Please open your Bibles to Romans 16. After being away from our series in Romans for a while this morning, we return as we endeavor to continue working through Paul's remarkable conclusion to this epistle. The Book of Romans is unique, especially because of the fullness of the theological instruction that it contains. And Paul's conclusion to this epistle is unique in terms of the number of names, the individuals to whom the apostle extends personal greetings. in his conclusion. By so doing, Paul, in a very deliberate, purposeful way, is giving honor to those who are named. And he is giving this honor, not on his own, but through the inspiration and movement of the Spirit of God. God wants these people to be named. Now we know there is nothing good in us apart from God's grace, right? We know that we never do anything that is noteworthy except by God's grace. But that doesn't mean that our works are inconsequential. It doesn't mean that God is not paying attention This passage shows us that God is attentive to our personal choices, the things that we choose to do by way of surface to suffer for the cause of Christ. God is paying attention. He's also paying attention to the things that we choose not to do and the suffering that we choose to try to escape. This text may be a brief hint of what the last day will be as individuals will be called out and commended or otherwise. Well, the question I have faced over and over again in coming to this chapter is number one, how can I teach this list without it taking forever? Secondly, how can I teach through this list without boring you to death? I know it's boring enough ordinarily, but it could be really boring going through a list like this. So how can I teach it without being unduly boring At the same time, how can I teach it so as to give attention where the Holy Spirit wants attention to be given? The answer I've come up with, we have already discussed the first four and almost half verses. But for the remaining verses, I've decided to do this. I'm going to read through the text. And periodically, I'm going to stop and make comment about certain things in this list. And then when I finished reading, I want to go back for a few moments and highlight some specifics within the passage, okay? Now I've never done anything like this. So you pray for me and I'll pray for you. And hopefully at the end, it will be edifying. Verse one, Romans 16. I commend to you, Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the church of Sincrea, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever business she has need of you. For indeed, she has been a helper of many, and of myself also." Let me stop to say, this is different. Phoebe is coming to the church. She's not in the church. And Paul is urging the church to receive her. And I suggest that Phoebe was the one who actually carried this epistle from the area of Corinth where Paul wrote to the Roman church. Verse three, Greek Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise, greet the church that is in their house. Greet my beloved Eponidas, who is the first fruits of Achaia to Christ. Greet Mary, who labored much, For us, that's how the New King James reads. Most modern translations have the word you instead of us. Mary labored in and for the church in Rome. We can only imagine what form her labors took, but apparently she was an early convert in the Roman church and had spent herself serving and her service was famous within the church. Verse seven, greet Andronicus and Junia. Let's pause again. I'm gonna pause several times in verse seven. There's a textural question as to whether or not the name should be Juna or Junia or whether it should be Junius. Junia is feminine, Junius masculine. There's a textual question. Now, most scholars favor the feminine. Because for one thing, the masculine name Junius is almost never found anywhere in Greek writings. But perhaps more compelling, the early church fathers, up until about the 13th century, considered the proper rendering Junia. So I assume that to be the case, greet Andronicus and Junia, which may indicate that they were husband and wife, like Priscilla and Aquila. Then next Paul refers to them as my countrymen, that means they were Jews, and my fellow prisoners, at some point, somewhere. Andronicus and Junia were imprisoned with Paul on account of the gospel. Next he says, they were, no, excuse me, going back, who are of note among the apostles. Andronicus and Junia were of note among the apostles. Now here again, there is a debate among commentators. Does that mean that Andronicus and Junia were themselves apostles? Many argue that they were, not big A apostles, one of the 12 chosen by Christ and sent by him with his authority. Not that, but the word apostle means simply sent one. And so there is some thought that Adronicus and Junia were sent out by the church as missionaries. The other possibility, which I think is more likely, is that they were famous among the apostles. The apostles knew them, the apostles held them in high esteem. Next Paul says, who also were in Christ before me. They were converted before Paul was. Now they are fellow countrymen, Jews converted before Paul, which means that most likely they were converted in Jerusalem, maybe at Pentecost. and they had spent their early Christian life serving Christ in Jerusalem. And that's how they became so well-known to the apostles. Verse eight, greet Ampelius, my beloved in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachys, our beloved. Greet Apelles, approved in Christ. approved in Christ. That may indicate that Apelles had endured a peculiarly difficult trial and had distinguished himself by his perseverance and his loyalty and his faithfulness to Christ. Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus. Aristobulus. Don't meet that name every day. The fact that Paul does not extend greetings to Aristobulus, but to his household, could mean one of two things. It could mean that Aristobulus was not a Christian. There were members of his household, slaves, family members who were Christians. Paul extends greetings to them, but not to him because he was not yet converted. Or it may be that Aristobulus was dead. He was no longer alive. It's interesting that King Herod Agrippa I had a brother named Aristobulus. who had died just six or seven years prior to the writing of this epistle. Were they one in the same? The brother of King Herod Agrippa I, who at least had members of his household who were in Christ. Verse 11, greet Herodian, my countryman. Herodian was a Jew, but his name indicates that in all probability he was a slave in the household of Herod, and he was named for his master. Greet those who are of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord. Now, Narcissus was a famous name. There was a freed slave named Narcissus. He served the emperor Claudius. He committed suicide just shortly before Paul wrote this epistle. Perhaps that's why Paul does not send greetings to Narcissus, because he's dead. or maybe because he was not a Christian, but in his household, there were Christians whom Paul greets in the Lord. Now notice, notice these names, Aristobulus, Herodian, Narcissus, all of them having to do with nobility on some level, some connection to emperors or kings, And that tells us that even though the gospel was 25, 30 years old, and even though it began, and Christianity began with Jews who were despised and outcast, in a very short time, it had made its way into places of notoriety, influence, and even government. And here we have to recall one of Paul's concluding statements in his epistle to the Philippians, which he wrote from Rome while he was a prisoner. He said, all the saints, all the saints in Rome greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. That's amazing. Not many wise, not many noble are called, but some are. But more significantly, the gospel is like leaven. You put it in a bushel just a little bit, and in a short time, it fills the hole with its influence. So is the gospel. Verse 12, greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, who have labored, literally present tense, who are laboring in the Lord. They're there in Rome serving. Greet the beloved Persus, who labored much in the Lord, past tense. The aorist is used instead of the present, which probably indicates that Persus was now either informed or too aged to do the service she once had done, but she is remembered. Her work may not be the same, but she has earned a name among the saints, and Paul wants her to be greeted. Verse 13, greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, and mine, greet Asencretus, Phlegon, Hermas, Petrobus, Hermes, and the brethren who were with them, that is those who meet together in their small group, their house, church, greet Philoagus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympus, and all the saints who were with them, Greet one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ greet you. And so is the list. Now I want to complete our study of this passage by focusing upon three emphases that I see in the list beyond what we have discussed in previous studies. Observation number one, I want you to note the emphasis that Paul gives to union with Christ. Union with Christ. What did all these people have in common? They were united to Jesus Christ. In the first 15 verses, The Apostle uses the expression, in Christ, or in the Lord, ten times, ten times, in fifteen verses. A few examples, verse three, Gree Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers, in Christ Jesus, verse seven, greet Adronicus and Junia who also were in Christ before me. Verse 10, greet Apelles approved in Christ, in Christ, in the Lord. Paul's making a great deal of this matter of being in Christ, united to Christ. Does that surprise you? Do you understand why? He gives so much emphasis to being in Christ. You understand that? Arguably, that's one of the most important doctrinal points in the whole new covenant. All of us by nature are cut off from God. We are born connected to Adam. We share Adam's guilt. By imputation, we share Adam's sin. And then we invented, to Adam's sin, an innumerable catalog of our own sins. And we are in Adam, and we are cut off from God. And if we live in that state, die in that state, we will pass under the wrath of God forever. The message of the gospel is that it is possible for people like us, sinners like us, to be reconnected to God. in a very gracious way. There is a way that we can be accepted by God and forgiven of our sins and sheltered from the wrath of God which we deserve and which is purposed upon all the world. What is that connection? It's Christ. Christ. There's only one connection that brings us into peace with God. There's only one way that we can come to God and not be crushed and punished. There is one way of forgiveness, one way of shelter and safety and peace, and it's Jesus Christ. That's the only way. Now, do you understand why Christ is the only way? See, this is one of the things that's gonna get people like us put in prison, perhaps sooner than we think, because we insist that there is only one God, and there's only one way to him. And we don't have to be mean about that, but we have to be insistent about that. And that angers the world. Do you understand why? There is only one way to God. It's because of what God himself has done. God sent his son to be that one way. And he became a human being like us, but without our sin and not connected to Adam. And having come as one of us, he lived before God the way we have failed to live. And then he died, not because he had earned death, but because we had earned death. and he received imputed to himself the guilt of our transgressions, and he suffered the wrath that God has purposed upon sinners like us. Christ did that in the place of the guilty, and God was satisfied by that. He was satisfied by the life of Christ. He was satisfied by the death of Christ. And thus he raised him from the dead. And Christ lives, ever lives, to be the one mediator between God and men. And the way you get into a right relationship with God is by coming to Christ. And Christ invites everyone to come. Everyone, come! And to those who come, he gives righteousness and propitiation. Peace, eternal life. Christ's the only one who can do that. Those who come to him, he takes into union with himself. It's a permanent, unbreakable union that saves us. And that's why Paul makes such a big deal about being in Christ. the Lord. Are you in Christ? There's another point about this. Christ is not only the only meeting place between God and men in grace, but Christ is also the connecting point for all the people who have ever lived in this world who believe and are saved. We are not only connected to Christ, we are connected to all of his people. God only has one people. They're people connected to Christ. And when we are joined to Christ, we are thereby connected with all of these people, all kinds of people. I pointed out in this list, there's a wide range of People in this list, all kinds of people. Some of these people were very, very different from each other. They lived in very differing worlds and their worlds never converged. They only conflicted. But in Christ, these people were brought together. Jews and Gentiles, natural enemies. Male and female, which in Roman society, men were up here, women were way down here. Women had little respect or rights, as is the case in Islamic culture. So it was in Rome, but not in Christ. There's neither male nor female in Christ. They have different roles, different responsibilities in home, in church, but in terms of their acceptance and value, they are equal in Christ, male and female. And so Paul names a bunch of women and commends them for honor. Then there are slaves and there are household members of emperors and perhaps there are rulers, but in Christ one is not above the other. They're equal in Jesus and they are called to be one. One of the great tasks of Christ in this world is to call people to himself from all these different groups and bring them together in local churches like Rome, where you have these various kinds of people. Christ brings them together and he says, now I put my spirit in you. I want all of you to love each other. I want you to be one, one with another, as I am one with the Father. I want you to love each other the way I have loved you. And as you come together with nothing holding you together but me, there's no rationale for you to be connected except you are in me. I want you to astound the world by the way you love each other. There is no greater test. Some say the greatest task of the church is the gospel. I disagree. The greatest task of the church is to love Christ and love each other. And it's by this love, one for another, that we commend the gospel. By this, all men will know that you are my disciples by the way you love each other. Beloved, it is not right to be separated from brothers or sisters who hold differing political views, who come from a different background, who have a different level of education, a different level of income, whose personalities grade you the wrong way. They're too liberal, they're too conservative. Put that in the trash. Love each other for Christ's sake. The testimony of the gospel is at stake. I ask you again, are you, are you in Christ? You're either in or out. You're not halfway in, halfway out. You're in Adam or you're in Christ. And if you're in Christ, this list, This list is a list of relatives. You're connected to these people. You don't know them, you will. But right now you're connected to everyone else in this room who is in Christ. Are you in Christ? If you're not in Christ, you're on the outside. You may feel like you're on the inside because right now it looks like you're in the majority. Well, that's very temporary. This world's passing away. The kingdom of God lasts forever. And in the last day, you will realize that you're not on the inside. You're on the outside. You're outside of God because you're outside of Christ. You're outside of his family. You're outside of his peace. You're outside of his forgiveness. You're outside of life. You're outside of the new heavens and the new earth. You're in darkness and wrath forever. There's real urgency in this gospel invitation. Come to me. That's observation number one. Observation number two. Many people are brought to Christ through family connections. That's another observation from this list. How many relatives are named? Husband and wife? Sisters? Brothers and sisters? I particularly want you to focus on verse 13. Verse 13. Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and greet his mother and mine. Now, Rufus and Paul were not brothers biologically, but at some point, The family of Rufus had taken Paul in, befriended, perhaps he had spent nights at their house and eaten meals at their table and the mother of Rufus had treated Paul like a son. But there's a real mystery in Paul's reference that Rufus was chosen in the Lord. He was chosen in the Lord. Isn't that true of all Christians? Isn't it true that everyone who comes to Christ was chosen by God in Christ before the foundation of the world? Isn't it true that salvation originates with God, not with us? Now, it may not seem like that in our experience. In our experience, we don't know God, perhaps, we don't know anything about God, we don't care about God, and almost accidentally, it seems the gospel crosses our path, and we hear it, and perhaps we undergo conviction, and after a time, we decide that we'll become Christians, and it all seems to us like it originated with us. It doesn't. The Bible teaches that we are by nature dead and trespasses and sins and sin so blinds and hardens our hearts so prejudices our hearts against God that even if Jesus himself with his visible wounds stood here in front and invited us to come we would not come. Apart from a work of God in our soul. Now we don't think of ourselves as being that hard, belligerent, that ungodly, but the Bible says that we are. And if God had not chosen us, if God had not determined from all eternity, for reasons none of us can understand, that he would not allow us to destroy ourselves by our sinful hardness, all of us would perish. That's the doctrine of the Bible throughout. In John 6, verse 37, Christ said, all that the Father gives me will come to me. And he who comes to me, I will in no wise cast out. And Jesus held his arms wide. He invited everyone within the sound of His voice to come, and He calls me to do the same. But who actually comes? Those that the Father gave the Son. Seven verses later, He says this. No one can come to me. That word can, it's a word of ability. It's not a word of permission. Very important. Jesus didn't say no one may come to me. No one is permitted to come to me. No one is allowed to come. No, he didn't say that. Everyone is invited, everyone may come. The problem is no one can. No one has the ability to come unless the Father who sent me into the world draws him to me. And if he comes to me, I will raise him up at the last day. I'll save him if he'll come. If you'll come, he'll save you, no matter who you are. But the problem is no one comes unless he is drawn by the Spirit of God. And those who were drawn by the Spirit of God are those who were chosen by God in Christ before time. And that's how Paul could be told by Christ, I have many people in the city of Corinth, don't leave the city. I've got people there, and I'm gonna call them. That's why I preach. I preach because I'm sent, but I preach in hope that God has many people. and he's gonna call them to Christ through the gospel. So, Rufus chosen them the Lord. Yeah, well, so is everybody else in this list. So what's so different? I think what was different was the way God chose to bring Rufus to Christ. I think it had to do with the family of Rufus and the way, the unique way that God brought Rufus to Christ. Many of you are aware of this, but turn to Mark chapter 15. Mark chapter 15 and verse 21, this is the account of Jesus being led to Golgotha to be crucified. For a whole night he's been beaten, beaten, deprived of food and drink. By this time his face doesn't even look like a human face, looks like hamburger. And he's lost so much blood that he can't do what prisoners ordinarily are required to do, carry their own cross to the place of execution. And that's what Mark is writing about in verse 21. Then they compelled a certain man, Simon of Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus. As he was coming out of the country and passing by, they compelled Simon to carry his cross. Let me give you the comments of Leon Morris and his commentary. He said, we read in Mark's gospel of a man called Simon, who was the father of Alexander and Rufus. It is usually agreed that Mark's gospel was written with Rome very much in mind. It was written for the Roman church in particular. And evidently, the point that Mark had of mentioning Simon was that he was the father of two people well-known in the Roman church. It is not improbable that this is the man that Paul greets named Rufus. Though again, he adds, we have to be cautious. There's no way to verify this. But I think that was Paul's point of reference, Rufus chosen. Let's speculate a bit. Let's speculate that this Simon, who was just coming to Jerusalem for personal business, His whole life would have changed. I'm speculating, his whole life changed when the Roman soldiers stopped him and said, I want you to carry this cross. And he was introduced to this bleeding, bloody, horrendous figure called Jesus. And he carried the cross up Calvary. And he was there when they laid Jesus upon him, drove the nails in his hands. his feet and put the throne on his brow and sunk it in the earth. Imagine him not being able to leave. He's mesmerized. He stands back and he watches. He hears the words of Christ, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. He is there at noon when the earth becomes as dark as midnight. He is there when the earth begins to quake. He is there when Jesus dismissed his spirit and said it is finished and died. See, people didn't die from crucifixion quickly. It was the most agonizing death. They died from suffocation. As the fluid would build up and there would be no way to dispel it. And finally they would choke to death and suffocate. Took hours. Sometimes it took days. Not for Jesus, six hours. It was finished. He was in control. And suppose Simon was there and he saw this. And like the centurion, he was brought to confess, surely this man was the son of God. I've got to learn why he died. But I'm quite sure he was no ordinary man. And suppose Simon was converted there at the foot of the cross and he goes home and he evangelizes Rufus. and Alexander and his wife, and now they have moved to Rome. And of all the converts in the Roman church, there was one who could give an eyewitness account of what happened when Jesus died. And if Simons was dead, there was Rufus there, and he says, let me tell you what my dad experienced, what my dad saw. what the voice of Jesus sounded like, what he looked like as he hung on that cross. Everybody has a testimony. I dare say there was no one in the Roman church who had a testimony quite like that. Chosen by God to be brought to Christ in a most unique and wonderful way. The application that I would make from this Is it very often? Not always. I don't know what the percentages are. But very often God brings His elect to Christ by placing them in a Christian family. It's a path that we didn't choose for ourselves. He chose it for us before we were born. And He converts our moms and He converts our dads before we were born. In all of our lives, we live under gospel influences. That's the way it was for me. I do not remember ever being outside of a gospel church. My whole life was spent under the gospel, in an evangelical church, surrounded by people who love Jesus. My whole life. Now that didn't save me. That didn't save me. I wasn't converted till later. I didn't believe. What protection that was for me. How many errors I never heard. How many experiences of sin as a young child I never experienced. I never heard cursing in my house. There was never any violence in my house. There weren't any bad books in my house. There weren't bad people who were invited to break bread in my house. God spared me all of that. And then he brought me to Christ. That's a wonderful way to be converted. Many of you have been brought to Christ down that path. Do you understand how privileged you are? Do you understand what degree of kindness and goodness has been poured out upon your life? Oh, how much you want to love God, how much you want to admire grace. Every Christian ought to sing robustly the words of Isaac Watts, but particularly those of us who have had the experience of being submerged in gospel culture our whole lives. were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. Last point. Some are called to stand alone. Some are called to stand alone. Go back up to Romans 16 and verse five. Greet my beloved Eponidas, who is the first fruits of Achaia to Christ. The first fruits to Christ in Achaia. Achaia was a Roman province that included notable cities such as Corinth and Ephesus, Corinth in particular. Now this doesn't mean that Eponidas was absolutely the only Christian. He was one of the first Christians. 1 Corinthians 16 and verse 15 names a household of Stephanatus as being also firstfruits in Achaia, but there weren't many. Maybe there were five, six, maybe a dozen believers in Corinth. Try to imagine, beloved, what it would have been to be one of a half dozen Christians in Corinth among hundreds of thousands of people. Imagine what it would have been to grow up in a culture that was laced with all kinds of sexual degradation. Immorality flowed like water in the streets of Corinth. Everybody had multiple sex partners. There were all kinds of perversions. We have perversions today, but they're not like they were in Corinth. Not yet. Suppose that was your family. Your dad had multiple lovers, your mom had multiple lovers. And then somehow you were brought to hear the Word of God. And the law of God breaks in upon you. And suddenly you learn there is one God and he's not the God of the Corinthians. He is absolutely holy and righteous. And you learn what God says about the relations of male and female and marriage and sexuality. Imagine the horror of realizing that you have been a part of a culture that is so wicked and degraded and alienated from God. Imagine coming to repentance. and coming to Jesus. Imagine the joy of knowing that Jesus died for people like you and all of your sins can be forgiven. But what about your mom? What about your dad, your brothers, your sisters, your neighbors? Now you have the responsibility to evangelize them. You have the good news. You've got to talk to them. How many of them are you? Five, six Christians, hundreds of thousands of pagans. Do you think it's going to be enough to just tell them about Jesus? Don't you think you're gonna have to talk to them about fornication? See, part of the doctrine, part of the theology in Corinth, you worshiped God by fornicating. That was part of worship. You fornicate and God is pleased. And you're the guy. who knows better, and you're gonna have to tell them. I wanna tell you about a poisonous lie that's infiltrating the church, and that is that Christians must not be negative. We must not say anything about the evils around us, because that turns people off. Just invite them to Jesus. Would that have been enough from Eponidas? Nevermind your fornicating, nevermind your homosexuality, that doesn't matter, just come to Jesus. No! He would have had to say, what you are doing, your lifestyle, it is an offense to God. You must repent. That's why I tell him Wilberforce, stop talking about slavery. Just preach the gospel to slaves, to negative. Or tell him Bonhoeffer, stop harping on the government's mistreatment of the Jews. You're turning people off. Part of faithfulness to Christ is to rebuke the unfruitful works of darkness. That's a context in which people are perishing. We have to tell them about the bad news so we can tell them about the wonderful news. Now we must not speak as though we're superior. Eponidas could not speak as though he were superior. He was one of them. But he had to speak about evil. He had to speak about sin. It was destroying people. After all, that's why Jesus came. He came to save people from their sins. Now, do you see the connection to us? Increasingly, beloved, we are being isolated. Culture has changed, if you haven't noticed. That was the time you could talk about God and everybody would at least smile and nod. Good thing, no God. Good thing to love God. Have you noticed people are nodding and smiling when you talk about God anymore? You ever heard anyone say, who gives you a right to judge? You ever heard that? Who gives you the right to say there's only one God? Who gives you the right to say there's only one way to God? Where do you get? That's the culture we're living in. We're gonna have to stand, beloved. We're gonna have to stand. You're standing where you are. We're gonna have to be Daniels. We're going to have to be Josephs for someone who was reared in a very protected culture. That was a shock to me when I was taken out of the majority and put in the minority. God was gracious. He taught me some things about standing that I'd never known before. in my public school, where there were 1,700 students, and there were a few of us. who believed in Jesus and my spirit was exercised to take a stand in that high school and carry my Bible on top of my books and lead Bible studies and even take the opportunity in advanced speech to preach the gospel when I was called upon to give a speech. But the biggest test for me came. my first public job. The summer after high school, I took a job in a machine shop, third shift job. There were about eight or 10 crusty old men, old enough to be my dad, and there was one young high school grad. And he was African-American. I grew up in a segregated school. I'd never been around an African-American my own age. And so here it's me and this black kid and these old crusty guys. And in that experience, because I thought God was calling me to the ministry, I thought that, and my spirit was pressed, Gary, if you don't witness here, you can't think that you're called to preach. If you're afraid to bear the name of Christ here, then you just forget about the ministry. Now that's what I thought, and I remember agonizing, I can't, how do I? And I remember pleading with God, I'm 18 years old, it's the summer of 1965, God, I can't do this. If you don't, forget the ministry. Okay, but you're gonna have to open the door. I don't know how to open the door. I don't know how to start the conversation. You're gonna have to open the door. I don't know what you call a meal at three o'clock in the morning, But that's when we took break and all these guys, we would sit around same break table. And some of them would go out and buy the latest issue of Playboy and bring it in and pass it around for everybody to see. And that was a context in which I had to speak about Christ. And I was scared, but I knew I had to do it, forget the ministry. And so I pleaded with God. And one day, I don't know what it was, it was an open door. And I started to talk, tremble. Nobody yelled at me. Nobody cursed at me. Nobody got up and walked off. We were there much longer than we should have been. It was work. We were there for two hours. talking about Christ, heaven and hell, and the Bible. I learned something about the faithfulness of God. This was a very small example, but same kind of thing that Paul talked about in 2 Timothy 4, where he said, in my first defense, no one stood with me, everyone forsook me, may it not be charged against them, but the Lord stood with me and strengthened me so that the message might be preached fully through me. I didn't preach the message fully. I didn't even know the whole thing. But God helped me. And by the time we had finished, everyone at that table knew there was no hope outside of Jesus Christ and that he was a crucified and risen Savior. Now, where did I... I'm a coward. I want everybody to love me. Where did that come from? came from the grace that would help Epictetus to be the only Christian in Corinth. And beloved, you're gonna have to draw on that grace where you are. Some of you know a lot more about this than I do. You're the only Christian in your family, your extended family. You're the only Christian where you work. You're the only Christian in your classroom. I'm urging you, stand. Stand, speak about truth, rebuke darkness, but particularly point people to Jesus Christ. Tell them who he is. And trust God to make it take. We're gonna have to train our young people to stand. in ways that we've never thought about. And I don't know how you do that. I don't know how you do that, but we've gotta do that. And maybe trips like the trip they're on to D.C., those who have gone, maybe it will be part of the learning mechanism that they learn to stand. May God help us. See, all of these people, in this list are all miracles, are miracles of grace. God did this and God made them shining lights. May he make us shining lights too. So many stories, Father. All these people have stories and all the stories reflected grace ultimately And all those stories led to Jesus. And they were, all these people were in Christ where we are by grace. And they had to stand and shine as lights in a very dark culture. Our culture is getting darker every day. And we tremble. We tremble for ourselves. Some of us tremble for our children and our grandchildren. There's no guarantee of flowery beds of ease. But we are called to represent and stand for Christ and for His righteousness wherever we are. Oh, Father, teach us how to do that. Give us faith to stand and not to be belligerent or haughty or proud. To be humble, to be meek, and yet to be bold. Get glory from us and from all of our stories. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.