Romans 1 and verse 8. Romans chapter 1 and verse 8. We're just going to have the one service this morning and cancel this evening and then let you know about Wednesday this week, okay? Romans 1, 8. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all. that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. Paul wrote the book of Romans under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, written to the people in Rome, and teaching them about things that that they have done. And he started in his letter to them, in his introduction, he said in this verse 8 that I read, he said, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. That your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. He said, because of your faith, you are known of throughout the world. I think about when I was reading this passage and thinking about it, I think about our church. Sometimes it's gotten up to maybe 30 or 40 in attendance, Men are called to preach and they go out and they become pastors somewhere else. And we go down. We've done that for years. We go down and then we get built back up again. We go down again. And the reason is because this church has been one that has been ready and willing to take the message anywhere in the world that we can get it to. Small church, one would think that with just a few numbers you couldn't do much, but we've been responsible for churches being organized all over the world. We've been responsible for masonaries going out. God has blessed us. And a lot of the men that were in the church were all called to preach, and they went out to pastor somewhere else. And to me, that tells me that like Paul was saying to the church at Rome, your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. This small church is known all over the world. God has blessed us. We have people from other countries that come here to visit us, and we've just been blessed. in the wisdom and leadership of God. One of these days soon, we hope you'll be able to get a pastor that will be able to do the things that needs to be done to visit and talk to people and get more people in. And we'll see again how God will use this church again as it has in the past. This is the way the church has been here for a long time, ever since it was organized. God has used us. We've organized a lot of churches. We've sent missionaries out to places in the United States, and in Canada, and New Guinea, and Australia, and every place, places around. God is blessed. And when Paul wrote to the saints at Rome, he said, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all. I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all. That's what he's saying there. And as I was thinking about that and I thought about I thought about, you know, I'm not well, not able to do a lot of things, but regardless of that, God has blessed us in ways that a lot of churches can't say that. Not as many churches have people that come in and then go out to spread the word in other parts of the world. That's the way God uses a church. Now, I'm sure that when we do get a pastor that's younger and able to do the things that he'll be able to visit and will get built up again, God would still use this church. Men will be called to preach. Families will leave to go where the men are called to pastor and preach somewhere. That's the way it's been with this church down through the years. The history of this church is like that. And there are people that knows this church in all parts of the world. because of how God has used us in a very special way. We talk about faith. There's a lot of things we could say about faith. And faith is something that we have all the time. We were saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. It's the grace of God. And we had faith. We believed by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. And the faith of trusting Christ in our life has made us stronger as we go. We get weak at times. We fail. We don't always do what we should do, don't always go when we should go, but God has blessed us and watched over us. Faith is a funny thing. Faith is something that we have, but it's something that we have to practice. Not only have faith in Christ in our hearts, but we have to practice our faith in our witnessing, in our raising our families, and being out in the world doing the things that we have to do. in the book of Jude. Here we are. Jude 3. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. He said, this is what Jude wrote. He said, when I thought about writing this letter, he wrote this letter to God's people, and he said, I wanted to talk to you about the salvation that we have, the common salvation, the salvation Each one has. I felt it necessary to write to you and exhort you to earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Not just have faith every day that we live, but earnestly contend for the faith. In other words, everything we do, everywhere we go, just trust the Lord. I've told this story. I'll tell it again. At my age, I'm allowed to repeat myself. But years ago, I was ready to go somewhere to another country, and one of the older ladies that was here at the time said, Aren't you afraid to go among those native people? And I said, No. I said, Because the Lord that I serve told me to step out told me that wherever I went and whatever I did, He would be there with me and He would take care of me. So I said, no, I'm not afraid to go. And that was one of the first times we were going into Papua New Guinea. And there the tribes warred against their neighboring tribes all the time. Constantly in wars. And our missionary went there and began to infiltrate into those countries. And I went and went into countries that was newly taken, I wasn't afraid. I remember one time when I was preaching in an outdoor service, and I saw this native, and I've probably told this story, but I saw this native step out of the woods. He had his arrows and his bow in his hand. He stood there during the whole service. When the service was over and I was outside the tent, the tent was open at the sides, just a roof type tent, and I stepped outside after the service. And I saw him. I'd been watching him. I saw him come out of the woods. A lot of people hadn't seen him, but I did. And I'd been kind of watching him. And I saw him walk slowly down toward where I was. And naturally, I didn't know just exactly what he was going to do. But he came down there, came in up there beside of me, had his bow and his arrows and his pouch of arrows on his back. He stood up there beside me and he reached in and pulled out an arrow. And I didn't know what he was going to do. He took that arrow, handed it to me, and gave it to me as a gift. God takes care of His people. God watches over His people. No matter where we are, no matter what the situation might be, He's with us. And He cares for us. He takes care of us. The book of 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles chapter 16 and verse 9. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly. Therefore, from henceforth thou shalt have more." The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. He takes care of his people. He watches his people. He broods. Hebrews chapter 13, verses 5 and 6. Let your conversation, the word conversation, the Greek word that's translated conversation, means your way of living. We think of conversation as what we say, but this encompasses all of it. the way you live and what you say and everything. Let your way of living, what you say, everything be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have. For He has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. He provides for us many different ways. You just never know how the Lord will take care. I remember when I was away to school, I didn't have a whole lot of money.