For us, the Apostle Paul has been in arrest for about a little over two years for preaching the gospel. He has gone from magistrate to magistrate, from court to court. He now ends up in this text before King Agrippa. He has not pleaded the case to go to Caesar at this point. The Lord is leading him along and he finds himself in an interesting position. He makes a tremendous statement in verse number two. We'll get to that in a second. But bear in mind that he is under arrest and he is in bonds. He's got his hands bound, and yet he's enjoying the Lord leading him along. I want to look at this chapter number 26 for a few verses. If you wouldn't mind standing again tonight if you're able to, in honor of the reading of scripture, look at the first eight verses here. Then King Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth a hand and answered for himself. And I remember he's been in prison for over two years, hear the first words out of his mouth, I think myself happy. I'm not sure I'd be able to say that with an honest. at heart, but he thinks himself happy, King Agrippa. Why? Because I shall answer for myself this day before thee, touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews, especially because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews, wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently. My manner of life from my youth, which was at first among my own nation at Jerusalem, knew all the Jews, which knew me from the beginning, as they would testify that after the most straightest sect of our religion, I led the Pharisee. And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God under our fathers, under which promise our 12 tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope, said King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead? I want to preach on the subject tonight, the word incredible. Why should it be an incredible thing? that God could raise the dead. Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank you for tonight and for the folks who are purposed to be here. Once again, we thank you for meeting with us and that's your will take place. Father, may we not be shocked at your ability to raise the dead. Father, thank you for that day that we got saved and you raised us from death unto life. And we look forward to that day that you'll raise us from this old world to heaven. Father, may we not just be always amazed at your work, It's incredible. I'll thank you for tonight in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you, church. You may be seated. You're standing before this court bar in the city of Caesarea and being tried again for the preaching of the gospel. Anytime you are a true testimony for Christ, you're going to be tested. You're going to be tried by the world. You may not stand before an official court like this, but you're being judged, amen. And they're watching you. They're listening to every word you have to say. Somebody said that a lost man never has been to church, that your life may be the only Bible that he reads before he actually gets saved. So we need to be careful what we're presenting to the world. He stands before Festus and before Bernice and before King Agrippa. and does not appeal to speak to the emperor Caesar when given an opportunity to speak for himself. We should not always wait for a better opportunity. We should take advantage of the opportunities that we have to speak for the Lord and give testimony of our salvation. We often pray, and I think it's wise to pray, Lord, give us opportunity to witness. But sometimes I think it's better to also pray, Lord, help me take advantage of the opportunities you do give me to witness. I think we pass up far more opportunities to witness than we realize oftentimes. Sometimes it may just be a word. Sometimes it may be an opportunity to sit down and actually visit with somebody about it. 1 Peter 3, verse 15 says, we must be ready to give a reason for the hope. that is in us to every man that asketh us. If someone asks you, why are you so happy? How can you be in prison for two years and still think yourself happy? Why is it as a Christian you can go through things in life and still think yourself happy? Well, let me tell you the reason. His name is Jesus Christ. And he has saved me, has redeemed me, he has purchased me. I don't belong to myself, I belong to him. I've been bought with a price. And there ought to be a joy about us that the world does not have. You can get a lot of things in this world to bring you happiness, but real joy cannot be bought. Nothing material in this world will bring you real biblical joy, only a knowledge of the Lord and walking with Him and doing something for Him. What is this hope that is in us which we are to testify of? It's the same hope that was in Brother Paul. It's the glorious resurrection power of Christ to raise people from the dead. We could go back and we could see where the Lord has done this. We could look at the life of Lazarus, where he raised a man from the dead just by saying, Lazarus, come forth. And we could see where he did that. And there are other testimonies that these people were hearing about miracles that Christ is doing. And Paul tells King Agrippa, why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead? Why is that so hard to believe? Why is that so incredible? Why is that such a difficult thing for you to digest? I mean, he is God manifested in the flesh. And he does do miracles. And God can do these things. That's an incredible task that he does to raise people from the dead. And I think one of the greatest miracles he ever performed was the day that he saved me. And probably the day that he saved you is the greatest of all miracles in your personal life. I mean, you may have seen other miracles that he's performed as far as health or provision or whatever the case might be. But the greatest miracle I think he could ever perform in an individual's life is the salvation of their soul. And that's an incredible thing because only Jesus can save. Salvation is the Lord, Leviticus tells us. It's not of any man other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Why should it be so incredible? I mean, after all, we do serve an incredible God. He's incredible in his works. If you think back in history and look back at the Genesis account in the first book of the Bible, you see God doing some incredible things just by speaking words. He spoke this world into existence, that there be light and there was light. That's an incredible thing. He took something that did not exist and made something out of it that had not been. and hung it in space until it stay there and it still is. That's incredible. If you think about it, that's hard to grasp and our finite minds can't grasp it except by faith and by knowledge that this is what God did because God's word said so. Evolution versus creation is not hard to accept. You either believe what God said or you don't. If you do, then the case is settled. And so I love it. That's an incredible thing that God has done in creation. My little mind went to something here I have written in the back of my Bible. If I can find it in time before eight o'clock tonight, I'd like to read it to you, amen. Let's see if I can find it. It's kind of a clever little thing about creation. Oh, here's evolution. So it's once he was a tadpole beginning to the end, then he was a frog with his tail tucked in. Then he was a man swinging from a tree, now he's a professor with a PhD. So that's evolution. That takes a lot of faith to believe something like that. Or we can believe what God said. And it's incredible that he has established this world and created it to place us in and put us in a position to maintain what he has created. That's an incredible thing that he would use something like mankind to do that. It's incredible how he's worked on men's lives. It's incredible how he created man out of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. That's incredible. That's incredible. It's incredible that he put that man to sleep. Fellas, be careful when you go to sleep, amen? Took one of his ribs and made a woman out of it. It's a compound word, woe out of man. And so somebody said, man's made out of dust of the earth and women made out of prime rib. And I don't know, I'm not sure about that, but anyway. We serve an incredible God, so it shouldn't seem too incredible that he could raise the dead if he can create all things by his word. Well, we serve an incredible God who gave us an incredible book. Of course, we believe that this is the King James Bible in English for us today, been preserved, inspired by the Holy Ghost, preserved for us in English. That's an incredible thing when you think about it. The years these men spent writing these books on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and God used these men to do that. It's incredible the number of men, the number of years, and the different languages coming together to make God's Word, and then making one bucket, 66 books into one, and never a contradiction, never an error, always complementing itself and completing itself. This is an incredible book. Take all the libraries in Congress you want, but this one surpasses all of them. It's an incredible book. It's a library in and of itself. Somebody told me when I first started preaching, Brother Martin, all you need, Brother Richard, Brother Bob Stewart, and El Paso, Brother Richard, all you need is a good King James Bible and an astronomy coordinates and 1828 dictionary, and then you just need to study. just need to spend time in it and memorize it and study out its precepts and its doctrines and just take the time to slow down and just meditate on the words and memorize key chapters in the Bible. I have forgotten, I've memorized more than, how do I say it? I've forgotten a lot that I've memorized. That's what I'm trying to say. It used to be I could memorize entire books, Genesis 1, Psalm 1, Psalm 22, 23, 24, Psalm 51. I had those things memorized, Isaiah 53 and so forth. Had these books memorized, 1 Corinthians 15 and so forth, and John 1 and 3 and 4. I can at least memorize the ones that I memorized. the title, but I don't have them memorized anymore. But I know the address, I can go there and read them. And man, those books and all those, they're incredible. They're incredible. We serve an incredible God who gave us an incredible book that tells us about an incredible son that he had. Born of a virgin, no other man has been that way. Born sinless, born without sin, has no knowledge of sin in his own life. And yet here he is born of a virgin. And he comes forth after spending time there in the carpenter shop, learning that skill and learning patience and learning about people. And he comes forth on the scene. Begins his earthly ministry by spending time alone on the backside of the desert, 40 days and 40 nights. Comes out afterwards, a hungry and a thirsty, and the devil comes into him and tempts him. In all three areas of sin, the lust of sin, the lust of flesh, the lust of pride, and the pride of life. And the Lord sent him running with three verses out of Deuteronomy. That's incredible, isn't it? That the Lord can take three verses and defeat Satan in all three areas of his life. And we have 66 books, so we have a lot of ammunition to deal with him by. It's an incredible son who gave his life on Calvary, who came to a world that did not want him and despised and rejected him, came to his own and they despised and rejected him. He's a man of sorrows and quivering with grief. We hear his word from him. And so we see this prophesied and we see it fulfilled in the New Testament. And he came to seek and to save that which is lost. That's a horrible word, isn't it? Lost. You don't need to understand any Greek or any Hebrew to know what the word lost means. Lost. Just the sound of that word ought to send shivers down your spine. And we were lost in sin. We were lost in trespasses. We were lost. We did not know God. We were not seeking after God because he came to seek and to save us. That's an incredible thing that he would do that. Gave his life on Calvary, took our place, shed his blood as atonement or covering for our sin. That's an incredible thing. And it says that they just sat down there and watched him there. What an apathetic world back then. What an apathetic world we live in today. The men just sit down and watch him there, talk about him and don't know him. It's an amazing thing. It's incredible that he could be rejected of men today. What is it about Jesus that's so offensive to people? That's incredible to me. We have an incredible God who wrote an incredible book, who gave us an incredible son, who in his trinity of the Godhead and the work of the Holy Spirit does some incredible things in his ministry. And His person of the Godhead, He convicts us of sin. He reproves us. He who is the author of Scripture, the Holy Spirit, is also the teacher of Scripture. He's also the third person of Trinity that lives within us. So He is the author, lives within us, and is a great teacher. So we can go to Him and ask Him to help us to understand what does set the Lord, because He's the author of it. It's an incredible thing how he reproves the world of sin, how he deals with us, how he draws us now into God. And it's incredible that we can offend him, and yet he still loves us. It's an incredible work. Well, we serve an incredible God who wrote an incredible book, who had an incredible son, who the Trinity of the Godhead, the Holy Ghost, still does incredible things in the life of people. And Jesus Christ did this during his earthly ministry. He started an incredible institution called the church. The first institution God established was the home, the second one was the government, and now he's established the church. This is a place where you and I come together and meet the qualifications by being born again and scripturally baptized into it, and members in particular. and all serving together in this one body, serving the Lord. This is incredible organism, if you will, called the church. And if you do anything for the Lord, you need to do it in and through his church, because God receives glory by Christ Jesus through the church. And so if we're gonna do something for him, the Bible says we're gonna strive, strive lawfully. Why is it to strive lawfully? It's to strive biblically, just according to what the Bible has to say. And he gave this incredible institution, the church, an incredible task. And it's just, it's not a real big thing. It's just called mission. It's just to reach the world with the gospel, that's all. It's just to go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in. It's just to go out there and send men out into the four corners of the earth, if you will. And beginning here in your Jerusalem, in Missouri, and going forth in all the world, going to foreign countries, like Africa and China, Oklahoma, places like that, you know, and taking the gospel and starting churches of like faith and practice. And these churches, this incredible institution, have an ongoing task that is still unfinished. If the Lord was finished with us tonight, we'd be in heaven. We don't, seriously, we'd be in heaven tonight if he was through with us. If he was through with this church, it'd be in heaven tonight. But he's not finished with us. It's an unfinished task. It will always be unfinished till there's this trump of God and a shout of the archangel and the dead in Christ rise first and those of us which are alive and remain shall be called together to meet the Lord in there and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Then our task on earth will be finished. And then it begins another phase of history given to us in the book. This incredible task, this incredible organism of the church is filled with some people that are pretty incredible. I mean, you talk about diversification coming together in one place. I mean, there's people here from foreign countries like myself from Texas, there's people that were born and raised in Missouri, there's people from Washington State, there's people, maybe a Yankee or two here tonight, I don't know, don't raise your hand. But, you know, we come from all parts of life, all walks of life, all different degrees of education, all different personalities. It's just incredible how God can put us together in a volunteer army to serve Him, fitly framed together as a body in Christ. It's incredible that God would do that. And it's incredible how He has established it and given different gifts to different people within that body to do the work that He has us to do. Well, not only that, but someday there's going to be an incredible exit. I know the exits you are seeing. I mean, incredible exit. Well, when church is over tonight, we'll actually see that door back there. And compared to going to heaven, that's kind of like, well, whoop-de-doo. That's nothing, amen. And we'll get in our Ford and we'll go back to Butterfield, Missouri tonight. We'll exit this town and enter another one. And by God's grace, we'll try to be careful doing that. But when we exit this world, it's gonna be in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. Now, that's faster than a speeding bullet, Superman. That's quicker than quick and faster than fast. The moment quicker than the twinkling of an eye. I read somewhere where people tried to time that, trying to time it. I keep on saying, oh, quit being silly. Just get saved, amen? In the moment of a twinkling of an eye. I don't know where you'll be when that happens. Maybe you'll be taking your brother-in-law out to dinner. I don't know, maybe he'd be playing golf or doing something else. I don't know, maybe he'd be in church. But whatever it is, it ought to be something that honors him. So we'll not be ashamed that it's coming. It's going to be an incredible exit to an incredible place called a new heaven and a new earth. Boy, it's incredible. I read about it once and again and again, and I just stand amazed every time I read about this new heaven, new earth. Street of gold. But we wrestle over it and people sell it in stores today. God uses it for pavement up there. Gates of pearl. Gates of pearl, amen? And I think I was joking with my wife once in a serious sort of way, why should I buy you a necklace of real pearls when there's gonna be a gate of it up there? Just be patient, woman. But, you know, I mean, think about this incredible place we're going to. It's incredible. And who's gonna be there? The Lord's gonna be there, and he's the light thereof. There'd be no darkness up there. So it is, we'll just go to spend the day with the Lord, which is all eternity. That's an incredible thought. A new heaven and a new earth. We wiped out the first earth with a flood, the second's gonna be with a fire. That's an incredible thing to try to comprehend, that he'll consume this place with a fire. So like the Apostle Paul of old, we too should think ourselves happy. just to be born again, happy, just to be in a good church like this, happy. I mean, there's a joy, there's a happiness that comes about when we think about how incredible God is and what all he's done for us, still gonna do for us. And it's an incredible thing what he can do with us, what he can do with us. I wrestled with learning to preach. for three reasons. One, I was afraid to do funerals. I did not know what that would be. I've been to them, and I said, I don't want to preach a funeral. I can't do that. Another was to go see somebody in the hospital who was on her deathbed. I just don't think I can handle that. Another was to stand up and speak in front of people publicly. I could talk back to my mom, but I couldn't stand up publicly and face people, I just couldn't do it. Then it kind of dawned on me one day that it's kind of like that was all about me, wasn't it? Well, some people still wish I wouldn't have been speaking publicly. I'll tell you, it's a blessing to do a funeral, because you know that you know that you know there's lost people there. I have a relative who's a cousin of my wife's. It was in San Angelo, Texas, and three different times, he's told me the funerals that he's been to, and that I preach to family members. Each time afterwards, he says, I don't think a preacher should preach what he believes. I think he should just talk about the deceased. It's their funeral. It's their time of honoring them. First few times, I said nothing. The third time, I said, Roy, I said, the reason you're having trouble with that is because you're still lost. I said, if you were saved, you'd be shouting, you'd say amen every time the preacher said something biblical, try to reach somebody out there that's lost. You'd be supportive of that, you'd be encouraging of that. It's an incredible thing how the word of God affects different people. But we have some incredible opportunities in front of us. I mean, it's just amazing. The last time something that was said to me that really, I don't mean to use the wrong word, Really, really shook me, frightened me, scared me, whatever, took me back. was about seven years ago in 2013 when I had four heart stents put in in Austin, Texas. And one of the nurses was a real sweet lady, and she was born-again Christian. And we got through, and she came in and said, well, preacher, I guess God's not through with you yet. I said, well, thanks for scaring me. Boy, thanks a lot. What kind of scares you? You're thinking, well, if I go into surgery and they put me under and I don't wake up, I'm not going to know. That wouldn't be too bad. But when you wake up and some nurse says, God's not through with you yet, you go, wow. That's a scary thought. Can I tell you something? He's not through with you yet either. Yeah. Huh? He's not through with you yet. There's still one more soul out there that needs to get saved. One more family that needs to be put back together. Still one more wavered church member that needs to be brought back home. There still needs to be somebody else that's contentious that needs to be dealt with, with the scripture. There's still one more of a lot of opportunities, and it's incredible. And to think that God could use us. Think about this. I think it's incredible. I think it's incredible. that Paul would allow himself to be imprisoned for over two years, to go from magistrate to magistrate to magistrate just to have the opportunity to witness to the king. Think about that. What do we allow the Lord to take us through just so we can witness to somebody? Instead of begrudging what we're having to go through, getting the poochy lips, getting all soured about it, why do I have to go through this? Maybe God has you there to be a witness. And when that opportunity happens, you should think yourself happy. Yeah. Because I love you tonight. We've been here a few times now, but I want to tell you, it's not about you. And it's not about me. It's about him. If we could get that down, I said, man, that's an incredible thing to consider. It's just incredible. Years ago, I read that Toscanini orchestrated the New York Symphony Orchestra to play Beethoven's Fifth. It said that he did such a superb job that the audience just sat in silence awed by it. I read that Toscanini sensed among the orchestra a pride swelling up like what we just did. It said that he turned and faced him and leaned over his podium and says, it's not about you, it's not about me, it's about Beethoven. Tonight, listen, it's not about you. It's not about me. It's about him. We'll take that incredible thought and go forth from here tonight and say, you know what? We can still build this church. We can still reach folks. And having done all to stand, huh? That's incredible. Think about it, huh? Let's stand for a prayer, if you would, please. As Pianist comes, we'll play a verse. Please feel free to come to this altar and be in prayer. Father, in Christ's name, I pray that you take this simple message tonight May it do an incredible work in somebody's heart. I don't know the hearts tonight, but you do, and I pray that whatever the need is, that you'd meet it. And Father, may we go forth tonight with a new zeal, a new challenge, new courage, new desire to serve you. Oh God, please forgive us for the times we've been having an opportunity we haven't taken advantage of it. The God maker will be done in the life of this church. Be with this pastor, bring him home safely and prepare for this Lord's day. May that will be done in Jesus' name. Amen. You come tonight and just spend a minute in prayer. It is so sweet to trust in Jesus. Have you proved Him o'er and o'er? You can trust Him. We just come and pray for services Sunday. Pray for attendance. Pray for attentiveness. Pray for your pastor to have freedom as he preaches. Pray that God might speak to your heart. So, Oh.