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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Faithful Word of God Church. Great to see you all here for our Sunday morning service. If you'd all please have a seat, grab a hymnal, and open up that hymnal, song number 36. We can begin this morning's service by singing song number 36, Christ the Rose. ["Christ the Rose"] ["Christ the Rose"] ["Christ the Rose"] ["Christ the Rose"] ["Christ the Rose"] ["Christ the Rose"] ["Christ the Rose"] ["Christ the Rose"] ["Christ the Rose"] ["Christ the Rose"] ["Christ the Rose"] ["Christ the Rose"] Amen. Let me begin with you right here. Dear Lord, thank you for this morning, Lord. Thank you for this church, Lord. I pray that you just continue to bless this service. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thank you, brother. Let's turn to song number 150. Song number 150, My faith has found a resting place. ["My Faith Has Found a Resting Place"] My faith has found a resting place Drowning in life's torn gleam My trust will never let me fall When it comes to me shall be My need, oh Father, are human. I need no other me. Is it enough that Jesus died and that he died for me? Is it enough that Jesus' sinful face stands quite near and doubt? A sinful soul might come to him. He'll never pass me out. I need no other. I need no other me. Is it enough that Jesus died and that he died for me? I'm always living on the earth, the risen word of God. Salvation by my secret name, salvation through his blood. I need no other. I need no other me. Is it enough that Jesus died and that he died for me? I play position, yield the sin, well-lost he came to save. For he has meant just what he shared. For he is what he gave. I need no other. I need him. I need no other me. Is it enough that Jesus died and that he died for me? Amen. That's it. We're going to end this time. We've got a little bit of announcements. We'll do the following. We'll be doing song number 139. All right. If you'd like to hold, you can go ahead and slip up your hand. Brother Adam will bring you one. As always, we have our service times listed there in the upper left-hand side. We'll be back tonight at 5.30 PM. And again, this Thursday, 7, going through Acts. We'll be in chapter number 16. And then we've got the church-wide soul-winning, some regional soul-winning times, as well as the salvations and baptisms for both month and year. It's been a great month for salvation. So keep up the great work, everybody, soul-winning. We haven't seen a number that high. And I know a lot more people are going more consistently. So I do acknowledge that and appreciate that. So keep that good work up. And also, don't forget, we've got the special invites in the back that we're using to promote our fifth five-year anniversary, which is the next announcement there. So don't forget next Sunday. So this is the big week before. If you're thinking about it while you're out and about, maybe take a few invites. If you know anybody that you might want to bring to our five-year anniversary, you can rest assured it's probably going to be one of my nicer sermons, where I'm not going to get all crazy and scare people away and all that stuff. We'll save that for later, after they've taken a few drinks out of the water cooler. It's a joke. It's just a joke. But anyway, so come on out. Invite folks out. And if you can bring a dish to share, that'd be great. It looks like we're going to have plenty of food so far. Of course, the church will be providing a couple of briskets, as well as some beverages. And then don't forget this Saturday, September 2nd. Is that right? Is this Saturday, September 2nd? It is. I'm having a moment up here, a Biden moment. Oops. All right. No, that's when I forget which way to go after I'm done. Anyway, this Saturday, we're going to have the soloing marathon. Just from 10 to 1230, come back to the building for lunch. And then go out again for a couple more hours. If you can make both sessions, great. If you want to make one or the other, that's fine as well. If you can't make any of them, well, just pray for us that we go out there and we can get some people to come on in and help us eat all that food on Sunday. Also, don't forget there's the volunteer sign-up sheet back there for cleaning the building. You can go ahead and pick out a week if you want to participate in that. And you can also see me for more details. Also, on the back, continue to pray for the expectant ladies in our church. Of course, this is ladies up at the Tempe church, but they could use your prayers all the same. Also, if you have any photos or videos that you would like to have included, potentially, depending on the quality and the content, if it's too embarrassing for me, I probably won't put it in. But anything that makes me look any worse than I already do. But if you have any videos or anything like that from the last five years that you'd like to share, I know I've got quite a bit from several people already. But that's still a possibility. The more, the merrier. So I'm going to try to put together just a little montage that we can show on the projector the morning of the anniversary service. So I'm looking forward to that. Well, other than that, that'll do it for announcements. We'll go ahead and just sing one more song before we get into preaching this morning. Son of the 139, I know who I have to be. I know how I just want this place to be and be full. Lord, why the world in Christ's name would be king before his word. But I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at the track of it. But today, look, it's that day. I know that God's just a saving thing to be given heart. But I have to leave him in his word for peace within my own. But I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. But today, look, it's that day. I know that God's spirit moves on faith and on strength. We give Jesus to the one we hate, we believe in. But I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. But today, look, it's that day. I know that God's good old health may be reserved for me. But give him praise, Lord, all in his name, before his place I sleep. I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. But today, look, it's that day. I know that when I'm warming up at night, I will be there. I know that if I walk on everything, only he will believe it. But I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. But today, look, it's that day. I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. But I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. But today, look, it's that day. I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. But today, look, it's that day. I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. But today, look, it's that day. I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. But today, look, it's that day. I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. But today, look, it's that day. I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him that he is able to keep at which I will give him. I know who I have to leave him and then persuade him that he is able to keep at which I will give him that he is able to keep at which I will give him that he is able to keep at which I will give him that he is able to keep at which I will give him that he is able to keep at which I will give him that he is able to keep at which I will give him that he is able to keep at which I will give him that he is able to keep at which I will give him that he is able to keep at which I will give him that he is able to keep at which I will give him that he is able to keep at which I will give him that he is able to keep at which I will give him Now I believe that the Gospel of Mark was written by John Mark That's not really anything that's debated But it's significant because of the fact that you have a man in John Mark who is the author of one of the four Gospels Now look there are a lot of different people I don't believe that obviously we have the entirety of scripture The canon that we have, every word of God is preserved It's kept for us But you know I'm sure there were other people that were writing things Not necessarily to deceive, not necessarily to try to get something into scripture Probably people were just writing things at that time describing the events that they had seen I mean you think about all the things that are written about today Just think about all the dumb, vain things that people tweet about or ex about now Is it a tweet anymore? I don't know, I know that got changed It's no longer Twitter, I heard that, right? It's ex So are you still tweeting? Are you exing? Okay, that doesn't sound, that doesn't really roll out the tongue But anyway, that's kind of a separate issue, isn't it? So, but think about all the things that people, you know I'm gonna go, I'm sticking with tweet, I'm sorry, I can't come around, right? But you know the tweeting, the posting, all the magazines that are written on all the hobbies These people, not necessarily bad things, but just all kinds of things All the events that are recorded I mean think about the fact that you know when Christ comes and does all the miracles that he does Preaches all the sermons that he preaches And then it's crucified, it's buried and raises again from the grave You know there's probably a lot of people that wrote about that You know probably a lot of people are recording about that Obviously what we have, what made into our Bible is what was inspired and preserved by God What was accepted as scripture So to be one of the four, that's kind of a big deal, isn't it? You know if you're the author of one of the four gospels The four gospels, which are the center of the Bible Everything is leading up to the gospels That we have the life of Christ And then everything beyond that is looking back at the gospels It's expounding the scripture, those scriptures I mean that's a pretty big significant role To be an author of one of those books You know and I believe that's who John Mark is I believe he is that author So you know verse 38 of Acts chapter 15 It's kind of a little bit, carries a little bit more weight when you think about that You say what's the point? So in verse 37 Barnabas determined to take with them John whose surname was Mark Verse 38, but Paul thought not good to take him with them He's saying no let's not take John Mark It's like but wait a minute This guy is the author of Mark You know he's the guy who wrote this book And then he gives the reason why You know it's not just that it was a personal conflict It wasn't just that he didn't like his company The Bible gives us the reason why And if you're John Mark this isn't exactly your bright shining moment This is kind of a mar on your record He says here Who departed from them from Pamphylia And went not with them to the work So why did Paul not want him? Because he's somebody who flaked out on his first missionary journey That's essentially what he's saying there He went not with them to the work So we're getting a little bit of the background of John Mark's physical journeys here I believe he's the John Mark who wrote the gospels He's the one that's coming from Jerusalem We see him at this point in the story Having come from Jerusalem back to Antioch And now they're considering taking him on their second missionary journey And Paul says no Why? Because he went not to the work And he departed from them in Pamphylia So this is referring back to the events of Acts 11, 12, 13 If you remember Acts 11 you had Agabus He predicts the great dearth that was going to be throughout all Judea And then they determined to send relief under the brethren in Judea So they send Paul and Barnabas back with money essentially to help them with that drought And then Barnabas I believe in Saul returned with John Mark to Antioch from Jerusalem And then there's this second missionary journey Now whether he came with them back and forth those two times I don't know We know that he'd come back with them at some point too I believe in those chapters When they're coming back from having brought the relief to those in Jerusalem They're coming back, Paul and Barnabas, to Antioch with John Mark Because it's after that that they're sent out into their missionary journey And one of the places that they go is Pamphylia And we've looked at that over the last several weeks If you would go to Acts chapter number 13 So remember also in Acts 12 that's when Peter was put in prison by Herod He casts him into prison and then he's freed by that angel And when he's freed and he comes out he kind of comes to his senses And he realizes it wasn't a dream or a vision It says when he considered the thing he came to the house of Mary the mother of John whose surname was Mark So that's kind of where we first introduced with John Mark by name And he comes to her house in Jerusalem So we know that's where he's living So he's already kind of done some journeying with Paul and Barnabas I believe when they first came to Jerusalem that first time to bring the relief in Acts 12 And they're going back to Antioch and then being sent out on a missionary journey That's when he flakes out by the time they get to Pamphylia he's already going back And then they're coming back again to Jerusalem years later after their first missionary journey in Acts 15 And they're going out again and then Paul has the bright idea let's go visit everybody And that's when we're seeing these details come out about essentially John Mark's character at this point in his life He's telling me he doesn't want to go to the work You're there in Acts chapter 13 It says now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos they came to Perga and Pamphylia And John departing from them returned to Jerusalem Now if you know remember the events of Acts 13 excuse me the events of chapters 13 and 14 in the book of Acts You know that John Mark is departing before things are even getting rough Because remember you know the stoning takes place after this You know all the uproars the being chased down by the Jews and stoned and left for dead All the rioting everything that takes place that comes after you know after this So it's not like John Mark is getting involved in this and seeing the persecution and saying Whoa this is more than I signed up for What he's he's quitting on them before things are even really getting hard That's why Paul said he went the Bible says that they went not with he went not with them to the work Okay so what he's departing from the work right he's not departing from the persecution Hey now in either instance it's never right We should never depart from the work and we should never depart from persecution But what I'm saying is this is that if you are somebody who can't even endure the work of living the Christian life You know when the when that extra layer of difficulty called persecution comes You know you are gonna probably flake out that's the ten you know that's just human nature Okay you're gonna be more prone to quit when things get tough Right when when by and by you know persecution cometh you're gonna be offended because of the word sake Right you're not gonna have that root you're gonna you're gonna you're gonna wither up You're gonna dry up and wither away So he departed from the work He did not depart from the persecution And what we can learn about this is that serving Christ takes character It takes character to live the Christian life Christian life is not something that you're just gonna start living automatically because you got saved You know the Christian life is a life of discipline It's a life of self-denial It's a life of sacrifice Obviously that's not all that it is But that's a major part of the Christian life You know the Christian life is obviously there's a lot of joy There's a lot of excitement There's a lot of blessing There's a lot of great things There's a lot of freedom There's a lot of liberty that we have in Christ But you know there's also a burden that's laid upon us You know Jesus said come unto me all you that labor and heavy laden and I will give you rest He said take my yoke upon me upon you and learn of me For I am meek and lowly in spirit A lot of people you know they hear that and they think oh there's no yoke It's a it's like it's still a yoke It's a light yoke It's not as bad as the devil's yoke The way the transgressor is hard Right But it's we're basically we're exchanging one yoke for another in the Christian life Not because not to get saved obviously But if we're gonna serve God if we're gonna get in the yoke we're going to get in a yoke Right You know we're gonna be a beast of bird in the Christian life so to speak You know but here's the thing you're gonna labor for somebody in this life You know you're gonna go out and labor for the world Labor for their crowd and go after the things of this world You're gonna go out there and labor and and and work for the things that have no eternal value Or you're gonna labor for the things of God Okay That's why it takes character That's why it takes character to live the Christian life No one just wakes up springs out of bed in the morning and just automatically starts doing everything they're supposed to be doing as a Christian You know we have to determine hey I'm gonna pray I'm gonna read I'm gonna be in church I'm gonna go soloing I'm gonna memorize scripture I'm gonna you know do the things that the Bible there's so much I could add to that list All the things that are laid upon us all the commandments all the things that are our responsibility Responsibilities to perform as God's children You know raising our children a certain way you know fulfilling our roles as spouses so on and so forth You know I know it's a lot of the same things that I mentioned from time to time when it comes to serving God But you know that's the nuts and bolts of the Christian life You know that's the mundane day in day out redundant Christian life You know that's why it takes character because it's not always the most exciting thing to just get up and pray and read your Bible Now the Bible is an exciting book for the most part but you know there's some chapters that can get a little dry I'll admit it you know if you get into first chronicles and elsewhere it's kind of like what's the point you know But you know what there's gems in there too There's little nuggets in there there's little jewels and if we would have constantly approached the scripture with that mind You know we would learn things you know not just treating it like some drudgery But sometimes you know we have the old man we have the flesh We have to crucify the flesh we have to drag him along kicking and screaming every step of the way as we journey through our Christian life It takes character and when we're looking at John Mark's journey One of the things we see here in Acts chapter 15 is that he has this character flaw Where he doesn't want to go to the work You know because he didn't go to the work he also wasn't there for any of that persecution You know and I guess some people could look at that as a kind of a relief And say well at least I'm not going to be around when Paul gets stoned to death You know I'm not going to be you know arrested and accosted and beaten or mocked or ridiculed or all those things But you know what think about the story when we talked about this when we went through Acts chapter 14 Think about the story that Paul had to tell when he got back to Antioch from his missionary journey And began to tell them all the things that the Lord had done with them When he got to Jerusalem in Acts chapter 15 they told all the things that God had done Why was that? Because Paul and Barnabas had character to not only go to the work But also to go through the persecution and persecution might be hard But you know when it's over it's kind of exciting It makes for good stories right It makes the Christian life in my opinion a little bit more exciting But what we see again I'm going to bring it back here on track is that John Mark has this character flaw of not going to the work Serving Christ requires character You have to be prepared to perform in the Christian life You say what was it that caused him to not go to the work The fact that he wasn't prepared I believe And that's something that we learn and we'll look at later in the gospel of Mark But if you would go to 2 Timothy chapter number 3 So we're going to be in Titus, Timothy, Hebrews, we're going to be right in that neighborhood So just bear with me there but we're going to look at 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 Look if we're going to live the Christian life you have to have the character to do the work You have to be prepared to perform You know the Christian life is a call to service It's a call to you doing the work of living the Christian life It requires effort You know and news flash you're not always going to want to do it I mean why would it be any different than anything else in life You know every person in here that goes to work for a living You know every housewife that's raising children You know there's probably days where they would like to just take the day off and not do any of it But they do it anyway, why? Because they have character Because it's their responsibility Because if they don't do it it's not going to get done You know if we don't show up for work we'll get fired You know we're needed to be there and they're not paying us because they're being nice They're not paying us because they want to make us feel good They're paying us because there's something that needs to get done and someone needs to do it Whether they want to do it or not You know that's just life You know the Christian life is no different You know I would like to tell everybody hey every day it's just you know you just You just spring out of bed just ready to serve God and it's just you know just every Sunday morning It's just you know you're just you're you have to slow yourself down from not getting to church too early Nobody has that problem okay No one I know maybe somebody does I don't know I haven't noticed it right There's probably a lot you know there's going to be Sundays You know where you don't feel like coming to church You should come anyway You know because we're not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is And if your attitude is well I'll go to church when I feel like it I'll read my Bible when I feel like it I'll pray and go soloing when I feel like it You know what there's going to be a lot of times where you don't do it Because you're doing a lot of times when you don't feel like it That's why serving God requires character You know and this is something that we're seeing from John Mark's journey You know he's being dismissed by the Apostle Paul Think about that He had this opportunity to serve alongside the Apostle Paul Now obviously that time they might not have understood the magnitude of who Paul was And the influence that he was going to be on Christianity You know we kind of have that privilege of looking back But I mean if we if we could get a time machine And put ourselves back there in that time We'd be like can I go Paul? Can I go Paul? Can I go Paul? You know maybe we'd you know get back to the future and somehow our name ended up in here You know but what would it say? Would it say we were like Timothy we're well reported of the brethren in Acts chapter 16 Or would it say you know we went not to the work That we flaked out when we got a little too far from home You know that when we got a little uncomfortable You know we got on that ship with Paul Or we got you know into that 15th mile of walking or whatever it was Whatever great journey they had to take however they got there You know we just got tired of our feet being sore We got tired of being thirsty or sleeping out on the stars Or whatever it was that was required of them Would we be somebody that would be sad they didn't have the character to finish the course You have to be prepared to perform in the Christian life There's so much scripture on this topic Where the Christian life is just described as labor and as work and as duty We're just going to look at a few Look at 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine For reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness That the man of God may be perfect meaning entire and complete Not sinless that's not what perfect means Thoroughly furnished unto all fun Thoroughly furnished unto just good times and play time and just hobbies No unto all good works Now praise God you know we live in a country where there's a lot of prosperity Where we can have a lot of free time as people You know we as you know we're working that typical 40ish hours a week You know I know there's seasons where we work more There might be seasons where we work less People retire right because we're living in such a prosperous country You know we have so I'm not saying you know you should never have any free time Or never have a hobby or never have anything that you enjoy doing But can you squeeze serving God in there somewhere Can you have enough character to you know drag your carcass out at least once a week to get in church Or maybe how about three times You know you might take a few hours out of your week You know depending on your commute and everything else But you know if we really sat down and looked at how much time we have throughout the week And how we're spending it You know reading our bible for 15-20 minutes to get through the bible one time in a year 15-20 minutes you'll read the whole bible in a year I mean oh I'm too busy come on 15 minutes 20 minutes an hour of soul winning You know one service a week at a minimum You know I don't think it's that much to ask And I think if we really were honest we would find that we do in fact have the time It's just that we're spending it on other things because of those things that are fun exciting The things that we want to do But you know what I'm here to tell you the Christian life is work And work isn't always something you want to do is it What if we never did anything we didn't want to do What if everybody adopted that philosophy in life Think about how many toilets would be backed up How much trash would be piled up out in the streets You know I mean we could go on You know like all the cars that would just be broken down on the side of the road Because I'm sure a lot of people are turning wrenches a lot of mechanics for the love of busting their knuckles It's because they need to make a living The trash man is driving the dump truck not because he loves that smell on a hot summer day It's because he's got to make a living He's doing things that he wants to do So why would we drag that, why don't we take that same attitude into the Christian life Hey I know there's going to be things I don't want to do to serve God but I'm going to do them anyway Because it's my job to do it No he said thoroughly furnished until all good works plural There's works to be done in the Christian life You know why am I preaching this because Titus was told to put them in mind to maintain good works Go over to 2 Timothy chapter number 4 Paul said of Timothy in 1 Corinthians 16 you're going to 2 Timothy 4 If Timothy has come see that he may be with you without fear Meaning not worrying having to be concerned about how he's going to take care of himself You know take care of him give him a place to sleep put some food in his belly For he worketh the work of the Lord as I also do He's saying hey take care of Timothy because he works the work of the Lord Why was Timothy somebody that should be taken care of and not have to fear about these things Because he works the work of the Lord Because the laborer is worthy of his reward The husbandman should be first partaker of the fruits Look at 2 Timothy chapter number 4 verse 5 Watch down all things Endure afflictions Do the work of an evangelist make full proof of thy ministry So he's telling them one to endure afflictions That's the next level that's the persecution That's what Mark missed out on And I've used that word missed deliberately Missed out on the persecution missed out on the rewards Missed out on that excitement missed out on having a story to tell He missed out on it because he couldn't endure afflictions And there was no way he was going to be able to endure those afflictions Because he wasn't even somebody who could do the work Just get to baseline Do the work of an evangelist It's the work of an evangelist Soul winning is work I don't always feel like soul winning Yeah because it's work It's work to go out there and not know what kind of neighborhood you're walking into If it's going to be filled with dogs Or if there's going to be people being rude If it's going to be receptive or unreceptive We don't know But hey it's work If you're coming this Saturday And going out and inviting people out to church And trying to get souls saved And telling people about the five year anniversary It's going to be work But I'm going to make sure that you're without fear That afternoon By feeding you You're not going to have to worry about that We'll take care of you Go to Titus chapter 2 where we were Why should I work? The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 6 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work And labor of love God is ultimately the boss isn't he? And this is something I'm always saying Don't do things for the deacon Don't get involved in the ministry to try to impress me Or try to please me Because I'm not the boss I'm the under shepherd But he's the great shepherd And God is not unrighteous to forget your work And labor of love God is ultimately the boss isn't he? And this is something I'm always saying Don't do things for the deacon Don't get involved in the ministry to try to impress me He's the great shepherd And obviously I have responsibilities to fulfill that role There's things that I have to look out for on the head I've got to call the shots, things like that But we should be serving God and not man And why? What we need to keep in mind is that God's not unrighteous to forget God will look down and see our work God will look down and see our labor of love Also he'll see the lack of it When God notices I better show up to church At least once a month So I can be considered a member Because I know deacons keeping track And it's not like I have a spreadsheet somewhere I've considered it, but I've never done it I never will Who was there? Who wasn't there? I want to put that stuff out of my mind If you're here, you're here And if you're not, you're not Here's the general rule of thumb What do you have to do to be a member here at Faithful Word Baptist Church? That's it You know, and this is just my personal opinion I'm not saying this is written down on some official church document somewhere But I, for me, what I consider a church member Is somebody who shows up at least once a month You say, where do you get that? Well, it's from that Samaritan Ministries Right? It's like a Christian healthcare That we have And I'm always having to verify people And one of the questions they ask is, do they show up Do they attend church at least once a month? Because they only want to serve Christians They want to serve people who are living that life So, you know, they have that standard And that's a pretty low standard To come to church once a month To be considered a member I mean, that's pretty low But, you know, that's kind of my You know, I take note of that You know, if someone stops coming for months on end It's kind of like, well, are they really a member here? You know what I mean? Really wouldn't consider that person a church member If they're showing up at least once a month It's a church member Right? I notice that Right? I take note of that That's just church attendance But, you know, God sees us everywhere we go God knows our hearts God knows our thoughts God knows the things that we do God knows the things we think before we even think them And God knows whether or not we're working And laboring or not You know, he's not unrighteous to forget God notices our labor of love God notices our work But he also notices when we're not doing it For him His labor of love which he has showed toward his name That's why we do what we do Look at Titus chapter 2 verse 11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people period Let's just put a period right there I just like being peculiar No, he redeemed us to be zealous of good works Zealous Wanting to do it Not being like somebody who wants to not go to the work but rather be zealous for these things Be on fire to serve God And it's interesting in Titus that the good works there these verses are kind of contrasted one with another We're being taught verse 12 to deny ungodliness and worldliness that we should live soberly and righteously so that we can be a peculiar people zealous of good works Look, what's going to rob you of good works? Worldly lusts That's what got Demas Demas was somebody that was with the apostle Paul and we don't see him early on being rebuked or being outed as a flake but later on he flakes out Demas hath forsaken me having loved this present world I mean, we see elsewhere where Demas is mentioned in a good light but you know what, he didn't finish strong Mark is somebody who's starting out rough but we'll see that he ends well He has a character flaw but he gets it corrected Whereas Demas, he starts out good but then he ends poorly He's outed and you know, not a lot I don't know that anyone's naming their kid Demas. I met one guy once who named one of his sons Demas and I thought, why would you name your son Demas? No offense, Demas, if you're listening It wasn't your fault No, you didn't have me saying it But here's the thing, is that you know, what got Demas? Why aren't we highlighting that name in our Bible? Oh, if I ever have a son, it's Demas Because of the fact that he's known as somebody who forsook Paul Why did he forsake him? Having loved this present world That's what we're seeing in Titus We need to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts if we're going to be zealous of good works You know, worldly lust, the things of this world will come in and just squelch the zeal in our lives It'll put it out. It'll just snuff out that flame for God If we just are only concerned about the things of the world, just living for the things of the world, just caring about money and houses and lands Look, this takes people out of the Christian life all the time Right? They're that thorny soil That soil that brings up the thorns and it chokes out the word and makes it unfruitful. That's what worldly lust will do to you If you would, go to Mark Go to the Gospel of Mark, chapter number 14 The Bible says in Hebrews 10 that we should consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works That's what I'm trying to do this morning You know, we're looking at the example of John Mark, and early on we're seeing that he's somebody who didn't have the character to go to the work That he departed from the work That he was somebody who is starting out pretty rough Right? He has this character flaw I don't know if you want to call it necessarily laziness Obviously you could but it's definitely maybe it's just not willing to endure a certain level of having to labor This is how you're going to overcome this. We need to be on guard against comfort and familiarity in our lives Because that's kind of what I think I don't think it's necessarily that John Mark was just an inherently lazy person I mean, I think a lazy person wouldn't even get the opportunity to have gone with these guys Because it would just be such a glaring fault He just doesn't do anything That guy would have never even gotten a chance. Obviously he had some level of character to where they're at least willing to take him as far as he's willing to go They're just finding out living for God and walking and serving with the Lord and serving the Lord and living the Christian life It's not your typical 9 to 5 Monday through Friday. It's 24-7 It's everyday day in and day out Denying self, denying worldly and ungodly lusts Crucifying that old man every single day I die daily, Paul said Some people aren't going to go so far because of that So I don't think it's that Mark right out of the gate had no character whatsoever It's just that he had this particular character flaw that he couldn't get to that next level at this point in his life I think really what it was was comfort and familiarity That might be a possibility He's from Jerusalem Now he's in Antioch He's a little bit farther away from Mama's house Now he's going out and getting into Pamphylia Now he's really out there in the world He's away from everything that's comfortable and familiar That's something we need to be on guard on in our own lives Because we're living in a land of comfort And we can set our lives up and have our little routines and have everything lined out just the way we want it And you know what? We can become too comfortable Comfort and familiarity They need to take a back seat to labor and enduring hardness To labor and discomfort We should be willing to put ourselves out there to work hard That's why some people never go soloing Because they don't want to be made to feel uncomfortable trying to talk to somebody at the door Look, I get it. It's uncomfortable I've been there Every now and then it still can get a little awkward for me even, and I've been doing it for years I'm probably the one that's making them feel a little more awkward these days I get it Especially when you're starting out I'm going to go out into the world I'm going to go walk down Someone was saying this to me and I don't know who it was They just couldn't even get over the idea They were kind of taken aback by the fact that they were going to go out in public walking down the street with a Bible in their hand Like, to just be seen out in public Just walking with the Bible Like, I don't know, whoa, that's so far out But you know, I thought about that I was like, you know, I think I had a similar thought when I first started out I felt kind of like, man, they know we're from church You know, they know I got this Bible, they know why I'm coming to their door You know, I'm that religious guy You know But so what? You know, I know why I'm there But you have to get over that Or you could just stay comfortable and never do it You know, but is God Then what is God going to remember about your work That it's not there He said, behold, I come quickly to give every man according as his works shall be And if they're not there then, you know what, there's no reward If we want something out of it we're going to have to get over our you know, desire to just remain comfortable and only do that which is familiar We're going to have to branch out, broaden our horizon spiritually You know, I think that's what Mark kind of ran into He got out there a little bit and he was kind of, you know, getting into this new world getting out there into the real, you know the weeds with Paul and Barnabas and said this is so uncomfortable, you know, I can't take it and he had to go back to that Look, the comfort, familiarity, they need to take a back seat Not saying you can't ever have it Not saying it shouldn't be something that you know, prohibits you from serving God Look at Mark chapter 14 You need to be prepared to perform in the Christian life And look, that's like step one, that's like, okay, the first level Once you kind of get that down okay, you know, everyone here, you know, there's people going, well, I got that down, you know, I'm going to church I'm reading my Bible, I'm going slow winning Okay, now be prepared for persecution Because that's another thing that comes in the Christian life You know, it's like, why do you always bring that up? Because it's a fact Because I want people to be prepared when it comes Because I've seen it come and people aren't prepared for it and it's like, and then you know what, they're gone And it's like, and then you forget their names You know, I'm working on this project where I'm going through a lot of Pastor Anderson's old sermons Just from even a few years ago I'm just going through all these videos and like, you know, archiving them and sorting them and things like that And it's just amazing to me how many people I'm seeing come in and out of the frame from time to time, the beginning and after the service I'm like, oh, I totally forgot about that guy I totally forgot about that family There's just been so many people that have just come and gone through Faithful Word Baptist Church over the years And look, I get it, not everybody that leaves leaves because they flaked out or something Like, if you go to another church, you're just obviously, it doesn't mean you're a flake or something But you know, there have been a lot of people that have come They've even gotten past the discomfort and started serving God, but then when persecution came they're like, I'm out Too much And they quit And they'll quit on the Christian life, you know At least they had enough character to get to where that's what I had to take them out It's sad when like, people are getting taken out of church because they just don't want to work Because they don't want to just do the basics You've got to be prepared for persecution You know, this is another thing we can learn from Mark I believe Mark is the young man of Mark chapter 14, verse 46 I've preached a whole sermon on this It says, and of course this is in the garden where they're arresting Jesus, verse 46 And they laid their hands on him and took him And one of them that stood by drew a sword and smote a servant of the high priest and cut off his ear And Jesus answered and said to them, are you come out as against a thief with swords and with staves to take me I was daily with you in the temple and he took me not But the scriptures must be fulfilled And they all forsook him and fled And there followed a certain young man Having a linen cloth cast about his naked body And the young man laid hold on him Meaning those other young men that were arresting Jesus laid hold of hands on him And he left the linen cloth And fled from them naked So he's got this linen cloth And then they're like, hey, arrest that one too And they're grabbing it and he's just like, ah, you know And there's nothing underneath And the picture is, you know, being ashamed You're not prepared When persecution comes, you're going to flee naked And it's going to be a shameful thing When it happens Now I believe that, obviously, this is just my theory That that's Mark But, you know, this is happening in Jerusalem We know from Acts, that's where his mother's house was You know, we know in the book of John That John referred to himself in the third person You know, if this was you, you might not want to just Come out and say, I went there And then I had to run away naked because I wasn't ready It's kind of a shameful thing, right But I think, you know, people also have a tendency To kind of tell on themselves a little bit too People kind of want to let things out They want to confess, you know And get it off their chest So I think that's kind of what's going on here You know And I think, you know, that's my personal belief That that is John Mark Of Acts The one that went with not them to work And when we're first seeing him in Scripture You know, it kind of looks like he's got this flaw Of not being prepared For the reality of serving God He's not prepared for it, he's not ready You know, he's not willing to go with them to the work When the persecution came He wasn't prepared for that And obviously, you know, this is kind of A unique circumstance when it's Christ being arrested, the Scriptures are being fulfilled They all forsook him and fled, okay But there's a picture there You know, we need to be prepared for the fact That there's going to be enemies That there's going to be people that are going to want to stop us Okay That's why Paul told Timothy, and if you would Go to 2 Timothy chapter 4, I'll start wrapping this up 2 Timothy chapter 4 I'll read you from chapter 2, it says Thou therefore endure hardness As a good soldier of Jesus Christ He's saying He's saying Timothy, you need to endure As a good soldier Now I've never been in, you know The armed services But I know enough about it that When you go sign up the military They're not taking you to Six Flags They're not, it's not You don't wake up in the barracks And, you know, get up whatever time you want Do whatever you want Dress however you want Spend your day however you want You know, the obstacle course doesn't involve a water slide You know, it's Ropes and logs And barbed wire and old tires And mud pits and Live fire training You know, it's some guy yelling at you You know, it's screaming, it's a drill instructor It's, you know, you all have to dress the same Like, there's rules, there's standards Why? Because it's hard It takes discipline to be a soldier It's not easy You know, we're called to be soldiers for Christ We're called to serve in God's army You know, we need to fight We wrestle not against flesh and blood But against principalities and powers And high places Against the rulers of the darkness of this world You know, the weapons of our warfare You know, but mighty through God To the pulling down of strongholds You know, we have We put on the whole armor of God We take the sword of the Spirit You know, we take, you know, our faith And we quench the fiery darts of the wicked I mean, the Christian life is described as a battle It's described as warfare That's why he's telling Timothy To endure hardness as a good soldier Go through the difficulty Go through the hard things Be a disciplined person That backs away and shies away from hard things That just goes after You know, the lusts of this world And just wants comfort And ease And just to please the flesh And to just live a sinful life You know, you gotta be somebody who has the discipline And the character To crucify the flesh and to live the Christian life The way it's meant to be lived It takes hardness as a good soldier No man, he went on to say in 2 Timothy 2 That warreth And tangleth himself with the affairs of this life That he may please him Who hath chosen him to be a soldier You know what that tells me? Is that the central theme of my life Is being a Christian Everything else is secondary Or even further off Everything else, you know, if you were to describe me You know, who is brother Corbin? You know, there might be other things Well, he likes to do this And he likes to go there And he enjoys this and he enjoys that But you know, that probably wouldn't be Hopefully the first thing that people would Describe all the hobbies and things that I That I have, not that I really have any To be honest I'm probably a bad example to use Right? But let's say there were all these things, right? And there are some things But you know, my primary thing is being a Christian It comes before being a husband It comes before being a father I'm a child of God Because if I'm not that I need the husband and father that I need to be You know, I have to make sure that I'm Pleasing him who has chosen me to be a soldier Above all else I don't want to entangle myself in the affairs Of this life Any more than is necessary Like, I know we all have to be Within the world, but not of it But I don't want to, you know Unnecessarily involve my things In the affairs of this life In the affairs of a world that is going to Literally burn up and pass away And be replaced That's what the scripture says He's going to make all things new Including the creation We have to be people who are willing to make sacrifices You have to make sacrifices Or you're going to succumb to selfishness In the Christian life Look at 2 Timothy chapter 4 Servants must make sacrifices Or succumb to selfishness Do thy diligence to come unto me For Demas hath forsaken me Having loved this present world And has departed unto Thessalonica Cretans to Galatia Titus to Dalmatia Now I believe Demas is the only one that's doing this for the wrong reasons The other guys, he's just saying, hey, there's nobody else with me Demas loved the present world These other guys are off doing the work that they're supposed to be doing Only Luke is with me Take Mark Now, get this Take Mark This is, I believe, John Mark from Acts Where we just read, 15 Acts 15 Take Mark and bring him with thee Because I want to tell him I didn't get a chance to tell him how disappointed I was You know, back in Acts 15 I want to remind him what a lazy bum he is Right? No, take him and bring him with thee For he is profitable to me For the ministry It's such a great lesson In the journey of John Mark You know, he's somebody who We see in the Gospel of Mark I believe That's completely unprepared To, you know, what it takes to live as a Christian He's running away ashamed and naked You know, he gets some things right But, you know, he can only go so far With Paul and Barnabas He can only go so far in the Christian life But yet, at the end of his life You know, at the end of Paul's life, rather You know, Paul's come around on him He said, in Acts 15, we're not taking him with us He went not with us to the work in Pamphylia I'm not bringing him out Why? So he can flake out on us again? No thanks, pass You know, let's get somebody else that we know isn't gonna You know, that has what it takes And he basically writes John Mark off And you can't really blame him I mean, how do you know how the guy's gonna pan out? You know, maybe Paul was the type of person That didn't really have the patience to Bring people up like that He needed somebody who was more of a go-getter You know, like a Timothy As you'll see in Acts chapter 16 Who just already has a good reputation Among the brethren As somebody that just does the work And is gonna be faithful And isn't gonna flake out You know, maybe that's just who he needed at that time Okay? It's not that Barnabas was right And Paul was wrong He said they're different personalities They're different people With different, you know, abilities To minister to different people in different ways Okay? But he's saying here at the end of his life As we're getting towards the end of Paul's life He's saying, bring Mark with you, Timothy Because he's profitable to me For the ministry So he's somebody who Paul considered unprofitable But now Is somebody who is considered profitable Started out unprofitable Now he's profitable, okay? What can we learn about this? You know, this is kind of the, you know, the end of John Mark's journey, so to speak, right? That we see his character arc in Scripture As we kind of journey with and briefly through Scriptures this morning We see that, you know, although he started out with A flaw in his character Is that character is something that can be corrected Character is something that can be corrected It's not easy But it can happen It's very hard for an undisciplined person Who's never been brought up as a disciplined person To suddenly begin to have discipline be a part of their life And to be a self-disciplined person It takes a lot of work You know, and they might only get so far, right? With that But it is something that can be worked on And it's something that should be worked on Now, character can be corrected How does that happen? Well, I believe you have to be willing to acknowledge Your flaws and follow your examples Acknowledge your flaws and follow your examples You say, well, I'm perfect I have no character flaws Then you're never going to correct the flaws that, you know That everyone else can see You know, if a man We ought not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, right? You know, if a man thinks more highly of himself than he ought to He deceiveth himself You're not fooling anybody else, right? It's so easy to see the flaws in everybody else, isn't it? You know, we can sit back and we can go Oh, so-and-so's got this problem So-and-so's got that problem And boy, this guy and that guy and that guy They all need to straighten these things out But it's a lot harder to look at the guy in the mirror and say You got a problem And I know what your problem is You got this flaw You need to work on that And the irony is That's the only person you can control Boy, we'd like, you know I don't get why we sit and fixate on other people so much You can't do anything about it You know, unless they're your parent You pretty much don't have any influence whatsoever You can encourage and tell them and help them And try to help people, you know But people ultimately end up doing whatever they want Okay But character can be corrected If we're willing to admit our flaws And follow our examples You know, I have to imagine when When Paul and Barnabas split up Because remember, it says in Acts 15 That the contention was so sharp Right, if you're still there, verse 39 The contention was so sharp between them That they departed asunder one from another I mean, this is Paul and Barnabas This was a sharp contention, it says This had something to sever them It had to be particularly sharp You think they never had a disagreement before? Maybe they never wanted to go this way They didn't want to go that way Or, I mean, who knows what they argued about What's for lunch, you know We argue about that all the time I watch people, you know, on Sunday afternoons Try to decide where they're going to go for lunch before Soul Wedding And it's like Just pick a place, guys You know Sound like a bunch of women, I'm just kidding Wherever you want, not there Right Just pick a place, honey, please You know Right, but you think Paul and Barnabas had never Just, they were just, you know Just got together, they were just macaroni and cheese The whole time they were together No, obviously they had, every human relationship There's going to be difficulties in that dynamic You know, there's going to be different personalities But, you know, they work through that Obviously, right Because that's just life But this particular instance And what was the issue? Whether or not to take John Mark with them Is what divided these guys These guys who had, I mean, literally You know, had been through Death's door, I mean John Mark, or excuse me, Paul and Barnabas Barnabas saw Paul get stoned to death They're seeing, they're working miracles together They're facing the enemy together I mean, they're going through trials and tribulations You know, they have this bond That's there, it's got to be there Because that's just human nature You know, when you go through things with people You spend time with people You go through trials and tribulations You develop a bond with them You know, you share that in common with that person You don't always have that with everybody, right But, yet, this thing is what The contention became so sharp And what was the contention That separated them over? What was it? Whether or not to take John Mark How do you think that made John Mark feel? See you, Paul See you, Paul I'd imagine If it were me, if I had separated These great men of God I'd kind of feel like, man I'd feel terrible Like, maybe Paul's right Maybe I should just go back to Jerusalem And hang out with mom Just do things there Maybe I should just quit the ministry Right? I'd imagine If he's anything like anybody else That John Mark probably felt bad About separating these great men of God Hey, John Excuse me, hey, Barnabas Where's Paul? He's not coming with us, why not? Because of you I doubt that's how he said it, right? But someone had to break the news to him And what did My point is this That's what led to John Mark Becoming profitable in ministry Why? Because he had to admit his flaw And obviously he did that Obviously he found out why Paul's not coming with them It's because of me Well, what about me, Barnabas? Well, it's because you didn't go to the work Remember when we went to Pamphylia the first time? And you got all homesick or whatever And you went back And then we were left without that guy You know, we lost support It was demoralizing to us When you quit on us Remember that? Oh yeah, I did do that You know, John Mark obviously had to Acknowledge the fact that He was the source of that contention And that Paul Again, it's not one's right and one's wrong I mean, Paul has his points too You could just as easily say that Paul Was right as Barnabas was Because Barnabas doesn't know how that John Mark's gonna pan out And become profitable in ministry, but he's willing to take a chance That's the difference there One's not right, one's wrong, it's just different You know, and Barnabas Or excuse me, John Mark probably Felt bad about This, you know, having separated them So he had to admit his flaw But then he followed his example, right Because it says there at the end of verse 39 So Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus And Paul chose Silas and departed You know, and I love, this is such a great Thing about Barnabas, right It doesn't make him better than Paul, it just makes him different You know, we talked about that Paul is just maybe just not that type of personality Not that kind of guy Who's just a very hands off guy and just says I don't want to hold people's hands in the ministry I just want them to be the type of people to get stuff done You know, give them the big vision And let them work out the details You know, that's who I'm looking for You know, maybe Barnabas Is more like, well I could take a guy Who maybe is lacking in some things And it just needs to be brought along He needs to just learn some things And work some things out with him and teach him and give him some instruction And be more of a hands on guy Who can see the potential in John Mark And can work with that So in order to Correct our character One, we have to be willing to admit our flaws Which can be the main hurdle that most people A lot of people will never get over But that's what John Mark did Oh, I'm the source of contention I'm the one that's divided these great men of God I'm the one who didn't want to go to the work It's because of me, because of my flaw Because of my character that this happened That's a big admission But if we're going to correct our flaws In life, that's something we Have to be willing to do Say, there's something wrong with me I need to fix it Well what is it? I don't know Let's all go around the room And share with everyone What it is that's wrong with us Let me get the mic out You know what it is Right? Hopefully But then you have to be willing to follow your example And I'll close in Proverbs 9 Just go to Proverbs 9, I'm almost done, I promise We'll close there Barnabas brought Mark around He saw potential Where Paul only saw failure And there was failure there It wasn't that Paul was being mean or nasty There was a failure There was a flaw And Paul said, I don't have time Give me Silas Give me somebody I know who's just going to go to the work Acts chapter 16, Timothy is well reported I'll take him I'll take somebody who's just going to get it done Now obviously, you know The John Marks, they need a Barnabas in this world too And if a John Mark Can admit his flaws And find a Barnabas And follow his example He can become profitable to even a man like Paul in the ministry But you know Part of following your example Is being willing to admit you're wrong It's willing to be able to I mean If, obviously Barnabas is coming to John Mark And saying, I'm going to take you with me, but you have to work on this And you need to look out for that And he's bringing him along to make him profitable He's pointing out things about his character flaw His character, his flaws He's saying, this is wrong This is wrong, fix this And look, we're living in such a snowflake generation These days, you can't tell anybody That they ever do anything wrong, ever Woo, get over it When people do things wrong You did something wrong You know, sometimes people fail And they have to be told, you failed How else can you Expect them to fix it If all we ever tell our kids Is nothing's ever wrong, you never do anything wrong You're perfect in every way You're just setting them up To be a pain in the neck for somebody else You're just setting them up for failure You know, we need to have People in our lives that can tell us What you did is wrong You need to fix this That's part of the Christian life That's how you become profitable That's how you go from being a flawed person To a person with less flaws No one becomes perfect Look at Proverbs 9, verse 8 This is just one example of this It says, reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee You know, if you get reproved by somebody And you just end up hating them The Bible says you're a scorner We should not scorn reproof You know why John Mark became a profitable person? Because when he was reproved He didn't scorn He said, no, you're right, I need to fix that Rebuke a wise man And he will love thee Rebuke a wise man But wait a minute, how could a wise man Need to be rebuked, he's already wised No, being somebody who can receive Rebuke is a wise person That's a wise character trait Wise doesn't mean Necessarily That you never need to be rebuked Because you just know everything, I have so much wisdom A wise person can receive instruction You know, John Mark Is a wise person Because Barnabas was able to come to him and say I'll work with you, but yeah, you're the problem You're why Me and Paul are separating It's your flaw that caused this But I'm willing to work with it Because I see that you can take rebuke You're not a scorner, you're a wise person John Mark I know that's true because he panned out Rebuke a wise man and he will love thee Give instruction to a wise man The guy's already wise Why would a wise person need instruction? Because receiving rebuke Receiving instruction is a characteristic Of somebody who is already wise You have to have that wisdom Otherwise you're a scorner You have to have at least enough wisdom To understand that you have problems You have flaws, you have things you need to work on You have things you need to get right That's where you start Give instruction to a wise man And he will be yet wiser Teach a just man and he will increase In learning I believe that's a good description of John Mark That's what brought him along through this journey Going from somebody Who had these flaws Who somebody didn't want to go to the work to end up Ultimately being somebody who was profitable To the very man that wanted nothing to do with him He said He's not taking him with me At the end of his life he's saying he's profitable for me You know, so maybe we have some flaws Maybe It's possible There just might be somebody I don't know, possibly in this room That has some things that aren't right that they need to work on I mean, just throwing it out there You know, just in case I doubt it's anyone in this room No, it's every single one of us Isn't it? Right? No one's ever reaching this level of perfection We all have things that we work on But you know, especially earlier on in the Christian life When we're younger in life We need to be More willing to admit that we Don't know everything That there are things that we do need to work on And obviously that's an attitude that we need to carry throughout our whole lives Okay That's the journey that we need to be on with John Mark That spiritual journey You know, we saw a lot of his physical movements But you know, the real journey that John Mark Was the character arc Of going from somebody that was Unprofitable to somebody that was profitable Somebody that was willing to admit That they were Flawed And somebody that was willing to follow The example that was set before them The godly man in Barnabas You'll only go as far in the Christian life As you're willing to be corrected Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer Dear Lord, again, thank you for Your patience, your mercy, your kindness Your long suffering Your gentleness with us, Lord Bringing us all along, Lord Despite our flaws, our faults Our shortcomings, Lord, that you work with us Lord, that you truly have chosen The weak things of this world The things which are despised The base things, Lord, that we are We have this treasure in earthen vessels, Lord There's nobody perfect Lord, I ask that you help each and every one of us To be able to admit that about ourselves Lord, help us to see what it is that we need to fix Help us to see what it is that we need to work on Lord, give us the humility Lord, to admit that we're flawed That none of us is perfect and help us to see That in ourselves and not to be hung up on other People and what they're doing Lord, to look inward, to look at our own selves To look into that perfect law Of liberty, to look into the mirror of God's Word, help us to see our own Reflection, Lord, and not to forget what manner of men We are, Lord, but to change Those things, to follow the godly So it is so very, very important In our lives, it's the first The first examples in our lives, not just In our parents, or in our church, Lord, but Ultimately, the example that is set for us In Scripture In your son And it's in his name that we pray, Amen All right, well go ahead and close with a word of prayer Or excuse me with one more song We'll lead to prayer I'm cooking up my hendlers to song number 32 to say in the land of the free, to say in the land of the poor, to redeem the class for sin and shame, for his proud he won on the low. And the Lord gathered me, he sent my praise, for he lives on high, he lives on high, triumphant of the sinning of his name. He lives on high, he lives on high, and so many struggling again. He who goes round heaven from the storm, to the land of the kind of driver, he is coming fast to the storm, and he'll take all his children home above. He lives on high, he lives on high, triumphant of the sinning of his name. He lives on high, he lives on high, and so many struggling again. He who goes round heaven from the storm, to the land of the kind of driver, the true Jesus, and the seed of death, there is one, there is one in victory. He lives on high, he lives on high, triumphant of the sinning of his name. He lives on high, he lives on high, triumphant of the sinning of his name. He lives on high, he lives on high, triumphant of the sinning of his name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .