Boldness is Biblical

We have Brother Ricard come and share with us from God's Word here this morning.

Brother, why don't you come on and share what God has laid upon your heart for us here today.

You know, they say that the reward for not killing your kids is grandkids, amen?

And so we have stepped into that, and so we're very thankful for that.

But I want to thank Plains Baptist Church, and Friday night was just wonderful.

And we just had a great time, and the decorations and all the hands that went into it with the food, the preparation.

And, of course, the teenagers did a superb job and praying for them as they go to camp and just see God work.

I had the privilege of assisting with approving missionaries.

And I would say probably 90% of those who were approved to be missionaries, they were either saved or called to preach at youth camp.

And so it's just an amazing thing to see God working in that way.

And so thank you for the missions house.

I mean, wow, we had so many.

I was able to hide from my wife.

You know, it was great.

And, you know, she was able to hide from me too.

And so, but what a great place.

You guys, you nailed it.

You thought about everything.

Great job.

And then Pastor and April, you guys are a blessing.

I appreciate it.

I know she's taking care of the kiddos, and thank you so much.

And the great fellowship, getting to know each other a little bit more.

And I enjoyed playing the game last night.

It was a good time.

And, by the way, the guys won.

I just wanted to put that out there.

And so there will be a rematch.

Okay, yeah.

And so, but church, man, be thankful for your pastor and your pastor's wife.

And they're such a blessing.

And it's just great to know to see their faithfulness and just continuance in the work of the Lord.

And let them know you thank them.

Or let them know you're thankful for them consistently and constantly.

Amen.

Amen.

And so, but we're so thankful to be here.

And thank you, Pastor, for this opportunity to preach.

And I want to draw your attention to the book of Joshua.

I almost said the Gospel of Joshua, which Joshua does mean Jesus.

So it wouldn't be a bad thing to say.

But Joshua chapter 14, if you would.

Joshua 14 · chapter mention

And our country, and I'm thankful for the country that we live in and the freedoms that we have.

But our country has had so many great, great leaders, great generals.

And one of them is MacArthur.

And General Douglas MacArthur, he used these words in his address to Congress in April 19, 1951,

when he came to the end of his remarkable military career.

He said this,

It was my constant effort to preserve them and to end this savage conflict honorably

and with the least loss of time and the minimal sacrifice of life.

Its growing bloodshed has caused me the deepest anguish and anxiety.

Those gallant men will remain often in my thoughts and in my prayers always.

I am closing my 52 years of military service.

When I joined the army, even before the turn of the century,

it was the fulfillment of all my boyish dreams and hopes.

The world had turned over many times since I took the oath on the plane at West Point.

And the hopes and dreams have long since vanished.

But I still remember the refrain of one of the most popular barrack ballads of that day,

which proclaimed most proudly that old soldiers never die.

They just fade away.

And like the old soldier of that ballot, I now close my military career and just fade away.

An old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty.

And this morning, we're going to look at another old soldier, if you will.

You're probably from, if you know the Old Testament, you looked at 14 and you said,

Ah, Mr. Caleb.

And he was an old soldier.

In fact, he's not able, he's not about to fade away though, even though he is 85 years old.

He still wants to conquer.

He still has a desire to conquer, to assume, to seize.

What God told him was rightfully his.

And in all actuality, he was not ready to fade away.

He was not ready to go off the scene.

He was just beginning.

And there are two essentials that we're going to see or qualities that we're going to see,

essential qualities that we're going to see that existed in Caleb's life

that must exist in our lives if we want to receive what God has promised.

Now, let me just say this up front.

The title of my message is, I want that mountain.

Some of you are familiar with that song, I want that mountain, right?

And let me just kind of set this up or say this before I go any further.

This is not a name it or claim it by any means, okay?

But we see that God promised Caleb something, and Caleb expected God to keep his promise.

Do you all expect God to keep his promise?

Yeah, absolutely.

And so we're going to see that he has an initiative and his willingness to pay the price.

Those are the two qualities that we're going to look at.

In old church, the more we allow God to develop these qualities in our life,

the more we will position ourselves for God to use us in great and mighty ways.

So Joshua chapter number 14, let's jump down in verse number 6.

Let's start there.

Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal,

and Caleb the son of Japhon, the king of the night, said unto him,

Thou knowest the things that the Lord said unto the man of God, Moses,

unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadesh Barnea.

Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land,

and I brought him word again as it was in my heart.

Nevertheless, my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt,

but I wholly followed my Lord.

You see, first of all, we're going to look at Caleb took the initiative.

How did he receive what God promised him?

He took the initiative.

He's ultimately going to say in verse number 12, let's just jump down there,

where it says, and now therefore give me this mountain.

He didn't sit around waiting and hoping Joshua would take notice.

He took initiative, didn't he?

He said, give me this mountain.

It's kind of like John Knox is known for the prayer,

give me Scotland or I what?

Or I die.

Knox's prayer was not an arrogant demand,

but the passionate plea of a man willing to die for the sake of the pure preaching of the gospel

and to his countrymen.

Caleb was not going to sit around anymore.

He had done that far too long.

He said, now it's time.

But as we look at his initiative, the initiative that he took,

what was it that developed that?

Okay, go have initiative, kind of like what I talked about Friday night.

Hey, be bold, but how do we do that?

And this is what developed his initiative.

First of all, first and foremost, it was based upon the word of God.

We see in verse number 6, he says,

The children of Judah came unto Joshua and Gilgal,

and Caleb the son of Japhon, the king of the night,

said unto him, Thou knowest the thing the Lord, help me, said.

You see, everything that we're going to see in the life of Caleb

and his I want that mountain request was based upon the word of God.

It wasn't a flash of emotion, nor was it something that he developed in his own mind

or maybe read in a book.

This vision was born through the word of God.

And we understand Romans 10, verse 17.

Romans 10:17

Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by what?

The word of God.

Whatever initiative we take, it ought to be based upon the word of God.

When we think about it, every initiative ought to come back to what does God's word say?

What does he want me to do?

And I'm going to tell you this.

It's very simple.

If you remember, Paul said to the Corinthian church,

Man, I fear lest Satan beguile you from the simplicity that is in Christ.

You know, Christianity is very simple.

It really is.

You know, there's really only two topics a preacher could preach on every Sunday.

Sorry.

It's either salvation or sanctification.

That's it.

And what's the simplicity that is in Christ for us?

Here's what God tells us.

When the world, disciple them, establish churches.

That's simple, isn't it?

It's hard to do.

And praise God for what you guys did in sending out a couple to start a church.

But listen, what we have to remember, we have to remember that the church of God,

establishing the church, establishing churches, is God's plan A.

It's not a, well, we'll see.

No, that's God's plan A.

There's no plan B.

There's no plan B.

And here's the warning, because a lot of times we want to take Scripture,

boy, we can make things sound, hmm, boy, we could twist it, can't we?

Make it do and say what we want it to do, right?

2 Peter warns us, and he says,

as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things,

in which are some things hard to be understood.

I'm glad Peter had a hard time understanding the Bible.

It gives me comfort, amen?

He says, which they that are unlearned and unstable, they rest, they twist,

as they do the other Scripture.

And so, boy, I'll tell you what, you can take any Scripture,

make it sound good, to our own initiative, can't we?

But we've got to come back to the pure Word of God.

My purpose for being in Warrensburg wasn't based upon,

well, I want to be 1,300 miles away from my family.

In fact, I can remember being in Bible college

and looking at all the churches in Missouri,

I'm going, who wants to go there?

Right?

Here I am, right?

You know, my wife said, honey, I'll follow you anywhere,

just make sure it's by a beach, or the ocean, rather.

And she went, nothing in Missouri, okay?

We've got a lot of lakes, but that doesn't work.

So we go by a lake, and we play ocean sounds, okay?

And, but I can tell you right now, in the book of Isaiah,

there's a verse that God gave us to say,

you need to be here.

This is very clear.

After time of fasting and praying about coming to Warrensburg,

and it's got to be based on the Word.

But also, we see something here,

there ought to be his initiative included,

a desire for communion with God.

Because understand, ultimately, he's going to get Hebron.

He was one of the spies that Moses had sent.

Remember, 12 went down, 10 were, 2 were, sorry,

sorry, I said I gave you that earlier.

10 were bad, 2 were good.

And he said, I have Hebron in store for you.

You know what Hebron means?

Hebron means communion.

Hebron means fellowship.

And this is what Caleb desired more than anything,

and we ought to desire more,

and we ought to desire the same more than anything,

fellowship and communion with God.

He, the Bible says in Philippians,

that I may know Him.

That I may know Him,

and the power of His resurrection,

the fellowship of His sufferings,

being made more conformable unto His death.

You see, understand,

it's not about us getting more stuff from God.

It's about us getting God more of Him.

Right?

You see, what's interesting,

if you were to take the New Testament,

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,

if you were to take it and divide it into three sections,

when it comes to relationships regarding the Lord Jesus Christ,

you could do it in these three ways.

One, He had a relationship with His Father.

The second relationship He had with the disciples,

and the third relationship He had with the lost world.

But understand, the first and primary relationship that He had was with His Father.

And everything, all His ministry was an outflow of that relationship with His Dad.

And I wonder sometimes why I don't have the heart for the lost,

or the heart to see people disciple like I should,

is because that's when my communion with God is not as strong as it should be.

Are you following me, church?

So we have to have that communion with God.

Never minimize time spent alone with God.

Never minimize that.

You know how it is, how it works with a relationship with your husband and wife.

You need that quiet time.

Another thing we see about His initiative,

another aspect of His initiative,

is it requires consecration.

Notice what it says, if you look in verse number 8.

He says, nevertheless, my brethren, when they went up with me,

they made the heart of the people melt.

But this is what He says,

but I wholly followed the Lord my God.

Look at verse number 9.

The latter part, the last part of that verse.

Because thou hast wholly followed the Lord.

You see the same phrase used again.

Wholly followed the Lord.

There was, listen, required consecration.

God doesn't want a part offering.

He wants a whole offering, doesn't He?

He doesn't want part of our life.

It's not like, well, you know, Jesus is kind of like a fifth wheel.

I just kind of hook Him up when I need Him, and we drive around.

No, He wants, He's not a fifth wheel.

Amen?

The Bible says that in Colossians chapter 3, verse, I believe it's 4 or 5,

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

it says He is our life.

It's not that He's part of our life, but He is our life.

And when we realize that consecration, the benefit of it,

listen, it's going to produce so much,

and God's going to work through us in a credible and mighty way.

That word holy, it carries the idea to fill,

like filling a sail with air.

It is the picture of sails filled to capacity

with all the available air

so that that ship can move across the waters with maximum speed.

to follow the Lord, to close the gap.

And I think we have a lot of gaps in our lives, don't we?

Where Satan could come in,

or other desires could come in,

and boy, we could just be separate from God.

Listen, every inch, every ounce, every fiber,

every of our being ought to belong to the Lord.

Look at 1 Corinthians, if you will, chapter number 6.

1 Corinthians chapter 6.

1 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

The Apostle Paul was addressing a people

who were caught up in their own ideas,

and he reminds them of something very, very important.

Because if you look back at verse number 18,

he talks about sexual sin,

and boy, that's a gap that could really cause

so much devastation in our life.

But he says, I want you to understand something.

1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 19.

1 Corinthians 6:19

What know ye not that your body is not, will be,

it is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

It's a temple of the Holy Ghost,

which is in you, which ye have of God,

and ye are what?

We're not our own.

In other words, we don't get to decide.

God gets to decide.

That's that consecration.

Okay, God, is this what you want me to do?

Is this where you want me to go?

He gets to make the decisions.

Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price.

Therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit,

which are what?

Which are God's.

Caleb was consecrated.

There is a difference between, listen,

simply involvement and consecration.

I mean, you see that from,

as you look at a plate of ham and eggs.

The chicken was definitely involved.

But the pig was committed, wasn't he?

Amen?

You see, there are a lot of testimonies in the Bible.

A ton of them.

But Caleb is one of the few

where God gives the testimony.

He says this in Numbers 14, verse 24.

Numbers 14:24

He says,

But my servant Caleb,

because he had another spirit with him,

hath followed me fully.

I don't know about you,

but man, I wouldn't mind having God give me a testimony.

Let me give you a testimony about Rich.

Would he say that about me?

Would he say that about us?

See, Caleb was consecrated.

God has so much for us.

He's not done with us.

There's more for us to conquer.

There's more for us to accomplish.

But also something that involved his initiative was,

he was confident in God.

We see in verse number 10,

notice what it says back in our text,

in Joshua chapter number 14,

it says,

And now behold the Lord,

He hath kept me alive.

Listen, all of us are breathing this morning.

At least I think so.

Okay?

If not, shake them.

Just make sure.

But if you're breathing this morning

and you're alive,

God's got a plan for you.

Isn't that great?

But you don't understand.

You're right,

I don't understand the trial

and the difficulty and the struggle.

But God has a plan even within that.

How?

When?

Where?

Why?

You know,

just trust Him.

You see,

He says,

You kept me alive for a purpose.

He said,

Forty and five years,

even since the Lord spake His word unto moments

while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness.

And now,

lo,

I am this day fourscore and five years.

And then He says in verse number 12,

He says,

Now therefore give me this mountain

wherefore the Lord spake in that day,

for thou heardest in that day

how the Anakims were there

and that the cities were great and fenced.

If so be,

the Lord will be with me.

Here's His confidence.

Then I shall be able to drive them out

as the Lord,

what?

He kept going back to what God's word said.

He kept going back to the confidence

in God's word

and what He said.

And man,

we have to drill down.

We need to be anchored in God.

That's why Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 2,

2,

what?

Be bold where?

In God.

We have to be anchored in Him.

Several years ago,

I had the privilege to travel

with one of our missionaries

and they were doing some work in,

they were in Ethiopia

and they were doing work

with the newer people in South Sudan.

And where they were working

was right along the border of east,

of the east coast,

or the,

I guess,

let's see,

be the west of Ethiopia,

I think it is.

And,

but they were based out of Addis,

which is the capital.

And I had gone to Ethiopia

a couple times prior to that.

And so we went in

and we're going to do some training

with some of the pastors there

in South Sudan.

We're going to go to Mywut,

South Sudan,

and live in tents

for about four or five days

or whatever it was.

And I think it was five days,

maybe six.

I can't remember now.

And so anyhow,

we flew into Addis,

kind of caught our breath

from flying,

flew into Gambela.

And,

of course,

the elevation is totally different

in Addis.

It's a lot cooler.

It does get hot there in the summer,

but not like it did

or does in Gambela

in that Mywut area

of South Sudan.

And we get off the plane.

When they opened the door

of the plane,

you ever,

it felt like when you opened the oven

and it hits you.

And I said,

hmm,

I didn't read this in the brochure.

Some of you have been in those regions

where it's hot.

Like, well,

it's a dry heat.

Buddy,

you still sweat, man.

All right?

So we get off

and we go.

We stay in a hotel one night.

And,

of course,

the electricity is not really good.

So our air conditioner,

it didn't have enough electricity

to cause the,

what's the thing,

whatever that pushes out

the air conditioner.

It would kick on

every once in a while,

the compressor.

We'd get this little spurt

of cold air

and we were like,

I mean,

we were just sweating all night.

Anyhow,

we get up,

we go over there.

And they wouldn't let us

into South Sudan

because of a border issue

and so forth.

And by the way,

the border was just a rope

across the road.

That's all it was.

And so we're standing

and they're negotiating,

trying to get us in there.

We got this truck

filled of ministry supplies

and all these things

and all these pastors

were going to be waiting for us.

And we never made it across.

And one of the pastors comes up.

We're sitting in the truck

and he comes up,

he goes,

you know,

this is,

we're experiencing a blessing.

I'm on a blessing.

He goes,

you see that cloud?

He goes,

we usually don't get clouds like this.

And it brought the temperature down.

Praise God.

So anyhow,

we get to the place

we're going to stay

and unfortunately,

we had to relocate

and they're setting up the tents.

Now,

we got Coleman tents from America.

I'm not a promoter of them.

I don't get paid

for this advertisement.

But we get in there,

we set up the tents

and they had,

instead of just those

little thin tent stakes,

they had rebar

that was bent a certain way

and they were driving

in the rebar into the ground

because it was so dry,

you couldn't put a regular tent stake in there.

They were driving it in with sledgehammers

and to anchor the tent to the ground.

Well,

thank God they did that.

It was our fourth night.

We saw a storm off in the distance

and I'm like,

it's not coming our way.

Well,

let me tell you,

it came our way.

It rushed in.

I don't mind being in a thunderstorm

or anything like that,

but when you're in a tent

in the middle of nowhere,

by the way,

underneath a tree,

okay,

young people don't try this at home.

We're trained professionals,

right?

That storm came through

and man,

the tent was going

like this

and it was horrible.

I was just sitting there going

and so me and the guy,

one of the guys from our church

came with me.

We're in the tent going,

till the storm passes over,

till the thunder sounds,

right?

We're seeing this tent

just go like this

and man,

it just wiped everything out around us,

our outside tents

and so forth,

but our tent stood fast.

Guess what?

The next night,

same bat time,

same bat channel,

another storm came.

Take two,

till the storm passes.

I mean,

it just kept coming

and you know what?

We were anchored.

So if you're going to go to

Ethiopia and live in the bush,

buy a Coleman tent,

okay,

that's all I'm saying.

Make sure you're anchored.

But we better make sure

we're anchored.

We better make sure

we're anchored in the Lord.

The Bible says,

which hope we have,

an anchor to the soul.

Boy,

I tell you what,

did it take away the storm

that we were anchored right?

No.

Did the tent keep folding in

in the center?

Yes.

The storm was still there,

but we were anchored.

And tell you what,

Caleb faced a lot of trials

along the way.

Remember,

40 years,

he heard people whining.

40 years.

I'm sure he was at a point

where he was like,

would you guys just stop?

For 40 years,

he put up with that.

But where was his confidence?

It wasn't in them.

It was in God.

I'll tell you,

sometimes it seems like,

man,

okay,

God,

I know you've given me

some promises in your word.

But Lord,

it's hard to have confidence

right now.

But I know I'm anchored to you.

And I just need to trust you.

It's kind of like

when the nobleman's son,

I think it was the nobleman's son,

said to the Lord,

Lord,

I believe,

but help thou my what?

My unbelief.

I need to stay anchored.

I need to stay anchored.

The Bible says that,

nay,

in all things,

we are more than conquerors.

We are more than conquerors.

So not are we just conquerors,

but we're more

through him that loved us.

2 Corinthians tells us,

now thanks be unto God,

which always causes us

to triumph in Christ,

and maketh manifest

the Savior of his knowledge

encouraged by us

in every place.

You know,

my wife and I,

in 29 years of

being husband and wife,

well,

we face some,

we face some difficult times.

I won't go through,

I mean,

we could sit here

and talk about them,

but I'll tell you what,

it's interesting how

in every place

we had opportunity

to show that we were anchored,

to show that we were confident

in our God.

we didn't always get it right.

There was times

we had to go before the Lord

and ask for forgiveness

with him

and also with each other.

But you know what?

God got us through.

We got some scars,

but you know what scars do?

They tell a story

of the one who got us through.

Keep your confidence in him.

So Caleb took the initiative,

but also Caleb was willing

to pay the price.

We see that he's going to fight

a battle on three fronts.

We see the battle

of standing alone.

This is something that he did

early on,

if you remember.

Now, of course,

Caleb or Joshua was with him,

but you remember

when they went into

the promised land,

they came back

and ten spies said,

no!

Two said, yes!

But there was Caleb.

He was willing to stand.

And sometimes, church,

well, we just got to be willing

to stand alone.

We got to be willing to say,

you know what?

My confidence is going to be in God.

I'm willing to pay that.

And by the way,

that's a price

that we must pay.

Look at 2 Timothy,

if you will,

in chapter number four.

2 Timothy,

chapter number four

in verse number 16,

because ultimately,

all of this is going to bring

Caleb to the point

where he could boldly say,

I want that mountain.

I want to see God's word

lived out in my life.

I just don't want to talk about it.

I just don't want to read it.

I just don't want to preach it.

I want to see it lived out.

In 2 Timothy,

chapter number four,

verse number 16,

he says,

at my first answer,

no man stood with me.

Now, this is the apostle Paul.

He, understand,

in his life,

he, in his ministry,

he would not be the first one

that the church growth gurus

would run after,

brother Ray.

You mean you were all alone?

Yeah, I was all alone.

He says,

I stood,

he said,

no man,

but all men forsook me.

I pray, God,

that it may not be held

to their,

now,

he didn't get upset.

He didn't get bitter.

He didn't start griping

and criticizing.

He said,

I pray that it won't be held

against their charge.

And Paul moved on,

but notice what it says.

Not withstanding the Lord,

what?

The Lord stood with me.

Now, understand,

I talk about being willing

to be alone,

but ultimately,

we are never alone.

We are never,

my God said,

I will never leave thee,

nor what?

I am the same yesterday,

today,

and forever.

So,

if he didn't leave you yesterday,

he's not going to leave you today.

He's consistent.

He's always there,

and sometimes,

can you just,

give me a witness

that sometimes it's hard

to see him.

Sometimes it's hard

to understand him,

but he,

it doesn't mean he's not with you.

God is always working,

even when we can't see him.

The other front,

he fought the battle

to fight the fiercest foes.

Look at,

back in Joshua,

chapter number 14,

in verse number 15.

Joshua chapter number 14,

verse 15.

And the name of Hebron

before was Kerjathbarah,

or Kerjatharbarah,

which,

Arba,

was a great man

among the who?

Giants, man.

Giants.

Giants.

There are still remnants of giants.

And here's Caleb,

85 years old,

saying,

come on,

bring it.

I'm ready.

What is this?

A testimony

of the grace of God

that was in his life

to have that confidence

in his God

because he saw God

for 40 years

take care of a whiny people.

The Bible says that

their shoes never ran out

or wore out.

Isn't that great?

And understand,

we've got to be willing

to stand alone

and fight the fiercest foe

even when it seems like,

man, I'm done.

I'm done.

It doesn't matter our age.

God still wants to work

in and through our lives.

Christianity,

and the history of Christianity

is filled of testimonies

of men and women of God

who were willing

to face the fiercest foes.

But also,

there was the battle

of being patient.

Now, I know you all

don't struggle with patience

here in this town.

You know?

And, you know,

when I pull up

to a fast food joint,

if it's McDonald's,

and people are waiting there

looking at the menu,

I'm like,

it hasn't changed.

You go to Chick-fil-A,

what do they have?

Chicken.

Chicken.

Stop looking for a hamburger.

And my wife's like,

well, I just want to...

I'm like...

Are you following me?

Amen?

But we all love to wait,

don't we?

Ah, no.

But understand that

he had to wait 45 years.

Who could do that?

We struggle with that,

don't we?

But he had a promise from God.

They said,

I'm going to trust God.

You know,

it's interesting that after,

I think it was D.L. Moody,

or no,

George Mueller,

he was praying for

people to get saved.

And it wasn't

those folks

who didn't come to Christ

until his funeral,

and then many years

after his funeral.

Sometimes we never see it.

But we just got to trust

that God is going

to perform his word.

You know,

I think about our...

We have,

just like you,

our university's not as big,

of course,

as yours,

but we have a university

in our town

and we have kids

coming from all over the world

for years.

It was on our Wednesday night

prayer list.

Pray to impact

the international students.

Pray to impact

the campus,

the international students,

whatever.

And for years.

And I was working on

my grad work

and I took evangelism

and I'm like,

why do I have to take evangelism?

Oh man,

I've been evangelizing

and...

So anyhow,

I took it

because it was required.

And I got right with God.

I was kind of like

the children of the...

I know none of you

ever complained,

but I did.

And so they said,

you got to go do

a service project.

So I went to a local church

in the area

where they serve the homeless.

They serve them food

and so forth,

meals.

So I went there

and I saw

these international students

and part of their...

part of their fulfillments

that they have to do

is they have to serve

some kind of service project

in the area.

And so no...

hardly anybody showed up

to be served food

that night.

And I went,

I know why I'm here.

So I started to

intentionally interact

with these students

and so forth.

And then the worker

that was getting them

to and fro the campus,

she said,

hey Rich,

can you take

two of these students home?

I said,

absolutely.

One was from Tunisia,

which is by the way

a closed country

to missionaries

and also Afghanistan.

So we began to talk

and I said,

what did you guys,

have you guys eaten anything

from America?

What did you like?

One of the goals

for an international student,

watch this,

is to have a meal

in a home

of an American.

So I said,

I said,

hey,

my wife's a good cook.

I said,

did you ever have apple pie?

No,

we've never had apple pie.

So I said,

come on over.

They came over.

We had dinner

and then probably

for at least 45 minutes

to an hour,

we had a discussion

about Islam

and Christianity.

That thing just kind of

morphed into more things.

we began to start

participating in what they have,

what's called

Friendship Family

where we adopt

at least two students

every semester

and they're coming

from Tunisia,

Pakistan,

Afghanistan,

Jordan,

Syria,

many in those 1040 windows,

that 1040 window.

And we're sharing the gospel.

They're coming to church

because they just want to

see what a church looks like.

They're coming to our

activities at church,

bonfires and so forth

and so on

and there's always

some kind of gospel

presentation made

and we're impacting.

The world is coming to us

and we prayed for years.

Now we're hosting

just this semester

where we started

a Bible study on campus

and praise God,

we have 10 in attendance

and we had one of our young,

one of the international students

come to Christ,

amen.

My wife will be discipling

someone from Tanzania

and I will be discipling

someone from the Congo.

How does that work out?

Pray.

Pray or patience.

You know,

when we're ready to just

stop praying,

keep praying.

Keep praying.

Don't give up.

45 years.

Here's the thing.

Will you take the initiative

to move forward?

To obey and seize

the promise of God.

How do I do that?

Well, get with God.

Spend time with Him

and discover what God

has for you.

If today you're here,

take the initiative.

Listen, today if you're here

and you're not saved,

it's time for you

to take the step

to become a Christian.

To call upon Jesus.

Take, the Bible says,

behold, now is the accepted time.

Behold, now is the day of salvation.

It's time, right now.

Take that step.

You won't regret it.

Jesus died for you.

He paid the price

for your sins,

but He didn't stay dead.

He rose on the third day.

We'll be celebrating

that April 20th.

Amen?

Amen.

Turn to Him

and be saved.

Man, if you're not a member

of the church,

join the church.

If you're a member,

get involved.

Man, get serious

about your walk with Jesus.

Spend time with Him.

Develop that discipline

of spending time

and meridating in His Word.

Meditating on His Word.

Discovering who He is

and what He wants you to do.

It's for everybody.

May God give us

the character

to last a lifetime.

He will if we will

take the initiative

and He will

if we are willing

to pay the price.

Father in Heaven,

God, thank You so much

for Your goodness

and Your grace.

And Lord, we ask

that You would have Your way

during this time

of invitation

and that, God,

You would do

what only You can do.

And Lord,

if there be someone here

that does not know Jesus

as their Savior,

as they start singing,

God, may they just

step forward

and we could show them

from the Word of God

how they could be saved.

Maybe there's some here

that have just been,

you know,

not taking that step

that they need to take

because, God,

You've called them

to do something.

It doesn't necessarily

mean to be a missionary.

It may be,

but it may just mean

just trusting You enough

to get busy here

in the local church

and reaching people

here in this area.

However, God,

You worked on the hearts

of Your children.

May they take

the step

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Pastor.