God's Call to be a Part of a Greatly Significant Church

that's my friend Jeff he's got a he's got a better memory than me and I uh man I'm enjoying

seeing those days through his eyes that was 1992 1992 we were both young single guys and

wanting to follow the Lord wherever he lead us and God gave us wives and children and now he's a

grandpa good grief uh isn't that amazing I hope y'all love Jeff uh you treat treat him well he's

he's a treasure and uh I'm I'm so glad to be here to get to see him again and I'm really privileged

to see all of you too thank you for letting me come I hope you like me and I hope I like you

and if not we're just you know we'll just go away from this day going never again we're never again

but uh it really is a privilege to be here with you to to encourage your hearts uh and and also to

spend time with these missionaries you realize what a what a what a what a special thing that is that

the Lord would uh gather them here to be with you that you might hear and be a part of their ministry

and pray for them and and and and just have this moment with them so uh anyway thank you for for

this opportunity and I know the other the other guests that are here for the uh conference are also

very thankful I thought I'd start with a scary something to tell you because it's October right

so you ready to be scared let me say something that'll give you shivers up your spine you ready for

this little girl's like what's he gonna say the scariest thing I could tell you is that you could

waste your life and do nothing of real significance with it you could waste your entire life and and

dedicate yourself to this or that and and pour your whole being into it and it be of no significance

whatsoever you could waste your entire life and that should terrify us your life is a mist

the word of God says the word your life is a mist you know what mist is mist is h2o that's what mist is

it's h2o right and uh uh you know it it's it's it's it's just a vapor hero of alexandria in the first

century he saw a pot boiling with a lid on it and he saw that the the the pressure of that vapor that

steam was actually moving this heavy lid on this pot there's there's something to this he actually

was the first to formulate a a very primitive steam turbine by kind of funneling that steam into a

little thing that goes around circles it didn't it wasn't very useful and it wasn't until

1698 that thomas savory uh using the work of geronimo de hyens they they formed a steam-powered

pump to get floods out of mines in 1705 that same thomas savory invented the first steam engine that

james watt the scott improved upon and by the 1800s the whole world was powered by steam

your life is a mist if you are a saved h2o then your life at the end of your life will just

be a mist and it'll be a vapor and it'll be a steam and it'll just evaporate up into the clouds and

that's where you'll go after your life

if you are not saved h2o if you're not having accepted christ jesus as your lord and savior well

you'll go down like water down to the lowest place you'll go to some stagnant pool somewhere and

there you will pull for a whole eternity but those aren't the only two options we have because

we could be pressurized steam we could be missed with a purpose your life is a mist but your mist could be

focused your mist could be utilized for the years and days of your life in your generation and so that is

our prayer today what does god want to happen here today what what is the purpose of this that god would

mobilize me and you encourage these missionaries to continue and that this church would become a great

mobilized mission church for him and so let's pray for that right now lord we thank you for this day

and we thank you for this opportunity to be together the holy spirit is here in the midst of us god as

we've gathered in the name of jesus we the holy spirit is here in the midst of us and he's delighted at the

fellowship and he's eager to speak words of change and transformation and god he he wants our lives to be

power packed in our generation and so god thank you for this time we pray that you encourage

our missionary brothers and sisters to continue the good work to not grow weary in doing good

we know that if they don't grow weary they will reap a harvest if they don't give up god encourage them

and god please we pray now that you speak to this church that you are making into the church that

you want it to be i know lord that they're at a time of transition but i pray god with all my heart

and they pray together god that you will have your way in this body and so god now speak to us we pray

we thank you again for what you're going to say in the name of jesus amen

second chronicles second chronicles we're going to focus on chapter 19 it's a short chapter

but as i talk to you about chronicles i just want to tell you that boy this this path this part of the

scriptures that doesn't get a whole lot of attention not not too many people know much about the kings that

are listed here there's a lot the lord can teach us about leadership principles for the church

and for god's people that are here and today we're going to focus on one of the kings in in this book

in chapter 19 second chronicles uh the the king that we're going to look at he's the seventh king

of the 20 kings of judah and he's one of the good kings and in fact uh those of you who grew up about

the same time i did or maybe a little before me you would like this king just for his name because

when you hear his name you'll think of the great theologian that we grew up with on saturday mornings

yosemite sam yosemite sam who would say great jumping jehoshaphat right remember that

we're gonna we're gonna talk about jehoshaphat king jehoshaphat today

okay okay yosemite he'd also say great horny toads say your prayers marmot right i hate that rabbit

jehoshaphat was a good king who lived 60 years on earth and made a powerful impact in his generation

and these principles that we will learn about and from his life will are are important i think that god

wants us to hear them today and in fact i think god really gave me this message for this moment

i actually looked through old sermons to try to come up with something good that you know

let's give them one of my best you know it wasn't what god wanted this is something i've never preached before

but these principles are so important i i i give you an example of of just the the beauty of this part of the scriptures

chapter 20 jehoshaphat is told that a vast army is coming against them from edom coming towards jerusalem

in fact he's the army's already 25 miles from jerusalem when they hear about it some spies let

them down didn't they so they're that close and they're terrified and he calls for fasting and

prayer across the nation please come help come pray and children and women verse chapter 20 verse 13 says

that the women and the children and the men all gathered at the temple to pray and they prayed this

desperate prayer and in fact verse 12 he says joseph at and leading the prayer says we do not know what

to do but our eyes are on you that's a great prayer isn't it we don't know what to do but our eyes are on

you and god speaks to them and says you just wait you just stand firm i'm going to deliver you you will

not have to fight this army he said just march out just march out and face them i will do the fighting for you

and when and when they went out uh they uh joseph at he says okay god said this let's believe him and he sent some

men up to to lead in singing as they marched out all the women and the children and the men going to face this army and they

sang give thanks to the lord our god and king his love endures forever that's what they sang isn't that

great we sing that one well they sang it too and when they got to the the desert of jeruel i guess

that's how you say it and they saw this vast army they were surprised to see that they were already dead

all of them they had turned against one another as they marched towards jerusalem and they all fought

with one another the ammonites fought with the boabites and the edomites and they all just they

did each other in and when they got there nobody was left alive which makes me wonder how the last guy

standing died he must have fallen and hit his head i don't know but this is a powerful part of scripture

now we go back to chapter 19 and chapter 19 follows chapter 18 which is usually how the bible works

and in chapter 18 the uh uh what jehoshaphat does is unfortunate he he has a soft spot in his

heart for king ahab in the northern country the northern kingdom we know ahab the husband of jezebel this

this this awful king who who elijah worked with and tried to lead and he wouldn't be led ahab was a

very very evil king but jehoshaphat who actually is a godly man had a soft spot in his heart for ahab

and and and we have to wonder why he did that i you know maybe he thought ahab was funny maybe he thought

you know ahab he's he's not he's naughty man he's a he's a knucklehead he's not a good guy but boy he's

funny maybe that's what he did maybe you got a friend like that too who's just really really really

wicked but you like spending time with them because they're funny or maybe it's because ahab flattered him

because in chapter 18 when he goes to visit him he puts on a big feast to honor king jehoshaphat so

maybe it was flattery something like that but while he was there uh you know ahab says to him

man we've got a little problem the syrians have taken over ramoth gilead ramoth gilead is a is a

is is one of our cities on the eastern side of the jordan river and and the syrians they've taken it over

and we need to go over there and take it back would you like to come over there maybe bring some of your

army with would you like to come over there and help us just retake ramoth gilead probably an

afternoon's work shouldn't be a problem we'll just go over there and knock it out would you like to

come with and you know josephat he's like well maybe we should ask god first and micaiah the prophet

comes and tells ahab that this will be the day that you die bye bye miss american bye you anyway this will be the day that you die

and so anyway ahab was a sleazy guy and a terrible friend and just so you know we need to kind of

distance ourselves from terrible friends ahab says to him when he hears that this is going to be the

day that he dies he says well you know josephat i've got a plan why don't you wear your robes you

know you go out as king you wear your robes and stuff and you be the king i'm going to go in disguise as a

soldier and i'll just kind of fight you know in the battle as a soldier and i'll just have just

regular soldier equipment on and josephat's like okay well the battle went as as the lord said through

this prophet micaiah and and things went bad things were very bad and the army scattered uh syrians were

winning uh josephat himself he's running for his life oh god help me and you know they realize hey that's

not ahab and they leave him and they don't they don't pursue him any further but one random soldier

draws an arrow and shoots it no particular direction and that arrow comes down and the

literal translation in the hebrew says that it hit ahab between the joints of his armor

where the where the buckle is this is where the you know where it fastens together space who knows about

like this maybe and this arrow just from the sky comes down and kills ahab you see

and jehoshaphat that's that's chapter 18 jehoshaphat he runs home as he should have in fact it says in

chapter 19 verse 1 that jehoshaphat king of judah returned safely to his palace in jerusalem if i were

jehoshaphat i'd run all the way to my palace and get under my bed but he he didn't and he ran all

the way home now when we apply these passages to our scripture i i i i i wanted to make this as

applicable as possible to all of us and i just think about the church and and so i gave it this

title for our message today god's call to be a part of a greatly significant church that's a terrible

terrible title i'm really bad at titles i think god doesn't he leaves the titles up to me and i'll

that's what i can come up with a really bad title so i encourage you as you're sitting there to come

up with a better title for the sermon so when next time i preach it you know because there's better

ways to describe this power for living life with meaning the purpose-driven life come up with something

for me and give it to me after the service a good title for this sermon but the the the point of this is that

god wants to make your life matter and he wants to make our churches empowered

when jehoshaphat returns to jerusalem he meets the prophet jehu the seer

the son of hanani and jehu the seer goes to him and says to him what are you doing let's

let's read these verses when jehoshaphat king of judah returned safely to his palace in jerusalem

jehu the seer the son of hanani went out to meet him and said to the king should you help the wicked

and love those who hate the lord meaning ahab because of this the wrath of the lord is on you

there is however some good in you for you've rid the land of the asherah poles and have set

your heart on seeking god j who says to him what are you doing what are you doing your life has a

purpose your life has meaning your life is supposed to be important you god gave you a very specific

ministry one that only you have done and you've gotten distracted and so our first point that we

really need to see here in this passage is that if you want to live a life that matters if you want

to have a church that's greatly significant you need to be intentional with god's mission

be intentional with god's mission going up and spending time with ahab and going into this battle

was not god's mission for jehoshaphat's life it was a distraction it was it was not where he was supposed

to be and i i i i think this is important for us today because the last couple of years have been a

distraction for us it's gotten us off track we we we we were busy about the lord's business and then all

of a sudden we got shut down and the devil celebrates that we have now gone into sleep mode and a lot of

people have they they're not here anymore have you noticed what's happening we've gotten distracted

by things that aren't god's mission i want you to look at jehoshaphat's mission look at chapter 17

he's this is unique in chapter 17 verse 7 it says in the third year of his reign he sent his officials

ben hail uh obadiah zachariah nathaniel makaiah to teach the towns teach in the towns of judah he sent

the levites the the the high muckety muck priests there in their robes he said we're not hanging out

here in jerusalem you know being all proud of ourselves and and sitting around in comfortable

chairs and and just having deep thoughts together and drinking tea we're going out we're going to go

out into the villages we're going to go out into the towns and we're going to return the people we're

going to take the word of god out to the people and teach them again because they've got they've

gotten lost they've they've drifted over over the generations they have lost their knowledge of the

word of god we've got to bring them back to god and jehoshaphat made that his mission god gave this

mission to jehoshaphat and so to go out and go to war with ahab that's a distraction that is not what we're

supposed to do and there's distractions that have taken over our minds and hearts even in the church

and even on the mission field you know our our battle is not politics amen to that our battle is not

these things you know what i mean when i when i first came uh this morning i i was driving over

and i was like how do i how do i say hi to these folks and i was going to put this on to begin my

sermon you know that was going to be like and then i was going to go oh no just kidding just kidding you

know but i was i was afraid that some people don't have a sense of humor and so i i thought i better stay

away from that but these things are not worth fighting for or about it's a distraction we've

gotten distracted what is our mission our mission is to bring people back to god and to bring people to

god jehu the seer says to jehoshaphat what are you doing what are you doing and in fact he says that

the wrath of god is on you because of this god is disciplining us because we have lost our vision

and our purpose and our commitment to the mission let me tell you something about being a great church

if you want to be a great church you need to think about and and get in your heart second chronicles 16 9

which is a word that was spoken to jehoshaphat's father asa it says this the eyes of the lord range

throughout the entire earth to uh to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him let me

say it again the eyes of the lord range throughout the entire earth to strengthen those whose hearts

are fully committed to him and so god's eyes are looking at us today

and he's wondering if first baptist pickens might be a church whose hearts are fully committed to him

that he might strengthen this church

and use this church and the promise is that if our hearts are fully committed to him he will wow

how powerful is that and so he's looking to see if we're intentional with his mission if we're

getting away from our our distractions and getting on to his mission jehu said what are you doing what are you doing

i was in jakarta jakarta now has 30 million people the the metropolitan area has 30 million people

that's 37 000 plus people per square mile

and we arrived there on the mission field brand new and and we got the the the one quarter the

southern the southwestern quarter of the city and said go get them

go get them there's only 28 million when we were there so not as big a job as it is today

and we went to a church and we we said to these folks would you guys like to help us we we uh we

want to we want to reach out to the the lost people that live here and can we work with you guys is there is

there a community that you guys would like to reach that we can help you work with and they said yeah

yeah there's these people who uh collect trash they're called pamulung and they they walk around

there they collect trash they're they're the trash collecting people nobody cares about them nobody loves

them and they live in the trash that they that they gather so they build these homes out of trash

and we like to go minister to those people so we went down there and we met them and they said we'd

like to learn how to read people take advantage of us because we can't read why we can do that we'll

we'll do we'll do a uh a literary liter liter liter literacy project and we did training with this

church we okay let's train let's train we spent a year we i'm sorry we spent about a month and a

half training here's how we want to do it this is what we're going to do here's you know let's make

sure we can all share the gospel this is and we're going to teach people how to read yay and it was

time to launch and we passed around the sign-up sheet so we're going to go out on saturday afternoons and

we're going to meet with these folks in small groups and we're going to we're going to have little

lessons and we're going to get to know these folks and do ministry with them

we passed that sign-up sheet around the circle and it came back with no names

so i passed it around again i thought maybe you didn't understand me the first time

no names i'm sorry mister you know but uh you know we're not comfortable that we enjoyed the

training though and the meals we shared together and we need to get to about the lord's business

stop being distracted and we do it here too we're too busy

the devil just rejoices doesn't he when we have programs and plans and committee meetings that don't

result in people going out and sharing the gospel with lost people which is the purpose for us for our

lives so let's get intentional with the gospel got to go fast now we got to be incarnational with this

gospel going to be incarnational with the gospel if you look at verse four so joseph joseph lived in

jerusalem but he went out again among the people from beersheba to the hill country of ephraim

and turned them back to the lord the god of their ancestors who went out again it says jehoshaphat went

out again okay so jehoshaphat is not this guy who thinks he's above it all and he just sends other

people to do his work okay i said this in the first service and i i was informed that maybe i shouldn't

have but he was not a senator who you can see why i said i met that guy we're friends now uh but uh

he was not a senator who said we'll have this kind of health care program but we'll give you this kind

of health care program he's not a king who who said you know we're going to sit around and we're going

to be regal and and opulent and luxurious while you go do the work he's not not not like a pastor who says

you know the work the ministry's for the membership and i'm going to sit behind my desk and

feel important no no he was a king who got out among the people from

beersheba to ephraim and i want to say if you want to win the hearts let me say it this way if a king

wants to win the hearts of people he'll go down among them amen if a king

wants to win the hearts of people he'll come down among them if a king

wants to win the hearts of people

he'll come down among them.

Incarnation.

The king came down among people.

Did he win your heart

when he came?

Has the king won your heart?

Incarnational ministry.

People

who

are

living out there in the villages.

Out there

in the towns.

Their minds are blown

when somebody

comes from America and sits

on their floor with them.

And shares their snack

with them or drinks their tea with them.

Their minds are blown.

Mister, why on earth would you leave America

and come over here and sit on my floor?

Why would you do this?

Incarnation

is impactful.

And it's not just

for other people to do this.

You need to do this.

You need to go out

into the villages.

You need to go out

into the towns.

You need to go out

into the world

and be incarnational

with the work of Christ

and blow people's minds.

He came.

Didn't he?

He came.

2 Corinthians 8 says,

For you know

that the grace

of our Lord Jesus Christ

that though he was rich

yet for your sake

he became poor

so that through his poverty

you might become rich.

His coming won our hearts

and your going

will win their hearts.

I would sit on the floor

with sweet people

in the villages

in the urban slums

and visit their families

and they'd say

Mister, what are you doing?

And I would say

you know

can I share something

from my heart?

I just

I've got to

this is the reason

that I've come

I've got to share something

from my heart

can I share it with you?

Of course Mister

please

if you've got something

on your heart

if you've got a burden

share it.

It's about

my love for God

and my trust

in Jesus

his son

can I share that with you?

I don't want to offend you

but can I share it with you?

Mister please

share it with us

it's okay

if you're burdened

we want to hear

please go ahead

the incarnation

at work.

And

you just tell them

the story of Jesus

who was sent here

because God loves them

and he died on the cross

to take their sins

upon himself

so that they don't have

to be punished

for their sins

eternally

and they can go to heaven

when they die

and he died

and he was buried

and on the third day

he rose again

and when you say

rose again

in that context

you know what

generally happens?

They gasp

ah!

It's amazing

that the resurrection

has that much power

that they gasp

when they hear about it

remember 1 Corinthians 15

says

that

if he has not been raised

from the dead

our preaching is useless

and so is the faith

and the lost are

the dead are lost forever

and there is no hope

that gasp is like

an inhale

of hope

be incarnational

with the gospel

and be intentional

with the mission

and finally

be indiscriminate

with God's people

be indiscriminate

with God's people

verse 7

the instructions

that he gives them

along with other things

he's putting judges

in place

in the cities

but he says

in verse 7

let the fear of the Lord

be on you

judge carefully

for with the Lord

our God

there is no injustice

or partiality

or bribery

partiality

be indiscriminate

that means

not using any type

of discrimination

with people

when the king

went out

among the people

he began to empathize

with them

he began to understand them

he began to be connected

to their stories

and he cared about them

he sat with them

in their humble settings

and he

okay

so this is what it's like

to be you

okay I get it

and it made him

connected with him

and so when he came back

and gave instructions

for the ministry

and for the leading

of the people

he said

whatever you do

don't discriminate

show no prejudice

between people

that's important

to God

as his eyes

range throughout

the earth

looking for somebody

whose heart

is fully devoted to him

that's important

to God

that we be

intentional

with the mission

and incarnational

with the gospel

and indiscriminate

with the people

I want to show you

something in Acts 11

Acts 11

is a passage

where

at the beginning

of it

Peter's in trouble

Peter's getting

called on the carpet

in Jerusalem

because he has shared

the gospel

with Gentiles

that wasn't supposed

to happen

he didn't have

approval

for that

that he went

to Cornelius' house

and Cornelius

he's preaching

in the middle

of his sermon

he's preaching

and all of a sudden

the spirit comes down

and all the people

started speaking

in tongues

and the Holy Spirit

filled all the people

while in the middle

of his sermon

if you ever want

church to end

quicker

and you're ready

for the sermon

to finish

just let the Holy Spirit

have his way

and then we'll be done

but he got in trouble

Peter did

Peter went back

to Jerusalem

and he said

look guys

this was all God

God gave them

a vision

gave me a vision

put it all together

his spirit

descended

this was all God

and so

in the conclusion

of that

in chapter 11

verse 18

he says

when they heard this

they had no further

objections

and praised God

saying so then

even the Gentiles

Greek word is

ethne

even the ethnicities

and the ethne

God has granted

repentance

that leads to life

now I want you

to see something

as it applies

to the church

verse 19

now those

who had been

scattered

by the persecution

that broke out

when Stephen

was killed

traveled as far

as Phoenicia

and Cyprus

and Antioch

spreading the word

only among the Jews

so Stephen was killed

and everybody scattered

and everybody scattered

they're still sharing

the gospel

as we do

but they're sharing

it only with Jews

I'm having too much

fun with you people

verse 20

some of them

however

men from Cyprus

and Cyrene

went to Antioch

and began to speak

to Greeks also

telling them

the good news

about the Lord Jesus

look at the result

in verse 21

the Lord's hand

was with them

and a great number

of people believed

and turned

to the Lord

the eyes of the Lord

ranged throughout

the entire earth

looking for someone

whose heart is fully

committed to him

that he may

strengthen them

in response

to these folks

breaking out

of the barrier

of just us

going cross-culturally

now to other people

incarnationally

with the gospel

God said

that's what I like

they're doing it

they're doing my work

my way

and he rolled up

his sleeve

and he put his hand

on that church

remember in Ephesians 2

that the work of Jesus

destroyed the barrier

the dividing wall

of hostility

between the ethnicities

and it was his purpose

to create in himself

one new humanity

Colossians 3

9

there's a verse like this

in Galatians

I'll read you the one

from Colossians 3

9 says

you've taken off

the old self

with its practices

and put on a new self

which is being renewed

in knowledge

in the image

of its creator

here

here

here

in the church

there's no Gentile

or Jew

or circumcised

or uncircumcised

barbarian

Scythian

slave

or free

but Christ

is in all

and is all

man

okay

I want you to think

about being in Galatia

or Colossae

or Ephesus

or Corinth

or Berea

or Philippi

in those days

and you're seeing

people gathering

together to worship

a God

that you don't know

and women

are coming

and so are men

together

in the same room

worshipping

God

whoa

whoa

whoa

whoa

slaves

slaves are coming

and masters

are coming

together

as equals

to worship

God

together

you're sitting there

and you're watching

this happen

as a pagan

Greek

and you're like

what is happening

in this place

what are those people

this is unprecedented

that this kind of

gathering takes place

this is the church

of Jesus

this is a new humanity

where all the barriers

are

destroyed

indiscriminate

with God's people

whoo

man

you see how

the power

of all that

they'll know

you are my

disciples

by your love

for one another

you see how

that manifold

miracle

that manifold

what's the word

in Ephesus

the manifold

uh

uh

i got off track

the manifold

wisdom of God

it was

a

mystery

the mystery

what is this

what is this

wow

mind-blowing to the people of the day.

Not only were slaves and women and men

and landowners and everything else,

but here came barbarians and Scythians.

Barbarians!

Big, hairy, European, red-headed people

coming down, stinking.

Barbarians are gathering now

and Scythians are the bad barbarians.

It's amazing what the church of Christ is

when we let it go, set it free.

Amen?

The scariest thing in the world

is that we might live our lives on earth

and do nothing of significance with.

That we might be vapor that evaporates into the clouds

and have nothing to show for what we did.

Just living a life of distraction.

And Jehu the seer says,

what are you doing?

What are you doing?

Or, more tragic still would be

to be water that flows down into a stagnant pool

and there will be suffering,

gnashing of teeth.

But you could live a life empowered.

That's a good title.

You could live a life empowered,

focused.

And God's call is to be intentional with the mission,

incarnational with the gospel,

and indiscriminate with the people.

Amen?

Amen?

It's decision time now.

What do you usually do in decision time?

You look at each other

and look at the poor preacher standing up there

like he has no friends?

I do that every week.

We do this missions thing once a year.

Once a year we do this.

It's a special day.

It's a special day.

We have these missionaries with you and among you

and you can think about the mission of your church

and you think about your mission involvement,

your own personal mission involvement,

what you're doing,

what your church is doing.

And so in our decision time today,

I want to ask you

if you might actually come to the altar and pray.

Pray for your own heart.

That it would soften.

That your own eyes would be,

become aware

that 155,000 people die every day without Jesus.

And that you would actually care about that.

That we might get shaken up a little bit

and disturbed

and ask you if you would,

if you know the Lord,

if you'd come and you'd pray.

Ask these missionaries to come and pray

and I want you to pray for them.

Pray for them.

And you know,

when I was a teenager,

on a Sunday night,

we had an inner city missionary

from Louisville come and speak at my church

and hardly anybody was there

but that night God spoke to my heart

and I went alone.

I was the only one at the altar that night

and I prayed at the altar

and I said,

God,

I want my life to matter.

And I gave my life to the Lord

for his purposes that night.

I didn't know what that meant.

But you know,

God is calling

from among us here today

that we live lives that matter.

So I'm actually going to ask you

to come to the altar

and pray today.

Think you can do it?

Are you thinking about it?

You're thinking,

nah, I'm not doing that.

I want you to reconsider.

And if you are here today

and you're water,

you're going down.

You don't have to.

If you've not given your life

and your love to Jesus Christ,

you need to know that he loves you

and that he's died for you

and that he took your sin upon himself.

If you'll give those sins to him

and receive life from him,

he was buried

and on the third day,

he rose again.

He rose again.

And in that moment,

he conquered death.

I passed the Hillcrest Cemetery

on the way into town this morning.

That's an impressive cemetery.

I don't know how long it will take

from the time the angel shouts

and the horn blows.

I don't know how long it will take

for all the dead in Christ

to rise first

before we join them in the air.

I don't know how long that will take.

But if it takes a minute,

when you hear the horn

and hear the shout,

get in your car

and drive up there

and watch the show.

Because they're going to burst

out of the ground

in that place.

And dear friend,

don't you miss it.

Don't you miss

being in heaven

with all those

who have accepted Christ

as their Lord and Savior.

Dr. Ralph is going to...