Romans chapter 10, and it just happens that today as we send off our team, we're also landing on the passage on Romans chapter 10, 15. So I'm going to read actually from verse 14 to 17, but our main focus is going to be on verse 15. Romans chapter 10, verse 14 to 17.

How then will they call upon him in whom they have not believed, and how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching, and how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.

But they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah says, the Lord who has believed what he has heard from us. So faith comes from hearing, the hearing through the word of Christ. Let's pray. Gracious Father, we thank you so much. We thank you for the things that we are aware of, and we thank you, Lord God, even the things that you are doing behind the scene that sometimes we are not aware of.

But we know that you are sovereign, that no matter how chaotic and lost we feel at times, we know that you are on your throne, that you are deserving of worship. I pray, Father God, this morning that your word would search our hearts, convict us, mold us, encourage and strengthen us, that we may live as you have saved us to do.

I pray, Father, for your grace. I pray for your spirit, that you would be in the midst of us and that we would be aware of it. We thank you in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Paul has been arguing the case of justification, and he has been saying, again, as we read in verse 14, how will they call on him whom they have not believed, and how are they going to believe in him whom they have never heard, and how are they going to hear without someone preaching, and how will someone preach unless they are sent?

We talked about, I think, a couple of weeks ago, why does God use feeble people like us? You think about, we don't have to search through church history, but if we were to search through church history, I think you and I would agree, it's amazing that you and I are still here.

I mean, even, we're not talking about atheists, or we're not talking about Muslims, or we're not talking about, you know, people who are antagonistic toward the church. We're talking about the church itself, for a large portion of our history, try to get rid of the Bible. There are people within church history who are martyred, who are burned at the stake, who had their heads beheaded, because all they wanted to do was to translate the Bible in modern man's English, just to get the Bible to us.

We have periods in church history where the leaders, the top leaders of the church, were going around and selling salvation for money, so that they can raise more money to build nicer palaces. I mean, you talk about the corruption and the sin, I'm not talking about outside the church, inside the church.

But I don't even need to think, we need to think that far and look at church history. We look at ourselves, how much we struggle. We have a hard time understanding each other, like our own sins, our own discipline. Why does God use frail people like us to get the gospel out, this such important message where people's destinies is at stake, where someone believes they are safe for eternity, they don't believe and they're condemned for eternity.

That why would God entrust this message to us? I mean, there is an element of mystery in that, because we won't fully know unless God spells it out for us. And I was wrestling and thinking about this, and there are a few things that I could think about, but one thing that I am absolutely certain about is that our obedience to preach the gospel is directly linked to our salvation.

It is part of our sanctification. That God is just as concerned about our sanctification as our justification. We have a tendency to put so much emphasis and talk and study about the justification of our faith, and then we just kind of like, well, you know, God wants us to live up to the calling, and then we just kind of leave it at that.

Of course, God wants to be holy because he is holy, but there's not enough emphasis on sanctification because we think if we're justified, the important part is done. The most crucial part of our salvation has been taken care of by justification, so sanctification, hopefully you'll be able to do it, to live up to the calling that you've received.

I want to make it absolutely crystal clear that God is just as concerned about our sanctification as he is about our justification. I remember when I was younger how hard I worked to buy my first car. I mean, I worked, and I was willing to do anything. I was cleaning up, I was a janitor, I flipped burgers, and I cleaned toilets.

Sometimes I would clean from 5 o'clock to 5 o'clock next morning, just working overtime so I can get the extra money because I was trying to buy this car. I bought a car for $1,650, and I drove all the way down to the valley, and I picked it up, and I was so proud of that car.

It was crazy, $1,650 back then, maybe a little bit more money than now, but it was still a piece of junk. It was probably equivalent to maybe $3,000 or $4,000 today, but it was still a piece of junk. To me, because of the time and effort that I put in to get this car, it was my prized possession.

The thing that, among every possession I owned, that was probably the most precious thing that I had because it represented, for me, at least two years of physical labor to get that car. When I got that car, you better believe I took care of it. I washed that thing, and I remember waxing that piece of junk, and I was waxing it in front of my friend's house, and his mom came out, and she literally just laughed at me for waxing this piece of junk.

It was a piece of junk, but not to me, not to me because it was precious to me. You better believe with all the effort that I put in that I didn't just buy it, and it's like, "Ah, this piece of junk, didn't take care of it." Consider Christ and what God sacrificed in order for you and I to be saved, to call him our Abba Father.

He didn't sacrifice his only begotten Son and then justified us, and then just kind of like, "Oh, hopefully you make it the rest of it." You better believe that he's just as concerned about our sanctification as our glorification, that he's putting just as much effort and just as much time and energy and love that we would be sanctified as much as we are justified.

It's not like, "Oh, you're justified, so at least that part's taken care of, and this part isn't as important." No, it is just as important. Now how does this relate to preaching the gospel? Because being obedient to preach the gospel, to be concerned for those who are not yet in the fold, is a crucial part of our sanctification.

We can say that it is probably the crucial backbone behind our sanctification. Why does God tell us to be hospitable? Why does God tell us to be generous? Why does God tell us to love? Why does God tell us to forgive? All of this is directly linked to our obedience to the Great Commission, because you can't preach the gospel effectively if you are not participating in these things.

God uses us to bring other people to the fold, because just as much as they need to come to Christ, we need to be sanctified in obedience. Just as much as Christ loves them, he wants us to love them. It is just as important that we love them as Christ loved them.

As much as he sacrificed for them, he wants us to sacrifice for them. As much as he grieves for the lost, he wants us to grieve for the lost. There's a reason why God uses imperfect people like us, because it is a vital part of our salvation, it is a vital part of our sanctification.

This morning, as we send off our team to China, I want to encourage us, again, it may not be new, but as a reminder to us why this is such a crucial part of our walk with God. I don't know about you, but I can honestly confess that when my heart is disengaged from the lost, it makes my preaching very difficult.

It makes my prayers forced, like an obligation that I get to put in my time to pray. It makes my giving, like I have to calculate, do I really need to give this? Do I have to give this much? Everything that I do is calculated, and it's just something that I need to do.

And my heart is disengaged with the lost. But when my heart is engaged with the lost, everything that I'm doing makes so much sense. My prayers become desperate. My fellowship with my brothers and sisters, it becomes crucial. My giving is not sacrifice, it's participating. Why God sends us, it is directly linked.

It's not simply for the salvation of the lost. It's also for our own salvation. As we are saved, and as Scripture says, we are being saved. So I want to talk about why it is so important for us. One, the Great Commission is a vital part of our identity.

The Great Commission is a vital part of our identity. I remember years ago, I had a discussion with another brother, he was attending a different church, and he was saying how God didn't call all of us to the Great Commission. And he was, for whatever the reason, his pastor was telling his congregation that the Great Commission was just a commission for the disciples, not for us.

And there is a case that he can make for that, because it's in the context of God commissioning the apostles to go preach the gospel to the most part of the world. God didn't call every single one of us specifically to take the gospel to the jungle, or to China, or to Japan, specifically speaking.

But the general call to preach the gospel is an identity. It's at the core of who we are. In 1 Peter 2, 9 it says, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." Did you see that?

He said, not only have we become his possession, a holy nation, he said, all of this happened that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness. Our very identity as a Christian is an ambassador for Christ. That's who we are. If you are a businessman and you don't sell anything, then you're not a businessman.

If you're a student and you never go to class and you don't own any books, then you're not a student. Just because you sign up doesn't make you a student. You need to go to class. You need to study. And in the same way, he says, we have become a holy nation, a royal priesthood.

Our whole purpose of why you and I are here is not, you know, I saved you so now you can enjoy the time between now until you get to heaven, and then you can enjoy heaven some more. For whatever the reason, the church in our generation believes that that's the case.

Just kind of enjoy the time that we have. Just ride this out until we get to heaven. He says the reason why he saved us is ultimately to save others. Our salvation is connected to the salvation of whoever next is coming. This generation is responsible for the souls in this generation.

The next generation is going to be responsible for the souls in the next generation. We have been saved in order that we may proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness. So first, the Great Commission is a vital part of our identity. Secondly, the very definition of the gospel, the very definition of our salvation requires that we proclaim it.

The very definition of our salvation. To say that you are a Christian, that you believe the gospel, requires that we are proclaimers of the gospel. The word euangelion is literally good news. You could tell if something is a good news or not a good news based upon the ways that person shares it.

If somebody comes to you and says, "Man, I have some news," and their demeanor gets really dark, and you're trying to crack jokes and they don't laugh, right? And there's a seriousness about their demeanor, and you can already tell this isn't good news. What's going on? But you can also tell by the way that they're about to present it to you that it's good news.

And based upon their body language and their facial expression, you can tell that it is fantastic news, that he can't wait to tell you. He's building it up to tell you, because he knows the moment you hear it that you're going to be just as transformed as he is.

See, that's the definition of euangelion, good news. They use that word good news. It was a very specific cultural word that the Christians adopted for the gospel message, and it was simply used to declare a victory in...if your nation went to war and your soldiers came back, and they said, "Did you win or lose?" We won!

That's the context where they used the word euangelion, good news. So the very definition of this term requires that we proclaim it. If we say we believe in the good news and to never proclaim it, doesn't that...doesn't your body language and doesn't your life itself and doesn't the way you share it or don't share it, doesn't that automatically tell the recipient that it may be not good news?

At least not to you. Maybe the content in and of itself objectively is good news, but clearly you don't believe it. Because if we believe it is good news, I don't know about you, but how many times has something really good happened to you and you told nobody? You got this job that you've been praying for years and you got this job, and then your best friend you have lunch with, he said, "What happened?" "Eh, don't want to talk about it." You go home and your mom is waiting, "What happened?" "Eh, I'd rather keep it to myself." When was the last time something fantastic happened and you just weren't eager to tell anybody about it?

Something in and of itself, the very thing that we examine, it's very strange for Christians to embrace the gospel and not to be eager to tell other people about it. So we need to take a step back and ask ourselves, "Why am I not eager to tell other people?" To say that I have embraced and believed and I confess and I sing and I memorize and I study that I have embraced and I've been changed by this good news.

I'm living because of this good news. And then so nonchalant about telling other people about it. The very nature of the gospel itself, the very definition of the gospel itself, it means to proclaim, to teach. And that's exactly what Jesus said in Luke chapter 4, 8 through 19, "The Spirit of the Lord has appointed me because he has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." The gospel isn't gospel until we recognize that we are poor. Jesus said he had come to bring good news to the poor.

But what if you don't know that you're poor? He says he came to proclaim liberty to the captives. What if your belief of captivity is just a theory? You didn't even know that you were captive. He says he had come to bring recovery to the sight to the blind.

What if you're seeing fine and you don't know that you're blind? He said he has come to set liberty to those who are oppressed. I've never felt oppressed in my life. So how does good news become good news to those people who have never been poor, who have never been captive, who have never felt like they were blind, and never felt oppressed?

What is going to attract people to the Savior and cry out to the Savior saying, "Save me," if I don't necessarily feel the need to be saved? That's the challenge of the gospel in where you and I live. You go to people who are dying of hunger. I mean, you say Christ came to set the captives free and they're being oppressed.

It's like, "Yes, can he save me?" And there's a desperation that causes them to cry out to God. And they have their own set of issues because sometimes they interpret every deliverance as food and money. But in our generation, in where you and I live, how do we convince people that this is good news?

Just theoretically, when we die, we're going to go to heaven, right? Because we all know we're going to die. See, that's the exact problem that the Jews had in John chapter 8. People who thought, "Yeah, he's the Messiah," but Jesus said to those who had believed him, he said, "If you abide in my truth, if you abide in my word, you shall know the truth and truth shall set you free." And then they became angry.

Set free? We've never been a slave. Why do we even need to be set free? And then this discussion goes back and forth. And they rejected Christ because Jesus said, "I have come to set the captives free. If the Son sets you free, you'll be free indeed." It's like, "Why do I need freedom?

I've never been free." So they came to Jesus thinking that he's going to make them great. He's going to somehow pat them on the back and say, "Hey, you've been doing a great job obeying the law." But yet when Jesus said, "You need to be set free," they're like, "Set free?

From what?" Gospel, the good news is the only good news. If we see through his eyes what he sees, if we believe that spiritually we are poor, that because of our sins we become captives, that without his help we are absolutely blind. No matter how much education you have, no matter how much you study the Bible, without his grace, without his salvation, we are absolutely blind and desperate and needy.

That we are susceptible of oppression. There is an enemy who are roaring around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, and I am absolutely helpless without my Savior. So the good news only is good news to those people who actually believe that. If you don't believe that, the gospel is theology.

It is theory. It is something that we need to do because I want to make sure that when I die that, because clearly I'm going to die. That's 100% fact. I want to make sure that when I die that I go to heaven instead of hell. That part I've kind of, you know, I want that as an insurance.

But how does the gospel actually change us? It changes the way we live. It changes the way we see money. It changes what we value and what we pursue, what we're entertained by, what is okay and not okay to watch. How does it actually practically change us? It changes us when we believe that it is the good news, that He actually is setting us free.

See, proclaiming the gospel is at the core of who we are. Nothing, in comparison to eternity, nothing that you are pursuing, whether it's your career, well-being for your children, your safety, a nice house, all of these things are not sinful things, but nothing that we pursue is as important as people's souls.

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing that we come and cling to God for and pray, pray for safety, pray for security, pray for health, praying even for our very lives, isn't as important as the souls. Because as Christians, we believe when we die, we're going to go to heaven. So while we live, what is it that we pursue, what is it that we passionately pursue that is as important as pursuing lost souls to get this good news out to people who do not know?

It is at the very core of who we are, the very essence of what we proclaim, and very core of what we study. Third, the love of God compels us. The love of Christ compels us. Second Corinthians 5, 14 to 15, it says, "For the love of Christ controls us." The NIV, it says, "Compels us." It forces us to move forward because we have concluded that one has died for all, therefore all have died.

And he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves. That those who live because of Christ may no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised. Love of Christ compels us. The songs that we sing, it compels us.

The study of Christ compels us. The preaching of his word, it compels us. All that we do week after week compels us. You know the passage in Matthew 9, 36 to 38 where Jesus, after preaching, he sees the multitude and he says he has compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the labors are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labors into his harvest." While I was coming here this morning, I saw this tiny little puppy, the cutest little poodle looking puppy, but for whatever reason it was separated from its owner.

And as I was driving here, I was like, "Wow, that's a little cute puppy. Well, where's the owner?" And then as soon as I was driving by, a car came and just ran it over. And it died instantly. Now I just made up that story. I just made up that story.

Sometimes we have more compassion for a dog that dies, and yet you and I live in a context of souls who are dying every single day, and there is no awe and shock. There is no movement. We think about orphans who don't need more than women to give. We think about animal cruelty, and it moves us.

Something needs to happen, and it's shocking. But why do we profess to believe in a damnation of souls, and we have become accustomed to living in the midst of non-Christians, and there's no movement in our heart to bring the gospel to them? And it doesn't bother us. Something strange has happened to the church.

Something very strange that's inconsistent with what we profess to believe has happened, and it has become a normal part of who we are. A non-Christian who will open up the scriptures and read what it says and then reads the church, I think will have a very difficult time believing that this, what you and I participate in, is the same as what I see in this.

Love of Christ compels us. What will compel us? Because when we look at lost souls, do we really believe everything that we've been studying in Revelation? That there is judgment coming, that Christ comes, he's not bringing flowers and commendations and medals to pass out, that when Christ comes, there's going to be fiery judgment, a third of the nation will be wiped out, and all of that is a warning for them to repent because the real judgment is going to come at the end?

What will cause us to look at them with compassion? What will cause us to have the same feeling that you had of this dog that's been run over? How? How can we let this happen? What a tragedy. Until we see them in faith, that we see them through Christ's eyes, that as he saw them, he didn't see a bunch of people who were just kind of lost and didn't have health care, you know, they didn't make enough money.

He saw people who were beaten and harassed, sheep without a shepherd, and he had compassion, he was moved. And so he told his disciples, "Beseech the Lord of the harvest." When was the last time you cried out? You cried out to God. Not because you were hurt, not because somebody in your family member was sick, but you cried out for a lost soul, begging God to save them.

There's something about that that doesn't make sense. Now maybe if I just stop talking about it, that we don't have to think about it. But how could we not? Either you reject this gospel, reject it and say you don't believe it, reject it and say, I'll take some part of it, but I don't receive the other part of it.

I want to receive the religious part of it, I want to receive the benefits of it, but I don't want to receive all of it. At least have integrity and say, I don't receive all of it. Then at least it would be consistent. But you can't say that you receive all of it, you believe all of it.

And then not tell other people. And to be worried about tomorrow like everybody else. To cry out. Non-Christians pray when they're sick. Even athletes who live in sin will pray before their final game because they desperately want it. Even atheists will cry out in a sinking boat. Only people who really believe the Gospel; all of it, the judgement, the wrath, the grace, the mercy, the salvation, the sacrifice, the suffering, the reward, eternity.

Only people who really believe that will ever really cry out to God. Because the tragedy that is coming upon this earth, if the world does not repent, is not something any one of us even want to imagine. And the only salvation for that is Christ crucified. Either we embrace this truth and pick up our cross and follow Him or reject it and be consistent.

But you cannot, I cannot and you cannot with a clear face say, "I believe this, but I'm going to do this." Love of Christ compels us. I pray that the Word of Christ may be stuck in your hearts. You can nullify me. Pastor Peter's always on this hobby horse.

And you can just, well, he says things like that because that's his personality. He's just like that. He just kind of, whatever he gets into, he gets really into it. So he's just like that. So you can nullify the message by nullifying me, right? But you're not going to be able to nullify His Word.

Look carefully into His Word. Something strange has happened to Christianity in our generation. It just doesn't fit what we profess. It doesn't fit what we sing. It doesn't fit our lives. The love of Christ compels us. The people in China are dying without Christ. People in India are dying without ever even hearing that there is hope in the name of Jesus.

And there's people in Orange County that never even had the opportunity to reject the gospel because they don't know what the gospel is. They're surrounded by Christians every single day. But you ask them what the gospel is, they don't know. What is Christianity? Well, you believe in Jesus, go to church.

He's like, no. What is Christianity? Well, you try to be a good person and not to hurt people. No. We live among people who are under God's condemnation and the wrath of God is coming upon them. It may come tomorrow, it may come 10 years from now, it may come 60 years from now, but for sure it will come if they die without Christ.

And then to just block this off is inconsistent with what we profess. The love of Christ compels us. I'm going to give you three quick things and then we're going to take some time to pray for our China team. How do we better prepare ourselves to be sent? We need to become better vessels for God to use, 2 Timothy 2.20.

Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for an honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

Now, do we all struggle with sin? My guess is yes, to a certain degree. Some of us may be internal, some of us it may be external. But why holiness matters? Because if you're not living a life holy, acceptable to God, I guarantee you all your prayers is going to be for God's mercy upon you.

All your prayers is going to be, "Lord, be gracious to me." But you will have no energy to cry out for the lost. You have no compassion for the lost because all of your energy is focused on you. He says if you want to be used for noble purposes, he says get rid of the ignoble things that God may use us for noble purposes.

Holiness matters in evangelism. Holiness matters in our sanctification, in our salvation. It matters. And let me just be blunt and say holiness, what you watch, it matters. What you listen to, it matters. Where you go, it matters. It does matter. How you spend money, does it matter? No, it matters.

It matters a lot. But that's where the rubber meets the road. He says if you invest in ignoble things, you will not be prepared for noble purposes. Holiness matters. It does matter. Secondly, we need to master his word. Not just pastors, not just leaders, every Christian needs to master the word.

Because if we are there to proclaim the gospel truth and you know nothing of Christ other than what you've been told, your connection to Christ is just as weak as it was when you first started. That's why when your friends disappear, you disappear. When your support system is gone, you're gone.

When the external things, the events and all these things disappear, you also disappear. Because your connection to Christ is hanging on a thin thread. Because it is not yours. I look at my kids as they're growing up. I'm trying to give them more and more freedom because I want them to have their own faith.

I don't want them to say, "Well, your dad's a pastor, so you should know all of this stuff." At some point, they need to be tested, and they need to come to the word of God, and they need to confess. Because if they don't, at some point when all the support system is gone, they're also going to be gone.

Every single one of us has to master his word. Because 2 Timothy 3:16, it says, "All Scripture is breathed out by God, and it's profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent." In the NIV, it says, "Thoroughly equipped for every good work." The word for equipped, ex arteso, it means to equip, to outfit, and to furnish.

Whenever we think about sending people out to missions or evangelism, we always think about, "Well, what's the training?" And the training typically involves contextualization, communicating cross-culturally, like knowing what their bent is. And so all of these things are necessary things, but the only thing that we were taught in Scripture that we needed was his word and the Holy Spirit.

So all this other stuff is great that we have it, but it doesn't make you any less effective if you don't have it, because it was not ordained by God. What was ordained was his word, preaching of his word. Faith comes from hearing, and the hearing of the word of Christ.

So the more effective you are in knowing and proclaiming his word, the more effective you are, the more trained you are. We need to become experts of his word. You notice how he says that, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news." He didn't say, "People who have beautiful feet preach good news." That may sound like semantics, but the difference is, if we're looking for people who are articulate, who have influence, who have certain gifts, who have a certain amount of knowledge, a certain amount of seminary training, no, he says, "Those who preach the good news, they have beautiful feet." How often do we look for beautiful feet to preach the good news?

He has ordained his word. And then finally, we need to pray, and we want to take some time to do that this morning for our team that's going out, and even for ourselves. We need to pray. Pray that the door may be opened. When we first went out to China, it felt like God just kicked the door wide open, and he said, "Come.

We need people to come." And so it wasn't because there was a great heart for China, or there was this love that God opened up. It was like, no, there was a need. The door was open. So come. So that's why we went, and we've been going there ever since.

Right now, the door's starting to open in India. It's not this, like, "Whoa, Indian culture and Indian food. It'd be great to go to India." No, the door's been opened. So we're trying to go to India. We'll see where God leads us with that. But there's also, as the door for the country is open, that we're praying that God would open the doors of people.

So we want to take some time to pray for the people who are going, that God would lead them to people who have open hearts, that they're eager to hear and have conversations, that people who are searching, that God would lead them to them, that they're not forcing a conversation.

So let's pray for open doors, as Paul prays for open doors in Colossians 4.3. Pray that the people who are going would have boldness to share. Not to force it, but to be wise. But when they are able to share, that they would not be afraid of the response.

They would not be afraid what kind of response that they're going to get. As it says in Ephesians 6.19, and also Paul says, "Pray for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth, boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel." To boldly proclaim, to give them boldness.

There's one thing that I see over and over again in the book of Acts, is when the Holy Spirit comes upon them, they are bold. So let's pray for their teams that they would be bold in preaching the gospel while they're there for three weeks. Thirdly, pray that they will have wisdom in how and to who they speak to.

James 1, 5, and 6, it says, "If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him." So whether they are articulate or not articulate, or been to China and talked to before, or used to sharing the gospel or not, that God miraculously, supernaturally, will give them the exact words that they need, and the conversation will be led to that.

Fourthly, pray that the gospel may spread rapidly, and that there will be a sense of urgency, for them and for us. That we would pray for urgency in the gospel. In 2 Thessalonians 3, 1, Paul says, "Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored just as it was with you." Again, this is something that we have to fight against, because there is no sense of urgency in us, because our needs are taken care of, until God sometimes will bring discipline in our lives, and force us to see that there's an urgency, that our life is short, whether it's through somebody's sickness, or we get fired from a job, or something tragic happens.

But when we see the gospel as it is, and we see it with eyes of faith, that God would give us a sense of urgency. God give them a sense of urgency, that the short time that they have there, that they would maximize it for God's glory. And then, finally, pray that the Holy Spirit would use the foolishness of the preaching to bring people to Christ, that the souls may be one.

So let's do this. I'm going to ask the praise team to come up, and we're going to take just a few minutes to come before the Lord. And can we put all that back up? And I want you guys to take just a few minutes to pray, maybe about two, three minutes, to pray over these things.

And our worship team is going to come and lead us. Instead of just me giving you some time to just pray randomly over your things, but take some time to pray over our team, over ourselves, over the preaching of the gospel, that God would really send, that we would be the ones who send them, and that God would send us as well.

Let's take some time to pray as our team leads us.