Eternal Value of Souls 1

It is good to be here. Amen, it is good to see all of your faces. It is an honor to be a part of this conference, and it's an honor to be a part of this church that makes so much of missions. Listen to this from Bruce Hunt. The work of the church is missions. That is, the work of the church is not primarily self preservation, the perfection of organization, the improvement of the members, or several other firsts that people might propose. The work of the church is missions. The reason that we're here is missions. Everything that we do is to serve that purpose. That's not to say that other things are unimportant, but other things are subordinate to that. Now, let me be quick to clarify what I mean when we say missions. Oftentimes we hear that word and we think that the only thing that missions is about is a person who is from one location moving themselves to another location to do the work of evangelism. And all of a sudden, now that you are doing that. If I am from place A and I end up in place B, then I'm a missionary. So people will say, you know, well, yeah, I'm an American, I'm here in Zambia. We're partnering with the Reform Baptists here to do the work of you know, African Christian University. Well that's missions work. Well what was I doing when I was in America planting churches? Was it not missions work? Because I happened to be from there? You follow me. Missions is not about location. It's about the work, and it's about the continuation of the work. Nor do we go somewhere and we say, okay, we'll fine. We got the Brother in Sier early on, and you know, we're doing missions because somebody goes somewhere to do something and it's missions. But then all of a sudden, one day it's no longer part of the mission because at a certain age the work no longer weel you see the problem there. So this mission of ours, this mission that we've been put on, has nothing to do with location. This mission that we've been put on has everything to do with the heart and character of God himself. And so we'll start tonight in a place that I really wrestled with whether or not we would start here. But we have to. I just I can't start anywhere else. We're going to do a survey of missions. And usually when we think about that. You know we're going to do a survey of missions. We think, oh great, So you know we'll start in Matthew, and we'll look at the Great Commission, and then we'll know we're going to start in Genesis. We're going to do a survey of mission, and we're going to start in Genesis. Well, how can we do a survey of missions if we start in Genesis? If there's only been missions since the New Testament, there's the problem. That's not true. Missions didn't begin in the New Testament. Listen to this. There's a clue actually that is found in Matthew. Matthew twenty three fifteen. Matthew twenty three fifteen. Jesus says, well to you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites, for you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte or a single convert, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much the child of Hell as yourself. Wait a minute, if missions didn't begin until the New Testament, why were the Pharisees crossing land and sea to make converts? If this is a New Testament concept, what were they doing? Now? Granted the heart of it was wrong, but they were doing this work. The question is why. Well, if you have your bibles, open them all the way on the left side. We're gonna start in Genesis. We're gonna look at several passages of scripture and work our way through. Start with Genesis chapter one, beginning of verse twenty eight. Genesis chapter one, beginning of verse twenty eight. And God blessed them, And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. By the way, if we're going to talk about the eternal value of souls, it's just one of the things that I always find fascinating. Whenever we talk about souls and the value of souls, immediately people start talking about, well, yeah, like we just hurt. People need the Lord. And that's true, people need the Lord. And so the value of souls ought to lead us to go and share the gospel. But hear me when I say this, the value of souls ought to also lead us to have children. Amen, Somebody, how do we as Christians on the one hand, say, oh, we believe in the eternal value of souls, but every time I meet a young married couple, they want to wait as long as possible before they start bringing souls into the world. Help me, a holy spirit, Right, do we believe in the value of souls or not? Do we believe in the value of souls or do we only believe in the value of converts? Because if we believe in the value of souls, but that means believe in the value of every one of them that comes into the world. This means yes, it's universal, right, and so we start there. We cannot begin to comprehend the eternal value of souls if we don't begin to comprehend the value of bringing them into the world. Amen. Not only that, but we see a picture here of the mission of God. Sounds ironic, doesn't it. Here we are in creation, Here we are on the day that man is created. Here we are before the fall, and we're talking about the mission of God. Well, wait a minute, is it missions? Why would you have to have missions if you don't have lost people? But God puts man on mission before the fall. The cultural mandate is man's mission before the fall. And if you look at the end of the book, you don't have to turn there. If you look at the end of the book, if you look in Revelation twenty two, those sort of three verses. Then the Angel showed me the river of the Water of Life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, through the middle of the street of the city. Also on either side of the river the Tree of Life, with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. Folks. That is a recreation of what we find in Genesis one. So the Bible ends right where it begins. So man is created, is put on mission. The mission is corrupted from the beginning, so the mission changes. The mission now has to do with men who are fallen being redeemed. But that doesn't mean that the original mission goes unaccomplished, because when we get to the end of the book and the consummation of all things at the end of the Age, what do we see the complete and perfect achievement of the mission that God intended for man from the beginning before the fall. Souls didn't become valuable after the fall. Amen, souls didn't become valuable just because men are lost. They've always been valuable. And the people of God didn't all of a sudden inherit a mission because of the fall. Newsflash, we were on mission before the fall, and don't miss this. We'll be on mission in the new Heaven and the New Earth. What mission the same one from Genesis one? Continuing to subdue. Let's look at a couple of other places. Let's look at the mission of God in the Abraham and Covenant. Go to Genesis chapter twelve, Genesis chapter twelve, and look at the first three verses there. In Genesis chapter twelve, Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you, and I will make you a great nation. And I will bleame, bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. That's important. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you. I will occurse, and in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. God blessed Abraham so that he would be a blessing. God makes Abraham a family, so that he will bless all the families of the earth. God makes Abraham a great nation, so that that great nation will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth. He's a mission an exodus. We see the plague. Look for example, Exodus chapter nine, beginning verse fourteen. For this time I will send my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants, and on your people, so that you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth. For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. But for this purpose I have raised you up to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. The Exodus was not just about getting God's people out of Egypt and about getting Egypt out of God's people. The Exodus was also about God proclaiming to the entire earth that he is God. It was part of the mission Israel's place among the nations. Look with me, if you will in Deuteronomy chapter twenty eight, keep turning to the right Deuteronomy twenty eight. And all the people of the earth shall see that you are called by my name, or by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you, why because they see whose you are. Go with me to the historical books. Let's look at First Samuel, particularly First Samuel seventeen and verse forty six. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand. This is David speaking to the giant Goliath. This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. Gotta love that confidence. And I will give the dead bodies of the hosts of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air. A lot of times we miss that, don't we. A lot of times we look at the courage of young David and we think, how courageous must he have been to go down and face that giant, to stand off against that giant. David didn't just face Goliath. David said, I'm going to kill you. I'm going to cut off your head, and I'm going to kill all of them too. Aha. And to the wild beast of the earth. Why that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. It wasn't enough for David us defeat Israel's enemy. For David, the purpose of this defeat had to be larger, and it had to be part of the mission that Israel existed to achieve. What was that mission? What's Israel's mission? That the entire world may know that there is a God in Israel, and we'll see later that the entire world will come to worship him. Speaking of worship, Israel's worship was part of this reason. Look at first chronicle sixteen, as we continue to move to the right. For his chronicle sixteen, let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, the Lord reigns. So now it's not just again with the Exodus and then with David. We see this idea that we want everyone to know that there's a God in Israel. We want everyone to fear and tremble because of the God of Israel. But that wasn't the entirety of the mission. The idea is that the nations would also proclaim that the Lord reigns, that the nations would acknowledge God's sovereignty, that they would acknowledge God's headship. Israel was not satisfied with people just being afraid and people just saying, oh, there's a powerful God over there. Israel would not be satisfied until all of the nations worshiped God. They were on mission. Psalm says in Psalm eighteen forty nine, for I will praise your old Lord among the nations and sing to your name among the nations. The Temple, the place where Israel worshiped, was also part of this mission. But the Second Chronicles Second Chronicles, Chapter six, verses thirty two and thirty three. You know, there's so much information about temple worship in the Book of Chronicles, which was one book before they were later separated, that it is often presumed that the author had to have been a Levite, and not just a Levite, but a Levite who worked at the temple, and more than likely a musician. Because of this emphasis on Israel's worship Second Chronicles, Chapter six, Verse thirty two and thirty three. Likewise, when a foreigner who is not of your people Israel comes from a far country for the sake of your great name, and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house here from heaven your dwelling place. And do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you God. When a foreigner comes to this dimeny, and when a foreigner cries out to you hear him, meet him in this place. Meet that foreigner in this place, so that when that foreigner goes away from here and goes back to the place where they're from, they'll let others know that you are God, as to your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name. Well, not just the historical books, but also in the psalms. We find, for example, in the Messianic songs. Look at Psalm two. Psalm too, beginning of verse seven. I will tell of the decree the Lord said to me, you are my son. Today I have forgotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. And we know that when Jesus is baptized, what he hears comes from this Psalm. So what we need to understand about Jesus and the Greek commission and about the mission of the Church to all the nations is that it's not something new, that it was actually foretold in the Psalms, and particularly here in Psalm II. The idea of missions not invented in the New Testament. Psalm twenty two, beginning of verse twenty seven, All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you, For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. Folks, this is Israel's song book. This is what they sang to God. Listen to that again. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. This was Israel's mission, that the whole world would know God, that the whole world would worship God. So many times when we think about Israel, we had this idea that Israel's attitude was we are God's chosen people, we are God's elect Too bad for the rest of you. That was absolutely not their attitude. It was absolutely not their disposition when they came together in the temple, and when they worshiped God, they were not satisfied that the worship of God would be limited to the Hebrew people. They were not satisfied that the worship of God would be limited to the Temple in Jerusalem. Their desire, the yearning of their souls, was that God would be worshiped to the very ends of the earth. That was their mission. Let's move past the songs, because we could be here for the rest of the night. Let's look at the prophets. Let's move on to the prophets, and let's look at Isaiah or Isaiah, whichever you prefer. Chapter two, Chapter two, and verse three. And many peoples shall come and say. Now, notice he does not say many people. He says many peoples plural. When you see people, you're talking about a large number of individuals. When you see peoples plural, you see people, groups, nations, ethnicities. Okay, And many peoples, many nations, many ethnicities, many groups of peoples, many tribes of peoples, shall come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways, and that we may walk in his paths, for out of Zion shall go the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem chapter twenty four and verse sixteen. From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise of glory to the just one. This was the prophet's vision chapter sixteen and verse three. And the nations shall come to your light and kings, to the brightness of your rising Jeremiah. The next book, look at Jeremiah chapter three and verse seventeen. At that time, Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. This is what the prophet foresaw. This missions on the left side of the look long before a great commission. At the end of Matthew chapter sixteen and verse nineteen, Oh Lord, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say, our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless, things in which there is no profit. Think about that. They're not just going to come, but they're going to turn away from the worthless lies from which there is no profit. Was anyone that was just me? Or was anyone else struck by the brotherho Sierra Leon Leon, who said something to the effect of the Pentecostals are far more trouble than the Muslims. Did you hear that? Did you catch that? That's in many ways our version of this in our day. The prophet here is talking about people who are worshiping false gods. He's talking about people whom he sees, people whose plight pricks his heart because of the falsehood in which they live, and the desire is for the truth to be known among them. Oh Lord, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say to you, shall those who are bound up in the lies of Pentecostalism come and say, our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no prophet. That was his passion. It's amazing how we think about the Old Testament and we think about Israel and we think they're. Nothing like us. Huh. We think about the Old Testament and we think about you know, how Israel lived and what Israel pursued, and we think that somehow we are so much better and so much greater, that the idea of passion for souls is something that only we experience. Folks. The people of God have always felt this way, Amen, and they always will. The people of God have always been on mission, and we always will. Michaeh, Prophet Michael. You may think it's redundant, but that's the point. That's the point. My point here tonight is now, I did not want to come and you know, grab one verse or one passage from an Old Testament text, and you know, and talk about that one passage from the Old Testament text. We'll have some expositions and the rest of our time. But the goal here was for you to get to the point where you say it's getting a little redundant, because it is everywhere everywhere Old Testament, New Testament. It's everywhere. Why because it is the heart of God and it will always be the heart of his people. Amen. Michael. Chapter four, Michael, chapter four and verse two. Many nations shall come and say, I love that this is not a prayer, it's a declaration. This is a prophecy Amen. And many nations shall come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways, and that we may walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. We've heard that before, haven't we. It's a quote Michael chapter five and verse four. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and they shall dwell secure. For now he shall be great to the ends of the earth, to the ends of the earth Abacka, one of the books that we rarely look at. These next few otors give you Abacka chapter two, verse fourteen. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea Zephaniah two eleven. The Lord will be awesome against them, for he will famish all the gods of the earth, and to him shall bow down each in its place, all the lands of the nations Zechariah to eleven. And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day and shall be my people, and I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me to you. Finally with Malachi chapter one, verse eleven, from the rising of the sun to its setting. My name will be great among the nations. Every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering for my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of Hosts. Now, as we pause here and think about these things, that's the left side of the book. That's the Old Testament. That's the people of God under the Old Covenant. That's the people of God before the person and work of Christ. That's the people of God who only had a glimpse. That's the people of God who only got a foreshadowing and a foretaste of what was to come. And here's what I want to ask you. Does your passion for souls match that you have more than they could have imagined. Does your passion for souls match theirs? You have the New Testament, you have Jesus, you have the Cross, you have the Resurrection, you. Have the Holy Spirit falling down on us from heaven at Pentecost. You have the apostles. But I dare you, I dare you to tell me that your passion for souls rivals what we just read from people who didn't. Have all that. And yet for most of us, for most of us, our attitude is a missions that's a that's a New Testament thing. That's something that we have because of what Jesus did. That's something that we have because of the Cross. And while it is true that because of Christ, because of his person and work, what we have a passion for souls. While while that is true, please don't miss the fact that what we have through the person and work of Christ was merely an extension and an expression and a manifestation of who God is and always was and always will be. Christ did not come because God had an afterthought. The mission of the Church doesn't exist because of something that was lacking in God before Christ came. Here is the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world. Amen. And what we see in these texts to which we've alluded here is born out of the heart of God, who was setting Israel up to be able to see and understand and receive the Messiah when he came. So this passion in this mission didn't come into existence Christ, it just came to fruition. It just made more sense when you think about Old Testament saints compared to us. The best illustration I've ever heard is you have to think about from a theological perspective and the person in work of Christ and everything that we have when you see the saints and the Old Testament compared to us as New Covenant saints. We are in a room just like they were. But the difference for us is the lights are on. The furniture was there when they were in the room. They just didn't have the lights on to see it as clearly as we see it. Amen. And Christ is that light. So wouldn't it make sense that we would also see a passion for souls among the people of God on that side of the world. A couple of things in the New Testament, and I think maybe will have time for for one. Look at Matthew Matthew Chapter six. Matthew Chapter six commonly referred to as the Lord's Prayer, it's actually a misnomer. The Lord's Prayer. I'm putting that title on John seventeen. Amen, This prayer actually the Disciples prayer. He's teaching the disciples how to pray, right Matthew, Chapter six, beginning of verse nine. And remember, Jesus is giving us the fundamentals of communion with God. He's giving us the fundamentals of prayer. He has these twelve men, these are his disciples. He is pouring his life into them. He's discipling them for three and a half years, and he is teaching them all that they need to know. And now the second person of the Trinity is going to teach his followers how to pray. Pray like this, our Father in heaven, how will be your name? Your Kingdom Come? Will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now, the Catechism asks this question, what is the first petition in the Lord's prayer? The first petition is Hello, be that name. That's the first thing that we're taught to ask for. Question, what do we pray for in the first petition, that God's name may be honored by us and by all men. So in the first petition of the prayer, we're our mission, our father, our netty, Hello be your name. Notice the prayer is not our Father in heaven, I hallo your name. M hmm, that's not the petition, hallow be your name, May your name be halloed by me and by all men. That's interesting. How are you going to do that by preaching the gospel. That's the only way that happens, right, What use is it if God's people come before God in communion with God, saying, Oh God, the desire of our heart is that your name would be halloed am men. Is it really? Who have you told? Well? Nobody, But it's really what I want? Is it really? What is the second petition? Thy Kingdom come? Question? What do we pray for in the second petition? That the Gospel may be preached in all the world and believed and obeyed by us and all men. That's how Jesus to Jesus disciples to pray our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. My desire, my desire is that all men everywhere would hallow your name, That kingdom come, that kingdom come, Your rule, your rain. That's what I want, Your rule, your rain. How does that happen? Proclamation of the gospel. What's the third petition? Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And what do we pray for in the third petition? That men on earth may serve God as the angels do in heaven. All that teach us to pray. God, Lord, teach us to pray. If you want to learn how to pray. Okay, here's how you pray. First, pray that God's name would be hallowed by all men, which requires the proclamation of the Gospel. Second, pray that God's rule and God's reign would extend to all men, which can only be accomplished by the proclamation of the Gospel. Third, pray that men would live in obedience to God on earth just I can Heaven, which will only happen if the Gospel is proclaimed. In other words, Lord, teach us to pray. Okay, you ready pray for the Gospel? How many of us? How many of us pray to God and never ever get to anything remotely like this. The first three petitions that Jesus teaches us to pray have to do with the spread of the Gospel and its impact among all men everywhere, and our prayers, instead of sounding like that, sound like this. God, give me, give me, give me, give me, give me, give me some more. God, bless my auntie who's not feeling well. Give me, give me give me thank you for giving me, give me more of what you gave me in Jesus' name. Amen. If you can't say amen, you ought to say ours. That's how we pray. But Jesus gives us a prayer. And half the petitions. Half the petitions have to do with missions. They have to do with missions. Why is the significant you remember what I said? What I said is the reason that we see this throughout the Bible. By the way, we looked at a fraction of the passages in the Old Testament. We did not exhaust the passages in the Old Testament that refer to God's people on mission. Amen. That could have been the whole conference. All right, we looked at a fraction. But why do we see that there? Why is it so unlike what we think? Because we think, you know, here's the way it happened. God created Adam and Eve, and he had his plan and everything was great. They messed it up. So then he tried with Israel and everything was great. Then they messed it up, and then finally he said, Jesus, you gotta do something, go fix it. And then Jesus came and now we had the cross, and now all of a sudden, we have a mission because everything else failed. Now try this, that's completely different than what we were at, completely different. Why why don't we see mission in the Old Testament? I told you because it's the heart of God. It's the heart of God. What is prayer? Prayer is communion with God. It's spiritual intimate communion with God. If I am going to have a spiritual intimate communion with God and the heart of God pleads mission, then my communion with him I had better do the same. If that's who God is, If that's what God is about, how dare I come before Him and say, I just want to commune with you, And in communing with you, what I want to do is draw your away from that which defines the beating of your heart and towards other things that are more important to me. Jesus says, you want to know how to commune with the Father. Praymissions, pray, missions, praymissions our Father in Heaven. Hallowed be your name, God, May your name be hallowed, not just by me, by all man. Why, by the way, why would I, as a Christian pray like this? Here's why? Because I am a sinner saved by grace. I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore, very deeply staying within, sinking to rise on board. But the master of the sea heard my despairing cry from the waters. He lifted me. Now safe am I? How can that be my testimony? How can I have been on my way to hell? How can I have been a rebel against this great God who created me and everything else in the world, and then steal away his worship from myself alone? How can I? How can I? How can I know this God? How can I be redeemed by this God? How can I know the greatness of this God and be satisfied with anything less than all the four corners of the world declaring His greatness. My voice is not sufficient. Your voice is not sufficient. Every voice of every man who has ever lived is not sufficient to the glory of our God. It's not enough. It's not enough. And yet, if I know God, I want it. I want it because He's worthy of it. And more, I am not satisfied with my voice. I am not satisfied with our voices. I am not satisfied with Zandia's voice. I am not satisfied with Africa's voice. My God is worthy of more, and I will not stop until there is more? How much more, more, and more and more? How can we rest when there are souls who are not declaring the greatness of our great God? How long be your name, your kingdom? Come? No, I am not just satisfied with me obeying God. Know I am not just satisfied with his rule and his reign being here in my own heart. That is not enough. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. Who do I think I am? God? Everything is good because you're reigning in me. What more could you ask for? How dare we. Your kingdom come, Your kingdom, come, your kingdom. Come, your rule and your reigns. May it comes, and your will be done? Your will be done. I was, I was. I was just humbled. I was. I've been humbled a lot since the last two and a half years and we've lived here. But I remember one time in particular, and I won't give you all the details because I want you to think well of me, but I was just I was just frustrated. It was just one of those days. You know, I was going to do something that I should have been able to do in an hour, and it took me all day. I know that never happened to anybody else right all day. And I was I was so frustrated, and I gotta be honest. I even I got angry. I got angry why this makes no sense? Why why? And then after it took me all that time, I got stopped. I got stopped. I got stopped by what five lovely God bless them police officers. He stopped me. After this day, right after this day, I'm stopped and I'm doing something, and I've got one of the kids in the back, and we've got his seatbelt. That's the problem with the shoulder strap. And so you know, the officers looking in the car, and he's you know, ah, you know, everything looks okay up here, but back there, you know, seatbelt back there, and dah dah, dah dah, and and and so. On the one hand, I look, I look back at I'm the son. You got your seatbelt on your ass? I do, but just not my shoulder strap. And immediately after I realized that my son was safe in the back with his shoulder strap, I just realized, I said, wait a minute, there's a truck up there with seventeen people in the back. Why are you worried about my son's seatbelt? Could it be my accent? I'm just asking and a dear brother at the end of this day where I was that. You know, some days where you right here, you don't get all the way. You know, you just pray here, They said, Can I ask you a question, Are you more frustrated that things didn't go the way you, as an American would have expected them to go today, or. Because God's will? It's not being dumb. I didn't like him. Very much in that moment, because truth be told, for most of us, regardless of where you're from or where you used to when things frustrate us, nine times out of ten for me, you guys probably just far more holy than I am. But for me, nine times out of ten. For me, it's not, Oh God, please rule and reign so that people might live and accords with no, no, no, Nine times out of ten, I'm just frustrated because this didn't go like I wanted it to go. Because I have far more passion for my convenience than for God's glory. I'm far more bothered that people don't been to my will than I am that they don't bring to God's will. I'm far more bothered that people are corrupt than I am that they're also them on the way to help. So I need Jesus's reminder that when you pray, when you get away from all this stuff and you carve out some time to commune with God, you make sure that you bring yourself back to the place where you're reminded that the greatest need that you or anyone else has is that God's name would be hallowed, that God's kingdom would come, and that God's will would be done. Then you can ask for your data, grad Amen. Then you're gonna ask for forgetting this in your trespassinor then you're gonna ask to be deli from the evil one. But make sure that even that is put in the context of you having what you need, so that you can be a part of those first petitions. So, Brethren, as we continue in our time to get it, and as we consider the eternal value of souls, let us remember that this is not a new idea. Passion for souls is not something that we got in Matthew. It's something that we find in Genesis, indexitives and levitegous numbers and Veteronomy, and everywhere in between, nor in the New Testament. Does it end with Matthew. We find it in the Gospels, we find it in Acts, we find it in the epistles. We find it in revelation, from the beginning of the Bible to the end, all of it, all of it, not just from creation to fall, to redemption, but even to consummation. May we be mindful of this, and may our passions reflect this truth. And may God grant us much fruit. Amen, Let's pray, Gracious God, our heavenly Father, how we think for your goodness and your kindness and your mercy toward us, for the privilege of prayer. And as we bow before you tonight, we come with but three petitions, that your name would be hallowed by us and by all men, that men would come to know who you are, and they would worship you accordingly. That your kingdom might come, that your rule and your reign might be expanded, that Christ might have the fullness of the reward for which he died, And that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That men's wills might be bent to yours. And we pray these things knowing that if we are serious about them. It will inevitably manifest itself in seriousness about the proclamation of the Gospel, because of the eternal value of souls, so brant this we pray, and Christ's name for his