This morning we're in Romans 15. We'll be looking at verses 14 through 33. It's amazing we've gotten here by God's grace. Romans 15, beginning of verse 14. I hate to stand you back up again. It's a flaw in our liturgy that we've got to work through. But would you stand again for the reading of God's holy and errant and infallible word. Again, beginning in verse 14, Paul writes, And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able also to admonish one another. But I have written very boldly to you on some points, so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given to me from God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest of the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, in Christ Jesus, I have found reason for boasting in the things pertaining to God. For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed. and the power of signs and wonders, and the power of the Spirit, so that from Jerusalem and around about as far as Curiam, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. And thus I have aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build upon another man's foundation. But as it is written, they who have had no news of him shall see, and they who have not heard shall understand. For this reason I have often been prevented from coming to you, but now with no further place for me in these regions, and since I have had for many years a longing to come to you, whenever I go to Spain, for I hope to see you in passing, and to be helped in my way there by you, when I have first enjoyed your company for a while. But now I am going to Jerusalem, serving the saints, For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Yes, they were pleased to do so and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things. Therefore, when I have finished this and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on my way of you to Spain. I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessings of Christ. Now I urge you, brethren, by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints, so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company. Now, the God of peace be with you all. Amen. Let's pray. Our God and our Father, we're grateful for the opportunity to hold in our hands and to read out loud and to study the inerrant, infallible, eternal word of God. You have, Father, from ages preserved it, upheld it, and brought it to your people. Father, teach us this morning as we consider these simple truths, but so profound. Help us, Lord, as we do business with you in this Our, not to be playing games, but Lord, I pray that each of us would cry out and say, Lord, here's my heart. Here's my mind. I'm yours. I am clay in your hands. Make me what you want me to be. Father, there's not one of us here standing with our head bowed who's arrived. We're not good. We failed, and we have failed miserably. We don't know our right from our left at times. And sometimes our foolishness betrays our ears. But we ask God that this morning, that you would help us to be changed. Not just challenged, but changed. Not just confronted, but conformed truly to the image of Christ. We commit ourselves to that end to you, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. I want to remind you of what we said almost a year ago when we began our study of Paul's epistle to Romans. That it was on Paul's second missionary journey that the Apostle Paul became aware of divisions that existed in the church at Rome. And although Paul had not founded that church, he had actually never even been to Rome, He stops in the middle of the second missionary journey to pen this epistle to the Roman church. Again, a letter that is considered by many to be the most, single most important literary work ever to be composed. And among many other things, the book of Romans confirms some of the things that Jesus said in his last words. In Acts chapter one, verse eight, Jesus said to the disciples that you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria, and even, stretch your mind with me, Jesus said, even the remotest parts of the earth. And in less than one generation, the gospel went from Jesus and 12 men, then minus one of them, to reach, truly reach the largest city in the Western world, Rome. And we have reached the end of our study in Romans. Christian will conclude it next Lord's Day. But certainly, beginning in verse 14, where we began reading this morning, chapter 15, Paul begins his conclusion. And the conclusion will begin in verse 14, through all the verses we just read, on into chapter 16. And at Paul's conclusion, Paul talks about himself. He talks about his ministry. He talks about his future plans. He commends the Roman believers to God. He explains why he hasn't been able to reach them and visit them. He also explains his indebtedness to them. He asks for prayer. He identifies his traveling companions. He identifies other Christians in Rome that he knows of, those who will be coming to Rome and so forth. But the thing I want us to see after almost a year in Romans in this conclusion, the thing I want us to get out of Paul's conclusion, above all things, is Paul himself. The man himself. To say it this way, if Romans chapter one through 11 is the theology of the gospel, Romans 12-14 is the application of the gospel. Chapter 15-16 is a living example of the gospel. I remember Some of you know that I was an air traffic controller back when President Reagan fired them and so forth, son. It doesn't matter. But one thing I'd like to share is I remember going through air traffic control school at that time. The Air Force was taking over the friendly skies, so to speak, because the PATCO guys, the government controllers, were on strike. And so they were on a fast track. But bottom line is, in air traffic control school, you went through all these blocks, and you learned different things in different blocks. You learned about nav aids. You learned about different approaches. approach controls and departures and all kinds of stuff. You learn phraseology and how to talk fast, all of those sorts of things, all these blocks. And you get through it, you pass. And then it comes about that you walk one day into an active, live air traffic control facility. And it is as if you hadn't learned a thing. Everybody understand? You had all this knowledge and information, but when you see it taking place, it is overwhelming. I have been, you know, young controllers, new guys seeking certification, so forth, they're assigned to you, and I have seen grown men, as they stand in that facility, start to shed tears. Again, Romans 1-11, the theology of the gospel, 12-14, the application. And here you walk, as it were, into the room, We have Paul himself, a living example of the gospel. These last two chapters give us a look at a man, truly a man, who has been transformed by the gospel. Not just knowledge, head knowledge, but a life changed from what he once was to now what he has become. A living example of the gospel. And somebody has once said, a picture is worth a thousand words. Romans 15 and 16 is that picture. What I say this morning, I've got points, but my fear is that you're gonna walk away with points. I want us to walk away with a heart that is burdened with the transformation of Paul because of the gospel. In other words, what Paul has become ought to be what we are becoming. You do realize that the conversion of the Apostle Paul would truly be on the same scale as the conversion of someone like Osama bin Laden. And that is not an overstatement. Paul was, in fact, a fanatical, Christian-hating, Christian-killing, religious zealot. If unchristian had a poster child, it would have been Saul of Tarsus. Let me just read this. In Acts 9, we have an account of the events immediately after Saul or Paul's conversion. Acts 9, 20 and following says this, Now for days he, Paul, was with the disciples who were at Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying to these Jews in the Damascus synagogues about Jesus, Jesus is the Son of God. And all those hearing him continued to be amazed, saying, is this not the one who in Jerusalem destroyed all those who called upon this name and who had come here to Damascus for the purpose of bringing them back bound before a chief priest? But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ. When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him. Big threat, can't have one of us becoming one of them. And their plot became known to Saul. So they were also watching the gates by day and night, so as they might put him to death. But the disciples took Paul by night, led him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him down in a large basket. And when he, Paul, came to Jerusalem and was trying to associate with the disciples, They were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. It was beyond their imagination, beyond the impossible, but it was true. And why was it true? Again, because of the power of the transforming power of the gospel. Paul would have been on the nightly news. He would have. And so here, as Paul concludes the epistle to the Romans, we see what God has done in a man's life. Paul, now in the twilight years of his life, half of his life lived walking with Christ, his life molded by the Holy Spirit, a man sculpted by a deep, deep knowledge of theology and truth, a man shaped by years and years and years of faithfulness, forged, by perseverance amidst great persecution, holding in his own experience the innumerable times that God has shown himself to be faithful to him, humbled by his own battle with his own sin and his own flesh, and trained by utter sheer dependence upon God, floating in the depths of the sea for his life, being beaten, scourged. You can just walk through the litany of his resume, what he had endured and been through, hanging on a thread called faith in God. And so it is, these last two chapters, in my mind's eye, is a reach dive into the making, the making of a man of God. And we can see the making in boldness, we can see it in subtleties. But to say it simply and profoundly, what we see at this point in Paul's life, is we see Christlikeness. It's the goal for all of us. And we see it. Not just in theology of 11 chapters, or in the challenges of 12 through 14, but we see it in the man. And a picture is worth a thousand words. What do we see? A few points, and again, I hope we're not walking out of here with just points. What has Paul learned over these years? Dealing with Jews, dealing with Gentiles, kings, princes, paupers, you name it. What has Paul learned over these years? Number one, Paul has learned the power of encouragement. The power of encouragement. We all interact with people. Do you and I own the power of encouragement? Our world is a very discouraging place. All you got to do is watch the news. You can look at your own life, your own failures, failures of others, your own trials, trials of others. Our world is a place filled with very real fear. And it's rightful fear, rightful fear. I still see occasionally I still see people with COVID masks on. What in the world? Still living with fear. Our world is a world filled with disappointment, dissatisfaction, people living lives of regret, experiencing setback after setback, letdown after letdown, defeat after defeat, building frustration, bitterness. We see the world's obstacles, confrontation. Watch your step. Our world is confrontive. It doesn't take much. It's a hair trigger. And our world is stressed out. And if you have encouraging people in your life, consider yourself extraordinarily blessed because most people don't experience very much encouragement. But Paul has learned the power of encouragement. He's seen sinners become believers. And the sinners in the route to salvation need encouragement. And then becoming a believer, they need encouragement. Leaders who needed encouragement, elders who needed encouragement, deacons who needed encouragement, We all need encouragement. We all need encouragement. Notice verse 14 through 16. And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to admonish one another. But I have written very boldly to you on some points, so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given to me from God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest of the gospel, so that my offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable and sanctified in the Holy Spirit." After all that Paul has written to the Church of Rome, and obviously he's written a lot, Paul wants to make sure that he concludes, and that he concludes with encouragement. And here, if you think about it, if you've been paying attention for the last few weeks, here Paul himself becomes a model of all that he has been encouraging them to be. Remember, don't tear each other down, don't put a rock of offense before another, seek to build up one another. And here we see Paul doing the very thing he's been encouraging them to do. Again, I want you to think about this. Here's a Roman church made up of Jewish believers, Gentile believers all together are hanging on by their nails. in a very hostile pagan world that is soon, historically, to turn deadly, deadly deadly. And they're surrounded by emperor worship, they're surrounded by Roman deities, surrounded by Rome's sexual perversions and immoralities. They are, as Christians, economically and socially disadvantaged. And the last thing Paul wants to do is close this letter by discouraging them. And Paul wants them to know, as he concludes, that they are a cause of great joy to him. Again, notice verse 14. And concerning you, he writes, my brethren, my brethren, you are family to me, my brethren. I am also convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish each other. Paul is saying to them, as he concludes, I'm confident in you. I'm thankful for you, and I'm convinced that you are full of goodness, i.e., kindness, generosity, compassion, that you are full of knowledge that is faith and theology and truth, and you are full of discernment. Because you are so concerned for each other, you are filled with discernment. You want to help each other become all that Christ wants you to be. And yet in verse 15 and 16, Paul essentially says there's reasons at times in his letter. I've had to be bold. I've had to be forthright. And that is because I have a responsibility for you before God. And my boldness is indicative of God's care for you, and therefore my care for you as well. You are important to me because you are important to God. Encouragement. Think about what Paul writes. I'm going to quote it for you. You can write it down if you want to look it up. It's what Paul writes in Philippians chapter two, verses one through two. And this is what he says. And it really is, it's a summary of the entire epistle of Romans. Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation of love, any fellowship of the Spirit, if there are any affections or compassions, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in the Spirit and intent on one purpose. Encouragement, encouragement. Show and tell. Everyone. Has anybody arrived? No one has arrived? Does anyone here even know what arrival looks like? Have we arrived at Christ-likeness, purity? Have we reached the destination? Anyone? Oh, so we're all on journey. And you know what it takes to reach arrival? Encouragement. Encouragement. What else do we learn from Paul? I want you to notice, secondly, not only the power of encouragement, but the necessity of humility. Notice verse 17 and following. Therefore, in Christ Jesus, I have found reason for boasting of the things pertaining to God. For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me. resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, and power of signs and wonders, and the power of the Spirit, so that from Jerusalem all around, as far as Icarium, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ, and thus I aspire to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, so I would not build up on another man's foundation, but as it is written, they who have had no news of him shall see, and they who have not heard shall understand. This is his, what, this is his humility. It's pretty powerful. Let me make sure you see it. Verse 17 through 21, Paul says this, when I boast, I boast in things pertaining to God. Verse 18, when I speak, I speak of nothing except what Christ has accomplished through me. Verse 19, when I trust, I trust in the power of the Spirit. Verse 20, when I aspire, I aspire to preach the gospel where Christ has not been preached. And when I preach, verse 21, I preach to those who have not heard so they might hear. When I boast, it's in God. When I speak, it's about Christ. When I trust, it's in the Spirit. When I aspire, it's preaching Christ. And when I preach, it's to preach Christ to those who have not heard. This is humility. You know what's missing in these verses? Self. No self. No self. You'll notice verse 17, carefully, where it says, I have found reason for boasting and things pertaining to God. The word boasting in the New Testament Greek is kouhesos, the idea of glorifying in something or exalting in something or someone. Several years ago, Deb and I were in the Holy Land. That's Mobile, Alabama, just for the record. And we heard the late Tim Keller preach on 1 Corinthians 1, 26 and following. Here's the text Tim preached on. 1 Corinthians 1, 26 and following. It says, for I consider your calling, brethren. He's preaching to preachers. Consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of this world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of this world, and the despised of God has chosen. The things that are not, so that he may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God, By his doing you are in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption so that just as is written, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. So here's Keller preaching to preachers and he's reminding preachers that there's not many of you wise, not many of you noble, none of you good, you're all debased and weakless and helpless and hopeless and just to remind you of that. And then he goes on to say, so that no one, listen to this, that no one may boast before God, but rather we might boast in God. Not boasting before the Lord, but boasting in the Lord. And Keller had a very interesting take on this idea of boasting. I'm going to share it with you. He pointed out that the historic etymology of the word boasting comes from an ancient military context, where the question is something like this. How do you get your troops to charge forward into hand-to-hand combat? We've all seen the image. We've all seen the picture. where on each side of this great field are this big sea of humanity, warriors, here and here. And they're screaming and yelling and saber rattling at each other. And the question is, how do you get them to fearlessly charge forward? And the answer is boasting. How so? Boasting occurs when the general mounted on a war charger, would begin to ride up and down before his troops. And he would be shouting and yelling, reminding the troops of who their great general is, yeah! Reminding his troop of all his many victories, yeah! That they could be under no greater command, yeah! That the enemy is no match that the victory is theirs, and on and on, that's boasting. And then would come the word charge. Charge. No boasting before the Lord, but boasting in the Lord. And as Paul reminds us, who are we, the troops? We're not wise according to flesh, not mighty, not noble, not good, foolish, weak, base things. And we boast in the Lord and therefore we charge into this world. Think how many battles the Apostle Paul had fought. How many victories by boasting in the Lord. Battle after battle after battle to bring the gospel to the Jew first to the Gentile. It's powerful. Excuse me. The most amazing scenes in my mind's eye in Paul's life is him preaching in Jerusalem to the Jews. And they begin to swarm on him to kill him. They're gonna take his life. They're gonna kill him, squash him in the Jerusalem temple. And at that time, Immediately adjacent to the northeast of the temple was what was called Fort Antonius. It was the fortress that the Romans had built in order to oversee the Jerusalem complex and to maintain peace. And here's this Roman cohort, a stage in Fort Antonius, and they see this mob reaction as they're trying to kill Paul. And so here comes the Roman soldiers, and they rescue Paul from death. And it says in the text that they've got Paul in their hands, and they have him lifted up over their heads, out of reach from the clawing Jewish mob. Out of reach. And they began to make their way with Paul, just been rescued from death, up the steps towards Fort Antonius, out of the reach of the mob. And Paul begins to beg them. He begins to beg the Roman soldiers. You know what he's begging for? Can you put me down on the steps and give me one more time to preach to these Jews? That's not boasting before the Lord. That is boasting in the Lord. Thirdly, not only the power of encouragement, the necessity of humility, but I want you to notice in this text the need for persistence. Verse 22 and following. For this reason, Paul writes, I have often been prevented from coming to you, to Rome, but now with no further place for me in these regions, and since I have had for many years a longing to come to you whenever I go to Spain, For I hope to see you in passing and to be helped on the way there by you when I first have enjoyed your company for a while. But now I'm going to Jerusalem serving the saints. For Macedonia, Gentile area, and Kea, Gentile area, have been pleased to make a contribution. They took up an offering. for the starving, the poor saints in Jerusalem. And yes, they were pleased to do so. They were indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things. Therefore, Paul says, when I finish this, I have put my seal on this fruit of theirs. I will go by way of you to Spain. I know when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. This is amazing. Because Paul writes this, he is an aging apostle. He has been beat up, left for dead, shipwrecked, lashes, you name it. Faced unbelievable odds, fought so many, so many battles. And here he is at the twilight years of his life, and he's talking about his future plans. Everybody say amen. His future plans. And essentially, he's saying, listen, I haven't done that because I'm doing this. But I plan on doing that after I'm done doing this other thing, and then that thing. And then I'm going here. But even from there, I'll be planning on going to this place. And after that, I'll get up and go somewhere else. And somewhere along the line, as I'm going to Spain, I'm going to swing by and see y'all. Twilight years of life. Verse 22, for this reason I've often been prevented from coming to you. Paul's engaged in open doors of opportunity, evangelistic opportunities. I can't get to you because God's using me right here, right now. Verse 23, but now with no further places for me in these regions, that is, Paul's reached this point, now I've completed all the opportunities that God had given me. Verse 23, 24, I'll summarize. I've been busy here, but desiring to get to you, but I also feel God's leading me to Spain, Verse 25, 27, summarizing, but before I can do any of those things, I have to complete my next ministry, the one that's immediately before me, which is to bring this benevolent offering that I've collected from Gentile churches to bring to the starving Christians, Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. Not only to help them economically, financially, but also what? To unify Gentile and Jewish believers. This is critical in Paul's mind. Verse 28, and Lord willing, after all that's done, if I complete that, I'll come to you on my way to Spain. How does that affect you? How does that affect you? Part of it makes me feel like I want to go home and take a nap, right? You've got to be kidding me. Well, what is Paul all about? We know this from his epistles, all about finishing the course that's set before him. An ambassador not only of the gospel, but an ambassador of charity, an ambassador of unity. This is what he's about. Fourth thing, and I'm moving along, so hang with me. What do we learn from Paul? Power and encouragement, necessity of humility, the need for persistence, And fourthly, the dependence on prayer. Notice verse 30 and 33. Now I urge you, that's I beg you, I plead with you guys, brethren, I'm begging you by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. I'm begging you to strive together with me in your prayers for me before God. First of all, can you imagine the Apostle Paul asking you to pray for him? Should be like vice versa, sort of, kind of, maybe. In the verse 30, you'll see the word strive. It's a long Greek word, sunago nidzomai. And it goes back to the analogy of boasting. Literally, strive, sunago nidzomai, literally means fight by my side. Fight by my side. Join me in battle by my side. Strive together with me. in your prayers to God for me. I've said this often, but I want to remind you, and I think it's important because I still hear it all the time. I do not believe in the power of prayer. I want you to hear me. I do not believe in the power of prayer. I believe in the power of God. Therefore, I pray. I hear oftentimes people say, I'm sick, I got cancer, this and that. Yeah, I got people praying for me. Are you trusting in the prayer or are you trusting in God? Prayers don't heal, God does. All that prayer does is attach you to God, your request, your need, your concern. Prayer is the vehicle that takes your immediate cares, needs, et cetera, to God. Essentially, if that's true, and I believe it is, when we don't pray, we don't pray because we aren't believing in God. I don't believe in power prayer. I believe in the power of God, therefore, I pray. Paul says, sunagizo mai, strive with me, fight by myself, go to God with me for prayer. I get this, man. This guy's been doing this a long time. He's been doing ministry, evangelism, witnessing, all of that for a long time. And do you think Paul has learned the importance of prayer? It's Jesus in the vine, in the branches saying, apart from me, you can do what? Nothing, nothing. I don't care how smart you are, erudite you are, gifted you are, apart from me, you can do nothing. And Paul says, I beg you, I plea with you, I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. And what is Paul praying for? You'll notice verse 31. that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea. Actually, he is rescued, and then he's not. He's not killed, but he's arrested and imprisoned. Paul knows going into Jerusalem with this offering, he's gonna face real enemies. Taking this Gentile offering to the starving Jewish Christian to Jerusalem is like walking in the lion cage. He knew it. Pray for me, pray for me. Acts 23, 12, it says, and when it was day, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves together under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. And more than 40 of them formed in this plot. When Paul reached Jerusalem, a plot was formed. 40 men will starve to death, will fast until Paul is dead. Until Paul's dead, whatever it takes. And the second thing he prays for, you notice verse 31, that my service for Jerusalem, that is this gift from Gentiles to these starving saints in Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints. There was division. It would be easy for those Jews to say, we don't want Gentile money. That's filthy, unclean. We don't need their help. Paul's saying, please, may it be acceptable. I desire with all my heart to unite them, Jew and Gentile, one body in Christ. And the third thing he prays for, verse 32, so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company. Well, did God answer that prayer? He gets to Rome. Was it a joyful experience? Mavertine Prison, ever been there in Rome? Find refreshing company in the presence of the Roman church? Maybe when they had prison visitation. He got to Rome. I wouldn't call it a joyful experience or refreshing rest. And yes, sure enough, Paul will die in Rome. Again, what do we learn from Paul? Again, not just prayer points. I charge myself and I charge you, brothers and sisters. You and I need to embrace the power of encouragement. We really do. We also need to embrace the necessity of humility. I'm nothing, you know it, you're nothing, and I know it. And the need for persistence. Do what you can while you can. Do what you can while you can. One day, you give an account, so will I. One day, we'll tell war stories around the throne of God. Do what you can while you can. And then finally, the dependence on prayer. We need God's help. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. Let's pray together, if we could. Our God and our Father, we're grateful for the Apostle Paul. What a day it will be when we meet him face to face in a new heaven, in a new earth. In the very center of a new Jerusalem that once captured Paul and tried to kill him. Paul will become a hero among us. What a joy it'll be to worship Christ alongside of Paul, Barnabas, Silas, and others. Father, this life is short, it's passing. Our world is a mess. Wars, rumors of wars. We just came out of a pestilence plague just a few years ago. We understand this is a fragile passing world. And one day when no one's looking for it, no one's thinking about it in the twinkle of an eye, Heaven will open, Lord Jesus Christ will descend. And every knee will bow and every tongue confess. And all our trite concerns and pettiness, divisions and all that, preoccupations, quests, they'll all just vaporize in an instant. Purged by the presence of the King. Lord, help us to live towards that end, to live encouraging those who are journeying with us to a promised land, humbled by the reality of a God who chose to save sinners like us, engaged in prayer and persistent in the mission that you've left us with. Thank you for Grace Church. May we model this before a watching world. May we model these things that we see in Paul as he modeled it before the Roman church. May we model it before Blairsville and Georgia and the United States of America. Watching world. May the church be triumphant. Lord, we thank you for this time. I do pray for the person here today who maybe has never trusted in Christ. And I just would speak to you just for a minute. You've tried it on your own. You've followed your sins, you've followed your lust, you've done your own thing. Has it led you somewhere? Has it delivered what it promised? Are you getting younger? Are you getting older? Are you trusting in yourself and this world? What are you trusting in? Do you really want to die and stand before Almighty God with no Savior, no Christ, no salvation, no hope, end up before God a sinner and empty-handed? Whoever you are, I encourage you by the grace of God, turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, repent of your sin, believe upon Him, and then confess Him to somebody. Tell somebody today as you leave this place, I'm trusting Christ as my Savior. I'm tired of doing it on my own. I need Jesus in my life. I just pray if that's you, that you would do it. Take those steps. It's eternally important, more important than anything you'll ever do. Father, again, we return to you and we pray that your spirit would do that work. And we ask these things in Jesus' name and all God's people said, amen. Join me as we stand together for the benediction. Brothers and sisters, may our great Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May our Lord lift up his counts on you and give you peace, amen. ♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ ♪ Praise him all creatures here below ♪ ♪ Praise him above ye heavenly host ♪ ♪ Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ Amen ♪