Participants: Pr. Carlton Byrd
Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000189A
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00:01 Are you looking for an exciting change in your life? Well, get ready for a breath of new life.
00:06 Today, Dr. Byrd speaks on the topic, What In Hell Do You Want? 00:10 Now, here he is, speaker-director of Breath of Life Ministries, Dr. Carlton Byrd. 00:17 The Word of God says to us in Revelation 21, verse number 1, "And I saw a new heaven and 00:27 a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no 00:33 more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, 00:44 prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, 00:50 Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall 00:56 be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe 01:03 away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, 01:10 nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 01:16 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, 01:24 Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha 01:31 and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain 01:40 of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, 01:48 and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, 01:59 and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the 02:07 lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." 02:20 My title, and listen to me carefully, is a proper title: "What in hell do you want?" 02:28 Now, just in case Pharisees mix that up, I was about to say "What do you want in hell?" 02:34 But it just gets your attention, when I ask you "What in hell," and I'm not using unholy langua, 02:47 "do you want?" God bless us now. We've sung, but now we need a word from You. 02:58 If we don't hear from You, Lord, what will we do? Move by Your power, sprinkle 03:03 out Your grace, when the appeal is made, speak to Your people today. Forgive me 03:07 of my sins. In the name of Jesus I pray for clarity of thought and Thy people's 03:11 receptivity from You and Your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. 03:19 Every person in this place today, everybody watching today, every person under the sound 03:24 of my voice should have heaven as a goal. We live in a world of expectation about heaven. 03:34 We live in a world of anticipation about heaven. We treat people the way we treat people; 03:42 we love people the way we love; we walk like we walk; we talk like we talk; we put up 03:51 with stuff we normally wouldn't put up with because ultimately we want to go to heaven. 03:59 But as my great-grandmother used to say, everybody talking about heaven ain't going. 04:06 But we want to see Jesus, and the interesting thing about this is that when we look 04:11 at the world, we see so much happening around us and there are so many people who 04:16 have literally forfeit the reality of the joy of heaven for the horror of hell. 04:21 Today while I preach this message, there is somebody right now, somebody sitting here 04:25 today, who has not surrendered their life to the Lord Jesus Christ. There's somebody 04:30 who's listening to me right now who has not fully surrendered to the Lord. You've been 04:35 living your life like you've wanted to live your life, and today I need you to 04:39 understand that even though you may be outside the will of God, God is still pulling. 04:46 God is still tugging. God is still knocking at the door of your heart, because God 04:52 still wants you. I've come to tell you today that if you're not right with God, 04:58 you need to get it right. Do I have a witness in this place? 05:02 [Aud. reaction] PB: Whether you know it or not, I've learned, being in church 05:05 all these years, I've learned that you can be in church and still bust hell wide open. 05:11 That you're in the building, but not really in the Body. You're in the sanctuary, 05:14 but not in the Spirit. Up here, singing up here, praising up here, praying and still 05:20 going to bust hell wide open. [Aud. reaction] 05:23 PB: Because somebody in here is caught up in some things, and you're so caught 05:28 up--listen to me--that you have become comfortable in the way you are, because as 05:33 long as you sing a few songs; as long as you study your Sabbath school lesson a 05:38 little bit; as long as you attend a couple of church services; as long as you go 05:43 to dorm worship; as long as you give away some food and some clothes and fulfill 05:48 a few religious requirements, then you're cool with God. But let me tell you something: 05:54 when Jesus comes back, when He comes back for His church, sadly there are still 06:03 going to be some folk sitting still in church. And they're going to die at the 06:09 brightness of his coming. So today I ask the question: What in hell do you want? 06:18 Now, the devil is radical. The devil's not playing with us, he's bold. In fact, 06:24 he's bold in our face. When you look at the world, I believe God is asking us today, 06:29 what in hell do you want? But you know what? We don't have to look at the world; 06:35 we can start at the household of faith. We can look at what's happening across the 06:40 religious landscape of our globe. When we look at the fact that we now have children 06:47 who are messed up for the rest of their lives because they've been molested by priests, 06:52 what in hell do you want? When we've got churches and denominations that will now 07:00 consecrate and ordain gay bishops, what in hell do you want? When we've got church 07:10 folk who are just comfortable in fornication; comfortable in adultery; comfortable 07:14 in ungodly relationships, what in hell do you want? We've got folk who will sleep 07:26 with anything, drink anything, and when you lie down with dogs you wake up with fleas. 07:31 I wish I had a witness in this place. [Aud. reaction] 07:34 PB: Profess anything, say anything, believe anything: what in hell do you want? 07:43 When you can't trust friends; when you can't even trust your family, your kinfolk; 07:49 when you can't trust homeboys and sister girls, colleagues and coworkers, 07:53 not even church folks--what in hell do you want? Today I don't come to offend 08:00 but I came to be real, because a whole lot of us don't realize the devil's 08:02 playing with us. Let's be honest, and let's be real today: You're not going 08:07 to hell--listen to me--you are not going to hell because you wear pants to church. 08:12 [Aud. reaction] PB: You are not going to hell because you eat meat. 08:23 [Aud. reaction] PB: You are not going to hell because you wear a wedding band. 08:30 [Aud. reaction] PB: You are not going to hell because you like gospel music; 08:34 you will stand when people sing or move when people sing the gospel music. 08:38 You're not going to hell because you have dreads in your hair. Or you color 08:45 your hair. Do I have a witness in this place? [Aud. reaction] 08:48 PB: But today let me tell you what qualifies you for hell. Revelation 21:8 says, 08:55 "But the fearful, the unbelieving, and the abominable. Do you know what abominable means? 09:00 Things that make God sick. [Aud. reaction] 09:03 PB: Murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers--that's folk that deal in witchcraft. 09:10 Idolaters, liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and 09:16 brimstone: this is the second death. Let me tell you something today. The Bible says 09:24 the devil comes to seek, kill and destroy. But I love me some Jesus. Because Jesus says, 09:29 I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. The devil says, 09:33 I come to rip you up, tear you down, pull your heartstrings. But Jesus says, 09:39 I'm a heart fixer, a mind regulator. He says, I'm shelter in the time of storm. 09:45 Satan says, I'm a liar, I'm a deceiver, I'm the father of lies. Jesus says, 09:52 I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father but by me, and I 09:58 come to preach this message because I believe somebody needs to make a choice 10:02 that you want to live. Choose you this day whom you're going to serve. But as 10:06 for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. It's time for us to 10:11 reexamine our lives. [Aud. reaction] 10:13 PB: Let me tell you something, folk. We catch too much hell here on earth. 10:19 Some of us have hell on our jobs, hell in our homes, hell when you come to church. 10:26 You can't go through all that hell, die and then go to hell, that's too much hell. 10:30 I wish I had a witness in this place. [Aud. reaction] 10:32 PB: But I want to receive everything God has for me because what God has for me, 10:37 it is for me. God did not promise me hell, but God promised me heaven. God promised 10:45 me a mansion that the rent's already been paid for. God promised me streets of gold 10:50 and gates of pearl. I'm not trying to do hell, I'm trying to get up out of here. 10:56 I'm trying to receive this promise that God has for my life, and I ain't going to 11:00 hell for anybody. Now, let me be clear before I take my seat 'cause I'm not going 11:04 to be long. I don't preach this from a posture of moral supremacy. I preach this 11:09 message to you today because let me be clear: I'm the preacher, but I'm flesh and 11:13 blood just like you. I feel what you feel, I struggle with what you struggle with. 11:19 And I'm talking to all of us today. From the main floor to the balcony to the choir 11:24 loft to the media room to the mothers' room, from the front door to the back door, 11:29 I'm talking to all of us because God is raising us up. [Aud. reaction] 11:33 PB: It's time for us to stop playing. The game is over. It's time for us to draw 11:40 a line in the sand. It's now or never. [Aud. reaction] 11:46 PB: It's time for us to get serious, folk. It's time for the church to be different 11:51 from the world. We've got to set a standard so that when the enemy comes in like a 11:56 flood, we can lift up a standard against him. Let me be clear: You hear it all the 12:02 time, hell is real. Hell is what, everybody? Aud.: Real. 12:06 PB: Hell is not some fictitious, imaginary, fake, made-up, fabricated place. 12:10 Hell is real. If you don't live right, if you don't do right, if you don't act right, 12:19 guess where you're going. To hell. If you disrespect God, disobey God, ignore God, 12:29 refuse to follow God, you don't love God, guess where you're going. To hell. If you 12:36 continue to lie, continue to cheat, continue to steal, commit adultery, commit fornication, 12:43 guess where you're going. If you keep up mess, confusion, gossip--and we gossip so much 12:57 we don't even sometimes realize we're gossiping. Continually hurt people in your home, 13:03 on your job, in the dormitory, in the classroom, even in the church--guess where you're going. 13:09 To hell. Make no mistake about it, hell is real. It's factual, it's authentic, 13:16 and if I go to hell, if I die and my soul be lost, it's nobody's fault but mine. 13:22 Now quickly, so I give you some scholarship to this text, there are four words for 13:27 hell in the Bible. How many words, everybody? Aud.: Four. 13:30 PB: One in the Old Testament and three in the New Testament. 13:33 The first word for hell is in the Old Testament and it's sheol. Everybody say sheol. 13:37 Aud.: Sheol. PB: It means the place of the dead, the bottomless pit, the abyss. 13:41 The second word for hell is in the New Testament. It's hades. Everybody say hades. 13:45 Hades means the grave. The third term is tartarus. Tartarus means a place of darkness, 13:52 a place of torture. The fourth word, gehenna. Everybody say gehenna. Aud.: Gehenna. 13:59 PB: It means a place of burning. Now, if you don't get anything else, get this. 14:03 Hell is reality. It's a place of the dead. It's a place of darkness. It's a place 14:15 of torture. It's a place of burning. Now, we shout on heaven, and heaven is also for real. 14:25 And I want to make heaven my home, because I don't want to be among darkness. 14:31 I don't want to be among torture. I don't want to be among burning, and God knows 14:36 I don't want to be among the dead, and that's why I can't be in a dead church. 14:41 [Aud. reaction] PB: The Bible says, present your bodies a living sacrifice, 14:46 holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service. That is not a 14:52 dead sacrifice but a living sacrifice. I can't be dead. Just in case you didn't know, 14:59 Jesus died on Friday. He lay, resting in the grave on the Sabbath, but early Sunday 15:06 morning He got up, He conquered death, hell and the grave, and now He lives forevermore. 15:12 Hallelujah, somebody. [Aud. reaction] 15:15 PB: So I shout because I want to live and be alive with my live Jesus. Do I have a witness 15:23 in this place? But hell, it's real. Hell is dead. Hell is a place of torment. 15:34 And let me be clear, as we said last night: Once you go to hell, there's no coming 15:39 back from hell. There's a way to stay out of hell but no way to get out of hell. 15:44 The Bible is clear that when Jesus comes back and redeems the righteous from this earth, 15:50 according to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, the dead in Christ are going to rise first. 15:55 Then we which are alive and remain are going to be caught up with Him in the clouds 15:59 to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. The wicked living 16:03 are going to die at the brightness of His coming. Revelation 25 says that the wicked 16:09 dead are going to remain what, everybody? Aud.: Dead. 16:12 PB: Revelation 20 then teaches that at the end of the 1,000 years, at the end of 16:18 the millennium, Satan and the wicked will ultimately be cast into the lake of fire. 16:23 The sea, the Bible says, will give up the dead which are in it. Death and hell will 16:29 deliver up the dead which are in them, and every man and woman will be judged according 16:33 to their works. And death and hell will be cast into the lake of fire. Hell is a place 16:40 of torment, and when one goes to hell there's no coming back from hell because the Word says, 16:45 he that is unjust, let him be unjust still. He that is filthy, let him be filthy, what everybody? 16:53 Aud.: Still. PB: Once you are there, you are there. And if you die, and you don't know 16:59 the Lord, and if you are now living and don't want to know the Lord, guess where you're going. 17:06 To hell. Think about all the people you know if life who didn't get their lives together; 17:13 who didn't surrender their lives to the Lord and they thought they had time to waste. 17:18 They were living it up, doing whatever they wanted to do. And I don't care how 17:23 beautiful their funeral was, folk getting up making remarks, lying. Do I have a 17:28 witness in this place? [Aud. reaction] 17:29 PB: I don't care how many flowers were there, I don't care how many people were there, 17:34 I don't care how many times we sang "It Is Well With My Soul" or "When We All Get to Heaven," 17:40 it is highly probable that if they didn't know the Lord, if they didn't love the Lord, 17:47 if they didn't surrender to the Lord, if they didn't follow the Lord, if they didn't 17:52 have a relationship with the Lord, it's highly probable that one day they will wind 17:57 up in hell. PB: Is fornication really that good? Is adultery really that good? 18:31 Is stealing really that good? Is that money skinning really that good? 18:43 Are the numbers really that good? Getting quiet in the church house. 18:50 Is that bottle really that good? Is that cigarette really that good? 19:01 Are those illicit drugs really that good? Is the latest news, the juicy gossip, 19:09 the keeping up of mess and criticizing what everybody else is doing instead of 19:14 worrying about what you're doing, is it that good to you that you jeopardize 19:22 eternal life? That you'd rather play with your soul like that. I speak in the 19:28 name of Jesus. I speak under the authority of the Holy Ghost. There's nothing 19:34 that good, that's going to cause me to miss out on the promises of God. 19:41 There should be nothing that good that causes you to miss out on heaven. 19:46 Young people, there's nothing that fine--[Aud. reaction] 19:52 PB: 'Cause in 20 years you get to the Dunlap syndrome. Y'all do know what Dunlap is. 20:05 It done lapped over. I wish I had a witness in this place. [Aud. reaction] 20:09 PB: Pastor Byrd done laps. Some of you all remember when I was a student, 20:18 I was skinny as I don't know. I had done laps, but praise God I've got a wife 20:22 that still loves me even though I done laps. [Aud. reaction] 20:26 PB: So people ask me all the time, Pastor Byrd, how do I deal with temptation? 20:37 What do I do with temptation? This is how you deal with temptation: When somebody 20:45 tries to get you to do something outside the will of God, you've got to hear it 20:50 this way. What they're really saying to you is, Go ahead and go to hell. 20:56 [Aud. reaction] PB: Uh, can I get those digits? Can we move in together? 21:09 Your response, Oh, you're telling me to go to hell. [Aud. reaction] 21:12 PB: Preach, Pastor Byrd. I'm doing the best I can! Ha-ha! Can we smoke a 21:25 little of this something-somethi ng together? Oh, what you're try ing to tell 21:30 me is to go to hell. Oh, can we just hook this thing on up? Young people, 21:43 turn to each other and tell each other, I'm not going to hell with you. 21:49 [Aud. reaction] PB: Amen! [Aud. reaction] 21:53 PB: I've got too much in my future. You've got too much in your future 22:01 with Jesus Christ to be going to hell. Do I have a witness in this place? 22:05 God's got some stuff for my life, and I've got to stop hanging around folks 22:11 who ain't going nowhere no time fast. I know that's a double negative. 22:15 Going to try to bring me down. But I've got to stand up for righteousness. 22:19 I've got to stand for the promises of God. I believe God is trying to tell 22:25 us all, not just the folk in white, but He's trying to tell all of us: 22:31 It's time to repent. It's time to prepare to meet your God. It's time 22:37 for us to stand on the promises and quit sitting on the premises. 22:42 [Aud. reaction] PB: It's time for us to get some stuff right, 22:47 because hell is real. But not only that, hell is real, but I also want 22:55 to remind you the devil is real. Now, remember I told you earlier the 23:00 devil is bold. He's what, everybody? Aud.: Bold. 23:02 PB: Not only bold, he's radical. He's what, everybody? 23:04 Aud.: Radical. PB: Don't you forget, he's real. Now, we all believe 23:09 in angels. Amen? Everybody believe in angels? All night, all day, angels 23:15 watching over me. What do you think angels are doing? Watching you, 23:20 over your bed? Running errands for you? Going to get your food? What do 23:27 you think angels are really doing? Let me tell you what angels are doing. 23:31 Angels are keeping demons away. [Aud. reaction] 23:36 PB: Let me be clear: Genesis 1:1. In the beginning, God created the heavens 23:43 and the what, everybody? Aud.: Earth. 23:45 PB: But according then to John 1:1, Before the beginning, God was. 23:50 God then is CEO of the universe. You and I, we didn't vote Him in, 23:58 and we can't vote Him out. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word 24:03 was with God, and the Word was God. Now, the fact that God was God before 24:09 God created man, God had angels. There were cherubims, seraphims in heaven. 24:17 In the heavenly court, in heaven, these angels did nothing but worship God. 24:25 And that's all we were created to do, worship God. That's why I love me some 24:29 church. I love coming to church, 'cause I love worshiping God. Do I have a witness 24:33 in this place? We were created to bring glory to God's name. Whatever we do in life, 24:38 it's to bring glory to God. That's what God created us for, to bring glory to Him. 24:44 That's why I shout hallelujah, because hallelujah is the highest praise. 24:48 Now, here's the deal: God created Lucifer. Lucifer was placed over heaven's choir. 24:57 Lucifer was chief angel. Lucifer's job description was to make sure that everyone 25:04 in heaven worshiped God and was continuously bringing glory to the One who sat on 25:10 the throne. Now, the Bible says in Isaiah 14 that Lucifer wanted to be like the 25:17 Most High God. So, instead of giving worship, Lucifer wanted worship. Instead of 25:24 giving praise, Lucifer wanted praise. Instead of giving glory, Lucifer wanted glory. 25:30 Lucifer said, I'm tired of every day bringing glory to God's name. Can I get some of 25:36 this glory? Can I get some of this praise? So, Revelation 12:4 says that Lucifer 25:43 convinced one-third of the angels to rebel against God. 25:47 Now, here's how God works. Ellen Taylor, I didn't know you were going to do that 25:50 for the call to worship. Let me tell you how God works. God is not going to share 25:55 His glory with anybody. [Aud. reaction] 25:59 PB: God is not going to share His glory with anybody. He's God all by Himself, 26:07 and He doesn't need help from anybody else. And so in Revelation 12:7, 8 and 9, 26:13 the Bible says there was war in heaven. Michael, which is Jesus, and his angels 26:19 fought against the dragon, which is Satan, against Lucifer and his boys, and 26:23 guess who won? [Aud. reaction] 26:26 PB: Hallelujah, Jesus. The answer makes somebody shout right there. Let that 26:30 be a lesson to you. Satan can fight Jesus all he wants, but Jesus is always 26:37 going to win. That's why when I come up in a fight against Satan, I just stand 26:42 still and let the Lord fight my battle, 'cause victory is going to be mine. 26:47 Victory is mine, victory is mine, victory today is mine. I told Satan, get 26:53 thee behind. Victory today is mine. Understand, there was war in heaven. 26:59 Lucifer and his angels were cast out of heaven to the earth. To the what, everybody? 27:04 Aud.: Earth. PB: And then Lucifer shows up, in Genesis chapter 3. He shows up 27:09 in the serpent, in a snake who was more subtle, more conniving, more sneaky, more 27:16 deceptive than any other creature on the earth. And so now Lucifer roams the earth, 27:22 and the fallen angels that came with him, guess where they are now? They are demons, 27:26 walking up and down the earth. That's why I'm thankful for Jesus be a fence all 27:33 around me every day. I'm so grateful, I have angels that attend me even when I 27:38 don't know it. I wish I had a witness in this place. When in the book of Job God 27:41 says to Satan, "Satan, where have you been?" Satan says, "Well, walking. To and 27:50 fro in the earth, seeking whom I may devour." Satan's demons are spirits who walk 28:03 to and fro in the earth seeking whom they may devour, getting into human vessels. 28:06 Announcer: Thank you for joining us for another exciting broadcast. 28:09 Announcer: We'd like you to partner with us. 28:11 Announcer: As we offer the Breath of Life to a dying world. 28:15 All of our sermon titles and DVDs can be purchased at www.breathoflife.tv 28:22 Until next time, God loves you! 28:25 END |
Revised 2015-05-08