A Powerful Memory

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Les Man, Let's take your Bibles. That's open to second Timothy. Chapter two. We're in second Timothy chapter to this morning as you're turning there. I love the story out of Auburn University, the head coach asked his former linebacker. His name was Mike Colin, who was then playing for the Miami Dolphins. He said, Would you would you help your OMA mater do some recruiting? Mike said, Sure, Coach, What kind of player we looking for? Coach said. Well, Mike, you know there's that guy. When he gets hit, he stays down. Yeah, Coach, I know that guy. We don't want him doing way. Don't want that guy. But there's another guy. He gets hit and he gets up and gets knocked down and he gets up. He gets knocked down and gets up. But that third time he stays down. Coach, I got it. We don't want that guy either, do we, Coach? No, Mike, We don't want that guy either. But there's 1/3 guy. He gets knocked down, he gets up, he gets knocked down, he gets up, he gets knocked down, he gets up and he just keeps on getting up. Mike said, Coach, I've got it. That's the guy we want, right? Coach said. No, Mike, I want you to find me the guy that's knocking everybody down. I love that story because, really, the Christian life is full of hard knocks. You and I will experience the heavy hits that will tempt us to give up. You will be tempted to give up serving. When you don't see the fruit that you wanted to see. You'll be tempted to give up on marriage because of constant conflict. You'll be tempted to give up on a job when you experience persecution when you're passed over for a promotion because you're a Christian. When your ridicule, some of you will feel that temptation to give up and throw in the towel even today. Well, if you're just joining us, we're in the book of Second Timothy were in Chapter two, and these air Paul's final words to his son in The Faith Timothy. He is riding Timothy to encourage Timothy to keep going. Do not quit and let me just explain this. Timothy was a young pastor, right on the knife's edge of giving up. Timothy was ready to throw in the towel. He had experienced mass defection in his converts, many in Asia had turned away from the Gospel. His church in deficits was an older church, a not a dis unified church. It's a more worldly church. So here's this young pastor setting things in order. Addressing poor doctrine, Timothy is fighting demonic forces on a daily basis. Timothy is exhausted. Timothy once had passion and energy and vigor, and now his strength is failing, and Paul has to write him to say, Timothy, stir up the gift that's in in you. His youthful enthusiasm is now gone. Now he just wants toe hide in a corner with a blanket. I imagine he's sort of like the mean that's going around on Facebook. Two pictures of Tom Hanks. One of them is Mister Rogers. The other one is from the movie Castaway, and it says, This is your pastor on Day One and near 15 and I hope it's not true. That's Timothy. Timothy is a shell of the man that he wants Waas. He has become weak and conviction. He has become small encourage. He has become lacking in confidence. Timothy's hopeless. Some of you feel that way this morning, some of you have come in this room and life has been hard. You know, that feeling could be in multiple areas of life. Isn't that the lesson we learned at the very beginning of life? Life is hard, isn't it? When somebody say amen to that, Life is hard. You learn at the moment you're born, the doctor grabs you. He spanks you until you cry. And that's the pattern of life going forward. Life's hard and you will constantly be tempted to give up. How do we keep going? Well, today we're in a series entitled Keeping the Gospel Central, and today we're going to be talking about endurance, gospel endurance In a world of heavy hits, I want to give you some powerful reminders the grace of God to you today to keep you going. So let's take our Bibles. Let's stand in honor of God's holy word, a sermon entitled A Powerful memory or to be looking at Chapter two, starting in verse eight. Remember Jesus Christ risen from the Dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound. Therefore, I under everything for the sake of the Elect that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for if we have died with him, we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he will also deny us if we're faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. Remind them of these things. Brothers and sisters, I want you to notice before we sit down. Just a few words. Notice in the middle of verse. 10. The word Endurance notice in Verse nine. The words suffering, but above all, noticed these other two words in verse. Eight. The word remember? And then in verse 14 the word remind. There are some things for the Christian in a hard life in a hard world that we need to remember that we need to bring back to the forefront of our mind things that if we would remember them things that if we would be reminded of them, we would be able to keep going by God's grace. So that's my goal today. I want to remind you of some very important things that God will use as grace to your life to keep you going Every time you get hit and knocked down, May God bless the reading and the preaching of his word. You may be seated. What we need to remember. Let me give you four things. Four things to remember Number one. Let's remember the picture of our savior. Notice that Paul spends a little time in Verse eight painting the picture of the risen Christ remembering the resurrected Christ that gives us power. It's the person of Christ that gives us courage to keep going. When you and I get skipped for a promotion because you're a Christian, it's remembering Christ that will allow you to continue on when you get betrayed by a friend because you're a Christian, it's the picture of your savior. Who is that friend who will never leave us that will allow us to continue on? Don't miss this. Remembering Jesus here is continual. In fact, in the Greek, it's a present active word. In other words, remember and never stop remembering. Every day you will have to remember Jesus every single day. The Christian will have toe wake up and remember their savior. This is a pattern of everyday life for you. You will have to wake up and put Christ at the preeminent place of your thinking every single day. What do we remember about him? Let me just give you a couple of words to write down just a few words right down this word alive. Remember that he's alive. Jesus is alive. This is different than every other savior out there. Look at Verse eight, it says. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead? That's a great Easter versus or not literally, you could translate it like this. Remember Jesus Christ having been risen out from among the dead? That's how it's literally translated. In other words, Paul's not saying. Just remember the resurrection he's actually saying, Remember that having been raised Christ, the Christ, who is alive? The savior who is in heaven interceding for you right now Of all the other Saviours of the world, they are weak saviors. They're impossible saviors. Joseph Smith is still in the grave. Mohammed is still in the grave. Every Dalai Lama is still in the grave. But Jesus Christ is alive. He has risen. Hey, Let's try this. You ready? Remember at Easter. Whenever I say it is risen. I just want to see if you know what to say. He has risen. Came in all right. It works. Not just on Easter. Hey, let's remember the resurrected Christ. The resurrection is the theme of the New Testament. By the way, did you know the resurrection? There's more about the resurrection in the New Testament than there is heaven. Did you know that it's all about the resurrected Christ? Write down a few verses. Right down first Corinthians 15 Verse 14 Verse 19. It says If Christ has not risen that are preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Then Verse 19 says If in this life on Lee we have hope in Christ were of all men, the most pitiable. What he's saying to the Corinthians is that if Christ has not risen, our faith is in vain. Are preaching is in vain, Are living is in vain? The resurrection is at the center of it All right down first Thessalonians four, Verse 14 and Verse 17 tells us this If we believe that Jesus Christ rose again. Even so, God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus and thus we shall always be with the Lord. That tells us that our hope of everlasting life is based in the resurrected Christ. Because he was raised, we too will be raised right down Romans one first four. It says this. This is a fascinating verse. It says Jesus Christ is declared to be the son of God with power through the resurrection of the dead. Now that that word declared in the Greek, it's fascinating. It's actually the word for a horizon, just like a horizon. You look across the horizon and you can see the sky and you can see the earth. And then there's the horizon that separates and distinguishes in the same way. Just as ah, horizon distinguishes between sky and earth, The resurrection distinguishes Christ as different than every other individual who has ever lived. Jesus is God. The resurrection distinguishes him as the god man. Have some incredible implications for us. Just just consider this with me. Today, our savior not only is alive, he is truly God. And because he lives, he puts all his power all of his deity toe work for you. and may What? That? Refresh your soul as you face your heart Days. You have a living savior who is gone working for you. Notice. Also, Inverse ate his humanity, right that word down his humanity, this little tag line, this little tag phrase he is the offspring of David. That's fascinating to me, literally. In the Greek, it's the sperm. A toss of David from the loins of David from the Seed of David highlights this humanity. I have one. These professors at Dallas and I. I am convinced that he was always trying to have us drift into some sort of crystal logical heresy. He would ask his questions like this, Um, was God more? It was Jesus more God's son or Mary's son, and it's a trick question. He would ask us those kind of questions, and the correct answer is truly both. He is truly gone, and he is truly man. He took on the nature, a man, the mystery of the incarnation and why is that important? Right down. Hebrews four. Verse 15. It says we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted, as we are yet without sin. Oh, friends, this is so encouraging. You have a savior who is alive. You have a savior who is God. You have a savior who is man and he knows your weaknesses. And he knows your struggles, and he's walked those struggles. And when you feel like giving up, just remember this. We have a savior, and he knows how hard this is. And he's a sympathetic high priest, well acquainted with the pains of life. One other word to write down and we'll move on right down the word savior. He's alive. He's got his man. He's savior. What an encouraging picture Notice Verse eight ends with those little two words. My gospel as preached in my Gospel. This is Paul's embracing of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. See, a lot of people don't understand what the cross. We have these crosses all around our building. They don't understand what the Cross was all about. A lot of people don't understand that this cross was about a savior that would bring us life, that Jesus died on the cross in order to pay for our sins and accept God's wrath for sin. You see, here's our problem for every sin that you've ever committed for every lie you've ever told for every lust of the heart, for every theft, for every immoral thought. You have broken God's law and God has stored up Raph against you. That's man's problem. Our problem is that we face the wrath of God and the cross of Jesus Christ. That Paul embraces and calls my gospel was that moment in history when the Son of God came down from heaven. He was born and he became truly human, and he took on flesh and became one of us in every way except without sin. And he died on that cross to accept payment, to take the wrath of God that was stored up against you and against me. And he took the cup of God's wrath, and he pressed it to his lips and he drank every drop dry. That's what the Cross is all about. He took the penalty of sin. That's the gospel that Paul embraced. That's why. Calls it my Gospel. Here's the question. Watch this. How do we know it worked? How do we know that he paid off our sins. How do we know that God accepted that sacrifice? How do we know that his death was good enough? I mean, if he just died, how would we ever know that God accepted the payment? Here is the answer. The resurrected Christ is God's verification that the sin debt has been paid for. So every time I look at Christ, I'm reminded that my sins are covered. He is the very picture of my salvation. That's why it's my gospel. Therefore, I can endure anything because my greatest problem has been taken care of all the other problems of life. All the other heavy hits are nothing compared to the greatest problem. I've had my sin and my sin has been taken care of in Christ Jesus. Somebody say Amen S Lewis Johnson said. The resurrection is God's A men to Christ. Statement. It is finished. It's God's receipt. It's God's picture. Pictures are powerful thing, aren't they? You know there's a place in Texas, or at least there used to be. When I lived in Texas, there's a place in Amarillo, Texas, where you could go and you could take the 72 ounce challenge What is the 72 ounce challenge? I'm glad you asked. You can go to a restaurant and they will put a good portion of a cow 72 ounces to be exact in front of you. And if you can eat it, this is like over $100 for the meal. If you can eat that in the shrimp cocktail and the biggest loaded baked potato you've ever had in your life and the salad and the role and a large Coke, if you can eat all of that within an hour, it's free. There's only a few who have done it. A few Dallas Cowboys did it. People will drive there to take up the challenge, but if you don't do it, you gotta pay. And there's a sign on the wall. At least there used to be. Whenever I drove through Amarilla, there's a sign on the wall that will describe in detail what your body will go through over the next three days if you attempt this. But if you succeed, they take your picture, they put it on the wall. It is the verification of your success. Reminded of that when I think about this passage. It is an impossible task. But Jesus Christ is the god of the impossible. And Jesus does what man cannot do. And he endured what man could not endure. And he took the pain. He paid the price and his picture is declared through the resurrection. As with one who has paid the price in full for us. So remember the picture of Christ, man or woman of God, struggling man or woman of God going to some hard places with some hard situations. Remember the picture of Christ. Look at your savior. Living, raining, interceding and then have confidence of what can man do to me on your terrible Tuesday. Remember the resurrected Christ raining? Be encouraged. My payment has been made. Friends. What can man do you look to Christ when you don't get the promotion Because you're a Christian. You look to Christ when your family disowns you because of your faith. You look to Christ when you face ridicule. You look to Christ when you're falsely accused. You look to Christ when your reputation is on the line. You look to Christ when you are abandoned. He too was abandoned by all his closest friends. He will never leave you. That's the first motivation in this text. It's your savior. It's Jesus Christ. Number two. If you're taking notes the second second point, I would point you to remember the power behind our service. Let's remember not only the picture of our savior. Let's remember the power behind our service. This one is so encouraging, 1st 9 says, for which I am suffering bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound. Noticed. Paul acknowledges his obstacles. He's got some chains, some man Nichols on him. Paul must have suffered to a degree that you and I are unfamiliar with. Amen. I think that were often very spoiled. I mean, I complained about the weather, right? Complain about sickness. I complain about traffic. I complain about burnt toast. Pole is in the mammary teen prison, about to be beheaded. He's saying the gospel has not made things easy for me, and some of you will identify that with that in various aspects of your life. It brings drama at work. It brings lots of income. It brings something of pain to your family. The gospel brings even rifts within your family. But notice. I want you to think about this as a point of application. Within that area of difficulty, you have a great opportunity. You might even just write that word down opportunity within the pain. You have opportunity. Sometimes God puts us in areas of difficulty so that you and I can shine very bright for the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe it's a hospital bed and you're going to a witness to those nurses and the doctors to show the power of God. Maybe it's a mental prison or mistreatment. Just remember, brother of Sister. If you grumble, if you complain, you are losing the opportunity of God that he's giving you to shine bright for the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul is in prison, but he's taking this as an opportunity to glorify God. I'm suffering. I'm bound with chains as a criminal, but notice we have a power that overcomes obstacles. Look at verse nine. The word of God is not bound. It's unstoppable. Would you just think about this? You can bind up God's messengers. You can mistreat them. You can kill them. You can abuse them. But you cannot stop the word of God This is so encouraging. There's so many stories I have on this one point. Back in the 19 thirties, Stalin confiscated every Bible in Moscow. Every one of them hid them, took them away, stored them in a warehouse and then when communism fell, which, by the way, communism always falls eventually and just throwing it out there. But you're welcome. Okay, Stalin come. Confiscated all of those Bibles. And when communism finally fell, there were missionaries who went into that city and they wanted to distribute those Bibles out again. So they went to the warehouse. One of the young men knew where they were stored and they went to this warehouse and they found thousands and thousands and thousands of Bibles in crates. And they hired a couple of guys off the street who needed work. One of the guys they hired was, ah, hardened atheist. He had heard the gospel his whole life, but he had never really accepted it. In fact, he was hostile toward it. But he needed a job. So he took the job and he said, Yeah, I'll help you move the Bible's. It goes in with the missionaries and after a while, they can't find the guy. I said, Where is he? Where'd you go off to? And they found him off in the corner, clinching a Bible. It just so happens that the first Bible he picked up looked a little familiar, and he opened it up. And it was his grandmother's bible signed with her signature, his grandmother, his grandmother, who had prayed for him year after year after year, who had preached the gospel to him. And it just so happened that was the one he picked up. The word of God is what unbound unstoppable. I have so many stories like this. The guy that immediately comes to mind is John Bunyan. You remember him? He wrote the second best selling book of all time. Pilgrim's Progress. They put him in jail. What does he do? He writes A s, a spiritual work that helped generations of people. They put him in jail to stop him from preaching. Now get this. There was an event where he's in jail. He's being, he's being discouraged from from preaching, and as he's in jail, his congregation comes outside of the wall. They're on this side of the wall. He's on this side of the wall. He'll yell over to them. Are you ready? They say, Yes, we're ready And he preaches to them over the wall. And they have church. The word of God is unstoppable. It is unbound. You cannot stop it. Paul experienced this. Remember? He wrote to the Philippians. Remember what he said? He said that the saints in Caesar's household greet you. Remember, he was chained to a guard at four hour intervals. You think it's bad being chained to a Roman? Imagine being a Roman chained to Paul, and he evangelize. Is them so much to the point that Caesar's household has a church plant in the middle of it? This is a great day. The word of God is not bound, you know. Persecution may come to America. We may have those same types of events come to our shores, where Bibles air taken up where politicians make it very difficult on those who are following Christ. That may come, but it won't work. You know why? Because the word of God is unbowed of friends. Remember this? What an encouragement! Whenever you experience rejection, don't be discouraged with that family member who rejects the Gospel. Don't be defeated When your coworkers reject you, Don't be depressed. When your spouse rejects the gospel. The word of God is not bound. God's word will not return void. It is unbound. So let's remember our savior. Let's remember the power of the Gospel God's word that is unbound number three. Let's remember the people ready for salvation. This is a great motivation, the people ready for salvation, it says in Verse 10. Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the Elect that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal Laurie. Now, now I realize that that some of you, when we read a passage like this to get uneasily that word the elected has that wick on it like a stick of T and t. Some of you the hair on the back of your neck is sort of standing up even right now. But let's at least own the word and understand the topic together. Paul uses this word all the time, and God has his people that he chooses, and yet we choose him as the Holy Spirit regenerates our heart, and there's some mystery there that we don't fully grasp. But let's understand Paul's logic because Jesus Christ has his people scattered out there lost sheep, who he has also paid for by his blood. Therefore, God's saving purposes cannot fail. That is encouraging. So let this fuel you to keep going. Just dwell on this. God has his people out there ready for salvation. We don't know who they are, but I will Inder anything to see them come to the salvation I enjoy. Look at verse 10 that they they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. In other words, let your love for people be the fuel that keeps you enduring. It's about people. A while back, I went toe to dinner with my evangelist friend, great comfort at Living Waters, and over dinner I shared with him right what's been some of your training points for people to share the gospel when they're afraid. And he looked at me and said, Matt, it's not about fear. It's not a lack of fear. He said. Matt, it's a lack of love. When there is love, love casts out fear. The church needs more love and friends. You will endure rejection. You will endure difficult situations in your family and in your work as you think about the people, but need salvation. Let's remember the picture of our savior unstoppable, alive, living truly God truly man alive. Let's remember the power behind our service. Let's remember the people ready for salvation, that there are fields white under harvest and will close with this. Let's lastly, remember the promise of our security. This is why you and I could endure frightening situations, hard conversations, impossible relationships. Difficult marriage is because ultimately the Christian is safe. This last section is admittedly one of the most beautiful sections in the Bible. It is an axiomatic truth. It is poetry. It is Ah, song. Actually, yeah, I I think this is an early church. Him verse 11 through 13 its cradle. It's axiomatic, it's confessional. It's something the early church must have saying. Look at verse 11. It says. The saying is trustworthy. For if we have died with him, we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he will also deny us if we're faithless, he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself. Let me just give you three thoughts on your security number One If we suffer with Christ, we will reign with him. Just write down the word identification. That's what we're talking about here. What happens to the master happens to the follower Identification right down, Galatians 2 20 I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ two lives in me and now the end of life. I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. What happens to the master happens to the follower. When he died, I died. When he was seated in heaven I was seated with him I'm safe today. Just knowing that I'm secure makes all of my problems seem pretty small. Number two notice that this passage in verse 12 exposes the fakers Fake Christianity suffering does that It exposes false Christianity. Cultural Christianity. It says if we deny him, he will also deny us Within the people of God, there are those scattered in who are not truly in vital relationship with God. This is the people of Matthew 10 33. Whoever denies me before men, the father will deny them before the father will deny them. I will deny them before the father. This is false converts. Fake Christians don't tend to take suffering Well. They're exposed. They fold. They have no security. There's no pursuit of God. The ceremony is revealed, but notice 1st 13 This is powerful. Noticed the security of the true believer. If we are faithless, he remains faithful for you cannot deny himself friends. This is such a good thought. This is saying, just being motivated by this thought. Even if you fail and don't we fail? Aren't we often like Peter? Are we often that way? When God says Go share the gospel with your co worker and you say Not today, Lord. Don't we do that, Lord, I'm too afraid. That's unloving. That's a retreat from the Soldier Ministry we've been given. But even then, God will be faithful to never failure. He will woo you back. He will restore you. He will dust you off. He will start you again on a new day. That's the kind of God we serve. The God of Peter the God Peter, who denied Christ. But the Lord knows that Peter loved him. He loved Christ. He was really he had a relationship with Christ. Listen to me. Jesus will never look at the failing Christian and say, I've had enough with you. I'm just gonna be done. He doesn't do that. He will draw you back to himself. That's what Jesus did for Peter and John's Gospel. Do you remember that moment at the end of John's Gospel? He cooks the fish over the charcoal fire and he says, Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord Peter. Do you love me? Lord, you know that I love you. Then get up. Let's go get you failed. But I'm committed to you. I'm committed to you. God is so merciful. He will be faithful to who he is. This is the God of the Davids. This is the God of Abraham. I mean, I look over the characters of the Old Testament, and I'm amazed that God didn't say I'm done with you guys. Abraham, are you kidding me? This guy gave away his wife twice. I've done some bad things. Okay? Ashley's mom is right down here she would kill me. I've never said to another guy. You can have my wife. That's crazy. God is faithful. He's the god of the Abraham's. He's the god of the Davids. He's the god of Jacob's. Now some of you might say, Well, doesn't that thinking pushes the opposite way? Like like I don't have to under God's just gonna be faithful no matter what? No, The true believer doesn't think that way. The true believer will say, Look at the mercy of God. What a promise by a kind God because of who he is. I will get up. I will dust myself off today I will endure. That's how we keep going. He's faithful. How do we apply this? I wanna give you three words and we're done first. The word Courage. I want you to leave this place with courage. Today some of you are headed to dangerous places. Relationships can be broken, people can be offended. It could be depressing. But let the memory of your living savior the unstoppable word of God give you courage as you goto hard places This week we could have courage because God's people are we ready and waiting. We could have courage. Because God's power the word of God, is unbowed. Ond have courage. Because Jesus Christ is in heaven interceding for you right now. Second word I want you to write down is the word rise. Don't wallow in your failures, Rice. It's time to get up. You serve the god of David. He served the God of Jacob. You serve the God of Abraham, and God has promised his faithfulness to you. He will restore you when you fail. Now get up and get back to work. Rice, Stop living in shame and the last word. I want to give you the word Repent. This passage reminds us that there are some in the church who are not genuinely saved. I believe in the security of the believer. But I also believe in the insecurity of the make Believer the Pretender. The one who knows they do not truly have a relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is one of the constant themes of the New Testament. The lost believer Jesus will say on that day I never knew you. I never knew you. And many will say, Lord Lord. Question is, is that true of you today. But you've walked the path of Christianity. You've taken on the culture of Christianity. But you don't know the Lord. Jesus Christ. That's the real question for all of us. That's you. This is the gospel God declares that all have sinned. All have fallen short of the glory of God. We've all missed the mark, and all of us are guilty. And we're all deserving of the wrath of God. But Jesus Christ died on the cross to make payment for your sins so that if you would look on him and believe and turn from your sin, God would save you. You'd do that for you today. It washed away everything you've ever committed by the blood of his perfect son. Jesus Christ of sacrifice for sin. You don't have to. You don't have to give an offering to accept it. You want to do good works to receive it. You have to believe you've got to repent and put your faith in Jesus Christ. Several years ago, there was a Bible translating couple with Wickliffe Bruce and Jan Benson. They were driving down the mountainside in the Peruvian Andes along with their 14 year old son. At some point they came face to face with a truckload of terrorists and the terrorists all wilted weapons and pointed the guns at them. They were part of a well no murderous group called the Shining Path. They, uh, took them hostage, took all their equipment, took all of their technology, took their vehicle, held them at gunpoint. And Jan thought to herself, This is the end. We're gonna die on the mission field. This is it. They're going to kill us and leave us by the roadside. She began to remember to herself the Lord and habits the praises of her people. So she started singing of all things that to do At that time she started singing and the songs she sang was, You are my hiding place. You know the song. You are my hiding place. You always fill my heart with songs of deliverance. Whenever I am afraid I will I'll trust in you. She felt in that moment she was the only person alive. Nothing not even death could remove her from the presence of God. Great moment. Unbelievably, the rebels released that family and their family escaped, and they got back to the city where they were staying and working on a Bible translator. Get this a year later. A year later, Jan gets a phone call, and it's one of the guys who kidnapped them. They said We set up your projector and we watched the Jesus film, and this massive crowd out of this cult came to know the Lord Jesus Christ. And we want you to come back and translate the Bible into our language because we've become followers of Jesus Christ. And they did friends be encouraged as we leave this place. If God is for us, who could be against us? Nobody. So let's remember the picture of our unstoppable savior. Let's remember the power of the gospel. Let's remember the people ready to be saved. And let's remember our security heads bowed, eyes closed as we respond. I would encourage you today. Don't leave early. If you can avoid it, you might miss what God is doing. I want you to respond today. I want you to take some time to respond in your heart, right where you're at. Maybe you just need to come for prayer back in our prayer area or here at the front. Maybe you need to pray for courage. You're going to face something hard this week. And you just need to ask the Lord to cry out to the Lord. Lord, give me courage. Maybe you just need to ask God for a heart for people. Maybe you need to pray to receive the Lord. If that's where you're at, please take this as a chance to respond. Friends, Do you ever just sit up in the night watch? Just consider that you're going to give an account for your life, young man. Young woman. Far from God. Do you ever consider that you're going to face God? One day you'll face him as a judge or savior. One of the two today God is near. He is near to you. He may never be this near ever again. And you need to say, Lord Jesus, I'm lost. I know I've sinned. I know I've broken your law, but I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins. And if you'll say that if you'll repent in your heart and mean it, God will save you. I shall call upon his name. he'll save you today. Don't wait another second. I'm gonna pray for you. Then I'm gonna open it up If you need to pray. You need to respond to that today. Father, we thank you for this word. We thank you for this encouraging thought for your people. Help us now. Help us to become all that we're becoming by the power of your holy Spirit. Further, we need to be changed. We need be made something new, Father. For those who are lost to pray that we found today that your lost sheep wandering afar would be brought here. We love you. It's in your name. It's in your son's name. We pray these things. Hey, man.