Labor for Joy

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Hope for the hour.

And it is exciting, exciting times here at our church and all that God is doing.

Don't forget, next week, it's really important.

How many of you here have a mother?

Next week is Mother's Day.

And this is a great place to be a mother, to have your mother.

And we would love for you to join us here.

We also will be celebrating our child dedication service next Sunday.

The Lord's giving me a special message that He's put on my heart and can't wait to honor and celebrate our moms.

One more that I'll give a little plug.

If you've got a graduate, I know it's the season, it's May, and for some of you the senior itch is about burnt you up.

But May the 17th, that Sunday, is going to be our graduate Sunday.

So if you have a senior that you would like recognized, I know Pastor Eli has a form that they need to get, and we would love to honor them in.

It is hard when it gets to be May the 16th, and everybody wants their graduate honored.

So we would love to get that form and get that rolling just as soon as possible.

All right, 1 Thessalonians chapter 2.

1 Thessalonians 2 · chapter mention

And the title this morning is Laboring for Joy.

If you look at verse 19 and 20 of 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, again, as we have jumped into this and we jumped in in the middle, the hope for the hour is one day soon we have this hope of Jesus coming again.

1 Thessalonians 2 · chapter mention

And Paul wrote this letter to the church at Thessalonica, answering some things and sharing.

But in this, we talked about his conversion, Paul's conversion last week, so that we could understand.

It seems he's answering some questions in chapter two.

And in the end of the chapter, verse 19 and 20, we'll go back to, I think we find our title.

It says, For what is our hope, our joy, our crown of rejoicing?

Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?

For you are our glory and our joy.

When I was a young man, my joy, my glory, my crown, my trophy was all about athletics.

Many of you were like that.

It was all about the soccer field, it was all about the baseball field, and I know some of you will laugh and snicker.

It was even about the basketball court.

But that was to me, that and the weight room, those were those were my life at that time.

And Paul lived in a world that was influenced by sports.

You said, really?

Back then in the Bible?

Yeah.

If you look at Paul's writing, he'll talk about running.

He'll talk about one like a boxer that punches against the air.

He lived in a world influenced by ancient Olympic Games.

And these athletes didn't get a multi-million dollar contract if they won something.

You know what they got?

They got a wreath.

When they won, they got a wreath.

They trained, they gave their blood, their sweat, their tears, all of it, and then as they were done, they said, here is your portable garden.

Here's your wreath.

And Paul said, I have a wreath.

And my wreath is not what I have achieved.

Not what I have built.

Thessalonians, my wreath, my crown, my trophy, my joy is you.

I want you as we open this morning to think of a who.

Who is your win?

Who is your joy, your wreath, and your crown.

Lord, we love you.

And God, we are thankful for the word of God.

And we ask this morning that you would give us a few moments of clarity.

Give us rest from everything that is outside of this place.

Lord, I pray that your word would be the megaphone to our hearts this morning.

Open us up for what you have to speak.

And God, I pray that you would do your work.

Let the Holy Spirit have freedom today.

In Jesus' name, amen.

I want you to look down, go back in chapter 2, verse 1 and 2, as Paul goes on to seemingly explain his own conduct.

He says, For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain.

But even after we had suffered before and were spitefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict.

The first point I want you to see this morning is this bold proclamation.

And letter A is they spoke after a spirit of enmity.

He said, I didn't come to you in vain.

Paul and Silas were God's men doing God's work, and they found themselves in Acts 16, you can go back and find it.

They found themselves in prison unjustly.

Now they exited prison, and it was about a hundred-mile journey from Philippi to Thessalonica, and the unbelieving Jews that were there that heard of what was happening looked to stir up trouble.

Wherever Paul was, because he preached something that they were not in agreement with.

He preached a non-exclusive gospel.

In other words, Jesus Christ did not just die for the Jews.

Jews didn't like that.

And you didn't have to become a Jew to join in Christianity.

You just needed a relationship with the Messiah.

But they believed the Messiah was heralded as the Savior of the Jews.

And Paul's conversion seems to them to be this massive betrayal who he was previously, and now all that's happening, his message of Christ, acceptance of all types of people was the Old Testament system of law being abolished in their mind.

And then what you see in Acts 14 up through about 17 is this mob starts to ensue.

A mob of Jewish people who are not believers begin to follow and plan assaults on Paul and the Christians.

In fact, uh in chapter 17, Paul and the mob continued after Thessalonica into Berea and continue to stir a crowd.

This enmity, this strife.

James 4:4, church says, friendship of the world is enmity with God.

James 4:4

Paul had to separate himself to speak this bold truth.

The reality for you and me is this the gospel's confrontational.

Commenters say in this chapter, Paul seems to be writing to this church in response to ideas that are undermining who he is.

And he uses examples to say that this is what I've been, and this is what I have done.

Look back to who I was, and we'll talk more about that.

Look at letter B.

Paul is speaking after shackles and an earthquake.

If you want to turn your Bibles, you can to Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

And we'll just look at a few verses to see what happens before he is in Thessalonica.

Look at verse 23.

And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely.

Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet and stocks.

But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God there in the prison.

And the prisoners were listening to them.

Suddenly there was a great earthquake.

So that the foundations of the prisons were shaken, and immediately all the doors were open, and everyone's chains were loosed.

This is background before they get free and they travel to Thessalonica.

And in verse 2, in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, again, look at these words.

1 Thessalonians 2 · chapter mention

This is like the trio of terror, right?

Suffered, spitefully treated, and in much conflict.

Paul says, in that circumstance, that's where we spoke boldly.

Right?

As if a guard was standing by with whips.

If somebody was chasing you, that's when you choose to speak boldly.

He was spitefully treated and he spoke boldly.

Six times in the Bible, Paul, it says, spoke boldly, and a seventh time he prayed in Ephesians and said, Pray that I will speak boldly.

Here's that word.

And it means freedom.

Everything that he just went to through, does that sound like freedom?

It sounds like the opposite.

You ever notice people get to a certain age and it seems to unlock a new spiritual gift of saying whatever comes to their mind?

You know some people like this?

Don't point at them.

That's not kind.

Paul wanted to speak with freedom and prayed.

God, give me the freedom to say what it is that's happened.

So when shackles and earthquake happened, I want you to think about what Paul has experienced.

Have you ever seen a modern-day miracle?

Have you been a part of something?

You would say, I've got a testimony, Pastor, there was a miracle.

If you've been a part of something like that, seen something like that, it's hard to just keep that in.

So Paul has been shackled, they've suffered.

Now they have an earthquake that just happens while they're in prison that opens up the prison doors.

You think, well, that's a miracle.

That's not the only miracle.

The reason we had the sermon last week, not Paul, but Saul, his previous life, had really been shackled.

I think that would be enough for Paul to speak boldly.

Paul had been really shackled to a different life, and when he hit that Damascus road experience, God came into his heart and gave him a new heart.

Paul was broken free from the shackles of Saul's stony heart.

And he had this new heart.

Romans 8:1 says that there is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1

When you've been freed, you feel different.

And Paul had broken free from the shackles of this old life.

What would it take for you to speak boldly of the work of Jesus in your life?

Because I think what it should take has probably already been done.

Bold speaking.

As someone who has experienced God.

For our exhortation did not come from error or uncleanness, nor was it in deceit.

But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.

For neither at any time do we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness.

God is witness, nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ.

Alright, going back to that first verse.

That which moves you, mene is the word, that which moves, and then rusho is spirit.

He says, the deep inner man.

He's talking about his inner self.

And he's talking about how he speaks.

All of man, Proverbs 16, 2, all of man's ways are pure in his own eyes.

But the Lord weighs the motives.

God weighs the deep inner man, the motive of a man.

James 4, 3 says, you have not, verse 3, 2, you have not because you ask not, but it says, you also have not because you ask amiss.

That is wrong motives.

When you're asking God with wrong motives, that which moves you, that rushho, is wrong.

As the Holy Spirit prompts, hear me, church, you don't have to have it all figured out.

But check your heart.

Why do we have an altar call at church service?

It's an opportunity to look at my heart.

Why do we have communion?

This due in remembrance of me.

We check our heart, we check our motives, we check where we're at.

We are called to consider our ways.

Are you doing that?

What is your motive today?

My first uh youth camp, we went to a place called Youth Alive.

I think there's a picture of the logo, and it was, listen, y'all, it was a train wreck.

It was planned already before we got there, and we got on our way, and I'm a pumped-up 24-year-old driving a 1978 Greyhound bus, and we make it from Indiana to Kentucky, two hours, and the bus broke down.

And the kids are funny, they're like, we had several that have been to cancer for like this happens every year.

I'm like, nobody gave me the memo.

Bus broke down.

We get the thing back going, sort of.

This was pre-GPS and all this stuff.

And Sarah begins to have a diabetic problem, and she forgot her insulin.

And I'm like, I don't know nothing about any, you know, this.

And her stuff's not with her, so people are giving her Skittles.

I don't know what's going on, but we're traveling the mountains of Kentucky, no GPS, and trying to find a Walgreens.

We get in there, we get her settled, we get to camp.

Now, this is supposed to be 16 hours.

It's like 26 hours.

We get to Jacksonville, Florida from Indiana.

We finally get there, and I haven't slept that day and the next day, which was Monday.

Okay.

We just driving all night.

We get there, and we're sitting there in service.

And I'm like, all right, we're about to get going.

I'm 24 and I've got a monster energy drinking me.

I'm ready for service.

And anyway, we're sitting there, we're singing, and Heather is hitting at me, and I'm like, what?

And she's like, pointing, and I'm like, look at that person's foot.

I'm like, that thing looks like.

Have you seen the nutty professor when he starts blowing up his foot?

And I was like, and she looks at me and she hits me again, and she's like, It's yours.

And I'm like, that's my foot.

The other one doesn't match that one.

And I remembered, you know, before we left for camp, I got some stuff in my leg playing softball, and I reopened it, and I've been peroxiding all this, but I wasn't paying attention to the yellow goo that was running down my leg.

I had to get to camp.

Next thing I know, that first night I'm in the emergency room, and I've got cellulitis, and they've done all this stuff on me.

And I could tell you thing after thing, church, it was a literal train wreck.

But the last night of camp, there's an evangelist by the name of Jamie Regel, and he gets up and he shares in church.

Danielle Davis walks down the aisle.

14-year-old girl, one of our girls.

And Danielle gives her heart and life to Jesus Christ.

She gets saved.

And I went back home feeling like camp was an absolute success.

What else is there?

Is there fun memories?

Is there great times?

What else is there than a person who walks down an aisle and gives their heart and life to Jesus Christ?

If we really believe that heaven and hell are real, I came home believing that camp was a success.

I tried to get teens to give a testimony about camp.

I couldn't get nobody.

Nobody want to talk about the train wreck that was camp.

I had a video with Danielle on it, and she said, I got saved at camp.

It was a 13-second video.

But that night, when Danielle walked down that aisle and gave their heart to Jesus, I'll never in my whole life forget the spirit in the room.

The week that I had had, but the spirit in the room.

And he's he posed a question like this.

He said, Teenager, why are you here?

Do you think it's just by happenstance?

Why are you really, really, I mean, really here?

Danielle had walked that aisle, and next thing I know, student after student after student, not to be saved, they walk down that aisle and they begin to kneel.

Not to their knees.

They got down face first.

Stuff that adults won't do anymore, church.

And I'll, man, God bring that.

But I've been with teenagers who will answer God's call.

And I thought today it would be special if you could hear the song that they played over and over and over, I think, for about the next 30 minutes.

We're not gonna play it for 30.

But would you stand?

He said, Why are you here?

Would you sing this with us?

Can we give him a clap of praise?

Thank you, worship tea.

I wish I could sing like Benji.

Maybe I'm naive.

But when did anything else become more important than that?

When did anything else become greater than that soul, Daniel Davis?

So I want to ask you a question of reflection that that pastor asks.

Why are you here?

Why are you right now in your life doing what you're doing?

I want to tell you.

Here I am to worship.

Paul said, My life's been changed.

And it is sincere.

That's letter A.

He has a sincere message in verse 4.

He said, As we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.

Paul said, When I shared the precious gospel to you, it was entrusted to me.

What you've heard of me when it comes to the gospel was not fake.

It was not faulty.

It was not a fraud.

It was not flattery or for greed.

Why did Paul feel this need to give so much of defense?

It was not flattery.

Gospel of God makes a man face his sin.

This message that we preach in churches across our land is not a flattering message.

The gospel, the good news, says you are wrong and I am wrong.

And when you look in the mirror of yourself, you have to face a sinful self and be willing to repent and change your path.

And if you don't, heaven and hell are reality.

Does that seem like flattery?

So whoever was saying Paul's words were sort of a fraud, I think he gets a little upset.

Does the message of Jesus Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension seem popular?

He says this was not people pleasing, but it was sincere.

I like this word sincere because one of my favorite passages, Joshua 24, 15.

It says, As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

But the verse before it, Joshua, says, Forsake idols and serve the Lord in sincerity and in truth.

That word sincerity means fixed.

I wonder if many were alive during day six of the Apollo 13 mission.

The astronauts had to make a critical course correction, and everything seemed on par until we heard those famous words, Houston, we have a problem.

And that problem was 205,000 miles from Earth.

Jim Lovell, Mr.

Hayes, and Swagert fought to survive.

And what they had to do in that moment was think on their feet.

And to conserve power on that spacecraft, they had to shut down computers.

And as they shut down the computers, they had to do what was called a 39-second burst of the main engines.

But the question that remained during that computer shutdown was how do we steer the ship when the computers are shut down?

Lovell determined if they could keep a search, a sincere eye, a fixed eye on a position.

And you know what that position was through a tiny space window?

They steered 205,000 miles from Earth, fixed eyes on Earth, for 39 frightening seconds.

But their eyes were fixed.

Survival depended on sincerity.

And they survived.

What about us?

Is our gaze pulled left or right often?

What is our gaze?

What are we fixed upon?

It takes letter B, a selfless mentality.

Look down at verse 5 and 6.

Paul spoke this way, selflessly.

For neither at any time did we use flattering words, or, as you know, a cloak of covetousness, God is witness, nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands.

Selfless.

Found this this week, just looking through some things, some signs of selfishness.

Number one, a selfless person struggles without recognition.

Number two, you find yourself comparing to others instead of celebrating others.

Number three, you we all struggle.

My toes.

You want control.

Number four, you listen to respond, not to understand.

Go ahead and hit your husband.

Listen to respond, not to understand.

Another one, have a difficult time taking a critique without a response.

I learn early, being under managers, take what they have to say and say, I'll work on fixing it.

I do my best to fix it.

I hear you.

If you come at them with the whole line, they're not looking for the reasons you got there.

Nobody can't tell my kids, I don't care the reasons.

This is what needs to be done.

And that's what they're looking for.

We hold back encouragement.

That's selfish.

Selfishness isn't always loud, church.

It shows in what frustrates you and in what motivates you.

Paul said that was not our way.

That was not our message.

We did not seek glory from men or make demands.

It was not a selfish endeavor.

Paul commented in chapter 1, you turned to God from idols.

Many men were sharing in a message cloaked in covetousness, cloaked in greed, selfishness.

Because on that Ignatia way, that travel from Philippi to Thessalonica, remember, it was a highway full of polytheism, many gods.

So they were selling shrines and they were selling statues and they were selling things that made them money.

And he says, We were not selling a message that was cloaked in greed.

To labor for Paul's joy, you have to set aside self.

And that was hard for teachers in that Greco-Roman world.

They sought followers, they sought recognition, they sought honor.

Jesus said, For the joy that was set before me, I endured the cross, despising the shame.

For what?

For the redemption of man.

He says, the joy, the wreath, the crown was redeeming people.

The trophy was people, it wasn't self.

Michael Jordan was quoted to say that the greatest leader on a basketball floor was Tim Duncan.

How many of you don't know the name Tim Duncan?

Look around.

Many of you.

Michael Jordan said the greatest leader on a basketball floor.

Tim Duncan was nicknamed the big fundamental.

Does that strike fear in your heart?

Here comes the big fundamental.

He's six foot eleven, probably going to do a layup.

Why did he say that Tim Duncan was a great leader or the greatest leader on the floor?

Now listen, Tim Duncan played in an era that had Shaq, Kobe, and Alan Iverson.

You probably, if you never watch basketball, know one of those names.

I know if you watch a Home Depot commercial or Papa John's, you gotta know who Shaq is.

Tim Duncan won two MVPs, but this was also why Michael Jordan said this of him and was quoted of him.

Tim Duncan took multiple pay cuts so that his team, the San Antonio Spurs, could stay together during the championship runs.

You heard that, church?

Doesn't sound like cloaked in covetousness.

He took pay cuts one year, five million dollars.

I mean, some of y'all, can you imagine?

Five million?

Cut back.

I don't know.

If the church tries to cut five million from me, it's gonna be tough.

I don't know what I'll say.

He also was known for teaching and helping other teammates to shine.

It wasn't all about his game.

There were guys on that team that should have been six men types.

And all of a sudden, this team, men are known, he could have been MVP many years.

The results of that selflessness, that humble attitude, the San Antonio Spurs, in the time that Tim Duncan was on that team, won five NBA championships, and went to 18 straight postseason appearances.

That's selflessness.

How do you perceive me?

Are they doing it?

Is the team doing it?

Is my co-workers doing it?

Is my church doing it the way that I want?

Tim Duncan didn't say, How do I look?

Tim Duncan said, How do they look?

And Paul said to the Thessalonians, you are my win.

Who?

Not what is your win?

Who is your joy?

Who?

Who's your team in life?

Who?

Now God's giving you some right there, a circle at your house.

That's part of it.

Who in your house are you even investing in?

Now think about it.

You say, oh, of course I'm investing.

Of course I'm discipling my kids.

Are you?

Are you discipling in your family?

Are you putting your wreath into what God's already put you into?

Are you looking at you as the wreath?

Well that takes us to the third point this morning.

Paul says, and he shares through these scriptures, he was parental in devotion to this church.

Again, he's he's defending or sharing some what seems like type of defense.

And he says, But we, verse 7, we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children.

So affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel, but also our lives, because you had become dear to us.

Now, first I want to say this, teens.

Parenting is hard.

Alright?

Will y'all give your parents just a little bit of a break?

Do y'all do that today?

Give just a little bit of a break.

I wrote in my Bible one thing when I was 14 that I, the Bible that I had, it said, Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

I'm just saying.

It's the only quote that was in my Bible.

Maybe I need to learn something.

But the second thing I want to say when it comes to parental devotion, some parents, because of a fallen world, because of poor choices, have not got it right.

And I get that.

Some of you in here are like, well, Pastor, you don't know what my life was like in that area.

You want me to give, but you don't understand.

And I want to say that I'm sorry that it's like that.

There's a little story I read this week.

A mama got separated from the little girl you, a lamb.

And the farmer said, you know what that means when they get separated?

He says, That means that I get to bottle raise that baby you.

And his lesson, he says, sometimes someone who is really important to us will reject us.

And it just hurts.

Someone who's supposed to be important, somebody who's supposed to be pivotal in our life, will reject us, may turn their back, won't feed us or groom us.

Why did they reject me is the question.

Why did they leave me?

And the farmer said this, and I thought everybody here needs to hear it.

Maybe because a shepherd wants to pick you up, clean you up, and feed you himself.

That way you will know what a real intimate relationship with a shepherd is like.

Paul said, letter A.

I came to you with the gentleness of a mother.

Sounds weird.

From an apostle, from a man.

Gentle and affectionate.

As a nursing mother, we were.

Here's the point.

Church family.

The gospel is not a message that can prevail with distant care.

It has to be up close and personal.

It is self-giving.

It says we were delighted to share the gospel, but also our own selves.

We gave of ourselves to you.

Is anything here more pure or supposed to be more pure than the mother's desire to help her children?

He said, just as a mother tenderly, lovingly feeds her children.

I love this church.

Because I understand in the idea of a shepherd, this motherliness.

And I hope that this church will rest beside still waters as your shepherded.

I hope that you can leave this place and say, My cup runs over as your shepherd.

And I hope that you say that I want to be in the house of the Lord forever.

Like a mother, Paul said.

Now that was not a popular thing to say in those days because masculinity was tied to strength and not tenderness.

Paul's point was, I didn't just preach to you, I poured into you like a mother does her children.

Look at verse 9 Labor.

Verse 9, for you remember, brethren, our labor and toil for laboring night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you.

We preach to you the gospel of God.

He says, remember how we labored.

Whatever the defense of this letter is, he's saying to you, remember us.

Remember the times that we were together.

Don't cut us off because the crowd is blowing something up.

Remember what it was actually like to be with us, to be with me.

You see, he goes to this mother.

This is what I know about a mother.

As she's pregnant, she labors before she ever sees.

She feeds before she ever sees.

She loses sleep before she ever sees.

She gives of herself so that someone else can have life.

And by the way, a good mother doesn't just birth a baby, she labors then after to watch and ensure that it grows.

Paul said, like a mother.

So my question again, who are you laboring for today?

Who are you laboring for?

The church is in the business of people.

So we plant and we water.

1 Corinthians 3, 6-9 talks about that.

Matthew 9, 37 and 38.

Listen to what it says.

Jesus said to his disciples, the harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few.

Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the field of people, church.

So who is your who?

There's plenty of laboring needing to be done.

Paul said that we labored like a mother.

Let her be.

Gave guidance like a father.

Look at verse 10 through 12.

You are witnesses in God also how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe.

As you know, now know how we exhorted and comforted and charge every one of you as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God.

So he goes a step further, and Paul says, I also led you like a father.

Paul is giving us a master class on what a home should look like, right?

Moms and dads.

The best home has a mother and a father who love each other and love Jesus and love their kids, and together they give care and they give clarity.

There's nurturing and there's leading.

There's walking through and there's guiding.

There's love and there's leadership.

And if you're lucky enough to have that, parents, hear me, that's your first who.

That's your very first who.

If you got a child today, that is your first.

It says he exhorted.

The word is paracleo, that is exhort to come alongside and call forward.

Exhortation is about pooling potential out of people.

I don't know how many times I've said to my kids something along the lines, I could just see what you could be.

I could just see if you would give more.

I could just see, and as a father, send us like just come on.

We know you can.

You just gotta try, give the effort, and he exhorts.

Then when he says it's pooling potential, his exhortation is speaking the truth and letting the people refuse to settle.

I'm not saying in a mean way, but I don't like care.

It's to settle.

There is a second best and a third best.

There's so much settling in this world for things that aren't of God's children.

Love doesn't let people stay where sin is comfortable.

That's exhortation.

Then it says comforted.

The word is paramethermao.

And that is to soothe.

How many of you have someone in your life?

They walk in the room, and the room just gets better.

I got people.

They don't even have to talk to me.

I'm just happier that God gave them existence.

And when they walk in, I feel a little bit better.

When they do talk to me, even better.

But you got people like that.

Paul says, to comfort, to soothe as a father.

Paul said, This was my way.

And he tested him, was it not?

This was my way with you.

You've heard from people and they're talking about things.

But what do you know about me and your experiences with me?

What have you felt?

A selfish leader uses people to build something.

Paul was a paternal leader, and he says, I have nothing.

I was building into you.

You are my crown.

And verse 12, he wraps it up and he says, Why?

I was doing it.

That you would walk worthy of the God who called you.

He said, Walk worthy.

This calling, this church, this call to be a Christian, man, it's a big deal.

And that the God of the heavens, the scriptures, that thou art mindful of us, that He would see fit to let us hear this message.

And for many of us, early in our lives, we've heard this message, and we've heard it often.

We've never known a time where we haven't heard it.

God saw fit to give this to you so that you would walk worthy and find other crowns, other wreaths, other joy that you would walk worthy.

Albert McMackin.

Probably another name like Tim Duncan.

Albert McMahon was a farm hand and a dairy farm in North Carolina.

And Albert gave his life to Jesus Christ one weekend.

And he got ate up with it.

He got excited about it.

And he had heard about a revival that was coming.

And he set forth to get his friends involved.

And so Albert started asking people and inviting people.

And he had one guy in particular, this handsome young man who he thought to himself, if he'll come, it might change some things.

So Albert, of course, he asked that young man, and the young man said, I don't got any intention to do that.

He said, I'll let you drive my truck if you come.

And the young man said, Huh.

I'll come.

So that young man and Albert drove to this revival.

Now I'm certain that you've never read Albert's book.

Because there's not one that I can find.

I'm certain that you've never watched Albert's video.

I'm certain that you've never heard a sermon by Albert McMacon.

I tried to find an image of Albert McMacon and Google wouldn't even let me.

That's how certain I am that it's going to be hard for you to find much on Albert.

And the more I consider that, the better his story gets.

Because I don't know today if we know a young man named Billy Graham without the invite of Albert McMackin.

Albert, Billy, you can drive my truck.

And Billy Graham came to Mordecai Ham's revival service and he gave his heart and life to Jesus Christ.

Now, Albert, we don't know if he's spoken to dozens.

Maybe not.

But Billy Graham at his death was said to have spoken to 300 million people.

You see, for Albert, it wasn't what he built, it was who he brought.

When Jesus Christ returns, church, one day, there's one wreath that we can take from this place to the next.

If you accepted Jesus today, we want to hear about it.

Take a moment and text CCW Connect to 94,000.

Thank you again for joining us on the CCW podcast.

We hope you'll make plans to join us in person on Sundays.