you We were walking down a very lane of paths so long ago, both ending in my father's die, making me feel low. He brought up thoughts of hurting me when I had gone astray. He wanted to discourage me as I walked along my way. He said, you're undeserving because I know where you've been. I have a record of your life when you were bound by sin I know your darkest secrets that you would never tell What makes you think you don't deserve a place with me in hell? Well I heard the old accuser, and this was my reply You're right for all the things I've done, I sure deserve to die My righteousness is filthy rice, my goodness is unclean. There's only one thing I can say to what you said to me, it's under the law. Oh, praise his dear name. I've known what I used to be, my life's been changed. Not shackled by sin and shame, it's already gone. I'm happy reminding him it's under the plow. Victory was given me when I was born again. He washed my sins and sinful past and put new life within. No longer do I bear the part that sin had brought my way. With happiness and peace of mind, praise God, I now can say it's under the blood. Oh, praise his dear name. I'm not what I used to be. My life's been changed. Not shackled by sin and shame, it's already gone. I'm happy reminding him it's under the blood. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? It's nothing but the blood of Jesus, it's under the blood of a prince's dear name. I'm not what I used to be, my life's been changed. Not shackled by sin and shame, it's already gone. I'm happy reminding him. That's why it's worth not sparing any expense to get them in here. OK, we're so glad I take that every service. I appreciate it. That's a blessing to me. Youngsters and go on out. Good to have you here today. And just for those of you that don't think I can remember names, it's Kip and Lisa, right? Now, that's probably the first time that I've ever remembered two names. So of course, Lisa is my daughter's name. And Kip, I have one friend named Kip, and it's not a really common name, but it's good to have you with us today. Of course, good to have every one of you here today. This is a needy world, and it's sure nice to be able to be in church. I was just thinking here how that it's a time for healing. Healing's gonna be part of what we look at today, but it's a time for healing. And you know when you do healing, sometimes you have to clean out the wound, don't you? And the healing's not gonna start until you've cleaned all the mess out of the wound, and that's what we wanna do when the Word of God convinces us of sin to heal our wicked hearts. But not only that, it's good to have ointment to pour in. The Word of God's an ointment, isn't it? But sometimes it's the friends that you have that know the Lord as Savior that are just a pleasant ointment with you, isn't it? Sometimes it's the singing that's a blessing to you. I walked into our room this morning and Nora was playing a whole new group of people singing. They're young kids singing wonderful songs of Zion and it just thrills my soul to hear that. And one of the things I look forward to in heaven is to be able to sing with the tongues of an angel. I can sing a little bit, but not very much. But singing is such a great part of our life, isn't it? You ever thank God just for the fact that who would think that by speaking that we can speak, we can communicate, some high voices, some low voices and so on, but that God would make it so that different voices would harmonize and we could make a beautiful song of praise to God. I'm reading in several places in the Bible about how they praised God, like when they came across the Red Sea, they sang a song of praise. Tonight, I think, we'll be singing a song of praise when Barak won that great victory in the book of Judges. They wrote songs to commemorate those things. Isn't that a wonderful thing? We should be people that sing, not the songs of this world, but the songs of Zion. In your Bibles tonight, today, if you would, turn to the book of Jude. It's a short book, the book of Jude, the book of Jude. Several things contributed to this, but it's been working on my head and heart for a while. But Jude, verse three, and it's not what I preached on this verse many times, but one word stood out to me really from another passage. And I started thinking about that. I want to try to impart a blessing to you today. Book of Jude, verse three, beloved. And by the way, that's what we are as believers, isn't it? We can call, I didn't grow up Baptist, I grew up in a Methodist church, and when I went to a Baptist church, I thought they must have all been related to one another because they all called each other brother and sister. Must have been a pretty straight family tree, you know what I mean? But we are brothers and sisters in Christ because we are children of God by adoption, and that makes us beloved, doesn't it? Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you the common salvation, It was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints." I've preached many times on this, that it's the faith that was once delivered. If the faith were not available like churches that claim to be restored today, no church that God founded was restored because it was once delivered, not re-delivered. There's not a note on your door that says it was tried and it's going to come back another time. It was once delivered to the saints, and God has the power to found His church, then keep it, maintain it through all these centuries. It was once delivered, but it's needful that we contend for the faith. That's not only our joy, it's our calling, it's a blessing to us to contend for the faith because The faith is marked by this one truth that has the power to separate you from your sins. They were just singing a few moments ago about our sins being under the blood. Our sins being under the blood. The civil authorities, all they can do is put you to death. That doesn't happen very often anymore. All they can do is put you to death because sometimes a life is forfeit for crimes that you've done, murder and so on. Well, if the blood was shed, that means shedding of blood for sins. When Jesus Christ shed his blood, he was bearing the sins of the world. He tasted death for every man. And when he rose from the dead again, that means that the offering that he himself offered of himself was acceptable. The sins he was bearing weren't his own. And he left my sins and yours if you're saved in hell. and he rose from that grave, and now he's our advocate in heaven. When the devil tries to come and accuse us, that's Revelation chapter 12. He's the accuser of the brethren. When he tries to accuse us, like in Job, before the throne of God, Jesus, he's one of mine. He's one of mine. And if you're one of his, you can rejoice in that. When I speak words like this, my whole back tingles. It still does. I've been preaching this for a long time. But I want you to notice this in verse 3. I run into you the common salvation. I looked at the word common in some other places as well. We'll see some of those today. But the common salvation. The Bible tells us that Jesus came for those that are in need, didn't he? I needed him desperately when I got saved. I realized I deserved hell. I could almost smell the smoke of torment when the gospel was presented to me. And I trusted Christ as Savior because I needed salvation. I needed remedy for my soul. And Jesus came for the needy. You can look at Luke 4, 18, it tells us, He came for the needy, didn't He? He came unto His own. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. He came to His very own people, and they wouldn't receive Him. That's a sad thing, isn't it? Bible says in Acts 10, the testimony of Jesus was, in verse 38, He went about doing good. So the one that died for our sins was guilty of being kind to everybody. Say, well, he wasn't kind to the Pharisees. He spoke the words the Pharisees needed to hear. They were self-righteous, proud, and wicked men. And Jesus exposed the self-righteousness, didn't he? Sometimes the only way to be humbled is if you are humiliated. And it's so sad that there weren't more of those religious leaders that were followers of Jesus, but he went about doing good. And yet, you know, the gospel and so many other things that he preached and that he recorded in scripture are common truths, just ordinary truths. And we should appreciate them for that fact. I want to look at some common truths from the Bible. Let's pray. Lord, bless this time together. You've already blessed me with it, Lord. I pray that you'd help me to impart that blessing. to your people. May your spirit speak through me words whether I plan to speak them or not. Lord, even let me enunciate the words so that the one with difficulty hearing can hear and understand each word. Just bless this time, but Lord, most of all, may your spirit have free course in hearts today. In Jesus' name, amen. The Bible tells us in Colossians that we are complete in Jesus Christ. If you don't have Jesus Christ as your Savior, that is, dwelling within you, there's something missing. All the booze in all the world's not gonna fix that. All the drugs in all the world, all the numbing that can happen is not going to fix that lack that is there. When Adam and Eve sinned, the Bible says that the day you sin, you'll die. Well, it doesn't appear that they died, but it sure is revealed when it says they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and they hid themselves. Why? Because there was something missing in their lives now. They rebelled against the Holy God, and now they had to flee from Him. They had to hide from Him as if that were possible. That's what's missing. It is that fellowship you could be having with Jesus. I've seen so many pictures. The pictures we've seen of the Northern Lights, weren't they incredible? God didn't have to do that. He could make everything look like the desert. I've lived in the Sonoran Desert, the Mojave Desert. And yes, there's some beauty there, but I'd take the northern lights, I'd take the northwest of Montana any day over those places, and God didn't have to do all that. But He did that for us, didn't He? The first thing you notice is this, the common salvation. Aren't you glad that salvation is the same for everybody? Aren't you glad it's a common salvation? You know how God terms salvation? Here it's common. It's the same for everybody. Hebrews 2, it says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? That salvation is a plan that when explained to people, they say it cannot be that simple. Yes, it is. It cannot be. How could someone dying 2,000 years ago free me from my burden of sin? Well, it does, because it's a judicial act where you trust someone to die in your place. And it's so great salvation. And in Hebrews 5 verse 9, it's eternal salvation. Man, I'm saved and I'm kept. You know what? I'm going to heaven when I die. And that's not my pride. That's not because I know my heart and all that stuff, because we don't know our hearts. I just know I have a wonderful Savior who took me as I was, saved me, and has never yet failed me, ever will, ever will. God's terms are simple, aren't they? Look at 1 Peter 1, just a few pages back, and this thrills my soul. I know I've spoken this many times. 1 Peter 1. And verse 9, it says, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, my soul is saved and secure, and one day I'll be in God's presence with even a redeemed body. That's the end of my faith that was put in Christ in 1967, but notice. Verse 10, of which salvation, this is so great salvation, the common salvation, this is eternal salvation. Verse 10, of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. The prophet spoke of this grace that was to come unto us, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. You know those prophets did? They saw a vision of the salvation, the grace that you and I can enjoy, that we can preach and try to see accepted in other people's hearts, that salvation is free and full. Verse 12, unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire look into. When Isaiah preached in Isaiah 53, he'd grow up before them as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground. He'd be despised and rejected and all the things it says about Jesus. Long before he ever came, Isaiah didn't understand, didn't know the full and free and dwelling the Spirit of God that is a mark of our age. Oh, salvation's always been by grace through faith. It always has been. But you notice that the prophets, it plainly says, they were speaking of something that was yet to come. And imagine this, that we don't have to go and ask a priest to take our request to God for us. we bow down and just say, God, would you do this? I don't have to ask a priest to remit my sin, he can't do so. I just come to Jesus as a wicked sinner and ask him to forgive me of my sin. And as I walk with him, I ask him to forgive me of the sins that so easily beset us and restore the joy of our fellowship again, which he didn't move, I did. The prophets didn't get to enjoy those things. They prophesied that they'd come. But you know, it says the angels desire to look into. This is the common salvation. You know, the Bible tells us some about the angels, that the angels carried Lazarus to Abraham's bosom. That must have been something to see. We sing the song, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, speaking about about Elijah being taken to heaven, and we see the angels, but we also see that there's rejoicing in the midst of the angels of God in heaven when one's soul is transformed by the saving power of Jesus Christ. Those angels, what do you suppose they think of when they see some wicked sinner who, first of all, knows his life is a mess or her life is a mess. Knows that they have questions and no answers. Knows that there's something missing. Sometimes knows that maybe their business is about to fail. Maybe their marriage is about to fail. Whatever it is, it's a burden on their heart. And they get the gospel preached to them plainly. And the angels are looking on because they're ready to rejoice if they just pass from death to life. And they say, no, not today. That's the simple salvation, the common salvation, that the angels look into, that prompts Jude to say, you need to contend for that faith. And in Hebrews it says, it's so great salvation, it's eternal salvation. Those are God's terms, aren't they? That is, in Acts 4.12, there's none other name under heaven given among men, whereby men must be saved. Salvation is only in Jesus Christ. It's not in you doing better. It's not in you being religious. It's nothing else. If it were that, then the Bible, which is almost entirely about Jesus Christ, I could say entirely. The Old Testament prophesied Him. We just read that. The New Testament shows the reality of Him. The prophets today, the book of Revelation speaks about Him one day saying, Come up hither. And then he comes back with us and establishes his reign upon this earth. And if that's new to you, that's all right, but that's the Bible. It's all about Jesus Christ and who's going to rule and reign in this world. What a wonderful thing that is. Those are God's terms, no other name. Acts 28, 28, it says that the gospel was, God told Paul, okay, you go to the Gentiles then. You go to the Gentiles. Look at verse 28. Be it known therefore unto you that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it. Isn't that an amazing verse? He came unto his own, he came to the Jewish people, and they received him not. And actively they rejected him, and it's not until Acts chapter 10 that you see the gospel really being carried to the Gentiles. But Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles says, okay, God told me to go to the Gentiles, aren't you glad he did? Aren't you glad he did? You look at these epistles, and some years ago, I don't even know how, 15 years ago or so, Brother James we're praying for with cancer. Brother James was having a conference on preaching through the book of 1 Thessalonians. And one of the guys there said, you know, we're preaching through First Thessalonians. I want to look up Thessalonica, where that book was given. And he looked at this city of, I think, 2 million. It may not have been that big, but it was a big city. He looked up that city and found out that this book that was written, First and Second Thessalonians, written to the Thessalonian Christians, there wasn't a single church that had preached the gospel of any brand. So a bunch of preachers got together and went down there for two weeks at a time and preached on the street and tried to establish a church that is still going there right now. Isn't that wonderful? What happened for 2,000 years? That's why we're told to earnestly contend for the faith. Religion too quickly replaces it. Religion doesn't save you. Only Jesus can save you. So it's God's terms. But think about man's condition. All of us have gone out of the way. All of us have gone out of the way. As a child, before I got saved, I would beg God not to kill me because I knew I didn't deserve heaven. How could I know that? I was just a kid. How could I know that I got saved when I was 12? How in the world could I know that? Well, I'd known enough Bible. My mom and dad had spoken enough of those words and we weren't a very, a house that was, wore our feelings on our sleeves. But the words were spoken that showed that I was a sinner, and I knew I was a sinner. How can you know that? Because you know good and well that you can't do the things you should do. You do the things sometimes you shouldn't do, just like Paul said as an adult in Romans 7. But you know that you're a sinner. All of us have gone out of the way. None of us does good. And in Isaiah, all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Think of these poor misguided souls who think they're going to impress God with their good deeds and He'll have to let them into heaven. It's not going to happen. All of us have gone out of the way. all of our good deeds, all of our righteousnesses are as the most filthy of rags before God. Because we can preach on the holiness of God and we only know the fringes of that doctrine. We only know a small part of it. We only know, I mean you can look at it and see a few things about it. God said to Moses, no man can see my face and what? Live. He's so holy, so above us, and yet he condescends to us of low estate. Our righteousness is as filthy rags. But look at God's provision. There's only one way. That's why the world stirred up by the devil uses my Savior's name in vain all the time. There's none of the name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. I am the way, the truth, and life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. And in 2 Corinthians 6, in verse 2, it tells us, behold, now is the accepted time. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day to be saved. If you're not saved, today is the day to be saved. Well, I can do that tomorrow. You don't know if you're going to be alive tomorrow. I saw a sorry post today from a preacher friend of mine, had a picture of a man weeping behind the wheel of his car. And it said, this was taken a few moments before this man committed suicide. Grown man, probably in his forties. This was taken a few moments before he committed suicide. The devil's a terrible liar, but he's good at it. And he'll convince people that there's plenty of time, folks. Today's the day of salvation. God's grace is full and free right now. Oh, it'll be full and free tomorrow, but you don't know if you'll be alive tomorrow. I took it the day I heard it and what was plainly explained to me. God's provision. One day. Today is the day. So, salvation. But look at another one. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 6. This probably seems like a stretch for you, but there are so many problems that people have in this life and I just want to be an encouragement to you. Ecclesiastes 6, written by Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived. One, there is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men. Notice, this is something that you can commonly see. We just saw the commonness of salvation. There's one way. Put your faith and trust in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior. This is the evil, a man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honor, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth. Yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it. This is vanity, and it is evil disease. You know what God tells us? What is fair often eludes people. Man, if you have all the wealth in the world, it should make you happy. It doesn't. It might entertain you. If you have all the wealth in the world, you should be able to impose your will for the most part, but it doesn't guarantee that. You should be able to determine where it goes. And you can't entirely determine that either. In other words, if you're looking for what's fair in this life, you're not going to find it. The wisest and richest of men knows that there's an evil and that is that someone's successful and it doesn't provide what you would think it could provide. Hey, there are people that have all the fame in the world. Isn't it amazing that one of the highest rates of suicide is children of celebrities. Now I lived in Southern California a long time ago, and I'm sorry to confess that. I worked in very expensive homes that were bought by the rich people of California. But you know, I'd rather have children that I know I'll see for all of eternity in heaven than all the riches of this world. We built a house way up on top of the mountain overlooking Santa Monica. Because my friend was a developer of that development. And the lots were crazy expensive, and this was 45 years ago. And the guy built this enormous house, but he bought the lot next door to put a tennis court on. Now most people would be thrilled to have this big beautiful home there, and a tennis court may not be that important to them, and I hope they were saved. I never got to meet those people. I hope that that's not their heaven, it's only here on earth. But you know, even if they had all the wealth of this world, and the most beautiful home you could have, and all the space and no budget for anything, if they're not saved, I wouldn't trade places with them for anything. Wouldn't trade places. We pray for Brother James. I've had friends call me and say, have you heard from Brother James? Preach your friends. Hey, pray for him. He asked me to pray for him. Yeah, we're praying for him. You know what we have? And yesterday, Nora passed some things down the prayer chain. My son's wife's, anyway, father-in-law, I think it was, or step, anyway, a friend of hers, her dad, he's not even 50. There was a day when I wouldn't have said that. Okay, he's not even 50 and he's found a cancer in him all of a sudden and he's not likely to live very long. Life is a fleeting thing, isn't it? And you know what? Nora put that on our prayer chain because it's got to come to Nora so she understands this because I'm not so good at that stuff. And it went all over the church family. You probably got that. And Nora said, you know, I just love that thing. I don't know, I don't frequent bars. I don't know that I can ever say I was in one. I don't wanna be around people that drink. Just don't wanna be. But I'm pretty sure they don't have prayer chains in bars. Do you? I'm pretty sure if I took them, I've been in the forum watching the Lakers. One of the perks was we had season tickets. And back then I liked them. I've been there. Pretty sure they don't have prayer chains. And if I stood up in the center of that court and said, folks, I want you to pray about this, they'd have laughed me out of that place. But I know where they do have prayer chains. Right here in this place where we can pray one for another and lift each other up. The perspective that's right is, yes, equity alludes us to. History seems to be all downhill, doesn't it? I grew up in the 50s and 60s, and I remember things that were just so much fun. I say that all the time. I'm not living in the past, but I know this. Those were fun days, weren't they? They weren't holy and righteous days necessarily, but you didn't have to worry about your safety walking on the streets. It wasn't the common, the order of events. There probably were streets that weren't very safe, but history seems to run downhill, doesn't it? Unless God intervenes and your Bible says the latter days, they'll get worse and worse. And we're seeing that right in front of us. How depressing that would be if you loved your country, and you loved life, and you loved the dreams that you have for your children. How horrible would that be to see the world going the way it is? But you know what? We trust Him regardless. As a saint, the Bible says, God works all things together for good to them that love him, to those who are the called according to his purpose. God, use me however way you want to. And I mean this, if you want to use me by taking my life home, taking me home early, that's fine with me. That's not my first choice, but listen, I want to be used in his service, don't you? We trust Him regardless. And there's, look at 1 Corinthians 13, and I know young people have a problem with this sometimes, and it's just good to remember this. 1 Corinthians chapter 13, really old people too. 1 Corinthians chapter 13, and, is that what I want? Verse 12, I think I've got the wrong, 2 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 13 12 we look through a glass darkly that works too but I'm sorry it's 10 13 I'm sorry I wrote it down wrong I know what it is 1st Corinthians 10 13 see my brain cramped 10 13 it says there is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man there again I want you to notice that word common you know we tend to do no one knows what I'm going through yeah lots of people do Lots of people know even worse than what you're enduring. There's no temptation taking you, but such as is common to man. It's written to believers. Hey, the temptations, the trials that we go through, lots of people have the same one. Sometimes it's worse. I watched this video. It's probably the wrong time to speak it, but I watched this video yesterday and I knew the story. There was a boy born without a hand. His name was Jim. Anyway, I'll get to it before I'm off my pages, but Jim Abbott, I think it was, he was a boy born without a right hand. And he saw the kids playing. baseball one day, and he figured out that he could throw the ball and hit the fence and get the glove off of the hand that didn't, the arm that didn't have a hand, it was cut off here, and he could put that back on the hand that he just threw the ball with and catch the ball, and he practiced that over and over and over again, got pretty good at it. He became very good at little league, but who would think that a boy without a hand could do anything? He found out there was a tryout for the US Olympics. So he drove his truck to the tryout, to the Olympics. And he had trouble along the way. He didn't have means. He got there late and they said, we're sorry. And besides, you don't have a hand. We're sorry, but it's too late. And he said, would you, would you just do me this one favor? Give me your three best batters. Well, okay, it doesn't cost you anything. Put the first of the best batters up and one, two, three, struck him out. Second batter up. It's a guy with no hand. Second batter, one, two, three. I don't know if it's just three pitches, but he struck him out. He struck all three of them out. And you know what? This guy made the Olympic team without a hand and got a gold medal in baseball. I don't know if he's saved, I'd like to know more about that. But then he went on to the major leagues and pitched and he got, you should look it up, Jim Abbott, I remember when he played. He pitched in the major leagues and he's the only guy and probably will only be the only guy that pitched a no hitter in the major leagues. You know why? He didn't sit back and say, oh, no one has it like I have it. I have so much. Why did God hate me and do this? Everything he saw was a sense of motivation. By the way, he goes around speaking to people on motivation. I'd like to think he's saved. I'm not certain of that. I can't tell you. Yes, sir. I thought so. What a wonderful story. He has a badge. You know that people have all kinds of problems in this life. Some of them are saved people. Some of them, most of them are lost people. Many of them are lost people. But we're not going to find equity in this life. Fairness is not going to be the order of the day. You see, and if we teach our kids that everything, they're entitled to everything they want, they're going to be disappointed. Fairness. There's a whole bunch yet for us to know, isn't there? We have common experiences. We have common experiences. Actually, I'm ahead of myself. Look at 1 Corinthians 13, verse 12. That's what happened. 1 Corinthians 13, verse 12. The chapter on love, on charity. Look at verse 12. For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I'm known. You know, there's a whole lot yet we have to know, don't we? Isn't there? Some of those things we learn through the struggles and trials of this life, and we should just endure them gladly. Doesn't make them easy, does it? But I know this, if we just do a woe is me and gripe and complain, we're never gonna learn anything. Never gonna learn anything. We have common experiences. Woe is me doesn't work. The opportunity to minister to others does work, doesn't it? It does work. And then one more to end on this. And these are three quite different positions, points. Look at Mark chapter 12. And frankly, this is the verse that got me thinking on it. Mark chapter 12. And this one's fun to preach on. Mark chapter 12. You could come and tell me the burdens you're bearing and it would break my heart, most likely. And I wouldn't have known that when you came in here, whoever it might be. And if I could tell you burdens, I could probably tell you burdens you don't even know that are going on. All of us could, couldn't we? I'm so glad we can take our burdens to the cross and leave them there. If you're saved, you can do that. Look at Mark 12 in verse 37. Jesus in verse 35 answered and said, how say the scribes that Christ is the son of David? He, he was way too smart for them, wasn't he? How can Christ be the son of David? And yet David calls him Lord. Do you understand the logic there? These are people, wow, we're sons of Abraham. Well, then how can David have a son that he calls Lord? Because the son of David, Jesus Christ, is the God of creation. And he's trying to show them some things there. But look at verse 37. David therefore himself called him Lord. And whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly." You know what most of education is today? It is to brainwash you into the fiction that you don't need God. To brainwash you into the fiction that we're an accident of nature. To brainwash you into the fiction that if smart men get together, we can have peace on earth, goodwill toward men. Those are all horrible lies. But isn't it wonderful when Jesus spoke to these religious people, that the common people heard him gladly. I'm one of those common people. I'm ordinary. I'm ordinary. I'm so glad for that. We come to Jesus and we find in him life like you never had it before. Why would a 12-year-old boy trust Christ as Savior and then just weep his eyes out along with my two sisters and brother? Why would we? Because something missing was supplied. A wonderful Savior. A wonderful Savior. He gives us life. He gives us healing. We talked when we first got here, we had a friend that church is no longer there down in Missoula. He said, he said, until you've had a church split four times, you can't even call yourself a pastor. You know, that's a sad thing, isn't it? That's often, that's in lots of churches today. It's sad, isn't it? But you don't know, unless you've gone through that, how heartbreaking that is. How wounded people can be. You know, honestly, on a very personal note, I remember driving when we had some problems many years ago, driving down the road in town, and I was listening to some friends of mine singing. It was just a blessing. And I wept and said, God, how come people can sing and I can't? And my wicked wife She says, let's sing, my wonderful wife. And I was sitting over here one time when we were practicing. She said, okay, the basses. She figured if I only had to sing four notes, I might be able to be all right. I would rather preach standing on my head than be heard singing, okay? When Henry sang alone, I thought, man, he's got more guts than I've got. And then I realized that the reason you practice is so you get the mistakes out of the way. And to a certain extent, I look forward to heaven when it's going to be right. God gave me an ability to sing that maybe I already had, but now I'm able to do it more than I ever did. And there's a song in my heart that never was before. A song in my lips that never was before. You know, sometimes in the midst of the worst things you ever endure, you get some blessings you would really miss out on otherwise. We have healing. God gives us purpose. God gives us purpose. Paul said this at the end of his life, I'm now ready to be offered the time of my departure is at hand. I fought a good fight. And boy, if anyone could say that, he could. I finished my course. You know, that's a blessing that God ensured him of. God laid out for him his will. It involved going to Rome and witnessing in Caesar's household. And he finished his course, though he's going to die for his faith in his stand. I've kept the faith. He hasn't wavered. He says, there's a crown waiting for me. That crown's not for us. It's for us to lay at Jesus' feet. Listen, he gives us purpose. And you know, when you understand why he, why he was accepted by the common people, it's because he never spoke in selfishness. He never exaggerated the truth. He never exploited his hearers, you know, like politicians do today. Never did that. He made it all personal too. In John chapter one, and I love this one, you have to kind of fill in the blanks on this one. But in John chapter one, in verse 46, Nathanael said unto him, can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip said unto him, come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and saith of him, behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. That means he was honest. Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knewest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and said unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel. We could read the rest of that, but you know what? Jesus had to have known something about his devotions, I would guess. I saw you where you're under that tree. What was going through his mind under that tree? Jesus knew him because whatever it was, Nathaniel said on the moment of meeting him, you are the son of God. No one has ever said that to me. And I'm not being silly. You are the son of God. Why? Because Jesus knew the innermost thoughts of his heart. Do you wonder why the common people loved him? Jude 22 says compassion makes a difference. Jesus always shows compassion to his people. That's why his salvation is common. A 12-year-old can respond. My brother was 8. A 12 or an 8-year-old can respond or a 100-year-old can respond. A man on his deathbed or a man in the flower of youth. It's a common salvation, isn't it? And the fact that we care for them makes a difference, doesn't it? And what an encouragement that is. The whole story of Jim Abbott, the whole story of Jim Abbott is an encouragement, isn't it? Whatever you're enduring today, see it through. Common people still listen, don't they? Common people still listen. Our prayer is that God's spirit would take this living book and apply it to each and every heart. That is my heart, too. My heart, too. that God would reveal the needs of our heart because he's the one that can meet them. Let me ask you today, are you saved today? If you knew without a shadow of a doubt that you were going to die today, would you be certain you're going to heaven? It says today is the day of salvation. I know I'm going to heaven. I know I am. Are you enduring some hardships of today? Man, there are some, aren't there? There are some. My friend James with that cancer, he said to me, when I'm preaching, I'm thinking of cancer. When I'm studying, I'm thinking of cancer. He says, I did a wedding last week and while I was doing the wedding, I'm thinking of cancer. Maybe this is my last wedding. Say, well, you should just trust the Lord. He said, people tell me that. He said, I was trusting the Lord and I got cancer. He's not whining and complaining. No. He's counseled people that way. He knows it applies to him, too. But we're still flesh, aren't we? I don't know what burdens you're bearing today, but I know that they're only worth bearing with Jesus there to bear with you. Are you forgetting the ministry that you could be serving? It was my beloved aunt that led me to Christ. one of the most wonderful people I've ever known. I was just a dumb kid, and I found her so wonderful that I followed her around like a puppy dog whenever she came out. She opened that Bible and showed me the gospel, and it wasn't because of my aunt showing me. It's because of the power of that book. And I got saved, and all of my siblings count that day as the day we got saved. Isn't that wonderful? That means that you can do that to kids. If I was 12, my oldest sister was 15 at least. You can have that part of the ministry as well. Isn't it funny? Paul says of Timothy, my son in the faith, he probably led Timothy to the Lord. That's a blessing, isn't it? There are people in whose lives you can bestow a great deal of labor and be an incredible blessing to them, but not if you don't go. And sometimes we get so wrapped up in the problems that we're bearing, we fail to see that others are bearing even worse ones. We pray for Jonathan's friend, my son's friend. He's Jonathan's age. He's mid to late thirties. He's already had two years of horrible cancer treatment. That's too young. Another friend of ours from Florida, their seven-year-old daughter has been through two horrible cancer chemo treatments. Listen, people are having a hard time. I'm glad my Savior welcomes us as just common ordinary people. If you haven't come to Him, come today. Let's pray.