Share the Gospel — Acts 1-2

0:00 Just got back from Florida a little while ago, and I came in a few days ago. Was like, woah. Back. And I guess Wednesday and Thursday is gonna feel like Florida here. Ninety two and ninety, I guess, they're saying.

0:15 Let's give thanks to the lord. Ask for his help. Jesus, we love you. We praise you. As brother prayed before about the word not returning void, it's the same for us here, the big kids.

0:28 And, Lord, we pray that you administer to us. We pray that you would be exalted. We pray, that each one of us, including the preacher, would hear from heaven and that you would give us correct understanding and help me, Lord, as you've called me to be the mouthpiece to rightly divide it and, just minister to us and show us your great your greatness more and more. Help us to grow in that grace and knowledge of you, Lord Jesus. You truly, are my all in all, our all in all.

1:04 We love you. We praise you. In Jesus name, amen. Amen. So last week, Ray was talking about the five...

1:14 He didn't wanna mention the five pillars, I guess, because whatever, but, for young men and for young people, what to do as they go out into the world. And, it's kind of similar in acts two forty two. This is just the introduction. The five pillar... Pillars of the church.

1:36 In a sense, Christ is the foundation. The apostles are called the pillars. But in acts two, you see one of the apostles, Peter, filled with the holy spirit. He comes out like a roaring lion, bold as a lion, and not too long ago before that, he denied the lord. Right?

1:55 50, fifty three days before. And now he's filled with the holy spirit, and he's being that witness just like Jesus promised would happen, that when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will have power, great dynamite power, and be my witness. And so Paul, Peter preaches, and there's fruit. 3,000 people get saved and baptized, truly converted and baptized. And from that, we comprehend that there were probably many more thousand there who didn't receive Christ as their messiah yet.

2:38 It's the feast of Pentecost. So there... All the men, all Jewish men were commanded to come to Jerusalem and celebrate that, feast, and the place was packed. And so Peter preaches, people get saved. So there's conversion, then there's baptism.

2:56 Right? That's the first command the lord gives every true believers to obey him and be baptized. And then acts two forty two tells us that those who got saved, what did they do? They continually devoted themselves to four things. Number one, apostles teaching, doctrine.

3:19 The apostles were there in the flesh teaching. They didn't have any bible. They probably didn't even own a whole old old testament because they were large scrolls. Right? But they had the apostles' doctrine, which is the fulfillment of the old, all completed in Christ, and now teaching about Christ.

3:40 And they continually devoted themselves to the fellowship, and that doesn't mean the coffee and cookies out in the hall, which that's a... Not not a bad thing, I'm saying, but the fellowship is us. We're the fellowship, and they devoted themselves to one another. And you see that a few verses later, they were selling even stuff if anybody had a need. They were committed to one another, and they continually devoted themselves to the Lord's Supper.

4:08 Right? And so they were breaking bread, food, but they were also breaking bread, the Lord's bread representing the lord's body continually. And some... It even goes further and says maybe even day to day house to house they were doing that. But, and then they continually devoted themselves to what?

4:28 Prayer. Prayer. And then as you read through the passage, there's one last thing that they continually devoted themselves to. It's not as black and white in one sense. It's the last verse of the chapter.

4:43 It says, and then the lord continually added to their number daily those who were being saved. And we know from all the scriptures that people don't get saved without hearing the gospel and receiving the gospel. And so you see from the end of the rest of the book of acts, just like Luke said in chapter one, I wrote to you in the book of Luke. Luke wrote both books, Luke and acts. I wrote you all that Jesus began to do and teach, but the inference is very clear.

5:16 I'm gonna continue the story what he's still continuing to do through his body even though his personal physical body is seated at the father's right hand. We are his body. And you see that in the book of Acts. And so the book of Acts is the blueprint for the New Testament assembly church. At large, there was only one assembly at the time.

5:39 But then as it grew, there was the need, and that was already figured out by the lord, and so there's the local assemblies. But there's one body continually devoting themselves to five things, The apostles' doctrine, the word of God, New Testament primarily, the fellowship one another, the breaking of bread, prayer, and sharing the gospel. And so I would like to share this time together and give us seven reasons why we must share, preach, proclaim. That's all the word preach means. It means to proclaim.

6:39 Amen. So there's way too much information on this handout sheet, for everyone except my delight to do it all in one session. Then I'd have to be like Paul and some of you would fall out the window and and I don't have the power to raise you from the dead. So so we're gonna give a brief overview of what's on this handout sheet, seven reasons why each one of us must share the gospel with as many people as we possibly can. And, of course, we all know the reason, well, that we just mentioned it.

7:20 Nobody gets saved without hearing the gospel. And then how shall they hear unless somebody go and tell them? And if they don't receive the gospel, they can't receive the gospel until they hear it. Right? And then if they don't hear it, they don't even have a chance to receive it, and they spend eternity in hellfire where we all deserve to go.

7:42 Now that's an obvious reason, and that's kind of... We're gonna talk about that in number seven. So I wanna go through this... The the seven kind of an overview and then back up and rest on a few of these. So number one reason, and I believe this would be preeminent reason.

7:58 This is number one. Numero uno reason why we should share the gospel. And you'll notice that each one of these seven reasons is because of love. It's god's love towards us, the first half or so, and then our love in response back to god and then our love for fellow man. And we are focusing on his great love the first service.

8:27 And, that's what just just... Out of nowhere, it just overwhelmed me this morning when I was in my devotions. I just started sobbing just again, confessing my sin. Lord, it's just... But you died for me and just thanking you, and I'm not not condemned and just, kinda what we do at the Lord's Supper.

8:44 And it's, it's all about love. Who can give me one word that defines love? You only get one word. Not first Corinthians 13 because there's patience, kindness, all those. One word.

8:59 Jesus. Good answer. When in doubt, Jesus. God is love. God is the very definition of love.

9:10 Love is god. God is love. That's what god always has been. And we talked about that briefly this morning that we deserve his damnation. We were dead in our transgressions and sins, but God.

9:22 But God's great love. So God's great love, number one, is not his love toward us. That's super important, and it does enter in for sure. But it's really his love for his own son. The great love the father has for Jesus Christ, his one and only, and I purposely added that word eternal son.

9:44 He has one eternal son. He's always been the son of god, and he sends his son on a mission to die for us so that we could have our sins paid for when Christ died on the cross if we would just believe that, we get... Right. We get counted his righteousness as the free gift. The wages of sin is death.

10:06 The free gift is from god is eternal life. And the reason God does that is so that he can make more people into the image of his son. Let's go to Romans chapter eight. This is crucial here. We'll start in verse 28.

10:34 Almost every Christian knows this verse, and we quote it, we cling to it, especially during difficult times because we know that god causes all things to work together for good to those who love god and called according to his purpose. It's gonna be okay. Not necessarily in this life. It's not that he's gonna fix the problems, the trials in this life necessarily, but the good that he's working all things toward, let's keep reading. And, I've said this before, but we cannot...

11:02 We should not ever quote verse 28 without including 29, especially. Why? Why is god causing all things to work together for good? Because those whom god foreknew, he knew those, not just knew about. That's not just informational knowledge there.

11:18 That's intimate knowledge. He knew us. He also then predestined us. He set the GPS for every person whom he foreknew. GPS, what is it?

11:29 Become conformed to the image of my son. And the statement doesn't end there, but that's key. Let's pause there for a minute. So god has a plan for every person on the planet, saved and unsaved, and that is to conform them to the image of his son. Step number one is you have to be born into the family to become like his son.

11:54 Those who reject his son, plan has ended right there. But for us who are saved, everything's working together to conform us to the image of his son. The anxiety we're feeling about VBS and all the kids coming, the work we put into VBS, The dinner we might have for lunch. This message, sickness, illness, death, tragedy, everything. All things working together to conform us to the image of his son.

12:24 But that's not the actual end purpose yet. The end purpose is the next portion of scripture. He does all that to conform us to the image of his son for one purpose. He loves, he honors, He's so pleased with his perfect son, the lord Jesus that he wants to, he will make him the firstborn, the protonicas among many brethren, many brothers root word Andy had shared this morning when we read Colossians one. Christ is creator.

13:10 He's the firstborn. Same word again. First priority, primary. First one to be raised from the dead. The first one, he's the first fruits.

13:19 He's the firstborn over all the dead. Why? So that he may come to have first place. That word is the same root word as this word here that Christ would be the firstborn among many brethren. God has a plan.

13:35 John six thirty six, 37, I think it is. Jesus said, all that the father gives to me will come to me. Notice the order. The father gives a gift to his son his bride. He's making his bride.

13:57 That's where Jesus is right now. He's in the father's house getting the father's house ready for the marriage feast to bring his bride to come and live with him with his father, Jesus' father, who is now our father forever and ever. And everything in the world, everything in the life of a true believer is for that one purpose. And god wants to honor his son in such a way as to give him this gift as it were. Us.

14:28 We are the inheritance. It's one way to inherit. The Bible says that. We're the inheritance that Jesus purchased with his own blood. And so it's because that the father loves the son.

14:42 And that bride is not complete until it's complete. Until the last person gets saved. So, this is a great motivation. This is a great, maybe you never thought of it this way before but this is what the verse is saying, eight twenty eight and twenty nine. God has one plan.

15:00 He wants to put his son first place. And then the son, we even read number two, the great love Jesus Christ has for the father. I didn't put this verse reference here, but you can look it up in first Corinthians 15. He says that in the end, after that last enemy is defeated, Christ is going to give the whole kingdom what? Back to the father.

15:22 So that we all can truly live happily ever after. Worshiping serving god the father, that's what Jesus does, right? I always do what my father commands me and we're going to be doing that and we're also going to be doing it to the lord Jesus himself. He's the preeminent one, the firstborn, the eternal son. We're the adopted ones but were brought into that same family.

15:50 And we're going to be loving and serving one another in that same capacity. Wow. The perfect son Humble, obedient, selfless. I am not there yet. But god is using all things in this Christian's life to make me like that.

16:14 And he committed. I'm confident of this very thing. He who began a good work in me, what? Will complete it until the day of Christ. See, I will be like Jesus.

16:25 My favorite Bible verse, I've said this many times, seventeen five, seventeen fifteen of the Psalms. David says, but as for me, he's talking about the wicked. They're just gonna perish. But as for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness, and I'll be satisfied with thy likeness when I awake. That's where this whole thing is headed.

16:51 That's the only reason he created the universe is to make a people for himself to specifically in this teaching of the scriptures. He's making a people, a bride, brothers and sisters for his son to give to his son all that the father gives to me. Jesus says a few verses later in John six, he says, this is the father's will that all the father has given to me. I'll raise them up. And when he raises us up, that's when the project is complete.

17:20 We're completely like Christ. Glorified body, glorified inside. Never ever again a selfish thought or motive. Back to truly normal. That's what normal is.

17:36 God created the world perfectly, but then it fell, and it's not normal now. And to us, it seems like forever. But for how long is creation age in God's sight? No. No.

17:49 Normal is the father, the son have always been perfect and humble and filled with love and selflessness. Our God is selfless. The father gives all the wants to glorify the son. Son gives the glory all to the father. The holy spirit gives the glory all to Jesus Christ.

18:38 This topic is the why we share the gospel. The how I texted brothers yesterday is simple. Once we understand some of this, simple but it's not easy. Once we're completely surrendered to god's will and we really spend plenty of time in prayer, we learn the correct message. And even as you started this morning, brother, it's gonna be automatic overflow as we're filled with Christ, as our mind is transformed, as we're more and more conformed into the image of Christ.

19:14 Christ is in us, and he just wants to... I'm getting ahead of myself here, but he wants to save the sinners. So the great love of the father toward the son. The great love of the son, the Lord Jesus. John chapter 14 verse 31.

19:44 This is after the Lord's Supper, the last supper with the... With Jesus as Jeff was talking about the Passover there. In the upper room, Jesus had already they they finished the lord's supper. Jesus had washed everyone's feet, even Judas. And he's continuing to teach in chapter 14 of introducing about the teaching of the Holy Spirit somewhat but saying I'm going to my father's house to prepare a place for us all to live.

20:13 In one house, many dwelling places but one house, daddy's house And so the bridegroom is there now preparing daddy's house. When daddy says, go get your bride, the marriage is now, they get married, come back and live in daddy's house forever. Wow. That's what the scriptures teach. It's awesome.

20:36 Awesome. And so, verse 31, Jesus is done with this portion just before he, well, he says, but so that the world may know that I love the father. There's that word. The love that Jesus has for the father. So, the world might know that I love the father.

20:54 How how do we know? I do exactly as the father has commanded me. Arise. Get up. Let's go.

21:07 It's what we remember every Sunday morning at the lord's supper. The lord was committed, is committed. He wrestled. He never had a doubt where he wouldn't go. He was just in his humanity under overwhelmed with the reality and in his deity because only deity understands he's about to drink the cup of god's wrath and he being god understands that.

21:31 For all the sin of the world of those who would believe, he drank that cup. He's overwhelmed. In his flesh, he's sweating drops of blood. He's so... Nobody's ever been more overwhelmed than those moments.

21:43 And you resolved once again, nevertheless, your will not my own. Because I love you, father. Because I love you, father. Love, agape love in the scriptures is always defined as obedience. We're gonna see that in a few other passages if we get that far.

22:00 If not, the study sheet is for you to take home. Love, to give yourself always for the betterment of the other person. The father loves the son. Well, that ain't love. Sending him to the cross, the end result is you were mentioning Jeff about wanting to get over it.

22:19 No. No. No. Jesus said, yeah. I don't wanna go through this, but for the joy set before me, what's waiting for me?

22:27 To hear from my father, well done, good and obedient servant, that applies to humans first, but that applies to the Lord. And to receive us as his bride, his gift, his possession for all eternity that he purchased with his own blood? And how does this all happen? Yeah. Getting ahead of myself again here.

23:12 If we really listen. It says, for God loved the world, right? No. No. God so loved.

23:19 That's a huge difference. God so loved the world that he gives us his only son so that we don't perish where we deserve but that we can have eternal life like we just were reading that we're going to be adopted into his family. And that goes hand in hand with Romans five eight six through eight. Rarely would somebody die for a good person. Per chance, someone might die for a righteous man.

23:44 Firemen will give their lives for others. Policemen, soldiers, parents, most parents wouldn't die for their children in a moment if it meant sparing their life, the children's life, right? But god but god demonstrates his own love that while we were yet vile sinners. Now, some of you, I I know brother Don got saved at five years old and his understanding was he was naughty but from god's point of view, that little boy would have went to hell unless he was born again. That's how bad his naughtiness is.

24:17 That's how vile his sin is. While Don, while me, older, and in the world, deep in sin, right? God demonstrates his own love toward us that while we were yet sinners, he gives his son. Now, theologically, biblically, it was never planned that that the father would die for us. It was never his plan.

24:38 Why? Because his love is even greater than himself coming that the father coming himself to die. His plan was always to demonstrate his own love is to give something he loves even more than himself. Could I say as a parent and only that understanding? Not saying it's in the scriptures but god so loved the world he gives his son But God demonstrates his own love toward us that he gives his son, his only son, innocent son, perfect son to become the curse and punishes, drinks the cup of God's wrath so that his enemies could be brought into his family.

25:15 Jesus prays in John 17. Listen to this verse. This is so wonderful. He's praying to the father and he says, father, make them one with us so that the world might know that you sent me and that you love them even as you love me. You and I, for born again, are loved by the father, not in hairless, in quantity, or quality as much as he loves his only begotten perfect son.

25:47 That's what Jesus said. Make him one with us so they understand that you love them even as you love me. Praise his holy name for his grace. So, god loves sinners. The son, of course, loves the sinners.

26:01 He died for us. That's brief. You can go back and look at those things or if we have time later, we'll come back to it. Number four, the great love. Again, it's all from love.

26:11 Why should we go out and share the gospel? Because of love. And that's what Paul says. Look at the first point under number four. Paul quotes and he says, the love of Christ.

26:21 That's not my love toward Christ. It's the love of Christ, his love toward me. He died for me. And that's the context of the passage. He died for all that they who live should no longer live unto themselves but unto him who died and rose again on their behalf.

26:37 So the love of Christ compels me, constrains me, controls me. And it's the same passage where Paul is talking about, that's why I go and persuade men. That's why I go and tell people the fear of the Lord. Right? The judgment day.

26:52 That's that's a motivating factor. Therefore, knowing the terror of the Lord, I persuade men. At the end of the chapter, he says, I'm begging you. Be reconciled to god. I want you to be reconciled to god.

27:06 I wanna tell you about Jesus Christ, the gospel, and he does it in one verse. Second Corinthians five twenty one, he who knew no sin became sin. The father loved us so much. He wanted his son to go through that, to become sin for us. The son loves us so much that he became sin.

27:24 He was willing. So that we who would believe in him would become the righteousness of god in him. So we wanna share the gospel because Jesus' great love for us. He includes us in his work. I I wanna skim over this, and if we have time at some point, we'll come back to it.

28:00 A good friend of mine down in Florida has a book entitled the unfinished work of Christ. What? That's heresy. Well, not if you're... It's it's kinda to catch you.

28:11 And it's what we're saying right here. His work of seeking those lost sinners is unfinished. He did the work once and for all. That's finished on the cross. But his work to save souls is not finished.

28:25 To seek them. And he's doing it now through us. That's what Paul says. God reconciled man through Christ. Then he gives it to the apostles and the apostles now, we have received the ministry of reconciliation and the message.

28:42 So that's what that's all talking about. So we we we want to love, we want to love sinners, we want to go and tell them the gospel, not even because we love them per se. At first, we love Christ. That's what the next ones next two sections are talking about because of god's great love for us. The father loves us.

29:00 The son loves us. Verse number five, our love for the father. Just real quick, the bible says, there is more joy. Jesus said, therefore, there is more joy in heaven. Couple verses later, he gives the other parable.

29:19 There's more joy in the presence of the angels. He didn't say the angels have the joy. Joy is not a, person. Joy is a thing. So who's getting the joy?

29:31 There's more joy in heaven in the presence of the angels. Well, I would imagine the angels are happy when god's happy. It's about the father and that's the last of the three parables. The father, when that lost son, the prodigal son comes home. Would just introduction, we'll come back to that.

29:51 There's more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 who need no repentance. So a great motivation for us. Do you love the father? What brings him the most pleasure in this day and age? There's coming a time when his son comes for his bride, then the joy is Jesus sings over us with joy, his bride, and he's going to punish the wicked, right?

30:22 Forever and ever. But for now, his greatest joy is when one sinner repents. Why? Because they're brought into this bride to give to my son. The gift is becoming more and more complete and when it is finally complete, then the father says, that's your bride.

30:39 Go get her. It's time to get married. Bring her home. Wow. Wow.

30:47 It's just awesome. Our love for the father. We want to please the father. The Bible says, learn what is pleasing to the lord. What's pleasing to the lord?

30:57 When one sinner repents. When one sinner repents. God is letting church go on today, this meeting today. Why? Second Peter three, he's patient.

31:10 Doesn't want anybody to perish. He's, we're good. If you're saved, we're ready to go. But he's waiting for that bride to be completed. For the family of God as it were to be completed with that last adopted child who believes in the Lord Jesus.

31:27 Number six, our love for Jesus Christ. Real simple. If you love me, you what? Keep my commandments. And he commands us to go and tell them.

31:37 It's that simple. He commands us to go and tell. What they do with it, that's on them. But god commands, Jesus commands. That's why I went to the cross to pay for the sins of the world of those who would believe.

31:51 And there's still some out there. There's still some lost sheep out there. And god gives you and I the privilege to go and tell them the message so that god can save them. God defines love as obedience. If we love Jesus Christ, we will obey him.

32:09 If we do not obey Jesus Christ, we do not love him. Those are the words of Christ. You can look them up yourself in John 14. Number seven, our love for god and our love for our neighbor. Jesus, what's the greatest commandment?

32:50 That's what he did for me. I wanna reciprocate to the father because he gets the most pleasure when that sinner repents because another one is in the bride, which is the gift, the father, all that the father gives to me will come to me. Wow. And so our love for god, obviously, and then Jesus said in the second one is like it, meaning just like it. So there...

33:14 And and and even Paul sums it up. He says, the sum of it all, the sum of the law, love your neighbor as yourself. Love your neighbor as yourself. If you were lost and on your way going to hell, and this is an impossible situation and you knew that the only way that you could get saved is if you heard about Jesus, wouldn't you want somebody to come and tell It's that simple. Right?

33:39 Not a guilt trip, but just truth. Pure truth. You can... We'll just, read the underlying sections there under number seven. Every person who's not born again will die in their sins and spend eternity in hell.

33:58 There's a gentleman who comes down to Edgewater Beach and he's an enemy of the gospel. His name is John. And, the Lord brought me to tears this morning praying for his soul. He's right in our face, got a very booming voice just like Chris Schroeder. That is just the voice.

34:16 That's all I'm saying. And a big guy, and he's claims to be the only Jews. He's a black man. Nothing nothing against black at all. But there's a religious group called the Hebrew Israelites, and they're all black, and they believe that they're the only Jews and that only the Jews get saved and on and on it goes.

34:39 Nothing but legalism mixed with racism. And he just shuts down our meetings all the time when he's there. He's that loud and booming. Praise god he hasn't been violent yet in any form. He's just right this close and just I have the microphone sometimes and he's louder than me and it just causes, you know, so we just turn off the mic and we separate.

35:03 Anyway, pray for John. Pray for John. He's on his way to hell. And so is the nice 85 year old committed Christian grandmother sitting, not Christian, Catholic grandmother who doesn't believe the gospel, but she's trusting in her Catholic religion. Or the 85 year old nice Muslim people.

35:27 And we met a gentleman down there yesterday, at Edgewater. Or the nice little child who hasn't robbed any banks yet or killed anybody yet, but still sinful. People really go to hell without Christ. And no one can be born again unless they hear and receive the word of God. I'd like to read that verse.

35:52 First Peter one verse 23. This is not a guilt trip message at all. It's not coming from me. I am... I can't speak for you but I am so convicted.

36:13 I was in the in my office is in my car sometimes. I'll go in the park and I'll just sit and read and pray and stuff. Get along with the lord and lord, I can't. I don't do this. I'm not committed to tell everybody about you because I love you so much and etcetera, etcetera.

36:32 So, it's convicting for all of us but we it it's time for us to, I texted the elders yesterday and and and that we're ready. We're ready and and we're going to do VBS the same kind of thing telling children and their parents hopefully about the gospel but we meet people every day also And we wanna be like the people, the first Christians. We wanna return to our first love. We wanna be a true... How many wanna be a true New Testament assembly?

37:18 If you're born again, you have the Holy Spirit. He's the one who's doing the work. He is the one who'll give you the courage. He is the one who'll give you the words. He is the one who has the passion for the lost souls.

37:28 Our only duty is to say yes to him when he's... When he tells us turn right or left and get so filled with him. But when we say no, we just grieved him or quenched him. Right? Or when we're watching stuff we shouldn't be watching, whether it didn't even have to be pornography, just kinda well, we could be in his word and I'm guilty of that.

37:52 Then we grieve and quench the Holy Spirit and if it was like an heart to the artery, the artery gets clogged up just like our connection with God. We don't lose our salvation, but there's sin. And so we're not even overflowing with the love of Christ toward lost people. And I'm in the same camp. I'm not saying I've arrived in that.

38:15 And no one can hear the word of God unless someone tells them. First Peter one twenty three, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable, that is through the living and enduring word of God. All we have to do is give them the word of God. The word of God is what does the converting. The word of God, it says right here in this verse, that's how everyone is born again.

38:39 Nobody gets born again without hearing and receiving the word of God, and specifically the gospel portion. And then Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, to love your neighbor as yourself. And I made this one concluding remark, we'll end here. Again, this is a very convicting, bible study, a very convicting thought to end with, And, it's not finished, as far as the Lord's work in us. This is just some reasons why we should share the gospel.

39:19 We must share the gospel with every person we possibly can. And God wants to help. He's given evangelists and teachers to the body of Christ to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. And there's definitely more equipping that needs to be done in this assembly for this purpose, for personal evangelism. Meaning, it's one on one or you're with two or three people so we can be better equipped.

39:47 And this is part of this this morning. We are getting equipped. We're we're hopefully understanding that I'm supposed to be doing this, talking the gospel to every person that I possibly can. And as we get filled with the word of God, get filled, yielded to the Holy Spirit, we will be doing this automatically. That's why you have the the the desire to do it.

40:11 Now you maybe say no and don't do it because you feel inadequate or you just don't wanna do it. Both of those reasons, right? Well hopefully as we get together more often and get some more teaching and prayer, teaching and prayer, teaching and prayer on this, will... The equipping will be there. We won't be inadequate.

40:30 Then it'll still come down to a decision. Am I gonna obey the lord in me and tell this person or not? So the last convicting thought here, how can we pretend to love god if we don't obey him? If you love me, you'll keep my commandments. And how can we pretend...

40:48 This is toward... This is to me. I'm so convicted by this. How can we pretend to love our neighbor if we don't warn them and tell them how to escape the eternal flames of hell? How can we pretend to love our neighbor if we don't warn them and tell them how to escape the eternal flames of hell.

41:39 We got rescued because we heard and believed the message, the word of God, the gospel. Somebody, somehow, someway came and brought us that message. Most times, multiple people. We read it. We heard it.

41:55 Little children from parents. We heard it. Vacation bible school. We heard it Sunday school. Lord, I received the gospel track after I had been reading the bible.

42:05 Lord, it's your word. It's your word. We're born again by the word of God. And, Lord, I know that we're all feeling, convicted here. I know I am.

42:16 And we pray that you would help us to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. Lord, you don't leave this burden on us. It's your burden anyway. You're the one who loves the people. In our flesh, we don't love them.

42:28 We don't wanna serve them. We wanna serve ourselves. But, Lord, help us to walk in the spirit. Help us to walk in the spirit. Help us to focus on you, Lord.

42:38 Help us to love you in return by giving you our our best, knowing that this is what pleases you when that one sinner repents. Lord, may you use each true believer at Westlake, Lord, whether they're five years old or a 100 years old. Lord, use us to speak your words in love, fill with the holy spirit to as many people as we possibly can before you come or before you take us home. Lord, be glorified. You and you alone are worthy.

43:11 We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.