It's funny because I haven't played that video for some time now, and I realize it's very outdated. Tomorrow we'll play you an updated video. But what's fun is that when we did that video, today our church is twice the size it was then. And I moved with my family 19 years ago to Uganda, and it was a crazy journey. And by way of introduction, let me just let you know that I have the experience of both individuals in this group, in this congregation today. I was a businessman for eight years. And God, in his grace and kindness, enabled me to be very successful in the eight years I was a businessman. In America, we have a famous commercial called Aflac. And I did stuffed animals. I did custom stuffed animals. So what I can do is I can take a picture of Conrad and Bayway and I can turn him into a stuffed animal. And if you could do 1,000 pieces of it, and you put that chip or put some sort of voice chip in it, like preach the word or go make disciples or something, I could produce them. That's what I would do for companies. So like your ShopRite, those types of companies. I did it for Hallmark Canada. But the biggest account was this company called Aflac. Before they ever had the commercial that made them so popular, I built a relationship with them. And we did ducks. And we did millions of ducks. That all the ducks said was, Aflac, Aflac, Aflac. And God, in his grace, allowed me to just be a part of it. I did all of that while in seminary at the master's seminary, John MacArthur School. I went to the college. Then I went to the seminary. I later did my expository preach doctrine and expository preaching from that seminary. In the midst of all of that, I knew that God didn't call me to be a businessman. And I really believe with all my heart, because I asked two questions of myself. One, why, God, are you blessing this toy job? And two, what in the world does it mean to be a godly businessman? And when the Lord started blessing this, and I went back to Uganda a second time. I had gone in college, and I went a second time to see what God was doing. It was there when I began to feel the call to move my family to Africa. And the text that I'm going to preach to you this morning or this evening is a text that I read on the plane on the way to Uganda on that particular trip, which was 2002, January 1st. And it's this text that means a ton to me, and my prayer is that it would mean a ton to you as well. But it was after that trip that I realized, I think God blessed this for the sake of the mission field. And for the next four years, I continued in that toy job. But I began to take my money, and I began to give it radically into my own mission. I established SOS Ministries, and I began to give like a madman. And the more money I made, the more excited I was for the business world and job in which I engage in, because now I had purpose for why I did the things that I did. And not only that, but I also realized I think that's what it is to be a godly businessman. And if there's something that I want to impart to you, missions is not something we do. It's a way we live. We are missional people. We don't just go and become a missionary, we live as missionaries. And I wanna take you, if you will, to Hebrews chapter 11, and I wanna show you that this is embedded deeply in the pages of scripture. And my prayer is, is that God would radically move in our heart in the four messages that I get with you the next four days. In preparation for this conference I listened to all of Pastor Mbewe's messages, his six message series. And I was so encouraged with Pastor Mbewe's Heart for You Missionaries. If you haven't heard that series and you're a missionary here, I encourage you to get it. Because it just shows his passion for you as missionaries. And not only that, but his passion to advance kingdom work across Africa. And I've said this many times, and I'll say it here. I believe that God is at work in Africa unlike he's at work anywhere in the world. I think God is at work in East Africa. And it makes me excited to be a part of what God is a part of. But it does take people whose lives are laid down for the sake of the gospel. I always tell people that I think that the reason why God's at work in Everest is because he wants dancing in heaven. And some of you guys may not think so, right? I don't know. But I really do believe God's at work. And I, as an individual, I want to do whatever I can to advance His purposes. And that needs to inflame us. We are part of His mission. Acts is continuing with our lives, with our involvement, with our participation in the advancement of God's name throughout the world. When we come to Hebrews chapter 11, we're coming to a section that is critical. It's a section that is talking not about super Christians. This is not a passage about the heroes of the faith. If we think that way, we'll misunderstand the text. The point of this text is actually to talk about what a Christian is. And I want us to get this into our mentality right from the beginning. This is not a passage about the heroes of the faith. This is a passage about who you and I are to be. And I want to pick up with you, if you will, in Hebrews chapter 10. starting in verses 38 and 39. Now, let me set something in order here. I want to address two crowds as I'm addressing you these next four days, business people and missionaries. I know what it's like to be both. I know what it's like to move into a middle of a village with no electricity, no running water, with complete and total fear that everything I'm going to do is going to fail. I know what that's like. I know what it's like to have scars in my back from all of the people who stab you in the back. I know what it's like. I know what it's like to be slandered over and over and over again, not just from the people you're ministering to, but the people supporting you. I know what that's like. I'm just like you. But I also know what it's like to endure through the suffering and watch God do incredible things. Today, we have a church of 600 people on a Sunday morning. We have just built and are finishing right now a building for 1,200 people to be put in our little village. We have a school of 750 kids for a primary school. We wanna see God radically transform the people of our community. We've seen God go into a pagan society where everybody's doing what's right in their own eyes and totally transform a community with this simple message, there is a king and his way is the best. There is a, and his way is the, I've seen it. So as I address you, I know what it's like. And if you're struggling, please, as a missionary, you take my hand. Let me hug you and tell you to press on. Be faithful today. Trust God for tomorrow. And if you're a businessman, I also know what it's like to live and have the pressures of business to be uplaid. I was flying in and out of Asia all over the US while in seminary. I know the struggles of that. I know the temptations that come with that business. I know what it's like to be really finding hard time to do everything because the pressures of what it is to be a businessman. So I want to address in this text here what it's like, what we are to be as Christians. This text before us has three parts. The first part is a reminder. The first part is a? A reminder. The second part is a definition. And the third part is an illustration. Verses 38 and 39 of chapter 10, it reminds us of who we are. Look at the text with me. And I'm going to give you the first two parts of it, I'm going to give you very quickly. And we're going to spend our time looking at the third part, the illustration. The first part is the reminder. Look with me. It says this, but my righteous one shall live by. Everybody, my righteous one shall live by? By faith. And if he shrinks back, my soul has what? No pleasure in him. But we, that is those who are truly believers, we are not those who? We are not those who shrink back and are destroyed. But of those who have what? Those who have? Those who have? Those who have faith. Faith. to the preserving of our souls. My dear brothers and sisters, there's a truth that we must embed in our minds, that we must get deep in our inner core. And that is the reality that we are people of faith. We are people of faith. Over 22 times in this chapter, it says, by faith this person by faith this person by faith this person by faith this person all of these are reminder that Christians are people of of you see this is what this is what makes us different than everyone we actually believe this We're people of faith. And the writer of Hebrews wants these Christians to understand you are people of faith. You are people of faith. You are people of? That's who you are. That's who you are. It's important we understand that. It's important that we embed that in our inner person. Because that drives everything about us. And we're going to see how this reality about who we are changes the way we live every day of our lives. That's why missions isn't something we do as an activity. It's a way of life. Because we know there is a heaven and a hell. And we care that no one goes there. He reminds us of this truth in verses 38 and 39. Then he comes and he defines it for us, which is the second part, 11 verse one. Look what he says, by faith, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. He gives two definitions. The first definition he provides for us is that faith is the assurance of things, what? Hoped for. They're not something we see now, it's something we, what? Hope for. This word faith or this word assurance, it comes from the word foundation. If there was a fire, and a fire would come through and it were to take out this building, there's something that would remain, and it's what? The foundation. Because the foundation is something embedded by God. We all know that faith is a gift from. It's not of our. It is a gift. What is that gift? It is this substance that God puts within every one of us. this assurance, this confidence, this substance that's immovable. It cannot be moved. You can put us in a classroom with a bunch of people who don't believe about God, but you will not remove the substance of confidence that we have in things hoped for. We know it. And how do we know it? It's a God-seeded, God-implanted reality within our hearts, amen? Not only that, that's why, not only that, there's a second definition, and that is faith is an undying conviction in things unseen. This word conviction is this compulsion to live out truth. We have this deep conviction for things what? Not? Now listen, in our day and age, they would tell you that's idiotic, am I right? How many believe that God created the world? You believe that? Come on. That's what they would tell you. But see, we have this deep assurance, this deep conviction. We know that God created the world. We know it. It's deep in us. It drives us. It's something we know. Just like 1 Peter 1.8 says that though you have not seen Him, you what? You love Him. You see, as believers, there's this thing in us, there's this substance in us that hopes for things unseen, has a conviction for things unseen. That's what faith is. There's this substance in us that truly believes the substance of truth. I don't want, I'm quickly just giving you those and I'm giving them a little sloppy so I can come to the illustration and spend the majority of our time on that illustration. When you look at verse two through verse 40, you get illustration after illustration after illustration after illustration. of people who lived a life of faith. Again, these are people like you and me. These are not superheroes. This is who you and I are to be. These are sinners saved by grace, empowered by the Spirit to do great and glorious things. And there are marks of these. I wanna provide five marks. When you take all of these individuals and you put them together, there are five characteristics of these individuals, and I wanna show them to you so it can motivate and get you to evaluate. I believe in this room there are two, some of us are living radically. You're living as radical as you can live. But there's also some here that have bought into the lie that says that, you know what, we just need to be balanced. We need to kind of, don't be too uncool because that's not normal. And you bought into this lie that says, listen, don't be too radical because that's actually not cool, or not acceptable, or not professional. Or we bought into the lie that actually says that we can be Christians who love the world. We can be Christians who actually love the things of the world, love and get immersed in the things of the world. Because honestly, if we're all really, really honest with ourselves, Our biggest problem for why we don't live out Christianity like we should is we love this world. I love this world. I love sports. I love media. Sometimes we just love rest. And with that, I want these characteristics to be seen. There are five characteristics I want you to see as we lay out these individuals together. The first characteristic of a Christian. Are you ready? Are you ready? The first characteristic of a Christian is a Christian or a person of faith is someone who confidently lives in light of God's word. They confidently live, this is where you wanna take notes. It's godly to take notes, all right? We confidently live in light of God's word. If you look with me, start with me in verse seven. Let's look at Noah together. Are you ready? He says this. By faith, and the only reason I go to certain examples is because they're easy just to draw them out and show you quickly. By faith, Noah being what? Everybody being what? Warned by God concerning events as yet what? Unseen. He's warned by God about unseen events. And reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this, he condemned the world and become an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Imagine being Noah. And by this time, there was never rain on the earth, it appears. I think the first rain was probably during the days of the flood. So you can imagine being asked by God, being warned by God, or being told by God, please build this massive boat. Now, one man that is incredible to me is Ken Ham. He decided to build a boat in the middle of Ohio the same size as that boat. I think that guy is a freak, right? How do you do that? But Noah was called to do that when rain had never been seen. And sometimes you think, well, how did he get the wood to do it? Do you think that God just shaved it all down and made it in perfect sizes? No, it took his own hands. I'm sure he had to cut it down. He lived his life in light of what was told to him. We know that what motivated him to build that boat, he was worn by? He was warned by, you see, the warning of God's word drove his whole life. You see that. What God said changed his life. See, a Christian isn't someone who sits here every week, who hears the truth, hears the truth, hears the truth, and does nothing. but rather a Christian is one who is transformed radically by the truth and it changes everything he does in his life. Noah is a perfect example of that. Not only is that true of Noah, but what about Abraham? Look with me in verse eight. It says, by faith Abraham obeyed God. when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, look what he says, he went out what? Not knowing where he was. That's called crazy. I remember calling my wife from Uganda, honey, I feel called to go to Uganda. She paused, and I remember it took a while for my wife to get on board. But my wife is such an incredibly godly woman. I'll introduce her to you tomorrow. She says, wherever you go, honey, my job is to be your helper, and I will be your helper. And let me tell you, there is no woman I've ever met in my life who is a greater helper to fulfill her role in my life than my own wife. But I came to her and I told her exactly where I was going. You can imagine saying, honey, we're going to go somewhere. Because God has told us. Because she's like, well, where are you going? I don't know. But we're going to live in a tent. And we're going to go around like a nomad. You see, what drove Abraham? According to this, he was called to go out to a place. It was God's word, God's calling, God's instruction that drove Abraham. And listen, he lived his whole entire life in light of that word, in light of that calling. His whole life in light of those truths. What about Sarah? Look at verse 11. It says, by faith, Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. What gave Sarah the ability to conceive at her old age? It says, according to the text, she believed in the promises of God. Listen, it drove her. It motivated, you see, truth drives believers. It takes wings and it flies. We're not those who are just hearers of the word, we're people who are doers. Because just hearers are those who delude themselves. They think they're spiritual when they're not. A believer is one who lives out the truth, not perfectly. but as a pattern of their life, they're people who live out this text. What about Abraham when he offered up Isaac? Can you imagine putting your son on an altar? We know, according to verse 17 and 19, he knew that God could raise him from the dead because he had promised from him the offspring would come. What a crazy thing, but what drove Abraham to be willing to sacrifice his son? It was the revelation of the truth of God that drove Abraham. What about Joseph? In verse 22, it says that he gave orders for his bones to go back to Israel. Why would he do that? Because he knew that Israel's gonna leave Egypt after 400 years and go back to the land of Israel. Why? God had promised. Everybody, God had promised. God had promised. And because God promised, He knew that's what would take place. My dear friends, all these men, all these men in Hebrews 11, they lived in light of this book. They lived in light of these promises. They lived in light of the truth. My dear friends, this book is not just to be studied alone, but this book is to be lived out. It's to be put to the test. It's to drive our lives. Everything in our life is to be lived out in light of these pages. I remember, as a young man, not knowing who I was to marry. My parents' marriage was a train wreck. And I was being told, don't get married, because it's terrible. But then I came upon Psalm 128. that said, blessed is the man who fears the Lord and walks in His ways. You will be happy and it will be well with you. You shall eat from the fruit of your own hands. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house and your children like olive plants around your table. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord. And I went back to my parents and some others that were discouraging me, I said, listen, I will be happy. Why? Not having been married, having been engaged. I will be happy. Why? Because the Bible said if I fear God and I walk in his ways, I will be. Listen, if you have a marriage that's not happy, the problem is you don't fear God and you don't what? Walk in his ways, look internal, not external. Let me tell you, there are days I look at my wife and I say, wow, wow, wow. I don't know what Adam's experience was in Genesis, but she is bone of my bone and flesh of mine. And my kids are incredible kids. Let me tell you, the Bible is true. In my days in Uganda, let me tell you, There have been days where we hardly had any idea how we're going to pay for whatever we're doing. And there has been not a day that the Lord has not provided exactly what we need. And that's it. And always at the last minute. But you know what? I have told my children, and I would tell you, I am now 50 years old. I know I look so much younger. but I'm 50 years old, and you know what I can say? You see, when I was young, I believed the promises of God in hope. Now that I'm 50, I don't believe them in hope. I have put my life to the test of these truths, and I can tell you they are true, and they're worth betting your whole life on. Dear friends, A Christian is someone who lives in light of these truths. When a trial comes, we don't look to the trial and the emotions of the trial, we look to the promises of God's word. When a temptation comes, you don't look at the lust, you look at the word of God. When you need wisdom and direction, you don't look to men or your inward feelings, you look to the word of God. Because this is what drives everything we're about as Christians, because that's what Christians do. Let me just say to you, whatever field you're in, you better be called by God to that field. And you better be doing it because God has called you to it. And you're using it. for his purposes and not your own. Let me tell you a big problem that's in America. In America, people buy, buy, buy, buy, and their children get everything they need, and they never learn to work. They become spoiled. And they never see their parents actually live out the faith that they have. They don't see them giving to missions. They don't see them living for eternal purposes. They just see them living for the world. And then what happens? They grow up and what do they live for? The world themselves. That's not the example that we set. Because we know there's a heaven and there's a hell. and we live in light of it. There's a second reality for a Christian, a second characteristic. Second characteristic of a Christian or a person of faith is that we live for heaven. We live for heaven. It tells us of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Sarah in verse 9 and 10, it says this. It says, by faith they, I'm sorry, he went to live in the land of promise and is in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to a city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is who? is God. Look with me again in verse 13. It says, For people who speak, Thus, make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. These men lived every day of their life with their children coming along for heaven, a future kingdom, not the present one. They didn't receive their reward on earth. They saw it and received it in the end. And let me give you two other examples. Look at verse 26, at Moses. It says in verse 26, that he considered reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. Moses could have lived for all of the pleasures of Egypt, but that's not what he did. He was looking for the reward of the promised land, listen, that he never walked in, but received it in his death. How about Jesus? For the joy set before Him, He what? He what? He endured the, despised the shame. It says, for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. My dear friends, A Christian is someone who lives for the eternal, lives for the future kingdom. We are just pilgrims passing through. Listen, you've been so bombarded by Americanism, American mentality that we better build big storehouses. Listen, money in a bank is of no value. Obviously, it's not saying don't be unwise. It doesn't mean you don't get a home and you don't try and do things that would be wise. But the goal is not storing things on earth. It's storing things where? We'll talk about that later. As Christians, we live for Pete, for heaven. Philippians 3.20 says, for our citizenship is where? heaven from which we eagerly wait for a Savior the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 6 19 says we do not store treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal but rather we seek first his his his kingdom and his righteousness and all of these other things will be what added to us. For me as a businessman it meant I that I need to work really hard. You see, how can a businessman work really hard in work and it still be kingdom? Because see, I didn't have time to go and do Bible studies with everybody or be completely involved in everything the church had to offer. I was in Asia, and I was in Chicago, and I was in New York, and I was in Florida, When I came home, I needed to kiss my wife and play with my kids. But how could that become eternal? It's when I take the money that I get and I use it to advance eternal. And if I make money that's radically made, then I give radically. Because it's not for me to just brag about. It's not for me to just have everything I need and then some. You can only drive one car. It meant that I did quality work and I gave like a madman. And listen, that's what made it for me so fun to be a businessman. Because then I can give 50% away. I'm just telling you what it is for me and I don't know what it is for you. But what I do know, it's not everybody becoming pastors. but it's rather it's every single one of us using whatever God-given gifts and abilities and talents we have to advance kingdom advancement. Listen, the kingdom doesn't move without resources. You make resources so it can move. And we need people radically doing that, exemplifying that. And listen, I've been there and I'm telling you there's a joy on the other side. And there's an example and a heritage you leave for your children that's far greater than anything you can imagine. If you're a housewife, it's you being a godly wife in that home training those children with all your heart, being fully dedicated to the training of your children and the helping of your husband, do whatever God's called him to do. Use your professions as a vehicle to advance the glory of God and the gospel. The gospel has to go on, right? It needs to advance, just like we sang about. There's a third reality seen in this text, and I'll go more quickly. The third characteristic of a Christian or a person of faith is we abstain from sin. We abstain from sin. Look again in verses 24 and 25 of Moses. It says, by faith, Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Choosing rather what? to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeing pleasures of sin. I think this is important for us to sit on because I think there's something that is killing the church and that is the media that comes to our phone. What happens is this, we look at things that we shouldn't look at here and we dull our conscience so that we don't feel like we can be anything that God would call us to be because we're so ashamed in our own hearts. And it causes us to become more and more apathetic to the spiritual realities. Listen, we know sin does not bring pleasure, but pain. We know that the pleasures of sin always ends in the misery of the sinner. We know that. Do we not? Do we not have enough examples of David and Solomon to show that the pleasures of sin always lead to the misery of the sinner? And so, As John Piper says, our chief enemy is the lie that says sin will make our future happier. Our cheap weapon is the truth that says God will make our future happier. And faith is the victory that overcomes the lie because faith is satisfied with God. We know that God's way is the best. And so we always are throwing off any other way other than God's way that we might find joy in God. And so therefore, as Christians, we are not people who run to sin, but we run from sin. We want nothing to do with it. We hate it. We don't wanna watch it on television. We don't wanna see it on the internet. We hate it, we hate it, we hate it. And my dear friends, my dear Christians, we must hate it instead of bathing ourselves in it. that we can be the people that God would want us to be. Hebrews 12, one says that we're to lay it aside. 1 John 1, 15 says, we do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not where? In Him, my dear friends, if you are looking at that stuff and you are not deeply convicted, you have a problem. Run to your pastors. Run to your closet and cry out to God that God would set you free from that entrapment. We are bought with a price, dear friends, and we glorify God with our bodies. There's a fourth characteristic and I want you to catch this one because I think we don't understand this in our day and age. The fourth characteristic of a Christian or a person of faith is that we are people who choose, listen to me, we choose to suffer. We choose to suffer. Listen, some of you missionaries out there, you're like, yes, we're suffering. Is this right? Is this supposed to be? Yes, it's supposed to be. Listen, if it doesn't come at a cost, it's not worth it. Listen, I live with my own family in this village for 16 years now. The first three years, I lived with someone who I partnered with, but he was corrupt, and he took everything that I had invested in before I came to Uganda. He put in an organization with his name on it, and he said, thank you very much. And what did I do? At first I wanted to get angry with him, but then I heard God's word say, love your enemies and pray for them. And I remember getting angry and saying, God, I'm sorry. I realize he's a conversion away from salvation. And I learned one of the most valuable lessons in all of my own ministry, and that is the power of loving your enemy. He hated me, and I loved him. He became miserable mess, and I had freedom from any bitterness or anger. When you love your brother, the Bible says in 1 John 2, there's no cause of stumbling in you. And I learned that, listen, if as long as I love my enemy, I'll win. That has been so helpful throughout my whole ministry. But my dear friends, it's applying the truth to those things. But listen, we choose to suffer. We choose to? Look with me at Moses yet again in verse 26 and 27. It says, he considered the reproach of Christ. I'm sorry, verse 25. Choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeing pleasures of sin, he considered the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. He chose, he chose mistreatment. That's what he chose. Listen, and we all talk, oh, health, wealth, prosperity. We don't believe in that gospel. But listen, we may not believe in it theologically, but in reality, we believe in it practically. And that we want to run from any type of suffering, surely this cannot be from God. Listen, the sufferings we go through always make us dependent on God and always make sure that he gets the glory in the end. Let me say, in the 19 years in Uganda, I don't know that there's been a day where I did not have some persecution going on in the rear view mirror somewhere. Because when you go into a pagan society, all you get is slander, slander, slander, slander, slander. And then you get people who believe they're slander. You get missionaries who believe they're slander. And all of a sudden, now you're having to say, well, missionary, listen, I don't know what you're seeing or what you're talking about. Listen, we choose suffering. Moses choose to live a life Instead of living a life of thrills of this world, he chose ill treatment. Look with me in verses 36 to 38. Here is a remarkable example of this. Verse 36, others suffered mockings and floggings and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawed in two. They were killed with the sword. They went about in sheepskins and in goats. destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering about in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. How about that suffering? That's what they chose. That's what they chose. You see, just like the beginning of this passage, we don't run from suffering. We run into it because we do not shrink back to destruction, but we preserve for the saving of our souls. Our culture is enslaved to protecting ourselves from suffering. America, and this is a value we have. When my wife had children, all of a sudden she didn't feel like she should go to the mission field because to take our kids into Africa Who does that? I would have doctors calling us saying, do not take your children there. I had three kids. My youngest was three months old. Then I had a three-year-old and a six-year-old. And let me just tell you, every day of my life, I feared their death. Every day of their life. Even my youngest, the three-month-old, just went to the Master's University a year and a half ago. The day he got dropped off, I wanted to fall to my knees and say, God, thank you for protecting my kids. Thank you. Because I didn't want the guilt of what would be on my own heart with my own children dying, taking them into a village situation. Even the Ugandan board that I have, they go, ah, I can't believe the mzungu's going there. You guys call yourselves us mzungus here? Huh? The bazungu. My dear friends, we as Christians We are people who choose to suffer. Why? Because we give. We give our resources away that we might not enjoy as many vacations. Listen, I think we are to enjoy. I just came away from two nights away with my wife. And let me tell you, all we did was enjoy each other. You need to do that. That's part of godliness and worship, right? But at the same time, we also choose to give. My home, we have had 96 kids come through our home. Right now, we have around 25 to 30 kids that live with us all year round almost. Why? I live in a village scenario. In Uganda, they don't get married. They just shack up. And then they abandon children everywhere. So someone has to love them. You see, we don't do missions. We don't go as an activity to do missions. We live missions, am I right? We open up our homes. Listen, you learn to endure the hardships of ministry, knowing that God, you pray, will reach their heart. You pray that God will do a work. You just rest in the Lord and you continue to endure through the pain. That's what we do as Christians. Some of us, we need to get bigger homes so you can take more people in, right? None of this selling your home so you get less people in. Big homes! And let's get people in those homes and let's disciple these young people who need parents so you can bring missionaries in and love on them, right? Or maybe you get smaller homes so you can give away We stay up late to bear the burdens of others. We choose to be disliked so that others might hear the truth. We choose to turn off our televisions instead of enjoying the entertainment of the world, that we can actually sit and abide in Christ. We choose to suffer. Last characteristic of a Christian or a person of faith is this. A Christian or a person of faith is someone who lives a radical and exciting life. Someone who lives a radical and exciting life. Say, Shannon, what do you mean by radical? What I mean by radical is we do what the natural man would never do. What do you mean by exciting? What I mean by exciting is we see God do what is humanly impossible. Look with me in verses 29 through 35. Let me give you some examples of these. 29 to 35, it says this, by faith, the people crossed the Red Sea as if on dry land. But the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith, Rahab the prostitute, did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. What more shall we say? For time will fail me to tell you of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets. who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war and put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Let me explain what I mean. It's pretty radical. to walk around a city seven times as a war strategy, isn't it? Who does that, huh? But when you came across and you blew the horn after that seventh time, and all of a sudden you see the walls of Jericho fall down, you know what you saw? You know what you said? Woo! That's what you said. Was that exciting? Yes, because you saw God do what is humanly what? Impossible. Listen, you come with me to my village. One reason I'm here today is because Conrad came out two times with his sweet wife. I don't know where she is, but I hope she's going to give me a hug at some point. And I had some other dear lady whose husband just passed away. Where are you? Are you here? I hope I see her. She owes me a hug as well. One of the last sermons her husband listened to was one I preached, and that was so touching. But let me just say, one reason I'm here is because Conrad goes, oh my goodness, there's no other explanation than God. I come out of my own house, and let me just tell you, every day, every time I'd come back, I'd leave Uganda and I'd come back really quickly. I mean, I'd leave quickly and come back, I'd say, God, why am I here? What am I doing? For the first seven, eight, nine years I was here, I remember bawling my head off in front of the president of the Baptist Union of Uganda, because I thought, I'm building a seminary, but is anybody going to want it? Let me tell you what God has done and the thriving seminary that is now right there in East Africa. And we're about to, we're finishing one more of our degree program and we're gonna send people trained, fully trained men like a factory all throughout South Sudan and Uganda and Kenya and Congo. And we're gonna try and build an army right in that part. You worry about down here, I'll worry about there, okay? and then we'll encourage each other. Let's get crazy. Why? Because that's what Christians do. We give, that's crazy, but that's what Christians do. My dear friends, I wonder if at times we don't see God do great, incredible things, because we don't live great and incredible lives of faith. Listen, Christians don't live normal because we believe in the pages of scripture. We live for heaven. We run from sin. We choose to suffer. And we live radical and exciting lives. My dear friends, this isn't describing super Christians. This is describing who you and I are to be. Let's pray. Father, I am so sorry that we have confused truth, and made it palatable to ourselves. And Lord, we know that from your own words, that to find our life is to lose it. That when we live for you fully and completely, we find joy in you. Oh Lord, I don't know these brothers and sisters here. I know that you've blessed them. And so, Lord, you've given them an incredible pastor who lives out what he preaches. Father, may this church continue to catch fire, that we might live exemplary lives, that it might be said with the Romans in Romans 1A, that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all because your faith is being known throughout the whole world. Father, may the faith of this community of people be heard far and wide. May that be true of this congregation and my own, and may it start with each one of us here individually. May your spirit do a work in our hearts by your grace. For your namesake, we pray.