I'll turn to Acts chapter 18. We're continuing our studies
in the book of Acts. I hope it's not wearying you.
It's a long time that we've been looking at this now, but every
time I look at it, there seems to be a message staring me right
in the face in the middle of it, so as long as there is, I
think I'm inclined to keep going. And particularly this one seemed
very apt, because I was inclined to move on and to skip some pieces,
and then the more I thought about it, I'm sure the Lord brought
me back to these verses 1 to 11 of chapter 18. It's easy to
become discouraged, isn't it? A small group, starting up, I
mean it isn't even two years that we've been going yet, and
it's easy to become discouraged. Very few people come. There seems
to be such apathy in society around us, and those that we
thought would have been inclined to come, you know, you do a little
bit of human totting up on your fingers, don't you? You think,
well it probably would come and they would as well and yes let's
go ahead and do it and then this coldness and apathy and religious
superstition all around takes over and we preach the gospel
and I'm not just talking about me here in the pulpit but you
witness it and you give out leaflets and the message is there and
we advertise and we do all of these things and nobody comes
well we had one person come and then maybe we probably could
count on the fingers of one hand I think, the people that have
come out of inquiry and interest. We pray that that will change.
But it can be very, very discouraging. Nobody comes. It's depressing.
It's discouraging. There's a set of books that are
not the Scriptures. It's called the Apocrypha. In
a Catholic Bible, you will find the Apocrypha. They're not the
Scriptures. The testimony of the scholars
down the ages is that they're not the Scripture. But nevertheless,
there are some quite wise words in parts of it. And reading John
Gill, on this chapter he quotes one of the apocryphal books it's
2nd Esdras chapter 5 and verse 1 and it sums up what we see
the way of truth shall be hidden and the land shall be barren
of faith isn't that what it just seems like the land is barren
of faith and it is what the scriptures say because Jesus said to his
disciples speaking of when he comes again the second time in
Luke 18 and verse 8 he says when the Son of Man comes will he
find faith on the earth? Will he find? It'll be a rare
thing. And Revelation chapter 11, I often refer to it, but
there's a vision there of the prophets, Moses and Elijah symbolically,
the prophets speaking the Word of God, and they're preaching,
and the people don't like it, and the people rise up and kill
them, and their bodies lie dead in the streets. And it's speaking
in symbolical picture language of a day and of days when it's
as if the witness of the truth of the Church of Christ is lying
dead in the streets. And it says that all the people
rejoiced over it, because they've got rid of this thing that they
don't like, which puts restrictions on them and constraints on them.
You know, they don't like to know. Man did not like to retain
God in his knowledge. They don't like it. And so the
idea that gospel witness is dead in the streets is a matter for
rejoicing. At least we've got rid of that.
We've got our Darwinian evolutionary theory. We've got our liberal
society. Anybody can do whatever they
want. Let's have a good time. None of this terrible condemning
law that's in that book. You know, like Sir Ian McKellen
said, you'd love to take a pair of scissors and to cut out loads
and loads of the scriptures, the bits that talk about homosexuality
and other sins, that our society today has taken to its heart
and rejoices in but those prophets in Revelation 11 don't stay dead
they rise up they stay dead for three-and-a-half days remember
three-and-a-half one and then two and then a half a one it's
symbolical throughout the scriptures that that number is symbolical
of God's perfect sovereign timing for a while and then they rise
up and stand on their feet and the message of God and of His
gospel and of His grace. And the honor of His Son is preached
and proclaimed and known. And every knee shall bow, the
Scriptures say. You read it in Isaiah 45, every
tongue shall confess and every knee shall bow. And you read
it again in Philippians, that every tongue shall confess and
every knee shall bow and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord. Those who hate Him will say,
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. It is discouraging. It can be discouraging. We're
only frail flesh. We so easily get upset and downcast
and disappointed. And even the Apostle Paul, even
he, the one who was so successful in taking the message of the
Gospel to the Gentiles, to the non-Jews, he was discouraged.
Remember, he'd been in Athens. He'd been in the most powerful
place in the intellectual world, on Mars Hill in Athens, at the
Areopagus. and all the Greek philosophers
that even our history books today revere as men of great philosophical
learning, of men of great intellectual prowess. He was there in the
midst of them and he preached his message of truth concerning
salvation. And remember at the end of it,
Dionysius, the chief judge of the Areopagus, believed the gospel
and there were others too. And he'd come from there to Corinth,
not very far. He'd come away from there to
Corinth and he was waiting at Corinth. And while he was there,
he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus. And he was lately come from Italy,
from Rome, with his wife Priscilla. Aquila and Priscilla, they're
well known in the scriptures. They're mentioned at the end
of his epistle to the Romans. Priscilla and Aquila. Obviously,
He had a deep love for these people. And why were they there?
This is where the scriptures, you see, are so unlike false
religion scriptures. Because our scriptures here are
filled with little things that just attest to the truth of it. There's a little historical fact
there in brackets. Because Claudius, the Roman emperor,
had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome. And that's the reason.
Just a little incidental historical snippet. It's true. It's true. And he came to them and he joined
with them. And why did Paul join with them?
Because they were tent makers. And Paul needed to earn a living
while he was going on his travels. He needed to have money to buy
food so that he could live and lodge in different places. And
he was a tent maker by trade. Even though he was this powerful
preacher of the truth of the gospel of grace, he was a tent
maker. And he abode with Priscilla and
Aquila in their tent making business there in Corinth. And when he
wasn't making tents, what was he doing? He was preaching the
Gospel. And he abode with them and then
he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded Jews
and Greeks. And when Silas and Timotheus
were come from Macedonia, this is verse 5, Paul was pressed
in the spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. The time he wasn't making tents
to earn a living, he was preaching the Gospel. That encourages me
actually. because I have to do a bit of
kind of tent making, I have to go out still and earn a living
and that's quite right too. Maybe one day there will be enough
of us and God will raise up a preacher in a fellowship in Nebworth and
it will be possible to support a pastor full-time but for now
this is the situation and the fact you know sometimes I wonder
am I doing the right thing? I'm still having to work, can
I balance both? Well Paul clearly did so that
encourages me that this is a pattern which is okay. And what he was
preaching was this, that Jesus was Christ. This was his message,
and isn't this our message? This is what we seek to make
known. What do I mean by that? You know it, I repeat it every
week, because it's tell me the old, old story. It's the one
story that we never tire of, is knowing this, that Jesus is
the Christ, and by that we mean this, that if a man is to be
right with God, if a woman is to be right with God, It is on
the basis of Christ and Him alone. It's not on the basis of who
we are, what our character is, what our works are, what our
nature is. It's on the basis of Him and who He is and what
He has done and what He has established. It's being in Him. This is the basis of acceptance
with Christ. I've used this analogy before
but it's a good one. Citizenship. You know, there
are things that apply to you and me if we're citizens of Britain
or whichever country, there are things that apply to you because
you're citizens of that country. There are times when you are
at war with other nations and it's nothing you've done, but
you're at war because your country is at war and you're in your
country. You're citizens of your country
and that's what it's like. We're in Christ and the scripture
says this, for as in Adam, as we are by nature, all die under
the curse of sin, even so in Christ shall all, who are the
all? all those who are in Christ be
made alive we're all in Adam by birth but God has his people
who are in Christ by sovereign electing choice and even so in
Christ shall all be made alive and so in the face of that truth
that Christ the sinner's substitute has lived on behalf of his people
the ones that we read about right at the start of the service whom
the father gave to the son he's lived on their behalf He's died
and shed His blood for their sins because He bore their sins
in His own body on the tree. He's risen from the dead for
our justification. He's established righteousness.
He's satisfied the justice of God. And now these gracious words
come. Look unto Me, all ye ends of
the earth. The command. Look unto Me, all
ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved, for I am God and there
is no other. And how can He say that? Because
He's established justice and righteousness. He says, I am
the way, the truth and the life. There is a truth. There is a
way. There is eternal life. And no
man comes to the Father but by the Lord Jesus Christ. But there
is a way. There is a way to the Father. There is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. It's
exclusive. But look, there's none other
name whereby we must be saved. It's a message of salvation.
It's a message of hope. It's a message of encouragement.
The Philippian jailer we saw two weeks ago cried out, what
must I do to be saved from the judgment of God and from the
condemnation from my sins that results from that sin? And the
answer came quickly from Paul. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved and not just you but any in your household
as well who hears this message. Any. The command goes out, look
unto me. These sweet gracious promises,
this sweet gracious message that Paul preached, that Jesus was
the Christ, that we seek to preach here in Nedworth and make more
widely known. A sweet, gracious message of
acceptance with God and salvation. And the invitation goes out as
it does at the end of Isaiah. Come and taste, come and buy
milk and wine and good things without money and without price
because they're matters of the sovereign grace of God. Sweet
things. sweet things, lovely, satisfying
things, soul-satisfying things. Come and taste, drink of the
water of life, take of the water of life, says the Word of God.
But what's the reaction? John 3.19 says this, you know,
three verses on from, For God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish,
but have eternal life. And three verses on, and this
is the condemnation. that that light of the truth
has come into the world, but men and women love darkness rather
than light because their deeds were evil. Sin makes them reject
that message. And look at verse 6. He preaches
a gracious message as we seek to preach. And those people there,
they opposed themselves and blasphemed. And Paul was so frustrated with
them, he shook his raiment and said unto them, Your blood be
upon your own heads, I am clean from henceforth I will go unto
the Gentiles." That's an expression of extreme frustration with the
response he was getting to what he was preaching. It was almost
as if, I've had enough of this. I can't take any more of this.
I've preached such a gracious message and he gets such opposition
and rejection. He clearly had very, very verbal
opposition. The thing that we face today
is great apathy. Nobody seems bothered. Nobody's
interested in the slightest. And we might feel very much the
same here as He did. He was, I'm sure, very inclined
to shake the dust off His feet and move on. What do I mean by
that? It's what Jesus said when He sent out His disciples. It's
in three of the Gospels. But Matthew 10, 14 says this.
He's talking to the disciples. He's sending out to preach the
kingdom. And He says, And whosoever shall
not receive you, nor hear your words, when you depart out of
that house or city shake off the dust from your feet and go
to somewhere else because I might have my people there for you
to bring that message to and I'm sure Paul was discouraged
and inclined to say here in Corinth here in Corinth it was a barren,
barren place and he preached such a gracious message and the
enthusiastic response to it was opposition that's all he got
and he was inclined to move on and say, well not here, another
place, I'm going somewhere else. Isn't it a common experience?
It's a very common experience. I mentioned last week about Noah.
Noah preached righteousness, the righteousness of God, the
truth in Christ for a hundred and twenty years with that most
graphic symbol of salvation, the ark that he was building.
And the end of his labors, eight were saved, only eight were saved.
Think of Elijah. Think of Elijah. You can see
him in 1 Kings chapter 19. Just turn back to 1 Kings chapter
19. Where we see Elijah, he suddenly
appears in chapter 17. First thing we read about him,
Elijah the Tishbite and he rises up and we read all about the
experience on Mount Carmel and the fire of God coming down and
consuming the sacrifice and the prophets of Baal were there false
idolatry, being frustrated, and he does such a mighty thing.
And in chapter 19 and verse 1, Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah
had done. This is, you know, it's symbolical
of powerful gospel preaching, is what Elijah had done. You
know, we've had wonderful series of preaching years ago. Bill brought a wonderful series
that was excellent on Elijah. precious, precious truths and
it was a powerful message of the truth of the gospel and the
false prophets of Baal were scattered and slain and you would think
what a moment of triumph and Ahab tells Jezebel his wife his
wicked wife and how he's done this and then Jezebel sends a
messenger verse 2 to Elijah saying so let the gods do to me and
more so If I make not thy life as the life of one of them, by
tomorrow about this..." You're gonna die, Elijah. You've met
your match now. You may have slain a lot of prophets
of Baal, but you've gone too far this time. You're gonna be
dead by this time tomorrow, you see? And when he saw that, the
man who just triumphed so powerfully in the strength of God, this
great prophet, he triumphed so powerfully. What did he do? He
arose and went for his life. He ran for His life, kicked up
His heels and went, and came to Beersheba, and so He went
on. And what did He say? What did He say? Verse 4, He
requested for Himself that He might die and said, It is enough. It is enough. O Lord, now take
away my life, for I am not better than my father's. Oh yes, a mighty
thing's been done, but I'm not better than my father's. Lord,
now take away my life. And He's had enough. It is enough.
and what does God say to him look down in uh... where are
we verse eighteen we won't go through all of the details because
that's a message in itself yet I have left me seven thousand
in Israel all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal and
every mouth which has not kissed him it occurred to me whilst
preparing this that there might be some symbology in that number
as well it might not be a literal seven thousand you know line
them all up 6,997, 998, 7,000. There might be symbology in it. Now what could it be? I've looked
at commentators, I can't find any of them, so I might be going
out on a limb here, but I'm gonna go out on a limb because I think
I can see this. You might agree with me, you don't have to agree
with me. 7,000 is 7 times 10 times 10
times 10, right? My maths is right. 10 times 10
times 10 is 1,000 and 7 of them. Do you know in the Bible 7 is
the number of perfection. God's number of perfection. That's
why we have 7 days in our week. It's God's number of perfection.
And 10 is God's number of completeness. And 10 times 10 times 10, some
of you younger ones won't have done cubes yet, but I know Michael
will have done cubes. 10 is completeness cubed. So it's God's perfect completeness
cubed. He's saying, I have a number
of people that is my perfect, complete number of people." Don't
you worry, Elijah. You're not the only one who is
left. You see? Common experience. But God brings
encouragement. We always fail to see God's big
picture. Don't we? I do. I'm sure you
do. In our flesh, you know, the Spirit
lusts against the flesh and the flesh against the Spirit. And
the Spirit is often high on a cloud of wonderful experience of the
presence of God. and the flesh is groveling down
in the mire still. The flesh lusts against the Spirit
and in the flesh, those fleshly moments, we don't see God's big
picture. We fail to see those things.
Satan says to our flesh, even us as believers, as he said to
Eve in the Garden of Eden, has God really said? Surely God hasn't
said that, has he? Has God really said that? And
human reasoning causes us to doubt God's sovereign purposes
and tempts us to give up and as Paul might have been tempted
to give up to stop preaching maybe just go back to making
tents because he was making a good living with Priscilla and Aquila
he was doing alright he was good at it so why not just go back
to making tents losing sight of God's big picture you see
he writes to the Corinthians because this place where he is
he ends up writing at least two letters two that are in our scriptures
and other ones we believe And he says this, while we look not
at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not
seen. For the things which are seen, these things around us
are temporal. In other words, only for a little
while. But the things which are not seen are eternal. Yes? God's big picture is the
eternal picture, the truth. You know, I can remind you of
another account of somebody who didn't see the big picture. Do
you remember Elisha following on from Elijah? And he's got
his servant. And his servant gets up and goes
and looks at the situation. And it was a time of conflict
with Syria. How these things continue, you
know, these nations' names. And here we are in 2009 and the
same nations' names and conflicts seem to go on. But Israel was
in conflict with Syria. And Elisha's servant got up and
went and looked. And all he could see was the
Syrians, and the armies, and the swords, and the chariots,
and the horses arrayed in battle against them. And what did he
say? We're done for. Oh, alas, my master, we're done
for. And Elisha prays, Lord, open
his eyes that he may see that those that are for us are more
than those that are against us. And the Lord opened the servant's
eyes, and he looked, and all around He could see angels and
chariots and horses, showing him that God is in control. God is sovereignly in control
of all things. And so the Lord encourages Paul
here in Corinth. He encourages him. In verses
7 and 8, he gets some encouragement then. He departed thence, and
entered into a certain man's house named Justice, one that
worshipped God, and whose house joined hard to the synagogue,
and Crispus the chief ruler of the synagogue believed on the
Lord with all his house and many of the Corinthians hearing believed
and were baptized there's an encouragement now you say well
we haven't had an encouragement like that have we? I look round
this room there are people who believed the gospel of grace
there are people whom God has called out of darkness into his
marvellous light and united together and we may be few but praise
God there is an encouragement in that we're not one on our
own on a desert island there might be a small company but
there's a company and God has his people in every place but
then look what he goes on to say then spake the Lord to Paul
in the night by a vision be not afraid but speak and hold not
thy peace for I am with thee and no man shall set on thee
to hurt thee for I have much people in this city and he continued
there he didn't shake the dust off his feet He continued there
for a year and a half, teaching the Word of God among them. Don't
be afraid, he said. Keep preaching the Gospel. Where you are, keep preaching
the Gospel. Why? Because he said, I've got
my people here in this place. I've got some people here. Don't
be afraid. They can't really hurt you. Don't
fear them. You're safe in the everlasting
arms of God. all sorts of things will befall
you, but in terms of eternity, you're safe in the everlasting
arms. You might be in conflict and
subject to persecution all around, but your eternal state is fixed
and nobody can touch it, and nobody can affect it, and God
has his people. You see, who was it who came
and gave this message to Paul? Isn't this a sweet and gracious
encouragement? And it's here in the Scripture
to Paul, so that it might be here in the Scripture to us as
well. Just as the Lord spake to Paul in a vision at night,
by this same vision, that same Lord, our blessed Lord Jesus
Christ, our brother, our friend, our master, our prophet, our
priest, our king, speaks to us through his word. And he says
this to us, you little flock, don't be afraid, don't be afraid,
but speak the gospel, speak. Don't hold back, don't hold your
peace, for I am with you. And no man shall set upon you
to hurt you, for I have much people in this city. There are
people here whom I have yet to save, because He's purposed to
save them. And if He's purposed to save
them, He will save them. It's not down to whether they
decide to or not. He will save them. He will bring
them out of darkness into His marvelous light. He will be glorified
in the salvation of His people. Who are these people that God
has? It's not the generality of people all around us. Yes,
by creation, God has people everywhere. Everyone, in that sense, is a
child of God in that we're the creation of God. But God has
those who he describes in various ways. Let me give you some scriptures. You don't need to turn them all
up. You don't need to turn them all up. If you want these scriptures,
I can give you them afterwards. But Psalm 148 and verse 14. He calls them a people near unto
Him. You see? It's distinctive. He's
making a distinction. There's a people whom He calls
near unto Him. In Isaiah 27 and verses 1-6,
He talks about Satan attacking, but being frustrated. And He
describes His people as a vineyard which is protected. It's a lovely
picture of how He protects it. fertilizes it, and waters it,
and looks after it, and prevents the enemy from coming in to do
anything to it. As far as God is concerned, His
people are a protected vineyard. In Isaiah 43 and verse 21, in
this wicked world, down all the ages, where Satan has so much
blinded the minds of men and women all around us that they
do not believe the truth, yet God has a people who will show
forth His praise. truly show forth His praise.
Not in idolatrous religion, not in falsehood, but in the truth
of the gospel of His grace. They will show forth His praise.
In John chapter 17 and verse 6, God has a people. We read
it in Christ's prayer to His Father before He went to the
cross. And these people are described as the gift of the Father to
the Son. They're precious. They're a gift.
A gift from the Father to the Son. A people In this world,
in all generations, a people that are too numerous and impossible
for us to count, a people whom we never know from looking at
marks on them or characteristics of them before they believe the
gospel, but they're a people set apart and they're a gift
from the Father to the Son. They're a people who are not
just a gift, but they're a purchase as well. 1 Corinthians chapter
6 and verse 20. You are not your own, you people
of God, you believers. You are bought with a price.
And that price was the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not silver and gold and corruptible things as He redeemed us with,
but with His own precious blood, bought with a price. These people
are a purchase of God. You know, when you go out to
the shops and you buy something, you know, you may have generous-hearted
intentions to share with all around, but make no doubt about
it, you've bought it, you've paid for it, it's yours, it's
yours, it's in your house, it's in your possession and these
people are in the possession of God. There are people who
are a conquered people, conquest. Psalm 110 and verse 3, you go
out into the streets of Nebworth and you proclaim this truth and
you appeal to the reason of men and women around to believe and
they will not believe because they're not willing. But what
does He do? He comes and in the hearts of
these people, He makes them willing. For He makes His people willing
in the day of His power. His people, a people who by nature
were not willing, a people who by nature were dead in trespasses
and sins, a people who by nature were alienated from the kingdom
of God, were enemies of God, were children of wrath, even
as the others, the Holy Spirit comes and makes them willing.
in the day of His power. And all of them are known by
name. This isn't random. John chapter
10 and verse 3, He calls out His sheep by name. Every one
of them. His sheep all know Him and He
calls them out by name. Ezekiel 34 and verse 13, He speaks
of a people which is a gathered people, which is brought out.
So there they are. You can imagine this massive
crowd. And He brings them out. He brings them out. He gathers
them. And then in Jeremiah 33 and verse 13, he says this. You
know the expression, we don't use it so much in this country
as in the United States, but a bank teller is a counter of
money. You know, a counter clerk counts
the money. A bank teller. Or you have the
automatic teller machines, the ATMs. And it says there in Jeremiah
33, 13, that he telleth them. He counts them. He counts his
people. He knows them exactly. And in Malachi 3, And verse 17,
He calls them this, they are His jewels. God calls His people. I have much people in this city,
He said to Paul. I have some of my jewels in this
city. They're rough stones at the moment.
You can't see the rubies and the emeralds and all of those
things hiding away in the pieces of rock. But they're God's jewels
and He's going to cut them out and He's going to bring them
out. They're those whom Christ covenanted to stand surety for
on behalf of before the beginning of time when God the Father gave
a people to the Son the Son covenanted to come and be their surety and
stand in their place and to satisfy justice for God couldn't just
give them and sweep justice under the carpet God had to give them
and justice had to be satisfied and so he had to be just and
yet the justifier of those whose faith is in Christ they're the
ones for whom he died on the cross of Calvary. They're the
ones for whom He was made sin, for He bore their sin on the
cross of Calvary. And Paul didn't know them, but
Jesus did. Jesus did. We don't know them,
but He does. We look around this village and
around the society of this area of Hertfordshire. We don't know
them, but God does. He knows His people. He knows
them. 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse
19. The Lord knows them that are
His. He does. He knows them. Elijah
didn't know that there was anybody else. I, even I, only am left
a prophet of the Lord. It is enough. Now take away my
life. I've had enough of it. Ah, he has his perfect completeness
of people who he has yet to call out. And how does he do it? He
does it by the preaching of the Gospel. For he says to him in
a vision, Be not afraid, but speak. Hold not thy peace. Speak what? Speak the Gospel.
Because it's by the foolishness of preaching that it pleases
God to save those who believe. He will not call them out apart
from the foolishness of preaching. The foolishness of the message
preached. The message which to the worldly person, the Greek,
is foolishness. To the religious person is a
stumbling block. But that message which is, as
Paul calls it in Romans 1.16, the power of God unto salvation. That's what it is. Speak that
message, Paul. For it is the power of God unto
salvation, because under the sound of it the Holy Spirit comes
and makes his people willing in the day of his power. And
by it, he saves his people. He saves those that believe.
He saves those that he's ordained to eternal life from the beginning
of time. And so we must continue, irrespective
of what the signs seem to say, for we read the signs wrongly.
Irrespective of that, How do we judge our success? I'm going
to steal a little bit from a message that I was lent last week, Todd's
message on a successful ministry, which I think was very good.
It certainly spoke to me. It's not by numbers at all, not
by numbers, but it's by the truth of the gospel that's preached.
It's by the truth of the gospel that's believed and held together. That's what is successful in
a church, is the truth here. You see, We could fill this place
if we did all sorts of gimmicky things. I mean, probably need
certain personalities of which I'm not one of them. But we could,
if you got the right people saying the right things, you could fill
the place pretty easily. You could get lots of people
to come along and do all sorts of things. That would be no problem
at all. Would that be successful? Not in the slightest. Because
if the truth of the grace of God would not be amongst us,
I don't care how many people come, that would be an abject
failure in terms of eternity. but where two or three are gathered
in His name, proclaiming His truth, believing in Him, knowing
this is the truth, this and this alone is the truth, then God
is honored and glorified and His people are successful in
this world and are to the praise of the glory of His grace. It's
by the truth of the Gospel. God's revealed it in His Word
and we need to preach it regularly. We need to preach it. Do we just
do nothing else? No. In closing, nevertheless,
we don't just sit back. We pray, don't we? With importunity. With urgency. We pray. We pray
to Him. We pray that God will prosper
His Word. For He doesn't send this Word
out for no purpose. He sends this Word out with the
purpose of calling in His people. Of calling in the people that
He has in this city. That He will prosper it and accomplish
the purpose for which He sends it. So let's be encouraged with
that.