Well, good morning. So great to be with you all. Thank you for your praise and support. A lot of great things happening at the jail. Men coming to Christ and growing in the Lord. That's really what it's all about, isn't it? To receive the greatest gift of all from God to us, wrapped in flesh. His name is Jesus. So I'd like you to turn with me to John chapter six. And we'll begin in verse 59. Gospel of John, chapter six, or as I'm teaching the Spanish guys and learning some of the words from the interpreter, to one seis, capitulo seis, versilico, I don't know how to say 59, but it's gonna be cinco nueve. That's it. Yeah. These things he said in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. Therefore, many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, this is a difficult statement. Who can listen to it? But Jesus, conscious that his disciples grumbled at this, said to them, does this cause you to stumble? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are Spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. And he was saying, for this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the Father. As a result of this, many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore. So Jesus said to the 12, you do not want to go away also, do you? And Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Again, for context, we begin, Jesus is saying that shares these words with them that, unless anyone eats of my flesh and drinks of my blood, he has no part in me, and so forth. So they were saying, like, wow, this is a difficult statement. Who can hear these things? And so it's in this context that he shares this, and a lot of them grumbled and so forth, and some of them walked away. But what he was saying was basically, I think a good example of this is anyone that you've seen in, well, the Patriots are doing awesome, and so let's pick on them. Every one of them, I mean, from childhood up, would eat, sleep, drink, think football. Can I get an amen? The same with the baseball player, the basketball player, everything else. And Jesus is saying, unless I become number one, that important to you, that you always are thinking of me. You have no part in me. Again, he says, if any man hate not his father, mother, brother, sister, or children, his wife, in regards to his love for Jesus, you know, he has no part in him. And it's true, when we come to know him, we realize, you know something? There's nobody like this one. There's nobody. When me and my wife got married, and we were holding hands, looking at each other, and through the veil, she said, there's only one other being I love more than you. And I know what she was, I said, ditto. You know, because without Jesus, I wouldn't have had her. You know, she was a goody two-shoe girl way up in the mountains, never knew what swears and cigarettes and stuff were, and I was on the other side of the tracks, and it was just, it was amazing how God brought us together, but it was only through Jesus. So anyway, in this context, he shares these words. And he, again, says, no one can come to me unless it is granted him. from the Father. And so again, as a result of this, a lot of the disciples walked away. I always remember John 6, 6, 6. You know, from that time, many of his disciples withdrew and walked with him no longer. But anyway, before we get into it, let me just share something that I thought was pretty interesting about what we're gonna be talking about. E. B. White, tells us of a story about life and death in his classic children's epic entitled, Charlotte's Web. Anybody not heard of Charlotte's Web? Everybody heard of that? Okay, I thought that was an amazing story. I didn't know until I got older and come to faith. But yeah, we're talking about a story that takes place on a farm with a Animals can talk, and Wilbur the pig arrives on the scene and realizes one day that Margaret the hen's not around anymore, and all the other animals are laughing and giggling. They say, she was supper last night, you know? And he says, huh? And he finds out real quick that, hey, we're just here to, you know, become food one day. And Wilbur falls into this desperate state of depression that he's going to die one day soon. And so Charlotte, the little spider, weaves this little web over his stall and says, great pig. And everybody gets excited. And when the farmer comes out and sees it, he goes and tells the whole world, hey, look at this pig. Look at this pig. It was the spider that did it. But he's saying, look at the pig. And he lends him to the county fair. with a pig contest, and Charlotte does her work and writes this web, humble pig, and he ends up winning the contest. And because he does, the farmer says he will never, he will not die. So that was the gist of the story. And a touching story. I think it was more for adults. I don't even think kids really get this at that young age, but more for adults that you know, we start to realize as we get older, you know, people disappear. I remember when I was 9, 10 years old, my parents brought me, my brother, my sister into the living room and told us that Nana Mongeau had passed away. And we didn't know what she was talking about. And she said, Nana Mongeau has died. And we still don't know what she's talking about. And she said, Nana Mongeau's not going to be around anymore. And sure enough, she wasn't. But we just went out and played. We had no idea what death was. Only a year later, Papa Croce passed away. And again, they told us Papa Croce has passed away. Papa Croce has died. He's not going to be around. And again, we're just kids. We don't know what death is. And OK. And we go about our business. And not long after, Nana Croce died. So around 10, 11 or so, I started to realize, wait a minute. That means one day Danny Croce ain't going to be around anymore. And it kind of hit me hard because I said, wait a minute, hold on. I didn't ask to be born. But here I am. And they tell me, you're going to die. And by the way, there ain't nothing you can do about it. And I thought that was very unfair. And I started asking those questions. Why am I here? Where did I come from? Where am I going? What is it all about? But the main thing was, you're going to die one day. Kind of like Wilbur found out the pig. A lot of stories like that. And I just didn't know any of the answers. I didn't grow up in a church. I never went to church. Neither did my parents. So I was clueless to what Jesus said in the Bible. And again, school taught that we were growing up germs. There was this big explosion, and voila, all the planets are spinning around perfectly. Earth is spinning around 24 hours a day on a 23 and a half degree axis, and while it's doing that, it's spinning around the sun 365 and a quarter days a year, and you can time it with your watch. But it just happened. It was a big explosion. And again, we were taught that we were growing up germs, that a long time ago there were some dead cells in the bottom of the water that became a living cell and grew arms and legs and swam and then grew fish and came out of the water and became this monkey to ape to you. Basically from goo to you by way of the zoo. And I just couldn't buy it. I just could not buy that. It's like there's just no way that we can. If we came from apes, why aren't we still changing today, you know? So I just couldn't buy this. So for a long time, there was no answers. And I lived with the philosophy, as my friends did, potty hotty, for tomorrow, we die. You know, there's no hope. All you really got to look forward to was a stone with your name, a date, a dash, and another date. That's it. And so, life had no meaning. No reason, no purpose, no hope. A lot of my friends never saw 30, 40 years old. Drugs, alcohol, suicide, you name it. And again, it wasn't until I went to jail, 1985, 28 years old, that someone gave me a Bible. And that's when everything changed. what seemed like the worst thing that could possibly happen was really the best thing that could ever happen. And as I read that Bible, I realized there was a meaning to life. There was a reason to live. There is a purpose, and we have a hope that there's a lot more than the here and now. Can I get an amen? So I was given a New Testament and read through Matthew, Mark, and Luke over and over again. Then I started going to church and the jail, and I found they had a whole Bible there. It was the Gideon Bibles that they had in the back of the... It was just a little church, but it had pews and things. So I looked, I picked it up, and it was a sticker. And I'm like, what's up with that? OK, Mark's the same, Matthew's the same, but what are all these other things? So I asked the pastor, and he said, that's the whole Bible. And I said, huh? He said, that's the Old Testament. And I said, that's part of the Bible? He said, yeah. He says, oh, can I read that? I said, yeah, you're going to read it? I said, yeah. So I started reading the Old Testament. you know, I started to learn all these things that the New Testament was saying. So it was, you know, a great awakening for me. I mean, I learned quickly through the New Testament as I fell in love with Jesus, wow, this guy's awesome, you know, the blind see, the lame walk, the dead rise, the winds in the seas obey him. And I'm like, this is awesome, but he's talking about sin. I'm like, yikes. I've broken all these laws, you know, don't lie, don't steal. If you even look at a woman, tell us where you've committed adultery. And I'm thinking, yikes, I'm in trouble. And then, you know, I read about, you know, and then I read that these would be cast into outer darkness, weeping, gnashing of teeth. And I'm thinking, oh boy, we're talking about hell. I know we are. And so I go to church and he says, yes, I said, we're talking about, yes, we are. You need to be saved. And so the officer, I remember, was in a hurry, kind of motionless. He said, come on, okay, let's go. And he wanted to bring everybody back to their cells. And the chap said, wait a minute. Do you believe Jesus died for your sins? I said, yeah, look, I believe that, but look, I got a lot of sins. I'm 28 years old. I've been doing this stuff all my life. He said, Jesus died once and for all for the sins of the world. He said, when you go back to your cell, get on your knees and tell God, I know I'm a sinner. But I believe Jesus died on that cross for my sins. He was buried, he rose again. And right now, I'm trusting you to save me. I want you to come into my life." And God just miraculously began to clean house. All of a sudden, they felt bad about cigarettes. He took them away, marijuana, cocaine, the drinking, the fighting, the scambling, swearing. He just started cleaning. I didn't want to do all these things anymore because these were things that Jesus died for. And he began cleaning house. But one of the things I noticed about the Old Testament was it doesn't talk a lot about the gift. You know, we're getting into Christmas now, right? We're going to get gifts, give gifts, and so forth, all to remind us of the greatest gift of all. And his name is Jesus. But in him was the gift of eternal life. Remember, when Jesus turned to his disciples and said, are you gonna go away also? Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Only you have the words of eternal life. You know, in the Old Testament, you don't see eternal life much. In fact, I'll give you a quote that's only mentioned a few times. It's briefly mentioned, alluded to, but that's it. In fact, I'm only gonna give you a few verses. That's it. The first time it pops up is in Genesis, if you'll turn there, Genesis chapter three, after Adam and Eve sinned and God began to you know, tell him what's gonna happen. The woman will have to bear children with pain. The serpent will be cursed on his belly. Adam's gonna be, the ground's gonna be cursed. But down at the end of chapter three, verse 22, after everybody's cursed for doing this, then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, and now he might stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever. All right, this again, this is only, you're only gonna see this a few times, not so much eternal life, but the thought of living forever. Again, it doesn't say much in the Old Testament. You're gonna hear words like, keep the commandments, you will have long life. Honor your mother and father, you will have long life. That's it. But right here it mentions live forever. You're only gonna see this a few times in the Old Testament. Now the reason he gives Adam the boot out of the garden again, because if he eats of the tree of life and lives forever in his sinful state, It's not going to be good. It's not going to be good. He doesn't want people to live forever in their sinful state. Can I get an amen? He's got to do something first. So you hit the road and the cherubim with the flaming sword doesn't let him back in. That's the first time. The second time is Ecclesiastes. Chapter three, I think you all know, there's a time for everything. There's a time to be born, there's a time to die, there's a time to love, there's a time to hate, there's a time for war, there's a time for peace, and on and on and on. But verse 11 says that God has placed in the heart of man the thought of eternity. Again, you're only gonna see this a few times in the Old Testament. One, two, so far. So we have this thought, and because of this, numerous stories have been written about the fountain of youth, and what would it be like to live forever, because everybody sooner or later figures this out. One out of one, so far, with the exception of Enoch and Elijah, one out of one dies. Can I get an amen? So this thought of eternity is in the heart and mind of man. What would it be like? And again, in the Old Testament, we only got a few references, a few little blurbs, that's it. Nothing much. The last one is in Daniel, chapter two, and in the end of Daniel, if you want to turn there, you can, chapter 12, I'm just gonna look at one verse, verse two, where it will mention, again, about living forever. And again, this is it. In the OT, as far as the gift of eternal life and what it's really all about, in the OT, this is all you're gonna get. Chapter 12, verse two, Daniel writes, many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake. These two, everlasting life. but others to disgrace in everlasting contempt or abhorrence. That's it in the OT, in the Old Testament. It wasn't until Jesus shows up in the New Testament that he begins to speak or elaborate on eternal life, which is called this gift. Again, Romans 6, 23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of eternal life is in Christ. Amen? The gift comes wrapped in flesh, and it's the meaning to life, the reason we live. The purpose and the hope we have. All that to say, if you want it in English, there's a lot more than the here and now. Can I get an amen? This life is short. It's gonna be over before you know it. I just mentioned to you a few times, I just turned 69 three months ago, and a week ago I was 21. Time waits for no man. It just keeps going and going. And so the bottom line is don't hold on to this life too tightly, don't. Because this life is fleeting, it's flying, it's gonna disappear before you know it. The next life you need to think about, because the next one is forever. Whether in heaven or in hell, it will be forever. And Jesus kind of spells this out pretty much. Our visitor, Cam, was telling me how he came out of Roman Catholicism. Pretty much all of us did. Everybody, New England, everybody's Catholic, all right? And a little thing called purgatory, which Jesus is gonna squash in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 16, verse 19, where a man fared sumptuously, lived high on the hog, filet mignon, lobster, And he wore purple. And a beggar at his gate named Lazarus laid there longing to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. And besides this, a dog came and was licking his sores. Well, it came about that the two died. It's said that Lazarus was buried. I mean, the rich man was buried and Lazarus was carried away by the angels into Abraham's bosom. And in Hades, the rich man lifted up his eyes, being in torment, saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus in his bosom, and screamed, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, and let him come and dip his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in his flame. And Abraham's child, remember that during your lifetime, you received your good things and likewise, Lazarus, bad things, but now he's being comforted and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you, there is a great chasm, a gulf, the Greek word means nothing, so that no one from here can get to you and that none, I repeat, none from there can get over here. So much for territory. You basically make your bed on earth. Tomorrow, you're sleeping in it. The only way up is through Christ. He's the way, the truth, and the life. No man will come to the Father except by him. But to die in your sin, to go to hell, do nothing. You were born a sinner, and if you die in your sin, you will burn forever, the Bible says. And there's no getting out. So when the rich man realized his dilemma, he said, then I beg you, Father Abraham, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, lest they come to this terrible place of torment. And Abraham said, they got Moses and the prophets. That was the Bible of the day. That was Jesus' Bible, the Old Testament. Moses, the prophets, that's all they had. New Testament hasn't been written yet. He says, they got the Bible. The rich man says, no father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. And Abraham said, if they don't listen to the Bible, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead. And that's how it ends. There are only two ways to die, in the faith or in your sin. And again, all that dies now is the body. The body dies, yes, we get old, it gets old, it wears out and dust to dust. But you, spirit soul, are still alive and you will either be in heaven or in hell until the very end when they resurrect the body to be joined with your spirit and soul and then face judgment. for the unbeliever to be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death, or for the believer to live in your best dream multiplied a trillion times, where there's no more pain, no more suffering, no more death, no more sin, and God is gonna be there. I don't know about you, but I long for that day. If it came today, so be it. But this is what it's all about. Jesus comes and expounds on these little things. They just briefly mention it in the OT and says, let me tell you what it's all about. This is the meaning to life. There's a lot more than what you're seeing right now. Everything that is seen is temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal. Now, again, Jesus comes on the scene, he starts talking about eternal life or everlasting life. Some of your virgins will say eternal life, some will say everlasting life. Let me just say, on that note, some scholars debate this. You can Google and see some of the thoughts. Eternal, they want to say, refers to God. Eternal has no beginning, no end. God is eternal, amen. So with regard to eternal life, they think that it really should say everlasting life, because it has a starting point, where we come to faith, we're born again, and we will live forever. So everlasting is, okay, from here on out, now I will live forever. That's again, this is one thought. Or, as the Bible says, we were chosen before the foundation of the world, And in God's mind, we always existed. Could be this way, that, again, this is nothing to lose sleep over. This is just something to chew on or whatever if you want to look into it a little bit more deeper. But I believe in the versions today, they use synonymously eternal life, everlasting life, again, the thought of life going on, living forever. That it doesn't end when someone dies. That's just the body. The person's still alive. That's why when people pass in our churches, we have these celebration of life, amen? We're rejoicing, they're in heaven alive with God. While others do the gloom and doom and bells and smells and into the ground he goes. We'll never see him again. And they're crying on, crying on. It's like, phew, please, don't you read your Bibles? If they believe, they're with God. If they didn't believe in Jesus, they're not. That's why we must share the gospel. No better time than during this Christmas season. When people say, happy holidays, we always respond, Merry Christmas. So the eternal life, what is it? Well, according to Jesus in his priestly prayer, John 17, he describes it for us. In John 17, we have this one chapter of Jesus praying to his father. And in verse one, it says that Jesus spoke these things, lifting his eyes to heaven. Again, they didn't bow their heads and pray. They would look up when they prayed. And he said, Father, the hour has come. Again, this is only a day before he will die on a cross. So he says, Father, the hour has come that your son may glorify you. Even as you gave him authority over all flesh, that to all whom you have given him, he may give eternal life. Verse three, you ready? This is eternal life. Jesus' definition, ready? That they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the God-man whom you have sent. According to Jesus, eternal life is to know him. A lot of people know about God, but there are only some who know Him. God has given them His Spirit. They've been born of the Spirit, born again, and now they see Him. And they read the Bible and they understand it. And they come to know Him. Again, even Paul talks about everything he ever had or did or whatever, he counts it all rubbish in the light of knowing God. I mean, let's face it. Before I came to faith, life had no meaning at all. But someone put this on a Facebook thing, a meme I saw. It said, I know God is real because I know my life without God, and I know my life with God. And there is a big difference. Can I get an amen? Amen. The old life is like, oh man, I have dreams and nightmares of the bars, cigarettes, and all the other things that went with it, and now I'm free from that. I don't need that anymore. I'm free. That has no pull on me whatsoever. I've been set free, and I gotta tell others that they can be free by knowing Him. You know, again, many know about Him, but only some know Him. It is also to refer to living forever, eternal life. Again, why do I have to die? Well, you won't. According to Jesus, he who believes in me will never die. Do you believe that? I hope you do, because it's true. It's true. The body may die, but you will not die. And to be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord. You don't have to fear death. You don't have to fear death. Don't. It's just a doorway into heaven. That's all that happens. That's why a lot of people in the Old Testament died to give us this Bible. You know, a lot of people gave their lives for this thing. A lot of people were burned at the stake. You name it. They all died. They were beheaded. They were fed the lions. All you got to do is denounce Christ. Not happening. We'll feed you the lions. Do what you want. This is the truth. You want to live for a lie? Go ahead. But I'm living for truth. Truth is truth. But so many people want to live in a lie. And those of us that have come to the truth realize. It's a lot more important. I remember a gun smoke commercial. I was just turned on to gun smoke late in life. I never watched TV as a kid much, but I started watching these Westerns and gun smoke. I've probably seen every one five times now, but on one occasion, Matt Dillon's got to go out and get these bad guys, and he's all alone. There's like five of them or something, and they tell him, you know, you could die. And he said, there are some things more important than life. And there are. And you just said it, truth. Truth is more important than life. Because if I have to live a lie, I'm not living. I'm living truth. And again, all death can do is change your address. That's all. You go from this life to the next life. And believe me, even Paul said, I'm torn. I am torn between the two. I would rather like to die and go be with Christ, which is far better than the here and now. But I'll stay for your sake to continue to teach and preach. But when the number's called, see you later. Nice knowing you. See you on the other side. I mean, it's a lot better. And again, this is what makes this New Testament so important. This is what the gift of eternal life is really all about. The Old Testament just mentions little snippets. That's it. When Jesus comes, he starts exposing everything and telling us what it's all about and why this is so important, what makes us live, why we do not fear death, why we know we will live forever. Because the gift of eternal life is in Jesus. Again, the gift is eternal life, it's wrapped in flesh. John's gonna say this also. Turn to 1 John for a minute, in the back of your Bibles, and notice chapter five. Let's pick it up in verse 10. First John, Primero One, Versilico Cinco, Versilico, Capitulo Cinco, Versilico Dias. Verse 10, the one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar. because he has not believed in the testimony that God has born or given concerning his son. And the testimony is this, you ready? That God has given us eternal life. And this eternal life is where? In his son. He who has the son has the eternal life. He who does not have the son of God does not have the eternal life. Then he concludes, these things I have written to you, who believe in the name of God, of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. Again, thank God for Jesus. Amen. He took our beaten. He shed his blood to wash away not some, not many, not most, but all our sins. So that whosoever believing in him will not perish, but have. None might have, have. eternal or everlasting life. Life becomes more meaningful when we look to Jesus, amen? Without him, again, life had no meaning. There was no answer, no meaning to reason, why am I here, where did I come from, I'm going to die, you know? I mean, it's a really sad thing. No wonder people commit suicide. If you're gonna die anyway, why not do it today? " But with God, he's saying, no, no, no, no. No, there's a lot more. And he came to tell us all about it. He who believes in me will never die. Again, the body may die, don't worry about that. One day God's gonna snap his fingers, the body's gonna come back to life. I don't care if it was incinerated in the world tower. I don't care if it was cremated. I don't care if it was fish food. The Bible says that the sea will give up the dead. Can I get an amen? Don't worry about that. Don't worry about the body. That's temporary. The things that are seen are temporary. The things that aren't seen are eternal. Our spirit and soul. And one day God will bring that body back to life and it'll become a celestial or a glorified body where there is no more pain, no more suffering, no more death. And if you wanna chew on that for a while, if that sparks your interest, 1 Corinthians 15, Paul tells you all about it. People say, what's it gonna be like? You know, what will the body be like? Will grandma still be grandma? Will the little baby still be baby? No, he said, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, he said, when you plant a, A cucumber seed in the ground, you don't get a big cucumber seed. You get a plant with flowers. It's beautiful. And he's trying to help them understand that this new body, when it comes back to life, resurrected, it won't have to suffer any more pain again or death. Sound good? Again, we will live forever with God. Those who do not believe will exist forever without God. How does one live forever with God? Well, he puts faith and believes in his son, Jesus, who takes away the sin of the world, amen? who forgives our sin. This word forgive in the Greek is aphiemi. And again, it means to take away or to send away. When John saw Jesus in chapter one, he said, behold the lamb who takes away, aphiemi. We could have translated who forgives the sins of the world. But he said, behold the Lamb who affieh me. He takes away the sins of the world. I tell you, man, I had a lot of sins, and I am so glad that he took them away. The guilt, the shame. I think I told you before, but when I was little, I grew up in a swamp, right? I had a swamp in the backyard. We had a baseball and basketball, you know, playground in the front of the house, swamp in the back. I liked the swamp, so I was probably living there. So when I was little, turtle, frogs, anything that moves, you caught it, you know? And one day my dad introduced me to a gun, a BB gun. And he showed me how to shoot it, and I got really good with it. I could pick off little army men that you could set up. We used to set those things up 30 feet away. And again, five years old, ping, ping, ping. I was really good with it. I could do it lefty. I could do it righty. And I got really good. In fact, when I got older, my father would beg me to go hunting with him. And I was like, Dad, I really don't want to kill a deer. God, he knew I'd get him. I said, no, I don't want to do that. Now, if I was starving, it would be, Father, thank you for this food I'm about to receive. But other than that, no, I'm really not into going and killing the animals and going hunting with you. Anyway, he showed me how to shoot the gun, and I was really good at it. And so one day, my father wasn't home. And I was six, seven, eight. I grabbed the BB gun, and I went out to the swamp. And on my way out there, there were some trees. And on a branch, there was this little chickadee. And I stopped, and I raised the gun slowly so the BBs wouldn't hear the BBs rolling down the barrel. And I took aim, and bang, I got him. And he fell to the ground, flapped his wings, and died. And after that happened, I was so bummed out. I was so sad. I was like, why did I do that? Why did I do that? And I don't know how many times I said that because every time I ever got in trouble, my mom would say, why did you do that? And it was like, I don't know. Now I know. Why do we do anything bad? Because of sin. We're born in sin. Why do we think bad thoughts? Why do we say bad things? Why do we do bad things? Why do we don't do what we should do sometimes? It's because we have this sinful nature. And so I still remember that. That was 60 years ago. I still remember it like yesterday. Now, I know Jesus died for that sin, but I'll tell you, that bugs me. That bugs me because I had no reason to do that. I wasn't starving. I didn't need to eat. But Jesus comes. To take away, to send away our sin, our guilt, our shame. Hallelujah, amen. I'm not the only one. You know, we all, we all have things we wish we hadn't done or said or whatever. And that's why God, who so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son. to Afiyemi, to take away, to send away, that whosoever believing in him do not perish, but have everlasting life. And when we put our faith in him, and the spirit opens our eyes, and we come alive, we realize that life now has a meaning. We have a purpose. We have a reason to live. We have a hope. And this idea again of eternal life, what is it? To know the true and living God and his son whom he sent. We realize that with this knowledge of him comes a great responsibility that not only do we get to know him, but we need to make him known. We need to tell others. He calls us to be fishermen. Can I get an amen? We need to be fishing. There are people who are lost out there. People, again, chosen before the foundation of the world, but they don't know it. They're clueless. They're walking in darkness. They have no idea what's going on. And we have to be ready to open the word with them, share with them, plant a seed, share a Bible verse. You're not gonna save them. Don't worry about that. I've never saved anybody. Neither has Dan. The only one who saves is Him. But we're called to plant. We're called to water. God gives the increase. But we're told to do one of them, two if not both. So when we have opportunity like the season now, it's Christmas. There will be no better time for people to at least listen to you now. What is it all about? It has something to do with gifts. Yeah, we all get gifts, we give gifts. But there's one gift that is the most important of all. The gift of eternal life, which only one could tell us about because he was there. He was God. He came down and was walking around here. He was in the world, the world was created by him. But the world didn't know who he was. And he came and gave us the words of eternal life. Where else are we going to go? You know, when I was in college, I had a teacher that I liked. His name was Dr. Phillips. taught a couple of classes. And when you go to college, you don't take a class, you take a teacher, because there are some good teachers, there are bad teachers. You figure that out pretty quick. And so Dr. Phillips, I thought, was a pretty good teacher. So I took him for a couple of classes, and I went to this one class, And it was something to do with theology. It might have been systematic theology, I can't remember, but we were in this lecture hall, and he had made this statement at one point that you could lose your salvation. And I was like shocked. I almost fell off the chair. I couldn't believe what he had just said, that people could lose their salvation. And usually I raise my hand and wait for them to call on me, but this time I raised my hand, just stood up in my seat, and said, Dr. Phillips, do you mean to tell me that you believe a person could come to know Jesus, could see him as he's portrayed in scripture, beaten beyond recognition, whipped 40 lashes, save one, nailed to a cross, slowly bleeding and dying, for there is no greater love than one laid down his life for his friend. Someone could come to know this kind of love and then walk away? I said, Where did they go? Is there something better than Jesus? Am I missing something? And he was in front of a podium, and he walked up to the podium, and he said, well, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And he started stuttering. So he backed up. And he took a couple breaths and he went back up and he said, Well, I'm shrinking in my chair because I'm an ex-con, all right, I'm there on a scholarship, I'm one of the former Chuck Colson scholars, I'm a jailbird basically, and I don't want this guy to have a heart attack or something, you know, I'm just here learning, asking a question, and I'm shrinking in my chair, and then the bell rang, and he was saved by the bell. And we went out, and all these kids ran around me, you know, these young, they were all valedictorians, rich people, it was a very expensive college, And they're all saying, hey, I'm glad you said what you said, because I believe like you believe. And I said, look, guys, your mom and dad are paying big bucks for you to be here. You don't understand something, you ask the teacher. You're here to learn, not just get an A. You're here to learn. You don't understand something, ask them. And again, I don't know of anything better. I don't believe a true believer could walk away from Jesus. He could backslide, I believe, but I don't think he could ever walk away. There's just no way. There's no way you can come to know that kind of love. Because to where shall you go? Only he has the words of eternal life. Amen. This gift that we've received. We need to share it with others. You came to worship. You're going to soon depart to serve. The waitress, the person at the workplace, wherever you go, plant the seed. Tell him something about Jesus, a Bible verse, whatever. Thank you in your tip, whatever, a track. Plant the seed, pray, and leave the rest to God. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you. Thank you again for the greatest gift of all, the eternal life that you wrapped in flesh. as you sent your son to come down to reveal yourself to us, to open our eyes, to give us your spirit, to give us eternal life, that they will never perish. We thank you, we praise you, we love you, we worship you in this life and in the one to come. In Jesus' name.