The End You. You. He shall receive God, and be my witnesses, and be my witnesses. He shall be witnesses unto the ends of the earth. Bill, welcome to the evening service here at Volusia County Baptist Church. Let's take our hymn books, stand as we turn to hymn number 444. I love to tell the story. Hymn number 444. I love 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 longing as nothing else can do. He'll be my theme in glory, He'll tell the old, old story Of Jesus and His love. I love to tell the story, Oh, wonderful it seems, And all the golden fancies, Of all our golden dreams. I love to tell the story, It did so much for me, And that is just the reason I tell it now to thee. I love to tell the story to be my theme in glory, to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love. On that fourth verse now. I love to tell the story of a lonely man Seen wandering and thirsting to hear it like the rest And when it sings of glory I sing a new song. Tell me the old, old story that I have lost so long. I long to tell the story where me Thank you. You may be seated. Now we have the Children's Music Academy coming to sing Tell Me the Story of Jesus. Tell me the story of Jesus, write on my heart every word. Tell me the story of passion, sweetest that ever was heard. How glad the angels in chorus sang as they laughed at his birth. Glory to God in the highest, He's been exciting to earth. Tell me the glory of Jesus, right on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious, sweetest that ever was heard. Fasting alone in the desert, how long the days have gone by. How fortunate we were destined, yet what triumph did that last? Tell of the years of his labor, tell of the sorrow he bore. He was despised and afflicted, homeless, rejected, and poor. Tell of the sorrow he bore. Tell of the great words they made him, tell how he lives again. Oh, this morning's a splendor, clearer than ever, I think. Stay, let me read while you whisper, Love is a ransom for me. Tell me the story of Jesus, write on my heart every word. Tell me the story of precious, sweetest that ever was heard. Amen. What a blessing. Thank you. Boys and girls, you did a fantastic job. Thank you, those of you working with them. And a marvelous song for them to have in their heart as a youngster. Marvelous message. Let's see, what does Dr. Wallace call that? Beefcake music, or beefsteak music, or something like that. That's great. I'm going to ask something special here. Nancy Fleming, I saw you earlier. Are you still in here, Nancy? Right where? Miss Nancy, I need you to come to the platform, please. Come on, if you will, please, if you don't mind. Come on up here. You're not in trouble. You're not in trouble. Miss Janice, oh, you're not going to do it down there? That would be fine where you're at. Okay, yeah, if you would just stand here with us and explain what's going on. Each year, the fifth and sixth grade Sunday school class, we choose a missionary to support, pray for, and to be a blessing to, and this past year we have chosen Miss Cassie Fleming. And their offering this year to Miss Cassie was $205.42. And we would like to present this to Miss Nancy to give to her. Take it up. To children, that is huge. That is sacrifice. That is faithfulness. That is giving like crazy. And you know where your treasure is? There where your heart be also. And so you have lots of boys and girls praying for your daughter, praying for Miss Cassie. God bless you. Thank you, Miss Nancy. Amen. Thank you so much. And they have one other thing that's a gift to all of us. This will be neat. You'll enjoy this. Tell them about it. John 3.16 is the gospel in one verse. And when someone asks, oh, do you know John 3.16? Oh, I know John 3.16, forwards and backwards. Well, you probably don't really, but this class does. And they would like to quote that for you. John 3.16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Life everlasting have, but perish not, should him in believeth, whosoever that son begotten only his gave. He that world beloved, so God for. 16 3 John. I just dare you to try it. But do it when somebody can be around to hear you and laugh at you while you do. Yeah, that's tricky. I've heard Abigail doing that as they've practiced that, and it still boggles my mind. What a great start, kids. And I mean, just what a tone setter for us this evening. God so loved the world. And we're talking about the world, God's focus on the beyond, those regions that we do not get to access and these men and ladies that are here with us this week. So we're looking for God to bless us again this evening. Let's bow in prayer as we set our hearts as the meeting goes. God, we are so grateful for the ways that you display your love. You did so love. You loved in the manner that you sent Jesus Christ, sinly, holy, blameless, perfect, to take our place to die for my sin, to die for the sins of every man and woman. You're not the propitiation for some sins but for the sins of the world. You love the world. Give us vision this week again of how to reach the world, of how you through us do a work that is so far beyond us. But Lord, you show us a glimpse of how we get to be a part of that. And Lord, everyone can fill that role. Everyone can fill that very unique place, no matter what it is. May we all answer the call this week. God bless our speakers this week, those that give testimony. Lord, as the messages are brought, the pictures are presented, songs that are sung, all of this to the honor and glory of Almighty God that you might impress on us the love that you have for this world. In Jesus' name, amen. I think we have now coming the Rogers Trio singing for us. Is that correct? I don't know how they decipher which three are the trio. Maybe this is tonight's trio. This is a good one, though. You'll enjoy this. There's a cloud of many great deserts with Christ in heaven above. Watching as we run this race, they cheer us on in love. There are faces we have seen before, and more we've never known. They fought the battles, took their stand, we reap what they have sown. Not ashamed to claim the name of Jesus I am not ashamed to tell the world he's mine Can we all proclaim this gospel to all people? I am not ashamed, I proclaim his name Now I take my stand in Jesus, and serve the Lord today. I give my strength and purpose, I sing and work and pray. And though all the world may mock me, I'll walk unfearing by. I'll stay with Christ my Savior, His name I'll not deny. I am not ashamed to claim the name of Jesus. I am not ashamed to tell the world He's mine. Let me out proclaim this gospel to all people. I am not ashamed, I will claim His name. Oh, I'm not ashamed to claim the name of Jesus I am not ashamed to tell the world He's mine When we all proclaim this gospel to all people I am not ashamed, I will claim His name. I am not ashamed, I will claim His name. Marvelous. Thank you so much, ladies. Great job. And it is a thrill to have the Woon family back with us. They finished one term, came on a furlough from Nepal. They're leaving to go back to Nepal in 13 days. 13 days. Brother Jason, if you'd come, please, sir. I would love for him to share a testimony of what God's doing. He'll be sharing his presentation on tomorrow night and looking forward to this and seeing. When I was talking with him before church, when I asked, I said, you all are getting ready to go back very soon, aren't you? And Mrs. Woon, she said, 13 days. And she honestly was excited. about going back to God's work. She was thrilled looking forward to it. That's the way it ought to be when we serve the Lord and doing what God wants us to do. We can't wait to be doing it. So I'm excited for this dear family, looking forward to all that God's going to inform us about and then what we can do to probably be a help to them. Brother Jason, God bless you, sir. Good to have you here. It is a pleasure to be with you. I'm so thankful that God has blessed me with such a wonderful wife and godly lady. I'd like to share a little bit about how the Lord worked in our hearts and how he led us to the mission field tonight. We'll share more about Nepal with you tomorrow night, but let me introduce my family to you first. This is, here sitting on, let's Stand up. What's going on here? Oh, he's acting like... You need a cane there, son? Poor guy, 10 years old, he's already broke down, isn't he? This is my wife, Charity, and my oldest son, Ben. I don't know how he got the height. Everybody asks that. And my little princess, Michaela, she's 13, and then Gabriel is our wild man. He's 10 years old. God has blessed us with such a wonderful family. We love one another. I've been through a lot together as a family. We'll share more about that later. I met my wife in high school. We met in computer class. I was already saved. I was saved at the age of 12. and because somebody told me the story of Jesus amen I so blessed by the song tonight tell me the story of Jesus and those children need to hear it don't they amen somebody had compassion enough to tell me that Jesus loves me and that I could have eternal life through him and I was already saved when I'm When we met and I asked her if she was a Christian, she told me she was. She didn't realize that she was lying to me. She's an honest liar. I'm only kidding. She really believed she was. She was led in a prayer when she was little. She was about nine years old. And she didn't understand the gospel. How many of you understand that unless you understand the gospel of Jesus Christ, you cannot be saved? Unless you have God's work in your heart and your eyes are open to the truth, you cannot be saved. You can say all the prayers you want. You can do all the things that you want in religion and whatever. it will not give you eternal life only through Jesus Christ only by faith and that faith we know comes through the Word of God. Amen? But the Lord put us together in high school and we were able to go on a youth mission trip with our church to St. Thomas Virgin Islands and there was a hurricane that had come through there that was in 95 and Hurricane Marilyn had Just ravaged the country and tore down one of the Bible colleges there. We were able to go and help as a youth group to repair and rebuild. just got there and God began working in my heart and my wife's heart and that's where he showed us for the first time that he wanted us to go and serve as missionaries. We already knew that we were the ones for each other. My wife had already told me that, but anyway. I tell people she asked and she asked and she asked and finally I said yes I'll marry her. But that's not true. But we immediately from there God began putting a desire in our hearts to go to a people that have never heard the gospel. And so I have to back up just a little bit. You were already saved right? at that time during Bible College. She was a Bible College student. She graduated a year before I did, so she went into Bible College before I did. And the Lord began to reveal to her that she didn't understand what the gospel was, that they were in a class and they were talking about breaking down the words as you share the gospel with people, breaking down the word meanings and showing them what these words mean, like holiness and sin and repentance and things like that. And as they were doing that, the Holy Spirit revealed to her that she was never saved. And so she got saved in her car one night, a couple of weeks later. And God began using us and blessing us in our relationship. We were married in 96, June of 96. And that's where the Lord started our journey on the mission field. It wasn't until 2008. What happened, I got out of Bible college in the year 2000. We were expecting to go right in the mission field. And the Lord just did not give us any clear direction of where to go. And we just felt, you know, God wants us to wait. And that was the only thing, the answer that we got as we prayed, what God wants us to do. He just said wait. And so we just grew where we were planted. And God put us in a local church and we learned to serve in that local church. Learned a lot of things. We wore a lot of different hats and served in many different ways. And you know what? God matured us through that. He helped us emotionally and spiritually to mature as young people. And I believe that if we'd gone to the mission field straight out of Bible college that we wouldn't be here today. We would not be standing before you because we were not ready. And we learned that you have to be ready and God prepares the heart. He doesn't just send out people without preparing them first. And so God used that time to prepare us. And so it was in 2008 that again we began to be burdened for the mission field and God began directing our hearts that direction. So we began praying, Lord, what do you want us to do? And just a couple of weeks after we seriously got to praying about that, a missionary family from Nepal came by our church and shared with us about Nepal. That's the first time we'd ever heard about Nepal, where that is and what it's like. And so God used that meeting with that family to get everything started from there. They invited us to come and we were able to come and visit the field and that's when God just confirmed in our hearts that's where he wanted us. So I'm so thankful that we have been there and yes, Pastor, we are so excited about getting back. Even my children are excited. They just can't wait to see their dogs and they can't wait to, you know, that's home for us. That's hard for us. And we got here in America and everybody's like, are you glad to be home? And we're thinking, we're not home. But we didn't want to offend, so we said, yes, we're glad to be home. But really, home for us is in Nepal. And only God can do that. God put a desire in our hearts to be there, and so we give God the glory tonight. Thank you so much. He heard, He heard, Jesus said, Wounded on the rolling tide, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Pilgrim still is far and wide, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Where the news to every land, by the sea it shall cross the wave. Onward kids, our horse away! Jesus saves, Jesus saves! We are showing to children the nations That shall turn their hearts to God A story of truth and mercy A story of peace and love A story of peace and love Where the darkness shall turn to dawn And the dawning to day bright, That first great kingdom shall come upon earth, The kingdom of love and light. That first great kingdom shall come upon earth, The kingdom of love and light. Christian soldiers marching as new born. The cross of Jesus, glory not before. Christ the royal Master, he captains the foe. Forward into battle, in his banner call. Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as one With the cross of Jesus going on before With the cross of Jesus Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. This truth is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on. His truth is marching on. We have heard the joyful sound. Jesus saves. Jesus saves. Amen. Amen. Thank you, choir. The music has been right on tonight. Man, it's been good already. I wonder if we have anyone who's here for the first time. It's a great night to be here for the first time, but if this is your first time being with us at the home place, we'd like to know if you'd allow us to know that I'm looking around. If this is your first time here at Volusia County Baptist Church, do I have somebody right back here? First time right back here? Guys, these guys are going to come by and put a visitor's card in your hand. We'd love to get that back from you. Where are you from? New Hampshire. You're not going to make it home before midnight, I don't think, at least not if you stop and get something to eat, but we're so glad that you came to visit with us tonight. Man, thank you so much for coming. Anybody else? First time here at the home place tonight? All right, well, wonderful. We have several things coming up, not only what's going on, but things that are on the horizon to be mindful of. Of course, every night, 7 o'clock, Be right in your place all week long. And, of course, capping it off on Thursday night with our big banquet right back there in the Activities Building. Also, Super Seniors, two weeks from tomorrow, will make up for that shopping trip that we missed this past week. Tithing envelopes are still available. Pick those up back in the Activities Building after the service. Christmas cards, last chances, last chances. Get them before they're gone. They're yours. Get them. Sweetheart retreat, in case, last thing I'll mention. Sweetheart retreat. I've got registrations coming in. Keep them coming in. If you don't know what I'm talking about, be a part of it. February 10th through 12th, we're going to be taking our young couples, all of those that have high school age or younger in your home, we're going to get away for a couple of days. We want you to be a part of that. So come on, get on board with us, get signed up soon. We need you to sign up, register as soon as you can. Thank you. All right, I want to remind you on Thursday night is our banquet, and you will be served by smiling teenagers just thrilled to help you. And it'll be a marvelous time. We're going to have good food. Cindy Sutherland is in charge of all that, and her team has been preparing and planning and looking forward to that. Thank you, Miss Cindy, for heading that up. And we'll be setting up in the Activities Building, and we're going to pack it out. Now, if you would, please, perhaps if you could bring some desserts, if you could bring that just a few minutes before, and that'll be marvelous. It would be very helpful to our servers. Now, let's see. There's no other way to do that than that, really. If you could get it here sooner, that would be marvelous as well. We get some of them on the tables, but I understand you're going to be coming with your dessert. And at that banquet, will be putting in your hands one of these global missions, the Luce County Baptist Church directories of all of our missionaries that we support. And it will be a marvelous thing for you to have, to use as a prayer tool, along with the message that we heard from Brother Marweli on this morning. It will be a great asset and a great help to pray specifically about our missionaries and their needs and then to perhaps even contact them. All their email addresses are on here. And what a marvelous way to stay in touch. And I don't know if the wounds would echo this or not. But to have someone from a supporting church to contact you and say, hey, we were thinking about you. Our family is praying for you today. Just wanted to let you know. That can come at the most important time, crucial moment in your ministry. And so a way for us to be actively supporting them and prayerfully supporting them. So thank you so much Michelle and Melissa Rogers. Thank you Brother Don Orser for getting all this information together. And don't forget on Tuesday night, that's teen night, we'll be having pizza at the end of the service for all the teenagers. And we encourage you to be here every service. We have some wonderful things planned. Wednesday night, for instance, we're looking forward to Daniel Cox. He's going to be here singing and singing a couple songs and just surprises each night. And I know you'll want to be here. We'll be out. God willing, we're going to push forward. and be out of here by 8.30, if not before, every weeknight. And so please come and don't let that hinder you. Sometimes, I remember one time I told my mother I couldn't go to church on Sunday night because I had a big exam the next day. and I had to stay home and study. I'd been working a lot that week at the grocery store and had about 30-some hours already that week, and I just didn't have time to study for that exam, and I need to stay home because there's a big final. And you know what I did when I stayed home? I goofed off. Shame on me. I didn't plan on it. I really did have intentions on studying. But you know what God told me? He said, You should have been in my house. You should have put me first. And as I recall, I didn't do too well on that test. So I would encourage you, please, trust God, step out on faith, and do your best to be here every single night. Don't miss a single evening. Seven o'clock, be in your place, and God will bless you for it. Brother Dave, would you come, please, with another song to lead us? Let's stand as we take our hymn books once again and turn to hymn number 446. We have a story to tell to the nations. Hymn number 446. A story to tell to the nation That shall turn their hearts to the right A story of truth and mercy A story of peace and light A story of peace and light For the darkness shall turn to the light Embrace great kingdoms shall come to earth, the kingdom of love and light. That shall lift their hearts to the Lord, A song that shall conquer evil, And shatter the spirit's sword, And shatter the spirit's sword. The dark place shall turn to dawning, And the dawning to new day bright, And Christ's great kingdom shall come upon earth, the kingdom of love and light. On that fourth verse, pray the Savior to show to the nations who the path of sorrow hath trod, that all of the world's great peoples might come to the truth of God. Let's remain standing for a fellowship song. Well, this is a song that it's kind of simple. It's kind of memorable, you might say. It says, yes, Lord, yes, to your will and to your way. I'll say yes, Lord, yes. If you know it, sing along with me, please, and teach it to everyone else. Here we go. Sing it now. I'll say yes, Lord, yes, to your will and to your way. I'll say yes, Lord, yes, I will trust you and obey when the Spirit, when the Spirit speaks to me. With my whole heart I'll agree And my answer will be yes, Lord, yes Sing it again now I'll say yes, Lord, yes To your will and to your way I'll say yes, Lord, yes I will trust you and obey When the Spirit speaks to me With my whole heart I'll agree, and my answer will be yes, Lord, yes. Amen. The choir's coming down to shake hands, fellowship one with another tonight. Good to see you in God's house. God bless you. It's a beautiful day, beautiful day. you I'll say yes, Lord, yes, to your will and to your way. I'll say yes, Lord, yes, I will trust you and obey. When the Spirit speaks to me, with my whole heart I'll agree, and my answer will be yes, Lord, yes. Amen. Well, God bless you. When you find your seat, you can be seated. I feel like this is musical chairs. The music stops and everybody scrambles to see if they still have a seat left. That's good. All right. We have another visitor here. Debbie Baker. Where are you, Miss Debbie? Where's Debbie Baker? Wave at me. Right back. No. Let's see. Right over here. Yes. Good to have you back. God bless you. You were here about two Sundays ago. And good to have you back, Debbie. God bless you. Thank you so much for coming. Ushers, come on down, please. Receive the offering. And if you would share... Well, where'd Pastor Aaron go? Okay. All righty. There you are. You had a couple prayer requests that you... Yeah. Sure, that'd be fine. Hal and Judith Peercy, both of them struggling so badly, and Hal in the hospital in Sanford. So pray for them, if you will, the Peercy family. Well, God bless you. Brother Bill Smith, good to see you, sir. Would you come and lead us in prayer, please, for the offering, if you wouldn't mind, sir? And we're so thankful for pillars of the faith that have served the Lord, and that God has blessed us planting them here in our church, in our midst, and what a blessing they are to me, to our church, and to God's work. Brother Bill, you all are, on Sunday mornings, you're ministering in the prison, in the jail, is that right? No, in an RV place. RV place right now, okay. Okay, amen. Well, tell us what's going on there, and then we'll sit there, if you will. Yeah, on Sunday mornings we have an RV place there on 46th and Sanford that we go to and minister there every Sunday morning. That's the reason we're not here. And then Thursday nights we go to the detention center to the prison ministry. Okay, Father again, we just praise you, we thank you again for your faithfulness, your goodness. Just thank you so much for this evening. Just what a blessing it's been so far. And God again, we just want to praise you and thank you that we have the opportunity in this country to worship you the way we do. And our Father again, we just want to thank you for these missionaries that have come. And God, we just pray that not only will they be a blessing to us, but we'll be a real blessing to them as well. Encourage their hearts and meet their needs. And again, our Father, we just want to remember these dear ones that are in the hospital. This evening, Lord, again, only you, the great physician, are able to touch them and amend them. Lord, we just want to commit the offering to you and just pray that you'll bless that. And again, help us to use it wisely. For it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, I don't think any missions conference is complete anymore, but without this song, people need the Lord. It's become very popular, and the Ladies Ensemble is going to share that with us tonight. Every day they pass me by I can see it in their eyes Empty people filled with care Headed who knows where On they go through private pain, living fear to fear. Laughter hides their silent cries, People need the Lord People need the Lord At the end of broken dreams He's the open door. People need the Lord. People need the Lord. When will we realize people need the Lord? We are called to take His light to a world where all seems right. What could be too great a cost for sharing life with one who's lost? Through His love our hearts can feel all the grief they bear. Shui Esu no Mi Shui Esu no Mi Yabure wa Ooi Towa Hiraki Shui Esu no Mi Shui Esu no Mi to you as you know me. People need the Lord. People need the Lord. At the end of broken dreams, He's the open door. He believes the Lord. He believes the Lord. And will we realize that we must give our lives for people need the Lord. People need the Lord. People need the Lord. Hey, man, wonderful. Take your Bibles with me again, please, and go to the book of 2 Corinthians in chapter number 8, if you would, please. 2 Corinthians in chapter number 8. I'd like to give you another faith promise fact point to think about tonight in regards to your faith promise commitments for this coming year. Many of you probably have been praying about it for quite some time and have already filled out that card and put it in the offering and you're already trusting God and already watching God as to how it's all going to be accomplished. Some of you are Just almost right there, you're pretty sure you know what it is, but you're not positive, and some are still praying. But hopefully, everybody's doing something. We said this morning, the faith promise is money that God will give through you, that He would not give to you, except He knew you were going to give it to worldwide missions. I hope that definition will kind of sink in throughout the course of the week as you hear it a few times, especially the idea that God will give through you. we become the conduit. I hope that you are willing to increase your faith. And then, when we get to 2 Corinthians chapter number 8, which is probably the chapter that's used most for all missions conferences and faith promise conversation, let me just hit a couple of things here in this. It says in verse number 1, Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, how that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy, and their deep poverty abounded under the riches of their liberality. Verse 3 says, for to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves. Notice especially verse 3, for to their power. I believe that's clearly telling us that we are to give to missions out of what we have. I think there's two elements of faith promise giving. Giving out of what you have for to their power and yea and beyond their powers giving out of what you don't have. Giving out of what you already have. You pay your tithes, you give your offerings as directed by your pastor and by the church. Different things come up, like this morning a special offering was taken for a special need and obviously the church rose to the occasion. Numbers of times preacher will get up and say we have a need for such and such, we'll be taking a special offering and God directs that. That's above your tithe. And then there's faith, promise-giving out of what you have, that which you can figure out. We have X amount of dollars, and we can let that go and trust God by faith that He is going to replace it, and He always does, abundantly above what we could ever imagine or think. Amen? And then there's giving out of what you don't have. That's the level of commitment that you want to get to in your faith promise. That's when faith promise-giving becomes thrilling. That's when you're waiting every day. That's when you're watching every moment. Asking God, how are you going to do it? How's it going to come? Where's the savings going to happen that I was not planning on happening? Where's the finances going to come from that I had no idea they were going to come? And you're like a kid in a candy store just waiting for that next thing. You probably are about as much like a missionary at that point as you possibly can be. Because missionaries live. Their most exciting walk is from their house to the mailbox. Can't wait to get to the mailbox and find out how God is meeting that need this week. Brother Woon, I don't know you, but I'm looking forward to getting to know you. I met your family before the service and very respectful. I appreciate that very much until I got to that one. And I wondered how Gabe, I had no idea that this was a Woon family. I had no idea who they were at all. I thought to myself, I wonder what his dad must be like for him to act like that. I'm not wondering anymore. Amen. Got it all figured out. It's a good thing, Gabe. Hey, Gabe, it's a good thing. Good, good thing. Amen. Praise the Lord. Do you agree with me, Brother Woon, that trek from the house to the mailbox? Yeah, it becomes pretty exciting, doesn't it? Except your, probably, house to your mailbox is not like right out at the street, right? Your mailbox is post office. Yeah, exciting place to go. But you start doing that, and you start waiting, you start watching, you start anticipating, Lord, how How are you going to do it? But He always does. But you're not going to be able to experience that until first you live out verse number five. Because verse number five says, and this they did, not as we hoped, but first. First. Before they gave out of what they have, before they gave out of what they did not have, before they gave out of their deep poverty, before they gave in a deep trial of affliction, before any of that, first, they gave of themselves to the Lord. Do you have that time marked in your life? Do you have that stake in the ground somewhere that you can go back to during that great trial of affliction, during that difficult time in your life, do you have that stake in the ground that you can go back to and say, that's the day, that's the moment, that's the occasion, where from the top of my head to the sole of my feet, I gave everything that I am, everything that I have, everything that I ever will have, I gave it to the Lord. Do you have that time in your life? Do you have that Romans 12, 1 and 2? I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto the Lord, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove, prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. If that time has not happened in your life, regardless of how old or young you are, it needs to. All that I am, Lord I'm not much, but everything that I am is yours. All that I have, Lord I don't have much, but all that I have, I don't have much until I put my kids into that category. Then I have lots. They seem to be the most difficult ones to give up. when really they were never ours in the first place. They're on loan to us from Almighty God. We're the caretakers. We're the ones that God has given the responsibility to nurture and to raise and to put the fear of the Lord in them. Amen? I was in a meeting just last week and a dear lady came up to me after the meeting and she said, Preacher, you preached here last year. And somewhere during the course of the message, I can't tell you what message it is, but you challenged us about giving our children to the Lord and honestly preacher she said I did that with all of them but one and that one I just have struggled all my life letting go. She said preacher I want you to know at that meeting after that service I went home and and did that. She said the amazing thing is is now it's less than a year from then and she is in Bible college right now training to be a missionary. I said, really, what's she going to do? She said, well, I'm not sure, but she has a love for medicine. She's training for nursing that she can go use that as a tent making opportunity to get into places where you would not be able to get into. She said, and she loves languages. My eyes got real big. I said, you said she loves languages. I said, can I talk to her? She said, oh yeah, she's right there. She called her over and told the situation. I said, Haley, I said, how much do you love languages? And she started crying. She said, I just love it. I said, like English, grammar, that kind of thing? She said, oh, I just love it. I said, Haley, do you know that there are more female Bible translators than there are male? And God could take that love. that you have for the languages and use that to help somebody get a Bible in their language for the very first time. She just wept. Because there was a time when mom was willing to give all that she had first to the Lord. What are you holding back? What are you hanging on to? What is that that's the most difficult thing to let go? If you'll first give of yourself to the Lord, then giving of what you have and beyond what you have will become one of the greatest thrills that will bring eternal rewards beyond anything that you could ever imagine or think. But there's an interesting phrase there in verse 2. How that in a great trial of affliction. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would help us as we look into the Word of God again tonight Lord, I'm never sure why you put this message on my mind, but you have, and I pray that you'll take it and stretch it and use it in ways greater than anything I could imagine or think. We'll give you all the glory for the results, and we love you. We'll trust it by faith in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Go back in your Bibles with me a few pages to Acts in chapter number 17. In Acts, in chapter number 17, you have the Apostle Paul, his missionary journey, and he's about to go through Amphipolis to Thessalonica. Then he's going to leave Thessalonica and go to Berea. He's going to leave Berea and go to Athens. And in Athens, something pretty incredible is about to take place in his life. But before any of that can take place, the very first word in chapter 17 and verse number 1 is, now. We use that word often in regards to something that's taken place. We had a nap this afternoon, now we're going to church. We're in church, and now after that, we're going to go do whatever you're planning on doing tonight. Well, what was the before now of chapter number 17 and verse number 1? Well, it's chapter 16 and verse 25. In chapter 16, verse 25, you've got the conversion of the Philippian jailer. And notice it starts out right there in verse 25 and says, And at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them. When does that say this took place, church? At midnight. That midnight hour. That great trial of affliction that you either have gone through or you are going through or you will go through. That midnight hour. I don't believe that this particular midnight hour is referring to a difficult time in your life. We all have many difficult times in our life. We all have a lot of challenging times. People disappoint us and friends disappoint us, and finances disappoint us, and health lets us down. We have many, many difficult times, but this perhaps is that one, maybe only one time in a lifetime that's that most difficult hour that you feel like you might not be able to get through it. You can maybe see a light at the end of the tunnel, but it's so dim you're not even sure that it's a light. That midnight hour. Everybody in this room has either gone through it, or you're in it, or you will go through one. Those of you that have gone through one, you would all agree with me that when you went through it, notice it's through, you never stay in it. You're only in it as long as you need to be for God to be able to teach you what He wants to teach you. Because when you go through that most difficult time, more difficult than you could ever imagine or ever even want to think about, when you come out the other side, you're able to do more for the glory of God at that time in your life than you ever thought possible. You'd never be able to do that if you didn't first go through that midnight hour. Those of you in this room that have been through that, you all would agree with me. The other side is a wonderful place to be. Some of you, maybe you're in it right now and you're saying, Preacher, I hope what you're saying is right because really I'm not even positive I can get out of this. Or some of you might be saying, oh man, I think I would have just as soon stayed home tonight if this is what I'm going to have to listen to. You're telling me that one of those times is coming in my life? I'm sure it is. But when it does, how can you get through it? Notice it says there, and at midnight, in that most difficult time, Paul gives us a formula as to how he got through it. The formula is very interesting to me. It says, in that midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises. They prayed and sang praises. I believe that God is a God of order. I believe everything in His book is in His book, in order, on purpose, to teach us exactly what He wants us to learn, with no mistakes. Amen? We believe that. And notice it says they prayed and sang praises, not sang praises and prayed. Now don't misunderstand me. I'm all about singing and the music in this church is exceptional. When you're in a different church almost every week of your life somewhere around North America, as the Lord allows me to be, when you get in one like this where the music is superb like it is here, it is refreshing. It's wonderful. I hope you don't take it for granted. However, notice it says they prayed first. and sang praises. If we could put our finger on perhaps the biggest challenge that most people have in their Christian walk, I believe it would be on lack of prayer. Lack of that intense, specific prayer we talked about this morning. I told a preacher yesterday that I believe that we were in the midst of revival in the 70s and we didn't even know it. Those of you that went through the 70s, you look back at the amazing things that took place and all the people that are in pulpits and on mission fields and serving God today because of decisions they made or salvations that were decided upon in the 70s is unbelievable. And we were saved, we were called right in the middle of it and so we just thought that's the way it was always supposed to be. Now we look back at it and we go, wow, those were incredible days. And they were. But we can have them again. As amazing as those days were, we can see those days again right now in this generation that we are living in, I believe it with all my heart, but not if we don't pray like they did. When you talk to the preachers behind those pulpits, you talk to the men that God was using just in incredible ways, if you could have been with them at night time or early in the morning or long periods of time and listened to and heard their prayer life, it'd make sense as to why. I would like to submit to you, if we're going to get through that midnight hour, that great trial of affliction, to be able to get to that point where we can give more of what we have, and yea, beyond what we have, we need to learn to pray more, better, and specific. But not only does it say they prayed, it says they prayed and sang praises. Prayed and sang praises. Remember how it used to be back when you used to go to grandma's house? Back in the day when you used to go to grandma's house, back in that day, you didn't have to call and set up an appointment. You didn't do that kind of thing back then. You didn't even have to knock on the door. You just walked in because the door was never locked. You just walked in. And you always found grandma in the same place. Are you with me? Where was that place? in the kitchen. Grandma was just always in the kitchen. Let me say that one more time. Grandma was always in the kitchen cooking on a stove in an oven. There's just something about biscuits and gravy that's made on a stove in an oven versus ones that are put into and taken out of the microwave. Hello. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not anti-microwave, but grandma knew how to fry chicken and make biscuits and gravy on the stove in the oven. How am I doing? Amen. There was just something about, you always knew when you went to grandma's house, she's gonna be in the kitchen, she's gonna be cooking, and if you don't announce your entrance, you always heard her Singing. Right? Amazing grace, the old rugged cross, victory in Jesus, power in the blood, I come to the garden alone, I surrender all. Grandma was always singing. What happened to that? Why don't we have that in the house anymore? I know I can hear some of you. You're saying right now, well preacher, honestly if you could hear me sing, you'd know why there's no singing in my house. And who gave you that voice? And did he make a mistake? That voice that you have came from God Almighty exactly as it is on purpose for Him to receive glory from you. I submit to you that's the number one challenging reason why our singing in church today not even compares to the singing the way it used to be in churches. We're more concerned about what he thinks and what she thinks and what that person in front of us thinks. We're more concerned about what the people around us think about what we sound like than we are about what God hears that we just don't sing at all. And by the way, do you know that you don't have to impress God with your voice? He already knows what you sound like. You don't have to go way down here. You don't have to do that. Just open up and sing for the glory of God. Amen! It'll change things for you. It'll change things. If you go into the household and you're going through that difficult time in your life, it will change things for you. My sending church, Faith Baptist Church in Chelsea, Michigan, they have an amazing choir. And the church is somewhere around 250 strong, somewhere in that area. And on any given service, there's 40 to 60 in the choir. 10 or 15 of them can sing. I'm talking about that polished, perfect harmony. They can do that. You know what the rest of them are doing? Singing to the glory of God. And it's the most contagious thing that you have ever heard. I mean, when the choir starts singing, it's almost like a deer on full alert. You know what that is, right? A deer on full alert. Any deer hunters in here? I know I'm way down here in South Florida. There's not a lot of deer hunting going on down here. But a deer on full alert. If you're a hunter and you're in your stand, you know when that deer stops and freezes, and when those ears turn toward you, you've been had. You have a matter of three seconds at most to do what you're going to do because that deer is out of there. And when that choir sings, it's almost like the whole church just stops and all the ears turn to the singing and they're captivated. Not because it's the most harmonic thing you've ever heard. Not because it's the most polished, the most balanced, the most in tune. It's not any of that. but their smiles on their faces, it's not unusual for a couple of them even to raise their hand in the choir. That's okay, by the way. Giving glory to God. I'm submitting to you tonight, church, if you're going to get through that great trial of affliction, to where you can Give out of what you have, and yea, beyond what you have, with joy in your heart. Pray more. And sing more. It'll help you through. Not only did they pray and sing praises, but look at verse number 27. And the keeper of the prison, awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. Not only did they pray and sing praises, but they saw the mighty power of Almighty God. God's power. When's the last time you on purpose saw that? When's the last time you on purpose recognized the Almighty Power? of the omnipotent God Himself. You see, it's kind of interesting because Paul and Silas here are all by themselves. They don't have anybody that's going to come and help them. There's no bunch of churches in the area and a whole bunch of pastors that are going to get together at a pastor's fellowship and say, hey, preacher Paul, he's down there in jail. Let's go get him. Let's go get him out. Let's go pay bail. No, no, no. They're all alone in there, as far as that part of it is concerned. I'm relatively sure in my lifetime, in your preacher's lifetime, that if we continue to stand where we're standing, four square on this precious Word of God, we will probably see some of that jail time. It probably will happen. But it's not going to happen like Paul. Hopefully we'll have some people that'll come at least bring us some cookies. Amen, preacher? At least somebody will come bring you... must be you like blueberries. By the way, you're responding to blueberries at the restaurant today. You must like blueberries. Maybe somebody will pick you a peck of blueberries and something. Amen? And they had to figure out how they're going to get through this. They can just complain and murmur and have no effect whatsoever, or they can on purpose decide to see the power of God. And they saw that power. Those prison doors opened, all of them. Wait a minute. How many of you have been in a prison, not on the inside, but visiting? Comfortable? Uncomfortable? I had the privilege of being a chaplain for the Sheriff's Department in Hillsdale County for several years, and I had a wonderful jail and prison ministry that the church that I pastored, Lewis Park Baptist Church, the property actually joined the property of the five large prisons right there in Jackson, Michigan. And so, I know a little bit about the prison ministry. And every time I went into the prison, and they would shut those doors behind you, there's something about that feeling that's not matched by anything else. Even though you know you're going to be okay, it is still very uncomfortable. But to be on the inside, when there's nobody there to help you, and all of a sudden, boom, all the doors open, and there you are, completely vulnerable to all these prisoners, hmm, that's not very comfortable. That's a very trying time right there, and instead of fear, They saw the prison doors open as it was the power of Almighty God, not an electrical failure. Amen. And they saw that. Listen, church, when's the last time you were out in beautiful Florida with all of your rainbows and you stopped what you're doing and look at that rainbow and just say, what an awesome, powerful, mighty God that we serve. Or did you just say, hey, look at the rainbow? Can I ask you something that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to some of us? What is so beautiful about a great big body of water? I mean, have you ever stood on the shore of any one of your coasts and look at that and go, it's just water? Or did you stand on those banks and say, wow, that is beautiful. And only the power of Almighty God can keep this water at this bank. Nobody else can do that. Have you driven north just a little ways? You don't have to go very far north before you're in some pretty good mountains. Not very far. You can be there easily in five or six hours. and see some pretty good mountains. Easily in half a day and see massive, beautiful. When's the last time you put yourself in a place where you saw God's power? If you're going to get through that midnight hour, not only are you going to have to pray and sing praises, but you have to slow down and just see the almighty power. of an omnipotent God that we serve. Look at the third thing that they did. The Bible says in verse number 30, "...and brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house." They saw the mighty promises of God lived out and shouted them. They shouted the promises of God. Hey, this book is full of promises. From cover to cover, you cannot open a page of this blessed book and not read one page without finding numbers of promises that's written in the pages herein. Sometimes it would be good for us just to veer a little bit from our disciplines, and I'm not against disciplines, we need them in our life, but sometimes. Listen, if you're reading three chapters a day to get through the Bible in a year, God bless your heart. That's a wonderful thing. But sometime, stop. Just stop. Take a break and read a promise. And chew on it. And think on it. And live it throughout the day. And let it be a blessing to your heart. You say, where do I find them? Just open it anywhere. You don't have to read very far. In fact, let's live it out. What did they do? They shouted the promises of God. Let's do it. Let's do it right now. Just for a couple of minutes. Just raise your hand real quick and I'll point at you so we can understand what you're saying and shout a promise of God. Quickly. Just go. Yes. I will never leave thee or forsake thee. Amen. Good. Yes, sir. Amen. Shout them out. Yes, back here. I saw a hand. Okay, yes. Amen. Praise the Lord. Yes, sir. Okay, Gabriel, you gotta get loud. Shout. Like you're yelling at your sister. That's what I thought. Amen. Amen. Very good. Yes, sir. Amen. Good. Keep going. Come on. Keep going. Book's full of them. We don't have to put pauses in here. Yes. Amen. Praise the Lord. Yes, sir. Amen. Praise the Lord. Go, go, go, go, go. Go, go, go. Come on. Yes. Amen. Good. Yes. Amen. Praise the Lord. Yes. Amen. Now you're getting it. Yes. Praise the Lord. Good. Shout. Come on. Shout him. Yes, sir. White shirt. Yes. Amen. Young lady. Yes, ma'am. Hey, man. Wonderful. Yes. Amen. Praise the Lord. Yes, ma'am. Amen. Good. Come on. Come on. Keep going. Five more. Amen. Four more. Yes, sir. Amen. Good. Three more. Three more. One of them's got to be a teenager in that section right over there. So jump up, one of you guys. Yes, sir. Amen. Praise the Lord. Two more. Yes, sir. Amen. And teenager, go. Jump. Amen. And yes, sir, go ahead. Right here. Yes, sir. Hey, it's okay, Gabe. One more. Amen. Praise the Lord. Take a breath. Isn't that good? The promises of God will help you through those most difficult times. Shout them. Shout Him. Shout Him for people to hear. And then notice the last. Not only did they pray and sing praises, seeing the mighty power of God, shouted the promises of God, but verse number 33, And He took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was baptized, He in all His straight way. And he took them when? What hour was that? He strived to serve God more in the midnight hour. How many times, preacher, have you got that phone call at 8.30 on Sunday morning? from a Sunday school teacher that calls to say, Preacher, can you get me a substitute? I'm not going to be able to make it in today. To which the preacher says, I hope you're okay. Are you feeling alright? Oh yeah, I'm fine. I'm just going through such a hard time right now. I just can't be there. And in the most difficult time of your life, Satan will do everything he can to keep you away from those that love you the most. And we get in our pity party, and we get in our woe is me, We get to that place where we don't think that we can possibly make it through it, and instead of being around those that love us the most, and those that want to encourage us, and those that want to be a blessing to us, and instead of being in that place where we can be used by Almighty God in ways that's beyond our imagination or thought, we shy away in the most difficult times, and get in our own little hole, and just quit. Paul said, if you're going to get through it, You need to strive to serve Him more in that time than any other time. Find a way to serve. I'm sure you've heard many people say many times that if you think you have it really, really bad, just look around you. You don't have to look very far at all before you find someone who has it so much worse than what you could possibly think of. And if you do have a difficult time doing that, do you have a VA hospital around here somewhere? Go there. Do you have nursing homes around here? Just go walk in the halls. Go find one of those deer sweet ladies in one of those nursing homes. That there hasn't been one loved one visit her in months. And it seems like nobody cares. But you can. You could be a blessing. Just stand in the parking lot of the grocery store. And wait for that dear, sweet lady. She's 80 or 90, doing everything she can to try to make it. She's got that buggy full and can barely push it. It's pouring down rain. And you could just go up to her and make her day, expecting nothing in return, because you're just looking for a way to serve. in that midnight hour. Heavenly Father, our hearts are full this evening with thoughts. I have no idea what anybody in this room is going through right now. No idea. But I'm glad you do. And as much as you care about, as far as we're concerned, the most worthless bird on the planet, the sparrow. If one of those can't fall and you're not aware of it, oh, how much you care about us. And Father, as we go through these experiences, might we come out on the other side rejoicing, able to do more than we ever thought possible, giving more out of what we have and even out of what we don't have. that others might be able to hear the gospel, many of them for the very first time. Our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed. As the piano begins to play, whatever you have in front of you, let's stand together. We're not going to sing tonight. We just want to give you an opportunity to find a place here at this altar. If you're in that midnight hour right now, you might need to come and ask God to help you. Apply some of these principles in your life to be able to get through it. Some of you here, you've already gone through that most difficult time in your life and the scripture is very clear that he allows you to go through things that you might help others that are going through likewise. You might ask God to Focus your eyes focus your attention to see those people that are struggling That you might just be able to help them Maybe you haven't been in it yet But you might want to come to this altar and say Oh God when I do Help me to go through it like Paul and Silas did Help me to sing praises more. Help me to pray more effectively. Help me to be in tune and see your mighty power that's evident all around me all the time. Help me to shout your promises. Make them jump off the pages of scripture for me. Lord, help me to find ways to serve. Will you come right now? Come on. Find a place right here. Ask God to help you. Come on. Amen. Amen. So, It's good to be still before the Lord. It's good to listen. It's good to hear His voice. It's good to talk with Him. Several are down here doing that. You might be doing that in your seat. That's good unless God told you to go. Obey Him tonight. One more chorus. I surrender all. I surrender all. All to Thee, my blessed Savior. I surrender all. Dear Lord Jesus, we thank you so much for the Word of God that our hearts have been feasting on. Lord, I thank you that you've enabled Brother Marweli to take the Word of God and bring it down to where we all live. Lord, like the preacher said, it's wonderful when the Holy Spirit enables someone to take the cookies and put them on the bottom shelf where we all can get them. So Lord, I pray now, there's no excuse for us not to serve you. There's no excuse for us not to spend time sharing our heart with you and listening to your heart in prayer. Lord, if our hearts get right, everything else will be fine. So Lord, help us now to serve you and love you, worship you and praise you. We thank you for what you're going to do in our midst. We give you the glory and the praise. In Jesus' precious name. Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed. God bless you. Amen. Let me look up this way. Thank you so very much. Wonderful. Well, I'll tell you, these have been two tremendous services, not your typical mission conferences, not your typical messages, you know, trying to just... I've heard sometimes just messages that play on people's guilt. Hey, listen folks, if we draw up close to God, If God gets our hearts, He's got our pocketbook. He's got our future. He's got all the things that He needs to get the gospel around the world if we'll just get up close to Him. Brother Marweli, thank you so very much for letting God use you. He's not here to impress anybody. He's here to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and be his messenger. And God bless you, sir. It's been a great blessing. I'm looking forward to Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. And it's so good. Those who are involved in Voices of Victory, do the mission conference. We will start next week. And if you did not yet audition, You need to get with me if you did not yet give me your paper describing why you want to be in Voices of Victory. You need to do that. That's a requirement. That is essential. And so if you did not get that to me, please do so this evening if you have it. And if not, you can email it to me this week, and we'll start things up on next Sunday. Well, God is good all the time. God is good. Yes, yes, amen. 7 o'clock tomorrow night, try to be in your place. Get here early, and I'm not going to detain you any longer. Thank you for coming, and God bless you. Have a wonderful evening. We'll see you tomorrow. God bless. the the Yeah.