Latest / Desoto Hills Baptist Church / SUNDAY - JUNE 28, 2026 "Continue Proclaiming" Acts 21:27-40

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SUNDAY - JUNE 28, 2026 "Continue Proclaiming" Acts 21:27-40 · Desoto Hills Baptist Church

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to DeSoto Hills Baptist Church.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Our Sunday morning services are weekly at 9 and 10 30 a.m.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: You're listening to an audio recast of this past week's service.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: We hope you enjoy.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: God bless.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: I know you didn't want to be with me to hear me sing it, but you don't know how many times I've left the church saying, I need thee, oh, I need thee.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Every hour I need thee.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Not because of anything wrong with you, but because of everything wrong with me.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: I need thee.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I need thee.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 21, as you as you turn there today, let's begin for a moment thinking about 250 years ago, 1776, the American colonies faced and they stood against one of the greatest military powers in the world.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: Many believed that independence was impossible.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Defeat seemed inevitable.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Congress was divided, resources were scarce, families separated.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: There were days when the future looked hopeless.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yet John Adams, one of our founding fathers, he never stopped arguing that freedom was worth the cost.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: He endured criticism, discouragement, and years away from his wife and family.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Many delegates wanted to give up, yet not John Adams, because he remained steadfast.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: He believed that some causes were too important to abandon simply because the road was difficult.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: While we have the Declaration of Independence today, and history remembers that declaration, sometimes what is forgotten is the countless days when giving up would have been easier than pressing on.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: So thankful for that our founding fathers decided to press on, and we have today a country where we can celebrate and we can worship in freedom.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: As we turn to our passage today, where we find Paul is he is in a situation where time is difficult.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: Giving up seems easy.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: What we're going to find in our passage today is Paul is arrested based on false accusations.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: He is arrested and taken to taken arrested and being taken to Roman barracks for questioning in this passage simply because someone made up an accusation about him.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: Times were bleak for Paul.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and as we look today, listen, we we will, as believers, we will always face challenges.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: We will always face temptations.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: We will always face what sometimes we will face false accusations, but we will always stand in a place where things seem to be coming at us from all different directions, sometimes externally, sometimes internally, sometimes just the world seems like chaos, and it would seem easier to just give up.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: But what we're gonna see in Paul, and what we're gonna see today, is even in the midst of difficult times, we must be ready to continue.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: We must be prepared to continue to humbly proclaim the gospel in every situation.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: So the challenge for us is today is this be prepared to proclaim the gospel in every circumstance.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: No matter what is in front of us, no matter what is before us, we must be ready.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: We must be prepared to proclaim the gospel.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: So the question that we seek this morning to answer is this.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: As we look at this passage, how was Paul prepared?
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: How did what are the some what are some things?
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: How was he ready to proclaim the gospel even when times were difficult?
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're able this morning, I invite you to stand with me as we give honor to the reading of God's word from Acts chapter 21.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to start reading in verse 27.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: For they, moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: For they had previously seen Trophimus, the Ephesian, with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: Then all the city was stirred up, and people ran together, they seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut, and as they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort, and all that all Jerusalem was in confusion.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: He at once took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: And when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: Then the tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: He inquired who was who he was and what he had done.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, some another, and as he could not learn the facts, because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: And when he came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: For the mob of the people followed, crying out, Away with him.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, May I say something to you?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, Do you know Greek?
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: Are you not the Egyptian then who recently stirred up a revolt and led four thousand men of the assassins into the wilderness?
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Paul replied, I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no obscure city.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: I beg you, permit me to speak to the people.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: And when he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the steps, motioned with his hands to the people, and when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: God, I thank you for today.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: I thank you for this opportunity that we have to open your word.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: You have revealed yourself to us through this word, and we pray that today we will see you.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus, it's in your wonderful name that we pray.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: So we are looking at today at how was Paul prepared.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, let's remember, before we dig deep here, let's remember what Acts is about.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 1, 8 says, Jesus said, You will receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria to the uttermost parts of the earth.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: So what we're going to find this week, really what we're going to find next week, is Paul doing that very thing, being a witness to the kingdom of God.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: He is bearing witness, he is going to bear witness to what God has done in his life, what God is doing in his life.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's what we're going to see Paul ready to do in the face of dire circumstances.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: So the question again is how was he prepared to do that?
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: What did he do to prepare himself to do that?
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, first thing I think we see is Paul prepared himself by doing the right thing.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: He was doing the right thing.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: Don't miss verse 27.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: If we're not familiar with what happened last week, we'll just pass right over verse 27 when it says, when the seven days were almost completed.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: So here's what's happening.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, last week where we found Paul is he traveled to Jerusalem.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: He was on his way to Jerusalem, even though he knew that he was going to face situations like he is facing today.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: He went to Jerusalem because the Holy Spirit had constrained him to go.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: He met with James, the half-brother of Jesus.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: He met with the elders of the church.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: He told them about the mission to the Gentiles, about how well it was going, how God was bringing people to himself.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: And they said, listen, that is great, but you also need to know that Jews are coming to faith in Jesus too.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: And Paul, there's an issue.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: So what we're going to ask you to do is we're going to ask you to participate in this purification ceremony for seven days.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to ask you to participate, pay for the other three guys that were going through it, pay for them, and just allow that to ease some tensions between yourself and the Jewish believers for the unity of the body.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: Paul knew some things about this.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: He knew that participating in this would not bring salvation.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: He said in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 and 9, when he wrote to that church in Ephesus, he says in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for by grace you have been saved through faith.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: This is not your own doing.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: It is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one could should boast.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: Paul knows that participating in this ceremony is not going to bring salvation for himself.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's not why he's doing it.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: He also, what he is doing is what he wrote to the church at Philippi in Philippians chapter 2, verses 12 through 13.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: He wrote this, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed so now, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Hear this, he says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: What Paul is doing is he knows that God is working in his life and it has worked and brought salvation to his life.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: So what he is doing is exercising that salvation, not for his own sake, but for the sake of the body.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: He is participating in this ceremony for the unity of the body.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: He is doing this because he has been asked to ease tensions.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: He is doing this because it is the right thing to do.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's the right thing to do.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, church, if we are going to be ready to proclaim, to humbly proclaim the gospel, we must be doing the right thing.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: When I was in college, my brother Clay and I, Clay is also a minister in the ministry too, and when we were in college, we were asked to lead a youth revival at a church in South Mississippi.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I know you won't believe this, but here's what we did.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: We rotated.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: One night, Clay would sing, lead worship, play the guitar, sing courses, and I would preach.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: The next night, I played guitar and led worship, and Clay preached.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: You can laugh.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: That's how we did it.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: One night after after after the after we met, a group of the of the students and Clay and I went to the local Dairy Queen for supper.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: Got to Dairy Queen and placed our order, and we got back to our table and sat down.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: And lo and behold, on our tray was extra food.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: So we began to say, what should we do about this?
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so we had this discussion, and here's what we decided.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: We decided, well, it was their fault that they gave us the extra food.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't ask for it, it was their fault.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: So you know what we did?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: We just ate it.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: A little bit later, another student came in after us and he talked to the guy behind the counter whom he knew, and he later came back and sat down with us, and the guy at the counter said, Man, are you with that group back there?
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: He said, Yeah.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: He said, They came in and they ordered food.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then they accidentally got food that they didn't order nor did they pay for.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: I thought y'all were a group of Christians.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: Right here.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: Here we are leading a youth revival.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: Proclaiming the gospel message to people.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: But it really hurts when you're not doing the right thing.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: If we're going to humbly proclaim the gospel message, we must be living the gospel message.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, I know that sometimes because we're people, we're going to fail.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: We did.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: We failed when we went into that dairy queen.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't do the right thing.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, so so then when our lives don't match up with what we said and we haven't done the right thing, what do we do then?
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, at that point, you stop and you start doing the right thing.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: The right thing at that point is this you repent of your sin, you turn away from that sin, and you begin again trusting in Jesus and doing the right thing.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, we're going to mess up.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to fail.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: Scripture tells us that.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: But we don't have to live in that failure.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: What we do at that point to do the right thing once we fail is we repent and we trust in Jesus and allow him to work out our salvation within us.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: We repent.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: If we are going to humbly proclaim the way Paul did, we must do the right thing.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: Then see what happens because Paul does the right thing.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: Immediately, he at the end, the seven days wasn't even completely over.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: And some people came up and they made some accusations against Paul.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: You see in verse 28 that men they came crying out, men of Israel, help.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: Here's this man, and he is teaching everyone everywhere, and he's teaching against the people, talking about the people of God.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: He is teaching against the law, talking about the law of Moses, and he's teaching against this place, the temple.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: We addressed that last week.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: Paul never really preached against those things, but they accused him of that.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then here's what they said: they made these accusations that they brought some Greeks into the temple.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: Now understand the setup of the temple of that time, right?
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: There's an outer court that anybody could go into.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: Then there was a court of women that Jewish ladies could go into.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Inside that, there was the court of men that only Jewish men could go into.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: What they are accusing Paul of is taking Greeks into the Jewish court of men, that he's done that.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: And here's how they get there.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's crazy.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: It says in verse 29, they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: And hear this, they supposed that Paul brought him into the temple.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: Now listen, we live in a time of crazy conspiracy theories that have zero proof behind the accusations.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: This takes the cake.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: They saw Paul in the city with a Greek and assumed that he took that Greek into the court of the Gentiles.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: No proof, no nothing.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't even see it themselves.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's not even them saying, we saw him in there.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: They supposed that Paul took them in there and they began to stir the crowd up and throw them in confusion.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: They grabbed Paul, they brought him outside of the temple, they closed the temple doors.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: The crowd was stirred up so much that they began beating Paul and beating Paul.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then the Romans got involved.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Now listen, the Romans, they typically wouldn't have been concerned about somebody breaking the Jewish law, but all of a sudden they're concerned because there seems to be a riot about to happen.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: So the tribune grabs soldiers, grabs centurions, they run out, they find them beating Paul, and when they get there, they stop beating Paul.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so the tribune is trying to figure out what is happening and figure out what's going on.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: But verse 31 gives a great, great descriptor of what's happening in the city.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: It says, and as they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: They were in confusion.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: The tribune shows up, the crowd stops beating Paul, and of course, who do they chain?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: Paul.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hadn't done anything, but they chained Paul up.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: They began to try to question to see what was going on, and they couldn't even get an answer.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: In verse 34, again, confusion, the descriptor.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: Some in the crowd were shouting one thing and some another.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: The crowd didn't even know what they were accusing Paul of.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: The crowd didn't even know why they were beating him.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: It was just chaos.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: So they take Paul and they began to carry him into the barracks so they could question him.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: And listen, here's what happens just to get him through the crowd.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: They have to pick him up and carry him.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: Now we're not sure if they're carrying him because he's been beaten so bad that he can't walk.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: We're not sure if they are carrying him because he's chained together at the hands and feet and can't walk.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: We don't know if they're carrying him because the crowd is pushing in on him so much that they can't get through.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: We're not sure, but we know this.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: He can't get through the crowd, so they are carrying him through the crowd.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: But in the midst of all this, here's how Paul was prepared to proclaim the gospel.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: Because in the midst of all that, he remained calm.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: How do we know he remained calm?
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: See what happens.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: In verse 37, they're about to go into the barracks.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: Paul looks at the tribune and says, Can I say something to you?
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: At this point, he is utterly surprised.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: He thinks Paul is an Egyptian who has tried to lead a revolt against Rome with 4,000 men and escaped into the wilderness.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's who he thinks Paul is.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: There could be no other reason for why what is happening in the city is happening.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: So he's that's what he thinks.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: But Paul, because he remained calm in Greek, looked at this tribune and said, Hey, can I say something to you?
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: He's surprised.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: He said, Wait a second, aren't you the Egyptian that led the revolt?
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: What revolt?
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: Paul said, No.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a Jew from Tarsus.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: No, no obscure city.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: Tarsus had a very dynamic Jewish population among it.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: He said, I'm not from an obscure city.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Please let me address the crowd.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: See, Paul was able to remain calm because he knew he was in control.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: He had been plunged to victory beneath the cleansing flood.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: He knew he was in control.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: He knew that he was going to face things like this when he went to Jerusalem.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: It had been predicted by so many people, even the Holy Spirit.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: He knew things like this was going to happen, but he knew that God was in control.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't have to worry, he didn't have to fret, he didn't have to figure out what was going on.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: He knew God was in control, so he remained calm.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: And finally, what we see is he spoke confidently.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: See what happens.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: The tribune heard who Paul was, and because he was a Jew, because he was from a well known Jewish community, he said, Well, I guess you have the right to speak to these people.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: So he, in verse 40, it says, When he had given him permission, Paul stands.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Standing on the steps, he motioned with his hands to the people.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: And when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: He was prepared.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: He was prepared to speak confidently.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: He wasn't confident in his own abilities.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: He wasn't confident in the fact that.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, here he is, he's speaking, he's at least bilingual, right?
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: Speaking Greek and Hebrew.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: His confidence doesn't rest there.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: His confidence rests in his Savior who plunged him to victory.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: I love what Paul writes about his imprisonment in Ephesians chapter 3, verse 1.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: He says, this for this reason, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, on behalf of the Gentiles.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: A prisoner of Christ Jesus.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: Not of Rome, not of the Jews.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because they weren't in control.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: God was.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: So he could confidently speak as he commissioned Timothy to do.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: In his last letter to Timothy, right before he faced death, Paul wrote to Timothy and gave him some advice about how to lead the church.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: 2 Timothy 4, verse 1 and 2, Paul embodies here exactly what he tells Timothy.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is the judge of the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Be ready in season and out of season.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: Fulfill your ministry.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: Be ready.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: Be ready to proclaim the gospel message.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: Be prepared to proclaim the gospel message by doing the right thing, by living your life in a way that backs up your words, by remaining calm when the world is in chaos around us, having peace in the midst of that, in the midst of that chaos, remaining calm in the midst of that, knowing that God is in control.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then rely on our Lord Jesus and preach the gospel.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: We must humbly proclaim.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know where you are this morning, but if you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, hear the gospel message for yourself.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: We are sinners.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: Scripture tells us we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because of our sin, we deserve death.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: But God, in his great love for us, sent his own son to die for us while we were yet sinners.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to get right and come to Jesus.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: You come to Jesus and He makes you right.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: God demonstrated in His own love for us that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: So here's what happens.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: When we confess with our mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God has raised him from the dead, we will be saved.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's the gospel message.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: You need Jesus.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: If you've never trusted in him, I pray that today you will.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: In just a moment, we're going to stand and we're going to sing a hymn of invitation.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: We invite you to come.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: If you have trusted Jesus, but but maybe you find yourself today in a place where you know you're supposed to do the right thing, but you haven't.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: And grant, you don't know what I've done.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: Here's what we're called to do.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: Here's the next right thing for you to do.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: If you've been wandering away from God, here's the next right thing for you to do.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: Repent and turn back to Him.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe this morning you need to repent.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: We'll be up here to receive you.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: We'd love to pray with you.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: Or you can come kneel in these steps and make them your altar and repent and come to Him.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: If you're looking for a church home, we invite you to come.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: However, God is leading you, we invite you to come.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: God, I thank you for today.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: I thank you for how you love us.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: I thank you for all you've done for us.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: God.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: I pray that as you are moving among us, that we will hear your call.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: God, give us the faith that we need.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: To trust you, to follow you, to come to you.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: For those who need salvation, draw them to yourself.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: For those who need to repent, draw them to yourself.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: God, work as only you can.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name we pray.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to this week's sermon.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions for our pastor, feel free to reach out at DeSotoHills.com.