Please join me in John chapter 15. John chapter 15. Last week Tony did an amazing job of discussing the absolute truth that God loves his children. That God loves his children and that love for his children is perfect. Something that is very difficult for you and I to understand and to grasp. Because even our love for one another is not perfect, it is tainted. In John 15 verse nine, it says this, as the father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, your joy may be full. See, God the father loves Jesus and he sent Jesus to love his children and God's children keep the commandments of God because they abide, right? They stay in the vine because they are connected to Christ. And so God's children find joy in abiding. They find joy in obeying. And life is joyfully full because that child of God is in Christ. He is in Christ. And so this week, The Son of God continues teaching His children. He prepares them for what will happen, and He prepares us. And I want to be up front with you and as loving as I possibly can. Many pastors and churchgoers do not understand these words that I'm going to preach on today. And maybe you, and you might even disagree with me, and that's okay. You have the right to be wrong. But realize this, what I'm talking about today is a very difficult thing, but I have to talk about it because it's God's Word. And that's why I'm talking about it, because I do love you and I do care about you. One of the things I usually don't do, I texted a bunch of men last night and I asked, please pray for boldness and pray for humility as well, because this passage is very, very difficult. Um, because it says some things in here that our American culture doesn't like to hear. And so I'm being upfront and loving with you as I can this morning from the very get go. Um, so my prayer this morning is we would understand what it means to be adopted, to be chosen, to be called from darkness into God's kingdom, Christ being the way. Um, but it's also understanding that we are in war. Today is war. If the Lord tarries, tomorrow is war. Next year is war. We are in war. We are called to come and die. And as Christ laid down his life for the church, we are today to lay down our life for the Lord, to abide, to obey, to bear fruit. And as the scripture says, to prove to be disciples of Christ. So join me in John 15, beginning in verse 18. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will also keep yours. But all these things will they do to you on account of My name, because they do not know Him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates Me hates My Father also." If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now that they have seen and hated both me and my father, but the word that is spoken in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause. But when the Spirit comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me and you also will bear witness because you have seen with me from the beginning. And the Lord has blessing to the reading of his word. God chose you. If you're a child of God, God chose you. That's the first thing I want you to comprehend, to understand. God sent His only Son to the world that He created, the world that disobeyed Him, to redeem a group of people, His elect, His chosen, and He, to purchase this group, to call His very own. If that's something that doesn't strike you as joyful, as amazing, as glorious, something is wrong. That's beautiful. I mean, can you imagine? So you have created the world, everything in it, everything is good. Everything is going wonderful, perfect. You're Adam, you're Eve. You're walking with God in the garden. You know the sound of the Lord. You know the voice of the Lord. You're living with the Lord in perfect. No sin, no taint, no nothing. God has commanded you to take this ground, to work it, to do this and then he just says this one thing so yes I command you to work the garden but also I command you do not eat of this one tree everything is perfect and then all the sudden they do the very one thing that God says do not do. Sin entered the world and then the very thing later You have God saying, I promise you, I will send a savior. I will make everything that has gone wrong that you have messed up. I will make everything right. I will correct it. What a loving God, right? I mean, to stand back and to think, I heard a pastor doing this interview thing and they have these panels and someone says, let me get this straight. He's like, so you have a God who's loving, who's slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. How can that be if God kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden? And I've never seen this pastor get angry. This is my first time to see him angry. And he looked at the question, and he just stood there for a little bit, and he looked out the congregation, and he said, that's what's wrong with you people. You're standing before a holy God who is perfect, sinless, spotless, done nothing wrong. And you think He was slow to anger by kicking you out of the garden? Give me a break! But that's the love of God. What would have been right, what would have been just, is for a loving God not to have even created us. Would have been right, would have been justice for a loving God at that point to send us both of them straight to hell. To sit under his wrath for eternity with no chance of repentance. God could have easily looked and said, you know what? There is no cross. There is no savior. There is nothing. In fact, I'm going to leave you in the garden. You can eat the sin. You can live forever in your sin, forever in torment with no escape. But the fact that God said, I'm sending a savior and this savior is going to redeem a group of people that I chose to save. What a loving God. and His chosen group are to be holy, they are to be set apart, set aside, worshipers and workers for God, saved to bear fruit and to glorify God forever. See, through this fallen world, we see more clearly the love of God as His children, don't we? We see love on display, we see grace on display, mercy on display. Have you all thought about that? If sin hadn't entered the world, would we understand grace and mercy? See, we don't comprehend completely how a loving God could save us, because we're filthy, sinful, undeserving, wretched, self-centered, dark, loving enemies of God. But that's what God's Word teaches us. That's what we see on display. over and over again in his breathed out word he teaches us that I have my chosen. I have some, I have called to myself. And so briefly this morning I want to look at the doctrine of election. John 6, verse 37. All of the Father who gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. John 6, verse 44. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. I will raise him up on the last day. John 15, 16. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and the fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you. Acts 13 47 through 48 for so the love has commanded us saying I have made you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth and when the Gentiles heard this they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed some were not appointed Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace Which he has blessed us in the beloved. I God sovereignly conquers the rebelliousness of an individual's heart, and God alone does that. Some people struggle with this day in and day out. They struggle with how could God choose some and not choose others. I just never get over the fact that how could God choose some? I mean, that's the question, right? If a God is holy and loving and just and righteous, how could he save me? How could He save you? Put it this way, there's not a single person in this room who deserves to be saved. There's not a single person in this world that deserves to have friendship with a holy, mighty God. To know who we are is important. but to know whose we are, that's more important. Whose we are, who we belong to, to grasp and remember that we are chosen, that we are redeemed, that we are set apart, we are free to serve the one true living God. What a blessing. to imagine that God chose you out of all the depraved fallen sinners, out of all the other enemies, out of Satan's children, to have the utmost privilege of knowing him. And see, that's the picture that's built. It's not that you and I were walking along the road and the Lord came along and saved you. It's that you belonged to the enemy. You were on the enemy's team. You were fighting against a holy and mighty God. And he steps in, he pulls you away from the enemy. You're mine. That's the beautiful picture of it. There is no one neutral here, like there is no good person. You're fighting against God or you are a child of God. And that's the beautiful picture of adoption. However, in knowing God, who He is, we find joy and peace, don't we? And let me stress this, we need this constant joy and peace because of what this passage tells us today. We need to know this. We need to know that we were not chosen for a comfortable life. We were not chosen to collect shells on a beach. We were not chosen to spend our life for the American dream. We weren't chosen to build bigger homes, to collect more toys. We were not chosen to join the world in trying to fix this world through man-made ideas. One of the things I get tired of, let me just say this, our government cannot fix the issues. It doesn't matter who you appoint, who is appointed. That's not the answer. We were chosen to glorify God. We were chosen to glorify God in our singleness, in our marriage. We were chosen to teach God's word in our home. We were chosen to teach God's Word to the world. We were chosen to worship God alone. We were chosen to be born again, that we are no longer of this world. We are a new creature, a new creation to image Christ. I wish I was blood to C.S. Lewis, but I'm not. In a way, I am. C.S. Lewis said this, the church exists for nothing else to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christ. If we are not doing that, all the cathedrals, all the clergy, all the missions, all the sermons, even the Bible itself are simply a waste of time. But the tragedy I see from that comment that C.S. Lewis got right years ago is that how many people do we have wasting their time now? This is what we were chosen to do, to serve Him faithfully in this war. We must know Him and what the battle will be like. Paul Washer gave an amazing illustration. He said, I want you to imagine you go to work tomorrow. So, you get your nap in this afternoon, you get up and you go to work, and you walk into work, And your boss looks at you and if you don't, if you're, if you are the boss and somebody else looks at you, comes in and says, okay, I'm going to give you three months. And they throw a binder in front of you. So you have three months in this binder. If you can memorize everything in this binder, if you can do everything that's in this binder, after three months, I will triple your salary. Triple it. No questions asked. I would say there's not a single person in this room that wouldn't try for that. But yet we have Christians so-called all over this world. No, Great Commission is not my responsibility. No, God's going to have to use somebody else to save the loss because it's not going to be me. Why is it when it comes to the Bible, we have so many excuses? Why is it when it comes to God, we have so many excuses? We have been given everything in Christ, haven't we? I mean, the picture I just painted for you about who we are, you've been brought out of the camp of the enemy, a child of Satan, and now you belong to the child of God, and you want to look back and say, can I just go back to being an enemy? If you think that, then you're not saved. It's simple. But most people put more effort into their toys and to their money than knowing and serving the living God whom they will stand before one day, the one who has the right and the privilege to cast you into hell. So this passage this morning steps back and it gives us a satellite view. I want you to understand the battle that you and I are in. That's what the picture is. We're panning out from the earth and we're looking at this from the satellite aerial picture. Look at verse 18. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you, out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Because God chose us, we will be hated by the world. That's not good news. That's why I started with the good news. God chose you to be hated by the world. Before I speak about the world hating us, let's look at something. Turn with me to John 14. John chapter 14, verse 18. John 14, verse 18. See, the Lord knew this was coming. He's telling His disciples, He tells us, I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. in a little while in the world will see you see me no more but you will see me because I live you also will live and that day you will know that I am in my father and you and me and I and you whoever has my commandments and keeps him he it is who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father I will love him and manifest myself to him Judas Iscariot said to Him, Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words, and the word that you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me. These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring you to remembrance. All that I have said to you, peace I leave with you, My peace I give you. Not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, I am going away, and I will come to you. If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father. For the Father is greater than I, and now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here. See, we are not abandoned in this world. We are not alone. It's not that we are called from the enemy into a child, to be a child of God, and then we have no one to follow. We're not abandoned. We have the Holy Spirit. We have the helper. And we have forever eternal peace. See, we belong to God, but we are not home. This place is not sinless. This place is not perfect. Why? Because this is our battlefield. Where we are is our battlefield. This is why we cannot be comfortable here. This is why we're not here for laziness. This is why we're not here to be entertained. We need to be clothed for battle. We don't clothe ourselves for a business meeting. This is our battlefield that we are passing through. Following the good shepherd who leads us where? home. He's our commander, he's our chief, he's our Lord, we're following him and we're going home. But until we get home, the battle's not over yet. He leads us to victory, to eternal life, a place where there is no more battle. I mean, that's the good news, right? Like there will be a day when there will be no more battle. Absolutely no more. Can you even fathom going an hour without sinning? An hour without being selfish. An hour without having an attitude, without snapping some rude remark to somebody. How about an hour without someone being rude to you? An hour without pain, an hour without getting another phone call. See, we belong to God, but we're not home yet. Jesus clearly tells his chosen disciples, and he clearly tells us here in verse 18, if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. I mean, just look at every example in scripture. How long did it take for people to start to want to kill Jesus? Happened pretty fast. And all that happened within a matter of three years. If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. And it says, if you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. See, the world hates God. The world hates God's children. Why? Who's their father? Satan. That's why. when you're following the other commander, that's what happens. You hate the things that your commander hates, otherwise you don't belong to him. So you hate God, you hate the children of God. Satan is a father of lies, a deceiver of men, the one whom wants to be God, and he hates God and all of his children. Satan's desire is for all to remain in their sin. However, let me pause there. If we don't fulfill the Great Commission, isn't that also our desire? Have you thought about that? If I don't tell someone the good news, what's the difference between me and Satan? Let's talk about Satan and his character. 1 Peter 5, 6-11, if you'll turn with me there. 1st Peter chapter 5. Satan is crafty. He disguises himself as an angel of light. He wants to sift us like wheat. He wants us to be destroyed if we are not living for him. I mean, that's who we're fighting against. Satan and the spiritual forces of this world. 1 Peter 5, verse 6. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you. Be sober-minded. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him. Firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be dominion forever and ever. Amen. So many Christians are not sober-minded. Y'all catch that? Be sober-minded, be watchful. So many Christians are not watchful. They're not transformed. They're lazy. How do I know that? Look at most churches today. The culture owns them. How can you say that? because they look just like the culture. Think about it. If you entertain like the enemy, you look like the enemy, you act like the enemy, you are the enemy. Like he says, I'm bringing you out from the enemy. You're a child of God. You're mine. You belong to me. I have purchased you. I have bought you. You're different. 1 John is all about that. 1 and 2 Peter is all about that. You are completely and utterly different. The culture does not own God's children, and God's children don't look like the culture. And the reason is, is because so many churches are not firm in biblical truth. They're not being faithful to a holy God. See, when you stand firm, you will suffer. That's what first Peter told us. But this suffering is temporary. It is temporary. The suffering to come is eternal for those who do not repent and believe. Ephesians chapter six, verse 10, I don't even have to tell you what that's about. You already know, putting on the armor of God, right? When's our battle? When's our battle? Right now. We're still in battle. So when does the armor need to be on? Now. Finally, be strong in the Lord and the strength of your mind. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. See, that's the issue. So many people don't know God's word. They don't know God. They're living for the schemes of the devil. That's what they live for. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm. See, we are in a spiritual battle for the souls of men. And let me say this, Satan is stronger and wiser than you are. But not God. God created him. He is a created being. He has no chance against God. He is a created, finite, fallen angel. We are in a battle. We are the minority, but we serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who has already won the war. It is finished. But we're still fighting battles here until we make it home. Let me also give us another warning. If you have many friends who are not saved, many unbelieving friends who absolutely love you and you support them in all things, you need to back up and look at your own life. We are called to proclaim the good news to the world, to tell them the words of God, but we are not to approve of what they do and what they stand for. Luke chapter six, verse 26 says, woe to you when all people speak well of you for so their fathers did to the false prophets. See, that's what we see happening here in America. People don't want to be thought of as being wrong. People don't want to be thought of as there is no absolute truth. Pastors get behind the pulpit and they don't want anyone in the congregation not to like them. And so what do they do? They fear man more than they fear God. If everyone loves us, there is a problem. Because God's children are surrounded by the enemy. We're the minority, aren't we? Look at the nation. Our desire should not be to be hated. That's not what I'm saying. Our desire should be to be faithful to a holy God, no matter what the enemy does. That is what our desire should be. Romans 12, one and two. It says, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to man. No, to God. That is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. So let me ask you a question. What happens to generations after generations after generations, they get brought up, they get taught what it means to follow God, but over time, what they do is they don't read their manual. Do you think the first time they read it, they got it all? When you join one of the forces, of the United States, you are drilled into your skull, into your mind, a way of life, a way of working out, a way of being trained, a way of doing things where you do it repeatedly over and over and over again, because we're forgetful people. Because it's different preparing for war versus being in war. Right? See, the reason that so many people get out of the Word is because they were never saved to begin with. And the other reason is there are so many commanders and chiefs who were in the battlefield who have left the Word, that have abandoned their posts, just not been removed yet. Philippians chapter 2 verse 12, It says, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only as in my presence, but it's much more in my absence. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Is that you? Do you work out your salvation with fear and trembling? For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasures. Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent children of God, without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world." How do you do that? Holding fast to the Word of Life. So in the day of Christ, I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Even if I'm to be poured out as a drink offering, even if I am to suffer upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise, you should be glad and rejoice with me. Do you see? It's not that we're called into war and you get to stand on the sideline and do nothing. It's saying, even if I am to die, praise be to God for that. Because I'm living for the one who matters. Ephesians 5, verse 6, it says, let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not become partners with them. For at one time, You were darkness, but now you are light in the world. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. You expose them. What happens when you expose things that were once hidden? People get angry. People get upset. They don't want to hear about sin. They don't want to hear about hell. All they want to hear is God is love. And we have bought it. It says, Therefore, it says, Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Look carefully, then, how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. See, there's so many people who don't understand the will of the Lord because they're drunk on the things of this world. They're obsessed with the next best thing. There are too many Bible studying individuals who know very little about the will of God. There are too many Bible studying individuals with no application, no accountability, no desire for holiness. This world and this church needs God fearing men and women who will live for the Lord. Amen. who will read God's word, study God's word, meditate on God's word, and apply God's word. They need men and women who get on their knees in prayer and faithfully go and proclaim the good news even while being persecuted. Our love for God results in being hated by the world, not loved by it. The world lives for everything but God because they hate God. We're to live counter-cultural. Our hope and faith are to be grounded in Christ, the sovereign Lord of all. Look at verse 20. Remember the word that I said to you. A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they do to you on account of my name because they do not know him who sent me. God chose you to suffer. Why is there so much talk about love and so little about suffering when they go together? Right? Look at the cross. Love, absolutely. Suffering, you bet. To be a child of God is to suffer for God. But this suffering is not for eternity. That's what the hope, right? That's what we hope in. It won't last forever. Why will we suffer? Because people don't know God. As a friend of God, as a child of God, He is our Lord and we are to serve Him. As Jesus suffered, we will suffer. We are not above our master. We are not above Christ, but we come to him and we joyfully obey, knowing that we will suffer. See, I find that interesting because so many people actually think they are above God. Well, Jesus suffered. I don't have to suffer. You don't understand scripture. Well, Jesus is going to do what he wants to do. We don't have to go and make disciples. We don't, we don't have to evangelize. We don't have to do those things. That's easy. You're not a child. You don't understand the mission. You need to be discipled. You need to have someone teach you what it means to follow the Lord. But I know how to follow the Lord. I know how to have a Bible study. Jesus didn't say go and have Bible studies. He didn't say that. Do we need Bible studies? Yes. But if you don't desire holiness, be sure of this, you belong to Satan. Because that's his aim. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 1. I know there's a lot of Scripture today, but there's nothing else better for me to say than Scripture. 2 Corinthians chapter 1, beginning in verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. He comforts us in our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God, for we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings. So through Christ, we share abundantly in comfort, too. See, it's not just we're in battle and God doesn't comfort us. We have the comforter there. He resides in us. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. And if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort, for we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia, for we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, but that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. Haven't we had those days? Probably not to that extreme, but those days where you feel like, why am I going through this? Why is this happening? Reliance upon the Lord he delivered us from such a deadly peril and he will deliver us on him We have set our hope that he will deliver us again Philippians 1 29 goes on to tell us for his being granted to you for the sake of Christ that you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake so belief was granted and suffering was granted at the same time and We are to suffer for the glory of Christ. Many Christians suffer, but it's not because of obedience. Many Christians suffer because they're stuck in their sin. That's why you suffer. James talked about that. He said, many of you are sick and you pray, but you're not confessing. That happens. Obedience to Christ results in the world persecuting you. And I've said this before, I believe that's kind of where we're going in the United States. I believe that the reason persecution is coming is because there hasn't been anything to be persecuted for. For most churches, what does it mean to follow Jesus? You come, you tithe, you serve. Don't tell your neighbors. Don't go overseas. Don't go to your neighbors. Don't proclaim the gospel. Let's just market the pastor. A call to Christ is a call to suffer. Go back to our main passage. Look at verse 22. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin. But now, they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me, hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause. But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about me. You also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning So let me clarify something in these verses. We are all guilty of sin These verses are declaring in particular that they saw Jesus face to face and they hated him. They tried to kill him They hated God the Father they hated Jesus because he spoke the truth. They had no truthful reason to hate him but it says on down in verse 26 and 27, you will also bear witness because you have seen with me from the beginning. Who's going to bear witness? God's children. I mean, look at it this way. God doesn't adopt you into his flock to join him in what he's doing and say, hey, y'all just hold your Bible and y'all just walk home. Can you imagine? Wait, you want me to do what? Yeah, just hold your Bible, have Bible studies, do different things, grab your Bible, and we're gonna march off to war, but you're not gonna fight. You're not gonna do anything. Just keep reading your manual and read your manual until my son comes back for you or I call you home. Now, if somebody raised their hand, if that makes any sense. He says, no, you're going to battle. It is a spiritual war and I'm calling you out to go and fight. So come and learn how to follow me and then go and proclaim and be a witness. God chose you to be a witness. There are so many people around us in the United States. There are so many neighbors. There are so many coworkers. So many of our family members who have never heard the gospel. How will the church go and reach the world when we don't care about them? How are we going to go and reach the world if we don't care about family members? How are we going to go and reach the world if we don't care about our neighbors? Let us be warned. A fruitful branch does not abide in Christ. And let me make something a little personal. I'm allowed to do that because I'm up here. There are some of you in this room that I'm concerned about. There are some of you in this room who have made comments about, you don't have to make disciples. You don't have to go and share your faith. You think it's not your responsibility. Let me just say it is. And let me just say, if you don't repent, you'll know it's your responsibility one day. But I say that with a loving and caring heart. Because as your shepherd, I care for you and I love you. It's your responsibility. That's why you were called into this war. Not to just be a visible witness, but also a verbal witness. If a visible witness is all that you needed, Christ would have come and said nothing. If a visible witness is all that you needed, then Christ wouldn't have sent out the 12 and taught them what to go and do and what to say. A child of God witnesses about Christ. And so let's fulfill our calling. Let's put on the armor and get into the battle.