Thank you, and you may be seated, Pastor. Amen. We're going to go to a time of prayer here. So let's go ahead and pray and get ready for the rest of the service here and the preaching and I will close this out here in just a minute. Heavenly Father, it is good to be in your house today and assembled here with the body, and we thank you for that and just the health and the ability to be able to do so. And Lord, we don't think of it like most of the world does, but the freedom to be able to come in here without fear and to assemble today and just to sing the great songs and to hear the Word preached and to learn from you and to be encouraged and strengthened that we might be sent out another week and to go out and preach the gospel. We thank you for that. And Father, we just, as we look to the word here in just a little bit, we just pray for the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, that you'd illuminate your word, Lord, that you would teach us today, that your teaching as we saw, even in Sunday school, that we'd go out and be doers of the word, not hearers only, that we wouldn't heap unto ourselves layers of self-deception. and that we would go out and we'd know your presence and know your power and see you work and help us here today as we are equipped with your word to be more effective with the gospel and have a greater urgency to see the lost get the gospel and see them come to Christ. Would you do that work in us today? And Father, we just ask you to remove any distractions today, whether they are internal in our own heart and mind, or whether they're external, and noises and things such as that. Would you just help us to be able to concentrate and focus today? And Father, we'll thank you for what you do. We're looking forward to it. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Stand one more time and turn in your gold hymnals to page 53. Page 53, and let's do the first, second, fourth, and fifth. Jesus, what a simple sinner. Jesus, lover of my soul. Prince, may family possess them. Jesus, my Savior, may it be home. What a Savior! Hallelujah! What a Friend! Saving, Helping, Keeping, Loving, He is with me to the end. Jesus, what a Strength! myself in him. Tempted, trying, sometimes failing, He's my strength, my victory wing. Alleluia! What a Savior! Alleluia! Saving, keeping, keeping love. He is with me through the end. Jesus my God and keeper of the day. Storms have bound me, but you'll take me. Here's my diamond, here's my crown. In me helping, keeping love He is with me through the end Jesus, I do now receive Him More than all in Him I find Forgiveness I am his and he is mine Thank you. You may be seated. Alright, alright. We're over in Acts chapter number 18 this morning. Acts chapter 18. Pray I don't totally lose my voice today. It's kind of on the edge. I don't want to hear it. I know what you're thinking. Yeah. Okay. I think I'm good. All right. I know it is, I don't even know how to, how to really say this. Let me try the simplest way. Have you ever been overwhelmed with the condition of where our country and nation and world is gone? I mean, that's not too hard. I don't know why I thought too long about that. That wasn't too tough to think about. But really have been, right? We haven't always been this way, have we? We have not always been this way. Have we always had problems? Absolutely we have always had problems. Has there always been sin in our nation? Absolutely there has always been sin in our nation. But no doubt we have digressed to a place over the years that we have not seen before with the latest fads and the atheism that is on the rise and the way The governments have been responding to churches over the years. The churches, the sad state of the churches that have been so filled with scandals that have been broadcast all over the TV and the internet and all of these things. Public schools and colleges, I mean, they've just become total indoctrination centers. where the Bible is not allowed and it's been totally run over by the leftists and strangely enough as we've backed away from God and our institutions of higher learning have become overrun with liberalism, our academic standing in the world has lowered and dropped. We're not smart, right? We're not where we used to be. Promiscuity is like the norm. They say the average college campus is just is just totally depraved. I mean the things that go on there. Rebellion is encouraged. God is not allowed. And we're living in a different world than we used to. We can look at church attendance and we can know that it is down across the board. I talk to pastor after pastor and they have the same response. It's just a weird day. It's a strange day. And a pastor friend of mine the other day It said, you know, I thought it was just me, and I thought it was just this church, but I talked to pastors that still pastor large churches of 1,500, and 2,000, and 2,200 people, and they're all saying the same thing. It's a weird day, and it's a strange time to pastor, and people are just... just lethargical and lackadaisical and lazy and I mean it's just going on everywhere it seems like and Sunday night services are limited, Wednesday night services are almost non-existent, I'm just talking among independent Baptist churches, assembly has become optional, I mean we can go into from that to think about where in our nation where Entertainment has gone to where movies that just glorify, they just glorify adultery and fornication and God's name in vain and cursing and all of these things. Occultism and magic and witchcraft. I used to be at times people, there were those that might laugh me to scorn when I would kind of, I don't know, kind of meddle on the company called Disney and how wicked they are and all the underlying rebellion in every one of those cartoons. and the magic and the witchcraft and that they made cute and fun and all of these things. I mean it goes way back to remember the shows I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched and they made light of those things in the demonic realm and they just made them cute and fun and things like that. And it's not because it's real. And it is the stated enemy of God. And if you're a child of God, it is your enemy as well. Right? And we've seen this in our nation get further and further and further away from God. The rejection of God's creation. And when you look at homosexuality, when you look at the sodomites, when you look at the LGBTQ I've added, well, I've added to plus it, I've added P, P to the end of that. I told Sherry a long time ago, when the Supreme Court upheld the sodomite marriage and homosexual marriage, I said, the door is open, it's inevitable, it will come, it will include pedophilia, and it will include polygamy, it has to come. When the gate is open, it does not stop, it'll go to the absolute bottom of the destination, And you will be watching people argue for bestiality, polyamory, polygamy, pedophilia, all of these things. And we're watching them. We're watching it come to pass. And the gender dysphoria and all of these things. And I'm telling you, it's just a weird time to live. It really is. And you can almost come out of here with no hope. And you're like, well, thanks for the encouragement today. I'm really feeling good this morning now. Thanks a lot. But this is just the world that we live in. It is. You all right? Hey listen, creation reveals its creator, amen? I can't state that, I mean you can say amen to that, that's true. Creation reveals its creator, amen? It does. And we are the crowning jewel of God's creation. He spoke the worlds into existence, and then what He spoke into existence, He gathered up with His hands, and He molded with His own hands, and He breathed into us the nephesh, the breath of life, and He made us a living soul. We are special, right? We are to glorify God, amen? We're to put on display the attributes of our God in our life. And listen, I can't be stated enough. We're living in such a twisted world. It's amazing how much just needs to be stated. But one of those areas in which we glorify God is in our maleness and in our, if these are words, femaleness, right? We are to glorify God in our gender, amen? Amen, all right? Are we good? I mean, we're seeing it blow apart everywhere. I know you're afraid to talk about it, but it's just a fact, right? And we're seeing the breakdown in our society of those that have gone away, who have rejected God, and you can see it, and that's one of the most obvious areas in our society today. right? Talk about destroying God's creation. The crown jewel of His creation, over 40 million or more, way more than 40 million since 1973 of little babies have been thrown into the trash can. Over 80,000 a year are killed by alcohol, drugs, pornography is a $90 billion a year industry. You talk about destroying God's creation. And this is the nation, this is the world that we're living in, the chaos and the turmoil that we're facing today isn't just a political mess. It's not just because the politics and maybe now that it seems like... we might have a good president now maybe and do some good things and we'd always be thankful for the things that any president does that is according to the Word of God, but this isn't just a political mess we're dealing with today at all. I'm being more and more convinced that America is living under the judgment of God. I think so. What does that mean? What does the judgment of God look like? Well, some of it just looks like that God backs away and says, okay, have your way. Includes believers, friend. We know that believers are carnal, right? 1 Corinthians 2.14, right? And the natural man receiveth not things of the Spirit of God, for there is foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned. The things of God are spiritually discerned, and unsaved people can't discern them. But he goes on in chapter 3 and mentions the carnality of believers, right? When you're carnal, you can't understand things of the Word of God either. right? This affects us, the carnality and the worldliness and the lethargy and the loss of appetite for the things of God. There are people that just, they've lost their appetite for the things of God. Yeah. It's kind of a strange day. You remember, some of you way more than I do, remember when the church house was full and the energy was electric and the joy and the excitement and seeing people saved and lives changed on a daily and a weekly basis. And no doubt we're in a different place than we ever used to be, than we are today. In Proverbs 28 in verse four, the Bible says, they that forsake the law, listen to this, they that forsake the law, they that forsake the word of God, you could say, Praise the wicked. Ouch. But such as keep the law, contend with them. Watch, when we stop living the Bible, we begin to praise the wicked. Well, you say, I've never praised the wicked. Well, you have, but I stopped living the Bible. But when we live the Bible, we end up in a war against the wicked, not going out and just battling them with them. But remember, I preached some time ago about reproving darkness. And listen, when you live light, you will, by default, reprove darkness. And so many of God's children have left the battlefield, and I'm sorry, we've just joined the enemy. It's a fact. It's a bleak picture and I mean, listen, I mean to paint a picture this bleak because I want us to have some encouragement. You say it doesn't sound like it. Really, I do, I do. We're going to be encouraged here in just a little bit. But it looks bleak. But listen, it doesn't look much different from the Apostle Paul's new field that he's going to get onto here in Acts chapter 18. He has left Athens in chapter 17. This time he finally wasn't run out of town, he just left. And we come here to the city of Corinth. Now the difference between Corinth and America is that Corinth had never had the gospel and America has. And so though Corinth has its own problems, America, I think, is far worse in so many ways because of what we have walked away from. But if you go west-southwest of Athens a little bit, you'll come to this place of Corinth. It was a big port city, I should say, at its height. They say Corinth had a population of about 400,000 people. It was a very wealthy port city. If you didn't want to go all the way down around Greece, you could come through this little isthmus that separates the Adriatic and the Aegean Sea. And on that little isthmus is that little city or that big city called Corinth. It's kind of like you'd pass through the Panama Canal between North and South America. And now Corinth was a Greek city, but at this time when Paul's there, it was ruled by the Roman Empire. It was a very immoral city as well. And it's amazing how readily wealth and immorality go together, isn't it? Not always, but it seems like it happens more often than not. Here in the city, you have the temple to Aphrodite. In Corinth, there was temple prostitutes. You realize prostitution was accepted. Male or female prostitution was accepted. It was accepted within the marriage. It was an aspect of their religion and an aspect of how they practiced their religion. So they didn't think a thing about it. It was just all a part of it. That name of Corinth was even used at times to describe somebody who was immoral. They were saying, well you're acting like a Corinthian. right, that the Greek word is Corinthia zomei, Corinthia zomei, I pronounced it wrong, I can spell it out for you, you'll know, you can look it up sometime, but it was a word they would toss out, oh, you're a, that guy's a, she's a, right, I mean, could you imagine, if your town was so wicked, they'd say, oh, that's a, that's a Nixonian, and everybody knew what that meant, right, yeah. Corinth was known for everything sinful, in more than one way, this was a totally new field for Paul. But while he's there in Corinth, It's a new place. It's a tough place. I mean, it's a wicked place. He's going to meet a couple of friends while we're here. He meets Priscilla and Aquila. The Bible tells us here in our text they were both born in Pontus, which is the southern coast of the Black Sea in Turkey. They had come to Athens. They had been in Italy. They had come to Athens from Italy because the Bible tells us that Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome, which was somewhere between 49 and 50 AD. Priscilla and Quilla they were tent makers which was the same trade as Paul and I love how God brought them together with some similarities that they had and some likenesses that they had. They ended up living and working together and if you remember at this point Silas and Timothy they're still over in Thessalonica and now Paul has been in Athens alone Rarely do we ever see him traveling alone, but here in Athens he's alone, and God brings him somebody. God brings him Priscilla and Aquila, and no doubt he was thankful for that. So what does Paul do now that he shows up in Athens? He does what he's done everywhere he goes. He goes first to the synagogue. Well, why would he go to the synagogue? Well, number one, just the whole setup of the synagogue makes it very conducive to teaching the gospel. There was times that they had opportunity that they would read and they would be taught and it would be left open for people to bring up subjects and discussions and the Apostle Paul no doubt well knew the structure of the synagogue and so he used that to his benefit and so he would go into the synagogue when the time was come that discussion could be made Paul no doubt would get up and he'd begin to discuss the law and discuss the Old Testament and with hoping and leading them to bring it to the discussion of the person of Jesus Christ. And we can see this in verse four. And he reasoned in the Jews' synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. Now look at verse five. And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit and testified to the Jews. Now watch, he'd been teaching and preaching for some time now. We don't know how long, but he'd been preaching and teaching in the synagogue. And finally, when Timothy and Silas get there, finally the Spirit of God says, now, Paul, now. Look at this. He was pressed in the Spirit to testify to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. Boy, that, you want to call an uproar, that brought the uproar. I love, wise as a, harmless as a serpent, and wise as a dove. Harmless as a dove and wise as a, wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove. There we go, I'll get it eventually. That's what Paul was. He was using wisdom. He was using wisdom here. And here he is, he's reasoning with them. Every Sabbath day, he shows up. Why? Because the door's open. The door is open for the gospel. And it says, he persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. I love that. I've heard some of the reformed positions say, well, we don't persuade, God doesn't persuade anyway. I've heard that. I'm like, well, I don't know. Paul said, I persuade men. It says right here, he's persuaded almost. Remember, I was a Felix, almost that was persuaded me. or it was Agrippa, one of those, persuaded me to become a Christian, right? Of course we persuade people with the gospel, and this is what Paul was doing. Acts 17, verse 2, here they were over in Thessalonica. Look what it says here. and Paul, as his manner was, went into them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures." So we don't know how long Paul was doing this here in Athens, but we do know this was the pattern of the Apostle Paul. And here Silas and Timothy come, show up, they'd come from Macedonia, and here they are, and finally the Holy Spirit says, tell them of Jesus. See now, Paul wasn't able to go door to door and give them the gospel and just lead them in a prayer. He had to teach them. They didn't know anything. And listen, we're getting to the days of the United States of America. We're getting to the days when people know nothing. They know nothing, right? I know Micah won't mind me saying this, but that day Micah came into my office and I gave him the gospel and I laid everything out and he goes, He was understanding and he goes, okay, what does Jesus have to do with all this? Oh, okay, back up. And I took some things for granted, right? And there are some things that people, they just don't understand. They don't know, they've never been taught. They've never been exposed to, and we're seeing this more and more. Listen, it took time, and it took reasoning, and it took persuasion to get them to come to the place. Listen, they had to know a little bit more than, do you believe in Jesus? Well, yeah, well, say this prayer. They had to know a little more than that. Right? And sometimes we have to spend more time with people than we used to. But when the time came, the Holy Spirit told them to make the big connection. Here's the connection. Here's the mystery. Here it is. Jesus is the Messiah. Look at verse six. And when they opposed themselves and blasphemed, He shook his raiment and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads, I am clean, from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. I gave you the gospel, I spent time with you, they understood it and they didn't like it and they didn't want it, you rejected it, he said my hands are clean, I'm going to the Gentiles. So what happens? Well, he got a new meeting house. Right next to the synagogue, there is another house of a man by the name of Justice. Right? Sometimes churches move locations. Did you know that? I don't know if you knew that or not. Sometimes they do. And it's strange. But look at here in verse 7, And he departed thence, and he entered into a certain man's house, named Justice, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue. And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized. So he got a new convert. There's justice and not only justice but Crispus, a leader, hey a Jew got saved. Not only did he believe but his whole house believed. And I know the argument, I've heard it well, well this is where infant baptism comes. We were just talking about that the other day, this is where infant baptism comes. Right, the whole house, obviously that means babies. Well, I mean obviously that must mean their dog got baptized. and their cat, and their hamster, and well, where do you get that? Well, the same place you got that baby's got baptized. It's not there, right? Believer, listen, people who do not have the capability of believing can't be baptized, right? Do you see it? Hearing, believing, baptizing. It's so simple, it really is. Have you ever known of a baby to believe? Do you even have the capability of asking them and them responding? So as usual, in Paul's type of ministry, things seem to be going well. Yeah, he's moving along, he's got converts, one of the head Jews in the synagogue gets saved, his whole house. This is awesome. This is exciting. I mean, when anybody gets saved, it ought to be exciting. Amen? I mean, there's somebody that just went from darkness to light and from death into life and from hell to heaven. I mean, it's a wonderful thing. when somebody comes to Christ and the whole body gets excited and the whole church gets excited about it. It is a wonderful thing, not only just salvation, but it's a wonderful thing when somebody follows the Lord and just in obedience and faith and trust, whether it's in giving or whether it's in going, whether it's in missions, whether it's in leading somebody and their neighbor to Christ, whatever it is, the whole body gets excited. It's a wonderful thing. And everything was going well here. Things were going good. But God comes to Paul in a vision. And look at verse 9. The Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision. What an interesting thing for the Lord to come to Paul and say. Things are going good right now. I don't know if you realize that. I hope I made that plain. This is happy days. And God comes to Paul and says, be not afraid. Don't be afraid, Paul. But speak, and hold not thy peace. Be afraid of what? I'm waking up going, uh-oh, what does this mean? Right? Look what he goes on to say for sin. For I am with thee. I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Amen. I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city. Can I give you something very elementary out of this right here? Jesus is alive. Amen. He's alive and he's active in the lives of his children and here he is and this night he came to Paul personally and in a dream he spoke to him personally and he said, don't be afraid, speak, hold not your peace. Why? I'm with you. I'll never leave you nor forsake you. No man shall set thee to hurt thee for I have much people in this city. I love this. We don't really know Well, at this point, we don't know why Paul should be afraid, but we're going to see why. You've got to realize Paul has been run out about almost every city. He's been before courts. He's been in jail, stoned, beaten, left for dead. I mean, that's quite the resume, if you ask me. But God is going to reassure the apostle Paul to not be afraid. And watch, to go ahead and speak. and don't hold your peace. Isn't that what stops most of us from speaking, is fear? In the United States of America, very little, I would suggest that probably, or assume that very little of that time of speaking is surrounded around fear of physical harm. Rarely, rarely does that happen. A lot of our fear is ridicule. A lot of our fear is, are we going to look like the weirdo? Right? Are we going to be the wacko? Oh, here he comes. Here comes Holy Joe. Right? And things that way. That's a lot of our fear. Jesus says, but don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Speak. Don't stop preaching. And don't hold your peace. Well, how can I do this? Because I'm with you. And no man will hurt you. It's been said many ways before. I heard Roloff say it. Many have said it, the same thing in various ways. You're immortal till God's done with you. Listen, you are immortal until God is done with you. You say, well, what if this is the time he's done? Well, hey, glory hallelujah, you'll see him in just a few minutes, right? It's a wonderful thing. So beginning in verse 12 though, here's what Jesus is preparing the apostle Paul for. Opposition, look at verse 12. And when Galio Galileo was the deputy of Achaia. The Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat, saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law. So Gallio of Achaia was put there by the Roman government. He is the, for lack of a better word, I'm just going to use the word mayor, or the ruler over that area. And so the Jews go to him. They made this insurrection against Paul. They rose up against the Apostle Paul, and they essentially brought him to the court system, to the legal system of this area, and they said, hey, this guy is persuading men to follow, to worship God, contrary to the law, right? And so if I remember correctly, I better go back and look this up. It's been a long time since I've studied this, but I believe I believe within the Roman Empire you could believe whatever you wanted, but there's some type of a law that you could not proselytize and things like that. I'll go look that up one of these days here. Brother Jim can fill me in later. I know you will, so thank you. Don't Google it yet. Wait, just wait a minute. So what do they do? These Jews brought Paul to the judgment seat of Galileo, and he tells the Jews, get out. I'm not going to bother with this, right? And so what ends up happening is while the Jews bring Paul to be essentially thrown in jail, whatever would happen, they were hoping the government would fall upon the Apostle Paul to get him out of there. On the contrary, what ended up happening was the Greeks ended up rising up against the ruler of the synagogue that brought Paul in to be tried at a court and they beat him and said, get out, get out of here. Hey, didn't Jesus say, you're not going to get hurt, Paul? Don't be afraid. Can I tell you, standing before any court in a Roman empire is a terrifying thing? Listen, we don't understand the laws and the rules that we have in this country that are wonderful. We don't understand the beauty of innocent until proven guilty. That's a wonderful thing. And that wasn't a part of the Roman Empire. But you know what, I love this, how God has a way of working things out. Amen? He absolutely does. Paul knew the danger of preaching the gospel. And here in our text, God has persuaded and reassured Paul to stay and keep preaching. Keep preaching. He was in a new field, Paul was. He had stuck with that old strategy he had. Go to the synagogue, get kicked out of there, find somewhere else. Take the believers, begin to teach them, preach the gospel. Same strategy, still works today. It still works today. And fear has arisen in Paul's life and in Paul's ministry, right? Fear has come up and he's been put before something that was pretty bad, but God gives great assurance to the Apostle Paul. Here in verses 9 and 10, I told you what they were, but here's what I want you to focus on in verse 10. Jesus said, be not afraid. He said, speak, hold not thy peace. I am with thee. No man will hurt thee. I know it's a new field. I know there is fear. I know it's a wicked place. I know the sin that abounds here. I understand it's a struggle. I understand all of this, but be not afraid and speak and hold not your peace. Why? Because I have much people in this city. Isn't that the point of what Paul did anyway? Wasn't that the point of his entire ministry? People? Seeing people come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. That's what it was all about, right? I have much people in this city. Watch this. God pulled back the curtain and let Paul know something. There are still people here who are going to believe the gospel and get saved. I mean, Paul got some insight from God himself. I mean, I know, listen, there are ministries, and there are missionaries, and there are pastors, and all sorts of ministries out there that look at this scenario, and they look over the panoply of their towns, and their cities, and their villages, and they say, Lord, do we stay? Lord, is Ichabod written over here? God, do we knock the dust off our shoes, and do we go to another place? And sometimes, yes, the answer comes back. We go to another place. No doubt it happens. But in this case, God pulled the curtain back and he told Paul, it's not going to look good at the surroundings. But listen, there are still people here that are going to get saved. So stay put and just preach the gospel. In wicked Corinth? Yes, in wicked Corinth. In sin city? Yes, right here in sin city. In a city holy, given to idolatry? Yes, in a city given to idolatry. I mean where else are you going to be preaching the gospel? In the church? I mean obviously we preach the gospel. The second half of the gospel, we know that. But where else are you going to call sinners in except where sinners are? So Paul is telling God is telling Paul to keep preaching because there will be people who get saved. You know as I read the Bible I have a habit of asking, Lord why did you record this? Why did you record this? And I ask the same question of this passage here. Why did you record this? What is it for us? Well, I think on the surface, very simply, America is really no different than Corinth. What is the similarities? Sinful people who need the gospel of Jesus Christ. In some ways, like I've said earlier, it might be worse because at least America has had the gospel and it continues to have the gospel. I mean, listen, you can go to TV stations and radio stations and on the internet and you can go on billboards and you can travel across this nation and see the Word of God on signs and in yards and on cars and all over the place. You can see the Word of God everywhere still. But we have this just, it is just a lurching Right, as, not Coop, Slouching Towards Gomorrah, that book, I forgot, was it Sievert Coop who wrote that? Yeah, yeah, Coop, about for God. I mean, but we see this in spite of all of the gospel we have. Listen, people are still dying and going to hell. We knock doors here and people don't want it. You hand a track out and they look at you like you're a psycho, right? I mean, they're still out there everywhere, amen? But just like Corinth, God through his word tells us the same thing that he told Paul. I have much people in this city. Let me ask you, have you ever gotten discouraged with the gospel? Not discouraged in the gospel, but discouraged in the results of the gospel. That's the word I was looking for. Ever been discouraged? You ever wondered, is anybody going to get saved? You ever gone through your mind, well it's been years. Hey, before you ask the question of your church, wow, it's been a long time since we've seen somebody saved. When is the last time that you've led somebody and seen somebody saved? Because church is made up of people, I think, right? Isn't that what it is? A body of members? Yeah, something like that. But it happens. You go through lulls. You go through dry spells. And you can sit and you can look at the dry spell and go, Lord, what are we doing? Are you sure? Does it work? Is anybody getting saved? You get discouraged? You get maybe depressed about it all? You begin to show up at the house of God like it's just a religious ritual? Maybe you've looked out over our own city of Nixa, looked out over our own state of Missouri, looked out over our own nation of the United States of America and come to the conclusion that Anybody that gets saved, it's just going to be so rare that I don't even look for it anymore. I think I'm on good ground here, based on the Word of God, that there are still much people in Nixa as there are much people in the Corinth. You know what they need? The Gospel. You know how they get the Gospel? From people who have the Gospel. Like I said in Sunday School this morning, Jesus meted out the bread, He gave the bread to the disciples, and the wording is, He gave the disciples to the people. I love that. Sometimes we just need to change our viewpoint. I hate to bring in the carnality of sales, but God is a God of numbers, and God is a God of averages, and it's all His law, it's all His. And we used to always be told in sales, every no is closer to a yes, because there will be a yes. Like a law of averages, I hate to throw, I'm sorry. If you remember, you've heard this illustration, no doubt, there's two shoe salesmen, they went to Africa and one wired back, it was all years and, you know, 100 years ago, they wired back, nobody wears shoes here, waste of time, went home. The second one wired back, nobody wears shoes here, send more. It's perspective, right? It's viewpoint. You say, well, it's gotten darker and darker and darker. Well, friend, who are you going to preach the gospel to but those that are lost? Amen? What does that mean? I mean, we have people barefoot out here all over the place that need shoes, right? We have people all around us that need the gospel. of Jesus Christ. And I'm telling you, if God has planted a New Testament, independent Baptist church in a city, I think you can be assured that there are much people in that city who are going to come to Christ. I'm just convinced. We'll say, I haven't seen it yet. Well, I will, and you will. You will. No matter how dangerous the city is, no matter how depraved the city is, no matter how void of truth the city is, we see this here in Corinth, right? None of that mattered. Watch, no matter how good the city is. Maybe, hey, oh, Nixa doesn't have, you know, doesn't have the pagan worship, and it doesn't have the open prostitution, it doesn't have this. Well, it still has enough. People are, listen, people are still wicked. right? Whether there's all that awful stuff or not, it's still out there. I contend there's probably worse in Nixon than was in Corinth. Listen, if God has called you there, people will get saved. If people aren't getting saved, you need to say, Lord, is it I? You know, God planted And I'm not making a mistake here. God planted Calvary Baptist Church right now over 70 years ago. You know that? Alan wasn't even born yet. 70 years ago. We waffle kind of back and forth. What are we anymore? I don't know. We're still here. But though we have a new location, though we have a different name, Commission's still the same. In 1954, it was estimated that there's between 500 to 900 residents in Nixa. Your mother was the last one that was here in 54. I can't ask anybody if they remember how many people were here in the mid-50s. I don't think it was anybody here in the mid, nobody was here in the mid-50s. 500 to 900, that's it. And you know what? God planted a church in a town of 500. Why? Because the gospel had to go out. Even in a little Nixie? That's the proper way. Did you all know that's the right way to say it? Nixie. Nixie, Missouri. Or if you say Missouri, then you can say Nixa, Missouri. But whatever way. So. I just started a big battle. That's right. As of May of 2024, there's 26,058 people in Nixa. 70 years, we've gone from 500 to 26,000. That's pretty good growth. In January 2024, Nixa is among the fastest growing cities in Missouri. Nixa is ranked number 10 with a 30.5% increase since 2019, 30% growth since 2019. Right now, when this was taken, that's just what, five years, 30% growth. Ozark is ranked number 11, 25% growth since 2019. In July of 2023, Ozark had a population of 22,907. Christian County had a population of 94,422. Green County is among the fastest growing counties in Missouri, just right a few miles to our north and now we just connect to them. Remember, how many remember driving literally the full five miles between Springfield and Nixa to get to Nixa? Yep. Christian County is currently number two as the fastest growing county in Missouri. And it's projected to be the fastest growing county in 2025. That's our county. Can I tell you there's still much people in the city who will come to Christ? There is still much people. You know what they need? They need the gospel. You know who they don't need it from? They don't need it from the cults. Because they don't get it from them. Listen, there's churches on every corner. Will some of them preach the gospel? Sure. Will all of them preach the gospel? I don't know. But I know it's our heart and desire to preach the gospel and God has put us here. And there's so much people who will come to Christ. And even though God knew who would come to Him in belief, watch, Paul still needed Paul and Silas and Timothy to get to them. What? He needs us. He needs bodies. He needs people. Because nobody comes to Christ without the preaching of the gospel. So what should Crimson Avenue Baptist Church be doing today? Well, it's summed up in a verse. Go. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. Go. You gotta go. It's a lifestyle. Yes, we come as a church, as a body, like a military would, if an army had a battle to go out to, they would muster together and they'd go out to that battle and boy, I tell you what, everybody better be at that battle, right? Could you imagine Brother Earl getting some orders and part of your group goes, eh, we don't want to go today. Boy, you'd be in trouble. You'd be in trouble. No, no, no, listen, soul winning is a lifestyle. It's a Monday through Friday. But there's sometimes when the body joins together and gets together and goes out as a body and we ought to be there. Go ye into all the world. Sow, go, number two. Number one, go. Number two, sow. I mean, this is easy stuff. I know what it is. Go ye into all the world and what? Preach the gospel. What are you doing? You're sowing seed. You're casting out seed. So you go, number one. Number two, you sow. Number three, you water. The Bible says here Paul reasoned and persuaded. The Word is being watered. He's taking the Word and instructing them in it. So you go, and you sow, and you water, and then you gather together. 1 Corinthians 3, verses 6-7. He said, I have planted. Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So neither is he that planteth anything, neither he watereth, but God that giveth the increase. Isn't that a wonderful thing? Nobody rises to the top, oh hey, look at that. No, listen, we're all just laborers in the vineyard and God comes in and He gathers together, He gathers together His fruit. And number five, number one you go, number two you sow, number three you water, number four you gather, number five grow, grow, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. It's called discipleship. It's discipleship. There's a group of young people, I told them quite a bit, you know. Yeah, I know you won so and so at the door, but where are they? That's a wonderful thing. They need to be here. Why? Because the gospel is preach the gospel, baptizing, and what? Teaching. You win them, right? You see them coming baptized and then they're discipled. And listen, you can't leave sheaves out in the field. They gotta be brought in. They gotta be brought in. They gotta be discipled. So the question for us, Crimson Avenue Baptist Church, God has planted us here. We are still here by the grace of God. God obviously is working and moving and increasing us and doing a great work here and I'm so thankful for that, right? So the question for us and the reminder for us is are you going? Are you going? Are you going? Are you sowing? Are you watering? Is God able to gather? And are you growing each other? There's much people in Nixa. There's much people here. And so what we need to do is just get out and find them. Do you see the pattern of the Apostle Paul? He didn't sit in his house and just hope somebody came by. He went out and he found them. Right? Could you imagine how easy fishing would be? If you could just get in the boat and go out in the middle and fish start flopping in the boat? That wouldn't be fishing. That would just be catching. Or gathering or something. But no, you have to go. You have to go. You have to go where they are. You have to go find them. You have to go find them. Being a Christian and inactive and soul winning is like being an employee who doesn't show up for work. Being a Christian and inactive and seeking the lost is, Brother Neil, like being a firefighter who won't go put out a fire or rescue those that are trapped in the blaze. Could you imagine driving up with the fire engine and sitting out there without all your stuff on and the fire's blazing and you can hear people screaming and they just stand there and go, well, aren't you a firefighter? Well, yeah. Well, go get them. That's not what I do. That's not my job. Well, you're not a firefighter, right? Okay, you could probably help me. There might be somebody who doesn't do all that. But man, could you imagine? I wouldn't like that. Being a Christian and being disobedient to our Father's command is like being a soldier who won't take orders. You're not a soldier. Church, we have a job to do. as bleak as it looks, and as discouraging as it might get, and as much as we might get this idea that nobody's gonna listen, nobody wants it, nobody wants to hear from us, and blah, blah, blah. Listen, that is Satan. It is not from God. God says there's much people out there. If He's planted us here, there's people that are gonna get saved. And listen, we just need to continue reaching our city with the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's it. Amen. Father, help us today. Encourage us today. No matter how bad it looks out there, there are still people that are hungry for something. And what they are hungry for, what they may not even realize is what we have, the bread that we have, the bread of life. And Father, would you encourage us and strengthen us and instill within us an urgency again for the gospel to reach those that are in our city that need to be saved. And we'll thank you for how you do that and we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand this morning and the invitation is open and the piano is going to play and I just want to ask you a couple questions. The first question I've got to ask is whether you're here or whether you're watching online. You might be watching this in 10 years from now, I don't know. The question's got to be asked, are you saved? Are you saved? Have you been born again? If not, you can come and you can write, you could call, and we could show you how you could be born again and have that bread of life. But number two, believer, I want to ask you a question, Christian. Is there anything that needs changing in your life so that you can continue to preach the gospel? Is there any realigning that needs to go on in your heart and your life so that you can be active in the gospel? Is there anything that needs to change in the way that you do your daily business and the day that you order your week or your days or your job that could be altered or changed so that you could be active in preaching the gospel? Maybe all you need to do today is come and say, Lord, could you show me if there's anything that I might be able to change, anything that I might be able to do differently, anything that might be a hindrance to me preaching the gospel like you'd want me to do, would you show me? And I'll make that change as soon as you show me. I'll add it, I'll add, I'll subtract, whatever you want me to do, I'll do. So I can be busy. getting the gospel to a lost world. Can I tell you, church, this is the foundational reason for the coming and most very likely As far as I can tell, a likely merger of churches coming up. This is the foundational purpose of it. To reach our county, to reach our city, to reach our country, to reach our state with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not just to have more people, not just to have more activity, not just to build buildings. All of that, listen, all of that is only necessary for the preaching of the gospel and reaching the lost. Oh don't lose sight of the reason why we're here. That is the reason God has left us on the planet is to be His eyes and His mouth and His feet and His hands to reach people.