Worthy of praise, worthy of glory, so I'll bless His name and His mercies are new every day. With all of my heart, soul, and strength I will say, God is worthy, worthy of praise. With all of my heart, soul, and strength I will say, God is worthy, worthy of praise. Thank you for joining us this morning. If you would stand we'll continue with our song service Ephesians chapter 6 verse 11 says put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil where we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against Principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand Good to be in the Lord's house today. Look forward to seeing what the Lord has for us Richard. Would you open us in order prayer? Amen, please join us in singing hymn number 259, Jesus Sings. ♪ Good, good, good is our good Jesus said, Jesus said ♪ Good, good, good is our good Jesus said, Jesus said ♪ Good, good, good is our good Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave We will love and try, day to day, day to day, day to day, day to day, day to day. Sing in triumph, O God the King! Jesus reigns! Jesus reigns! Amen. Thank you. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that's in me bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, Oh my soul. And forget not all his benefits. And forget not all his benefits. ♪ Oh my soul ♪ And all that's in me bless his holy name ♪ Bless the Lord ♪ Oh my soul ♪ And forget not all his benefits ♪ And forget not all His benedicts ♪ ♪ Who redeems, who restores ♪ ♪ Who renews your youth like the eagle soars ♪ ♪ Who forgives, who forgives ♪ an an an High as the heavens, far above the earth, so great is Him as the Lord goes to give Him. Bless the Lord. Bless the Lord. Oh, my soul. So far as the east is from the west, so far as He ♪ Oh my soul ♪ ♪ I ask the heavens for help us see it ♪ ♪ It's the greatest thing I've done for those who hear it ♪ ♪ Bless the Lord, bless the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Oh I will bless his holy name for he is good ♪ Bless the Lord, O my soul, that I may bless His holy name, for He is good. who renews your youth like the eagle's soars, who forgives every sin, who is raising us to new life again. Oh, my soul. My soul will bless the Lord. We'll sing hymn number 264 once for all. But for us, never receiving, but for all, rather believing, until at last the people know, Christ shall redeem us once and for all. ♪ Oh, brother, believe in him ♪ ♪ Only the cross shall bear him no doubt ♪ ♪ Rejuvenate us once more, oh God ♪ ♪ Children of God, all glory is thine ♪ ♪ Shedding its grace, we are free ♪ Amen. Please remain standing as we go to the Lord in prayer for our offering today. Father, I would you pray for us. We thank you today for the privilege of opening your precious word, studying it, and having it move your heart. I'm positive to bless this time together, our singing, and the joy of our fellowship. In Jesus' name we ask for the amen. And I think you may be seated. you I have sung Amazing Grace since I was just a child. And I've joined in on it as well at least a thousand times. And singing Jesus loves me is a precious memory. And I remember where, just as I am, first brought me to my knees. Oh, but here I am, surrounded by some things I can't explain. But the truth is still the truth. in the moments my heart breaks. If I could sing it then, I can sing it now. Cause who he was is who he is beyond the shadow of a doubt. I might be standing in the darkness with trouble all around. But if I can sing it then, I can still sing it now. It's not always easy to join those melodies, but how sweetly they remind me of what I still believe. A voice that's raised in times like these may be the truest praise, because I've never been forsaken, and that will never change. And if I could sing it then, I can sing it now ♪ Who's who he was, who's who he is ♪ ♪ Beyond the shadow of a doubt ♪ ♪ I might be standing in the darkness ♪ ♪ With trouble all around ♪ ♪ But if I could sing it then ♪ ♪ I can still sing it now ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ A mighty fortress is our God Standing on the promised land Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. And if I could sing it then, I can sing it now. It's who he was, it's who he is, beyond the shadow of a doubt. I might be standing in the darkness, with trouble all around. But if I could sing it then If I could sing it then I can still sing it now Amazing grace, how sweet the sound If you would stand once again, we'll sing hymn number 248, How I Belong to Jesus. Now I belong to Him. Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me. One side was lost in sin's defamation, Jesus came down to bring me salvation. Now I belong to Him. Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me. Now I belong to Him. Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me. Once again, you may be seated. A thousand sparkling stars upon the midnight summer sky. The majesty and wonder of the oceans in this tide. And the more I see, the more I care. How the one who set the world in place Could even know my name And I'm amazed, I'm so amazed How great you are, how small I am How awesome is your mighty hand And I am captured by the wonder of it all And I will offer all my praise With all my heart for all my days How great you are How great you are How great you are A million snowflakes gently fall, yet no two are the same. The colors fill the canvas of the seasons as they change. And everywhere I look, I see your hand. Why you would love someone like me I'll never understand And I'm amazed, I'm so amazed How great you are, how small I am How awesome is your mighty hand And I am captured by the wonder of it all. And I will offer all my praise with all my heart for all my days. How great you are. How great you are. How great you are. How great you are. How small I am. How awesome is your mighty hand. And I am captured by the wonder of it all. And I will offer all my praise with all my heart for all my days. How great you are How great you are How great you are How great you are How great you are Amen. It's good to be in the Lord's house today and to have each one of you with us. If you would take your Bibles turn to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Jared that just sang for us will be preaching this afternoon. He is headed off to summer intern. Jared is a Bible college student. He's headed off to summer intern in Chicago. And so pray for his safety as he's there in the big city of Chicago. And it's really a great opportunity to grow in the Lord. We had a grandson that served up there a couple of years ago, had a great time, so pray for him. And just ask the Lord, just lead in his life and develop him and use him while he's there. Romans chapter eight. If you found that, you can stand with me in reverence to the reading of the word of God. Begin reading in verse number 31. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? I don't know if you underline your Bible, but that's a good verse to have underlined, amen? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again. who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. I'd love to preach there about a week and a half. I'm so thankful for someone who intercedes for me. I need a lot, okay? Verse 35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we love you today, and we thank you for the wonderful opportunity that is ours to be gathered together here in this place and worship you. We're thankful that you are the great, holy, awesome God, that you are the only one, and Lord, that you are worthy of our worship and praise. Lord, I thank you that we hold your word in our hand, not a book of suggestions, not necessarily a book of rules, but a book of life, a book that you've given us for us to live our lives after, to pattern ourselves after, that we might find ourselves faithful to the end. Lord, we pray that you would meet with us today, that the Holy Spirit would have power and freedom to move in our lives and our hearts so that you might be honored and glorified through the preaching of your word here this morning, that your will might be accomplished in our lives, that we might leave here walking and serving you in a better way than when we came. We thank you for your goodness and your love. We ask these things in your blessed and most holy name. And all the people said, you may be seated. So I entitled this message, Who, What, and Why? Who, What, and Why? And I love all the verses involved in this portion of scripture, but there's one that just kind of stood out to me that really is what I'm developing here this morning, and it's verse number 35. As we read verse number 35, it says, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? I don't know about you, but it doesn't make sense to me. That verse leaves me scratching my head. Look at it real close, because it starts out, who shall separate us? But then when he gets past making statement from the love of Christ, there's tribulation, that's not a who. There's distress, that's not a who. There's persecution, that's not a who. So it left me scratching my head, so that's how we develop our sermon today. You scratch your head for a little bit, we'll see how it comes out, okay? When we think about this who, John Gill writes this, a great Baptist author from the 1600s, I believe, he wrote this. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? By the love of Christ is not meant the saint's love to Christ, okay? So we're not talking about our love to Christ, but we're talking about his love to us. Hallelujah, I'm thankful that God loves me, amen? He is indeed the object of their love, and so strong is their love to him that it can never be destroyed. For though there may be an abatement in the fervor of it, it can never be lost. Yet this is never called the love of Christ because the apostle is speaking not of their love to Christ, but of the love of God and Christ to them throughout the context. Now the reason I want to make that point is quite simply this, of course our theme this year is Love God More, and why should we love God more? Because He first loved us. He loved me while I was in my sin. He loved you while you were in your sin. He loves mankind today, even in their sin, he loves them. He is not willing that any should perish, but all should come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Our great Savior, our great God loved us and cared for us, and he still loves us and cares for us. No raising of hands, but just think about this for a moment. Has there been a time in your life that you've done something that was sinful after salvation, and maybe it was so bad that you thought to yourself, how could God still love me? Boy, I know I have. There have been times I had sin in my life and I had already accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior and I was thankful that I was saved, but Satan likes to come along and likes to whisper, so are you still saved? How can a saved man do that? How can a saved person be involved in that? Well, you know the great thing about being saved is it's not up to me, it's up to him. He loved me. And when I accepted him as my Lord and Savior, he took all of me. He knew I was broken. He knew I was hurting. He knew I would fail, and yet he took me, and he loved me, and he cared for me. In raising children, my wife and I, we raised three boys. It was a great trial, okay? There's no way around it. You know, raising three boys, each one of them different, each one brought to the table their own needs, okay? Their own issues and their own troubles. I, well, I have very little for, we'll just leave some of that alone. In raising our boys, there were some things that they would be involved in that I would have to tell them, that's wrong, you need to go apologize that. But I always told my boys this, it didn't really matter what you did, I would always love you. I would always love you. It's not based, my love for my sons is not based on how they live their life. I never looked at them and said, OK, you're this close. One more thing, and you're out of love. I'm done. I've exhausted my love for you. I think a true parent loves unconditionally. And I love my sons. And there would be points that they would take it to the edge. And I'd be like, OK, let's stop. Let's reel that back. Let's start over. And there were times that things had to be done, punishments had to be given, the restrictions had to be implemented, but the whole time I still loved them, and I love them today. So it is with our great Savior, but His love far exceeds my love. As I love my children and I care for them, and I want God's best for them, and I want them to exceed, I want them to have the very best of everything, I realize that God loves me even more than I could love my own children. Praise God for that, amen. He loves me when I'm unlovable. He loves me when no one else would have time for me or care for me. God loves me. So good to be able to wake up and know that God loves me and he's there to forgive me and he's there to help me grow in him. And so the emphasis here is on Christ's love and the fact that his love is not changing. It doesn't go anywhere. It doesn't matter where we're at. He loves us, okay? So then I come up with point number two, and that's what? Because the rest of the verse is not whose, it's what's. There we read shall tribulation. So it says who shall separate us from the love of God? And then we get a what. Will tribulation cause us not to love God? Have you ever had tribulation in your life? Trying, one of the writers I was reading after said, you might say affliction. Has affliction ever come in your life? And you wondered and you thought to yourself, where's God in the midst of all this? Has affliction or trials come into your life? And rather than run to God, you run to yourself. You try to figure out answers and then you finally come to an end of yourself and you run to God with it. Back in 2020, when my wife encountered cancer, we ran to God with it. It was a tribulation. It's really sad. Through the years, I've watched different Christian people come to tribulation in their life, and they give up on God. It's kind of like, well, if that's the way God's gonna treat me, I'm gonna back away. Listen, whenever you'd find yourself in any of these what's, that's when you need to embrace him more. That's when you need God more in your life than ever before. And so when affliction comes, the truth is that we ought to run to Him. We ought to hug Him. We ought to hold on to Him. Say, you got any examples of that? Sure. How about the Apostle Paul? The Apostle Paul suffered many things and even had a thorn in his life of ministry, but he still served God. Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 12 in verse number seven, unless I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of revelations that was given to me, a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. And so Paul knew what it was like to battle with a tribulation. How about the next one, the word distress? Whether it be a body or soul, distress can come in one, two ways. It can be a distress of the body or it can be a distress of the soul. We might say it's kind of like the circumstances of life. So what if you're born into a poor family? traveled the world, I've seen Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines, and Australia, and I realized that not everybody's born into the same class of family as far as financial being. I've been in Papua New Guinea, and the middle of grass huts, and people living with dirt floors, and very crude furniture, and yet they're happy in the Lord. And you might say, man, that's just too much distress for me. My wife likes a little distressed furniture in the house. Raising three boys, you naturally get some distressed furniture in the house, amen? I'm talking about people who have nothing. What if you had been born with nothing? Could you find the happiness in the Lord? Better yet, let's reverse the table and let's put it this way. Let's say that something happened in America and tomorrow we all woke up broke. with nothing. The leadership's not gonna be able to provide you much, and so you have absolutely nothing. Would you still be happy to be a Christian? Would you still say, wow, man, I'm glad I'm saved? Listen, that's what oughta be the best, right? Let's say we're all reduced to living in grass huts tomorrow. Man, can you imagine what a mansion would look like? If you lived in a grass hut, probably the homes you live in, the people in the grass huts would think were mansions. Sometimes I think it's good for us just to stop and really clear the air and think about, let me not just deal with this life from where I live in America today and all the wealth that surrounds me. Let me just think back to if I had nothing, absolutely nothing. If everything that I had was taken from me tomorrow, if I had been born in a third world country, or if I lost everything, if I lived in a country that was at war, what a horrible thing to think about. What if we were just trying to survive? What if we would huddle up our kids and we're trying to make it someplace safer? Well, I heard if we can get to Colorado, you know, we can get out there and they've got food. Let's get our family and let's head to Colorado. But we don't have a car to drive. We're gonna have to walk. And we're gonna have to be careful of all the people that we interact with as we're making that trip. You see what I'm saying? It's that, where do we really put our trust and where do we put our faith? Do I put it in the credit card that's in my pocket? Do I put it in the money that's in my hand? Or do I put my faith, my trust in God? When distress come and it will come, who do you turn to? Maybe it's stress and anxiety. Maybe it's a loss of a loved one, a very unexpected loss of a loved one. Who are you gonna trust? Who are you gonna turn to? I've been so thankful and so glad to watch as Laurie's walked through this difficult time in her life and she just trusted God. And she just keeps trusting God. Where do we turn? Well, there's only one place to turn, and God is the answer. God is the one to turn to. Remember, God's grace is always there for our help. He loves us, and he abides faithful. The Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 2.13, if we believe not, yet he abided faithful. He cannot deny himself. Revelations 21 5 says, And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. I'm so thankful for the fact in the middle of distress that God is there to be our help. How about persecution? Talking about what's? Would persecution push you away from loving God? Would persecution bring you to the fact that you'd say, I'm done, God, that's it, it's over? Persecution from the world? Man, I feel sorry for Harrison Buckner, the kicker for the Chiefs. He stood up and said good, right things. And now everybody's, they've even got one of those things that you sign, a petition. to get rid of our kicker. Is that like the stupidest thing in the world? A man cannot hire someone to work for him without others telling him, oh no, you need to fire him. That's the dumbest thing in the world. But can I tell you that's where we're at? Oh, let me give you just a little bit more. That is where we're headed. They want a silent truth. They want a silent morality. Now, I'm telling you, if you were knocking the gay agenda or some of that over there, oh, there'd be a big furor, and half the world would stand up with him. But you get a guy that's talking about, we need men to be men, and ladies to be ladies, and all those kind of things. Oh, how dare he? Why would the NFL? You know what I liked? That his jersey sells. They're out of them. They're out of them. It just tickles me pink. My wife said, you need to go order one. Yeah, well, they already have them, so I can put my $80 in my pocket and, you know, it's still good. What about persecution? What about, what about persecution? I hold before you one of my friends. This friend is very old. He's older than any of you. That's how old my friend is. My friend here was written in 1837. It's called A Universal History of Christian Martyrdom. being a complete and authentic account of the lives, sufferings, and triumphant deaths of the primitive as well as the Protestant martyrs in all parts of the world from the birth of the blessed Savior to the latest periods of pagan and Catholic persecution. I didn't write that, it's right here. It was written in 1837. together with a summary of doctrines, prejudice, blasphemes, and superstitions of the modern Church of Rome, written by John Fox, 1837. And in this book, you'll find story after story, and most of it, my wife's very squeamish, she wouldn't want to listen to me read about it. Men and women who paid for their love for God with their life and they were persecuted unto death. Skin flayed off of their bodies. Families butchered in front of them. They butchered to the point of death. I'm telling you, it costs Christians a lot in the old time to serve God. It doesn't cost us much today, but that doesn't mean before our life's over that we won't see it again. If, let's say next year, they started persecuting everyone who's named the name of Christ, and they start locking you up, and they begin to take all your stuff. and they begin to beat you and mistreat you, and then they would get to the point in a few years where they would actually take your life from you. How many would recount? How many of us here today would be in the new Fox's Book of Martyrs, say five years from now? Question, would that persecution stop you from loving Christ? That's the point he's making. Would that persecution stop us from loving him? How about famine? You can tell I like to eat. But if there was no food to eat, would that cause me to stop loving God? I would sure hope not. Would lack of food cause you to quit loving the Lord? You know, food is a necessity of life, so is water. What if the great hunger and great thirst would hit our land? Then we would have to just eke out an existence. Would that cause us to quit loving God? How about nakedness? You know, you all look very nice today. You clean up rather well. You look very good, you would be commended. But could you imagine not having enough to wear? Now the sad thing is I walk in my closet and I see my section, I turn around and see my wife's section, and I'm like, it'd take us a while to wear all these clothes if we threw them away after we wore them, you know what I mean? But let's say that you walked in your closet and you had two items, only two, you had no more. And you had to wear those day after day after day. Cleaning them as you can, but putting them back on, wearing them day after day. And you scrounge around, and you find maybe someone who passes away, and you go, oh, he was my size. He has this shirt. It's got a hole here and a hole here. I can sew that here and sew that here. I'll wear that. and here, and there, and you're wearing threadbare clothes. Some of you know what I'm talking about, because you grew up that way, didn't you? How many of you grew up with patches on your knees? Man, I'm telling you, that's living. I had blue jeans, and you know, you get a pair that lasts maybe a year, because you grew so fast. And so you'd get holes in them. My mom had those iron-on patches, and she'd put them on there, and she'd iron them on. Then they'd get like halfway off, and then she'd sew them on. I'm telling you, we weren't looking broke to be cool. I wish I had all my clothes from when I was a kid. I could make a lot of money selling them today. Oh, those are so cool. Those are relics, you know? Have you ever been so cold that you can't put enough clothes on to get warm? That's what we're talking about. Would nakedness cause you to walk away from God? Would nakedness cause you to push him away? I couldn't help but think of John the Baptist. Mark chapter one verse number six describes John the Baptist this way. He says, and John was clothed with camel's hair and with a girdle of skin about his loins, and he did eat locusts and wild honey. And I'm thinking, oh, gross. Can you imagine having camel hair or a jacket? Hey, look at me, man, I got this leather jacket. Yeah, it's got camel hair on it. Probably got like sand mites all in it. And the smell, have you ever smelled like a wet dog and he comes in the house? Oh, we're pretty blessed. How about peril? dangers from people and from ways. Paul knew what it was like to live in danger. 2 Corinthians chapter 11, starting in verse number 23, and he says, and the ministers of Christ, I speak as a fool, I am more, in labors more abundantly, in stripes above measures, in prisons more frequently, in deaths off. Of the Jews five times received I 40 stripes, save one. Thrice I was beaten with rods, Once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck. You know, I gotta go back here for a minute. So they beat him with a whip 39 times, and they stop. Now he's got all these scars on his back because of what, they did it five times? And then they beat him with rods three more times. Can you imagine how good that feels on the scars that are on your back? Can you imagine what they thought when they said, Paul, you're going to be beaten with rods? He said, well, you've done it before. You might as well do it again. And they pull his shirt off, and it's nothing but scars everywhere. I got a scar right here. When I was 16 years old, I was cleaning a slicer at work, and I didn't keep the guard down. And it grabbed the towel out of my hand and right into the blade. And I don't know, it's like five or six stitches. Anybody feel sorry for me? Thanks, Gary. He's sitting there going, nope, not at all. This is nothing compared to what Paul went through. Can you imagine getting in heaven? Oh man, it cost me so much to serve God. I had to buy like $3.50 gas to go to church, man. It really cost me to serve God. And Paul goes, talk to the back, buddy. Talk to the back. How about swords? Swords are uncommon in America, but we'll just say guns, planes, bombs. As it says there in verse number six, as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. But what about the what's? Would the what's stop you from serving God? Let's look at the why. Verse 37, nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. So here's our answer. So should I ditch God because of tribulation? Should I ditch him because of peril? Could I ditch him because of sword? Should I ditch him because of persecution? And the writer comes out very boldly and he says, no! Nay, in all these things, we, we are conquerors through him. Wait a minute, you mean if I go through distress and I trust God, I'm a conqueror? Oh yeah, baby. I go through persecutions, even to the point of it costing my life, and I'm a conqueror? Oh yes, oh yes. See, here's the sad part, Christian friend, is too many of us, we're living our lives for here. For here. Maybe 70, 80 years, 90 years if you're lucky, or here. But this is a drop in the bucket to there. Eternity. My simple mind has such a hard time grasping it. I just know it goes on and on and on and on and on and on. And here's the great thing. It's not going to hinge upon anything that this world has to do. So I'm not going to be tied down to some government. I'm not going to be tied down to lust. I'm not going to be tied down to lying. I'm not going to be tied down to bitterness. I'm not going to be tied down to unforgiveness. I'm not going to be tied down to gossiping. I'm not going to be tied down to slander. All those things are gone. He is the light of eternity, and I'm going to spend it with him. And I'm telling you, it's going to be the most wonderful thing. I'm not worried about here. Here is just an investment to make sure that I'm ready for there. Are you ready? Are you ready? Notice what he goes on and says, for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor death, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ our Lord. Think about this once again. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Well, I think the answer is this. I'm the only one that can separate me from his love. You say, oh no, no, the devil made me do it. No, no, no, it was my choice. No, no, no, it was the spouse that God gave me. No, no, no, it's still my choice. Who can separate us from the love of Christ? And the answer is only you. Only you. Can I challenge you with this? Love him more. Think of all he's done for you. And think of the fact, no matter what happens to you, if you'll just trust him, he'll use it to magnify himself and to glorify himself, and we're gonna spend an eternity with him, and he always, always, always loves us. So shouldn't we love him more? Sure. Every day I wake up, I say, God, I wanna love you more. Every time a hardship comes into my life, I say, God, thank you. I don't understand it. It's difficult, it's hard. I know it will make me more like you. It'll make me in the image you want me to be. But most of all, God, I know that you feel like you can trust me at that, so I love you more. Thanks for thinking I'm worthy of that. Thanks for trusting me with that thing in my life. Now, if you've never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, all this really means nothing, because you've never made it past the step of saying, I need Jesus to forgive me of my sins and to be my Savior. He loves you. The Bible tells us, John 3, 16, for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son. Romans 5.8, but God commendeth his love toward us. And while we were yet sinners, Christ died. Jesus wants to save you today. Listen, if you're not saved, you need to get saved today. And if you are, you need to fall in love with Jesus. Quit loving you. Quit loving you, quit loving the world, start loving him. Start loving him. Lord, we love you today. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your great love for us. Lord, I pray that if there be one here that doesn't know you as their Lord and Savior, I pray today that they might come, let's take a Bible, share with them from the word of God how they can know that they're saved on their way to heaven. Lord, I pray for Christians today. I pray it'd be our desire to live for you, to take all that comes into our life, to funnel it back, to rely upon you, to help those items that come into our life, to mold us to be more like you, and God, that we would love you more as a result of it. Make us in your image. Help us to walk with you and to serve you in all we do. We love you and we ask these things in your blessed and most holy name. Amen. Would you stand with me today? Piano's playing. We're going to have a verse of invitation of God spoken to your heart. We'd encourage you to come whatever your need. Would you come, Brother Foster, if you would? Have thine own way, Lord. Have thine own way. Hold me and make me after thy death. Search me and drive me, Master, today. Lighter than stone, watch me just now, as in thy Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way. Clothed and weary, help me, I pray. Power of God. is God. Touch me and heal me, Savior divine. Have thine own way, Lord. Have thine own way. Hold, Lord, my need. Good to be in the Lord's house today. Brother Potts with our announcements. All right, say congratulations to one graduate coming up will be Madeline Fry. Camp meeting immediately after afternoon service with Brother Lalo right here in this corner, so afternoon service. A special speaker next week, Brother Dave McCracken will be preaching for us on Sunday, May the 26th. Got a youth rally coming up at South Noelwood Baptist Church on Friday, May 31st. Cost is $10 per teen, which will include food. Please have your teens at the church by 5 p.m. and should return between 11 and 11.30 p.m. that evening. Camp's coming up on June 2nd through the 7th. Camp fees are $175 per child. That's due today. Wow. Due today. Our kids. Coffee sales are done. Workday. Coming up on Saturday June 8th from 9 a.m. till noon. If it rains out we'll have a backup date of June 15th. For workday. Baby shower for Morgan Foster coming up here at the church on Saturday June 8th. A.M. Vacation Bible School will be July 14th through the 17th. Theme is gonna be Wild Live. Stay tuned for more information on that. And then YouthCon coming up on July 30th through August the 2nd. More information to come. Then there's a wedding tonight, yes? Yes? Yeah? All right, Ethan Purcell is gonna get married tonight, so if you're attending that, it'll be a great event. OK those are all the announcements. Brother Danny can you close us in prayer please. Amen. So, you