Well, glory be, that's good stuff, amen? Amen. Man, just speak in the name of Jesus. Is there any other name better than the name of Jesus? Well, I think we looked at that Sunday morning, right? He will, what's that name mean? Jesus means what? He will save what his people from their sins. It means Yahweh what? Saves. That salvation is of the Almighty. That Yahweh saves. So just keep speaking that name of Jesus. Keep telling the story, amen? We ought to take a moment right now and just go to him and pray and ask him to be with those folks in the path of that storm tonight. As we're right here in this comfortable building and this comfortable setting, there's a lot of people who are under a lot of pressure right now, aren't they? And there's a lot of people displaced all over our country. right now, especially in the Carolinas and Georgia and various places over in the Appalachian area that we need to be lifting up and asking the Lord how we can help them out in whatever way possible and send the right people to them and the right aid to them to help them. Y'all have been through this before. Y'all have had tornadoes come through here and the difficulties that come along with that. and what a precious gift it is for a helping hand that comes along and help, amen? So let's pray before we get started tonight and ask God to help these folks in the path of this storm tonight. Father, we come to you in the sweet and precious name of Jesus, and we do wanna speak his name. and lift you up tonight and thank you for your kindness toward us, your goodness over us, for looking over us today. I thank you for those that you have called to be a help to those in need tonight, wherever they may be, whether they be in the Carolinas or Georgia or wherever that is. And we pray for those in Florida right now that are in the path of this storm that is barreling toward them and that they're already seeing the effects of that. Lord, you would have your way in the world when, as you tell us you do. that people will turn their affections and their heart towards you, that Lord, you would protect your people and their resources and that ultimately through it all, you would be glorified and you will be praised and that your church will step in and stand out and step up in a practical way that you would have a permanent influence upon those who are in need and it will be a personal touch that will come from your hand through your people and we're going to praise you and thank you. So we're praying for protection, we're praying for your purpose to be manifested and we're just praying that Lord you would look over and do what only you can do in the midst of it, that your name would be magnified. So we ask it for your help, in Jesus name, amen. Well, look, won't you take the revelation that you brought with you, and let's go back to Matthew, and we're gonna close this out tonight out of Matthew chapter number four, if you'll go there again, and we'll probably look over in the gospel of Luke as well. But I just pray that each one of us will be like those magi that we talked about Sunday morning, that we would, what, seek Jesus, that we would sacrifice whatever is needed, to find him, to hold on to him, to submit to him, to follow his lead, that we won't be like Herod that tries to stop what he's doing. We won't be like the people in the city of Jerusalem who were shaken and concerned because their lifestyle would get disrupted. And we surely don't wanna be like the priest and the religious people in that day. who simply wouldn't even take the time to go five miles down the road to see if these things were really what the scriptures say they were, and that we would be actively involved in the kingdom and the kingdom work that God has called us to be. So they all took a stand, we all take our stands, and Lord willing, we'll be standing for Jesus, amen? And we'll keep speaking his name. And we've already said that he's not that hard to find. putting our confidence in him and you start praising him. I want to tell you that you start praising Jesus and you do what you know is right in his eyes. You take him at his word, you start praising him and you won't have to worry about finding him. He's going to find you right where you are. He's gonna use you right where you are. If you're ever struggling with where he's at, you just praise him. For the scripture says that he inhabits the praises of his people, that we enthrone him with our praises. You start praising him and trusting with the little thing, that right where you are, just putting one step in front of the other. Stephanie has a bad back, and I probably shared this with y'all before, but she had surgery some 12 to 15 years ago on her back, and it's still not in the best shape in the world. And she's kind of tall, and she's got them long legs, and she's usually, when she's out and about, she's in a hurry now. So when it's wet outside, and I drop her off at that front door so she can go on in there and spend her money, I tell her to, y'all picked up on that, right? When I drop her off to go in there and have a good time, I always remind her, take short steps. Why? When times are slippery, you have to take short steps to keep your feet under you. You just have to. And we're living in slippery times, aren't we? Dangerous times, the scripture says. Perilous times. The scripture says, but they're also promising times. Why? Because the Lord promised His presence with us, amen. They're purposeful times. He knew these times would be here. He appointed us for these times. But if we'll just take short steps in obedience to Him, praising through it, and I know He will be in the midst of it, and He will find you right where you are. He'll lead you. into where he wants you to go, amen? And you just be a voice, like old John the Baptist was a voice. When all the important people were doing their important things, one man out in the wilderness was sent by God with a word. And that word is still radiating today, and we're still talking about it, but for what God did with him and how he worked it out in his life. And we wanna remember that whatever God says, man doesn't live on bread alone, but what? Word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. We wanna cling to what the Lord says, and I wanna read tonight in chapter number four, and I'll just start reading verse number 12. Now, we're gonna focus in on a few passages in it, but for us to just to get a feel of the setting of this, it would be good for us to see. Now, one thing you wanna think about is that not necessarily all these gospels, we've got four gospels that are good news from the perspective of each of these different men that were inspired of the Lord. They all had a purpose in why they was writing. They all had a specific audience for whom they were writing to. And Matthew's purpose was to unveil to the Jews that Jesus is the son of David the king of the Jews. Now, when you read in Mark's gospel, he's gonna bring out some of these things as well. You get over in Luke, Luke's gonna highlight some things, but they don't always go in sequence of the times and the events. So you have to be cautious, okay, and ask questions, where are they? who's with them, what are they doing right now, who is he speaking to, who's speaking to him so that you can get a good feel of where you're at in the life in the time of Jesus. So here we are in verse number 12, it says, now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he departed to Galilee. and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea in the regions of Zebalon and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying, the land of Zebalon and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, for the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And upon those who sat in that region of the shadow of death, light has dawned on them. That comes out of the book of Isaiah in chapter number nine. Now, if you went to Isaiah, don't do that tonight, but if you did and you get into chapter number nine and about verse number six, that's where it says, a child shall be born and a son shall be given and his name shall be called what? Wonderful. Counselor. What else? What's that? Mighty God, what else? Prince of peace, everlasting father. And the government shall be placed upon his shoulders and he shall order it and establish it. And the end of his government shall have no end. And in verse number seven, it says this, and the zeal or the passion of the Lord of hosts. will perform this, he will see that it happens. Well, we're reading about that happening that God said would come, has come. Now they're seeing this light. And he says in verse 17, from that time, from that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. I think John the Baptist preached that message too, didn't he? repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Verse 18, and Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee saw two brothers, this ain't his first encounter with these guys, he met them originally with John the Baptist around the Jordan when he was baptized. But over time, after that temptation we talked about last night, they went back to the Capernaum area where they were fishermen and Jesus went to Nazareth. And when John was put in prison, Jesus went back to Galilee, went through Nazareth, went up to Capernaum, and now he's gonna go find them men that began to follow him back then. And he comes to them and he says this, And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen. Then he said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. They immediately left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the boat with Zebedee, their father, and they were mending their nets, and he called them. And immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him." Now let's go a little bit further. and we'll kind of get a picture of what was going on. And Jesus went about all Galilee with these men, doing what? Teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sicknesses and all kinds of diseases among the people. And then his fame went out through all Syria and they brought to him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments and those who were demon possessed and epileptics and paralytics. And he healed them and great multitudes followed him from Galilee and Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and beyond the Jordan. And may God add Blessing to the reading of his word tonight. So here's a scene here that Jesus already had met Andrew and Peter. They go back to fishing. They had already started following him. You can read about that in the gospel of John. Well, Mark in chapter number one gives this same scenario that we see in Matthew. Now we're gonna go over in a moment and we're gonna look at another time that Jesus is gonna be away from these guys and they're gonna go back fishing again. And in Luke chapter 5, he's going to come by the sea again. And when he does this time, he's going to call them to come follow him. And the Bible says they're going to forsake all and they're going to follow after Jesus. So three different times. we see Jesus engaging Peter and Andrew and telling them to come follow Him. And they did, but then they went back to their profession. He comes along again and teaches them to come follow Him. And they start walking with Him. And one of the things that Jesus did in doing this is that we see him teaching them how to trust him, how to follow him, how to learn from him, and then how to fish for men. And that's how Jesus is gonna teach you and me tonight the same thing, that we are to repent, turn unto the Lord. What repentance is, is the idea to think differently afterwards. It's an afterthought. And you never repent unless you can put trust in who you're turning from. You don't turn from something just to turn to another something. That's just not how repentance works. Repentance is to think differently, have a different perspective of the one who you're putting confidence in. So you don't repent and then put trust in the Lord. You trust in the Lord and therefore you turn to the Lord. Because if you don't trust in the Lord and you turn just to another way of living, you're just turning to another bad thing. You're going from one bad thing to what? Another bad thing. So when you turn to the Lord and put your confidence in him, that means you turn to him, but you turn from something else. That's important. Why? Because we are called as ambassadors to go forth with this gospel. And what we want to do is in the power of the Lord, in God's help, we want him to use us to be an instrument, an ambassador to see men reconciled unto him. And for that to happen, they have to turn from where they are and put their confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. So they turn to him and in turning to him, they naturally turn from whatever that held on to them. A great picture of it is in 1 Thessalonians. Let's go look at 1 Thessalonians 1. Great picture of what it means to have a different way of thinking. Go to 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians chapter number one. Matter of fact, Paul even refers to this church at Thessalonica as being a great example. We can say they give way to the trademarks of what redemption looks like. When somebody turns to Jesus and therefore turning to Jesus, they turn from a way that was contrary to Jesus And then because they trust in him, they serve him. And then they live in a way of looking for the return of Jesus as they walk with him. Now I wanna be a tool that God can use to help people look to the Lord. Amen, don't you wanna be that? Isn't that what he called us to be? Fishers of men. So to be a fisher of men though, I trust Jesus. I follow Jesus. I learn from Jesus. And as I learned from him, he's in the process of making me a fisher of men. That's how this works. So in first Thessalonians chapter number. One, notice what he says in verse number nine. And this is talking about them being an example to everybody around them. He says, for they themselves, that would be the area around them, declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you and how you did what? Turn to who? You turn to God. So when you turn to God, that meant you turn from something else. There was some other way of living that you lived and that living was, God wasn't involved in it. So when you turn to God, what did you do? You turned from another way of living and that's the picture of repentance. Why did it happen? Well, Paul and then came in with the gospel and because the Holy Spirit was at work in them, God was affirming the message and the people received the word of God, not as a word from men, but they received it as what it is. They received it as God's word, that God had spoken to them. So what did they do? They turned to God from what? Idols. And what is an idol? anything that has our affection or our attention and our adoration that we put before the Lord. It could be anything. It could be yourself, right? Can you make yourself an idol in the sense that you are, you're gonna do life your way, how you wanna do it. It's most important to you. Can food become an idol? Can sports become an idol? Can family become an idol? Can hunting become an idol? Can your yard become an idol? Meaning that people put a lot of effort into their yards and they would rather work in their yards and tell other people about Jesus. Are you with me? What is that? That becomes what? Can a woman become an idol? Yes, can a man become one? Can your job become an idol? Anything, a way of thinking, can patriotism be an idol? We've already said it can be. I mean, because, hey, you know one of the biggest problems the Jews had with Jesus is that their patriotism was threatened by him. So what did they do with him? They killed him. Judas, for an example, Judas, y'all realize Judas is referred to in the scripture as the son of perdition. That is saying Judas was never a legitimate born again child of God. He didn't actually belong to the Lord but Judas was part of God's purpose and plan and what he was doing and Judas got swooped in with Jesus and Judas had in his mind what Jesus had come for is that he was gonna be this great king who would deliver his people from the oppression of the Roman empire. He was gonna be a great deliverer for them. And Judas was willing to give his life to this man who would lead them into this triumphal victory. But as they got closer to the cross and Jesus began to continually unveil his purpose in coming in that the chief priests and the scribes and the Pharisees and all would kill him, they would wound him, beat him and kill him. Remember when Peter stood before him that day and said, God forbid, you've done nothing. You don't need to be treated that away. No way you need to be treated. What did Jesus tell Peter? Get behind me. What you are more mindful of the things of man than the things of. God, you savor the things of man, not the things of God. Why? Because Peter loved Jesus. Peter knew that Jesus hadn't done anything deserving to be mistreated. If anybody had done anything to help people, it's this man. So no way he needs to go through that. And used by the enemy to attempt Jesus to make him feel sorry for himself. But you see Judas, when he realized that Jesus was not there to deliver them from Rome, Judas then began to capitalize the best way he could. And you know what he started doing? He started pocketing money from the treasury. He started taking advantage of the opportunities. For an example, when people would say they would do this, remember that woman came in and sacrificed her alabaster flask full of costly perfume. He says, oh, that could have been used for something else. Why? Because he, one, he needed to make a profit off of it. This ain't gonna turn out the way that I want it, so I need to capitalize on it. See, there's a lot of people in churches all over America and around the world that are like Judas. They approached this with a preconceived idea of who this Jesus is and they just been deceived like he was deceived, duped like he was duped. And over time they realized that the Jesus they thought was there is not the same Jesus who everybody else is teaching about. And now they just kind of dwindle off and go do their own thing because like Judas, they make their country and their ideas in the idolatry. But Jesus is not everything to them. You follow with me? He says they turn from their idols, but when they turn from their idols, they had to turn to somebody. And who did they turn to? They turned to God. Notice what he says, you turn to God from idols, but when you turn to him, you turn to serve the living and true God. That's how you know God's done this work in somebody because not only do they turn to God, not only do they turn from a false claim, a false idol, but they turn to serve the Lord. Why? I want you to think about this for a moment. We see this pattern throughout the scriptures. When Jesus delivers a person, he always delivers them from something to something. He never just delivers them out of a thing and leaves them where they are. It's always from something to something. Or we can literally say it like this. He delivers us from someone to someone. Colossians would say he delivered us from the power of darkness or the kingdom of darkness. And he delivered us into the kingdom of the light of the love of his son. God always delivers a person when he saves them and rescues them. A trademark work of his redemption is he takes us from something to something. So he delivered the people at Thessalonica from idolatry, but he delivered them to God and to what? Serve him. and they begin immediately to serve him. And then we see this next aspect. Not only that, but look at verse 10 says, and to what? Wait, to wait. Some other places in the scriptures use the word from the idea of wait, that is they live earnestly looking for the promise of his return. but to wait doesn't mean that you do nothing. He's already said they serve him, right? So to wait for the Lord means to work for the Lord. So not only do they turn to God and turn from idols to serve God, but also to wait and work for his son from heaven, whom God raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. Ain't that a beautiful picture? That's salvation right there. That's the salvaging work of the Lord, that he delivers us from something to something. Repentance is a turning to God, turning from self, turning to serve him and to wait for his son to come back. Because can God lie? He can't lie, huh? Did he promise he's coming? You know what the gospel has been promising to us? Look in verse number five of this same chapter. Notice this. For our gospel, the good news that we preached of Jesus did not come to you in just a word, in words only, but it came in what? Power, there was life in it, power. and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sakes. And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit." That's all evidence of God at work, amen. You know what, when we go out as fishers of men, because we trusted the Lord, Because we following the Lord, we learning from the Lord, and we fishing for men with the Lord, we don't have to do this work by ourselves. And all God's people say it. You know who does this work in us? The zeal of the Lord of hosts. God does this work in us. There's a little nugget I wanna share with you tonight. I carry stones in my pocket. Anybody, y'all carry stuff in y'all's pockets? I carry smooth stones in my pocket and I give them away to folks every once in a while. God will give me something to pass on to somebody. They remind me of David. Y'all remember when David fought Goliath? What did David go to the brook and find in the brook? What did he go look for? Smooth stones. He went and found, how many did he find? Why did he find five smooth stones? Anybody got an idea? Man, Goliath had four brothers, didn't he? I think he planned on taking out Goliath, but he figured that if I whoop him, if I take him out, I'm gonna have to fight his big brothers too. And he had some big brothers now. There were five of them big giants. And David, that little ruddy youth, was ready to get a hold of them. And he was ready to fight. I love the picture when you go read about it, how everybody was trembling in their boots. But David said, today, all the world's gonna know There's a God over Israel, amen. And David had his heart in the right place and the right way, why? Because God had proven himself to David time and time again in the past that when somebody's defying the name of the Lord, God's gonna get involved. You don't have to be afraid of him. Yeah, he looks big and he looks bad and he's been fighting all his life and he'll kill a natural man, but he can't handle the God that I serve, amen. So David took that sling and the scripture says David ran at him. and he slung that smooth stone and sunk it in his forehead and the big giant hit like a tall timber as it fell to the ground. And we know what David did, he went and took his own sword and then chopped his head off and all the Philistines got on the run and the people of God got stirred up and man, they chased him and went after him and a great victory was wrought that day. But how in the world did those stones become smooth? Did it happen overnight? It took time, didn't it? Took a lot of water rolling over those rocks over time to smooth them out. Well, sometimes we're like that. Sometimes God brings you through some difficulty and some hardship, some hard things in life that rolled over you and they smooth out some of the rough edges in your life. And God gives you a nugget of wisdom. on how to walk through the challenges and the difficulties. And he gives you a heart of compassion for those who are struggling in the battle. And sometimes old hearts are like those brooks that smooth out those smooth stones. And we got a nugget that we can put in the hand of a brother or a sister who's fighting a giant in their life. So I carry these rocks with me when I find somebody who's in need and God's given me something to give away to them, I'll take it out of my pocket and I'll tell those stories. I said, let me give you this move stone just as a reminder of, I used to think this kind of way and I used to go through this and I used to be hard about this, but God taught me a lesson in life by his grace And therefore, can I pass on a little nugget to you that'll help you fight the giant. Put it in the sling of your pocket that you can fight the giant. Because people around you are fighting giants every day, amen. They just need a little help. And you may be the very brook. of wisdom that God's brought you through a few things to help them out in the journey. But go to Acts 26. This is the nugget I want to pass on to you tonight. Tycoff, give you that rock, brother. Yes, sir. Acts 26. Look at it. Acts 26. Let's bless you. Paul is testifying under chains. He appealed to Caesar. There's been people who wanted to kill him. He's on his way to Rome, because why? God told him he was going to Rome. He was going to testify before kings and rulers. And Rome financed his trip from Jerusalem all the way on ship. He went through shipwreck. He went through stripes. He was beaten. It was men that made vows that they wouldn't eat another thing until they killed him, but God protected him all the time. Why? Because the servant of God is indestructible until God's done with him. Amen. No matter what men try to do, no matter what the world attempt to do, when you got a mission from God and God gives you a word on a thing, even when you don't understand how he's gonna work it out, you can count on the fact that God's gonna see it through. Why? Because he can't lie. Amen. And if he made a promise to you, and he gave a word to you, and he put a person on your heart, you can guarantee God's got a message that he's gonna get to them and he's gonna use you to do it. As we said already in the book of Matthew, remember that pattern right up front, where he said that it was by the Lord through his prophets, by the Lord through his servant, that's how God works. It's the Lord at work, but he always works through a servant. He always works through a servant. And in chapter number 26, in verse number 19, notice what he says. Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Key, being faithful to what God gives you to do. Being on mission with him, amen. If you're gonna be a fisher of men, you gotta trust him, you gotta follow him, you gotta be learning from him, and gotta use you to fish for men. I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, verse 20, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent, that is, what? Turn, turn to God and do works befitting repentance. For these reasons, the Jews seized me in the temple and they tried to kill me. Therefore, having obtained help from God, and all God's people said, boy, aren't you glad God'll help you, amen. How many of you need his help? Woo, you need his help. Not just when people are trying to kill you. You need his help every day, amen. Just to get up in the morning and do his work, you need his help. He said, therefore, having obtained help from God to this day, I stand witnessing both to small and great saying no other things than that which the prophets and Moses said would come. What did the prophets, what did the Older Testament say would come? I'm gonna give you three woods, three woods, W-O-U-L-D, three woods that would come. What is the first one? Number one, 23. What's the first thing that would come? That Christ would what? suffer. If Christ was to suffer, that meant that Christ had to live to suffer. So therefore, Jesus lived a life that you and I could not live. And the life that Jesus lived qualified Him to die the death that He died. And the death that he died qualifies every believer to receive the life that he lived. Praise God. Amen. It's the only way that happens. You got to be a believer who turns in trust to him, but the life that he lived qualified him to die the death that he died. Jesus was born to die. But to be born to die meant he had to live a life that nobody else could ever live except those that put their faith in him. And when they put their faith in him, now God qualifies them to receive the life that he lived. How does that happen? It's a God thing. What happened when Jesus died on the cross? And when we trust him with our life and give him our lives, give him our sins, the Bible says that God put our sin upon Jesus on the cross. He became sin for us. Jesus didn't have no sin in his life. Jesus never missed the mark with his father. Jesus lived by the grace of God and trusted his father to the very death. He was obedient unto the death. The father placed our wickedness, our iniquity, our lawlessness, our sin upon him and when he placed that upon him and dealt with your sin and my sin and dealt with it sufficiently, he propitiated and satisfied God on our behalf and then God said I'll give them your righteousness. Your righteous life will be accredited. I will count it upon them when they simply take me by faith and trust what I've done on their behalf. And therefore we become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Isn't that a miracle, amen? Isn't that a wonder? That we who knew nothing about righteousness become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. that tonight as I stand here in the sweet presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, I can't be any more righteous than I'll ever be because my righteousness is not of me, it's of him. It's what he did on my behalf, amen. So he would suffer. All the Older Testament tells us that he would suffer. He would suffer. Then let me give you the second would. Notice this. that the Christ would suffer and that he would what? Be the first to rise from the dead. Praise God, amen. Because he came out of the grave, we got a great hope that when we die, absent from the body, we are what? Present with the Lord, and one day, this old body's gonna be made new again, and flesh and blood won't inherit the kingdom of God, but he's gonna give me a new body. I don't know what it's gonna be like, but I know it's gonna be like his body. when he gives me a new body. You see, the Bible says that all the Older Testament said that he would live, he would suffer, he would die, and he would be raised on the third day. And praise God, amen. That's the good news, isn't it, Brother Jerry? Why? Because God is a good God. And you know who ain't good? Me. You. The world we live in. But because God is good, he's gotta deal with people who ain't good. Well, how in the world can he deal with me who's not good? He said, I'll come down and I'll take upon flesh myself and live a life that he couldn't live and die a death that he couldn't die so that I can give him a life that he couldn't attain apart from me living the life that he would never live. And a good God paid the price for sin to satisfy himself to make me righteous and good before him, amen. He didn't accept me because of me. Who did he accept me for? He accepted me because of Jesus and what he did for me. You see, we got two woods, right? Two woods. What's the first one? He would suffer and he would rise the third day. What's the third wood? Notice this. Let me ask you this. Did the first wood happen? Did the second wood happen? Don't you think the third wood's gonna happen too? Well, notice what he says here. I'm gonna read it again. That the Christ would, if I had a pen in my hand right now, I would underline the word would. That the Christ would suffer, and that he would be first to rise from the dead, and what? Would preach or proclaim light to the Jew, the people, and to the Gentiles. Notice that. Did y'all pick up on that? Everything we just read is all about who? About Jesus. What Jesus would do. What would Jesus do? He'll live and he'll die. He'll resurrect, but there's something else he's always gonna do too. What's he gonna do? Jesus is gonna keep preaching, but how is he gonna do it? Through people like you and me, amen? That's how he's gonna do it. So I don't have to go out and do this on my own, do I? Who's gonna do it in me? Hey, if Jesus did what he said, if the Old Testament told us and the New Testament affirmed, he would suffer, he would rise, and he would preach, he preaches through his people today. Remember, it's by the Lord, through his servant. So when I, what, trust the Lord, when I follow the Lord, When I'm learning from the Lord, you know what God's gonna do through me? He's gonna fish for men, amen? He's gonna fish. for men, he's gonna catch men. I'm just gonna be a vessel of his mercy that he's gonna work through. Remember the life that he lived qualified him to die the death that he died and the death that he died qualifies me as a believer to receive the life that he lived and the life he lived in he's living now where? inside His people, amen. So He is preaching through His people light, light. See, that's an indicator, that's a trademark. Remember what we said about the church at Thessalonica? They turned to God from serving idols to serve the living and true God. And while they served Him and waited for His Son, you know what they did? They proclaimed light. They proclaimed the gospel, amen. of a living Savior. And I always have to remind myself, if I'm not fishing for men, I must not be following Jesus, huh? If I'm not fishing for men, I must not be. Cause as long as I'm following him and learning from him, you know, what's going to be in my spirit. You know, it's going to be in my heart. You know, who's going to be preaching through me. Jesus is going to be preaching to me. And you know what Jesus is going to be preaching? He's going to be preaching Himself that He came to suffer, that He came to die, that He rose out of the grave the third day, and that He's going to keep preaching, come unto me all ye that are heavy laden burdened and I shall give you rest. To come to Him, you had to change your way of thinking. You obviously wasn't with Him, so you gotta come to Him, amen? And He'll give you rest in your soul, and He'll use you, and use you in a mighty way. I carry other things in my pocket as well. I carry nails in my pocket. Let's see if I got one in here somewhere. I may have one. They fall out from time to time. I use these nails. I got a box sitting on my, by my Bibles right now to make me a new batch of them. I engrave on there, he died for all, 2 Corinthians 5, 14 and 15. For the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5, 14, for the love of Christ constraineth or compels us. And we judged us that if one died, then all died. And he died for all that those that live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who what, died and rose for them. So I take these, Brother Jerry, from time to time. I come across people when God leads me. I got something I could put in their hand and share with them that, hey, Jesus gave his life upon the cross, and if he was willing to take three nails on the cross, I could be willing to share with at least three people what he's done for me, amen, a week at least. So I give nails away. I carry pacifiers in my pocket. Y'all think I'm messing with you now, I didn't. I carry these little pacifiers around with me. Why do I carry them around? Because I'm not going around letting everybody know they're crybabies. That's not the whole point of it. But I do it based on Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes says we came into this world with nothing, right? We entered the world naked and we're gonna leave the world what? I mean, Brother Jerry's got all the money in the world, I know. But when he goes, Miss Priscilla's gonna spend it all, right? And when Miss Priscilla goes, those grandkids are gonna get it all, right? Maybe, we don't know. We don't know who's gonna get it when we out of here, right? If you're like me, my kids ain't got nothing to look forward to. About the only thing I can give them is my Bible, right? Scripture says we enter naked, we leave naked. He says, but it's a terrible thing to leave this world and all points that you came. How did we come in this world? Not only naked, but we came a sinner. A sinner. And you know these little ones in here? I see little man's got him a book. He was showing me his book early. Awesome Ideas, a Lego book. Where's that book at? Is it right there? There it is, I see it, I see it. These little girls, don't look at mama. You got baby dolls or Barbie dolls? Does she have a bicycle? She ain't got a car yet, does she? When we get a little bit older, we go from having a pacifier, you know what happens to our pacifiers? They just get more expensive, right? They go from being a bicycle to a side-by-side or a four-wheeler, then a little car, a little truck. Our BB guns become hop-out rifles. John, you got a hop-out rifle? How many you got? Don't tell us in here, we don't want nobody to know. How many of y'all got more than four guns at the house? We get boats and cars, and then it's a camp. Then it's this, and then it's that, and our pacifiers get more costly, don't they? So I'll put this in people's hands and just remind them that hey, if something doesn't happen in your life where Jesus interrupts you and life is no longer about you, becomes about him. Scripture says it's a terrible thing to leave this world without Jesus. Just use it to share Jesus with people, amen? I carry beans in my pocket. I do. I carry red beans and white beans. I carry coffee beans in my pocket. Why? Because they're all teachable tools. I've got one right here. Do y'all know this bean right here, if I left it sitting on this communion table, and somehow or another, nobody touched it for the next 100, 150 years, say 200 years from now. All our farmers in here, and I know we got several of them in here tonight, know that in this being there's life in this being but the life in this being is dormant this being has to be planted in something right it's got to be planted in the right soil at the right time season to get the right kind of moisture and the right kind of sunlight but when it's planted in the right way at the right time what's inside this being is going to come alive The shell's gonna break, and what's in it's gonna burst forth with light. This bean could sit in this room for 500 years, and you put it in the right atmosphere, it's gonna blossom into life. We just don't know the potential of how many beans are in this bean, do we? Just think about it. If you took a pole bean and planted it, that's one vine in it. But how many beans are on that vine? And how many beans are in the beans that are on the vine? I mean, God only knows the potential of it. But you know what the Bible says, that every word of God is a seed. And when it's planted in the right heart, that seed's gonna come to life. when it comes to life it has a distinct fruit that is going to be blossomed off of it. For an example, if I took this coffee bean and planted it in the right atmosphere, which planting it around here wouldn't work, because a coffee bean wouldn't grow in our area here. But if I took a red bean and planted it out in one of y'all's fields at the right time, it would grow. But you know what? If I planted a red bean, I wouldn't expect tomatoes to come off of it, right? Why? Whatever you plant, that's what you're gonna what? You drastically reduce your options when you plant a seed. Am I right? Because soon as you plant a certain seed in the ground, the only thing you can expect from that seed is whatever the life is in that seed. So coffee beans don't produce red beans and red beans don't produce coffee beans. Are you with me? Well, that's how the Bible refers to faith. For an example, Hebrews 11 says, faith is the substance of what? The things. The substance of things, hope for. The evidence of things, what? Not seen. You know what that is? Remember, faith only comes from hearing and hearing by what? the Word of God. So when God takes His message and plants it in our heart there's an expectation that is going to come out of that that God produces Himself. So the substance of things expected is the fruit, the evidence of things not seen is the root. The root That's the picture of faith. God speaks a word, we believe it, it gets planted in a believer's heart, it roots us because when you plant a seed, how many of y'all are in the harvest right now? Anybody harvesting right now? Anybody? Who brought the tomatoes? You got the tomatoes. How many weeks or days from when you, did you plant plants or did you put seed down? you set out plants. How long did it take before it started producing? Two months. Now have you ever seeded tomatoes? When you put the seed Whether it be a tomato, there's a process we know you've got to go through in getting those right for the ground. But how long does that seed normally take to germinate and then before it ever starts pushing a shoot through the ground, what kind of time frame are we looking at? about a week, and then you're going to deal with several months before it ever gets to the place where it's up getting enough sunlight for it to produce a fruit off of it. But the whole while that shoot is going up, what's going down? The evidence of things, what? Not seen. See, the farmer, when he plants that seed, whether it be cotton or soybeans or whatever it is, or corn, he knows there's a process going on in the earth. God's made a law that this earth is to produce. So when you put that seed in, you know that it may be a week or so, but something's happening under that soil. Something's happening under there. And those roots are going down and it's getting filler roots and it's tapping in before you ever see the first blade come out of the ground, before the ground even cracks. It's going down. See, that's how faith works. God gives you a word, it's rooting itself in you. But that word is always gonna produce the fruit that is expected off of it. That's why when you take Hebrews 11 and walk through it, every one of those people that it talks about, like for an example, Noah, who was moved with fear because he had a word from the Lord to do what? Prepare. an ark for the saving of his household. So God planted it in him and then the fruit of that would be his work that he was doing in preparation for the ark. So you could always tell what faith looks like by the fruit and what's being rooted in them will always trace it back to the Lord. and a word from him, amen? So when we believe like Acts 26, 23, that Christ would suffer, Christ would rise, and Christ would preach, you know what that does? That puts us in a position to say, Lord, I know you're gonna use me. I know you're gonna use me. I'll make myself available. and I'm ready for you to go to work in me. Why? Because I trust you. I'm gonna follow you. Lord, I am gonna learn from you. And I know you promise you'll make me a fisher of men. And I'm ready to be that fisher of men. Amen. Well, we're not gonna go to it because of time's sake, but in Luke chapter five, we see that same picture. But the difference between Matthew 4, Mark 1 and Luke 5, in Luke 5, when Jesus had a multitude of people listening to him preach, the scripture says there were two boats on the side of the sea there. And Jesus got into one of the boats, and those men had been fishing all night long. And Jesus asked Peter to push the boat out into the sea. And he talked. And when they were in the shallow waters, he told him to launch out, to go out. And Peter said, Lord, we've been fishing all night. We didn't catch anything. And then Peter, he told Peter to do what? Let down his net. And when he let down his net, then he told him to lift it up. And when he began to lift it up, there were so many fish caught in the net, he had to holler to James and John and say, come help me. Come help. And they got in their boats and came out. And then they let others help them bring in the fish. And that's just a great picture for you and I. That the scripture says, when they got back to the land, Jesus said these words to them, be not afraid. Be not afraid. For you will, from now on, you'll catch men. From now on. This is what your life will be consumed with. catching men and the scripture says they didn't just leave the nets, they didn't just leave their boat, they didn't just leave their father, the scripture says they forsook all and they followed Jesus, amen. What a beautiful picture and I just encourage you in the same manner, trust Him, follow Him, learn all you can from Him, let Him make you a fisher of men. Launch out where He tells you to launch. Go. Let down the net wherever He tells you to let it down. Lift it up for His glory and let other people join in the work that He's given you to do. And I want to tell you what He'll do. He'll use you. He's going to preach through you. He's going to preach through you and use you in this community and abroad. to see people rescued by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? He promised it. He promised he would. He promised he would. And I believe him. So Lord, let it take root in us and let your fruit blossom out of it. Amen? Use it for your glory. So would y'all stand with me tonight? Father, we bless you, thank you. Thank you for your patience with us, your kindness toward us, your grace in our lives. And I pray tonight these truths, these nuggets will be like smooth stones in the sling of your people as they go forth and fight the battles of everyday life, that they will go forth as fishers of men who have forsaken all to follow after you. and you would just simply proclaim your truths through their life. So may you be magnified, may you be glorified, and may souls be rescued in this place and abroad through your gracious work. In Jesus' name.