2 Corinthians chapter 8. I want to take time to read this entire chapter to us. 2 Corinthians chapter 8, and let's begin reading in verse 1. The abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power, their ability, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves, prayin' us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift, and takin' to us the fellowship of the ministry unto the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us by the will of God. Inasmuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also. Therefore, as ye abound in everything, in faith, in utterance, in knowledge, and in all diligence, And in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.

And herein I give my advice, for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago, now therefore perform the doing of it, that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which you have. For if there be first a will in mind, it is accepted, according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened, but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want, that there may be equality. As it is written, He that hath gathered much hath nothing over, and he that hath gathered little hath no lack.

But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care in the heart of Titus for you. For indeed you accepted the exhortation, but being more forward of his own accord, he went unto you. And we have sent with him the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches, and not that only, but who was also chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace. which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind, avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us, providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. And we have sent with them our brother, whom we have often proved diligent in many things, But how much more diligent upon the great confidence which I have in you. Whether any do inquire of Titus, he is my brother and fellow helper concerning you. Are brethren be inquired of? They are the messengers of the churches and the glory of Christ. Wherefore show ye to them and before the churches the proof of your love and of our boasting on your behalf.

My subject this morning is found here in verse 5. But this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and then unto us by the will of God. And it seems to me there's two subjects here I want to look at this morning. But they're subjects that integrate themselves together.

Paul was writing to these Corinthians here concerning the grace of God that was bestowed on these churches in Macedonia. And one church in particular, and that was the church of Philippi. You remember when Paul was preaching to the church at Philippi. There was no church there. He was preaching to some women and they were praying there on the banks of a river.

And the Lord opened Lydia's heart and the Lord saved her. Revealed Himself to her. And then her whole house was converted. And then they got upset with Paul and Silas and threw them in prison. And in the process of time, the Lord delivered them and the Lord saved the jailer and his household.

And Paul now is writing to these Corinthians here and said, I want you to know. the grace of God that has been given to this church here at Philippi. And I imagine the church had increased by now. He calls them churches there at Philippi and other places, no doubt, in Macedonia. But he was telling them concerning their giving, not just of their money, which they had very little of, but their time and their talents they had given. their support to the Apostle Paul. I want to look at that just a little bit later. But he mentions about this church here at Philippi, these churches, he mentions several things here. And look what he says about it.

In verse two, he says this, how that in a great trial of affliction. These Philippian believers were suffering. We don't know who they were suffering. at the hands of, if it was something physical, if it was something inwardly in their own selves. But they were in great afflictions, great tribulations and trials. And then he says in verse 2 that they were in poverty. Now that in a great trial of afflictions, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty. They were in poverty there at Philippi. We don't know why they were in poverty.

There were a lot of churches that had their goods confiscated. If you were a believer in the early church, you were persecuted. And sometimes they confiscated the property and the goods of these believers, mainly because they wouldn't bow to the image of Caesar and call Caesar Lord. So they fell out of favor with these communities. The communities wouldn't do business with them. The community has fired them from their job. And so they came into poverty. And Paul said these churches, these believers at Philippi, were in deep poverty.

Now that says something about these health and wealth preachers of our day, doesn't it? God wants you to be healthy. God wants you to be wealthy. Well, these dear folks were in deep poverty. And he says something else here about them, too, about How much they gave. He said they gave liberally, and in verse 3, they gave above their ability. They were poor people. They didn't have much to give. But they gave far and abundantly above what they even had. We don't know if they worked some overtime. We don't know if they sold some things. But they said, the church at Jerusalem and these apostles, they have need of our finances, so they gave above their ability. And in verse 4, he tells us this about them, they gave joyfully.

How that in a great trial of afflictions, the abundance of their joy, they gave cheerfully. They didn't give till it hurt. You ever heard somebody say, give till it hurts? Give till you're filled with joy. That's what he said here about it. And Paul attributed this giving of themselves. It wasn't just their finances. No doubt they gave their time. They gave what talents they had. They traveled. They did what they could. But they did it with joy. And Paul attributes all of their work to the grace of God.

He said, I want you to know something about these Philippian believers. I want you to know something about the great grace that God in heaven has bestowed upon these people that are at Philippi. I want you to turn over to the book of Philippians. Turn over in the book of Philippians chapter 4. I want you to see some things the Apostle Paul wrote to these very Philippians. Look in chapter 4 of Philippians. And look in verse 15.

I want you to look at this church because in this church is magnified the grace of God. When Paul was there preaching to them, and you remember this in Acts 16, he preached the gospel to them and a few of them were converted. And then Paul left that church there, left those few believers and went down to Macedonia and they sent messages after him. How can we help you spread the gospel? What's your need as the minister of Christ? We want to help. We're poor and we can't do much, but we're going to help.

And that's what Paul says in verse 15. And you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, When I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving but you only." I'm telling you, this is amazing, isn't it? As soon as the Lord saved them, He opened up their heart to be generous, even giving far above what they had to give. But they didn't stop there. I want you to notice verse 16. For even in Thessalonica you sent once and again unto my necessity." They just didn't send once. They just kept on sending to the Apostle Paul. Kept on reaching out to him. We know you have needs. We know that you're making tents. Plus the time you spend studying and preaching the gospel. We want to help. Well, there's been many that helped one time, haven't they? And just forgot then. But these people didn't do that.

Bless their hearts. Grace, great grace was upon them. And then in verse 10, look back in verse 10. But I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at the last your care of me has flourished again. But you lacked opportunity. You were so anxious to give. And here Paul now is an older man. He's in prison at Rome. And these Philippian believers that began to support him as soon as they were converted and supported him all through his ministry, now here he is, an old man in prison, and he said, Your care of me is still in your hearts. You're still caring for me and praying for me and supporting me.

Isn't that wonderful? The grace of God. What it did with these dear saints. At last, Cindy and I have been in our studies. You can turn back over to our text if you want to. Cindy and I have been in our daily devotionals. We've been reading through the book of Acts. And it's amazing to me still. I have read that book now for decades.

And almost every time I just sit and read through the book of Acts, I am utterly amazed how the Lord Jesus Christ took basically a handful of people and many of them ignorant and unlearned and turned the world upside down. They went off into a world of Gentiles, a world of ignorance, a world of sin and darkness and idolatry, and all they had with them was the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm telling you, the light of that gospel invaded the darkness of that Gentile world and sent light into their hearts and their minds and delivered them from their sin and guilt and made new creatures out of them. And it changed the history of the world, didn't it?

You had idolaters who became worshippers of the living God. You had drunkards that were sobered up. You had adulterers that became faithful husbands. You had extortioners who began to make restitution. You had thieves who began to gild instead of steal.

And that was done by these apostles and these other men, taking the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why Paul recognized these early believers and said, humanly speaking, we could have never done it without you. God put this grace in your heart and you've supported us and you've given us the means to go preach Jesus Christ to these heathens. Ain't that wonderful?

I just love, I love to read the Book of Acts. We call it the Acts of the Apostles and that's what it is, but it's really the Acts of the Lord working with the Apostle and working with the early church, putting His grace in their hearts. Look back over now at our text. Here's the two things I want us to look at this morning. First of all, and this is so important, our text in verse 5 says, first of all, they gave their own selves to the Lord. And then secondly, they gave themselves to us as God's agents, as God's ministers. They gave themselves to the church to serve the cause of Jesus Christ in this world.

Now, here's something that's very necessary. And that's the order, isn't it? That's the order of this. First, he said. Notice how the Holy Spirit emphasized that. They first gave of themselves. They gave themselves to the Lord. And then secondly, they gave themselves to the church and to the service of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, brothers and sisters, This is not only necessary, but it's dangerous if we pervert this order. It's necessary to maintain this order, and if we don't maintain this order, I tell you, it leads to trouble every time. We used to say, first things first. Don't get the cart before the horse. Well, here is the cart, and it's following the horse, and it says this, they first gave themselves to the Lord.

Now why is that important? Until we give ourselves up to the Lord Jesus Christ, for Him to save us, nothing else matters. You and I are coming this morning to remember the death of our Lord, to eat this bread because it is an emblem of His broken body. We'll drink this cup because it's an emblem of His redeeming blood for us. We come here to discern His body. But listen, this table will profit us nothing if we have not yet given ourselves up to Jesus Christ to be saved by Him. Not only will it not profit, it may do us great harm. It may bring us under judgment because we cannot discern the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm just saying this morning, here's the order. First, we give ourselves up to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the order. Until we've done that, nothing else matters, does it?

There's no use to be baptized. I still preach here that we're to Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be baptized. I still preach that. But until we believe in Jesus Christ, until we actually give ourselves up to be saved by Him, baptism will profit a man nothing. A man may go down under the water, a sinner, a lost sinner, and if he does, he'll come up not only a lost sinner, but probably a deceived sinner. That's how critical this order is that God has given us here. They first gave themselves to the Lord. That's the order, isn't it? That's the order.

A man, Paul said, may have knowledge of all the prophecies in the Bible. Wouldn't it be amazing to have all knowledge of all the prophecies? Do you understand perfectly the book of Revelations? He said you may understand all the mysteries of the Bible.

You may give your body to be burned. You may have faith to remove mountains. A man may have all of that. But brothers and sisters, if we have not yet come to give ourselves up to the Lord Jesus Christ, to be saved by Him, nothing will profit us. That has to be first. Somebody will say, well, Bruce, I want to join the church. Well, that's good. I want to confess Christ in water baptism. That's wonderful. Just make sure of this, that you have already given yourself to the Son of God to be saved by Him.

Cindy and I were watching a preacher last night. He was a man that had been converted from an Islam religion. And he was talking about how deceptive it was and how bad it was. And he said he was converted to Christianity. And I listened to him for a while. And then he said he was influenced by Oral Roberts. He was influenced by Oral Roberts that laid his hand on a woman or a girl and raised her up.

And I thought to myself, You came out of Islam, and that's a wonderful thing, but what form of Christianity did you come into? Brothers and sisters, there's different forms of Christianity. There's only one true Christianity, and that's Jesus Christ. But there's all kinds of deceptive forms of Christianity. Paul didn't say you gave yourself up to Christianity.

He said they gave themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved by Him. And that's very important, isn't it? Because there's coming a day when there's going to be, the Lord Jesus said, many who would stand before the Lord upon His throne, the judge of all the earth in the last day, and those people will say to Him, have we not cast out devils? Have we not... done many wonderful works in your name. Look at all that we've done. And the Lord Jesus told them, you're workers of iniquity.

I don't even know who you are. In other words, you've never came to me. You've never given yourself up to me. You never did business with me. You never humbled yourself and relied upon me wholly. You're workers of iniquity. You got the cart before the horse. And because you did, Look where it's got you.

And brothers and sisters, we can't do a thing to please God. We cannot serve in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ until we're saved. Salvation is essential. Somebody said, I want to work. That's good. But you've got to be saved first. You've got to come to Christ to be saved. And that's what Paul is telling us here and he's telling us this. This order must be observed or it's dangerous. It's dangerous.

And could I encourage everyone here this morning to give some serious thought to this order. And let me, first of all and foremost, remind us all this morning what a willing and faithful and able Savior Jesus Christ is. I would encourage everybody here this morning and you who have not come to the Lord Jesus Christ and given yourself up to Him, I just want you to know what an able Savior He is and what a willing Savior He is to save all of those that come and give themselves up to Him. It's not an easy thing for a man to give himself up to Jesus Christ to be saved. It's not easy, is it?

All of us have seen little children. A dad will set a little one-year-old child upon a high kitchen counter and he says, now jump, child, jump. And the little child is put in a predicament. There his dad stands with his hands out, jump, son. And he hears his dad's voice, jump. But he looks down and he sees the hard floor. And even though he's one year old, he knows if he drops me, that's going to hurt. And what does his dad have to do? Well, he has to coach him, doesn't he?

Son, jump. Daddy's got you. Trust me, son. Trust me. And what does the son finally do? He jumps into his dad's strong arms. But he doesn't do it without some encouragement. And you and I will not come and give ourselves up to the Lord Jesus Christ if we don't know He's able to save us, if we don't know He has the skill and ability and the wilderness to save us.

We may do it with a sin of our mind. We've got this thing today that preachers are telling people, just give your heart to Jesus, and that's the easiest thing in the world to do. But I'm telling you, brothers and sisters, you and I are facing eternity. We're sinners, aren't we?

And to give ourselves up to somebody else to secure our eternity-bound soul, that's serious business. And we can't give ourselves in part. We have to give all of ourselves. The Lord Jesus will be a complete Savior. He'll have all of us, and we give all of Him. And if He don't have all of us, we don't give all of Him. We must come and give ourselves up to Jesus Christ.

I was watching an old Robin Hood movie. Been several years ago. Yeah, and I was converted when I was watching a Robin Hood movie. It's difficult to find a good movie stint to watch anymore, isn't it? But this was a pretty good one. But I was watching this Robin Hood movie, and one of Robin Hood's friends had been captured by the authority.

And they were going to hang him. And there he was upon the gallows, he already had a rope around his neck. And you could tell he was nervous. But he spied Robin Hood in the shadows. And Robin Hood had his bow and his arrow ready to draw it back and was going to shoot that rope as soon as that trapdoor fell. And he sort of smiled as they put the cover over his head.

Because he knew his friend Robin Hood, that skilled marksman, when that trap door opened, he would shoot that rope and he'd fall down free. Now that's just impossible, but that was a movie, and it provided me a good illustration. He had to utterly commit himself. whether he lived or died into the hands of his friend and the skill that his friend had to shoot that arrow and to cut that rope. Does Jesus Christ this morning, brothers and sisters, have the power to save a sinner? Is His arm strong enough to save a sinner? Is He welcoming the sinner to jump into His everlasting arms and be saved? Yes, He is. Wouldn't it be awful if a little child jumped off of the kitchen cabinet and his dad missed him? Or his dad dropped him? Wouldn't that be awful?

It will never happen with the Lord Jesus Christ. You jump into His everlasting arms of salvation. He has never dropped a single one. I want to read you, quote to you, some of the passages concerning what the Lord Himself says about His arms. Now listen to this. He said, My arm is not shortened, that it cannot say. You say, Bruce, I feel so far off. You just don't know how far off I feel and how far off I really am. I'm telling you, his arm is not shortened. He can reach where you are. I don't care how deep that you've fallen. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has a long arm. And listen to this.

He brought out Israel out of the land of bondage, and how did he do that? He brought them out from Pharaoh out of the iron furnace, and here's the way he did it. With his strong hand and with his outstretched arm. You think he has an arm that can deliver you? You know how it's said that he parted the Red Sea? With his hand. What kind of hand could part the depths of the Red Sea? The hand of God. The hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. And listen to Jeremiah 32, 17. Oh, Lord God, He said, behold, thou hast made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your stretched out arm.

And nothing is too hard for you. You think He that hung the moon by His stretched out arm can't reach out and catch you? You think if He was strong enough to lift the moon and set it in its place, He's not strong enough to catch your heavy soul? That's what we think, isn't it? Our conscience is so heavy with its guilt and its shame, but if He can hold the moon, Can He not hold you? Oh, He can, can't He?

I'm just saying this because I'm telling you, when you come to give yourself up to Jesus Christ, you've got a devil that's there to fight you. You've got flesh that's there to fight you. You've got your doubts there to fight you. And you need to know that Jesus Christ has a strong, stretched out arm to grab you and to hold you and secure you.

What did He say about His hand? Didn't He tell us about His hand? He said, No man is able to pluck them out of My hands. His hand is a strong hand. He can grab you and hold you. And not only is it a strong hand, but listen to this, it's a tender hand. He has such a tender hand. He feeds His flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs with His arms and He carries them in His bosom. He's so tender, isn't He?

And He said, On my arm they shall put their trust. Trust Him. Give yourself up to the Lord Jesus Christ. Cast yourself upon Him, lock, stock and barrel, with this confidence that He can save you, that He is able to save you. I encourage everybody to do that this morning.

You say, Bruce, I'm full of doubts. I don't know if I've ever done it or not. Well, do it again. I think I've done it 20 years ago. OK, but do it this morning. Haven't you had to do that more than once? Oh, I pray for grace. Sometimes I myself struggle within my own soul, and I just tell the Lord Jesus, Lord, here I give myself away. That's all that I can do. And if you're having doubts about that this morning, give yourself to it.

Just give all yourself to Him. the mighty Savior. And what about His voice? Don't He encourage us to jump right into His arms? He does. Listen to this. Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. Don't let your heart be hard with doubts and fears and dreads. If you hear His voice, listen to His voice.

And His voice is telling you exactly what to do. And what does He want you to do? He wants you to give yourself up to Him completely without any reservation. Here's what He says, Come unto Me, all you that labor. You're so heavy, but He that lifted the moon and set it in His place can save your heavy soul. Come unto Me, all you that labor, and I'll give you rest.

You think He'll give you rest if you come? If He don't, He'll break His Word. Can I give myself up to Him? He said you could. Listen to His voice. Don't harden your heart against His voice. What else does He tell us? Well, He tells us this. Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord.

Though your sins be as scarlet... You know what? That's murderous sins, isn't it? Red sins. Though they be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. My goodness, your sins white as snow? That's what He tells you to come to Me. Give yourself up to Me. I'll take your sins and wash them from your conscience. And you'll be as white as snow. Come and put yourself under this fountain.

Oh, one person said, I feel like I need something to bring with me. Oh, you've got plenty to bring with you. You've got a lot to bring with you. You've got your sin. You've got your guilt. You've got your former rebellion. You've got that to bring with you. That's enough. Come just as you are. Come now just as you are. Somebody said this, Bruce, I'm afraid to come empty-handed.

I think there's some work that I need to do. Oh, there's work that needs to be done. And there's time when you'll be working yourself in the kingdom of Christ. But you better not be thinking about work now that you can do. There is work that had to be done, and it's already done. What did Jesus Christ say upon the cross of Calvary, dear soul? It is finished. The work was done.

What else could possibly you do? There's nothing to be done but first come and give yourself up to the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved by Him. Well, you say, Bruce, I just can't do it. Oh, I've talked to people, brothers and sisters. I used to work out in public. I used to work in a hot form shop. I've talked to people about coming to Christ. And I've talked to some that just plainly told me, I can't do it. I can't trust it. I just can't do it. Just forget about it. I can't trust Him. I just can't do it. I'm not even going to talk about it.

Well, there's a verse of Scripture, dear soul. If you're here this morning and you're so afraid to give yourself up to Him, your heart is so full of mistrust that you will not venture your salvation upon the Son of God, then there's a verse of Scripture that applies to you, and it's dreadful. In Revelation chapter 22, the fearful and unbelieving. shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone."

Can't you trust Him? Is He not trustworthy? You don't think He has an arm long enough to reach you? You don't think He has an arm strong enough to catch you? You don't think He's full of grace enough to save you? Mercy to receive you? Blood to worship you? Is there anything lacking in the Son of God? Nothing! Then why don't you give yourself up to Him?

I'm speaking to you this morning, dear souls. Don't leave this congregation and go out here without giving thought to this preaching. This is serious. Give yourself to Jesus Christ. Do it right now, right where you set Him. That's the gospel, isn't it? And that's what Paul said these Philippians did before they did anything else. They came right to the Lord. They approached unto the Lord. And they said, Lord, here I am. I'm a miserable sinner. I was born a sinner. I've lived a sinner. I've lived Your enemy. And now I'm in this desperate situation and I can't save myself from it. Lord, I give myself to You. And give Yourself wholly to Jesus Christ to be saved by Him.

I'm telling you, brothers and sisters there, Heaven is populated this morning, and it's being populated with people just like us. They were born in sin and lived in sin, but they came and gave themselves up to the Son of God, and He saved them, and they're in heaven today in that holy and happy place. And that's what I'm telling us first must be done this morning.

Come right to Him. He's the Savior. He's done it all. and give yourself up to Him. Lot, stock, and burrow. Quickly, here's the second point. Not only did they first give themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, they gave themselves, Paul said, unto us. Not just the apostles. Not just to other ministers. But they gave themselves to the church. To serve with the church.

We shouldn't have any islands in some stream. We're not islands floating around out here by ourselves. I never could understand people that have come and give their self up to the Lord and the Lord has saved them and they don't want to unite with other believers. They're very neglectful to do that. They can sort of take it or leave it. Brothers and sisters, I can't understand that.

We have the same father. We have the same elder brother. We have love one for another. So we join, we unite with the church of Jesus Christ to serve Him in the church. I am a local church man. I know there's a universal church in this world, but I'm a local church man. I think the universal church is made up of local churches just like this. And if the Lord has saved you, find you a congregation of the Lord's people and get with them and fellowship with them and serve in the kingdom of Christ with them. That makes sense, doesn't it?

I've told somebody just the other day, we've had all this sickness and I've been sick and Wayne was telling me this morning about they were up in Alaska and they basically Had no place there to go hear a preacher get up and preach and worship. And I told him this morning, I said, Wayne, I could have never made it. I couldn't make it. Well, I guess I could, but I just don't know how. I don't know how I'd make it without you.

Without the church and the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said they gave themselves to us. Paul, why did they do that? Because they love Christ. They wanted to serve in His kingdom, and they wanted to serve with His children. Let me close this morning with four things concerning that. Why should we unite with the Church of Christ? Why should we unite with other believers? Well, first of all is this, because the Lord Jesus Christ is in their midst. The Lord Jesus Christ is in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. And who are the candlesticks?

I'm looking at it. Here's one of them. For two or three are gathered in my name. They're gathered. There am I in the very midst of them. And one thing I believe this morning with all my heart, brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ is right here this morning.

He's not here physically, but He's here by His Spirit. We can be sure of that. You say, Bruce, don't you believe He's everywhere? Oh yeah, He's everywhere. There's no doubt about it. He fills all space, doesn't He? You can't go anywhere in this universe that He's not there. He's everywhere. Do not I fill heaven and the earth, He said.

He fills all time. If you could suddenly go back ten years ago, He's already there. If you could flash ahead ten years, He's already there. He's back in eternity that's past, and He's already in eternity that's to come. He's everywhere. But He's especially with His churches.

Ain't that wonderful? I felt His presence here sometimes in the worship service, in my heart, that He is here among us. And that's why I want together. That's why I want to unite myself and give myself up to a church just like this to serve with you because Christ is here. The second thing is this. Boy, there's a kindred spirit among God's children.

We're brothers and sisters, aren't we? Christ said, who is my brother? Who is my sister? He looked down and there sat Mary Magdalene. And there sat some of the other ladies. And he said, there sits my sister. This is my family. And he looked back there and poor old Peter sitting there and James and John and some others that were following him. He said, there's my brothers. There's my brothers.

We're the family of God, aren't we? How good and how pleasant it is to come together because it's like a family reunion. Next time you ask somebody, somebody asks where you go to church, oh, we have a family reunion over there every week. And we do, don't we? I love, I have some dear family that's left and sometimes we try to get together with them and I love them dearly. But I love this family more. God is our father. Jesus Christ is our elder brother. And all of us are brothers and sisters in Christ. I love that. Here's the third thing that we unite ourselves with the Lord's Church. For the comfort of it.

Especially in dangerous times. In dangerous times. What Paul said in the last days, perilous times shall come, didn't he? Dangerous times. Uncertain times. Unsafe times. Can you believe how things have changed in the last, what, just the last few years? I can't believe how things have changed. And it's worldwide. We have this news media now. We see what's going on in all the world. And it's beautiful, isn't it? We don't know what's going to happen today or tomorrow. It's dangerous, brothers and sisters.

I want to be with the Lord's people. because that comforts me. Paul said God has comforted you in your tribulation that you might be able to comfort those who are in trouble. I want to talk to you folks. I want to hear your troubles. I want to tell you my troubles. And I want you to remind me, Bruce, the Lord is on His throne.

Some of you have reminded me of that. I left here last week and Cindy had to get on to me a little bit because When I preach a message, I reckon somebody just thinks, boy, he don't have any trouble applying that to his life. I went out of here and Cindy got on me not long after that. Remember what I said?

I made a statement last week that we ought to put Christ on in our mouth. Put Him on our membrane, put Him on our ritual, put Him on in our mouth. When we talk, talk about Him. And we started talking about everything to everybody else. And Cindy said, did you notice we were talking about everything to everybody else but him?

Oh, that message came back to me. If you're here and you're not married, you need a wife. Jim, you need a wife. I have to live this message out myself. I need somebody to remind me when I get so concerned about the condition of this world and the direction that it's going. I need somebody to tell me, Bruce, the Son of God is on the throne. Everything is working out just as it should work out. Rest your soul.

I need to know that myself. I need for you to tell me that. That's why I need to unite myself with you. I need to talk with you in your homes. I need to talk with you on the telephone. I need to come here and talk with you. I need you, brothers and sisters. That's all I'm saying. I need you. I've given myself to Jesus Christ, and I give myself to you to serve with you. And lastly is this.

We can't do much by ourselves. But we can do a lot when we unite. This church, Paul was talking about these churches at Philippi, they were so poor. Can you imagine one of them getting out here by himself and said, well, I think I'll send some support up there to Jerusalem. I think I'll, I'm going to send Paul a check. And Paul gets a check and he can't even buy a fish sandwich with it. But they all got together. And they all combined what they had. And he said it was an abundance. That abundance.

You and I, brothers and sisters, can't do much by ourselves. But when we unite and serve the Lord as a body, my goodness, look what we can do. It's a wonderful thing, isn't it? I want to be among those people who love the Lord and know the Lord and have given themselves up just to serve Him, not looking for any kind of reward.

They just love Him. They say, I want to serve Him and I want to be with those who want to serve Him. And there's coming a day, and I want to be with you on this day, when that day comes and the Lord Jesus looks at His churches He's got them all in heaven and he looks at all of them. And he talks to all the churches.

And he said, listen, I was hungry and you fed me. He didn't point one out over here by himself and say, boy, look what you've done. He was telling the church that. I was thirsty and look what all you did to give me drink. They put me in prison and all of you, look it, you came and visited.

We're a church, aren't we? We're one. We're united. And we're united ourselves to serve Jesus Christ. We can't do much by ourselves. But by God's grace, we can do a lot united, can't we? I hope this is a blessing to you, brothers and sisters. I want to spend eternity with you. That's why I instruct you. That's why I warn you. Because I don't want anybody, I don't want anybody to miss Jesus Christ and miss heaven. And I want to be there with every last one of you.

Father in heaven, oh gracious and merciful, merciful Father in heaven. Lord, you know that we can't begin to express the appreciation, the thankfulness of our hearts. You're worth more honor and glory and praise and thanksgiving than we could ever bestow upon you. And we thank you, our Father, for giving us such a great Savior to love us, to suffer for us. We thank you for this, dear people here this morning, You're able to save every one of us. Your heart is so full of grace. We pray that you do.

We come here to remember Lord Jesus. You're dying for us. You're burying our sin. Burying the guilt and the shame of it. Being stripped naked and beaten. We were guilty of that. Our humanity did that to you. But we're here to remember out of your death and sufferings came our life, our eternal life. So Lord bless us all this morning as we take this bread and as we drink this wine to remember you, your broken body and your precious blood you poured out for us. We pray in Christ's name, Amen.