Thank you so much. And as you know, I've got multiple irons in the fire. But what's really at the forefront of my thinking and my zeal is the Academy for Expository Preaching, which is an online preaching academy. And just to briefly summarize, I give 28 lectures, videoed giving 28 lectures on what is expository preaching, which is just very simply biblical preaching. What is it not? What are the marks of it? How would you put one together? What is the history of preaching? I go through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. noting the preaching that's in the word of God. And the Puritans referred to it as the primary means of grace. Meaning it's the primary means by which the saving and sanctifying grace of God comes into the lives of people. It's through the preaching of the word of God. And really sermon audio is really built on that cornerstone. And I know you believe in prayer and that's what we're doing now. but your recording of sermons and putting them online, that's the primary means of grace. And from the prophets to Christ to the apostles and everything in between. So in the academy, you have to submit a video of you preaching and we critique it and give you helpful feedback on how to get to the next level in your preaching. There's reading assignments, written assignments, and we give a certificate at the end. There are elective courses that I've given on how to preach the gospel, how to preach with passion. And it is now being translated into eight different languages around the world, where we have hired someone to dub in their voice with the movement of my mouth and we put the words on the screen. And so we're in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian, Mandarin, Chinese, Tagalog. I'm overlooking a couple more languages, but our goal is to cover the planet with Bible preachers of the word of God. So that's just a little bit about the academy. And we are really full speed ahead. In our first year with just English, we had like 700 students sign up and be a part. And as we move the fence posts out to take in these other languages, our desire is that people around the world will be strengthened in what is it to preach the Bible? What is it to be an expository preacher? And I agree with John Stott, if it's not expository, it's not Christian. You're just up there talking. We've got enough talkers in the pulpit. We've got enough hot air coming from pulpits. We need an open Bible. And everything that you have to say needs to flow from this Bible. The preacher has nothing to say. apart from the word of God. And it says Calvin said, quoting Augustine, it's because when the Bible speaks, God speaks. And so everything else is pretty much dead speech. We need more Bible, not less Bible in our preaching so that God can speak to his people. Christ is the head of the church. And when we don't preach the Bible, he is muted, he's censored. He's edited. We want Christ to have full sway in speaking to his people when they gather together. And that occurs only when the word of God is being preached. So that just in a thumbnail sketch, I host conferences as well, as you know, but I'm limited. I can only be in one place at one time, but with the Academy, we can have a presence around the world in multiple places at the same time. And there are other seminaries that are using this. The Master's Seminary, where I'm the professor of preaching, gives full credit at Master's Seminary to go through the academy. Joel Beakey's seminary gives full credit. Conrad Bewe's seminary gives full credit. There's another in Zambia. African Bible College gives full credit. So anyway, that's what we're doing. I don't mean to sound like an infomercial, but only because you asked, my dear friend. And so I've just come back from teaching the Doctor of Ministry program at the Master's Seminary, preaching Romans. I gave 16 hours of lectures on how to preach Romans. I just came back from the Master's Seminary at the DMIN level, teaching the fundamentals of preaching, the history of preaching. So I'm going to Ligonier next week to do a DVD series on the Beatitudes. I'll be going to Midwestern Seminary to the Spurgeon Library and give lectures on the preaching of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. So the beat goes on. So a lot of great things going. I preach every Sunday now at Trinity Bible Church of Dallas, and I'm preaching through the gospel of Luke. and that's just been a great blessing. So, you know, that's just a little bit about what's going on with me, my little world. Good, thank you, Dr. Lawson. Why don't you go ahead now and open what's on your heart, and we will be happy to receive it. Yeah, well, thank you, my dear friend. I mean, I've got the whole Bible at my fingertips, so it's hard to know how to zero in But we'll go with Romans 1, 16 and 17, which is a landmark mountain peak passage of scripture. And Paul says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, for it is written, the righteous man shall live by faith. Stephen, the reason I would pick this passage for us is the greatest need in the world today is for the gospel to do its work. Our greatest need is not political. It's not financial. It's really not even social. it is for the gospel to do its work. And if the gospel will do its work, these other things fall into place. So Paul wanted to go to Rome to preach the gospel. It was the premier city in the known world. It's where Caesar presided, the marching armies of Rome presided. It's where the Senate met. It's where over a million people lived. It was said every road leads to Rome. And Paul wanted to go to Rome. He had never been to Rome, but he knew if he could preach the gospel in Rome, he would strike really the central nerve of the Roman empire. And it would create a ripple effect that would go forth to the perimeters of the empire. And so he said in the previous verses, I'm under obligation. He says, I'm eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. He wants to go to Rome and put the gospel up in the marketplace of ideas and knowing it'll blow out of the water any other philosophy, any other ideology, any other cult or false religion because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. So he begins this verse, verse 16, he says, I'm not ashamed, which is a figure of speech known as litotes, which is a double negative. It's two negatives joined together actually to create one positive. So for Paul to say, I'm not ashamed, he means I am enthusiastic, I'm excited, I am on fire. to preach the gospel in Rome. And it really is a sharp edge when you use that double negative to state a positive. And so we would ask the question, Paul, why are you not ashamed of the gospel? And he tells us why. And we just need to be reminded of what we already know. And it's first of all, because it is the power of God unto salvation. It is the gospel alone that saves from the wrath of God. It is the gospel alone that can bring pardon for sin and forgiveness of sin. It is the gospel alone that can give the righteousness of God. It's the gospel alone that has the power to radically change and transform a person's life from the inside out, not merely to address surface issues and secondary issues, but to cut to the very core and to really explode in a person's life. And Paul himself is exhibit A. I mean, no one was ever more of a persecutor of the church and opposed to the gospel than was Paul. And on the Damascus road, it was like a lightning bolt that exploded, that struck out of heaven and struck the heart of Paul. And instantly, immediately, it wasn't a gradual change. He was revolutionized by the power of the gospel. So this is why, as you pray, we've got to pray for open doors for the gospel. We've got to pray that the gospel will go forward. God will never save anyone independent of the gospel. And God will never sanctify anyone independent from the fullness of the gospel. I mean, we can pray till our eyes are bloodshot, but it's only as we pray that God will set an open door for the gospel to redeem people and ransom people and and transform people, will it be effective? And so that's really the ultimate end, of course, the glory of God, but it's for the gospel to do its work. God has no other way to save anyone apart from the gospel and really no other way to turn a country or a nation or a culture or a society around independent of the gospel, without the gospel. So that's why we've got to pray that the gospel will go forth. And then he's also not ashamed because of the scope of the gospel. He says to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. So it doesn't matter who you are, you need the gospel. Whether you're a pagan, whether you're a heathen, whether you're a cult member, whether you're in a false religion, whether you're an unconverted church member, I mean, you have one need. one primary need, and that is for the gospel of Jesus Christ to be received. And Paul says, I'm not ashamed because everyone I meet, no matter where I travel, whether it's Asia Minor, whether it is back to the Middle East, whether it's to Europe, everybody needs the gospel. And he's not ashamed because of really the simplicity of it's to everyone who believes. I mean, you don't have to go to the Academy in Athens and sit at the feet of Socrates and Plato and Aristotle and Seneca and all of the philosophers. I mean, you don't have to be polished. You don't have to be socially groomed. The gospel, it can be received by faith, or you can be a barbarian. You can be one who is at the bottom of the barrel of the social order. You just believe. And he's not ashamed of the gospel because it gives the righteousness of God. You see, we need more than forgiveness. Forgiveness is only half the gospel. The other half is to receive the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. Forgiveness takes away sin, and that's what the gospel does. It takes away sin, but that only brings you back to zero. Zeros don't go to heaven. You must have the positive imputation of the righteousness of God, which was secured through the person and work of Jesus Christ. So that's why Paul's big on the gospel. because the gospel alone can give a sinner a right standing before God, a position of acceptance, full acceptance with God. And then finally, he's not ashamed of the gospel because the gospel alone will send your life in a whole new direction down the narrow path that leads to life. And that is why he says, he quotes Habakkuk 2, verse 4, when he says, for it is written, the righteous man shall, next word is live. live by faith. The gospel is not just a one-time impact at the moment of conversion. It is an ongoing experience in reality for the rest of your life. That's why it says from faith to faith, meaning from initial faith to ongoing faith to ongoing faith all the way to dying faith. An unbeliever may become a believer, but a believer will never become an unbeliever. It's always from faith to faith, to faith, to faith, to faith. So the message that we bring doesn't just change someone's life for a weekend. It's not gonna change their life for just a season or for the summer. It's not just a phase they're going through for some period of time. It changes a person and their life for the rest of their life, all the way until they are brought home into the very presence of God. So Stephen, this is what's strong in my heart. It's the power of the gospel unto salvation. And I know that this is a prayer gathering and a concert of prayer And this is what must be prayed for, that God will raise up a new generation of preachers who will preach the gospel, that God will equip the members of churches with the gospel to be a witness for Christ. And that as we pray, that God will prepare hearts, God will open eyes, God will open ears for people to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's the only hope there is for this world. There is no hope outside of the gospel. It would just be redecorating the Titanic to put our eggs and any other basket. It's all in the gospel. So that's God's plan. That's why Paul, Paul did not want to go to Rome. to picket the Senate or to lobby Caesar or anything like that. He wanted to go to Rome and proclaim the gospel. And he knew that would create a domino effect that everything else would begin to fall into place. So Stephen, I don't know how long I had. I know I probably exceeded my limits, but that's what a preacher does. But I don't know that I could come up with a better text for you. than Romans 1, 16 and 17. So that's kind of the tip of the spear for what we're about. And the primary means is for the gospel to be preached. How shall we believe except one be sent? And you know, that whole passage, faith comes by hearing and hearing, hearing by the word of Christ. Not even reading, though people are saved by reading, that's secondary. Primary is hearing. The preaching about Jesus Christ, that's God's ordained method. Even God himself in the Garden of Eden preached Christ and him crucified, that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. I mean, God himself preached Christ in the Garden of Eden. And every prophet, John the Baptist was a voice crying in the wilderness. So, I mean, this is the center of the fairway for sermon audio. I mean, this is what your ministry is all about, Steve, and that's why I'm excited for sermon audio. That's why when you ask, I usually say yes as best I can. I don't think I've ever said no, really. So, because you believe in the preaching, of the word of God. And then that goes back to your starting this work with Mr. Cairns and so that his preaching could be heard by more people. So I know I've overshot my time, but I get paid by the minute. So that's why I went. I'm filibustering to show longer. So Steven, I'm humbled, honored you'd let me me apart. So I'll turn it back over to you, my dear friend.