All right, we want to dismiss our children from Children's Church, Children's Choir. We'll go ahead and exit with Mrs. Abritt and Mrs. Abritt. My two favorite Mrs. Abritts. There they go. Oh, here comes some more. Hello. Wow. All right, our guest missionary for tonight is Bruce Klingeman, his wife, Monette, and they're here with us, and their desire is to be in Guam and minister to the military there. And he's gonna come and preach for us tonight, and I'm looking forward to it. Come on, Brother Bruce. All right, we are the Klingemans. My wife, Monette, my daughter, Sophie, and you've met Caleb, my piano player. You're headed for the U.S. military in Guam. I'm a six-year veteran of the Marine Corps, and Guam is about to be inundated with 5,000 Marines, plus their families, bringing the total U.S. active-duty military to 17,000. on Guam. They're moving them all off of Okinawa, and so we're going to follow part of them. We were going to Okinawa. That's where I served for two years, and so they're checking things up in the Pacific, but we're going to follow them and reach them with the gospel. I got saved just before I went in, and we'll show the video, and that gives our testimony. October 23rd, 1983, I saw on the news the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut. 241 Marines were killed in that bombing. And that affected me. And it moved me to enlist in the Marine Corps. And I did it the next month. In April of 1984, my co-worker shared the gospel with me, explained it clearly. And I got saved. So I went into the Marine Corps as a new believer. Of course, it was difficult as a new believer not having the foundation of a church. But when I arrived in Okinawa, a missionary there invested his time to show me the heart of Christ and show me the Savior that I had trusted a few years before. And it just changed my life, learning what it meant to have the heart of Christ. Mark 10.45. to be a servant, a minister. And the two years I spent there, it really saved my life and made me want to serve more. I then went on, raised a family, and now halfway through my seminary, just a couple of years ago, the Armed Forces Baptist missions came through. and showed us what they were doing with the servicemen centers and churches outside the bases. After I stopped crying, I knew that that's where God wanted me and my family. I can say when I was in college, a roommate of mine explained to me about the gospel. It was eye-opening for me because growing up as a Protestant, you thought being good and just follow the rules and just not get involved in things that you're not supposed to, then you should be good. But because my roommate explained to me the gospel and asked me if if I'll die today, where will I go? And no one asked me that question before. And then she went ahead and explained to me that I need to know the Lord and I need to get saved. And that moment, everything makes sense because I don't have a relationship with the Lord. And when she explained to me that I need to have a relationship with the Lord by believing on Him and that He died for my sins. And as simple as that, I will live with Him forever in heaven. And then after college, I moved back with my parents who lived in a military base at that time. It was in Subic Bay in the Philippines. And I remember attending church services in the evening off base, and they have a servicemen's center there. And the missionaries that run the servicemen's center are very I mean, they're very passionate about the soldiers, and they provide a home away from home for the soldiers. They did everything for them like an extended family, and it was amazing. I love the way they show how much they care for these soldiers, and by showing them the love of Jesus, either through the worship service or private counseling, or even just take them out for a picnic by the ocean. Witnessing that, it was just an encouragement in my heart that that makes sense to me. And I can't wait to do that again. And I can't wait to be like what they did, to be a family, an extended family for the soldiers. We were very excited to go. I didn't imagine this, the decades as I was raising my family and working as a professional, that the door would open and I would go back and be that missionary that influenced me so much. And to start sharing the gospel with the troops outside the base, and then looking for those like me that were already saved but just needed a little direction, a little encouragement. And then working with those guys and teaching them to evangelize and to learn their Bible and to, like I did, learn the heart of Christ, that of a servant, Mark 10, 45. And one contact leads to another, leads to another, just like they did in the early church, making contacts and evangelizing and building new believers, getting them grounded, to have no doubt of what I'm going to see when I get there, and that's soul saved and disciples made. For the past five years or so, I've enjoyed serving the Lord with Bruce Manette here at Southeast Baptist. He has been involved in ministries like Children's Church and Children's Choir and our nursing home ministry. He's been going to Bible college during that time, preparing for full-time ministry. He has a military background, so his heart is toward the military. I think that it'll be interesting to watch the Lord use him in that particular arena. He seems to be well-suited for it. I think any church would enjoy having Bruce represent them on the field, to the military in particular, where he's going to carry the gospel and start churches and really help our military personnel around the world. And that last fellow was Pastor Ray. Brother Self, I'm sure Micah will know him. Even though he may not know me, he will know Pastor Ray. Go to our next slide. And we headed for Guam back in September, made a trip, and my wife, oh, she was so tired, said, are we there yet? I said, well, no, dear. The drive to the airport was only 10 minutes. OK, it's only been 10 minutes. So next. And we're flying for many hours, 16, 17, 18 hours. Next. And the Marines, they train to kill. and die. And so we want to get them before they go to Afghanistan, well now, now it's into the Eastern Europe next. And there's a part of the There's a small air base there that's been there. They're building Camp Blast. This is the dedication of the brand new marine base on Guam, Camp Blast, named after the first Guamanian general. General Blass. Next. And the construction was about that far when we were there. And they're planning on moving a Marine division this year, and we want to get there and get settled before they all show up. Next. And there's my wife. We made it to Guam. She looks like she belongs there, doesn't she? Next. And the economy has been hit very hard. The hotel there is empty, and the military now has been their mainstay. They get about a million visitors a year, and when we were there, I saw maybe two. Next. And, Pastor Barnes, if you remember, I had mentioned meeting Armed Forces Baptist Missions. While I was doing that, Pastor Barnes was starting his church in Dededo, right next to the new Marine base. And so that would have been a few years ago. And then last year, I was calling around like, oh, I need a contact for Guam. One thing led to another. I found Pastor Barnes and told him, we want to start a service center. And he says, oh, we want you to come over and start a service center. And there's again, next. And there's some of the... that lady on the right, she's from the island of Yap. Her husband was the first person from Yap to join the Marine Corps. Next. And the church is... Pastor Barnes has started this church. He's planted a church in the Philippines, and he's gonna start another Filipino church in Guam, while they're there, and he is... You can't do the pasture and the servicemen center. by yourself. So either you're not going to have a servicemen center and just have the church or something's got to give. So I'm going over to fill in that gap for Pastor Barnes. Next. And there's our baptistry. Most awesome baptistry in the world. Next. And let's see. The fellow in the middle got saved just after we left. And that's Pastor Barnes' home. Next. And I think that's it. Yeah, trying to get the Marines saved before they meet their demise. We had the biggest small-world moment here at your church. I encounter small-world moments everywhere I go, and people from my hometown or went to my college, something, there was something, always have some kind of connection that we didn't see coming. My wife ran into They're from the same town in the Philippines. They went to the same high school. They speak the same language, Bicol. In addition to Tagalog, and she's all embarrassed, and I'm like, this is cool. And so that was the biggest small world moment ever. We've had some big small world moments, but that one took the cake. And so we were headed for Guam to start a servicemen center to catch these guys before they get into trouble. and get them saved. And a lot of these guys, everywhere we go, this one church, they were lined up. We had lunch at the church and talking to somebody, and then I noticed there's people lining up to talk to me. My son is in the Marines, and he's away from the Lord. My son is in the Army. He's away from the Lord. He's at this base. They're at that base. parent after parent after parent, asking us to find their son and get them back. The teens are leaving home on the faith of their parents. They have not owned it for themselves. And so they get under influence. And man, some of those guys in the Marines, they're just wicked. And they enjoy corrupting people. And so we want to find them. and get them grounded, get them some encouragement to stand against the world where they work and shine instead of falling back into the world. All right, any other pertinent things? Oh, my wife wants you to know how we met. Back in the day, Mount Pinatubo erupted, leveled, or just buried. Clark Air Force Base and Subic. Of course, they shipped all the Department of Defense and all the military out in a day. Had them out. And my wife and her family landed in Boston. I was in Boston preaching, street preaching for the summer. We met at the church and I kept staring at her. Staring at her, and I found out later. She's like dad Call the police strain or this guy is guys Crazy, but because I held my Bible up here. She said well. We'll give him a chance I'm wondering what how it had turned out if I had held my Bible a little bit lower But we met and I Then we married the next year. I finished college and had one boy headed for the Middle East. I was looking at Iraq with the Kurds. If you remember the first Gulf War, the Kurds came up in the war. My first son is a church planter in the US. And they both made it to Turkey back in August. So we're just very, very excited. I'm as excited for them as I am for myself. And they're leaving, and I won't see them. And our trip to Florida this next year is like practice run for Guam. It's really hot down here. It's hot in Guam. And I'm away from the kids now for the, you know, this is the first time for this long. And they're like, oh, I didn't see that coming. I'm really missing them. I miss my kids. We're going to look into the Bible tonight, and we're going to walk through Hebrews 11, faith chapter. But first, we're going to start in First Chronicles 16. And for some of us, you've heard me give this message before. And my family, too, they're like, Dad, not again. The advantages of being a missionary or a traveling evangelist is that they preach the same message over and over until we get it right. You know, imagine if your pastor came and preached the same message half a dozen times until you got it right. And then you think, well, OK, that's not working out so well. But I appreciate the pastor bringing us in. He's probably watching. Watching me real careful. And I did get his book. We got to talking on the phone. And his one book on salvation. I mean, my boys and I have been been wrestling with that, those same questions. And then I meet Pastor Peterson. And it was like. A small world moment, and we got his books, went through it, and all this is just helped clear up things, simplify. That we have we have muddied the water so bad, the last generation, and the pastor was really good about clearing up the questions. 1 Chronicles 16 is a beautiful passage. Here, David has written a psalm for a worship service. And here we're going to read a part of it. In verse 8, chapter 16. Give thanks unto the Lord. Call upon His name. Make known His deeds among the people. Sing unto Him. Sing psalms unto Him. Talk ye of all His wondrous works. in his holy name. Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord and his strength. Seek his face continually. Remember his marvelous works that he hath done, his wonders and the judgments of his mouth." And skip down to verse 23. Sing unto the Lord all the earth. Show forth from day to day his salvation. Declare his glory among the heathen, his marvelous works among all nations. For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. He also is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the people are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Glory and honor are in his presence. Strength and gladness are in his place. Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the people. Give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name. Bring an offering and come before Him. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Fear before Him all the earth. The world also shall be stable, that it be not moved. Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice. Let men say among the nations, the Lord reigneth." Isn't that a beautiful passage? If you ever wonder, how does somebody worship the Lord? Here we go, right there. And let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for who you are. As we mentioned that before, Lord, and you have revealed yourself to us. What glory that is, where we cannot get our minds around it, that the God, the glorious God of the universe God of creation revealed himself to us. Lord, as we look into your word, give us insight into worship. Lord, fix our hearts. Lord, break them, and then mold them again into the image of Christ. Lord, give us understanding into your word. In Jesus' name, amen. And we'll move over to Hebrews 11. The word there is do, right? The glory, do his name. I found that phrase three times in the Bible. The Lord is due glory from his creation and from his people. Let's read through Hebrews 11 there in verse three. Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of the things which do appear. And I think this, Paul, or whoever wrote this passage, was familiar with our passages in Chronicles, that the Lord made the universe. This is foundational, isn't it? All things for the glory of God. He made all things, he owns it. All things for the glory of God. Now, the Bible even says, even evil for the day of judgment, evil will give glory to God. The wicked man who says no to God, he will bow the knee to his detriment or to his benefit if he repents like we did. We repented and we gave God the glory to our benefit. My dad got saved last year. He was 84. We prayed for him 17 years. He was a fountain of evil for 60 years in our family. And then one day he decides he's going to repent and believe on the Lord. And we all were floored. Glorious salvation. And I say that now he's in the nursing home. My stepbrother has not gotten any feedback, any communication back from him for about three weeks. So we think he's going to go soon. And you know what? That's OK now. He got saved last year. And we were careful to verify, make sure he meant what he said. And we watched him, and he had a change of behavior. And he even got baptized. Got off on a tangent there a little bit. Hebrews 11, 4. By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. And by he being dead, yet speaketh. That was mentioned in our Pastors and Chronicles, offer God a sacrifice. What's Abel doing here? This is worship, right? The Bible is showing us that Abel was righteous by his faith in worship. Then we go on to Enoch. By faith, Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God. And we see this explained in Genesis 5, 22 and 24. And Enoch walked with God. So Cain, he worshipped. Enoch, he walked. And the walk is, of course, our metaphor for how you behave, how you think, how does it conform to the will of God, to the character of God. And also the Bible says, how can two walk together lest they be agreed? So Enoch was in complete agreement with God as he walked this world, so much so the Lord just took him up. By faith, Noah, in verse 7, By faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not yet seen, as yet moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by fate. And now Noah, he worked. And he's known for the work of building the ark. And our work, our work today, is primarily evangelism, isn't it? I mean, we focus much on getting the gospel to the unbeliever, compelling them, and to the wayward Christian, getting them back in the fold, building believers in the faith. This is our work. We have folks in the Bible who are kind of known for their work. With first Noah, he's the biggest one. How about Nehemiah? He was known for his work. And Saul, he said, I worked harder than any of the other apostles, yet not I, but Christ through me. And you know, Jonah, I love Jonah, that feller. I was studying him when my dad was getting saved. And I said to myself, before I had got the news, my dad would fit right in in Nineveh. I mean, he'd be right at home. His sin had reached heaven. And just like the Ninevites, God sent a preacher before the judgment to warn them, you've got to straighten up or I'm going to have to judge you. And they repented, every man his worth, of his evil deeds. And, you know, and also that shows us that God wants everyone to be saved. If he would save the Ninevites, if he desired to save the Ninevites, doesn't he, hasn't he shown that he means it when he says, God would that all men would come to repentance? And he says, go into all ye the world, and this is our work, going into the world. But what kind of a witness would we be if we were just like the world? Don't we preach, be holy? For I am holy when we go out. I don't know about you, if I'm feeling wicked, I don't make for a good witness for the Lord. When I tell somebody, see the Lord holy, and then I look at myself like, wow, I'm such a hypocrite. I need to be holy. God wants holy vessels, lights, lights in the world. We're commanded, compelled, prodded to be like Christ in our speech, our conduct, and our character. Most of the preaching that I've seen has been for the sanctification of the believers. The pastor always gives the gospel. He's always reaching the lost. But his first responsibility is for the flock, isn't it? Those who walked, Enoch, as we mentioned, Abraham, we think of him who had a righteous walk. And we hear the testimony of people who say, I knew a professor. I knew a man who nobody else knew. He was just unknown, but he was the most godly man I'd ever heard of. And holy. we tend to compartmentalize our work from our walk and our worship. So we worship, oh, that's Wednesday night, that's Sunday morning, Sunday night, right? That's worship. Or if I'm really good, I'll worship as my devotion in the morning. Then we close our Bibles and we go off to our occupation, our secular job, and we work there, and we try to be witnesses there, or at least try to behave ourselves in front of others. But we've separated the two, our walk from our worship. And then, again, with our work of reaching the lost, we don't talk much about that being an offering for the Lord. You know, do we consider witnessing an act of worship? I'm worshiping the Lord. Am I not declaring the goodness of the Lord to an unbeliever? Doesn't that glorify God when an unbeliever repents and is saved? Isn't there rejoicing in heaven when one sinner repents? And because we worked, we witnessed to an unbeliever and saw the fruit of salvation, God is glorified, we offer that as worship. But we're not thinking that way. We think even glorifying God. God is glorified, but we don't go far enough and think, this is my worship to the Lord, seeing the sinner converted, my walk with him when nobody's looking, as well as my Sunday morning worship. Don't we have a unique position? The angels look upon us with wonder. Don't they? They can't understand redemption. They can't experience it. They've never been lost. What's it like to be lost and redeemed, to be forgiven? And Jesus said, who loves more the one who sinned and is forgiven little, or the one who sinned a lot and was forgiven a lot. Angels can't understand that. We have a very unique position as worshipers. In John 4, 23, But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to worship Him. He's seeking worshipers. So let's worship. Let's use that position that we have and not just glorify God and go through obedience for the sake of obedience. Let's worship the Lord. Give the Lord the glory. Do His name first. You remember the prayer that Jesus said, Teach us to pray. He said our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name worship the Lord first and then Ask for enablement for a holy walk and enablement for being a witness worship the Lord first and This this should in we think and when we when we say our number one priority should be getting the gospel out. That's the number one priority of our work, but as far as worshipers, let's worship the Lord first, then reach the lost. Worship the Lord first, then call on Him for the Holy Spirit. But give Him His due, His due first, and worship Him in spirit and in truth. Leave that with you and we'll pray. Thank God for his word. And then the pastor will come back up. Father, we thank you for this opportunity. Thank you for this body of believers here and Pastor Peterson and his faithfulness. Lord, work your faithfulness in us or give us a burden for the loss, a burden to be holy. in your sight when no one else is looking. Lord, and when we come before you on the appointed times for congregation worship, put it in our mind, Lord, that we are here to worship you as a body of believers and then to go home and worship you. Lord, as we're examples to our family, to our coworkers, to the world, Lord, make our lives a living sacrifice, Lord, to worship you and glorify your name from this unique position that we have as redeemed people worshiping you. Lord, we thank you so much for what you're doing in us and the hope that we have for our future. Lord, our hope immovable. Lord, and we thank you for your word and the life that it gives us. In Jesus' name, amen.