Good morning, everyone. I thank the Lord for our pastor. He's a man of courage. And he's a man of commitment. And he's shown that through the years. You know, that's what's necessary to be a leader. You have to be committed. You have to be courageous. and you have to be humble. And I'm very grateful for that in our pastor. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the provisions you've made. Lord, you are all wise, Father, and we always depend on you. Lord, we know that we bring no worth, no wisdom of our own, but Father, we bring that which you've given us. And Father, help us to be faithful and committed to you, to do the work that's before us for your cause, to draw men and women to you, that they might live with you in eternity. Father, I pray that you would cleanse me of sin and empty me of self and make me a vessel in your hands. In Jesus' name, amen. I have a favorite minister on the radio that I listen to from time to time. His name is Dr. Tony Evans. Some of you may have heard of him. And Dr. Evans made a statement, a comment about Dr. Martin Luther King that I want to share with you. His comment was, speaking of Dr. King, he put before us the fact that the God of righteousness is also a God of fairness. And what was happening in America that led to the Civil Rights Movement was not only wrong culturally and societally, but also spiritually and theologically. You know, I grew up in a different time. Brother Stan pointed out his heritage. My mother and father were born in 1911 and 1912. My oldest brother was born in 1933. I was born in 1957. There were eight people between us. So everything you want to know about history from 33 to 57, I had somebody that could tell me something about it. Not only that, I had the opportunity to meet my great-grandmother, who lived in a home next to my grandmother with a wood stove. you can imagine as a young person that was a nice place to play. Because I didn't know what any of that stuff did. I remember irons that were actually irons that you sit on the wood stove to heat up. So there's a lot of history that I've had opportunity to experience. You know that comment by Dr. Evans, was not something new. And it's interesting that Stan went here too, and I'm going to go there as well. It was something that was pointed out by the founders of this country. They said it a different way. They said, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So the message is the same. I want you to note, though, that the source of this message was our creator. The creator gave us this message. And we know that creator by some other names in this congregation, since it's Christmastime or sort of right there. Isaiah 9, 6 says, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end. upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. So there's a path that we're on. And if we're following God, we're on God's path. And his desire is to establish judgment with justice from henceforth even forever. I'm going to give you a Berean challenge. You know what that is? A Berean challenge. In Acts chapter 17, the Berean brethren were called more noble than those in Thessalonica. This is verse 11 if you want to stick it up there, Acts 17, 11. These were more noble. than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. So I'm speaking to you, but you have the Berean challenge. You find out whether or not what I share with you is true. Here's the statement that I'm going to work from. Any change toward good in a nation requires leaders that are humbly, persistently, courageously seeking God's will by following the principles found in God's word. Think about that. Can you think of a good thing that ever happened in a nation that didn't happen because somebody was seeking God and somebody was trying to lead us toward God's will? We know Jesus is our ultimate example. We know that the scriptures teach us to, in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2, looking onto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him that endured such contradictions. Our Savior Jesus walked this earth and was persecuted. He was persecuted for our sake. He was bruised for our iniquities. And the chastisement of our peace was upon him. Praise the Lord that he bore that burden for me and for you and for every person that's ever been oppressed. I could tell stories about things that my forebears dealt with that were very troubling. But you know what? Through it all, we loved the Lord. I lived 50 feet across from a church growing up, and my dad and mom kept us there. I wasn't saved back then. The Lord had another plan for when that was going to happen. But it was in my face every day to serve God. If you're going to do anything, serve God. So Jesus is our example. We're to look to him. So what are some of the examples that Jesus gave us? Well, Matthew 5, 44, love your enemies. Bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. As I've said many times, I've probably said it from this pulpit, that's kingdom thinking. That's not how men think. That's kingdom thinking. You don't get that aside from God. I know of no other religion or philosophy that tells you to do that. That's the example of God's love. He gives an example of humility, or there's an example of humility in 1 Peter chapter 5, starting in verse 5. The second part of that says, yea, all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility For God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. It's in God's timing, brother. Every good thing that has happened, every bad thing that has happened, every suffering, every persecution, it's in God's timing. And he brings us to a point in life where we can use it for his glory. You know, everything that anyone suffered. Brother George shared a moving testimony of his life and the many sufferings he's dealt with. But you know what? Brother George is a testimony of God's grace. Encourages me just by looking at him. You know, and there are many of you that are like that. It's encouraging just to see you. to know that we be brethren. We have a common cause. We have a common commitment. And we want to fight for the things of God. We want to see God's name glorified. We want to see it. Paul talked about an example to follow. I love Paul. I love Paul. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 is where I'll start because even though it is the end of the chapter, verse 31 through 33, I'm going to include verse 1 of chapter 11 as I read this. So 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God, even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. And then chapter 11, verse 1, after he said that, he says, be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ. You know, it is so important for a leader to say, follow me. You know, I had the privilege of sharing this the other night, but the idea behind a follower is two things. You have to move. You can't follow sitting down. I used Brother Eugene as an example. I'll use you again, brother. If he gets up and starts out the back door and says, follow me, and we all sit here and look at him, We are not following Eugene. Or if he gets up and says that, and I start following, and I trip over the first pew, and the second pew, and the third pew, and I'm just falling every time I'm trying to follow him. And I decide, oh, this is too much. I can't follow him anymore. I don't have commitment. So a follower needs to move. and needs to be committed to that movement. I'm going to move forward, because a lot of thoughts came to my mind. When I was first asked to do this, and this is a pattern of mine. I'll share it with you. If someone is approaching me and ask me to share a thought or a message about something, I immediately listen, Lord, what What are you going to say? What do you want me to say? This person's in front of me. What do you want me to say? And I start listening for that. And this is the passage that came immediately to mind for me. And for me, it means it's the attitude of a follower. It's the attitude we need to have in order to perform the ministry. And it's in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. And I'll start in verse one. And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. Verse two says, for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Think about that. If you treat everyone with that attitude, there's no one that you wouldn't minister to. Because I determined to know nothing, I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That was one of my father's favorite verses. And it encouraged me that the Lord brought that to my mind. Okay. Uh, James chapter two and verse one says, my brethren have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory with respect of persons. I can honestly say that the men and the women that have ministered to me in this church have followed this verse. I've never sensed a respective person say, oh, well, you know, I don't know if I want to talk to him, or I don't know if I want to deal with him. And Lord knows, I want that to be my attitude as well. And I want this community to see that in us as a church. This world is looking for light. And we bear the light of Christ in our lives. So the world is looking for it. We need to shine. We need to shine. I'm gonna go ahead and finish up fairly quickly. Two things. Philippians chapter two, verse three through eight says, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not on every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in this fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Our Savior humbled him. God, the creator of the universe, humbled himself for you and for me. Can we follow him and do less? Can we follow him and not have that commitment? Not really. And the world needs it right now. We were born for such a time as this, brother. That's why we're here. That's why we're here. That's why you're here. Because the Lord knew we needed to be here at this time and have this kind of commitment to him. Thank you, brethren. We're glad you joined us for our services here at Mission Boulevard Baptist Church. We look forward to having you join us again online, but you are always welcome to personally attend any of our services at the Mission Boulevard Baptist Church here in Fayetteville, Arkansas.