Today our speaker is Pastor Tim Heinrich, Timothy Heinrich. He's preaching and pastoring in Tracy where he started a church there. But he's not a stranger completely to Hamilton Square. I guess his father used to go to the seminary here back in the day when we had a seminary here at the church. and his dad used to live in Modesto and pastor in Modesto and then come up here during the week and take classes from what I understand. And so he's been very familiar with our church and we've been supporting him now for a couple of years I believe. And you pray for him. We got notice this week that his daughter, one of his daughters is not here, his wife and two of his daughters are here, but one of his daughters spent a little time in the ER last night and a couple times I think earlier this week. She's dealing with some other issues. I think she's got Lyme's disease and having some other problems. And so you pray for him even as he preaches because I know he's got to be tired. We were texting back and forth until after midnight I think last night to make sure he was going to be able to be here. But he's here, Pastor Tim Heinrich Jr. And he's actually Pastor Tim. He doesn't want to be called Pastor Heinrich, because that's his dad. But we'll let him come. And we're looking forward to hearing what the Lord's laid on his heart. He'll be with us in this morning service. And then in the afternoon service, he'll be telling us a little bit more about the details about his work there in Tracy. So brother, you come. Pastor Tim. Thank you. Yes, Pastor Tim. It's always been my dad, his pastor. Pastor for many, many years did go to seminary here in the early 1970s. And so I kind of consider Hamilton Square the roots of my spiritual upbringing. And so we're glad to be here. We bring you greetings from Tracy. God called us to Tracy. We'll tell you a little bit more about that. But he called us to Tracy about 12 years ago. and to plant a church there, to work with a group of believers that we're meeting in a Bible study. We work with Baptist Church planters out of Grafton, Ohio. We, Susan and I, my wife and I, she's down here on this side, have four daughters. Our oldest, Janae, just graduated from Cedarville University with a degree in special education and is going to be doing mission work in the public school with the special needs kids. And I tell you, folks, there's a great mission field right there. Our daughter, Samantha, who he mentioned, was diagnosed with Lyme's disease in 2012 and continues to stuffer. I thought it is. Now it is. Wrong direction. Hey, thank you. My sound man at home has a sign, check your mic. Anyway, Samantha was diagnosed in 2012, continues to have issues, and we're going through just a little bit of a crisis period. Would really appreciate your prayers for her at this time. It would be a blessing. Our other two daughters, Alyssa and Talitha, are here. Alyssa is a sophomore in high school. No, she's now a junior. No, she's now a junior. The year ended. And Talitha, and there's a challenge for you. Talitha is a Bible name. So you cannot use an electronic device to search for it, but I challenge you to find it in the scriptures. But Talitha will be a freshman this year. She's our youngest. She was two years old when we first came to california will tell you all a lot more about what god is doing in tracy bennett just a really great experience this past year or so especially god has been doing some great work we've seen god working some families that we didn't expect to see happen that we we've been seeing a number of baptism salvations and we're gearing up in a week-and-a-half for vacation bible school So you can be praying for us with that too. This week is the 4th of July. And I don't know about your neighborhood, but we've had fireworks for about two weeks. My dog lets me know every time one goes off. She does not like it. Back in 1776, a group of men who feared God met to make a very historic decision. In 1776, the people of this country faced a crossroads. They faced a decision on whether or not to remain loyal to the King of England. They carefully looked at the various paths that were laid out for them. Their desire was for freedom. political freedom, but also for religious freedom. And if you look at the historical records, you'll find that they diligently ask God for guidance. That he would show them the right path, the good way. And these men pledged their lives and many of them lost everything. because they signed the Declaration of Independence. We don't have quite the same crossroads that they had. But we all face crossroads. I want to take you to the book of Jeremiah for a few minutes. In Jeremiah 6, verse 16, It says to the children of Israel, let me find it here. Thus saith the Lord, stand in the way and see, ask for the old paths and ask where the good way is. In the New American Standard Version, it says it this way, stand at the crossroads, the crossroads of your life. the crossroads of our culture. And you know, my friends, my wife and I pastored for 10 years. I pastored, she was with me. That's supposed to, you're supposed to chuckle at that. It's okay to laugh just a little bit. We've pastored, I pastored for 10 years in the Midwest, but my heart was always drawn to come back here. My dad was born in Modesto in 1938. My father, my grandfather was born or came here in about 1906 to Modesto, California. My roots are in this state. And we as a state stand at the crossroads of culture. In Tracy, we have people from every conceivable nation in the world. Just across the bay here in Fremont is the largest Afghan population outside of Afghanistan. Did you know that? We have a tremendous mission field. We rub elbows every day. with people that, and I'm sure many of you, born in another country and have come here. What an impact we have. What an opportunity we have to reach the world. I love what Pastor Peltier just talked about, about the colleges and being able to reach the world through the colleges. And it's so true. Because those students are here to learn and then go back to their various countries. We've had the opportunity recently working with a Cantonese Chinese group that is reaching out in Tracy and I don't speak Cantonese I'm not gonna be able to reach most people that just speak Cantonese or don't have real good English but this group can they're a solid Bible believing group and And my wife and I, this week, was out to eat. We went to a Mongolian barbecue. And there happened to be a couple that was in the restaurant for the first time. And I could tell by their accent that they were Chinese. And I helped them know what to do, because it's kind of a self-service restaurant. And a little bit later, we were in the Costco just across the parking lot. And there they were. And I said, how did you enjoy the Mongolian barbecue? And they said, we liked it. I said, where are you from? China. What language do you speak, Mandarin or Cantonese? Oh, Cantonese. I said, well, we have a Cantonese group that meets at our church once a month for fellowship and Bible study. And the wife just about jumped out of her skin. She looked like a little kid. I want to go, I want to go, I want to go, I want to go. You know, I don't get that reaction very much when I tell people about church, but this was exciting. So I was able to tell her how to get ahold of us and how to find out when they meet and get that family into a Bible believing Bible study that I can't teach. But because God has made connections, because we're standing at a crossroads, God has allowed us to have these connections so that we might win them for Christ. Amen? That's what it's about. Why are we in Tracy? Tracy's a crossroads. If you look at the state of California, it crosses at Tracy. It is a major hub. What is in Tracy? Amazon. Two of them. FedEx. There must be two dozen trucking industries in Tracy. Why? Trucking hubs. Why? Because that's where all the freeways are. We were called to Tracy because there was a Bible study, but we believed that God had us there because it's a crossroads community. And from there, we can reach all through this state. He says here in Jeremiah, first stand at the crossroads. We have to stop to stand. Otherwise you're walking or running. And too often in our culture, our lives move at about a thousand miles an hour. Brother Peltier and I were kind of going back and forth yesterday because both of our lives were moving very fast. And we didn't know exactly where we were gonna land. I didn't know whether I'd be able to be here this morning. Praise God, Samantha's okay. She's resting. She's probably facing surgery in the next few days. So you can pray for her and we're able to be here. Sometimes you have to stop. I believe in 1776, the leaders of the Patriot Movement stopped and examined where they stood still for a minute. First, we have to stop. Sometimes we have to stop and take a stand and resist what the world is bringing. We're inundated. by the world philosophy. We're inundated by the world's way of thinking. The Bible says, put on the mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus. We're not to think like the world. We're not to act like the world. We're to be different as believers, amen? So first we have to stop. Then he says, not just stop or stand at the crossroads, he says, look. This idea of looking is to examine carefully, like looking through a microscope to discern the difference. You're standing and there's two paths in front of you and you're to examine them carefully, discerningly, which one is the right one? to carefully look so that we don't just run ahead of God. I've done that before. I've run ahead of God and had to tuck tail and go back and say, Lord, I'm sorry, that wasn't what you wanted me to do. I didn't take a close look. It takes time to stand and examine and be sure that we're on the right path. Then he says this, stand at the crossroads and look, ask for the ancient paths. See, after we look, we have to also desire. This idea of asking is a intense desire where we are asking God for something. I tell you, my friends, I've never begged God more for anything than for my daughter. my desire to see her healthy. That's the kind of desire God wants for us to develop. We're to beg or almost demand, almost, I must have it! The ancient paths, the ones that were put there by God. I grew up in rural Indiana. Before he came to this place for seminary, he was a farmer. He was actually still running a chicken ranch of 60,000 laying hens when he was coming here during the week and going home and taking care of the farm on the weekend. But growing up on the farm, when we moved to Indiana, my dad finished his seminary training in Indiana, took a rural church in northern Indiana. Farming was still in his blood. So we had some cows in the pasture. And once in a while, those cows didn't stay in the pasture. And we got to chase them. We had to find them first. And if the corn in Indiana gets about seven feet tall, it's amazing. The corn was high and the cows were out because they could smell the corn. They wanted to eat it, right? So we had to follow those ancient paths of the cows through the corn to find out where they were and get them back home where they belonged. We had to examine those paths. We had to look which ones are the right ones to follow, which ones are old, which ones are new. He says here, look for the ones that are ancient, the eternal ones, the ones that God has set down for us. Where do we find those? We find them in God's word, amen? Not in man's philosophy, not in man's ideas, not in things that are made up. The Bible is the ancient paths. It's where we need to look to desire those things that God has for us. And he says, ask where the good way is. The pleasant, the agreeable one. Not necessarily easy. Sometimes God's paths are hard. Sometimes God asks us to walk down a path that is the good path. It's the one that's good for us. But it's not the easy path. Amen? but He doesn't let us walk alone. We'll talk about that in a minute. So we've stood. We take a minute and examine and carefully look at what God has laid out in front of us, and we have a desire to please God. We ask God to show us the ancient path, the one that is the right one for us, the good one, and we follow the Word of God. But my friends, God doesn't want us to stay standing. God doesn't want us to stay in that mode of determining which path. Okay, that's the right one. Everybody else go that way. No, he says, and walk in it. Get moving. Ask where the good way is and walk in it. Take the first step. Get going on the path that God has you to go. When we were approached about the ministry in Tracy, I was pastoring a small church five miles from nowhere in Ohio. And I was asked to consider coming out here and starting this church. And I told the president of the mission, David Little, he's the one that asked me to consider it. I said, well, I'd love to. But my wife would never go. She's an Ohio girl, and there's no way she's going to live in California. But God had worked on my wife's heart. Just two weeks before that, we'd had a missions conference challenging our people to consider walking the road of missions. And I came home and I said, honey, you'll never believe what Dr. Little wants us to do. It's crazy, but he wants us to go out to California to plant a church. And my expectation was we're real happy right here. I don't need to walk that road. But she had already examined that path. God had already worked on her heart and she was ready to walk. And what her answer was, was why not? Why not? God can use us out there. There's a need. California per capita has fewer churches than any other place in the nation. More people, more people that don't know the Lord in this state than anywhere else. You walk in through a Midwest town down in the Bible Belt and you'll see churches preaching the gospel. Maybe not quite our stripe of the gospel, but still preaching the gospel on almost every corner. Not true here. Tracy grew from a town of 30,000 in the mid-90s to today it's pushing 100,000 people. There's a great need there. Most of the church plants that have started in Tracy have failed. I believe they failed because they started with the wrong foundation. They started with the foundation of music. I don't care what kind of music. If music's your foundation, it's the wrong foundation. Or they started with the foundation of programs. Maybe good programs, but if programs is your foundation, it's the wrong foundation. Our motto, our purpose statement says that crossroads exist to bring the truth of God's Word to the crossroads of Tracy. Our foundation is the word of God. We try to have good music. I enjoyed the music this morning. This was beautiful. We try to have good programs. We have kids programs and we have outreaches and all kinds of things, but that's not our foundation. Our foundation always comes back to those ancient paths that we need to be walking in. There's a promise here. Do you see it at the end of the verse? He says, and you will find rest for your souls. In the end, when we're doing what God wants us to do and doing it the way God wants us to do it, there's peace, there's rest. Pastor Peltier is right. I was up till after one o'clock this morning and I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. But you know I've never been more at peace than with what God is having us do right now. And no matter what the distractions are and my friend's life is full of distractions. Distractions that can pull us this way or pull us that way. It always happens. Knowing what God wants you to do and walking in it brings peace in your life. I'm working with a family, my next door neighbor. The Driesbachs lived in Hayward for many, many years. Don was assistant chief and then chief of the Hayward Fire Department, retired. They exemplify love for each other like I've never seen an unsaved couple show love for each other, but they don't know the Lord. Monday, was it Monday? Yeah, it was Monday. We got home from being gone and there was a whole lot of cars at the neighbor's house. I knew Pat hadn't been good. And we went over and we visited with him and she was, on her deathbed. She was unconscious. I got to pray with the family. 9.30 that night they called and said she passed. I went over and I prayed with the family again and we stood and talked and they've given me the privilege of having the funeral service next Sunday afternoon. Despite this couple who were in their 80s, married over 60 years, love for each other, There is a lack of peace in their life because they didn't know the Lord Jesus. It's not that we didn't have opportunity and take the opportunities to share with them. We have over the years and I get the opportunity next Sunday. Will you pray for me? It's going to be a packed house at the chapel of the chimes in Hayward and I get to present the gospel. Pray for that family. There is one daughter and her family that know the Lord Jesus and that's it. What an opportunity to try to bring peace as I stand at a crossroads of my neighborhood. My whole neighborhood's going to be there. We're a close-knit neighborhood. There's going to be neighbors from almost every house on our street that are going to come to that service. This is the second time God's given me this opportunity to preach to my neighbors. What a wonderful thing. And I can present the gospel of peace But first they have to know the Lord Jesus before they can stand at the crossroads. Before they can ask God for the ancient paths, you have to ask God for forgiveness of sins. And I hope and pray they'll seize that opportunity. But God doesn't ask us to do it alone. Turn over to another Old Testament book, the book of Ecclesiastes in chapter four. In verse 8, the writer of Ecclesiastes lays out a really almost depressing scenario. This is vanity and grave misfortune. One that goes out to do things alone. See, God Desires for us to work together when Jesus was was on this earth. He sent his disciples out how? two by two Not alone two by two He taught the disciples in Groups he had his inner core of three and he had the twelve and then there was many many others But in ministry he sent them out together. It says here two are better than one There's three principles here of working together. The first one, this principle of encouragement we find here in verse two. It says, if they fall, one will lift up his companion, but woe to him who is alone when he falls. Excuse me for just a second. Woe to him who is alone when he falls. There's an idea here that when we walk together through the paths of life, as we've looked at these ancient paths and we're walking, we walk together, Satan puts trippers in the way. Whether that's distractions like a daughter with Lyme disease that can't seem to get better, a grandbaby and that's where your mind is this morning, amen? He wants to be at the hospital with his grandbaby. I don't blame him. bigger things that take up our time, that can cause us to trip and not keep the priorities right, not stay on the ancient paths. Sometimes we get off on a rabbit trail because that seems more important. When we walk together, the other can say, no, come on, we need to be on this path. We need to be working together. He goes on to say, if two lie down, they will keep warm. But how can one be warm alone? This idea of working together, sharing the load. Only a few times in my life have I ever slept outside in the cold. And I'll be honest, I slept in my own sleeping bag. But if I didn't have that, I think being back to back with another human body would probably be better than being out in the cold. The idea is cooperation, pooling your resources. When we have more people working together, we can get more done. One of my good friends said, together we can accomplish more. The Bible doesn't call for us to be a lone ranger. He calls for us to work together. And finally, in verse 12, though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken. There's strength in numbers. Interesting that the writer of Ecclesiastes here uses the threefold cord. I don't understand, I'm not a scientist, but maybe we have a scientist in the audience this morning that can explain it to me. A threefold cord, three strands twisted together, is much stronger than the sum of the three strands. If you have just three strands, they will hold so much weight before they break, each one individually. If you put three, they'll hold three times that weight. If you twist them, they will hold nine times the weight. Why? Has to do with the twisting. He says a threefold cord isn't quickly broken. The idea is we're to be the threefold cords. We're to be twisting together in our lives so that we're stronger. And the only way that happens is when you rub lives together. That means you need to know one another, amen? You need to share your life with other people. And folks, I've had the privilege last week, as of last week, of sharing my life for 24 years with my lovely wife. but that's not enough. There has to be other people involved in my life to make us stronger. That's where the church comes in. Amen? To provide that this afternoon, you're gonna have a time of fellowship. I'm looking forward to being there with you. And that's a time where you can get twisted up together in that threefold cord. I'll talk some more this afternoon about our church and our purpose statement and what God is doing through Crossroads. But he's using churches like yours as you reach out into various mission fields, including mission fields right here at home, like the one in Tracy, to reach people for Christ, to see a lighthouse planted. This church has been around, I forget the year, 1881. lighthouse here in San Francisco. Tracy's a relatively new community and it needs that solid lighthouse to be spreading the Word of God, to be sharing what peace through the salvation that Christ brings. So I challenge you as you stand at your crossroads at work, school, the grocery store, the gas station, What people will you run into that you can be that lighthouse to, that you can be reaching for Christ? Where's that Chinese couple that the wife gets excited about a Bible study? You can do that. You can be that. And you are certainly helping us, giving us the opportunity there in Tracy. If you're not able to stay for this afternoon, we would encourage you. Our display's on the back table. We have pictures. There's three beautiful people in that card, and then there's me. But pick those up so you can pray for us. There's a sign-up sheet for our prayer letter. We try to put a prayer letter out about every two months by email. We do live in the technology age in Tracy. Most of the people in Tracy work in San Jose, so we have to be up on that. So we do send it out by email, but we want you to pray for us, not just for the health needs, although we really appreciate your prayers for Samantha, but more for the work that God would bless, that God would use us to reach people in Tracy for Jesus Christ. That's our goal. That's our desire. That's our heart's request to God, that that's the path he has us on. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Father, as we stand here this morning, we stand at a crossroads. The people around us, even in this room, that we can impact for you, that we can twist up with, that we can make stronger together. Father, as we go away from this place, the mission fields at our doorstep, everywhere we look, there's people that need Jesus Christ. Help us to see them. as sinners that are going to hell that need a savior and help us to respond to them with the gospel. Father, we thank you for this church. Pray for Pastor Ennis as he recovers from the surgery. And Father, we just ask you to bless the ministry here in Jesus name. Amen. Well, the Lord told us to be ministers in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the outermost parts of the world. We're in Jerusalem, San Francisco. I don't know if he's in Judea or Samaria, but he's out there. And we're thankful that he's out there serving the Lord, and this is a brother that we need to pray for. Do pray for his daughter, Samantha. And I hope that you're able to stick around. We're going to have lunch, and then we're going to have an afternoon service, but before We do that. I have a friend here that would like to come and say a few words. I didn't want you to know this because I thought you'd be thinking about it all during the service. I plan to be here for lunch and I plan to be here for the afternoon service today. It's a little early to take on too much. at once. But I want to thank you for your prayers. It has been a difficult journey, but I'm almost as good as I was before I got worse now. And so I'm making good progress. My physical therapist says I'm more than two weeks ahead of the game. I was able to start driving on Tuesday and So I've got to get my strength back now, and we'll go on with the work of the Lord. Amen? Amen. I'm praying for all the wandering ones all over the country. We've got 30 or 40 of them that are out in various places today. I know where they are. I prayed for them this morning. I hope you did too. We miss them. But the work goes on. My brother, thank you for that good message. Thank you. A joy to have you with us today. Good to see you. One of God's choice servants. My heroes are guys that do what this gentleman is doing. And just wonderful work for the Lord, planting the gospel in places that need it. By the way, San Francisco is probably the most un-evangelized city in the whole world. It's just at the top of the whole list. And the gospel is the answer to all of this, is it not? It really is. So I just wanted to thank you for your prayers and tell you I'm still among the living. And because of your prayers, I'm doing exceedingly well. Now God answers prayer, does he not? That he does. And so my daughter told me months ago that I might be jogging in six weeks, and I thought, no way. Well, we're gonna see. We're going to see, but at least I'm, in fact, I walked up those stairs without a handrail and without a cane and without anything. I walked up on two feet up all those stairs out there this morning. I said, wow. And this is a little over two and a half weeks past surgery. So, so the Lord is good. He really is. And again, thank you for your prayers. Look forward to fellowship with you around the tables downstairs. Hope that all of you can stay and to be a part of the afternoon service. Church planning. Listen, this country is in a mess. I watched on one of the Christian networks last night and saw a Christian rally in the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., at which President Trump gave an address. And one of the pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas headed up the rally in which God was honored and exalted and in which it was recognized that apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ, freedom does not exist in any society. It just does not. The gospel is what our people need. Now, medical care is good. I've enjoyed the best of medical care. And in answer to prayer, by the way, I've got one of the finest surgeons I could have had. And when he got done with the surgery, he said, there's no limits to what you can do with your leg or anything. There are no limitations on that hip when you go home. I said, well, did I hear right? And I did. And the physical therapist I had is one in a thousand. God sent me a man that is extremely helpful and useful. And so it's just been a wonderful journey because God has been there every step of the way. And you need to know if you're not a Christian that you need God and you get to God through Jesus Christ, his son. That's how you get there, by repentance, from sin, faith in Jesus Christ, and then there's a real God who comes into your life, and every dynamic of life is totally different from that moment on. Do you know Him as your Savior? I'm asking you a personal question. Are you sure? Have you received Him? Do you know Him? Now, I received word this week that my brother may have pancreatic cancer, my youngest brother. And but listen, listen, if you are a Christian and that's in your journey, then the presence and blessing of God will attend every step of the way. I talked with my brother on the phone yesterday. I said, now what you need to do is every day you look for the hand of God, and I am praying that your children and your grandchildren will see the reality of the hand of God in your life through this experience. Because God is real, yes or no? And if he's not there in the hard places, then what good is he in the easy places? Yes or no? So we serve a great and a wonderful God. It's great to be with you today. The sun is shining very brightly in my heart today. It's just a joy to be here today. Would you please take your hymn books and turn to hymn number 21?