Address—Tim Roach
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Good evening. It's time for the meeting and I'd like to start by seeing him #147.
To him that loved us, gave himself, and died to do us good. He gave all he had. He sold all that he had so he could buy that fuel to purchase his drive. He gave everything #147.
To him that loved escape himself, and I did, he was good.
That was the drama of Charlotte.
In his most precious.
Blood.
Who had taken his life and prayed to man alive and flower and rain by our land.
To him, we turn off the law, everyone.
Ready to go?
By.
Tomorrow, Gracie, Henry the eighth and get through all the seasons.
In Christ as far as the.
Skin himself.
And I do.
Last time.
Our God and Father we give thanks for the Lord Jesus. We give thanks that we have been bought by the blood of Christ. We give thanks that we have the privilege to serve our Lord Jesus Christ. We just ask for help this evening as we consider our service for the Lord. We just commit our evening to You. Father. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Say it with us.
The soldiers screamed as they kicked and punched the young boy's faces and bodies. All It is God and Muhammad is his prophet. Say it.
The four young Sudanese boys and I'm reading a quote from The Voice of the Martyrs.
The four young Sudanese boys cried and screamed out for their mothers, but they refused to repeat the words that would mean saving their lives.
Yet renouncing their Christianity.
By the sword wielding Islamic fighters Now they watched as their four young friends and relatives were beaten to death. The youngest boy was only five years old. The soldiers had already forced each of the older boys to lie over the hot coals and ordered them to repeat the Muslim creed and to join the Islamic faith.
None of the boys would say the words, despite the excruciating pain. There are 14 boys and 13 girls abducted or kidnapped in the raid that day. The girls have never been located and were likely sold as slaves or concubines in northern Sudan. All the boys were tortured, but none relented. The next night, the older boys escaped, still bearing the scars of the previous night. Not one of the boys.
Renounce their faith.
This is a reminder of the persecution coming to America soon. I want to look at a verse in First Peter 4.
First Peter 4.
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And verse 1415 and 16.
Verse 14 If he be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye for the Spirit of glory, and of God. Rest upon you. On their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. Let none of you suffer as an evil, as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busy body in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God.
On this behalf.
Many of you have already suffered in some way for the name of Jesus. We have not suffered like these boys in Sudan, but maybe we have been laughed at or ridiculed or ignored. But the point is, we need to prepare ourselves for what is coming to America soon. This world hates Christians and we should not be surprised because the Lord Jesus said that this world hated me before it hated you.
Whether we face persecution or not, we have a job to do. Our job is called service, and each one of us has our own work that we can do to serve the Lord in our own little sphere. And we can do it where the Lord has put us. We just need to remember that the work that He gives us is not for our own glory, for our own importance. The work is the Lord and the glory goes to Him. And when I get a little bit of glory for some job that I've done for the Lord.
I robbed Jesus from getting that same amount of glory. Let's go to John Chapter 4.
Maybe we ask ourselves.
How can I serve the Lord?
And as you begin to think of ways whereby you can serve Jesus Christ, I want to begin by talking about.
The Harvest John 4 verse 35.
The harvest.
Say not ye there are four months, and then cometh the harvest. Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest.
Four months to harvest, the verse says. Are you going to put off serving the Lord for four months? Will you wait until you graduate?
Or until you retire.
Will you wait until your friends want to serve with you?
Or will you wait for something else?
You can begin serving the Lord right in the circumstance that you find yourself in at this present time, at work, at school, or anywhere.
You don't need to go to another country for another continent. You need to ask the Lord to show you what His will is for you, right where you find yourself now.
I like to think of the harvest as the salvation of souls, but in reality I believe it's bigger than that.
Because after people get saved there, there is a responsibility to do something with the harvest.
And after people are saved, they need to know how to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus, and they need to come to the knowledge of the truth. And I believe there's two parts of going into the world to preach the gospel. The gospel part one is the message of salvation.
The Gospel Part 2 is teaching of discipleship. Now when we talk about discipleship.
Remember that after the reapers bring in the harvest.
The harvest needs to be discipled. They need to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Last night Mr. Ruga was Speaking of the POB, the point of beginning of the many facets of the truth that we that we practice.
And I wonder, did you take notes? Did you begin your outline of truth? And if not, why not?
How? How can we be a spiritual help to anybody?
If we don't have an outline of truth.
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How can we be useful servants of the Lord Jesus if we don't have an outline of truth?
And sometimes when the Lord asked us to do something for him in his harvest.
Our first response is something like not yet.
It costs too much. I don't want to leave my family.
I don't want to leave my friends. Life is too good. Not now. Lord ask me again in four months. But no, our verse. In our verse, Jesus says the harvest is ready now.
Are you willing? Are you ready to go out among the harvest? Let's go to Luke, Chapter 210.
Luke, Chapter 10.
And I like to use this verse as the second part of the gospel harvest, the teaching of discipleship.
And verse 2.
Luke 10 Verse two. Therefore he said unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. The harvest is ready.
The laborers are few.
The Spirit of God is looking for a few godly men and women to work among his harvest.
And God wants something done with the fruit of the harvest. He does not want to let it just sit there idle in his storehouse.
The harvest needs instruction, and God wants His servants. That's you and me. We are His servants, and He wants us to go out into His harvest among the harvest.
And to go out and to guide them and teach them and show them the way of God.
They don't know how to live like a Christian. They they've never been a Christian before.
They don't know how to worship like a Christian according to the word of God. They don't know how to function like an assembly led by the Spirit of God.
For many of you in this room today, you know all of this in your head. You've done it all your life. Many of you have this down in your heart and it has gone down into your feet, and you live it every day.
You live these things and they have become a part of who you are.
And on top of that, some of you have an outline of truth. You need to know your POV.
Some of you may be praying and wondering and asking yourself.
How can God use me in his harvest? How can you serve the Lord beyond what you are doing right now?
Do you know that you have something valuable that God can use?
For his honor and glory, you have something that you can share among the harvest.
As I visit the harvest of Christians in the Congo.
And in South Africa, and in Angola, and in Mozambique, in Malawi, in Burundi, there is interest in many of these places to being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.
And they need basic teaching. They need to know what you have been learning all your life. You have a message that people want to hear. North America. A lot of people don't want to hear it, but there are people who want to hear. You just need to find those people and share those basic teachings that you know. Share those basic teachings with these ones Who wants to know?
Let's go to Romans chapter 10.
Romans, chapter 10.
And verse 14.
How shall they hear without a preacher?
The Christians in the Congo, they are ready to hear right now, and they are waiting for someone to come and receive them into fellowship at the Lord's Table. They are patient. They want to be gathered according to the word of God.
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And so they are willing to wait for someone to come and visit them again.
And to receive them at the Lord's table and to teach them and to show them how it's done. But they've never seen a meeting conducted by what we might say, a meeting led by the spirit of God. They only know a Christianized take off from the Roman Catholic format, where they have a priest or a pastor that's in control.
And Christians, Christians who come out of the religious systems, they most of them only know how traditional Judeo Christianity church services are performed.
And they need a servant or two to go and spend some time with them, and to show them by example how to conduct a meeting according to the Christian only principles without the Judaism.
They want to know how to conduct a meeting and they have asked me and they have said show us, show us a meeting that is led by the Spirit of God. They want to see and they want to know how the church can function with Christ in his place as head of the body.
They only know how to have a pastor lead the meeting and how and how to have a pastor umm be the head of the congregation.
On a side note, I want to make it clear that many of these pastors, they are led by the Spirit of God as an individual servant of God. They have the Spirit of God dwelling in them, and they are led by the Spirit of God. But our subject here is the whole assembly being led by the Spirit in the function of the assembly meeting.
But they they want to know what it means to worship Christ outside the camp of Judaism.
But they need someone to show them, and they want someone to teach them for three or four weeks. Remember Paul? He would stay three Sabbath days with the Saints at least one time. He did. They need time when they're when they're new, to understand and to be shown and to be told how to function as an assembly. Who here among you cannot afford to take three weeks?
To go and spend some time with these Christians in the harvest. They want to know what you know.
And now it is important to realize that not just anybody can go to serve anytime they want in this way.
First, you must be sent.
Not sent by me, not sent by an assembly, not sent by a mission board. You need to be sent by the Spirit of God.
In the process starts with desire, desire to serve the Lord, and then the process requires devotion, devotion to know the Lord's will and devotion to do the Lord's will according to the scriptures.
And then the process requires the process of service, requires dependence, dependence on the Lord to act in faith and to step out and whatsoever capacity the Spirit of God.
Has called you to serve.
And then you must go where he sends you.
Then it requires desire, devotion and dependence. Let's go to Romans 10, again, Romans 10.
And verse 15.
Romans 10/15 How shall they preach except they be sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings a good thing?
In this verse we have two points, and we're preaching these two points, the gospel of peace.
And the glad tidings of good things.
The gospel of peace is to the saving of souls and the glad tidings of good things. This involves the fact that Christians need to be taught the scriptures for worship and service and to live by faith, and they need to hear these, these.
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Glad tidings of good things.
We've spoken about service.
Now I want to talk about sacrifice. We're going to talk about service, sacrifice and suffering. And so let's talk about sacrifice. Let's go to Romans chapter 12.
Romans chapter 12 Now for a Christian to step out in faith as a servant of the Lord, to be his disciple, you need to understand. You need to understand that it is going to cost you something and there will be sacrifice required.
For anybody to serve the Lord.
Romans 12 verse one. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God.
That you present your bodies a living sacrifice.
Holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
How much are you willing to sacrifice your body?
For Jesus.
How much is reasonable for me to sacrifice my body in the cause of the harvest?
Well, how much did Jesus sacrifice for you?
Jesus gave everything he had.
And that puts the reasonability of my service, of my sacrifice.
Up to 100%.
I must admit my sacrifice is not up to 100%, but that is what is reasonable.
It is easy. It's easy for us to make a good life for ourselves in this world and we surround ourselves with family and relatives and friends and.
And we enjoy the comforts of home in a car and surround ourselves with various luxuries and entertainment systems.
And Paul spoke about this lifestyle in the book of Corinthians. Let's go to 1St Corinthians chapter 3.
First Corinthians chapter 3 and verse one.
I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
You know, when Paul said that these Christians were carnal, he meant that he could only talk to them as people who understood only the things about the world. They had not been growing spiritually. And when these good things of life interfere with our service and our devotion to Christ, we have a problem, and it becomes hard to serve Christ and the good life at the same time.
We sang at him last night and #283.
Said all these things.
All the main things that charm us most, we sacrifice them to His blood. Sacrifice 100%. All of these things we enjoy so much. Lord, you want me to be willing to sacrifice 100%? Isn't that a little bit radical?
Are you willing to be radical for Jesus?
I think that is what Jesus meant when he said in in Luke's Gospel chapter 14.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 14 and verse 26.
If any man come to me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brother and sisters, and yay his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
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When Jesus says.
You cannot be my disciple. He does not mean that you're not saved. It doesn't mean that we can't enjoy our friends and our family.
But the meaning of Jesus is very clear in these verses. If you are going to be a disciple of Jesus, there will be a cost.
And when he says you cannot be my disciple, it means Jesus wants us to be free from distractions so that we can serve him.
Let's go to Philippians chapter one.
There's two gifts in this verse for the believer.
Philippians chapter one.
And verse 29 For it is given for unto you, it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.
Two gifts that are given to the servants of the Lord in this verse. One gift is to believe on him. That means you need faith to do the service of the that the Lord has entrusted to you.
And the second is the gift of grace. According to this verse the servant of the Lord will be given the gift of suffering for his name. And so you need to have the gift of grace to suffer for Jesus sake.
I often think.
That I could not suffer like those people I read about in the voice of martyrs.
But when the time comes, God will give you the grace that you need to meet your Crucible.
As you take up your cross and follow Jesus.
He gives more grace. He gives grace upon grace.
And your sacrifice, for Christ sake, might be the loss of your health.
It might take time away from you being with your friends.
You might miss conferences.
Might not be able to celebrate birthdays. No family reunions.
You might need to use up your vacation time. You might miss Why young people events. You might miss family camps.
You might have to endure without conveniences.
You might have to eat different food.
And when you choose to serve the Lord.
It could lead you.
It could possibly lead you into long term sacrifice and suffering.
For Christ's sake, are you willing to give up any of these things?
Take up your cross and to follow Jesus.
We've discussed service.
And sacrifice. Now I'd like to talk about suffering.
We go to Luke chapter chapter 10.
You know, the Lord Jesus is so faithful to us. He asked us to serve him, and He's faithful to tell us that it will require sacrifice.
But now he is telling us we are going to suffer on top of the sacrifice.
What kind of a deal is that you want to serve when you know you're going to sacrifice and suffer? Luke, chapter 10, verse 3.
Go your ways.
Behold, I send you forth as Lambs among the wolves.
Living as a Christian in the life of faith and service is not always an easy thing.
There are problems, there are disappointments along the way, and that is why Paul said he could do all things through Christ, who gave him the strength to serve the Lord even when the going got tough, even when the sacrifice was too much, even when the suffering was unbearable.
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And as you go into the life of faith and service.
You may face mockery.
And persecution.
You'll be cheated. You'll be betrayed. You'll be taken advantage of. You'll be like a lamb among the wolves.
Persecution.
We struggle in life to be someone, to be better than others, and we desperately want to be accepted, but we get bullied.
We get mobbed and persecuted and cheated and denied.
Do you know what it feels like to be chased around the school yard because the kids want to beat you up?
Do you know what it's like to be punched in the face and when you turn the other cheek, they hit that one too?
Do you know what it's like when you're walking home from school and some adult man that you don't know comes to you in the middle of a narrow one lane bridge to beat you up because your father is a Christian?
Have you ever been mopped and bullied for being a Christian in school?
Have you ever been called Holy Roller and other derogatory names? I want to encourage those of you who are bullied in school.
It's not a nice thing, but don't let it bother you too much. Yes, it is a real pain at the time and it affects you emotionally. But if you can overcome the downside of being bullied, it can work out OK for you as you get older and you learn to deal with life. Because when you start to serve the Lord and everything goes wrong and people talk bad about you and people cheat you and they steal from you and they threaten you and they chase you through the African market.
You will have a head start in realizing you are nothing in this world.
And the sooner you realize that you are weak and you can't do it by yourself, the sooner you will experience the grace of God to give you the strength to do whatever the Spirit of God has given you to do.
When the Apostle Paul he was beaten and mopped and persecuted and shipwrecked, he kept on going like he was invincible. But it was not until he was physically impaired that he finally realized he was not invincible.
Service for the Lord is not all about who I am and what I can do in my own strength and abilities. When the Apostle Paul realized this and the Lord told him I'm not going to fix your health problems, he said I'll give you the grace needed to give you the strength to do what I've asked you to do.
In Second Corinthians chapter 12.
Jesus, said my grace.
My strength is made perfect in weakness.
Paul, my strength is made perfect when you are weak and it is amazing because when Paul heard this he was happy and Paul said in Second Corinthians chapter 12.
And verse 9.
Most gladly, therefore will I rather glory in my infirmity, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasures and infirmities in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions.
In distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong.
Let me tell you this, there is danger in serving the Lord. But whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lords. And many times the Lord Jesus said be not afraid.
Because fear is a disease, and when we are controlled by fear, we cannot take a step of faith. You can't do both at the same time.
And the Lord Jesus is greater than any fear.
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Let's go to Luke chapter 6.
And I want to compare the wise man and the foolish man.
Luke Chapter 6, verse 47.
Whosoever cometh to me and heareth my sayings, and do with them, I will show you to whom he is like. He's like a man which built in house, and dig deep and lay the foundation on a rock. And when the flood rose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house.
And could not shake it, for it was founded upon a rock.
These verses are often used in the Gospel, but in reality they are referring to Christians, One Christian who is wise and the other Christian who is foolish. The wise man is an obedient Christian who hears the will of God and he does it and he's saved and he has a useful life for the Lord. He reads his Bible and he prays and he develops a fellowship with God his Father.
And he knows.
Why? He believes what he believes and he can defend his faith and he lives his faith and he has taken up his cross to follow Jesus.
And when troubles come, his confidence is in the Lord and he stands firm.
At the judgment seat of Christ.
He will be rewarded for his faithful service, and he will hear those words well done, thou good and faithful servant.
Enter into the joy of your Lord, but now look at the foolish man. Verse 49.
But he adheres and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built in house upon the earth, against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately he fell, and the ruin of that house was great.
The foolish man is what we sometimes call a lazy Christian who has heard the word of God, but he decides to live a carnal life.
He has a saved soul but a wasted life.
And Jesus. So let's look at verse 46. Jesus says to the foolish man in Luke 4646, why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not the things that I say?
He is saved, but he has no fellowship with God his Father. He does not have confidence in God. He does not obey Jesus as Lord.
He is saved, but he is busy enjoying the carnal life. He only understands things about this world.
In the day of testing and trouble.
He won't stand firm in his faith and in the review of his life at the judgment seat of Christ, His works will all be burned up. What a waste of life.
He will suffer loss, yet he himself will be saved.
You know, there's more to life than worldly friends.
In sports and entertainment and movies and social media.
Nice cars, nice house money. These things are not a sin to do, and it's not a sin to have them. But we need to recognize that the carnal life provides no lasting benefits for anybody.
So don't let the carnal life grab your heart's attention.
And when the testing comes, the foolish Christian will crack under pressure.
I'm going to read you another story from The Voice of the Martyrs.
In the story, one man was wise and he remained strong when trouble came. The other man was a foolish Christian and he could not stand strong in the storm of life.
This from the voice of the martyrs.
This story takes place in communist Romania few years ago, where churches were closed and pastors were arrested as part of a seven-year drive to eliminate the nations of all superstition. So when Brother Vasile and his wife began holding more church meetings in their little home, they knew it would not escape the attention of the government forever. Every evening Vassily prayed God, if you know some prisoner who needs my help.
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Send me back to jail, his wife shuddered while she mumbled A reluctant Amen.
Then they learned that one of the church members homes had been raided and copies of the celery's sermons had been confiscated. They also learned that the assistant pastor, who was their friend and coworker, became an informant and had denounced Vasile. It was 1:00 in the morning when the police raided the little apartment.
And placed Vasily under arrest as they handcuffed him. Placille said I won't leave here peacefully unless you allow me a few minutes to embrace my wife. The police reluctantly agreed they would have their way Soon enough. The couple held each other and prayed and sang with such emotion that even the captain was moved. Finally, they escorted Vasile out to a police van.
With his wife tearfully running after them, I see they turned and called out his last words before disappearing for many years. Give all my love to our son and to the pastor who denounced me.
The wise man, Basile. He lived by the faith of the Son of God who loved him and gave himself for him. Vasile was strong in the face of testing. He was able to meet the extreme betrayal with extreme forgiveness.
Vasile, he's a wise man.
But Vasily's friend, the assistant pastor, he was a foolish Christian who was weak in the time of testing, and he heard the instructions, but he didn't listen to it and he failed to obey the teaching.
He made the decision on what he thought would be best for himself at that time.
And when his carnality came to the surface, the thoughts of his mind, when something like this, I'm going to betray Vasile, because that is better for me.
He was controlled by the carnal principle of the world.
What is best for me?
When the storm came, the foolish Christian cracked under pressure.
As we look in from the outside, we can condemn that man as a foolish Christian. But I wonder how would I respond if I were to be put under some extreme pressure? Would I stand strong?
Or would I cry?
Will I be controlled by my carnal mind to do what is best for me?
Over the years, we Christians who are gathered to the Lord's name, we have accumulated so much knowledge.
But knowledge without works is not. Why?
Knowledge does not make me strong.
When the severe trials come, we need wisdom. And in times of severe testing, the wise will live by faith and not by fear. They will survive. They will survive through the toughest times.
But the foolish they only know how to talk about things of the world.
They may put fear.
In the place of faith and when the when the when the tough times come.
They look for the easy way out. They do what is best for me.
The foolish Christian will have a saved soul but a lost life.
John 12. I believe that's what John speaks about here in John chapter 12 and verse 25.
So 1St 25 He that loves his life shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternally.
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I'd like to share a final story on suffering now. Suffering comes in many different forms. I remember when we had a weekly Bible study in our home in Taronga, Malawi.
The mechanic. He was always present at the Bible study and he encouraged other people to come and he encouraged them to listen to the teachings. He would say these teachings are very important, listen to what he has to say. You need to listen to them and the mechanic.
He had done a lot of work in my truck. Oh, I had AI like that truck. It was a strong South African built Nissan 4 by 4 is a pickup truck, but there are always parts that needed to be replaced and fixed.
Let's go to loop 6.
Luke Chapter 6.
This mechanic.
Had one Bible study.
The mechanic asked the question.
He said What do these verses mean?
Luke 6 verse 28.
Bless them that curse you, pray for them which despitefully use you. Verse 30 And of him that takes away thy goods, ask them not again.
This guy was setting me up. He wanted to know how I would react when I found out that he was taking good parts off my truck and replacing them with faulty parts. And when it broke down again, he'd repeat the process. He'd take another good part off and put another faulty part in place.
Eventually the engine of my good truck stopped working and the truck died.
You know, the heartbreak in the service of Jesus Christ.
Can be devastating. And on top of that, I'm supposed to forgive this guy.
Has retribution for being fired from working on my truck.
He gathered together a band of hoodlums from his home village and they they attacked the informants as he walked home and they beat him and they clubbed him. They put him in the hospital.
Satan is behind much of the suffering in this world, and if your life is going to amount to anything for Jesus Christ.
You can be sure Satan will be right there to destroy and to discourage.
If the confidence of your soul is not established on Christ the Rock, when the floods come, you're going to have a rough time of it.
Satan is relentless.
He cannot go beyond the bounds that God allows him, but he is relentless. Satan is going to do everything possible to discourage you and to disappoint you and to make you doubt the goodness of God.
And so I exhort you.
Be established in the faith.
Establish your faith in Christ now and hold fast to that which is really life.
So when the floods and the storms of life come, you can stand strong with confidence in Jesus Christ.
In closing I want to say this.
If anyone is interested.
And praying about what you can do in your service for Christ. Please come and talk to me. I'd be happy to hear about your thoughts and the directions of your heart in connection with your desire for service for the Lord Jesus.
The harvest is ready now.
Let's sing that song we sang last night for two nights ago, 283.
Three nights ago.
#283.
And in the second verse it says.
All the vain things that charm us most, we sacrifice them to His blood.
When we survey.
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100 and cry out.
Umm.
Nsnoise.
That's great.
Our God and Father to give thanks.
That the Lord Jesus gave so much for us 100%.
We just asked for help in each of our own personal lives as we step out in faith.
To serve the Lord Jesus.
Then we might go in the confidence of the Lord Jesus.
That we might live by faith.
We know the harvest is ready.
You just asked that we might.
Be willing to take that step to go out into the harvest.
We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.