Well, good evening. Good to see each of you tonight. Looking forward to a great service. And let's go ahead and bow together for a word of prayer as the Lord's blessing on our time. And then Tori will come up with some of our songs. So let's bow for prayer. Father, we're so grateful for the Lord's day where we can focus all of our attention on you. And I pray that you'll help us tonight to have attentive hearts and open our hearts to the truth. Be with John as he brings the word. I pray that you would help him to present the truths of scripture with clarity. And I pray that you'll bless our time as we focus on some of the updates from a few missionaries that we support. I pray that we would be encouraged by the things that they share and that we would have a greater understanding of how to pray for them and encourage them. We ask all of this in Christ's name, amen. All right, thanks so much for joining us this evening for worship. Please open your hymn books to hymn number 258. Please stand with me as we sing all four verses of There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood. 258. There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Emmanuel's veins And sinners plunged beneath that blood Lose all their guilty stains Lose all their guilty stains lose all their guilty stains. And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. A dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day. And there may I, awhile I see, wash all my sins away. Watch all my sins away. Watch all my sins away. And then. Wash all my sins away. Dear dying lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power till all That's the church of God. Be safe to send the Lord. Be safe to send the Lord. Be safe to send the Lord. till all the ransomed church of God be saved to send the Lord. Then, sent by faith, I saw the stream, like flowing woods of life. Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die. and shall be till I die. Amen. Please be seated as we turn over to hymn number 262. 262, There is Power in the Blood. We'll sing verses 1, 2, and 4. Would you be free from your burden of sin? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you war, evil or victory win? There's only one power in the blood. There is love now, hallelujah, in the blood of the Lamb. There is love now, hallelujah, in the precious blood of the Lamb. Would you be free from your passion and pride? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Come forth cleansing to Calvary's tide. There's wonderful power in the blood. There is powerful wonder working fine. in the palm of a man. There is pow-pow, wonder-wonder-pow in the precious palm of a man. Would you do service for Jesus your King? There's pow in the palm, pow in the palm, Were to live daily his praises to sing, There's one little cloud in the clouds. Great singing. All right. That was the last verse, right? I think it was. All right. Anyway, 538. 538. Am I going crazy? I love to tell the story. Verses 1, 3, and 4. Lord, to tell the story of unseen things above, of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love. I love to tell the story, because I know it's true. It satisfies my longings, as nothing else can do. I love to tell the story. I love to tell the story. It will be my thing if only to tell the old story of Jesus and his love. I love to tell the story. It is pleasant to be meet. But seems each time I tell it, oh, why, they're poorly seen. I love to tell a story. for some have never heard the message of salvation from God's own Holy Word. I love to tell the story, twelve feet my pain and glory, to tell the old story of Jesus and his love. I love to tell the story for those who know it best, see mothering and fasting, to hear it like the rest. And when it sings of glory, I sing a new song. Tell me the old story that I have lost so long. I love to tell the story. Tell me my fame and glory. to tell the oral story of Jesus and his love. Great singing this evening. Verses of number 56, All I Ever Want to Be. All I ever want to be is what you want of me. I give my life to you, and all my hopes and dreams and plans I place within your hands, Lord, and give my life to you. Here am I, Lord, you see. Take my life and hold me. All I ever want to be is what you want of me. Lord, I give my life to you. And all I want are dreams and plans I place within your hands. Lord, I give my life to you. Every day you give me grace. I find my strength in you, Lord. I give my life to you. And though it seems that I will fail, through you I will prevail, Lord. I give my life to you. Here am I, Lord, use me. Take my life and hold me. All I ever want to be is what you want of me. I give my life to you, and all my hopes and dreams and plans I place within your hands, Lord, and give my life to you. Please be seated. Thank you. Und dass der Borg ist unser Gott, ein guter Herr und Vater. Er hilft uns, frau und sonner not, die uns jetzt hat betroffen. ♪ Der Alte so weit, mit Herzes jetzt weit, ♪ ♪ Groß laut und viel Licht, sein Graus am Rührstang ist, ♪ ♪ Auf Erd' und Mensch' seins gleichen. ♪ It's right. Der Herr sei bei uns, Und ist kein anderer Gott, Das Welt muss er behalten. Und wenn die Welt voll Teufel wär, Und wollt uns gade schwingen, So fürchten wir uns nicht so sehr, es soll uns doch gelegen. Wer fürchtet diese Welt, die saure Sicht? Das macht er uns doch nicht, das macht er ist Gericht, ein Wörtlein kann ihn fehlen. That word above all else replies, no thanks to them abided. The Spirit and the gifts arise through him who with us sided. Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also. The body they may kill, God's truth abideth still, His kingdom is forever. Do you know that's my favorite hymn? Though I've never heard it in German before today. So thank you. I appreciate that. Well, it's been such a blessing to have the Summers family with us. And we've known them for some years. And I've gotten to stay with their family. They hosted us in Kumasi. They were great hosts. The power was only out. 75% of the time, we were at their house. It was amazing. And so we charged our phones with inverters. It was really fun. We didn't do that to them, though. We kept our power on. But very thankful for their family, thankful for their friendship, and looking forward to hearing you bring the word this morning, or this evening. So come on up and preach the word. Pastor, do this for us, if you will. You want to hand these out for us, Pastor, if anyone needs? If you don't have a... Yes, please, if you need a pen, please grab one, even if you're not in the habit of normally taking one, please do so, and also a piece of paper. Now, I was asking one of the ladies, and we're talking about me, and I feel like everyone's kind of scattered about this evening. I will move around and look around if I want to, if I need to. If you feel inclined to come a little closer, and I mean, I understand there's social distancing, but that is technically only three or four feet, you know, not about 55. But if you would like to do that and you feel inclined to move closer, please do so. I want us to consider quickly with that song, of course, we do not know what language we will sing in heaven. The Jews like to claim it will be Hebrew. But I wonder if the Lord will just make us understand each other, what it will be like someday to all of us sing to the glory of God in all of our languages from our hearts unto the Lord. We are in Matthew chapter 13 this evening. You say, why are we in Matthew chapter 13? I shared this with your pastor as we began to pray and prepare for our opportunity to be here in the States. We began to ask the Lord what would he guide us to do as we were back and in different churches we're in for just sometimes one service. And the Lord began to direct us to the course of just starting in the book of Matthew and starting in chapter 1 verse 1 and going through in the ministry in the life of Christ and so up to this point we have reached Matthew chapter 13 and verse 10 is where we have reached and so God Almighty when he formed the world and knew what would happen knew you would be here. He knew I would be here, and He knew this was the passage that would be here. So I want you to take that as from the Lord unto you, and we pray that is a blessing to your heart. What we will do, there'll be some times I will probably ask you to write some things down I want you to consider. I actually want you to answer some questions. And so we ask that you will do that with a full heart. I ask that you'll have open ears to receive what God has for you. Also, we'll progress through this passage. So I'm gonna read Matthew 13, verse 10. Then I'm gonna pray, and as I pray, I'm gonna ask you to pray, to ask the Lord to plant His Word in your heart tonight. Matthew chapter 13 verse 10, and the disciples came and said unto Him, why speakest Thou unto them in parables? Let's pray. How about you pray as I pray? Dear God, I know You are the God of all wisdom. There is no knowing apart from You. for you created all things to be known. We need you, the listener and the speaker, but I thank you as we are reminded in song that you are mighty and you are capable So God Almighty, I pray that You might be high and lifted up, Holy Spirit, that You might be given the room to speak and that Christ, You might be honored in our example as speaker and as listeners tonight. Thank You for what You will do. We look to You now. Open Your Word for us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. In verse 10, the disciples are seeking to understand and learn the methods of their rabbi or master, Jesus Christ. The disciples are there. These are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're in a relationship with Him as learners. They have sought Him out. He has sought them out, and they are learning from Him, seeking to be Christ-like, seeking to be like Him. They've heard Him now on multiple occasions. Just at the context of this passage, He is there out with a multitude, and He has given them one of the most famous parables of all, the parable about the seeds, the good ground. and the thorny ground and the stony ground and the wayside. After this conclusion, after he's done with this, they now come and they ask him a question. Why speakest thou unto them in parables? Verse 10. Now as we continue, I'd like you to do this. I'm going to ask you a question and I'd actually like you to write down an answer for it. What is a parable? So take a moment please with your pen on your paper and write down what you believe and please this is not a time for Google, this is a time for consideration. So I would ask you to, what is a parable? What is a parable? Now, if I could ask, and my daughter's already volunteering for this, would anybody be courageous enough to raise your hand and tell me what you think a parable is? Now, I'll let you, McKay, if you're the only one, but yes, ma'am. Okay, it's a story to help you to understand something. Wonderful, any other thoughts? Yes, please. An earthly story with a heavenly meaning. I had a feeling that would probably come out, because that was something that I was taught as a young person. Anyone else? All right, McKay. A Bible-based story, okay. Interestingly enough, by the way, I encourage you, when you are in the Word of God and you do not know what a word means, look it up. By the way, when you think you know what it means, still look it up. Because you'd be surprised how often you're wrong. A parable is a placing beside of one thing or idea with another. That's simply what it means. Now, we have this earthly story with a heavenly meaning which might help some people, but it's actually in a way more simple and more complex than that. It is either laying an idea beside another idea to learn, sorry, this way, by comparison, or a laying of an idea or a thing across another idea for learning in contrast. It is simply that. I'm laying down a story or an idea, I'm laying it next to you or next to something so that as you compare them, you draw from them understanding, or as you contrast them as they're laid across, you learn from contrast. And so they're asking Christ. By the way, parables were not new to them. This was not something invented by Christ, it was something perfected by Christ. And so they ask this question, why? Not how or when, but why speakest thou unto them in parables? And so he begins to answer for us in verse 11. Let's read 11 together. He answered and said unto them, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. Please, we must interpret Scripture with the character of God. This is God's Word. So that's very important to keep in mind as we come into Scripture, especially things we don't first maybe understand. He says, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. So I would like us to consider this next question. What is a mystery? What is a mystery? I want you to think about that for a moment. What is a mystery? Sherlock Holmes might be known to many of you. If you know who Sherlock Holmes is, please raise your hand. All right, good. That means this is a known idea for us. Sherlock Holmes was a investigator, and he solved mysteries. His duty was to come to something that was unknown, to seek through clues and through investigation to solve and find out that which is unknown, the mystery. Now, I want us to repeat now the question, what is a mystery? What's a mystery? Anyone wanna tell me? Yes. Okay, a thing that is unknown. Now please, it is something unknown to me that can excite wonder or curiosity, something that needs to be explored or investigated before I have full comprehension. So he says, he answered and said unto them, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. Why are things given or not given to people? So, if you're out or just in life in general, why are things given and not given to people? Anyone else wanna volunteer a thought here? If you've had children, you definitely might have some thoughts on this question, or grandchildren, or spouses, or anything. Why are things, Nat, why does your dad not give you some things sometimes? No, just kidding. Good, sometimes it's not the right time. Sometimes it's not for you to know. Sometimes my kids will ask me things, you know, I'm going to tell you, but it's not quite yet time for you to know that. Yeah, any other thoughts? What about something as simple as because they don't ask? Why don't you know? Why isn't it given to you? I didn't ask. Well, why didn't I get some? You didn't ask for any. You didn't ask. When we do not understand something, the natural response of the curious is to ask questions. How many of you know that? If you know someone who's curious at all and they don't understand something, they're going to ask questions. But it is very interesting to me to see that many of these people never even attempted to ask for help with understanding. They didn't even attempt. They never asked anything from what was being said. A mystery always stays a mystery when we refuse to investigate it. See, we can say, oh, but it's a mystery. Isn't that a sign of hiding? No, it's a sign of a lack of investigation. Let's read verse 12. And he shall have more abundantly, but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that he hath." Now, let's look at this. So, for whosoever hath, that's continual tense, th there, who has and has and has, to him shall be given. and he shall have more abundantly. But whosoever hath not, he does not have, he does not want to have, from him shall be taken away even that he hath." Now, what's the context? This made me ask a question. They have or do not have what? What do they have? What do they not have? Context is king. Let's look in verse 9. Who hath ears to hear, let him what? Hear. They do not have ears to hear. Having ears and seeing eyes, go on to see more. But blind eyes and deaf ears miss all that is around them." Do you know your eyes, once they're given to you and they're open, they don't just stop seeing. The more they look, the more they see. The more they hear, the more they want to hear. But when I have deaf eyes and I have deaf ears, they cannot pay attention. They do not receive the abundance that is around them. I want to ask you this question. I want you to consider it. Were these people forbidden to ask questions? Did Christ say, nope, I'm busy. I'm meeting with the Sanhedrin in 30 minutes. I can't talk to you. Is that what He said? Let's look at verse 13, "'Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.'" If we turn to the Bibles quickly, leave your finger in Matthew, we're not going far, but we're going to go to 1 Corinthians 14, verse 33. This is a very important verse, because remember, we must understand Scripture in the light of God's character. First Corinthians chapter 14 verse 33 says these words, for God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. Our God is not the creator of confusion. Parables then must be understood in the light and the character of God. They're not a mystery because God is seeking to confuse people. That is not according to God's character. God cannot break who He is. If God can change who He is, then everything we believe and everything that we have is in great danger. Parables are not a punishment. They are a means by which what we want is shown. how much we truly desire to learn. Parables and Proverbs give us what we ask for. It is a method of teaching with just consequences. It is not about hiding the truth. It is making us work for the truth. Now, look at this verse 13 again, "'Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.'" These people are there present with me, their ears are taking in the sounds, their eyes are seeing me speak, but they do not understand. Please, this might sound like an odd thought, but there's a reason for this, we're not getting lost. I would like you to think through for a moment and tell me what, tell me how a ladder is made and how it is used. I want you to think for a moment. How many of you have seen a ladder? Please raise your hand. How many of you have used a ladder? OK. So how is a ladder made? Does someone want to volunteer? This is not complex carpentry. Yes, sir. Of all the people in here who should know how to use a ladder, this gentleman should know how to use a ladder. Yes, please. How is it made? OK. Yeah, I mean all ladders have to have at least two parts, right? Two sticks or at least two ropes or something on two sides, and then what do you have in between? Boards, right, that are steps. So how is a ladder used? Properly, yes, please, how is a ladder used? Okay, how many of you know that you have those legs that they support each side and then you put your weight on one and then you can progress step by step as those rungs hold your weight? Christ is using a ladder method of learning. My thoughts, and my knowledge are set beside the thoughts and knowledge being given by the teacher." Remember what a parable is? A parable is a casting alongside of an idea where we can learn by comparison or across. It is my thoughts and my knowledge are set beside the thoughts and knowledge being given by the teacher. And as we compare and interact between these two things, understanding comes and we progress up in wisdom. I must take what is being taught, I must think about it and work upon it and interact with it and as it is laid there across or beside me and I grow in my understanding, then I grow in my wisdom. That's how Christ is working. Now, let's go to verse 14. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaias, which is Isaiah, which saith, by hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive. Now, Christ quotes Isaiah 6, 9, and 10 here. And he's going to explain this verse to us, because he says, by hearing, ye shall hear and shall not understand. And seeing, ye shall see and shall not perceive. Now I want to ask you a question. Does God speak just to hear Himself talk? What kind of God do you serve? I believe I serve a God who seeks for us to know Him and to love Him and to understand Him. What is happening in this verse? Christ is going to explain it for us in verse 15. He's going to open to us the Word of God. He says in verse 15. Now please, I'm going to read this, for this people's heart is waxed gross. Now please young people, that waxed gross doesn't mean it's covered in nasty stuff or looks really horrible. The idea here is it's waxing gross, it's waxing fat and thick and it's not touchable, it's not feeling anything. It's becoming unresponsive. And their ears are dull of hearing. They're becoming deaf. What? My wife has had to deal with, my hearing is not getting better as I get older, I have to say what more often. And their eyes, they have closed, lest at any time they should see with their ears, excuse me, see with their eyes. You don't see with your ears, sorry about that. And hear with their ears and should understand with their hearts and should be converted and I should heal them. I want you to pay attention as I read this again, and as I read it, if I read it wrong, I want you to put your hand up. We're not going to say amen, hallelujah, I just want you to put your hand up and see if you're paying attention. Will you do that for me? Now look at your Bible, see what it says, and I want to read it to you. Verse 15, for someone has made this people's heart wax gross, and someone has stopped up their ears and made them dull of hearing, and someone has covered their eyes that have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their hearts and should be converted. Is that right? Now some of you aren't raising your hand. Did you bring your Bible? Was that correct? So now I would like you to compare what it says with what I just read. And consider the difference between those two readings. And pay attention to who is doing the action in this verse. So think about it, take a moment. Is some person? Can someone please tell me who is doing the action? Pastor, let me ask you, who's doing the action in this verse? Who's the pronouns? Okay. Let's look at this, very interesting. Notice, for this people's heart is waxed gross, that's their condition. Their ears are dull of hearing, why? Their eyes, they have closed. lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears." Nope, nope, nope, nope. I'm not listening. Nope, nope. What is the purpose for having hearing ears and seeing eyes according to this verse? Let's look at verse 15. What is the purpose? At the end it says, and hear with their ears and should understand with their hearts and should be converted and I should heal them. So what's the purpose of your ears? What's the purpose of your eyes? To hear and see and get understanding. So please let us consider what this word understanding means. So I would like you please to write on your piece of paper a personal definition of the word understanding. What does it mean to understand? Because that is the purpose of your ears and your eyes in this passage when you are hearing, when you're in the presence of someone communicating God's Word. Understanding is the purpose for those things. So what is understanding? Please write it down. What's it mean? I looked up the meaning. I'm going to share that with you for a moment, but I want you to write your own thought. What does it mean to understand? I would like to ask you a question. How many of you have ever had a light bulb moment? Do you know what a light bulb moment is? Oh, I get it. Understanding is putting together for oneself to join ideas or concepts in such a way that they are comprehended. They interlock to form a whole. That which has no meaning suddenly has meaning. And God wants us to hear and to listen, to observe so that suddenly those things that don't make sense come together in such a way that they have meaning. Understanding is one of the works of the Holy Spirit. God's Spirit, though, is never violent. He will not enlighten eyes that refuse to see or ears that have fingers stuffed in them so they will not hear. Your God is here this very evening and He's seeking and desiring for your understanding. He is working in you throughout your life for the purpose of that enlightening of your inner man, but he's not violent. If you will not hear and you will not see, he will not force you to understand. One of our first duties as a listener is not to seek to apply. Is that what he says? They hear and they did not apply. No. He didn't say they heard and they did not memorize. I'm afraid that most of our Christianity is simply memorized. What do I believe? What I was taught in Sunday school. What I can repeat. What do you understand? Our first duty is to pay attention and understand. The verse that we have chosen for Biblical Baptist Church in Ghana, West Africa is Acts 17.11, and it says this, and those in Berea were more noble than those in Thessalonica, and that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and they searched the scriptures to see if it was so. We can have a tendency to have a baby bird mentality as Christians. The speaker does all the catching of the worms and the chewing of the worms. And then they just regurgitate what they have gotten and I open up and swallow it down. That's kind of gross, isn't it guys? But is it any grosser, how do our hearts get gross? By depending on everyone else to do the work of understanding for us. Christ's teaching was not for passive observers, but was meant for active listeners. So, let's go to verse 16. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. I don't know if your father or mother ever said this to you, and I'm curious if they had, but I grew up hearing this. God gave you two ears, so how about you use them? Maybe you've said that or heard someone say that before. Isn't that interesting? God gave you two ears, how about you use them? Blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear. Blessed simply means happy. God created each thing for a purpose. And the only way those things are happy is if they are fulfilling the purpose for which they are created. Do you want to have blessed eyes? Do you want to have a blessed ear? Have them do what God created for them to do. So I want to ask you a question. How are your eyes and ears doing? How are they doing? Are they blessed? What is the spiritual state of your eyes? If God Almighty met you today, would He say that your eyes and your ears are blessed? The natural tendency is for hearing and seeing to get worse as you get older. How many of you here would attest to that with the raise of your hand? That is the natural tendency is for hearing and seeing to get worse as we get older. But as Christians, we're not supposed to live naturally. Let us consider if we are slowly becoming spiritually deaf and developing spiritual cataracts. Eyes long to see and ears long to hear. They are filled with an innate curiosity. If we are not curious or filling our curiosity with the opportunities to discover truth and beauty and goodness that is around us. They will find something else to fill the emptiness. By the way, most of us, you know how many of you have ever met a teenager who listens to really loud music? Pastor, have you ever lived in a place where people listen to loud music? You know what happens when you fill your ears with the wrong kind of sound? It makes you deaf. How many of you know that when you work a job, if you work welding or working or anything and you see the wrong kind of things, it can make you go blind? I want you to know something. If we're not filling our eyes with that truth and beauty and goodness and using that innate curiosity to seek out those things, it will have effect on our eyes. It will dull the very things that are to seek out because they will seek. That's what they're made to do. but you cannot live in a spiritual vacuum. You can't. Verse 17, for verily I say unto you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them. I want us to consider this final idea. For verily I say unto you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them. And to hear those things which ye have heard and have not heard them. How would David and Daniel? and Joseph and Abraham and Noah, how would they respond if they had the light and opportunity you have? We have just as much truth and experience with God as we want to have, no more. and no less. Please, I want to say that to you again because I believe it is true with all my heart. We have just as much truth and experience with God as we want to have. No more and no less. Light received increases light. Light rejected increases darkness. An increased opportunity means increased accountability. So please, I would like us to consider all Christ has said to us tonight. Let us respond to the truth we've heard. What are you going to do with what you've heard? Because Christ's words are never a finish line. They're a starting line. Let's pray. Lord God, I thank you that your word is quick and powerful. And it is quick and powerful because it is, in fact, a representation of who you are and how you work. Thank you for being the Word that was made flesh. There are so many things that you've said this evening that are truths from your Word, and we can have no way of knowing how exactly those truths came to each one of our hearts. But help us not to be forgetful hearers. Help us to begin the process of thinking and desiring and working for understanding in whatever way it might be, in any way that it might be, And may you get the glory for what you will do. We pray this now in Jesus name. Amen. Pastor. I think it's so very important that we keep in our minds every time, every time we are confronted with scripture, it is changing us. I didn't say how it's changing us. I said, it is changing us. And really, the direction with which it's changing us, it's contingent with how we're responding to it. And so the same truth that hardens a heart is the same truth that softens a heart. It's because some people say, I don't want this, and they become more calloused. And others submit to it, and their heart becomes more tender. And what it does is it prepares them to receive more truth. And so that really is the sense of this concept. I believe that a lot of people do not understand what Christ is doing when he teaches in parables. This past week, I went to a pastor's fellowship, and these are pastors that are all, the majority of them probably have been in ministry 30 or more years. And the man that was speaking in one of the sessions, he was talking about parables, he said, how many of you have preached to the parables? Not one pastor in that group raise their hand. Not one. It's kind of surprising actually. I think it's because we're afraid of the parables. It's true. I mean, pastors are afraid of the parables because the way that Christ taught, it goes right into your heart and it makes you, it forces you to think. And so I think that's so very, very important. Every time we walk out of this time together, I hope that we will walk out nothing about the Raven score. We think about the Word. we think about what God is trying to show us. And that it just, it's the beginning of a work that he's doing in us for days and days and days, really for the rest of our lives. It's a piece of what he is building in our lives. All right, let's go ahead and take our hymn books out, please, and let's turn to hymn 539. It's actually a chorus. We're going to sing through it twice. It's very short. It's Around the Corner, Around the World. I'd like us to close out our Missions Emphasis Month with this little chorus. Let's stand together, 539, Around the Corner, around the world, and I want to encourage you, uh, pick up some, some of our tracks that we have out in the back. We, this, uh, this month we were able to print up new ones. By the way, we're getting a thousand free ones because of a mistake that the printers made. I didn't tell you this, but when they were supposed to send us that extra thousand, they sent us the wrong box from another church. So who knows, maybe we get another thousand. I don't know, but No, we'll milk it for all it's worth. Why not? But yeah, seriously, we got a thousand for free, and maybe we have the potential for more. We'll see what happens, but pick up some of those tracks and pass them out. Engage in conversations. Not every conversation is going to go deep. It might just be giving something to them, and you know what? They have an opportunity, an opportunity to read that, to think about it, or put it aside, and God does something in their life, makes them pick it up again down the road. 539 around the corner. Let's sing it together twice, please. Around the corner, around the world, a soul needs Jesus, a soul who's never heard. Sing it again, here we go. Around the corner, around the world. A soul needs Jesus, a soul that's never heard. A taste of good news, a taste of living word. Let's do that. I'd like to ask if, Billy, if you could come and close us in prayer tonight, please. And I'd also ask if Summers could go to the back and be there at your table and go by and chat with them, be an encouragement to them, and just enjoy your fellowship. Really glad they could be with us today. Dear Lord, thank you for this month of mission emphasis we've been able to have. Please help us as we go forward that we keep our eyes and ears open, both to the truths that you would have in our scripture and the opportunities that you provided us around, both to be able to support our missionaries in times of prayer and listening to the updates, but also in the local mission fields which we have. In Christ's name, amen.