And what a joy to be with you all here this morning.
It is an honor for me to be here, represent North Greenville University,
one of your three South Carolina Baptist Convention universities here in our state.
Anderson University, Charleston Southern University, along with North Greenville,
are institutions that you support.
Part of the gifts you give to this church that are then in turn given through the cooperative program,
and the South Carolina Baptist Convention enable us to do the things that we do there.
And it is a joy for me every single morning to be able to get up and go to that campus
where we believe Christ makes the difference
and be able to have some small part in raising up transformational leaders for church and society.
That's what we're about at North Greenville University.
So on behalf of our president, Dr. Gene Fant,
let me thank you for your part in helping us do what we do.
At North Greenville University.
And Brother Fred, thank you for your kind invitation.
I don't get a lot of invitation to come back a second time,
so I'm very grateful for that.
As we prepare our hearts this morning to look together at God's Word,
would you join me as we pray?
Heavenly Father, thank you for just the privilege,
every time we're able to gather as a body of believers,
to join our hearts in worship,
to be reminded that none of us would be here today
were it not for your amazing grace.
And Father, out of that awareness,
I pray today that we just present ourselves before you in humility
and Lord in all emptying of self
to just sit before your Word today.
And we pray that your Holy Spirit would be the one who teaches us this morning.
And I pray that this Word that we hold in our hands this morning,
paper and ink,
this written Word,
Lord, I pray that it will now become a living Word
in our hearts today.
Speak to us.
May we be good stewards of every moment you give us
in this time together.
It's the prayer that we pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
He was considered by many
to be the fastest man in the world.
They called him the Flying Scotchman.
He was 22 years old.
And in the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, France,
Eric Little was to have competed in the 100-meter dash.
Again, he was the fastest man at that particular race,
fully expected to win the gold medal.
But Eric Little was also a Christian.
He was a strong believer.
And just a few days before the 100-meter dash was to have been run,
he discovered that the qualifying heats for that event
were going to be held on a Sunday.
And Eric Little had strong convictions about the Lord's Day.
And he determined if those qualifying heats were going to be run on a Sunday,
he could not participate.
Now, as you might imagine, a great uproar followed that decision.
The Olympic Committee in that day got together,
held an emergency meeting,
called Eric Little in and said,
Look, man, everybody's eyes are on you.
You've got to run this race.
He said, No, I can't do it.
He was summoned to a personal meeting with the Prince of Wales
who had come to watch that race
and was told again,
Eric, we need you to run.
He said, I cannot run.
Finally, Eric Little received a telegram
from the Prime Minister of Great Britain,
giving him an ultimatum, in essence.
Eric, you don't have a choice.
You have got to compete in this race.
But he stood firm.
He did not run.
And many people looked at Eric Little and said,
What a waste.
You have given up fame.
You have probably given up fortune.
You have certainly given up the gold medal,
which everyone realizes you could have won.
And yet, this young man at 24 years of age
determined that nothing was more important in his life
than his relationship with Jesus Christ.
And he would not do anything that he considered
would compromise his stance for Jesus Christ.
So he did not run that race.
He did not win that gold medal.
But his commitment and his conviction stirred a generation.
And many people looked at what Eric Little did
and were moved to follow Christ
and this young man's example.
This morning, I want to ask you a question.
Where are the radicals for Jesus Christ today?
Where are they?
Where are those who would stand up today and say,
I boldly proclaim that there is nothing in my life
more precious to me
than my relationship with Christ,
than living for His glory.
And I want to ask you this morning,
just right out of the gate,
would you be willing
to be that kind of person?
I don't know any day
there has ever been when we need more
Eric Littles
who will stand up
with conviction
and proclaim
my life
belongs
to Christ
fully,
finally,
forever.
I have given
my life
to Him.
Today,
I
sort of want to get in your face a little bit.
Is that okay?
Just get in your face a little bit
this morning
and try to give you something to live for.
I want to give you something to live for
because I am convinced
every one of us,
you this morning,
are standing
on the precipice
of a great adventure,
if you will take it.
And I don't want you to waste your lives
in a valley of insignificance.
I do not want you to fall prey
to what I have called
the mind-numbing,
spiritual,
anesthetizing,
destiny-dimming
enticement
of the American dream
that simply says to you
and me today,
if you'll just
get a good education,
if you'll get a good job,
if you'll raise a good family,
if you'll live a good life,
then you'll have a good time
and your life
will be a good life.
Can I tell you this morning,
unhesitatingly,
you were created
for something more than that.
In fact,
you were created
for a whole lot more
than that.
So I want to say to you this morning,
whether you're a student
with the majority of your life
ahead of you,
or whether you've already retired
and trying to figure out
how you can make the most
of your final years,
I want to point you
to something this morning.
So I want you to take
your copy of God's Word
as you have it there with you,
or maybe you're going to
look this up on your phone
or some other device.
I want you to look with me
at a couple of verses
in 1 Corinthians 6.
Let me just say to you,
if we really understand
what these verses say,
they may be
some of the scariest,
most intimidating verses
in all of the New Testament.
But we're going to look
at them anyway.
1 Corinthians 6,
verses 19 and 20.
1 Corinthians 6,
19 and 20,
parts of these verses.
I want you to listen
to what Paul,
under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit,
writes to you and to me.
Now, you belong to God.
You do not belong to yourselves.
God has bought you
with a great price.
Hear that again.
Now, you belong to God.
You do not belong to yourselves.
Why?
Because God has bought you
with a great price.
Do you understand this morning?
If you are a Christian,
if you would stand here
and dare to name the name of Jesus
as Lord and Savior of your life,
do you understand?
You are not your own.
You do not belong to yourself.
It is not your life.
Christ bought you.
He bought me
at the price of His own death
so that now we doubly belong to God.
We belong to God, number one,
because He created
every single one of us.
And then if we are believers,
we belong to God
because Christ purchased us.
He purchased our salvation
at the price of His death
on the cross.
And that means my life
is no longer my life
to do with however I want to do with it.
Your life is not your life
to do whatever you want to do with it.
I've heard people say before,
you know,
you grow up in America,
you can become anything you want to be.
Can we stop telling our kids that lie
if we're followers of Christ?
You can become anything God wants you to become.
You can do anything God wants you to do
because your life is not your own
to do with what you want to do with.
And neither is mine.
We're not free to chart our own course,
pursue our own desires,
chase our own dreams.
Restricting, huh?
A little bit.
Boxes you in, doesn't it?
Cramps your style,
infringes on your freedom, right?
I mean, that's what the world
will tell us.
That's what it told Eric Little.
But this morning,
can we look for just a moment
at what God's Word really has to say about this?
And I want to illustrate
this 1 Corinthians text in several ways.
First of all,
I want to illustrate it
by looking at the life of a man in Scripture.
His name was Epaphroditus.
We find his story in Philippians chapter 2.
So I encourage you to mark 1 Corinthians chapter 6,
but turn over into the New Testament.
A few books here.
To Philippians.
And we're going to look for just a moment
at Epaphroditus.
Now, this is the only place in Scripture
we find Epaphroditus mentioned,
but he is memorialized here.
He is ensconced
because of what we see about him
in this text.
Now, before we look at the verses
describing his life a little bit,
let me give you a little bit of a background
to this book of Philippians.
Epaphroditus was a member of the church
at Philippi.
The Philippian church had heard
that Paul was in prison in Rome.
That's where Paul was
when he wrote the book of Philippians.
And so the church at Philippi
determined that it would come together,
it would take up a collection,
an offering,
and they would send it to Paul in Rome.
And Epaphroditus was the one
who was given the task
to take that gift to Paul in Rome.
As a matter of fact,
we might say that the book of Philippians
is sort of Paul's extended thank you letter
to the church at Philippi
for the sending of this gift to him
in prison in Rome.
So Epaphroditus is tasked
with this responsibility.
He is taking this gift
from the Philippian church to Rome
somewhere on the journey
from Philippi to Rome,
or perhaps after he got to Rome,
we don't really know.
But Epaphroditus became seriously ill.
We don't know what the illness was
that he had,
but if you look at verse 27,
you will see,
of Philippians chapter 2,
you will see that it was serious enough
that the man almost died.
And so the Philippian church
was concerned about Epaphroditus.
Somehow they'd gotten word
that he was at the point of death.
So after he recovers a little bit,
Paul says in verse 28,
I'm going to send Epaphroditus back to you
so that he can be with you,
he can be with his family,
he can be with his church family,
and can recover.
So that's the background.
What I want you to see here,
the verses,
verses 29 and 30,
because this tells us something
of Epaphroditus
that is really the focus
of what I'm trying to help
all of us come to terms with today.
Verse 29,
Paul says,
as he sends Epaphroditus back,
so receive him in the Lord
with all joy
and honor such men,
for he nearly died
for the work of Christ,
risking his life
to complete what was lacking
in your service to me.
Now there's a little key phrase here
that Paul uses
to describe Epaphroditus.
He says,
he risked his life.
He risked his life.
Now,
in the common language
of the people in Paul's day,
that little phrase,
risking his life,
was borrowed from
the gambling world.
It was a gambler's term.
It meant to place a bet.
It meant to make a wager.
It meant to roll the dice.
Literally, Paul said,
let me tell you about Epaphroditus.
He was willing to gamble
his own life
for the sake of Christ.
He threw himself out there
on the game board of life.
He rolled the dice with his life
and he literally risked losing it all
to do what Christ had called him to do.
Epaphroditus was God's gambler.
And he gambled everything
because he placed his very life
on the line
to do what Christ
had called him
to do.
I want to tell you about
one of my favorite
historical
Christian
characters.
her name was Ann Hazeltine.
She was the youngest
of five children.
And she was doted on
by her family.
She had a wonderfully
happy childhood.
And by her teenage years,
she was sparkling,
full of joy,
popular,
very attractive,
always in demand
at parties
and all kinds of
social events.
events.
In her youth,
her main concerns
were her friends,
socializing,
having fun.
Her father actually
constructed on the back
of their house
a dance hall,
a big room
that was used
just for dancing.
So Ann's home
really became
the center
of social life
in the town
where they lived.
Now like most of the people
who lived in that
small town,
the Hazeltines
went to church.
But religion was,
it just wasn't
very demanding
at all.
Didn't require
much of them.
And most of their time
was spent
just doing
what they wanted
to do,
having fun,
being with friends.
So in Ann's own words,
she said,
you know,
I was consumed
with the things
of the world.
Even though I profess
to follow Christ,
I know my focus
was on the things
of the world,
having fun.
I was largely directed
by peer pressure.
And so I want to read
a few things to you
this morning
that come from
her diary.
And I'm just going to
read it off this sheet
of paper because
I want you to hear
verbatim
what Ann wrote
about her understanding
of Christianity
at this young point
in her life.
Here's what she said,
quote,
During the first
16 years of my life,
I very seldom
felt any serious
impressions about
anything.
I was early taught
by my mother,
though at that time
she was ignorant
of the nature
of true religion.
I was taught
by her the importance
of abstaining
from those vices
like telling falsehoods,
disobeying my parents,
taking what was
not my own.
She also taught me
that if I was
a good child,
when I died,
I would escape
that dreadful place
called hell,
the thought of which
sometimes filled me
with alarm and terror.
So,
I therefore made it
a matter of conscience
to avoid
these kinds of sins.
I'd say my prayer
every night
and every morning.
I would try not
to do the things
that I knew were wrong,
never doubting
that such a course
of conduct
would ensure
my salvation.
At the age of 12 or 13,
I attended the academy
where suddenly
as I was exposed
to many more temptations
than ever before.
I now began to go
to dances and parties.
I found my mind
completely occupied
with the things
of the world.
And for two or three years,
I scarcely felt
an anxious thought
at all relative
to the salvation
of my own soul.
Even though,
now listen,
even though,
I was rapidly heading
towards eternal ruin.
I was surrounded
by my friends
who were wild
and volatile
like myself.
And I often thought
myself,
one of the happiest
people on earth.
My time mostly occupied
with clothes,
boys,
and an amusement.
That was her life.
That was her own assessment
of her life
at 16 years of age.
Now,
she went on to say
that from time to time
she would sort of be
convicted about things
in her life.
She knew she was doing things
she had no business doing,
involved with people
she shouldn't have been with.
But because of peer pressure
and her desire
to be popular,
she said,
you know,
I was just,
it was too embarrassing
for me to try
to take a stand
for Christ
or to really get
too serious
about spiritual things
or try to be godly.
But then,
as a 17-year-old girl,
Anne Hazeltine
had a personal,
powerful encounter
with Jesus Christ
that radically
changed her life.
Suddenly,
she was overwhelmed
with a sense
of her own guilt
before this holy
and righteous God.
she said,
I suddenly became
aware of His majesty,
His holiness,
His greatness,
the grace
that He had extended
to me.
And I became overwhelmed
with my own sinfulness
and suddenly
I just had this
consuming desire
for my life
to bring glory to God.
So at 17 years of age,
she set out
to live her life
in complete commitment
to the Lord.
And she said,
Lord, here it is,
whatever you want to do.
She said,
what Epaphroditus said,
here's my life,
I roll it out there.
Let me tell you
what happened.
Anne Hazeltine
eventually married
a man
by the name of
Adoniram Judson.
I don't know
if that name means
anything to you or not.
If you know anything
about mission history
whatsoever.
Adoniram Judson
was one of the first
Protestant missionaries
sent out from North America
to the non-Christian world.
He was one of the
great missionary pioneers.
And so,
Anne ended up
getting to know
Judson
and they decided
to get married.
Let me read a part
of a letter to you now
that Adoniram Judson
wrote to Anne Hazeltine's
father
asking for her hand
in marriage
and also asking
permission to take Anne
with him
as a missionary
to India.
Now, if you're a father
out there with a daughter,
I want you to listen to the...
It ought to impact
every one of us,
but I want you to listen
to what Adoniram Judson
wrote to Anne Hazeltine's
father.
I have to ask you now
whether you can consent
to part with your daughter
early next spring
to see her
never again
in this world.
Whether you can consent
to her departure,
her subjection
to the hardships
and sufferings
of missionary life,
whether you can consent
to her exposure
to the dangers
of the ocean,
to the fatal influence
of the southern climate
of India,
to every kind
of want
and distress,
to degradation,
insult,
persecution,
perhaps even
a violent death.
Can you consent
to all this
for the sake
of him
who left
his heavenly home
and died for her
and for you?
Can you do this
for the sake
of perishing
immortal souls,
for the sake
of heaven,
for the sake
of the glory of God?
Can you consent
to all this
in the hope
of soon meeting
your daughter again,
not in this world,
but in the world
of glory
with the crown
of righteousness
brightened
with the acclamations
of praise
that shall resound
from her Savior,
from those
heathen people
saved through
her testimony
from eternal woe
and despair?
What questions?
Her father said
what I would have
probably said.
I can't do that,
but I will let her
make up her decision.
Anne said yes.
I will go.
And Anne
and Adoniram Judson
went to India.
There they lost
three of their children.
Adoniram himself
was thrown
into a Burmese prison
where he languished
for two years.
Anne herself
at 37 years
of age
died in Burma.
Her body
wracked by pain,
ravaged
by tropical illnesses,
emaciated
from lack
of proper food,
beaten down
by the struggles
of pioneer missionary life
just as her husband
Ad predicted
would happen.
But Anne
helped to translate
the books
of Daniel
and Jonah
into the Burmese language,
the gospel
of Matthew
into the Thai language,
so that
multiplied thousands
of Burmese
and Thai
people
could come
to know the Christ
that she knew.
She rolled
the dice.
She gambled
her life.
She said,
Lord,
there is nothing
more precious
to me
than living
for your glory.
I do not
belong to myself.
You have bought
me with a great
price.
I throw myself
out.
You use me
however you want
to use me.
Now here's
the question.
is that
something you
have ever
seriously
in your
entire life
considered
doing?
Would you
be
an Anne
Hazeltine
for this
generation?
Would you
be an
Epaphroditus
for this
day?
Would you
consider that
God may have
brought you
into His
kingdom
for such
a time
as this?
Would you
be an Eric
Little
for this
generation?
Can I
say to you
this morning
that I
believe
Christianity
has largely
lost its
teeth
in America?
There is
no risk.
We play
it safe.
We know
exactly what
we're going
to do each
and every
day that we
live.
We're not
throwing
ourselves out
there for
the sake
of Christ.
There is
no challenge.
There is
no costly
commitment.
There is
no great
courage.
There is
no great
cause
that we
consider
worth
this kind
of price.
There is
very little
in our
culture
or in the
church of
Jesus Christ
today that
is driving
us to
be all
that this
word says
we ought
to be.
So can I
just be a
voice today?
Maybe it
is a voice
crying in the
wilderness.
I do not
know, but
could I say,
could I throw
out to you
this morning
this possibility?
Would you
embrace
being
everything
that this
word says
Christ
created
and bought
you to
be?
Would you
hear me say
to you,
don't
waste
these few
precious years,
this tiny
increment of
time that
God has
entrusted
to you.
Don't
waste
your life.
Now listen,
I understand
this morning,
I'm not
naive,
and I
understand
this morning
that from
the perspective
and the
values and
the priorities
of this
world,
what looks
like a
waste is
to give
yourself to
Christ in
this kind
of way.
That's what
looks like a
waste in
the eyes
of the
world.
It looks
stupid,
tragic.
It's a
waste because
becoming a
follower of
Christ means
sacrifice.
It causes
us to
embrace
suffering.
It tells
us we're
going to
face
persecution
and loss
in this
world.
Over and
over and
over again
in the
New Testament
we see
that.
If anyone
would come
after me,
Jesus said,
let him
deny
himself.
Say a
big fat
no to
your own
life.
Let him
deny
himself,
then take
up a
cross.
That's
not the
shiny
little
emblem we
wear around
our necks.
It was a
Roman
execution
device.
That's
what everybody
understood
when Jesus
said,
if you want
to follow
me, be
ready to
take up
a cross.
Be ready
to give
everything
that you
have even
in your
own life
if you want
to follow
me.
That's
what Jesus
said.
He has
called us
to a life
in the eyes
of the world
of a seemingly
pointless denial
of many of the
things we think
make our short
lives here on
earth tolerable.
He calls us
to walk a path
that leads in the
opposite direction
that everybody
else is going
in.
I'm going
to tell you
identifying
with Christ
risking your
life in this
kind of way
can involve
the loss
of reputation
it can involve
the loss
of intellectual
respectability
it can include
the loss
of status
according to
the world's
version of
wisdom and
honor
looks like
a waste
of life.
But it's
really the
very opposite.
Jesus said
if you want
to gain
your life
lose it.
I'll tell you
how to lose it.
Try to hang
on to your
life.
Try to do it
your way.
You'll lose
your life.
You'll come
to the end
of your life
and you'll
look back
and you'll
have a pot
full of
regrets
and you'll
yearn for
what might
have been
in your
service to
the Lord
Jesus Christ
and how he
might have
taken your
life and
used it
as a vehicle
for his
glory.
You know
what?
I didn't
finish the
story about
Eric Little.
Let me go
back to
that.
After Eric
Little decided
he would
not run in
the 100
meter dash
because of
his convictions
about running
on a Sunday
a teammate
of his
on the
British
Olympic
team
a man
by the
name
of
Harold
Abrams
came up
to him
and said
Eric
I'd be
willing to
switch
events
with you.
I run
the 400
meter race
why don't
I run
that
and you
run the
100
and I'll
run the
100.
See
Harold
Abrams
was a
Jewish
man
and so
he didn't
have any
convictions
about running
on a
Sunday
it wasn't
a big
deal to
him.
Problem
was
Eric
Little
had never
trained
to run
the 400
meters.
100
meter
was more
of a
sprint
the 400
meter
was a
long
distance
race
he just
hadn't
trained
had never
run that
race
before
inexperienced
but hey
the opportunity
was there
and he took
it and so
they switched
events.
Before Eric
Little got
ready to run
that 400
meter race
another athlete
from the
American
Olympic team
who was
also a
Christian
and who
also understood
the kind
of sacrifice
that Eric
Little had
made
came up
to him
right before
he started
that race
and handed
him a little
piece of
paper and
on it was
scribbled
a short
note.
You know
what it
said?
God
honors
those
who
honor
him.
Do you
believe
that?
God
honors
those
who
honor
him.
Eric
Little
not only
won the
400
meter
and gained
that gold
medal but
he set a
world's
record
that stood
for a
decade
and he
became a
national
hero.
Everybody
wanted to
be around
Eric
Little.
They
revered
him
in Great
Britain.
He
could have
had
anything
that he
wanted.
He
could have
yelled
jump and
all of
Great
Britain
would have
said okay
how high.
That's the
status that
he held
after winning
that 400
meter.
But exactly
one year
after winning
that gold
medal Eric
Little walked
away from
everything to
become a
missionary with
the London
Missionary
Society and
he went to
China and
he carried
the gospel of
Jesus Christ
to the
back country
of that
great
nation.
About that
time Japan
invaded China.
Second World
War broke
out.
Eric Little
was captured
by the
Japanese
declared to
be an
enemy
national
thrown into
a prison
camp.
There he
was one
of 1,300
prisoners
crammed into
an area
maybe a
little bit
bigger than
this worship
area.
Housed in
dormitories
three feet
by six
feet.
He was
beaten.
He was
starved.
He was
denied adequate
medical care.
He was
physically abused
and mentally
abused.
But still,
he held
athletic
competitions.
He taught
hymns.
And he
shared the
gospel of
Jesus Christ
with his
fellow prisoners
and with his
Japanese
captors.
Just one
month before
the liberation
of China,
February 21,
1945,
Eric Little
died in
that prisoner
of war
camp.
Largely
unknown.
Was it
a waste?
Well,
it would
have been
a waste.
In fact,
let me just
be honest
with you.
Everything
I've
shared
with you
this
morning
would be
a waste
if what
the Bible
has to say
about Jesus
Christ is
not true.
If what
is in this
book is
not true,
then yes,
it is
all a
waste.
But if
what is
in this
book
is true,
if Jesus
Christ is
the very
Son of
God,
who in
love for
you and
me,
willingly
set aside
the glory
and the
status that
was his
with his
heavenly
father in
heaven,
if he
took on
the full
measure of
our
weakness
and was
born into
the human
family,
if he
lived a
life of
perfect
obedience to
his father's
will,
if he
died a
sinless
death on
the cross
to pay the
penalty for
your sin
and my
sin,
if he
rose from
the dead,
if he
ascended to
the father,
if today
he really is
the savior
of all
who trust
in him,
if one
day he
is going
to return
to this
earth and
receive his
people to
himself and
assume his
rightful role
as judge over
all the
earth,
king of
kings and
lord of
lords,
if what
this book
has to say
about Christ
is true
and it
is true,
then my
friend there
is no price
in the world
that is too
great to pay
for him.
There is no
loss in the
terms of what
is valuable in
the eyes of
the world,
no loss too
much to
endure for
him.
Before
Anne Hazeltine
left the
shores of
America to
sail for
India and
Burma where
she died,
this is what
she had to
say.
I'll close
with these
final words
from her
diary.
I have at
length come
to the
conclusion that
I must spend
my days in a
foreign land,
but I am a
creature of
God and he
has an undoubted
right to do
with me as
seems good in
his sight.
I rejoice
because I am
in his
hands and
when I am
called to face
danger to pass
through scenes
of terror and
distress, he
will inspire me
with fortitude.
He will enable
me to trust in
him because
Jesus is
faithful.
His promises
are precious.
Were it not
for these
considerations, I
should sink
down in the
depths of
despair,
especially as
no female has
to my knowledge
ever left the
shores of
America to
spend her life
among the
heathen in
this way.
Nor do I
yet know that
I shall have a
single female
companion where I'm
going, but
whether I spend
my days in
India or
America, I
will spend
them in the
service of my
God and my
Savior and look
forward to
spending an
eternity in
his presence.
folks, this is
hard for us to
hear, but this
is not a
higher life.
This is not a
deeper life.
This is normal
Christianity.
Normal
Christianity.
It seems
radical to us
because we have
departed so far
from what Christ
calls us to be and
do in this book.
So because it
seems radical to
us, I will ask
the question,
where are the
radicals for Jesus
Christ today?
Who would rise up
and say, nothing,
nothing, nothing in
my life is more
precious to me than
Christ, than living
for his glory?
Will you be one of
those?
Wow.
Do we need some
Anne Hazeltines
today?
Do we need some
Eric Littles
today?
Do we need some
more folks who in
the spirit of
Epaphroditus would
say, Lord, here's
my life and I
will roll the
dice, not
knowing what
all that means,
but here is my
life today.
I give you all
of me for the
sake of multiplied
billions of
people who are
dying every day
without knowing
this Savior that
we know.
Would you be that
kind of person for
this generation?
Isaac Watts
wrote a famous
hymn, When I
Survey the
Wondrous Cross,
and in the
closing stanza of
that verse, he
captured exactly
the truth of
Scripture.
And I share these
words with you in
closing this morning.
Isaac Watts said,
were the whole
realm of nature
mine?
If I had
everything a person
could possibly
have, were the
whole realm of
nature mine, that
would be a present
far too small.
Love so amazing,
so divine,
demands my soul,
my life,
my all.
Pray with you.
Heavenly Father,
Lord, we stand
this morning
underneath the
authority of your
word and the
truth that it
proclaims.
And I pray in
these moments,
Father, now that
we have heard, we
might recognize our
accountability to
you for what you
have entrusted to
us through the
pages of your
word.
And Lord, through
that great cloud
of witnesses, those
who have gone on
before us, like
Epaphroditus, like
Eric Little, like
Ann Hazeltine, who
now from the
grandstands of
heaven cheer us
on.
God.
But even these
examples pale in
comparison to the
example of our
Lord Jesus, who for
the joy that was set
before Him endured
the cross, scorning
its shame, who took
on human form and
human flesh and
came and dwelt
among us, leaving
the glory and the
splendor of heaven
behind.
Who took on human
form and human
flesh and being
made in human
likeness and being
made in appearance
as a man, taking
on the form of a
servant.
He humbled
Himself.
He poured
Himself out and He
became obedient unto
death, even death
on the cross.
That is our
ultimate example.
That is the one to
whom we give our
lives.
And so, Father, I
pray this morning that
as we prepare in just
a couple of minutes
to walk out the
doors of this
building, that we
would not walk out
the same way we
walked in.
That we would be
your gamblers.
that we would make
the wager, place the
bet, roll the dice
with our own lives
and just say, Lord,
here we are.
We roll ourselves out
before You.
Our lives are not
our own.
We have been bought
with a great price.
Now take us and use
us to make a
difference here in
Pickens, South
Carolina, in a nation
that desperately needs
to know the
difference that only
Jesus Christ can make
and among the
nations.
It is the prayer that
we pray in Jesus'
name.
Amen.