Hi friends, can I ask you a question? What are you doing on October 31st? Hi this is Paul Scharf, Church Ministries representative for the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. You know October 31st this year of 2020 is a Saturday and this crazy year I'm sure a lot of people are wanting to get out, go somewhere, have fun, enjoy themselves, maybe go to a party. Of course most of the world is celebrating what? Halloween. Now, if you're a regular listener or viewer to the material here on my page on sermonaudio.com, you know that I love October 31st, but not because it's Halloween. We celebrate the Reformation on October 31st. Salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, on the authority of scripture alone, and for the glory of God alone. It was 503 years ago on October 31st that Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses to the castle church door in Wittenberg, Germany, officially launching what we now call the Protestant Reformation. So there's much to celebrate on October 31st, but it has to do with life, not death. Holiness, not haunting. It has to do with the things of God, not Satan. Light not darkness, good not evil. I'm noticing this year more than ever more ghoul and just all kinds of horrible things. Just turning the channels, seeing the emphasis on Halloween, seeing people's yards decorated like a cemetery or like some tragedy happened right there in front of their home. And it grieves me. It makes me sad. What are you celebrating on October 31st? I'm not opposed to you having fun. I'm not opposed to you eating candy. And I wonder how you're going to handle this situation this year, especially if you live in a busy area, if you live in town, if you live where people come and trick-or-treat. Are you going to keep your light on? Are you going to give out candy? Those are always interesting questions. Whatever you decide to do though, I hope your emphasis, your thought is on the truths of the biblical message that was restored to us through the reformation and not on things that are really of darkness and death. Dear friends, I hope that you'll give this some thought. Maybe you have a Reformation party this October 31st on Saturday. We thought of trying to host such a thing in our ministry with Friends of Israel, but we just have too much going on. We're going away that weekend for ministry. It's just not going to work. But maybe another time. I thought of getting together some friends and showing my PowerPoint on the Reformation and talking about it a little bit. But maybe you can do something like that creatively even within your own home with your own family. with a few friends. You know this is a great year for church history. It's the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims coming this fall. It's the 500th anniversary of Luther preparing to stand trial at the Diet of Worms after he burns the papal bull. And the Reformation is really getting in gear 500 years ago this fall, this winter, this spring. A lot of things to remember and celebrate. There's nothing, we don't have time to celebrate death and evil and hell and Satan and ghosts and goblins and ghouls. So I just want to challenge you. What are you celebrating this October 31st? How are you celebrating? And may I even encourage you, we have resources right here on our page that can help you to know more and to share more about what really means, what October 31st really means and how it's a day for Bible-believing Christians to celebrate the fact that salvation is offered freely and fully in Christ alone, Romans 1, 16 and 17, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written. The just shall live by faith. Have a great October 31st. God bless you. Thanks for watching.