(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

everything was great and and everything is on the up and up overall but just that those five baptisms put us over the the mark from last year too so we had 20 baptisms last year and now we have 23 for this year so just one more cool boost there at the very end that I figured I'd share with everyone here continuing on we got the offering tools this down there at the bottom of the page received through the month of December prayer requests please pray of course for all of our ladies who are a child that are expecting to be delivered soon and pray that all the pregnancies go well and then also pray for all the people who are in serious have serious medical conditions that we have been praying for I don't know if I'm up to date still now with everything I think I saw something else added recently right so so an update here that Seth posted today after church for his friend Roberts that's down at the at the bottom of the list who has the advanced pulmonary fibrosis pray for him his wife Judy he wrote here that he's in the intensive care unit and his doctors estimate that he won't make it more than 36 hours at this point now I think he I believe he did also say that he's saved he did say he was saved earlier by a week ago when he added him to the to the prayer list so let's just let's pray for Robert as a church right now collectively and pray for God's healing especially since it's it seems to be extremely dire circumstances if the doctors are not giving them very much longer to live we'll pray for Robert and Judy dear Lord I just want to pray this this evening for Robert and his wife Judy and Lord we know you're a god of miracles we're that you're a god that is not nothing is too hard for you Lord and if it be your will Lord we'd love for you to see glory and honor given to your name for miraculously healing this man Robert that that is so ill and the doctors are estimating that he doesn't have very much longer to live we pray that you would please bless him and heal him dear Lord and I pray that you would please help him his wife to get through this very difficult time and strengthen them dear Lord and and bless them and God your your will be done to Jesus name we pray amen and then we also had an addition from mrs. Smith mrs. Megan Smith had said that her stepdad's niece Mary Grace went into labor early so she was three weeks early and the baby did not make it so we're gonna pray for Mary Grace and her family as well very devastating loss their loss of a child just like the we're also praying for the Louderman family that had a five-month-old child passed away recently too so a lot of very sad sad news for those families so pray for God's strength and comfort for them and then I also added my cousin's son so I believe that makes him my second cousin he had a grand mal seizure last night but thankfully everything oh no there seems to be no lasting impacts with of course the doctors have no idea where it comes from which seems to be kind of common unfortunately a lot of times they can't find the source cause of seizures so it's gonna add him to the list and pray for him and her family as well and then does anyone have any updates for those who are on the the list do we have any updates on Chihan or is there anything new on with her treatment or anything okay okay yeah yeah yeah yeah her immune system down right right right she's recovered from the surgery fully and then they feel like they got it all anyway so right so so it didn't look like it's spread anywhere beyond just to be on the safe side that they want to just give her a lighter dose of that thank you thank you for the update on that to appreciate that does anyone else have any updates for us yes ma'am oh no okay okay is she stable and in the hospital that okay okay but this is I mean she's been going back and forth right like this is unfortunately not uncommon but still not a good obviously not a good place to be so okay we will propose her lungs it's still a problem that area is doing better with her lungs for now yeah okay all right well we're definitely keep her on the list and and continue to pray for her so just let us know how things continue with that anyone anyone else have any updates all right very good please please take these home with you and and again pray for the the people who are on our list this evening on the next page of course this is our watch night service so this evening we're it's a little bit different we're gonna do some people call popcorn preaching we got we got different preachers in our church we're gonna come up and you got about ten minutes each we got six different men are gonna come up here and preach tonight and ten minutes isn't that long of a time for these guys to really flesh out a point but they're gonna have to make do so I'm excited about this I think this is great I think it's awesome just kind of dovetailing off of this morning sermon you know the point where we're at right now as a church just how we've grown how we're looking to expand by by planting another church that we have six men that are gonna be able to come up and for the church and preach for us and be able to have a good you know a good message I'm sure you'll be blessed by every single one of these all these men have been going to the preaching classes I've had opportunity to be able to hear everybody preach so it is it's gonna be great and it's just it's wonderful to see our church grow and see men being trained and and able to preach the Word of God as and and you know Lord willing will continue to just train many many more men to be able to go out start new churches and continue the work of the Lord that's what it's all about we want to do the maximum effort we can and and when everyone's in their place and everybody's working together for the common goal we're gonna see a lot done and it's just it's super exciting so that's the format for this evening so we won't be reading entire chapter but we'll have the different guys come up and they'll be giving their own sermons each and then immediately following our church service at the last song we're gonna we're gonna be sticking around having a fellowship so we're having pizza delivered well not delivered I'm gonna go pick it up but there'll be pizza here after the service so stick around and join us and with these events all the stuff in the fridge well all the stuff that church bought is fair game I don't want to speak for anyone else's stuff if they someone else someone else brought food if it looks like a personal container you leave that alone but all the all the drinks there's like you know different types of sodas and juices and and everything is up for grabs this evening so we're gonna hang out we're gonna just enjoy some fellowship have a dinner together anyone that could help I'd appreciate after the service to just set up some tables would be great and yeah well this will hang out we'll have some fun and if you want to stick around till midnight and bring in the new year you're welcome to join us and stay here for that or stay as long as you'd like and then and just enjoy the fellowship so very exciting night continuing on January Bible reading challenge we do have I forgot to mention this this morning I've mentioned it before though we have little sheets that that were made up that you can keep track of the nine chapters so there it's it's a sheet that's divided up into okay you know day one would be Matthew 1 through 9 and then Matthew 10 through 18 you know you have the the breakdown of nine chapters so it's the the New Testament starting with Matthew 1 doing every nine chapters so you can check off the box when you've gotten to that point so that is available for you if it's gonna help you to get this done then great especially if you miss some days or you don't quite read nine chapters or whatever you kind of get off that target it kind of lets you know where you need to be to be caught up or whatever so help yourself to any of those if those run out if we don't have any more of those let me know we'll print off some more and in general just speaking about supplies and stuff please let me know when we run out of there before we run out of things if you notice it just just let me know so I can restock the things that we need it seems a little odd and and maybe someone else knows where these things are I'll throw it out there I don't need anyone to answer anything right now but church invites it seems like we you know I ordered 8,000 of them just over one month ago and I don't think we distributed 8,000 invitations now if we did I mean praise the Lord like like that's just a little bit more than than what we've been doing so if you know where they're at maybe they're they're they're tucked away somewhere I don't know there's probably a box somewhere I ordered more so we're gonna we'll definitely get another 8,000 here in a next week but if you haven't if you know where there's stacks of those things if you've seen them somewhere just bring them out and and put them where the you know in the bookshelf where all the rest of them are or if you know like Oh Pastor Burns that was me I took a whole bunch for something and that's fine too but if you're gonna take like a whole bunch also let me know right like they're they're there for the taken as are the Bibles as our you know all of our supplies and if you do other things and you have other times and you go out soul-winning and you do whatever right and and you want to distribute material have at it and we'll support that but just do me a favor and let me know if you're going to you know raid the supplies as it were so that I can keep up on making sure we have enough for all of our efforts here all right very good new church plant in Greenville South Carolina please be in prayer for this because we just we need to get that space identified so we can get the ball rolling and just hit the ground running over there we are set and ready to go for this as soon as we get that spot we are going to really be all you know full steam ahead on that endeavor Bible memory passage Hebrews chapter 10 is listed there we got a few weeks left down at the bottom of page we got the upcoming birthdays and anniversaries and this isn't all of them there are still more birthdays it's just what fit on the page for the month of January so there are more people that I am aware of if your birthday is after the 24th and it's not listed there they probably will be listed by next week upcoming events on the back is the homeschool field trip and the movie pizza movie night and that's gonna be right here of course both events back-to-back 4 o'clock for the field trip followed by the the pizza and movie at 6 and that'll be kind of between 6 and 7 for the the pizza and then starting the movie around 7 o'clock so hope we can make it out for that May 13th is our church camp and I think that is about it for our announcement so I am going to turn the service over to brother Austin it's gonna lead us in our next song and that is song 36, Christ Arose. Song 36. Oh in the great he lay, Jesus my savior, waiting the kind he made, Jesus my Lord. One from the grave he arose, with the mighty child for his clothes. He arose a victor from the dark domain, and he lived forever in the saints today. He arose, he arose, hallelujah Christ arose. Maybe they watched him then, Jesus my savior. Maybe they sealed him then, Jesus my Lord. One from the grave he arose, with the mighty child for his clothes. He arose a victor from the dark domain, and he lived forever in the saints today. He arose, he arose, hallelujah Christ arose. Death cannot keep his grave, Jesus my savior. He tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord. One from the grave he arose, with the mighty child for his clothes. He arose a victor from the dark domain, and he lived forever in the saints today. He arose, he arose, hallelujah Christ arose. All right, let's open up with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this preaching hour and the preaching that will come forth. We ask that we all would be edified this day and be encouraged and you glorified. In Jesus' name, amen. Turn your Bible with me to the book of Acts, Acts chapter 16. Once again, that's Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16, the title of my sermon this evening is a saying to do more in 2024. Usually we don't, you really won't hear that word of say much in our modern vocabulary today, but a say simply just means to make an attempt, which means that you're determined. This can be inwardly or so, but whatever your determination is, you're basically looking to make an attempt to do something, to make something come to pass or go after anything. But the context here in chapter 16, it actually goes back to chapter 13, where Paul and Silas, excuse me, Paul and Barnabas are sent out of the church of Antioch for their missionary journey. There comes a time where there is a split between Paul and Barnabas. Barnabas ended up taking Mark with him. Paul ended up taking Silas with him. Paul ended up taking Silas with him. In chapter 16 here, Paul picks up another young man on his team, a guy named Timothy. It's also known as Timothy. And when we get to this second missionary journey of Paul, and this time he has Timotheus with him, they are hitting many different cities. They're going through many cities and they're preaching. They're hitting many different churches. And let's pick up in verse 5, because verse 5 is where we're going to start to get our title from for the message. The Bible says, And so were the churches established in the faith and increased and numbered daily. Now, when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they were come to Mysia, they are saved to go into Bithynia, but the spirits suffered them not. So we see here, Paul and his company are traveling about there. They have plans. They have cities that they are looking to map out and they're looking to go across these cities. But if you notice in verse 5, verse 5 is a really important verse because verse 5 says, And so were the churches established in the faith and increased and numbered daily. Right. Think about what he said there. The churches that they went through on their missionary journey, their second missionary journey here, the churches that they hit, they were established in the faith and they said they increased in number daily. But then here's a catcher right here. Verse 6 says, Now, when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, then it said, verse 7, and they were come to Mysia, they are saved to go into Bithynia, but the spirits suffered them not. You say, well, what's the big deal about verse number five? Because verse five says the churches were established in the faith and they increased in number daily. But then yet we see that in spite of that verse six, they're looking to do more. They don't get comfortable. These churches are established. They are settled. They're growing daily in number. Yet Paul says we can do more. He says, well, we're going to us say to go into this city and that city. And it kind of reminds me of what Pastor was preaching on this morning. He's talking about how we have seen as though we're trending up over the past five years. We have an increase in numbers weekly and monthly, and we see yearly that the numbers are going up. Ties and offerings are going up and we see the baptisms are going up, the salvations are going up. It seemed like everything is going on on an upward trend. But one thing we have to be cautious about is getting comfortable where we're to a point where we're just hitting these trends and we're hitting these peaks. And then we're just taking a bit of ease. One thing we don't see in verse five is where when they are establishing these churches and they increase in number daily. You don't see where Paul and the rest of the crew say, let's lean back. These churches are established. But no, actually, in verse six and seven, they say they are saved to go into this city and that city. What we see is that they're attempting to do more in spite of churches getting settled and churches getting increased daily, getting people getting added to the church. We see that there is a constant. Urgency of growth from Paul where they're looking to do more. And that's something that we can take from this where don't get comfortable when we go into 2024. But we've got to say we've got to attempt to do more. We see that there was a increase in verse five. We see that they increase and were settled daily and grew in number daily. But then verse six, let's go on. We're going to see the same. We're going to see the attempting. Look at verse six. It says, Now, when they had gone throughout for Gia and the region of Galatia and were forbidden, you say, well, it didn't say they made an attempt. Well, yeah, it didn't. But look at the context. It said they were forbidden, which means that basically the Lord said, no, don't go here. Well, that means that they made an attempt and they were forbidden. They were not able to go there. And then Paul didn't just throw up his hands and say, well, I guess there's nothing else we can do. No. Verse seven says after they were come to Mysia, they are saved to go into Bithynia. So we've seen two attempts, verse six and verse seven, where Paul has this this attempt, this a saying to do more him and his team. And we see that they have a desire to do more. Here's I'm going to leave you with one point today is a short message, of course. So I'm only giving you all one point today. The one and only point is actually a statement. Here's the thing. If you are saying or attempting, if you are saying to do more for God, God will open doors for you. If you are saying to do more for God, God will open doors for you. You say, how can that be? Because they say everywhere they went, the Holy Ghost forbid them here. They tried to go to Mysia. The Lord said, don't go there. Well, look at verse eight. God finally opens the door for them. Verse eight says, and they passing by Mysia came down to Troas and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him, saying, come over into Macedonia and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. They were willing to do more. They were saying they were attempting to do more for God. And God eventually opened up the door. In spite of some doors being shut, all the doors were not shut. God had a door open for them in spite of their saying, in spite of their attempts not being successful. Now, here's the thing. From the text, we could see that it may not always go according to your plan, because Paul had a plan to go to this city. They had a plan to go to that city and the door was closed. Things may not always go your plan. When you're attempting to do a work for God, it may not always go according to your plan. It may not always go according to your setup. And in Paul's case, it may not always go according to your location that you want to go to. But yet, in spite of that, God is still able to open up doors. Here's the thing. Especially when it's a work that you're trying to do for God, especially when it's according to God's will. God will open up a door. You say, how can that be? Well, think about what Paul was trying to do. Yes, God was closing doors. But what was Paul trying to do? He was trying to go around and preach the gospel. He's trying to settle churches. He's trying to establish churches. He's trying to start new churches. And of course, is that not God's will? That is God's will. So eventually, in spite of him saying and attempting to go to this location in this city and doors closing, God had a door open for them. And that's something for us to take courage. I personally took courage from this passage of Scripture in general because I think about, you know, with what we have going on in Atlanta here, with Stronghold Baptist Church Atlanta, how, you know, pastors just mentioned it earlier, we're on the upward trend. It seems like things are going good. But, you know, one thing we're not looking to do is just have that flowery bed of ease. Well, we're just sitting back and comfortable. No, it's been in a bulletin for a while that Greenville is a place where we're looking to do more. We're looking, we're saying to start churches in different cities, just like Paul did here in the book of Acts. So as we're saying to start this church, you know, I'm encouraged. And I pray that everybody else is encouraged by it because, you know, this here made me take courage because Paul is going to this city and that city. And, you know, it seemed like, you know, me and pastor on a weekly basis are talking about buildings on a weekly basis. And it seemed like doors are getting shut. Seemed like you have a door open and this one gets shut. And it seemed like, you know, I think, like, will this even come to pass? Is this even God's will? But then when you open the word of God, yes, it's God's will to start churches any and everywhere. Will it always be easy? No, we see that with Paul and the rest of the guys. They're trying to go here, trying to go there. God said, no, don't go there. I don't need you here. I don't need you there right now. Doesn't mean that area won't get touched. But listen, God still open up that door eventually. And I'm convinced and I'm taking really good courage out of this scripture because I believe that eventually that door will open. That door will open. And, you know, all the labor and the hard work that goes behind it right now with us trying to find this building, it will be well worth it. And it's the last thing I'm going to touch on. I'm shutting it down here. I think about, you know, this was another thing that made me take courage because the Macedonian call. You know, I figured that, you know, yes, pastor, he could have took the fiery bit of ease and say, you know, we're on the upper trend. The church is growing daily, weekly, monthly, just like the church here in Acts. And just like Paul and these guys didn't say, well, hey, that's that's all we're going to do. They are saved to do more. Pastor, even in 10 years of ministry, is looking to do more. Looking to do more in 2024. And I'm all for that. And I believe that there are people in Greenville who, just like the Macedonian people, saying over here, come over here. We need the help over here. And it's not just people who attend here who live up there in Greenville, but the people who don't know us, people who would say that someone just come and answer that Macedonian call. Let's have a word of prayer. Lord God, we thank you for the for the ability to hear your word and be encouraged by it. I pray, Lord, that we all get fired up and are excited about this church plan and what you have for us in 2024. And we ask, Lord, that you would be with us and let your will be done in your son Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Church, go ahead and start opening your Bibles to start off at Psalms, chapter 55, as you get prepared. All right. Psalm 55, verse 22. The Bible reads, cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. Let's go ahead and open up a prayer. Father God, we thank you for just taking all of our burdens. We thank you for being who you are and thank you for being God of all and just allowing for us men to be able to preach in this church and to grow. We just praise you. Thank you for all that you do in Jesus name. Amen. The title of my sermon today is Leaving the Baggage Behind. Leaving all that back behind for 2023, starting off something new in 2024. What type of baggage do we probably have? We probably have people in our life, family or friends, talking bad about you because you go to a church like this. So you're in a cult. You have family, friends. You probably have that pet sin of yours that can so easily beset you. That thing that's your baggage of 2023. You have your finances. That's probably affecting you. Probably saying, you know, like we're probably saying, well, I want to go somewhere. I want to do more. My finances are not right. Some people, especially of age, they probably have the help that's affecting them and it's causing them to not do more. And so like we have all these things taking place in our life. And so instead of us looking at those things and saying, hey, I'm going to let that hinder me from doing what God has called me to do. We can still go out here and still do more. Amen. And here's the thing. I brought this tape here because here's the thing. A lot of this stuff can affect us where it ends up making us, you know, unfruitful, unprofitable. And it does damage to us. So another like a subtitle to the sermon could be damaged goods. We have things in our life easily beset in us. A lot of things in our life that cause us to not be fruitful when it comes to the things of God. And you see how this box here has a tape. Well, when you rip it off, usually it takes off. So a lot of this stuff that happens to bother us. So easily beset us. A lot of that ends up doing damage to us. Our sin does damage to us. The things that people say to us when they talk about that we're in the cold and they try to hold us back from doing the things of God. Yeah. Sometimes our finances. It hurts us. It hurts us in our walk with God. Sometimes even our health, when you could be a three to die person and your health is just taking a toll on you, instead of you being in church, you know, for Sunday morning and Sunday evening and Wednesday night, a lot of times people have health issues, financial issues. Sometimes people have transportation issues. Well, when it comes to the things of God, instead of allowing those things to hinder us, we should be able to speak up as a church. We're a church family and we should be able to talk to others and say, hey, I'm struggling in this. If you have a sin, talk to somebody and say, hey, I'm struggling in that. If you have some situation financially, talk to somebody and say, hey, look, can somebody pick me up so I can come to church so I can, you know, get Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday night services? You know, be able to open up and say, I want to be a part of church. I want to be able to go further in the word of God. Amen. Don't let those things hinder you. Because here's the thing. All of us go through something, right? And I'm going to go to John chapter 16, verse 33. You don't have to turn there. I'm just going to be able to read it because of time's sake. It says, these things have I spoken unto you that in me you might have peace in the world. You should have tribulation. What's another definition of tribulation? Troubles. What's another definition of tribulation? Issues. In this world, you're going to have issues. But what does it say in here? But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. So even when it comes to the things going on in the world, when you have trials, when you have tribulations, when your finances not looking right, when your health is not looking right, when you got certain things bothering you, instead of you being quiet, tell people in the church, hey, I got an issue going on. Can somebody help me? You know, we should be a church that's able to come to somebody and say, hey, if you need help, you got my hand. You got me to help you. I'm able to be a support to you. Amen. Because what do we start with? We started with Psalm 55, verse 22. Cast thy burden upon the Lord. He shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. But here's another thing. Matthew Chapter 11, verse 28. Come on to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. When you come to a church like this, when you have burdens that are from outside the church, your job having a job causing you issues and you have family members causing you issues, family members that say they don't want to be a part of you now because of the church you go to or what you stand for, because we stand hard on the sodomites, we stand hard on certain things that other people in the world are against. We have people going against you and your job saying, hey, you need to work on Sunday. But you say, no, I don't want to work on Sunday. And then you end up losing your job for that sake. When you end up getting persecuted for the things of God, you need to come to this church. You need to be around people that do care about you because we're your spiritual brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen. In 2024, instead of us carrying the baggage, instead of us having all the issues that we have, let's leave all that behind, because you know what? In the end of the day, this world is going to pass, right? It says here, Romans Chapter eight, verse 18. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Amen. Second Corinthians, Chapter four, verse 17. For our light, get this. The Bible's calling it light for our light affliction, which is but for a moment working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Now, Paul went through some things, you know, you look at the book of Job. Job went through some things. These men of God in the Bible went through some things. And I'm glad to know, hey, look, even in 2023, when I had left that church, my wife, like a lot of people calling her and going against her and saying, why did you happen to do this? You know, it's good to see somebody else that was on the same shoes as me, Brother Preston and his crew going through the same thing where I have phone call after phone call telling me, hey, look, you shouldn't have left. I have a persecution happen to me. But you know what? I stood my ground. I came here and you know what? I'm serving God. I'm doing way better. My family's doing way better. And you know what? Even got persecuted at my job because they wanted me to work on Sunday. But I said, no, I lost that job. But you know what? I got a far better job. So you know what? Things are going to come against you. You're going to have trials, going to have tribulations. But as long as you stand with the word of God, as long as you let that baggage go and you move forward, like the Bible said, what pastor preached on this morning, press toward the mark of the high calling of Christ Jesus. When you do that, God's going to be with you. Behold, he's with you until the end of this world. OK, so I want all of us to take that with us. 2024 is going to be a great year. We have an awesome church, by far one of the best churches in the world. And I say that boldly. So let's make this year a great year. 2024. Let's go ahead and close out in prayer. Father God, we thank you for strong hope at this church. We thank you for all the lives that are here, the all the people that are doing the work of God. And no matter what trial tribulation takes place, God, that you will cover us, that you strengthen us. You allow for us to be strong for 2024. And then we do way more than what we've done last year. So, God, we just praise you and thank you. Bless the other man is coming up to be able to preach the word with boldness and to also give clarity to our minds so that we could be able to take notes and take something with us as we go home. We praise you once again. We say this in Jesus name. Amen. All right. If you guys could grab your Bibles and turn to Proverbs chapter twenty nine. And while you guys do, I'm just going to open up a word of prayer. Your heavenly father, thank you for this opportunity to come up and preach the word of God. Lord, I pray that you fill me with your spirit and with boldness. And I pray, Lord, that the words are in your word. And that the message that you put on my heart will be edifying to the church father. Thank you for everything that you do. In Jesus name. Pray. Amen. All right. You guys should be in Proverbs chapter twenty nine. We're going to. My passage is going to be in verse 18, where the Bible reads where no wisdom is. Sorry. Where there is no wisdom, the people perish and he that keepeth the law happy as he. So I'm kind of following the same road that it seems like a lot of other people are following about a New Year's resolution. And what really inspired this for me was I'm reading a book. It's called Atomic Habits. And part of the thing that the author is highlighting is that when you're trying to establish new habits or you got goals to reach, whether it's in the new year or at any time throughout your life, if you want to change something, you need to have a vision for it. You need to have a system that will help you get there. And why is that important? Why do we do that? Why do we have New Year's resolutions? Why do we want to change different aspects of our lives? Well, it's to make us happier. And the Bible says that he that keepeth the law happy as he. I mean, keeping God's law is not meant to be a burden for us to the world. Yeah, they think it's a burden. But for us, it is our freedom. We get freedom from sin by keeping God's commandments. And if you guys could turn to Ecclesiastes chapter nine. So my goal is not necessarily to show you how to make a vision or what your vision should be, but I'm kind of going to kind of give you an example on a good goal that everyone can have. And a personal goal of mine is just to grow in wisdom for this upcoming year. And that's a very broad term. Like I said, you guys can apply that however you need to. I tried to make this sermon very broad so it can apply in many different areas. But in Ecclesiastes chapter nine, we get a story of a poor, wise man. And in verse 13, the Bible reads, This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me. There is a little city and few men within it. And there came a great king against it and besieged it and built great bulwarks against it. Now there was found in it a poor, wise man. And he by his wisdom delivered to the city. Yet no man remembered that same poor man then said, I wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless, the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. The words of a wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that rules among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroyeth much. So we get here a picture of a poor, wise man. And it kind of reminds me about how in the law God tells us if we keep his commandments and if that were faithful, then whole armies can be dispersed before us, sent to flight against one or two people. And just kind of imagine the circumstances that this city is in. It's a small city, few people in it, against a great king with great war capabilities, great war machines. And how was this city delivered? Well, it wasn't delivered by the city's own strength. It wasn't delivered by the men of war. It was delivered by a poor man who was wise. And to me, this kind of makes me think of a kind of wisdom that only can be given by God. Because, I don't know, we've got some pretty wise people in this room, but how many of you think you can deliver an entire city out of the hands of a great army that is a huge war machine? I mean, to me, that just seems like a great wisdom that only God can bestow. And after this great of a victory, we can see the conclusion of the matter. And it wasn't, like I said, it's not based off of our own might. It's not based off of our own capabilities. But rather, it was delivered by wisdom. And I'm paraphrasing here, but the Bible says that the Lord has chosen the poor of this world rich in faith. So it doesn't matter if you're poor. Wisdom can be gained everywhere. It's not something that is hidden away. It's everywhere. You can read then Proverbs chapter 1 and just throughout the Proverbs. But one thing that it does say, it says the words of wise men are heard in quiet more than him that ruleth among fools. So wisdom is something that you really have to look for, pay attention, and listen to. You have to listen to what the word of God has to say. You have to listen to the guiding of the Holy Spirit. Because if you're just letting the cares of this world distract you, you're not listening to what the word of God says. You're not paying attention to it. And also, one thing that really stood out to me was that at the end of the passage it says, Wisdom is better than weapons of war. Now for us, the Bible is our weapon. This is how we gain our wisdom. This is how we fight against the enemies of this world. That's how we fight against the devil and his adversaries. And in Hebrews 4, 12, the Bible says, For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of joint and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. So think of it kind of like this. When you're a warrior and you pick up your sword, you can't just never use a sword, pick it up and start throwing it around and be a skilled user with it. Same thing with the word of God. It is powerful, but you have to know how to use it. You have to have the wisdom and knowledge. And you also have to have a vision on how it works, how you use it, and the best way to attack and defeat our enemies and to strengthen ourselves. So it has to be used with wisdom. And also that wisdom is our riches. We get our riches in this lifetime from the word of God. It's the most valuable thing that we have in this world. And in Proverbs 16, 16, how much better is it to get wisdom than gold and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver? So one thing that we all need to do, and I encourage everyone to do just on a daily basis, is to get and receive wisdom. And like I said, you have to have a vision on how you're going to do it. And a great way to start is with the Bible reading challenge. Start by reading the Bible more. Like if you're only reading a couple chapters a day or nothing at all, start by reading the Bible with this challenge. And like Pastor always says, read with the understanding. It is far better to read slower and not read as much, but to understand exactly what you're reading. And the Bible says, The heart of him that understandeth seeketh knowledge, and the mouth of fools beateth on foolishness. So don't be a fool. Forsake the foolish things of this world. Put off the sins that so easily beset us. And get that vision for how you will seek wisdom, how you will serve God. Because that is what will bring you joy and happiness in this world, and ultimately impact the people around you. Because like the Bible says, it's one man that can change the course of an entire nation. It's one man that can stand the gap that makes that difference. And we've got a whole church full of people that love the Lord and that serve him on a daily basis. So if one poor wise man is able to deliver an entire city from a great foe by his wisdom, then what can a church like Stronghold do when we're all wise and bestowed that kind of knowledge and wisdom? What great things could we accomplish if we get a vision for what the Lord wants in our lives, and put our own desires aside and put the Lord's will before us? Thank you, and we'll close with a word of prayer. Your Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for everything that you do, Lord. Thank you for this opportunity to come up and preach your word. Father, I pray that you'll bless the next man, fill him with your spirit, and give him wisdom, Lord. For it's name, Jesus, I pray. Amen. If you'll turn to Ephesians, chapter 6. I'm going to be piggybacking off of Brother Austin. Ephesians, chapter 6. The title of my sermon is to use your sword, or if you want to keep the theme, you can say use your sword in 2024. Ephesians, chapter 6, starting in verse number 11, it says, Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take on you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Dear Lord, thank you for this opportunity to preach your word, fill me with your spirit, and to keep me from saying what I shouldn't say, and to give me wisdom, and to give me the right words that people can understand, and bless us as we go throughout this day, and keep us safe, in Jesus' name I pray, amen. So, I'm going to talk about how we need to use the word of God, we need to use our sword. Brother Austin has already kind of talked about it, you know, the sword is our weapon, and we are in a great spiritual war, if you'll turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 10. But the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12, For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, or piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints of tomorrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. So the Bible says that the word of God, the sword that we're supposed to carry, our spiritual sword, it says it is the word of God, and it says that the word of God is quick and powerful. This book here is the most powerful thing on this planet, it is powerful and it's a living word, it's not just some dead book, it is alive. The Bible says in Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 29, It is not my word like as a fire saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces. The word of God is powerful, it's amazing, when you read this book, nobody can deny that this is a divine book. The Bible says all scripture is given by inspiration of God. So the Bible is not just some book, it truly is the word of the Lord. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, in verse number 3, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the boiling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exulteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. So we're in a great spiritual war today. I mean, I don't know if you know this, but the entire world is against us. I mean, everybody hates us. I mean, the Bible told us that the world would hate us, and we can see governments hate us, we can see, you know, that the homos out in the world, they hate us, all the false prophets, all the churches, religions, everybody hates us, and we're in a great spiritual war today, and the weapon that we have is the word of God. I mean, all of Hollywood, the media, everything is against us. It's all fighting us, it's fighting our families, it's fighting our children, it wants to take our children, it wants to brainwash them and to teach them lies, and the Bible says that we need to take the shield of faith. But what is our faith supposed to be in? It's supposed to be in God. It's in the word of God. So not only is the Bible our only defense in this war, but it's also our only weapon, and we need to use it. We don't need to just let it sit on the shelf. We need to pick it up, read it, and use it in our lives. Don't just turn on the TV and just watch the TV. Use your weapon, use your sword to fight against what the world and what the government and what everything is fighting us. We need to use our sword so that way we can stand, because if we don't use our only weapon, our only defense, we will fall. And I want to make a specific application of this if you turn to 1 Peter 1. The Bible says in James 1.18, Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. So the Bible teaches that we're saved by the word of God. The word of God is what gets us saved. And the word of God is amazing. You think this is the same word that spoke all of creation into existence. It's the same word that spread the earth over nothing. It's the same word that, you know, that split the seas open. It's the same word that Jesus used when he spoke it. It calmed the seas and it commanded the oceans and the seas. It's the same word that when Jesus Christ comes back, he's going to wipe out the Antichrist and all his armies. And it's the same word that when spoken, people are made to understand the gospel. It's the word that when it's preached, confusion, it becomes simple and we can understand. It's not that we just understand the gospel. It's through the word of God. And 1 Peter 1, verse 23 says, Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. So the word of God has to be preached in order for us to even get saved, for us to even be born again. It has to be this word. It's not my testimony. It's not my life story. My testimony is not the power of God and salvation. This book right here is the power of God and salvation. This book is what needs to be preached. And so we need to use we need to use our sword and our daily lives, but specifically our soul winning. When we're preaching the gospel to people, we need to use our weapon. If we're going out into war, you know, if you think about like World War II and the trenches, we're going out. But we have no weapon. We don't have our rifle. We're going to get slaughtered. We're going to get destroyed. We're not going to make any advancement at all. So we need to use the word of God, our only weapon, to be able to preach to people so that they can they can understand the gospel and they can believe on Christ. The Bible says in Romans Chapter 10, your faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Doesn't say that it comes by my testimony. Doesn't say it comes by my own illustrations. It comes by the word of God and it has to have a preacher. I mean, the word of God by itself doesn't get off the shelf and go and win people to Christ. It takes a preacher to actually preach the word, but it takes the word. It's not it's not just the preacher. It's not just the word. It's both. We have to preach the word and use our sword in this war or else we're going to fall. Our families are going to fall. They're going to crumble and we're going to let the devil take over and take over our kids. I don't want the devil to take my kids. I don't want the devil to take over this church. I don't want the devil to take over my community. I want to win. I want to fight. I want to strive and I want to use this sword, the only weapon that we have to be able to fight. And if we don't even open this book, we're setting ourselves up for failure. I'll just go ahead and close in prayer. Dear Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to preach. And I pray that I was able to communicate the message that I have in my mind. To take your word and to take your sword and to apply it and to use it and to use it for our defense, but also to use it for our offense. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. All right. Go ahead and turn to 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2. I'll go ahead and open up with a word of prayer here. Dear Lord, thank you for this time to come to church and to hear all these different sermons and thank you for the things we've heard so far. And I pray that you would just bless the rest of our evening, help us all have safe trips home when we go later tonight. And I pray that you would just feel me in your spirit now and help me to preach well. And in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. So 2 Timothy chapter 2, look at verse 1 where it says, Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses. The same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. Thou, therefore, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And the title of my message tonight is Endure Hardness. And if you don't like the King James version of that, you could just say do hard stuff, do hard things. Endure Hardness, that's what the title is. Because right there, Paul is telling Timothy, endure hardness. And specifically, you know, he's talking about, you know, when you serve God, trials, tribulations, hard things, afflictions, they come your way and you're going to suffer. That's the Christian life, right? And we can get that, you know, just knowing the Bible here, but also if you look at elsewhere, I'll just read this. Turn to Matthew chapter 16. In the context of 2 Timothy and chapter 1, verse 8, I'll read this. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. For the which cause I also suffer these things. So when we're talking about in this context, we're talking about suffering, enduring hardness, we're talking about suffering for the cause of Christ, right? As a soldier of Christ, he even says, okay? So, you know, the Christian life is hard. It is if you're doing it right, right? Yea, all that shall live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, the Bible says. But, you know, I'm going to be preaching something a little bit different tonight. I'm not going to be preaching about, hey, endure hard things when they come your way. I'm preaching primarily on, hey, put yourself through hard things on purpose. You're like, what in the world? Are you talking about like self abuse? I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about doing things that are hard but that are good for you. That's what I'm talking about. And dear hardness, because you know what? He compares the Christian life to being a good soldier. And I don't know of any soldier that, you know, is just a soldier. Oh, there's a war? Okay, well, let's go for the very first time and I'm going to start the fight for the very first time. I hope I'll be good at it. And you're figuring out how to use the gun and, you know, you're tying your boots for the first time. You're sharpening your... No, you need... A soldier prepares. There's a thing called boot camp, you know, and even in the Bible, you know, Abraham's men, when they go to rescue Lot, it's not like, okay, we got to go rescue Lot. How do we fight? No, they're obviously training. They're prepared. Okay, so don't wait for hard things to come to you because we could live a very pampered, easy life in America. I mean, yeah, persecution is things happen, but, you know, I think in general, though, we could probably live pretty easy, laid-back, chill lives, right? And we don't need to get too comfortable, too at ease, okay? We need to put ourselves through hard things. Well, where does the Bible say that? Well, you know, you're in Matthew 16. Look at verse 24. Matthew 16, 24 says, then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Deny yourself. That's you putting yourself through hard stuff on purpose. But it's not just, you know, you're not cutting yourself or something, you know. This isn't suicidal tendencies we're talking about. We're talking about doing hard things, doing things that are good for you, doing things that are the right things to do, right? Why? So you'll be ready for something when it does come your way. When things are external, maybe you can be ready for it, right? You know, when Jesus is picking his disciples, it's funny. He's picking people that are working. Oh, these fishermen, you guys, you're going to be my disciples, right? As they're casting their nets, you know what I mean? As they're mending their nets, you're going to be my disciples. You know, it's funny. He didn't go to the Romans. They were just chilling out in their togas and just laying around all day. No. Like eating grapes or whatever. You know, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with eating grapes, but he's picking people that are working hard, people that have a little bit of discipline already in their life. They're working every day, right? I've never been a fisherman. I'm sure it's work, okay? So, you know, don't just do the easiest thing that you could possibly do. Just take the path of least resistance all the time, every day. Just do what feels good. Just don't do anything uncomfortable. You know, we need to do things that are uncomfortable. That's the title of this message. It's Endure Hardness. We need to put ourselves through hard things. And, you know, you can apply this to so many areas, and I'm going to apply it to some right now. We can, you know, how about we skip, you know, just a meal every now and then? How about we skip the carbs? Skip the sugars? Because it's everywhere. You know, I know everybody eats pizza, so eat the pizza. But I'm talking about, you know, if you're alive every day, just, you know, cereal, chips, and just, you know, every day, all the time, you're just, I mean, we live in this abundance. We can eat all the time, like Pac-Man. You know what I mean? The vast majority of the foods that there are are not good options, you know? So don't just let your appetite just go unchecked, because you need to tell yourself no sometimes. Don't be like Solomon who just never told himself no. You know what happened? He said he hated life because he never told himself no. And, you know, we need to tell ourselves no. We need to deny ourselves and do the hard thing, okay? You know, eat things that aren't fun. Eat the vegetables, right? Eat the whatever, the meat, right? Or maybe, well, that's fun, so I don't know. You figure out what's the hard thing, right? You know, get up early. That's hard. Get up early. Go out in the cold. Go out in the heat in the summer. You know, sweat in a, you know, sweat out sowing in a suit, right? Out sowing in the heat. I don't like that. I don't go sowing in the summertime because it's not comfortable. Well, you know what? Do something hard anyways, because people are dying and going to hell whether or not it's hot or cold, whether or not you sweat or not. Why don't you do something hard, right? You know, why don't you read your Bible until it hurts? Why don't you do it until it's uncomfortable? Do it. Well, I just don't want to do anything uncomfortable. Well, I'd hate for the Christian life to be uncomfortable. I'd hate for you to have to endure hardness. That sounds like work. It is work. You know what? It's good for you though, okay? You know, we need to be trying to use our brains, our minds, you know, learn things, you know, memorize things, you know. Don't always use the calculator. You know, use your brain. Think. Learn until it hurts, until it's hard. It's good for you, right? Spiritually, we need to be doing spiritual things until it's hard. We need to be enduring hardness spiritually. Don't just do all the easy stuff. Well, I can't go to a stronghold. That's 25 minutes away. Yeah, tell that to the people that drive an hour, two, four, or whatever, right? Sometimes more than that depending on, you know, where they're coming from. I'd hate for you to have to do anything hard that's spiritual. I'd hate for you to ever have to be bored, wouldn't we, right? Be bored sometimes. It's good for you. Don't just think you always have to have something entertaining you at every moment. Do something that's hard, and I'm not even saying that that's hard. But for these days, that is a hard thing, right? You know, we should be challenging ourselves. Lift weights. Exercise. You know, think about things that are hard. Think about your weakness, you know, because some people might, yeah, I'm doing this area, right? I'm already doing whatever the area, but what about the areas you're not doing anything hard in? Think about that for yourself. Pick your weaknesses and try to start doing things that are hard in that area, okay? That'll help you to be better. Well, how's, you know, exercise going to help me be a better Christian? Well, maybe you'll live longer, and then you can serve God an extra 20 years, right? You know, and just in general, you know, how about just being able to run up a flight of stairs, up sowing, and you're not just, hang on a minute, you know, I'm from Stonewall. Oh, sure, you know, you got the book bag on. You know, there's some practical things that could transfer over, you know. And I'm not trying to pick on you if you, I'm not trying to pick on anybody. So please don't think, you know, hey, it's New Year's resolution. You got to talk about starting to work on a diet, right? I can't just say the same things that all these guys have said so far. That's boring, right? I want to make somebody feel uncomfortable in a different way, you know. Okay, don't just take the easy choice. You know, I'm out of time. So endure hardness, okay, endure hardness. Go through hard things. Put yourself through something difficult, uncomfortable. Don't burn yourself out. Don't do too much. Progressive overload is the key. You know, just do something that's a little bit harder than what you normally do, and then go from there, always pressing on the upward way. There's your song idea. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Lord, thank you for this popcorn preaching, men's night, and for the opportunity Pastor Burgin has given us all to just preach what's on our minds. And I pray that this was a blessing, and I pray that you just be with the last preacher, Brother Peter, and in Jesus' name I pray, amen. You can tell Brother Devin was watching YouTube to prepare his sermon. All right. All right, let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you so much for allowing all of us to come up and preach, Father. Thank you so much for just blessing this church the way you have, Father, and just I'm excited for this new year, Lord, and what it has in store for us as a church, Lord, and I'm sure there's going to be a lot of great things happening, a lot of challenges, in some cases persecutions, Lord. Lord, keep us strong. Keep us faithful. Let us continue to press towards the mark and move forward and do bigger and better things for the year coming forward and beyond. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen. All right, so if you guys can open up your Bibles, to the book of Luke chapter 16. Luke chapter 16. This is my first watch night service. I'm excited about being here. I've been going to the church since we started here in the building, and so this is my first time. Something always comes up at the beginning of the year, but I'm here and I'm excited. I'm glad I'm preaching, too. So look at verse number 23 there in Luke 16. Actually, before I get into that, let me just go into the title of my sermon. The title of my sermon is, You've Earned It. You've Earned It. Now, kind of a strange title. It doesn't really give any context, but I am referring to, you've either earned heaven or you've earned hell. Now, I know that sounds crazy when you talk about earning because earning is something that you're not going to be able to earn. Now, I know that sounds crazy when you talk about earning because earning is something that merits some type of work. I'm going to show you that earning doesn't necessarily mean you have to work. You can earn something without working. We do know that our salvation is a gift. A gift is something that's free, something that's given, right? But just because it's free does not mean that there's not a prerequisite for that. The prerequisite for our salvation is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. For by grace you say through faith, and not of yourselves, a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. It's not works that saves us. What saves us is our faith, but it doesn't take work for our faith. Now, when it comes to going to hell, you can also go to hell by unbelieving or not believing. But the fearful and the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the sorcerers, whoremongers, and adults, nurturers, and all liars shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. See, they've earned hell because of their unbelief. We earn heaven because of our belief. But we don't work for it, the same token over here. If they don't believe, they're going to hell. Now, obviously, they have to obviously do something in terms of a sin to not go to heaven and to go to hell, and guess what? The Bible says, yea, let God be true, and every man a liar. So everyone has lied before, everybody's sinned before. So, what do we earn that doesn't require any work? Well, for those that are going to hell, we see there in Luke 16, verse number 23, they earn torment and fire. They earn torment and fire. Look down there at verse number 23, it says, And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torment, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. So this story, just to give you some context, it's a rich man and Lazarus, which is a beggar, they both die, and they go to two different places. Lazarus goes to heaven, and the rich man goes to hell. And this is the rich man here, he lifted up his eyes and was in torment. Okay, verse number 24, and it says, He cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in torment in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things, and likewise, Lazarus, evil things. But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. Unfortunately for this rich man, he has earned torment and fire. Okay, but for us that are saved, guess what we earn? When we go to heaven, we earn rest. We earn rest. Turn to John chapter four. John chapter four, while you turn there, I'm going to go to Hebrews chapter four. Verse number nine says, There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of the unbelief. Now, for those that are tormented, you're not resting. But for us that are saved and going to heaven, we are resting. Okay, guess what? Guess what we also don't have to worry about? We don't have to worry about a bunch of fire either. Why? Because we get the opposite of that. We get water. We get water. Revelation 22 one says, And he showed me a pure river of water, of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. John four, you guys are there. John four, Jesus talked about giving us living water. Jesus answered this. He was talking to the woman at the well, and he said unto her, If thou knowest, this is John four, verse number 10, If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that say it to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. Verse number 14 says, But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. You see that? There are opposites here. Hell, fire, and torment. Heaven, rest, and water. It's a good thing. It's a good thing. Now, one other thing Hell has that you earn, not only do you earn the fire and the torment, but you earn everlasting punishment. Everlasting punishment. Turn to Revelation 14 for me, and I'm going to read Matthew 25. From Matthew 25, verse number 31, it says, When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats. This is talking about a separation between saved and the unsaved. At the end of the passage, for those that are unsaved, which are the goats, it says, verse number 46, And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. Do you see? We earn, right when we get to Heaven, we earn rest, we earn water, we earn everlasting life, but it's the opposite for those that are going to Hell. Now, I am talking to a group of saved individuals. So, you guys get to say, Well, I don't have to worry about going to Hell. I'm good. I'm good. But, actually, turn for me to 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1. I'm running out of time. I've got to cut some things out. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1. See, you guys are saved. You guys are good. You don't have anything to worry about in terms of facing Hell. But, you know, there are people that go to Hell that are actually good people. Good people can go to Hell. There are people that I know that are good people, and they just don't want to listen to the Gospel. And it's just like, if you were to die, no matter how good you are, no matter what you do, you know you're going to go to Hell? It's a shame. It's a shame. But here's the thing. The Bible says that there's none that doeth good. No, not one. And so our job is to go out and give the Gospel. And this is what this church is about. And hopefully we never let the fire burn out. Hopefully we can still stay on fire. Let's keep it towards that 2024 theme. Let's stay hungry for that and never lose sight of that, no matter how many churches get planted, no matter how many people come into church. Hey, let's focus on going out and giving the Gospel. Look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse number 8. It says, In flaming fire, taking vengeance of them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. So the thing is, when you don't obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, you're going to face that fire. You're going to face that fire. Obeying doesn't mean, in this context, doesn't mean to work. It's putting your faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us go out. God has given us the message of reconciliation. God has committed to us unto the word of reconciliation. God has used us as ambassadors for Christ. So let us go out there and be that. Let us go out there and preach the Gospel to those that are lost. Now this isn't some high doctrine sermon. I got 10 minutes. It's not going to be a high doctrine sermon. But hey, it's the foundation. And we can't forget about the foundation. We can't forget about it. Acts chapter 10. I got about a minute left. Acts chapter 10. Go ahead and turn to Acts chapter 10. I'm going to read it quick because I don't got much time. It would be a shame if we ever forget the first works. God will take the candlestick from us. And this church will be gone. Acts chapter 10, verse number 42. And he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of the quick and dead. To him gave gave all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. Notice that God commanded us to go give the Gospel so those people can have remission of sins, too. He's given it to every single prophet before us. So, hey, let's not lose that fire here in 2024. OK, let's stay focused, church. Let's continue to grow. Let's continue to bring people in here. Let's continue to have five baptisms in one day. All right. And let's bow our heads in heaven with a prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you so much for this church, Father. Lord, I pray that this sermon was edifying to those that were here, Lord. I know it's not deep doctrine, Lord, but it is foundational, Father. And, Lord, thank you so much for allowing me to come up and preach and be able to share what you've placed on my heart here, Lord, for your saints. Father, Lord, we love you. Keep us strong. Keep us bold. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. All right. We're going to open. We're going to. Turn to song one hundred and forty four. Song one hundred and forty four. A mighty fortress is our God. Song one hundred and forty four. All right, let's sing this out on the first. All right, let's sing this out on the first. Just see. All right. All right. All right. All right, let's sing this out on the first. So much for coming, you guys are dismissed.