Acts chapter 3, or actually eventually Acts chapter 4 this morning. Last Sunday it was called, I believe it was last Sunday, they called it Reformation Sunday. It was the remembrance of October 31, 1517 when Luther, Martin Luther went to the door at the church at Wittenberg, Germany and nailed his 95 grievances, or what they call the 95 thesis, to the door of that church. And I'll tell you, there's been a lot of mention about lately, if you get on any type of social media, you'll see Martin Luther this and Martin Luther that, and this one did this, and this one did that, and it's over and over again. And I was looking at some of these posts on social media this week, and here, I listed a couple of them that were interesting to me. Here's one from Twitter. This individual said, happy Reformation Day to all my fellow Protestants. I thank God for Martin Luther and the restoration of biblical salvation. The restoration of biblical salvation. Listen to this post on Facebook. Today is Reformation Sunday. We offer Dr. Martin Luther. I keep wanting to say King, but it's not. Dr. Martin Luther and others for leading, listen, the reforming of the Christian church. the reforming of the Christian church. Eventually, along with Martin Luther, you would have heard such names as Zwingli, and Calvin, and Melanchthon, and Wycliffe, and Jan Hus, and all the rest of these that came along down the pike, men who supposedly rescued the church and brought on this reformation that that produced what they would call this third wing of Christianity. Some would look at it as you have the Roman Catholic Church, you have the Eastern Orthodox Church, and now you have this third wing called the Protestants. And can I tell you this premise is historically and biblically inaccurate. It's all I've ever known. Yes, I was taught all this too, don't worry. Jesus said in Matthew 16, 18, Thou art Peter upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Amen. He either meant it or he didn't. The gates of hell were not prevail against him. So Luther and Zwingli and Calvin and any of the others, can I tell you, they didn't rescue the church of Jesus Christ. It did not need rescuing. The church of Jesus Christ was alive and well, marked by Jesus' own warnings to his church before he left in Luke 21 verse 12, When he told them, he said, Before all these, they shall lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and to the prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. And I tell you, this morning the persecution by Rome had been going on since its inception. They had persecuted the Donatists, and the Paulicians, and the Novatians, and the Waldensians, and the Anabaptists. And I know most of these groups, if you look up in history, they were called heretics. And no doubt, some had some really crazy beliefs. And there are some out today that have Baptist on the name of their church that have some really unbiblical, crazy beliefs. And we'll say, yeah, you might call yourself a Baptist, but you could take your name off and we'd be happy. Listen, they've always been out there. They've always been out there. But most of these groups before Rome that were there before Rome came, during Rome, and after Rome, and during the Protestant Reformation, these groups, listen, they were called heretics by the ones who were against them. Isn't that crazy, right? The Catholic Church called them heretics. And why? Because they rejected the Pope, and they rejected infant baptism, and they rejected purgatory, and they rejected the indulgences and all these things that came about by this Roman Catholic Church. And many people say, well, there is no evidence. There is no evidence or historical evidence of a line of churches from the church that Jesus started at Jerusalem until Luther's protest in 1517. People say, well, there's no evidence of that. One of my favorite quotes is by Cardinal Hosius, a Roman Catholic Cardinal. Listen to what he said in 1565. He said, there shall be no faith more certain and true than is the Anabaptists. seen there be none now or have been before time for the space of these 1,200 years who have been more cruelly punished, or that have more stoutly, steadfastly, cheerfully taken their punishment, yea, or have offended themselves of their own accord to death, were it never so terrible Did you catch that? In 1565, he even acknowledged that the Anabaptists had been persecuted for 1,200 years, right? While the Reformed Catholics are lauding Martin Luther as the Savior of the Church, I want to encourage us today, and I want to encourage us this morning, that the Church of Jesus Christ was never in trouble. Amen. The head is still in heaven. Jesus is still there. He's still in control. And He is still moving along. with his plan to reach the world with the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Listen to me this morning, we do not preach Luther, we do not preach Calvin, and we're gonna see from our text this morning that the only true reformer was Jesus Christ. Amen. Now, in Acts chapter three, now that we got everything figured out here before we go, I want to show you this here in Acts chapter 3, the preaching of Jesus Christ. I could have gone to about any passage in the Bible and especially in the New Testament and showed what the church does with the Lord Jesus Christ and how we preach Christ. And I want to show you here in Acts chapter 3 in verse 1, it is the afternoon of the day of Pentecost. It's the afternoon of the day of Pentecost. It is that day when the Church was empowered. Jesus said, "'Tarry ye in Jerusalem until you be endued with power.'" And they were a Church already. The Church didn't start on Pentecost. It already existed when Jesus called them out. His 11 He called out. But they were empowered at Pentecost. And it was the afternoon of that same day. It was the time of the evening prayers at the Temple. And the people are are filing their way into the temple and up those stairs that they've done since Solomon built the temple almost a thousand years before this time here in Acts chapter three. I've walked those steps. Some of you have walked those steps. They are, they're not... If you ever go there, they're not the same. You know, we have a, here we have a rise of seven to seven and a half and maybe a tread of 10 to 10 and a half. And they've gotta be the same unless it's a super old house, right? But up at the temple, you have a long step, short step, long step, short step. And you know what the guides will tell you? They'll tell you why they did this. They don't know. They have no idea why they did this. They said possibly it was crowd control so they couldn't go running up irreverently into the Temple, or come running out too fast. They wanted to make everybody stop. I don't know if that's a good idea. Just as good as an idea as anybody else's is. But I don't know if you can see it. If you've ever been there you can see those steps. And here are the throngs of Jews. Here it's the Day of Pentecost. working their way up into the temple, and week after week, and year after year, the people have filed up these steps into the temple, the people have prayed, and they have filed out of the temple, and they've gone their way, week after week, year after year. And week after week, and year after year, for some of these people, for nigh 40 years, or maybe a little bit less, they have noticed there has been a beggar there every time that they pass by. He's just out there trying to make a living. And he's out there because he couldn't work. There wasn't welfare. They didn't complain when the SNAP program went out because the government was shut down. There was no SNAP program. And he had to sit out there and beg for his living. And anybody under 40 years of age who have gone to this temple, no doubt, would have known that that beggar was gonna be at that gate every time that they passed by. But this Pentecost was different. This wasn't like the rest of them, right? Around 3 p.m. that afternoon, Peter and John are heading up into the temple, and the eyes of that beggar make contact with the eyes of Peter and John, and that beggar asks for some money. Do you have any alms? Do you have any alms? And Peter says, I don't have any, man. Silver and gold have I none. But Peter offered him something better than money, something better than silver or gold. My brother and I one time were headed into the old Boston garden. And we were there, and it was a historical landmark, and it was such a relic. And you walk into this place, and they have some of the worst seats you could ever buy behind posts and things like that. It was terrible. And you'd see up in the... up in the ceiling, the 16 flags at this time was about 1989, I think it was. So the Celtics had won their 16th championship. I think it was 1986 or seven. I can't remember. And all those flags are hanging. I mean, this is quite the place, right? And we didn't go there to see anything. Well, we went to go see the Harlem Globetrotters. That's the only reason we were there. The only time I'd ever seen that place or been in that place. But on our way there, we had got off this train, we're walking into the city, and there's a bum there that is asking for money, right? Homeless, I think you're supposed to say homeless now, sorry. And so there's a homeless man asking for money, and he comes up and he goes, you got a quarter, you got 50 cents, you got 50 cents? And my brother says, no, no I don't. And he turned around with a track, he said, but I can tell you how you can have Jesus. And he said, no, man, I don't want that, I don't want that, I don't want that, right? Then when he wanted money, why, he needed to go get another drink. Yeah, I had one actually tell me, he goes, man, I gotta be honest with you, I just need another drink. I was like, sorry, not buying it for you. The beggar was asking for, Peter said, I don't have any money. Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee. And it said, the Bible says in Acts chapter three here, he says, in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk. Rise up and walk. I'm trying to find it here where I was at. Lost my place, I got so excited. Verse five and verse four, Peter fastened his eyes upon with John and said, look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. He thought I'm gonna get a big payday. He was gonna get something better than he could have ever imagined. Peter said, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Rise up and walk. I just noticed this again. I don't know how many times I've read through my Bible. How many times you've read through your Bible and you see something else and you're like, I didn't see that before. Look at this in verse seven. And he took him by the right hand and he lifted him up. Peter had as much faith in what he said as that crippled man did. He was going to be healed. You know what the modern healer does today? They blame it on you if you don't get healed. Well, you just didn't have enough faith. Well, why don't you pick them up by the hand and see, you faithless one as well. Amen. He picked him up. Immediately that man begins to run around. He begins to shout. He begins to praise God. No doubt I would too. Could you imagine born like that from birth and born lame and never walked a day in your life and all of a sudden you're walking like you're a new calf running around the field and kicking your heels up. Man, isn't that a sight to see? Everybody else at the temple, this was a big day of ritual. This was a big day, this day of Pentecost, but it was kind of like any other day. And I don't know what the mood was. I don't know how they came into the temple, whether it was solemn or whether there was great joy or anything like that, but whatever it was, and maybe no doubt as we come into this place at times with a little bit of the monotony and the mundane of doing the same thing every week, Peeling through the mundane this day in the monotony was this voice that began to get louder and louder and louder praising God and praising God that he had been healed. And it was so much that the crowd began to draw towards the front of that temple area called Solomon's Porch. And it is here where Peter takes the occasion to preach. This is quite a scene. The onlooker, listen, they had to admit. The beggar had been healed by God. They had to admit this guy has been out here. Some of them said, I've been coming up here 40 years. I've seen him, I don't know, 30 out of the 40. He's always been here. And in chapter three in verse 12, look what Peter does. And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, you men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness, we had made this man to walk? Peter said, it wasn't me. Why are you looking at me? I didn't do it. I didn't do it. What does Peter do? Well, he took the opportunity to preach Jesus Christ. The beggar had been healed by God. But notice what he preaches. Look at verse 13. The God of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus, whom ye delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. Peter began his preaching about the trial of Jesus that just happened, I don't know what, 53 days earlier maybe? something around there about the trial of Jesus, about their rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ, about how Israel was an accessory to the crucifixion, murder of Jesus Christ. Peter began to preach beginning with this and then he began and summed it all up by saying this, you killed the Messiah, you killed the one that was foretold by the prophets, you killed the healer, you killed the savior, you killed Jesus Christ. Boy, you talk about conviction. They weren't liking it. So he gives them the remedy. Look at verse 19. Repent ye, therefore. I like that word ye there. Singular, yet plural. Every one of you. Ye, right? Allen, repent. Brother Phelps, repent. Brother John, repent. I don't ever pick on the ladies. David, repent, right? What can I say? Repent ye. What am I talking about? Every one of you individually. It is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Look what he says here. Repent ye and be, repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent and be converted. Repent How can it be that God could love a soul like me? Oh, how could it be? But he does. See, Luther wanted his enemies killed. He said the Anabaptists should be exercised with the sword. He was a virulent anti-Semite. He hated Israel, hated Jews. Calvin approved of the execution of Servetus. He fully approved of it. But you know what's so opposite of the Reformers? It's Jesus Christ who loved his enemies so much that he died for them. Yeah. Isn't it amazing that Calvinism teaches us that God hates his enemies while at the same time he demands us to love ours? What a contradiction. Yeah. Converted. I find it interesting and precisely fitting that Peter would use this word to command, this word with that command to repent. Remember Jesus told Peter, when thou art converted, that shall strengthen the brethren. Peter had to return. He'd gotten away from the Lord. So notice this here, who's the audience of Peter? His audience is Israel. Israel, who was chosen by God to be what? To be the lineage of the Messiah. Abraham believed God. It was counted in him for righteousness. And God told Abraham that from your seed shall be as the sand of the sea. The Bible said from Israel the Gentiles would come to and find rest. From this line of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob would come the Lord Jesus Christ. They were chosen by God. They were in covenant with God. They were called the apple of his eye. But they walked away. Israel walked away and they chose an adulterous, idolatrous relationship with non-existent gods around them. Isn't that amazing to us? We see this. They had this party in the Red Sea. They had all of the miracles of coming through the wilderness. They saw the manna every day. They saw that their clothes didn't wear out. They saw the water out of a rock. They saw the quail that came from the sky. I mean over and again God took care of their enemies. They watched them over and over and over and over again. The relationship of God with Israel. And yet through all of it they could still get up and walk away from it all. Can I tell you something, friends? They watch the miracles of God through all those years, and here we have a miracle that has been going on. Listen, we have the infallible, inerrant word of God, amen, and yet we still walk away from truth, don't we? We have the, hey listen, we know about what happened back then. We know of God's faithfulness to us in our own personal life, and yet how often and how prone are we to walk away? And Israel did. This is what Peter's telling them. You walked away. They walked away. And listen, this is what happens in every relationship with God that goes south. God is never the one who walks away. It is you and I that walk away. It is never him. And Israel walked away. But you know what's wonderfully and marvelously strange about it? That God wants them back. Right. These people have walked out of your life and you said, oh, good. Yeah. Can I tell you, God never says that with anyone. Hitler? He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, the Bible says. He's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. The heart of God was even somebody like Hitler or Mussolini or Stalin or some of these others would have repented before the Lord Jesus Christ and turned to God and he would have said yes. It's unbelievable, isn't it? God wants him back. You don't have to go there, but if you could go to the Old Testament, the last book of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi, you'll find that the book opens with the revelation of the heart of God. And listen to Malachi 1, verses 1-3. You can go there, it's an easier one to find if you find Matthew, then go back. Malachi 1, verses 1-3, the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. He says, I have loved you, sayeth the Lord. I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet you say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? Saith the Lord, yet I love Jacob. And I hated Esau and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. He said, I chose you. I chose you. I chose the lineage. I chose your lineage. I didn't choose Esau's lineage. Why? Just because I loved you. Yeah. God chose to love them and Israel chose to walk away. Israel chose idolatry. Israel chose disobedience. They chose disobedience, you'll see in Malachi, to the tithes and the offerings, to their marriage covenants, to the biblical ordinances. They chose disobedience to walk away. But even in the last book of the Old Testament, watch please, God is still pursuing Israel to be reconciled back to himself, back to that loving relationship that God wants with them. in Malachi 3, 17 through 18, and he says, and they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him, then shall you return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. See, people that don't know their Bible believe that God is this violent, bloodthirsty, warmonger that's constantly ready to wipe out anybody who goes against Him. But what they don't realize is that for over 800 years, God held off His judgment and gave Israel space to repent and to return. God has no pleasure, as I said, in the death of the wicked. And after one last effort from Malachi, The prophets will now lay silent for 400 years. But even with John the Baptist, even with Jesus himself, even with the miracles and the resurrection, the nation as a whole is still refusing to turn back to God. They're still in a condition, even today, they're in a place where they are divorced from God. No, God desires them that they come to Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul got saved. Jews are still getting saved. But as a national whole, right, within the religious system of Israel, within the rabbis and all that whole system, they are rejecting Jesus Christ. And it's here that Peter says to these Jews, Repent and return. Repent and return. Peter is saying, change what you believe and change who you're living with, right? Understand you're in an adulterous relationship with this religion that is idolatry and you need to return to your relationship with Jehovah God, which is only possible, Peter says, watch, it's only possible through his son, Jesus Christ. You know what happened that day that Peter preached this? About 5,000 got saved, the Bible says. 5,000, no doubt a majority of those, I don't know, I've always wondered how many of those were at the preaching of John the Baptist, how many of those had been baptized by John and were prepared for the preaching of the Messiah. 5,000 got saved that day and turned back, turned back to God through Jesus Christ. So what happened? The rulers heard all the commotion going on, and they didn't like it. And so what happens is Peter and John go to jail, and they get hauled out the next morning for some questioning. Look at chapter four, verse one. Jim, you didn't think we'd go through two chapters today. Can you believe it? As they spake unto the people, the priests and the captains of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. Friend, if you take away the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we don't have anything. We can just go home. We can go fishing, we can go live our life, do whatever, but listen, if Jesus, if this Jew was really crucified by the Roman government and really came out of the grave alive three days and three nights later, friend, we've got something you gotta pay attention to. Nobody's ever done this and nobody will ever do this. He says you're preaching about Jesus, you're teaching the people through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And so verse two, verse three, and they laid hands on them and put them in the hold the next day, for it was now eventide, albeit many of them which heard the word believed, and the number of them was about 5,000. They were questioned by the high priest, who was Annas, and the Caiaphas, the rulers, the elders, the scribes, John and Alexander, relatives of the high priest. they questioned Peter and John, look at verse 7, and when they had set them in the midst they asked, look at this, by what power, that word there is authority, by what power or by what name have you done this? Who gave you the authority to go out here and teach and preach about Jesus and this resurrection thing that you're talking about. Who on earth told you to do that? And boy, I tell you what, Peter is full of the Holy Ghost and he's about to flinger down here. And in verse nine through 11, Peter tells them that the healing, that healing, it was Jesus. It was the one you crucified. It was the one that God raised from the dead. It was that stone that was set at naught. It was that one that didn't fit the building that you constructed, right? It was Jesus. Can I tell you, Jesus never fits man's religion, right? And you know what religion does? They come out and they try to wipe you out, because they don't like it. They want you to fit their system and their way, and I'm telling you, he never will. He is the corner of his own. If you fall upon him, you'll be, you'll be crushed to powder, right? If he falls upon you, I should say, the Bible says you'll be crushed to powder. Yeah. Jesus never fits man's religion. And if there's any other question about where Peter is standing here with this, when they ask him this, he brings it to a great conclusion in chapter 3, look at verse 12, chapter 4 and verse 12, neither is there salvation and any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. I think he's Pretty adamant, don't you tonight? This morning when he told those rulers and all the head honchos and the rabbis and all of those, where do you get your authority to preach this? Peter says, I get my authority from Jesus Christ himself. And this was Peter's answer. This was the answer to everything that they're asking. The answer is Jesus Christ. It always has been. There is not, neither is there salvation in ether. For there is none other name given under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved. It was Jesus Christ. It was his authority. It's what he preached. Yeah. Verse eight, filled with the Holy Ghost. Peter, what did he do? What did Peter preach when he was full of the Holy Ghost? He preached Christ. Yeah. Did I tell you, if you're full of the Holy Ghost, you will preach nothing but Christ. Can I tell you this morning, Jesus was the answer for the lame man. He was the answer for that lame man. He was the answer for Israel. He was the answer for those governmental leaders. He was the answer for the religious leaders. Ladies and gentlemen, listen to me this morning, please. Jesus was the answer then, and he's still the answer today. He's the answer. He's the answer for the Muslim. He's the answer for the Buddhist. He's the answer for the Hindu. He's the answer for the Catholic. He's the answer for the atheist, or the transgender, or the agnostic, or the homosexual, or the politician. Hey, you can say amen right there. I think every one of our politicians need Jesus Christ. Yeah, he's the answer for our prison system in America. He is the answer for this drug epidemic that we have in the United States of America. He's the answer for our college campus, which are just pits of filth and indoctrination out there today. He's the answer for them. He's the answer for the public school system. He's the answer for Washington, D.C., amen. He's the answer, he is. He's the answer for the lonely. He's the answer for the rejected. He's the answer for the unloved. He's the answer for the broken hearted. Jesus is the answer. I'm not talking about another religion this morning. I'm talking about a real viable relationship with God himself through Jesus Christ. It is Jesus who is the answer, not Calvin, not Luther, not the Westminster Confession, not the five solas. All of these get quoted far more than the Word of God gets quoted, it seems to me. The only one who can reform a life and change a heart is Jesus Christ. That's it. Yeah, that's it. Do you know him? Doesn't that make your soul happy? The name of Jesus. No other name is there. No other name that can take a bad day and just say the name of Jesus and just make your hearts leap for joy. Amen. Do you remember the day that you repented and called upon the Lord Jesus to save your soul? Do you remember that day? Do you know him? If you know him, do you live for him? Is Jesus the center of your life? Is He the center of your life? Is the Word of God, Jesus, the Word became flesh, amen, Brother Jim, and dwelt among us? Is the Word of God the center of your life? Is His will the guide of your heart? He's the answer. He's the only answer. Shouldn't you think that the one answer should be the central theme of everything and everything we do and everything, all that we are? Don't you think it should be the center of it all? Do you know Him? Do you live for him? Paul said in Philippians 121, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Paul said that he said all that he did and everything he did, all that he suffered and all the list of the suffering that Paul went through that he lists, it was all for Jesus. All for Jesus. Why? Because he rescued him. He changed his life. He changed his eternal destiny. Paul said, I am now ready to be offered. The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. That's it. I'm trying to remember how that went. I have kept the faith. There sends forth a crown of righteousness. It was sorted out for me. He was ready. Why? He knew who he was going to see. He knew he was fixing to see Jesus Christ. He was gonna see him face to face. I don't know within the time period if Paul ever saw Jesus before the crucifixion. I don't know. He met him on the road to Damascus, I know that. He did. But Paul lived for him. He lived for him so deeply. He could have cared less if he lived in this life or in the next life. He just was living for Jesus. Do you know him? Do you live for Him? Do you preach Him? Can I tell you, you see from our text here, at every opportunity, you know what Peter did? Preach Christ. They looked at it, they were like, don't look at me like I did this, it was Jesus. You know, we have people running around all over at the religious circles, or more or less saying, look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me. Look at the power I have. Look at the jets I own for the glory of God. Look at all this, look at this, look at this. Peter said, I don't have a dime. All I got's Jesus. And you know what? He's free. Whosoever will may come. Yeah, do you preach him? That's what Peter did at every opportunity. He preached Christ. He didn't draw attention to himself. With his mouth, he proclaimed the mighty name of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians chapter four and verse five, Paul said, for we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, your servants, for Jesus' sake. It was all about Jesus Christ. They knew him, they lived for him, and they preached him. It was all about Christ. Listen, the world's religions are going to have their names. They're going to have their heroes. And we all ought to be careful about where we put heroes on pedestals. Amen. There is even godly men that can be wrongly put on pedestals. And most of them would say, don't do that. They don't ask for it. Listen, the reason that we are here, the reason we exist, the reason of the hope that lies within us is all the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Listen, Jesus is the real reformer. The real reformation. Jesus' churches have existed before Rome. They existed before the reformation, through the reformation, after the reformation. His church has always been. It always has been. Amen. It's all about Him. If you could sum up your life and look at and maybe weigh out your life by a list of what is yourself and a list of within your life, what is yours and what is God's. This is mine and this is God's. How would your life measure up? How much is your life is for Him and how much of it is for self? Can I tell you there is no joy in living like living for Christ? Yeah, in the world, the flesh and the devil, they will tell you living for yourself is pretty enjoyable. And there are Christians all over this planet that are trying to straddle the fence and live for God and live for self and live for God and live for self. And you know what you find out? There's some of the most miserable people on the planet. because it can't be done. You have a choice today. You have a choice today to walk out of here and live for Christ, and preach Christ, or live for yourself. Live for yourself, and you know what generally happens when you live for yourself? You don't preach Christ. I'm telling you, there are Christians, you'll never understand the joy that awaits you in living for Christ. Live for Him. He's the real Reformer. He's still the answer. He's still the answer. Do you know Him? Are you living for him? Do you preach him? Our Father, thank you today. Thank you for Jesus. I tell you, no human being could have come up with this beautiful plan called salvation. that God would put on human flesh and be crucified of his own creation whom he loved to bring them back to himself. What a beautiful thing. And Father, I know it's easy to get caught up in this world and to get busy in this world, but Lord, would you help us, those here that are saved today, would you help us to live for him? Would you help us to preach Christ and live for Christ? Lord, that's the only thing that's important in this life is Jesus. And I pray you'd help us to do that. Father, there could be somebody here that does not know Jesus. And right now there's a heaviness upon their own heart. It is the drawing of the Spirit of God, drawing in the Jesus this morning. I pray today that they would leave their place and come and let us show them from the Bible how they can be saved and how they can be born again and have life in Jesus Christ and have eternal, eternal salvation. Lord, would you do that work today? And we'll thank you for what you do in Jesus' name, amen. Stand with me this morning, if you would, please. The piano's gonna play and the instruments are, instruments play and the invitation is open this morning. Let me ask you, you're here this morning and you're saved. Is Jesus the center of your life? We have a little time of an altar here. An altar is an aspect of worship, amen? Maybe you just need to get alone today. Come to an altar, an old altar here, and just worship God for a little while. Thank him for Jesus. Thank him for what he did in your life. Thank him for how he rescued you and he saved you. Are you living for him? Are you preaching Christ? Come on, there's plenty of room. Are you preaching Christ? Is He the center of your life? Maybe there's some decisions you need to make. You come this morning. I'm going to ask a question here just right now. I want to ask a question. You may be here this morning, and I'd ask you this, if you were to die this morning, if you were to die today, do you know for 100%, are you 100% sure that if you died today, that you'd go to heaven? You know the day that you met Jesus, you know when you were born again, you remember that day. How many can raise their hand and say, I know beyond a shadow of doubt, if I died today, I know I'm going to heaven, I know I am. Could you raise your hand if you know that's a fact? Can I tell you, if you don't know that today, would you come this morning and we'll take you to the Bible. People are trained in the Bible. We can take you to the Bible and show you how you can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you can be saved. You can call upon the Lord Jesus and he will save you. He said, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It is an absolute fact. You need to be born again. You need to be saved. If that's you this morning, you come. Even now, we have people that can take the Bible and show you how you can be saved. You come today. So, You feel that tugging, that heaviness on your heart. It's the Holy Spirit of God drawing you to Jesus. And you need to turn to Him today. For who knows what may be on the morrow? For what is your life? It's even a vapor that appeareth for a little time and vanisheth away. We have no idea. You could look online every day and you could watch somebody who has left this life and had no idea that they were leaving that day. Saw a post the other day, a thing online, 14-year-old boy went missing, they found him dead. 14 years old, 14 years old. You have no assurance of tomorrow, friend. None whatsoever. You need to make sure that you're right with God. Amen. He's the answer, amen? Amen. If you're here today and you want to talk to somebody or you're watching online, you call in or you, what do you do? Email in or something, whatever we have for you to come get a hold of us, get a hold of us, would you please? And we will stay as long as possible, as long as necessary to show you how you can call upon the Lord and be saved today. Amen. How many say it was the best thing that ever happened to them? Amen. How many would change and say, I don't know if that was worth it all? Amen, amen. Let's be dismissed in a word of prayer this morning. Yeah, we better pray. I was gonna find a song to sing, but I can't even think of where to find it. Well, I know it's in the hymn book, but we're just gonna pray and we're gonna go. We'll sing it later tonight, maybe. So, all right. So good to have all those out today. Good to have those that are visiting with us. God bless you for being here. And let me say, Brother Fred, would you close us in a word of prayer this morning?