The Road to Righteousness

How long are you supposed to pray? That's a good question, and since this is not a question and answer session, I'm not going to answer it. As long as it takes, and I tell you one of the ways you do it, friend, you pray against it. Pray against it. I mean, if you're about to marry someone, don't spend your time in prayer praising God for that person. Don't say, God, I thank you. Oh Lord, you're so good to me. Say, God, I don't want to make a mistake. Am I infatuated? Am I living in a cloud? Is there something I'm not seeing here? Open my eyes, Jesus. I don't want to be infatuated and then be hit when I get married and be married to the wrong person. Open my eyes. That's the way you need to pray, and you'll see God. He can handle prayers like that. Hallelujah. Well, I'm using handheld mics for the next, I don't know, a couple weeks because I've been losing my voice. You know it's hard to preach when you've lost your voice. It's hard to preach when you've lost your voice, and so this helps us to—it helps us to regulate the sound better, and we have an Awake America on Monday in Charlotte. We've got the 700 Club on Monday in Wake America, and then Wake America on Tuesday, revival Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and it just keeps going on and on. I want to do something that I haven't done in quite a while, and this is just a quick review over this week. How many were not here Wednesday night? Raise your hand. How many were not here Thursday night? Raise your hand. How many were not here Friday night? Raise your hand. How many were not here last Thursday? Raise your hand. How many were here not—not here last—were not here last Wednesday? Or last Friday? Okay. I'm gonna give you a review, a quick review over the messages. One of the reasons I'm doing that, and I've got a message for tonight, is because I feel there's an—I feel incomplete for some reason tonight, and pastors, you'll identify with this. Sometimes when you preach a message, you feel like you didn't complete it, and this week I feel that way. Every message I've preached this week has been a new message the Lord gave me that morning, but I felt each night that God had to say—wanted to say more, and I just feel like tonight, He's brought us all together for this time, and I feel like I need to do this. So how many will permit me to do it? This is gonna be quick. You can call it the Saturday night review. Wednesday night I preached a message entitled, I have sinned. Say that with me. There's a lot going on in America right now. I shared with you many, many Scriptures that had those three words in it, from Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, 1st Samuel, 2nd Samuel, Psalms, Micah, Matthew, Luke, the prodigal son. He said, I have sinned. I shared with you what those words mean. I want everyone to look this way. I want you to listen. I shared three Ps with you on Wednesday night. Those of you that weren't here, here they are. The first word is I. That is a personal word. I have sinned. I'm talking about how to get right with God. This is how you do it. This is how you repent, and America right now is trying to figure out how to get right with God. America is watching people repent on television, and they're going, that didn't sound right. That didn't sound right. An unconverted man can sit there and go, there's something wrong with that. There's just something missing. There's a missing ingredient in that. I'm gonna tell you how to do it. I, not you, not they, not I have but they did too. It is I have sinned. You, that is a very possessive pronoun. That is, I am the one that is responsible for this. This is how you get right with God. I want everyone to listen. Young people, don't blame other people. I remember sitting up in jail, and I was busted many times for drugs and car theft and just junk in my life. And I would sit in jail, and I would look out those jail windows, and I would go, those people walking on the streets are just as guilty as I am. They just haven't gotten caught. You listening to me? Shows a real remorseful attitude, doesn't it? A real repentant. You're just as guilty as I am. And I would be busted in a drug raid, and I would think of all the people that didn't get busted. And I would think, they need to be busted too. I've gotten busted, they need to get busted. What about the dealers that are over me? How come you didn't get those, the ones that bring it out of Colombia, the ones that bring it out of Peru, bring it over from Turkey? How come you didn't bust them? No, that's not how you repent, friend. You repent by saying, I. It's very personal. Have. Have means to possess. This is a very positive term. It is not, I might have, or I perhaps have done something that was incorrect. It is, I have. Are you listening? I have sinned. I possess this. I am the one guilty, and this is what America's been waiting for over the airwaves. And basically, it's probably too late now, but America can handle repentance like that. I am hard-pressed. I don't know about you, but I am hard-pressed when someone comes to me broken, moaning and groaning, buckled over, and they're on their knees repenting. They're not shifting the blame. They're not pointing fingers. They're saying, I have sinned. I look at that person, and it doesn't matter what they've done. I've been with serial killers. I have been with serial killers, and I look at a serial killer. When they're doing that, I can't go, get up. What do you think? I'm going, there's nothing I can say. You've said it all. Those are all the right ingredients. You're broken, you're moaning, you're groaning. You're sincere in your heart. I have sinned. It's personal, it's positive, I have, and it's also pointed, sinned. Not I have done wrong. Not I have committed a major boo-boo. You listening to me? I said, are you listening? If you don't say something, friend, I'm going to go back over every one of the points. I have sinned. Now, sin is transgression of God's law. If you say, I have done something wrong, what's that? Or, I have hurt my family, what's that? I have disappointed a lot of people, what's that? I have sinned. Ah, I can handle that. God can handle that type of language. I have sinned. That means you know you have transgressed the law. Yes, you have committed adultery. Yes, you have been drinking and doing drugs and you have been abusing the temple of the Holy Spirit. Yes, you are committing fornication and now you're repenting. You're saying, I have sinned, I have committed fornication. Ah, God can handle that. I have sinned. Personal, positive, and pointed. And I want to remind you, when you repent like that tonight, regardless of what the sin is that you've committed, when you repent like that, God is also very personal, very positive, and very pointed. He said, if you'll confess your sin, I am faithful and just to forgive you your sin and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. By the way you repent, you receive pardon. He sees you broken and he goes, I like that. My son died for people like that. I'm going to forgive that man. Are you hearing me tonight, friend? Any other repentance won't work. You can call it what you want to call it, it won't work. You've got to be sincere. You've got to possess it. It's got to be positive and you got to lay it on the altar as sin. If not, you're going to get up the same way you came. That was Wednesday night. I have sinned. America needs to hear that. Thursday night, I preached a message entitled, A Word From Heaven. A Word From Heaven. One of the scriptures was Luke chapter 2, 6 through 18. And I talked about the, and that scripture speaks of the shepherds who were watching the fields by night. And an angel of the Lord came to them and said, behold, I bring you great tidings, good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And the shepherds feared greatly. They were shocked. And then a multitude of angels began singing, glory to God in the highest. That was one of the scriptures I shared. Another scripture that I shared with you is when Jesus began his earthly ministry. And he said, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. He went into the temple. And he said, today, this verse, this scripture has been fulfilled in your eyes. And these were words from heaven. Words from heaven. And I spoke on Thursday night how we need to hear words from heaven. I said, we need to hear a word from heaven because we spend most of our time hearing words from the world. I said, we spend most of our time hearing words from the world. And we went through a few of those. Everybody knows the breaking news of the day. And I shared with you about 20 headlines over the last year. And I'm not going to share those tonight. But I brought about 20 headlines. And as I named these headlines, I watched people's eyes just light up. They knew all about them. Princess Di and her death. Some of you know more about that, where it took place, who was in the car, who caused the wreck. And you stayed up on it more than you have Bible study. Full of the world. You know everything about baseball. You know everything about football. You know everything about the greatest fishing lure that's out today. By the way, friend, once they start with electric fishing lures, there's no end to it. You know that, don't you? Y'all know that, don't you? Now they have electric lures that have batteries in them and stuff, you know? It's like, there's no end to this now. You know that, don't you? I mean, they'll make lures that sing to fish. They'll make lures that cuddle up next to a big old bass, you know, and sing bass talk with them, you know? Let me jump in your mouth. Let me jump in your mouth. There's no end to it. But some of you know more about what's in your tackle box than what's in the Word of God. Full of the words of the world. And there's no end to breaking news. There's no end to it. And right now in America, we are being flooded. It's being pushed in our face. And friend, look this way, everybody, those of you watching at home, it ain't over yet. We're just beginning. And I want to encourage everyone within the sound of my voice to re-evaluate what's going through your eye gates and your ear gates. And make sure you've got some balance in your life. We spend most of our time, that was one of my points, listening to the words of the world. And then my other point was when God comes on the scene, when God comes on the scene with a fresh word, He often frightens or angers us. And I brought you to the Scriptures. Here, everybody is so wrapped up in the world that when God comes on the scene, what happens with the shepherds? They're frightened. What happens when Paul starts preaching about the resurrection of the dead? They start mocking him. People are stoned when you start preaching a fresh word from heaven. We are so deep and entrenched in the things of the world, when a word from heaven comes, we're shocked. I'm not that way, Brother Steve. I'm very open to the things of God. Well, we'll see. We'll see down the road if God does something special, if God does something powerful. Some of us in this room are so steep in intellect. Listen up in the balcony. You're so intellectual that if you heard down the street that God raised somebody from the dead, you'd go, wait just a minute. God doesn't do that. Tell me about the body. Tell me about this. Tell me about that. You're so ingrained in the things of the world, and what Mike said earlier about if you'll just believe, you'll see. Those were the words of Jesus. See, those were words from heaven to a group of people that were mourning the death of that man. But Jesus stepped to this earth from heaven, and He spoke differently. He said, I've got a word from heaven. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the resurrection and the life. I can bring people back to life. That's a word from heaven. People are shocked. They're amazed when you bring a word from heaven. How about you, friend? I talked a little bit about, who was it, Mike? Felix. Felix. He's got it right here, buddy. When Felix and Drusilla brought Paul to them, and he was sharing the gospel, he's talking about righteousness, living for God, the judgment of God, Felix and Drusilla were listening to him, and Felix began to tremble. Now, if Paul had been brought to them and Paul was talking about prison conditions, if Paul was talking about the Roman army, or if Paul was talking about the success that Felix is going to have in life, no big thing. But Paul brought up a word from heaven, and Felix trembled, and he kicked him out, and he said, I'll send for you when I'm ready for you. This is how we respond to a word from God. Everybody stand up with me. Now, sit back down. I did that because I didn't want to embarrass that one person that was nodding off. Next time, I will. My third point on that night, on Thursday night, was one word from heaven is worth more than a lifetime of words from this world. One word from heaven is worth more than a lifetime of words from this world. Friend, trust me on this. When a Lutheran minister came into my bedroom on October 28th, 1975, I had been on drugs for years. I was a mainliner sticking needles in my arms, been in and out of jail. I was one miserable young man. He came in and sat at the edge of my bed, and he did not say, Steve, this was back in 75, he didn't say, Steve, let's talk about Watergate. He did not sit down with me and say, Steve, have you seen how pretty it is outside? What a wonderful day. He sat in the edge of my bed, and he said, Steve, I can't help you, but I know somebody who can. His name is Jesus, and he can set you free. He can set you free from drugs. He's in this room. You know what that was? That was a word from heaven. It was worth more to me than a lifetime of words from the world. I remember the day as if it was yesterday. I'm coming up next month. It'll be 23 years since that day that man led me to Jesus. He's been here at the revival several times, loves this revival, on fire, Lutheran minister. And I mean, there's nothing like it when we share together. I mean, it's so awesome. Matter of fact, we're doing a television broadcast with him and just sharing how it all happened, what God's done, what God's doing in his life, what God's done in my life. And the miracle of that day, how one little encounter. And those of you that evangelize, listen to me. You never know what's happening. When you share a word from heaven, you never know what's happening. You don't know if that person is going to be changed and preach the gospel around the world. You don't know if that person is going to be changed and their marriage is going to be healed. They're going to come off of drugs. You don't know. Just keep sharing words from heaven. Make sure you keep your head in heaven when you're talking to him. Don't get caught up in the muck and the mire of this world. A word from heaven worth a whole lot more than a word from the world. And I said this on Thursday night. Tonight, everyone within the sound of my voice needs to hear a clear word from heaven. And I close Thursday night by saying to those that are away from God, that have never known the Lord, that Jesus loves you and has a plan for your life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For those of you that are depressed here tonight, this is a word from heaven. He's the glory and the lifter of your head. He's the glory and the lifter of your head. He will lift your head, friend. High. He'll lift it up high. He'll put something in you, friend. You'll be able to walk around with respect. You'll be able to walk around with principle. You'll walk around with glory on you. People will say to you, what's gotten into you? You'll say, oh, just God, just God, just Jesus. He'll lift those of you that are depressed. I want to tell you, this is a word from the Lord, a word from heaven. He'll lift you up. He will lift you up. Those of you that are backslidden, the Bible says he will heal your backslidings. Joel said he will restore the years that the locusts have eaten. That's a word from heaven. How many know what I'm talking about? He'll make up everything the devil did to destroy you. God will bring those years. He'll make up for lost time. He'll restore the years that the locusts have eaten. I'm here to testify of that. He'll do that in your life, friend. Those of you in Bible school, you've messed up all these years and you're 25, you're 30 years old now or whatever, and you think you've wasted so many years. Yes, you have, but fasten your seatbelt, friend, because he's going to restore the years. You and God can take quantum leaps. You can move in God faster. I am convinced. I am convinced a person can grow as fast as they want to grow. So those of you that are backslid, he'll restore the years that the locusts have eaten. He'll forgive you tonight. Those of you that are religious, Jesus loves you. He has a plan for your life. Tonight, he's going to deliver you from religiosity. He's going to deliver you from hanging around the cross, and you're going to get on the cross. These are words from heaven. I got a lady upset at me the other day. Man, she was mad. And I looked her straight in the face and I said, there's not one Episcopalian in heaven. She's Episcopalian. And I just paused. I mean, she got...I mean, you could feel it. You know what I'm talking about? You could just sort of feel it. And I said, there ain't no Presbyterians in heaven. I said, there ain't one Methodist. There ain't a Pentecostal up there. There ain't an assembly of God or a church of God. There's not a Nazarene. There's not a Mennonite. There's not one denomination in heaven. Everyone in heaven has been washed in the blood of the Lamb, been washed in the blood of the Lamb, been washed in the blood of the Lamb. That's the only way in. That's the only way to get there. She looked at me. She looked at me and went, oh. She wanted to know what she is. She's religious. She's religious. And she was going, don't you mess with my denomination. I'll mess with your denomination, friend. I want to tell you, your denomination needs messing with. I'm with the assemblies of God. We need messing with. Somebody needs to mess with the assemblies of God. Somebody needs to mess with the Baptists, mess with the Methodists, mess with the Episcopalians, mess with us, Jesus. We want to get right. We want to get right. We want to get right with you, Jesus. We want to get right with you. Holy Ghost. So, get a fresh word from heaven last night. Yes, Lord. Well, I tell you, there are some folks that are ticked in this room. I can feel it. You know what I feel? I feel these little darts bouncing off of me. I'm getting close. I can feel it, friend. I mean, there's some who do you think you are people in this place. I'm telling you, I can feel it tonight. I don't like you, and I'd get up and leave, but you'd call me down. I will, sir. But what you're hearing is a fresh word from heaven. That other junk is stale, friend. See, what I want to warn America with is these words Jesus said on that day, many will say unto me, Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name? Didn't we cast out devils? Didn't we do all these wonderful things in your name? And he said, depart from me. I never knew you. Friend, we're talking about a great gulf of people that were denominational in name, didn't know Jesus. And I'd rather give you a fresh word from heaven down here than you hear that up there on Judgment Day. I'd rather you hear it down here and make a good analysis of your life. And we got Episcopalians on our prayer team. We have Presbyterians on our prayer team. We got Methodists on our prayer team. I love the denominations, friend. I love them all. As long as they're preaching the word, I love them. But none of those are going to save you. None of them are going to save you. I went to my niece's wedding just a short while ago in a Presbyterian church, and it was just as powerful as any assembly of God, any Methodist, any other wedding I've ever been to. And it was very ritualistic. It was very quiet. The church was majestic. They sang from the hymnal. No one was shouting. I had to hold back singing. You ever been in church service like that? Every time I go to my mom's Lutheran church, and I'll sit with my mom in there, you know, and it's just this old, you know, been around a long time type of church. And I remember the first time I went there, they were singing the song, holy, holy, holy. And so, I got the hymnal open, and I went, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Early in the morning, my... And I had my eyes closed, you know, just... And then I opened them, and the whole church, like 400 people. Yeah. And my mama, afterwards, she goes, Stevie, I love it when you come to church with me. I love it when you come to church, and I love it when you sing. She loves the attention. You know what they're thinking? They're thinking, that's Ann Hill's boy who was a drug addict. He was an alcoholic. He was in sin for years. Now, listen to him. He's singing praises to God. He's lifting up his voice to the Lord. He's lifting up Jesus. He loves the Lord. Listen to him. Holy Ghost, lift your voice. Holy Ghost, we love you, Jesus. Bless the Lord. Bless the Lord. And, folks, me singing out loud, like, didn't it make me any more spiritual than anybody else? It's just, I felt in my spirit. You know, I just, when I sing, what a friend we have in Jesus. I mean, you know, it's personal. It's major stuff, and it's hard to sing it. You want to open your mouth and let him know, and it doesn't matter who's listening. But anyway, at that Presbyterian wedding, it was somebody else's thing. My niece's wedding, so I was nice, and I just sang quietly. But it was a super spiritual, fantastic wedding. Awesome. Spirit of God was there. Tremendous. Married under the Holy Ghost. Powerful service. A friend, denominations won't save you. Telling you that's a fresh word from heaven for some of you. Last night, I preached a message entitled, Prepare to Meet Thy God. Prepare to meet thy God. Amos, in Amos chapter 4, he talked about what God has done, had done, the plagues that he'd put on children of Israel, the things that he had done to get them right. Folks, look this way. Many of you in this room, many in the balcony, many of you at home, God has tried, he's prodded, he's moved upon you. Some of you keep backsliding, and backsliding, and backsliding, and backsliding. Now, I didn't touch on this last night, but I want to tell you, you think the people around you are sick of it. How do you think God feels about it? This is how it is. Those of you that constantly fall back into pornography, or constantly fall back into lust, constantly fall back in the same old thing, it would be the same. The same thing as my wife and I, who I had up here just a few minutes ago, us being married, and I go out and commit adultery. I go out and commit adultery, and I come back, and she's broken, she's broken over it, but she forgives me. Okay, she forgives me. And then a month later, I go out and do it again. And then I come back and say, I'm sorry. I am so sorry. I am so sorry. And she's a godly woman, she forgives me. Three months later, I do it again. Think of it, friend. How do you think God feels? After a while, don't you think it gets old? Don't you think after a while, God looks at us and says, I don't trust you. I don't trust you. It's all lip service. You're whining, you're moaning, and going, what'd you do, get caught again? You're in trouble again with your parents? Are you in trouble at school? Are you in trouble again with your wife, your husband? Oh, so you're repenting again now. What do you think God feels about that, friend? Constantly coming back. Amos spoke these words, prepare to meet thy God. For a few minutes last night, I talked about preparation, what it means to prepare. That means to make yourself ready. And by the response at the altar last night, hundreds and hundreds of people were not ready. As a matter of fact, at the end of the altar call, after the whole bottom was already full, and people were up the aisles, God still did not release me because there are still people that were not ready to repent. And so I took the microphone, I went up to the balcony. And as I went up this side of the balcony, people were flushed out of that side of the balcony. They were running to the altar, getting right with God. All I'm trying to do is prepare people because you are going to meet the Lord. You're going to meet the Lord. It would be the same, the same thing as if I took John Kilpatrick and put him in the foyer and said, Pastor, would you stay in the foyer? And there's some people that are coming to meet you. He would. He'd go stand in the foyer, and I'd say, what's your name? McKenzie? I'd say, McKenzie, you are about to meet John Kilpatrick. No, I'm not. Yes, you are. No. Yes, you are. McKenzie, you're about to meet John Kilpatrick. No, I'm not. Yes, you are. And then I'll walk around, and I'll talk to other people, and I'll say, what's your name? Yeah. David? I'll say, David, you're about to meet John Kilpatrick. No, I'm not. Yeah, you are. Face to face, you're going to have a talk with him. No. No, he don't care about me, and I don't know him, and then I talk to several other people. Most everyone just, you know, yeah, right. Then I go, McKenzie, come with me right now. Where? To meet John Kilpatrick. And we go walking down this aisle together. We open the door, and he's standing right there. And I take you, McKenzie, in front of John Kilpatrick, and he reaches out his hand. He says, hello, McKenzie. McKenzie, I've been waiting for you. Just as surely as that was set up, so is this meeting coming up with you. Everyone is going to stand before God. Everybody, whether you believe it or not, and it doesn't matter whether you believe it or not. The Bible says it, and that settles it. You are going to meet the Lord. You're going to stand before God Almighty one day, and you better prepare. You better prepare yourself. And we talked about what it means to prepare. It means to make yourself ready. And last night, I talked about a gardener who's going to plant a garden. We'll first go out and till the ground and pull up all the roots and get all the rocks out and fertilize the ground. And then it'll be ready for the seed, preparing the ground. We talked about John Glenn who's about to go up into orbit again. I don't know how old is he now, 60s? How old is he? 78? Yeah, 78 years old. He's about to go up into space and how the new equipment that he's got to use is so different from what he used 34 years ago. The space shuttle has 15 times more controls, and it's 64 times bigger than what he was in last time. That changes things, doesn't it? Now he can move around. And so what is he doing? He's in training right now. He's preparing himself to go into space. The importance of preparation. I talked about if you're going to go on a road trip, you check out your car, you make sure the battery's fine, you make sure the tire pressure is okay, make sure you got gas, students. I know the Bible school experience is hyper-faith, just hyper-faith. I remember those days. You know, I was one. I was one when I first just got on fire, first got on fire. I believe God for everything. Friend, toilet paper. Toilet paper. We'd get on our face before God and pray it in, man. Jesus! Sherman! Sherman! Now! We'd pray it in, man. And I'm going to tell you a story. You don't have to believe me if you don't want to, but when Jim Summers is here, the director of the program, he'll validate it. We prayed. We were out of toilet paper. Jim never gave us no money. We were all students, you know, we were all young men, you know, and he just, even if he had the money, he'd just, you know, pray about it, guys. We were praying for toilet paper, going after God. That's important. How many would say it is important? Toilet paper's important in life, friend. And when you're out, we were out. We were going after God. There was about 15 of us weeping and wailing. Going after the Lord. God, send it in. Send it in. A few blocks down the road was this kid who used to come to our Friday night meetings, we had Friday night rally meetings. He was reading his Bible, and this really happened. He was reading his Bible, and he goes, he goes into the closet, grabs several rolls of toilet paper, and runs as fast as he can down to Outreach Ministries, down to the house. He bangs on the door, and he goes, here. Yes. And we're going, we're going, thank you, Jesus. We worship you. We love you, Jesus. We thank you for providing our every need, Lord. Thank you. Those were the early days of Steve Hill. I would go to Walmart. I remember one time with my mom, I went to Walmart with my mama. We're driving, and you know how you drive around, and around, and around, and around. I drove up, I said, mama, God's going to give us a parking place right up front. And my mama looked at me like, Steve, it really doesn't matter. You know, I'll walk. God is going to give me a parking place right up front, because I'm a child of the king. You remember that book a long time ago, How to Live Like a King's Kid? And so, I'm a child of the king. He's got a parking place just for me. And he did. We'd pull out and say, see, mama? Mama's jaw would drop, you know. But after a while, I learned that God was basically nurturing me, putting up with me. And now, God says, son, park your car on the other side of the parking lot and get some exercise. Now, that's what God speaks to me about. So, I'm sure you got hyper-faith at the Bible school. I'm sure you got folks that go, Jesus, I had no time to study. But, Lord, bring back to remembrance. Even, yea, I say it to you, yea, the things I haven't learned, bring them back to remembrance. And after a while, Bible school students, you'll find that doesn't work either. You need to crack your knees, open up the books, and study. But there's a preparation time. For example, a test is coming up, you prepare. The athletic event of the century is fixing to come, and that is going to be the Olympics, the closing of this millennium. The beginning of the next millennium is going to be the Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Right now, there are athletes hoofing it. I mean, running, marathon runs. Why? To get in shape for the Olympics in Sydney, Australia. They're still a couple years away. But you would be hard-pressed, friend, if you arrived at the Olympics, and you were a sprint runner, and you arrived with two bowling balls of weight hanging around your waist. That's about 25 pounds overweight. Twenty-five pounds overweight, belching a cheeseburger, muscles flabby. How do you think your coach would look at you? Friend, you're unprepared, and that was my second point last night. To be unprepared when you have been warned leaves you without excuse. To be unprepared after you've been warned leaves you without excuse. Amos said, prepare to meet your God. I'm warning you, get ready to meet your God. And I'm warning everyone here tonight, get ready to meet your God. Prepare yourself to meet your God. To be unprepared in a test at school after you've been told you're going to have a test is without excuse. And you can figure it out from there. After hearing the gospel, after a preacher stands in front of you and says, Jesus is coming, Jesus is coming, Jesus is coming, Jesus is coming. Don't be surprised when he shows up on the scene, and everyone else is sucked out of their shoes, and you're standing there looking at all the Nikes. What do you think that is, friend? You were unprepared. But I had prepared you. I had told you that he's coming. You are without excuse. And then my last point last night was everyone within the sound of my voice will experience a face-to-face encounter with their God. A face-to-face encounter with your God. Now, there's some people in this room that don't believe in Jesus. There's folks here all the time that come to these meetings, they don't know the Lord, and you can't say he's your God. Yes, you can, he's your God. See, there's only one God. I want everyone to hear me. There's only one God, Jehovah God. He's God. He's the one that created it all. Everything else is demonology. Everything else is lower. Angelic beings, yeah, they're out there, they're floating around. There's demons floating. There's only one God, and he's over everything. Jesus Christ has been given authority. There's no other name under heaven whereby you must be saved. And I use this illustration for those of you that say, well, he's not my God. And I said this, if you're from Florida, your governor is Lawton Childs. He's your governor. He's not my governor. I didn't vote for him. Yes, he is. If you're from Florida, he's your governor. No, he's not. Yes, he is. No, he's not. Yes, he is. No, he's not. Yes, he is. He's your governor if you're from Florida. But I didn't vote for him. It doesn't matter. He's still governor, and he's still got power. Let me tell you something about Lawton Childs. You know what he could do if he wants to? If he just got just a bug in him to have you arrested, just wanted to have you arrested. Remember, he's not your governor. You didn't vote for him. Friend, he could send out some special police. They could come over to your house, handcuffed you, and drag you to jail. Why? Because he's governor. He's governor. You can sort out the details later. If he wanted to do it, he can do it. Why? He's a powerful man. He's called the governor. If you're from Alabama, Bob James is your governor. Whether you voted for him or not, he's your governor. His son was here last night with a group of people. I don't know if he's here tonight. He was here last night with a group of people from Ireland and the night before. And Bob James would be your governor. Whether you voted for him or not, he's your governor. It doesn't matter. There's a man up in the White House who is our president. He's our president. Is he our president? He's not my president. Yes, he is. He's your president. No, he's not. Yes, he is. I didn't vote for him. It doesn't matter. He's still your president. Oh, I don't believe in him. He's still your president. I don't believe in what he's done. Neither do I. But he's still your president. He's still your president. And I use this illustration because Amos said, prepare to meet thy God. Your God, not pastor's God, not Bob Rogers' God, not Mike Brown's God, not Charlie's God, not charity's God, your God. The one who's allowed you to live all your life. The one who put the breath in your nostrils. Get ready to meet your God. We have a president up in Washington. Let's say this happened. I used this illustration last night. Let's say you're leaving Revival. You're going home. You take your eyes off the wheel for a few minutes, and the car swerves off the side of the road, and you hit a kid that's on a bicycle. You kill him just like that. You're shocked. You're a Christian woman. You're a Christian man, and you just kill somebody on the side of the road. But it wasn't just somebody. They find out that it was a son of a very prominent attorney in the city. Very powerful man. He hears about it, comes on the scene, talks to a few people. You admit to him just casually, you know, I took my eyes off the road, took my eyes, you know, just, and he looks at you with just hatred in his eyes as his boy is lying in a pool of blood. And he says to you, I'm going to get you. I'm going to get you. I'm going to get you. Next news, you know you're in jail for manslaughter. The trial comes up, and you have, because of your limited finances, you have a state-appointed attorney, and you've come up against Perry Mason. And that man comes up, and he gets all kinds of witnesses against you, people that you don't even know, maybe somebody you worked with years ago gets on the witness stand and says, yeah, I've known Mary Beth for the last 15 years. She worked with me at Kmart. And you know, she never was very attentive. And they start building this case. Next news, you know, friend, you're in a paddy wagon on your way to the penitentiary. In the penitentiary, our penitentiaries are full of people like this. Some have been railroaded. Some of them have shoddy lawyers. But they're there, I know, because I've worked in the penitentiaries all my life. So you're in the penitentiary. You're sentenced to 25 years in the penitentiary. But somebody outside writes you a letter and says this. I have a friend who is the best friend of Bill Clinton's secretary. I think I can help you. So you write him a letter and you say, please do anything you can. And in the midst of all this scandal, the letter goes through. Your friend talks to the friend. That friend talks to the secretary. The secretary walks up to Bill Clinton and says, Bill, there's this woman in the penitentiary in Alabama because she hit a child on the side of the road. She didn't do it. She's been sentenced to 25 years. All this kind of stuff. If he got involved in it, friend. Is anybody hearing me? If he got involved, he can get you out of prison. It happens all the time. People are pardoned, just like presidential pardons. They're set free. When he moves in, he can take the whole FBI. He can do whatever he wants. He can move people on your behalf. Next news you know, you're back at the Brownsville Revival. You're going, whoa, what was that? It's called your president. Whether you voted for him or not, and you are about to meet your God, whether you love him or not, whether you know him or not, he's up there, he's powerful, he knows what's been going on in your life, and he can pull around and do anything he wants to with your life, friend. Prepare to meet your God. Well, three sermons in one. Not really, because I skipped a lot of pages. But there's a way home. I'm not going to get through all of this. I know I'm not. Everybody stand with me. The message tonight is entitled The Road to Righteousness. The Road to Righteousness. I'm not going to go through my notes. I'm going to talk for about five, ten minutes, and Charity's going to sing Mercy Seat. I want you standing, everybody. The goal of every man, woman, and child within the sound of my voice is to be righteous. Righteous. You know what righteous is? It means holy. It denotes one who is holy in his heart and observant of the divine commands. It means purity of heart. It means you have conformed to God. How many here would like to be righteous? That's not an arrogant term. The sexual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. I tell people when I pray for them that God hears my prayers because I'm a righteous man. That's not arrogant. There's nothing arrogant about that. I am living holy. The word is through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, friend. Righteous is not an arrogant word. It's a powerful word. It's a wonderful word. It should be your goal. For those in this room that are unrighteous, you are unholy. You don't live under God's commands. You're in dangerous territory. You need to head down the road to righteousness, and there's a way to get there. There's many, many individuals in the Bible that lay out this plan the way they came back to God. One of my favorites is a prodigal son. The prodigal son made up his mind he was going to come back. Tonight, friend, you got to make up your mind you're going to return to God. And I want to tell you one of the ways that you can return. I'm going to go ahead and use this illustration, Charlie, because I'm going to close with this. I had about six R words tonight. I may preach this next Wednesday. I don't know. But one of the things a prodigal son realized is he recognized, he recognized. Everybody's watching Charlie, so Charlie, just come here. Everybody's staring at you. Everybody give Charlie a hand. Charlie, I need you to stay here with this microphone. The prodigal son, look here, folks, this is the road to righteousness. Some of you are not there. You're just now looking where you need to go. The prodigal son was in a pigsty. He was slopping hogs. I've done that before. It's a nasty job. Pigs have always amazed me. I know where the term came, don't make a hog out of yourself. Because I've slopped hogs, friend. They are something else. They'll eat anything. You put your tennis shoe down there, they'll eat it. They just eat. But here was a prodigal son. If you're going to go home to righteousness, if you're going to get down the road to righteousness, you've got to recognize tonight where you're at. And that's the first thing that this man did, Charlie. He looked at this right here. This right here, friend, is dried corn. This is pig food. You hear me? Say pig food. This is not fit for human consumption. This would send your stomach wild. It would cause your intestines to go nuts. Your gastric juices would have a tough time digesting this. This is for pigs. The prodigal was looking at this thing. And maybe he was going, this is not good. Maybe he had been chewing on one kernel for a half hour and not getting any enjoyment out of it. He recognized in the sty, in the pig sty, something's wrong. Some of you right now, you've been eating the devil's food. You've been sitting there and you are in the devil's pig pen. You've been chewing. And the devil has taken you from a kingly life all the way down to a pauper's life. This is what drugs will do, by the way. I mean, he'll start you at the top of the ladder, friend. At the end of it, you'll be down in the muck and the mire of this world wondering where your next fix is going to come from, digging out of trash cans, stealing from family members, doing anything you can to get a buck to buy another hit of drugs. That's what this is, friend. And until some of you recognize it, you're never going to get on the road to righteousness. Until you recognize where you're at, I am not holy. That's why my life's in a mess. I am not holy. This is what he did. He recognized where he was at by comparing where he had been. This is one of the ways, friend. This is fresh bread. I mean, this is fresh bread. I want you to catch that. Smell that. Is that fresh bread? Stick it all the way in your nose, just all the way up. Just like that. Watch, watch. Does that smell good? Throw it back to me. This is fresh bread. This is the kind of bread that you want to get some honey butter and spread it on it right now, and you don't want to share it with nobody. You just want the whole loaf because it's soft. And this kind of bread, you want to reach in the middle of it and squeeze it and make a ball out of it and just, oh, friend, this is fresh bread. This is fresh bread. And the prodigal could smell this stuff. Miles away from home, he could smell it. He recognized that he was away from God. He recognized that he had made a fool out of himself. He recognized that he was unrighteous. He looked at the corn. He smelled the bread. He went, wait just a cotton-picking minute. I got to get back to where that bread's at. I got to get back where the bread's at. I got to get back where there's something good to eat. That's what you got to do, friend. Those of you that are backsliding, remember what it was like back at home. Remember what it was like feeling holy and pure. The prodigal said, man, the servants of my daddy got bread to eat and more than enough bread to eat, and I'm sitting here eating on these corners. It's pitiful. This is the road to righteousness. You recognize it, friend. Ooh. Then you return. You recognize it, then you return. But when you return, returning is not with your feet. Returning is with your heart. You return with your heart. There's a lot of people that return with their feet, but they haven't returned with their heart. There's a lot of people, pastor, who show up at your church, and they'll sit there because they're going through stuff, but they haven't returned with their heart. Your heart's got to be there. You've got to return with your heart. God gave me this morning. I don't know when I'm going to preach it. I'm not going to preach it right now, friend. I'm flipping a lot of pages. Once you return, these are all R words. I guess I'm preaching this for those of you, and you're not going to be here next week. Then you repent. Once you return in your heart. See, the prodigal recognized back home is where I want to be. He returned in his heart. He was still in the pigsty. He had already returned in his heart. I'm going back. Then you repent. How do you repent? What is repenting, friend? It's turning around. Repentance means to turn around. I've got three pages of scriptures tonight of just people that turned around. They decided to change. This is the road to righteousness, friend. You want to get righteous? Tonight, you repent. I'm going to go back to my father and tell him that I'm not worthy to be one of his servants. Just let me do anything. It doesn't matter, father, if you want to put me out in some cabin somewhere. I just want to come home. Repent. I have sinned. The prodigal sinned. I have sinned. I have sinned. Read it for yourself in the book of Luke. Several other things on the road to righteousness. You got to remove everything in your life that's displeasing to the Lord. You got to repair the damage that you've done to others. These are all our words. And as I was preparing this, at 1 o'clock, my head hit my desk. I was exhausted today. When I saw this repair, the damage, I thought of Zacchaeus who said, anybody I've defrauded, I'll pay back. He said, I'll give half my money to the poor, and anyone I've defrauded, I'll give four times more than what I've taken from them. You know what that is? That's repairing the damage. I'm talking about the road to righteousness. You make it right. You make it right. You get things right. I don't have any skeletons in my closet. When I got saved, I made so much stuff right, it got old to people. You know what I'm talking about? I told my mama I was sorry for so many things, she got tired of hearing them. Matter of fact, even to this day, I still confess something. About once every three or four months, I'll confess something. I sort of space them out so it doesn't kill her. But man, in my childhood, I was one reckless dude. And she was always covering for me because she didn't think her son was doing any of this stuff. So now I'm confessing all that stuff. I'm repairing those years. Repairing the damage that I've done. Stuff that I stole, I brought it back. Somebody needed to hear that right now. I said stuff that I stole, I brought it back. Brought back stuff to businesses. Things that I had stolen from companies. Things that I had stolen from people. And I want to tell you, when I finally stopped, I even confessed to the state of Alabama for stealing money from the state of Alabama. I collected unemployment while I was working. And I confessed to them and started paying back $10 a month. That was all. I was barely making any money at all. Paying them back. Finally paid them all back, all the money. Increased it as my salary increased. But God finally spoke to me one day. I had a pen, and I'm closing with this. I had a cross pen that I had stolen from a house when I was painting it, interior decorating. And I stole it from the house, put it in my pocket, walked out. And three or four years had gone by. But friend, when I got right with God, I got so right with God, every little thing bothered me. I could not pick up that cross pen because it was the devil's workshop. The devil had done that to me. And so when I saw that cross pen, I confessed to so much stuff. I took the cross pen, and I got in a car. I remember I brought a staff member from Teen Challenge with me, and I said, we gotta find this house. We found the house. And I walked down the sidewalk to the house, and I knocked on the door. And I stood in front of this lady. I said, hi, my name is Steve Hill. I painted your house four years ago. And I stole this pen. She looked at me, and she said, I've never seen you before in my life. I said, ma'am, I painted your house four years ago, and I stole this pen. She looked at the pen. She said, I've never seen that pen before in my life. I said, lady, this pen came from that kitchen drawer. I put an addition on your house here. We painted it, and I stole this pen. She said, son, I've never seen that pen before. It's not my pen. I said, okay. I took the pen, I put it in my pocket, and I walked down the sidewalk, and God said, enough is enough. The past is the past. You're finished. It's over. Go on with me. But I was ready. You repair all the damage that's been done. Those of you with the chairs, move them to the left and the right. Who put corn all over this floor here? Charlie, hide that bread. That's music. How many got kids? How many here want kids? You need to talk to the ones that got kids. Pray about it. How long? Whatever it takes, pray about it. I got three. I love them. But they are something else, man. Lyndle's got one right now. That's why he's a little strange. He was strange beforehand. But now he's got one. Little baby boy, two or three weeks old. It's just an experience, isn't it, folks? Before I ever had kids, the baby started crying in the church. I'd go, Usher, get over here. Shut that kid up. You know, get the muzzle in him. Stuff a passy in his mouth. But now, you know, when you hear a kid crying, you go, Oh, that's sweet. Really, you don't hear it like you used to. Because you hear it so much now. Here's what we're going to do. Charity, come on up here, sis. We're going to have a time of repentance. Then we're going to start praying for everybody. And here, what I would like to do tonight, folks, is everyone in this place, I want you to look at me. I don't want to scream and holler at you. I don't want to plead and beg with you. But if there's something in your heart between you and God, you want to head down that road to righteousness, you want to leave out of Brownsville different than the way you came, then when charity begins singing mercy seat, I want you to just slip out and come. Slip out and come and repent of sin. Whatever it might be in your life, if you're doing something that Jesus would never do, repent of it. Whatever it might be. If you're watching something on television and it's grieving to the Holy Ghost, come down to this altar and repent over it. When I brought my wife up here, you looked at that situation between my wife and I, and you felt guilty over the way you've been treating your spouse, and you know you've even entered into a time where it's just sin the way you've treated your family or the way, man, you've treated him or he's treated you. Maybe you've even been unfaithful. I don't know. Maybe your marriage is on the rocks. It's time to repent, friend. And I want you to come down to this altar when charity begins to sing. Those of you in the balcony, you're not exempt. You come down these sides as quickly as you can when charity begins to sing. If you need to repent, why do I need to go down there, Steve? Look this way, folks. Why not? What's your problem? I'm going to tell you what your problem is. Pride. Pride will say to you, you don't need to go down there. You don't need to repent in front of everybody. Pride will say, you can do this right here in the pew. The devil is the one speaking to you, not the Lord. When the devil sits on your shoulder, and he'll say, you don't need to go down there and respond. You can get right with God right here in the pew. Why does the devil do that, friend? He does it because he knows if he can hold you back, if he can keep you from making a commitment, if he can keep you from moving your whole body, getting into this, going down and falling on your face, getting serious. He knows if he can do that, friend. He can keep you from committing to whatever you're repenting of. I mean, what happens is, you repent in your pew, and then tomorrow something comes up. You never did really repent here at the church. So the same thing comes up again, the same TV program, and you're back watching it again. Why? You never really got right with God. You had all these things going on in your head. Friend, that's why this altar is so important. I believe in altar calls, and so did Jesus. Jesus constantly called people out. You don't believe it? Do a study on it yourself, and find where Jesus was saying, follow me, come down. Zacchaeus, come down from the tree. The woman in the church that was bent over, buckled over, Jesus called her across the temple floor. Why? He's always calling people over, friend. He's always calling people out, and he's calling you out tonight to get right with God. I'm not going to plead with you. I'm not going to beg with you, but one thing I am going to do tonight is bind the devil. I'm going to bind Satan. This is Saturday night, and he's working overtime. Right now, the bars are full all over this country. People are drinking, partying. Right now, happy hour is just over. People are driving home right now, drunk as drunk can be. Last night, they spent half their paycheck. Tonight, they spent the rest of it, and the family is going without groceries again. That's what's happening tonight all over America. Out in California right now, happy hour is just now beginning, just now beginning. People are driving in, got a little bit of money left from yesterday, spending the money, and kids at home don't even have diapers. The wife hasn't had a new dress in two years. The husband's out wasting his money again. That's the devil. That's what he does on Saturday night. He gets people sloppy drunk. Then next thing you know, they're wrapped around a telephone pole. Someone's calling 911. In this place, he ain't going to win. He ain't going to win in this place. I'm going to bind him. I'm going to bind the devil. I'm going to cast him out of this place, and those of you that you know you need to repent of your sins, the shackle that's on your leg is going to pop off as soon as I bind him. You're going to be free to move, friend, and you'll have a split second to step out and move forward if you need Jesus to forgive you. If you've never known him, if you're backslidden, or if you're religious and you don't know him, you're going to come forward, but you've got to come forward quickly, friend. If you don't, that shackle will come right back on you because the devil's watching. Remember, this is spiritual warfare. You wrestle not against flesh and blood. The heaven's watching and hell's watching, and they're watching what's going on, and if you need to get forgiveness, hell's watching you. They know that this is what you're supposed to do, get down here and get right, and if you don't move, you might as well turn to the devil and say, devil, I'm not going down there. You can shackle me as tight as you want to. That's the way it works, friend. So I'm going to give this altar call. Everyone who needs forgiveness, everyone who wants to get on the road to righteousness, everyone who wants to get the sin out of their life, Charity's going to sing, Mercy's need before she does. Satan, I bind you in Jesus' name. I bind you in Jesus' name. Loose her and let her go. Loose him and let him go in Jesus' name. Charity, begin to sing. If you need forgiveness, come right now. If you need forgiveness, come right now. Hurry, hurry right now. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry, just kneel right here at this altar. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Let's just keep an eye on it. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. You need forgiveness. Come on. Come on. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Kneel at these altars. Kneel at these altars. Come on. Come on. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. Come on. Come on. Come on. ♪ Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy The secret Jesus is calling, he said his grace will cover me. His blood will set you free. The secret Jesus is calling, he said his grace will cover me. His blood will set you free. It will provide a way to the mercy seat. I'm running to the mercy seat. I'm running to the mercy seat. Everyone at the altar, keep your heads down. Everyone at the altar, keep your heads down. I want everyone in this place to turn to the person next to them and ask them if they need Jesus Christ to forgive them. You turn to the person next to you and say, do you need Jesus Christ to forgive you? If they say yes, and you be honest, they say yes, and both of you come down here together and get on your knees. And let's get this sin taken care of. Everyone do it right now in the balcony on this main auditorium. Come on, right now. Bring them down with you. Come on, yes. Come on. Come on. God bless you. God bless you. God have mercy. For we miss all our hope in you. Mercy. Mercy. One more time. Everyone at the altar, is this everyone? Nobody else is supposed to be down here, are you sure? Are you sure you're not supposed to be down here? I'm going to count out 15 seconds. If you're not down here, we're closing, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, God bless you, sir, 10, come on ma'am, God bless you, 9, 8, God bless you ma'am, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, time's up. Remember God bless you, sir, 3, 2, 1. Everyone at this altar, bow your heads and pray out loud with me. Do not mumble this prayer, pray it out loud. Dear Jesus, once again, everyone at the altar, dear Jesus, thank you for speaking to me. Jesus, tonight, I want to be ready to meet you face to face. I want to get on the road to righteousness. Lord, I want to repent properly. I confess to you tonight that I have sinned. I have hurt you, I've hurt others, and I've hurt myself. Forgive me, Jesus. Wash me, Jesus. Cleanse me, Jesus. Make me new. I ask you tonight to be my savior. Be my Lord. Be my very best friend. From this moment on, I am yours and you are mine. Jesus, come live your life through me. I give myself to you. In your precious name, in Jesus' name, amen. Glory.