I like to read biographies. I encourage you as a believer, if you need a biography lesson, or if you like to read, to take time to read about some of the great men and women of the past. There's some great biographies that God has used significantly. One of those, as you read even other people's biography, they'll speak about David Brainerd's biography and how that impacted them as they read that. David Brainerd went to a very difficult field. He was a missionary to the American Indians. and trying to reach them, and he lived very primitively. Because of that, he lost his health and ended up dying at quite a young age. But before he passed away, he saw a remarkable revival among the American Indians in the United States and a tremendous work of God. A good friend of ours that passed away, and I've already referred to him this morning because our study that we're doing at Sunday School is written by him, that discipleship study, but Dr. Ed Nelson, he planted a number of churches in his life. in the United States, the Christian school movement, he was a big leader in that, the fundamentalist movement in the United States as well, that separation from liberalism that took place, and starting of the mission agency that God's allowed our family to be with, Baptist World Mission and things, he was involved in that. He started a tremendous church that had a huge impact, South Sheridan, it's now Red Rocks Baptist out in Colorado there, in the Denver area, and it's just a, you look at, again, a farm boy that got saved, as I said this morning, at 19 years of age, and just had a tremendous impact for God. Jonathan Edwards, just to go back in time, again, was a great man that was used by God for the Great Awakening in the United States, one of maybe several creatures that God used at that time, but again, dynamically using him to shape Christianity in the United States at that important time period. Adoniram Judson was a missionary to Burma that God used to translate the Bible to Burmese. The Burmese translation, as I understand it, they still use as a translation that he wrote. God used him, again, very significantly. And so there's many people like that. I don't know about you. Sometimes I read about that and I think, well, that was them. And I understand, you know, not every one of us have even called to the ministry. But all of us as a Christian, all of us can have a dynamic impact for God. But we might look at somebody like that and think, wow, that person, they achieved all this for God and things like that. But I can never do something great for God. I can never maybe have an impact like that. You know, I like the saying that says, like the song says, little is much when God's in it. You've got oftentimes taking little things. We've got the story of the little boy and his lunch that God used in the feeding of the 5,000. You've got a little bit of oil in the lamp that God used to allow that widow to pay off her debts and rescue her boys. You've got other things like that in scripture where God takes something that maybe you look at and say it's less significant, but God uses it in a very significant way. And that's really what our story's about this morning. 1 Samuel chapter 14. And we'll just read it again to refresh it in our hearts and minds. And it's about somebody that is less significant, but that God is going to use in a very significant way. It says, Now came to pass upon a day that Jonathan, the son of Saul, he is the he's the son of the king, King Saul, said to the young men that bear his armor, come and let us go over to the Philistines garrison that's on the other side. But he told not his father. And Saul tarried in the outermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree, which is in Migrin. And the people that were with him were about 600 men, and Ahaiah the son of the Hittite, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord's priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone. And between the passages by which Jonathan sought to go run to the Philistines' garrison, there was a sharp rock on one side and a sharp rock on the other. on the other side, and the name of the one was Boaz, and the name of the other, Sina. The forefront of the one was situated northward over against Big Mash, and the other southward over against Gibeon. I've been to that valley. It's a beautiful valley, and you can still see where it was because of these very defining things that were there that the Bible very clearly spells out. And Jonathan is there, and you've got Saul. Saul's got 600 men. He's got a priest with him with an ephod, an ability to understand the will of God and the direction and the leading of God, And so you got Jonathan, one other guy, you've got Saul and his 600 plus the high priest. And if you were to say, you know, who do you believe on that day was gonna do something significant for God, every single one of us would probably look at it and say, well, I believe that Saul and his men are gonna be the one that go out and do something great for God. And yet, God in this story is gonna remarkably use just that single man, Jonathan, and his servant, a friend. You know, this morning, every one of us ought to seek and go and achieve something for God's glory. There ought to be something in our heart. I mean, you look at our life and say, well, you know, there's others that, you know, look at somebody over there, they got something so much more than us. They, they, they ought to be ambitious. They ought to think, I want to achieve something for God. But I think there ought to be in the heart of a true believer, something that says, I want to do something great for God. I want to be somebody that really achieves something for God and for God's glory. And so, I want to challenge us with that idea this morning. Let's think that way. Let's say, by God's grace, I'm gonna be the best, I may not be the biggest. As a church, we may not be that significant in some ways, but by God's grace, as a church, let's also say, hey, let's do something great for God's glory. So let's pray, ask the Spirit of God to help us as we come to the Word of God this morning. Father, I thank you for the opportunity to come to this precious story. I love this story, and I pray, Father, this morning, The Spirit of God will stir us up as believers. I pray that we dream a little as your church here, Southside Free Baptist Church. Father, we've seen you do some incredible things. But Father, I just ask that the Spirit of God gives grace to look ahead and say, you know what? There's some great battles taking place, but we're going to get in there and do something for God and for God's glory. And I believe that took place this past week. I'm so thankful for what you allowed us to see every day in the opportunities that we had. I say praise God for that. And Father, those of us that were there, we witnessed that, we saw it, we experienced that. We've already seen the good hand of God, the grace of God this week. We anticipate that today as well as you work in our hearts, speak to our hearts. Thank you, Lord God, for each one that's here. I pray that as believers, we go away refreshed. Father, if there's anybody here this morning, and they've not yet put their faith in Jesus Christ. And what he did on the cross for their sin, we pray that today would even be the day of their salvation, that they would leave here knowing for sure that their sin is forgiven, that they've received God's gift of everlasting life, that Jesus Christ has come into their heart and has saved them. And I pray, Father, that you'd be magnified. I pray, bless their children, their class, give them grace to really take on board the truth Your word and glory give grace and as assured as you guys in that time may the Spirit of God Give tremendous grace and wisdom there, but father. I can't speak without your enablement. I pray this morning for Liberty I ask that the Spirit of God would guide me as I speak I pray Lord that you touch hearts touch lives remind us again of this precious story And of your power to take us and use us for your glory. It's in Christ name. I pray Amen All right, so every one of us ought to seek to achieve something great for God's glory. We gotta look at our life and say, you know what, I wanna do something for God, no matter where we're at in life, no matter where we're at in our Christian life and experience, to say, you know what, bye guys, great, so I got this week, I got next week, I got next month, I got next year, let's do something for God. And so the first thing we see in the story is a desire. I really wanna achieve something great for God. Okay, there's a desire that's there. It says in verse six, And Jonathan said to the young man that bear his armor, come and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised. Okay, so there's. Something in his heart that says I want to I want to go up and do this. It was ambitious It was a big idea that he's thinking about to go into this battle. I mean they're vastly Outnumbered and yet he has a desire to do that for God for God's glory now Let me say about these uncircumcised people. They were not the covenant people of God they were the people that they were to win the battle against there in the promised land and As God's people, there were people that were under the judgment of God, and they were the enemy of Israel. It's a different day, I suppose, in our minds. We can go back to the days of England and Scotland, right? The battles that were fought and lost and won, and you had to be valiant for your nation, or you would suffer as a nation. And yet more importantly, these weren't, wasn't just a group of people. This was the people of God. These were the people that were fighting for God and for God's glory. And it was the land that God had given to Israel. And so there's something in the heart of Jonathan that says, man, I want to, I want to vanquish the foe from off this land. This is our land and we want to win this battle for God and for God's glory. There was a desire that was there. I mentioned Adonai Judson that He was a very sharp young man. He had a great intellect. He was reading at the age of three. In his biography, it talks about him solving some riddles and things like that. It was surprising and shocking that he had the ability to do and just great intellect. But he became basically an atheist. He walked away from God. But at 19 years of age, he got saved and came to faith at 20 years of age. He was uncertain what to do with his life, but then he got burdened about getting involved in taking the gospel to the world. His desire was stirred when he was reading a sermon called The Star in the East by Dr. Claudius Buchanan, chaplain for the East India Company, saying at the time it was right to take the gospel to Eastern countries. And it says in his biography, for some days, Adoniram wrote years later, I was unable to attend to the studies of my class and spent my time wondering at my past stupidity, depicting the most romantic scenes also in missionary life, roving about the colored rooms, declaiming on the subject of missions. At that time, there was no American Missionary Society. There was the London Missionary Society. So I mean, this was the birth of missions. Modern day missions was happening. William Carey was already there on the field. Adam Johnson's actually going to try to get there India to help him, but he's going to end up going to Myanmar or Burma. But there was that desire, there was something that was there. The Bible says that if a man desired the office of a bishop, he desired the good word. Desire in itself is not everything, but desire is kind of an impetus to something. Like, somebody might get burdened about evangelism. You might have a desire to evangelize and begin to think about, you know, I really should share the gospel. You might get burdened about our Sunday school ministry and think, you know, I don't really like to get involved in that idea that we're trying to reach the children, trying to get them there for 10 o'clock and try to get them out for Wednesday night at 7 o'clock, or things like that. to be in our hearts something of a burden, that's a great thing. And I say this, that might just be of God, as it is in our story, that there is a desire that's there, something that says, I desire to do something for God. Dr. Ed Nelson, I already mentioned, he got burdened about mission, so he joined the Missionary Prayer Band, and he began to encourage his fellow students to come out and be a part of that. And as we think about doing something great for God, what are we gonna achieve for God if we don't have a desire? If we don't desire to see God work to fill the seats that we see open this morning, that we're praying about by faith, asking God to fill those seats, if we don't have a desire to see those places filled, then are we gonna actually attempt to do something for God to do something about that? If we weren't burning this past week about the children that need to come out for Holiday Bible Club and things like that, That without that desire are we going to labor to really get them out and really try to encourage them try to Minister the truth to them really believe that God's going to do a significant work in their lives, you know So I'm just saying to us this morning that that desire is kind of a starting point. If we don't have a desire, we gotta go to God and say, God, I just don't have the desire that I need. If I wanna do something great for God, there's gotta be something in my heart that says, I desire. I desire my family to be godly. I desire whatever it is that we're thinking about. I wanna do something for God. God, give me that desire. God gives you that passion that is so important to seeing what God can do. You know, Jesus said it this way. He said, lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white already to harvest. What's he saying? Get a desire, right? Get a desire, get a burden to share the gospel, get a burden to take the gospel to the world, get involved. And so I think it really starts there with, and this story certainly does, there was a desire that was there in the heart of Jonathan that he desired to do something for God. But then secondly, we see a determination, a determination, and it's kind of like this, I believe God can use me to do something for his glory. And you might think, well, that sounds kind of prideful or boastful to think that I believe God can use me, but it's not when you look at what Jonathan says in the scripture about how he's phrasing it. That's not about Jonathan, but it's about what God can do through Jonathan. As of verse six, it says, it may be that the Lord will work for us, for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few. And Jonathan and his armor bearer were two guys. And Jonathan just kind of looks at his armor bearer and says, man, I want to do something for God. You want to do something for God? Look at them. Let's go up and let's fight against them. Because the thing is this, if God is with us, what's it matter? There's no restraint with God. God's as able to use us as able to use anybody because God is God. And his confidence was in who God is. All Jonathan had to do with his armor bearer was just to say, I'll be that person that God can use. I'll be the one that will get involved in serving God. I think Jonathan could have looked at the military post on the other side and thought, man, I'd like to do something for God. If only we had 600 men like my dad. If only I had greater talent, greater ability. If only this and say, I think I say this sometimes in my own heart, my own life. I'll say something like this, I wish. Instead of looking at it, because again, our eyes focus on what we can see and we think it's gotta be us, it's gotta be me. Instead of looking up at God and saying, you know, God is not hindered today. God is able to do anything. You know, my limitations are not God's limitations. God is sitting in heaven today, looking out at Southside Pre-Baptist Church and saying, if only I had, then I could, right? I praise God today. I will. All God needs us to do is to be as people, purify ourselves, get in prayer, get in the Word of God, band together and say, by God's grace, let's do it because God is not hindered today. by lack of anything, because God doesn't need a resource from us. God doesn't need us to somehow come up and say, okay, God, I've got the 500 guys. Now we can do something great and well in heaven. God doesn't need us to do that, but God does need us just to be that person that looks around and says, you know what? I've got a desire and a determination. I'm gonna do something for God. I'm gonna make that decision, because God is not hindered by man's limitation. And so you see that determination. I believe God can use me to do something great for his glory. There ought to be something in our hearts that says, you know what? I believe God can. I believe God can use this church. I believe God can use us as his people. But then we see a devoted servant, somebody that would faithfully go up with Jonathan as he went up into battle. So it says in verse seven, it says, and his armor bearer said unto him, do all that is in thy heart. Turn thee, behold, I am with thee, according to thy heart. What a comfort to Jonathan. He had a faithful companion. I mean, I don't know about you. Would you be that person that, you know, Jonathan's like, hey, let's go. We're gonna go adventure all, risk our life to try to take on these enemies of God and God's people. Hey, you wanna do this with me? And praise God. And there's a faithful servant that's right there. And it says, Jonathan, everything that is in your heart, I'm with you. I'm with you on it. Now, praise God today for anybody that would be like that, right? Somebody that would be that person that come alongside of us, maybe like Aaron and Herb, that would say, all right, Moses, I got your hands. Because when his hands were up, you remember the story about the battle that they were facing on that day. When his hands were up, Israel would win the battle, but when his arms came down, they would lose the battle. So Aaron and Herb got on either side and they put his hands up. Praise God, right, for people that'll come alongside. People like, in the story, Ruth and Naomi, and they're in that land of Moab, and Ruth's lost her husband and her two sons, and Naomi, I'm sorry, have I got the names wrong? Is Ruth the daughter-in-law or is she the mom? Is Naomi the mom? All right, I got the names wrong. So Naomi is there, she's lost her husband and her two sons, and Ruth's heart, son and Naomi's going to go back to her homeland and Ruth makes a promise to her as Naomi says to stay there Ruth said and treat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee for whither thou goest I will go where thou lodgest I will lodge thy people shall be my people and thy God my God where thou diest will I die there will I be buried The Lord do so to me, and more also if aught but death part thee and me." And she just says, I'm with you, I will be with you. Where you go, I will go. Now praise God for that. Now we might have that in life. There might be times that God calls us and something we're burdened about and says, I want to go up, I want to do something great for God. And we've got somebody physically that will stand with us and say, I'll be a part of that for God and for God's glory. Praise God, right? But I can tell you this beyond a shadow of a doubt today, that if you take a stand by yourself for God, that there is somebody that's always gonna be there standing with you every single time you take a stand for God. That person is Jesus Christ. He's promised us, as we venture for God and for God's glory, that whatever that is that we're gonna do for God, he has promised to be that person that is always with us. Matthew 28, 20, he said, lo, I'm with you always, even unto the end of the world. Praise God. There's always going to be somebody. We got that determination, we got that desire. You might look around and say, Pastor, nobody else is going to get burdened. Maybe if God leads me to drive the minibus to the future, nobody else is going to be burdened to be the helper on the bus with me. Nobody else is gonna be burning and knocking on doors. Pastor, God's working my heart. I'm gonna get that. That's kind of the desire that God's been speaking to me about. I'm interested in that. And nobody else is gonna get that. Well, it's okay, right? Because who is gonna stand with us, no matter, if everybody else does not? The Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said it this way. He said, at my first answer, no man stood with me, but everybody forsook me and fled. And I pray that it may not be way to their charge, But he says, notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me that by me the preaching might be fully known. Paul, you look at his story and think, man, he always had somebody, not that point. He did a lot of times, but he had somebody that would go with him according to his heart, get that burden to serve God, to obey God, to stand for God, that somebody that would always stand for him, with him, and that was Jesus Christ. Can I remind us of that this morning? You might feel lonely in your stand for the Lord Jesus Christ. You got that desire, that determination, you might look around and say, where's somebody else to stand with me? But there's always that devoted servant, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, to stand with you. Praise God. And then we see a decision, a decision. And that decision is I'm ready to commit myself to going. Verse eight. It says, then said Jonathan, behold, we will pass over unto these men, and we will discover ourselves unto them. All right, to this point, where were they? Hidden. I don't think the Philistine garrison really realized that, you know, Jonathan and his armor bearer were there. They're kind of like scouts, and maybe they're scouting out the thing, and they see these guys, these enemies, and there's a group of them. And at this point, those guys don't even know they're on the playing field. But as soon as they make that decision, step out, then it's obvious, okay? They're our enemy, they've got targets upon them. You know, if we're gonna achieve something for God, we're gonna have to make a decision. There has to be a time when we step out into the open, where we commit ourselves. My decision took place at Camp Shittak as a teenager, as a missionary speaker got done speaking, and God spoke to my heart about surrendering my life. I had to make a decision, and it wasn't an easy decision. My decision was, God, I surrender my life to you to do whatever you want me to do with my life, even if that means preaching. That was really tough for me, if you know my story. But I remember going out of that place and I prayed with a good friend of mine. He's a missionary now in South Africa. I'm a missionary in Scotland. Dan has been and I remember very well praying with tears in my eyes saying to God God whatever you want me to do with my life I'll do you know what that's what eventually led me into this place in this ministry of what God's doing here Because I said I will and I covenanted that to God and I kept it You know has there ever been a time in your life where you've you know got to that point not just I got a desire not just that you know I'm interested, but that I will I will I You know, today it could be about salvation. I will take Jesus Christ as my Savior. I understand He died for me. He paid the price for my sin. He didn't stay in the grave, but He rose from the dead. I will accept Him as my Savior. It could be somebody making a decision about baptism. I've accepted Christ as my Savior, but I will follow the Lord in believer's baptism. It could be somebody deciding to be a member of the church. I will. Identify with this local assembly and say this is my church. This is where God led me, and I want to be a part of this ministry. It might be I will tithe. It might be I will evangelize. It might be whatever, but as the Spirit of God speaks to our heart, there needs to be a time. I like come forward invitations. I like us in our invitation time, allowing for people to make a definite decision, because without, imagine this, you come to church, you sit there, you hear the word of God, the spirit of God speaks to your heart, and you walk away and you do nothing about it, is that good? No. And so what is good is when you look in the mirror and you see that there's a problem, to take the time and say, I'm gonna fix what's the matter there and get that sorted. And that's really what our invitation is about. It's about, look, I recognize I'm on my way to hell without Jesus Christ. I'm gonna get saved. I recognize that I haven't obeyed God in believer's baptism. I will make that decision to follow after Christ, whatever that decision is. So we see that in the life of Jonathan, now Adonam Judson, did the same thing. And he committed himself to going. It says this, his enthusiasm kindled no answering flame. Whatever in the other students, his ideas were condemned by all and not infrequently ridiculed and reproached, but he said, I will. Again, praise God, we're gonna take that stand, commit ourselves to going up for God. And then we see a deliberation, a deliberation. I will go or stop only at God's clear leading. It says in verse nine, if they say thus unto us, Terry, until we come to you, that we will stand still in our place and will not go up unto them. But if they say thus, come up unto us, then we will go up for the Lord hath delivered them into our hand. and this shall be a sign unto us. So Jonathan didn't have the scriptures like you and I do. You and I can pray and say, God, would you please show me through the word of God what I should do? I don't know what to do, but I'm burdened about this. I'm thinking about this. God, make it very clear through the word. Jonathan didn't have that opportunity because he didn't have what we have today. So Jonathan says to his armor bearer, look, if they say come up, then that's God and that's of him. We'll take that as from him. Just because today you surrender to something and say, make that decision, if it's not necessarily the will of God, obviously salvation, baptism, those are the will of God. But when it comes to calling, like somebody might say, I will step forward and follow God as far as missions or ministry or things like that, with the caveat that unless God sees fit to do otherwise. Dr. Ed Nelson was burdened to go as a missionary to Japan, but God never let him go as a missionary to Japan. But he became a great pastor of a large church that literally sent millions of dollars into missions ministry and had a tremendous impact for God. But there has to be that consecration that says, God, if you make it clear, I'm going. If not, I'm just gonna stay and wait on your leaving. Now, praise God. The deliberation is very clear for Jonathan, as we'll see, and I believe it would be for anybody that would say, you know, by God's grace, I'm a surrender, I'm a step forward in obedience to God. If God opens the door, I'm gonna step through that door in obedience to him. God, you say, go or stay according to your will. But then we find that they have a discovery as they test that out, they have a discovery. And so they step forward by action to see if God is in it or not. In 2nd verse 11, It says that both of them discovered themselves into the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves. The men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armor bearer and said, come up to us and we will show you a thing. Now they had said to God, okay, if they say come up, we're gonna take the ax from God. If they say come up, we're gonna go on up. And they said what? Come on. And so Jonathan and his army bearer look at that and they say, that is of God, and so we are gonna move forward by faith. Now our church went through a time of deliberation, waiting upon God, saying, God, we're praying, asking you to provide a property for us, and waiting on God. We practiced ask, seek, and knock, right? We looked at the South Church in Pinnacook. We looked at the bank building in Lone Head. And then God, in his grace, led us to the property that we have here, Southside Pre-Baptist Church, now our church property. Praise God. But there was a deliberation and waiting on God. But then there came a point where it was so obvious that this was exactly what God had. As God allowed us to negotiate the purchase of this property at a good price, and we saw all those things come together, praise God, right? We got to see, as a church, God lead us and help us to make that decision for God, as we had to venture for God, right? We had to take that step of obedience for God. William Carey said it this way. He said, expect great things from God, attempt great things for God. There ought to be some that say, I'm gonna step out, all right, I'm burning, I wanna see maybe if God could use me in children's ministry, I wanna see if God could use me in evangelism. There ought to be some that steps out in obedience to God to see if God's in it. But then we see also a declaration. A declaration, I'm now fully convinced that God is leading. Verse 12, Jonathan said unto his armor bearer, come up after me, for the Lord hath delivered them into the hand of Israel. All right, do you see confidence in the heart of this man? They're vastly outnumbered. It's two against the garrison of the Philistines. They're gonna go out there to fight against them, and Jonathan, in confidence, says, this is of God, and let's go up that hill, and let's win this battle for God. Why? Because God is so clearly led. You know, praise God. Again, in our church here, As we are in this place, one of the great things that has been a blessing as we've gotten in, we've been here four months, God's allowed us to achieve some great things. But you know what? There is continually evidence that God is in this. You might say to me, Pastor, what's your expectation? My expectation by God's grace is that God in His timing is going to fill this sanctuary for His glory for people that are saved and desire to serve God. Is that a foolish expectation? Is that an expectation that's any less, I'm sorry, any less wise than the heart of Jonathan, as Jonathan looked at it and said, you know what, let's go up, because God's gonna give us a victory. That ought to be in our hearts today. We ought to look at it and say, church, this is what God is doing. God is doing this for his glory, letting us have every confidence that God is going to give the victory. Adoniram Judson, the missionary to Burma, said this. and feeling half-inclined to give it up, that the command of Christ, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, was presented to my mind with such clearness and power that I came to a full decision. And though great difficulties appeared in my way, I resolved to obey the command at all events." And so what is it? He had passed the point of no return in a sense. He had said, this is me, it's done. He had that desire, he had that determination, but then he made that decision that was a concrete decision that this is the way forward. You know, today, where do you stand in your heart for God? Do you want to do something great for God? Don't answer out loud. But there ought to be something in your heart that says, by God's grace, I want to do something great for God. So where are you at in that journey? Is it just a desire? Or if you put it into action and you stepped out to obey God, Have you decided that I want to do something great for God? Now I want to say about this past week, we saw God do some great things. Forty-five first-time visitors came to our church. We saw God do some great things last Sunday as well. But this past week, some people invested financially in the lives of those young men. Some people invested time in the Holly Bible Club. Some people loved the kids that came, spent time with them, cared for them, prayed for them. Some people prayed for the week of ministry while we were working hard here at the church, diligently laboring in prayer. You know what? Everybody had an opportunity this past week to do something great for God and for God's glory. Praise God. We do this week as well. Wednesday night, pastors away. You got an opportunity to support the service at seven o'clock. Sunday, pastors away. 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock, 6 o'clock, Brother Layton Kelly's gonna be here to preach, praise God, right? He could be praying about these meetings, excited about it, saying, God, we desire to see you do great work. And so, what can I do to be a part of that and make that definite decision to make a difference? Now, it can be many other things other than that, but that's just an example of something that we look at and say, okay, I wanna do something great for God, so I'm gonna make that decision and I'm gonna declare it and take that stand for God. And the last thing that we see here this morning is a deliverance, a deliverance. I will not stop now no matter how difficult the way before me. The church has heard me say many times that saying, the Puritan saying, never doubt in the dark what God has shown you in the light. That decision is not gonna be changed if it gets really difficult. I'm gonna continue to obey God. And so you look at the story of Jonathan and his armor bearer have an incredibly steep ascent to this battle. It says, and Jonathan climbed up with his hands and upon his feet and his armor bearer after him. All right, what? That's kind of an unusual way to go up a hill. What do we know about that hill? It's very what? Steep. So it's not easy to get up there. So I mean, they're exhausted by the time they get up there. I ran up the steps of the castle at Tantella the other day as my kids were singing in one of the rooms. I heard them singing and I thought I want to be a part of that. So I run up there to sing. You know what? I had difficulty singing because I just run up the steps, you know, and I had to catch my breath. Do you think as they crested that hill, they got up there, that the Philistines said, They got to the top of that hill, and then they had to fight. If you determine in your heart, you know, I want to do something for God, don't expect that it's going to be easy. Don't think, well, it's going to be easy to have family devotions consistently. It's going to be easy to have personal devotions easily. It's going to be easy to get up and go to church. It's going to be easy to, you know, whatever it is that we make a decision about, hey, I want to do this for God. Don't expect that it's going to be easy, but determine that by the grace of God, no matter what, you're not going to stop and you're going to accomplish something. for God, it's incredibly steep, and then they had to fight. The Bible says, and they fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer slew after him. All right, they asked God, God said, well, we're gonna go, we're gonna do battle, but when they got to the top of the hill, who fought? Jonathan and his armor-bearer. You might say, well, pastor, didn't God fight for them? Yes, okay, God fought for them, but physically, who was in the battle? Jonathan and his armor-bearer. And again, it's tough, but I'm gonna just remind us as a church what that hymn says, are there no foes for me to fight? Must I not stand the flood, right? that am I a soldier of the cross, a follower of the Lamb? It's one thing for us to romanticize and say, hey, that's great. Jonathan got in there and he fought for God and David and Goliath. I mean, I love that story and what he did. And, you know, somebody else that did something dynamic for God. I mean, look at that and say, hey, praise God they did that. But I just ask us, what are we doing for God? Are we engaged in the battle saying, I want to do something for God. I want to achieve something for God. And so what? I'm going to fight for God. There were constantly more foes to fight. They didn't win it as soon as they got to the top of the hill. Notice what it says, verse 14. And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armor bearer made, was about 20 men within, as it were, a half acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plow. Right there at that battle, 20 guys are down, but guess what? There's more. That's the first part of the battle. It's not over right then. You know, Dr. Ed Nelson, who I mentioned, he died at 98 years of age, just about a year, year and a half ago. But he said this in his autobiography. He said, in his 90s, he wrote it. He said, all throughout my life, I've heard people say that it's important to live well. I agree. We ought to live our lives for the glory of God and run the race of the Christian faith every single day. But in my old age, I've learned that it's equally important to finish well, to keep on and not quit, to keep fighting, to keep running, Satan does not give up his fight on believers once they hit a certain age. Just because I've been in the ministry for over 70 years, does not mean that I've somehow made it to the stage where I'm no longer tempted to sin. I'm tempted every single day. The fight for the faith is not over, nor will it be, until I see my Savior face to face. And so he said, what? I'm determined. And so I'm going to go out, I'm going to fight, and I'm going to keep fighting. Let me ask you, have you started the battle, started the fight, or maybe got that determination, that decision, you are in there, but all of a sudden it's just getting cold, and you're not engaging the enemy anymore for God. I just encourage you, let's, by God's grace, let's not just start that battle, but let's finish it for the Lord. Jesus said it this way, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow me. And so by God's grace today I'll stand with God, and then tomorrow as well. You know, some people, have achieved some great things for God. Things that we look at and say, that's amazing, praise God for what they did. But we might feel in our hearts, I could never do something like that for God. And yet by God's grace, God can take us and God can use us. Just like Jonathan and his armor bearer, if you were to guess who was gonna do a great thing that day, you'd maybe look at King Saul and his army and say, they're the ones that will achieve it. And I wanna remind us as a church, we may not be the biggest church in Edinburgh. But you know, by the grace of God, we ought to look at each other and say, it's nothing with God. God doesn't need a lot of people. God doesn't need a big crowd. What God needs is somebody that'll say, you know what, I want to go up and do something for God. I want to achieve something great for God's glory and make that decision to follow Christ. Now, it might be this morning and think, well, I'd like to be a part of that, but I'm not saved. Well, the first thing is to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. And then after that, by God's grace, just to say, I'm going to follow Lord and believers' baptism, I'm going to start getting involved in the local church. And then as a church, this church is accomplishing things for God and for God's glory. And to get behind that and support that work for God. And so whatever God is speaking in your heart about this morning, I encourage you to make a definite decision. You know what? I will. Maybe, again, it's salvation baptism or something like that. But I will follow God. Let's go ahead. Let's go to Lord in prayer. Father, I just pray this morning that the Spirit of God will touch hearts and minds. Father, we have the privilege as a church of looking at an incredible objective for God and for God's glory. You put us in an awesome position as your people. But Father, by your grace and with your power, it's nothing with God to win a victory, an incredible victory through us. Father, right now you might be wrestling in somebody's heart about that salvation decision. They've not accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. I pray today that before they leave, maybe they'd come talk to me or talk to my wife, if they're a woman, and just ask how to get saved. And Father, there's nothing we'd love more than to take a Bible and show them how they can receive Jesus Christ as their Savior Father, as your people, once we get saved, your word commands us to be baptized, and maybe somebody, you're speaking up hard about baptism, and moving forward with that, I praise you Lord, it's easier, a lot easier now for us to set that up, and to do that more frequently. We need to see the baptistry unfold more often, so I praise the Spirit of God, encourage that as needed. But Father, so many other things, we need to build our Sunday School ministry, but somebody has to have the desire to get involved in it. We need to build our minibus ridership, but somebody has to get that desire. We need to build our Sunday, our 10 o'clock hour, our 11 o'clock hour, six o'clock hour, seven o'clock on Wednesday night. God, we need to build them. Why, those are incredibly wonderful platforms for the gospel, and also, Lord, your word commands us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. But Father, if somebody has to have the desire, say, I'm gonna fight for them. Maybe make that a goal of mine to build up those ministries. Father, evangelism, so many things that it might be in the hearts of God's people to do something for God. It could be a young person that, or adult that you're speaking to, a heart about missions, ministry. Father that they need to surrender. They need to make that definite decision. And you're speaking to their heart today about that. I pray, God, that they wouldn't pull back from you. You might stop them. You may stop them just like you did at Nelson. He didn't go to Japan. But Father, that they'd be willing to surrender and say, God, whatever you want. So I pray for your perfect will to be done. God bless them. Word of God, as it's gone forth, it's in Christ who we pray. Amen. Let's stand, please. We'll sing a hymn of invitation, God's final call. 326, really a gospel invitation hymn. There comes a point where God speaks to our hearts, and at some point, maybe the Spirit of God will not speak to our hearts if we don't make that decision to follow Him. So let's obey what we hear at 326, God's final call, 326.