All right, great. All right, you can all talk now so you can be on video. Okay, do what I need to do, shut down my cell phone here. Good to see you folks. Welcome to Union Grove Baptist Church. Those on the internet and for our folks here in the auditorium on a beautiful, rainy, stormy night right here in Union Grove, Wisconsin. We got a whole lot of things to cover tonight. As always about the first half hour or so Maybe a hair longer tonight. We're gonna be Dealing with some things which we call prophecy focus global update a lot of things taking place and I'm gonna hit on I which I very rarely do but many of you have heard about a movie that had just come out sounds of freedom and I'm gonna touch on that tonight and some of the issues which are very much something that been on my radar for some oh, let's see 40 plus years probably and things that are very disturbing and We're gonna go through that for a bit. But before we do let's pray and get started Father. Thank you for your love for us. Thank you for the folks that were able to come out tonight even in the storm that's taking place as we speak and Great that you bless anyone else that's Still in travel watch over them keep them safe And of course we pray for young people tonight and the rooted teens as well as summer quest We ask that you bless the leaders. Thank you for them and the young folks and the teens that are here tonight pray that you'd just make it a wonderful time of fellowship and time of discipleship as well as the gospel being given to anyone here and in our confines or even on the internet that don't know Christ as Savior. So what we commit tonight to do to you, we pray that you bless every aspect of what takes place in the building. May it all bring glory to Christ in Jesus' name, amen. All right, so again, we're going to talk about some specific things happening on a global picture. And how many of you heard about this movie, The Sound of Freedom? Okay, I usually rarely go to a theater for a movie, but I did go to see this one yesterday And I'm very glad I did I think it's only got one or two more days in the theaters, and they're gonna I mean They just got a very short period of time And there's like five years of background to trying to get this film public, and they've just gone through six million hoops to get it out there. And if you've seen it, maybe you'll have an idea of why, or just looking at the topic. Well, again, the first thing, they thought this thing was gonna be, wouldn't make any money, wouldn't go anywhere. It's... I'm not going to call by any stretch of the imagination a Christian film, but it certainly has, let's just say, a Christian nexus to it and definitely a biblical worldview concept to it, which of course makes it very unpopular among the mainstream leftist media, if you will. Was that too strong for church? Yeah, did I say that? Yeah, I said it and I'll say it again. It's very, very strong for the leftist media. And it's dealing with, and I'm trying to be very sensitive here, not graphic, especially, I don't know who's watching on the internet and who's here. I know who's here, the young people aren't in the room, but We're going to be, and I'm just going to say it once, and then I'm going to use a different word, but we're talking about the world of child sex trafficking. So instead of constantly using that word and being a buzzword, instead of using the word sex, I'm going to use the word intimate, and you know exactly what I'm talking about. So we're going to go through this material. I want to review a few things that took place here. It's just so disturbing. My background is, you know, I was in law enforcement as well as Christian work. I was in the sheriff's office for 32 years. And one of the big things, especially when I was the acting sheriff, that I really, really wanted to see take place was how are you gonna stop this child trafficking, not just child, I mean, we're talking, Teenagers young adults and of course teens will be considered child Age when it comes to this particular issue. It's like what can be done? What is being done and folks? I mean, I just as crystal crystal clear as I can make it this is like the most underground hard to reach hard to find and problem in our country, I think, right now. I went to multiple different training seminars. I met with many different agencies that were, they'd have maybe one or two people that were in a unit that was specific to prostitution and that type of thing, but it's like the results were dismal. I mean, they basically didn't produce a whole lot of anything. The media tells us, this movie makes a statement that America is the biggest purchaser of this type of activity, yet it's like so underground, it's almost impossible to find, even for the police agencies. The arrest Records or the numbers of arrests are like just um I mean, they're small we're talking if they get a few hundred arrests in the in a MPD a year, I think that's like about ridiculously high number so it's just it's such a disturbing thing and I actually I wrote and I forget what the actors name as I wrote him yesterday and I'm With a little bit of influence I still have in the political world, it's like, you know, we're not, we're just not making enough noise. I'm a speck on the spectrum. You're a giant multimillionaire kind of guy. They have a underground operation railroad that's going on, which is what the actual Individual that he's portraying in the movie is part of the issue is though. They're going into Countries not America for them 99% of the time they go into other mostly South American countries some other countries and they do rescue of children and Prosecutions with some of the countries that will help them so the entire time that he's been at it They have and it sounds like a big number of 6,000 arrests and about 6,000 rescued children, but the numbers are staggering. I mean, we're talking several million young people that have been inducted and forced into this child intimate trafficking. So it's very disturbing. And it does need to be brought to attention. Why is a pastor, why is a church concerned about this? Well, folks, these are kids. And I mean, it's just heart-wrenching what's taking place. The law enforcement is just failing. I mean, they just horribly have failed at this particular issue. And the Christian community, which is why I'm Making a big deal out of it I'm gonna make a bigger deal on the media when I get the chance which will come up in the not too distant future But it's it's taking place. It's taking place in our major cities I know it's in Racine Milwaukee and Kenosha County areas because they're urban areas stuff's taking place, but what's being done? so I want to make a lot of noise about this issue be for on two sets one is I God's people need to take a stand on this that I mean, we're just not going to put up with this. And unfortunately, we're forced to put up with it because it's so underground, we can't stop it. So the other issue is those that do know, and those potentially watching on the internet or other Media outlets or maybe even have watched this movie and you know of young children, you know of teens Maybe you know of individuals that are running these things underground You know of the websites that they're using that are almost impossible to find today Make it public you can call me out. I'll do my part. You can call your local police agency which I would suggest that is one of two things you should do and Police agencies, their hands are tied. They're just not producing a lot. So I'm really looking to make a big, giant, lots of noise about this. Again, stopping child trafficking, which is probably never going to happen, stopping prostitution, which I don't believe will ever happen in our lifetime. Yeah, those are issues, but it all revolves around caring for people, investing in people's lives, finding these young people, teenagers, young adults have been forced into slavery. And the statement was made, and I agree with it. Slavery is a bigger issue today than it was back during the 1800s. It's huge today. It's a different type of slavery, but it's the same old, same old thing. It's just disturbing so I do think we should make some noise about it again the only way that anything's going to change is to reach folks for Christ and Change hearts. That's why telling folks the gospel is still the most critical thing we can do But while we're doing that I know many of you have different issues social will call them social issues But they have a Christian nexus This is one of my hobby horses because of it. I mean in law enforcement. We basically Just had so little results and allegedly there is so much trafficking going on So I'm gonna go through a couple of things here. I'm gonna wait on that one. I've got an article here Just interesting that this came out today And I thought I had a slide on it hang on here. Don't look I Here we go. Five things you should know about human trafficking. This is a great article. It's very well done. Again, it's from the Washington Stand. They do take a biblical position on many things and this being one of them. So I'm gonna, I wanna spend a few minutes on this because I think it's that important. And I think there's, if the statistics are right, We're talking about millions of young people, millions of, and by the way, here's the most disturbing thing. If you wanna go buy gasoline today, is gasoline a hot commodity? Yes, no. Of course it is, right? I mean, every one of you got a, I'm assuming, maybe a few of you don't, but pretty much everybody here drives a car. Now, that's a commodity, and everybody here wants to have transportation, so there's a high market and demand for cars. Would we agree on that? Is there a high demand then for gas? Of course there is. There are hot commodities that we want to have. Why are there millions of young people, teenagers, young adults, why are there millions of them that are being used two, three, four, five times a day if there was no market for it? Do you see what I'm saying? There's a high market for this type of activity. What does that mean? It means the Christian community on one hand has failed. It means Satan's community is really running hot these days because the prostitution, the child trafficking, and all these things are absolutely off the charts going crazy. The other major, major outreach for this debacle is the pornographic industry, which is multi-billions of dollars. This is the one place most people don't appreciate when I go there or when any pastor goes there, but you know, within the local New Testament Bible-believing churches across America are dozens and hundreds of males in Bible-believing churches that are addicted to pornography. What do you think fuels the market? So it's, I mean, Satan has done just a bang-up job figuring out how to wreck our society, trying to wreck many of our males, even within Christendom, and it's a huge problem. So, you say, well, I prefer you teach on prophecy today than that. Well, this is the scourge that's absolutely destroying our society. And it is, it's just horrific. All right, let me just go through a few things here to kind of, and it should, it should shock the conscience what's taking place. Released in theaters last week, Sound of Freedom tells a true story of Tim Ballard, a Homeland Security agent who quits his job and joins forces with local Latin American law enforcement and underground contacts to rescue children caught in human trafficking. The film portrays Ballard as he sets up a sting operation that successfully frees a young Honduran boy and reunites him with his father. When the boy tells him about his sister who's still in captivity, Ballard becomes determined to find her. I mean, the story is absolutely off the charts. Amazing. Tim Ballard, who's I mean, this is a real guy. Again, he runs this underground railroad system going into where most of us would be scared to death to even think about going. He goes into this Latin American country, takes unbelievable risk, finds the finally gets the boy. He goes into a One of the most horrific camps, if you will, just underground type camp, guns, drugs, you name it, smuggling. He went in there, I mean, really went in there, finds this girl, rescues her, but is able to pull her out of the country and get her back home. It's just, I mean, it's shocking what he did. And it's an amazing story. The Heartfelt Thriller has been surprisingly successful. Now, here's the thing. The liberal media, those that are not supporting, if you will, these types of films in Hollywood, here's the rating. They expected this thing to tank and lose a lot of money. They put $15 million to make this film, which in the real world is a low-budget film. As of today, they pulled in $45 million. They didn't expect them to break even. The heartfelt thriller has proven surprisingly successful beating Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny at the box office on July 4th. Despite the heavy subject matter, Sound of Freedom leaves viewers feeling hopeful and motivated to make a difference. In the film, Ballard's character expresses understandable frustration that more is not being done to free enslaved children. Saying in everyday ordinary people don't want to hear it. It's too ugly for polite conversation The film's early success will hopefully prove that thinking false Human trafficking both intimate trafficking and labor trafficking including inclusive of children Remains a widespread global problem and America's not left untouched. Here is what you should know about human trafficking number one Human trafficking is more prevalent than you think. The United States Department of Justice defines human trafficking as a crime that involves compelling or coercing a person to provide labor or services or to engage in commercial sex acts. This coercion can be presented as subtle or overt, physical or psychological. The breadth of the issue creates a complex web of victims with different experiences the majority of which never receives justice for the evil committed against them. I listened to an interview yesterday, this had nothing to do with the movie, but she was one of the rescue children, 16 years old, that Ballard was involved with, and she went through it. I mean, three years to get the case to trial. I mean, how many police agencies are going to just go through all the rigmarole of finding them, doing all the recordings and the videos that are necessary for prosecution, and now you've got a 16-year-old girl whose life was wrecked and ruined when she was basically, and this one wasn't an abduction, this girl was I hate mom. I hate dad. I'm going to run off. She goes on the social media. She finds some guy that sweet stalk her. Next thing she knows, she's getting her face pounded in a kitchen and being told, you're mine. And you're going to do whatever I tell you. And five, six times a night, she had to do whatever he told her to do with whomever. And I mean, that's over and over and over again. Well, after three years of being tortured in the legal system, she's like, I can't do this anymore. I can't testify one more time. Now, fortunately, she did, and the individual that was using her got 25 years in prison. But this is, and it's unfortunately, that's the exception to the rule. Okay, it is estimated that nearly 28 million individuals are trafficked globally at any given time. 28 million, I mean, that shocks the conscience. 28 million individuals are trafficked globally at any given time. Human trafficking creates a global profit of, I think I underestimated it a little bit, $150 billion each year, making it the most lucrative crime after drug trafficking. Even so, only a fraction of traffickers are punished for their crimes. In 2022, there were 15,159 prosecutions worldwide for trafficking. Remember, we're talking 28 million people involved here, kids. Yet these culminated in only 5,577 convictions. That's like a third. In the United States specifically, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received over 10,000 reports regarding 16,554 victims through 2021. While human trafficking is not limited just to sex crimes, statistics reveal that the United States is a top consumer of child sex in the world. I said I wasn't going to use that word, but I'm looking at the audience, and I do want to shock the conscience right now. based on no children being in the room. When human trafficking is not limited just to sex crimes, statistics reveal that the U.S. is a top consumer of child sex in the world. In the U.S. alone, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received more than 17,200 reports of child sex trafficking in the United States in 2021. All right, so we could go on and on. I'm not going to go through. I'm just going to give the other five points. Number two, pornography creates demand for sex trafficking, including for child sex trafficking. Number three, current United States border policy is enabling human traffickers. Well, there's a big shock. It is estimated upwards of 72% of all human trafficking victims in the United States are immigrants, many of which are transported across the border between the United States and Mexico. With the current status of the border, many girls, some as young as 14, and younger are abducted prior to their arrival at the border and then smuggled across to perform intimate acts at a price. Approximately 60% of children who enter the United States illegally and unaccompanied are caught by cartel members. That's the word I was looking for, cartel. When he went into Honduras and Colombia, I mean, these are heavy, heavy, highly army-type cartel, and it's just horrible. But anyway, 60% of children who enter the United States illegally and unaccompanied are caught by cartel members and used in the production of child pornography. I mean, again, I know this is hard, heavy, heavy stuff, but what are we doing about it? It's so underground. So if anyone watching out there, if anyone in here, it's like, man, you know, I think I know something, but man, I'm scared to death to tell anybody and the police aren't doing a whole lot of anything. Will you come tell me? I won't give your name or where I got the information from, but folks, somebody's got to start making some noise around here regarding these things in our country. Number four, and here's a nice one. God cares deeply about those trapped in slavery. And all God's people said? In Sound of Freedom, Tim Ballard's character successfully catches a pedophile attempting to traffic the child in a sting operation. The film's representation of these real-world scenarios rightfully creates a stomach-churning reaction. I won't tell you that I sat there and cried through part of the movie, but it was that movie. I watched the actor, I forget his name. I mean, say what? Yeah, that's whatever that was. I mean, good night. I mean, Tim Ballard, who's, I mean, he's a man's man times 10. He's put his life in danger more than any of us probably would even think about doing. I watched his tears pouring down his face when he's dealing with these things. It's just, it's sickening and it's mind, it's just mind numbing. Witnessing the cruelty of humanity in this way draws us to John 3.19. This is in the article. And this is the judgment, the light is coming to the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. It's a verse that naturally comes to mind when confronted with the evil of child exploitation. In this industry that so overtly disregards the value of human life, especially that of a child, let us remember that they reside in the darkness. For our flight is not against earthly foes, but it is against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places, Ephesians 6.12. This is why we should make every effort to administer justice to those in need and to deliver them from the wickedness of this fallen world Psalm 82 3 & 4 that I say men human trafficking of those of any ages and assault on the human dignity of women and men and girls and boys made in the image of God Genesis 127 We are right to be greed by news of human trafficking and to seek justice for those who are oppressed Isaiah 117 so it ends with number five you can be part of the solution And wait, I mean, I'm just I'll be shocked if I get contacted But I put all my credentials and all my law enforcement stuff and all the different media outlets that I have access to Small as they are it's like hey Here's a guy, former law enforcement, which they have on their team in other places, it's like, let's make some noise. What is the main thing me and you can do? Tell the government to get off their blessed assurance and do something. I mean, it just, they do nothing. The Congress does nothing. It's just, it's horrible. You wanna know how I really feel? If you feel a burden to make a difference on behalf of victims of human trafficking, the first step you can take is learning more about what the current challenges are. I'm telling you the challenges are off the charts because nobody's doing anything. Police agencies are doing almost nothing. Milwaukee Police Department, they had two people that were the leaders in a two-person sting group when I was there five years ago. They have close to 1,500 to 1,800 officers, two people assigned to deal with this in Milwaukee County. Now, there's federal agents, state agencies. They're like, oh, they must be doing a lot. No, they're doing almost nothing, which is why this is of epidemic proportions. By the way, when you have government officials And I can't prove this, and I can't prove who they are, so I'm going to be very careful how I put this. But when you have government officials in Washington, state agencies, and other places that are using the product, you think they're going to make a big stink and try and eradicate it? That's what's frustrating. Pray about what God might be calling you to do in your daily life. In other words, the best thing you can do, a couple of things. One, if you know about it, see something, say something. Again, call me. 414-788-6010. Elected representatives at the state or federal level often not prioritize an issue unless they think that their constituents are prioritizing it. Folks, we don't like calling our Congress people. We don't like calling the senators. We don't think they're going to listen. We know it's going to be some junior person that's going to answer the telephone, oh yeah, well here's some old out-of-touch person saying they don't like sex trafficking. Well, if you get a couple thousand calls like that, all of a sudden they perk up and start to listen. Just a thought. Sharing information about human, where did I go here? Sharing information about human traffic on social media, encouraging friends to see the movie isn't gonna do nothing except upset you. And hopefully, and whether you go to see it or not, I'm not saying you should see it or not see it. All's I'm saying is it's a horrible story. If you don't have a thick skin enough, I got pretty thick skin and it was tough for me to watch. They show nothing graphic, nothing, happens there that it's like, whoa, I gotta cover my eyes. Nothing like that. It's all, there's innuendo at times, but nothing is shown on film. But it's just horrible. How'd you like seeing a little six or seven year old cute little guy And these kids, you know, they're actors. They did a phenomenal job. I mean, they just, they played the part perfectly, and it was just moving and very, very touching. Telling your representatives you want to see more action done on fight human trafficking can go a long way towards calling attention to that issue. Folks yeah, I've been upset about this for 30 years. I'm more upset now than I've been in a while and I'm going to try and make good on a promise. I made dozens of years ago to make this thing More known and to get the government off their blessed assurance and to start doing something fair enough. I I can use your help. Anything you can come up with, anything that you know, see something, say something, let us know, we'll go after it. All right, different, take a breath. Is that heavy? It is. It's so disturbing, which is why the Christian community is one of the few groups that's gonna hold the righteousness and that which is right. So the more we take a stand, the more we're out there pushing some of these things, just like this is, I mean, this is an issue, it's a criminal issue where people are being hurt. I mean, there's six million other different causes, other good ones. I mean, you have the abortion issue, people killing children. Yeah, that's a huge issue. Now, others, they're like, well, you know, we need to fight some of the transgender, LGBTQI stuff and all this. Folks, most of that is people that are voluntarily doing it on their own, except especially now what's happening in public schools. That's child abuse as well. So these issues, which have a sin nexus big time, are things that young people are just being sucked into right and left. Enough said, I could go on this and go on a rant all night, but I need to take a break and go to another subject. All right, we've been talking about artificial intelligence and some of the things that are taking place locally, globally, domestically. And one of the newest ones that just came out, a couple of people sent me various articles on this through text messaging, a couple of emails. By the way, Sometimes I use words that are overly generalizing things. And I didn't get called on this, but I'm gonna call myself on it. So a couple of messages ago, I don't know if, I think it was a Sunday morning, and I'm very, anybody need a handout? Raise your hand up, please. Justin's got them there. Anybody need a handout? All right, all good, thanks. Thanks, Justin. I made a comment in one of the messages, and I don't know how I described it, so I wanna reiterate that. Many of you and I listen to a lot of different things through podcasts, through programs, through different church sermons and so forth, and I made a pretty strong statement that we really need to spend time in the word of God, And I made a fairly strong statement about if we're not spending any time in God's word and simply listening to all these other different venues that we're missing out on one of the most important things, which is being biblically literate. So I wanna be, I just want to make the statement I am not against podcasts. I am not against good Bible teachers. I am not against listening to good sermons. I do it every day at times. So the issue that I'm trying to bring forth is being biblically literate. In other words, don't just listen, if you will, and I'm saying this to myself as well, don't just listen to some of these wonderful things, as good as they are, and neglect, if you will, scripture. Scripture is the basis for everything. So just to clarify that again, I'm all for education. I have way, way, way, way, way, way too many books in my house and all that, and ask my wife, she'll make that known to you. But never ever neglect the word of God. Make that the priority, and then as time allows, of course, get educated as well from other venues. All right, so let's talk about this one. Artificial Intelligent Jesus is giving gaming and breakup advice on a 24-7 Twitch stream. And I think you can see it up here. This is basically an AI, artificial intelligence, individual that they've named Jesus, which is blasphemy to start with, in my opinion, because they're trying to make this thing out to be a God concept. As AI Jesus, this is the AI computer talking. I don't have physical belongings, but I encourage you to consider what brings you happiness and comfort and make your decision accordingly. All right, so basically, and I mean, this is just one little sentence here. What is being programmed, if you will, or how is this artificial intelligence being used? Well, number one, folks, I'm telling you, and it's hard for you to, many, especially the adults in the room, the grayer our hair, the more or less likely we are to buy into this, but the issue is your young people are getting sucked into this right and left. You say, well, not mine, because I watch what they're doing. Okay, not yours, but most of the kids around the country are being sucked into this. Do you understand just the change that's taking place? with our young people and how things are being infiltrated. When the child, and I used the term maybe stronger than I should, but when a child is being programmed by social media that AI Jesus is just as good as biblical Jesus, what do you think the young people are going to clamor to? Well, AI Jesus, I turn on my local chat box or maybe I watch a YouTube video and I'm not knocking YouTube because I use it all the time for good things, but they put this AI Jesus on YouTube or another social media outlet and kids are like, oh, this is cool. And they, And then they start hearing stuff like this, which is not biblical. AI, artificial intelligence, Jesus says, listen, if it brings you happiness and comfort, go for it. I think that's what Satan told Eve, right? If it looks good, smells good, tastes good, you know, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and so forth, it's okay. No, it's not okay. So I'm going to have to spank AI Jesus and say, no, this is bad stuff. So we gotta be careful. And again, why are we bringing these things up? Folks, this stuff is hot off the press. It's new, it's exciting. Young people are buying into it. Matthew 24, what is the big issue when it comes to current events setting the stage for Bible prophecy? The what? Deception, everything's about deception. Everything looks good, smells good. I think it's good, I think it's great. Yeah, it looks pretty good. And just walk down and basically walk off the cliff and never know what's coming. Well, that reminds me, break the tension for a moment. So I was in Montana three, four weeks ago, whatever it was, and we went to Buffalo, and I forget what the next word is, but it's like Buffalo Ridge. And it's a literal place. It was an Indian back in the day, and I don't mean, and I'm not trying to be disrespectful. I know even using that word right now, that's culturally incorrect. I forget what even the new name for, if you will, those who were native. They actually had another word when you went into the park. I can't remember what they call it. I got to get trained, I guess. I'm not sensitive enough yet. But anyway, you know where I'm coming from. The indigenous Native Americans, they would herd the buffalo. And literally, you walk over there and you see the big giant ridge, and they'd run, and the buffalo, I mean, they're stampeding, couple thousand pound animals, and bam, they go, bam, fall over the ridge. The individuals are down there, they carve them up, use the skins, use the meat. But basically, they're following the herd, and boy, you hit that cliff, they have no idea what's coming until, bam, they're falling down the cliff, and they die and are butchered up. Well, it's the same exact thing that we're doing with our society today. We are running as fast as we can. Our children are running as fast as they can. Our young adults are running as fast as they can. And all of a sudden, they're going to hit the end of the precipice. And boom, they fall over. And it's like, wow, how come my kid went to the devil? How come their lives are wrecked in Rome? How come they're strung out on drugs or alcohol? Or how come they don't believe the Bible anymore? Well, because AI Jesus said, just follow me. Come on over the cliff. So let me just give a couple of quick things. I told you I go long on this one. All right, so AI Jesus is giving gaming and breakup advice on a 24-7 Twitch stream. The chat box was created by the Singularity Group, a volunteer group of activists who say they aim to use technological innovations for philanthropic purposes. Okay. An AI-generated persona of Jesus is live on Twitch answering viewers' questions 24 hours a day. Wondering how to finally conquer that impossible to beat video game? Maybe Jesus can offer a few tips. Is that what Christ is about, helping you solve how to win a game? I mean, seriously, folks, this is what the culture is going to see Jesus is doing. Instead of being the one that gives us eternal life, instead of being the one who's setting the tone for how we should live, well, no, now we're going to call up Jesus and ask him how to win a video game. That is the cultural mindset. That's the deception. Hundreds of Twitch users are now chatting it up online with an artificial intelligence representative of Jesus as they ask him to impart breakup advice, explain the spider verse, and anything else in between. Represented as a bearded white man standing before a blur of glowing light, this digital Jesus gestures gently as he speaks in a calm male voice, complete with an AI-generated mouth that moves in alignment with the words. The AI present 24 hours a day on live stream shares its take on any kind of question imaginable, ranging from silly to deeply existential. Still the bodice said it is merely here to offer guidance and wisdom based on Jesus' teachings. Well, where's this one based on? Right? Reminding viewers that he is not an actual religious figure and should not be taken as a source of authority. Wink, wink. The chat box was created, by the way, this is the first editions of this. What do you think is going to happen in the next generation or the next five years? They're going to take all those restrictions off. Yep, I'm him. Come and talk to me. We could go on and on, but, well, a couple more. Others have also recently started experimenting with using AI for religious community building. Just last week, an AI chat box created using ChatGPT led a church service in Germany. How many of you heard about the German chat box service? Oh, surprisingly only a few. All right, here's the real deal. They put the AI whatever up on the screen. The AI came up with its own message and worship time, so to speak, and that was it. Walk away and let it rip. And you don't tell it what to do. It tells you what, it just tells you what it's gonna tell you. Church-led service in Germany. I believe it was in a Lutheran church with great success. Okay, one last thing. And this one, I'm gonna take you to this on purpose. It's an older article. This is from 2022. This is before AI was really starting to pick up in the Christian community, where we're actually starting to say, wait a minute, what's going on here? AI Jesus writes Bible-inspired verse. This is back from September 2nd, 2020. It kinda just basically, shoof, went over everybody's head, didn't get a whole lot of attention. George Davila Durendal fed the entire text of the King James Bible into his algorithms designed to churn out dialogue in the style of the Old Testament. The individual claimed his project AI Jesus learned it absorbed every word more thoroughly than all the monks of all the monasteries that have ever been offering a little biblical style verse of his own. AI Jesus produced passages totally more than 30,000 words that may also pass for the real thing but not quite. Dorendal programmed AI Jesus to write passages on three topics, the plague, Caesar, and the end of days. Some might suggest he had current global events on his mind. No, I think he had future global events on his mind. While the King James Bible is such flowing verses as be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, has a roaring lion walking about, seeking whom he may devour. I'm really happy they used that verse. And ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. AI Jesus was somewhat less comprehensible. For I will fill the land which the Lord thy God hath given thee, a time to eat the force of the Lord of hosts. Okay, obviously a problem. AI Jesus suggested, power and godly have commanded the children of the world and they will set my face against thee and thou shalt be called the people, it said. With more than 2,500 versions of the Bible to choose from, Dorendal selected the King James Version to train AI Jesus in vocabulary, grammar, and syntax. King James is the most popular English translation and most widely read of all Bible versions. AI Jesus tries to replicate the style of the King James Bible without quite copying it. He acknowledges that AI Jesus was a bit abstract at points and contained a number of grammatical errors. I mean, it just goes on and on. And this was three years ago, so a lot of that has changed as of now. All right, so what's the point of all this? Second in the chapter three, verse one, know that in the latter days of the church age, perilous, dangerous time seasons will come. I think we are seeing that in living color. All right, that was pretty heavy for a first half hour, wasn't it? Oh, sorry, 40 minutes. All right, well, let's get into something. Let's get into a biblical argument. And it's an argument not between me and you. It's an argument that Paul's going to have today in the scripture we're going to go to. So as we like to say, we're going to peel God's word one passage at a time. and we're in the book of Acts. We've been in it for quite a few months now. We're in Acts chapter 19, and we're gonna pick up at Acts chapter 19, verse 21, where idolatry clashes with Christianity, and this is part of Paul's third missionary journey. All right, let's get into it. Acts chapter 19, verse 21. When these things were accomplished, Paul purposed in the Spirit, which he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, after I've been there, I must also see Rome. One of the key things that Paul wanted to do, and of course, God got him to Rome eventually, in chains, by the way, but Paul really had this heart's desire to get to Rome, preach the gospel there and to make it known in Rome. So he sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, but he himself stayed in Asia for a time. All right, so we look on our map up here or on either side. So Macedonia and Achaia, of course, over towards where Greece was and Nicaea there, that's Athens, Corinth, all that is over there. But Paul's in what was known as Asia Minor, which today is known as what country? Starts with a T. Turkey, all right? So if you're going to go to Asia Minor today, you basically get a ticket to Turkey. Now, I've been to Turkey several times. I've been to Ephesus. It's absolutely, and I'm gonna show you some pictures in a few minutes. Ephesus, one of the great ruins of ancient times, ancient biblical times that we're gonna be talking about here. So Paul's down in Ephesus. Of course, the city is in full swing. It's not an archeological dig at that point. This is the real deal. That city's going gangbusters and it's huge. And he's in Ephesus while the other guys are still working up in Macedonia and Achaia. on your chart. And just as a focal point, you see Jerusalem down in the right hand corner, just to give you an idea of the map and where we're at here. All right, so in Acts chapter 19, verse 23, and about the time there arose a great commotion about the way. So I've got a nice article here, no more bad articles tonight. We're only gonna do good stuff. So I'm just gonna give you a little bit of a background on back in biblical times, what was considered the way. Just to give you a hint again in Acts chapter nine, 10 chapters before this, it says then Saul, this is before Saul was converted and his name was basically Saul. After his conversion he was always called Paul But it says then Saul still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord Went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus So that if he found any who were of the way Whether men or woman he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. All right, so I'm just gonna Read a little piece of this article called the way It's out of the main part of Lagos their own let's just say commentary that's part of the Lagos people. And it says this about the way. One of the primary terms used in the book of Acts to describe the early Jesus movement, Acts 9.2, was the way. Earlier followers of the Jesus movement, we're not talking like the hippie movement when I got saved, we're talking about the old-fashioned movement when people first came to Christ. No guitars, no long hair, none of that. No psychedelic clothes. Just plain old folks getting right with God. All right, earlier disciples of the Jesus movement are also described as the disciples, the church, and Christians. The origin of the term of the way as an early name for the Jesus community is not fully clear, although there is a parallel usage to define a community. For example, the term the way is used in, let's see who can get this one for 10 points, in Qumran literature. Do you remember where Qumran is? How many of you been up to Israel? Ooh, nobody in the room, except me, all right. Well, you gotta come along with Lewis and me then. All right, so when you, the best way I can describe it is, okay, so let's just pretend here's the Dead Sea. Then you're going to go up Mount Moriah, and you're going to get to the top, which is where Jerusalem is. So right down here, right on the edge of the Dead Sea was a place called Qumran. You remember the Dead Sea Scrolls? Remember that concept, right? So here you have the Dead Sea. Right over here is the Qumran community where the Dead Sea Scrolls were written, put in jars, and hid all over the caves that are down there. If you go to Israel, you can see the caves. They still exist. It's all there. And it's that Qumran community that basically wrote a lot of the scriptures. were copying them, they wrote the, I mean, they got the Book of Isaiah, which was a masterpiece that came out of there. So anyway, that was Qumran literature where the word the way was used. They didn't just copy biblical things, by the way, they did biblical subjects as well, not canonized, if you will, scripture, but they wrote a lot of different things and referred to the way or the Jesus movement of the time during the first century. In Qumran literature, the term designates the mode of Jewish life lived by the community at Qumran involving strict observance of the Mosaic law. Now, of course, They had their spin on it, but the way was literally, the first generation Christians would have been known as those that were part of the way by those that didn't like them. Transposed to the account in Acts to the early Jewish sect, soon to be labeled Christianity, Acts 11.26, the use of the way may to some extent be taken as referring to the mode of Christian life and morals. I think that's a a pretty good summation, which resonates as well with central scriptural themes. It seems that the way is used in Acts because of the claim of Jesus' followers that they had found the way through Christ. An individual named Keener observes that this is the distinctive element by which they define themselves as heirs to the way of truth and righteousness as distinct from others. The way is also applied in Christ-related exclusivist terms. Ooh, that's politically incorrect, but I agree with it. The way is also applied in Christ-related exclusivist terms. How many of you know John 14.6? You may not recognize the address, but you all know the verse. And Jesus said what? I am the way, the and. Nobody comes under the Father. I am the exclusive way. It's not a pluralistic Bible. It's not a syncretistic Bible. It's a very exclusive message to God's people and to those that need the Lord. So the way. So I'm It just gives us a little introduction about what is the way. Well, the way, of course, would be what we would call today, basically, folks like me and you that assemble here at this particular church. And about that time, there arose a great commotion about what? About Bible-believing Christians. That was a problem during the first century. Oh, wait a minute. Let's see. We're in the 21st century. Is it still a problem? Oh yeah, nothing's changed. All right, verse 24, for a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Diana, brought no small profit to the craftsman. Well, folks, if you were sucked into this, which you're not, but if you were sucked into idolatry in the first century, and it's like, wow, this is our God. And it comes in a three by five bottle or a six by 12 model. Or if you got lots of money, you can make a big giant copy of God and you can worship it to your heart's content. And people said, yep, we worship that God. Now, all of us here, I mean, idolatry in our culture, And we've talked about idolatry. We don't idolize, or we don't worship something and call it our God, at least not on its face. We may have a great love for certain things, maybe that we make an idol, but we don't worship things. I mean, it's just not culturally what we do today. But back then, I mean, boy, they bought this goddess Diana doll, or caricature, and man, that was God. and they were serious about it. So people would buy them, the culture said, yeah, you better have your goddess Diana, or how can you be right with God? How can you know God? How can God help you if you don't have a copy of God in your house? Verse 25, he called them together and the workers of similar occupation and said, men, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade. Oh, wait a second. This is Get Rich Quick with the goddess Diana. Religion, right? Yes? No? Prosperity preaching? You pay me. You've got a chance that God will pay you too, right? That's prosperity of teaching. Pay me, pay me, pay me, pay me, give me, give me, give me. It's all about these idol makers. And they're like, listen, man, these Christians are coming in saying there's no gods but Jesus. and that's gonna kill our trade. And they were having some financial difficulty because of the Christian community that's turning to Christ and ignoring the idols. Moreover, you're seeing here that not only at Ephesus, again, we showed you where it was on the map, but throughout almost all Asia or in modern day Turkey, this Paul has persuaded. and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands and all God's people's head." Amen, yeah, you got it right there, brother. And he's upset, he's mad, he's getting all the other artisans upset and mad because they're killing their business. People don't like losing money, and this guy didn't like it either. All right, what happens? Verse 27. So not only is this trade of ours in danger of falling into disrepute, but also, and we're gonna show you a picture of the temple in a minute, the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and her magnificence destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship. You know when this is gonna become vogue again? Revelation 13, when they set up the image of the beast and everybody worships it or what? Or dies. I mean, it's no joke when you got people that are pushing idolatry. So he says, we're in a horrible conundrum here. Paul, those Christians, the way, are absolutely destroying our prophet. Verse 28, now when they heard this, they were full of wrath and cried out, great is Diana of the Ephesians. Unbelievable, steeped in idolatry. So again, we're in this place of Ephesus, and I'm gonna show you some pictures, a couple of them. One of them's an artist's rendition of what we're gonna start with, and then I'll show you some actual pictures as to what Ephesus looks like today, and I'll show you the place where they actually were assembled back in ancient times. All right, so this is an artist's rendition of the temple. that they're speaking about, that because of the Apostle Paul, because of Christians, this wonderful, magnificent temple. Now folks, I mean, to build something like today, would that be a big deal? I mean, you know how many millions of dollars it would cost? I don't know, maybe out of a million and into the billion. But I mean, millions and millions of dollars it would take to build that beautiful edifice. And boy, it was sharp, and they put a lot of slave labor into it, I'm sure, and tons of resources. Absolutely gorgeous. That is where their God reside. So it's a huge deal to them. All right, so if you go to Ephesus today, and this is current pictures. You start basically where I'm looking down the street here, and you can see, and you see, well, it looks like a bunch of sticks sticking up. Those were all what would be known as the colonnade. In other words, big, beautiful pictures, pillars, I'm sorry, pillars lining this entire place, little shops, little places all along the sides of the road. And you can see how long it is. I mean, you can see people way down. Actually, they're approaching the library, believe it or not, which I'll show you in a moment. But it's just the ruins. It's a huge, massive city that existed back during Pauline times. So you get down to the edge of that road, and that actually is the middle section there. That is the facade of the library that existed at that time. And again, back in the, there's still some of this archeological stuff is all tore up here. It's actually in better shape now than this particular picture. But I mean, it's huge, it's massive, and it was a huge city, tremendous. By the way, what happens when you have a big urban city? And we talk about it. God says, be fruitful, multiply, spread out upon the earth. Don't congregate in places because when you build up urban places, what happens? It's just a magnet for sinful things to start. And Ephesus was a sinful place. All right, so they go to the Colosseum. Here it is, folks. This is where Paul, I'm fairly confident, was. They drag him in there. This Colosseum seats 25,000 plus people. Now, these are ruins, of course. But back in the day you can see down in the left. You can see kind of the stage area You can see more colonnades down there that are fairly small Towards the left center or left side of your screen left bottom. I mean just huge huge Mimics what we have today in our in our giant stadiums although the seats when you sit on them are not very comfortable back then and We do some lectures when we're in Israel, especially. There's multiple places that have these wonderful, soft, luxurious concrete seats. They're not concrete, they're actually cut out of stone. But no, you think these pews are rough? Ooh, doggy. Yeah, bring your pillow. All right, but anyway, just for concept, we're looking at basically where Paul would have been when they're dragging him in. In fact, I'm gonna stand up here, go off camera for a second. My finger way over there to the left you can see the colonnade Street that I showed you before there's multiple streets like that way up there There's another colonnade Street So I mean the masses would come in and of course right down here is where I'm talking about the stage area So pretty cool I get a—I don't know why, but I—and a lot of folks do—I get a kick out of the archaeological things, and all these things have been unearthed, uncovered. They didn't stay like that for 2,000 years, folks. I mean, archaeologists came in, they uncovered these things, a massive amount of dirt lifted off of things. A lot of it they try to put the pillars and things back up just so it has some semblance of looking like it might have back 2,000 years ago. All right, so here we have the temple on the left. Now we have what is allegedly looks like the goddess Diana. and how do you say this in a church group, but she was a multi, and there's no other word to do this nicely, but she was a multi-breasted individual. All those lumps are basically the goddess of fertility and things that would massively help to increase everything from agriculture to childbirth to whatever. So they worshipped this particular goddess, and I mean, they just made copy after copy after copy after copy of her. And by the way, they're still doing it. You go to Ephesus, they're selling these things like hotcakes. I mean, you can pick them up anywhere. Not that they're even worshipping them at this point, but it's like, well, have a knickknack. Here's what the goddess looked like. I decided not to buy one just to let you know. Anyway, this is what was taking place. So the silversmiths are just absolutely beside themselves. These Christians are wrecking our religion. Nothing's changed, folks, in 2,000 years. We're still cited for wrecking other people's religions and being myopic and being exclusive when we say there's only one way, one truth, and one light, one way, and that is, of course, Jesus Christ. They haven't changed, neither have God's people changed. We still stand firm. All right, Acts 19 verse 29, so the whole city. Now folks, I just gave you a little teeny view of what that city was. It's big, it's huge, and the whole place was going berserk. So the whole city was filled with confusion and rushed into the theater. Where's that theater? They rush into the theater. Fill that place up. All these people screaming, yelling, mad, mad, mad, mad. What's going on here? So the whole city was filled with confusion and rushed into the theater with one accord, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul's travel companions. These are those rotten Christians that are wrecking our prophets. Verse 30, when Paul wanted to go into the people, the disciples would not allow him. Paul, listen, brother. You're the leader. You go in there. They're going to rip you to shreds. They're going to kill you. And his companions were like, you just it's not wise, Paul. Don't. do this. Well, then some of the officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent to him pleading that he would not venture into the theater. Listen, the people are beside themselves. I mean, they're going to kill you. They're going to rip you apart. They're losing money, and nobody likes losing money, Paul. Just cut your losses and leave. Well, some therefore cried one thing and some another, for the assembly was confused, and most of them did not know why they had come together. Wow. Now let's park on that for a couple minutes. Frenzied crowds, sheeple running to whatever, He said, did you say sheeple? Yes. A mind of a sheep follows the flock, has no idea what's happening. We saw that down in Racine and Kenosha a few years ago. Sheeple, going out to fight, grabbing a gun, screaming and yelling, burning down buildings, burning down a car lots. people getting shot, people that are killed, people that are hurt. Why? Why did you go there? Well, I don't know. Everybody else was doing it. Folks, you know how many people would say that? Now, there was the main folks that were involved. I mean, they definitely had a plan and whatever, but all of a sudden, you got a community that jumps on board and it's like, oh, I guess it's time to smash windows and steal stuff out of stores. Or they go down to Milwaukee and have a ride, or they go out to Portland, Oregon and rip the places apart because everybody else is doing, why can't I? And all of a sudden, it's like, well, why are you doing that? Oh, I don't know, everybody else was. Have you ever heard a, have you ever had, maybe you said it, ever had one of your kids say that to you? Why'd you do that? Well, you know, and they'll name their brother or sister, they were doing it. Or they'll name their friend or whatever. I don't know if this is politically correct or not, but monkeys see monkey do, right? And they just go for it. So you got a riot taking place, you got people ready to kill somebody, and they don't even know why. Verse 33, and they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward, and Alexander motioned with his hand and wanted to make his defense to the people. He's like, okay, let me go in there, let me talk to the people, let me reason with them. Well, how'd that work out? Verse 34. But when they found out that he was a Jew, all with one voice cried out for two hours, great is Diana of the Ephesians. Now folks, especially back when I was with the sheriff's office and you go to some of these marches and stuff that were two inches away from riots, and what do they do? Up and down the street, chanting about whatever it is they're mad about. Just screaming and yelling and carrying on. It hadn't changed in 2,000 years. You get a group together and you get a couple of good, strong leaders and everybody's like, yeah, we're gonna fight to the death for this. Seriously? Yeah, seriously. And that's exactly what happens here. The crowd, some probably 20,000 to 30,000 people are screaming and yelling for two hours, great as Diana the Fesians. Kill the cops. Pigs in a blanket. I've heard it all, right? You've heard it, you've seen it. I mean, it just, ba-boom, ba-boom. Repeat, repeat, repeat. And that's what they did. Then verse 35, and when the city clerk, now again, the city clerk here is talking about a person that has, to us a city clerk may not be up here, if you will, a positional escalon, but they were. The city clerk had quite some control, a position. When the city clerk had quieted the crowd, All right, so this is a big deal. Again, you got other folks came in there, tried to talk, they're screaming and yelling for two hours. This guy walks in and it's like, okay guys, the city clerk's here, let's get our act together. He said, men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple guardian of the great goddess Diana and of the image which fell down from Zeus? All right, so they're preaching what? This guy's saying, listen, this is our culture, this is our God. This image, Diana, comes from what? She's God. Zeus, a God. We know that. What's the problem? We already know who our gods are, plural. Therefore, since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly. So now we've got somebody who has authority, who has leadership capability, who talks to the crowd and talks them off of doing something really, really much worse than they've gotten to. And they listen. For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess. Now folks, I've said more negative things about Diana than Paul did. He wasn't there to talk about Diana. Here's a lesson for us. All around us are various religions, various churches that don't believe the same as you and I do. They don't believe in the gospel the way we do. They don't interpret the scriptures the way we do. I do not spend my life on Sundays talking about other churches and what I don't like about what they teach. There is so much to teach from the scriptures about what we need to believe, I really don't have a whole lot of time to spend on what we shouldn't be learning and giving them a platform. Here's part of the thing when you're studying the scriptures, it's like, well, you know, we can look at, well, what does this group say? And what does this group say? And what does this group say? And what does this group say? And what does this group say? Now, I just went through five, I think, five different groups. If I spent my time studying the scriptures and went to four groups that I know are wrong just to see what the opposition is saying, I mean, you'd get shortchanged on Sundays. It takes a lot of time to put together two messages for Sunday that have some meat to them. And Wednesday night, same thing. And it's like, listen, if we spend all our time, well, you know, that other church down the wherever, they don't believe like we do. And we need to point that out and take a stand and tell what they say wrong. How about let's just take time and say what's right. If you know the truth, the truth will what? Yeah, learn the truth. I don't have time to learn all the nonsense. Sometimes and I appreciate the thought people send me different things It's like well this person boy. It's interesting stuff and it doesn't agree with where we are, but It's very interesting and maybe even there's some truth. I don't have time for that I just don't and I'm not gonna listen to it. So if I if I start going through something and it's even sketchy it's like man, I got I Hours and hours of research that I do every single week not just for messages. I write books. I'm on TV I'm on radio. I don't have time to learn the bad stuff So you know if you got the time for that and can still get your stuff done. That's wonderful. I can't do I can't learn everybody else's bad stuff." And that's basically what he's saying here. Listen, the city of Ephesians, his temple garden, and the great goddess Diana, the image which fell down from Zeus, their four sons. These things cannot be denied. You ought to be quiet and do nothing rationally. For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers, nor temples, nor blasphemies of your goddess. Get the clue here. Paul and his companions were preaching Jesus. They weren't going into the synagogues. They weren't going into the temples. They weren't saying, let me tell you why you're wrong. Let me rip your goddess to pieces. They were preaching Jesus. They were telling folks that Jesus Christ is the exclusive way to heaven. And they were preaching the gospel. And that's exactly what they did. So they couldn't even be accused of being blasphemers of their goddess. They ain't got time for that. They only had time to preach Jesus. So there's a lesson there. And again, I don't want to overstate things. I do have spent, and that's part of what Bible school was and seminary was, is learning other opinions and things that other people hold to that we don't agree with. Have you ever heard of the discipline called apologetics? I know you guys have. I'm pointing to Mike, who's liked some of those good books. But how about Josh McDowell? Ever hear of Josh McDowell? Yeah, I mean, great book, and I've read it, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, and he came out with another one called More Evidence That Demands a Verdict. It's apologetics, it's how to defend our faith. And in defending our faith, many times you have to look at, well, what are others saying so that you know how to properly defend your faith towards others? So again, I'm not saying not to learn these things. What I'm saying is everything we do should be centered on how are we going to get the gospel to folks? How, and understanding, okay, if you're dealing with a Mormon, you probably need to know, and I was a Mormon, a missionary to the Mormons when I was in high school. It was one of my first mission trips I did. I spent a summer there dealing with Mormon community. And you gotta know a little bit about what you're dealing with if that's the exclusive people you're dealing with. If you're gonna go deal with the Muslim community, you probably should know a little bit culturally about what you're doing. If you're gonna go to Great Britain and you're a chief executive of your country, you probably should know the protocols. Ooh, did I say that? That just got him in a heap of trouble. So yes, you need to understand some of these things. You need to have a little bit of background, but again, they preached Jesus and couldn't even be, if you will, brought up for what they had said. Therefore, verse 38, if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a case against anyone, the courts are open and there are pro-counsels. It's like, listen, if these guys are broken the law, if they're doing something to hurt you, if they've done something illegal, take them to the courts. I like this guy. He's a good, honest guy. Let them bring charges against one another. But if you have any other inquiry to make, it shall be determined in what? A lawful assembly. I'm applauding him. Way to go. For we are in danger of being called in question for today's uproar. What would happen if one of our politicians got up and did that at one of these riots? They'd probably kill him. or her, for we are in danger of being called in question for today's uproar. There be no reason why we may give to account for this disorderly gathering. I guess this is back when those that had government authority actually thought it was wrong to riot and cause problems. So he said, knock it off, time to go home. And when he had said these things, dismissed, go home. What did the people do? They went home, all done. So what do we get from all this? Think about what Paul did. Paul goes into Ephesus, he's preaching Christ and Christ only. He's telling folks the gospel. And when folks are starting to come to Jesus Christ, all of a sudden they put away their idols, especially being Diana. They're like, well, wait a second. If Jesus Christ is God, what's Diana? Well, I guess she's no God at all. I guess we should stop praying to a silver statue. I guess we should stop counting on this silver statue to do things that only Jesus Christ, that God himself can do. And their hearts were converted. So folks, here's the good news as we close. The good news is this, Christ Jesus came in the world to save sinners, which he did. Any single person, no matter who they are, no matter what their background is, no matter what they've done, when they understand that they've sinned and that they're hopeless and without Christ, and all of a sudden the Holy Spirit comes and knocks on their heart's door and says, listen, would you accept my dear son, Jesus, who came and died on the cross for your sins? Would you accept that free gift of eternal life? And just like you, probably, if not all, pretty close to everybody in this room, At some point you placed your faith and trust in Christ. You no longer trusted in liturgy. You no longer trusted in catechisms or all these other things that people try and force you to believe in order to get to heaven. No, it's simply trusting the gospel out of God's word. And all those other things we put aside and it's like, okay, I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. And he's like, listen, when you go in and tell other folks the gospel, you can do it like Paul. You don't have to beat the fire out of them about, well, you're an ungodly sinner, you shouldn't be doing this, you shouldn't be doing that, and everything that you've been worshiping and doing is wrong, and you need to get right with God. No, it's that you speak the truth in love, When this, and I'll close with this. When you see a little child that's been abused and hurt, misused, mistreated, maybe you're in the room tonight, maybe you're on the internet tonight, you've gone through things like that. Things were horrible, many of you haven't gone through things like that, some of you have. All of a sudden Jesus comes and knocking on your heart's door, and it's like, wow, my life stinks. It's been horrible. It's been terrible. I've gone through things that most people wouldn't even dream about going through. And all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit comes and knocks on the heart door of some of these young people that have been in trafficking incidents, some of these young people that have been horribly abused and mistreated, and even some of the individuals who use these young people and abuse them and all of a sudden the Lord comes and knocks on their heart's door and they realize, my life's wrecked and ruined. I'm just gonna give one little teeny clip that came out of that movie, which is, it's a true clip. One of the individuals that helped Tim Ballard the most was an individual who was a disgusting person. He had been a user of the child products, so to speak. When he got done, and I know it's a little, I'm not being graphic, but it's a little sensitive, he got done with the child, put the money on the table, and he looked at the person and locked eyes with this minor after he'd just abused that kid. And he said, all of a sudden, I realized she was in darkness. And he said, I realized that I was the darkness that that child had just experienced. The child left, he left. He took a gun and put it to his head. He was ready to pull the trigger. Now, I'm not going to verify or deny what he stated happened next, but he's like, I was gonna kill myself, I was ready. He said, all of a sudden, I believe God spoke to my heart, and he said, are you going to stay in darkness, or are you going to help deliver these young people? And he said, I believe God gave me the mission at that time to help these young people, and he put his life on the line time after time after time after time after time to rescue these young people. You see, folks, doesn't matter where we've been, doesn't matter where we come from, doesn't matter how horribly you might have done in the past, can God use you today? Can God use you today? He absolutely can. He can use you to help those that have been horribly abused. He can use you to help those that have had a wonderful life. but it's all through the same message that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Father, thank you for your love. Thank you, Father, that in the midst of the tragedies and the horrors that are taking place domestically and internationally, despite the horrible people, if you will, that are just steeped in sin, Father, you've given us a message. And I know, Lord, most everybody here tonight, if not all, have placed their faith and trust in Christ. And Lord, it's so easy to walk by people and not to realize how much they might be hurting. But Father, I know this, regardless of their background, regardless of how good or bad they've had it, every single person has a longing and an emptiness in their heart to know Christ, even though they may not realize it. So Father, I pray that you'd help us who know you. I pray that you'd help our hearts to be tender. I pray that you'd help us to be sensitive to all people, regardless of their backgrounds. And Father, help us to tell the gospel to whomever we can. And then Father, I pray that you'd help us, Lord, to stray away from that which is evil and wrong. Father, even the Christian community, things are so horrible, so deceptive, And old Satan would love to ruin every single family here. So Father, would you help us to stand firm in our walk with you? Would you help us to be more biblically literate? Would you help us to stay in the scriptures? Would you help us to keep learning your word? Would you help us to keep walking in the spirit so that we don't fulfill the lust of the flesh? Dismiss us with your blessing, please. Thank you for what's happened in this building today. Bless the young people, the leaders that worked with them, the high school folks, and every single one of us. And Lord, help us to go into the battlefield in your might and your power. And all God's people said, amen. Thanks, folks. Have a wonderful evening. Charge. you and all of the things through.