Nope, that's not them. Look at them over there. See, that's what deacons are supposed to do. Oh, man. That meal was outrageously good. I mean it. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for that meal. I'm telling you. Just can't beat that. You can't. And I know what else you can't. beat is you can't beat people into listening after they get too full. All right, take your Bibles this afternoon, turn with us to the book of Romans. We're going to the book of Romans, the book of Romans chapter number 10, Romans chapter 10. And we're going to be looking at verse 17, let's start at verse 14. Romans chapter 10 and verse number 14, where the Bible says, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard. And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. Verse 16, but they have not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah said, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then, faith cometh by what? Hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. God has a plan in missions. And I want us to look for a moment at the plan in missions. Missions is a necessity. I'm thinking of a missionary who's going to be with the Lord, Curtis Pugh. Curtis Pugh. who preached the gospel in the foreign lands, who was faithful to the death, preaching and going and doing. Missions is God's way of getting the gospel out. It's necessary at home. It's necessary. Church started as a mission, as a mission, missionary work. Josh Harjo started this work under the authority of a church. I don't know what church he was under the authority of, but what was it? Calvary Baptist. Duncan, Oklahoma, yes. came out by that authority, by that authority. Now, some say if God is sovereign, why do missionary work? Because God said to. He said to do it. He told us to do it. We are to do it. And let me say God is sovereign. He is sovereign. But he tells us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Why preach the gospel? Why go to the foreign field? Why send missionaries? Dr. J.I. Packer, in his excellent book, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, if you've never read that book, I'm sure you can find it pretty cheap now. I mean, it's been out for a while. Evangelism and the sovereignty of God. In that book, he says, the belief that God is sovereign in grace does not affect or effect the necessity of evangelisms. Or evangelism, I would say missions. Whatever we may believe about election, the fact remains that missions is a necessity because no man can be saved without the gospel. He must hear the gospel. The belief that God is sovereign in grace does not affect the urgency of evangelism. Whatever we believe about election, in fact, remains, the fact remains that without God, Without Christ, men are lost and going to hell. Except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. It is a necessity that we send missionaries. It is a necessity that the gospel be preached around the world. We must not just talk about the gospel, we must get the gospel out. We must preach to every kindred, tongue, and nation. In verses 14 and 15, How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? That's the necessity of mission work. That is the necessity of preaching. Here in Romans 10, in verses 14 and 15. And I want us to look at 15. Now, how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good news. What is the gospel? Good news. It is good news. Good news. Verses 14 and 15 make up a link. There's a link there. It's a chain. And as you look at the questions, I want you to pay attention to what that chain forms. How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? I mean, if you don't believe, You're not gonna trust, you're not gonna call. How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And then it says, and how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard? They need to hear the gospel. They need a preacher, they need a missionary, they need the gospel. And how shall they hear without that preacher? And listen to this. How shall they preach except they be sent? We send missionaries. I am a missionary sent out of the Elliott Baptist Church in Elliott, Mississippi. I'm sent by that authority. They sent me out. They are my sending church. Have you ever heard that terminology before? The sending church. They're my sending church. The chain that the questions form is connected. Calling, believing, hearing, preaching, sending. The divine commission of preaching is where it must begin. That's where it must begin. You send a preacher. And then we climb up the chain one step to the next one, one step at a time as going up a gangway on the ship. Now y'all remember the difference between a gangway and a gangplank, right? Okay. You go up a gangway and you can get off by the gangway, get on, get off. But if you have a gangplank, you get off and you don't get back on. Because that's walking the plank. And they will give you some shoes that are weighted with concrete. So you're down for the last count. You're down, you're down, you're down. Sending. Sending, under proper authority, under proper authority. And then the missionaries sent to preach the gospel, proclaim the gospel. And then there are those that will hear that gospel. Like I said in the early service, earlier service, I sat in the service and heard the preaching, but one night I heard it with an ear that God opened. He opened my ear to the gospel. God has to open the ear. He has to open the heart. I never have liked preaching if you'll give your heart to Jesus. No, he's got to open that. He's got to show you. People want to get involved all up in it, don't they? But all you can do is believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Listen, with the heart, man believeth under righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. A baby, got a new baby around here. Got a new baby. There'll be changes. Y'all have a changing room? Okay. There'll be changes made. But you'll hear some squalling, you'll hear some things. And when that baby is born, what do you hear, what do you want to hear it do? Cry. Old day's in. Pop them, anyway, pop them. Proper place. And the baby'd cry. Salvation is birth and then cry. There's no special formula that a man can do. You don't pray through. You believe. And when you believe, that Christ died for your sins according to the scripture, and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scripture, you're born again. Now, then you're gonna cry out. You're gonna say, yes, I believe, I believe. I believe, I trust, I believe. Some will pray, yes, but it's not praying that saves you. It is believing. And the Bible bears that out, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. It doesn't say believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, plus, plus, plus, plus. It's not being baptized that saves you. Baptism is a picture of what took place in your life, believing the gospel, buried in the likeness of Christ, raised in the likeness of his glorious resurrection. In verse 15, the first part says, how shall they preach except they be sent? Sent in this verse is the word apostello. It's a cognate verb in the Greek. It's a noun. And it means that the preacher, is an apostle. Now he's not one of the first apostles, but he is a fourth teller. He's a fourth teller. He's an apostle in the primary sense of the word. He is a herald or an ambassador conveying a message of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ from someone who has authorized him to deliver it. We have what we call a licensing to preach, and then we have an ordination after the gifts have been observed, right? I have my license to preach on my wall, and I have my ordination. Yeah, that's what it is. Ain't too much back in there. But I have my licensing, I have my ordination. And I look at that and I see the name of Miss Lillian Labatar. She was a church clerk. And that is a name from down on the coast, you know, Labatar. And then I see my ordination under the authority of the Belhaven Baptist Church, Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and the preachers who were there. You know what they did? They observed, they questioned me, they examined me, and then they recommended to who? To the church. Why'd they do that? Because the church has the authority. That's how you send out missionaries. You send them through a church, by church authority. You don't do it by organization and organization. You do it through the church. You do it through the church. The church has to be the sending body. And sinners need to hear the gospel, and their hearing depends on preachers. and missionaries and evangelists and these preachers, missionaries, evangelists must be sent. They must be sent. They must be under authority. I believe that everything rises and falls on leadership and leadership must have the authority of a proper head. Must have that. And I'm humbled by the fact that God called me to preach. When I came to know the Lord, my life changed. I mean, it changed. I told you earlier that I worked for A&P, Atlantic Pacific Tea Company. And every Monday, we would strip the floors of A&P, the cleanest store in town. Strip the wax off, squeegee, dry, and then we would wax the floors every Monday night. Wax the floors. And then once the wax dried, we buffed it. And we never let it get But that far from the edge, because if not, that wax will work its way under. So you don't put it too far close to the edge, because then you've got a problem. Every Monday night, Mr. Vito Cannizzaro would say, OK, boys, you did a good job. Go get anything you want to drink. I'd go get a quart of Miller Low Life, I mean High Life. And that's what I would drink. I was lost. I was religious, but I was lost. The next Monday after I came to know the Lord, the night he saved me, he changed me. And when Vito said, all right boys, go get anything you want to drink, I got a quart of orange juice. I didn't want the other. There was a change that took place. But then, At East Central High School, outside of Hurley, Mississippi, I went to a youth rally. And a fellow named Mr. Willie, he was doing the preaching, and I heard him preach at that youth rally, and he said, God is doing something here. God is working here. He says, I believe God's calling someone. And you know what I said, Lord, that's good, you call him. You go ahead and call him. That'd be wonderful. Call somebody. But there was a tug. And then he preached a little while longer and he said it again. He preached a little while longer and I said, okay, Lord, I know. I'm not gonna fight it. I surrender. And people said, not him. Not him. We know him. But it was a different him. Amen? God changes us when he saves us. That's when I went to East Howard Baptist Church and said, I've been called to preach. You know what? It was mainly the ladies that would come around and say, we knew he was gonna call you. We knew he was gonna call you. My pastor, when I professed faith, the very next week he gave me a Sunday night class to teach. Very next Sunday night. And he gave me a little book called A Trail of Blood. And he says, you teach this little book. It was contrary to what I'd been taught all my life. And I taught that book. And I learned why, I'm a Baptist. There's a trail of blood going all the way back to the apostles. Then I was able to learn more and then graduated and went in the Air Force Then out and went to Bible college, and God's been so good to me, but I have no doubt, you may not like my preaching, you may say he can't preach, but I know who called me. I am called, and I am getting older, so are you. Anybody in here getting younger? No, I'm not, I know I'm getting older. And I wanna preach until I can't. I want to preach, I want to visit ships, I want to get the word of God out. My belief in the sovereignty of God has not diminished any of my desire to get the gospel out. People say, well, that's contrary. No, it's not. No, it's not. You believe it's contrary? No. Well, you'll be a hard shell. I'm not a hard shell. That's different, isn't it? We're not hardshells. We're not primitives. We believe the Bible, and the Bible says we're to get the gospel out. Now, we also know that all members of a New Testament church are a part of the sending because of their giving. Their giving. The missionary is a part of that giving. I'm glad that folks give at Indian Mission of the Baptist Church. I'm glad because I have work to do and I can do it because of you. Now do you believe there are other missionaries that need support? Others that need the help? Yes. And by Faith Promise Missions you can help. You can help, you can get the gospel out. We've got a message to tell to the nations. Isn't that what the song says? We've a message to tell to the nations. We have a message of Christ crucified, buried, and risen again. If you knew somebody was in a blazing building, and you knew that you could get them out, but they couldn't get out without your help, would you go and seek to get them out? Well, there are people that are lost and unknown, and we have a responsibility to get the gospel to them. We do. Now, friends, before folks can be saved, they must be told. I mean, that's the fact that they need to hear the gospel. We've already quoted it several times. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. They must hear the gospel. God has a way in his preaching. He has a way of getting that salvation message out. God's way is for sinners to be brought to faith through the gospel. Let me read for you 2 Thessalonians chapter two in verses 13 to 14. But we are bound to give thanks all the way to God for you brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Now it doesn't mean that. Huh, why is it in there? It does mean it. I didn't know it. And that's not what you tell lost people. You give them the gospel. They'll grow in grace to come to see things. Some will fight it. Some hate it. Do you know people hate that? I mean, hate it. Say it stifles evangelism. Not if you understand the truth of it all. It'll give you fire in your bones. It will. Because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Then it says through sanctification of the spirit. What is sanctification? I believe it's to set apart. You theologians in here. Scott? You don't know? Okay. Now he knows. It means to be set apart. God sets his people apart. Through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Amen, you see it? Set apart to the belief of the truth. Belief of the truth. And then it says, whereunto he called you by our gospel. That message of the death, burial, and resurrection. Dear friends, I have a greater desire now through all these years of knowing these truths than I had before I knew them. I want to work till Jesus comes. I want to continue on. Where unto He called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. One of these days I will see Him. Amen? One of these days, I'll get to walk. The Bible says streets of gold. I'm not gonna take my shoes off for several reasons, but one, I've got the ugliest feet. When I was in Vietnam, I got some boots that didn't fit, and they had a steel shank in them, and my feet are messed up. But the Bible says how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. So although physically my feet are ugly, to the Lord they're beautiful. Amen? Amen. And then Paul quotes from Isaiah. He is quoting from Isaiah. 52, seven, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publishes salvation, that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth. Thy God reigneth. The need for proclaimers is there. The need to get the gospel to every nation, every kindred, every tongue is there. And we need to be those proclaimers. Paul set the case before us. I believe he's argued it fairly. And I'm gonna believe it. Do you believe that? Do you believe that this is the way? And I have more, like I said, I have more fire and more vigor because He is with me. He directs my steps, He directs my path. And again, I can do what I do because I've been sent. But then there are those who help us along the way. So yes, give. that others may go, that others can take the gospel and publish it. And that word publishes in the Bible, but now we take the published word, the word of God and send it. I could talk about that all day, but you're tired and I know that, but I love you and I hope that you understand that God is sovereign, man is responsible, and we must preach the gospel. Amen. Brother, come ahead.