And it really helps, you know, when at times, there's times when, especially on Wednesday nights, remember, I'd have to play and lead from there, and then that's a hole you have to preach out of sometimes. And, you know, if you've ever had to get up where the Phelps and preach after a really bad choir number, That's a hole to preach out of, man. Anyway, I'm just thankful today. Good singing and the piano playing and the music leading and the good singing of everybody here. It's a blessing. It really is. And I'm thankful for that. We're in Acts chapter 8 this morning. Brother Jim has read our text, Acts chapter number 8. I'm going to give you some scripture here before we get to the passage and just kind of lay a foundation here before we move along. In Luke chapter 4 verse 18 and 19 Jesus quoting Isaiah 61 said, He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, the recovering of the sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. In Matthew chapter 4 and verse 17 the Bible says from that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. In Matthew 11, verse 1, the Bible says, And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding His twelve disciples, He, Jesus, departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. in Mark 1 in verse 38. The Bible says, and he said unto them, Jesus said unto them, let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also. For therefore came I forth. Luke 4, Matthew chapter 10 in verse 7, he says, and as you go, telling his disciples, preach. saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matthew 10, 27, What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light. And what you hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. If you've ever preached or been a pastor or a missionary and preached the Word of God, there's been times when the Word of God has spoken to you in the dark places of your room and of your study. And the Holy Spirit of God has spoken to you through the Word. And Jesus said, Get out there and preach that. Get out that as something special that God has given you. Mark 3, 14, and he ordained 12 that they should be with him that he might send forth them forth to preach. You're getting the theme, aren't you? Luke 9, 2, and he sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. In Luke 9 and verse 60, Jesus saith unto him, let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. In Acts chapter 1, verse 7 and 8, the Bible says, and he said unto him, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons, WHICH THE FATHER HAS PUT IN HIS OWN POWER. BUT YE SHALL RECEIVE POWER, AFTER THAT THE HOLY GHOST HAS COME UPON YOU, AND YE SHALL BE WITNESSES UNTO ME, BOTH IN JERUSALEM, AND JUDEA, AND IN SAMARIA, AND UNTO THE UTTERMOST PART OF THE EARTH." IN MARK 16, 15. SOME OF THE LAST WORDS THAT JESUS GAVE TO HIS CHURCH, AND HE SAID UNTO THEM GOING INTO ALL THE WORLD, AND PREACHED THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE. AND VERSES 19 THROUGH 20, THAT SAME MARK 16, SO THEN AFTER THE LORD HAD SPOKEN UNTO THEM, HE WAS RECEIVED UP INTO HEAVEN AND SAT ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, AND THEY WENT FORTH AND Strange, they did what they were commanded. Preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following, amen and amen. I like that. Jesus preached the gospel. The first church was commanded to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. The apostles were told to preach the gospel. The first deacons of the church at Jerusalem preached the gospel. And we'll see here in our text persecuted church members went out and preached the gospel. If there is one thing that should define every New Testament Baptist Church is the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen? I think it ought... I had it ready. I found it. You're gonna have to help me or this is gonna take a lot longer. See, I've just taken 45 seconds. You could have been to lunch, right? Because I'm telling you, I think I have to explain things when you don't help me out here, right? If there's one thing that should define a born again child of God, it's the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, amen? All right, good, we're doing good now. 1 Corinthians 121, for after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God, why? How? By the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. I have to caveat this all the time. Not by foolish preaching, but by the foolishness of preaching. The First Baptist Church at Jerusalem, I know that might make a Presbyterian nervous, but the First Baptist Church at Jerusalem is continuing to grow here in Acts chapter eight. And as we come to Acts chapter eight, God is going to show us what to do When life takes a left turn. What do you do when life doesn't turn out like you thought it was going to? What do you do when there's a turn in the road that you didn't allow for? You look from hilltop to hilltop and you look like, but you didn't see that what the road was gonna do in the valley. And I wanna show you today, may the Lord help us to see this this morning from our chapter, what do we do when life doesn't turn out like we think? You see, Saul had consented, the Bible says here in verse one, he had consented unto Stephen's death. Stephen was one of those first deacons at Jerusalem. Man, he could preach, he preached so much, it made the Jews mad, he himself was a Jew, and they were so angry about it, and the Bible says that Saul was consenting unto his death. Many know the background of this whole event right here, and so I don't want to take the time for it, but that word consent does not only mean agree with, but that word consent here means to be pleased with at the same time. He was not only in agreement, but boy, it made Saul happy to see the stoning of Stephen. Listen, now the Sanhedrin, they had no authority to put anybody to death. And even the Pharisees or any of the council, because of the Roman rule over Jerusalem at this time, they had no authority to really put anybody to death. But they got so worked up into a frenzy that they dragged Stephen out of the city and they stoned him until he died. And the Bible says that Saul was happy, he was happy with this proposition. He didn't want to hear what Stephen had to say. He obviously disagreed with Stephen's connection of Jesus Christ to the Messiah. And all that Saul wanted at this point in his life was for this newly elected deacon by the name of Stephen, he just wanted him to shut his mouth. And they attempted it. They got it accomplished with rocks, right? And they killed him. Now, I don't think Saul just disagreed with Stephen. I think happiness filled his heart when he saw the death of Stephen. He consented to it, right? You know what I think Saul wanted? I think he wanted the guilt to go away. I think he wanted the conviction to go away. We know this is a fact in Acts chapter 9 when Jesus himself told Saul that it's hard for you to kick against the pricks. It's hard for you to kick against that sharp, long stick, that goad that would be used to poke sheep to go their way and livestock to go their way. Paul was being poked with that sharp stick of the Gospel and he didn't like it and he thought he could shut it out by stoning the messenger. But I can tell you the Gospel of Jesus Christ is bigger than any messenger. and you can't shut it up and you can't put it away. And he was not able to do that. Here in verse three, as for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house and hailing men and women, committed them to prison. He ravaged the church. He devastated the churches of Jesus Christ. He went out to ruin them. It says, hailing men and women. dragging them and drawing them before the courts, dragging them into prison, dragging them into punishment, no doubt others had been killed. This was how brutal Saul was. This was the hunt that Saul was on to squash out the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was such an overreaction that it almost looked like it was personal, because it was. He wanted nothing to do with this gospel. And the God of heaven was drawing the apostle Paul through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Later in life, Saul would write, now going by the name of Paul as a Roman. Now Paul, he had two names. The Bible never says anywhere that God changed his name. He had a Roman name and he had a Jewish name. He was full-born Roman citizen and he was a Jew. His Jewish name was Saul. His Roman name was Paul. And because he was sent to the Gentiles, I think it's pretty obvious, he went by the name Paul as he went to the Gentiles. But later in Galatians, he would write this in verse 14, verse 13, chapter one, for you have heard of my conversation in times past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure, Beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it. Wasted it. But listen, Paul wasn't looking to scare these people into keeping their mouths shut. Paul was looking to wipe them off the map. Yeah. Should come as no surprise, right? It really shouldn't. This is exactly what Jesus warned of, did he not? John 15, 18, he said, if the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hate you. You know what the world hates about you? Jesus. They hate the one who is in you. And so Jesus said over in 2 Timothy, by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, the Apostle Paul said, yea, all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Now listen, nowhere in the Bible does God tell his children to go out and voluntarily kill themselves or voluntarily look for persecution as some type of badge of piety and holiness. No, he doesn't teach us to do that at all. Can I tell you if you are living godly you don't have to look for it, it's going to come. And if persecution hasn't come upon your life for the cause of Jesus Christ it ought to be another indicator that maybe you don't have a life that is living godly in Christ Jesus. I mean come on. A plus B equals C. You know C minus B equals. I messed that up. Can I tell you when you tell the world they are wrong they are going to attack. Now some people have told the world they're wrong with a really bad attitude. They tell the world they're wrong as if they were never wrong. It's like, hold on, Bubba, you were wrong too one day. No, we tell the world they're wrong with compassion and with love and with concern because we know that they're headed where we were once headed as well, right? But see, listen, but opposition, what we're seeing here in our text is that opposition can never stop the gospel of Jesus Christ. When they told John Bunyan to quit preaching and they threw him in prison, you know what he did? He went to the window of that prison and through those bars, he preached the gospel to those that would gather in front of that prison window. animated and his hands would go out of those bars to try to preach the Gospel with urgency. They would take whips and whip at his hands and try to get him to stop the Gospel. Friend, you can't stop the Gospel. Even if you killed John Bunyan, you know what? Somebody else comes along, and somebody else comes along, and somebody else comes along. And here we are 2,000 years after the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what we're doing? We're preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen. Listen, there's going to be opposition to the gospel. Don't get so shocked about it. Don't get so discouraged about it. There's going to be opposition. But with opposition, watch, comes opportunity. opportunity. Look at verse 1, And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Now the apostles stayed behind there in Jerusalem. BUT BECAUSE OF THE PERSECUTION THAT CAME UPON THE CHURCH AT JERUSALEM, MANY OF THOSE MEMBERS BEGAN TO LEAVE THEIR HOMES. AND THEY BEGAN TO SCATTER OUT THROUGH THE AREA. AND THEY WENT ALL THROUGH THIS AREA, THE BIBLE SAYS. AND THOSE WHO SCATTERED, WHAT DID THEY DO? LOOK AT VERSE 4, WHAT THEY DID. THEREFORE THEY THAT WERE SCATTERED ABROAD WENT EVERYWHERE PREACHING THE WORD. AMEN. I LIKE THAT. These are not apostles, friends. Listen to this. They're not apostles. These are not pastors. These are not deacons. Listen, there's only six deacons now, because they already killed Stephen, so they're down to six, right? These are not the upper echelon of the Church. Right? These are the regular folks. I don't even like that because nobody is laity. Nobody is regular folks. We don't have a hierarchical order except what God has chosen a sheep to be an under shepherd and the deacons to go along. But there is no great hierarchical order in this place. Right? We are all just sheep under our shepherd. But listen there are those that have different responsibilities and different callings than others. Watch this, the gospel just doesn't stop with them and the responsibility of the gospel doesn't just end at the pulpit or at the Sunday school class lectern. It goes to everybody who is a child of God sitting in this room. You have the onus and the responsibility to preach the gospel to the whole world. And this is what they did. Right here in Acts, this is what they did. They were persecuted and had to pick up house and go buy another house where it was a little quieter. What did they do? They got in, they backed up the U-Haul, they unloaded their stuff, they said, where's my Bible? And they went out, or my scroll, whatever they had. And they went out and what did they do? They preached the gospel. I like that. moms and dads and carpenters and camel drivers and store owners and the uneducated and the educated, the young and the old, everyday people falling under the persecution that came when they left their area, they went and preached the gospel wherever they moved to. Can I tell you this? Hopelessness can never take away the message of hope. I don't care how hopeless life gets, there's always hope. DEATH CAN NEVER TAKE AWAY ETERNAL LIFE, AMEN? BAD NEWS CAN NEVER DESTROY THE GOOD NEWS. THEY CANNOT DO THAT. THE WORD OF GOD HAS BEEN PREACHED IN THE DARKEST DUNGEONS OF THE WORLD. THE WORD OF GOD HAS BEEN PREACHED IN THE DARKEST CONTINENTS OF THE WORLD. THE WORD OF GOD HAS BEEN PREACHED IN THE MOST UNFORGIVING CIRCUMSTANCES ACROSS THE GLOBE. THERE IS ALWAYS OPPORTUNITY TO PREACH JESUS CHRIST. I TELL YOU WHAT, What an indictment on our own nation. We just talked about this Memorial Day that we'll celebrate tomorrow and the freedoms that we have for those that gave their life for our America and for our way of life. Watch, they gave their life for our freedom of religion as well. pulpits are cold today. They are devotionalizing today. They are self-help gurus with some Bible attached to it so you can have your best life now. No, they need to know the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What is the Gospel? Well, it starts with bad news. What is bad news? Well, you are lost. And we're born sinners by nature and sinners by choice. And we're on our way to hell if we stay in that condition. But the good news is God sent Jesus, His only Son, to pay the price for our sin and shed His blood, which was accepted by God. And the good news is that our sins can be forgiven eternally and we can forever be reconciled to our Creator. Forever. One of these days, we'll get back to Hebrews 8, Hebrews 9 actually. We'll look at this again. It's awesome. Yeah. There's always been the opportunity to preach the gospel. On January 8th, 1956, a very familiar story to most people in this room, Jim Elliott and Nate Saint and Ed McCulley and Peter Fleming, Roger Uterine, were attacked and speared to death by a group of Akha Indians, South American Ecuador. Brother Boonstra, who's now passed away, he met, I think it was Nate Saint, he had met Nate Saint. His daughter and son-in-law were missionaries in Ecuador, and he got to meet some of these people. But we know the story, most everybody knows the events of what happened with Jim Elliott. And we know what else happened with his wife Elizabeth and Nate's sister Rachel, who eventually went back to that very same village After their husbands and their brother were killed by the same Indians, they went back to that very same village. When their lives were turned upside down, when their future was shattered and destroyed, they went back with a team and won many of them to Christ. The very ones that put a spear through her husband's chest, she was able to win to Jesus Christ. Wow. Needless to say, Elizabeth and Rachel were not trained missionaries. But you know what? They went anyway. Why? Because it's the gospel that has the power to change lives. Amen. See, life hadn't gone as planned for them, but the ladies looked at the opposition as an opportunity and hazarded their lives. to reach the murderers of their husbands, and their brothers, and their relatives with the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is what these Christians in Acts chapter eight are doing. Scattered by persecution, simply carrying on what they started in Jerusalem. How could they do that? Well, can I tell you number one, I think one of the reasons is, because they believed it. It was real. I'm getting more convinced, at least half of our church doesn't even believe it. Half of the church is America. I don't know if they really believe it. I don't know if it's really real. I mean, there's a lot of religion, and there's a lot of ritualistic things that go on, even Baptist rituals that go on, but I don't know if there's a relationship sometimes. I wonder at times. What moved these people? Well, how could you move them off of something that they knew? John said over in 1 John, you know, those who we saw with our eyes and heard with our ears and touched with our hands, the word of life himself. How did they go to their death? Because they knew him and they met him and he lived in them and they couldn't be drawn otherwise. This is why they lived their life the way they did, right? Because they believed it. They believed it. Opposition turned into opportunity. Would you notice the outcome here? Philip the deacon went down to Samaria. Look here in verse four. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. Now let me give you a little clue here. You said down. That seems like south to us. Samaria is north. How do they do that? Well to a Jew Israel or Jerusalem is one of the highest points and you always go up to Jerusalem and down from Jerusalem. That's how they give directions. When I was over there a guide told us everything is up right to Jerusalem and if you are in Jerusalem everything is down. though they were going north in elevation they went down from Jerusalem down into Samaria. And so this is what Philip had done. Jesus had already been there a few years earlier speaking to that woman at the well. But listen to this, no place on earth has all of the Gospel they need. Nixa does not have all of the gospel they need. Though we're in the Bible Belt, though there are churches on every corner around this place, I dare say there are so many people in this city that have never had a clear presentation of the gospel. I'm telling you, we knock doors and we talk to them, and they go to certain churches around this place, and you give them the gospel, and I'm telling you, they have some weird and strange ideas of what it is to be a child of God. Why? They've never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. He went down where Jesus had already been and he preached to them. Watch this, the people of Samaria, verse 6, they listened. And the people with one accord gave heed to those things which Philip spake. They listened to him. They believed them, hearing and seeing the miracles which He did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them, and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. So, not only did they hear the preaching of the Gospel of the Word of God, at this time in the book of Acts and the transition from the Old Covenant to a New Covenant, from Israel to a Church, and the Church is not Israel. I don't have time to get into that, but I'll just throw it out there. But in this interim period God gave this interim period signs and wonders to authenticate the message they were preaching. And they heard the preaching of the Gospel. and they saw what was going on with the demons and the sick were healed and the crippled and the palsies were healed. What did they do? They believed the gospel. Look at verse 8. And there was great joy in the city. Can I tell you this is what happens when the gospel is believed? Great joy. Great joy. How many can remember the day they were born again by the Spirit of God? Was that one of the lowest days in your life? It was one of the greatest days, was it not? It was a happy, happy, happy day, was it not? Yeah, amen, it was. There was great joy in the city. I'm amazed at how many unhappy people I've come across that named the name of Christ. Yep, there's a lot of carnality within the household of God nowadays within the United States of America. Hey, listen, we all get caught in it, don't we? We all get caught in the doom and the gloom of where we're living, the time we're living, and you know, if we just ponder a little bit of where we used to be and where we are now and where we're headed, it'll help you out. It'd bring the joy back. It'd bring the happiness back. It absolutely would. I mean, tell you, we are living in a negative, negative society. You know, we have more money, more technology, and more creature comforts, and perhaps we have ever known, no doubt we have, and people live in a state of constant anger and angst. I mean, anybody you could come across, Christian or non-Christian, it's just like, you know, they're ready to fight over everything. It's like, my goodness, God, help us, right? We have the God of heaven that lives in us. Who can't go away? You know when the Holy Spirit is going to go away and come out of our, exit our life? Is when we exit the body as well. Someday this carcass is going in the ground. Our soul is coming out. And you know what? When we leave it, He'll leave too. But before then, He's not leaving. Amen. We are secure in Christ. Ought to make you happy, friend. Amen. Joy unspeakable. Full of glory. When I realize all my past was wiped away, all of my future was taken care of in the blood of Jesus Christ, can't help but make you happy. No. Even when I think about it today, when I think about it this morning, I can't help but get happy to know that the God of heaven loves me. If nobody loves you, God loves you. Yeah. He died for you. He died for me. He shed his own blood for me. Why? It was all about relationship. Because the God of heaven wanted to have a relationship with his creation. My sin is gone, we just sang it, amen? Heaven is my home. Listen, sometimes you just gotta tell somebody, amen? You ought to. This is what they did. There was opposition. But with that opposition came opportunity. And when they took the opportunity, look at the outcome. Joy. Salvation. People coming to Jesus. Their eternal destiny changed in a moment. Amen. This is by no means An endorsement, please forgive me if this brings something back to your head as it did for me, but it came to my head and I want to show you the error of it. I shouldn't. Forgive me. Dionne Warwick sang a song. What the world needs now is love, sweet love. Sorry, it's in your head, I know it is. She said it's the only thing that there's just too little of. Wrong. What the world needs is the gospel of Jesus Christ because God is love. If you get the gospel, you'll get everything that the world can never offer you and more. If there's one thing that's missing in our nation, in our churches, in our lives, if there's one thing that's missing, it's the gospel, the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Listen, we're building colleges, we're filling seminaries, we're building houses, we're digging wells, we're feeding the hungry, we're sheltering the homeless, we're making reality shows, we're growing internet presences with churches and things like that, and the advertising, and colleges are like, I just heard of a college, a Bible college the other day. I just heard of it the other day. They have marketing. I really have trouble with marketing Bible colleges, but their marketing is 90% of our graduates have a paid position when they graduate. Well, who on earth cares? How about going where God wants you to go? Oh my goodness. I mean, we got so much. We're collecting more money than we've ever collected probably in the history of our churches, but our nation has never been farther away from God than it is today. People have never been more stressed. People have never felt more empty. Young people have never been more deceived and confused. I mean, they don't know if they're a girl or a boy. And the psycho adults that are trying to tell them what they are. They ought to be in jail and the kids need some help. Amen. Good night. It's sick. People have never been so unhappy. Can I tell you something this morning? Listen, the world may have scattered your life. Your life may have taken a turn that you didn't expect. Persecution may have marked your life. Just life itself and the weight of life and the change of life and the direction of life may have just upended your life like you have not expected. But can I tell you, regardless of it, you can still preach the gospel. Amen. You don't need to be a pastor. You don't need to be a deacon. You don't need to be a Sunday school teacher. You don't need to be specially gifted. You don't have to have a perfect past, hallelujah, right? You can go out and say, yeah, I was that, but look what Jesus did for me. And he can do the same for you today. Amen. If you've been purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ, and you're living in obedience to the word of God this morning, and listen, you know what you do? Go out and just preach Jesus, preach the cross, preach an empty tomb, get out and preach. What we sang it this morning, plead with them earnestly, plead with them gently, right? Jesus will save if they only believe. Rescue the perishing, care for the dying. Jesus is merciful, amen? Jesus will save. Could you imagine going out with a job from your, with such confidence behind you as God will, you do this and God will do this. Boy, that's confidence. First Corinthians 118, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but in us which are saved, it's the power of God. Listen to me, people say, I need the power of God in my life. I've just lost the power of God in my life. Well, go out and preach the gospel. That's where the power is. Just get out and preach it. Sometimes the reactions are fun. I had a meeting over in Sparta about a week ago, and these guys wanted some stuff done on their windows, you know, some painting. And they said, well, we'll have a open house night, and you'll have to come to that. And we'll have plenty of liquor. And I'm like, oh, well, I'm a Baptist preacher. And they're like, oh. I don't know if it ever gets, how far this gets online sometimes. I gotta be careful. But strangely enough, I'm not gonna be doing the project. And I think, oh, that's funny. Anyway. Amen. You want the power of God in your life? Regardless of, listen, regardless of what life has done to you, regardless of what the world has done to you, Yeah, preach the cross. Preach Christ. I messaged a friend of mine this morning, I said, do you mind if I tell this story? He said, it'd be just fine, absolutely. I've told it before, I think it's been a while, but friends of ours from Berean, Brother Al Price was the assistant pastor at Berean, and him and his wife were there for some time, and then went back out to Florida. He pastored other places, and he pastored in Florida, then he resigned from there, and they were kind of in retirement time out in Arizona. And that morning, he had a Facebook post of his thought of his wife and how long they'd been together, 40 some years since high school. And he said these words, I don't know what it'd be like to, I can't imagine life without my wife. And later that day, she was killed. They were coming back from vacation, a little time up in the mountains, and a drunk driver drove across the line and hit him head on. Killed her instantly. And he went through some dark, dark, dark times. And he said, I don't know how to live without my bride. I don't know how to do this. And eventually the court case came up and the trial came up. And he'd post every once in a while, would you pray for me? You don't know the pain I have that my wife is gone, but I still don't want this guy to die and go to hell. I still don't want him to die and go to hell. pray for me, I wanna have some words. And at the trial, he was able to have some words and able to tell him, I forgive you, I forgive you. He said, you took my bride, you took my life away from me, but I forgive you. And later on, I don't know if it was a year later, I remember him posting, he says, I have an opportunity to send him something in jail. He went to jail for a long time. And he took his wife's Bible and sent her, sent this man his wife's Bible. and said, I want you to have this. I want you to read this. I want you to be saved. My wife would want you to be saved. And supposedly, from the word back, he was born again. He got saved. And he was very happy about that. You know, no matter what life throws at you, and no matter what left turn comes, and no matter what persecution comes into your life, no matter how life turns out like you didn't expect it to, you can still preach the gospel. You can still see people come to Christ. And in the deepest, darkest times of life, rays, brilliant rays of joy and hope can overshadow the darkness when somebody in their own heart calls upon God. to be saved. There is no joy greater, friend, than to listen to somebody humbly call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and get up from that place knowing that their sins are gone and they're a child of God. Listen, I don't care what life has done, what persecutions happened. Listen to me, we just need to get back to preaching the gospel everywhere we go. Our Father, thank you this morning. Would you help us to be a church to be a people, no matter what happens in our life, to just keep preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation, and we thank you for that. We pray you'd have your will and your way in the invitation today, in Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand this morning, if you would please, the invitation is open. I don't know where life has taken you, but maybe you just needed to be encouraged and get along with the Lord this morning. and just continue preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Maybe life has taken your joy from you, taken your peace from you. Can I tell you that joy would come back if you get back just to preach in the gospel? It would come back. It absolutely would. You respond. to God this morning. Maybe you're here this morning and you've never been born again. Maybe you're watching online, you've never been born again. You need to be saved today. Can I tell you, God is waiting, Jesus is waiting. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you've never been saved this morning, you need to come today and ask God to save you. He will. There is no other name given among men under heaven whereby we must be saved. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. You come to him today. Church, are you preaching the gospel? Are you faithful at your job? Are you faithful with the people you come across? Are you faithful with the open doors and the opportunities that come to you to give people the gospel of Jesus Christ? Are our pockets full of tracts? Are they ready to be handed out? Yeah. Preach Christ. so All right. I'm going to have you stay standing just for a minute. I'm going to have Ruth come forward. Ruth, why don't you come up here, if you would. And not in trouble at all. Ruth has wanted to present herself for baptism to be added to Crimson Avenue Baptist Church. And Ruth, we've spent a couple of years now, right? We've been thankful for Ruth being here, her faithfulness. And I've told people our non-members are more faithful than our members. Oh, never mind. We've been thankful for Ruth's faithfulness, and we've had a lot of time of teaching and training, but she's never been scripturally baptized. I've talked to Ruth a while back, and we went over her salvation. She knows, she knows she's been born again, but she wants to follow the Lord in baptism. So, all of those who are members of Crimson Avenue Baptist Church who are ready to receive Ruth into the body here by baptism, would you lift up your hand and say, Amen? Amen. Alright, probably nobody opposed, because if you're opposed we'll have to church you. No, we don't do that. Well, not that one, anyway. So that wasn't too hard, was it? No? Amen. And so we're going to set up a bab between Ruth and Anne. I didn't call her Sue today. Anne will be here tonight. And Anne is in the same, you all are almost sisters, right? Well, except you're Dutch Reformed and she was Lutheran. So OK. but Dan is gonna be being baptized as well. So we'll be having that set up and I'm gonna get with Brother Shoal down in Spokane. We've already talked about it using their baptistry. And so we're trying to plan this, how we're gonna do it on a Sunday after the morning service sometime. And we'll have something fun planned. So we'll do that quickly here soon within the next week or two. All right, come by and give Ruth a right hand of fellowship, would you? And we'll be dismissed on a word of prayer. All right, Brother Ian, would you close us in prayer, please?