I know that God has many wonderful things in store for each one of us, but we are glad to be Americans, right? Amen. Rock, rock, rock. Amen. I can't sing, but I can rock, rock, rock. Thank God for America. Blessed is a nation whose God is who? The Lord. Psalm 33, 12. This is not my message today, but you know, those who are members here know that we're on a mission with gospel to every home. And we've been preaching messages related to that. And we have a few more to go, but I did want to read a few quotes from prior presidents and founding fathers of America. And I'm gonna do that real quickly. This is from George Washington. It says, it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and only to implore His protection and favor. Oh my, wish we had that today, don't you? Wish we had. people who would stand up and say that. Then John Adams. We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. James Madison. Before any man can be considered as a member of civil society, he must be considered as a subject of the governor of the universe. Thomas Jefferson. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis? A conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God. that they are not to be violated but with his wrath. Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever." Thomas Jefferson. John Quincy Adams. It is not that in the chain of human events the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior, that it forms a leading event in the progress of the gospel dispensation. It is not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemers Mission upon earth that it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity If we only were able to have That kind of thinking in our world today then one more. This is what one of the founding fathers Patrick Henry an appeal to arms and to God of host is all that is left us. Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of change and slavery? Forbid it, almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death. many things in our history that shows that our nation was built upon the principles that were from Christ and the scriptures. And we're thankful today that we had that foundation. And just pray that our nation will return that we'll see a revival in the spirit of our nation, that we will return back to those beliefs and live our lives in accordance with God's holy scriptures. Amen and amen. Turn with me this morning to Acts chapter 8, if you have your Bibles. Acts chapter 8. I, like so many, have been fighting these allergens that are in the air. And sometimes my throat completely closes off. So you pray that God will help me today to keep a clear throat and a clear mind and a clean heart above all. If you have your Bibles open, we're gonna read beginning at verse one. If you don't mind to stand for those who are able. Begin reading at verse one. And Saul was consenting unto his death, talking about Stephen. And at that time, there was a great persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad, talking about the Christians, throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house and hailing men and women, committed them to prison. Therefore, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed into those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them. And many, taken with palsies and that were lame, were healed. And there was great joy. in that city. Pray with me. Father God, this morning, we are so blessed. And we are a nation that are blessed amidst. We have Christ. We have the gospel. We have churches without number. We have avenues to the truth. And Father, we are blessed. This morning, dear Heavenly Father, we pray that the joy that we have as Christians would be dispersed. It would reach the multitudes. They would see the joy that's deep down in our hearts, and they too would be receptive to that which brings us joy. Again, Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your people. And we thank you for this day that we celebrate such an important event in our nation's history. Bless our nation, Father. Help us to be the kind of people that would be received into this world with such a wonderful message as the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray. Amen, amen, you may be seated Where we pick up here is where chapter 7 ends and that's with the death of Stephen one of the original seven deacons that were chosen to serve in the church early church and Stephen was gave one of the greatest messages, there in chapter seven, that you'll find in the whole scripture. Ended up, of course, that he was stoned to death. And in chapter eight, we find that he is buried and lamented over. But as a result of this stoning of Stephen, the church is scattered. Bible tells us that all were scattered except for the apostles. They remained in Jerusalem. But all the rest of the church went to South Judea or North to Samaria. And we find that the gospel was being preached. Now, In the original meaning, we actually have that there was gossiping of the gospel. Lots of times when we see this word preach, we leave that to what we call, quote, preachers, right? Some say men of the cloth, those who are ordained, But this is not what it's talking about. It's talking about all of those that went, were gossiping the gospel. And its original meaning, gossiping, gossip was to chat or to rehearse. Now gossip has a sort of a negative meaning today. It's got its negative connotation because of the enemy that we all carry around with us, and what is that? The time. It can't be tamed. But gossiping has come from the meaning of chatting and rehearsing to a negative connotation. And to give you an example of that, there was a lady named Mildred that was in a church, and she was the church gossiper. And she was a self-appointed monitor of the morals of the church and of the community. And anytime someone didn't live up to her standards, well, she was a chatter and a gossiper, and it sort of made its rounds. And there was those who disagreed with her, didn't like what she was doing, but they were so afraid that she might get a story that started on them, they sort of let her go. Right? Don't want her on my back. But she made a big mistake. Frank was saved and he was a new Christian and he was in the church. And she accused Frank of being an alcoholic. One day she saw Frank's old pickup truck parked out in the only liquor store in the town. And she began to spread the rumors. Chat, chat, chat, chat, chat. And she approached Frank and she said to him in a very frank way, don't you know that Everyone's seeing your truck there and they they're going to know exactly what you're doing Well, Frank didn't say a word Frank just sort of stared at her just for a few minutes And then he turned and went away didn't try to defend himself didn't try to say I wasn't I wasn't doing anything bad But later that evening Frank took his old pickup truck and parked it in front of Mildred's home. Quietly walking away and left it sitting there all night long. So sometimes, gossip can be returned, can't it? But however gossip is good, we're gossiping the gospel if we're spreading the message of Christ as these early Christians were doing whenever that they left Jerusalem they were persecuted and the persecution forced him out you know sometimes God has to force us out but sometimes he has to push us out sometimes he has to get our attention sometimes from The Word of God, sometimes from someone who preaches the Word the way that it needs to be preached, sometimes from just sitting down and listening to a beautiful gospel song, how that we begin to be convicted of the fact that we are not gossiping the gospel the way that God intended for us to do. And so they went out, they went to to Judea and Samaria, wouldn't that work? Christ said, begin at Jerusalem and then go to Judea, all Judea and Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the world. Every Christian needs to be the right kind of gospel. Don't we? Every one of us, everyone who bears the name of Christ, needs to be the right kind of gossiper. All that was scattered was gossiping the gospel. Again, verse four, therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. You see, they did not go and camp out and say, okay, let's set us up a little commune here And then we'll wait for the people to come to us. No. They went to the people where the people were. And they scattered the gospel message to all that would listen. You know, the Bible tells us that we all must work out our own salvation. We all must work out our own salvation. Now, don't get, don't start throwing stones yet, okay? Philippians 2.12 says, Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Paul speaking. So we're not talking about working for our salvation, are we? We have salvation and Paul is saying that we're to work it out, that we are to take it out. We're to gossip it out. We're to take what God has given us and do that which God has blessed and gifted us with to use for the glory of God. Ephesians 4. Verses 11 and 12 says, and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints. So for the work of the ministry and for the edifying of the body of Christ. You notice what Paul says here in Ephesians chapter four, 11 and 12. The Lord gave us those who can train up ministers. I'm not talking about, quote, behind the pulpit ministers. I'm talking about people who are gossiping the gospel. He's given us those who can help us to become good at sharing the gospel message. He has given us those who can help grow us up to be able to send out the church, to be able to take the message of the gospel beyond the walls of the church. And whenever that there's opportunities to be trained, we need to take advantage of those opportunities. We need to be equipped. We need to be ready. whenever that there's an opportunity that God allows us to share his word, to gossip the gospel. As I said, we're not saved by works, but we're sure saved to work. Ephesians 2, 8 and 10 says, for by the grace are you saved through faith, and that's not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Let's catch something there, a couple things. We were created in Christ unto good works. You see, we receive salvation. But salvation was only the beginning. Because he saved us to work. He saved us to go. He saved us to share. And whenever that we keep the word within us, then we're not being gossipers of the gospel, are we? Whenever that we don't take it into the world, we're not following the great commission that Jesus Christ led the church to do. Go you therefore into all the world, teaching them, baptizing them, commanding them to walk in my precepts and my commandments. Do all these things. We are saved. to work. We're saved to be representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know that there's going to be a judgment of our works? Now, I know some of you think, well, I'm saved. Praise God. As long as I get there by the skin of my teeth. But man, is that what Jesus saved us for? No. He didn't save us to get there by the skin of our teeth. He saved us to serve. Listen to 2 Corinthians 5, 9, and 10. Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. You see, my friends, all of our works are gonna be judged. The bad one's gonna be judged, the good one's gonna be judged. And there's gonna be rewards that are gonna be given out. My friends, listen to me, I'm thankful for my salvation. That's the main reason I want to serve Christ. But God would not have told us that there's going to be rewards if he hadn't wanted us to get excited about and to look forward to. There's going to be rewards. If we serve the Lord from our hearts, and do it because with the right motives, then Christ has lots in store for his people. There's things that every one of us can do. God's gifted us all with different gifts and abilities and talents. There's no way I could play a flute. Well, I could blow in it. There's no way I could sit and play an organ or a piano. I could beat on it, but I couldn't make any music come from it. But God has given me some abilities, and it's up to me to use what God has given me. God has given each one of us some abilities. And it's up to each one of us to use what God has given us. But God has given all of us one ability, and that's to be gossip, gossiping the gospel. Every one of us. Because if we've been, somebody said this the other day, it might have been Brother Mike, it might have been Brother Tom, But somebody said this just the other day. If we are saved, then we know enough how to tell somebody else how to be saved. Right? If I fall off a log backwards, I can tell somebody, this is how you fall off a log backwards. You know, the gospel is just that simple. It's like falling off a log backwards. God didn't make it difficult. He made it easy for people like me. And I'm glad he did. Philip, beginning down in verse five, comes on the scene. And Philip does some marvelous, wonderful healings and miracles, and Philip is used Oh, when you look at Philip's life and you look at what was allocated to all the other Christians, verses one through four in this chapter, we think, well, Philip was a super Christian, and that's who God calls to go take the message to the multitudes. So is there a hierarchy in Christians? No. No. Philip was one among many, just like every one of us. We're one among many. There is no Christian hierarchy. We're all equal at the foot of the cross. We've all been saved the very same way. We all have the same message of the gospel. Verses 6-9 says, Paul speaking, I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. It's God who it's all about. It's about our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. It's not about us. I don't care if we have went into every area, Floyd, Pike, Martin, Johnson, Lawrence, all of those. If we went to every home and every household around us, then we're no super Christian. We're a Christian who is obeying what God said to do. Not to be patted on the back, not to be congratulated. We're doing what the Master tells us to do. It's not he that planteth or watereth, but he that giveth the increase. It says, now he that planteth and he that watereth are one. And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together with God. Ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. So whatever we do, we do it, it's one. Do you know that most people that you see come to the Lord Jesus Christ and receive him and say, there's been a lot of investment in that person's life. And for us to go to someone, begin to talk to them about Jesus Christ and then they Receive him into their hearts and we go around like a proud peacock There's been a lot of people who has laid a foundation and who has watered and Watered and watered and watered and we happen to be the one who gets to see the reaping No, we are all one. What work we do, we do it as a body of Christ. We do it as one, and no one's to be lifted up higher than anyone else. Whenever that we begin to think we're something, then God has a right to show us we're not. Amen? But I'll tell you one thing Philip demonstrated. He was very sensitive to the Holy Spirit in his life. He was very sensitive to the Holy Spirit in his life. We don't have time, but if you go and read the rest of the chapter, and you see how that an angel came to Philip and told him to leave Samaria and go down into the desert into Gaza The Gaza Strip and there is where he met the Ethiopian eunuch And Philip was sensitive To the Holy Spirit's guidance, and you know that takes some training It takes some training to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's guidance. Matter of fact, it takes some quiet time. My friends, listen to me. We can't hear from God in the hustle and the bustle of the crowds. Oh, sometimes. God can do whatever he chooses to do. But I'm saying that unless we take some time to get alone with God, Get into his word in prayer, asking God, God, lead me. Open my spiritual ears and my eyes and help me to discern your will. It takes training, takes time, takes commitment. But Philip discerned the will of God and the spirit led him. He was led to that Ethiopian. And when he got there, he listened for the next thing that God would open up to him. Bible says in verse 29, then the Spirit said unto Philip, go near and join thyself to this chariot. You see, God sometimes has specific people on his mind and in his heart that's ready, that's prepared to hear the gospel and to receive it. The Ethiopian eunuch was prepared. How do you know? Well, because he was reading the book of Isaiah, chapter 53. And not only did Philip Was he able to be led by the Holy Spirit? But he also was able to discern what was in the mind of the unit because he heard him. He listened to him. He heard him reading from Isaiah. You know what happens sometimes when we go out to visit? We need to be listening to what the person that we're visiting, what they have to say. Sometimes when we go out, we're too busy talking, brother Joe, right? Too busy saying things instead of listening with our ears and with our heart, what that person is going through. This past week, we got to go out and do a lot of door knocking, taking the gospel to different homes in Pike County. And while we were out, we got to hear people's hearts. We got to hear where people are hurting, what's their concerns. And my friends, listen, when we take time to listen to what people say, what's on their hearts, then it's remarkable what scriptures that God will help us to recall that will help them in their situation. But first, we gotta listen, don't we? But Philip listened. Philip learned what questions to ask, too, didn't he? You see, we're not there just to give a speech. But we're there to listen, and then once we listen, then we have questions that we can, once we know what to ask, we can ask the people we're talking to. And Philip listened, and he heard the eunuch say he was reading the scripture, and so Philip knew where he was in his walk, in his experience with God. And then Phillip asked him this question. Do you understand what you're reading? Isn't that a good way to approach somebody? Do you understand what you're reading? Can I help you with any questions that you may have? Is there something that you just don't understand that I might be able to help you with? And then after this, then Philip laid out the gospel, didn't he? He didn't just rush right in. He didn't just start preaching. He laid the groundwork. And then he laid the gospel at his feet. We can learn from that, can't we? We had the joy of seeing three young ladies come to know the Lord Jesus Christ this week during Love Mount. And then another group got to see the fourth person receive the Lord Jesus Christ this week. So not only did the community get ministered to in lots of service activities, and not only did the community understand that Christians love them. But four new members of God's family are now in the church, in God's church. And we hope and pray that we give the names to local minister that can reach out to them. and invite them to their church and get them involved and see them baptized and follow them in serving the Lord. So I've had one day up on you. I've got one day out in getting the gospel to every home. We went out for Grace Baptist Church and did the gospel to every home activity. For those who are unaware of what that is, Kentucky Baptist Convention has set a goal to take the gospel to every home in Kentucky. And in our zone, we've got 900 homes to get the gospel to. So we are challenged, but with God's help, we can meet that challenge. Amen. Pleased to say we had around 20 or 22 out for the training Wednesday night. We got training this Wednesday night. Don't fail to show up about getting trained to take the gospel out. I don't want you to be frightened about coming up with your testimony, three-minute testimony, because you're not going to share that with the multitudes. You're going to share that with just one other person. You're going to get some experience of sharing your testimony. It can be to your spouse, your child, your friend, whatever. But we're going to do that Wednesday night. That's going to be a little bit part of our of our training Wednesday night. And we'll close with this. There was a Chinese farmer that had cataracts. And he went to a Christian mission clinic. And he had those cataracts removed. And he was able to see. So such a joy in his heart that a few days later, the missionary doctor that had performed the cataract surgery looked out his window, and he seen this Chinese farmer coming down the road with the end of the rope in his hand. And behind him was lined up several dozen of other Chinese people who also had cataracts. And they were holding on to this rope that the Chinese farmer had and he was just leading them to the Chinese or to the missionary doctor in order that they too might see. And I thought, Isn't that what we're doing? We've been to the doctor that has given us sight. Once I was blind, but now I see. I was lost, but now I am saved. My friends, we need to be like that Chinese farmer. Because we have seen, we have sight, spiritual sight. We have been given a free gift. We know the Savior. We have been where they are still yet. They're still blind. They don't know the gospel truth. They don't know the Savior. But we know they need to see. And we need to take them, we need to guide them in the right direction to the Master, to the Lord Jesus Christ, that they too might have a spiritual operation, that they who could not see might see. Those which are lost might be saved. My friends, we have a duty as Christians to scatter the gospel, to be gossiping the gospel wherever we are. It's not that Jesus says if you have time, not that if you have the ability, Jesus says that you shall be witnesses. First in Jerusalem, and all Judea and Samaria, and to the other most part of the world. My friends, we need to be gossiping the gospel wherever God has us. And we need to be faithful in doing Not just doing the gospel to every home, but wherever the Lord leads us, whether it be to our own homes, or whether it be to our neighbors, or whether it be to our co-workers, or whether it be to our universities, or wherever it may be, Jesus needs to be gossiped about. And I pray that we'll meet that challenge.