Thank you, brother. It's a great song, isn't it? You know why? Because it's truth. Because He lives, we can face tomorrow. Because He lives, we have a tomorrow. We have a great hope in Christ. I thank the Lord for the ladies' song as well. I was thinking about this as they sang. I was thinking, you know, the only thing that holds us back from living and what we'll be preaching on this evening is a Christ life. The only thing that holds us back, it's not the world. That's not our problem. It's not the politics, the politicians. It's not, you know, the drug addicts and all the things that plague our society. That's not, our biggest problem is us. You'll see him in the morning when you get up and you look in the mirror. That's your biggest problem. That's my biggest problem. That's the one that I have to wrestle with more than anything. I always tell our folks and preach that you can live as close to Christ as you want to. The only thing that'll hinder that and stop that will be your disobedience to God's word. And so I thank you ladies and Brother Robert, what a great song, amen, appreciate Brother Robert and his singing. I wanted to say this, I know Brother Larry said, he said last night we had spaghetti, tonight we had tacos. I got to print tomorrow a bit in my church, so I won't have any chili, but I'm interested in Thursday night. What are y'all going to have Thursday night? I'll be here, amen. I'll play a little couple back Thursday for sure, but not because of nachos. Of course, that don't hinder me either. That don't make me upset either, but I'm anxious to come and hear Brother Mark. I love Brother Mark thrift. I'm glad to have him. I come to hear him preach and he's been in Czechoslovakia and preaching and, uh, you know, he's like a energizer bunny. He just never runs. He never runs out. He just, he just hits the ground running. There he goes. And, uh, so we'll look forward to him being here this coming. I think he's supposed to be here tomorrow night actually, but setting in the service, but I'm looking forward to that hearing him more about Jesus. Can't think of a better topic than you. That's what we need. That's what the title of my message tonight is just simply A Christ's Life. A Christ's Life. And if you'll open your Bibles to Galatians, I mentioned to you last night, 220. A lot of these points, I was talking to Larry about this verse of scripture, and by the way, I believe it's one of the most profound, it's one of the most, I don't think you could ever exhaust this one scripture. I mean, if you want some deep theology, there it is, amen, in this one verse, more than what I could ever preach in my lifetime. But Larry said he did a series on, I think, seven, eight messages or something like that. And I understand why, because it is a scripture that should speak to all of our hearts, challenge us, and that we could learn from it and because Paul did live a Christ life. You know he lived a Christ life and we're going to bring that out to you this this evening and I pray it'd be a blessing if you're able to stand I will give you one another verse but we'll do that when we get down to the the last point of this message tonight, and that'll be in Philippians 121. I'll give it to you here, but we'll look at it later. Verse number 20, chapter number 2, the book of Galatians. Paul said, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Father, we thank you, Lord, for your word. It's been good being in God's house this evening. Been good to fellowship and just to hear some good songs and God feel a good spirit. God, our greatest need is a whole lot less of us and a whole lot more of you. Lord, more about Jesus. God, help us, Lord, today to understand that, Lord, in Christ, we, Lord, have a life worth living. In Christ, Lord, we have joy and peace. In Christ, we find purpose of life. God, I thank you for that. Lord, I thank you for the life that we now have in Christ. Because of the blood that we shed at a place called Calvary, God, redeem Lord sinners unto yourself. God, I thank you for that. I thank you because not a one of us in this auditorium We're worthy, or are we even worthy today? But it's all because of your amazing grace. And the work of grace that, Lord, you did in our hearts, Lord, when God, you dealt with us and drew us unto yourself. And Lord, when we bowed our knees in our hearts, Lord, you saved us by your amazing grace and put us in a family of God. Now I pray you'd bless tonight, bless these thoughts we pray in Christ's name. Amen and amen. Philippians 121, we'll look at it later on, but it says this, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. And I want to deal with that in a little bit, in a little while, in this message. But again, I want to say this, that Christ had a love for the Lord. He had a passion for the Lord, didn't he? He was driven by that passion for his love for the Lord. He said, it was the love of Christ that constraineth me. It compels me. It pushes me forward. He said, I press towards the mark of the prize of the high calling that's in Christ Jesus. And so in the scriptures, he said over in Philippians chapter three, he said these words, he says, but what things were gained to me, he said, those things I count loss for Christ. He said, I count them but dung that I may win Christ. and gain his approval. And he found in him not having, he said, my own righteousness, I found in Christ, he said, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering being made conformable unto his death. And then that's when he said in that verse 14, that same text, he said, I prestored the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ. We know about Paul. We know how his zeal was before he was converted, and that was at the persecuting the church, persecuting the way, Jesus Christ being the way. But we know what happened to him on Acts chapter 9, don't we? Acts chapter 9 on the way to Damascus, having the letters in order to go arrest and put in prison or kill the Christians. God struck him down. Amen, until he had to come up, until he had to look up and say, Lord, what would I have me to do? Amen. And then we know this, something he did after that we sometimes pass up. But then he would spend three years in Arabia alone. Doesn't give us any details, does it, Brother Larry? No details at all about what exactly transpired during those three years. But I believe this, I believe it was three years when he just met with God. With no noise around him, wasn't, you know, the other apostles wasn't around him. Just him alone with God for three years, preparing him for his life's work. And I can't help but think about this. Sometimes we get so wrapped up and I'm a church man. I've been a church man since I've been saved. God put me in a local church and I'll die in a local church. But there has to be in our life, If we're really going to do anything for God, if we're going to really live for Christ, there has to be a time and a place in our life, not three years, but there should be some time set apart where we just get along with God. Amen. Just hear from him. And sometimes we get too occupied and too busy with the things of this world. And preachers sometimes can be the world's worst, being occupied with just preach, preach, preach, preach. And I love to preach, but folks, sometimes you just need to draw ourselves and get along, close your door and get along with God and hear what He has to say. Because what we do as a pastor is not about just ministry of preaching and dealing with people, but our first and foremost ministry is getting along and meeting with God and having our souls fed. Amen. And just sit and be still a while, know that He is God and there is no other. and just sit along and listen to him. I believe this. I believe Paul, we read in Acts chapter 9, immediately he preached Christ, then he goes to Arabia for three years, but he never got over the fact of what God had done for him, not only in the road to Damascus, but those three years in Arabia, I believe affected his life and his ministry the rest of his days. And I would say to you, if you've ever been along with God, if you're saved and you've been spending time with God, how could it be any less than have a great impact on your life to meet with Him, amen, and to listen to Him and hear His voice. We're too busy sometimes to hear the voice of God. I know He doesn't speak to us audibly, but He does speak to us, folks. Amen. And some folks are hard of hearing, amen. And I won't mention names, but some folks are hard of hearing, amen. But thank God you can hear His voice right in here. Amen. You might not be able to hear a word, but you can hear His voice in here. Amen. You say, well, how do you do that? Well, you get through the Word of God and by the Spirit of God that indwells every born again believer. born-again believer. So, let me give you the message tonight. For Paul was, for Paul, I mean, Christ was his life. Jesus was his life. Amen. In Galatians 2.20, if you look back at that verse, he says this, he says, he says, I am crucified Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. His life, I see first of all, life from Christ. Amen. He got life from Christ, the faith of the Son of God. He wasn't talking about a faith that he manufactured. But Larry did a good job at my church preaching about that, about where faith comes from. It comes from the word of God. It's not a natural faith. It's not a faith that, you know, that every human being has as a worldly faith. You get on an airplane, you have to have faith. That pilot's going to take you to where you're going. Amen. You get on the freeway nowadays, you better have a little faith. Amen. You'll get home. But he's talking about not that faith. He's talking about Christ's faith. He's talking about the faith that comes by the Word of God. And I tell folks all the time, you cannot separate the Son of God from His Word. You cannot do that. Matter of fact, that's one of His names. It is the Word of God. Amen. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Amen. And so Paul, what he's talking about here, this life of faith, he's talking about the life that he received from Christ by hearing the Word of God and by responding by faith and trusting Christ as his Lord and Savior. John tells us this in John 5, 25. He said, The dead shall hear his voice, the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. Amen. The dead, being those that are spiritually dead, will hear his voice and respond in believing faith, and they'll have eternal life. Religion can do a lot of things. Amen? It can. It really can. Nothing good, but it can do a lot of things. It can give you, man, false hopes. We got a lot of people sitting in our pews, I believe, are full of false hopes. They've never been transformed. They've never truly put their faith and trust in Christ, and they never have truly experienced a life with Christ. It's all superficial, artificial. False religion can do that. False religion can move you emotionally. It can give you a sense, and I know a lot of folks do this. They go to church because it's a sense of belonging to some kind of an organization, if you will, or something. The church is so much more than that. Religious activities. It can do a whole lot of things. It can make you feel good. It can make you feel like, well, I've done my religious duty. I went to church this morning. But I got news for you. There's only one that can give you life, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He can do so much more than just make you feel good. So much more than make you religious. So much more than make you a Baptist. Amen, he can give you life. He is the life giver. I mean, here's Paul who was, and you and I as well, because every man that comes in this world comes in this world separated from God and dead in trespasses and sin. And they're in vast need, in dire need of life, eternal life. And only Jesus Christ can do that. One of my favorite verses in the Bible in 1 John 5, 12, he that hath the Son hath life, he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Somebody say, how do you know, Brother Gay? How do you know that you know that you know that you're saved? Because God one day gave me life. Amen. I mean, when I was dead and trespassed into my sins and didn't know God, didn't care about God, didn't know anything about Him, anything about His will, anything about His purpose for my life, God gave me a new life. God gave me life. Life is found in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Paul would never be the same anymore. Amen. He got life on that Damascus road. He didn't get religion. Amen. He got life. He got eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ, his Savior. Verse after verse in John 3, 15, John 5, 24, 11, 25, 12, 46, 20, 31. I'm just saying it fast. We find that life comes from Christ. It comes from Christ, amen. And the Bible said, for by grace are you saved through faith in that, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Every child of God has this testimony. Every child of God could go back and remember, I was dead and now I'm alive. I can remember when I was dead to the things of God, to the Word of God. I can remember when I was completely spiritually dead, and then I met Christ. I met my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He gave me life. And Paul said in that same verse, in verse number 20, he said, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And may I say there's life in Christ. Amen, there's life with Christ, but there's also, well, we'll get to that one here in a moment too, but there's not only, not only is there life from Christ, but there is life in Christ. So what does that mean to you? It means a lot to me. I can remember when I wasn't in Christ, can't you? I remember my old pastor, I had a pastor years ago, he's dead, gone, been gone a long time, but he used to say something and I never have forgot it. He was talking about the church, Brother Larry. He'd say, he'd tell you the church. He said, he would say, there's some of y'all are, some of y'all are here, but are you in Christ? Are you, are you in him? In other words, you can be in this building without being in Christ. Amen. He said, are you in? And what he was really saying about it is, is God got your heart? Has God got your will? Has God got your life? Are you in Christ or not? There's a lot of folks that are in church that are not in Christ. Not in Christ. He tells us over in Romans, he says in Romans 1 and 2, he said, I mean, those verses are speaking about God's children, about our eternal position and our relationship. We are in Christ tonight. I mean, I'm in, I've got a, on my front row of my church, I've got a book there where we, people come down, they get saved, or they come over and join our church, we write, you know, our ladies go write the information down and all that stuff about there, and they're in the book. But I wonder if they're in the book of books, the book of heaven, the book of life. Amen. You can have your name in the church roll, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily in heaven's roll. It's your name there tonight. Listen, thank God. Second Corinthians, everybody knows that scripture in 517. Therefore, if any man be what? In Christ. In Christ, He's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Life in Christ is a new life. It's a changed life. It's a blessed life. It's a joyful life. It's a life that'll affect you from the time that you receive Christ until the time you step into glory. I've never seen where you could just kind of get in Christ and then get out of Christ. Matter of fact, in Romans he tells us there's nothing to separate us from the love of Christ. Look at that with me, if you will, Romans chapter number eight. If I tried to quote it, I'd miss it, so I'll read it. I tell my church, I have told them before, probably not lately, but I tell them, I say, if there's one chapter in the Bible you should read often, it's Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Look at these verses here in Romans 8, verse number 37. I won't read them all. It says, and it says, nay, in all things we are more, talk about those in Christ, those that know Jesus, Nay, in all things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I'm persuaded, I'm convinced, I know, amen, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." And all God's people said, amen. Nothing, absolutely nothing, the world, nothing. Listen, there's nothing even you could, if you're saved, nothing even you could do to get you out of Christ. And God might have to whip you if you get contrary with him. And I believe this with all my heart. God chastises his own. He said, if not, you're illegitimate. You're not even God's children. If you live in sin and rebellion against God, God will whip his own. And if the whipping won't take care of you, I believe there's many of them that sleep in Jesus early. God says, if you're not gonna follow my correction, you're not gonna bow down and humble yourself to my chastisement, I'll just take you out of here. I know there's a lot of people who don't believe that. I'll tell you what, it happened in the book of Acts and in Isaiah 5. God said, you know what? You lied to the Holy Ghost. It's time for you to part out of here. Amen. I tell you this, thank God for our position in Christ. I'm glad I'm in Him tonight. And I'm glad that we're no longer part of the world, that we're not in the world, but we're in the world, but not of the world, the Bible says. We have to live here. God left us here for a purpose, by the way. He didn't leave us here to do nothing. Our purpose, our sole purpose is not just to make a living, not just to raise a family, not just to have a good job, not just to, you know, just to live. Our sole purpose is to live for Christ. To magnify Jesus, to tell the world, Jesus saves. As I preached last night, tell the world, Jesus is Lord and there is no other. Come to know him as personal savior. That's our purpose, folks. Life in Christ. Do you have a life in Christ? I tell you what, I believe this. If you do, people will know it. You can't hide that. Amen. You can't hide that. I mean, it's the evidence for those that are in Christ. I mean, it's like a bright burning light. It'll be seen by many, amen, by a lost, dying world. And I want to say this. If someone says, well, I'm in Christ, I'm saved, I'm a child of the King, and they don't live for Christ, there's no evidence of Christ in them, I find that strange, I find that unbiblical, I find that very questionable. I'll let God be the judge. I'll let God be the judge, but I find it very questionable. Because when He comes in, folks, He takes over. We might stumble and we might fall and we might have some hiccups on the way, amen, but thank God, he that's in us is greater than he that's in the world. And he'll pick us up, he'll correct us, he'll clean us up, and he'll send us on down the road serving him. Amen? That's my God. That's my Jesus, amen, because he loves us. And then may I say also in this scripture we find he says, I am crucified with Christ. So not only do we see that life in Christ and we consider that and we consider it also the life from Christ, we consider a life with Christ. And I know all these kind of run together, I understand that. You know, I told Brother Larry when he asked me to come, I said, well, Brother Larry, you know what you get when you got me? You got a simple-minded man. Amen. Folks, I've been preaching now since 1978. And I stand absolutely amazed God would let me preach one time, much less. Somebody do the math, that was at 45 years, something like that? Established churches, I mean, I'm completely, absolutely overwhelmed that God could use somebody like me. I mean, I'm not being, it's not some kind of a false humility, I'm being honest with you. And if you knew my background, you knew where I come from and what I believe, you would say, wow, how's that even possible, God? Jesus is the only one that can take a mess and make something out of it and use it for his glory. Only Jesus can do that. Amen. And I'm so thankful, listen, for the life we have in Christ and the life we have with Christ. What a life it is, amen. What a life. It's a life of fellowship. He said there, I am crucified with Christ. He said, Paul said, you know what he said? Paul died on that Damascus road. You cannot live until you've died to yourself. That's what we need more than anything tonight, if I could get across to you, if we're gonna live a life for Christ and with Christ, we have to die to ourselves. We did when we got saved. But he also said, Paul also said, I die what? Daily. We fight that battle every day of our life, every day of our life. The old man wants to have his way. Every day of my life, for these last 52, almost 53 years now, that I've been a Christian, my old flesh, when I wake up in the morning, my old flesh says, let me have my way. Amen? Let me have my way. Why don't you just back off, calm down, shut up, and let me be in control. Fight the good fight of faith. Put on the whole armor of God. Realize we're in a battle, folk. We're in a battle of the flesh. We ought to do like old Paul said. We ought to bring our body under subjection and obey the word of God. If not, the flesh is going to win out. You say, I have a hard day. Who don't? Amen. You say, I mean, who doesn't have a problem with their flesh? We all do. But God has given everything we need to walk and live in victory. He said we are more than conquerors in the Lord Jesus Christ. By faith we overcome this world. By faith. God has given everything we need we find in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ to walk in a world that is cursed of God, that hates God, that is against God. we can walk as vessels of honor and shine for the Lord Jesus Christ. Matter of fact, the darker the hour, the more we should shine. You ever thought about that? Everybody said, boy, the world's getting so bad. Well, maybe that's, I mean, it's written, folks, it's gonna happen. But in a sense, it's a good thing because it makes our job that much easier to shine. You ever thought about that? I mean, we're some of the only people that hadn't gone woke. And if you've gone woke, you need to walk on out of here. Amen. Oh my word. Can't even imagine that kind of a junk going on. Life with Christ. Amen. It's fellowship with him. John Corinthians tells us in one nine, first Corinthians, God is faithful by whom you were called. unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. That's the life with the Lord Jesus Christ, fellowship with him. I like what 1 John 1,3 says, the word with, again, notice this. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Go back to what I said earlier. Do you have fellowship with Christ? Do you get along with Christ? Do you get your soul fed with Christ? I thank God for Preaching and I thank God for churches and I thank God for good books and all that we have But there is nothing that can replace just being with Christ Hey man being with Christ I was thinking about In Acts chapter 4, you remember when the scribes and the elders and the high priests and they were angry and accusing Peter and John and threatening them and told them, don't speak in his name anymore, don't say his name anymore. And they said this, they said they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men. But they marveled. You know why? Because they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. Isn't that a good testimony? It doesn't matter, they're ignorant, they're unlearned, they don't have much of an education, they're not of the elite, they're not, you know, the who's who. But one thing we can't deny, they've been with Jesus. That can be said of me and you. Amen? We might not know everything. I certainly don't. Amen? We might not have all the answers. I certainly don't. But I pray to God that somebody can look at you and say, man, that guy, he's ignorant. He's unlearned. Boy, you got that right. Me and Brother Larry went to the same school. We're schoolmates. No. Different eras, OK? But same school, different times. Amen? But I hope and pray that they can look at Brother Larry, look at myself, look at you tonight, and say, you know what? They may be unlearned and ignorant. They may not know a whole lot. They may not have the perfect English. They may not be great orators. They may not be great who's who, you know. But I know one thing about them, they have been with Jesus. Because when you be with Jesus, you know what'll happen? He'll rub off on you. I told Brother about Brother Mark, and you remember how Brother Mark used to always go, Yeah, he still does. Does he still do that? There was a preacher missionary friend of mine that I served with in Chile for a while, Brother Gerald Rose. Anybody know Gerald Rose? You knew him, didn't you? He'd be preaching, he'd go... I don't know why. Maybe he was trying to kick the message. I don't know. He just kept doing that all the time. But I noticed every time people would get around him very much, especially young preachers, they'd be going. They'd be doing it like this. They'd get around Brother Mark. You get around them long enough, you pick up their habits. I'm not going to get around Larry very long now. But you get around somebody very long, you're gonna pick up some of their habits. You get around Jesus, you be with Jesus, amen, you spend some quality time with Jesus. Next thing you know, you're gonna be acting like him. That's a good thing. Amen, that's a good thing. I tell you what, those that don't spend time with him, you can tell that also. Because their characteristic and their behavior will be just the opposite of what it should be. You know what the Bible said? Can two walk together except they be agreed? Amen, Kenny, Amos 3.3. Somebody said about a fellowship, well, it means this, it means sharing in common, communion, partnership, our partaker. But somebody said this, you know what it means to have fellowship with Christ, to be with Christ? It's like two men in a boat going in the same direction. Can you imagine two men in a little rowboat, one rowing this way and one's that way? You're just going to go around, around, around, around. That's all. Some Christians, that's all they do, go around, around, around. They're going in the opposite direction of where Christ is wanting them to go. But when you walk with Him and you're listening to Him and His voice and obeying Him and the Spirit of God that dwells within you, you'll be going in the same direction because you're in agreement with Him. You're in agreement with Him, amen? And I'm gonna say this and move on. Stay in that fellowship, that abiding, stay with Christ. You find your heart's drifting, you find it easier to miss church, You find it easier not to read your Bible. You find it easier not to pray. Let that be an alarm go off in your head, in your heart. Something's wrong. You're drifting away from Him. Amen. Let it warn you. Let it be an alarming thing in your heart. Say, you know what? I'm going the wrong direction. I need to stop and get this thing in order, amen, before I drift too far and get too far away from God. And God will get you back on path. And then I may say also there's life by Christ. And he says here in Galatians 2.20, he says, I live, yet not I, but Christ in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. I mentioned that a while ago, but let me just reiterate it again today. Thank God for the life we have in Christ. You know what He says in His Word? He said, in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. John 14, 6, Jesus said unto them, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. I gave you that verse in 1 John 5, 12, He that hath the Son hath life. John 11, 25, you remember Lazarus, the raising of Lazarus. He said, I am, he told Martha, I am the resurrection and what? And the life. He that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Thank God for the quality, the abundant life that we have in Christ. He said in John 10, 10, the thief cometh not but for to steal, to kill, and to destroy. I am come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundant. God wants you to have an abundant life. He don't want you to just get by. He wants us to live with Him and enjoy His fellowship and time with Him that we might grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord that we might be more like Him. I mean a life without Christ is a life that's empty. It's a life without purpose. Did y'all know that? It's a life without peace and joy. It's a life without direction. I want you to get this. He is not to be a part of our life. He is to be our life. Y'all got that? There's a difference in there, a vast difference. He doesn't want a part of our life. He wants all of our lives. He wants us to live for Him. He wants us to live the abundant Christian life. Some folks ask, you know, us Christians, they ask, they say, why do you Christians live like you do? I've just got one answer, Christ. Why do you go to church, Brother Gary, all the time, every time? Why do you go to church? Why do you read your Bible? Why do you want to live right? Why do you don't go to that place and this place and do that and do that? Christ. Amen. I mean, listen, He is our life. And if He's anything less, then He's not pleased in our life. Amen. I mean, some ask, why do you do? Why do you give what you give? Why do you care? Christ. Paul didn't care before. When old Paul died, when he died, he said, I am crucified. When he died on that Damascus road to the old Paul, it no longer mattered what Paul wanted. It didn't matter what Paul thought. It didn't matter what Paul, you know, decided he wanted to do. He said, Lord, what will thou have me to do? And he went about the rest of his days, however long that was, he went about the rest of his days doing his very best to do the will of God. And I know Paul was just like you and I, as far as being made of flesh. Boy, his heart beat for Christ. Amen. His heart beat for Christ. How do we make it day by day in this world? Christ. Amen. I mean, have you ever felt like sometimes the world's coming down on top of you? I mean, you feel like everything's going wrong. I mean, it can be health, it can be problems in the family, it can be children or grandchildren or church problems and all kind of problems on top of problems. And somebody said, well, how do you get up in the morning? How do you just keep going? I mean, and people attack you and accuse you and don't like you. How do you just keep going? Because of Him. Amen. because of Him, because of the life that we have in Christ. He makes it and He works in our lives and He makes it to where you and I can get up in the morning and put Him first in our life and serve Him in this life. And then He said, and I told you that Philippians 121, for me to live is Christ. Well, you know, brother Larry's probably brought that out before to you. I know I have my church. How would you answer that? For me to live is what? For me to live is what? Is it Christ? I'm afraid that there's a whole lot of folks today would say, for me to live is this world. For me to live is my family. For me to live is what I want to do. Paul said, for me to live is Christ. Amen? I mean, you know what the Bible said, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And for Paul, the treasure of his heart was Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? I mean, I'm crucified with Christ. I believe Paul was saying this, Brother Larry, I believe Paul was saying, Paul no longer matters. You know, where I wanna go, matter of fact, God wouldn't let him go to certain places, you remember, and turn him west instead of east. He didn't gripe about it and bow up about it and say, well, God, you don't understand, I wanna go. He just said, okay. And he goes over into Macedonia and thank God he went that direction, by the way. I'm telling you folks, listen, to live is for Christ. To live is Christ. I mean, he's our all in all. The Bible tells us, you know, he says, there's a good verse in 2 Corinthians 5, 15 says this, and that he died for all, and they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. He died for us. I mean, in other words, he's saying in there, and Paul's saying there in that Corinthian, he said, don't live for yourself, live for him. Make your life count for him. Paul was told, you know, over in Acts, he was told that if you go to Jerusalem, bad things gonna happen to you. They're gonna bind you, they're gonna arrest you, you know, they might even kill you. And Paul said, you know what, calm down. I'm paraphrasing. Calm down. He said, Paul said this, What mean you to weep and to break mine heart? For I am not ready to just be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter to me. I'm not worried about being bound. I'm not even worried about dying. It's Christ. His honor, His will, His purpose is the only thing that matters to me. And I'll be honest with you, I've said this many times to folks, dying for Him is not nearly as hard as living for Him. Do y'all agree with that? I mean, if you die for Him, if they take your head off, it's off. It's over, you're in glory. But every day getting up and every day of your life, every day deciding and making a decision that I'm gonna put Christ first and I'm gonna live Christ today. I'm gonna live for Christ and His will. I'm gonna make my life count for Him. That requires commitment and obedience and total submission to His will for your life. And so I say to you, it is harder to live for Him than it is to die for Him. Many, many Christians in the history of Christianity have given their lives in their arenas and places around the world, even today there are. I mentioned to you last night, I watched a documentary on Christians being persecuted today. You'd be surprised some of the countries and some of the things that Christians have to grow through. They can't, listen, they can't come to a, more about Jesus, about Jesus meeting. They can't come and sit down and watch the ladies get up and sing and watch Brother Larry clap for Brother Rob. I mean, they can't do that. Amen. I mean, they don't enjoy what we have. They don't have air conditioning. They don't have cars out there. They can't worship freely like you and I can. We're a blessed people tonight. Why? Because of Jesus. He's made it possible, folks. I don't believe it's an accident. God has blessed America because America at one time was the financial enterprise that sent out missionaries all around the world. And you know what we're having now? We're having missionaries come to America. And we need them. I look at some of the conditions of the churches around us in Houston, Texas, and I say, God, send us some missionaries that'll stand behind the Pope without compromise and preach Jesus to a lost and dying city like Houston, Texas. Amen? We're in dire need of more people to stand up for Jesus. And you know what I tell our folks, and I say it here to your folks, let it begin here. Let it begin with you. Let you be one to make a difference for Christ, that you'd live Christ. Let me close with a few questions, just a few. One would be simply this. How serious are we about living for Christ? How serious are you? How serious are we? Because we saw in this text, best I could bring you life from Christ, life in Christ, life with Christ, life by Christ, and life for Christ. Here's my question. Has that changed? Is it necessary anymore to be that, if you use the word radical, or to be that much committed to Christ? Has that changed? Did God require more of those in the New Testament era than he does today? I say to you, no. Amen. God doesn't change. And what he required of Paul, and what he required of Timothy, and what he required of Peter, and what he required in the New Testament, he requires of you and I today, that we commit ourselves fully unto Jesus Christ, our Lord, who saved us by his grace, a bunch of unworthy sinners, amen, and made us the light of this world and the salt of this earth. That's our job. That's our call. Amen. And it's all because of him, folk. I don't witness and I don't try to do what I do because I'm a Baptist. I do what I do because I'm a Christian. And I'm glad to be a Baptist. Somebody said, what would you be if you wasn't an independent Baptist? I'd be ashamed. I'm just telling you. I'd be ashamed. But I don't do what I do and I don't get up for these last 50, almost 53 years and go to church and for 45 years preach the gospel because that's what I do. I do it because Christ's in me. Because I want to please him. Because he's put it in my heart. Amen. He has called me to to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ to a lost and dying world, and to live Christ every day just as much on Monday as I do on Sunday, or any other day of the week. Amen? So has God changed? And the answer to that is no, He hasn't. Does He expect as much out of you and I as believers today as He did then? Yes, He does. Yes, He does. Can we please God if our priorities are not in Christ and for Christ and by Christ, amen, and with Christ. No, he can't. I've always told folks this, he does not bless disobedience. He doesn't even bless coldness of heart. Amen. He doesn't bless that. You know what coldness of heart leads to? And I'll just, I'll close with this. It leads to the church of Laodicea. They got to the place, I don't think they started out like that. You begin to read scriptures, you'll find the church of Laodicea in a positive mentioning in the word of God before you get to the book of Revelation. Somewhere, somehow, those people in that church got so far away from God, Maybe it was their children. I don't know. I don't know all the details about it, but I do know this. They got so far away from the truth that God wouldn't even go to church with them. He's on the outside while they're on the inside. And if you would've asked them, Larry, if you would've went up and asked them, said, did y'all have church? They'd have said, whoo, whoo, God met with us. That's what they'd have said. And God wasn't even near them. They've been, he's on the outside. As they were basking in their riches and their wealth and all the things they said, they simply said this about the Lord, we have need of nothing. And I believe you could add this without adding to the scripture, they would have said, if we don't need him, we're just fine. May I close by saying this, we need him. Amen. We need him more than Calvary Baptist Church needs me or Glory Baptist Church needs you. God's put you here and God put me there, but who we need is him. Amen. Every day of our lives. God help us. Amen. Amen. Go ahead. Let's stand here tonight. Thank you, Brother Gary, for the exaltation of Christ tonight in Galatians chapter two, verse 20. It brought me to the place there of Philippians chapter one, verse 21, for me to live as Christ. I was thinking about that for a moment, and you're talking about Paul. My mind went right down to second Timothy chapter four. Around verse six, he says, I'm now ready to be offered. Talking about my departure's at hand and Paul's about to die. I thought about tonight if we would have that knowledge that I'm about to depart, I'm about to die. Then he said this in verse 8, he said, I have fought a good fight. Have you done that? Are you ready to die? You're not ready to die if you ain't fought a good fight. He said secondly, I have finished my course. You're not ready to die tonight if you haven't finished your course. He said thoroughly, I've kept the faith. We're not ready to die if we haven't kept the faith. For to me to live is Christ. I am crucified with Christ. Tonight, I guess the invitation is this. If your departure's at hand, What can be said from you? I have fought the good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. If you need to come to the altar tonight, it's open. If you need to bow down at your pew, you can do that. All I ask tonight is that you get with God and you speak to Christ and you allow the Lord Jesus tonight to remind you of how wonderful and great that he is. and that he might bring to your attention the sinfulness and the wickedness and the awfulness that we are. Oh God, have your way tonight. What song are you gonna sing, Brother George? 394. If you'd like to sing with Brother George, you sing that. As God deals with our heart tonight, you move as God moves you. Let's sing together.