theology--and
they're in false doctrine.  Watch out for them, because they'll rub
off on you.  God says, "Separate, and leave 'em alone."  You better be
careful when you hang around the ungodly world, because the longer you
hang around with them, it'll rub off on you.  It's agressive; it'll
hurt you.  And God wants us to understand there is a doctrine called
separation.  We should back off and say, "No, wait a minute, God's not
in this, and I ought not to have anything to do with it."

Listen, as a parent you better learn what separation is.  I don't know
a whole lot about a lot of things, but there is one thing I do know:
When they make a thoroughbred horse, they put a fence up, just not so
every stray can come across that fence.  So they select horses that
can go in to that mare, because they want pure blood.

I'm telling you, I'm not talking about a pure blood race like Adolph
Hitler did, but I am talking about a pure, spiritual line.  You need
to protect yourself and protect your family, and keep yourself in an
area where there is absolutely no false doctrine creeping in.

Notice something else; down here in verse 26: "And God said, Let us
make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth." Did you know that God wants us to be created
in His image?  Adam was created in His image, but he lost it when he
sinned.  You and I, however, can get it back when we're born again.
Amen?

God wants you and me to have that image which is in Jesus Christ.  You
say, "What was the image of Christ?"  He was kind; He was good.  He
went the extra mile; He didn't quit.  God give us some men and women
in this church who won't be quitters, who won't give up.  Thank God
for the missionary we had today; man, over there with half salary, and
his wife and he both had to work; thank God for a man like that!  I
don't want to get around these guys who quit all the time.  Why?  It
rubs off on me!

Do you know what's wrong with most Christians today?  It's P.M.S.
Most women here, you know that P.M.S. will kill you, amen?  Let me
tell you something, Christian--P.M.S. will kill you! You say, "What
does that mean?"  That's the Poor Me Syndrome; you get that on you,
man, and it will wear you out.  It'll burn you out.  You get those
missionaries over there, and they get to thinking, "Well, there's
nobody here to fellowship with, to go on with."  And after awhile they
just say, "Woe is me, poor me. I need to go home, back to America."

Listen, my heart goes out to missionaries.  I thank God He didn't call
me to a foreign field; it's so hard! Brother Smith was saying on the
way back, "I forgot to tell your people one thing.  It's hard over
there.  And it's not good.  We've lost our hair, and we've been sick.
But we love it!  We love it!  God changed our heart and made us love
the Chinese-speaking people.  We love it!  We can't wait to get back
to it."

I said, "Man, God's all in that kind of stuff!"

You say, "What is that?"  He's created after the image of God.
There's an image inside every Christian.  That Christian ought to have
the image of Jesus Christ come out through your mouth, come out
through your eyes, and come out through your ears and your hands.  You
ought to have a desire to help somebody.  You ought to have a desire
to lead somebody.  You ought to have a desire, first of all, to love
God, because of the image He's created in you.

There's an image.  Is that image in you?  Some people say, "Well, you
know, to be Christ-like means to be just like Jesus Christ."  I
believe that; I really do.  How was Jesus Christ?  Let me tell you how
He was.  He was hated.  Does anybody hate you?  He was despised; does
anybody despise you?

You say, "Yeah, because I didn't pay my bills."  I'm not talking about
that.  I'm talking because you're a Christian, and because you're a
witness, and because you're letting the light shine, and you're
obeying God.  That's not a popular thing; that'll hurt you, brother.
God says, "If you're going to be like Christ, then He was put on a
cross for something He didn't do. He was accused of something that He
did not do." Has anybody ever accused you falsely?

Let me ask you; how did you take it?

What does it mean to be Christ-like?  It doesn't mean it's always
easy. Brother, to be Christ-like means you learn how to pray, because
he learned how to pray in Gethsemane.  To be Christ-like is something
that is needed in your life and in my life.  Jesus Christ wants to
save you, and Jesus Christ wants the image.  That image oftentimes
will mean people will often hate to be around you, and hate you, and
misunderstand, and look at you like you're some kind of wierdo and
some kind of freak--because you're standing for what's truth and
what's right.  That's what God wants to do.

The creation of God speaks of His power, but it also speaks of the
power of the Christian.