Paved with Good Intentions
Pastor David T. Elms 6/1/2025
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36:35
Summary
Pastor David T. Elms reframes the famous proverb to argue that God values the sincere intentions and consecrations of the heart, turning our failures into the very path that leads us toward heaven.
Key points
- •Success is often a poor teacher, but failure allows us to identify weak spots and re-engineer our lives for greater strength.
- •God uses the 'blot method' with our lives, taking our imperfections and failures and turning them into masterpieces.
- •The secular proverb 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions' is not biblical; rather, God prioritizes and honors the intentions and motives of the heart.
- •Consecration is recorded by God even when we feel we are failing; He numbers our prayers and desires to serve Him as part of our progress toward heaven.
- •True transformation requires a 'made-up mind' and a conscious decision to purpose our lives toward God despite the distractions of the world.
Scripture
Failure and Success
Motives of the Heart
Persistence
Grace
Identity in Christ
Life application
Review your recent failures not as dead ends, but as data points for growth, and consciously choose to renew your intention to serve God every morning this week, regardless of how you feel.
Reflection questions
- In what areas of your life have you felt like a failure, and how might God be using those 'blots' to create something beautiful?
- Why is it important that God discerns the 'intents' of the heart rather than just our outward performance?
- What 'flatterers' or distractions are currently pulling you away from your intended path toward God?
- How does shifting your perspective to believe the road to heaven is paved with good intentions change how you view your spiritual journey?
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Full transcript
0:00subject that'll stun you for a moment.
0:00The title of my
0:00message is the road to heaven is paved
0:04with good
0:06intentions. Now, I know you're already
0:08arguing with me.
0:11You already think that I have
0:13misqued the proverb because your whole
0:17life you have heard the road to
0:20hell is paved with good
0:24intentions. I've done some research on
0:26that and I found out that that's not a
0:28biblical term. It's not a biblical
0:30proverb. It was first recorded around
0:33the 17th century and
0:37uh it's something I want to readjust
0:40today. An amateur photographer was
0:43showing his work to a very instructed
0:45teacher to an analyze the skill set of
0:48his pictures that he took. And the
0:51teacher looked with trained and
0:53experienced eyes and he told the
0:56photographer concerning his artwork. He
1:00said, "These pictures are pretty good,
1:02but I need you to show me the ones that
1:06did not do so
1:07well because I can learn more from the
1:11pictures that didn't sell well than
1:14these that did." The essence is success
1:19is a poor
1:21teacher. Say it with me. Success is a
1:25poor
1:27teacher. That photographer said, "I
1:30learned something that day. I learned
1:31that my failures were pretty good
1:34things." It's our breaking moments when
1:37we discover our hidden weaknesses by
1:40removing our frailties that enable
1:43us that become
1:46stronger. This past week, uh you guys
1:49know I'm kind of a engineering
1:52um lovingly I say it nerd. Uh but I love
1:56space. I love rockets. I pretended when
1:59I was four years old in
2:011970 that I was an astronaut. I would
2:03take a rope from the top of the tree in
2:05San Diego and tie the rope all around me
2:08and then use the rope as a
2:11mic. Moon landing, here I come. Moon
2:14landing, here I
2:17come. You know, you got to have the
2:18sound effects if you're going to do it
2:20in my club. If you don't have sound
2:22effects, you're not welcome to my club.
2:24Okay? Don't walk in here.
2:27No, you got to go break the
2:31break. Static's a part of
2:34it. But this past week, Space X
2:38uh launched for the ninth time what is
2:41known as Starship. It is the biggest,
2:43largest rocket that's ever been made in
2:46the history of the world. And it was the
2:48ninth time they flew. While the news
2:51media when you read about it, every time
2:53you read about it, it seems as if, and I
2:56did some research on this, between 75
2:58and 80% of all stories about this rocket
3:02going up speak of failure and breakage
3:06and not meeting
3:09goals. But it is a program that they're
3:12building and it's a rapidly reusable
3:16rocket that they're trying to build. one
3:18that's a lot like an airplane that can
3:20come in, be refueled in one hour, and
3:22take off on another trip. And that's the
3:25goal. And I don't know why they
3:28continually assess these trials as
3:32failures because the facts of all is
3:36that you don't learn much from your
3:39successes. You've got to push things
3:42until they crumble before you realize
3:46the weak spot. When hon automobiles were
3:50first made, they broke down continually.
3:52None of you all remember that. Only I
3:54do. But they were continually breaking
3:57down. One by one, they began to march
4:00toward the breaking points in vehicles
4:04until now. Every one of you expect,
4:06fully expect and think when your car go
4:10to the cart today, it's going to run.
4:12When airplanes were first built, they
4:14crashed often. In fact, the first plane
4:18that Orville Wright built crashed and
4:22brought on the first aviation death,
4:25that first machine, one of one, one
4:27plane, one crash that killed somebody.
4:30Then when prop planes come along, the
4:32rate of death was about 60 deaths per 1
4:37million flights with propeller planes.
4:40And then jet came and that was around
4:42the 50s and 60s. The jet was a much more
4:46dependable engine. And the wrecks of
4:48planes because of engine failure went
4:51down to about 20 per million. Now the
4:55rate of crashes that are fatal for
4:57airplanes is 0.0.
5:00039 per million. It is the safest form
5:04of travel and it's because they have
5:07iterated and iterated and researched and
5:10gone back and back to find every weak
5:13spot in these airplanes. In 2019, a book
5:17written by David Philip Miller entitled
5:20The Life and Legend of James Watt. And
5:22if you don't know who James Watt was, he
5:24was the one who enhanced and made
5:26excellent the steam engine. And he
5:29talked about how Watt's meticulous
5:32experimentation involved learning from
5:35mistakes. He would push the engine until
5:37it blew, analyze it, and go back and
5:40re-engineer it. And the thing that Watt
5:43sought for the most was a history of
5:46failures. In fact, he said as an
5:48engineer, he said, "What I want is a
5:51book of
5:53blocks because I learn more from the
5:57breakage." The largest advances in
6:00medical science occurred when they
6:01became willing to face their failures
6:04and learn from them because
6:07setbacks are really the way that paved
6:11the road for breakthroughs. In 2014,
6:15Ebola was the word that haunted all of
6:18our minds. Many of you were here for
6:20that. When you heard about the Ebola
6:23outbreaks, it was so frightening because
6:26they would go into communities and it
6:28was wiping out entire communities. But
6:31in 2019, an a vaccine was made for Ebola
6:35that right now it has a
6:3890% efficacy for those who have it. And
6:42that was a study conducted in
6:442023. So it was the failures that taught
6:48them how to ward against the failures in
6:52the future. Failure is many times
6:55difficult to define. So someone seems to
6:59be failing. Are they or are they
7:02learning? Because if you keep watching
7:05people that have failings in their life,
7:08before someone decides that they get to
7:10write their epitap, back up and watch
7:14because the road to
7:16heaven is paved with good
7:20intentions. My brother was is a
7:23jiu-jitsu fighter. He fights jiu-jitsu.
7:26It's not often that your pastor is a
7:29jiu-jitsu master, but I'm proud of my
7:32brother for doing this. His church, I
7:34don't even know to this day if he will
7:36tell them that he does jiu-jitsu. It's
7:38just he's got this sideline uh reality.
7:42In fact, I think he posts underneath a
7:44pseudonym in jiu-jitsu. But he's good.
7:48He's so good he went to the Atlanta Open
7:50which is for the entire Southeast and he
7:52won the silver belt which is the second
7:55position and the top three would be
7:57invited to worlds and world
7:58championships are always held in Las
8:01Vegas and so as a pastor he of course he
8:04didn't go as a pastor he went as a
8:05jiu-jitsu
8:08guy he went twice to worlds by
8:11invitation and I don't know who does he
8:13train
8:15with Gracie Gracie
8:18Is that that is that who he Anyway, it
8:20doesn't matter. I don't know any of
8:22them. Talk to my
8:24wife. Uh, and so my brother's good. He
8:28won't tell you that, which you find out
8:29most jiu-jitsu guys, you won't even know
8:31they're good. You won't even know until
8:33you try something. They'll slam you and
8:36then humbly say, "Can I help you
8:38up?" It's amazing what they learn. But
8:42my brother went to world, so I went one
8:44time to watch him. I was going to go
8:45watch him and stand in the crowd. And I
8:48watched the fight and he got in there
8:50and it was mayhem and just strain and
8:53struggle. And he didn't win the fight,
8:56but he he wasn't pinned. He lost by
8:58points. So, I was kind of bummed
9:01because, you know, I had given him my
9:02best advice before the fight. I said,
9:04"Nathan, you know, flow like water." I
9:07thought that would be good. I thought
9:09that would be a helpful piece of advice.
9:11Flow like water, baby. When they come to
9:13you, move like
9:19water. My advice failed him. I
9:22apologize, Nathan. I apologize. But I
9:24was so proud of my brother. But I went
9:27and worked out in the workout room after
9:29this thing's over. After my brother
9:30fights, at least I can go get on the
9:32treadmill, you know. So, while I'm in
9:34there, a guy asked me why I was there. I
9:36said, "Well, I came here to World." He
9:37said, "Oh, really?" Yeah. I said, "Yeah,
9:39my brother's in them." And he said, "Oh,
9:42he is. says, "How'd he do?" I said, "He
9:44lost." And that man immediately taught
9:47me one of the greatest lessons I'll ever
9:49have in my life. He said, "David, by
9:54then we had gotten to know each other."
9:56He said, "Let me tell you something
9:57about
9:58worlds. If you make it here, nobody
10:02loses." He said, "Either you win or you
10:06learn."
10:10See, the road to heaven is
10:14paved with good
10:16intentions. I know you've heard the road
10:18to hell is paid with good intentions. It
10:19dates back to HD Bond's handbook of
10:22Proverbs in 1856 when the first time it
10:25was written down. The road to hell is
10:28paved with good intentions. And we've
10:29heard it so much that we've all repeated
10:31it many times. But that is a flawed
10:34truth because when you read my text
10:37today, the scripture says the word of
10:39God is quick and powerful and sharper
10:41than any two-edged sword to the divided
10:44sunder of the bone from the marrow, the
10:46joints and all of those separations that
10:49the Holy Ghost brings as it discerns the
10:52thoughts and the
10:58intents. See, the road to heaven is paid
11:03paved with good intention. Many failures
11:05grab the headlines of our heart and
11:08successes have a hard time getting out
11:09of the shadows. We have a success and uh
11:13you know all of a sudden it's somewhere
11:15back there, but our failures always try
11:18to grab the headlines. You failed. You
11:20failed. You failed. But the truth is
11:24those successes are not where we're
11:26learning. We're learning from the
11:29failures. Did Moses fail because he
11:31never entered the promised land in this
11:34life? Did he? I know you know the New
11:37Testament side of the story, but let's
11:39forget what we know about the New
11:41Testament when he appeared unto Jesus in
11:43Canaan land. No, let's forget that. Did
11:46he fail because he didn't enter Canaan
11:48land? I'd like to propose to you that
11:50Joshua entered Canaan land because Moses
11:55intended to enter Canaan land.
11:59Did King David fail because he was never
12:01allowed to build God a house? Or was it
12:05because of David that Solomon was able
12:08to build the house?
12:10How many times when we think we failed
12:13that it will be revealed in heaven's
12:15point of view that all that time you are
12:20winning? There's a certain success in
12:22the failure that makes success possible.
12:25I'm saying that life holds fewer
12:27failures than we think it does. An
12:31artist who found several blocks in the
12:33blue sky of his painting took his art
12:36piece to a school of art, an institute,
12:38because at that art academy, he thought
12:40that he could have them remove these
12:43blocks without spoiling the pictures.
12:45But the great master of art determined
12:47that it was impossible to erase the
12:50blotss in the sky. And so the artist
12:53went back, set his eye on the blot, and
12:57turned them into
12:58birds. It's been known as the blot
13:01method. Whatever blotss of imperfection
13:03are in the picture, instead of saying it
13:06ruins it, embrace it. Because it's the
13:10randomness of the flaw that makes the
13:14masterpiece whole. In your Bible, there
13:17are many portions one might call a blot.
13:20They are there on purpose. I cannot
13:23believe how many blotss are in the
13:26Bible. It's not not very often that you
13:29find a man that doesn't have a flaw
13:31exposed in the scripture. Many of you
13:34have read Pilgrim's Progress. In
13:36Pilgrim's Progress, Christian and
13:38hopeful followed the flatterer. The
13:42flatterer, they didn't know he was that
13:44was just a man. They followed him for a
13:46bit. They thought that they were doing
13:48the right thing. Christian and hopeful
13:50had come on this journey to the
13:52celestial city. And there on the way
13:54they came to a fork in the road and they
13:56weren't sure which way to go. And this
13:59man stepped out nicely dressed with a
14:02phenomenal speech and an eloquent
14:05presentation. And he said uh to them he
14:08said, "Oh, there's no problem in knowing
14:10what to do." He said, "You and I were
14:12going to the same place. come with me
14:15and we'll just go in company. Along they
14:18went with this one that we knew as the
14:21flatterer. And they ignored the warning
14:24that the shepherds back at the
14:26delectable mountain had told them. They
14:29had told them before they left the
14:30delectable mountain, "Beware of the
14:33flatterer." So Christian and hopeful
14:35came to this fork in the road trying to
14:37decide. And this man shows up full of
14:40personality and he said, "Come with me."
14:43And they went to this place and they
14:45could not imagine the B the book says
14:48that this fine smoke spoken man was the
14:51flatterer. The road though as they
14:54looked it looked like it went parallel
14:56for a long time looked to be going the
14:58same direction but as far as they went
15:02it wasn't very long until the road
15:03turned aside and the conversation was so
15:06consuming until the man the flatterer
15:10darted to the side and Christian and
15:12hopeful were caught in the net and the
15:14net the more they tried to get out of it
15:16the more it entrapped them they were
15:19trapped and they struggled and they
15:20couldn't get out and the flatter had
15:22dodged and left them. And all of a
15:24sudden, the shining one came. And the
15:27shining one got them out, pulled them
15:29up, stood them up, put them back to the
15:32right road. But before the shining one
15:34said goodbye, he asked them some
15:37questions. He said, "Where did you come
15:40from before you met the flatterer?" And
15:42they said, "Well, we were with the
15:44shepherds at Delectible Mountain, and
15:47there we heard the shepherds speaking."
15:51So the shining one said, "Well, didn't
15:54the shepherd remind you and warn you
15:58about the directions you're supposed to
16:01take and to beware of the flatterer?"
16:04And they said, "Yes, the shepherd did
16:07warn us of that, but we forgot about
16:10them. We only remembered what the
16:12shepherd said when we were trapped in
16:15the net." And he said, 'Well, did the
16:18shepherds really warn you clearly to
16:21beware of the flatterer?' And they said,
16:23'Yes, he warned us, but we didn't
16:27recognize that man as the flatterer.
16:31Now, what's the point of this parable
16:34that was written as a classic old? The
16:37point is this. None of us know every
16:41time we've been drawn away from God.
16:46Oh, I would love to think we've all got
16:47it figured out, but there's always going
16:50to be times that we find ourselves more
16:52carnal than we thought we would ever
16:53get, more lost than we ever imagined we
16:56ever could be, more doubtful than we
16:58ever thought we were possible of, even
17:00more angry than we thought that was in
17:02us. And we wake up and we say, "What's
17:05going on?" And about that times, things
17:08don't look right. They don't sound
17:10right. They don't smell right. They
17:12don't taste right. and you're trapped in
17:14this place." Bunan declared about them.
17:17He said, "Then I saw in my dream that
17:21the Lord commanded them to lie down, and
17:24he chasened them to teach them the right
17:27way in which to walk. And he said unto
17:29them, "As many as I love, I rebuke and I
17:33chasten. Be just, therefore, and
17:37repent." He entreated them and he
17:40thanked and they thanked the shining one
17:43for his kindness. And Bunan wrote, "They
17:46softly went on their way." They got
17:50caught in a net. And yet that net of
17:54self-righteousness, that net of self-
17:56knowing, that net of saying, "I've got
17:59it figured out." They thought they could
18:01work it out all by themselves. They
18:03thought they didn't need the shepherd,
18:05but they made a mistake. Deep down, they
18:08had good intentions, but they made
18:12mistakes. Hebrews 4:13, "And no creature
18:15is hidden from his sight, but all are
18:17naked and exposed to the eyes of him to
18:20whom we must give account." I would like
18:23to think that all of us once we're
18:24filled with the Holy Ghost, baptized in
18:26Jesus name, repented of our sins, would
18:28always have a proper aspect in life. But
18:31no, no, no. We are all susceptible to
18:35hearing the voice of the flatterer. What
18:38is success anyway? Success cannot be
18:41reduced to adding a machine or a
18:44calculator together. I know the road to
18:47hell is paved with good intentions is
18:49what you've heard your whole life. But I
18:51declare to you today that the road to
18:53heaven is paved with good intentions.
18:57Intention is the mental state of having
19:00a purpose.
19:04Intention is a goal to achieve
19:09something. Intention involves a
19:13plan. Intention is a conscious decision
19:16to act in a certain way. It's about what
19:19you aim for. It's what you strain toward
19:24as you walk to the horizon. The Bible
19:28says that the word of God is quick,
19:32powerful, sharper than any two-edged
19:34sword, piercing even to the dividing
19:37aunder of soul and spirit, the joints
19:40and the marrow, and is a discerner of
19:43the thoughts and the
19:46intents of the heart. That verse cuts to
19:50the core of your motives. A man will
19:54wrestle with his own decisions. This is
19:56why you can find a thief, a robber, a
19:59murderer, a rapist. And inside of them,
20:02there was a good person wrestling with
20:05them. In every place, they can jump
20:08between personalities and say, "But I'm
20:10a good guy." Yes, you are
20:14both. The good guys are also evil, and
20:18the evil guys are also good. That's the
20:21reason it won't take the calculus of a
20:23courtroom to figure you out.
20:26But every day while you think you're
20:28judging the
20:31word, the word's judging
20:35you. When you think you're reading the
20:39word, the word's reading you. When you
20:43think you're assessing the value of the
20:45message, the message is walking up and
20:49telling you the value of
20:52you. Because the God of heaven says
20:56while you wrestle between the two
20:58realities that you are, the road to
21:01heaven is paved with the intentions of
21:05your soul. I'll never forget in 2020,
21:09and maybe I told the church this Tuesday
21:11night, I don't know. If it is, if I did,
21:14then I'm supposed to tell you again. I
21:16had a vision was going through a really
21:18tough time and uh did I tell this
21:21Tuesday
21:22night? I told it in South Africa.
21:26Okay. And I was battling some burdens
21:29and stuff and I I faith it till I make
21:31it here. Y'all don't know when I'm going
21:33through things. At least I hope you
21:34don't. I'm not called to this church for
21:36y'all to carry me. But I appreciate you
21:39carrying me in your prayers. But I don't
21:41walk to this pulpit to get sympathy and
21:43heart bless and all that stuff. No, no,
21:45no. I'm here to feed the flock. That's
21:48why I've come. But I was going through a
21:50tremendous amount of strains and
21:52stresses and pulls. And I went to
21:54district conference and I have the same
21:56spot I sit about where brother and
21:57sister Gillan sit at district conference
21:59every year and it's kind of close to the
22:01altar and I love going there and just
22:02sitting and hearing the preacher and
22:04then I can walk from there to my little
22:05spot. I got my own spot that I have at
22:07campground where I go and pray and I'll
22:09find and get up and just leave me be.
22:11Leave me be. I just need to be with
22:13Jesus. Y'all ever know what I'm talking
22:15about? I just need to get with Jesus. I
22:17don't need a bunch of chatter. I don't
22:19need a lot of talk. Just let me get shut
22:21in with God.
22:24And I crawled up to that spot and in my
22:27mind was going through all of my
22:29shortfalls and the areas where I thought
22:31I'd failed and areas where I thought I
22:33wasn't enough and areas where I had
22:35heard the report of the accuser of the
22:37brethren tell me how how little I had
22:40accomplished and how doubtful I was and
22:43all of that. And when I got down on my
22:45face and my my knees, Sister Elms, come
22:49on my knees, I I was praying and I was
22:52thinking, "Oh Lord, you know, I don't
22:55want this." And God in one instant, it
22:58was as if he came and grabbed me by the
23:00hand and he took me flying and he took
23:03me on this journey all the way back to
23:07my childhood. He took me to the place
23:10where I cried as we rode in a motor home
23:13from San Diego. The first time I lost
23:15all my best friends. I was six years
23:17old. I lost all my friends. I lost my
23:19home. I lost my school because my dad
23:21had to answer this call to preach. And I
23:23was uprooted. And I'll never forget in
23:26the middle of the night waking up
23:27sobbing, crying. And I believe it was at
23:30that moment that God called me to preach
23:32when I looked back at things because
23:35there was such a soothing song that came
23:37over my heart as a six-year-old little
23:40boy and I just sobbed and cried myself
23:43right back to sleep. He took me there
23:45and then he took me to my prayer tree
23:48that I used to climb in Howie Circle and
23:50at the top of a big tall gum tree. I
23:52would go up at a certain fork in the
23:53branches and I would pray where the wind
23:55blew me back and forth. Then he took me
23:58to a blue velour altar that was over on
24:00this side of the church at Howie Circle
24:02where I would cry and I filled that pad
24:04with snot and
24:07tears. Then he took me to Freedom Park
24:10beside a big oak tree where I remember
24:11as a senior in high school, I walked up
24:13to that prayer tree and I told it, I
24:15said, "Tree, I'm telling you right now,
24:18I'm going to serve God." It was a Friday
24:21night youth's consecration service. And
24:23the Lord took me on this fast trip and
24:27he said, "While you have been recording
24:30your
24:32shortfalls, I have been
24:35recording your consecrations."
24:42And I
24:43thought, I've had the wrong producer
24:46making my movie.
24:52I thought the movie of my life just
24:54filled all the time as I let someone
24:57down. I wasn't good enough for that one.
24:59Wasn't big enough for that one. Didn't
25:01accomplish this. No, that wasn't the
25:05producer.
25:06The producer of the movie of my life had
25:09walked from dances before I
25:13preached to altars where I
25:16went to prayer meetings where I walked
25:19and he was making a
25:22movie because while I felt like failures
25:26were defining me, he was saying the
25:30intentions of your
25:31heart is where I'm paving your road to
25:36heaven.
25:37David wanted to build God's house. God a
25:41house. Even his son Solomon recorded in
25:44first kings chapter 8. Now it was in the
25:47heart of David my
25:49father to build a house for the name of
25:53the Lord, the God of
25:56Israel. But the Lord said to David, my
25:59father, how many times does Solomon say
26:02that? My father.
26:05It's like he's so proud of
26:08daddy, of David, my father. The Lord
26:12said, "Whereas it was in your
26:15heart to build a house for my
26:19name." Here's the
26:22message, you did
26:25well that it was in your
26:28heart. Did David fail because he didn't
26:31build the house? No.
26:35The Lord said you intended to. And I
26:39know how we've twisted intents or never
26:41getting after it, but you'll never get
26:43after it unless you intend to. You're
26:45not going to work tomorrow unless you
26:47intend to.
26:49You didn't come to church today unless
26:51you intended to. Every one of you are in
26:53this house because you got up this
26:55morning with your mind stayed on Jesus.
27:00I'm not saying that a man is saved
27:02because he intends to be saved. But I'm
27:05saying that a man will never be saved
27:08until he intends
27:11to be saved. Because as a man thinkketh
27:14in his heart.
27:18So pave the road to heaven and pave it
27:23with good intentions.
27:25People who intend to pray,
27:28pray. People who intend to worship,
27:32worship. People who intend to go to
27:35church, go to church. People who intend
27:39to be transformed from this world by the
27:43renewing of their
27:44mind are those who are transformed from
27:47the world by the renewing of your mind.
27:51Somebody's going to go to heaven.
27:54promise you somebody's going to go to
27:56heaven and those that go will go.
28:07Remember when sister Hayes sat on this
28:09platform and I interviewed her many
28:10years ago. Some of you don't remember.
28:11It was brother Eddie's mother and
28:13brother Eddie's gone is brother Mason's
28:16grandmother. No great grandmother great.
28:19I asked her, I said, "Sister, sister
28:22Hayes, what would you say it takes to
28:25make it to heaven?" She had buried two
28:28husbands and had gone through processes,
28:31been through, you know, you go through a
28:32lot after you live a while. And she
28:34said, "I'll tell you the secret to
28:36making it to heaven. You got to have a
28:39madeup mind.
28:50Where's Kirk
28:51Wilson? Kirk's in the back. He's doing
28:56security. Look at him.
28:59Kirk. Look at that guy right
29:04there. Kirk's
29:06cousin. Is it your cousin who has the
29:08contract?
29:10Kirk cousin can get
29:13him all
29:15around big time
29:18places.
29:19Okay, Kirk, if you say living large in
29:23the world can happen, Kirk has a secret
29:28door that he can go live large in the
29:31world.
29:33He's got a best friend or a very very
29:35close friend that if he's not a
29:38billionaire, he's a hundred hundred
29:41millionaire. Okay. His houses are wide
29:44open to Kirk anytime he wants to go.
29:48Kirk has the best ticket you want to get
29:52to any sporting event in Florida.
29:55he can get to the hottest camp and the
29:58greatest back room at the F1
30:03parties. That guy right there.
30:05Afterwards, just when you start having
30:07people come up trying to get to know
30:08you, when they walk up and try to get to
30:11know you, play big time on them. Okay?
30:13Just go ahead and drop the hand hammer.
30:18Okay. Kurt met
30:22Lisa. Lisa's pretty
30:26Lisa. Lisa's
30:33saucy. Kurt met Lisa in the
30:37world. Some of Lisa's family's here, so
30:40y'all know.
30:45We're gonna
30:49stop. Kirk had all of that in the palm
30:53of his
30:55hand. But when he wanted to build a
30:59family, he told his beautiful
31:05girlfriend, "If we're going to do this,
31:07we got to do it
31:10right." He didn't know me very well, but
31:12I guess he kind of liked
31:16me. And he came and said, "Would you
31:18marry me, Tisa?
31:20And I remember that
31:22wedding. Lisa was Did you have the Holy
31:25Ghost yet? Okay. You had just gotten it
31:28or something. You didn't have two years.
31:30Okay. Two years. But you weren't living
31:31like you had the Holy Ghost.
31:35Yeah, she did. She was pretty good. She
31:38done had it but wasn't living like it.
31:39Anybody know somebody like that? Good
31:42intentions. Good intentions.
31:47[Applause]
31:58Kirk, what in the world are you doing in
32:00church
32:03today?
32:04Why? You have the whole
32:07world. You have the playground of the
32:10rich and the famous.
32:12You have access to the elbow room and
32:14the back part of the elbow
32:16room. You got all of that.
32:20Why don't you know this is where the
32:22weak
32:24come? Don't you know church is where
32:26those that are always on their down on
32:28their luck
32:29come? Don't you know
32:32that? Or is it
32:35possible? This is where greatness is
32:37born.
32:39This is where the weak are elevated to
32:44strength. This is where things that are
32:46broken and fractured.
32:51That world will break you apart, folks.
32:57It'll take you up and it'll snap you in
33:01two. Sometimes you get snapped in two
33:04and you got billions.
33:05Don't don't think the m the answer is
33:08all money. Right. Right. Don't think
33:11that the answer is all poor either.
33:17The answer is Jesus.
33:22Kirk is in this place because he
33:25intended to be. He's had chance after
33:28chance after he came back to serve God
33:31to leave the Lord. He's had chance after
33:33chance to say, "I want to go back to the
33:36fastpaced world that's filled with
33:40splash and
33:42dash." But he gets up on a
33:45Sunday. He does it during the off week,
33:48too. The off days, too. There are no off
33:50days with the child of God. But he
33:53intends to serve the Lord. And when you
33:56get to heaven, brother Kurt, you and I
33:58are going to grab your mama. She's going
34:01to outdance both of us. And by the way,
34:02she'll be a lot prettier than both of
34:04us too.
34:06But we're going to dance and remember
34:07this
34:08day that goes back to a day. I don't
34:11know when, and I do not know where, but
34:14somewhere, maybe sitting in a
34:16bar, maybe sitting in the middle of sin,
34:19you made a
34:21decision. I intend to serve the Lord.
34:32[Applause]
34:35I was so blessed to be born into the
34:37family I
34:39was. But in my life, I've wanted to have
34:42good
34:43friends. The best friends you'll ever
34:45find, you'll find at church.
34:48The best marriages you'll ever find,
34:52you'll find at church.
34:54I know the reports. I pastor some
34:58reports. I know some marriages that went
35:00crazy in church, but don't tell me
35:03that's the narrative of God. Because the
35:06best marriages that exist happen in the
35:10house of God. You want a fun family. You
35:15want a family that when the kids get
35:16around, it's just joy unspeakable
35:19laughter and having such a blast. You
35:22want a fun family. The most fun families
35:24are found in the family of God. Here is
35:29where I intend to
35:32stay because the road to heaven is paved
35:37with good intentions. Shall we
35:39stand? Heavenly Father, oh God, there
35:43are many, many people here today and
35:46they've all come to to know you more.
35:49They've come to love you better. They
35:51all want to have great
35:53friendships. They all want to have
35:55tremendous families. They all want to
35:58have the most fun that is ever possible
36:01in the world. They all want to be
36:03blessed
36:05financially, oh Lord. And they want to
36:07be able to handle those blessings. Oh
36:11God, somehow let them understand today
36:15that the intention that brought them to
36:18this house is the same intention that's
36:21going to get them all the way to heaven
36:26because the road to
36:27heaven is paved with good
36:31intentions. I'm opening this altar if
36:33you'd like to talk to the Lord a little