I will not be long. As a matter of fact, I'm shorter than I've ever been. Along with all the other things, I've got scoliosis and it's got me bent down to where I used to be 5'8 and 5'4 now. First Timothy, chapter 2. The Apostle Paul did what any good preacher ought to do. He trained men to take up the job after him. We have seen churches, missions, different organizations that have come and gone simply because those who were in leadership positions failed to train men to take up the flame after them. Paul loved his Lord. Paul loved the church that God had brought into existence with the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wanted that church to continue on, not just to continue on physically, but to continue on doctrinally, to stay pure, true, eager to get the word out. And 1 Timothy is Paul's letter to his young preacher boy. Young preacher boy, Timothy was probably about 40 years old at this time. It's getting younger every day, isn't it? Verse 3 of chapter 2, he says, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come under the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time, whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle. I speak the truth in Christ and lie not, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. I will, therefore, that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting." What's Paul saying? Paul is teaching Timothy a central truth to the Christian faith. God will have all men to be saved in the coming of the knowledge of the truth. He wants how many people saved? All. Even your worst enemy. even those who today we would classify as the worst enemies of the gospel. God wants them saved. Furthermore, God has always wanted all those people to be saved, all the way from Adam on. Now, God is able. He is able to save, to the uttermost, all those who would come to Him. Well, if that be true, and it is true, why do we today have so many people still lost? Is God able to save everyone? Does God want all men to be saved? Everyone? Even those who were here before the Lord Jesus Christ? They're still part of that all, aren't they? God knows what it takes to get people to His Son. Neither you nor I can explain exactly how God is going to handle all those who are before Christ. That's not our business. That's His business. And we're foolish if we spin our wheels on trying to resolve all of that. We've got enough to handle what we've got now. Thinking of the fact that God wants all of these people saved, and he's always wanted all these people saved. And we know that people don't just come into this world asking to be saved. They have to hear. What? The word. It says, he will have all been to be saved and to come under the knowledge of the What? Truth. What's true? Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the light. All men, everywhere, must come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. However that gets to them, they've got to get to that point. If you keep reading your Bible long enough, you're going to find out that God says that we cannot be saved without the Bible. The Word. The Word is essential. It doesn't necessarily have to be in printed form. In the beginning was the Word. Unprinted. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Still not printed, but alive. Most certainly alive. And we keep tracing these things from all the different directions. We come to the point where we have to say that this word, the holy word of God, came to us from heaven in the form of the word Jesus Christ, in the form of the printed page, in the form of our voices telling it to other people. All of these things God says, you've got to get to this point of knowing, hearing, understanding the message that I've given to mankind, that my son came and died on the cross for their sins. Now, in order for that to happen, men have to give that word to other men. He says that through the foolishness of preaching, and not foolish preaching, the foolishness of preaching, God saw fit to give men an understanding of his word. We've got to somehow transmit to people the living word of God. And it's always been that way. Always been that way. By what manner? By God calling men to do His perfect will. God doesn't have to use men. He chose to use men. But He chose to do that by calling them out to do the job. He called your pastor. He called me. He called my wife. He's called other people. All around this world, there have been people called to do that job. If you're saved today, He called you. He called you first to salvation. He called you to obedience. He calls you to study His Word. He calls you to share His Word. Do you answer to all those points? Well, I'm saved. Good. Call number one answered. I read. Good. Another call answered. But do you share? To be called doesn't mean to simply receive. We're not called to do things just for the sake of doing them. We're called to do things so that those things will be useful in the kingdom of God. And there's no more useful thing in the kingdom of God than to share the Word of God with other people. If God calls people, He equips those people to do that job that he's called them to. That has been true across time. Again, the question, if that is so, why do we still have people who are not saved? I'll tell you why. God calls. God equips. And man says no. Man says no. In 1958, God saved me. In 1967, God called me to serve. In 1971, I started that preparation to serve. And in 1978, early 79, God calls to the mission field. Same routine, keep on going. But had at any point along the way, if we had said no, all that you've just seen up there would not have happened. And if At any point along the way we had said no and those things didn't happen, all of those who would be saved afterwards as a result of our teaching and our training and our work with the Bible, those things wouldn't have happened and will not happen in the future. How many people, the souls of how many people, would we have on our consciences because we said no? Anybody else in here ever have a, let's say, a moving of the spirit, say, go witness to this person, or talk to this person, and you didn't, and then you finally get convicted about it, and you go to do it, and discover they're dead? between the time you were first told to go and when you finally went, they left this earth. What kind of feeling does that give you? I don't know if anybody else has done that. But I've done it. And it is one rotten feeling. It causes a crying even today in my heart, knowing that I should have done something that I didn't do. I don't know to this day whether that caused the loss of that person for eternity. We didn't know the state of things. But I know I should have obeyed and I didn't. And that was a lesson to me. How many of you have ever been called to do something you didn't do? Oh, these can be small things. Parents call their children to do things and they don't do them. Sometimes they pay the price. I was raised back in the days when corporal punishment was not only legal, it was encouraged. I know that shocked some of the youngsters, You know what? I survived. And I do believe I'm better for it. And I know that when God spanked me for not having done what I was told to do, He really got my attention. He really did. Now, we've mentioned a couple of things. that are needful. We are in dire need of a couple to come along beside us in the work. I am eternal. This shell in which I'm living is not. I would certainly rather go off to see my Savior, knowing that somebody else has taken up the job that I left behind. I'm the only one working actually, actively, along with my wife, to keep the Bible going. And honestly, if God takes me home before somebody comes to take over the job, that Bible might go off the scene again. One thing is certain, Satan doesn't like it. And if he has nobody fighting against him to keep it here, it might just disappear again. And we really do need someone to help in that work. Somebody's got to answer that call. If it's not you, who is it? If you know for sure that he's not calling you to do that, how much are you willing to pray that God give us the help we need? I've got a lot of strikes going against me these days. I'm not, like I said, I'm not crying over it. I just know that I want to see this thing come out the way God wants it to come out. I do not want it to be thwarted by someone who just simply says no. God doesn't want that either. How do you feel about it? God will have all men to be saved and to come under the knowledge of the truth. his truth, his son. Did he save you? Are you happy about it? Don't you think everybody else ought to have the same opportunity? Whether they speak English or French or whatever. We do. I trust you'll pray with us to that end. I trust you'll pray to the Lord for yourself to see if He might have something for you to do that you perhaps have not considered up to now. He calls. He's still in the calling business, isn't He? I think He's still in the calling business until He calls us home. Let's pray. Again, we thank You for the privilege we have of being Your children. Thank You once more, Father, for this precious Word, for Your Son, for all that He is, for all that He's been to us, who know Him as Savior. Lord, we thank You for His shed blood, for the forgiveness of sin, for the absolute assurance that by trusting in Him we have the forgiveness of sin and a home in heaven. Lord, help us not to be so self-centered that we let it all stop there. I pray, Father, that there would be willingness on the part of each and every single person here tonight to pray for the needs of the French-speaking world. I pray, Father, that you would work in hearts and lives that tonight and the weeks ahead the one you've chosen to help us will be made manifest. But even more than that, doing all of this requires a person to know you. I pray, Father, that there's someone here tonight that doesn't know you, or someone here tonight that you've been speaking to and they've not yet answered your call. Be it for salvation or for service, you know what they need. Let your Holy Spirit touch their heart. Move them to answer the call you've given to them. Work tonight, Father, in each life to the glory of your Son. In Christ's name we pray. Pastry.