In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes that the answer to all of our problems, including pollution, morals, narcotics, and more, is the gospel of Jesus Christ. He calls for a generation of preachers who boldly proclaim the message of being born again. The preacher shares a personal story of a man who was initially skeptical of his preaching but was ultimately touched by the love and conviction he witnessed in the church. The sermon concludes with a reflection on the story of David, highlighting how he lost his power when he allowed himself to be consumed by lust and sin.

What can the Christian lose? Are you listening? What can the Christian lose? I want to talk to you tonight about what the Christian can lose. Don't you recall how Mary and Joseph had taken Jesus to Jerusalem? And there they had been a part of the great feast in Jerusalem. On the way home to Nazareth, where they lived, they got busy about the conversation and activity of the feast time. They forgot to check on where Jesus was. For a whole day, they didn't check on where Jesus was. And suddenly they realized they had lost Jesus. Now those who understand me, he was still their son, or Mary's son. He did not lose his relationship. He still called Mary his mother, and Joseph was still his foster father. Relationship had not been changed at all. But they lost him. They turned and for three days they sought him. Notice it took them three times as long to find him as it did to lose him. They lost him one day, took them three days to find him. And now then, what did they lose? What can a Christian lose? Now I say very quickly, a Christian cannot, I say a Christian cannot, I say a Christian cannot lose his salvation. Now, salvation is a relationship with God. You're not saved because you do good, so you're not lost when you do bad. You're not saved because you join the church, so you're not lost when you quit it. You're not saved because you take communion, so you're not lost when you don't take communion. You're not saved because you improve, so you're not lost when you get worse. You're saved because you're born into a family as a child, and you cannot unborn anything. My mother is here tonight. My mother gave birth to me 46 years ago. I may not have always been the kind of son I should have been, but I've always been my mother's son. I lost her fellowship time and time again, but I never lost her mothership. I wasn't the kind of boy I ought to have been time and time again. I wonder if my mother hated me the way she laid the switch on me. At times I wondered if I hated her, but I was always her son. Never one time doubted. I didn't look up to Mother and say, Mother, my legs are hurting, and another place on me is hurting right above my legs, too. Are you still my mother? Never one time. Never one time from the time that I first looked up and my mother said I was hers have I ever doubted the fact that I was her son. And never one time from the day that I trusted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and was born again have I ever doubted the fact that I was his son. I was his son. Now, I cannot lose it. Why? You know, the Lord chose to talk about our relationship with God in the terms of relationships that cannot be broken. For example, He said we are God's children. Now, it is that we are God's friends, it's not going to be broken. Or we are God's neighbors, it's not going to be broken. Or we are God's partners, it's not going to be broken. But it says we are His children. Now, if you're a child of somebody, you're a child of somebody. Not only that, He calls Himself our older brother. Now, I have a sister. I think she's in the choir tonight. She's in the choir. She's older than I am. Thirty-four years older than I am. And now she's my sister. There have been times when our relationship was strained. I recall one day she wanted a yellow pencil and I wanted a yellow pencil. We couldn't afford two pencils. Mother said, give it to sister. I gave it to sister. Right in the eye. And now, but she was still my sister. I took that yellow pencil and I broke it in two. So neither of us could have it. I showed her. I learned her. Now, she's still my sister. Nothing I can do about it. We happened to get born the same woman and the same man. And I'm her brother and she's my sister. It will always be that way. There's no way to stop that relationship. Now, if Jesus chose to call us by a relationship, a tight relationship, He chose to say you're my children. And that relationship is a permanent one. You are my younger brothers and sisters. And that relationship is a permanent one. I say you cannot lose your salvation. Don't you recall when the Israelites left the land of bondage, the land of Egypt, and went toward the land of promise? They came to Cteshvarnia. They did not into the promised land and they went back into the wilderness, but they didn't go back to Egypt. There was a time when they longed to go back to Egypt, but they could not go back to Egypt. There was a time when they said we want cucumbers and onions and leeks and garlic of Egypt, but they could not go back to Egypt. Why? Because there was a sea between them and Egypt and God never dries up a red sea for folks going backwards. Never does. So, consequently, they are out of Egypt. They can't go back. There's no choice in a matter. They're gone. Now, they lost some things, but they did not lose their salvation. Now, listen carefully. What happened when you got saved? Many of your new babes in Christ, you're wandering still. All that happened, let me say this, you'll wander as long as you live. As long as you live, you will keep finding precious jewels in God's coffers, precious jewels you'll keep finding about salvation that you never noticed before. Somebody said you're saved in a twinkling of an eye and spend eternity finding out what happened in that one moment when you received Christ as your Savior. What happened? Basically, here's what happened. You were, by nature, a son of Adam. You had an old nature bent towards sin. One day, Jesus came into your life and made you a new creature. Now, here's the great danger. He did not take away the old creature. The old creature is still there. Let me say, that man that wants to cuss still runs around with you. That man that wants to lie still runs around with you. Now, you can't kill the new man, but you can starve him and make him skinny. You have two natures. Now, when you got converted, you did not exchange a nature for another. You added a nature to another. You still have the old nature. That's why Christians lose their temper. That's why Christians go into sin. That's why Christians get mad. That's why Christians sometimes use bad words. That's why Christians sometimes gossip. That's why Christians sometimes covet. The Bible says in 1 John 3, verse 9, that that which is born of God does not sin. But your old nature wasn't born of God. It's born of the flesh. It's born of your mother. This that you see tonight, 177 pounds of, well, 177 pounds, it was born of my mother and dad. It's not born of God. It was born of Choistel Maddy, what a name, Choistel Maddy Hiles. It was born of her. And it's flesh. It was not born of God. So there's, of course, the tendency to sin, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above. But the new man doesn't sin. Now the new man is above sin, and the old man constantly, Paul said, I find new natures, warring constantly. He said, that which I would not do, I do, and that which I want to do, I do not do. He said, O wretched man that I am, there's a constant warfare going on, the new nature and the old nature. Now, let me say this again. You will not lose your salvation. The new man's there to save. But there's some things that you can lose, and I call your attention to four of them. The first thing you can lose is your fellowship. I said, you cannot lose your relationship, but you can lose your fellowship with God. When Jesus was lost by Mary and Joseph and the traveling party going back to Nazareth, his relationship stayed the same, but his fellowship did not stay the same. Mary was still his mother, but she had lost fellowship with Christ. Joseph was still his foster father, but he had lost fellowship with Christ. Nothing was changed about the relationship, but you can lose the fellowship. Now, let me say, I say this again and again, ladies and gentlemen, nothing will take the place of your personal fellowship with God. Nothing. Now, listen, let me say that again. Listen, nothing will take the place of your personal fellowship with God. Students, Hiles Anderson College, several of you have come to me and you've asked me this question, Dr. Hiles, I have my studies, I have my work, I have my bus route, I have my Sunday school class, where should I place my priorities? I'm going to tell you, you place your priorities on your time alone with God. If you cannot have a bus route and have time alone with God, walk with God. Now, by the way, you will serve God if you walk with him. But I mean that the biggest single thing, the fueling station, the service station, the gas pump, is when you get alone with God. And if you miss this, you missed everything. You know why? Because everything else you lose as a Christian, you lose because you first break your fellowship with God. You lose your fellowship, you go into sin. You lose your fellowship, you lose your power. You don't tithe because you lost your fellowship first. You stay out of church all Wednesday night because you lost your fellowship first. It is tremendously important that a child of God keep his fellowship with his God. Now, that's where you have your priorities. Here's the foundation of all the rest and whatever else, you keep this up. It all starts here and with it, there's always hope. Listen, as long as two people can keep communication lines open, there's hope they can get back together. Let's suppose Dr. Billings and Brother Fisk didn't get along. Let's suppose they did get along. But let's suppose that they didn't get along and they do get along beautifully because they don't see each other much. But let's suppose they didn't get along with each other. Now, as long as they can communicate, there's hope to get back together. But if they won't speak, then all hope is gone. I've known pastors and assistant pastors, thank God none of these good men, because we all have good fellowship with each other. Not a one of us have any broken fellowship. Not a one of us but one can communicate one with the other. But I've known pastors where I preached in churches and the assistant pastor and the pastor couldn't get along very well and the communication was broken down. They weren't able to howdy and have fun with a jam like you and I do and Brother John talk like you and I do and Dr. Billings fellowship like we do and Brother Perkins talk like you and I did last week together and Brother Fisk like you and I do every week just about. They didn't have that and the communication line was broken and there's no other choice. But they split, they had trouble, they didn't like each other, the church suffered. Why? Because the line of communication was broken. Now, when you break that line of communication with God, look out, other things are about to stop. You have to lose other things too. After a while you won't spend your time with God. After a while you won't read your Bible. After a while you won't go soul winning. After a while you'll give your bus route up. After a while you'll want to be faithful on Wednesday night. After a while you won't die. Members of First Baptist Church, listen to me. Whatever you do, you keep up your personal relationship with your God. I mean fellowship. Don't lose your fellowship or everything else is gone. I want you to notice something. They lost this fellowship in one day. They lost it in one day. How long does it take you to backslide? One day. They did not, look, if they had taken time sometime during that day to say, Jesus, come here a minute. Only a 12 year old at the time. Jesus, come here. Did you have a good time in Jerusalem? Did you? Yes, I did. I did. Mother, I had a good time. Jesus, let me ask you a question. Did you enjoy meeting all the doctors and the people there? Yes, yes, I did. Jesus, I sure was proud of you. You were a good boy and I was proud of you. And let's just sort of sit here and chat for a while. Now, if they had done that one time that day, they wouldn't have lost their fellowship. Just one time. Now, let me say, one day when you don't walk with God, you may stumble and get in trouble. One day when you don't fellowship with God, you may lose everything. Now, you won't lose your salvation, but you may lose everything that is precious and dear. Let me say again, every day of your life, walk with God. Take some time to be with God. There you left your room this morning, did you think to pray? In the name of Christ our Savior, did you sue for loving favor as a help today? Oh, how praying rests the weary. Prayer will change the night today. So when life seems dark and dreary, don't forget to pray. And by the way, when life seems light and beautiful, don't forget to pray either. Walk with God. Walk with God. Walk with God. Walk with God. Fellowship with God. That's the great secret. I say again, everybody that ever goes into sin, they start it by breaking fellowship with God. Those who get unfaithful to church, it begins by losing fellowship. Those that lose their power, quit their service, quit soul winning, they lose their fellowship. But there's something else you lose. By the way, that something that you lose first, the fellowship, leads to the second thing a Christian can lose, and that is a Christian can lose his power with God. A Christian can lose his power with God. This fella that I mentioned last Sunday night who's grinding at the mill, this big strong looking fella who's blinded and grinding at the mill, is this the one who was the strongest man in all of Israel? Is this same Samson? Is this the Samson that tied the tail to those foxes together and burned the barley fields down? Is this the same Samson on whom the Spirit of God came? Is this the same? Yes, it is the same. What's wrong with him? He lost his power. Why did he lose his power? He lost his fellowship. Is this the same young lad who killed Goliath? Is this the same little fella who took his own hands and killed a bear? Is this little David the same one who took his own hands and killed a lion? Is this the one who took the slain shot and fell the giant nine feet nine inches tall? Is this the David the sweet psalm singer of Israel? Is this the sweet harpist of Israel? Is this the same David? Yes, it is. What happened? He lost his power. Why did he lose his power? Somebody said he lost his power this way. Loping, looking, lusting. Loping, looking, lusting. College, I think a while ago, these Hiles Anderson kids. Isn't it wonderful to college students to have a weekend off and you rest up for the studies tomorrow? Isn't it great you had a day to relax a bit and you go home tonight? And somebody said to me the other day, he said, you know, he said, I said, I tried to call Bob Moore on the telephone, said he's harder to get than Jack Hiles. I tried to call him on the telephone. He said, if President Nixon tried to get Bob Moore, he couldn't get through to him. He said, that's good. The devil couldn't either. Stay busy. Stay busy. David, what started your downfall? Loping. What else? Looking. What else? Lusting. And so he lost his power because he broke his fellowship with God. This same fellow that's on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus and Peter and James and John. This same fellow who preached and had 3,000 people saved on Pentecost. That's the same fellow who's out here cursing and denying the Lord and saying, I'm not with him. What happened? He lost his power. He lost his power. This same fellow who crossed the Red Sea, Moses, the greatest man I think that ever lived apart from Jesus Christ, took his rod and smote the Red Sea. And across the great army of Israel went on dry ground. That same Moses, the meekest man who ever lived, all of a sudden he got mad, lost his temper, smote the rock twice in Horeb. And God said, there with your ticket for the promised land. And Moses died at Gondor on Mount Pisgah, never walked inside the promised land. He saw it, but never walked inside it. Never set his foot on the land of promise. Never set his foot on the land that floated milk and honey. Never ate one pomegranate from the promised land. Never ate one grape from the promised land. Never had one orange from the promised land. Why? Because he lost his power. If Moses could lose his power, I could lose mine. If Moses could lose his power, Dr. Billings, you could lose yours. If Paul could lose his power, and he did one time when he, when he sinned about going to Jerusalem, Ron Perkey could lose his. If Samson could lose his power, C.W. Fisk could lose his. Wouldn't it have been an awful thing for the Fisk to go out some week and start knocking on doors? And that sweet power you've had as you've witnessed all over this great area and in places around the country. You talked to 25 people one day and nobody seemed interested. And you went out the next day and nobody else seemed interested. And four or five weeks passed and you came and said, Brother House, I'm worried. I'm worried. And I said, what's wrong, Brother C.W.? And Brother Fisk said, I'm worried. I've been out five weeks and I've made more calls than ever and nobody's gotten saved and nobody seems interested. Brother House, something is missing. If it could happen to Samson, it could happen to you. Brother Vineyard, wouldn't it be an awful thing one of these days to say or get up and say we had a thousand old buses today? I don't know. Might be a good thing one Sunday or two for a little rest, but had a thousand old buses. We still run the buses, but something happened. Nobody seems to come. And just had a thousand. And next Sunday we had 700 old buses and that's all we had. Wouldn't it be an awful thing, choir, to come in and look out on a Sunday morning and see this building with about a handful of people, five or 600 people? Wouldn't it be an awful thing? Oh, I've thought so often I want to die just the day before I lose my power. I want to die the day before. This morning as I gave the invitation, all over this building the hands of grown men were lifted. A big fellow way back on the balcony, looked like my dad, looked like he's in his 60s, looked like my dad, look, raised his hand for prayer and his lips began to tremble. And a couple up here and a man up here and a lady back here and two or three men back here. And all over this building the hands of really grown men went up. And I couldn't help but say, blessed be God, it's still there. It's still there. Oh, when Eli of old heard that the ark of the covenant was gone and the glory of God was gone, Eli fell off the fence and broke his neck and died. And his daughter-in-law went into premature delivery and had the son I told you about last Wednesday night. Ichabod was his name. Why? The glory had departed. Oh, ladies and gentlemen, may it never leave this church. May that Shekinah that has settled upon this place, that has caused drunkards and harlots and the wickedest people you can imagine, walk down these aisles and may it ever be here. For the fifth said tonight, he said, Pastor, twelve years ago tonight, and this man may be the greatest personal soul in America. He's not. I'd like to see the fellow who is. But he said, twelve years ago today, I came to First Baptist Church for the first time and raised my hand and said, I want to be saved. Pray for me. I want to be saved. Twelve years ago today, for the fifth, they're still raising their hand. They're still raising their hand and they still want to be saved. And they're still walking down these aisles like a mighty army for these thirteen years and over. I recall, there's a deacon here tonight. I won't call his name, but I could. He came to me one Sunday morning. We had seventeen people saved and nine hundred in Sunday school. And he said, Pastor, it's got to come to an end. He said, what is it that the compromisers always use? Not absorption. Saturation point. Yeah. He said, Pastor, it's got to come to a saturation point. Nine hundred in Sunday school and seventeen people saved. This morning we had eight thousand and four hundred and five in Sunday school and six hundred and thirty-some odd people saved. Yeah, it'll come to a saturation point. You say, when? I'll tell you what I believe. This may come as a great surprise to you, but I believe we can run twenty thousand in Sunday school here without any big problem. And I have plans to do that. And if we don't, I'm plucking every kid in the college and kicking every deacon off the board. I believe we can. You say, just interested in numbers. You better, you better know, I'd rather get twenty thousand saved than ten, than eight thousand. I'd rather preach the gospel and have the word of God taught to twenty thousand than eight thousand. I'm simply saying, as long as we can keep our power. The dear God in heaven will bless the church. I thought tonight while Brother Worthington was speaking and giving his testimony and telling those wonderful stories, he told about how he got saved and he told about how he got filled with the Holy Spirit. And I stood over here and I said to myself, Al, you can't lose the first thing you got, but you can lose the second thing you got. You can lose the power. You can lose the power. Many of you folks have heard me tell about this. I've told it again and again and will tell it again and again. One Sunday morning, oh, it's been now, I'm guessing, ten years ago, over in the old auditorium, I gave the invitation. Nobody came forward. Can you feature that? Nobody came forward. And I stood there at the altar and waited and nobody came. And finally, over on this side, a man came down the aisle and I said, blessed be God, he's going to get saved. And he said, I want to transfer my membership. I wasn't sad to see a fellow join the letter of my life. And we sang and we sang and we sang and nobody came. And I ran out of the auditorium. And I went home and got alone in my room. And I fell on my face and I said, oh God, has it gone? Is it gone? Is it gone? That sweet heavenly love that settled on my ministry, oh, those long years ago, has it left? The first Sunday morning I could remember ever, ever, when nobody walked the aisle for salvation. I went out that afternoon. I won 13 people to Jesus and so on that Sunday afternoon. But I didn't know if they were going to come that night or not. And I said, oh God, has it gone? Has the power gone? And that night, over in the old building, Brother Jim Lyons was leading the invitation. And we were singing some invitation song. And I looked to see if anybody was going to come. And way up in the balcony, a fellow about six foot four, six, four, five inches tall, sitting right in the center, he began to do like this. And he had a songbook. And finally he closed his book and threw it at somebody beside him and pulled his coat down like this and walked down the aisle. Began to wipe tears from his eyes. And I grabbed Brother Jim with an arm. He didn't know what I meant. I grabbed him with an arm. And I said, I still got it. He said, what you still got? I said, I still got it. I still got it. He said, what'd you lose? I said, I don't know, but I got it. I still got it. And I shook him and I said, I've got it Brother Jim. I've got it. I've got it. He didn't tell me that ought to take something for it, but he could understand what it was. After the service, he came to my office. He said, Pastor, he said, what is it you still got? I said, Brother Jim, I like to die this afternoon. I like to die. Oh, sometimes I preach. I dream, I preach. And while I'm preaching, at the end of the service, nobody comes forward. And I dream that week after week that goes on. And I wake up and I say, am I what? Praise the Lord, I was dreaming. Why? I don't want to lose it. That's why. Oh, don't lose the power of God. You say, well, how can I keep from losing the power of God? Don't lose His fellowship. Don't lose His fellowship. You can't lose your salvation, but you can lose your fellowship and you can lose His power. There's a third thing you can lose, and that is this. You can lose your joy. A Christian can lose his joy. I thought as I saw Brother Worthington speak, there's a certain look of joy on his face. Isn't it sweet to have, by the way, he's talking about when he first got saved out of San Francisco Giants and how he made everybody mad at him. I think the Lord was happy about that, but I wouldn't feel too bad about that, Brother Worthington. I mean, you know, a lot of people, when you first get saved, that sweet, sweet honeymoon experience of just being saved, you won't tell everybody. And if you ever get a little too zealous, just come to some of the Christians here who have been here 25, 30 years. They'll cool you off a little bit. But that sweet joy and happiness when the sun shines brighter and everything is all right in my Father's house. And did you know that no Christian can keep his joy and break his fellowship with God? I found out from Brother Fisk tonight something. He didn't know I was doing this, but I wanted to use it for my sermon. I found out he used to go to taverns around here. Did you know that? Can you feature him in a tavern? So can I. But he used to go to taverns around here. And one of them used to hang out. It's called a Cas Bar. Anybody else ever used to hang out at the Cas Bar, like last night, for example, or tomorrow night at the Cas Bar? Brother Fisk, really honestly, used to hang out at the Cas Bar. And so he came to our church and I said, don't come with me to the Cas Bar. That's not what he wanted to say. But again, we got saved. Have you ever been back to the Cas Bar since you got saved? Let's suppose that New Year's Eve is coming up pretty soon. Suppose that, oh, New Year's Eve, that's on Sunday, isn't it? New Year's on Monday, isn't it? Okay, suppose that, oh, let's suppose that Saturday night before New Year's. No, no, no, let's say late New Year's. Let's suppose that you said to Darlene, Darlene, we're not going to go back into sin, but just for the old time's sake, let's go back over to the Cas Bar. Darlene, did you ever go to the Cas Bar? Huh? Where are you, Darlene? Raise your hand. Did you ever go to the Cas Bar? You never did. Did you know he was at the Cas Bar? And, but, let's bow our heads, because we have some folks who've lost their joy. And let's bow our heads and pray for them. But let's suppose Brother Fisk said, Darlene, ah, now I'm not going to go back in the world and live, but just for old times, I recall how back in 1956 and 57, on New Year's Eve, I'd go to the Cas Bar. Now I'm just going to go back and just see the old friends over there. Let's suppose Brother Fisk comes down, comes down Sibley Street here, and he gets his car, drives down Sibley and around the state, turns left down here on Soul Street, looks up at his mirror and says, I believe that's the preacher's car behind me. And so he turns left on State Street, and I turn left on State Street, that is the preacher's, I believe that's the preacher's car. It's New Year's Eve, he's going to go to the Cas Bar. I'm going to try to shake that preacher, because only he'll follow me or I'm going to go. And so he goes and turns, goes around, circles it, and finally gets across the train track an hour and a half after he waits for a train. And he goes on over, what street's it on? Burnham Avenue, goes over to Burnham. I believe that's the preacher behind me. But I'm going to pull down this alley behind the Cas Bar here and park behind the alley, and so the preacher pulls down an alley too. And Brother Fisk gets out, he goes in the Cas Bar, and he sits there at the bar, and guess who comes in and sits right beside him? The preacher. And Brother Fisk, what's the fellow's name on the bank, if you don't remember? Joe, most bartenders are named Joe. And Dr. Billings told me that. But anyway, so Brother Fisk sits there, and I don't know how you do, how did you do it? Did you walk up like this and say, give me a Bloody Mary or a Wounded Susie or something, you know? And I, I want to have a, give me a Bloody Mary. And so I sit over on the stool and I just, I watch you. And so you take, as you take that lemon, squeeze that lemon in the Bloody Mary, and there's a little stick you got, and you stir it up there. I watched him on the plane, and stir it up there. And a little lady said to me one time, said, you want a Bloody Mary? I said, I'll pray for her. And so I, and I sit there and look at him all the time. Let me ask you a question. You think Brother Fisk can enjoy the Cas Bar like he used to? Huh? After a while, he's going to say, preacher, what are you doing here? And I'm going to say, Brother Fisk, I just love to be with you. I just love to be here. You think Brother Fisk is going to say, all right, Joe, just like the old times, man alive, what a time we're having. No, he's not going to have a good time. He's going to say, Joe, I think I better go. I don't feel very good. I got somebody here bothering me. Did you know that's exactly what happens when a person gets converted? The Holy Spirit comes in you to live. He makes you a boat there. You sailors, you got saved this morning, eight of you. By the way, you're never going to enjoy the old, old life like you used to. You know why? There's going to be somebody there all the time. You're going to go to the PX. Do you know that PX is in the service? And you're going to go to the PX. And you're going to walk up and you're going to say, give me a beer. And the Holy Spirit's going to say, you sure that's what you want? You're going to say, make it buttermilk. You know why? There's somebody there. You'll never enjoy the world like you used to enjoy the world. You never will. You're spoiled for the world. Now, that's why the happiest person in the world is a Christian who's right with God, who has fellowship with his God. The second happiest person in the world is an unsaved man. And the third happiest person in the world is a fellow who's a Christian, but out in the world. Now you see, the saved fellow has Christ all the time. And if he's happy in the Lord, he walks with God. Fellowship is sweet. Every day is a good day. Every piece of ground is holy ground. And every day is a holy day. And every day is a happy day. And that's the happiest person. And the second happiest person is a person who goes to the cash bar alone. But the most miserable wretch in all the world is the fellow who goes into sin. And there's the dear Lord. That's one reason why we lose some people. Sometimes they go into sin. You know what I do? I think God's going to kill them or they're going to cut his tongue. I told somebody about a fellow in this church. They said, you think you'll come back to God? I said, yes. I'll tell you what I think you'll do. I think someday at the rescue mission, they'll be having services for them. And I think you'll stumble in. You know why? Because you'll not enjoy the world if you're saved. Oh, members of First Baptist Church, don't lose your joy. Don't lose your joy. How do you keep from it? Don't lose your power. How do you keep from that? Don't lose your fellowship. Walk with God. He'll give you his blessing. Psalm 126, when the Lord turned again, the captivity of Zion, we were like in the dream. Are you listening? What happened? They said, we've been in Babylon in captivity for 70 years. We got free. Girls, did he ever ask, did that real special one ever ask you for a date? And you said, I want to pinch myself to see if that's true. Am I dreaming? Oh, you got a nightmare on the date, but am I dreaming? I just feel like I'm dreaming. Or did boys, did you ever see a girl? And you said, boy, she's a dream. Yeah. And that's what they said. They said, we're free from bondage. We're not in Babylon anymore. We're delivered. We're free. We're not slaves. We're going home. Said when the Lord turned again, we were like them that then it said, then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue was singing. People come to First Baptist Church and say, why do you laugh? Because we're out of bondage. That's why we laugh. Well, why do you, why do you sing old songs then? Well, we don't, we don't have to sing the Volga boat song anymore or the sevenfold amen. Oh, the Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord is his holy. We don't have to do that. We can sing what a wonderful change in my life has been wrought since Jesus came into my heart. I've joined my soul for which long I've sought since Jesus came into my heart. What a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms, blessed assurance. Jesus is mine. Why? We're free. Our sins are gone, gone, gone, gone, gone. Yes, my sins are gone. Now my soul is free and in my heart's a song buried in the deepest sea. Oh, that's good enough for me. I shall live eternally. Bless God, my sins are gone. Then, then it says, then when the Lord turned again, the captivity of Zion, we were locked in the drain. Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue was singing. Then, said they among the heathen, the Lord has done great things for them. When do the heathen look up and say the Lord has done great things for them? When they hear our laughter and hear our singing. When do we have laughter and singing? When we've been delivered from bondage. Then the Bible says that they turned to the heathen and said, the Lord has done great things for us wherever we're at last. Listen, this man right here, Dr. Billy, he said this morning before he sang, he said he grew up in a detention home, an orphanage, sort of kind of a detention home. And he was on his way probably to the penitentiary. Huh? Now you may not like him, but explain him. Explain him. Here's a man over here that, that 12 years ago last night, out in the sand, drunk, living like the devil. All of a sudden he came and he felt the conviction of God and raised his hand for prayer. And a few weeks later he received Christ. He said, Brother Hiles, he came in service the first time and he said, I don't like Hiles. He's too loud and too long. Something like that. He didn't like, didn't like his preaching. He got saved. And I asked him why he got saved. And he said, I'll tell you why I got saved. Because he said, you came back in the back of the auditorium and you put your hand out and put your hand on my shoulder. And you said, Mr. Fisk, I love you. He said, that did it. He told me the night before the service. He said, preacher, it was love that brought me to Christ. He said, the people loved me. And he said, you loved me and you preach with love. And that's what brought me to Christ. Okay. Okay. People in Hammond, they say they're fanatics. They're screwballs. They're going to seed. They've lost their mind. They're conservative bigots. Okay. Say what you want to say, but explain this fellow over here. Explain him. I don't know if Jim Vineyard's past, but he's bound to mean as the devil sometime. Will you ever mean as the devil, Jim? I mean, before. Now, explain Al Worthington. Explain Joe Boyd. Explain men all across this room. This church is not a church of sanctified saints who've been going to church all... This building is filled with men who lived wicked, dirty, vile, filthy lives and came to church and God spoke to their hearts and their lives have been transformed. Change. Explain that. I recall a letter I got one day from little Kay O'Brien. She was just a little girl then. How old were you, Kay, when your dad was saved? Where are you, Kay? How old were you when your dad was saved? Thirteen? How old are you now? Eighteen? Five years ago, and Kay wrote me a letter and she said, dear brother Hiles, she said, thank you. She said my home was hell, but now it's heaven. She said, I heard my daddy say a prayer at the table. I think it's what she said, wasn't it? Said grace at the table the first time. My daddy. Explain that. Explain it. Explain it. Oh, you say, I don't believe in your old fashioned gospel. Explain it. Amen. The whole country is looking for results that only come by the new birth. Folks trying to clean up the ecology in America, get folks born again. Tell you what, if you'd get folks born again, quit smoking and clean up a heap of the ecology problems in America. Like my friend Hoyt Lemon, preacher, riding on a plane. Tell him, oh boy, these cigars, oh my soul, I'm going to get me some wood and just carry it on a plane and burn it. Just burn it. And, uh, my friend Hoyt Lemon, a preacher, he is on a plane. This guy kept blowing puffs into circles. They blow circles in my face and squares and octagons and everything else. And Hoyt Lemon looked over this fellow. He said, I think I'll spit in your water. He said, what did you say? I think I'll spit in your water. Why? He said, you're polluting my air. I'll pollute your water. You know what, you know what the answer is? The gospel of Jesus Christ. What's the answer for our pollution? The gospel. The answer for our morals? The gospel. The answer for our narcotics problem? The gospel. The answer for our school riot problem? The gospel. The answer for our home problem? The gospel. The answer for our liquor problem? The gospel. What this whole country needs is a generation of hell-fired brimstone preachers who preach he must be born again. That's the answer for our nation. That's the only hope we've got. So what happens is first you lose your fellowship with God. And when you lose the fellowship, that line of communication is broken before you know it to serve God, but without his power. Did you know where Jesus was lost by Mary and Joseph? At church. At church. Did you know you can lose your fellowship with God in a Christian college? Did you know you can lose your fellowship with God in a Christian high school? I have a great concern about our high school kids. Great concern about you. We're in the third year of our high school kids. I have great concern about you. I have concern that you think you can be good Christians because you go to a Christian school. It is not true. When you leave this blessed book and fellowship with your blessed Savior out of your lives, I don't care how much you quit. I don't care if you quit your drinking and your smoking and your cussing and your narcotics and all the rest of it. When you lose your fellowship with God, right down the line you're going to go into sin. And before you know it, our school will be like anybody else's school. Don't you substitute Hammond Baptist High School for your fellowship with your God. And don't you substitute Hiles Anderson College for your fellowship with God. You can lose Jesus and his fellowship on a bus route. You can have the biggest bus route in the entire church and lose fellowship with God. I'm simply saying one day, just one day, one day, one day, one day, one day, David wasn't fighting when he should have been fighting. And one day, one day, David looked out the window and saw a naked woman. And one day, one day, one day, David lusted after her. And in one day, David lost his fellowship with his God and lost his power and lost his joy. And don't you see him in the 51st Psalm, oh, read it and cry with David. David said, oh God, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. He didn't say, restore to me thy salvation. He didn't lose that. He lost the joy. He said, oh God, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. And he said such things as this, uphold me with thy Holy Spirit. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Create in me a clean heart, oh God. And David lost his joy. But there's something else you can lose. Lose your fellowship, then what? Your power, then what? Your joy, then what? The Bible says you can lose your rewards. In Matthew 10, 42, the Bible says, take heed lest you lose your reward. What does it mean? You lose your fellowship with God, you lose your power. Lose your power, lose your joy. Lose your joy. What happens when you get to heaven? You won't have the rewards you ought to have. Now you say, preacher, what do you mean? I mean in heaven, the judgment seat of Christ, we're going to have crowns. God's going to give us crowns. I think there are five crowns. The crown for suffering, the crown for soul winning, the crown for faithfulness. Young girl in the back with the glasses, listen to how I preach. You're going to lose something in a minute. You lose your suffering. You lose your soul. You get crowns for suffering, crown for soul winning, crown for faithfulness, crown for separation, and a crown for loving the appearance of Jesus. And one day the Bible says that the crowning day will come. And Jesus says, and I don't know which of these I'll get. I'd like to get all of them. I'd love to get a crown for suffering. I've not suffered a great deal. There have been times when a few things have been, I've risked my ministry, but I've never been hit. Please don't break my record, but I've never been hit. Nobody's ever shot me. Nobody's ever hit me in the mouth. I've been threatened. In fact, last night, a fellow threatened to sort of clean my plow. And I've been threatened. My life has been threatened about 26 times in my ministry, but I never have, never have been shot. I've never been beat up, but I don't know, maybe a little, maybe I get just a teeny bit of crown, maybe a little bitty one. I have been called a nut, and I've been hated, lied about, and I've risked my ministry a time or two. I'm not sure I'll get it. I'd like to get the crown for soul winning. Brother Fisk, did you know I was thinking yesterday how good God's been to me in soul winning. I'm a busy man, but did you know that I've won someone to Christ? I mean, I've won someone to Christ in personal soul winning every week since May of 1957. That's 15 years. Every seven days I've won someone to Jesus Christ. I'd love to get the crown for soul winning. I'd love to get the crown for faithfulness. I'd love to get the crown for separation. And God knows I love His appearing. I want Him to come. God knows I do. You say, why do you want all those crowns? You ain't got but one head. What do you want five crowns for? Because the crowns aren't to wear. The Bible says once we get the crowns, we're going to hurl them at Jesus' feet and say you're worthy. We're not worthy to wear it. It wasn't me that made me a soul winner. It was you, Jesus. You take this crown. And it wasn't me that made me suffer. It was you, Jesus. You take this crown. And it wasn't me that made me love your appearing. It was you, Jesus. You take this crown. And it wasn't me that made me separate from the world. It was you, Jesus. You take this crown. And it wasn't me that made me faithful. It was you, Jesus. You take this crown. You know why I love to give? Forgive me if I seem a little boastful. I'm not boastful. But anybody that knows me knows I love to give. Oh, the joy of giving. The joy of giving. Anybody that's been around me very long knows I love to give. I'd hate to stand to the judgment seat of Christ, Dr. Billings, and not have a single crown to hurl at His feet. That's why I want my rewards. That's why I want a crown for faithfulness. That's why I want to suffer. That's why I want to stay after souls. That's why I want to be faithful to God. That's why I want to be separate from the world. Why? I want a crown to throw at Jesus' feet. Now, I'll tell you a story, and I'll close with this. I hadn't thought about it. It's not in the sermon. I just thought about it. I hadn't thought about it. Years ago, I was pastoring the Miller Road Baptist Church of Garland. I guess it's been, what, 18 years ago. And the church was growing. We'd gotten up, started off at 44 in Sunday school, gotten up to 15, 1600 at this time. Had a young preacher boy named Leonard Jackson. He's still preaching, by the way. I got a letter from him this past month. The church in Weatherford, Texas called Leonard to preach, a pastor. And they wrote me a letter. And he said, the pastor said we should drive out here some Sunday afternoon to ordain me to preach. I went to Jim Lyons. He was my assistant. I said, Jim, drive with me out to Weatherford, Texas. And so we put some chicken. I think, and I was taking Dorothy Lyons, put some chicken in a box. We may have gotten some somewhere. I'm not sure. But we ate some chicken, fried chicken on the way. And we got to Weatherford, Texas, little church. I think it's called the Calvary Baptist Church, Weatherford, little praying building, like thousands of churches like them in America. And so, I'll never forget it. I got up and ordained Leonard Jackson to preach. Leonard Jackson, he's the cop that followed me. Remember I told you the story? He's the cop that followed me and kept, and told me, I thought he was going to give me a ticket. He told me he wanted to get and ordained Leonard to preach. And so I preached the sermon and looked out and 15 little ladies were sitting right here in the center. They had a center section out down here. And right in the middle, 15 little ladies and the youngest was 85. They listened to me on the radio every day, I found out. And they decided, one of them said, Howard is going to be in Weatherford. Let's go see what he looks like. And they were disappointed. But they came to look like, and they sat in the front, and the youngest lady was 85, all of them with us. Men die before ladies do, because ladies kill them. But anyway, all of them with us, 15 of them. And I walked out and I looked there and there were those beautiful little ladies. And one of them punched the other and said, that's him right there, that's him. And the other said, that ain't what I thought he'd look like. They didn't think I was as handsome as I really am. And don't laugh at me. But anyway, I preached. And one of them was a widow. She was 95 and she was a widow. Her husband had been a preacher for 50 years. And I got talking about the old days. Oh, the old days when preachers didn't get much money. But I told them how that the members would come by and members would give them okra. And you Yankees don't know what okra is, you poor heathen. Dick Mischick of it one time said, Brother House, what's this okra you've been talking about all the time? When I first came to Hammond, Indiana, I went out to the burger supermarket and cried and cried and cried. I stood out there and saw people buy turnip greens. And Brother Worthington, they'd tear the greens off the turnips and throw the turnips in the garbage can and buy, throw the greens in the garbage can and take the turnips home. And I looked at all those greens in the garbage can. I mean the best food, soul food. And I said to the Lord, the Lord, the apostasy is here. It's here. We must be in the last days. But anyway, I talked about the old days and how the members would bring you some turnip greens and some squash and okra and black eyed peas and green beans and butter and buttermilk and fresh eggs and fried and sliced chickens and so forth. And this old, this dear lady, whose husband's been a preacher for 50 years and she was 95, she began to get happy. Oh, she began to sway from side to side. It wasn't long before her eyes began to roll. And her hand, she started, we used to call it in Texas, voting. She almost voted. She raised her hand up like that, you know. And her eyes began to roll. And I thought she was going to shout. And by the way, if you ever want to know if shouting is real or not, check the eyes. If the eyes don't roll, tell them to shut up, of course. You'll find that in Jude chapter 2, but that's, that's, and so I said, I'm going to try again. And so I tried again. I thought I'd circle the field and come around that same spot, you know. I talked about the turnip greens and the squash and the okra and the black eyed peas and the green beans and the fried and sliced chickens and the buttermilk and the eggs. And her eyes began to roll again. She began to sway from side to side and she voted twice at that time. I thought she was going to turn loose and shout. And I wanted to shout so bad. And so I thought if I circle the field one more time, I'll be sure to shout. So I went around, came back over the field again. I talked about the black eyed peas and turnip greens and the squash and the okra. Talking about that almost makes me want to shout right now. And about the green beans and the buttermilk and the butter and the eggs and, and, and she, she rolled her eyes and swayed and almost shouted. She never shouted. When I finished, I said to the people, I've got to go now. I've got to go. I said, during the closing prayer, I must leave and go out the side door. And so I, during the closing prayer, I got a briefcase and put the Bible in it and put my papers in it and took off out the side door. But something happened. Those 15 ladies had gone before I went and they were out there. And one of them had gotten ahold of one side of the door like this and they joined hands and formed a circle all the way around the youngest was 85. And one of them said, you ain't going nowhere. We've come to see you and to shake your hand and get your autograph. And we're going to get it for you leave. And I tried real hard to get away. And, uh, and I, I couldn't get away. And, uh, so, uh, so I, uh, I shook all her hands and I, I kissed them. I used to say I'd kiss any female under six or over 60, but I'm 46 now. I've raised that to 65. These 60 year old ladies looking mighty good to me these days. And I've had to raise that a little bit, you know? And, uh, but anyway, I, uh, I, I, I kissed all those dear ladies, youngest one was 85. But here's the entire, whole story to tell you this. One little lady got her handkerchief out and in the corner of her handkerchief, she had some money all tied up. Remember, huh? Remember mom used to send you to school like that? I remember that, huh? See, really? And, uh, and so, uh, so she, she, she untied that and she pulled out a dollar bill and she said, this is for the broadcast. By the way, I wish about 2,000 of you would do that tonight. This is for the broadcast. And she said, I hear you every morning. I would miss you for the world. So I want you to have this for the broadcast. Lady beside her pulled out one of those old purses. Remember the kind about that long that rolled up and snapped at the top? How many ever had one of those, huh? And, uh, so, uh, it's pretty hard to have to educate you and preach to you at the same time. But she, uh, opened a purse and stuck her hand about two feet down inside that purse. She pulled out a dollar and she said, I got a dollar for you too. This is, this is a dollar I want to give for the broadcast too. And she gave me a dollar. Fourteen of those dear ladies. Fourteen of them gave me a dollar. I looked over and I say this in the corner of the circle. I know there's no corner to a circle, but that's the way it looks like. There's a little lady over there. I say little. She was bigger than any three of the other ladies put together. She was, Dr. Weiss, Dr. Weiss puts it this way, she was well upholstered. She was fat. I mean, she was fat. And so, but she was, she was about 90 years of age, about 90 years of age. And I looked over and she's, she's, she's like this. And she's, she's pouting and big old tears rolling down her cheeks. And I said, mama, what's wrong with you? She said, she said, Mr. Hiles, she said, I love you as much as any of them do. And I hear y'all broadcast every day too. But she said, I ain't got no dollar. And I can't give you no dollar, but I like you too. And I hugged as much of her as I could. And I said, you know, I mean, you can't blame Phil, if he does his best, that's all he can do. And I hugged as much of her as I could. And I said, God bless you, mama. I said, if you'll just pray for me, I'd rather have your prayers for me on Saturday night than a front page ad in the Dallas Morning News than I have. And she said, I'll tell you what, I'm quilting a quilt at home and I'm going to go home and I'm going to finish that quilt and I'm going to sell it and I'm going to send you a dollar like everybody else did. In just two or three days, I got a letter. Every radio preacher in the world knows what these letters look like. With the quivering hand of a little lady, an old lady. I opened it up and it was from that little plump lady. She said, dear brother Hiles, I'm the old lady who didn't have no money last Sunday. She said, I worked all night, Sunday night and Monday night to finish the quilt and I sold it Tuesday. She said, enclosed is two dollars for the broadcast. She said, P.S., did none of them give you that much, did they? Wouldn't it be an awful thing to look in the face of the one that we've preached and loved and have nothing to give him? Wouldn't it be an awful thing to say, Jesus, I've wanted to see you all these years. And I look at all the others throwing crowns at his feet and I said, Jesus, I wasn't as faithful as I should have been. I don't have anything to give you. I wasn't a sore winner. I don't have anything to give you. Oh, I want to have all the crowns to his feet. I don't want to lose my reward. I don't want to lose my reward. Ask me a question. Hey, have you lost your fellowship? Huh? Let me ask you a question. I'm going to be honest. Have you spent some time with God today? This is Sunday. This is Sunday. Huh? Have you spent some time with God today? Hey, have you spent some time with God in the last 24 hours? That's how long it took Mary and Joseph to lose him. One day. Have you lost your fellowship? Have you lost your power? Have you lost your joy? Have you lost rewards? I'd like to say to Jesus, and I won't be able to, but I'd like to, I'd like to be able to say, Jesus, here are the crowns. P.S. Didn't nobody give you that much, did they? Let's pray together, please.