is Galatians 2.20. Galatians 2.20 is an amazing scripture because basically what it says, for I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. In the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. These are all personal words. These are all personal things for each one of us, each one of you. Because He loves you personally. I mean it. He does. Think about it. We were just at the Creation Museum a couple days ago, and to see the vastness of the universe, the vastness of what creation is, and to imagine that a loving God created all that. All that! which is so vast and amazing, yet he has the ability to relate personally with each one of us in an amazing way. As I've been praying, there's a scripture that God gave to me. We're going to be talking about King Joash. King Joash was a king in Israel. And we're going to be speaking out of 2 Kings 13, 15 to 19. But anyways, look at the history of Israel here. King Joash is, he's wanting to have victory and the Syrians have been fighting him. And, you know, it's still the same thing happening in the Middle East today. But anyways, Elisha is the prophet during that time. Now a little bit of history. Remember Elijah? Elijah was before Elisha and there was King Ahab and Jezebel and they went away. And then King Joash reigned. But King Joash, he's kind of lethargic. You know, he's a king, he should be excited about his kingdom, but he's just there, you know? But he knows that Elisha is an amazing man of God. He knows that Elisha has had some victories in his life. He has seen Elisha bring people from death, which is amazing. People brought back from the death. He's seen miracles happening through Elisha's life. And Elijah is speaking to Joash. And he's saying, hey, open the east window and shoot an arrow out of that window. And that arrow represents the victory that you're going to have against the Assyrians. And then he continues to speak to Joash. And yeah, Joash is listening. He says, now, take your, you have a, You have a quiver. You have arrows in your quiver. Take those arrows out and strike the ground. As many times as you want victory, strike the ground. And what happens? Joash says, strike the ground with my arrows? OK. Just three times. And Elisha says, Joash, Joash, you should have stricken the ground five or six times. Because now you're only gonna have three victories over this nation that is trying to destroy you. Joe Ash, he could have changed the whole thing through his attitude. But because of his lazadazical attitude, He didn't get the victory like he should have. And sometimes things like that happen in our own lives. You know, I've experienced that in my own life, not really being as zealous for Jesus as I should be, not really hearing the voice of God like I should. You know, we're available all the time to hear His voice. You are, you can hear his voice and he speaks to you in a still small voice and lets you know that he loves you. He loves you personally. And oftentimes I remember when I first came to Christ, that was been so many years ago, Someone kept asking me a simple question, a very simple question that I just couldn't deal with. You know what that question was? Do you know Jesus? You know, I grew up in the church. I was taught about God. You know, it was a good Protestant church. But I was dead in my faith. And someone, that question drilled in my heart for a number of years. And finally, one night, I was struggling in my spirit, and I was crying out to God, God, these people talk about you as if you really exist. Are you real? Is Jesus real? I spent that night just crying out to God, God, I need to know you. If you're real, I need to know. If you're not real, I just continue to do what I'm doing and kind of lally calling along, you know. Next morning, I knew that he was real. Something had taken place in my heart. Jesus was real. And life has never been the same since. I mean it. And I'm here because of that incident that took place over 40 years ago. Jesus changed my life. And I'm no different than anyone else. I'm no different than you. I'm no different than all of us. And that's what life is like with Jesus. But you gotta keep Stoking the fire. Stay on fire for Jesus. Keep stoking the fire. What is it that you do that keeps the fire going? Because otherwise you begin to kind of drift away. You begin kind of, well, you know, maybe it wasn't really real what I experienced 40 years ago. Maybe it was just something else. But you know something? I know it was real. And each of you, I know that you, each of you, if you know Jesus, you have also had that experience, and you've gotta continue to stoke the fire. Continue to keep it burning. Another thing too, and I've heard a friend of mine share this, you know, each one of us has stuff in our life. We collect garbage. We collect things that we really don't need. And sometimes those things become more important to us than Jesus. Sometimes that happens. But we have to start getting rid of stuff. We have to start downsizing in a sense to allow Jesus to become more real in our lives. And one thing that happened to me years ago that changed me forever after I came to Jesus I received something called the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And that is real. That changed my life forever. And I want to tell you something. That's one way of keeping the fire going in your life. Continually, continually, continually moving and praying in the Spirit. You know, in your quiet times, at home, You know, when you're doing work at home, just praying in the Spirit. And that's what still keeps me going. You know, and another one, a guy I want to talk about is Peter. Peter, you know, Saint Peter, the Apostle Peter, this amazing man of God. You know, here he was, here he was, just a fisherman. Then, you know, we all know him as a man who continually stuck his foot in his mouth, you know. Yeah, that was Peter. And then the day of Pentecost came, and he preached to thousands of people, and they came to Christ. And you know, he would walk in the city, and his shadow would touch people, and they would be healed. And he had prophetic words, he had healings that took place in his life. This man was amazing. Peter, the Apostle Peter. But what happened? You know, sometime later, You know, there's a guy named Cornelius who got saved. He just happened to not be Jewish, you know. He just, you know, he ate pork. Ooh. And he did things that was not good for Jewish customs. But anyways, you know, he came to this home after the cloth came down and the Lord said, you know, don't call filthy what I call clean. So, you know, they came to Cornelius' home and Peter, He had a little bit of fear in his, you know, these other Jews are coming. So he kind of separated himself from the group. You know, he was eating with the non-Jews, the Gentiles, and maybe having a little bit of bacon. And then he kind of separated himself. But you know, here he had had so much happen in his life. Why? Fear. You know, his status, he didn't want to lose that. But then Paul confronted him, you know, face to face. Hey, Peter, what are you doing? So Peter changed, you know. I mean, that happens to all of us. You know, here we are. You know, the first time I met Wayne, actually. Wayne. Wayne. It's amazing. I was at Nehemiah with my nephew, Jason. My nephew now is a pastor here in Ohio. But I kept talking to him about coming to Ukraine and experiencing the mission there. And here he came to visit Ukraine with us and was in Ukraine and checked with us. Wayne, that's amazing how that happened, but that was so many years ago, but that's exciting. But you know, so God is moving in each one of us, and he wants to move through each one of you, because I believe that you have a calling. I don't care what your age is. I don't care what your gender is, you know, you're male or female. You are called. You are called to share Jesus. You are called to display his love. You know, because all of us go through difficult times. All of us experience things that we don't understand. You know, a couple years ago, I don't know, you know, we experienced some debt in our lives. But then God came through and he delivered us. You know, things like that happen. And things like that can happen with each one of you. But it's staying, keeping that razor's edge relationship with Jesus. Staying on fire for him. You know, for some of you, it's having a daily devotion. For others, for me, I do have a daily time of prayer and worship, because I love Jesus. But it's also studying the word of God. God has really moved in my life. And Jesus is encouraging us to do that, because there is life There is more life, and I believe that some of you are called to missions. Robin and I have been involved with missions for 27 years. Even before then, we were involved with short-term missions, before we met each other. And some of you, God's called you in that direction. Be sensitive to him, because he will speak to you, because he is faithful, and he'll speak to your kids. I'll tell you, with our kids, with Elizabeth and Josiah, we've never really pushed them into Youth with a Mission. Oh, you've got to go with Youth with a Mission. We're part of Youth with a Mission. You have to go. No, no, no. Actually, for our daughter, we thought, Well, you know, she's chosen, she wants to go to pre-med and study medicine, and okay. Then she came to us, you know, Mom and Dad, I think I need to go to a discipleship training school. That's YWAM's, that's with YWAM. And so she joined YWAM, and she did a discipleship training school in, way over in New Zealand, the other side of the world, and it was a medical DTS, so what she did is she was able to work alongside doctors and nurses and kind of shadow them, which was amazing. And she said that that experience in her life confirmed her calling into medicine. She said, there are other kids that took the same DTS and they thought they were called to medicine, but then when they started shadowing doctors and nurses, they couldn't stand it. They hated working with broken bones and broken noses and blood or whatever. Who knows? But she loved it. She knew she was called to that. Which is, you know, an amazing confirmation. And then she comes to us and, oh, I feel that God has called me to work more with YWAM. And then she said, well, you know, I think God wants me to work in southern Spain with a North Africa team. Oh, brother. Oh, man. You really want to do that? But it's so funny, you know. A friend of mine came to me, he says, Roger, You know something? The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. What did you do? Oh yeah, I smuggled Bibles. Yes. Yes. Could have been arrested, could have been thrown in jail, could have, you know, who knows? So here she is doing something a little bit similar and praying, mama and daddy, you know, we know how to pray even more now. And I want to tell you something, some of your kids, some of your grandkids, God has a calling on their lives. And even some of you, I see you, you older people that are a little older than me, a little older than Wayne, you know, God is still using you. He's using you to touch lives. But it's really important to be positive, as much as you can be positive. Because God is a God of life. God is a God of overcoming. We have all overcome different things in our lives, and you're gonna continue to face challenges. A year ago, I was walking home from a meeting, and I tripped and fell on the pavement, on the sidewalk, and I fell on my arm, and I tore cartilage in my shoulder, and it was painful. And I had one operation in January that really didn't help. But now I went to the Cleveland Clinic a little while ago, and it's working a lot better. Hallelujah. These are challenges that all of us have to go through. Challenges in many ways. But if you know that God has called you to do something, just press into it. Don't give up. Never give up on what he's called you to do. Never, never, never. Because God is moving in your lives. He's moving in each one of your lives. That's exciting. Praise God. You've got to exercise zeal for the Lord. That's what Joash should have done. Really, he knew the prophet. He knew him. He knew Elisha. And Elisha had a double portion of what Elijah had. This one was an amazing man of God. But yet, he was lethargic. And God is calling us to not be lethargic. You know, there's another scripture that Jesus is talking with people. Now it happened as they journeyed on the road that someone said to him, Lord, I will follow you wherever you go. For some reason, I didn't put down the reference, but it's the Word of God. I'll follow you everywhere you go. And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holds, birds of the air of the heavens have their nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. You know, Jesus, we could have called him a homeless man. But he was the king of the universe. He's encouraging people to continue to follow him. Another guy asked, he said, oh, I want to follow you, but first I must take care of my family. You know, it's important to take care of your family, really important to take care of your wife and kids, but we must follow Jesus with everything we have and encourage others to follow him in everything they do. You know, no man putting his hand to the flower and turning back is not fit for the kingdom of God. Yeah. And you have put your hand to the flower. And you can choose to walk in Him. Because, you know, all these things are decisions. Joy is a decision. Did you know that? Joy is a decision. I choose to have joy in the Holy Spirit. I don't have to, but I choose to. I choose to follow Jesus with my life because I love Him. I don't have to. None of us have to. I choose to give to the poor. I don't have to. I chose to come here and minister to you. Thank you, Wayne, for inviting me. But, you know, I could have said, well, I'm too tired. I don't feel like driving all the way up here from Columbus. It's a long drive, hot drive, just to come to this little church. No. I love it here. I love you guys. Because I've chosen to. I've chosen to be here. And God has called each of you into that same thing. To make choices to love Him. To make choices to follow Him. No matter what. Press on regardless. No matter what. Yeah, and yeah, that's how it happened with him. Here I was, just a young man, years ago. My dad was a dairy farmer, you know. And here I am now, serving Jesus. And I want to tell you, God has a calling on your lives. Don't give up. Don't give up. Continue to exercise joy. Exercise that. And it's not always easy, but you can do it. Because you are no different than I am. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I just, you people, God loves you. Don't give in. Don't give up. Because He loves you. He loves you. Oh Lord, He loves you. God is so good. And I just want to encourage you with that. Because His calling is on your lives. He has called you. Each one of you back there, I know He's called you. with a beard. He's called you. And there's an anointing on you to preach Jesus. Just continue to follow that anointing. Be encouraged by what is taking place here at Chardon Christian Fellowship. Because this is good stuff. This is good, good, good ground. Amen? Yeah. Even your pastor agrees. Wow. This is good ground. I remember hearing a couple pastors talk to each other, and they were saying, you know, if I wasn't paid, I wouldn't be here. But I know that's not your case. You are here because you love the people. And that's exciting about being here. God is so good. And God bless you. And I want to open it up. If any of you want prayer for anything, we're here. Because I've seen God heal people. I've seen lives change. You know, there was a man who came, who was in Prague. It was during one of the open worship sessions on the main square. This man was a Chinese businessman. Never heard of Jesus. Can you imagine speaking to someone who never heard of Jesus? I don't think there's anyone in Chardon who's in that place. And a lot of people in Chardon probably use his name a lot. Yeah. But this man had never heard of Jesus. But he was drawn to the worship because he sensed peace in the worship. And he didn't understand it. We begin to share the gospel of Jesus with them, and he wanted it. He cried out to God. And I could literally see a countenance change on his face. This man came as a Chinese businessman, totally void of any relationship with God, and left Prague as a new believer. Hallelujah. We see things like that happen all the time. And that's wonderful. The most joyous thing is seeing a person's life change. And you, you have neighbors that don't know Jesus. You do. You have neighbors that have, well, they've probably heard of Jesus and they probably use his name a lot in ways they shouldn't, but there's a place in every heart that only Jesus will fit. Nothing else. You can try to fill that with anything and it doesn't work. Only Jesus can fill that place. And you have neighbors that are in that situation. If you are desiring in your heart to see Jesus move more, to be reaching out more. And then also I thought about what you said, Roger, in 2 Kings. And some of you might feel like, yeah, I struck the ground a couple times, but I need more victory in my life. I need God to do more of miracles, to overcome some of those things so I can be free and have that freedom to step out more in the things that God has called me into. And we understand that. We understand how those roadblocks sometimes work. But God wants to push through with us. Here again, we are not alone. The Holy Spirit wants to come alongside of each one of us and push through to those places where he wants us to be praying, minister, reaching out. in our prayer closets even. So if you'd like we'd be glad to stay up here and hang out and pray with you. Yeah. Is that how you do it? We want to follow with you because if