We're gonna begin in the book of Romans chapter number 10. Romans chapter number 10. Romans 10. Bill of the pail's dead, so we'll just use the pulpit, Mike. Romans chapter 10. Verse number 14, Romans 10, 14. This evening I'd like to bring a message about your feet. Your feet, about how beautiful they are. Only in practice. Romans chapter 10. And let's look together at verse number 14, Romans 10, 14. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach except they be sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. Heavenly Father, Lord, we pray, Lord, your will be done tonight. Lord, you bless, Lord, your work and your word. We pray for our young people, Lord, in our other building. We pray, Lord, for their souls, for their lives, that they will follow you. They will surrender their lives to you. They will know you. And I pray, Lord, that you would open the hearts and minds of the teachers and to open the hearts and the minds of our youth. Lord, that they might see the glory of the gospel. Lord, forgive me of my sins. Wash me, clean me, purge me, Lord, of all my unrighteousness, and help me, Lord, tonight. In your name, Jesus, Lord, we ask these things. Amen. Most of my trouble could have been solved in my life by if my feet didn't take me there. Something very necessary for our lives. It's good to stay on your feet. When you get knocked off your feet, it can be rather embarrassing. It could be something negative. It's not really the posture that we try to maintain or keep ourselves in. The older one gets, the harder it is to recover once you slip and fall. If we can certainly miss the days like my youngest daughter Madison, she falls and gets up and falls and gets up a thousand times. As you get older you fall and sometimes it takes you a few weeks to get up and we have some of our dear members struggling with that now. Laverne, she might be even watching now, I visited her there earlier in the week and I was just talking and chatting and fellowshipping with her and I was telling her, asking her how time gets away and how time goes by fast. And I mentioned to her, you know, it wasn't that long ago, you know, you was my age. Because I could say it wasn't that long ago, I was Madison's age. And then as we know, we love her so much for it, she said, you'll be here one day. I said, I know I will. I know it. And that's certainly true for all of us, one way or another. But our feet, we need to stay on our feet, absolutely. And most of my trouble in life is because my feet took me to the wrong spot. A lot of our issues can be solved by just not letting our feet go that way, not letting our feet take us into trouble, not letting our feet take us into a fight, not letting our feet take us to maybe even a group of gossip or some place we shouldn't be or something we shouldn't look at or something we shouldn't see. We should worry about what our feet are doing, absolutely, because our feet carry our soul on earth. And if we want to keep our soul out of trouble, then let's keep our feet out of trouble. If we can keep our feet on the path of righteousness, then we will live a righteous life. If we keep our feet on the path of wickedness, then we will live a wicked life. It really boils down to where our feet are at. And if our feet are on a good path, then our life will be on a good path. If our feet are on a bad path, our life will be on a bad path. It even matters if you're driving. I mean, if you shouldn't take your vehicle over there to that house, to that party, to that movie, then don't put your foot on the gas. It's amazing how critical your feet are to your earthly journey or testimony. You just don't drive there. Keep your foot on the brake. So your feet can either imprison you or set you free. And that's true for anybody's life. It doesn't matter. I mean, even if one doesn't have feet, then it becomes a metaphor and it's still true. Where your body takes you is going to determine the condition of your soul. And so don't go there, right? Don't go there, or you should go there. Even becoming faithful to church is just a matter of where your feet go on Sunday, that's it. Just take your feet there. Let your feet take you where your body needs to go, and your heart will follow. And so our feet are important to our spiritual lives. And the Bible talks about feet all the time, all the time throughout scripture. One place where we should be is at the feet of Christ, at the feet of God. We should stay at His feet. If we ever are off our feet, let it be because we're on our knees. But our feet is often talked about through Scripture. I was even digging around earlier, and a great sermon by Jonathan Edwards was preached, titled, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. And he took the text from, I think, Deuteronomy chapter number 32. And the text means, and I'll paraphrase it, it's saying that, lest thy foot should slip, And God is speaking judgment, and He's saying, vengeance is mine. And He said, lest thy foot slip and calamity follow you. And God is warning wicked people that your foot will slip and judgment will come. And so you can get on the wrong path. You can. And it's a slippery path. And God talks, and you could take the meaning of Deuteronomy 32, where God says your foot will slip and judgment will come. That's a slippery path. It's a slippery slope. So I would say to the world or anybody listening that a wayward path, a path outside of God's path, is a slippery path. It's a path you will stumble. I even think about Mr. Putin. You pray for that man. You pray for those Ukrainians. And you pray that God would intervene. We learn that God rises up kings and tears down kingdoms, and all of this is part of God's sovereign providential plan, and God is in absolute control, and this is all setting the stage for what God wants to happen next. And I even think about him, that he is on a wrong path, and he will repay. Vengeance is the Lord, and the Lord will repay. And his foot will slip, it will. Just like all the other ones have slipped. Hitler's foot slipped. Stalin's foot slipped. Mussolini's foot slipped. You can't maintain that lifestyle. You can't maintain that path. And so I would especially tell young people, especially teenagers, you keep your foot on solid ground. Because anything outside of Christ is a slippery road that leads to destruction. I wish there was a thousand teenagers here tonight. I would say, if it's not the way of Christ, it leads to destruction. Or even if you're a Christian or a backslider, if it's not the way of Christ, it won't lead to destruction, because there is now, therefore, no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. But it will lead to dysfunction. It absolutely will. It'll lead to regret. Can the adults say amen? It certainly will. And again, if my feet hadn't went that direction, then I wouldn't have as much regret. And so where your feet go, you can look back and say, wow, that was a wonderful time. Or you can look back and say, that was a dreadful time. So your feet taking you down the wrong path is either a path of destruction or it's a path of dysfunction. And your foot will slip. It will. God says, when your foot slips, then calamity and judgment comes. You will not get away with it. You can't skip through sin and not stumble. You can't run with a grin on your face away from God and not get caught. It's impossible. You will slip. And Jonathan Edwards preached that great sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. And the whole context is, when you slip, you will fall. And oh, how some have fallen because their feet have taken them to the wrong place. So your feet really do matter. You might not have pretty feet, but your feet matter to your soul. You might have little feet, but little feet can still get you in big trouble. It sure can. I got size 13 feet. Madison's got little bitty feet. And her feet, them little feet, I'll be honest with you, they drive her daddy crazy when I'm downstairs and she's upstairs. Them little feet, she runs like a giant. It's amazing how little kids stomp like Goliath through the house. I walk lighter than she does. I mean, stomp, stomp, stomp. And I even thought about her feet the other day. They're little bitty feet. And they are. They're so cute, but they're loud. And they go crazy sometimes. But them little cute feet, she likes to paint her little nails. She does. And we get her a towel, and there'll be paint all over the towel, all over her toes, all over her nails. And she says, I'm doing my nails, Daddy. That's good. That's good. Little girls ought to do nails. Boys shouldn't. Amen? And so her little feet, and I think about her little feet, she's painting her little toenails, and I do, I can't help but think, where will those little feet take this little girl? And I hope and pray her feet stay cute, but if she's like all the other feet that grew up, I know though her feet will lead her to trouble. And unless the gospel of Jesus Christ and Paul, the great apostle, his path had to be absolutely, absolutely roadblocked through Jesus Christ, because it's hard to kick against the pricks. Why are you going this way, asks Christ to Saul of Tarshish? Our feet will take us to heaven or they'll take us to hell. They sure will. It'll either lead to righteousness or lead to wickedness. It'll either lead to good or bad. It certainly will. And I think about Madison's little feet. And I think about your little feet. And boy, our little feet, they can cause us all kinds of trouble, can't they? They sure can. Little feet, pretty feet, ugly feet, young feet, new feet, it don't matter. If they're not feet controlled by God, then they'll be influenced and led by the devil. Oh, where our feet have gone. Where our feet might go. And if we're not careful with our feet, and we're not thinking about it, they will. There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof, you know, is the ways of death and destruction. And all we like sheep have turned away, and we've turned everyone to our own way. What's even the Bible talking about? You're going down the wrong road, and what takes you on that road? Them feet, them pretty feet of ours. Or dirty feet. It don't matter if it's an ingrown foot, or a manicured foot, or it don't matter if you have a pedicure for your feet, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It can either lead you to good or to bad. Sometimes I even think about what I would call the, it's amazing how everything's turned upside down. It's a sophisticated crowd. Now just imagine a picture I'm going to paint. It's a sophisticated crowd sitting by the poolside drinking wine and liquor all day long by the pool with some nice tanned feet. Oh, they might be pretty, but oh, oh my, I couldn't imagine where those pretty feet might end up if they don't turn and turn to Christ quickly. And so our feet can cause us all types of trouble. But the Bible says that God's people, his feet don't slip. They don't slip at all. God, it says in the book of Proverbs, excuse me, Psalms, that thy foot will not slip. It will not slip. This says in 2 Samuel, in the book of Habakkuk, and also in the book of Psalms, it's three times that I've found so far, where God says to the believer, I will make your feet like hind's feet. Not hind's like the back feet. Hind's like a deer. It's a red deer. The male is called a stag. But the female is called a hind. And God says, I'll make your feet, for believers, like hind's feet. And if you know anything about deer, they have four feet. They're not like us. Therefore, they run faster, and they're more sure-footed. And the hind, or the deer, or the stag, a lot of times it finds its habitat way up on the high, rocky mountain peaks of its habitat. And God says, I'll make your feet like hind's feet. And I think if I remember correctly, in the book of Habakkuk, it says that I will make you run up in the high places. That's rocky, tough terrain. And it don't matter, God says, in other words, He's saying, He's painting a picture so you and I can understand it. It don't matter how rough and rocky your life gets, God says, I will make you and give you the strength to get through it. I'll get you through it. It don't matter how rough the road gets, I'll make your feet to be like hind's feet, God says. I will get you through the rough terrain of your life. Remember in Deuteronomy, the Bible says that the wicked, they will slip and stumble and great will be their calamity. But God says to His people, I'll make you like hind's feet and you will run and you will not stumble no matter how rocky and hard life gets. There's been times, and I know, and I sure haven't experienced some of the calamity that you all have experienced, but I'm looking at people who have maybe stumbled, but they've not utterly fallen. And your presence increases my faith. And what you've been through is a testimony to God's good grace. that you've went through tough terrain and he's given you feet like hind's feet, like deer, and they can run and they can run and they can run. And I found out through bad experience they can even run on three legs. One time I was deer hunting and out of nowhere I was walking along this rocky, rough path. Where I hunt is a rocky, rough mess. And I was walking up early in the morning, and would you believe it? A big old buck was intersecting my path, and I stood up there to catch my breath, and I was, oh, my, and if any of you, anybody's experienced this, what we call buck fever, and I couldn't think, and my mind was going crazy, and I slid to the base of this little tree, and the deer was so close, and I must have shot low, and I shot, and it was running away, and I saw a wound in its leg, or its lower shoulder, or high shoulder, and it had three legs, It jumped and it leaped down the hill without ever falling and run off even with three legs. Sometimes we might get gimpy, don't we, but we keep on our feet because of God's grace. What does that mean, I'll make you to have feet like hinds feet? God says, I will make it where you can get through the rough terrain of your life. Now your feet are made to be moving. So God, now we've learned that feet can cause you all types of trouble. And if you go to the wrong place and the wrong path, feet can get stinky, can't they? And sometimes our feet need to be cleaned, and maybe that's another message for another time. Your feet needs a good washing. And we've learned that God gives us strength to get us through no matter how rough and hard and treacherous life may be. God says, I'll make your feet like hind's feet. I will get you through. And Psalms, I think it's in Psalms in the 120s, God says that your foot will not slip. I will make sure of it. And not one Christian has fallen utterly to never get up again. Though a righteous man stumble, yea, he gets up seven times. And he gets up again and again and again. But our verse suggests that our feet are to do something with our lives. Our feet are to be moving. Our feet are to be active. Notice even that Jesus says to people, even He calls His disciples and He says, follow me. So He takes off and they're to walk after Him. And so we're to walk after Jesus. Our feet are to be busy following Jesus. And if our feet are busy following Jesus, then our feet can't get into trouble. And when our feet, and when we have gotten into trouble, it's because our feet quit following Jesus. Really, we should pray for our feet, shouldn't we? Oh Lord, help my wicked feet to follow after you. Lord, forgive my feet when they don't. And Lord, give me grace enough in my heart that I can point my feet in the right direction. Now, if I wish I could talk to more young people here tonight, I would say keep your feet on the straight and narrow path. Our feet suggests in this verse, though, that our feet should be busy about doing something. And in verse 15, as we even joke about it sometimes, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. It suggests then that their feet can be beautiful. And again, it's not just for preachers. It's for anybody who can spread the good news of Jesus. That can serve Christ in some capacity. We're to be on the go. We're to be busy. We're not to be idle. Our feet are to be moving and active. Our physical life is not supposed to be idle, nor is our spiritual life supposed to be idle. How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. If you want your feet to be useful, then bring glad tidings of good things. Carry a message. All of a sudden this week it was interesting, and I think this is the inspiration for this text. You know, God starts way before you do, and God begins way before you figure it out. So whatever you're experiencing today, God was working on it maybe, for example, days ago, or months ago, or years ago, or an eternity ago. And all of a sudden I had this desire to pray about some things in my life that I felt like I was somewhat inactive in. And it's amazing how that if you'll follow the plan, his plan, then all of a sudden you'll have things to do, if you'll only be willing. And so Monday I got to praying about, I felt like I hadn't been evangelizing like I should have been. And so Monday night I got to praying about the subject and I realized that I can't open doors because he opens doors that I can't open and he shuts doors that I can't shut. And it seems I've lost some energy throughout the years and I need some energy, a spiritual energy drink from heaven. And so I began to pray about it. Lord, I want to tell somebody about you. And then I realized that I needed an opportunity to do it. And so then my prayer began to be not only do I want to tell somebody, Lord, I want you to make me want to tell somebody about you. And then Lord, I want to do it. But Lord, it can't happen until you open a door for that to take place. Because unless the Holy Spirit gives us that great opportunity, a lot of times it'll fall on deaf ears. And so I realized in that moment, I realized, okay Lord, when the opportunity comes, let me walk through the door. Let me do it. And would you believe it, yesterday afternoon I was in this, at work they weld stuff and there's a welder and I was in there working with a welder and all of a sudden we stumbled across the subject. And the door was wide open. And I was... I can't believe it! There it is, a day later, after a prayer on Monday afternoon, that an opportunity arose Tuesday afternoon. And I just realized that it occurred to me even just now, that it almost fits, or it perfectly fits, Sunday night's message that came from God, that if you will pray according to His will in Jesus' name, you will have your petitions, and you will get what you want if it be according to His will. And so there was the opportunity. And would you believe it, for about 15 minutes, with this welder, and you pray for him, that he comes to know Jesus as his Savior, or he gets right with God, whatever his need is, that's between him and Jesus, but I know he can't solve it and Jesus can. And for 10 or 15 minutes, we was going through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, talking about the authenticity of Scripture, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and I was walking away and I thought, finally, My feet went the right direction. If only our feet would head the right direction. You should tonight bless God and praise His name because your feet brought you here tonight. And I know if your feet were like mine, they were tired feet and sometimes sleepy feet. But if your feet would just be willing, just be willing to follow Jesus, He said, I will make you to become fishers of men. It all boils down to a lot of where our feet go. Bryson can say, I want to be a choir director, but if he was never willing to do it, his feet would never stand right here and direct the choir. And I found out through these years of church ministry, there's a lot of people who want to be something, but there's very few people who want to do something. There's some people who want a title, and there's some people who want to do it. I'd rather want to do it with you and have no title at all except Christian, Christian. How? Beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. I also have another thought as we close, that if you get your steps in, Nathan right now, he's at school, they got some challenge. He's got this little clicker on his, and it counts as steps, I guess. You know what I saw him doing the other day? Clicking that thing. I said, you ain't even walking. You ain't even walking. Thank God for kids, amen. clicking that thing. He told me one thing, and I don't want to brag on my kids, God's blessed us with three great kids and they're good kids. And he said it deleted, he was trying to catch it back up. So I give him the benefit of the doubt. I believe him, I do, I do. But he was getting his steps in. They're wanting him to get their steps in at school, get their steps in. Because if you don't, you won't live a healthy life. Get your steps in. Get your steps in. You ever notice when you want to turn your life around physically, what's the first thing you say? A lot of times you say something like this. Let's go walking. Let's go walking. And it really is true. You get your steps in, you feel better. You feel better. Let's go walking. And sometimes after you walk enough, maybe, and you get in shape enough to walk, you think, let's jog a little bit. Or maybe run. Again, I wish we was talking to teenagers, baby. Get them running. But I know, and it's fleeting. I understand that. I'm joining the crowd, because now every time I do just the least bit of activity, my right knee swells up like a big old grapefruit. So it's happening. So when I walk, I feel the whole thing sloshing around. But what we say is, I'm going to turn my life around. I'm going to turn my health around. And we say, I'm going to get my steps in. I'm going to get my steps in. Nathan's been getting his steps in. I'm a big count. You know, if you want to change your spiritual life, it's the same exact thing. Just get your steps in. Get your steps in. Exercise your faith. Walk to your prayer closet. Just walk in there. You will do it. You'll pray. If you walk to a certain spot at a certain time every day, for that reason, you will pray. Just get your steps in. I notice you might have to walk away from the TV. You've noticed that? Really, you gotta walk away from the TV. Some of you might have to walk away from your husband. Just walk away. I'm gonna pray for you, right? I'm gonna pray for you. Isn't that what Christian, the ultimate Christian insult is, I'll be praying for you. Like your life's so mixed up, I'll be praying for you. Let us not do that. Get your steps, so you gotta walk away, you get your steps in. Go to a certain, walk and read a little Bible, read a little Bible. Walk to the car and get to church. You want to go to Sunday school? Put your feet on the ground. Really. You want to go to Sunday school? Maybe for some, some people aren't morning people, maybe you got to walk to bed earlier. It's all in the feet. Just walk to bed earlier. Walking. You get your steps in. And if you get your spiritual steps in, you'll start getting in spiritual shape. I want to encourage you to pray maybe something like this, now or tonight. Lord, help me want to. And then, Lord, when you fix my want to, help me to walk wherever you want me to walk. Wherever you tell me to go, help me to walk there. Follow me, Jesus said, and I'll make you fishers of men. And when you pray for me that my feet can get where it needs to go, because I believe it's all in the feet, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. You get your physical steps in, you'll live longer. And I also believe if you get your spiritual steps in, you'll be earthly good to heaven's will, and you'll live longer too. You'll live longer. God'll say, I can't take them home yet. They're walking for me. They're serving me. Heavenly Father, Lord, we love you and thank you for this evening. Lord, a friendly, lighthearted reminder of, Lord, what our hearts ought to be doing. Lord, I pray you'd keep us, Lord, off the path of destruction, off the path of dysfunction, and that, Lord, that our feet would be sure under us, and we would follow after you. We would be on the king's highway. We would be on the straight and narrow way, and that our feet would be pointed in the right direction. We would not go where we don't need to be, and, Lord, it'll take us where we should be. Help us, Lord, with our feet Get our feet going in the right path. And Lord, I pray you forgive us and forgive our feet and clean our feet when we went down the wrong path. We love you, Lord, and praise you. In your name, Jesus, Lord, we ask these things. Amen.