Now this is something that only
Luke tells us about. It's about the sending of the
70. There were 70 men that the Lord sent out to preach. I'd like for us to read these
first 16 verses of Luke chapter 10. After these things, The Lord
appointed other 70 also, and sent them two and two before
his face into every city and place, whether he himself would
come. Were not given their names. They
were not of the 12 apostles, but they were men that he sent.
Therefore said he unto them, the harvest truly is great. But the laborers, are few. Pray ye, therefore, the Lord
of the harvest, that he would send forth labors into his harvest. Go your ways. Behold, I send
you forth as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse, money bag,
nor script, suitcase, nor shoes, and salute no man by the way,
and into whatsoever house you enter, first say peace be to
this house. And if the son of peace be there,
your peace shall rest upon it. If not, it should turn to you
again. And in the same house remain
eating and drinking such things as they give for the laborer
is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house and
into whatsoever city you enter and they receive you. Eat such
things as are set before you and heal the sick that are therein
and say unto them, the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But into whatsoever city you
enter and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets
of the same and say, even the very dust of your city, which
cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you. Notwithstanding,
be sure of this. that the kingdom of God is come
nigh unto you. But I say unto you that it should
be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe
unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been
done in Tyre and Sidon, which had been done in you, they had
a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes, but it
shall be more tolerable For Tyre and Sidon, at the judgment, been
for you. And our Capernaum, which art
exalted to heaven, shall be thrust down to hell. That's where our
Lord did most of his miracles. He that heareth you, heareth
me. And he that despiseth you, sets
you aside. despiseth me. And he that despiseth
me, despiseth him that sent me. I've entitled this message, the
sending of the 70. And only Luke gives us this detail
of the sending of the 70. These were not apostles. There
were only 12 apostles, but these are the 70 that Christ sent to
preach the gospel. Now, if God has called me to
preach the gospel, that means he sent me. That's a simple enough
fact, but it's so. If God has called me to preach
the gospel, that means he sent me just like he sent these 70.
These were not apostles. These were preachers of the gospel
sent by God. And I know you know this is so.
Anytime the Lord saves somebody, He crosses their path with a
preacher of the gospel every time. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching what's going on right now to save them that believe. Now, our Lord in verse one, after
these things, the Lord appointed other 70 also and sent them two
and two before his face into every city and place, whether
he himself would come. Therefore said he unto them,
the harvest truly is great. But the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of
the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. The harvest is great, truly. There are many people who need
to hear the gospel. How many around us are without
God, without Christ, without hope, without His grace? And like Paul, we are debtors
to men. God has called every one of us
to be fishers of men. The Lord said, follow me. And
I'll make you fishers of men. If I'm following the Lord Jesus
Christ, I am someone who can be described as a fisher of men. Our purpose in life is to preach
the gospel to everybody we can find. And he says the harvest
truly is great. but the laborers are few. Pray
ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth
laborers into his harvest." Now notice he doesn't say go to the
seminaries and try to train preachers. He says, pray to the Lord of
the harvest. The only one who can truly make
a preacher is God himself. And he says, pray ye the Lord
of the harvest that he'll send forth laborers into his harvest. You see, the laborers are few.
They always have been. Turn to Philippians 2 for just
a moment. I think this is one of the saddest
passages of scripture in the word of God. Now, Paul says in verse 19 of
Philippians chapter two, but I trust in the Lord Jesus to
send Timotheus shortly unto you that I also may be of good comfort
when I know your state. For I have no man like minded
who will naturally care for your state for all seek their own. and not the things which are
Jesus Christ." Now he's talking about a lot of preachers when
he says that. And he says, the only one I have at this time
is Timothy. Were things that bad back then?
Evidently they were. I mean, that's what Paul says.
I mean, we think things are bad now. Well, yeah, I reckon they
are. They always have been. But they're all good too, because
the Lord's in control. But he tells us to ask the Lord. This is something we should be
praying about. Asking the Lord that he would send forth laborers
into his Harvest. Now look what he says in verse
three. He says, go your ways. When he's sending these 70 out,
he says, go your ways. Behold, I send you forth as lambs
among wolves. Now, the Lord never exaggerates. The Lord is never given to hyperbole. The Lord never overstates a case. And yet he says to these men,
I'm sending you out as lambs among wolves. Now what's a wolf
do to a lamb? He kills him and he eats him. That's what a wolf does with
a lamb. And he says, I'm sending you forth as lambs among wolves. And you picture that in your
mind. And this lets us know what the natural man is going to think
of our message of the gospel. Now listen to this scripture.
Romans 8, 7 says, the carnal mind, that's the mind you're
born with. That's the mind I'm born with.
It's the way we naturally think. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It doesn't merely say it's at
enmity against God, it says it is enmity against God. You and
I were born into this world hating God. And we're like wolves, when
we see a sheep, we'll put that sheep to death. And he says to
these people, I send you forth as lambs among wolves, because
our Lord understood what the natural man thinks of the gospel. Natural man isn't concerned about
the God he feels comfortable with, the God he's got in his
back pocket that he can manipulate and get him to do what he wants
to do, but the God of the Bible, the natural man hates. And he'll treat the gospel the
way a wolf will treat a lamb. Notice he said, I send you. I
send you as lambs. among wolves. Now, a lamb before
a wolf doesn't stand a chance, but a lamb with the Lord on his
side, the wolf doesn't stand a chance, does it? In Matthew
chapter 10, verse 16, the Lord said at a different time to his
12 apostles, behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of
wolves. Be ye wise as serpents and harmless
as doves. Now, I've always wondered about
that verse of scriptures. What's the Lord mean when he
says to his disciples, he says, I'm sending you a sheep among
wolves. So first of all, you'd be wise as serpents. Now, this
helped me. What is the most universally
hated animal in the world? A serpent. Everybody hates serpents. I mean, you got snakes that you
want to get rid of and you want to, you know, a serpent has to
have some wisdom just to keep from getting exterminated, doesn't
he? He's got to look around. He's got to, he's got to, he's
got to live. They hide. They, they, they, they, they
know how to preserve themselves. And the Lord says, you'd be as
wise as serpents, but you'd be as harmless, as guileless, as
simple as does that word harmless means simple. I love simplicity. Don't you? I've got a simple
message. It's not complicated. Christ
is all. He is all in salvation. He's all to God. He's all in
this word. He's all that God looks to for
me. Christ is all. We have a simple
mission. We're on the trail of God's sheep.
We have a simple method, printing the gospel. We have a simple
motive, the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, go
your ways, behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Now these next verses speaks
of their devotedness to their labor. Now notice he says in
verse four, carry neither purse nor script nor shoes and salute
no man by the way. Now I just went out of town,
preached this weekend in West Virginia. I had my wallet with
money in it and I had a suitcase with clothes in it and I had
shoes on. So is the Lord forbidding us when we go out of town to
carry money or take a suitcase or wear shoes? Well, of course
not. Of course not. What he's saying is you look
to me to take care of you. You know who takes care of me?
The Lord. You know who takes care of you?
The Lord. And we don't look to provide
for ourselves. I'm looking to the Lord to provide
for me. Oh, isn't it wonderful when the
Lord enables you to quit worrying about money or how this is going
to take place and that's going to take place. Lord's going to
provide. And he says, don't carry with you a wallet. suitcase shoes and then when
he says salute no man by the way he's not saying don't say
hello to anybody you know anytime i go out i want to be friendly
i don't say hey how you doing you know i mean hello i i love
being in places where people are friendly i hate being in
places where people are not friendly he's not saying don't say hello
to anybody he's saying don't be stopped in the object that
i've given you preaching the gospel don't salute any man and
stop and and be hindered in this great thing of being a labor
in my harvest and preaching my gospel. He says in verse five,
and into whatsoever house you enter first say, peace be to
this house. And if the son of peace be there,
your peace shall rest upon it. If not, it should turn to you
again. Now the gospel we believe bring something
that the world does not have. Peace. Peace. And the peace I'm not
talking about is not the peace of, well, everything's going
good. You know, I don't have any trials
in my life. I got plenty of money in the bank. I got health and
everything's going good. And I feel peace. I feel a sense
of wellbeing. Well, that can be taken away
just like that. And it's really not peace. Not really. Here's what peace
is. Peace is knowing that all that
God requires of me, I have in Christ Jesus. Peace is knowing
that my righteousness, my personal righteousness, is nothing less
than the personal righteousness of Jesus Christ. Peace is knowing
my sins have been put away by the blood of Christ and I stand
accepted before God without any reference to any goodness in
me. Now, if you tell me that I have to have something to do,
you're not gonna have peace until you get your life straightened
out, I've got no peace. But you tell me that Christ is
my peace, that he made my peace with God. Oh, the believer has
a peace. that the world knows nothing
about. And he says, if the son of peace
dwell there, if these people have the peace you have, your
peace will rest upon them, the joy and the peace of believing. I love all the scriptures regarding
peace. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost. Now there's peace. His righteousness
is my righteousness. That gives me peace and it makes
me joyful and happy. Now that's the peace he's speaking
of. We have a peace. It's not a peace that's based
on circumstances. It's a peace that he is our peace
and he made our peace with God. And you, you go into that house. If the son of peace is there,
they're peaceful people who believe the gospel. They're peacemakers.
They rejoice in him as their peace. Your peace will remain
there. If it's not theirs, Yours will return to you. He says in
verse seven, in the same house remain. Don't be going from house
to house in the same house, remain eating and drinking such things
as they give for the labor is worthy of his hire. Go not from
house to house. Now what's the Lord mean by that? Well, don't be a prima donna. who puts too much emphasis on
worldly things. Don't be materialistic and covetous
and think, go to this house to get this and this house to go
to get that. Eat what's set before you. Don't
be picky. Don't be someone who can't be
pleased and always eat what's set before you. Now, if I come
over to your house, do me a favor. Don't put tomatoes in anything.
Because I'm probably not going to eat it. As a matter of fact,
I know I won't. But I should. I should. I just can't deal with
tomatoes. I mean, because I got to thinking about that. I thought,
what if I got a plate of tomatoes or stewed tomatoes? You know,
if I sit down, would I? Well, I try to eat it, but I
would. I'd try to eat it. But so I'm
telling you right now, don't give me any and put me in a position
like that. But the Lord says to eat whatever is set before
you. Don't be a prima donna. The Lord's
my portion. I've got all things in Him and
whatever you bring my way is just fine. Don't be someone who
is so hard to please. He says in verse 8, and into
whatsoever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things
as are set before you. What a blessing to a city to
receive the Lord's messenger and message. Into whatsoever
city you enter and they receive you, eat such things as are set
before you and heal, verse nine, and heal the sick that are therein
and say unto them, the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. Now, Heal the sick. You know, they were given power
to do that. They had the ability to physically
heal the sick. I wish I had that ability, but
evidently I don't need it because I'd have it if I did. And these
people who claim to be faith healers now, they're phonies.
No one has that ability. The Lord heals. If you're sick
and you're healed, the Lord heals you. But as far as these men
who had ability to heal that they could come in and all of
a sudden you have a broken leg and it's not broken anymore and
all. Nobody has that ability. That left with the apostles.
You can read about that in Acts chapter 8. When they saw by the
laying on of the apostles' hands, the Holy Ghost was giving. Only
the people who had, that were apostles, the 12 apostles could
lay their hands on somebody and transfer these gifts. And when
the apostles died out, the gifts died out. But we got something
better. We got the full canon of scripture. We've got the word
of God. They didn't have the word of
God the way we do. We've got the full canon of scripture and
our healing. We heal by his stripes. You were healed. Oh, what healing
there is in the message of the gospel. He said, heal the sick
and say, the kingdom of God is come unto you. Now I love the
simplicity of our message. It's a declaration of the kingdom. of God. Now, would you listen
carefully while I try to talk for just a few moments about
the kingdom of God? Now, what is a kingdom? A kingdom
is a sphere of jurisdiction. The king of England is the king
of where? England. I know there's not a
king of England. There's a queen right now, but
there's been a king. But he's not the king of Spain. He's not
the king of the United States. He's got a particular sphere
of jurisdiction. The king of Spain isn't the king
of England. He's the king of Spain. Now,
the kingdom of God, what is the sphere of his jurisdiction? Turn
with me to Daniel chapter four. Daniel chapter four. This is when God returned the mind that Nebuchadnezzar
left they lost into him. He'd been seven years crazy living
outside. And at the end, Daniel chapter
four, verse 34, at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar lifted
up mine eyes unto heaven and mine understanding returned unto
me. And I blessed the most high and
I praised and honored him that liveth forever. He's eternal,
whose dominion whose power and control is an everlasting dominion. And his kingdom is from generation
to generation. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth. And none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest
thou? Give an account for yourself.
Now this is who God is. This is his kingdom. His kingdom
rules over all. That means he's absolutely sovereign
and he controls everything and everybody. And you're in his
hands. And what's going to happen to you is not up to you. It's
up to him. You have no control. That scares
people because we like to think we have control. You have no
control. Your salvation is up to him. Everything that happens to you.
is up to Him. He is in absolute control of
everything. Now that's the kingdom of God. Now, a kingdom has a king. Christ Jesus, the Lord, is called
the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He's the King of the
kingdom. That means He's the one who reigns
He's the one who rules. Aren't you glad it's that way?
What if the Lord wasn't ruling? It'd be either me or you or the
devil or somebody being lied to. That's a horrible thing to
think about. No, He rules and He reigns as the King of kings
and the Lord of lords. Oh, how we love His kingship.
A king has subjects. In Revelation chapter 17, verse
14, it says, He is King of kings and Lord of lords, and they that
are with Him are called chosen and faithful. Now if I'm his
subject, if I'm his loyal subject, that means he called me to be.
It didn't begin with my call, it began with his. He called
me and the reason he called me is because he chose me. If I'm
a believer, it's because he chose me to salvation. The Lord said
in John 15, 16, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen
you and ordained you. And you know this is so if you're
a believer. You know if you're a believer, it's because the
King chose you. They that are with Him are called.
They that are with Him are chosen. And they that are with Him are
faithful. They believe, and they can be
believed. Every one of them. They believe,
and they can be believed. Oh, you know, the preaching of
the apostles, it was a lot more simple. We make things complex.
Aegis Prince, the kingdom of God is come. Here it is. And
they didn't try to explain it away. They didn't. No. God is
king. He's in control. Christ is God's
king. Yet have I sent my king on my
holy hill of Zion. The kingdom of God is come nigh
unto you. This is the kingdom that is to
be sought first. I love the way the Lord says,
seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. That's what we seek. That's who
we seek. We seek the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is
a person. And we seek, he's the king. And we seek, when you seek
him, here's what you seek more than anything else. You seek
to have his righteousness. That's what you want more than
anything else. Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him. Not having my own righteousness,
which isn't at all, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith. Now remember this about his kingdom. Lord said, my kingdom is not
of this world. Um, I pulled out a newspaper
of some kind of religious periodical today. And there was a, there
was an article that was actually titled how to make this world
a better place. I'm all for this world being
a better place. Don't get me wrong. I would love for there
to be financial prosperity for everybody, that there would be
no crime, that there would be excellent health care, and that
we would all be good citizens. Don't say that I'm, don't think
that I'm thinking that it, I don't care about how this world is,
but this world's not my home and I'm not seeking to make this
world a better place. That's what religion does. Religion
tries to make this world a better place. I want to be prepared
for another world. We need to teach people how to
live. Well, okay, everybody already knows how to live. You know you ought to pay your
bills. You know you ought to be faithful. You know you ought
to be sexually pure. You know all those things. Everybody
already knows that stuff. I want to know how to die, and
I want to know how to stand before God in judgment. That's what
the kingdom of God is all about. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness. Now let's go on reading. Verse
10. But unto whatsoever city you
enter and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets
of the same and say, even the very dust of your city, which
cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you. Notwithstanding,
be sure of this, that the kingdom of God, is come nigh unto you."
Now, here we read of the wickedness of not receiving this kingdom. If someone responds, we'll not
have this man reign over us. We reject this. We don't believe
this. To fail to receive is to refuse. Now, let me say this. If I'm
saved, it's all God's fault. He saved me. And if I'm damned,
if I reject the gospel, if I fail to receive the gospel, it's all
my fault. I heard the truth and I said,
we will not have this man to reign over us. If a man is damned,
He can't blame anybody but himself. He would not bow the knee to
the king. He would not sue for mercy. Christ said, him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. If you come, you'll
be received. And if you don't come, it's because
you would not. And the Lord says, wipe off the
dust of your feet as a testimony against them. Look what he says
in verse 12. He said, but I say unto you that
it should be more tolerable in that day, talking about the day
of judgment, for Sodom than for that city. Now, you know what
Sodom was known for. Sodom was known for homosexuality. And there were some angels that
came and they said, bring out these men that we may know them. That's what the men of Sodom
did. They were sinners exceedingly before God, is what the scripture
says. And I always feel like I need to say this, about every
time I deal with this particular subject. Homosexuality in and
of itself is no worse than fornication or adultery. I mean, it's sexual
sin. And it always troubles me when
people want to become, I guess, what you'd call homophobic, I
mean, in the sense that Well, we don't do that. We feel like
we're better off than those people now. Homosexuality is a great
sin. Don't say it's not, but so is adultery, so is fornication,
so is stealing, so is murder, so is on and on and on and on. Homosexuality represents human
religion. It can't produce life. That's
why the Lord speaks so harshly against it. And he says to these
people, these homosexuals of Sodom will have it better on
judgment day. They will be dealt with less
severely than that person who hears the gospel and rejects
it. Now that's a very solemn thought,
isn't it? You know, if me or you go to hell after the gospel
we've heard and claim to believe, If we don't really bow the knee
to Christ, if we don't really trust him, and if we go to hell,
it'll be far worse for us than for a sodomite. Now, you know, there are degrees of
punishment. There are some that will be punished
more severely than other. Now, they're not degrees of rewards.
You know why? Because salvation is by grace.
That's so simple. Salvation is by grace. That's
why there's not higher rewards in heaven and different positions
in glory. Salvation is by grace. But damnation
is by works. And there are degrees of punishment. And that person who rejects the
Lord Jesus Christ, who rejects the gospel, will have it far
worse on judgment day than those men of Sodom. And he says in
verse 13, Woe unto thee, Chorazin, woe unto thee, Bethsaida. For
if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which
had been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting
in sackcloth and ashes. And it should be more tolerable
for Tyre and Sidon to judgment than for you. Now there the Lord
tells us plainly, some are going to have it worse on judgment
than others. And thou Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven,
Thou shalt be thrust down to hell. Now, the Lord speaks of
repentance. He says that those in sirentide,
if they'd heard what you had, would have repented a great while
ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. Now, repentance, this
is the great need. Repentance means a change of
mind. And isn't it a blessing when your mind has changed? You
think one thing, you feel strongly about it, you feel powerfully
about it, and then God changes your mind. And you see it in
a totally different light. That's repentance. A change of
mind. Oh Lord, change my mind. Grant me repentance. It's a change
of mind regarding God. You know, there was a time I
can remember when I did not like the absolute sovereignty of God.
It scared me to death. I didn't see any safety. You
mean there's nothing I can do to save myself that I just have
no control in? That scared me to death. I didn't
like it. But my mind's been changed. I
do now. I love it. I love the character of God.
I love His holiness. There was a time when His holiness
scared me to death. Now I love His holiness. I love
His justice. I love all of His glorious attributes. Why? My mind's been changed.
And I've had a changed mind about myself. I see. I see. I see. In seeing Him, then all
I am is seen. Right now. Paul said, O wretched
man, not that I was, but that I am. Christ came into the world to
save sinners of whom I not was the chief, but of whom I am the
chief. If the Lord gives me grace to
see who He is, I'll see who I am. I'll have a change of mind about
myself. I'll have a change of mind about
salvation. I'll understand that salvation
is of the Lord. that it's all in Christ. That's
repentance. And it's a continual state. I
love Brother Mahan's outline. And I think this is the best
outline I've ever heard regarding repentance. He said, repentance
is a change of mind that comes from a change of masters, which results in a change of
motives, and a change of manners. That's repentance. Repentance,
the gift of God. Now in verse 16, he says regarding
these 70, that he was going to go out and sin, preaching the
gospel. They were men that he sent. They
were not the apostles. They were the 70. He says, he
that heareth you, heareth me. And he that despiseth you, despiseth
me. And he that despiseth me, despiseth
him that sent me. Now there's some very important
truth in this passage of scripture with regard to the preacher.
First, you got to realize there's a danger of making too much of
a preacher, isn't there? Putting him up on a pedestal.
He's a sinful man, just like you. How sinful are you? That's
how sinful I am right now. He's just a man, a fallible man. Don't put him on a pedestal like
making him a priest and thinking he can represent you before God
or call him. He's a clergyman. He's part of
God's clergy. That whole clergy lady stuff is, is, is evil. There's no truth to it. The preacher
is just a man. That's it. But there's also a danger of
making too little of him. How say they believe on him in
whom they've not heard. How so they hear without a preacher
and how so they preach, except they be sent. Now, if I am a
God called preacher, that's your job is to find out whether or
not I am. And if I'm not, you ought to be going somewhere else.
You know that. But if I am listening to what I say, I'm preaching
the gospel and Christ sent me. And the Lord says to these men,
you say, well, that's talking about the apostles. No, it's
talking about just preachers. The 70. He that heareth you, heareth
me. You hear the gospel I preach,
you're hearing the voice of Christ. You're believing him. He that
heareth you, heareth me. And he that despises you, and
that word despise doesn't mean I hate that God, you know? It
means to set aside. to discount, to just overlook. He's just a man. He's just a
man. He that despises you, the Lord says, despises me. And he that despises me, despises
him that sent me. You see the real issue when someone
despises the preacher, it's not the preacher they're despising.
It's Christ himself. That's what the Lord says. That's
the issue. The preacher's not the issue.
Not really. It may seem that it's Christ himself. Now remember, it pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And the Lord sends out these
70 to preach the gospel. Now, If I'm a believer, if you're
a believer, I know this. We love the kingdom of God. We love the king of the kingdom.
We love his subjects. We love his laws. And most certainly
we love his righteousness. And may we go out just like these
70. I think it's interesting the
way the Lord sent them out two and two. Not just one. You know, I need to have somebody
to be accountable to. That's just the way it is. If
I'm, if nobody's ever going to see what I'm saying and nobody,
there's too much area to, I compromise. Apart from the gospel of God,
apart from his grace, I compromise and you'll compromise. I need,
I need somebody with me that, what are you doing? What are
you saying? Anyway, you know, I don't want that. No, I want,
I want to be accountable first to the Lord. And I want to be
accountable to his people in preaching the gospel. I know
this. I know if I quit preaching the gospel of God's grace, y'all
run me out of here. And you should. You should. Now, I'm not preaching
the gospel of God's grace in order to keep from getting run
out of here. I'm preaching the gospel of God's grace because
that's what God's called me to do. And I believe the message and
I love the message. But we do this together, don't we? We do
it two and two. I really hate it. When a preacher
talks about my ministry, my ministry, my ministry, my ministry, it's
not my ministry. This is the ministry of the Todd's
Road Grace Church. He sends us out two and two to
preach his gospel. Let's pray together. Lord, how we thank you for your
kingdom, the kingdom of your dear son. How we thank you that you rule
over all. How we thank you that he's the
king of kings and he's the Lord of lords. How we thank you that
those that are with him are called and chosen and faithful. Lord, grant us repentance. Grant
us, Lord, that's your gift. Well, Lord, we can't repent unless
you grant us repentance. Oh, Lord, grant us that repentance
that comes from you that doesn't need to be repented of. Lord, that's above the strength
and energy of this flesh. We ask that you do this for us
and in us. And Lord, we ask that during this coming week, according
to your will, that you would open up doors for us to preach
your gospel. Bless us for Christ's sake, in
His name we pray. Amen. We're going to have a baptism
now. Courtney Orts is going to confess
Christ in Believer's Baptism. And so, Dwayne, lead us and you
move back there. Let's stand and sing hymn number
393, Take My Life and Let It Be. 393. ♪ Take my life and let it
be ♪ ♪ Consecrated, Lord, to Thee ♪ Take my hands and let them move
at the impulse of Thy love, at the impulse of Thy love. Take my feet and let them be
swift and beautiful for Thee. Take my voice and let me sing
Always only for my King. Always only for my King.