Well, I want to thank the pastor for having me here this morning to come and share how the Lord has blessed the ministry of the Barium Baptist Bible College and how we all had a part of it, part in the ministry there during my father's time and also through when I've taken all of the responsibilities there. And Pastor Mike has been kind and came and visited us and really encouraged our people. And I hope you will send him our way again. I was hoping he'll be coming with his daughter, and he said he would be able to come in November. I was very excited, told my wife that Pastor Mike will be coming, so I look forward to that. But due to scheduling, he says it'll be a little bit difficult. Maybe, Lord willing, he'll be able to come next year for our pastor's conference and bring his wife also with him, and that we'll have a good time in the work of the Lord, and they can see what God's doing. And thank you for your prayers and financial support that God will continue to use, which you've done, to take the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to different parts of India, but throughout the Southeast Asia, into China. God has used many of these graduates, so I want to thank you. Thank you for supporting our building project, which was dedicated in memory of my father, the late Dr. Jacob Shelley. And we've completed, dedicated it in July. 19th of this year, and we thank God for the way he has provided. There's one more little thing to be completed in that building, is the elevator. Do pray for that. We're trying to raise about $30,000, so do pray. The Lord will provide, so we'll have all those facilities in. But you had a part, and we rejoice in how God has used the church here to help, and so that the students can have a new library, as well as a dining area, a dining hall, and Fellowship Hall, and so we just thank God for the way He's provided. It was over a million dollars. I did not know how that will happen, but it took 10 years. We started just before my father passed away in 2004. He passed away in 2009, 2005, sorry, and I was worried, but God graciously and through God's people really helped and stood with us, and really I thank God What he told me before he died, he said, you know, son, when I die, just remember, my friends will be your friends. My friends will be your friends, and they will stand with you, just do not break any relationship. And I tried to keep that and kept here with your church after my father passed away, you all stood with us and really thank you for your prayer and support and standing and helping us accomplish these tasks so that others may be trained and have the privilege to study and minister and reach the lost with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So do continue to pray for us as we continue to labor together in the Lord's vineyard. And if you have your Bibles this morning, I'd like you to turn to the book of Proverbs, chapter 18. This verse has been a real blessing in my own life, and I thought I'll share it with you. In this day and age, many of us have a lot of worries. The world has put a lot of fear into us. and a lot of uncertainties. And as you look at the advertisements in the newspapers and magazines and everywhere else, all the turmoil, all the uncertainties, all the chaos that is going on about our financial situations and how we are facing difficulties and gloom and doom has been painted today. But as you read the scriptures, you can have great peace. We can have great confidence to know that the Lord is in control. Amen? That the Lord is in control. And the worst thing I want you to notice here in verse 10 of Proverbs chapter 18 and verse 10, it says, The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it, and is safe. And that is something that really, as I went through my own life in the ministry, there are many times you come to a point in life you think, you know, can I do this? Can I go through with this? I don't know if Brother Mike, Pastor Mike has ever had this situation. But there were times in my own life when I came in the ministry, I thought about turning my back. I said, you know, this is too difficult. There's a lot of challenge here. Maybe it is something that I'm not really capable of doing. Really, this may be something, you know, you feel discouraged, disappointed. And when I talked to many, you know, even with Dr. Bob III, when he was there, he said, you know, we all go through that. But when you read this verse, the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and is safe. Let's pray before we move forward. Our Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You, God, that we can trust in the Word of God. We thank You that this morning we have the precious Word of God in our hands. Lord, that it encourages us even when we are going through difficulties, when we are going through trials and challenges of life. Lord, when there is so much uncertainty around us and we feel that We have no control, but we know that Thou art in control. And the Word of God just encourages us, strengthens us to just keep looking to Jesus. And so we pray, O God, that Thou would speak to us from Thy Word this morning. Encourage us, strengthen us, so that, O God, we would grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That we will be strengthened in the faith. Lord, that we will have our feet on a solid rock. That we will not be afraid. So we pray that Thou would just encourage us, strengthen us. Bless the preaching of Thy Word this morning. Lord, may You use Your Word for Your glory and honor. May Jesus Christ be glorified In this service, we give you praise in Jesus' name. Amen. As we look, first thing I want you to notice, what we look in this verse is, you know, when we think about a name, what does it tell us? And we can hear about so many names, and we say what a powerful name this is, and we associate names with so many things. But I want you to notice the characteristics of the name of Jesus. It's a beautiful name, isn't it? It's a name that you and I can put our faith and confidence and trust. It is a name that reveals the character of God, who Jesus Christ is all about. You know, it tells about our Savior. It tells that you and I today, when the world is telling us and putting all kinds of fear, all kinds of doubts and worries and all these things that come into our minds, you and I can just look into the Word of God and we can be confident. We can put our faith and trust in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because in that name, There is power. There is strength. There is hope. You know, when you turn to the book of Acts, when Peter and John were going into the temple to pray, they see a lame man. sitting by the gate, beautiful, for many years from his birth. He was there. There was no hope for him. There was no help for him. And there, that was his life. There was nothing else he could do but just beg every day after day, year after year. And there was no hope for this man. But then there's this day where Peter and John, who have met the Lord Jesus Christ, Now the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ who are being used of God are coming to the temple to pray and they fast their eyes upon this lame man. And they look at him and he says, look at us. And he looks at his eyes thinking that he's getting some help, some alms or some kind of money, some kind of help from them. They say, silver and gold have I none, but such as I give I thee in the name of Jesus. Rise up. and walk. And you see what happens in that text where the lame man Just when he hears that, he gets up, he begins to leap and you see here, and he took and then Peter takes him by the hand in Acts chapter 3 and verse 7. He took him by the right hand and he lifted him up and immediately his feet, his ankle bones received strength. Here's a man for many years had no hope was in a hopeless situation. And Peter and John said, there is hope in the name of the Lord. What a name! Folks, you and I today are very privileged people, aren't we? We are a people that do not have to have fear. We do not have to worry about any uncertainties of life. You and I have today hope. We have confidence. We can face the world with great courage and with great confidence because of Jesus Christ. He is a man in a hopeless situation. I don't know how many years they say from his child and he's there and look what he said and immediately his feet and his ankle bones received strength. That's a great encouragement for you and for me today. Maybe we are feeling very weak. We're feeling hopeless. We feel there's no strength. But I want to encourage you. Come to Jesus. He will strengthen you. He will lift you up. He will give you the strength you need. He got up and He began to live and to praise God. See, that's what Jesus does for you and for me. He takes that hopeless situation and He turns it around so that you and I can have confidence and we can begin to praise God for the great things God has done for you and for me in our lives. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. That means it's a place of refuge. A place of safety. A place of defense. It's a place that sets you out of danger. You know, how often God takes us out of danger. How often God protects us from danger. Protects us from so many things that could really destroy our lives. But God protects each one of us. You know, when I look about the name of the Lord and I begin to read the names of God, and many times you read the scriptures and I was reading in the book of Genesis where Abraham calls the name of the Lord Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who provides. You see the confidence of Abraham, a man, of God, a man of faith, a man of obedience, a man who followed God, who left everything, not knowing where he was going, but he just trusted God, put his faith and confidence in God. When God said, Abraham, leave your home, leave your kindred, and go to the land that I will show you, man not knowing anything, trusted God, stepped out in faith, As Pastor Mike said this morning, faith has an object, and Abraham's object was the Lord Jesus Christ. He says the Lord will provide And here you see the Lord promised him a son. He waited for so long, for many years, and now when he had the promised son, God is going to test him one more time. And this is the final test that God's going to do in Abraham's life. And Abraham hears the call of God one night as he sleeps, and he hears, Abraham, Abraham. He said, Yes, Lord. He says, Take thou thine only son, whom thou lovest, and offer unto me a sacrifice. and we see how Abraham gets up in the morning takes his servants takes his son and then they go to the mound that God is going to show him Mount Moriah and there he travels with his servants and then he tells his servants to stay here and then he tells them when he says I and my son will go off and sacrifice unto the Lord and then he promises them he's going to come again with his son what a faith if you read the book of Genesis He says, my son and I will come again. But God already asked him to sacrifice. And he says, but I will come again. His confidence in God. I don't know what Abraham might have thought. But then you see his son and Isaac and Abraham walking up on that mount. to us the sacrifice to give God the sacrifice and Isaac turns to his father and says father we have the wood and the fire but where's the lamb? but where's the lamb? then Abraham turns to his son Isaac he says the Lord himself shall provide a lamb What a confidence, a picture of what Jesus did for us, didn't he? It's a picture of God the Father giving us the Lamb of God as a sacrifice for you and for me. That today, because of the Lord Jesus Christ, you and I are here. In the name of the Lord, the Lord Himself shall provide a Lamb. We don't have to worry about the financial gloom and doom. Really. You know, many times I had great desire to be wealthy man. I said, you know, I want to be rich. So I don't have to have anything, lack anything in my life. But the Word of God is so powerful. It's so beautiful, you know. The Lord taught me a great lesson. Turn to the book of Proverbs, chapter 23. He says, you know, you want to worry about your finances, you want to worry about all these things. He says, listen, I can take them all away. Proverbs, chapter 23. And I was just reading this verse, you know, one pastor, Dr. Dickerson from Calvary Baptist Church in Michigan, Midland, Michigan. When I first got into the ministry, I was there at his church. And he encouraged me, read the book of Proverbs, one chapter every day. And because I was in work at that time in the clinic there in that area, I began to read. And I've tried to do this every day, every month, read one chapter of Proverbs. And really, the book of Proverbs has really helped me on life. How to deal with life, really. How to deal with friends, how to deal with relationships. There are a lot of things that King Solomon tells, and it gives us great insight on how to live alive and trust in the Lord, in the name of God. And so here in verse 4 he says, labor not to be rich, seize from thine own wisdom. Here I'm thinking I want to be all that I want to do. I want to amass everything that I can, work as hard as I can, live the great life I want to. And then Solomon, a wealthy man, looks at it and he says, listen folks, seize. Labor not to be rich. Don't put Confidence in yourself. Cease from thine own wisdom, he says. Will thou set thine eyes upon that which is not. Realize that all this material wealth that I am struggling, I'm going to labor for, is just temporal. It does not last. It does not be there forever. And then look at this. for riches suddenly make themselves wings they fly away as an eagle toward heaven what a truth that is and I remember talking to a man who was coming home wanted to commit suicide he came into the office and he said the stock market crashed I lost almost everything all that I worked for years, I lost. There's no hope for me. But you know what? As a believer, you and I don't have to worry. The Lord himself shall provide. But my God shall supply all you need, according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. What confidence! What hope! Our money can fly. Our wealth can be gone. We can be like Wyman, a financial mess. But my friends, if I'm a righteous person, who is this righteous person? It's a person who is morally upright. It's a person who lives a life of virtue, of uprightness. A person who is honest. And you look at the book of Proverbs. It talks about honesty. It talks about integrity. It talks about walking with the Lord. It talks about walking, doing justly. All these things Solomon mentions. You see, the name of the Lord is a strong tower. You can trust in this name, a God that provides, a God that guides, like the good shepherd who guides his sheep, Jehovah-Rah, who guides us. He leads us by the still waters. He guides us into paths of righteousness. What a God! You see, the ways of the world, the ways of this world is all the ways of death. There is no hope in world's wisdom, is there? we have the greatest educated people in the world we call, they call them experts and you hear them on news every day on economics, on politics, on human wisdom, psychologists and all but look where the world is today it's in a mess there's no solutions but folks the solutions are right here in the Word of God. All the answers for our life, for our living, for our homes, for our marriages, for our churches, for everything of life that you and I need to know is all in this Word of God that you and I hold today, the precious Book of God. It's valuable more than all the wealth of this world. This is the most valuable book that you and I hold. It is the Word of God that you and I hold today. We can read it. We can live by it. And we can be successful by it. Amen. The Lord Jesus Christ told Joshua the first thing. before he could even conquer the promised land. He said, Joshua, there's one thing you need to know. They didn't have the whole Bible, they just had the law of Moses. He said, this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth. But thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest do what? Observe all that is written therein, be obedient to the word of God, be obedient to my instructions, follow my commandments, and you'll see what you're going to have. Then he says, observe all that is written therein, for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous. And then thou shalt have what? And when you think about it, success does not come in our own strength, in our own wisdom. It comes from the Lord. Amen? Because it is He who gives us wisdom. It is He who gives us knowledge. It is He who gives us help. And when we look at the life of Job, Job was able to say to his wife, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. He understood where his blessings came from. He understood where his health came from. He understood that it all came from God. The name of the Lord. He is a strong tower. And when we look at the life of Job, Job, in all that went through his life, his wife rejected him. He lost his children. He lost his wealth. And you see what Job says. He was able to say, He knoweth the way that I take. For when I am tried and purified, I shall come forth as gold. It was Job who said, Edoi, he slay me. Yet, will I trust in him? Yes, he also said, the worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God. Even though when he went through all that pain, with all those boils and with all those sores, in pain and agony, he said, I will trust in the name of the Lord. I will put my confidence in God. Christians, are you going through difficulty today? Do you feel discouraged? Do you feel that the world is crumbling around you and there's no way out? Like Solomon says, the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it. And is what? Safe. You are protected in the name of God. You know, when I look at the life of Daniel, here was a man who in the beginning of his life when he was taken as a captive by King Nebuchadnezzar and was placed in that palace with all the pomp and with all its glory with all the wealth and all the great food he purposed in his heart to serve God that he would fear the name of the Lord and you see through his life he had the courage he was consistent in his walk with God and when he comes to the end of his life and he's with Darius and there the the presidents of the kingdom. There were 120 of them. And the presidents wanted to find fault against this Daniel. And 119 of them went to King Darius and said, O King, you lived forever and just pumped him up, flattered him up and said, you got no one should ask of anyone but thee for 30 days. They should not pray to any God, they should not go anywhere. They make him sign this decree. And when Daniel hears about the decree that has been signed by Darius, he goes back to his room and he prays to God and thanks the Lord. And Daniel now is going to be cast into the lion's den. Daniel did not fear He trusted in the name of the Lord, as his protector, as his God, as his God. He saw how God has protected them. And so he goes happily into the lion's den. He's cast into the lion's den, but you see, my friends, God's protection for his servant. And the next day, Darius comes into the to the den, called out, Daniel, Daniel, has thy God, whom thou lovest, whom thou believe in the name of the Lord Jehovah. Is he able to save you? He said, O king, fear not. But my God sent his angels to shut the lion's mouth. Yes, Darius didn't sleep all night. But Daniel, had a good sleep in the lion's den. You know, God's the one who gives sleep, too, my friends. Amen? See, I got verses for that. Even Scripture has. I think it's in the book of Psalm, Psalm 2, Psalm 3 and 4. See? See, in Psalm chapter 3, verse 5, he says, I laid me down and slept, I awaked, for the Lord sustained me. It's the Lord. Then you see here, in verse 4 and verse 8, I will both lay me down in peace and sleep. See, when a righteous man lays down at night, he can lay down in peace. Amen? That's the joy of a Christian. I don't have to worry. I cast all my care upon Him. Why? Because He cares for me. I don't have to carry the burdens. I don't have to fight the battles. You know, many of us think we have to fight the battles. As I read the Word of God, I don't have to fight the battle. David taught me that. David, when he's fighting Goliath, he said, the Lord will fight the battle for me. Jehoshaphat, the prophet comes and tells Jehoshaphat before he goes to battle, don't worry, the Lord will fight your battle. And Paul tells us, you don't have to fight the battle. Put on the whole armor of God and resist the devil and he will flee from you. You don't have to fight the battle. There's power in the name of the Lord. Amen. We don't have to fight our battles. O Christians, we have a wonderful God. We have a mighty God. And that's why Paul, in the book of Philippians, what a name he has given, he says. And God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name that is above every name. He says all the things in heaven, things on earth, things under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. You know, today, people, Christians, Bible believers, they call us all kinds of names, narrow-minded, whatever it is, right extremists, all these things. Even many liberal Christians don't like the fundamentalists, all those who believe in the Word of God. They think we're too narrow-minded. But if I look at the book of Jeremiah, you know, Jeremiah tells the people, ask for the old ways, because they're the right way. We want the modern way, but Jeremiah warns us to ask for the right way You know, but in the book of Philippians we see, Wherefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name, that is, the name which is above every name, that the name of Jesus every knee should bow, all things in heaven, things in earth, things under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Folks, there is a day coming. But all these people who mock who ridicule, who call us all kinds of names today, you and I will see that day they will be bowing their knee before Jesus. What a name. What a name that we possess today in Christ. He's our Savior. He's our Father. That's why today we can call Him Abab, Father. The name of Jesus. There's great promises in that name. There's great privileges in that name. Amen? There's great protection in that name. There's great provisions in that name. What a name of Jesus. Are you going through difficulty today, Christian? Run to Jesus. the name of the Lord is a strong tower the righteous run into it and is safe what a protection what a protection we have we can you know trust in God we can lay and go to sleep in peace that's why the Lord Jesus Christ said peace my peace I give unto thee not as the world given let not your heart be troubled, and be not afraid." What are they? You know, it's not the peace that the world gives us. The peace the world has today is only temporal. It does not last. But the peace that God gives us is complete. It's both physical, it's mental, it's emotional. You can be confident about the peace of God. Even when you're facing death, you can have the peace of God. Somebody asked my mother and she was dying of brain cancer. She was in her last stages and she was home visiting the family in India and they said, how do you feel? She said, I have peace. It is well with my soul. Even when I face cancer, and I am facing death, it is well, it is well with my soul. That is the peace of God. Christians, what a God we have. God bless you. As God's Word has been faithfully preached to us, we all must respond. God's care for his people is always in his own person. Our provision, our protection, our peace is found in a person. The name of the Lord is a strong power. As God's Word has been faithfully preached to us, we all must respond. As you are in the quietness of your own seat, your head is bowed, you and God alone, would you respond to the ministry of the Holy Spirit in your heart through His Word, to the faithful preaching of His Word? I give you the quietness of these moments to do just that. Our Father, we thank you for what you have told us in your Word about yourself. Where we attempt to find peace away from you, where we attempt to find protection or provision away from you, we ask that you would forgive us. It is our foolishness that drives us to that. It is our short-sightedness. It is our unbelief. We don't really believe what you say about yourself. Forgive us. And instead, help us, we pray, to embrace the wisdom that is in your word. Run to you and find safety May your blessing be upon your people. I pray in Jesus's name. Amen