You'll stop by the table. We do have some very nice pictures back there of the Christian home lettering that my wife has done. And I think that somebody might want that hanging on the wall of his home someday. And so you you can certainly do that. And if you don't want something for yourself, surely you have Christmas lists drawn up already because it's. Just two months and a week You know, this is the kind of time of year when I wish I were a bear And I could just hibernate through December and then wake up and have it be over. No, I'm just kidding. I love Christmas It's a wonderful time of the year It can get hectic though 1st Peter chapter 1 tonight verse 18. I will try to have you home before 9 o'clock First Peter 118 for as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things. As silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot who verily was foreordained. Notice these words. Before the foundation of the world. But was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart, fervently being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Father, as we come to this closing service of this series of meetings, I pray that you would take the things that people have testified tonight, as well as the things that people still have in their hearts and they have not testified, that you would take these things and turn this series of meetings into a season of miracles at Allen Baptist Church, that you would grow the people here and by growing them, you would grow this church, not just in number, Father, although that would be a wonderful outgrowth of revival. But would You grow them in grace and in knowledge? Would You create in these people a thirst that they might know Thee and the power of Thy resurrection and the fellowship of Thy sufferings being made conformable unto the death that Jesus Christ died? Would You, Lord, do a good work tonight And would You fill me, I pray, with the Holy Spirit. Would You fill every listener tonight with the Holy Spirit. Would Thy presence be so real tonight that we would know that we have been in the house of the Lord. And that we would know that the Lord of the house has been here too. Amen. I want you to notice in verse 20, Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, this verse says that He verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world. And the context here is Christ as the Savior. If you look at it, you're redeemed, he says in verse 18, not with corruptible things as silver and gold, verse 19, but with the precious blood of Christ. He mentions here that you can believe in God who raised by Jesus Christ. Look, if you will, verse 20, who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God. He tells us again, the word of the Lord endureth forever, verse 25. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. And what I want to talk about tonight is some things that happened. Before the foundation of the world. That's the title of the message. Not original with me because it's right here in the text. And one of the things that happened before the foundation of the world. was that before there was ever a sin, there was a savior and a sacrifice. Before the foundation of the world doesn't just mean before the cross. It doesn't just mean before the flood. It doesn't mean that it means that before God ever said, let there be light and there was light, that there was a provision made for a Savior and a sacrifice. This is the God who saved your soul. This is the God who provided the sufficient blood. This is the God who provided the blood which is the propitiation for your sins. and not for yours and not for mine only, but for the sins of the whole world. This is the God who by his blood has bought redemption in whom we have redemption through his blood. It was this God who before the foundation of the world. Ordained. For ordained. A savior and a sacrifice. Before there was ever a need for a savior. Because there was no sin. In the eternals of the past, from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God, Moses said about the Lord. And in the past everlasting, there was no sin. There was only God. And there was only the Godhead. And there was only the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And at some point in that past eternal, God created angels. And at some point in those in those eons of eternity past, the Lord established heaven and all of the glories of it. And God has always been. And it came into his heart. It came into his mind, let us make man. In our image. But before He ever made the man who would commit the sin, He already had a sacrifice and a Savior. I want you to think tonight about the fact that God is not the God of the afterthought. God is not the God of oops. God is not the God who sees that things are not turning out well and calls a council of the angels to say. What are we going to do about this plan B? This is the God. Who has never. Had a problem. This is the God who has never folded his hands. To give up. Or wrung his hands in despair. This is the God of hope. This is the God of eternity. This is the God who knows the end from the beginning. This is a God who already has everything. worked out. Before there was ever a sin, there was a Savior and a sacrifice who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world. Let those words sink down into your ears tonight. Let those words sink down into your ears that that long before man was created, long before light and long before the heavens and the earth and the division of the waters and long before the animals and the plants and the sun and the moon and the stars all created in six literal 24 hour days. Thank you very much. Six literal 24 hour days, the evening and the morning were the first day, second day, third day. That does not account for eons of time. The question about Genesis one and two is not how could God do it so quickly? The question is, why did he take so long? If God could say, let there be light and there was light, why didn't he say, let there be a creation and there was creation? All of it. God did not need six days, he took six days and he'd rested the seventh as a picture of what he is doing in the thousands of years of man's time on this planet. He did not need six days. He chose six days and then he chose a seventh because God works in sevens. But before he did that. He planned a savior. And a sacrifice. When there were no sins. in all of creation. I said that God does things by seven. Interesting, not part of the message freebie tonight. You ever notice in Matthew's gospel, there's 14 generations from Adam to Abraham and 14 from Abraham to David and 14 from David to. Jesus ever noticed that what's the deal, 14, 14, 14. It's a trinity of fourteens. And fourteen is two sevens. So there are six sevens if there are three fourteens. And seven is the number of God, perfection. And six is the number of man. And after those generations, the God-man came. That is not included in there just for no reason. God gave us those facts for a reason. No, before sin there was a Savior. Revelation chapter 13. We're here in 1 Peter. Back to the back of the book a little bit. Revelation chapter 13 and verse 8. Revelation 13, 8. Notice the Bible says, And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship Him whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, notice, slain from the foundation of the world. There it is. I want you to see that tonight. I want you to see number two in John chapter 17. John 17. We're going to see this beautiful concept yet again. John 17. Look, if you will, at this high priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. John 17. And let's focus on verse five. And now, O Father, Glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Did you see what Jesus prayed there? John 17 is the high priestly prayer of the Lord right before he goes to the Garden of Gethsemane. And one of the things that he prays to his father is now, oh, father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had. In other words, I had that glory and I want it back. Glorify Me, He says. Glorify Thou Me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. John 17, 24. Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me, for Thou lovest Me before. The foundation. Of the world. So not only did God provide a savior and a sacrifice before there was ever ever a sin that needed a savior, ever a sin that needed a sacrifice before there was ever a sinner who needed salvation, he also provided a resurrection glory before there was ever a crucifixion. Because that's the glory Jesus had with His Father before He ever came to earth. Jesus always had resurrection glory. Resurrection is life. Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth on Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this? He said to Martha. We have here a God who before the crucifixion had already provided. Resurrection. Before the foundation of the world. In other words, Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection, first Corinthians in the 20s, their Christ, the first fruits afterward, they that are Christ, it is coming. Then come at the end and so on. And we have the three main resurrections. You know, in this in the whole of creation right now, there is only one resurrected being. And that is Jesus Christ. Afterward, they that are Christ's it is coming, that's the resurrection after us. But the resurrection for which you and I wait is those that are Christ's at his coming. We're waiting for that resurrection. And he says, every man in his own order. So the Lord orders the resurrection there, and the first fruit is Christ, and then the believers, and then the unbelievers. It's very simple. It's very open there in 1 Corinthians 15. before there was ever a crucifixion, before Jesus ever went into the Garden of Gethsemane and agonized and poured out His soul unto death and wept and begged and pleaded with God and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Before that ever happened, before they came to the garden and Judas greets Him there and kisses Him, and Jesus says, Wherefore art thou come, friend? Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss? Before they drag Him off to Caiaphas and Annas and then to Pilate and then to Herod and then back to Pilate and finally to the howling, screaming mobs who were crying, Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Before that. God had already provided resurrection. Resurrection wasn't the thought of God, oh, wait a minute, he's going to die now, what? I hope that encourages you tonight. That God isn't making mistakes in your life. that God is not whoopsing, that God is not falling down on the job, that God is not up in heaven wondering, oh no, what am I going to do now? Because look what just happened. We get so self-dependent in this do-it-yourself culture. that we forget that there is a God upon whom we should depend. And one of the reasons that we know we can is He is trustworthy. He is dependent-worthy. And we must not be dependent on our parents until we're 73. But we must never live independent of God. Do not ever learn to live your life without God. A lot of saved people are living their lives without God. They don't consult God. They just do their own thing. They don't ask God, should I do this or that? They just go do what feels good. We live in a very judges mentality generation. Every man does that which is right in his own eyes. And God is a God who has everything so gloriously and marvelously set that even before anything that we have in familiarity, anything that you and I have ever experienced, anything that you and I would consider life reality, God already had resurrection taken care of. And I want to say tonight, that we are not going to be crucified for our own sins. Jesus was crucified for our sins and resurrected. But I will tell you that if you live the crucified life. They that are Christ's. Have crucified the flesh. With the affections and lust, and if you are in a battle with your own flesh. And there is some loss, there is some sin that is difficult to crucify. You understand a bit of what crucifixion is. It's hard to keep nailing that sin nature to the cross. And then there is the crucifixion of Galatians 614. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me. And, you know, for some reason, it is very difficult for some people to just crucify the world. For some reason, there are believers who are still caught up. They're still enamored. They they think the world has something to offer me. I preached a message some time ago, rib eye steak or Vienna sausage. And I guarantee you, God has a rib eye steak and lobster with it for you. If you want to live on Vienna sausage that this world offers, that's your choice. I prefer the steak and lobster, amen? And that's what God gives us. And God has provided, and God has already set it up. And this matter of death to the world, and death to self, and death to what this generation, and this time, and this world, and all those voices that are clamoring for us. And God says, no, crucify that. Because resurrection is coming. It's already taken care of. It was taken care of. Before the foundation of the world. It's not an afterthought. It's not. What are we going to do now? It's already taken care of. I want you to see number three tonight, Ephesians chapter one. The book of Ephesians, I I'm reading through the Scripture front to back this year. I have a different plan every year so that I don't get into a rut. A rut is a grave with both ends knocked out of it. That's not original with me, but it fits. In Ephesians chapter 1, I'll be in Ephesians here in a couple of days. I'm in Galatians right now, and I'll probably get to Ephesians tomorrow or the next day. Notice in Ephesians 1 tonight, verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath chosen us in Him. Hear those words. Before the foundation of the world. That we Who's the we here, church? Believers, we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted. in the Beloved in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He hath purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, notice, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will that we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. If you can read that and not get a blessing, your wood's wet. That doesn't light you on fire. Something's wrong. If you can read through that list of heavenly blessings that God has provided and you can't get at least a little bit of a grunt out of it, say nothing about a shout. And I want you to see that before there was ever a sinner. There was a salvation and an adoption. before there was ever a sinner. Because the Bible says here that He did this, He has chosen us in Him, verse 4, before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children. Now, I think there can be a bit of misunderstanding as to what the Bible definition of adoption is. Because we have an adoption mentality in our country where someone who has no parents or someone who has been removed from the home because of one idea or one problem or another is now adopted by another set of parents. And we see that as those children being taken from this place and placed into that. And there is a sense in which every one of us has been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. There is a sense in which we were all the children of the devil before we were saved, and now we're the children of the Heavenly Father, for you're all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3.26. But that is not what the adoption is about. Romans, chapter eight, keep your finger here in Ephesians and let's back up to Romans eight. And we're going to see what the adoption is. That great old southern gospel song, I've been adopted, my name's written down, an heir to a mansion, a robe and a crown is not. Scriptural. Because we haven't been adopted yet. According to Romans eight. Notice what the Bible says in Romans 8. Verse 22, For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, in other words, not only the whole creation, but ourselves also which have the firstfruits of the Spirit. So not only does the world groan and travail, but believers do too. Believers who have the first fruits of the spirit even we ourselves grown within ourselves Waiting for the adoption To wit which means that is the redemption of our body We're still waiting for the adoption Paul was writing to believers. He didn't say you've already been adopted. He said you're waiting for the adoption to wit that is the redemption of our body. That's Resurrection Day. That's when we get our glorified body. And everybody in this room who is a believer can look in the mirror and say. This doesn't look like it used to. Unless, of course, you're, you know, under 10. Anybody who thinks everything improves with age has never been to a high school reunion. Because there are things that do not improve with age. And, you know, we have all this funny poetry and and silly posts on on social media about old age and knees that creak and and, you know, shoulders that click and and, you know, this and that and the other. And even the whole book of Ecclesiastes ends in Chapter 12 with a description, I believe, a rather figurative description of old age. This isn't the end. Before there was ever a say, you know why we get old? You say it was because we live so long. No, it's because of sin. Had there been no sin, there would be no aging. Think about that eternal youth. Everything that that we always keep, you know, once we get to be like 19, it's like, OK, we don't want to get any older. People that are 16 want to be thought of as 19, but people that are 32 want to be thought of as 22. I'm not really sure that's ever been a problem for me. I'm okay with my age. But I want to say this. Aging does have a few disadvantages. And those of us that have a particular level of age on us, understand that. Because aches and pains and weakness and fatigue and the old saying Men, when they get old, they lament because it takes twice as long to rest as it did to get tired. Women, when they get old, lament because it takes twice as long to look half as good. And there's no supper for me tonight unless I make my own. Is there there's a McDonald's nearby? OK, we're good. I noticed there's a limit on the food tonight, three items, so I can't fill up here. No, you see, before there was ever a center. and sin that brings aging and death before there was ever a sinner. God had it all set up that there was going to be a glorified body. One of these days, we're going to be absent from this body and present with the Lord if the Lord doesn't come in our lifetime. And if he does, then this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality and then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written. Death is swallowed up in victory. We are awaiting that. And it's something God planned. Before there was ever a center. Think about that. God planned for a perfect body. In a perfect heaven. Before he ever created a perfect man and a perfect woman who quickly became imperfect. before the foundation of the world. The fourth main point and final tonight, Second Timothy. Second Timothy, chapter one. Verse eight and nine. And 10. and eleven, eight, nine, ten and eleven. Be not thou, therefore, ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus. Here it is. before the world began. But it's now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, whereunto I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles. Paul talks about here this God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling. And before there was ever a creation. There was a call. God already had my life planned out for me before He ever said, let there be life. Think about that. What did God say to Jeremiah? Let's look at Jeremiah 1.5 tonight. Let's look there. I think in our day of disregard for babies, we perhaps ought to remind ourselves of Jeremiah 1.5. Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. And before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee and ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Here's one that we don't cite as often, Isaiah 44, 2. Thus saith the Lord that made thee and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant. and thou just Urin, whom I have chosen. You see, God had a plan. Before there was ever a creation. There was a calling. Because God knew that man was going to be a sinner. And God knew that he could evangelize the world any way he wanted to. He could have sent angels to do it. He could have created super-Christians to do it. He could have sent a Moses in every generation who could perform miracles, or an Elijah in every generation, or perhaps have apostles specifically gifted in every generation. But you know what he did? He chose weak, earthen vessels. and gave them eternal treasure. So that the excellent glory. Would be his. Before there was a creation. There was a calling, you know what I was born on October 12, 1957. Yeah, there were years that began with 19. That means that if if I was exactly on time that I was conceived on January 12, 1957. That isn't when God decided. Oh, look, a boy. I think I'll make a preacher out of him. He looks like a preacher. No. That's not when it happened. It wasn't according to my my own works. Notice verse nine, you saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works. You know what? I didn't come up with this idea. I had planned to be a research biologist and find the cure for diseases. I wanted to be in medical research. My grandmother, whom I love dearly, had cancer. And I thought I want to go. And I was ready to go to either Harvard or Yale and enroll in their medical research program. But that wasn't God's plan. It didn't surprise God that I had my mind set on something. It didn't. God wasn't up in heaven saying, oh, let's see, how can I? How can I? No, God already knew how he was going to lead me and how he was going to persuade me and how he was going to make it known to me and who the key players would be in my life to bring me to faith in Christ and to direct me. You know, I ended up in California. I grew up in Vermont, ended up in California. Because my mother's mother, the Jewish side of my family, my mother's mother lived in California and she gave me a trip to California for my high school graduation. I went out there. I was a new believer. I'd been saved for seven, eight months and I nine months maybe. And I picked up a newspaper, found a Baptist church, went to that Baptist church and a man by the name of Shelton Smith. Anybody ever heard that name? Anybody ever heard of his name? Let me hear. Yeah. Editor of the Sword of the Lord today, he's 80, almost 81 years old. He was 33 back then and he had hair. Kind of reminds me of the fellow that I met out west, he came to church and he has no more hair than a brass doorknob. And so I decided to pick on him a little. I said, I wish you'd comb your hair before you come to church. He said, you know, when I was younger, I used to have a lot of hair. He said, my uncle gave me a pearl handled comb. He said, I still carry it in my back pocket, I just can't part with it. Well, Brother Smith can't part with it anymore. I walked into that church and that man took me under his wing. and taught me the things of God. And I began to explain to him the turmoil that was going on in my life about, I'm not really sure I know what to do with my life. I thought I knew, but it's just not working out. And I'm sensing that my desire for what I've always wanted to do has died. He said, have you ever prayed that God would show you His will for your life? I said, that. What does that mean, his will for my life, and he very carefully and simply explained to me that God has a design. For everybody's life. A will and. It's totally new concept to me. The fact that this God that saved me actually wanted to be personally involved in my life, I just I was so new, I was so green. Was a blank slate and he knew that and he took and gently taught me those things He said what I want you to do brother Farnham. I want you to go and for for several weeks. I want you to just pray Read the Bible like you're doing and pray every day Lord. What do you want me to do? Show me what you want me to do with my life So I went and started doing that And, you know, Pastor Rugg, it wasn't very long before I didn't have any inclination or desire to be a research biologist anymore. And what I wanted was to be a preacher. And it had never crossed my mind that I would be a preacher. It was nothing of my works. It was nothing of my, you know, back in the you know, back when I was a kid, you know, and everyone, are you going to be a preacher like your dad? No, my dad wasn't a preacher. You're going to be a preacher like the preacher. No, I never went to church, so I didn't know anything about preachers. This had never. Entered my mind. Until God put it there. But that wasn't an afterthought with God. I don't want to say something tonight. It's not an afterthought for any of you who are young. And wondering. What does God want me to do with my life? God is not wringing his hands. Saying, oh, my goodness, look at all those kids at Allen Baptist Church, and I haven't even planned out their lives yet. Yes, he's not up there doing that. Their life was planned. Before the foundation of the world, and I believe there's some young men in this room that God wants as preachers. You believe that that's a possibility? Yeah. You think there's some girls in this room that could just say, you know what, Lord? I believe you're talking at my heart. To just say I'm going into some sort of full time service, I'm going to be the wife. Of a preacher. Doesn't matter if he's a missionary, it doesn't matter if he plants a church 30 miles away, it doesn't matter if he's a pastor. He might even be one of those wild preachers, you know, they're called evangelists. But I'm going to give my life. And Lord, if that's what you want me to do. I'm here volunteering. I went forward on the 4th of April, 1976, a Sunday night, and Pastor Smith was down front. I took his hand and I said, I believe God wants me to be a preacher. You know what he said to me, Pastor? He said, I knew that I just wanted you to know. He didn't tell me, well, I think God wants you to be a preacher, you ought to pray about that. No, he just told me to go and pray and ask God what God wanted me to do. You know what I'm doing tonight? I'm asking you young people. Stop listening to well-meaning old ladies and old men who say, what do you want to do when you grow up? Because it's not about what you want to do. And maybe some of us oldsters should stop asking the youngsters that question. What do you want to be? Well, just be yourself. Humanism times ten. You know what the question ought to be that comes out of us older people's mouths? What do you think God wants you to be when you grow up? What do you think God wants you to do with your life? How do you think God wants you to invest the talent and the Ability and the spiritual gift that you have. How do you think God wants to use you? Because it's not up to us Although many people are living their own design of life and that's one of the reasons They're miserable This is one of the reasons they never smile There's one of the reasons they're so upset and full of tension. One of the reasons that people are committing suicide in record numbers. One of the reasons for the empty pews in our church. Because the preacher dared to preach something, and that 19, 20, 21, 22 year old is like, nobody's going to tell me how to live my life. And they're all over this county. People that used to sit right here. They got sideways with God. And they're blaming it on a preacher instead of looking in the mirror and saying, you know what? Maybe I ought to find out what God wants for me. Because He planned it before the foundation of the world. God planned ahead. And I would encourage you tonight. Plan your friendships and your courtships and your fellowships plan before you make decisions and choices and select your options plan before you face the temptations and the trials plan before opportunity is snatched and your testimony is hindered. Plan ahead, but never plan. Without God. Because he has already. Go to now. The words of James, ye that say. We will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gay, whereas, you know, not what shall be on the morrow for that you ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. Boast not thyself of tomorrow, thou knowest not what a day shall bring forth, a day may bring forth, excuse me. Yeah, it's good for us to make plans. I mean, you ought to have a plan to go to bed tonight unless you work third shift. You ought to have a plan to get back up in the morning. And if you have a job, you have a plan to go to work and and you plan out your day and and, you know, we have a rough plan, but God doesn't have a rough plan. God has it planned right down to the very number of hairs on your head. the very number of seconds in your life, God has it all planned before the foundation of the world. The other night I said something about being willing and capable to buy a suit. And whereas Pastor Ruck might have been capable of paying a certain amount, He was no longer willing, as I kept raising the price on that suit. And then we talked about a capable savior. Who was not just capable of atoning for your sin, but willing. I delight to do thy will, O God, is what he said. Hallelujah, what a savior. That's going to be our song tonight in a few minutes. Number 151 is going to be our invitation song. And as we gear toward that, as we think toward that, I want you to realize we have a wonderful Savior. He's worthy. He's worthy of your love and your worship. He is worthy of the results of love and worship, which is service. He's worthy that you would devote time to him on a daily basis to to get into this book and get this book into you, because Jesus is the written or the living word. And this is the written word. I tell people this is Jesus Christ written down. He is worthy that we would take time and give time and invest time in prayer and that we would be seeking that God's will be done in earth as it is in heaven. That we would be seeking Him and we would get to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death. He's worthy of that. But of all the things for which He is worthy, He's worthy that we would yield our lives to Him. Because this is not my life. It's his life. And when we get saved, he lives in us and Paul said the life which I now live in the flesh, I live how by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Paul also wrote these words, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain, but I labored More abundantly than they all. Yet not I. There's the other occurrence of those three words. Yet not I. Yet not I. But the grace of God, which was with me. And so Paul is telling us that there is a life that is worth living and it is the life that is completely submitted to God. Whatever God brings. Wherever he leads. Whatever he chooses. We sing that song, wherever he leads, I'll go. Missionary. Pastor. Evangelist. Mechanic. Teacher. Painter. Janitor. Oh, and then there's that one that the world wants to denigrate. Mother. Why is it that if a woman is taking care of seven children that belong to seven different mothers, she is somehow a liberated, heroic career woman. But if she's taking care of seven children that belong to her, she's a slave. I wonder why that is. A slave to a man dominated culture of the 1800s. No, there is hardly a role that you could name that is more important than being a mother. And that may be the calling of some ladies in this room. You may not sense God wants you to be a preacher's wife. But every woman in this room who's not married can set her sights to be a godly wife. And mother and every man in this room can set his sights to be a godly husband and father. Let's stand tonight.