I'm honored to be here. Wow, thank you for being in your place. If you can only come to one service, come tonight. That would be the one to be in. And I want to say welcome to the Brandon, is it Wells? our Kelly family, missionaries to Indonesia. And it's exciting for me when I look at your mission board. I know you do a lot. And folks, hear me carefully. I know this church just by looking at your missions board. You love missions. You love getting the word of God around the world. And while you support a lot of real champion missionaries, we're friends with some of them. And I know the pastor's introducing Faith Promise to many of you. This is the first time. Can I say, this is a thick book. And the pastor, Sunday after Sunday, breaks the bread of life, but he has the awesome responsibility to declare the whole counsel of God to you, to help you with raising your family, to help you with learning to pray, to teach you about prophecy and coming events, how you relate in your workplace, how to relate to government, how to raise your children, how to avoid bitterness. I pastored. It's a huge responsibility to teach the people of God the whole Bible. And I just so much appreciate Pastor Sparks and his commitment to that. This is a special week where we're emphasizing missions. But I want you to understand, I'm just here kind of to be a confirming voice. I feel like the little boy in the corner jumping up and down saying, me too, me too, I'm for what this guy is doing. And so, please understand, it's my honor to come alongside a church that already gives to missions. I mentioned in the Sunday School Hour, and I'll say it again, I got saved when I was 18 years old in December of 1969. If you've never been saved, the most important thing in all the world is you get settled between you and God, your eternal destiny. I'm here preaching on a special topic, missions. And missions tends to be kind of the crown of Christian maturity. You start by being saved, And then as you grow in Christ, you get burdened for your mom, your dad, your loved ones, maybe your coworker, maybe a guy in your deer hunting group or bull hunting club or a lady that you know from some other setting. Maybe she sells Avon and you say, hey, she needs to be saved. But as you grow in Christ, you start caring about people that you've never met. and you start following God's agenda, and that's kind of, so here we are talking about missions, and I understand that some people are struggling just to keep their marriage together. There are some people who have never been saved yet, and there are still others who maybe have real challenges. I have a sister that starts this Tuesday with chemotherapy, And I'm saying, look, I understand there's a lot, a lot, a lot of needs. Anybody that loves people and cares about it, we understand. You have your own personal circumstance. And we're asking you to kind of step above that and give missions a priority for this week. You understand? It's not that we're unaware that there are other challenges and burdens and needs. But this is a special time. And so please do your best to be here. I'm not much on the mutual admiration society. You tell me how wonderful I am, I tell you how wonderful you are. We're sinners saved by grace. And if we amount to a hill of beans, it's only the grace of God Almighty. And so let's just get past all of that. And I'm glad to be here. You know, I need some volunteers again today, and so I'm gonna have the handsome guy come on up here, bring your Bible. Oh. You're over here, you live over here. What's your first name? Not today. And we have, this is the Apostle John. Now, the Apostle John, man, he's doing Apostle business. He's a wonderful, wonderful guy. And then I need, how about, come on up here, yeah, yeah, yeah. You can bring your Bible, because you'll be up here for a while. And you live over here. And what's your name? Nope, it's Gaius. Today it's Gaius. Now, look, here's a guy, bebopping along, 98.6, just the average young guy. He's never been saved. He's not against God, he's not against the Bible, but nobody told him how to be saved. And the apostle John, on his apostle journeys, work with me here, comes over and leads him to Jesus Christ and shows him. He has to repent of his sins, trust only in Christ, and by faith ask for the forgiveness of God and that he could be born into the family of God. And then he prays and asks the Lord to save him. and he's saved. Thank you so much. Isn't that wonderful? Now, wait, wait. We don't just leave our Lord's babies in the devil's incubator here. He disciples them and teaches them the Bible and shows them the glory of God. And hey, you need to be connected to a fundamental Baptist church where brothers, so-and-so's the pastor. and wow, he's happy as a clam and he's excited and the apostle John goes on to do more apostle business. And so this is wonderful, oh my, it's wonderful. It's so exciting, but wouldn't you know why it wasn't long before a couple missionaries were coming through. And Gaius is so excited, wow, real, live missionaries. These guys quit their jobs, sold their house, they're going to the foreign field, they're gonna give light and darkness. And so he's excited that missionaries are coming through. So I need a couple of missionaries. Yep, you two handsome ones. I need glasses. And so, Okay, now look, they come through, and he is twinkle-dusted, real live missionaries. And he moves out into the doghouse and gives them the bedroom. He is so excited that these are champions for Christ. They're going by faith. They're gonna go reach the lost with the gospel. They sold their possessions. They're leaving grandma and grandpa, and they're going to deepest, darkest Africa, and he's just so thrilled. that they'd actually honor him by coming to his house. He feeds them ribeye steak for supper. He spends until midnight asking about their burden, their vision, their calling, their work. He is so excited. He's like at an Italian wedding throwing spaghetti in the air. He's happy as a clam. And wow, before they go to bed, he has prayer with them. And God use them, protect them, bless them, provide for them. Hallelujah. Real life missionaries. In the morning, when they get up, he feeds them a big breakfast. He packs a big lunch and puts it in their knapsacks. He gives them a $250 gift card to put gas in their camels. And he's, I mean, he just, is just in love with this. And wow, they go on about their way. And they're bebopping along and they come and run into the Apostle John. And the Apostle John says, hey guys, how's it going out there in the deputation trail? And the missionary said, well, you know, it's been good and bad to both, you know, and boy, it's not so bad that we're going to Africa to see the snakes, but the hard part is going to the Baptist churches to try to get money. I was in a church and a pickpocket got in there and got nothing but practice. And they were so poor they couldn't pay attention. But then he says, wow. We were at this one place, Gaius, this young Christian guy, he loved us, and he welcomed us, and he was proud to learn about us, and interested in us, and prayed with us, and helped us along the way, and wow, if it was all like that, this should be wonderful. And John says, well, I know him. I led him to Christ. It's wonderful that he's still serving the Lord. I'm so glad to get the report. How exciting that he's really serving God. Now this is all wonderful. The missionaries go on back to their pew. So, this is a wonderful setting except for one thing. Gaius has a rotten pastor. Now hear me carefully for a minute. Every honest policeman is grieved when they capture a rotten policeman selling drugs out of the backseat. Most of them are honest as the day is long. Most judges are grieved when they catch a judge taking bribes, right? Isn't that true? Most pastors are just grieved when they find out that a pastor's running off with the money or the secretary or whatever it is. Most pastors are men of God. But it happens that Gaius has a rotten pastor. You say, what does he look like? Well, he looks a lot like Brother Scott. So Brother Scott, come on up here. You can bring your Bible. I always have to be careful at this point, you gotta pick somebody that's not thin-skinned, you know, and so. This guy is so arrogant, he's so proud, he could strut sitting down. This guy, he's a micromanager, he's a control freak, he's insecure, and he's threatened by anybody else that has brains or spirituality. And wow, when Gaius comes and tells him, hey preacher, you wouldn't believe it. I ran into these missionaries, wow, they're men of God, they're men of faith. I tell you what, I was so blessed to hear their testimony and man, maybe we could have them at our church sometime. But this guy gets the green eye of envy. He's the single-handed pillar and ground of the truth, the source of all spiritual knowledge. He doesn't want him to, I don't want you to know anybody else, just me. And he says to Gaius, don't you ever help missionaries again or I'm booting you out of the church. Now, hear me carefully. This is a sincere Christian who wants to do right by God in helping missions. But he knows and understands, I have a pastor. And I believe in following a pastor. God's either called you to pastor or he's called you to help a pastor. That's all there is. If you're not the pastor, then help a pastor. He wants to help a pastor. but his pastor forbids him to help missionaries. Is that a problem? All right, now, who can he ask a question of a spiritual nature? Who does he know, who does he have a relationship with that he might be able to find out what should I do when I'm in this situation? The Apostle John. The Apostle John. Now, you don't have it, but he writes a letter to the Apostle John, and he says, hey, here's the circumstance. I'm helping missionaries, and my pastor forbids it. And I believe in following a pastor, but I just don't know what to do. Is this a problem? Yes. What you have in your lap is the letter from John back to him. Look at the third epistle of John, way back by the book of Revelation. It ought to make your antenna go up right away. Hey, hey, the elder, verse one, unto the well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. It's the only epistle in all your Bible that's in your lap that's written to a layman. Philemon had a church in his house. It's to the churches of Galatia, to the church at Ephesus, to the church of Thessalonica, it's to Timothy the preacher, it's to Titus the preacher, to the church, to the elect, to the 12 tribes. All the epistles are written to a church or a preacher, but one, third John, the elder. "'unto the well-beloved Gaius.'" This ought to make you, what's a layman to do? The question is posed, the Apostle John is writing back under divine inspiration, and the first four verses are mostly just salutation. Look what it says, the elder, "'unto the well-beloved Gaius, "'whom I love in the truth. "'Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as I so prospereth, watch, verse three, for I rejoice greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that's in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Hey, so far, so good, right? He's just saying, God bless you, great to hear from you, glad you're doing well, right? Verses 5, 6, 7, and 8 are the mission verses. And so there's a lot to learn here. Look carefully. Beloved John to the layman, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, that's the church members that are there, and to strangers, that's the ones traveling through, Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers, watch verse six, who which have borne witness of thy charity before the church. Watch what it says. Whom if thou, underline the two words, bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well. Hey, if you bring them forward on their journey, thou shalt do well. Listen to me carefully. Missionaries are not second class citizens. They're not hobos from the railroad yard. They are not some kind of guy that wouldn't hold a job. The missionaries I know are men of God that love God, served in the church, won souls, gave to missions, and God hoovered over them and called them and said, I want you to go. They're some of the best men of God that I've ever met in my life. And they wouldn't ask you for a thin dime. They've paid for their family. They've paid their own bills. They've been responsible for their own things. But God has put them in a circumstance where the church is supposed to help the missionary. I can't tell you how many missionaries have come through and said to me, Brother King, I'm not a beggar. I'm not helpless. But God wants to support me through the churches and they find the hardest thing they have to do is to get meetings, go on deputation and try to raise money because they have an ego too, they have pride too, they don't wanna be considered. So don't treat them like a beggar. Make sure you bring them forward on their journey after a godly sort. That's right to do. Gaius, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers, which have borne witness of thy charity before the church, whom, if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt, what's the next two words? Do well. Is it right to help him? Yes, it is. Then it gives the reason, in verses seven and eight, because that for his namesake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles. Hear me! Gentiles, the euphemism, Gentiles is a reference to, you don't expect the lost people to support our missionaries. Hey, your lost Presbyterian medical doctor might be a wonderful guy, but he's not gonna support our missionaries. Your dentist who goes to the Roman Catholic Church does not see the same kind of mission look that we do. I'm not trying to hurt, I'm just saying, honestly, they went forth taking, they don't expect the lost world to support them. It says in verse eight, we therefore, ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers to the truth. Verse six says, bring them forward. Verse eight says, we, us, the regular people, ought to receive such. Why? That we might be fellow helpers to the truth. This is a partnership. They're going, but we help them. Now, bring them forward. We ought to receive such. This is the plan of God. They go and we help them. No mystery here. Now, it does beg the question, why does the Apostle John go around the chain of command? There's a church, there's a pastor. Why is he writing directly to the layman? But verse nine clears all that up. I wrote to the church. I wrote to the church, under the church, but diatrophies, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I'll remember the deeds which he doeth. Hey, listen to me carefully. You gotta have some kind of brass to say as a pastor, I don't care what the apostles say. No man is above this Bible. No preacher is above the word of an apostle. This is the word of God Almighty. You gotta have some kind of boldness, some kind of brass, some kind of pride to say, I don't want the apostle John here. Hey, when the Apostle John's not welcome, there's big problems in River City, let me tell ya. But it's kind of interesting. Is he gonna tell this guy how to run this guy? No, it's above his pay grade. It's the truth. Now listen to me. Do you think God has a hammer big enough for him? Right? There's a song we sing. God will take care of you in every way. Right? We love it, right? That's wonderful when you're walking with the Lord. You know when you're backslidden like this, that song takes on a whole other meaning. God will take care of you. Don't you worry. Don't you worry. I wrote to the church, but diatrophies, who loveth to have their preeminence among them, receiveth this not. Look at the next verse. Wherefore, if I come, I'll remember the deeds which he doeth. John's on his way, and he's gonna deal with you, brother. their deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words, neither doth he himself, and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church. Ha, let me see. Do you know anybody in the church that might receive the brethren? Da, da, da, da, da! You say, how do you know he's the pastor? Well, let's see, he wrote to the church and after, who answers your church mail? It's the pastor. Who is it that can forbid people to do things and threaten to cast them out? We're talking about the pastor here. Now, look, this is a problem, it's a big problem. He forbids them that would and casted them out of the church. And we get down to verse 11, and it's the first time any advice is really given. And what does he say to the sincere layman? Beloved, what's it say? Look carefully, verse 11. Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. Now listen to me carefully, hear me very carefully at this point. If you go to a church that has a sign over the door, check your brain here, only one person does the thinking, run, run, run, it's a cult. They're gonna serve grape Kool-Aid for breakfast. Don't ever cede over your ability to think for yourself. Beloved, follow not that which is evil. He that doeth evil, it says at the end of verse 11, hath not seen God. Don't give God a black eye over this. It doesn't say get all the sheep together and butt the shepherd out of the pasture. It does not say lead mutiny on the bounty. But it does say don't follow that. You can't follow that. You have to think for yourself. When a pastor is doing wrong, you have to think for yourself. Listen carefully. He says, he that doeth evil hath not seen God. I believe in wives submitting to their husbands, but when the husband is beating his wife and prostituting his wife, that did not come from God Almighty. Don't give God a black eye over that. When somebody's molesting his children, that did not come from God. Just, I believe in authority, chain of command, and the whole thing. But wow, when things are wrong, things are wrong. Beloved, follow not that which is evil. I'm sorry, but you can't follow that. It's too bad that your first experience with a pastor was the west end of a horse going east. That's in the Greek. Is that what it says? Follow not that which is evil. But notice the next word. But, but, but, that which is good. He that doeth good is of God. There are good pastors. There are real men of God. You see? The same verse, I mean, we've actually traipsed through 10 verses to get to the only advice John's writing to Gaius. Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth goods of God, he that doeth evil, hath not seen God. That's what it says. But I want you to look carefully again at the word but. Because, come here, Gaius. You can't follow that, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Follow not that which is evil. But hear me, does a layman need a pastor? Sheep not having a shepherd are scattered. Isn't that what the Bible says? We need a pastor. He's reassuring him there are good pastors. Follow that which is good. Hear me very carefully. Would it shock you that verse number 12 calls the name of a man of God? And it says, Demetrius hath, now watch what it says, good report of all men and of the truth itself, and we also bear record, you know that our record is true. Read! Timothy, Reid, Titus, the qualifications for a pastor, a good report of all men. Is it important that a good pastor be honest in his dealings in the community? That the lost world knows they pay their bills, that they're honest with integrity? Yes. Does it matter that he's got a good reputation among the Christians? That he's happy with his wife and not fiddling around trying to flirt with somebody else's. That he's honest in the way he raises his children. They're not perfect but we're trying to raise them for God. Does it matter that a pastor has a good reputation? Yes it does. But look at the second thing it says there in verse 12. Demetrius hath good report of all men and of the truth itself. What about doctrinal fidelity? Is it important that he's true to the Bible? That he preaches without fear or favor of man? That he's sound in doctrine, able to exhort and rebuke and convince the gainsayers like it says? Yes. You see, he's saying, Gaius, there are good pastors out there, and here's the caliber of man, I want you to follow." And he names Demetrius. And he says, he's got this qualification, a good report of all men, he's got this qualification, sound in doctrine, of the truth itself. And then he adds his own little recommendation, and we also bear record. I'm happy to recommend him, and you know our record's true. He's not telling him, you don't need a pastor. You're smarter than everybody else. All pastors are rotten. He doesn't go down that road at all. It is interesting that the one example in the whole Bible of a New Testament pastor being rotten is one that doesn't promote missions. You see, guys like this, Egomaniac control freaks. You see, they make it about their agenda, but Demetrius' make it about God's agenda. The thing that's going on here is not my little pet kingdom. What's going on here is reaching the world with the gospel of Christ. What we're doing here together is trying to get the gospel around the world. There are good pastors. Don't follow that. It's not your job to fix that. John says, when I come, I'll remember what he did. That would make most guys tremble, I would say, if they had a brain. Follow not that which is evil, but don't let it soil your vision. There are good pastors, and Demetrius is one of them. Follow him. Follow him. What's the rest of the book say? Nothing. Kiss everybody. I hope to see you pretty soon. God bless you, goodbye. You have in your lap a letter from an apostle to a layman saying follow a pastor that's doing right. Thank you guys, you can be seated. I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto you. I trust to see you shortly. We'll speak face to face. Peace be to you. Our friends greet thee. You've read an entire book of the Bible. Beloved, they've borne witness of your charity. Thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers. Beloved, It's right to bring them forward on their journey. Beloved, we ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers to the truth. Beloved, I wrote to the church, but diatrophies. But there's a Demetrius out there, and you could follow that. He gets it. He gets it. Hear me carefully. When a pastor says, I believe we ought to do more to reach the lost here and around the world, it's not about my agenda, it's about his agenda. That's the caliber of man that you could follow faithfully. Paul said, be followers of me, even as I am of Christ, a pastor that's trying to get you to do something good. You see, I'm gonna be here and gone, but you're gonna have a pastor who stands in front of you week after week after week, who's trying to get you to do something good for God Almighty. He wouldn't hurt you for the world. But he knows nobody's gonna get to heaven and say, wow, I wish I'd have done less for Christ. Man, I really regret that. I could have had a different snowmobile if it wouldn't have been for that hard-headed pastor. Nobody, there's not gonna be one person that says that. The world says do less for God. The flesh says do less for God. The devil says do less for God. And the pastor says, let's do more for God. Thank God for men like that. And so today, I'm gonna just ask a very simple thing, heads bowed and eyes closed. And I'm gonna ask you, is your pastor a diatrophys or a Demetrius? Do you have confidence in what the pastor's trying to accomplish here? is from God. He that doeth evil hath not seen God, but he that doeth good is of God." I'm asking you to make a decision as we start this missions conference. Is this of God? Is this man trying to get me to do right? Is he trying to lead me to follow God's agenda. Is this guy more like Demetrius? I could follow him. How many would say with the uplifted hand, Pastor King, I'm mighty grateful for our pastor's passion for the lost. He's a man worth following. Just slip your hand up. I'm so glad for our pastor. God bless you. God bless you. And so today, I'm gonna ask you, could you pray a prayer like this and mean it sincerely with all your heart? Lord, as our pastor leads, would you direct me in exactly what you'd have me to do to follow his lead? You said follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. God help me, you lead me to follow my pastor. Could you pray a prayer like that and mean it with all your heart? Heavenly Father, thank you for these dear folks. What a wonderful Bible we have. Thank you that the Apostle John wrote about the very thing we're concerned with this week. Lord, this is in there just as much as John 3 16 is in there. Help us, Lord, to follow a good pastor. While heads are bowed and eyes are closed, I'm gonna ask if you would just quietly stand to your feet, heads bowed and eyes closed this morning. No one looking around, just stand to your feet. But I'm gonna ask Pastor Sparks if he'd come and stand at the front of the platform here. And I'd like you at the beginning of this missions conference to just take his hand and say, pastor, you can count on me. As you lead us to do right, I'm gonna have a part. God helping me, I'll have a part. Maybe you told him that last week and that's wonderful. Maybe you told him that two weeks ago, that's fine. But maybe it's been a while since you've expressed that to him. And if it's been as the pianist begins to play, would you just step out, join these others that are coming, take his hand and say, Pastor, thank you for being a Demetrius. Count on me. I'm going to have a part. I'm going to God. I'm asking God, what should I do? Let him know, hey, you're not here by yourself. You're not just whistling in the wind. Our church is going to do this. With the help of God, we're going to do this. and then ask God to direct you in what you should do. Thank God for a good pastor. He's not perfect. We know no one's perfect. All God has is humans to work with. But at least he's trying to get us to follow the Bible. He's trying to get us to do more for the sake of souls. Many, many churches would love to have a pastor this caliber. God bless him. God use him. This missions conference is an important part of the church's year. God bless you. God bless you. Maybe you told him last week. That's fine. Maybe it's been a while. Today would be your chance. Pastor, count on me. I'm for what you're doing. This is important in our church. This is important for me as a Christian. This is important for our family. Thank you for being a Demetrius. Thank you for being the caliber of man that would lead us to do this. Count on me. It's what the Bible plainly says. We ought to receive such They went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles. We ought to be fellow helpers to the truth. We ought to bring them forward on their journey. We ought to help them any way we can. Thank God for our pastor. Lord, help us do what you lead us to do. Souls hang in the balance. I know it's unusual, but no missions conference should be without a clear understanding of the leadership of the pastor, the man of God. Get the mind of God. God bless you. Preacher, count on me. I'm gonna have a part in this. What you're trying to get us to do is right. I'll have a part in this. God bless you. Follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God. What a blessing for me to recommend your fellowship of a good pastor. God bless you. There's hypocrites out there. There's hucksters and shysters and liars and cynics and hypocrites. Yeah, we know. We know. But there's good ones too, folks. Lots of good ones. Find one and follow them. God bless you. You're gonna have 3rd John in your Bible tomorrow, next week, and next year. You might forget the name of the missionary family. May you not forget what the scriptures say. God help you. God help you. I said this earlier, if you can only come to one service, come tonight. Tonight would be the one you wouldn't want to miss. We're going to look in the scriptures again. I'll have a part in this, Pastor. What you're doing is right. What you're trying to get us to do is right. Thank you that it's not about you. It's about the Lord Jesus. It's about the souls. God bless you. Thank you for your faithfulness, your steadfastness. Tonight will be in the Bible. Tomorrow night will be in the Bible. What a fantastic privilege to be a part of a good church. Don't take that for granted, folks. God bless you. I don't know if I've ever heard a sermon that I was the only person in this auditorium. And what kind of pastor I am, I want to take this, that I know I'm not perfect, and I appreciate you overlooking my flaws. But I do love you. I love the Lord, and I love this book. And I asked, I was talking and I said, the money that we're trying to give for missions is not really what concerns me. What concerns me is that what we give and what we do dictates where we are spiritually, where we're at. And it's my concern that we love the Lord and that we serve him till that trumpet blows. And there's nobody in your life more than me that wants to hear each one of you, that are members of Grace Baptist Church, to hear, well done, good and faithful servant. And I want you to hear that. Wow. I love you. And I'm excited about what the Lord's gonna do this week. And Brother King, if you make me cry another service, you're never coming back. The Lord's doing something special here. And to Him be the glory and praise and honor. This week we've got missionaries coming. It's good to have Brother Kelly here. His whole family's not here yet. They'll be here throughout the week. He's a fellow Virginian from Harrisonburg. And a missionary, the Lord's called to Indonesia. And do you have, where are your support right now? He's at zero. It only goes up. It only goes up from here. He's at zero. He's a fellow Virginian, and I say fellow Virginian because that's what I am. And if you go, listen, no matter where you are, if you go to Ireland, you know what they're going to call you? A Yankee. They call all Americans Yankees. So there. We have different guys coming in. But really, honestly, it's not about just us taking on a bunch more missionaries. It's us supporting the ones we have to a greater extent, to be behind them in our prayers and financial support more than we are right now. And so we didn't want to bring a whole bunch of guys here and just continually add. We want to build a strong foundation. And that's my prayer. That's my heart's desire. But I do. I love you. Thank you, brother, for preaching the word. Tonight, six o'clock, we'll be back, and then every evening, Monday through Friday. Tonight's a kind of important thing, and if you can only make one service. Tonight's a service and tonight really is where we're going to really kind of explain how we're going to get to where I believe that God wants us as Individuals and churches and as a church to be so that is a very important service I have something that I want to give you tonight I'm looking forward to just moving forward for the Lord if you're part of the missions committee would like to if you're able to stay this afternoon please stick around and there's choir practice at 450 and It's good to have the cadets here. Make sure you say hi to them. And let's just see what the Lord does this week. Let's just see what he does. Let's pray. Father, Lord, I'm just absolutely humbled by you allowing me to be the pastor of these great people. And thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for what you're doing here. And Lord, I know that every one of us can do more. And so we want to be stretched. We want to be sacrificial in what we do. So we ask God that you would that you continue to work in our hearts. Thank you for Brother King, giving the sermons that we need to hear. Lord, help us to just seek your will for our lives, our finances, our family, our future. And Lord, that we would allow your will to be done in our hearts and our lives, that we might hear, well done, my good and faithful servant. We love you. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Lord, if there's someone here that does not know Christ, Lord, I pray that they'd seek myself out or somebody else with the Bible that we might show them how they can know for sure that they'll spend eternity in heaven. We love you. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. God bless you. Lord, we'll see you tonight, 6 o'clock. Amen.