For these that are listed, continue to lift them up before the Lord and continue to pray for Brother Randy as he's recuperating. And then I found out yesterday that Miss Carrie has a hip fracture. Exciting, getting old, isn't it? And so probably Jim just drove her too hard all these years. But anyhow, pray for her. She's got a new friend walking with her everywhere she goes. and I know she'd appreciate your prayers. Good to be together today. Lord bless you for being here. We're gonna have Brother Foster come and lead us in another song, and then we'll get to our Sunday school time. Lord bless you, Brother Foster. Take your handbooks once again. Turn over to hymn number 178, Jesus Loves Even Me. We'll sing the first and the last verses. Hymn number 178. I am so glad that our Father in heaven tells of his love in the book he has given. Wonderful things in the Bible I see. This is the dearest that Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Though if there's only one song I can sing, When in His beauty I see the great King, This shall my song in eternity be. Oh, what a wonder that Jesus loves me! I am so glad! I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves even me. Amen. At this time you can be dismissed to your Sunday school classes. All right, my class, we're still in lesson number nine. Hopefully you still have your handout. I think that all of them are gone, so if you don't, you'll just have to follow along this morning. Lesson number nine, we are in the book of 1 Peter. Chapter number three, you could be turning there as well. Alright, we'll begin with reading our text this morning. First Peter Chapter 3 in verse number 8. Remember, we're dealing with the subject compassion for one another. Says here, finally be all of one mind, having compassion, one of another love is brother and be pitiful. Be courteous. not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrarywise blessing, knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him eschew evil and do good. Let him seek peace and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open under their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. And who is he that will harm you, if you be followers of that which is good? But, and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror. Neither be troubled, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." We see instruction here, and the Bible is full of instruction for us because it does matter the way we conduct ourselves in this world that we live in. It's important to God, and He's instructed us from the Word of God, and how we should live. Because He wants us to have a life that is good, good according to His measure, and He understands what is best for us, so He's outlined it for us. Not only a life that would be good for us, but He wants us to then have an impact on the world around us. And he says, if you implement these things into your life, then you're going to have an influence that is a godly influence, an influence that will have the right impact on those around you. So he's dealing with this subject in this portion of Scripture of having compassion for one another. And it's important for us to understand as children of God how we are to express that compassion, what it's supposed to look like, and he defines it here for us in this text as well as other portions of Scripture. But it's vitally important for us to show the compassion that Jesus Christ Himself showed toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. As unlovely as we were, God loves us. And He sent His only begotten Son to die for us, showing His compassion on us. So we need to have that same sort of compassion to the world around us and those that we interact with, that they might see the love of Christ through us. So last week we went through the realm of compassion and what that consists of and what this compassion and where it should extend. And we understand that it should be a part of the body of Christ as we come together here at Shawnee Mission Baptist Temple. We certainly should be able to show compassion to one another. And he wants us to come together in this same mindset, and that is having the mind of Christ. And what is the mind of Christ? Well, we understand it from the Word of God, once again. It's our source of all truth. It's our source of understanding. It's where we learn of Christ and His attitudes, His attributes, and the way He conducted Himself. And we are, as Christians, to pattern ourselves after the Lord Jesus Christ. So we see Him extending compassion to all those around Him, and we are to do the same. So we are to be unified in that mindset of the mind of Christ. And then we saw next that we need to have a loving mindset. a loving mindset. These go hand in hand. How can you have compassion without having love? Jesus Christ expressed love and he proved his love by dying for us on Calvary's cross. So we need to have a loving mindset. And these are the prerequisites and this is what God defines as being the standard for compassion is that we have a unified mindset and that we have a loving mindset. So the reach of compassion. How do we reach people with compassion? Well, we saw that we do it verbally. The things that we say express, they can't express compassion, or they can express those things that would tear someone down. So we need to make sure that our speech is that of compassion. Jesus Christ expressed compassion in his vocabulary, and we need to pattern our vocabulary after the Lord Jesus Christ. Proverbs 25 11 tells us how important it is for our words to be fitly spoken. It says the word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. So as we understand biblical truth and we have that right mindset and we have that right love, then we need to use wisdom to allow it to change our vocabulary. to allow our vocabulary to become that of the Lord Jesus Christ and that we speak compassion to those around us. And then we need to reach thoughtfully. So we can say a lot of things, but it doesn't always align with our lifestyle or our attitudes. The Bible wants us to come together in what we say and what we do that they would match. So we need to reach thoughtfully. Sometimes it's not only our manner of speech that brings peace, but also the withholding of unkind words. There's a lot of things that come to our mind that we want to say, isn't there? And those things come more easily, I think, oftentimes than the right thing to say. But as we spend more time in the word of God and spend more time in prayer, as we get to know God more and more intimately, then we will have the right thoughts and we will have the right things to say. And we need to make sure that we withhold those things that should not be said and say the right things in order to have an opportunity to be a witness and a testimony to a lost and dying world. It's what we're here for. And God wants to mold us and to make us into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ that we might have the best impact on this world possible. So we need to remember what we're here for. We're not here for ourselves. We're not here to speak unkind words. We're not here to close doors of opportunities to witness. We're here to allow God to open those doors and not do anything to hinder that open door of opportunity. So we need to reach thoughtfully, and that brings us to the third area which we left off at last week. So as we understand the realm of compassion, I'm to be compassionate to all mankind, I'm to reach in an appropriate way with my vocabulary and with my actions, then what is the reward of compassion? What is the reward of compassion? What are the results here? What are we trying to accomplish? It may seem like our acts of compassion often go unnoticed. When someone reviles us, we turn the other cheek, but no one seems to see. Remember this, that God knows. Our life needs to be in such a way that the only thing that matters to us and the ultimate thing that matters to us is how we please our Heavenly Father. So it doesn't matter if others see what we're doing. The only thing that matters is that God sees. And that can be turned the other way. God sees all the wrong we do as well. And we need to be mindful of that, that fact that God sees the good and the bad, and we need to make sure that we're doing the good things, the righteous things that are pleasing to Him. So God knows, and He takes note of our acts of compassion. We may feel all alone in doing right. How many of you, you don't have to raise your hand, but how many of you have felt that way, maybe on a job or maybe all the way back when you were in school, making a decision to do the right thing? And oftentimes when you make a decision to do the right thing, you are standing alone in that midst of that situation. But remember this, God is there and God knows and he sees that you're doing right. We can take heart knowing that God will reward us for living a life of compassion. So we understand that He knows our testimony. God knows our testimony. Ultimately, we're living for Him. We're living to please Him. And verse 12 of our text tells us here, the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous. We serve a living God, and He's actively involved in our lives. And He sees and is acquainted with all of our ways. He notices our faithfulness, even when no one else is watching. You see, that's the wrong mindset. If we're living for the praise of others, we're living for the wrong thing. We need to be living to please God. That is what God has designed in our life. We were created for His pleasure, to live outside of that as our goal, And what we're striving for is to find a life that is full of dissatisfaction. We find our satisfaction in God Himself and doing the things that He's designed for us to do, and that is to please Him. God not only watches us, but He also hears us. The second part of verse 12 goes on to say that his ears are open under their prayers. Aren't you thankful that we have a God who listens and he hears our prayers and he's always opened and attentive to our needs and our prayers and our petitions to him. He delights in hearing and answering his children's prayers. We sang this morning that Jesus loves even me and those words are hard to fathom that God loves even me. He loves you today. And because of his love, he desires to hear and he desires to answer our prayers. When we come before God in prayer, we can be confident that he hears our requests and will answer us according to his time. Turn to Matthew chapter seven. We have a loving Heavenly Father who desires to bless His children. He desires to take care of them. He desires to delight in them. In Matthew chapter 7, we have these words in verse number 7 that we can have this confidence in knowing, ask and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth. And to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread will give him a stone, or if he ask a fish will give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? You know, we desire to give good things to those that we love, to those that we hold dear to our hearts. And imagine, in our flawed love, how much we desire to express that in the things that we give and the things that we do for one another. But God, in His perfect love, gives us perfect gifts. And He knows exactly what we need, and He wants to bless us in such a special way. Our connection in prayer to God can be limited by sin, however, and the Bible here declares that for us, but God never ignores us. He always desires our unhindered fellowship with Him in prayer. And Psalm 66 and verse 18 says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. But barely God hath heard me, he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. God's desire is that our relationship would be free from anything that would hinder. We understand that sin hinders our relationship with God, that fellowship that we have, and He wants to make sure that we take care of those things, that He can interact and have that close, intimate relationship with us that He so desires, and that He can pour out His blessings upon us as He desires. God sees, He hears, but we need to remember this, He judges too. You might have wondered why the wicked seem to go unpunished while the righteous suffer, but we need to remember what the Bible tells us. We need to remember what the Bible says. Verse 12 tells us that the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. We see evil all around us in our day, and we would certainly like for the Lord to judge it. We're looking forward to that day when He sets things right. In our human wisdom, we can never explain God's ways or fully understand His sovereignty, but God judges the unrighteous and will make all things right in His time. We need to remember that even in the midst of a wicked and terrible world that we live in, that God is still in control. This isn't out of God's hands at all. God is in control and He will set things right in His time. Though God judges the wicked, He does not take pleasure in it, but rather delights in showing mercy. God would rather show mercy than to have to judge and to inflict pain in the lives of individuals. Micah 7 and verse 18 says, Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will not turn again. He will have compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities. And Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." What a wonderful God we serve as we look through the Old Testament and we see how God is so patient. and He's willing to forgive sins, and He's willing to extend that mercy, and then we see it in the New Testament as well, and even in our own lives. Aren't you thankful that we have a long-suffering God? A God who is more willing to extend mercy, and He wants you to get right with Him. And He's always desiring that in the lives of individuals, that they would get right, and He's extending opportunity after opportunity after opportunity that man might be reconciled to God. While God extends patience towards those who mock and oppose Him, He will eventually judge them. There is a day of reckoning coming. There is a day coming where God will judge and He will set things straight. Nothing is ever out of His control or out of His plan, and no one will ever get away with mocking God or attacking His people. It may seem like they're getting away with it for a time, but understand this, as the Bible declares for us, there is a day of judgment coming. where God will set things right. We can trust that God will always judge in the right way and at the right time. God does it right. When we take the reins and we try to take care of situations, we don't always do it right. But we can understand and trust God to do things in the correct way. Let's look at 2 Thessalonians 1. And verse six, if you'd turn there, 2 Thessalonians 1. If you look at the world today and the chaos that's going on and all that is wrong in society, who of us could raise our hands and say that we could set things straight, we could get this all in order? I don't think there's any one of us that could say I could set all of this straight. I understand the direction things need to go and I understand from the biblical truths how things ought to be, but who of us would have the authority to set all those things straight? There's no man that can straighten things out the way they are. Only God can straighten things out. Only God can set things right. 2 Thessalonians 1 and verse 6 says, "...seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels." Aren't you looking forward to the day when Jesus Christ comes in the clouds and He comes on those horses and He sets things in order for His millennial reign and everything will be done right and everything will be done in order and sin will be taken care of and He'll rule in righteousness. I'm looking forward to that. As we live in this life and we understand that we can't control the actions of others and what they do, we want people to act a certain way and we often expect them to act a certain way and we're shocked when they don't or we're disappointed when they don't. So as we understand we can't control their actions, what we can control is our response. We have a duty, we have a responsibility, even in the midst of a sin-cursed, sinful world, we have a responsibility to be light. We have a responsibility to exemplify the Lord Jesus Christ among them, so we can control how we respond. God wants our actions and reactions to be compassionate. showing forth the love of Christ, showing forth that there is a better way than the sinful life that they're living. Our responsibility is to be faithful in showing compassion to one another and leave God to judge those who have done wrong. Often I think we try to insert duties within what we should be doing as a Christian. When God defines it for us, We are here, we have been left as ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's given us some specific things that we are to put on, some things that we are to put off as we go forth as ambassadors, and as we go forth exemplifying Jesus Christ. He says, this is the way you prepare yourself, this is what you should be doing, and this is how you're going to have the right influence, the right impact, and set things in order the way that I want them done. And then let me handle the things that you can't do. You exemplify the Lord Jesus Christ in your life. You share and witness to them the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and let me take care of everything else." So he knows our testimony. The question is, is our testimony what it ought to be? I think we all could say that we have some room for improvement. God knows our testimony and He wants it to be right and He's gone to great lengths in preserving the Word of God for us that we might know what His expectation is and what His desire is for our life. So we see here next that He rewards our faithfulness. He knows our testimony and He desires to reward our faithfulness. As we demonstrate compassion in our daily lives, God knows our testimony. He sees all that we do. He sees our longsuffering. and He will reward our faithfulness. At times, our patients may be tested. And I'm sure in the week that goes by that our patient isn't tested. He sees those times of testing. We may feel all alone in doing right or discouraged by the unkind treatment of others. You know, in preparing our children to live in this world, as a Christian, we've often told them that you need to be prepared to stand alone. You need to be prepared to stand up for what is right if no one else agrees or if no one else goes along. It's very important for us to remember that as well as adults that it doesn't matter what society or the world around us is doing or maybe even fellow Christians are doing. If it doesn't align with the Word of God and what God's expectation is of us, then we ought not participating and we ought to take a stand for what is right. So when we make the determination that I'm going to be faithful, that I'm going to live for God in the manner that He expects of me, We must remember to persevere in showing compassion to one another because our efforts are not in vain. So as we begin to do these things that God expects of us, we're showing compassion, we're showing love, we're sharing our testimony, we're sharing the Lord Jesus Christ with others. We may not see the fruit of those efforts. right away. We may not see them in our lifetime, but understand that God sees them and God is using that in the lives of others. We may not know all that we've done in this life to impact the lives of others until we get to heaven, but we have a command from God to keep sowing those seeds, to keep sharing the good news, to keep exemplifying Christ and showing compassion to others. Galatians 6, 9 tells us, and let us not be weary in well-doing, Don't become weary in what is right to do. Don't ever think that what you're doing for the cause of Christ doesn't matter, or how you're living for Christ doesn't matter, or how you've taken a stand for Christ doesn't matter. Let us not be weary in well-doing. For in due season we shall reap if we faint not. We need to remember that living for the Lord Jesus Christ is the right thing for us to do. It's what God expects us to do. And although we may not see the results that we want, whether it be witnessing or trying to influence the life of an individual, remember that doing the right thing is always right. And we may not always see those results right away. you know, as this correlates with planting and harvesting, I think of the pineapples in Papua New Guinea and how good they are if you've ever had one. I know Preacher and Ms. Metzinger have, they're very, very good, better than anything we get here, but it takes a very long time for those to grow. It takes a very long time to experience the joy of eating one of those. Just as any good thing takes time, we know that the seeds that we plant are good seeds. They're good seeds. The seeds that we plant for the cause of Christ are good seeds, and they need to be planted. But some may grow at different rates. Some may not grow at all, but God still tells us to sow them, doesn't He? So we need to be faithful. We need to make sure that we're doing what we ought to be doing in this life and living for the Lord Jesus Christ and sowing those seeds of compassion. Even when we do right, we will face opposition. Verse 14 says, But if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. I find comfort in these words. In the day and age we live in, I find comfort in the Word of God and how He prepares us and how He tells us to shape our mindset. and have our attitudes and repurpose ourselves around the Word of God and what He has designed and what He has established for us to be doing. Sometimes we might suffer even when we are just trying to be a blessing or to witness by giving out a gospel tract. The reality is that we live in a society that is becoming more and more ungodly. More and more people don't want anything to do with God. They want to live for themselves, they want to do what they want to do, and they want to have their own way in all that they do. So as we see this society becoming more and more ungodly, it's more and more likely that we will suffer for our faith. There may be persecution that comes. God has prepared us for such a time. God has declared for us in the Word of God how to prepare ourselves in such a way that we will be established and that we may be able to stand fast in our faith. There may be times in our life where we took a stand and some friends may have walked away from us. They may even laugh at you or mock or ridicule you. But God says that you can still be happy and have joy even when faced with persecution. Isn't that amazing? We hear the testimony of many martyrs who would die at the stake singing hymns and rejoicing in the Lord. Only God can give that type of grace. Only God can give that type of joy. Verse 14 here says, happy are ye. It says, but if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye. Seems contradictory. As you're going through suffering, that you would be happy. The word happy in verse 14 means supremely blessed or well off. You understand where your eternal destiny is. You understand what you've been living for. If you're not living for yourself, but you're living for God and you're living in a righteous life, Then you understand your life is God's and whatever happens is a result of what God has allowed. And we know the blessings that await us as we spend eternity with Him in heaven. So we understand that even in the midst of persecution, in the midst of suffering, we can have joy in knowing that God is in control. God's Word tells us that we need not fear or be troubled by persecution. If you'd be turning to Luke 6 and verse 22, We can rejoice in taking a stand because we are doing what is right in God's eyes. Remember, we need to take this as a priority that I am going to please God in my life. It's going to be what defines me. He's going to be the one I'm going to be faithful to, and I'm seeking to please Him. Because of our faithfulness, taking a stand for what is right, God will reward us. Luke 6, verse 22. Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil for the son of man's sake." What does the first word there say? It says, blessed are ye. And then it lists all these terrible things. The Bible says, blessed are ye. We have all the list of terrible things there. for the Son of Man's sake. Blessed are ye if you suffer these things for the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets." The Bible is declaring for us it doesn't matter what man does to us. Whether they revile you, rebuke you, persecute you, That doesn't matter. If you're living for Christ, that is what matters. He says, great joy you will find and rejoice in the day. Leave for joy, he says. for your reward is great in heaven. We need to be mindful of what awaits us in heaven, and we need to live in such a way that we're pursuing heaven, and we're pursuing it in such a way that we want to bring as many people with us as possible. We want to share that good news with them. We want to live in such a way that would not be a hindrance or would close the door of opportunity to share the good news with them. But we want to live in such a way that doors open to us And our testimony is such that people would believe what we're saying, that they would want what we have, that they would desire to have a life that expresses joy and peace and all these things that come alongside the life of a Christian who is truly following God. We see such examples in our history and we see an example here in Corrie Ten Boom of this type of compassion. We're familiar with her story. She was a woman from Amsterdam whose entire family was taken into concentration camps under Hitler's rule. Her father and sister both died while in prison. After the war, Corrie was in the city of Munich speaking to a church about compassion and forgiveness. This is interesting. Think of the situation and all that she suffered, and all that she saw her family members suffer, and she's gonna be the one speaking now on compassion and forgiveness. She recounted the horrific atrocities that she had experienced in the concentration camp at Ravensbrook. Despite the injustices done to her and her family, she said, I am thankful that God forgave me. and that by God's grace I can forgive others." That was her testimony. After the service, something unexpected happened. A man came up to Corrie and reached out to shake her hand. He said, Froehlein, the message that you gave today was a great encouragement to me to know that God would forgive me for all my sin. When she looked into his face, Corrie realized that he was one of the guards from Ravensbrück who had mistreated her and her sister. At that moment, Corrie froze. There was no forgiveness in her, only fear. She recounted in her book that she had a flashback and saw the face of her dead sister, pale and ashen, and remembered what the prison guards had done to her. Then she prayed, Lord, I just spoke about forgiveness. Help me forgive. Help me to have compassion on this man who now believes in you. As an act of faith, Corrie reached her hand towards his outstretched hand, choosing to forgive. Suddenly a warmth came through her body and the love of God began to well in her heart. Corrie looked into the man's eyes and said, yes, the forgiveness of Jesus is a wonderful thing. I am so glad that we can both experience it today. This is what God wants to do in each of our lives. He wants us to show forth forgiveness and compassion. When you think about all that Jesus Christ has forgiven of all mankind, the sins of all mankind, then we ought not to have any difficulty forgiving others when we consider what He's forgiven in our life. He's forgiven me of so much, and He's forgiven you of so much. Jesus was willing to forgive this soldier who was inflicting harm in the lives of individuals. He was willing to forgive and Corrie made the decision that she was willing to forgive as well. So when others wrong us, we can either get even or ask the Lord to give us a compassionate heart and repay evil with a blessing. Based on those two decisions, which one has the right impact on eternity? They both will have an impact on eternity. If we choose to get even, think of the door of opportunity that may be closing. And that person may never be able to be reached with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But if we remember our calling that we have been left here to be ministers of the gospel of the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ, then we understand the right response is to repay evil with a blessing and choose to extend forgiveness and compassion that the door would remain open for the light of the glorious gospel to shine upon the heart of that individual. So when we see someone in need, we can choose to remain indifferent or to step forward to meet that need. As we demonstrate compassion in our lives, doors will begin to open for us to present the gospel. In the last verse of our text, verse 15 says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. What does that mean? It means to set apart, set your heart aside in such a way that you are going to live for God. You're going to purpose in your life to do all that you can to be pleasing to Him. So you're sanctifying the Lord God in your heart. You're setting yourself aside for His service, for His pleasure, for all that He would have you to do. Then He says, as you purpose yourself for this, be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. This gives the idea that as you set yourself apart unto God, as you purpose your heart to following God and doing those things that are attributes of a godly Christian, then God's gonna begin to bring people your way. He's gonna begin to open doors of opportunity to you to be a witness because your life is an example of Jesus Christ and he wants people to take note of that. He wants people to recognize that, and then they're going to come to you asking questions, asking for answers. And this is all God's design. It's what He wants done in our lives. He wants us to live in such a way that we're exemplifying the Lord Jesus Christ, and as we exemplify the Lord Jesus Christ, that attracts attention of others. They take note. In their difficult times, in their times of suffering, who do they look to? They look to the Christians who are willing to pray for them, who are willing to express their compassion towards them. And that's why God says we need to be ready to give an answer. We need to be ready to share good word of testimony to them and share with them from the Word of God what God would have for their lives. Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if our testimony of compassion made someone notice our life And then began to, they began to ask questions of us. What makes you different from the rest? How can you have joy in the midst of a trial? What makes the difference in your life? You know, many people recognize what's going on in our world today, and many are dissatisfied with what's going on. Yet we can choose to show forth joy. We can choose to show forth the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then as they ask us, why are you joyful in the midst of all that's going on? Well, we can say that our hope is not in this world. Our hope is in heaven and our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Wonderful opportunities if we take the responsibility to have the right testimony and sharing a word of compassion with those around us. So God gives us opportunities. and He wants to give us opportunities, but we need to be prepared for those opportunities. We need to make sure our life is patterned after the Lord Jesus Christ, looking to 1 Peter 3 of our text here and making sure that these things that are outlined for me, that I'm putting those things on in my life, other portions of scripture where God tells us the way that we ought to live, making sure that I'm patterning myself as a godly Christian, that I might have opportunities to be a witness. to have an influence, to have an impact. Boy, we need to have an influence on this world, do we not? We need to make a difference, and now is the time. Now is the time to make a difference for the Lord Jesus Christ in a world who so desperately needs to know Him. Heavenly Father, we're so thankful today for Your goodness to us. We're thankful for Your longsuffering. We're thankful for Your patience. And as the subject today at hand was compassion, we're thankful for your compassion that you were willing to go to Calvary's cross to die for us. In the midst of our sins, in the midst of our ungodliness, in the midst of our unrighteousness, Father, you were willing to send your Son to die for us. We're so thankful for the salvation through Jesus Christ. And I pray now that as you've left us here to be ambassadors for you, that we would take that responsibility and that we would choose to exemplify Jesus Christ in our lives and showing forth that same type of forgiveness, that same type of love and that same type of compassion to those in this world around us. I pray now that you would be at the service to follow, speak again to our hearts and we'll thank you for it in Jesus name, amen. All right, thank you for your attention. You have about 10 minutes. We'll be right back in here.