for the kids, that way you get a little idea of what's happening there. Well, without further ado, Brother Price, why don't you come and preach the word, sir. Amen. Thank you. Good evening, folks. Second night of Missions Conference here at First Baptist Church, Laurel, Montana. Amen. And it's a joy to be with you folks. You folks are abundantly blessed with music. Amen. Don't you enjoy Brother Rick's song leading? That is such a blessing. What's that? Well. Am I the only one, folks, or do you like his song leading, amen? I tell you, Ruth and I have been in many churches, and a good song leader sure gets you stirred up and ready for the preaching and for the service, and he does it with so much joy, and I appreciated that. Take your Bibles, please, Romans 1, verse 16. That was a great presentation, Brother Parker. I appreciated that very much. What a challenge. I'm glad God didn't call me to Japan, amen? I struggle with English with 26 letters, amen? Let alone having three different alphabets to deal with. And I'm glad he called you and your wife, amen, and your family. and do pray for them. That is a huge challenge to go to a country that is in the 1040 window. It's not a creative access country, but at the same time it is a country of unreached people, and many are unengaged. That means they've never heard who Jesus Christ is. And so they need your prayers. And they will be successful if we back home here pray for them on the field. Amen. And brother, sister, partner, thank you for that. All right. Well, that was a good story tonight. I appreciated that. You know, the power of the gospel. And that's the message I have this evening is the power of the gospel. Let's stand and let's just read one verse, if you will. You know, when you come to a church and the pastor says, I want you to be the keynote preacher. Then you start shivering in your boots a little bit, saying, what? What does the Lord want me to preach? And so the Lord has directed my attention to this message, and obviously the message last night. I told pastor this is, I really struggled with Friday night's message, what I should preach. And I went from this one, to this one, to this one. Then I found out I'm down in the blue bus line, amen. And I'm thinking, whoo-hoo. Praise the Lord, I get to minister to children tomorrow night. And what a blessing, I'm looking forward to that. Cuz children are the hope, amen, of tomorrow. So Paul says this in Romans chapter 1 and verse 16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, The just shall live by faith, Let's pray. Father, we're thankful for the gospel. It changed that fellow Smith's life hundreds of years ago. And that same gospel will change lives today. It's a powerful gospel. And Lord, I pray that we would not be ashamed of the gospel, that we would be challenged. I would be challenged to give it out more, to be aware of its power and not my power. Father, thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight. Pray that you bless our time together. We pray in your name. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. The gospel, how sweet that sound is in the ears of a believer, amen? When you recall the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and what it meant to us, that moment that we got saved, that is a sweet sound, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let me ask this, do you remember the day you got saved? Do you remember the day that you bowed your head where you were? I was on a bus. It wasn't a blue bus, amen? But I was on a bus coming up from Calgary, Alberta, going to Edmonton, and it was there that I bowed my head and I received Christ as my Savior. I did not grow up in a Christian home. I did not know anything about church. I was as ignorant as the day is long. I didn't know The right words to say, I just knew that I needed Christ. I bowed my head and said, here I am, Lord. I'll do whatever you want me to do. In that moment, the Lord changed my life, amen? And He changed my direction because of the power of the gospel. The Holy Spirit had convicted me of my sin, and when I got saved, the guilt of my sin, gone. Amen. How's that song go? Gone, gone, gone. Yes, my sins are gone. Amen. He's put him in the deepest of the ocean. Amen. Deepest of the sea. Never to be remembered again. As far as east is from the west. So far hath he removed our transgressions from us. And I'm glad that is true. One of my favorite songs is Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound. You know, that's a song that you can sing anywhere in this world, I would think, and people would recognize it. Amen? That saved the wretch like me. I was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. Amen. What a great truth. That's the gospel. "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved." How precious did that grace appear. the hour I first believed. I trust you're saved tonight, and you're born again, and you know that Jesus Christ's gospel has changed your life. Amen? I want to give you four thoughts tonight about the power of the gospel and why it is effective. The first reason that the gospel is effective is because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You know the resurrection is mentioned over and over in scripture. It's mentioned many times in the Old Testament, many times in the New Testament. Jesus spoke of his resurrection. Paul spoke of his resurrection. Resurrection was a major theme of Paul's teaching of Jesus Christ It's important because the resurrection guarantees forgiveness of sin and eternal life. Amen? Without the resurrection, we cannot have that confidence of eternal life. You know, if someone says that they're going to give you something, they have to have it to give it to you. Amen? Amen? When pastor comes up and says, I have $20 for you, I'm trying to help you all folks out, amen? When pastor says, I have $20 for you, that means he's got to have the $20 in his pocket, amen? He can't say, I'm going to give it to you and not have it. You know, the religions of this world, They say that you can have their form of eternal life, but they don't have it, amen? Buddha said that sincerity is enough, yet Buddha's dead. Amen? Buddha's dead. You see all those statues. You know, it's weird. We have a store in Canada called Canadian Tire, and we sell these humongous statues of Buddha. Why? I can't figure that out. We're not even in a Buddhist area. Anyway, you know, Buddhism. A Buddha's dead, amen? He taught nirvana is the end of life for happiness and self-accuracy. Anyway, you got the word anyhow, amen? You know, Christmas time, we have these Christmas... I can't say that word either, and we've had one every year in our church. Nietzsche who said the will of man is sufficient to save, guess what? He's dead, amen? Lenin, Trotsky, and Hitler who believed that a political system could save, they're dead, amen? Lenin's got this big old tomb in Russia, I guess you can go see Lenin, lay in there. Can't see Jesus, amen? John Dewey and Horace Mann who said salvation is in the school system, folks, they're dead. They are dead. Jesus said that he can give us eternal life and he's alive, amen. Ephesians 1.19 says this, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised them from the dead, and set them at his own right hand? in heavenly places. Folks, Jesus is alive and He can give eternal life because He is alive. He is the priest that ever liveth to make intercession for us. Amen? We serve a risen Savior. Don't we have a song like that? Amen? Easter's coming pretty quick, isn't it? I've often marveled, how does Easter change every year? But anyways, that's it. Was that me? Or was that someone else? John 17.2 says, As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Folks, the resurrection of Christ guarantees our eternity. Amen? Guarantees our eternity. That's the power of the gospel. We serve a risen Savior second. The gospel is effective. because of the blood of Jesus Christ. Those that teach you can go to church or do good works or have a baptism for eternal life, they're preaching a bloodless religion. And it can't save, amen? Because here's the fact. How many good works do you need to do? And what kind of good works do you need to do for eternal life? Which church do you go to and how many services do you attend? Which baptism do you have? Sprinkling, pouring, immersion, face forward three times in Jesus' name only. Which baptism is it, amen? Bloodless religion cannot save. All bloodless ways of trying to reach atonement with the God of the universe. I went over to India a number of years ago, and I went to this marriage ceremony, and outside this little shanty of a house was a big tree, and they had this red scarf that was tied around the tree. I asked the pastor, Indian pastor, what is that scarf for? And they said, oh, that's one of their gods. One of their gods. They have 300 million gods. Did you say that Shintoism has 800 million? Did you say? Infinite gods. Infinite gods. And that's the challenge of going over to India, is you present Jesus Christ, but they'll just add Him to their repertoire of gods. We serve a God that has died on the cross and shed his precious blood because the blood had to be shed. The wages of sin is what, folks? Death. Something, someone had to die. God taught us that in the Garden of Eden, right? God said to Adam, in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely, surely die. Amen? Not maybe, but surely die. And they did. They were separated from God. Adam, where art thou? Adam, where art thou? That's death, spiritual death. What did God do? Took an animal, killed it, shed its precious blood. That was our first picture of Jesus Christ, amen? See, Jesus Christ is right from Genesis all the way through Revelation, and His shed blood, that thin red line of the blood of Christ, is all the way through Scripture, amen? All the way through time. So God shed that animal's blood, clothed Adam and Eve with the skins of an animal, the righteousness of Christ, amen? Aren't you glad you're clothed with the righteousness of Christ because of the shed blood of Christ? The shed blood of Christ makes that possible. It's a powerful gospel because of the blood of Jesus Christ. In Leviticus it says, For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I've given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls. For it is blood that maketh atonement for the soul. Not religion. not coming to Faith Baptist Church, not song leading, brother. Amen? It's the blood of Jesus Christ that makes us at one with God and gives us the ability to be clothed with His righteousness. You know, just stop for a minute. This is a side note. You know, when God looks down on us, you know what He sees? The righteousness of Christ. He doesn't see us anymore, amen? Isn't that a wonderful picture? He sees the righteousness of Christ because Christ's blood was shed. What a powerful gospel. That's why we can be accepted in the Beloved. Because of the blood that He shed on the cross of Calvary. Much more than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. We have forgiveness of sin because of the blood of Christ. Colossians 1.14 says, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sin. Redemption and forgiveness of sin. 1 John 1.9, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You know, when we sin as a Christian, we have to confess our sin, not ask for forgiveness. Think about that. Are our sins all forgiven? Didn't we talk about that? The deepest sea, east is, west, as far as west is, amen? He can't remember our sins. So here's the truth. What we're doing is we're going back to the cross of Calvary and claiming the forgiveness we already have. Isn't that powerful? We're not asking for new forgiveness. It's already forgiven. We need to confess our sin. and we have it because of the blood of Christ. We're brought nigh to God through the blood of Christ. It says, but now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. We have fellowship with God, fellowship with Christ because of his shed blood, amen? We can wake up in the morning and we can fellowship with him because of the blood of Jesus Christ. How powerful is that? We get to talk to the creator of the universe. anytime we want, because of the blood of Jesus Christ. We can come boldly to the throne of grace, boldly to that throne of grace. That's good news, amen? Sometimes we're kinda shy, aren't we? Sometimes we think, oh, I should have witnessed to that person. I should have done this. I should have gone to church. I should have prayed more. I don't know if I'm worthy to come before the throne of grace. Yes, you are, because of the righteousness of Christ. Amen. That's what makes you worthy, not how good you are as a Christian or how bad you are. Because sometimes we feel, well, Jesus, I did pretty good today. I came to church for 18 hours today. I washed the pastor's car, hint hint. I did all these good works, so now I can come boldly. You come holy because of the blood of Christ that was shed, amen? It's a powerful gospel, it's a powerful gospel. We have peace with God through the blood of Christ, having made peace through the blood of his cross. We have peace within our hearts because of the blood of Christ, amen? Peace with God, peace within because of the blood of Christ. And it's the blood that cleanses our conscience from evil and dead works. Third thought for you this evening is the gospel is effective because of the word of God. 1 Peter 1.23. 1 Peter 1.23. It says, being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word by which the gospel is preached unto you." When we go out, we sow the seed of the word of God. Amen? That's what we're giving people. By the way, when we talk to people, we don't need to give them our opinion. We need to give them the Word of God. This is how I get saved, by the Word of God. And give them Gospel, give them the Bible, amen? Because the book we hold is not a man-made book, it's a God-breathed book. It's a living book, amen? It's a breathing book. It's an alive book, amen? And it's able to convert the soul because there are no mistakes in this book, amen? Aren't you glad you can open it up and you never have to wonder if it's thus saith the Lord? Aren't you glad you can open up and be confident that this Word belongs, that phrase belongs, that verse belongs, that passage belongs, that chapter belongs, amen? Because it's the incorruptible Word, and that is the power of the Gospel is laid in the Word of God. Because it is incorruptible. It is living. Think about how powerful the Word is. 2 Peter 3, 5 says, Folks, God breathed this world into existence by His Word. Don't you think that's the same word that this is? So when we give out the gospel and we're giving out the Word of God, it's a powerful word. Amen? It's the living Word. It's a Word that converts the soul. It's a Word that produces faith. Amen? Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. This is a powerful God, a powerful book, because the Word of God is life-changing. Life-changing. When I got saved, it was the Word of God that I ingested that changed my life. Romans 12 says, be not conformed to this world but be transformed, how? By the renewing of my mind. The renewing of my mind, amen? I'm transformed by the word of God because it's a living book, a powerful book, a life changing book. And that is by the gospel we present this powerful book to people. It produces faith. When somebody asks us that they don't believe, one of the books I always tell them to read is the book of John. The book of John. Why? Because John chapter 20 verse 31 says, But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name. So when we're talking to people, they don't have faith, they don't believe, tell them, read the book of John. Just say, just pray a prayer and say, Lord, I don't believe in you. I have no use for you, but I'm willing to read the book of John. Show me who you are. And you know what? God will do it because it's a powerful word. Amen. They'll see the resurrection of Christ. They'll see the blood of Christ. The gospel is effective because of those. The gospel is effective because of the Spirit of God. You know, when we go out, we're going in the power of the Spirit. The power of the Word of God. If we go out in the flesh, Zacharias says, not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. So we need to be spirit-filled. Why? Because it's the Spirit of God that convicts men of sin. John says, and when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, of sin, because they believe not on me, of righteousness, because I go to my Father and you see me no more. of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. The Spirit of God takes the Word of God and starts to work in the heart of man so that he can birth them into the family of God. It's a powerful gospel because of the Spirit of God. We're not just giving them philosophy. We're not just giving them man's words. We're not just giving them Nietzsche or Carl Jung or Rousseau or any of those philosophers that have come through our world. We're giving them the Word of God and the Spirit of God can take that Word of God and produce faith for birthing them into the family of God. We heard about Nicodemus. Nicodemus said, how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus said, verily, verily, I say unto thee, accept a man be born of water and of the Spirit. See, it's the Spirit of God that births us into the family of God. It's the Spirit of God that gives us assurance that we're children of God. Aren't you glad for the confidence that you're a child of God because of the Holy Spirit of God? It's not how you feel, because some days we might not feel saved, amen? Some days we might feel like we have failed so bad, I don't know, could I really be saved doing that, thinking that? And hereby we know that he abideth on us by the Spirit which he hath given us. Romans 8.5 says, You have not received the spirit of abondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father, for the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are children of God. then the Spirit of God gives us victory over sin. Romans 8, 11 said, but if the spirit of man, of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by a spirit that dwelleth in you. We get victory over sin as we yield to the Holy Spirit of God. It's not our will that gives us victory over sin. It's not our willpower. We're going back to what Christ has done, and we yield to the Holy Spirit of God, and He gives us that victory, amen, over sin. Romans says, for if you live after the flesh, ye shall die. That means we can't make our flesh do right. by the will of man doesn't work, amen? But he said, but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Galatians goes on to say, this I say, walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Then the Spirit of God gives us power to witness, but you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses. I mentioned that last night. Follow me and I will make you to be fishers of men. As we yield to the Spirit of God, He gives us that power. What am I saying? That the gospel is powerful, amen, because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is powerful because of the blood of Christ. The Gospel is powerful because of the Word of God. The Gospel is powerful because of the Spirit of God. And the Gospel is powerful because it changes lives. AA does not change lives. Amen? Will worship does not change lives. There's a song, and I won't sing it for you. It says, the drunk on the street, the rich in the palaces, the poor and unlearned, and the men of degree, they all have a soul in need of salvation, and they all have to come to Calvary. I'm so glad that God saves old sinners. I'm thrilled and amazed how he sets them free. But the biggest surprise in redeeming old sinners is that he could save an old sinner like me. We heard a story just the other day of a 90-year-old man getting saved. Hallelujah, amen. The gospel is effective and powerful because of who it can save. Doesn't matter what state a person is in. Doesn't matter how old. My wife got saved when she was five years old, amen. Anyone else saved at five or six? See, the gospel's effective. You're still saved, right? Amen? See the Gospel is powerful because of who it can reach. The little child and it reaches the old man, it reaches the rich and the poor, reaches the good looking and the ugly. Amen? It reaches everyone. The Gospel is not bound by race, religion, not bound by tongue or political border, amen? The Gospel can go into Japan, and it's powerful to defeat Shintoism. Amen? The Gospel can do that, amen? You can't do it, brother. Sister, you can't. But if you give them the gospel, the gospel can do it. The gospel is not bound by how bad a sinner is. Yeah, you've heard that. We talked to a guy over and over, my wife especially, and this old guy used to say, I'm too bad of a sinner. Too bad of a sinner. No, you're not. There is no too bad of a sinner, amen? We're all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Our sin is all rank in God's eyes. It's all a stench in His nostrils. All sin. And it's powerful. The Gospel can reach everyone. John 3.15 says, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but shall have eternal life. Romans 10.12 says, for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon his name. call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever. It's a whosoever gospel. It's a powerful gospel. It's for all gospel. Amen? But can I say this? The gospel is ineffective when it's not presented. The gospel is not effective when it's not presented. We have a powerful gospel. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, it's the power of God. The power of God because of the resurrection, the blood, the word of God, the spirit of God, and yet it becomes null and void if we don't tell anybody, amen? How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" How many here are missionaries? Okay, let me ask that again. How many here are missionaries? We all are missionaries, amen? We're all to take this powerful gospel to the world that we know. You know, we light a candle. But if we put something over top, then it becomes useless, doesn't it? Well, we're to let our light shine, amen? So that all may see. who Christ is. Isaiah 61, if you go there for just a moment, and I'm just about done. Isaiah 61. When I took over the church in 1995, Vision Baptist Church, I was not ready mentally. I struggled, I wrestled with the Lord for two years almost. Pastor, I even prayed and said, Lord, don't send visitors. I tell you, I just was not confident in my call. Then the Lord gave me this verse or these verses. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that morn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified. Notice it says, preach, proclaim, proclaim. Amen? The gospel is to be told. If it's not told, it's ineffective. Can you imagine that power of the gospel becoming totally ineffective because we won't tell it? You're sending out Brother and Sister Parker, I think. Anyway, you got him here anyhow. He's being sent out. But if he goes over to Japan and sits around and enjoys the snow, the shoveling, he's out of his mind first off, amen? I haven't done enough shoveling in my life. But if he doesn't preach, proclaim, then the gospel that he's got in his hand, if you will, becomes totally useless. And folks, same thing for us. If we don't proclaim, the gospel is useless. Notice the power of the gospel in these three verses. Broken hearts are bound up. Liberty to captives. The opening of prison to them that are bound. Comfort to those who mourn. Beauty for ashes. I love that phrase. And that's where I really felt like the Lord was working in my life. I was giving people beauty. They were bringing their lives full of ashes, and it was my job through the power of the gospel to give them beauty. Wow. That's only the gospel can do that, amen? The oil of joy for mourning, garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. The gospel is effective, amen? It'll do the job that it was sent out to do if we send it out. Folks, we're to go into all the world Like Pastor said, maybe some of you are, all the world is right here. That's great, if that's what God has for you. But if God has for you to go to Japan, or India, or Pakistan, or Saudi Arabia, or Cameroon, then you better pack up your bags and go. Amen? You better not stay. What reason do you have to not be a missionary? I think Hudson Taylor said it this way, you need to ascertain whether or not you have a call to stay, not to go. That's pretty good, amen? Ascertain whether you have a call to stay. We have a powerful gospel. What are we doing with it? Are we sending it out, or are we sitting on it? Are we telling, or are we hoarding it to ourselves? Let's bow our heads and close our eyes, Pastor.