this morning. Our Father, we want to thank you for the privilege of being able to represent you, whether it be in Des Plaines, Illinois, or whether it be in the Kourou, Kenya, and whether it be, Lord, wherever our missionaries are. Father, we thank you for that privilege. What a great God that you are to allow us to bear the eternal message of the gospel. Your Lord, all across this world, souls are lost and on their way to hell without Christ. And you have given us the commission that is the greatest commission on earth. And that is to share that gospel with your creation, Lord, with mankind. So Father, we pray this morning that as we open your word and as we view these pictures, Father, that you will teach us the things that you have for us today. And let it, Lord, not just be a time of enjoying seeing things, Lord, from across the world, but let it be a time of drawing truths from your word and making application to those. And Father, we ask these things in Jesus Christ's name, amen. I'm gonna take several minutes this morning just to read to you what happened over in Kenya. And I'm sure that there will be some stories that will come out as we go over the next several weeks. But they minister, the Steinbart's minister in a city called Nkuru. It is not the capital, the capital of Kenya is Nairobi. That's where we landed. It was about a three-hour drive from Nairobi to Nkuru. Nairobi is a little more westernized. Nkuru is less that way. Standing in their backyard, this is just a screenshot of Google Compass, and they are about 18 miles south of the equator. So they're in the tropics. However, I don't know if you can read that number or not, but the elevation is 6,400 feet. So they're over a mile high. And so that makes the temperature pretty moderate. It was in the 50s most nights, in the 70s as high as 80 during the daytime. Just beautiful weather in their rainy season. And so everything was green and lush. So that's where it's at. Now, the first thing you have to do is bring the grandchildren into submission through a Nerf gun fight. Once that was accomplished, we were able to continue. And I don't know who won. I don't think it matters. But as we were driving to the Steinbart's house, this was in the background. This is a volcano. I can't tell you the name because I can't pronounce some of those Swahili words. But this volcano, you see this divot here. Several years back, this was a full mountain that blew its top. And through the volcanic eruption, it created this great crater. in the top of the mountain. It's a beautiful sight. We actually went up there as a family. And so this is Nathaniel, Lynette, four of the grandchildren. The baby was sleeping in the car seat just so we were able to slip over and get this picture. And this is the volcano in the background or what is now the dormant volcano. This is a picture of the crater. Now I'm showing you this on purpose, not just because these are pretty pictures, but there's a few things that I want to point out. See these little white areas right here in the background? That's steam that's coming up out of the ground. They're doing some geothermal drilling there to harvest some of the heat from down inside because there's still some magma down in there, even though they say that the volcano is not much of a threat This is a little closer picture, I zoomed in a little bit. Here you see these little clouds of steam that are coming up out of the top of the volcano. This is part of the crater. Can you all see this dark area through here? This was a lava flow from about 300 years ago. And so those of you that, I grabbed a couple rocks, brought them back with me. They're very glassy black with some silicate in it. And you can see that here in this black where that these are just hardened, the lava that has hardened there and has not broken down yet. The Africans have a name for this mountain. Again, I can't pronounce it. But the idea is this, the Devil's Mountain. And the reason they called it that was because in the evening, they could see some of the steam rising up from the mountain. But during the daytime, they couldn't see it because of the heat of the sun. And so they assumed that the devil was up there cooking his supper when it got dark and they could see the steam. So they told their children, if you hear somebody calling your name, don't answer. Because they were afraid that their children, or they taught their children, that then they could be captured by the devil. Now, it's kind of a cute story, but it's kind of sad, isn't it? that this is the belief that was taught. Now culture, whether it be culture in America, culture in Kenya, or culture in some of the countries that you all are from, culture oftentimes goes contrary to the word of God and does tremendous damage in people understanding their need for a savior. And I wanted to share that story with you. Well, the country really is a country of beauty. There's a lot there, and I like the way Lynette says it, in its natural state, it's a very beautiful country. But this was growing up on that volcanic mountain. Do you see that thorn? You know what went through my mind when I saw that? What our Savior went through. The crown of thorns that Jesus Christ wore. Would you believe that the giraffes eat the leaves off of these things? God gave them the ability. They have something in their saliva and on their tongue that helps when they get pricked by these thorns to where that is not a problem for them. Just one of the flowers that is growing out in their front yard. It really is a country of beauty. It's a hard country to live in, but a country of beauty. We saw different types of transportation. I think these are potatoes that are in here. Now, y'all can't see it. How many of you come from a country where this happens? Motorcycles carry things that they shouldn't be carrying. OK. Yeah. Some of you are like, mm, saw that. Yeah. Back here, there's a little license plate that says, no risk, no money. They live by that. OK. In other words, risk is part of life. But down here is a license plate that says, God's plan. I think they got that wrong. But that is, you see things like that all over the country. Little statements that reflect a religious thought that's not accurate. And you just see it all around the country. This is not the worst thing we saw on a motorcycle, but it was one of the tallest. Tuk-tuk. How many of you come from a country where tuk-tuks are? Okay. Yep, yep. I've been in some of y'all's countries and I've seen them. Tuk-tuks are three wheels. I think they have like a two-cylinder engine and you can hear them a mile away. But they transport all kinds of stuff on these tuk-tuks. And then there's the good old familiar donkey cart. Can you see the donkey there? And this guy's carrying these big, long poles that stick way out past the back of the cart. He made a turn. Nathaniel was following him. He made a turn, and Nathaniel went to go around him, but because the poles were sticking out so bad as the cart turned, the poles got closer and closer. And I'm looking out my window, and another coat of paint, and we'd have been rubbed. But nonetheless, I snapped that picture, and I didn't even realize when I snapped the picture that this was in the background. The Spirit Fortress Chapel, I have no idea what that means, but you just see things like that all over the country. This is just an interesting picture. These are motorcycle tires. Now, there's motorcycles everywhere, so if you need a motorcycle tire, you can buy one at a road stand. And then while you're there, you can buy your tombstone. Right? Side by side. It was the oddest combination I had seen. But there they are. And these are just people that are trying to squeak out a living, selling things on the side of the road. And you see these all over the place. It could be bananas. It could be electronics that they got from America or China. Or it could be t-shirts or shoes. We saw one place that had individual socks hanging up. So if you needed a sock, you could buy one. This is where we stayed. This is the guest house. The sun was rising in the east. And so it looks a little nicer on the inside than it does on the outside. But this is where we spent two weeks. Now these. I got this picture in memory of Joe Potts. These are the wings off of white ants. There are certain times where these ants swarm. Each one of those wings is about an inch and a quarter to inch and a half long. So that gives you an idea of how big the ant is. Lynette was so excited that they had a white ant swarm while we were there. She wanted us to see them. And immediately, Joseph, the oldest son, went to get the battery-powered shot back and started sucking them up. Kenyans enjoy eating these. Yeah, not I at all. But the next morning, this was all that was left. was the pile of wings right outside our door. When we were in Liberia, Brother Joe Potts was up preaching, and he got swarmed by something. I don't know what it was. And the Africans loved it. They loved to catch it. It was like a delicacy. But I thought you all would enjoy seeing that. Aren't you glad for America? These are the guard dogs that keep watch over the camp by night. And when I say camp, God has given them a perfect housing situation. It's just short of an acre, but they don't own it. The landlord has stone walls that are about 10 feet high, razor wire all around it. And it's not so much that they are afraid of being harmed, even though there is that potential, as it is theft is a big thing over there. And so they're concerned, when I say they, Kenyans in general are concerned about theft. And so these dogs stayed out at night. One's name was Remington. That sounds like a good guard dog, doesn't it? I like that name. The other one is Coco. That doesn't quite sound so threatening. But those were the two guard dogs. This is the church where they minister, Grace Bible Baptist Church. Now, the pastor, and I have a picture of him, he was into the plants, and so he enjoyed doing things with the plants, and the campus of the church was beautiful. The building was nice by African standards, but life there is hard, but he did a really nice job of making the campus around the church look nice. This is him, Pastor Alo, speaking to the church while we were there. You can see in the background, the platform is being reconstructed. They don't build platforms out of wood like we do. They build it out of concrete. And so these boards are forming the steps. And they threw some black plastic over top of the backfill. And then they're going to pour dirt. Now, when we got there, we had to tell them where we wanted the cables and the conduits for the sound equipment. And so all that was going on underneath this plastic. But the first Sunday, this is what the church service was like. And they don't build steps an even amount. One step could be five inches. The next step could be eight inches. So you have to watch as you go. This is Jesse and Hadassah. They've made some friends over there. Just wanted you all to see how the family as a whole interacts. This is the walkway to the restroom. Now, the church auditorium doesn't have running water other than a pipe that runs to the baptistry. No heated water. It's just water that goes into the baptistry. But no restrooms. In the auditorium, it's in a separate building. Now, some of you from different countries understand that. Believe me, the restroom left much to be desired. But the pathway there was really pretty. And so there it is. Just a nice job with it. They have an academy, boarding school, Grace Baptist Academy. Mimi, there's the school office. How about that? There it is. So they're getting a new painted sign. Now, Nathaniel teaches Sunday school. So here he is. And I just wanted to give you a little report on his ministry. He's teaching Sunday school. These are boarding students from the high school. He allows them to ask questions in writing, and then he addresses those. This particular session was on love. They were asking about love. And so he's teaching them biblically about love. Here he is at the piano, he plays piano for the congregational singing in the church. Here he is preaching, this is the second Sunday we were there, so he had the opportunity of preaching to the church. And this, you see my wife here, and here's Nathaniel here. This building that's being built is going to house, as their school expands, it's gonna house some college people and classrooms. Now, of course, Nathaniel is involved in the translation of the Bible into Swahili. And so that takes place over here in this building. But you see this one is still in the process of being built. They don't use a lot of wood over there. A lot of it's concrete or stone. Now, these poles out here, this is the scaffolding. Remember that donkey cart with the long poles? This is what they do with them. They don't do scaffolding like we do in America. They nail these things together and the men actually climb these poles and work out on this scaffolding. I'm sure it is not OSHA approved, but that's the way they do it. Now we also Or he's also involved in Bible club. This was a Saturday morning. You see some sheep in the background. He's teaching a group of children in this village. And they do this in two different villages. They have two teams that go out every Saturday. And throughout the course of a month, that will be what? Two, four, six, eight. That'll be eight villages. I think they're up to 12 villages now that they hold these Bible clubs in. And they go. Once a month and they teach Lynette used to make I think it was like 300 cookies to distribute every Saturday until COVID kind of shut that down, but they give the children treats, and they teach them the Word of God. They play games with them. You see this young man's about ready to stomp on that balloon, so they play some games with them and preach God, teach God's word to them. Now, I put this picture in here for something that is not very obvious, and I hope that the projector is bright enough for you to be able to see this. This is the wall behind where they were gathered and teaching. Now keep in mind they're about 18 miles south of the equator, so you're in the tropics. I tried to stay out of the sun by being in the shade as much as I could. Some of it just couldn't be avoided. But what you can't readily see is that right up here, listening to the whole thing, is a little bit of a forehead. There's a young man up there, a young child. I zoomed in. Do you see that head right there? OK. At my angle, we couldn't quite see his eyes. But he observed the whole thing. Every time I turned around, he was there. He was listening. So not only was it the people that were there, the children that were there with them, but there were some of the children that didn't actually go that we're listening to. Now. This is just from a different angle, but here he is teaching. I snapped this picture because I thought it was so perfect for what we were doing. See this sheep right here? This sheep is tethered to a pole over here, so he can only roam so far. Does that remind you of a verse of scripture? All we like sheep have gone astray and all doing our own thing. Every one of these children need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, right? They all need to hear it. I am very grateful not just for the Steinbarts because they're our family, but for all of our missionaries that are willing to go to situations that are uncomfortable to share the gospel. And so here we are. We have a lot of sheep there. Just one of them is evident to us. Here's Lynette distributing some of the sweets to the children at the Bible Club. So these all take place on Saturday. They all get a gospel track written in Swahili. And so they take it back to their home. And so we don't know who ends up reading all these tracks, but we know that hundreds get distributed. Now, part of the sound system, here you see the platform, the concrete has been poured, and we're working with what is supposed to be a scaffolding that is more familiar to us. Now, any of you that have ever used scaffolding, they don't have cross members. The scaffolding is square, and so every other layer, you put the opposite direction. It is not stable. So we're trying to get this thing put together. It's all bent and warped. It was probably 80 degrees in there, and this Kenyan is wearing a coat and a toboggan. It's amazing to me. They like their heat. Now, this young man is the guy that runs their soundboard for them. He's on top of the scaffolding, strapping cables to the peak of the ceiling in this church. We have to run it all the way to the back of the auditorium. Now, I don't know if you all can see this or not, but do you see the lean in the scaffolding? The picture, I should have taken it from a different angle, but the scaffolding is leaning to the right. So you know what the solution was? Tie a rope to it. and have a guy pull it to the left. One time he messed up and pulled it in the direction of the lean. That was not a good thing. But there it is. There's a picture that's a little further away, and you can see Nathaniel feeding cables up to him. Here he is pulling on the rope. And so just trying to get all those done high. So we had some in the platform, some above. And finally, Nathaniel took over because he was the guy that was tall enough to do it. So here he is on the top of the scaffolding, strapping the cables to the ceiling. Now. As we were cleaning up the soundboard, getting ready for the new sound equipment, we found this stuck in the corner. So Will, you know, I'm thinking, why not? You know, there you have it. A machete in the corner. Wouldn't you hate to go against a Kenyan with that in his hand? But there it is. And there's the finished product. And so praise God, we got it all done. So there was a lot of ministry done in a lot of different ways. Some of it was practical stuff, like getting the soundboard installed. Some of it was ministry in the sense of teaching, preaching. And so God used us there, and God used the Steinbarz, and he still is. Now, this picture I snapped right at the end. We were getting ready to leave church at the end of the service. And I just wanted you to remember why we do what we do. These young people are going to grow up in that country and they need to reach their generation for Jesus Christ. And we need to reach them. Does that make sense? Isn't that a beautiful thing? how that God all across this world is using his children to reach people within their culture for Jesus Christ. Now go with me to Acts chapter 13. This is the time of year where we have graduations, commencement services. We just did ours with our kindergartners on Friday night. We're about to start summer camp. We've taken some time to look at the ministry over in Kenya. And you just have to ask this question. Why is it that a person would leave the comforts of this country? to go and do what they do over there. Why is it that our own church staff would come to work in a ministry that often requires long hours and the pay does not compensate as much as it would be if they were in a secular setting? And I'm not saying that's right, I'm just saying that's the way it is. Why is it that our summer counselors would come here and spend a summer working with children in an area that they're unfamiliar with? Why is it that people do these things? And when I think about the missionaries that we support, And I think about every time I leave the country, there are things that strike me. For example, we had warm showers almost, no, not even almost, most days, but no consistency. You drink bottled water and you don't brush your teeth with the water. You have to do that with bottled water. Are you willing to do that every day? Over in Kenya, they don't do plumbing like we do here in America. Over here in America, we have little S-traps, or I think in Illinois they call them P-traps, that actually capture the water so that the vapors from the septic system doesn't come up through the plumbing. They don't do that over there. It's a straight pipe, so it smells. American conveniences in food preparation. Over there, deodorant is a luxury, not a necessity, like we see it here. So every service had a very distinct human aroma, to say it nicely. There were some things that we needed in the way of simple hardware. We went to the hardware store and described what we needed. They didn't carry it. We couldn't get what we needed to finish the job. So they're going to have to figure it out some way. And we just had to leave and come back. I've already told you that they're concerned about theft over there. So they take all the microphones and the speakers and they put it away at the end of the service, even though their doors are steel and bolted and locked and there's bars on all the windows, they still put the sound system and any valuables away so that if somebody does break into the building, they can't find them. The church went without electricity for a week. There's no heating and air conditioning in any of those buildings. It's just a structure. All of these modern conveniences, why would a person do without them? I'm gonna tell you why. Because it's God's calling, that's why. I want you to go to Acts 13 and look with me in verse number one. Now they were in the church that was at Antioch, certain prophets and teachers, as Barnabas and Simeon, that was called Niger, and Lucius, and Cyrene, and Manion, which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereinto I have called them. The work whereinto I have called them. God calls certain individuals to certain tasks within his ministry. Now I want to say this, that God has called every one of us to certain things. Go with me to Ephesians chapter four and look with me at Ephesians four. In Ephesians chapter four, in verse number one, the Bible says this, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. Every Christian is called to represent Christ through godly lives. He calls it here a vocation, wherewith ye are called, no matter what your occupation. And I love it when we had that special speaker that was here. I can't even remember who it was, but it was been at least a year. And as he read this verse of scripture to us, he said, all of us have an occupation that we do within the work world. But more than that, we as Christians have a vocation that is more than just a job. It's a calling. And Paul encourages the Ephesians to represent Christ through a godly life. That is our calling. Every Christian in this room has that calling. Go with me to 2 Peter, please. 2 Peter 1. In 2 Peter 1, beginning in verse number 1. Well, let's get to verse number two. He says this, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. That life is salvation and that godliness is sanctification. God has called us to both. We have a divine power. living within us, Christian. And according to verse number three, his divine power hath given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue. God calls us to live a godly life. But look down at verse number 10. Wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, ye shall never fall. Christian, you need to do your best, do your diligence to make your calling and election sure. Now let me explain this idea of election. This is not election to salvation. As a matter of fact, election is a group event. If you have accepted Jesus as your savior, you become part of his elect. And as a result of that, you have a calling to godly living. So make sure that you are doing what you're called to do. You have been part of God's elect and you are called to godly living. Make it sure. Every Christian has that. Every Christian is called to preach the gospel. Go with me to Romans chapter 10. Every Christian is called to preach the gospel. Now I'm not talking about getting behind the pulpit. We know that not everyone is called to do that. But every individual is called to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. Look at verse number 13 of Romans 10. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Aren't you glad for that verse? How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? That's you. How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? That's you. As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. God calls us all to be a preacher of the gospel because we have what the world needs, don't we? We have the gospel of Jesus Christ. Are y'all with me this morning? However, God calls certain ones to minister in certain tasks that require full-time occupation. Go with me to Acts chapter 13 again, please. Acts 13. And in Acts chapter 13, we have the first missionary journey. We have Paul and Barnabas, who's about to go out from the church of Antioch. And we've already read verse number one, so let's jump into verse number two. It says, as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work wherein to I have called them. We see that they came from God's people. We see in verse number two that they were already busy in the work of the ministry when God called them to this special calling. We see in verse number three that they were supported by God's people. And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. They were supported by God's people as they went to fulfill the great commission. In verse number four, it says, so they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost departed unto Seleucia, et cetera. They were called in verse number four, by the Holy Spirit and led by the Holy Spirit. They had the Holy Spirit's direction. It was a divine task with a divine leading. And so in Acts chapter 13 from our first missionaries, the first missionaries out of a New Testament church, we see they came out of the church. We see that they were busy already ministering. They already had a burden. They had a ministry mindset. We see that the church prayed for them. We see that the church gave them provision. We see that the church sent them out. We see that they had a vision for the cities in which they went. And we see that they were sent by the Holy Spirit. But there were certain individuals that God called. He called them from within the church to do certain tasks. Now go with me to Ezra chapter 1, please. All the way back in the Old Testament, Ezra chapter 1. What I want to preach to you this morning, and I know that we've been at it for a while, so the sermon is not long. But what I want to accomplish this morning is two things. Number one, I want you to know that every individual who knows Jesus Christ as their savior is called to preach the gospel to others in the sense of sharing the gospel. Every Christian is called to represent Jesus Christ through a godly life. But the second thing I want you to understand this morning is that God places a calling on certain individuals lives that requires them to leave the comforts of whatever it is that they may be doing and place them in a different area or place them in a, uh, an uncomfortable position serving him. God does that upon certain individuals. As we look across this back wall and we look at these missionaries, I think of Brother Beck, who is serving God in Montana. God moved him from a good position, called him to plant a church in Butte, Montana. I think about the Rays that are serving in a country that I won't mention because we're live streaming. But if you look, you can see where they're at, and I can tell you that it's not easy living where they live, and he's a smart man, and he could be in the States living a good life, but God put him in a hard situation to preach the gospel. It's a calling upon his life, and he recognized the calling of God upon his life. The Bloids have served in Italy the majority of their lives. The Marzooks when they left Egypt as Egyptians and they came to America, they came to get away from what they had in Egypt to live a better life and God called them back and they went there, giving up what God had given them here, knowing that God's calling was upon their life. The Virgils have spent the majority of their life in Brazil, the Osbournes as an older couple serving in Liberia in conditions that you and I would never accept in America. The Aristides had left Haiti looking for a better life. They found it in America, and God sent them back because of a calling that he placed upon their life. The Steinbarts are serving God in Kenya because of a calling that God placed upon their life. And I'm gonna tell you this morning, as the father of Lynette Steinbart, that when she was in kindergarten, she began to feel the call of God on her life for missions. And God reconfirmed that in high school, and then God led her to the right man in college, where they went and they served God together. The Landegans had a good life in the Philippines. God called them the Cambodian, they're there. The Dwyer's have spent the majority of their life and reared most of their children in Uganda. The Burdines, as empty nesters, are serving in Nicaragua. I talked to him last night for about half an hour on the phone, and they've been struggling with water. They had to actually cancel college classes for a week because they didn't have enough water to support having the students there. They've been without electricity, or they went without electricity for about a week as well. Why would he leave a good pastor in a good church in Ohio and go to Nicaragua to serve God in a country that was uncomfortable. The reason is because he has the call of God upon his life. God called me to Chicago. I'm not a city guy, in case y'all can't tell. But I'm here because of God's call. And I'll never forget the first missions trip I took, standing in South Africa saying, God, do you want me on the mission field? And God made it very plain that his calling on my life was not to go to the mission field, but to stay in America and making sure that we support missionaries to get to the mission field and to teach the next generation that God may have a call upon your life to serve him in a country that's not your own. There may be people sitting in this auditorium, and I pray that there are. who has a call of God upon your life, to serve God in a capacity that you had not dreamed. I'm a country boy from the mountains of Tennessee. And by God's grace, I'm pastoring in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. And I've been to a number of different countries, visiting different missionaries. If you would have asked me 30 years ago, if that would have happened, I'd have said no way on God's green earth. You don't know what God's going to do with your life. Now I've asked you to turn to Ezra 1. Hang with me for a few minutes. I want to see some principles from Ezra chapter 1. Begin reading with me in verse one, follow along as I read. It says, Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. This is at the end of the 70 year captivity for the Jews. Verse three, who is there among you of all his people? His God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah and build the house of the Lord God of Israel. He is the God which is in Jerusalem. I want you to see some things here and I'm going to tell you, God used this passage to call me in ministry over 30 years ago. And I pray that God can use it in your lives as well. I want you to see this, just like we saw in Acts 13, verse number three, these people that went to build the house of God came from among God's people. Do you see what it said? Who is there among you of all his people, God's people, have been forgiven of a debt that could never have been paid. We owe everything to our God. If we think we have some right over our own lives to choose what direction we have in our lives, we are absolutely wrong. Aren't you glad God saved your soul from hell? Don't you think he deserves your life? We are privileged to have an almighty, all-knowing, all-sufficient God direct us every day of our lives. Isn't that a privilege? How foolish we are if we don't follow His leading. God in His wisdom chooses who we will place in different spots in His ministry, wherever that may be. I also want you to notice in verse number three that it began with a desire. Who is there among you of all his people? Look at verse number five. Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites with all them whose spirit God had raised to go build the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem. God raised their spirits. And let me tell you this this morning, Christian, when God has raised your spirit to do his work, there is no other employment that will satisfy You could put me in a position of CEO of any company in America. I would probably fail at it, but I'm telling you right now, no matter what the paycheck would be, I would not be happy serving as a CEO of a business because I'm doing right now what God has called me to do. And when God raises your spirit, nothing else satisfies. In 1 Timothy 3.1, The Bible says this, and that's the chapter that deals with the qualifications of a pastor. This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. Do you hear that? It begins with a desire. Now, it's pretty interesting to me that God uses the word work in a lot of these verses because ministry is work. Well, look at verse three again, his God be with him. Do you see that? Who is there among you of all his people? His God be with him. You must have God's leading. You must have God's leading. We looked at that in Acts 13 earlier, but I want you to go with me to Acts 12. I want to show you something that I think is pretty important for us to understand because there may be somebody in here who is struggling with the call of God on their life. In Acts chapter 12, we're introduced to John Mark. And in verse 25, and we'll go back to Ezra, so put a marker there. But in Acts 12, look at verse 25, it says, And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark. Now Paul and Barnabas go into that first missionary journey in Acts 13. They take John Mark with them. In Acts 13, verse 5, it says, And when they were at They preached the Word of God in the synagogue of the Jews, and they had also John to their minister. John Mark went with them. But look down at verse 13. Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia, and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. John Mark started in the ministry, and then he left. Now we don't know why he left. The Bible doesn't tell us. We know that it upset Paul, and Paul would not take him with him again. But we also know at the end of Paul's life, John Mark was back in ministry, and Paul said that he was profitable. What happened to John Mark that kept him, that got him started in ministry, but did not let him finish in ministry? We don't know. It could have been an emotional decision. He saw some pretty great things in Jerusalem, and he might have said, I'm in. And then once he saw how hard it was, said, I'm out. It may be that he was too early, and God wanted him to get more experience, and he just jumped in too early. We don't know what the story is, but we know that John Mark got in and got out. And listen, I'm going to tell you this, if the call of God is upon your life, it won't go away. It begins with a desire. So Christian, if you're here and you believe God has called you into full-time ministry, God won't let that call, that burden, that desire in your heart, He won't let it go away. When I graduated Bible college, I taught in a Christian school for one year. I left the Christian school because my wife and I got married and we barely made any money teaching in a Christian school. I got a secular job, God made it very clear to me. I worked that secular job for over three years. I was on a track of advancement, was making good money. And at the end of that three year period of time, and during that time God had given me some good experience. And at the end of that three-year time, God spoke to me and said, I want you back into ministry. And I tried to shake that off, and I couldn't shake it off, and I couldn't shake it off. And God just kept driving that home to me. And I got to the point where I would go to work, and I was miserable there, even though I was in a good setting, making good money, had a good relationship with the people that I was supposed to have good relationships with. And God said, I want you into ministry. And after struggling with that for a while, I surrendered and said, okay, God, now I'm all yours. And God put me back in the ministry and I've been in ever since and here I am. It may be that God is working in somebody's life, but God wants you to have more experience. Maybe God wants you to just solidify and make sure that his call is upon your life. And if it is, it won't go away. Jeremiah said it this way. He said, I will not make mention of him. Jeremiah had gotten kind of burned out. And he said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones. And I was weary with forbearing and I could not stay. I couldn't keep it in. Christian, if God's call is on your life, you won't be able to shake it. You won't be able to. We're back in Ezra, and notice in verse number four that those who are not called to full-time occupation were called to strengthen those who are. Look at verse four. Whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver and with gold and with goods and with beasts beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. Well, not only did those who were not called to the ministry full-time support them, but they also supported the house of God. Look at verse number six. And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things beside all that was willingly offered. They supported the people. They supported the building. They did it both. Everyone participated. No one got a pass. One group left their home and dedicated their life to the ministry of God. The other financed those who went. Why? Why does God require everyone to be involved, whether you're in it full time or whether you're financing what's going on? Why does God require that? Because it is the work of God. It is the primary work on this earth. You could be the president of the United States, and it would be a step down from answering the call of God on your life. It is that important. Now go with me to chapter four and verse four of Ezra. One last point. Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah and troubled them in building. As God's people went to build the house of God, those that stayed where they were strengthened their hands. And that's more than monetary, it's encouragement. Chapter four, verse four tells us that opposition came. Opposition came in a number of different ways as they built the house of God. They tried to frustrate them. They tried legally to stop them. They tried to manipulate. There was spiritual battle going on. and those who were not there strengthened their hand. Listen to me, folks. Folks that are in full-time Christian service need you to strengthen their hand. There needs to be encouragement. One of the things that I had the opportunity to do when I was in Kenya was to talk to Pastor Alo. They had just gone through a church discipline situation. It was a hard situation. I had a little bit of knowledge in regards to it, not much, I just knew that it had happened. And I was able to talk to Pastor Alo and say, listen, I want you to know I've been praying for you. And he said, I really appreciate your prayers. It's one of the hardest things we've ever had to do. Listen to me, church, take time to encourage those who are working in ministry because the battles are spiritual. Email your missionaries, thank your staff for what they do, but encourage God's people. In this verse and others, We see that there were leaders, there were treasurers, there were Levites, there were priests, there were porters, and there were others. All those people served different tasks, but they all worked together to build the house of God, all of them. Now, let me wrap this up and say this. Maybe you are one of those whom God has called to serve in full-time occupation. If you are, surrender to God's call. Do it wisely, do it with counsel, but surrender. Maybe you're not called to full-time occupation, but you have responsibilities too. Don't shirk those. Maybe you should ask God to show you. Maybe you've never presented it to God and say, God, what would you have me do with my life? Maybe you've tried to set your own course without talking to God. And maybe you're here this morning and none of this makes sense to you. Maybe you don't know the great Savior that we know and the worthiness of our service toward Him. In any of those situations, we can take care of that this morning. Would you bow your head with me?