Lately I've been looking back along this winding road To an old familiar markers of mercies I have known I know it may sound simple, but it's more than a cliché There's no other way to say it than to say God's been good in my life. I've been blessed beyond my wildest dreams when I go to sleep each night. And though I've had my share of hard times, I wouldn't trade them if I could. Through it all, God's been good. Times replay and I can see I've cried some bitter tears But I felt his arms around me As I faced those greatest fears I've had more gains than losses I've known more joy than hurt As His grace fell down upon me Undeserved God's been good In my life I've been blessed beyond my wildest dreams As I go to sleep each night And though I've had my share of hard times I wouldn't trade them if I could Cause through it all God's been good God has been my Father, my Savior and my Friend. His love was my beginning, His love will be my end. I could spend forever trying to tell everything He is. But the best way I can say it is this God's been good in my life I've been blessed beyond my wildest dreams When I go to sleep each night And though I've had my share of hard times I wouldn't trade them if I could Cause through it all God's been good He's certainly been better to me than I deserve. Our scripture reading this morning is Mark chapter 1, verses 14 through 18. Mark 1, 14 through 18. When you find it, stand for the reading of God's word. Now after that, John was put in prison. Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye, and believe the gospel. Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their nets and followed him. Thank you, and you may be seated. Pastor? Amen good to see everybody out today and have guests with us could have the barns with us this morning always good to see y'all so let's take time just to pray and Just right where you're at Let's get kind of our minds cleared out and ask the Lord to kind of focus our attention on The rest of the service here in just a little bit. So while we pray I'll close this up here in just a little bit. I Thank you. Okay. Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning for the opportunity to come together to assemble. And Father, we're looking forward to your word and what you have for us. Lord, we need you today. We need a word from you today. We need just the help. of your word in our life. Everybody in here is at a stage in life and going through certain things and things that nobody knows about and they just need to hear from you today. We know and we're confident and we're always joyful that your word will not return into your void. that will accomplish that which we're in tune you intended. And Lord, we know that's going to happen today, as we always ask every Sunday, I think we ask the Lord that you'd help us to receive what you have for us. Father, that you'd bind Satan, that you'd bind demons, that you'd remove distractions this morning and allow your word to just penetrate our hearts and our minds. And Lord, that we would we be conformed to the image of Christ as you're trying to do it, allow you to do that today. Lord, we do want to lift up those that aren't here this morning for sickness and other reasons. We pray you'd heal their bodies and bring them back to us. Pray for those that may be watching live stream. Lord, you'd be a blessing today. The Word would be a blessing. And Lord, there could be somebody here that's never been born again of the Spirit of God. They've never been saved. They've never put their faith and trust personally in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether they're here in this room or whether they're watching online, today must needs be the day of their salvation. So we ask your Holy Spirit, Lord, to draw them unto thyself that today they would turn to thee. And we're going to thank you for what you do today. And we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Stand one more time before the pastor comes and turn to page 474. Page 474. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. I'd rather be his than have riches untold. I'd rather have Jesus than loose or limp. I'd rather be led by his nail-piercing, Than to be the king of a vast domain, Or be held in sin's treachery. I'd rather have Jesus than anything, anything in force today. I'd rather have Jesus than mint on glass. I'd rather be faithful to His pure cause. I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame. I'd rather be true to His holy name, Than to be the king of a vast domain, Or be held in centrist reign. I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world avoids today. He's fairer than wisdom, He's sweeter than honey from out of the cold. He's all that my hungry spirit needs. I'd rather have Jesus and let Him lead than to be King of a vast domain, Or beheld its ancient treachery. I'd rather have Jesus than anything. This world of fools today. Thank you. You may be seated, Pastor. ...statements right there, aren't they? Yeah, it's a beautiful song. Thank the Lord for that. You know, if you'd find your way back over to the book of Mark, Mark chapter 1, the Christian life can be a life of ebb and flow. It can be a life of up and down. It's not necessarily supposed to be. But as we mature in Christ, ebb and flows hopefully become more erratic, right? And they get a little more of a trajectory upward would be the goal anyway. And the problem with the low points in life is that they can, now hold on, they can take our heart from God if we're not careful. They can steer our heart away from God in some of the low places of life if we're not careful. Sometimes confusion sets in. Sometimes doubts begin to get a stronghold in our life. Sometimes bitterness begins to churn. And before you know it, confusion and doubt and bitterness, they can tend to kind of just draw our heart away from God. It happens. I've been there, maybe you've been there. We've all been in those times of life and we're just sitting there wondering what on earth is going on. And if we're not careful, we say, Lord, you did this. Oh no, we don't say those words. No, no, no, no, no. But they're here. They're right here. we blame sometimes. But the good news is God doesn't leave us there. I love that. He doesn't leave us that way. If you belong to Him, He'll come to you and His word will begin to penetrate into your heart again, into some of the deepest recesses of your heart and He'll begin to reveal your heart and ultimately He'll begin to draw you closer and draw you back to Himself. And I want to look at this title this morning And we're going to begin in Mark. We're going to go over later in the book of John. But I want to look at this title this morning as a revival of love. And we have been preaching the last few weeks, preaching towards this week and our outdoor revival coming up. Please be in prayer for that. Better than being in prayer, be there. Not better than being in prayer. as well as being in prayer, be there. If you have opportunity, go by the tent this week, spend some time over there in the chairs, sit down, pray for a while, ask God to do a work there. We have a city to reach, and here's another way we can try. People need to be saved, and people need the gospel, and they need to be under that tent, and be under the gospel there, and be praying for that, please. But we want to make sure our own hearts are at a place of revival. And I want to look at this this morning. And in Mark chapter 1, what we have here, but the gym read for us, was the call of Peter. Jesus came and called Peter. He called Peter and Andrew while they were busy in their trade. They were busy in the work that they were doing. And I like that because it was, I believe it was Spurgeon in his lectures to his students said concerning the call to ministry, he had said that a man who succeeds as a preacher would probably do right well either as a grocer or a lawyer or anything else. God calls those that are just, I tell you, He finds them working. He finds them going forward. He finds them doing about anything else they could really do. And he said, Spurgeon went on to say, a really valuable ministry would have excelled at anything. A very valuable minister would have excelled at anything. And I think this is great because this is where Jesus finds these men. He finds them in their trade. He finds them while they're working. No doubt this was the trade of the entire family of Peter. And if you notice this, the call was to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. That was the call. Look at verse 17. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, And I will make you to become fishers of men. And so Peter's role in the calling is seen in verse 17. Jesus said, I'm going to make you a fisher of men. And really, friend, we're all ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're all called to be fishers of men. We're all called to go out into the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in. We're all to be ready to give every man an answer of the hope which lieth within us. We're all to be ready to preach the gospel of those that God puts in our path. And you note here that Peter became a fisher of men. Watch this. I believe the very moment that Peter began to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. His ministry didn't just begin at Pentecost. His ministry began right here with preparation. God began to prepare. Peter for the ultimate goal, specific ministry that he was going to have for him later. And notice the words here after this, come unto me and follow me. Notice the words here in verse 18. And straightway they forsook their nets and followed him. How many have straightway followed the Lord? And how many of us took the scenic route? took the route of hard knocks, took the route that would have been a lot cheaper if you just followed straight way, right? No, I like this. Peter followed straight way. It was like there wasn't a question, he just got up and he followed the Lord Jesus Christ. But, you know, all is going well in Peter's life. Peter is learning He's listening once in a while, he's listening. He's obviously taking a few things in, but he's listening. And I think we see here in Peter's life, and we see it throughout the narrative here in the New Testament, that Peter loves the Lord Jesus Christ. And you say, how do you know that he loves Him? Well, remember over in John chapter 6, Jesus was teaching some really hard stuff. about his body and his blood, and the people are going, this is weird, right? And the Bible says that many begin to just walk away from him at that point. They said they couldn't handle the teaching, it was too hard, it was too much. And Jesus turned and said, will you go away also? And what did Peter say? He said, to whom shall we go? For thou hast the words of life, right? Peter said, where are we gonna go? We are hooked to you, we are following you, we are with you. Over in Matthew 16, when Jesus asked the disciples, whom do men say that I the Son of Man am? And remember, some of them said Josiah, some said Jeremiah. And that prophet, and Elias, I think it was, was one of them. Now I just lost it. Anyway, the people had their opinion of who Jesus was. Remember what he said? He said, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter piped up. He says, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Boy, Jesus liked that. He said, Peter, flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you, but my Father, which is in heaven, revealed this unto you. Over in Matthew 16 and verse 32, Jesus is telling them that he's going to go up to Jerusalem, he's going to be lifted up, and he's going to be crucified. And Peter steps in and he says, no way, it's not happening. I'm not going to allow this to happen. Oh, he meant well. I think he loved the Lord Jesus Christ. But hey, Jesus had to rebuke him, and he said, Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savest not the things that be of God. No, I think Peter had a love for the Lord Jesus Christ at the institution of the Lord's Supper. They had finished that meal, they had sung a hymn, and they went up into the Mountain of Olives, And Jesus begins to tell his disciples, hey, you're going to be offended because of me. That word offended there means to be caused to stumble. You're going to stumble because of me. You're going to fall because of me. And you're going to be caused to stumble. And Peter said, no way. I'm not going anywhere. I will never be offended of you. I will follow you to death. Oh, he loved Jesus. And boy, Jesus said, ah, Peter, Yeah, Satan desires to have thee that he may sift thee as wheat, Peter. Oh, I'm praying for you. I'm gonna pray for you, but Satan wants you. He says, uh-uh, it ain't happening. Jesus says, Peter, before that rooster goes off, you're gonna deny me three times. Ain't happening. It ain't happening. And that night the servant of the high priest Malchus came, came with the soldiers to take away Jesus. And even at that point Peter pulled his sword out and whacked his ear off. Now come on, I got something right here. He put his ear back on his head. and they went on with taking him off to crucify him. I would think, not only did they fall back when he said, I am, I love that, Jesus of Nazareth, I am, right? They all fall backward. They get up. Do it again. Guy gets his ear cut off. He puts it back on. I mean, you talk about dumb. You know, I think I've been like, I don't know. I think we might ought to listen to this fellow right here, right? Nope, they hauled him off. And Peter came and he followed him. But watch this. From this point on, he follows them to Caiaphas and he follows them over there where the trial begins. and to the place of the high priest. And it's from here that this hope of the calling of ministry, of being a fisher of men. I wonder what doubt began to run through Peter's mind as this whole ideal that he had began to fall apart. I wonder what was going through Peter's mind when all of his hopes and his expectations in the Lord Jesus Christ began to crumble. Oh, I know, I know. He probably still had the idea that Jesus was going to usher in the kingdom right then. I really believe he probably thought that he was going to take care of Rome right then, and we know it wasn't the plan of the Lord Jesus, thankfully. But Peter, all I am saying is this, that Peter's life began to unravel at this point. All of his hopes, all of his dreams, everything that he had trusted, everything that he had put his life aside for, and put his trade aside for, and picked up and followed the Lord Jesus, is just falling apart right in front of his eyes this night. And he stands outside of that palace when that young lady comes out and she goes, Hey, weren't you with him? No, I wasn't with him, right? Another time, no, you were with him, I was not. Another time, no, no, no, you were. You were with him. Blankety blank blank, I was not. No, he cursed. And that rooster went off. Luke 22, 61 records that Jesus turned and looked at him. Could you imagine that look? I wonder what look we're going to get at the judgment seat of Christ. Oh, don't forget we're going to a judgment, please. That's another subject. My, have we forgotten that. He looked at Peter. And the Bible says that Peter went out and he wept bitterly. He loved Jesus. He trusted Him. He followed Him. But everything he hoped for was unraveling. Every dream that he imagined, it looked like it wasn't going to happen now. Everything that he put his life on hold for. Are you listening? Everything that he put his life on hold for. Seems like maybe you wasted three and a half years. And the one he loved is about to go off to a Roman crucifixion. If you go over to John chapter 21, John chapter 21. We see here Jesus has been crucified. He's been crucified. Their world was over. Remember Jesus was walking with those two disciples down the Emmaus Road, and just the emptiness that they had, and the wonder and the bewilderment, and they said, wasn't this the one? You know, we expected he was the one, and Jesus walked with them, and what a beautiful, beautiful scene that was. I'm so glad the Holy Spirit of God recorded that for us, and I'm so thankful for that. when their eyes were open and what the joy they must have had when they realized it's Him. It is Him. And I tell you, but He's been seen of His disciples. He has resurrected. He has seen of His disciples two times. He's been seen of Thomas. And finally, some time after this though, Peter decided to return to his trade. He decided to return to the familiar. He decided to return to the comfort zone. No, we do this sometimes when life doesn't make sense. It may not be the comfort zone of a trade or a job, or anything, sometimes it's just a comfort zone of a sin, or it's a comfort zone of a pattern in our life of something that doesn't include God. And Peter returned to a life that seemingly on the surface really didn't include John. In verse 3 of chapter 21, Peter said unto them, I go fishing. What was he doing? He was going back to the old life. He was going back to the old trade. What was he saying? Whatever ministry there might have been for him, when Jesus said, I'm making you a fisher of men, he is essentially going away from that and going back to fishing for fish. And he comes here. And Jesus' prophecy has been fulfilled, and he's back here into the old trade. He brought some of the old partners back with him. Can I caution you, when you want to go back, it seems like they always take people with them, don't they? Just within the last few years, I've watched some people, they go away from the Lord and it is inevitable, they always take a group of people with them. And I hate to see and I hate to watch it. But notice this here, the old life wasn't prospering. It wasn't prosperous. Look at verse 3. He said, I go a-fishing, and they said unto him, We go with thee. And they went forth, and entered into a ship immediately. And that night they caught nothing. Hey, friend, these were professionals. These were fishermen. They have grown up on the Sea of Galilee. They know exactly where the fishing holes are. They know exactly how to throw those nets out and to draw them in. But they have caught nothing. Listen to me. When life has been frustrated, and it seems like You're not making money or you're not making traction spiritually. And it seems like your money bags have holes in it. It seems like you've gone all night and you've caught nothing. Would you just take time to stop and ask God, what are you trying to say? Right? He does these things on purpose, friend. He allows us sometimes not to prosper for a purpose and we just need to say, Lord, what are you trying to say? They toiled all night and they caught nothing. They caught nothing. But in verse 4, wouldn't you know it, Jesus is standing on the shore. Now they don't know who it is. They're a little ways off on the water, maybe they can't see him. They've already seen him twice in his glorified body. But they can't tell who he is. And he says, look at verse 4. But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said unto him, Children, have ye any meat? And they answered him and said, No. Have you ever done that when somebody's fishing? Have you caught anything? Usually they don't say no, they say shut up. You're going to scare them away, quit yelling, right? Quit chucking rocks, I'm trying to catch fish. Have you caught anything? They said, no, we haven't caught anything. So watch this, from the shore, Jesus tells them where they can catch fish. Wait, he's at least far enough away, maybe they can't tell who he is, right? Maybe that's because of the distance, how far out they are. But verse 6, and he said to them, cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. I love this. It's a good reminder. Jesus knows where the fish are. They don't. Listen, Jesus knows everything. Even where some dumb fish are. Yeah. So, you know what they do? They did what he said. And you know what happens when you do what he says? It happens like he says. They caught fish. The prosperity in their life was at the command of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in their ability and their know-how. So finally John realizes who it is. Look at this verse 7. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard it was the Lord, he girded his fisher's coat unto him, for he was naked, and did cast himself into the sea. And the other disciples came in a little ship, for they were not far from the land, but it was 200 cubits. I don't know about you, but this is beautiful. You talk about the love that Peter had for the Lord Jesus. He swam in before the others were rowing in. He had to get to the Lord Jesus. He just had to get to him. You know, I think his life felt pretty frustrated at this time. He'd gone back to where God hadn't called him. He had left the call of God. He had gone back to the old life. He wasn't prosperous there either. And Jesus shows up. He shows up. I love it when He shows up. And He runs in and He swims in after Jesus. And we see here, that they get to shore and when they get to shore, I don't know why I find this kind of amusing, but they've been fishing all night. They hadn't caught anything until Jesus told them where the fish were and they get to shore and there's already fish baking on the fire. Where did he catch them? I don't think he had a net maybe. I think the one who who spoke his fish into existence, had a way to call him out of the water too, right? Get over here and get on the reel. I don't know. I mean, that'd be kind of cool, right? Well, but he's standing there and says, there's bread and there's fish upon the fire, and I just want to sing that song, come and dine so bad. Because of that, he tells them to bring their catch 153 fishes. Why 153? I don't know. There's the weirdest things online you can find about why 153. If you count one to 17, you come up to one plus two plus three, you come up to 153, which is some triad of something else of 17 and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know. 153. Why did the Holy Spirit put 153 here? I don't know. But I know it was a pretty good catch. He says, come and dine. They've toiled. Watch, they've labored. They've relied on their expertise. But when they got to the shore, Jesus had already had it all prepared for them. Sometimes we work at the craziest stuff, don't we? We really do. Don't forget what Jesus said over Matthew 11. He said, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. If you'd yoke up to me, that's an easy yoke. You're going to work hard if you get out of my yoke. You're going to just labor. Oh, you are. Yeah. Can I tell you something this morning? I'm so glad the Lord doesn't leave us alone when our heart is strayed from Him. Jesus went to find them. Actually, if you look at the text when we get here, we're going to find out that Jesus went to find Peter. He went after one man. Look at verse 15. He's going to turn his attention to Peter. Look at this. Verse 14, now the third time that Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after that He was risen from the dead. The first two times was in a church service. The second time is when He's back in the old life. Verse 15, so when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? What are the these? We can only assume it's 153 fish. It's a big payday. Do you love me more than this big catch? Do you love me more than the big bonus you got this week? Do you love me more than the promotion you got? Do you love me more, hey, listen, this is what he said, do you love me more, lovest thou me more than these? That word that Jesus used there for lovest is that word we're familiar with, the word agape. It is that word that means to love dearly, to love with no desire for return, watch, to love in such a way, to love knowing that there's no possibility for a return. I said, Peter, do you love me? Do you agape me? Do you agape me? Look at Peter's reply. I know we're familiar with this passage. He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, yes, thou knowest that I phileo thee. What? Different word. You know that I phileo thee, to befriend, to have just a friendly affection, a reciprocal love. You know that I phileo thee. In verse 16, Jesus says it again. Well, he goes on to say, then feed my lambs. Verse 16, he saith unto him the second time, Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou me? And he saith unto him, yea, Lord, knowest that I love thee? And he saith unto him, feed my sheep. He says, Peter, do you agape me? He says it again. Peter says, yes, Lord, you know I phileo you. And finally, the third time, he says, feed my sheep. Then the third time, verse 17, he said unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Hold on. This third time, he says, Simon, do you phileo me? Peter says, Lord, you know all things. You know I love you. I've wondered why Peter answered Phileo rather than Agape. There's probably a lot of opinions on that. But he did. We know that. But maybe it's possible that Peter answered Phileo rather than Agape because he knew that Jesus knew his heart. And because Peter, now humbled, knew that he didn't know his own heart. Could he really say, I agape you? Maybe Peter said, I don't know if I can or not. I don't know if I have that kind of love for you, but I know I phileo you. I don't know if my love for you is at that place, but I know I phileo you. I don't know if I can love you without any hopes of return or even any hopes of that way, but I know I phileo you. But I love how Jesus came down and said, OK, do you phileo me? We'll start there. That's good, that's a good place. Three times. Many of you Bible students in here have a great reason why you believe he asked three times, Jesus asked three times. Peter, do you agape me? Do you agape me? No, I don't know him. Peter, do you agape me? No, I'm telling you, I'm telling you man, I don't know him. Peter, do you phileo me? Blankety, blank, blank, I don't, I'm telling you, I don't know him. Three times Peter denied the Lord. Three times Jesus asked him, do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? What had happened? His heart had gotten away. His life had become disillusioned. It didn't turn out like he thought it should. Do you notice here? I want you to notice something. Jesus never asked Peter, do you know that I still love you? Can I tell you in the depths of our soul, as far as we get from God, and as bleak as life looks, there's something in the recesses of our heart and our soul that we still know, as bad as life is, we still know that He loves us. But boy, it can't be said about us all the time, can it? Watch this. Jesus didn't ask the questions, Peter, do you still love the ministry? Peter, do you still love religion? Hey, Peter, do you still love being a disciple? No, He didn't ask him about loving religion or being a disciple or being in the ministry. He said this, Do you love Me? Me. Me. Don't worry about all the other stuff. Do you love Me? Vance Havner said, the revival in the church is falling in love with Jesus all over again. Do you see what Jesus was doing in Peter's life? He was trying to get him into a place where he fell in love with Jesus again. See, when our heart gets away from God, it manifests itself. It can, right? Oh I know, there's the, we saw last week, there's the open, just the open and the overt rebel and then there's that quiet rebel, the second son in the parable of the prodigal. But many times when our heart gets away from God, it gets manifest in our life. Sometimes it gets manifest in our church attendance, or it gets manifest in giving, it gets manifest in our prayer life, it gets manifest in our Bible reading, it gets manifest in our concerns for the lost. But actually, what is really happening is not that we have failed to check off certain things, right? That is not the problem. The problem is, it is being manifest because we have fallen out of love with Jesus. That's what it is. Disillusionment set in. Disappointment set in. Depression set in. Our heart began to distance itself from God, all because we didn't understand what God was doing. Before you know it, sin shows up. In one way or another, watch this. It may not be as drastic as some and the others, but there tends to be a return to the former life. Jesus asked him, Peter, do you love me? I think of all the questions in Peter's mind, I think he also, a part of this was the reassurance of Jesus that yes Peter, you still love me. You do. Revival in the church is falling in love with Jesus all over again. You know, Jesus is asking the same question here this morning. Lovest thou me? Everybody in this room, everybody who's watching online, everybody, listen, if you're in the sound of this voice, whether it's today or it's two weeks down the road and somebody finds it online, or 20 years down the road and it's still floating around there, the question for you today is this, from the Lord Jesus, lovest thou me? Do you love me? Do you agape me? Do you love me with no desire for a return? Do you just want me? Do you just want me? Can I tell you this morning, whatever has come into your life that have caused you to turn your heart away from the Lord Jesus, would you come back to Him this morning? No, to Him. Everything else will take care of itself. Just come back to Him. Come back to Him. Because see, what's going on right now in your heart is the Holy Spirit of God is doing a work in your heart and saying, this is you. This is you. Things may look good, you're not in gross sin, you're not in prison, you're not, right, just, you know, living in some gutter somewhere, things look pretty well, but you know, you know, the Holy Spirit of God is telling you, your heart has drifted away because of something. Why does it drift away because of things in our life? Because an element of a lack of trust comes in. We cease to trust what's going on in our life that God is aware of it. And we begin to look at it like God has done something to us instead of for us. And if there's any case at all that's where you are today, the Holy Spirit of God, He's telling you, this is true and this is you. What you need to do today is you need to come back to Him. Maybe you need to get alone with the Lord this morning and say, you know what, this event in my life, whatever is going on, this thing that is drawing me away, I know, I'm telling you, it's coming up in your mind, the Holy Spirit puts it exactly, you know what it is, that has drawn you away. You need to turn to the Lord and say, I trust you. I don't understand it, I don't get it, it doesn't make sense, it makes absolutely no sense for what you've done in my life from this place to that place, from the beginning to that place, I don't understand it at all, but I trust you. and I'm just going to fall in love with you again." That's what he wants. That is exactly what he wants. You find Peter later at the day of Pentecost preaching, 3,000 get saved. My goodness, what a ministry. Goes on to write 1 and 2 Peter. I love it. Just come back to him today, would you? Lovest thou me? Jesus is asking you this morning. Do you love him? Father, it's been a good reminder. And a penetrating question. I say it often, you know. Nobody gets out of this life unscathed. We are all, we all come into places of our life, of dark times that we don't understand. And if we're honest with ourselves, sometimes much too quickly do we blame you for where we're at. We kind of begin to back away and our heart begins to drift. And we're just not enraptured with you like we used to be. Lord, if that's anybody here this morning or watching online, and as your Holy Spirit begins to deal with them, we're thankful that the Lord Jesus is asking this very same question to us this morning. Lovest thou me, I pray today, God, that your people would be able today, get some things settled, whatever it needs to be, and they'd fall back in love with you again like it was at the beginning. and you'd be able to use them again in a great and a mighty way. Father, we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Why don't we stand this morning. Please stand. The instrument is going to play. The invitation is open. There are those praying. You can make an altar right at your chair, right where you are. If the Holy Spirit of God has been dealing with you this morning, would you respond to Him? Lovest thou me? Lovest thou me more than these? If your heart has drifted away and the Holy Spirit of God is saying it has, would you get that right today? You can walk out of here in an instant today, back in love with the Lord Jesus Christ, with a heart that is just clean and free. There's some of you in here that God wants to do more with your life, but he can't until he gets past this and gets this finished up. Our usefulness is always going to be limited when our heart is not fully in love with the Lord Jesus. Maybe there's somebody here this morning you're watching online or you're even here in this room and you've never personally come before the Lord yourself for the purpose of salvation. You've never been born again. You've never approached God, putting your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and asking him to save you. You need to come today and be saved. People that are trained in the Bible, they can show you. If you watch online, you can call later. People can show you how you can know that you can be saved, your sins can be forgiven, you may be made right with God again. If that's you, you come today. Amen. It is a joy to see everybody out tonight. So six o'clock tonight, we'll be back in our place. And for our evening service tonight, should be back in the book of Matthew, Lord willing. And I'm looking forward to that. Always good to have the Barnes with us. Brother, would you close us in a word of prayer today? Thank you. Father, we thank you so much.