I don't have a particular text
to preach on per se this morning. I will have a starting text here
in a moment. There is, as I said, no particular
text this morning. All of you know that recently
Paul and Paula and myself and Penny were in St. Croix. with
missionaries Daniel Parks and Peter Guerrero. I don't know
if I'm saying Peter's last name correctly. He even spelled it
out for me when we were down there and I still couldn't say
it, but Peter Guerrero. Think about this. Consider God
Almighty's creation. Think about what the psalmist
said about man, God's creation, a part of God's creation, the
crowning part of God's creation. When God created man and the
woman out of man, he said it is very good. Very good. And this is what the psalmist
says a little bit about that. He says in verse 14 of Psalm
139, I will praise thee. And then he gives one of the
reasons, just one of the reasons, for I am fearfully and wonderfully
made. The human creature is an amazing
thing. Circulatory system, electrical
impulses, nervous system, digestive system, and our ability to communicate
with one another. Our ability to, at least in a
natural way, feel compassion for one another. I am fearfully
and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works. But
sadly, this is what very few people understand here. But the
psalmist understood it, and I believe some of us do. And that my soul
knoweth right well. Isn't man a marvelous thing?
A marvelous thing. But also the universe, The universe,
all that's here that we can see and taste and touch and enjoy. And Joe, even now we have telescopes
that can look at least at what they say way out into space and
see all these marvelous things. Think of the universe and our
natural view of it. Listen to Psalm 119. Listen to
what the psalmist there says here. The heavens, Declare the
glory of God and the firmament Showeth his handiwork and the
psalmist is not trying to prove anything. He's stating this as
an understood fact You see we don't have to prove God created
this world this world proves it himself. I We're just declaring
it. Look at what he says. Day unto
day, that is every day you get up and you see God's creation. Day unto day uttereth speech. And night unto night showeth
knowledge. Not our knowledge, his knowledge. There is no speech nor language
where their voice is not heard. Think of this. And I don't know
that there are too many places anymore that's not been touched
by probably European feet, but think in the deepest, darkest
jungles of Africa. Even there, men and women recognize
that there is this higher power somewhere. Now they may have
denigrated into the worship of snakes and beasts and trees or
whatever, But this knowledge, this understanding, and those
are probably not the best words, but this is ingrained by God
in the hearts of all men and women. And I do agree with one
preacher who said there are no true atheists. A true atheist would not complain
about God. How many people complain about
Santa Claus? How many people rail against
Santa Claus? Why? Because we know it's a figment
of men's imagination. Things we came up with for whatever
reasons. There are no true atheists. The
fool has said in his heart, not that there is no God. No, the
fool has said in his heart, no God. He says no to God. Their line, verse four, their
line is gone out through all the earth. We're not debating
this, the psalmist said. This is the way it is. And their
words, to the end of the world, in them hath he set a tabernacle
for the sun. Look at our sun has its place.
And we have our place. And someone says, men have argued,
what is the center of the universe? Jesus Christ is the center of
the universe. That's what it's all about. The
center of the universe has nothing to do with geography. It has
to do with its creator. Its creator. Listen to what was
said in the book of Job. Job 26 and verse seven. Job 26 and verse seven. He stretcheth
out the north over the empty place. These people understood
that. Isn't that amazing? We know that
up there in the north, there's nothing. Nothing. Ice. Whatever land is there is
covered by ice. And look. And hangeth the earth
upon what? Nothing. Now I know What's his
name? The very wise, intelligent man
said, we're all kept here by gravity. That's not what this
book says. Now gravity's there. But this
earth is hung upon what? Nothing. Nothing. Isn't that
amazing? Isn't that amazing? These things
reveal to us that the Lord is to be worshiped. Now granted,
The natural creation, the glory of the natural creation does
not define to us how God is to be worshipped. Therein is the
problem for fallen man, but it does declare that God is to be
worshipped. Now listen to what Isaiah said.
Isaiah chapter 45, and you know these passages. Isaiah chapter
45, it says this, verse 18, for thus saith the Lord that created
the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made it,
he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it
to be inhabited, and that's why it has since its creation. Look, I am the Lord, and there
is none else. I have not spoken in secret in
a dark place of the earth. I said not under the seat of
Jacob. Seek ye me in vain. I the Lord speak righteousness.
I declare things that are right. Now we start to get instruction.
Assemble yourselves and come. How important is assembling?
It is essential. It is essential. Those who don't come. Those who
just show up on occasion don't worship God. It's just the way
it is. It's just the way it is. Assemble yourselves and come.
Draw near. How? Together. Now yes, we should draw near
to God privately. But the most important drawing
near is together. Together. Why did Christ say,
where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I
am in the midst. Is he not in a single believer
who approaches his throne seeking mercy and grace? Of course he
is. But he lays special emphasis
on this togetherness. Look. Assemble yourselves and
come draw near together ye that are escaped of the nations that
have no knowledge that set up the wood the graven image and
pray unto a God that cannot save That's not the right way to worship
God You see it That's not the right way. As a matter of fact
Paul in chapter 1 calls it for the perversion of the truth Look
tell me tell ye and bring them near, yea, let them take counsel
together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? And there
is no God else beside me. And here it is, a just God and
a Savior. That is not the God that's being
preached in most so-called pulpits today. You will not hear them
deal with God being a just God and a savior. Look, there is
none beside me. Here's what God says, look unto
what, the creation? No, look after creation, yes,
but look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for
I am God and there is none else, and I swear on it. That's the
next verse. I swear on it. Do you see it?
I swear on it, God says. Now with that in mind, consider this. As I said, this
is my, my message is about our St. Croix experience. West Virginia, I read, is made
up of 24,181 square miles. That's a pretty good chunk of
land. Mercer County, one county in
West Virginia, one of the most, I guess it'd be the most southern
county, and probably not the biggest county I've read is made
up of, well, we got it on the internet, 421 square miles. That's a pretty good chunk of
land. I wouldn't mind to own that much, but I don't wanna
pay taxes on that much, so I'm not seeking to own that much.
Think about this, St. Croix, an island in the Caribbean Sea,
the only U.S. island, territory that's actually
in the Caribbean Sea completely. All the others border the Atlantic
and the Caribbean. St. Croix, that island, is made
up of 84 square miles. It's like a speck. It's one-fifth
smaller, or three, four, five. It's much smaller than even Mercer
County. Now here's what's amazing. And
I'm not gonna spend a lot of time here, but I just want you
to think about this. In one day's travel, we went from the northwest
end of the island, Moose and Sandy took us all on a trip around
the whole island. On the northwest end of the island
is, and it used to be a whole lot more dense than it is now. Europeans come in and cut down
everything that was good and used it for furniture, the mahogany
trees. There is dense rainforest. It was amazing to drive to that
little mountain road. Dense rainforest. Drive a couple
more hours, and the drive's not that far. Remember, 84 square
miles. It just takes so long because when we're in that dense
rainforest and in the mountains, it's like this. Reminds you of
West Virginia a little bit. Drive just a couple hours to
the far eastern end on Udall Point, and it is arid, with scrub
brush and cactus. All of this, and then look at
the southern part of the island. Beaches, palm trees, coconut
trees, banana trees, turquoise, multi-hued blue waters, sunsets
that blow your mind even if there are a few clouds there, just
the glory of all that. Here's this on one end, here's
this on the other. In 84 square miles, you have
a total different geography and being. You end up from one place,
a rainforest, two hours later, Joe is almost like, not a sandy
desert, but a desert. Isn't that amazing? That boggled
my mind. That boggled my mind. Our Redeemer did that. The Lord
Jesus Christ created that. And even after the fall, he sustains
all of that. Even after man's coming through
and raping the land of everything that's there. And I mean raping
it, not just using it for certain, raping it for monetary gain. Yet, it is. I would agree with
folks. When you see it and you get to
be there, it's like an island paradise. It's an island paradise. You will not see that in West
Virginia. Now in West Virginia, you will still go up to that
high mountain up there where the glades are. You'll see a
totally different ecosystem. But that's in the 24,181 square
mile thing of West Virginia. This is a little 84 square mile
island. Our Lord Jesus Christ created all this. Now here we drove around and
we seen the rainforest. Go to this place where they have
gigantic iguanas just walking around everywhere. And you go
over to this place, it's arid and it's dry. When on the other
end, it's hot and wet, sticky. You get over on this, it's not
cool, but it's dry and cactus. And then Mo said, we were coming,
back around of the southern, southeastern end of the island.
He said, I'm going to show you the best place on the island.
So we're all waiting. All four of us are just waiting,
anticipating the best place on the island. Man's been there
for several years. So we're driving down this bumpy,
two-lane road. I mean, the four-lane road is
a mess. Here it is. Here it comes. There
it is, he said. Home Depot. He said, there's the best place
on the island. And he meant it, too. He meant
it, too. And when you live on an island
like that, you can't go out and just cut you down a tree and
make you some lumber. And now they've got a Home Depot, and
it's like, wow. But truthfully, I would have
to say, I know what Moose was getting at. We knew what he was
saying. But truthfully, I thought about this. That didn't occur,
of course. That big boat pulled in with
hundreds of people on it, and they flooded off of it and come
in, and the vendors had places set up. So we went over to see
all this. And of course, I looked just like any other tourist.
I had on my shorts and my white legs and my hat. So they didn't
know. But if one of them had asked
me, Joe, had they known that I was on the island, there visiting
friends and family, And one of them would have asked me, what
is the greatest thing to see, the greatest place to be on this
island paradise? They have sailing, jet skis,
you can go boating, you can go snorkeling, you can go scuba
diving, there's bike riding, there are trips to other towns,
there's horseback riding, there's swimming, there's all these things
in this island paradise. Beautiful. In many places. Where would you go? Where's the
best place to go on this island? I would have told them 74 Cain
Carleton Road. A place called Sovereign Grace
Baptist Church. There's the best place to be
on this tropical island paradise. And I mean that with all my heart. Had it not been for that place
and those people, yes, the trip would have been enjoyable. But
not near as fulfilling. And not just because I got to
preach, but because I got to hear preaching. Got to hear preaching. Sovereign Grace Baptist Church.
I'm reminded of what Paul did. You remember that I preached
for this one time, Romans chapter 16. You remember that? The gospel
preached in salutations. I'm not talking about bragging
about somebody, but I'm talking about being thankful to God for somebody.
I'm talking about mentioning their name to others and mentioning
their name before God, holding them up in prayer because the
trip was eye-opening. and humbling. You understand
what I'm saying? And we spoke of this often. Sitting
on that little porch, didn't we? Everybody. I commend unto
you, Phoebe, our sister, which is a servant of the church, which
is at Sincrea, that she receive her in the Lord as becometh saints. That's a tall order. as becoming
a sanctified people, a set-apart people, and that ye assist her
in whatsoever business she hath need of you. For she hath been
a suckerer of many, and of myself also. She actually puts herself
into the effort to take care of us. You see that? Greek Priscilla
and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid
down their own necks, and to whom not only I give thanks,
but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Let us talk about
one another like that. Folks, we're in the mission field
too. But we are in an affluent mission field. You understand? I know West Virginia's got some
bad places, but folks, we don't have to live like those folks
down there have to live. We had a very nice condo that
was all paid for for us. Why? Because men and women who
love Christ didn't want us to have to deal with him. But you
still had to brush your teeth with bottled water. You still
had to cook your food with bottled water. Not because there was
a storm, but because that's the way it always is there. There is no potable groundwater
on that island. By law, if you have a dwelling,
you have to have a cistern underneath your house or at least connected
to it. And what you have for washing or whatever, not drinking,
not potable, but it's rainwater. Moose took us up into the mountains
just behind Frederick's den. beautiful view of that town.
And there was that big cruise ship sitting there. How long
was that pier? Half a mile long? Massive concrete
pier. We walked out on it one day and
it was massive. It makes you feel like that tall.
And then that big old cruise ship pulled in and made that
pier look like a toothpick. And then here Moose takes us
back. You can see the mountains when you're down at the pier.
He took us back up on one of them high mountains. And you
look down over Frederiksted, and it is a joke on the island,
it's called FEMA Blue. Do you know what FEMA Blue is?
Our government went down there and fixed people's roofs for
them when the hurricane come through. You know what it was
and what it still is? It's a blue tarp tacked down
with furring strips. And they're still that way. They're
still that way. Most people live off the government
dime, and they want it that way. They want it that way. There
are thousands of people on that island, and yet it's just a handful
of people that are worshiping God in spirit and in truth. Thousands of visitors, tourists,
flood that island, and still just a handful of people gather
at 74 Kane Carlton to worship God. You know, if a person really
worships God, they decide they want to take them on a little
vacation, you know what the first question you ought to ask yourself and
find out about the place you're going? Is there a gospel church
where I can gather with God's people while I'm there? Why would
you not? Why would you not? Yet, on this
island paradise, we've seen abject poverty. I mean, abject poverty. You can walk down the street
with a bottle of liquor. You can drive your vehicle with
an open bottle, as long as you don't go over .08. Neil, you'd
be sitting right there with that bottle of whiskey, driving down
the road, as long as you don't go over the limit. You don't
see that in the States, do you? And yet I know there are these
religious, self-righteous people say, well, look what happened
to that island. Look at that hurricane that hit it. No wonder
they got two distilleries there. Well, I'll put this on, I went
to one of them. You get something free when you
go there. I'll figure that one out. You know why the people are like
they are? Because they're sinners just
like we are. That's why. And who, I cannot,
I will not dare say that hurricane hit that island or Puerto Rico
or the Dominican Republic and destroyed the lives of thousands
of people because they're such great sinners. They are no worse
sinners than this man who stands behind this podium here this
morning. Some of those people who lived in that abject poverty,
houses just a hovel I mean a hovel, and they're sitting there with
their liquor, and that's what you see. Every day you drive by, that's what
you see. Right, Penny? That's what you see them doing
every day. Joe, probably 365 days a year. But they are no
worse sinner than I am. Do you hear what I'm saying? Poverty's there. Destruction
still persists. You can see the effects. We went
up there and you look, there's all that blue. It looks beautiful,
blue here, blue there. What beautiful roofs! It's blue
tarp! Nailed down with furry strip,
because when you get up close to one, you see it, and then
the wind blows there about all the time, and it's ripping some
of them, near all the pieces. And the people are still stuck
there. Moose wrote it, usually every Saturday. Every Sunday,
Moose publishes something in the St. Croix Avis. some kind of article or something.
One day he published it, it come out on Saturday for Sunday's
thing. A man showed up the next Sunday,
brought that paper in and said, did you write this? Moose said,
yes I did. He said, I believe this. Moose
is like, wow. He said, I've come down here
to start a baseball factory. Well, he did. Come down to start
a baseball factory, give people some jobs. You know what the
government said? No, we don't need it. And they've got an oil
refinery on the east end of the island that's closed down and
thousands of people lost their job. There are very few stop
signs put up yet. That's been what, six, seven
months ago, right? I seen one working stoplight. That was it. That was down close
to the Home Depot. No, the stoplights are just blown away. If they're
hanging, they're not working. Some people still have no power.
But the government is building this big mound of dirt so they
can have a new baseball field. We drove up a couple streets
to go visit Lucy, she made a meal for us, and there was a pothole
that just about swallowed Moose Park's van plumb up. Isn't it? And you think, we may be stuck
here for a while if this thing bottoms out. Why is this so? Here's why all
this is so. It's because our father, Adam,
rebelled against God in the garden. That's where it all started.
And we're just following along in his footsteps, Joe. By nature,
rebellion after rebellion after rebellion after rebellion. We
were told of crime. Didn't see any that I was aware
of. But crime, government corruption
and waste persists. Some of the government have been,
they're locked up now. We drove by a little prison. I said, what's
that? He said, that's where we lock up our politicians. Isn't that
what he said? That's where we lock up our politicians. They all eventually end up there,
he said. And it may be a little tongue in cheek, but he still
was meaning corruption. It's amazing. I won't go into
all that. Why? Because when Adam fell, we were
plunged into a downward spiral from which we cannot rescue ourselves
save God himself rescue us from it in his son. Yet, with all
of that, there's a small group of people there who endeavor
to worship and serve Christ, proclaim His gospel, the gospel
of free reigning grace. And that small group of people
are still sinners, just like everybody else. You know that? They'll tell you that, they'll
tell you that. Ecclesiastes 7 and 20. You know
this verse, but think about it. This hit me the other day. Ecclesiastes
chapter seven, turn to it. I'll give you just a moment.
I want you to look at it. Ecclesiastes chapter seven and verse 20. Now let me tell you the way most
people hear this in their mind. Here's the way most people hear
it in their mind. For there is not a just man upon earth that
sinneth not. Isn't that way most people think
of it? Do you see what I'm getting at now? Now look at it. There
is not a just man upon earth that sinneth not. Now, that's
true. In ourselves, there is not a just man upon earth that
sinneth not, but that's not what Solomon said. Look at what he
said. For there is not a just man upon
earth that doeth good. That doeth good. When he does
good, he's still sinning. Do you see what he's saying there?
It dawned on me, I've been preaching this for 32, 33 years, and finally
it dawned on me, David Wright just the other day, there's not
a just man upon earth that even when he's doing good, he is still
sinning against God. And I knew that was true. It
was true before I even seen it right there, Mason, but it was
true. It's exactly what Isaiah meant when he says we're all
as unclean thing. And what even our righteousnesses
are as minstrel rags in God's sight. You folks on the TV, soak
that one up. When I put forth my best effort,
it is filth in God's sight. That's eye-opening, isn't it?
When God really begins to show you that, that's, because Mason,
even my best efforts are an affront to God. An affront to God. Nevertheless, God has reconciled
such people as this. He commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet what? Sinners. Sinners! He reconciled what ungodly people. I thank God for that, don't you?
Now, yes, it is true. It is theologically true. All
men are sinners. All men are ungodly, but not
all men and women know it. And it takes the work of the
Spirit. Go back and look at John. Gospel according to John, it
takes the work of the Spirit of God to convince any man or
woman that that's what they really are. He will convince the world
of what? Sin. You don't convince, I don't
convince you. Gospel preaching itself don't
convince you as long as you're unregenerate. But when God breathes
life into you, then he will send you that truth and you will find
out that even the best that I offer to God has been an affront to
God all these years. And when he lets you see with
anointed eyes the work and the person of Jesus Christ, and he
gives you faith to believe in him, it all begins to make sense. Doesn't it? It all begins to
make sense. Let me move along. The brothers
and sisters in Christ at St. Croix received us fully. Fully. treated us most graciously. And we're more, more than generous. I will give you just one example
of that. One example, and I'm talking about, I'm thanking God
for the grace of Christ that I seen revealed there. These
people don't have a lot, folks. We went out, Moose and Sandy
already had groceries at our condo when we got there late
Tuesday evening so we wouldn't have to go out and even go to
a restaurant. Come here, relax, you've had two flights, one from
Raleigh-Durham to Miami, one from Miami to St. Croix. We were
all tired, weren't we? Already had food there. The next
morning, they come and pick us up and take us to the grocery
store, get you some groceries for the week. You know, granted,
they took us out. We went out and ate. We want
to do that. But, you know, it's hard to afford going out doing
that three times a day, seven days. Go out and get you some
groceries. So we did. Here all of us was.
Six of us in the grocery store. Had a cart there and Moose and
Sandy was getting them a couple things. Here we're getting us
more than a couple things. We got a pretty good size cart
load, didn't we? And Penny and I and Sandy goes up to the where
you check out, Moose and Sandy and Paul and Paula were still
getting just a few more things. And we said, well, here, Sandy,
you go ahead and go first, get your little bit of stuff, then we'll get
ours. She said, Moose told me you're not buying this. They bought a lot of groceries,
didn't they? That's because of the grace of
God, people. And they weren't trying to impress us. This is
just what they do. And both of them work. I hope
you understand that. They're working. They have odd
jobs that they have. Ellen, they have to work. And
I guarantee you, I don't know this, because I would not dare
have asked the man. But I bet you he spends most of whatever
retirement he's got in most Social Security, you know where it goes?
To taking care of people when he has them come down. And to
help take care of that building. He and Sandy live in the back
of the church building, around 500 square feet, and that's it. I don't know anything about that.
I go in and turn on my spigot, and I can drink right out of
it. You know what I mean? Don't have to worry about it.
Comes out of a deep well. They have to save their shower
water to flush their toilets, because water is so scarce. And David, they live that way
because they want to, for the glory of God in preaching the
gospel in that little place down there called St. Croix. Oh yeah, they can go out and
snorkel every once in a while, but I guarantee you, Joe, it's
not an island paradise all the time to them. That's what the
tourists see. You know what I mean? They're
not coming back into the back streets. As a matter of fact,
they tell you, if you're a white person, some streets you stay
off of. In the nighttime, you don't go
there at all. These people live there. Why? For the glory of
God. Think about it. Midweek service is used on Tuesday. Moose changed it to Wednesday
so that we could be there. We would have been really beat.
Anyway, changed it to Wednesday. There was eight of us there. Wednesday, midweek service. Remember,
four of us come from here. The other two was pastor and
his wife. So it was two members there,
two ladies. And they were just as happy to have been there if
it had been a crowd of 5,000. Moose and Sandy Parks, tremendously
generous and hardworking. They do what they do, not so
they can live high on the hog, but to make sure the gospel continues
to be preached. That people are taken care of
when they have them come down and preach for them. Anthony
and Lucy Talion, I don't know if I'm pronouncing that, most
hospitable. The woman sitting here, and she's
feeding us, it's a carport, and on the back is a cinder block
concrete room. That's where they stayed the
whole night when that hurricane hit. That's where their washer
and dryer's at. Their house is still two thirds
missing. Her husband's working 12 hours a day trying to rebuild
that thing and trying to build it out of cinder block and concrete
because the other part that was wood, gone, I mean, gone, scattered
all over the neighborhood. They're still living, what is
it, one bedroom in a kitchen in that carport with that thing.
And that woman sat there and fed us a wonderful meal. Mason
Lilly, I've never heard her complain one time. Not one time. Now I'm not saying
she never complains, but she didn't complain to us. And that's
the way it ought to be. If you're gonna complain, complain
to God. And then see how he deals with you for it. I can't, you
complain to me, I can't teach you the lesson. All I can do
is shake my head, yeah, or get mad at you and scream at you,
whatever. Same way if you, me, you know? I'm not preaching down
to you. No, that woman sat there graciously and served. She wouldn't
even eat with us. And Moo said, don't get upset
with it, this is her way. She sat there and watched us
eat. If we needed something, what'd she do? She'd get it. And two-thirds of her house is
gone. It's just being rebuilt slowly as her husband can do
it, working 12 hours a day, trying to do this. And Peter Guerrero, came down one evening and we
were all inside, and everybody decided, well, let's go out on
the beach and sit. But for some reason, I could
tell it seemed like Peter didn't want to do that. So I went out
and sat on the condo, porch of it, and he sat down there with
me. I said, well, ain't you going to go down? He said, no, I'd rather
stay right here. And for, I guess it was, what, two hours, you
all were out there. Beautiful, beautiful view. And he and I
sat there and talked about Christ. and had heart-to-heart talks
about things we'd been through and things that I will not share
with you because that's between He, I, and God. And the man, David, didn't know
me from Adam. But once we started talking about the gospel, he
knew we were of the same spirit, believed the same God. And this
man opened up to me. And then Helena, she was one
of the other ladies that was there on the Wednesday night.
I think maybe she's renting her place, I really don't know, I
didn't ask. Still got the blue tarp, that's
all she's got. Blue tarp for a roof. But just keeps trodding along,
Joe. So like I said, we had eight for the midweek. There was about
15, give or take a few more or less, for the Sunday morning
lesson that Moose gave, and it was on prayer. And if you can,
go to Free Grace Radio and listen to that lesson. It's good, a
good lesson on prayer. And then I turned around and
looked, and after Moose taught, I turned around and looked, and
there must have been 15 to 20 more people walking that building.
They usually have around, what, 10, 11, 12? There was over 30,
maybe 40 people showed up. And Moose told Sandy, he said,
if even one of these were to make a profession of faith, you
may be going back to the States by yourself. I'm gonna stay here
with them. You understand what I'm saying?
The concern that the man has for men's souls, God helped me
to be like that. Joe, I complain when I gotta
mow the grass, with gloves and a toboggan on. They got very
little grass to mow. But I'll tell you this, those
people that gather there love the gospel. Because that's what
they wanted to talk about, not complain about what they went
through a few months ago. Now they talked about what they
went through, but not complain about it. Their glory was here's
four people from West Virginia, from the states, come down and
they want to talk about Christ with us and get to know us. Find
out what happened to us. God help me, I love to talk. God help me to shut up sometimes. There's a time to talk, that's
when I'm standing right here. But most of the time, what people
need is just to hear. They don't even need to answer
from you. They don't need a solution. They just need an ear. Don't
you agree? Just need to talk. Let us pray
for them. Let us pray for them. And maybe,
we'll talk about this later, maybe even a little more than
just pray for them. But pray for them, let's do.
Turn to Numbers chapter six, and I will leave you with this. Numbers chapter six. I thank, this will be familiar
when I read it to you, but let me give it to you in the light
of the new covenant. And you know what it is. I thank
God that our great high priest is always doing this for us and
being this for us. And listen to what it says, Numbers
chapter six, verse 23. Are you there? Number 623. Speak
unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying. Now, who did Aaron and
his sons represent? Who did they picture? Who did
they figure? Who did they shadow? Jesus Christ the Lord. And look,
and on this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying
unto them. And remember who the children
of Israel were. What all they did, 40 years, wasn't it? And yet God said, do this, bless
the children of Israel. Look at it, saying this, and
this is what Christ, Mason, I believe this is what Christ is thinking
often as he's seated on that throne at the right hand of God
the Father. It's what he's saying about us,
look at it. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make
his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee and give thee peace. They shall put my name upon the
children of Israel. Like a stamp, do you see it?
Like a stamp. Listen. because this high priest
is doing this. My name will be stamped on this
people. That's us, folks. That's us. And I will bless them. No matter what your circumstances
look like, that's true. Every day of our life. God help us to quit the belly
aching. and the complaining and the murmuring. God help us. Because
we're in a good state. I don't mean West Virginia. I'm
talking about a position. We're in Christ. There's no better
place to be in this whole thing that God created. That's in Christ. Amen? Father, be with us as we
eat together. Forgive us, strengthen us, and
help us. In Christ's name, amen.