Gospel—Sam Ludvicek
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This thing #1.
Recently, uh, there was uh.
Pretty interesting event that took place in France where there was a terrorist who?
Pulled out a weapon and was going to shoot a bunch of people on a train and uh. Three young Americans stood up, ran into the into danger, subdued the man and stopped what could have been a massacre.
And I was thinking about what took place afterwards. There was an interview in America with the family of one of the young men, and I was watching the parents.
How proud they were of their son and the praise that the news media and others were giving for their son.
And how they knew that we're proud of their son. And but now others were saying good things about their son and how they beam to hear that. So I was thinking tonight, most everybody in this room tonight knows the Lord Jesus as their Savior. So when you hear the gospel, you're hearing somebody talk about somebody you already think well of. And to hear another person speak well of the Lord Jesus is always a happy occasion. And if you're a Christian and you're a little bit discouraged, what do you need?
More of Christ To hear of Christ, if you're lost, you need to hear about Christ. Paul said. He came to preach Jesus Christ and him crucified. So we're going to talk a little bit about that. The first thing I would like to do is read several verses in Mark's gospel.
Chapter 9.
Some Solomon versus.
Beginning at verse 43.
And if I hand offend thee, cut it off. It is better for thee to enter into life, Maine, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched, Where their worm dieth not in the fire is not quenched. And if I could offend, they cut it off. It is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched.
Where their worm dieth not.
And the fire is not quenched, And if an eye offend thee, pluck it out. It is better to the for thee to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire, where their worm dieth not.
And the fire is not quenched.
I was speaking with a Jehovah's Witness once, and we were talking about this idea that they teach that there is no such thing as a place where men will go that are lost in their sins. That is the lake of fire or a fire of hell. They believe and teach that men will be extinguished out of existence in a moment, in a flash. But the Scriptures don't bear that out. So I turn to this Scripture and I read it to him.
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And he said, well, that's just talking about the worms in the dump outside of the city of Jerusalem. I said it doesn't say worms.
And it's Speaking of men here, and it says their worm dieth not.
One brother said it like this, He said. Imagine your body like a cocoon around a worm.
That part of man, whatever they want to say, whatever they want to declare about what happens to mankind when they die, there's part of man that does not die and can exist in eternal flames of hell and never die.
That part of man, his soul, that which survives beyond the body.
Will be in a place where the worm dieth not end of fire is not quenched. It's a solemn thing to think about. We were talking and we were getting ready to pray for this gospel meeting about how that someone who grows up in a Christian home like I did.
Can tell somebody how to be saved and not be saved. That was true of Maine until I was about 11 years old. My brother said that Albert Hayhoe, I'd never heard this before, was 12, said he would have argued with somebody in the street about the gospel, that it was true, yet was not yet saved. We can be so familiar with the gospel and not have come in. So that's what I'm thinking about tonight. If there's a stranger who came in that is not saved, the gospel is for you.
But tonight, if there's any in the room that are young people that have grown up in Christian homes.
And you're not yet saved. I'm speaking to you. It's a solemn thing. You never know. You read the newspapers, you see people that are in the obituary and a lot of times it's old people, Gray haired people. But you read down through those and then there's young people and there's babies.
And they're gone.
We don't know how much time we have.
Also, if you've been raised in a Christian home, you've been taught and you know that the Lord Jesus is coming back and if he comes and you're in your sins, scripture tells us you'll be turned over to a strong delusion to believe a lie and some explanation will be made that you will embrace. Don't know how it's possible having been raised under the gospel, but we know that Judas was around the Lord Jesus the same amount of time as the others, and yet he did not believe in the Lord Jesus. He did not embrace him, He did not have faith in him as Messiah.
And for a few silver coins, he betrayed him.
So if you reject and do not trust the Lord Jesus as your Savior, and the Lord should come back, you will believe a lie, a delusion that will explain away why your mother and father and others that you know knew the Lord Jesus are gone, but you will believe a lie.
As well most of mankind that has heard the gospel and has not received the love of the truth. It's a solemn thing to think about.
If you've been a Christian for very long, you've probably read about Jonathan Edwards in the early days of this country preaching a famous servant called sinners in the hands of an angry God. The Spirit of God powerfully wrought upon that audience when that sermon was preached to such an effect that men and women grabbed the backs of the chairs in front of them. The fuse for fear that they slipped through the floor into hell, that the fear of this terrible.
Horrible place.
Was so real to them as the gospel is preached, and the Spirit of God made it true and real to them.
So the prayer, my prayer and the prayer of others in this room is that in your heart and mind and soul, the reality of hell and the reality of what took place at Calvary's cross that can help you escape, that would be so real that you would come the final way.
You know, to believe that God exists is a good thing. To believe that God exists and that he's a rewarder of those who seek him is the first step.
But it puts you in the company of demons. They believe also that far, but they do not embrace the Lord Jesus. He's their enemy. If you've come that far, that's good that you believe that God exists, but that doesn't save you. The Scriptures make it very clear that the gospel that Paul preached is the gospel that we must embrace. It's a preaching of the cross that God sent his Son into this world, that he went to the cross, He died.
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He shed his blood.
He was buried and he rose again and he offers you full and free salvation. Salvation is trusting that this message is true and trusting that the message is true. The gospel message that we have in the Gospels that you go one step further and trust in a person who lives and is alive today at the right hand of the Father. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. So people have often asked me, why do you say?
That you've trusted in the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior. What does that mean?
Well, first of all, it is a personal thing. You can't get group salvation. You're not saved because your mom and dad aren't. You were born in that family. You have a blessed privilege of being born into a family that has Christian parents, but that doesn't save you. So it must be personal, but it also must be personal, and it's between you and the Lord Jesus. No one can do it for you when you come and you trust Him. If you ask the people in this room who know the Lord Jesus, there would be many stories.
About where it took place, maybe next to their bed. I know one whole family back in Cedar Rapids where when we began to hear the stories of how they got saved, it seems like everybody got saved in the bathroom because it was a quiet place that they could go. Doesn't matter where it is, but when it does take place, it's between you and the Lord Jesus, where your heart comes all the way in. And trust Him that He will do what He said He'd do.
The gospel says that he will save you.
Then He will give you a new life, that He will take away your sins, That what he did on Calvary's cross paid a penalty and a price for you. That He wants to redeem you.
That's what the word of God says, but he asks you to trust Him.
If you believe that God exists and you believe that Jesus was real, that's great.
But that doesn't mean you're saved.
You still need to come and trust in Him, the living Savior that seats the city at the right hand of the Father.
I want to tell you a story.
I was. I flew out to.
Pennsylvania, when I had met Zebo and had been engaged, went out to ask her parents for their daughter's hand in marriage. And I flew out there and I had a Bible case that I took with me that Heinz Brinkman had gotten for me from somebody that was very elaborately tooled, a beautiful Bible case with leather. And I had it on my lap on the plane back, and I was in the aisle seat and next to me on my right was a Jewish man.
A wealthy businessman from Chicago and his wife was next to the window. And he asked me, what is that that you have? It's a beautiful piece of leather work. And I said, it's a Bible case. And he said to me, oh, you're a preacher. And I guess, I guess you could say that. Umm. And he said that he starts telling me. So it's interesting. People have so many beliefs. People interpret the Bible different ways and everybody has their own ideas. And I said, well.
There are simple things in the Bible that are pretty clear. I said, he said, what do you mean? I said, well, there's things in the Bible that that are easy to understand. I said, for instance, you tell me what this means. So I quoted to him, All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I said, what does that mean? He goes, well, that means people don't measure up. It's pretty simple, isn't it?
So I quoted other verses. I said what does it mean when the the scripture says that all have sinned? Well that means everyone.
I said what does it mean?
When God says that whosoever will may come.
Well, whosoever means anybody, I guess. So what does it mean?
When it says for God so loved the world that whosoever believeth him should not perish, but have everlasting life, we said that's talking about your Christian Jesus. Yeah, but what does it mean if you just read those words? Well, sounds like it means that.
If you believe, anybody can come. So we went through some questions like that. And his wife kept saying you need to talk to rabbi, go talk to a rabbi. She didn't want to hear it. But he kept saying, no, no, I wanna talk to this young man. So I said I did this.
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Isaiah chapter 53.
I says here's one more thing I want you to tell me. You tell me what this means.
If you'll bear with me a moment, close your eyes as I read this and just go there.
Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness. And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected man, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.
All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before shears his dumb soul. He openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment. And who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression of my people was he stricken.
And he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. And when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin.
He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.
By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the grade, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin to many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Those are words that we've heard read in gospel meetings and in Breaking of Bread meetings many times.
But I read that to this man, and I said, tell me what's that about? He says, well, that's about your Jesus. That's in the New Testament, right? I said, no, that's your prophet Isaiah. He says, really, That's about Jesus.
This is what profit, I said Isaiah, he said. I've never heard that before. I says I know they don't read it in the synagogue, but it is about Jesus. And as a Gentile I have believed on this Jesus, this Christ, this Messiah.
I said, you know, in the Old Testament it said of the Gentiles that the future Messiah that would come.
That the Gentiles would believe on him. What man and all of human history. What Jewish man and all of human history.
Have the Gentiles believed on?
Well, there's some men, there's other men, but in a big way, in a vast way. What man, Jewish man that claimed to be a Messiah have the Gentiles embraced and believed on? There's one.
There's one.
We got to the airport and we were getting our bags.
His wife kept saying go see a rabbi, go see a rabbi. He walked up to me and he shook my hand and he said, young man, you've given me something to think about.
I've never heard these things before. I think that man got saved. I've never met him since.
I wrote his name down. I prayed for him over the years, but that was a moment that God ranged his life. Didn't wanna hear it. She's responsible for saying no. Way away. Go talk to a rabbi. He's wanted to listen. He wanted to talk.
And he had objections.
But I simply asked him if he would explain these verses, and he did. He had them right. And as soon as he heard this, he said, that's Jesus. He's responsible for that. Well, I believe that God maybe brought others. God works that way along his path, and I'll see him someday. But what about you? How many times have you heard the gospel? Are you like me? When I was up to 11 years old, you could have told somebody how to get saved, but we're not.
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There's a story I read about a heart surgeon.
Who used to have patience on the table that would tell stories later about near death experiences?
And this was back in the 80s, late 70s, I think it was maybe early 80s. There were some books written about people going into the lights and all this kind of thing with near death experiences. And he like other professionals and scientists and doctors that it's just chemicals giving, uh, illusions in the mind and, and just having these chemical reactions and you kind of see whatever you want.
So one day he has a man who has a heart attack and he brings him back. He works on him desperately. And the guy comes back screaming and he says don't let me go, don't let me go. I see the flames.
Downy goes, brings him back. Tell me how to be saved. How can I be saved? I see the flames. I don't want to go down. He goes again. The doctor's telling the story, and he says he remembers from Sunday school.
The verse Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. He remembers that much. The guy comes back again and he says tell me how can I be saved? And he says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
He went down one more time and he brought him back.
This time peaceful, and they repaired his heart, and he lived.
I don't know if that man ever really got saved, but the doctor did because after that moment, he said there's something here, there's something more. And remembering Sunday school versus that, he learned just part of one.
He was brought back to those things that he learned as a young child and he came and he studied the word and he believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. He wrote a book called Beyond Death's Door, and it's more about that kind of thing and things that have happened that he experienced that how that he came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior because he trusted in him. The gospel message tells us a story. We believe the story.
You know, I was told as in my 20s by others that I talked to about the gospel. You believe what you believe because your parents raised you that way. If you were a Hindu, you'd be a Hindu.
And there's some truth to that.
But at some point, whatever age you are teenager in your 20s.
There's a time where you believe for yourself.
And yes, you can come and trust the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. But he says, why do you believe the Bible?
Why do you believe this book? Because that, after all, is the message. The gospel message you're telling me is from this book. Why do you believe it is full of contradiction?
Whenever I'm asked that, I always ask people to show me one. I've never had anybody show me one, but there are some things in this book that appear to be contradictions that are not. With a little study, you can. All of these questions have all all been answered thoroughly many times.
But people have that kind of idea that it can't be trusted more now than ever.
So I remember the first gentleman I was talking to about that. I said to him, I said, what if I came to you tomorrow? And I said on your way into work, you're gonna be driving in and a red pickup is going to hit you in the side of the car and drive you into the ditch, but you're both going to live. You would just laugh at me now, what if that happened?
I said you might be angry at me and wonder how I arranged that and are you going to pay for my vehicle because you would believe that somehow I tricked it and made it happen. What if I told you the next day that you're going to find $100 bill in the grocery store and you'll be made $100? Ritual be on the floor. It'll be right next to the Cheetos.
He kind of laughed, and he said, well, I'd probably ask you, OK, Sam, where are you? This is a pretty good trick. I said about the third or fourth time, if I told you something, you would be either afraid or happy according to what I was telling you, because you would start to believe that. A record of being able to predict the future, you would start to believe that I could do it. I said, you know, the word of God. This book has a much better record than that, and it's never failed once. That's why I believe it. Yes. I first believed it because my mother and father told me it was true.
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I learned in Sunday school about these things.
But when I got to be an adult and I looked at those things for myself, I began to realize that the evidence is so overwhelming for the truth of this book that I cannot believe otherwise. Now, when it comes to knowing the Lord Jesus as your Savior, how do I unknown somebody I know?
When I trusted him as my savior, as an 11 year old boy, I didn't know.
All about the Bible. I'm still learning, but I came to know the Lord Jesus and I've grown to know him more over the years. How can I unknown Him? I know a person. I've known Lemoyne Smith most of my life. He was there in the meeting when I was a baby. I think not much after that, maybe as a young boy.
You are older than I am, but.
How can I somebody convince me Lemoyne doesn't exist? You can't.
You know I, I, I know the Lord Jesus. You can't convince me he doesn't exist. I know him.
Once you know him, you know what you do with that and how much you know him. We were talking earlier about the joy of knowing the Lord Jesus, entering into it, how much we can appreciate those things. Those all have to do with how we walk in the faith that we have. But faith I, I remember I struggled with the idea of faith and what it meant to believe as a boy and confused. And I'm sure that there's others that sometimes do as well.
But I remember those verses in Ephesians.
Where it speaks of those who first trusted in Christ.
And it was using that word, the Lord using that word that got me over the hump with the idea of what it meant to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the difference between believing about something. So I've explained it like this. When there's an election, there's one coming up now, but when there's election, you can always see when when news reporters interview people.
You could go in the street and ask people this question.
So let's go to the last, last one where Obama and McCain were running against each other. If you were to go into the street and ask people, do you believe there's such a person as John McCain? I don't care who you ask, Independent, Republican, Democrat, if you ask that question, they would look at you like you're nuts. Of course, I believe there's such a person. He's on the TV, he's in the newspaper. I've heard him speak. Some people may say that. I've met him. I've shook his hand.
If you ask the same question about Obama, do you believe there's such a person as somebody named Barack Hussein Obama and he's running for president of the United States? Yeah, it does sound pretty amazing. But they would look at you. Yes, of course I do. That person exists. He's on the TV. He's been interviewed. I've seen him at a rally. Now ask the second question. Who do you believe in, who you trust? Now you get a whole different answer. Some will say, oh, they trust this one. Some will say the other one.
That's what it comes down to with the gospel message.
The Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross and died and paid a price, and He offers full and free salvation to those who will receive it.
And he's saying, now you believe the story. You believe that God exists, You believe that Jesus exists. That's history.
Now he says, trust me.
Trust in me.
And that's the final step.
Or you trust India. There's something that God does in the heart and mind of a human being.
Where that wall is broken down, where you come all the way in and say, Lord Jesus, I trust you. I trust you that you did what you did on the cross for me. I trust you that you can save me and wash them by my sins. Do you know how that all works? I don't. I can't explain how it all works, but I trust Him. I believe what he said.
'Cause sometimes in Sunday school I will, I have done where I will say, uh, to kids, I'll have I've done it with money, I've done it with candy. I'll say, uh, reco re quote that versus says, come unto me all your labor and our heavy laden and I will give you rest.
And I'll say, come on to me, all you that have deed of candy and I'll give you some.
And I, I the last last time in Cedar Rapids, I was there. The last time I was there, I think not for a funeral.
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I did that with all the kids and they start looking at each other and I'll repeat it. Come on to me all you that have need of candy and I will give you some and they start looking at each other and usually it's the youngest one will come up.
Now why? Because she believed me. It was Kurt's little girl that came up. She came up.
She believed what I said.
The Lord Jesus is asking you to trust Him. Believe what He says, believe what it says, and if you believe what it says, you'll do what you believe.
SO1 gospel after gospel meeting on one Sunday night when I was 11 years old. Misbehaved in the car, got a spanking that I deserved. My mother and father used to spank us and send us to our rooms to think about what we've done. Often they would come in later and talk with us.
This time was different.
My dad came into the room and he was crying and he sat down with me and he said, Son, your mother and I don't know if you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
And he said if you die in your sins, you'll go into a lost eternity. And he left the room. Oh, man.
I just heard the gospel preached. My father was weeping and left the room with this solemn message. I heard the gospel many, many times, and it was like the Spirit of God at that moment made it very real to me that, yes, that I was in danger of being lost if the Lord came back, if I died. And it was like there was no more moments to go past, no more reason to put it off, no more almost persuaded.
It was now, yes, and I got down by my bed and I trusted the Lord Jesus to do what He promised to do, and he did what he did.
There's a man named Josh McDowell that some of you may have read his book More Than a Carpenter or Evidence in the man's verdict. He was an atheist. He grew up in an alcoholic's home.
He hated his father. When his friends from high school would come, he would tie his father up with ropes in the barn. So an embarrassing he hated his father, brilliant guy who went to university. He decided for his thesis he would write a book disproving Christianity once and for all, and he become famous and rich. So he began to investigate. The resulting book was a book called evidence that demands a verdict because he said, you know, nobody tells you that there really is evidence.
Evidence that can be examined and looked at for the truth of Christianity, the resurrection, those kind of things.
But through his investigation, he became a Christian.
And he said there were Christians on the campus that had witnessed to him, and he always just laughed them off.
But after he did this investigation, he's looking at this and he's heard the gospel from these people. He's seen what he thought was just wackos, but he noticed that they had something, and the joy we were talking about, they had that. They had peace too. He noticed that. So like the thief on the cross, did the thief on the cross know what he was even asking? Lord, Remember Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom? He got so much more, but he came. He trusted him.
He trusted him.
He trusted him, Josh McDowell said. He said something like.
Well, if you're real and it's really true, then, you know, save me, do your thing, whatever he said. Here's what I noticed. I was changed from within and that change showed up on the outside. And one of their most dramatic things was I lost the hate I had for my father.
He said. That's real. That's a true thing. It either works or it doesn't.
And it does work.
So he trusted and he saw this change that was not him turning over a new leaf, not him learning some new practice or whatever, though he did begin to study the Bible. But he said I saw a change within me, in my being, in my very innermost being.
And the first thing he said was I lost my hate for my father. His father got in some kind of an accident and he was in the hospital. I don't remember what happened. He went to see him.
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And he spoke with his father and he forgave his father and he shared the gospel with his father. His father got saved. And he said the reason why is if you can forgive me for all the things I've done.
Then what you have is real. It's true, and I will believe too. And his father believed he lived a few more years in that town. He was the guy that they saw in the gutter sleeping on the sidewalk after a night of drunkenness.
This man now walked through the town with joy on his face, joy in his heart, telling people about the Lord Jesus who saved him from a drunkard's life that would have ended in a drunkard's grave and a drunkard's hell.
You know, if you've been raised in a Christian home, you've had a lot of privileges, but once you go out of that and you go into your own life, there's a lot of dark roads that people go down and they can end in death and hell.
And you cannot control all the things that take place, no matter how much you think. And those who reject Christ end up in all kinds of places and then dead. And you can go back through some lives that end up in a horrible, horrible, terrible way and find out that they once were in a Christian home. They once were in a place of where blessings surrounded them, and they turned away and rejected it all. And they died terrible deaths. There's a story told about three young men.
We're out partying, wanted to have a night of drink, but they decided they'd have a little fun and they went to visit an evangelist who was preaching the gospel and they were cracking up in the back row and making fun and mocking and in this sermon, the preacher said.
Talked about a cup of the wrath of God and how that God had drank that up, the Lord Jesus had drank it up for sinners who would trust in that, in him as their Savior. But that what was awaiting for those who were to enter a lost eternity in their sins was a cup of the wrath of God and they would be required to drink it. These three young men left that gospel meeting. They went into a bar that they were used to coming into and one of them.
The most profane of all pounded his fists on the bar and said, Give me a cup of the wrath of God.
Everybody went silent, even sinners.
Can be shocked by something. Everybody went silent. Those sitting close to him kind of drew back, maybe thinking lightning would come out of the sky. The bartender hesitated a moment, but gave the man his usual drink and he slammed it back. Fell down dead.
You can reject and mock God to a point where he'll say that's it, you chose it, you got it buddy. The worst thing that can be done is for you to be left alone by God.
His two buddies went back to those meetings and got saved.
I wonder how many others went on to get saved that were sitting that bar that saw that.
God doesn't always act like that quickly.
Famous atheists in France many years ago went up on a hill and a rainstorm. It was announced in the papers and he shouted and yelled at God and said he was going to ask him to strike him with lightning if he really existed, and came back down and the papers interviewed him and nothing happened.
But a few days later, he died. He'd gotten a scratch from a Bush, got an infection, and died a few days later.
God always doesn't judge you for what you've done wrong immediately. God is gracious and long-suffering, but you don't know how long you have. You know, there's a verse in Revelation that says about Jezebel where God says I gave her space to repent and she would not. There's a lesson for Christians in that, and it's an important lesson for those who have not yet trusted Christ as their Savior. There is space to repent. Grace unmerited favor from God goes out.
The very fact that we can stand here tonight in a free country and talk about these things.
Is a wonderful blessing.
That I can stand here, one man said about being preaching the gospel, he says. One beggar telling a bunch of other beggars where the food is.
And that's what I'm doing. And I'm uniquely qualified to preach the gospel to you. You know why? Because I'm a Sinner.
And he saved me.
And I know him, You can know him too. Come, come now. Come tonight. Come before the prayer is over. Trust Him as your Savior.