Believe the Testimonies

This morning, I'm going to start with what sounds like a mini-sermon before a sermon. It's more of an illustration. I assume most of us are familiar with the story of Joseph. He was the favorite son of Jacob. He had a nice, fancy coat. His other brothers did not have a nice, fancy coat. He had big dreams that he would rule over his brothers. He liked to tell his brothers about these dreams. The brothers became envious, jealous, bitter. One day they decided to take that coat off, throw him in a pit. They contemplated killing him, but they decided they would rather sell him into slavery. And they said, now we'll see what comes of this dreamer. What they did not realize is that God had given him those dreams and God is true to his word. He was thrown in prison. Egypt, he had dreams again, he can interpret dreams and he was eventually raised to the only person more powerful than Egypt was the Pharaoh himself. And then there was a famine. And God designed all of this for his people that his brothers, Joseph's brothers, they would have to come and ask him for food. And then one day they're all sitting on the table and Joseph can't handle it anymore. He begins to weep. He tells everybody, you got to leave, except for my my these Jews. And he tells them all about what God had done. He tells them to not be upset at yourself or angry yourself because God has done this. I forgive you. I'm not going to provide for you in a new land and to give you a new identity and a new home and a new life God has provided. It's a beautiful story. And this is what children's book teach us from that story. So those men there, Joseph and his brothers, Joseph's brothers, were very mean to him. They sold him and Joseph was taken to Egypt to work as a slave. But Joseph became an important man in Egypt. Now, Joseph's brothers need his help. They need to buy food from him. Will Joseph help them? Yes. Joseph loves God. He will forgive his brothers. And the lesson is, is if you love God, you'll forgive your brothers. Another book ends this way. One day, Joseph's hungry brothers came looking for food. They didn't recognize Joseph. Joseph was not mean to them. He was kind. I'm your brother, he said. Everyone was happy. Another one has a very similar ending, they They end. What did you learn? Some days are happy. Some days are not happy. But don't worry. God is always with you. He wants to help. Now, these things are helpful. They're not completely wrong. But as we're going to see in the text this morning, as we see throughout the New Testament, everything in the Old Testament has one point and it's not your happiness, first and foremost. It's Jesus Christ. These children's storybook Bibles, they miss the point. This Jesus storybook Bible, it gets the point. Joseph didn't punish them, he rescued them. He brought God's special family to live safely with him in Egypt. Transition to the point. One day, God would send another prince. A young prince whose heart would break. Like Joseph, he would leave his home and his father. His brothers would hate him and want him to die. He'll be sold for pieces of silver. He'll be punished, even though he had done nothing wrong. But God would use everything that happened to this young prince, even the bad things, to do something good, to forgive the sins of the world. That's the point of the story. Thank you for that. That's the point of the story. You see, our children's stories oftentimes, they've taught mere moralism and or happiness. They're not pointing us to Christ, and this is dangerous. Because if we're teaching our children about moralism and happiness, and that's what the Bible is all about, it takes a lot more work to unlearn that. I believe those examples can point to us why some sociologists who have been studying contemporary Christianity have diagnosed many churches of holding what they call moralistic, therapeutic monotheism. That's a mouthful, but that's a pretty good diagnosis. Moralistic, therapeutic monotheism. We do this. We read scripture and we say, God, how can I be a better person? We want a God who gives good advice. We look at scripture and we say, how can I be happy? We like God to be our elixir, our medicine, to cure whatever is bothering us so we can be happy again. We want God's wisdom without recognizing that we're sinners, broken and helpless. We want God's peace without realizing it comes to the death of his son that provides the forgiveness of our sins. We too often miss the point of what God is saying. What God is telling us is about His Son. We must first look to God as sinners longing for a Savior. That's what our text is telling us this morning. That's what Jesus is correcting to these scribes and Pharisees, these students of the law. Stop looking to the text. As if what it tells you to do is going to give you life. That's not what it's telling you. It's telling you what I am going to do and that will give you life. Our text this morning is John 5. If you haven't been with us, we're continuing an argument. We're continuing an argument where Jesus has healed a man on the Sabbath. He has claimed to be Lord of the Sabbath. He has claimed that he himself is God's own son, and by making that claim to be that related to God, to identify with God in that way, he is saying I am identical in deity. We'll begin in verse 31. The previous section was Jesus making his case. I do what the Father tells me. I have authority to give life. I have authority to judge two things only God can do. But now he's going to call witnesses. We have a it's a court case. He's setting this up like a lawyer. He's now calling his witnesses. Verse 31, if I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. There's another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. You sent to John and he is one witness to the truth. Not the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you are willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John for the works that the father has given to me to accomplish the very works that I'm doing, bear witness about me that the father has sent me and the father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life and it is they that bear witness about me. Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people, but I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my father's name and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, on whom you have set your hope, for if you believe Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you don't believe his writings, how will you believe my words? You see, the first thing we want to to to meditate upon in our passage is that Jesus calls us to listen so that we can be saved. Jesus calls us to listen so that we can be saved. Jesus is he's just testified of himself. I am the son of God. I have the right to give life. I have the right to judgment. Now he's calling witnesses. I do not just come and testify on my own behalf. There are other witnesses and there's three witnesses in this text. Begins with John the Baptist. Then we have the father, we have Moses. Now, the father gets the most attention. Notice verse 36 through 44, that's focused on the father. The heart of our text is the testimony of the father because he is the testimony that truly matters. But for their well-being, for their benefit, Jesus is going to testify. But John the Baptist and Moses and those two figures stand out. Moses is the first real prophet of the Old Covenant. John the Baptist is the last prophet of the Old Covenant. We see here he's bookended everything God said from the first prophet to the last prophet. The father is really what matters. But let's look and see what he says about John the Baptist. He calls us to listen so that we might believe he refers to John the Baptist as a lamp and a light. We know that John the Baptist was a light shining, but not the true light. We can go back to John one. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. He is the voice calling out in the desert. Believe in the Son of God. He's the one pointing. John's always deflecting. He's always pushing people. This is the one you want to believe in. I'm no one. He's pointing to Jesus Christ. Now, one of the reasons I think Jesus begins with John the Baptist is because most of those in the crowd, they'll be familiar with him. Many of them would have even heard John the Baptist. He was a light. They recognized something's happening with this guy who kind of dresses funny and has a unique diet out in the wilderness. So they they went out and they heard him. And some would have been recognized. They were recognized the light. And I believe Jesus is trying to refer to the latest authority that God has used to speak words that are audible. To put this in some perspective, it would be like a conservative news host giving recognition. Did you hear what Reagan said? Don't you remember what Reagan said? Or a humanitarian? Remember what Mother Teresa said? So, whenever you're trying to call out someone, you want to use one of those most recent authorities that is in most people's minds and fresh still. Now, John the Baptist, for us, he's as fresh as Moses. We never heard him. We know of him. We read about him. And I believe the thing we need to focus on here is the purpose with which Jesus tells us he mentions this. Verse 34. I say these things so that you might be saved. He says, John told the truth and the truth will save you. What did John say? The first thing we see John say, behold, The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The message of John the Baptist was that I'm merely a mouth. I'm merely a spokesperson. I want you to see the one who has come. The Son of God who takes away the sins of the world. John the Baptist message was that you must believe in Jesus Christ. That's our message. The gospel hasn't changed from the old covenant to the new covenant. You must believe in the Lamb that has taken away the sins of the world. The only difference is we know exactly who that lamb is. We know exactly how he took away the sins of the world. God himself sent his son to become like us, to be innocent and blameless and perfect so that he could take the wrath of God that we deserve because we are sinners. We are guilty. If we were to stand before God, our sins would be obvious and we would be speechless because we have done nothing but rebel against God. We refuse to listen to him. We refuse to worship him and we deserve his wrath. But Jesus Christ has come as the lamb of God so that the wrath that we deserve is put upon him so that we will believe in him. We're counted as innocent. We're counted as forgiven. Our sins are taken away from us and they're put on him and then they're done away with forever. Friends, that is the message of salvation. We must hear it and believe it because Jesus Christ is the one who restores us to the Father and reconciles us. The second thing we see in our text, the main big point here. Jesus calls us to believe that he has been sent by the father. Jesus calls us to believe that he has been sent by the father. This is verses 36 through 44. And really, I want to be able to trace the argument here. So then the second point, I've got another sermon and someone might argue, but I want to trace the argument so that you see what's happening first. He declares that it is his works that prove that he is from the Father. That's verse 36. The first thing he wants to tell us is that my works demonstrate that the Father has sent me. The second thing is that the Father has borne witness about him. That's verses 37, 38. So the first thing he says, look at my works. That's really repeating what he said in the previous section that we looked at last week. The second thing is verse 37, 38. The Father has borne witness. And then finally, Jesus rebukes them for not looking to God and not knowing what he truly says. And that's the end of our section. So first, he declares, my works declare my works demonstrate that I am the son of God. It's a key transition to make the father the forefront of the argument. It's simply this. Look at what I'm doing. Is there any way I could do what I'm doing if the father had not sent me? Is there any way I could cast out demons if the father had not sent me? Is there any way I could give life to those who were dead if the father had not sent me? Is there any way I'd be able to call out and know people's sins that are not obvious, but only those internal sins if the father is not with me? We saw this in Nicodemus. Those who observe Jesus, they see there's something about him. Nicodemus came to him at night. There's no way someone can teach and do the things you're doing unless God is with them. The problem is, Nicodemus was interested, but when Jesus tells him what he must do, he must be born again. The Son of God must be exalted. Nicodemus, it doesn't appear that he believed. Another example is from Matthew 11. John the Baptist has heard of Christ. He has spoken of Christ. He knows Christ. But in prison, he seems to want to make sure he has some clarity. And when John heard in prison about the deeds, the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, Are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another? And Jesus answered them, Go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight and the lame walk. Lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear and the dead are raised up and the poor have good news preached to him. And blessed is the one who is not offended. By me. Jesus here appeals to his works. If the Father is not with me, how can I do these things? We actually see something even more powerful. When Christ died on the cross, thunder cracked. There was an earthquake. The dead are raised up. And the Gentile soldier, he says, surely this is the Son of God. That work that was so obvious, the work of the father pouring in his wrath on the son at that moment, that work, a Gentile officer, he knew what happened. He knew what he had just done. The question I have for us, do we have that same conclusion? Because we don't know everything Jesus did. John tells us that at the end, nothing could contain all the things Jesus did or all the things Jesus did. There's just no way to ever produce that. But what John has given us is what we need to know In order to know the Savior, that we're sinners, that he is a son of God, that he has taken away our sin. The second step in the argument, Jesus declares that the father has borne witness about him, verses 37 to 38, and the father who sent me has borne witness about me. I first wanted to focus on this and ask, how is it the father has borne witness? It's the worst. That's one way. We could also look at the transfiguration of the baptism when the father audibly spoke into his creation and said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. What's he say next? Listen to him. This is the word of God who is now walking with you and talking with you. He is my son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. Now, that could be what he's referring to, but it's interesting, John doesn't record either one of those events. But there's a third option here. Jesus carried with him such a blessing from God that those who are walking with God, they would recognize it. Let me use an example. I hope you all know someone who is like this because I do, and they're here among us. Have you ever been with someone who they've just gotten out of their Bible study? They've just entered their prayer time. They come and they speak to you and they just have the sense of the glory of God about them. When you speak to them, you feel like God himself is using them to encourage your spirit and the Holy Spirit that is indwelling you. You sense that they are glorifying God. You sense the worship they have. You sense that they've been with God because God's blessings upon them. Now, everyone we sense that from, they're all sinners. This is Jesus Christ, the perfect one. He has the full blessing. He is the one who has fully obeyed the Father. The father, I believe, is bearing witness by the blessing he gives his son, that those who have the word abiding in them. Notice there, that's one of the indictments that he brings against them. Those who would have the word abiding them, they would recognize this is the word of God. Just the same way, those of us who have the Holy Spirit indwelling us, we recognize the authority that the word has because it has been inspired or breathed out by the Holy Spirit. If we can see this kind of blessing in other centers, how much more could they or should they have been able to recognize the blessing of Jesus Christ? Here we see that if the words abiding in them, they would recognize this is the word of God. This is the prophet that Moses told us about. Now, as we think about this, I want to go back to that example, and that is such a blessing to be a part of a church that is seeking God and that we fellowship together. All fellowshipping is socializing, not all socializing is fellowshipping. When we're socializing, what makes it fellowship is when we're talking about the Savior. When we're coming together and we're talking about the word of God and Jesus Christ, that's what fellowship is. You can't count hours of the week fellowshipping if you're with other Christians, but you're not talking about the things of God. We're supposed to come together and we're supposed to encourage one another and stir one another up. We need to be disciplined in how we encourage one another. I'm encouraged constantly by the fellowship that we're experiencing here at Jefferson Park. But I want to encourage you to strive to follow Christ so that our fellowship is all the sweeter. The third thing that we see in this argument, Jesus rebukes them for not looking up to God. Jesus rebukes them for not looking up to God. He already begins here, verse three, and you search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. That is, they that bear witness about me, they're they're looking at God's word and they're they're missing the point. We see this very helpful in Paul. Paul tells us that the law was not given to us so that we could obey it and please God. The law was given to us so that we could see how much we need a savior. The law helps us to see our need for a savior so that when he comes, we say this is the savior we're looking for. Everything that Moses has written, it's not that we can look and know these words and obey them and have life. Notice so that we can look for the one who does obey them, Jesus Christ, and he gives us life. Verse 41. Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life." There, the accusation is, what you think you're doing gives you life. It actually doesn't. Verse 41, I do not receive glory from people. Now, this needs some explanation. Verse 41, what is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy him forever. Jesus is not denying that great summary from the Westminster Catechism. He's not denying that summary. What he's saying is this. My glory is not dependent upon you. I am glorious because the Father has given me glory. John 17. Father, restore me to the glory that I once had with you before I came down and humbled myself to walk among these people to save them and to be killed by them. His glory does not depend upon us. He is glorious regardless of us. The amazing thing about the gospel of Jesus Christ is he is inviting us back into experiencing and knowing that glory that we rejected. His glory does not depend upon us. But by his grace, he calls us back to know his glory. Verse 42. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. What a hard and difficult judgment. Especially if you're a Pharisee and you get your checkbook, your checklist out and you see. But look at all the things I've checked off. I love God. Look at all the things I've done. How can you say the love of God is not in me? Well, John's already set us up for this. They love the darkness and not the light. When the light comes, they hate him because they love the darkness. They're so committed to sin that they're there. A love for it consumes them and they cannot see the true light. They hate the light. Their self-righteousness keeps them from truly seeing the light that is coming to the world. Verse 43 and 44 continue the judgment. I have come in my father's name and you do not receive me. I have come in my father's name and you do not receive me. And now he makes a comparison. If another comes in his own name, you'll receive him. So he's coming with the father's blessing, doing the father's work, becoming the father's word. If the word was in them, if the love was in them, they recognize it. But he's saying you would receive somebody else. And 44 really gives us the explanation. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes? from the only God. The accusation is that we're so busy seeking the glory from one another, we're so busy receiving and giving glory to one another, we miss the glory that comes from above. We're so consumed with our identity as it relates to people here that we do not recognize the great identity and the glory that we can come that comes from us from above. Let me let me think through this. Let me let me lead us, Lord willing, in thinking through This accusation, I think it should be challenging to us. Because the glory that comes from above, that should be our primary identity. What God says about us should be our primary identity. Our identity is based upon how others see us, how we relate to others, and how we relate to God should be the primary identity. So let me ask you a few questions. How much do you regularly think of God when you are thinking of these questions? Do I matter? Do I have any purpose? Do I have any significance in this world? When you ask, do I matter? Do I have any significance? Do you get discouraged because you start thinking, well, who really cares? Well, the truth of the gospel, the truth of God's good word is you do matter because God has made every human life with dignity and honor. Every life has dignity. Every human life matters. Second question. What is my purpose? What should I do? How much do you think about that question of God? Or how much does that question consume? What do I need to do to please others and have them think more of me? Rather than what we just said, is my purpose to glorify God and enjoy Him forever? How about the question, am I successful? Am I successful? Am I thriving? One pastor once defined success this way, being consistent with what God has called you to do and to be and to know him and what he's accomplished for you. Success isn't how much money one makes. It's not how much esteem one gets in society. Being successful is living a life that's glorifying and honoring to God. The last question. Does anyone love me? Am I love? For this was easy in the gospel of Jesus Christ, you know, true love, you know, absolute and clear love. If you're lonely. It's because you are seeking a love here in this world that that cannot truly satisfy the love that we know is the greatest love and that the father sent his son to die for us while we were still sinners. See, we settle for cheap substitutes. C.S. Lewis said we could be on holiday, but we settle for mud pies. There's a little Britishism there, but you'll get it if you ask some of our English folk. We substitute the mutual man of praise, the mutual praise from them when we could have the glory that comes from above in the Son of Jesus Christ. See, that first sin, Adam took. What was not his rightful possession that would be destructive to him. And what he did in that was he forsook every good blessing from God. He decided what I think is best for me is what I'm going to take and destroy them. And he forsakes all the blessings of God. We give up the gloriful, the glory, the glorious place that God has given to us. Our last point, finishing our text, Jesus calls us to believe He is the word of God. Let's look at verse 45. Do not think that I will accuse you to the father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, the great prophet Moses, on whom you have set your hope for. If you believe Moses, you'll believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you don't believe his writings, how will you believe my words? Now, he has called them to believe in the father, the witness he has from the father. What he does now, he calls him to Moses. You believe Moses, you try to obey Moses, but Moses is telling you about me. If you truly believe Moses, you would believe me because he wrote of me. That Deuteronomy 18 passage is one of the clearest places where Moses writes of Jesus. Now, there's some important implications here. The Old Testament is not background for the gospel. It's not merely background for the gospel. The gospel is throughout the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, we can always see the gospel when we're reading it in light of the New Testament, because it is God's word. It is God's promise and is about Jesus Christ. The problem is, is we simply look to God's word looking for the wrong things. We do not have hearts longing for a savior. Let me give us some concluding applications. First and foremost, And this is simple, but it really should move us every time we think about it. God has spoken to us. We take that for granted. The God whom we have hated continues to make promises to us while we hate him. The God that created us, the God who is worthy of worship, while we are hating him, he's declaring his love for us over and over and over again. God has never stopped speaking, even while we have never stopped sinning. His words are higher than we can understand, we we can constantly grow more and worshiping him because his ways are so deep and so profound, but the simple truth, he speaks. What this an implication of him speaking is this, he wants you to know him. He created you to know. He created you to be known by him. God speaks so that we can know him. The question before you, do you know God? He's spoken so that you can know him and you know him first and foremost and really only in Jesus Christ. He said, when you see me, you see the father. I'm the way, the truth and the life. This is glorious. This is this is a world changing. God wants you to know him and he's spoken so that you can know him. For that's good news. Because he could have left us alone without speaking. He could have exercised and spoken a word of wrath, but in his grace, he's given us promises and he's kept those promises. The next thing I want us to see in application, we have all received adequate testimony. Everyone who's alive has received adequate testimony. We could go to Romans 1, where Paul says the things of God should be evident to everyone. In creation, we see God's power and his wisdom. Everyone should be able to look and see there is a God and they should worship him. But we all pursue our own sins. We reject that God and replace them with idols. Everyone has received adequate testimony just in the general revelation of what God has created. More so, we we have the Bible. Here in this room, everyone has a Bible, if you do not have a Bible, please take the one in front of you. You have a Bible. This is God's word is much clearer than what he the word he's spoken to us in creation, and this makes us more accountable. We've all stood here and we've all sat here and we've all sung of God's gospel. We've all heard of God's gospel. We are now accountable. We have heard the testimony of Jesus Christ. We are without excuse. If you're not a Christian this morning, I urge you, do not leave here without talking to someone about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do not leave here without talking to somebody about what this truly says and what it means and how to understand it. If you're a Christian, you should thank the person who witnessed to you. You had to hear the gospel from somebody you had to hear the gospel proclaimed so that you believe. Go and thank the person who shared the gospel with you. Second. Or the next point of application, we must read Scripture as sinners looking for the Savior. We must read Scripture looking As sinners looking for the Savior, there's a warning in this passage. You are diligent students of Moses, but yet you don't get it. That's scary. That should be scary for us, because I believe Jefferson Park is a church built upon the Word. I believe we have diligent students, and this is a warning. You can miss the forest from the trees. We can miss the main point as we approach it the wrong way. We must look at Scripture as sinners longing to see a savior. Now, you don't have to have a degree to read the Scriptures and get the point. What you have to have is a humble heart that seeks God and prayerfully prays the song we read earlier, calls my faith to rise, calls my eyes to see, let your truth prevail over my unbelief. That's all you need to get the point of this text. Yeah, there's some hard things, there's some difficult things, but in order to be saved, the word is clear. We must read Scripture looking for Christ because, Jesus says, the whole thing's about him. Now, we have to be careful in standing over God's word. I've never referenced this figure because of his relationship to our city, but when Thomas Jefferson cut things out of Scripture. He was dismembering Christ. When you go in and you say scripture cannot say this, what you're saying, you're denying something about Jesus Christ. He's not just just approaching the text. This is about Jesus Christ. When we approach scripture and we try to question or judge it, we're questioning and judging Jesus Christ. There's an author who gives us two ways to read scripture. It's either about me and what I'm going to do and about my happiness. It's about Christ. and what he has done, and that is my happiness. There's only two ways to read Scripture. What am I going to do? How can I be happy? What has Christ done? And what has he accomplished for me? There's two main obstacles as we read Scripture. First is our love for sin. Hard darkness hates the light. Our love for sin will deter us from truly seeing the point of Scripture. Secondly, our love for our own self-righteousness. One of the initial things we do when we read scripture, one of the initial things I do when I read scripture, what does this say about them? There's nothing more dangerous and deadly. What does it say about them? What does it say about others? It just, it could actually come up, well that reminds me of this person. No, this needs to tell me what my sin is and how Jesus Christ has come to cure and heal The third, the next application of our meditation, what Scripture does, the worst should correct us and change us. Augustine says this to anyone who thinks that he has understood the divine scriptures or any part of them, but cannot, by his understanding, build up his double love of God and neighbor has not yet succeeded in understanding them. The scriptures, they change us. They help us build up a greater love for God and a greater love for man. If you're reading the word and all you're doing is getting more head knowledge and there's no change, you're not getting it, he said. And I believe he's right. The last application, as we have been thinking about witnesses. We are all called to be witnesses of the Savior. We are all called to be witnesses of the Savior. Jesus said, these are witnesses that I am the Son of God. Now he has called us to be witnesses. Acts 1.8. Wait here until the Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses. The power of the High comes. Now, we have, as elders, presented to the church a new motion, a new direction, or a continual increase in the direction of our outreach. We have asked that the church be praying that if Ben Bullard, an elder, is being called out to be an outreach pastor, that you be praying about this. I have to tell you, I've been really blessed by some of the responses. Many have said, this is great, we're very excited. What's blessed me the most is a concern that a few people have said. They're concerned that we're getting overly professionalized. They're concerned that the The continual hiring of pastors would keep the body from being able to volunteer. I can't tell you how much that blesses me to hear that you're saying, do not hire somebody to do the work that I can do because you're robbing my blessing. That's what you're saying. It's encouraging to hear that, no, I want to be involved. I want to be participating. And we believe that's what Ben is supposed to be doing is getting more people participating. Now, we've heard that response, and that's been encouraging to hear. There's been a number of folks who have said this just seems perfectly logical. There's other people who said there's other concerns, and I have more logical reasons and more concerns than anyone, I assume. But it all comes down to one question. Is God calling Ben Bullard? That's what I want to challenge us to pray about as a church. This is a major directional shift. We could talk about all the different positives and negatives. It could look perfect on paper, but if God's not calling him, it's not his will and it should be done. And we as a body, we need to fast and pray about this. Is God calling? Let's go back to Acts 1.8. Spirit will come upon you and you'll be my witnesses. We are all to be witnesses. So I ask you just a simple, objective question. When was the last time you shared the gospel of Jesus Christ? When was the last time you participated in the plan of God to spread his glory? He is glorious. He is worthy of our worship. We get to share in spreading that glory. He's not glorious because of us. But he says you can come and you can participate and you can declare the most glorious thing about God, that he has sent his son to die for us. Are we actively and prayerfully pursuing the glory of God? If not, why? Are we ashamed of it? Are we embarrassed to believe in the cross? Are we embarrassed to believe this word and say this is my foundation, this is the truth? He warns us if we deny him before men, he will deny us. What I really think is the problem is we're we're typically just so preoccupied with so other with other glories. We're preoccupied with building our own kingdom. We're preoccupied with doing what we want to do with our free time. Are we more concerned with our own reputation or are we concerned about God's? We're more concerned about our comfort. We're concerned about our neighbor's eternal destiny. Yes, sharing the gospel with your neighbor, that'll make your walks in the afternoon uncomfortable, possibly. But if they die without Christ, they're going to be in hell forever. The weight makes the choice obvious, I hope. What we hope is that we can better train you to share the gospel. We can better lead you to share the gospel. We can better participate in each other's evangelism. That's the call of a united church under Jesus Christ. We pray with me. Father, I thank you that you have spoken that you have spoken clearly in a way that we can be saved. You have spoken clearly on how we as a church are to be united together and working together for your glory. Help us, Lord. Holy Spirit, keep us. Use us. We thank you that you've spoken so that we can know you. I pray that we would speak your words so that those who do not know you come to see your love and your forgiveness in Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.