WEBVTT 00:00:03.239 --> 00:00:06.059 Before I ask Dennis to come up, I just need to 00:00:06.059 --> 00:00:09.599 say, and it happens frequently when we take requests, 00:00:09.820 --> 00:00:13.099 we realize that we are praying for a lot of people 00:00:13.099 --> 00:00:17.640 that have serious illnesses. We attend a Bible 00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:22.019 study over in the Ramble, and I would say that 00:00:22.019 --> 00:00:26.239 everybody there that attends... is financially 00:00:26.239 --> 00:00:29.440 independent, that they are not ready to go on 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:32.479 skid row, that they have their needs met, and 00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:37.079 yet they're continually finding tumors or things 00:00:37.079 --> 00:00:42.140 that are very serious. And it just makes us all 00:00:42.140 --> 00:00:47.960 realize how vulnerable we are. And I think it's 00:00:47.960 --> 00:00:52.619 a word of... Maybe of caution or warning to us 00:00:52.619 --> 00:00:55.060 scripture says seek the Lord while he may be 00:00:55.060 --> 00:00:59.240 found call upon him while he is near It is easy 00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:02.960 to get so involved in making money or doing our 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:06.260 little things that we ignore the priorities and 00:01:06.260 --> 00:01:08.959 so I encourage you to put the Lord first in your 00:01:08.959 --> 00:01:12.060 life and To make sure that you're spending time 00:01:12.060 --> 00:01:15.500 with him investing time with him every day Looking 00:01:15.500 --> 00:01:18.459 at God's Word and letting God's Word look at 00:01:18.459 --> 00:01:21.560 you because it's just really important. Now Dennis' 00:01:22.299 --> 00:01:26.459 dear brother, I first knew his brother Harold 00:01:26.459 --> 00:01:30.319 in Raleigh and Harold and I used to have a lot 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:34.579 of fun. I loved Harold's laughter. He liked to 00:01:34.579 --> 00:01:37.200 laugh and he was a lot of fun to be with. I have 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:39.200 lots of memories that I'm not going to share 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:41.379 because I'd rather hear from my brother Dennis. 00:01:41.599 --> 00:01:44.040 But Dennis, I appreciate you coming. I appreciate 00:01:44.040 --> 00:01:47.530 your heart. I appreciate your message. The clock 00:01:47.530 --> 00:01:49.489 says you got all the time you need, so you just 00:01:49.489 --> 00:02:01.430 come on up. Thank you, brother. Oh, yeah, that's 00:02:01.430 --> 00:02:14.389 right, children's church. Well, Peter was keeping 00:02:14.389 --> 00:02:19.180 up with me while I was over. in Europe and he 00:02:19.180 --> 00:02:21.120 was checking to see if there were any barbecue 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:28.919 places over there. And there weren't. But they 00:02:28.919 --> 00:02:33.800 do love cheese and bread. They eat a lot of cheese 00:02:33.800 --> 00:02:39.879 and bread. It's quite a privilege to be with 00:02:39.879 --> 00:02:43.280 you all again this morning and I have a one string 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:49.259 banjo. My one string banjo is always the gospel 00:02:49.259 --> 00:02:52.840 of Jesus Christ the gift God has given me is 00:02:52.840 --> 00:02:56.479 the gift of evangelism So I'm not a great Bible 00:02:56.479 --> 00:02:58.560 teacher. I'm not going to teach you anything. 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:01.439 You've never heard from the Bible this morning 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:05.180 But I will tell you how to get to heaven from 00:03:05.180 --> 00:03:10.060 Fletcher, North Carolina If you would if you 00:03:10.060 --> 00:03:13.300 got your Bible with you this morning open it 00:03:13.300 --> 00:03:20.370 up to the book of Romans And I want to begin 00:03:20.370 --> 00:03:24.509 by reading the first 17 verses of chapter 1 for 00:03:24.509 --> 00:03:28.210 our main text this morning. Really, the Word 00:03:28.210 --> 00:03:30.930 of God is the most important thing that we'll 00:03:30.930 --> 00:03:34.150 hear right now. It is the Spirit of God that 00:03:34.150 --> 00:03:36.889 can take the Word of God and do stuff with it 00:03:36.889 --> 00:03:42.250 in our hearts. And what I'm going to say is probably 00:03:42.250 --> 00:03:45.770 going to mess up what you hear as we read these 00:03:45.770 --> 00:03:50.919 17 verses. Let's begin by Romans chapter 1 verse 00:03:50.919 --> 00:03:55.099 1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to 00:03:55.099 --> 00:03:59.219 be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, 00:03:59.460 --> 00:04:02.539 parentheses, which he had promised afore by his 00:04:02.539 --> 00:04:05.759 prophets in the holy scriptures, closed parentheses, 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:10.360 concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which 00:04:10.360 --> 00:04:12.840 was made of the seed of David according to the 00:04:12.840 --> 00:04:16.120 flesh. and declared to be the Son of God with 00:04:16.120 --> 00:04:19.120 power according to the Spirit of Holiness by 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:23.459 the resurrection from the dead, by whom we have 00:04:23.459 --> 00:04:26.120 received grace and apostleship for obedience 00:04:26.120 --> 00:04:29.800 to the faith among all nations for His name, 00:04:30.279 --> 00:04:35.540 among whom are ye also the call of Jesus Christ. 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:40.180 To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called 00:04:40.180 --> 00:04:44.259 to be saints, grace to you and peace from God 00:04:44.259 --> 00:04:47.259 our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." That's 00:04:47.259 --> 00:04:50.019 a long sentence, isn't it? You'd probably get 00:04:50.019 --> 00:04:52.720 marks off in English class if you wrote a sentence 00:04:52.720 --> 00:04:55.560 that long. But you can do that when you're writing 00:04:55.560 --> 00:05:02.199 the Bible. Verse 8. First, I thank my God through 00:05:02.199 --> 00:05:05.000 Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:08.540 of throughout the whole world. For God is my 00:05:08.540 --> 00:05:11.339 witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel 00:05:11.339 --> 00:05:15.160 of his Son that Without ceasing, I make mention 00:05:15.160 --> 00:05:17.959 of you always in my prayers, make and request, 00:05:18.620 --> 00:05:22.500 if by any means, now at length, I might have 00:05:22.500 --> 00:05:25.180 a prosperous journey by the will of God to come 00:05:25.180 --> 00:05:28.800 unto you. For I long to see you, that I may impart 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:32.360 unto you some spiritual gift to the end you may 00:05:32.360 --> 00:05:35.040 be established. That is, that I may be comforted 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:39.720 together with you by the mutual faith, both of 00:05:39.720 --> 00:05:43.769 you and me. Now, I would not have you ignorant, 00:05:44.050 --> 00:05:46.389 brethren, that often times I purposed to come 00:05:46.389 --> 00:05:49.769 unto you, but was let hither to, that I might 00:05:49.769 --> 00:05:52.350 have some fruit among you also, even as among 00:05:52.350 --> 00:05:56.949 other Gentiles. I am a debtor, both to the Greeks 00:05:56.949 --> 00:06:00.110 and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to 00:06:00.110 --> 00:06:05.589 the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready 00:06:05.589 --> 00:06:07.829 to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome 00:06:07.829 --> 00:06:11.560 also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. 00:06:12.339 --> 00:06:14.939 For it is the power of God and the salvation 00:06:14.939 --> 00:06:17.660 to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first 00:06:17.660 --> 00:06:23.040 and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness 00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:26.860 of God revealed from faith to faith as it is 00:06:26.860 --> 00:06:33.990 written. The just shall live by faith. Our Father, 00:06:34.029 --> 00:06:36.709 this morning as we have read these 17 verses, 00:06:36.769 --> 00:06:39.470 I pray that by the power of your Holy Spirit, 00:06:39.490 --> 00:06:41.550 you would take these truths that are in this 00:06:41.550 --> 00:06:44.689 little bit of Scripture here and speak to our 00:06:44.689 --> 00:06:48.149 hearts and do what needs to be done to encourage, 00:06:48.689 --> 00:06:51.490 to exhort, to convict whatever it is, Father, 00:06:51.689 --> 00:06:57.089 I ask in Jesus' name, Amen. On July 29th, Beth 00:06:57.089 --> 00:07:01.839 and I left to go to Europe for four weeks. And 00:07:01.839 --> 00:07:08.740 we came back on August the 29th. And before I 00:07:08.740 --> 00:07:11.279 married Beth, I'd never even been on a commercial 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:14.860 airplane. And so she started me off with a 10 00:07:14.860 --> 00:07:19.800 -hour flight to Hawaii. But since then, I've 00:07:19.800 --> 00:07:23.639 been on a few commercial airplanes. And so we 00:07:23.639 --> 00:07:26.240 flew all the way over to Geneva, Switzerland. 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:32.240 And there in Geneva, Switzerland, We spent the 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:36.579 night and went to St. Peter's Basilica where 00:07:36.579 --> 00:07:40.899 John Knox, not John Knox, John Calvin preached 00:07:40.899 --> 00:07:46.800 six days a week. One of the fathers of the Reformation. 00:07:48.620 --> 00:07:51.680 And they showed me the chair where John Calvin 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:54.939 would sit and the platform that he would preach 00:07:54.939 --> 00:07:58.829 from and his beautiful cathedral. With these 00:07:58.829 --> 00:08:01.170 beautiful stained glass windows and a ceiling 00:08:01.170 --> 00:08:03.870 so high you'd hurt your neck looking up to see 00:08:03.870 --> 00:08:08.750 it. A church today that stays empty all the time. 00:08:09.269 --> 00:08:11.829 It's just a museum. It's just a place for come 00:08:11.829 --> 00:08:17.079 to come and look. And I sent a text to my son 00:08:17.079 --> 00:08:20.060 -in -law AJ and Raleigh, who's with Child Evangelism 00:08:20.060 --> 00:08:22.740 Fellowship, and I said, this is the chair that 00:08:22.740 --> 00:08:26.519 John Calvin sat in. And he sent back and said 00:08:26.519 --> 00:08:31.759 it was predestined that he would sit there. And 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:34.480 I text him back, I said, or did he choose that 00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:39.990 seat? So we still didn't figure that out. And 00:08:39.990 --> 00:08:41.809 for those of you that didn't find that funny, 00:08:41.870 --> 00:08:45.629 John Calvin is the one who promotes predestination 00:08:45.629 --> 00:08:48.990 the most with the tulips and all that stuff. 00:08:49.190 --> 00:08:51.570 But anyway, it was wonderful to be there in that 00:08:51.570 --> 00:08:56.350 church that has such a history of people coming 00:08:56.350 --> 00:08:59.149 to faith alone in the person and work of the 00:08:59.149 --> 00:09:03.309 Lord Jesus Christ in Geneva. We paid a little 00:09:03.309 --> 00:09:06.009 bit extra to go up in the bell tower of that 00:09:06.009 --> 00:09:10.429 church. And we walked and we walked and we walked 00:09:10.429 --> 00:09:14.190 on this circular staircase up into the bell tower 00:09:14.190 --> 00:09:17.009 that has these gigantic beautiful bells up in 00:09:17.009 --> 00:09:21.370 it. And when we finally got up there to the top 00:09:21.370 --> 00:09:23.750 of the bell tower we could look out over Geneva 00:09:23.750 --> 00:09:26.710 and see all the way to that beautiful lake that's 00:09:26.710 --> 00:09:31.159 right there and the top of those buildings. And 00:09:31.159 --> 00:09:34.340 this stuff has been there for thousands of years. 00:09:34.879 --> 00:09:38.259 That stuff's been there longer than the United 00:09:38.259 --> 00:09:42.259 States has been a country. When they built things 00:09:42.259 --> 00:09:45.639 over there, they built them out of rock and brick 00:09:45.639 --> 00:09:48.440 and mortar. They didn't build it out of wood. 00:09:49.500 --> 00:09:51.940 And so it was neat to look out over history. 00:09:52.059 --> 00:09:54.080 And there was a young couple, the only other 00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:56.879 people that had too little sense to go up in 00:09:56.879 --> 00:09:59.620 that bell tower. There was a young couple there 00:09:59.620 --> 00:10:03.710 from Brussels and so we engaged them in conversation. 00:10:03.909 --> 00:10:07.710 Well my wife was in Brussels for three years 00:10:07.710 --> 00:10:12.509 working for NATO when she was in the army and 00:10:12.509 --> 00:10:16.470 so she knew a lot of the same cities around where 00:10:16.470 --> 00:10:19.049 they lived and so we had a little report there 00:10:19.049 --> 00:10:22.090 and they were interested in that she knew where 00:10:22.090 --> 00:10:25.429 they lived and stuff and after a few minutes 00:10:25.429 --> 00:10:30.279 of small talk I asked the man, I said, well, 00:10:30.279 --> 00:10:34.240 do you have a faith? And he said, no, and I don't 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:40.139 want one. So I whipped out my wordless book. 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:44.320 And I said, well, I used to run a children's 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:47.139 camp and tell boys and girls about God using 00:10:47.139 --> 00:10:49.779 this. Let me show you what I would tell them. 00:10:49.799 --> 00:10:52.100 And I went through the colors of the wordless 00:10:52.100 --> 00:10:55.620 book and talked about the streets of gold being 00:10:55.620 --> 00:10:58.500 the gold page and sin that we've all sinned. 00:10:58.500 --> 00:11:00.840 Nobody had to teach us out of the lie, cheat 00:11:00.840 --> 00:11:03.799 or steal. And then I showed him the red page 00:11:03.799 --> 00:11:06.639 and talked about the blood of Christ that flowed 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:09.200 from the cross of Calvary. And then I showed 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:11.399 him the clean page and told him how his sins 00:11:11.399 --> 00:11:14.240 could be forgiven if he put his faith and trust 00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:16.259 in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then I showed him 00:11:16.259 --> 00:11:18.659 the gold page again and I said, so one day you 00:11:18.659 --> 00:11:22.200 can live with God in heaven. Well, they were 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:26.460 ready to go. They were polite, but they heard 00:11:26.460 --> 00:11:29.580 the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I said, God took 00:11:29.580 --> 00:11:33.320 this old farm boy from the tobacco fields of 00:11:33.320 --> 00:11:36.360 Wake County all the way to Geneva, Switzerland, 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:40.399 to the bell tower in St. Peter's Cathedral to 00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:47.580 tell two people from Brussels about Jesus. You 00:11:47.580 --> 00:11:49.860 know why I had a wordless book in my pocket? 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:54.909 It's because when Beth and I decided to go for 00:11:54.909 --> 00:11:59.049 four weeks to Europe. I was asking God, God use 00:11:59.049 --> 00:12:05.169 me. God speak to me. God show me. And we have 00:12:05.169 --> 00:12:08.269 some plans for our future and we're not sure 00:12:08.269 --> 00:12:11.250 what to do yet. We want to be used by God. Beth 00:12:11.250 --> 00:12:14.509 just turned 70 and I'm 72. We don't have too 00:12:14.509 --> 00:12:18.950 many more years left. But we want, we have reasonable 00:12:18.950 --> 00:12:22.610 health. So we want to be used by God in some 00:12:22.610 --> 00:12:25.990 way. And so I was seeking God's face while we 00:12:25.990 --> 00:12:28.070 were there in Europe. What would you have me 00:12:28.070 --> 00:12:31.509 do? Show me something from being around these 00:12:31.509 --> 00:12:36.029 people that don't speak English much. And so 00:12:36.029 --> 00:12:40.250 God spoke to our hearts and he used us. That 00:12:40.250 --> 00:12:44.950 same day we caught a taxi cab driven by a Somalian. 00:12:46.570 --> 00:12:49.850 And we engaged him in conversation and asked 00:12:49.850 --> 00:12:53.190 him if he had a faith. And he said, oh, yes, 00:12:53.190 --> 00:12:57.429 I'm Muslim. And so Beth told him about the Lord 00:12:57.429 --> 00:13:01.529 Jesus Christ. And he believed in Abraham, of 00:13:01.529 --> 00:13:04.629 course, because Muslims revere Abraham. But anyway, 00:13:05.090 --> 00:13:08.389 again, we were able to talk to somebody from 00:13:08.389 --> 00:13:14.590 Somalia in Geneva about a man who died for them 00:13:14.590 --> 00:13:18.690 in Israel. outside of Jerusalem. And that was 00:13:18.690 --> 00:13:21.769 our theme the whole time that we were there. 00:13:23.450 --> 00:13:26.429 One of the parts of our trip was a trip down 00:13:26.429 --> 00:13:32.370 to Rome. I much, very much wanted to go to Rome. 00:13:35.009 --> 00:13:40.450 Rome is a city of thieves today. It's a city 00:13:40.450 --> 00:13:44.149 of graffiti. Every building is painted with spray 00:13:44.149 --> 00:13:48.279 paint. except the ones that are protected by 00:13:48.279 --> 00:13:52.559 fences and men with guns and police and private 00:13:52.559 --> 00:13:56.279 security. But every public building is covered 00:13:56.279 --> 00:14:00.279 in Rome with graffiti, trash in the streets. 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:04.980 It's an ugly city outside of the tourist park. 00:14:06.919 --> 00:14:09.759 But as we were heading to Rome, we were going 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:13.779 down this... where everybody drives wide open 00:14:13.779 --> 00:14:17.899 over there. And the speedometer on this rental 00:14:17.899 --> 00:14:21.480 car we're riding in shows 130 kilometers, whatever 00:14:21.480 --> 00:14:26.120 that is. And I'm saying, Lord, it's been a nice 00:14:26.120 --> 00:14:31.419 72 years. If this is it, Lord, it's all right. 00:14:32.220 --> 00:14:34.720 We're sitting in one of these little compact 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:37.500 cars. That's all they have in Europe. They're 00:14:37.500 --> 00:14:40.669 about this wide and about that long. and there's 00:14:40.669 --> 00:14:42.730 four of us in this thing and I'm sitting on the 00:14:42.730 --> 00:14:45.350 back wheel hitting every bump going down this 00:14:45.350 --> 00:14:47.789 road going wide open and all of a sudden we come 00:14:47.789 --> 00:14:52.690 to a stop and traffic's backed up all four lanes 00:14:52.690 --> 00:14:56.750 and we find out that a tanker truck has exploded 00:14:56.750 --> 00:14:59.649 and is on fire down the road and so we sit there 00:14:59.649 --> 00:15:05.330 for three hours And the minutes just keep dragging 00:15:05.330 --> 00:15:08.210 by, you know. So we start looking up jokes on 00:15:08.210 --> 00:15:10.409 our cell phones and start telling each other 00:15:10.409 --> 00:15:13.710 jokes just to pass the time. And do you know 00:15:13.710 --> 00:15:17.190 that a man said that it's been determined that 00:15:17.190 --> 00:15:23.029 people eat more bananas than monkeys? I've never 00:15:23.029 --> 00:15:29.190 eaten a monkey. And so they would just tell jokes 00:15:29.190 --> 00:15:31.429 to each other and a little while some officials 00:15:31.429 --> 00:15:34.830 came. and started turning all the cars around 00:15:34.830 --> 00:15:37.889 and we were going back on the edge of the road 00:15:37.889 --> 00:15:42.950 back to the next exit two miles back and going 00:15:42.950 --> 00:15:47.370 back through the woods. There used to be a saying 00:15:47.370 --> 00:15:50.889 in the time of Paul, and that saying was, all 00:15:50.889 --> 00:15:55.950 roads lead to Rome. Well guess what? If you're 00:15:55.950 --> 00:15:59.250 going south, they do. So we got off in the woods 00:15:59.250 --> 00:16:01.470 and we would get to these little circles They 00:16:01.470 --> 00:16:03.710 don't turn right or left over there in Europe 00:16:03.710 --> 00:16:05.710 and you know a lot of ours are starting to get 00:16:05.710 --> 00:16:08.529 that way You go around a circle and as we go 00:16:08.529 --> 00:16:11.129 around the circle to be a sign R -O -M -A they 00:16:11.129 --> 00:16:15.710 don't know how to spell Rome over there Roma 00:16:15.710 --> 00:16:17.990 this way or if you go a little further another 00:16:17.990 --> 00:16:22.490 sign Roma this way and I'm like I Guess all roads 00:16:22.490 --> 00:16:29.409 do lead to Rome but finally we got there. And 00:16:29.409 --> 00:16:31.509 as we were there in the city of Rome, we got 00:16:31.509 --> 00:16:36.730 to go see the Forum, and we got to go see the 00:16:36.730 --> 00:16:39.590 Circus Maximus, and we got to see the Colosseum, 00:16:39.629 --> 00:16:42.269 but the thing I wanted to see the most was the 00:16:42.269 --> 00:16:48.049 Arch of Titus. There is preserved something that's 00:16:48.049 --> 00:16:53.009 been there since 72 A .D., the Arch of Titus. 00:16:53.129 --> 00:16:58.710 this great marble archway that was built by Deccletian, 00:16:59.029 --> 00:17:03.929 which was Titus' son, to celebrate him conquering 00:17:03.929 --> 00:17:08.849 the Jews and destroying Jerusalem. And all that 00:17:08.849 --> 00:17:13.109 arch is a relief of them bringing out the furniture 00:17:13.109 --> 00:17:16.470 that was in the temple, carrying the Ark of the 00:17:16.470 --> 00:17:18.690 Covenant and the menorah, and all of that is 00:17:18.690 --> 00:17:25.099 a relief in that arch. And as I stood there looking 00:17:25.099 --> 00:17:27.859 at this plaque in front of that arch that was 00:17:27.859 --> 00:17:30.900 explaining how this was built and who it was 00:17:30.900 --> 00:17:35.460 built for and how this great procession of army 00:17:35.460 --> 00:17:38.819 officers would ride through this arch as they 00:17:38.819 --> 00:17:43.319 have conquered the Jewish people. There was a 00:17:43.319 --> 00:17:45.579 Japanese fellow that came up and was reading 00:17:45.579 --> 00:17:49.380 the plaque. And I turned to him and I said, can 00:17:49.380 --> 00:17:53.200 you speak English? He said, oh yes, and he could 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:57.660 talk just as good as I could. I said, do you 00:17:57.660 --> 00:18:02.180 know that this arch that we're looking at verifies 00:18:02.180 --> 00:18:07.339 the Bible? Do you know that this arch right here 00:18:07.339 --> 00:18:11.140 fulfills prophecy that was spoken by Jesus Christ 00:18:11.140 --> 00:18:15.630 our Lord? He said, no, what do you mean? And 00:18:15.630 --> 00:18:18.710 I said well in Matthew chapter 24 as the Lord 00:18:18.710 --> 00:18:21.549 Jesus and his disciples are coming out of the 00:18:21.549 --> 00:18:27.349 temple His disciples are like wow Looking at 00:18:27.349 --> 00:18:29.569 this building if you've ever been to the Grand 00:18:29.569 --> 00:18:35.670 Canyon, that's a wow Pictures never make Show 00:18:35.670 --> 00:18:38.730 you what that looks like the first time the only 00:18:38.730 --> 00:18:41.289 time I ever went to the Grand Canyon as I walked 00:18:41.289 --> 00:18:46.559 up to that giant chasm in the earth I said, wow. 00:18:47.380 --> 00:18:50.039 It just come out. And after I'd been there a 00:18:50.039 --> 00:18:52.519 while, I got to thinking and I walked over to 00:18:52.519 --> 00:18:54.819 the side and watched other people as for the 00:18:54.819 --> 00:18:57.119 first time they would get there and they would 00:18:57.119 --> 00:19:04.119 go, wow. The Grand Canyon is a wow place. I remember 00:19:04.119 --> 00:19:07.839 the arch in St. Louis, going up to that giant 00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:10.460 arch and looking up at it. And I remember saying 00:19:10.460 --> 00:19:12.940 the same thing. I felt like I was going to fall. 00:19:13.099 --> 00:19:17.259 I was going, wow. Well, that's what the disciples 00:19:17.259 --> 00:19:20.660 were doing with Jesus when they came out of Herod's 00:19:20.660 --> 00:19:24.220 temple It wasn't as glorious as the first temple 00:19:24.220 --> 00:19:27.000 that Solomon built but by now it was still a 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:30.099 beautiful temple It was one of the wonders of 00:19:30.099 --> 00:19:33.240 the ancient world Covered in gold and silver 00:19:33.240 --> 00:19:36.900 and marble and the disciples turned to the Lord 00:19:36.900 --> 00:19:44.000 Jesus and saying Lord look at this building And 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:50.250 Jesus said One stone will not be left upon another. 00:19:50.549 --> 00:19:53.049 This building is going to be completely torn 00:19:53.049 --> 00:19:58.529 down. Don't be enamored with this building. Do 00:19:58.529 --> 00:20:02.210 you think the God of the universe is impressed 00:20:02.210 --> 00:20:06.769 with any building on this planet? When you're 00:20:06.769 --> 00:20:10.490 flying at 37 ,000 feet in an airplane and you 00:20:10.490 --> 00:20:13.569 look down, everything looks like a grain of sand. 00:20:15.349 --> 00:20:19.549 Imagine God from heaven. He's not enamored with 00:20:19.549 --> 00:20:22.410 any building and the Lord Jesus Christ was not 00:20:22.410 --> 00:20:25.309 enamored with a temple and he predicted that 00:20:25.309 --> 00:20:28.450 one day every single stone of that temple would 00:20:28.450 --> 00:20:32.700 be leveled. Well that arch of Titus that I was 00:20:32.700 --> 00:20:35.039 standing in front of I was explaining to this 00:20:35.039 --> 00:20:38.400 Japanese guy Jesus said that this temple would 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:41.140 be destroyed and they did take all the furniture 00:20:41.140 --> 00:20:43.619 out of the temple and they tore down that temple 00:20:43.619 --> 00:20:46.599 and there was not one stone left upon another 00:20:46.599 --> 00:20:50.779 and that Japanese fellow looks at me and says 00:20:50.779 --> 00:20:58.730 Are you a Christian? I said, yes, sir. I am And 00:20:58.730 --> 00:21:02.349 he said, I've never talked to a Christian before. 00:21:05.329 --> 00:21:07.589 Paul wrote a letter here and said to the saints 00:21:07.589 --> 00:21:11.210 at Rome that your faith is known throughout the 00:21:11.210 --> 00:21:16.829 world. Well, guess what? It ain't anymore. As 00:21:16.829 --> 00:21:20.210 a matter of fact, the tourist guides had gathered 00:21:20.210 --> 00:21:21.950 around with their little groups and they were 00:21:21.950 --> 00:21:24.490 listening to me tell them what this arch of Titus 00:21:24.490 --> 00:21:27.170 was all about and one of the tourist guides says 00:21:27.170 --> 00:21:33.410 I never knew that and later another group come 00:21:33.410 --> 00:21:35.609 by and I said can you speak English and I would 00:21:35.609 --> 00:21:38.490 tell them the same thing I said this is a dream 00:21:38.490 --> 00:21:40.869 come true for an evangelist to just stand here 00:21:40.869 --> 00:21:42.849 in front of this object lesson and tell people 00:21:42.849 --> 00:21:47.309 about Jesus and we did stay there a long time 00:21:48.519 --> 00:21:52.579 It was proof of the scriptures that said in Matthew 00:21:52.579 --> 00:21:56.480 24 that that temple would be destroyed. And they 00:21:56.480 --> 00:22:02.500 put up an arch in Rome depicting that. And yet 00:22:02.500 --> 00:22:07.119 people won't believe this book. We were at a 00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:12.579 missionary conference in France for a week. And 00:22:12.579 --> 00:22:15.000 one of the missionaries there is a missionary 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:17.720 to Muslims and he said, don't believe that you've 00:22:17.720 --> 00:22:20.680 got to know everything about Islam to tell people 00:22:20.680 --> 00:22:26.799 about Jesus. And he made, it was a woman actually, 00:22:26.839 --> 00:22:30.180 she made the statement, she said, we have a silver 00:22:30.180 --> 00:22:33.559 bullet. I thought, what does she mean? She said, 00:22:33.700 --> 00:22:37.200 we have the gospel. You don't have to know about 00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:43.670 Muhammad, just tell them about Jesus. And so 00:22:43.670 --> 00:22:52.869 that's what we did. Paul says here in this first 00:22:52.869 --> 00:22:58.990 chapter, to the saints that be in Rome. As I 00:22:58.990 --> 00:23:01.970 read that while I was in Rome, matter of fact, 00:23:02.109 --> 00:23:04.549 I wrote down the date so I wouldn't forget it. 00:23:04.589 --> 00:23:10.150 It was the 13th. I said, Paul's writing this 00:23:10.150 --> 00:23:13.609 to me today. It meant something special to me 00:23:13.609 --> 00:23:16.250 as I was reading through that chapter that day, 00:23:16.950 --> 00:23:22.529 to the saints that be in Rome. Beth and I stayed 00:23:22.529 --> 00:23:27.150 in a special place because she's a retired army 00:23:27.150 --> 00:23:33.369 colonel. We were able to stay in this officers 00:23:33.369 --> 00:23:39.450 club, French officers club. And outside of this 00:23:39.450 --> 00:23:41.990 beautiful five -star hotel that we get to stay 00:23:41.990 --> 00:23:44.710 in pretty cheap since she's a retired Army Colonel, 00:23:46.750 --> 00:23:49.769 there is something called St. Augustine's Cathedral, 00:23:51.609 --> 00:23:55.470 another one of these giant, beautiful places. 00:23:56.410 --> 00:24:02.690 And this was in Paris. And so we go on Sunday 00:24:02.690 --> 00:24:05.930 before last. And we're the only two people sitting 00:24:05.930 --> 00:24:08.029 down in this beautiful cathedral. And I said, 00:24:08.089 --> 00:24:14.230 well, let's pray. Beautiful cathedral, which 00:24:14.230 --> 00:24:17.609 is now just a museum that they open on Sundays, 00:24:17.690 --> 00:24:20.529 let people come in. There was a man out in front 00:24:20.529 --> 00:24:24.509 of St. Augustine's Cathedral pulling grass out 00:24:24.509 --> 00:24:30.390 of the cracks on his hands and knees. And I thought, 00:24:30.920 --> 00:24:33.559 Faith is not known all over the world like it 00:24:33.559 --> 00:24:35.859 was in the first century when Paul wrote this 00:24:35.859 --> 00:24:38.579 letter. Their faith is not known here in Paris. 00:24:39.339 --> 00:24:42.059 People are going about on Sunday mornings business 00:24:42.059 --> 00:24:45.619 as usual. No thought of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:24:45.740 --> 00:24:49.000 And out in front of St. Augustine's Cathedral 00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:52.440 is this giant statue of a horse with a woman 00:24:52.440 --> 00:24:57.390 on it. And I said, well, let's go around. see 00:24:57.390 --> 00:24:59.910 what this is about. So we go to the front of 00:24:59.910 --> 00:25:02.869 that giant statue there in front of St. Augustine's 00:25:02.869 --> 00:25:08.509 Cathedral and it says, to St. Joan of Arc. And 00:25:08.509 --> 00:25:13.529 it tells about her. As our brother said this 00:25:13.529 --> 00:25:17.609 morning at Sunday School, the Roman Catholic 00:25:17.609 --> 00:25:23.680 Church could not make her a saint. As a matter 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:26.140 of fact, the Roman Catholic Church burned her 00:25:26.140 --> 00:25:30.599 at the stake and a few hundred years later then 00:25:30.599 --> 00:25:33.279 made her a saint because they said, oh, I think 00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:39.200 we made a mistake. And so now there's this giant 00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:44.140 monument to this 17 -year -old girl called Saint 00:25:44.140 --> 00:25:48.619 Joan of Arc. And I thought to myself, I'm a saint, 00:25:48.660 --> 00:25:53.109 but not because of the Vatican. We went over 00:25:53.109 --> 00:25:55.490 to the Vatican and right outside of the Vatican 00:25:55.490 --> 00:25:59.930 is a Burger King. And I said, that's appropriate. 00:26:00.009 --> 00:26:06.430 You can have it your way. You can have religion 00:26:06.430 --> 00:26:10.950 your way. As we go into the Vatican, around the 00:26:10.950 --> 00:26:14.690 Vatican is this giant wall. And in every little 00:26:14.690 --> 00:26:20.630 concave of this wall is a king or a pope or somebody. 00:26:20.650 --> 00:26:24.380 I don't know. Idols everywhere, and if it's not 00:26:24.380 --> 00:26:28.700 people, it's animals. And if it's not animals, 00:26:28.799 --> 00:26:34.819 it's birds. Idolatry run rampant. As we were 00:26:34.819 --> 00:26:39.740 on a bus going back to our apartment one day 00:26:39.740 --> 00:26:45.500 in Rome, there was a young man who looked like 00:26:45.500 --> 00:26:50.500 he was from Nigeria. And I asked him about his 00:26:50.500 --> 00:26:54.319 faith and he said, oh, I'm Catholic. My dad works 00:26:54.319 --> 00:26:59.039 at the Vatican. But he said, don't believe the 00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:01.859 Pope or anything that comes out of the Vatican 00:27:01.859 --> 00:27:09.640 because none of it is about Jesus. And I said, 00:27:09.900 --> 00:27:14.920 what a testimony. He said it's all lies if it 00:27:14.920 --> 00:27:18.339 ain't about Jesus. It's not the truth So this 00:27:18.339 --> 00:27:20.960 bus full of people is listening his conversation 00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:24.539 We're having about the Vatican and the Pope and 00:27:24.539 --> 00:27:27.839 the Roman Catholic Church and I'm like, yes Jesus 00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:35.400 It was good But Rome's full of thieves we had 00:27:35.400 --> 00:27:38.000 two cell phones stolen from our party while we 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:42.450 were on the bus shoplifters apart pick Pickpockets. 00:27:43.430 --> 00:27:48.109 Got her brother -in -law's and her nephew or 00:27:48.109 --> 00:27:50.730 niece's cell phones. They're just really good 00:27:50.730 --> 00:27:54.190 at it. The buses are crowded and they bump against 00:27:54.190 --> 00:27:55.750 you, you know, and before you know it, you've 00:27:55.750 --> 00:27:57.930 lost your wallet or your cell phone. And they 00:27:57.930 --> 00:28:00.890 even have signs in all the restaurants. Protect 00:28:00.890 --> 00:28:06.950 your valuables. Thieves are about. Well, Paul 00:28:06.950 --> 00:28:10.490 said, I want to get to Rome by any way possible. 00:28:12.009 --> 00:28:17.970 Back to our text it says In verse 3 concerning 00:28:17.970 --> 00:28:21.130 his son Jesus Christ our Lord which was made 00:28:21.130 --> 00:28:24.910 of the seed of David according to the flesh Matthew 00:28:24.910 --> 00:28:30.269 1 1 records Jesus as the seed of David Revelation 00:28:30.269 --> 00:28:35.099 22 16 records Jesus as the son of David. From 00:28:35.099 --> 00:28:38.200 the first book of the New Testament to the last 00:28:38.200 --> 00:28:40.500 book of the New Testament, Jesus is referred 00:28:40.500 --> 00:28:43.920 to as the son of David according to the flesh. 00:28:44.900 --> 00:28:48.980 But he's regarded as the son of God by the spirit 00:28:48.980 --> 00:28:52.099 of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. 00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:55.420 You see, the very fact that Jesus rose from the 00:28:55.420 --> 00:29:01.799 dead is what our faith is all about. lived a 00:29:01.799 --> 00:29:05.940 complete life of victory, a complete life of 00:29:05.940 --> 00:29:09.500 power over sin. He was perfectly holy. He never 00:29:09.500 --> 00:29:12.460 looked with lust. He never uttered a hasty word. 00:29:12.700 --> 00:29:16.299 He never said anything that was untrue. He never 00:29:16.299 --> 00:29:20.500 entertained an impure thought. He was never accused 00:29:20.500 --> 00:29:24.980 by his conscience. He was never inflamed by unlawful 00:29:24.980 --> 00:29:27.880 or wrongful passions. He was never out of the 00:29:27.880 --> 00:29:31.589 will of God. He never wasted one minute of his 00:29:31.589 --> 00:29:35.170 life and his power was never used for his own 00:29:35.170 --> 00:29:38.529 selfish ends. His judgment was never wrong. He 00:29:38.529 --> 00:29:44.029 never apologized and he never said oops. He lived 00:29:44.029 --> 00:29:48.809 a completely sinless life by the spirit of holiness. 00:29:49.690 --> 00:29:52.769 He is the perfect son of God that lived a perfect 00:29:52.769 --> 00:29:57.549 life so that he could die on the cross for a 00:29:57.549 --> 00:30:01.170 man who has never lived anything perfect. God 00:30:01.170 --> 00:30:04.849 punished Jesus as if he had broken all the commandments 00:30:04.849 --> 00:30:08.549 and he hadn't broken none of them, but I have. 00:30:08.890 --> 00:30:12.569 And so he could take my punishment because he 00:30:12.569 --> 00:30:16.890 had never sinned and he can give me his righteousness 00:30:16.890 --> 00:30:20.529 by the spirit of holiness. When I put my faith 00:30:20.529 --> 00:30:23.309 in the finished work of Jesus dying on the cross, 00:30:23.609 --> 00:30:26.309 God sent His Holy Spirit to come live inside 00:30:26.309 --> 00:30:31.589 of me and made me a saint. I haven't been declared 00:30:31.589 --> 00:30:36.089 a saint by some pope over there in Rome. As a 00:30:36.089 --> 00:30:39.549 matter of fact, they got it all mixed up. It's 00:30:39.549 --> 00:30:42.710 idolatry. It's messed up. Ever since Constantine 00:30:42.710 --> 00:30:46.529 made Christianity the world religion, it's never 00:30:46.529 --> 00:30:50.809 recovered. Because they took pagan people and 00:30:50.809 --> 00:30:53.059 put them in charge. of what they thought was 00:30:53.059 --> 00:30:56.359 a Christian religion and it went way off the 00:30:56.359 --> 00:31:02.420 rails. Now I don't have any beef with Catholic 00:31:02.420 --> 00:31:05.000 people, but I have a big beef with the Roman 00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:08.420 Catholic Church. There are some people who do 00:31:08.420 --> 00:31:10.859 come to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ 00:31:10.859 --> 00:31:13.640 who have grown up in the Catholic Church. Not 00:31:13.640 --> 00:31:15.779 because of the Catholic Church, but because of 00:31:15.779 --> 00:31:21.130 the Word of God. And so it's sad. to stand there 00:31:21.130 --> 00:31:23.930 in all that pomp and glory at the Vatican and 00:31:23.930 --> 00:31:27.970 see all these glorious buildings and all of this 00:31:27.970 --> 00:31:34.289 stuff that has nothing to do with God. Paul says 00:31:34.289 --> 00:31:39.910 in Romans chapter 1, verse 8, I thank my God 00:31:39.910 --> 00:31:42.349 through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith 00:31:42.349 --> 00:31:47.769 is spoken of throughout the whole world. And 00:31:47.769 --> 00:31:52.990 a guy from Japan says, are you a Christian? I've 00:31:52.990 --> 00:31:55.809 never met a Christian. What an indictment against 00:31:55.809 --> 00:31:58.549 the church. Now I don't know where he was from. 00:31:58.650 --> 00:32:02.329 He was Japanese. He was a tourist like I was. 00:32:03.869 --> 00:32:07.670 But he said he never talked to a Christian. The 00:32:07.670 --> 00:32:12.670 church has failed. The church is failing. People 00:32:12.670 --> 00:32:14.769 are not going out and giving their lives. They're 00:32:14.769 --> 00:32:21.109 going out and giving their weekends. I remember 00:32:21.109 --> 00:32:24.630 when God impressed on my heart to quit my job 00:32:24.630 --> 00:32:26.730 with the Raleigh Police Department and move to 00:32:26.730 --> 00:32:30.170 Asheville and start a children's camp. I never 00:32:30.170 --> 00:32:32.490 intended to give a weekend. I intended to give 00:32:32.490 --> 00:32:35.549 the rest of my life. That's what God calls us 00:32:35.549 --> 00:32:39.250 to do, for the cause of His Son, the Lord Jesus. 00:32:40.289 --> 00:32:43.109 Paul says, for God is my witness whom I serve 00:32:43.109 --> 00:32:46.210 with my spirit, verse nine. in the gospel of 00:32:46.210 --> 00:32:48.789 his son and without ceasing I make mention of 00:32:48.789 --> 00:32:53.650 you in my prayers making requests by any means 00:32:53.650 --> 00:32:56.470 now at length I might have a prosperous journey 00:32:56.470 --> 00:33:01.430 by the will of God to come to you." Paul wrote 00:33:01.430 --> 00:33:03.750 this letter to the Romans. He found out that 00:33:03.750 --> 00:33:06.029 Phoebe was going to Rome. We find out from the 00:33:06.029 --> 00:33:08.529 last chapter. And he said, let me write you a 00:33:08.529 --> 00:33:10.809 letter of introduction. Take this letter with 00:33:10.809 --> 00:33:12.829 you when you go to Rome. I'm going to give you 00:33:12.829 --> 00:33:15.289 this letter to take to the saints at Rome, Phoebe, 00:33:15.349 --> 00:33:17.869 and make sure they read it. And so in the folds 00:33:17.869 --> 00:33:20.769 of her gown, when she went to Rome, she was carrying 00:33:20.769 --> 00:33:23.609 this treatise that has been so great for the 00:33:23.609 --> 00:33:26.470 Church of Jesus Christ, that so clearly spells 00:33:26.470 --> 00:33:29.410 out the gospel of Jesus Christ. She had no idea 00:33:29.410 --> 00:33:32.569 the powerful document that she was carrying to 00:33:32.569 --> 00:33:35.609 Rome. And Paul says, tell them I'm wanting to 00:33:35.609 --> 00:33:38.369 come. I'm going to come one day, and God's going 00:33:38.369 --> 00:33:41.029 to give me a prosperous journey somehow to Rome. 00:33:42.609 --> 00:33:45.250 And when Paul was in the temple in Jerusalem 00:33:45.250 --> 00:33:48.750 praying, the Jews thought that Timothy, a Greek, 00:33:48.869 --> 00:33:50.849 was in there with him, and they came and arrested 00:33:50.849 --> 00:33:53.569 him and would have killed him, but he was rescued 00:33:53.569 --> 00:33:58.529 by some Romans soldiers. And they didn't know 00:33:58.529 --> 00:34:02.539 what to do with him. And Paul ended up saying, 00:34:02.619 --> 00:34:05.839 I appeal to Caesar. I haven't done anything wrong. 00:34:05.960 --> 00:34:08.739 You appeal to Caesar? Well, we'll send you to 00:34:08.739 --> 00:34:11.400 Caesar. And so Paul got a free trip to Rome, 00:34:11.599 --> 00:34:17.860 Jerusalem, by the Roman Empire. Now, you almost 00:34:17.860 --> 00:34:23.420 drown going. On the way, they have a shipwreck 00:34:23.420 --> 00:34:26.159 and get washed up on a shore and there on that 00:34:26.159 --> 00:34:28.900 island where he's at. the king of that island 00:34:28.900 --> 00:34:34.139 is sick and so Paul goes and heals the guy and 00:34:34.139 --> 00:34:37.000 his Roman guards like who in the world do I have 00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:40.739 under arrest here and so when they get to Rome 00:34:40.739 --> 00:34:43.360 they just said he puts a guard with him it says 00:34:43.360 --> 00:34:47.179 stay with Paul but let his friends come to him 00:34:47.179 --> 00:34:51.860 all they want to and so Paul is in Rome sharing 00:34:51.860 --> 00:34:55.599 the Lord Jesus Christ with Caesar's household 00:34:57.349 --> 00:35:01.769 Only God can do that. That's right. One of the 00:35:01.769 --> 00:35:04.250 places, another place that I wanted to go to 00:35:04.250 --> 00:35:08.730 in Rome was the maritime prison. Mamertine prison. 00:35:09.909 --> 00:35:12.250 You might never heard of it, but it was a place 00:35:12.250 --> 00:35:14.690 where they would put political prisoners and 00:35:14.690 --> 00:35:17.550 slaves when they were under arrest. It's right 00:35:17.550 --> 00:35:20.010 there near the forum. It's right near the Arch 00:35:20.010 --> 00:35:23.070 of Titus. You can see it from the Arch of Titus. 00:35:23.530 --> 00:35:27.210 And as you stand there at the maritime prison, 00:35:27.250 --> 00:35:29.630 you can look over the hill and there's this giant 00:35:29.630 --> 00:35:31.869 coliseum that was built where they would take 00:35:31.869 --> 00:35:36.829 the Christians and feed them to lions. While 00:35:36.829 --> 00:35:39.329 we were in the coliseum, I asked some of the 00:35:39.329 --> 00:35:41.789 young people that were there as tourists, I said, 00:35:42.150 --> 00:35:45.650 isn't it terrible that they fed Christians to 00:35:45.650 --> 00:35:49.949 the lions right there? And they looked at me 00:35:49.949 --> 00:35:54.230 and Beth and said, really? We didn't know that. 00:35:55.949 --> 00:35:58.590 You see history is lost as to the faith of the 00:35:58.590 --> 00:36:02.590 Lord Jesus Christ over there. Right there in 00:36:02.590 --> 00:36:06.690 Rome, where people gave their lives for Jesus 00:36:06.690 --> 00:36:09.329 Christ, who would not bow the knee to Caesar, 00:36:10.070 --> 00:36:13.829 who would die at the mouths of animals or gladiators 00:36:13.829 --> 00:36:18.110 or whatever. And today young people have no idea. 00:36:20.139 --> 00:36:23.159 The gospel of Jesus Christ is not going out in 00:36:23.159 --> 00:36:26.400 Rome like it was then. But there's the maritime 00:36:26.400 --> 00:36:29.820 prison just from the Colosseum and the Arch of 00:36:29.820 --> 00:36:34.139 Titus. There's this prison. And that's where 00:36:34.139 --> 00:36:40.300 Paul ended up before he was executed. And they've 00:36:40.300 --> 00:36:45.199 made a monument about it. It's all written in 00:36:45.199 --> 00:36:51.750 Latin. Is that right? Italian and Latin but Beth 00:36:51.750 --> 00:36:54.590 has this great app on her phone that she can 00:36:54.590 --> 00:36:59.409 put over signs and it reads out in English which 00:36:59.409 --> 00:37:01.289 really comes in handy when you're trying to get 00:37:01.289 --> 00:37:08.789 out of parking decks because they're not they 00:37:08.789 --> 00:37:10.789 don't put stuff in English over there in Italy 00:37:10.789 --> 00:37:14.349 let me tell you it's not like America where you 00:37:14.349 --> 00:37:16.440 got all these different You get stuff in the 00:37:16.440 --> 00:37:18.619 maleness in every language you can ever imagine. 00:37:19.579 --> 00:37:23.500 But there at the maritime prison, they have a 00:37:23.500 --> 00:37:31.260 plaque honoring the apostle Paul. And when he 00:37:31.260 --> 00:37:34.260 was sentenced to die, there's a hole in the floor 00:37:34.260 --> 00:37:37.480 about this big around. And they let him down 00:37:37.480 --> 00:37:40.780 in that hole into the dungeon underneath the 00:37:40.780 --> 00:37:44.559 prison. And it's about the size of this right 00:37:44.559 --> 00:37:48.079 here. just part of the room. And while I was 00:37:48.079 --> 00:37:50.659 down there in that hole, I went around and touched 00:37:50.659 --> 00:37:55.659 the walls and just closed my eyes and thought, 00:37:56.920 --> 00:37:59.619 this is where the Apostle Paul spent his last 00:37:59.619 --> 00:38:11.380 days. What a failure. What a failure. Today we're 00:38:11.380 --> 00:38:14.880 reading this letter he wrote to the Romans. And 00:38:14.880 --> 00:38:17.360 he will say, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of 00:38:17.360 --> 00:38:20.059 Christ. It is a power of God's salvation to everyone 00:38:20.059 --> 00:38:22.480 that believeth, to the Jew first and also to 00:38:22.480 --> 00:38:26.280 the Greek. And this letter goes on today and 00:38:26.280 --> 00:38:28.659 will be read in churches all across America and 00:38:28.659 --> 00:38:32.480 all across the world. And people that will can 00:38:32.480 --> 00:38:35.619 learn how to be saved from their sins through 00:38:35.619 --> 00:38:38.300 God's grace, through faith alone in the person 00:38:38.300 --> 00:38:41.789 of the Lord Jesus Christ. because it is the power 00:38:41.789 --> 00:38:44.349 of God and his salvation. When they cut Paul's 00:38:44.349 --> 00:38:47.349 head off, he entered into the presence of his 00:38:47.349 --> 00:38:50.829 Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. His earthly work 00:38:50.829 --> 00:38:54.989 was over. You see, the worst thing that can happen 00:38:54.989 --> 00:38:58.369 to you is not that you die. The worst thing that 00:38:58.369 --> 00:39:01.150 can happen to you is that you die without Jesus. 00:39:04.610 --> 00:39:07.699 Beth and I talked to a lot of cab drivers. just 00:39:07.699 --> 00:39:11.860 individuals about the Lord Jesus over there in 00:39:11.860 --> 00:39:16.380 Europe. We didn't talk to anybody that said, 00:39:16.659 --> 00:39:19.639 oh yeah, I'm a Christian, I believe in Jesus. 00:39:22.440 --> 00:39:29.239 Except at the missionary conference. It's sad. 00:39:30.599 --> 00:39:34.940 Jesus is coming back. I'm glad you're having 00:39:34.940 --> 00:39:38.820 this mission conference. Pray for missionaries. 00:39:39.440 --> 00:39:41.380 Pray for people that would give their lives for 00:39:41.380 --> 00:39:44.800 Jesus Christ. Pray for Beth and I. We're kind 00:39:44.800 --> 00:39:47.460 of leaning towards Samaritan's Purse, maybe working 00:39:47.460 --> 00:39:50.360 with them more on a regular basis. We've worked 00:39:50.360 --> 00:39:53.980 with them some. I've got too much help to waste 00:39:53.980 --> 00:39:57.659 the rest of my life mowing grass and goofing 00:39:57.659 --> 00:40:07.449 off. Verse 16 and 17 says, for I'm not ashamed 00:40:07.449 --> 00:40:10.690 of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power 00:40:10.690 --> 00:40:13.969 of God and a salvation to everyone that believeth. 00:40:14.389 --> 00:40:18.030 That's the crux. When I finish today, some of 00:40:18.030 --> 00:40:22.050 you will believe it, some of you won't. Some 00:40:22.050 --> 00:40:26.030 believe, some don't. And that's the way it'll 00:40:26.030 --> 00:40:32.260 always be. But to those that believe, It says 00:40:32.260 --> 00:40:35.400 to the Jew first and also to the Greek for therein 00:40:35.400 --> 00:40:38.619 is the righteousness of God revealed from Old 00:40:38.619 --> 00:40:43.059 Testament faith to New Testament faith as It 00:40:43.059 --> 00:40:46.440 is written the judge shall live by faith and 00:40:46.440 --> 00:40:49.159 that's a quotation from Habakkuk chapter 2 in 00:40:49.159 --> 00:40:53.360 verse 4 It's a verse that transformed a fellow 00:40:53.360 --> 00:40:56.559 by the name of Luther. I said the judge shall 00:40:56.559 --> 00:41:04.150 live by faith Yeah For by grace, God's grace, 00:41:04.269 --> 00:41:07.250 are you saved through faith, and that not of 00:41:07.250 --> 00:41:10.289 yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, 00:41:10.429 --> 00:41:12.849 lest any man should boast. There's nothing we 00:41:12.849 --> 00:41:16.289 could ever do to deserve God's grace and forgiveness. 00:41:17.389 --> 00:41:20.469 But if we believe that his son died on the cross, 00:41:20.690 --> 00:41:22.650 was buried, and rose again the third day, and 00:41:22.650 --> 00:41:25.630 that he's coming back, not believe about Jesus, 00:41:25.750 --> 00:41:30.159 but believe in Jesus. God has promised that we'll 00:41:30.159 --> 00:41:32.800 have everlasting life for God so loved the world 00:41:32.800 --> 00:41:36.079 that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever 00:41:36.079 --> 00:41:41.059 believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting 00:41:41.059 --> 00:41:43.539 life. I have everlasting life and I don't deserve 00:41:43.539 --> 00:41:47.699 it. And if you trusted in Jesus Christ, you too 00:41:47.699 --> 00:41:51.760 not going to have but already have everlasting 00:41:51.760 --> 00:41:54.340 life. Brother Peter, would you close us out? 00:42:01.429 --> 00:42:04.610 But the question about do you know the Lord Jesus 00:42:04.610 --> 00:42:07.230 have you believed in him is not just an intellectual 00:42:07.230 --> 00:42:11.050 belief But it is a commitment Jesus says no man 00:42:11.050 --> 00:42:15.190 can be my disciple Except that you follow me 00:42:15.190 --> 00:42:18.289 deny himself take up his cross and follow me 00:42:18.289 --> 00:42:22.030 That's a life verse for me. That is really really 00:42:22.030 --> 00:42:25.369 important. He comes first Let me close you in 00:42:25.369 --> 00:42:30.070 prayer Father, thank you for my brother And thank 00:42:30.070 --> 00:42:32.269 you for the heart that you've given to Him and 00:42:32.269 --> 00:42:36.329 the passion. And thank you for using Him to speak 00:42:36.329 --> 00:42:40.030 to my life and to put me on the spot to be more 00:42:40.030 --> 00:42:44.449 faithful, more obedient, more submissive to you. 00:42:44.570 --> 00:42:47.949 We have such a great Savior and such a powerful 00:42:47.949 --> 00:42:50.349 gospel. And I pray that you'll just continue 00:42:50.349 --> 00:42:55.250 to help us be faithful with the treasure that 00:42:55.250 --> 00:42:58.250 you've entrusted to us. Ask your blessing now. 00:42:58.699 --> 00:43:03.199 the rest of this day. Pray for Dennis and Beth 00:43:03.199 --> 00:43:05.559 and for their future and for what you're going 00:43:05.559 --> 00:43:07.780 to do in them. Thank you for giving them the 00:43:07.780 --> 00:43:10.400 health that they can serve you and the heart 00:43:10.400 --> 00:43:13.360 and the passion to do that. Do that for all of 00:43:13.360 --> 00:43:17.420 us. Do that for all of us, I pray in Jesus' name 00:43:17.420 --> 00:43:19.019 with thanksgiving. Amen.