announcements. I see Amy back there. Amy, good to see you. She's back from France. She's over there with Word of Life ministering. We'll hear from her in the future. Okay, so good to see Amy. Also, just pray for Vacation Bible School. It's always a great week, and we're very thankful. I might get a little emotional this morning as I preach. You'll see this big Bible in front of me. This is my grandmother's Bible. John and Michelle brought it up from Florida. I remember as a five-year-old child looking at this Bible in the room in our house. I'm going to preach from this Bible this morning. The pictures in here are wonderful. They have like the onion skin picture and an onion skin picture, different pictures of biblical characters, Christ and other characters. I remember, like I said, as a 5, 6, 7, 8 year old child, I know the exact room, I know exactly where the Bible was in the house. For some of you who do not know, I'm from Stone Ridge. I lived on a farm, I was brought up on a farm in Stone Ridge on the Peak Road. If you know Stone Ridge, you know the Peak Road. I was basically brought up by my grandparents. because my father died when I was six months old. So they were wonderful. They treated me wonderful. I learned a lot of lessons from them, lessons that I draw from today. A lot of people probably don't understand why I get up at 4 o'clock in the morning, because my grandfather got up at 4 o'clock in the morning to milk the cows. Typical day was milk the cows, go back into the house for breakfast, then do field work, never on Sunday. We never put a piece of equipment in the field on Sunday. We milked the cows, fed the chickens, the hogs, and so forth. But you never did any field work. But typically a day would start with that. We would milk the cows in the morning, feed the livestock, then have breakfast, and then go out and do mowing, mowing in the morning, raking in the afternoon. And we didn't have balers back then. We had horses. and we got a tractor later on, but we used to put the hay on piles and then put it on the wagon. I often ask the question, I can tell who are farmers, does everybody know what a hay fork, how many tongs are in a hay fork? Three. How many in a manure fork? About five or six. How many in a potato fork? Shorter fork? Flat? Flat? Yeah, five. But see how important it is to learn these things? But I'm going to preach out of this Bible. So like I said, if I get a little emotional, I think it back as this five-year-old boy going into that room upstairs. This is a very big Bible. It's King James, the authorized version. It's just a wonderful Bible. I didn't know what happened to it for years until they said they had it down in Florida. I don't know how it got to Florida. But it got to Florida, now it's back in New York State where it belongs. Right? Nothing against Florida, but hey, this is a great state we live in, isn't it? I think it is. I think it's the greatest state in the Union. Anybody agree? Okay. Like I said, we're in the last book of the Revelation. Even the chapter numbers are in Roman numerals. Okay? So it's not the way we're used to. This is chapter 22 of Revelation. I've got my own Bible here, but I'm going to use this. So let me just say this. We're going to finish up Revelation today like it was said You never exhaust the word of God. You can start right at the beginning of Revelation and go through again. You can start again and go through again. You never can exhaust the word of God. But we are going to, after this, we're going to do the Book of Romans, but we're not going to start Romans until after Labor Day. So for the month, the last week of July and August and the first week of September, we're gonna do, the first week of September might do a little different, but at least the last week of July, the full month of August, we're gonna do the promises of God. The promises of God. There's several promises, thousands of promises mentioned in God's word. And it says in 2 Corinthians chapter one, verse 20, all the promises of God are yes in Christ, and amen. God never breaks a promise. A number of years ago, there was a group of men, you might have heard of the group called the Promise Keepers. I know who the true Promise Keeper is. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He will never break a promise. Now, some promises are conditional. What I mean by that is this. If I say I will pick you up in Rhinebeck after the service today, the condition there is you have to be there. I kept the promise to stop at Rhinebeck to pick you up, but if you're not there, then you won't be picked up. That's a conditional promise, not based on God, but based on us. Then there's unconditional promises. I'll give you one, there's many of them. Jesus Christ is coming back someday, right? That's unconditional. It's not based on anything or anyone. He's coming back, and he will. Obviously, it's getting sooner every day. When he comes, I cannot set you the date. We're gonna read here in Revelation 22. I've covered some of this already. So just turn, we're gonna actually start at verse six of the Revelation 22. And he said unto me, these sayings are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. You notice it says there, these things are faithful and true. By that we know that it means that these things that he says are absolutely faithful and true. They are gonna happen and they are true. These are not a bunch of falsehoods or a bunch of fables. These are the absolute truth of God's word. And God's word is the final authority. And praise the Lord. These things are faithful and true. And we thank the Lord. So that's in six. Now in seven, behold I come quickly, blessed is he that keeps the sayings of the prophecy of this book. We are to be faithfully obedient to the prophecies of the book of God, the word of God. Now, praise the Lord. for that. Now after that, what's gonna happen, John is gonna hear the angel saying this, and what's gonna happen, he's gonna fall down. Now notice what it says here in verse eight. And I, John, saw these things and heard them, and when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel, which showed me these things. Now he's falling down, John, at the feet of the angel, worshiping. But notice what the angel immediately does. Notice this in verse 9. Then said he unto me, see thou do it not for I am thy fellow servant of thy brethren, thy prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of the book. Worship God. Listen, we do not worship anybody or anything. We only worship God. We can respect people and that, so forth, we should, but we only, now John is, and I understand why John is, because this is such an incredible statement the angel made, he falls down, but the angel immediately stops him. Now you can tell he's a true angel, because if he was a false angel, guess what? We know that from Matthew chapter four, where, Satan, who tempted Jesus in the wilderness, he's tempted him to fall down and worship me and all these kingdoms will be yours. And of course, Jesus wouldn't do it. And that was a fallen angel. But this angel here is a good angel that says, no, I'm a fellow servant. Don't worship me. Worship God. We only worship God. Amen? You got it? He is worthy of worship. We don't worship the pastor. We don't worship anybody. We worship the Lord Jesus Christ and him alone. We don't worship anybody in our family. We don't worship anybody in this country. We don't worship anybody except the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? You got it? That's it. Pure and simple. Okay? Worship, and worship is a very important thing. In fact, in Hebrews chapter one, verse six, God says this, let all God's angels worship Him, meaning Jesus. The Fathers say, let all the angels of God worship Jesus Christ. And we're going to worship. I don't know if I'm going to do it today, but I went down on my knees a couple weeks ago, deliberately. I didn't do it because I fainted. Everybody, when they see me do that, they wonder if I'm going to get up again. Okay, but that's what you're going to do. When you appear before the Lord, you're going to be bowing. They call, you ever heard the term, geniflex? You ever see some people when they go into a church, when they come near the altar, they do this and bow? Anybody ever see that? Okay, you know what I'm talking about. Okay, but we worship only God. So, now, And he said unto me, verse 10, seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. Do you know at the end of the book of Daniel, you know what Daniel's told to do? Close the book, for the time is not yet. Here we're told, don't seal it. In the first chapter, it says about open the book. This is the time. The book should be opened. And we need to open the book. In fact, at every class and vacation Bible school, the Bible is to be opened. Yes, we have a good time. Yes, we have the music. Yes, we have games. Yes, we have fun. But what's the most important part of Vacation Bible School? He already covered it. Rick already covered it. Right, Rick? What is the most important? It's the word of God. We want the children to hear from a young, like I said, at five years old. Here I am, number of years later, as I look at this book, my mind and life goes back to that five-year-old kid in a bedroom in our old house. and Stone Ridge. That's how much it means to me. It's not that I'm worshiping this old book, but I worship the God of this book. And even now, as I look at these pictures, I can remember in that bedroom, upstairs, when I saw those pictures in this book. You can be able to see it later after the service. I'll have it out there in the vestibule. Now, but listen. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, in verse 11. And he that which is filthy, let him be filthy still. And he that's righteous, let him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him be holy still. Now listen, let me say this as clearly as I can. I'm gonna cover it again when I get to 17. I covered it in Sunday school here. What is the most important thing in your life? Who is the most important person in your life? I have a wife, I think she's out in the nursery. I have a son and his wife there. I have all you that I've known, many of you from years. You're very important to me, very important. But Jesus Christ is the most important person in my life. Amen? I love the Lord Jesus Christ, and I know you all do too as Christians. No one can come before him in my life, in your life, our lives. He has to come first. And you know what happens? When that happens, the other people in your family and other people that you know are gonna take the rightful place. But he has to be first, okay? And that's so important. But if you're here and you don't know him, you can be changed just like that. Just like that, when a person calls upon the name of the Lord, they're changed. I shared it in Sunday school, and a lot of us know the story. The Apostle Paul, who was Saul, on the road to Damascus, in chapter nine in the book of Acts, this man was breathing threatenings on the believers. He wanted to round them up and bring them back to Jerusalem and put them on trial. He had just stood before Stephen getting stoned. And Stephen going home to be with the Lord, and he was heartily in agreement with it. But he was fired up to get believers and bring them back and put them on trial. But guess what happened to him on the way to Damascus? He met the Lord Jesus Christ. And he changed. And he became the great apostle Paul. And here's a man now that's going about the Roman Empire, sharing the gospel, building up believers, churches being established. He was on fire for the Lord. He was willing to give his life. In fact, he did. He gave his life for the gospel. Why? Because he was changed. And that's what happens to every person that has a change, a conversion experience in their life. They come to Christ. They become new creatures in Christ. All things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. And that's so wonderful. But then he goes on, he says, I come quickly and my reward is with me. I give to every man according to his work. And I could spend a lot of time on rewards. I'll just mention them very quickly. There's five rewards that are mentioned in the Bible. Five rewards. It's the imperishable crown that's mentioned in 1 Corinthians chapter nine, verse 24 to 27. It's the imperishable crown. We're going to appear at the Burma seat or the judgment seat of Christ, not to be judged for our sins, but to be rewarded for our work that we've done as believers. There's the crown of righteousness. There's the crown of life. There's the shepherd's crown. And these are crowns that are given for, but you know what we're going to do with those crowns? We're going to put them at the feet of Jesus. Isn't that something? So we have so much to look for. So rewards. Listen, as a pastor, I'm called, it's not that I wanna crown, say, look at me, how wonderful I am, but for the glory of God. That's the key. So, there's gonna be rewards. Then in verse 13, I am alpha and omega. Alpha and omega. What is that? There's an A, I could show it to you. The alpha looks like this, the big A, the big alpha. The small one looks like an A, small A. That's the first letter in the Greek language. The omega looks like an, how many know electricity? Ohms, ohm looks like this. Everybody seen that signal? That's the ohm, that's the capital. The small one looks like a W. It's the first letter in the Greek language and the last letter in the Greek language. There's 24 letters in the Greek language, okay? Alpha and Omega. And this is what Jesus Christ is. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. It's already mentioned about that in the first chapter, that he's the Alpha and the Omega. And praise the Lord, he's the first and the last. On some church windows, on their stained glass windows, it's behind the tapestry here, some windows have an alpha there, an omega over there, which signifies Jesus Christ as the alpha and the omega. Now is he the alpha and the omega in your life? In my life? Is he the first and the last? Never put Jesus on the back burner of your life. He's to have preeminence in our lives. I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have a right to the tree of life. Remember, go back to Genesis. If you go back to Genesis, do you remember what after Adam and Eve sinned? What happened? They were taken out of the garden, protected from the tree of life, right? There was a guardian there to protect them from the tree, but now the tree of life is back in view. You know, what happened in Genesis now is back in view. There's no more curse. The curse in Genesis, now it's relieved. Here are the tree of life, and praise the Lord, and may enter in through the gates into the city. Can you imagine that? Listen, you know I hear people say, well, I wouldn't want to live in a city. There's crime. There's all this kind of congestion. Listen, you're talking about a city here on Earth. This city is the best city in the world. This is God's city. That's going to be a wonderful city. We've covered already about some of that. It's the city of God. It's a place. It's going to be so wonderful. And listen, you looking forward to going to the city? And praise to God for that. Now, it goes on here. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. They're outside. They can't come in. Now, you might say, well, wait a minute. I've been one of those. I covered this in my Sunday school class. I'm going to turn to it, if I could turn to it with this Bible. It's in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Listen to this. As I turn, I see this beautiful picture in here of Jesus walking on water. You gotta look at this later. Takes a little while to find it. But it's here somewhere. Okay? 1 Corinthians 6. You know, when you get used to your own Bible, it sort of just opens in the right places. 1 Corinthians 6. It's Roman numerals too. Okay. 1 Corinthians 6. Listen to this. Verse, I'm gonna start with verse nine. Now, we just saw there in Revelation, those things are outside. You might say, well, wait a minute, I'm one of those things. But look what 1 Corinthians 6, nine says. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor offendiment. nor abusers of the selves of mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God." Now you might say, wow, they're not going to inherit the kingdom of God. But notice the next verse. Notice the next verse. And such were some of you. But notice what it says. But you are washed. but you are sanctified, but you're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Yes, you were this, but now you're this. I was this, but now I'm this. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I was, but I am. I was one of these, or a sinner. Obviously, we're all sinners. But now I'm changed. I'm cleansed. I'm justified. I'm sanctified. This is the most wonderful things. And listen, you always want to have a humble heart and a confessing heart. Never be so proud that you're not afraid to say you're a sinner. I'm a sinner, but I'm also saved by God's grace, washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. Change. Praise the Lord. I was, but I am. I was this, but I am this now. I was a sinner, but now I'm a saint, saved by God's grace, through the blood of Christ. All the blood. Are you washed in the blood, that great hymn says? Praise God. We are saved, and we're thankful. Remember, you might say, well, I don't think that person could ever get saved. Let me ask you the question. If you were in Acts chapter 7 and chapter 8, do you think Saul could have got saved? Would you be praying maybe, Lord, please get rid of this man? He's doing harm to the church. Why don't we pray this way? Lord, please save this man. Maybe there's somebody you know that you might think can't get saved, but they can get saved because of Jesus Christ. Amen? Don't write them off. Again, when I look at this Bible and read these words, I just am amazed. You know, this five-year-old child up in Stone Ridge, I never thought this five-year-old child would be standing in a pulpit on July 21st I'd probably be a better chance for me standing on the moon. Did you know the moon landing was in 1969? Everybody knew that? They landed on July 20th and he walked on the moon. Who knows the name of the guy who walked on the moon? Who? Neil Armstrong. What did he say? One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. July 21st, 1969. Who remembers it? Marcus, you remember it? I know. But praise the Lord. Now, listen as I move on here. It says here, I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and offspring of David and the bright and morning star. A bright and morning star. You know what the bright and morning star is? You want to get up early. Sometimes, some people think it's Venus, right? Have you ever got up early in the morning and looked and saw this bright and morning star? Now, do you know who else is called the morning star? Does anybody know? Lucifer. Lucifer is called, not the bright morning star, but he's called the morning star. It's found in Isaiah chapter 14, verse 12. You know what Lucifer means? Light bearer. The Hebrew word for it, and you probably know it, Juan, is hel, H-E-Y-L-E-L. That's the Hebrew word for a light bearer. Now, and before his fallen state. But let me just tell you something. The enemy will always come up close to the truth. Have you ever gone shopping and handed the clerk a $50 bill or a $100 bill? You might say, what is a $100 bill? You know what they do? They hold it up or take a marker. Why do they do that? To see if it's counterfeit. But it looks so close to the real thing. Do you think Satan, he's not going to come walking down this aisle in a red suit with a fork and a tail and ears. Everybody say that's Satan. He can come walking down like me. He transforms himself into an angel of light. It says that in 2 Corinthians. So be careful. See, he comes right up alongside this bright and morning star. He comes right up alongside. And listen, let me say this very clearly. We're in the last days. Don't get deceived in these last days because he's going to come closer and closer to the truth. Listen, it's easy to see things when they're far out in left field, but when they come right up alongside the truth, it's much harder to see the difference. That's why we have to have a discerning spirit in the Word of God, worshiping the Lord, and in fellowship with God's people. Amen? Because the enemy is working overtime. You talk about wild live with animals. You ever trap an animal? What do you do if you trap an animal? They go right after you, right? You get them in a corner. You ever done that? I've done it as a kid. A skunk I did it with. It's a smelly situation. Okay. The skunk got the dog and me. But you know what happens. They right away go after you. Yeah, because they're cornered. And this is what Satan, Satan's getting cornered. He's in the last days and he's coming at us. He's coming at the church. He's coming at believers. And we're going to see more and more of this. You know, you're going to see things where the enemy is going to try to infiltrate. He's going to try to go against. He's going to try to go against believers and get us away from the Lord. He's going to try to discourage you. Don't let this happen. In 2 Timothy 1, verse 7, it says, the Lord, God hasn't given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. He hasn't given us a spirit. We don't have to live in fear. We live in faith in Christ. We live by the glory of God. In Romans 8, 31, it says, what shall we say to these things then? If God be for us, who can be against us? Amen? And in 837 of that same chapter, it says, we're more than conquerors through him that loved us. We are on the winning side, but the enemy is going to come at you, and he's going to try to discourage you. But we stand firm in Christ. We stand together in Christ. We got the truth. And I need my brothers and sisters in the Lord. I need him, first of all. I need the book, the word of God. But I need my church family. We need to stand together in Christ. Because the enemy is doing a number on churches. I hear these things that happen in other churches. And I say, Lord, protect us from this stuff. But we got to stay strong in Christ, strong in the word, strong together. You know, when the 56 people signed that Declaration of Independence in 1776, 56 guys signed it. And you know what would happen if the British won? They would have all died or been in prison. They said we either, you know, hang alone or hang together, right? Something like that, okay? But why? They were willing to put their name on that document and send it to King George III. And their lives were marked. Okay? And that's what the enemy will try. But we don't have to live in fear. We live in faith. We don't have to get wrapped up in all the negative stuff. We get to focus on Jesus Christ. Amen? And that's the key. Now, he's the offspring of... I am the first and the offspring, the root and offspring of David. Now, he's David's son. You know? Jesus Christ is David's greater son. You might say, well, David lived 1,000 years before Jesus. That's absolutely true. But he's in the lineage. He comes down through the Davidic line, either through Joseph, who's the legal line, sort of, and Mary's the line in which he was born, the Virgin Mary. Both of them come from David. One through Nathan, I believe, and one through Solomon. They come down through that line. And praise the Lord. Now, he's a bright and morning star. He's so wonderful. He's the day spring that visited us. Let me just go back to Luke chapter 1, 78 and 79. Luke chapter 1. Now look what it says about, now Jesus is a child here. Listen to this. Just born, just before he's born. In verse 78. And now, 78 and 79, it talks about them. I'll start with 77. To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of a God, whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child grew and waxed strong, and the Spirit, and was the desert till the day of his showing unto Israel." Of course, that's talking about John the Baptist, because the very next chapter is the birth of Jesus, chapter 2, Luke. They're going to cover that the first day of Vacation Bible School. But it talks about the one that's pointing out the morning star is John the Baptist. And of course, We are like morning, we're like day stars. We're like pointing out Jesus Christ. We're pointing him out. Who are we pointing him out to? We're pointing him out to others that need the Lord. We're pointing him, this week we'll be pointing him out to the children, to the teens, through the music and the skit and through the word of God. We'll be pointing him out. And I pray that many will come to Christ. And that'll be a wonderful thing. but John the Baptist had his place. In John chapter three, verse 30, does anybody know what he said? Here's what John the Baptist said about Jesus. He must increase, but I must decrease. Okay? Praise the Lord. Now, the spirit and the bride say come. The Spirit and the Bride say come. The Spirit of God is the Holy Spirit. And the Bride of Christ is the Church. They're saying come. Come to Christ. Now this is where I want to just spend in the closing moments. The Spirit of God is working. The Spirit of God is working in hearts. And the Bride of Christ is working. The Spirit of God is working in your life. And the bride of Christ is saying, come. Come and let him that is a thirst say, come. And let him that is a thirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. And listen, the water of life is available to everybody. Everybody. I got water up here. I was thinking about water. What's the best thing you can drink? Water. Not coffee. It's good. It takes water. That's what I tell Donna. Donna says, make sure you drink six or eight glasses of water. I said, I drink six or eight glasses of coffee. So is that water? She says, no. I said, wait a minute. It's flavored water. But this stuff is good. And again, as I see this Bible here, I think of a kid up home laying on a field, on his belly, in front of a spring, on the Casey Bush Meadow. For some of us don't know where the Casey Bush, I know William does, Boo probably knows where the Casey Bush Meadow is. I laid on my belly, a lot of times, drinking out of a spring. It's the best. And you know what was always great? To see a bullfrog on the other side of the spring looking at me in the eye. Okay? Anybody ever do that? It's one of those treats you'll remember the rest of your life. And I'm so thankful. So, listen. Come and drink. Remember the woman at the well? Chapter 4 of John's Gospel? When Jesus went through, Jesus didn't avoid Samaria, he went through Samaria. The reason why, he was smart. He was not prejudiced, because the Jews and the Samaritans didn't like one another, so they would avoid Samaria, they'd go around it, either the sea route or the inland route. And Jesus went right through it. I understand from mathematics the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Am I right? Why would you go around it? Go through it. He didn't want to avoid it, but there was a woman at the well. At Jacob's well. And guess what? She's offered him water. But he offered her something better than physical water. He offered her spiritual water. And she came to the Lord. And she went into town and told everybody, I met someone that told me about myself. And that's what God does. It's the living water. Drink, take, partake. And then when you drink of that living water, you want it more and more of the water of life, Jesus Christ. When you take that drink, when you come to him, he's the one that quenches your thirst. Only Christ can do that. Only Christ can give you that salvation. Amen? Praise the Lord. So the Spirit and the Bride. The Spirit and the Bride is saying right now, come. If you're here today without Jesus Christ, the Spirit of Bride is saying, come to Christ. Don't delay, don't put it off, don't wait. Don't say, I'll wait another day, because today is the day of salvation. We don't put it off. You come when you hear the Word of God, and the Spirit of God is calling you. And as a believer, let us continually drink of that water, because that's the best water you will ever drink of when you drink of Jesus Christ. He's the living water. It's not religion, it's a relationship with the living God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen? I get so excited about this. You know what I mean? Because what is there better than this? What is better than having a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? What is a better relationship than living your life for God, for Jesus Christ? Yes, we go through hard times. We go through difficulties. No, we're not going to escape them. We go through them. We go through the ups and downs of life. We have discouragement. We have all these things. But God's going to bring you through with a high hand, a hand of victory, because we have a victorious Lord. We don't live in defeat. We live in victory. Amen? Why would we want to live in defeat when we have a victorious Lord? Amen? So let's go on in Christ. Take your brothers and sisters along with you, right? What's better than going to heaven? Taking somebody with you. So, we're going to end here. Now, he talks here about don't add or take away from the book. Listen, God has given us the book. I got the big book here, but I got my own book here. This is the Word of God. From Genesis to Revelation. From Genesis 1 to Revelation 22-21. All of it. Don't add to it. Don't take away. It makes it very clear here about that, doesn't it? And let me finish up with this. It says here, For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in the book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of the prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, out of the holy city, and from the things which are written therein. He that testifies these things, saith, surely I come quickly. Amen. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Listen. Don't take away. What God has said to us in the book is what he wants us to know. He said a lot of other things. The end of John's gospel says if everything was written that he said, Ralph, you'd have to bring a tractor trailer here with the Bible. It wouldn't, right? But he's given us exactly what he wants us to know in this book. You talk about this book. You know what the first gift after I came to the Lord that my mother gave me? Was a sealed King James Bible. I use it to this, this is, I have several. A Scofield King James Bible. I cut my teeth, spiritual teeth, on the Scofield Dispensational book. I love this book. Scofield King James. Anybody have one? Rick does. Jim does, right? Okay? If you want a good study Bible, I know there's other good study Bibles, too. But the Scofield King James is an excellent Bible. My mother gave it to me, and I started digging into it, and I was just amazed. Not just by the notes that Scofield wrote in the book, but by the word of God. I said, wow. Wow. Wow. And then when I opened this, when I thought about that, I thought back to this. Wow. You know, a five-year-old kid could not read a lot, but he could see the pictures. The one I just opened to here is a picture of Jesus blessing the little children. I said, wow, isn't that something? And I looked at another one, I see Jesus walking on the water. Or another one, I see. Both Old and New Testament, I see these pictures. And at a five-year-old, I said, wow, this is something else. This is something else. But then when the Holy Spirit opened my heart to the truth of the God, all of a sudden, all this stuff just fell into place. And I realized who I am and who he is, and what he's come to do and give, and give us life by dying on a cross, which is behind that. Dying on a cross, paying the price in full for our sins, and rising the third day. What is there better than having a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? What is better than that? I wouldn't want to be any other place in my life than the place I'm in now, knowing Christ as my Lord and Savior. What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? I could be a billionaire and go to hell because I don't know Jesus Christ. Amen? What's the best you can have is having a relationship with the living Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. The spirit and the bride say, come. Come and drink of the water of life freely. It's free. It's not free in one sense because he had to pay for it, but it's free for us. He paid for it. It's paid for. And you don't double pay for something that's already paid for. Just like I said in the Sunday school class, if I buy Donna, my wife, a gift for Christmas or any other time, She has never said this to me, and I've never said this to her, hey, I'd like to reach in my wallet and pay you for that gift. A gift is something you receive and you say thank you. Amen? Right? Has anybody ever paid for a gift that somebody's bought for you and given to you? You would insult the person. Jesus Christ paid for it. It's free for us. He paid the price. Amen? By his blood on the cross of Calvary. And he rose victorious from the dead. He's ascended into heaven. He's coming back one day as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Amen. Amen. You're looking forward to that glorious day when Jesus Christ comes. I'm so excited, I don't know what to do. I better stop. OK, let's pray. Father in heaven, it's amazing. You are wonderful. Father, I thank you so much. Father, your word is true. We have the word of God right in our hands. We can read it, meditate on it. Let the word of God speak to our hearts. Let the spirit of God work in us mightily, pointing us to Jesus Christ. What a relationship we can have with you, Lord. So we just give you thanks and praise. And we thank you, Lord, because you are the most wonderful person in the world We love you, Lord, because you first loved us. We love you because you gave your life. You cared for us enough to come from heaven and come to this earth and lay your life down for us sinners so that we might be justified and declared righteous in your sight through the blood of Christ. We're cleansed Thank you, Lord. If there's one person here that doesn't know Jesus, I pray that even now they would come and receive Jesus into their lives. In Jesus' precious name we pray, amen. Amen.