Thanks, Craig. One of the things that I've found to be such a blessing that is so helpful for preaching the Word has been our special music. And it has been glorious, hasn't it? And the Lord has been with those that have been such a blessing to us as they minister to us and prepare our hearts for the preacher's heart and also for the congregation. Well, I was not expecting to be up here. I wish it were under different circumstances, but I am here, and I have a message that I've been thinking about bringing, a theme that the Lord has laid on my heart that I had contemplated bringing at some point, and I want to bring that message this morning. If you would turn to Romans chapter 10, and beginning at verse 14, and I'll read through verse 17. We do know there are other portions of Scripture than the book of Romans around here, but it is a wondrous book, and it does dovetail in with what I want to preach on this morning. The title of my message and the theme of my message is Preaching and the Church. Preaching and the Church. So I'm going to bring a message on preaching. I'm going to preach on preaching. I'm going to bring a sermon on sermonizing. Romans chapter 10 beginning at verse 14, How then shall they call on him whom they have not believed, How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. I want to direct our attention about preaching, especially to the church. It, of course, has a tremendous bearing upon the unsaved, for many are brought to Christ through the preaching of the Word directly, not just the general witness of the church, but also directly by preaching. We have an investment in preaching, or to be more specific, you have an investment in preaching. If you think about it, if you listen to sermons every week, you are going to accumulate hundreds and hundreds of hours in a short period of time. Suppose that you listen to 60 minutes of preaching. Here, normally, the preaching is 40 minutes. Unless, of course, I'm preaching, and then it's who knows, right? I don't even know. But generally speaking, Pastor Bob preaches about 40 minutes. And let's just round that off to an hour. So if you are here every week, or close to every week, then you're up to 52 hours. Then if you add that you listen to other sermons by CD or on the internet or television or radio, it's not unusual, then you add even more to that. So let's say that you're up to averaging two hours a week that you listen to preaching. Now I'm talking about preaching, not simply lecturing or even teachings But I'm talking about real, real preaching. And so probably it would not be unusual that, at its least, that you listen to two hours. If you're here Wednesday night, for example, as well, if you're here two hours and to three hours, that you listen to preaching every week. For some, it'll be even more than that. Well, if you multiply that, let's just take three hours, approximately three hours, you're close to nearly 160 hours that you commit yourself to listening to a preacher preach, much less the time that you invest in driving to and from the church. Also, you have an investment in that you set preachers aside. You take your hard-earned monies, your hard-earned resources, and you give so that preachers can do what they're called to do. And the ideal is for the preacher to be set aside full-time, that he is freed to concentrate full-time with no other distractions, unless absolutely necessary, as far as outside work, that he is set aside full-time in order that He gives Himself to this matter of being a preacher and a matter of calling. You make that possible. That's why I have such a grateful spirit for those that assist us and make it possible. And the Lord is going to reward you on the day in which you ultimately will count. You make that possible. So if you take 160 hours approximately, on a given year, you multiply that by five years. You multiply that by 10 years. Then you have invested time-wise, not only your financial resources, but you've invested also in hundreds and hundreds of hours of sermons that you have heard. Now, you might say, that's what's killing me, all these sermons, you know, and it's a challenge to me. Well, we hope there's more involved in it than simply that. But you are committed to that. And I want to bring a message, something on the theology of preaching and the strategy of preaching for an encouragement. So that's why I've entitled my theme as Preaching and the Church. I do not find that to be a problem here at Berean. It's a great compliment to you. that you love preaching, and so it's not an exhortation to get you to love that which you already love. It's not my purpose. But I want to give you some biblical framework and some ideas, some strategies about how God uses preaching and the significance of preaching in our particular day and time. Now in the last 50 years approximately, last 50 years in the United States, preaching has come under attack. It has come under attack not simply from those outside the church, but it's come under attack from those inside the church. Mostly led not by our lay people, but it is mostly led by theologians and homileticians. Homileticians, that's the those that teach others how to preach to the extent that you can do that, so teachers of preaching who teach others how to preach. That will, by the way, be part of what I will do in the future here at our academy, is that one of the sections that I will lecture on will be homiletics, how to put sermons together and the theology behind preaching and all of those wonderful dynamics that are involved with preaching. But if you read the literature of the last 50 years, you'll discover that you'll run across the crisis of preaching, or for the preacher, that there is an identity crisis. Or this, especially since the 1960s and its influence, the rebellious 60s, and that is that preaching is outdated. It's a mode that no longer is significant. That people do not respond to it. That it agitates people. And that people respond by, you know, who's this guy to stand up here and be telling me what to do? Especially me, telling me what to do, you know? And so on. And so there is this attitude. And that's because it was the rebellious 60s and into the 70s, rebellion against authority. and preaching has been made a target. But mostly, preaching has been wounded in the house of its friends by those who preach and who are uncomfortable with preaching, and by those who teach preaching and are uncomfortable with preaching, and those who view preaching as simply not being relevant, that it is an outdated mode and should be set aside. And so, you have in America all sorts of things going on, and you have little sermonettes, you know, and little chitchats, and so on and so forth. But the art of preaching, the art of preaching has fallen on hard times. And so, if you can find a preacher then that's wonderful because you can go here, there, and just about everywhere, but not quite, and you cannot find somebody that preaches. This speech phenomena that is called preaching. And so one of the things that I have enjoyed in being in your midst is that you love preaching, and you come to hear preaching, and you're not afraid of preaching. You want preaching. You sense the strategy of it. Some of you are veterans in this. And you know, people say, and I'll get a little bit more to this, you know, well, what is preaching? And it's somewhat hard to define, but there are those of you who are veterans out there, you know preaching when you hear preaching. And there are those in this church, they're veterans about that. And there are some who are newborn to the faith. And they have something of those sensibilities, that we know it when we hear it. I know it when we hear it. Pastor Bob and I, when we were boys, we'd get our parents' cars, with permission, we'd get our parents' cars, and we'd drive all over the place to hear preachers. We'd drive 50 miles one way to hear a preacher. And we knew who to go hear. And out of the fundamental Baptist movement, if we were to tag it, there were these mighty preachers. And we'd go hear them. I knew some of them personally. And I'd ask them questions when I was a young man. And I would try to glean from them anything that I can. But we would go. We'd drive, again, we'd drive 50 miles one way to hear a preacher. Because it would so influence us. And it would carry out a great influence upon us. And a lot of preaching, a ton of it is learned by imitation. And say, well, is that okay? Of course. That's how we learn. And we would go and listen and we'd learn something about preaching by watching and listening, seeing and hearing. Preachers actually do this mysterious thing that is called preaching. And that's moved us. And some of these men were, they were mighty men and mighty pulpiteers. And they could make us cry in almost a moment's notice. They could make us laugh. They could bring our hearts to rejoicing. They could bring us under conviction. And so we'd go listen to these men preach. They'd lift us up. And we'd know and we'd say, that's what we want to be. That's what we want to do. We want to know something about being able to do that, which is called preaching. One of our young men who's here this morning, a couple years ago, I think if I'm calculating right, he's probably 11 years old. You know what he asked me? He said, pastor, he said, how do you know that you're called to be a pastor? Note how he put it. He said, how do you know you're called to be a pastor? And of course, he got that because he's in a family where they honor preaching and know the significance of preaching. So he knew the question to ask. So I did my best to speak to him about something about what it is to be called to be a preacher. I was shown a video this past week of another one of our young men. He's this big, okay? All right? Literally. He's this big. So I'll let you figure out his age, all right? He's this big. And he was videoed doing some preaching here at the church over in the chapel over here. So his sisters helped him. He has older sisters. And so they got him all lined up behind the so-called pulpit there. and he was preaching with his big sister's help. Eventually, he will no doubt conclude that his sisters are giving him more help than he needs or wants. And there will probably be wars and rumors of wars that will start, but his mom and dad know how to handle that. But anyways, he was following the direction of his sisters. His sisters knew what to tell him to do. And so, this dad showed me the video of this. And so, the little guy's talking about Jesus, and he's talking. And he also does this. He, at one point, he goes, and makes a point. And you know who he got that from, don't you? A preacher from Brazil this past week, Pastor Roster. Because Pastor Roster, when he makes a point, he'll sometimes do this with his fist. And so this little guy goes like this, and he makes a point, you know. Perhaps God is going to call that little fella. to stand and to be a preacher of the Word. He's imitating. He's borrowing, in the good sense of that word. He's influenced by what he has seen and felt in the depths of his soul, and he saw the preacher, saw the preacher make a point and do it that way, right? And so, we learn by imitation. We have learned by imitation. And we create an atmosphere where there are those who will be in a position to be sensitive to a call that may come upon them. We have such an atmosphere in our church here that if anybody is called to preach, is that by God's grace, we'll be no hindrance to them, amen? We'll only be an encouragement to them. Now a biblical basis for what I am talking about, let's begin in verse 14. How shall they call on him whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they hear without a preacher? And so you must hear something if you are to be saved. And in that hearing, you must believe something if you are to be saved. And the apostle, who was also a preacher, he says, how shall they hear without a preacher? You say, well, people do get saved, and the general witness of the church, of course, we thank the Lord for that. Nevertheless, note what this text says. How shall they hear without a preacher? Preacher is a person, a preacher is a person who is in an office. There are motivational gifts, there are manifestation gifts, and there are these ministry gifts according to 1 Corinthians 12 and long about verse 5. And one of the ministry gifts, that is office gifts, is the office of the preacher. 2 Timothy 1.11, Paul says, I was appointed an apostle and a preacher. And so this is an office. Not everybody occupies this office. And so it is an office that a person enters into under the Lord's direction. So preaching is an office. Now, what does an office gift or a ministry gift enable a person to do? To be able to be a preacher and to be able to preach. An ability is given beyond the preacher because of the office. An ability is given. Our Lord was a preacher. On one occasion, back at his home synagogue, back at his home church, if you will, he opened the scriptures. And he applied this to himself. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach. And so this office brings an anointing upon the preacher. We are frail. We are weak. We are sinful. Frankly, I confess more of my failures in preaching than I glory in my preaching. Seldom do I leave the pulpit without thinking I should have prayed more. I should have studied that particular Greek verb a little bit more to have brought it out more clearly. I should have perhaps eliminated that and maybe said this, or I should not have said that in this particular way. It seems as though we have much to be humble about who are called to be preachers. And the power and the glory of it is that God uses weak vessels to accomplish eternal purposes. And how shall they hear without a preacher? This is an office. Make clear to your children that when you come to church to hear a preacher, the significance of that. Note that verse 15 says, and how shall they preach unless they are sent." Now, not everybody is to do this. We must be sent. The Lord Christ sends them and the church sends them in connection with acknowledging that Christ has sent them. How shall they preach? How shall they preach unless they are sent? Preaching. Preaching. What does it mean? Well, the word here means to herald forth the Word of God. Somebody is commissioned by the living Christ to be his herald. And he is to herald forth the Word of God. He is to lift his voice in preaching the Word of God and to herald forth the Word of God. He has authority from God. You say, people don't accept that authority. They use preaching as a negative. Ah, you know, my dad's always preaching at me, you know. So it's cast in a negative way. Don't preach at me. Don't hear preach. So it's already cast in a negative frame. It's used in a pejorative way. We must rescue preaching from that. But they are sent ones. to occupy a particular office. It's this mysterious thing that's known as the call to preach. God saves a person, a man, And it's called by sovereign grace to union with Christ, the effectual call, outward call, and then the effectual call comes. But within that salvation call, there will be some men who are going to be sent. How shall they preach unless they are sent? They must be sent. We must send them. Not by us calling them, but by recognizing Christ's call upon them. How shall they preach unless they are sent? They are sent ones. And there is this thing that is the mystery of the call to preach. And isn't that what we say? We hear somebody and we say, now that's a God-called preacher. That's what we say, don't we? Very biblical. That is a God-sent preacher. We use that phrase either consciously or unconsciously in the light of the words, but we have that sense of that. One of the things that Pastor Roster asked Pastor Dickey and myself, he said, tell me about how God called you to preach. We asked preachers that as well. And of course, after we had done sharing how we were called to preach, I said, Pastor Roster, tell us about how you were called to preach. And there's a mystery with this. But there is this call that comes to a man and it's irresistible. Our 11-year-old, who is now a couple years beyond that, asked me not too long ago, we were talking about preaching and about the call to the ministry, and one of the things that I shared with this wonderful young man, I said to him, I said, look, I said, if you have the opportunity to be the President of the United States, or you have the opportunity to be a preacher of the Word of God, a God-called preacher. And you are content to be the President of the United States and not see the glory and the wonder of being called to be a preacher. If you'd rather be the President, you're not called. Because this call creates a fire in the bones. This call is compelling. This call is irresistible. This call, it can be resisted. It can be fought off. It can be doubted. But this call lays hold of a person. Many years ago, a preacher out of Kentucky was preaching up here in Michigan. and sovereign grace preacher who he really could preach. So of course I went over here and preach. And he said something that has stayed with me for over 30 years. He said in his sermon, he said that every man that gets saved wishes that he could be a preacher. And you know, I have found that to be overwhelmingly true. There are men who are ready to quit their employment and to go into the ministry. Now, does it ever happen that it works out that way? Yes, sometimes. But I have noticed on a numbers of occasions that that's not the Lord's will. That they are where they should be and doing what they should be doing And of course, they'll receive a full reward for their faithfulness. And a preacher who's not faithful will not, if that's the case. But there's something in us where we say, I wish I could be a preacher. I want to do that. That's understandable. But it's just to be where God wants us to be and to be what He wants us to be. Nevertheless, What is sensed by many men is the significance of the office of the preacher and the significance and the privilege, the indescribable honor of being a preacher of the Word of God. If you're content to be the President of the United States from the human standpoint, the most powerful person in the entire world, if you're content for that, you've never been called to preach. Lloyd-Jones says, any true definition of preaching must say that a man is there to deliver the message of God A message from God to those people, if you prefer the language of Paul, he is an ambassador for Christ. That is what he is. He has been sent. He is a commissioned person, and he is standing there as the mouthpiece of God and of Christ to address these people. In other words, he is not there merely to talk to them. He is not there to entertain them. Entertain them he is there and I want to emphasize this to do something to those people who? He is there to produce results of various kinds. He is there to influence people. He is not merely to influence a part of them. He is there not only to influence their minds or only their emotions, or merely to bring pressure to bear upon their wills and to induce them to some kind of activity. He is there to deal with the whole person. And His preaching is meant to affect the whole person at the very center of life. Preaching should therefore make a difference to a man who's listening that he is never the same again. Preaching, in other words, is a transaction between the preacher and the listener. It does something for the soul of man, for the whole person, the entire man. It deals with him in a vital and radical manner. He goes on, he says, the other term used by Paul, ambassador, brings it out very clearly. An ambassador is not a man who voices his own thoughts or his own opinions or views or his own desires. The very essence of the position of the ambassador is that he's a man who's been sent to speak for someone else. He is a speaker for his government or his president or his king or his emperor. or whatever form of government his country may have. He is not a man who speculates and gives his own views and ideas. He is a bearer of a message. He is commissioned to do this. He is sent to do this, and that is what he must do, so says Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones. How shall they preach unless they are sent? Now, I also want to say this. One of the things I mentioned to our men at the academy, and one of the things I mentioned when we were up at our retreat a few weeks ago, when I mentioned one of the spiritual gifts is the office of the preacher, the gift of preaching, is that we confuse people. because we'll say somebody's going to fill in, let's say, for Pastor Dickey, and the person is not a God-called preacher, and we say, ah, he's going to be preaching next Sunday. You say, well, why worry about that? Well, because we're confusing people, because we're leaving people with the impression that this does not require a mysterious call We're leaving people the impression that it does not require an anointing which that person does not have apart from that anointing. And we're confusing people. We're leaving people the impression that anybody should do this and can do that if they will but just stand up and speak. That is not true. And so the office is diminished, the very thing that you want. You want people to hear preaching. You want people to hear the preacher. Because you know for both saved and lost, the enormous benefit and potential of what God might do in a given sermon. And so we leave the impression that anybody can do this. Now, among the elders, they're not required to be preachers. They're required to be apt to teach. In other words, all elders must be apt to teach. And so we have in our, all of our elders can teach. And I think it can literally be one-on-one or it can be to a group or combinations. But all of our elders are apt to teach. They can do that. They can teach the Word of God. Not all of our elders are called to be preachers. Pastor Dickey, Pastor Stewart, they are called to be preachers. They are in the office of the preacher. There is a difference. Again, do not miss my point. I am saying that we are diminishing the value of this God-ordained means of grace. A chief means they must hear, they must believe, but how shall they hear without a preacher? We're diminishing that by leaving the impression that anybody can do this. You say, well, what should we say then? Just be accurate. Our brother is going to come fill in for Pastor Dickey and he's going to bring a teaching or he's going to bring a message or an exhortation, all of that would be acceptable. But we're leaving people with the impression that we do not want, that we should not want to leave them with. This requires a call. Somebody is called to be a herald. Somebody is called to be an ambassador. Sent forth from the king of kings and lord of lords. Someone who is sent by Christ and has authority from Christ. And you may say, well, I tell you, I've heard some of the teachings then, if you want to call it that, it's better than some preaching I've heard. I'm sure that's true. And I've heard poor sermons and I've preached poor sermons, so both. So I'm something of an expert perhaps in that way. Right? And some humble servant of Christ steps up and gives what the Lord has given him and teaches or exhorts us and that. It's not preaching. Look, we who are called to do this can barely do it. It's beyond us. And yet, that is what we are called to do. So don't confuse people in this regards. Preaching is a glorious thing. Verse 15, how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things. Remarkable verse. humbling verse. Hard to even talk about, frankly. But why are the feet of the gospel preacher called beautiful? I think it is in connection with what verse 15 is actually saying. How shall they preach unless they are sent? If I am sent, I must be willing to go. I must move my feet and go and herald forth this word. And so, out of Isaiah 52, you have this quote that the Apostle Paul makes. How beautiful are the feet of those, because those feet carry the message, carry the one who brings the message, to be more accurate. There's also something else that I want to mention to you here. If the feet of the preacher, if his feet are beautiful, it's because he carries a beautiful message, doesn't he? Preaching is beautiful. Preaching is an art form. You say, well, I've heard a lot of preaching, doesn't seem to be much art in it. That may be true, but it's supposed to be, it's an art form. Preaching has an impact. And preaching is a beautiful thing. It is a speech event, and there's nothing like it. Winston Churchill, one of the great orators of the 20th century, he could put together a sermon that is have other features of at least externally what a sermon is and stand up and give it with his rolling, powerful, artistic oratory, but that's not preaching. and some brother up in some village, who is a preacher, who is sent by God, who has less abilities than Churchill, will open up the scriptures and begin to preach what the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven will do, what Winston Churchill could never do with all of his natural abilities. Preaching. And there's something that is beautiful. One of the things that you could pray for is that preaching as an art form needs to be revived. It is sacred rhetoric. It is sacred oratory. And especially with white preachers, we seem to have lost that dimension. And so pray that the imagination of the preacher will be inflamed and filled as he studies and prepares and puts together sermons. Pray that he may be more than prosaic, that he may have a touch of the poetic. Pray that there may be some music in that sermon, if you will. And preaching is not simply, as an art form, a chit-chat or a conversation. That's one of the fads. That's not what preaching is. Preaching is a heralding forth, lifting of a voice. Preaching brings those dynamics together. There will be different styles from different preachers. Preachers have different gifts. Preaching affects us. And preaching has a beauty about it. If the feet of the messenger is beautiful, it has to be because that message is one of astonishing beauty from that person who is the triune Jehovah, who is a person of indescribable beauty. And we should expect His Word to be glorious and beautiful. And we should expect or pray that we who seek to preach will know something of communicating that beauty not just to a lost and dying world, but to the church and for the benefit of the church. Verse 16, But they have not all obeyed the gospel, for it is written, Lord, who has believed our report? These men are commissioned to give what God has reported in his written word And so Isaiah says, Lord who has believed our report. Preaching gives out the report, gives out the narrative, tells the story, gives out the truth, reports. This is what preaching vows, reports what God has reported in his word. Not what the culture wants to hear, but what God has reported. In verse 17, so then faith comes by hearing, we must hear. Faith comes by hearing, we must have faith. And hearing by the word of God. But preaching in the church, on behalf of the church, to the church, continually creates faith in our souls and maintains faith in our souls. That's the potential of preaching. Preaching produces new worlds for us. Preaching will shatter old worlds and will recreate for us new worlds. Preaching will take you into a new world. And you never know which sermon it might be. Preaching brings the new creation, which is already underway, and we are part of the new creation. We are the new creation part of it. And preaching brings the new creation towards us in surprising and unexpected ways. You never know what's going to happen when the Word is preached. Now, there'll be some believer who will say, ah, you know, I don't know. I'm tired. I'm discouraged a little bit. I think I'll just sleep in. After all, you can go and hear some preaching every Sunday, so what's the difference if I miss a Sunday? Oh, don't think that way. That could be the sermon that would touch you in a way that your imagination and your mind cannot dream of. And I'll tell you what preachers do. Preachers prepare their message with people in mind. You say, what do you mean? To pick on people? No. But this morning, I have prayed for our congregation, but I've prayed for some of you in particular. Now, don't come up afterwards and say, did you pray for me? Okay, I'm not gonna tell you, right? But there are some of you that are here this morning And I have prayed for you in particular in regards to this message. Even if I don't know what that will mean for you in particular, I have brought your name, your name before the Lord. And I called one of our members yesterday, the day before, I think it was yesterday. And I said, I want you to pray for me. And I said, I want you to be in the service, too. Now, I don't always do that. Most of the time, I don't do that. And I hope the Lord gives him something this morning far beyond what I could ever produce if left to myself. Luther said that in preaching, Christ comes to us. Christ comes to us in the very preaching of the Word of God. Do not miss out on the opportunities for Christ to come to you as a believer. Christ comes to you. There will be those who will come to a service whose hearts are broken and shattered. They have suffered loss. Or they have heard news that drives them to their knees and unleashes a flood and river of tears down their cheeks over news of some loved one, something that has happened, that they're sick. or even dying. There will be those who will come to a service who are under strong temptations and is on the brink of sinning and seem powerless. They make their way to the house of God And then beyond the preacher, he might not know about that particular temptation. It's not the important thing usually, but something will come beyond the preacher, preaching the Word of God, and that temptation will be broken. Some will come who are discouraged, who have said, I'm going to quit. I just can't go on. Christian life seems to work for other people, but it just simply does not seem to work for me. And the harder that I seem to try, it seems like the worse that it gets. Ah, but I'll get myself up and I'll go to church, and then the preacher uses some portion of Scripture, uses some example in the light of that portion of Scripture, and Christ shows up. for that child of God. And he who was down and she who was down is now lifted to heights that they never dreamed of before. Some will come saying, I need faith for this situation and yet I am doubting, I am struggling, I can't seem to lay hold of the promise. Here it is, I know I need this in particular. And the Word of God goes forth in preaching, and the result? Suddenly, there's the inner strength. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. The Word of God is heard freshly by that believer. And he or she suddenly recognizes that they have fresh faith. Doubt is cast to the ground. They lay hold of that promise, and the Lord does all the rest in the light of that promise. You never know what's going to happen other than God has appointed this means in a great way. The powers of the age to come, according to Hebrews 6 and verse 5, having tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come are mysteriously present in preaching. Powers of an age to come show up in the preaching of the word. Events that happened centuries and even thousands of years ago become mysteriously present in the preaching of the Word. O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. Galatians 3 and 1. Paul says to those in Galatia, he writes back to them, he says, Christ was crucified in Galatia. He said, well, Christ was crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem. in the preaching of the word. Portrayed there is the preacher painting with words. See, it's an art. The preacher painting with words. He said, Christ, Galatians, don't listen to these heretics. These Christ denying, gospel denying, grace denying heretics, don't listen to them. It says, Christ was crucified among you. He was portrayed among you. How is that so? In the preaching of the Apostle Paul as he preached the Word of God, it was though they were standing at Calvary. I've been to Calvary. Have you? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? I've been there. I've been there in the preaching of the Word as I've listened to preachers preach. I've been to the foot of the cross. I've seen that blood running. I've heard that cry from his voice. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? I've heard him say, in triumph, it is finished. It is finished. It is finished. I've never visited the Holy Land, but I've been to the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. I've seen that stone rolled away. I've seen him walk out of that tomb, he who was dead, now by the power of God walks out of that tomb. and just as surely as if I were standing there, and he came up to me, and he put his hands on my shoulders and said, I am he that was dead, but am alive forevermore. I hold the keys of death and of hell. Your sins are forgiven. I am risen. I've heard the angelic account. He's not here, for he's risen. I've been there. How have I been there? I've been there because of spirit-anointed preachers that I've heard. I have believed the report, and it's through preaching, especially, that that has taken place. The command is to preachers and to the church to urge this, call for it. 2 Timothy 4, 2, preach the word in season out of season. Whether times are good for preaching or whether times are not too acceptable for preaching, We're to preach the word. Stay committed to preaching. Thank the Lord for our Pastor Dickie who preaches, who fulfills the office of the preacher. Continue to create an atmosphere where there will be those that will be raised up in our midst, and are being raised up in our midst, whom God will call to be a preacher, whom God himself, Christ Jesus, will say, I'm sending you. Go for me. Be my herald. Be my voice. Study. Pray. Work hard behind the scenes to prepare sermons for my glory, for the benefit of God's people, and for sinners who perish unless faith that comes by hearing is heard in the Word of God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I lift this sermon on sermonizing, this preaching on preaching. Lord, I lift it up to you as an act of worship. Use it to the benefit of your own precious people. And for anybody that's here that finds out this day that they've never believed the report, bring them to that saving faith. May they hear the word and be saved and call upon the name of the Lord. Bless the preachers that you've brought to this church. Use them, Lord. Protect them. Continue, Lord, to lay upon their heart those messages which will benefit us the most for the glory of Christ and for the extension of the kingdom of Christ. In whose name I pray, amen.