- I always thought that spring and summer were the seasons for weddings, but I guess things have changed a little bit. In the past six weeks, I've been to four weddings. My kids were in two of them. I was the officiant in one of them. And some of you may be here this morning because you're in town for a wedding.

So it's been a little bit of a busy season for our church. In fact, next Saturday, there are two church members' weddings. I'll be officiating at one, Pastor Mark at the other. So that'll be five weddings in seven weeks for me. And so as joyful as it is, I'm a little tired.

Now in the context of each and every wedding, you hear the words like covenant and vow, and those are beautiful words in the context of a wedding. Yes, they are weighty, but no one views the exchange of vows at a wedding as something negative or something burdensome. The words covenant and vow, though sacred and holy, are beautiful words.

At a wedding, they're not legalistically perceived, nor is the accountability that comes with the covenant something that the couple fears or dreads. And ultimately, the desire in making that covenant is for the mutual benefit and mutual edification through the promise that they make. Now, why am I beginning this sermon in this way?

Just before the holidays, we started a sermon series reviewing each of the aspects of our church's just membership covenant, the 10 things our members commit to upon joining our church. And for most of last year, we had been in the book of Hebrews, but with Pastor Peter's sabbatical, we decided that it would be good for our church to take some time to review and reflect on these 10 covenants.

So hopefully, as we are going over these church covenants, these also you find to be beautiful and holy. May they not be burdensome. May they not cause you to feel restricted, but rather free. And hopefully, you find our time reviewing the covenants to be a beneficial and edifying exercise.

And so of our 10 membership covenants, we've thus far covered one through five, and then seven. We've been going over them mostly in order, but we've just switched up the orders of a few of them and have jumped around just a little bit. It's been over a month since we've been in the covenants.

So for the sake of review, I would like for us to briefly read the covenants that we have already covered. Okay, they're gonna be up there on the screen for you. Covenant one, I confess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Two, I confess that the Bible is an inerrant word of God, which has ultimate authority over my life.

Three, I commit to a life of devotion to pray regularly interceding for the leadership and the members of Berean Community Church. Four, I commit to attending Sunday worship at Berean Community Church every week to the best of my ability. Five, I commit to attending and preparing for weekday Bible studies every week to the best of my ability.

Six, we'll cover next week. Seven, I commit to building up and strengthening the body of Christ at Berean Community Church by developing and using my spiritual gifts. Today, we're gonna be jumping ahead a little bit to covenant number nine. We'll be covering covenant six, eight, and 10 in the coming weeks.

But today, we're gonna be looking at covenant number nine, especially as this will be a very important one for our church in the year 2020, as Hans and Franz has already given you a preview of. So here's covenant number nine. It reads, I commit to the best of my ability to advance the kingdom of God through sharing the gospel locally and globally.

So the commitment here is to share the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. And this is a commitment to simply testifying of God's goodness in the mission fields we are already in. And Lord willing, getting involved in the mission fields, he places us perhaps farther away, preaching Jesus near and far, both locally, globally, and praying for those who are preaching Jesus both near and far, both locally and globally.

So for the about 400 of you who have signed this covenant, I believe you agree to this because this falls in line with the teaching of the scriptures. Our God loves sinners and we serve a missionary God. And we are called always to be ready to testify to his goodness.

The apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 6.15, after he exhorts the church to put on the full armor of God, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. I actually did not, I used to teach the SAT verbals, but I did not know what shod meant.

I assumed what it meant, but it's the past tense of the verb to shoo. So having put shoes on, I felt good 'cause I asked Pastor Mark and he didn't know either. So we're all in good hands, okay? Basically, Paul is saying to always shoo your feet with preparation to testify.

And the imagery is similar to what we see in Isaiah 52.7, which reads, "How lovely on the mountains "are the feet of him who bring good news, "who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, "who announces salvation and says to Zion, "Your God reigns." So I wanna read Covenant Nine again for you.

"I commit to the best of my ability "to advance the kingdom of God "through sharing the gospel locally and globally." And we're gonna be spending the bulk of today's sermon on what will be a very familiar passage to much of you, to many of you. So allow me to read it for all of us today.

It's gonna be Romans 10, verses 11 to 17. Romans 10, 11 to 17. It reads, "For the scripture says, "whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. "For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. "For the same Lord is Lord of all, "abounding in riches for all who call on him.

"For whoever will call on the name of the Lord "will be saved. "How then will they call on him "in whom they have not believed? "How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? "And how will they hear without a preacher? "And how will they preach unless they are sent?

"Just as it is written, "how beautiful are the feet of those "who bring good news of good things. "However, they did not all heed the good news, "for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report. "So faith comes from hearing, "and hearing by the word of Christ." I'm gonna give you the outline up front so that it'll be easier for you to track along.

Hopefully, you find it simple enough and easy enough to follow. The first point, and it's all gonna be out of this Romans 10 passage, is that one, there is good news, Romans 10, 11 to 13. Two, there's a dying audience in need of good news, Romans 10, 14 to 15.

Three, there is a divine strategy in the delivery of the good news, Romans 10, 16 to 17. So I'm gonna start with the first one. There is good news. The word gospel in Greek is euangelion, the combination of the word, the root eu, like eulogy, euphemism, which means good.

And you put that together with angelion, the Greek word for message. So the word evangelism comes from the combination of these two roots, eu and angelion. And what's the difference between news, information, and good news? And I'm gonna give you a couple of examples to help us emotionally wrap our minds around the difference.

On the average Sunday, we have 130 children in our education department, worshiping in the rooms behind you and above you. It's about 130. Now I'm gonna give you some news. Church, your children are safe. That would be news, okay? On a typical Sunday, you would think, okay, that's a good thing.

And you'd be slightly happy about it, hopefully, and then it would not affect you much at all. In fact, most of you parents would be somewhat ambivalent about it, because this is news that is expected. It's assumed, it's a given. It's an expectation, perhaps even a demand or a non-negotiable.

So in your heart, you may be thinking, yeah, they better be safe. What kind of church is this if they don't keep them safe? But if we had just heard a huge explosion in the back, if there's a huge earthquake and we see the back part of our church collapse, the words, your children are safe, would not be holham angelion.

It would be exceptionally you, angelion, truly good news. Here's another example. If I were to tell every one of you sitting in this room, hey, great news, you don't have AIDS. Hey, brother, sister, you are cancer-free. Most of you would not have an emotional reaction or like a joy-filled celebration at this news.

Tears of happiness would likely not fill your eyes. But for someone who had been diagnosed with cancer, had been going through all kinds of the horrific treatment to beat it, who had been told that this cancer was terminal, this would in fact be great, life-altering, earth-shattering, fantastic and wonderful news, news that you would shout at the top of every rooftop, post on every social medium, tell every friend, every stranger, and this would be news that you cannot contain.

And each proclamation of this good news would be overflowing with joy, inexpressible, and insuppressible, like just glee. And you would be so convincing that everyone in your hearing would celebrate with you. So this begs the question, is the message that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross for your sins to restore you to your holy creator and give you eternal life, is this truly, you, Angelion, good news to you?

Perhaps for some of us in this room, we subconsciously believe we deserve to be saved. Maybe you are a fourth-generation Christian from a family of pastors or even martyrs, perhaps. Maybe you're naturally just a nice, sweet person. You share with those in need. You don't cheat on your taxes.

And though you're not perfect, you're better than most. In your heart of hearts, maybe you don't believe you are deserving of the hatred and the full and unbridled just wrath of God. Then the message of the cross won't move you to worship. It will not be good news to you.

It will be an expectation that you have. It'll be religious information to which you just say, duh. It'll be assumed. And for some of you who wrestle with doubt and skepticism, the gospel of Jesus Christ may be elevated a little bit to wishful thinking or superstition. But tragically, perhaps the gospel of Jesus Christ to some of you sitting in here may be even a burden or even a hindrance to getting the best out of this life.

Man, if I only wasn't a Christian, I would, and then you fill in the blank. Man, if I wasn't like a churchgoer, man, if I wasn't like a servant of the Lord, I would, and then you fill in the blank. Covenant number nine will be cumbersome and oppressive if the message of the cross is only information that you mentally ascribe to.

So what is this good news? What is the euangelion of Jesus Christ? And allow me to briefly share, especially as there may be some in this room who have never thoroughly heard it. The gospel of Jesus Christ does not begin in the first book of the New Testament in the Gospel of Matthew, but it actually begins in the very beginning, in the very first verse of the very first chapter of the book of Genesis.

It reads, "In the beginning, "God created the heavens and the earth." And you guys know this passage. It's well-read. Everyone starts there. The gospel of Jesus Christ begins with a creator, God of purpose, a God who created everything good. And we see in Genesis chapter one, the word good used after day one, two, three, four, five, and after day six, the word is emphasized as very good after everything is completed.

So God had created everything good and he saw all that he had created and he deemed it very good. And in fact, it's not until Genesis 2.18 where God sees the lack of man's community, where he uses the word not good, his lack of an equal to not only subdue but to enjoy all the good that God had created.

That's the beginning of the gospel. So we have been created, and I've shared this before on multiple sermons, by we have been created by a good God to know this good God, to delight in this good God, and to enjoy the things created by this good God. He did not come to burden and shackle you.

Ephesians 2.10, "For we are his workmanship, "created in Christ Jesus for good works, "which God prepared beforehand "so that we would walk in them." And before even all of this was created very good and before sin entered the world in Genesis 3 to corrupt everything, God had ordained an eternal purpose for your life.

He had ordained an eternal purpose for mine. It was for the purpose of good works that we would walk in them. And this good God has offered us a gift. And he calls it eternal life. And what does that entail? What does it involve? And we so just flippantly throw it around.

But it says in John 17.3, "This is eternal life that they may know you, "the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." So what is the purpose of the Christian faith? What is the purpose of my existence? What is the purpose of my life? Well, here it is.

You were created by God and for God to love God and to serve God. I'm gonna say this again. You were created by God and for God to love God and to serve God. And that's the meta-narrative that begins in Genesis and ends with the ultimate glory to the creator God in the book of Revelation.

That is our purpose. And the purpose of our lives is to know God and to make him known. And what a privilege that is that we will spend eternity growing in knowledge of this God and giving glory to this great God. So this is eternal life, that we would know him for whom we have been created.

But there is a problem because there's a difficulty that you and I have, an impossibility in submitting to this purpose. Because of sin, we are hostile to this purpose. There is a part of us, even if we've been coming to church all of our lives, since we were in our mother's wombs, that remains a little bit offended by this purpose.

Because you and I were born with an innate hostility toward this purpose every human being comes into the world desiring not to serve God, but to be served. Because you and I are all diseased and thoroughly, completely, fully, exhaustively corrupted. Ephesians 2, 1 through 3 describes our condition and you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

Among them, we too, the Jews, all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath, even as a rest. So here's a problem of sin. Verse one says that you were dead in your trespasses and sins.

And I wanna just briefly cover what is sin? This is a very important question that many like misdefine. And an inaccurate definition leads to a misdiagnosis. And with a disease, any misdiagnosis is actually fatal. So we need to carefully see what sin really is. So when we say sin, we naturally think of things like murder, theft, alcoholism, sexual immorality, embezzlement, lying, and things like that.

And those are tangible sins, but those are symptomatic of far deeper problems. So sin, the Greek word is hamartia. It basically means to miss the mark. What was our purpose? We were created by God and for God to love God and to serve God, but sin means not doing that.

It means living in opposition and out rebellion toward this purpose. Sin has so tainted us and our consciences that we are offended by this purpose. We hate our purpose. We do not want to submit to this purpose. So murder, drug abuse, theft, lying, cheating, stealing, idolatry, all of these are sins, yes, but that's essentially, basically, these are outward byproducts of a more corrupted condition.

So we entered this world hostile for the ways of God. Not one of you are exempt from this disease. So sin at its root is living in rebellion to the God-word purpose for which you and I have been created. But in verse three, Paul writes, "We too, saying that the Jews, the chosen people of God, "for the entirety of their history, "have always been fleshly and rebellious." So the Jews too were also the spawn, the children, the technon of wrath, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

So what is the good news? There's a cure. There's a cure. You can be sin-free. You can be restored to perfect spiritual health. You can be restored to your purpose. And it's free. And it's easy. If you confess with your mouth and you believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

I wanna read Romans 10, 11 to 13 for us, but I wanna also read verse nine for context that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Easy as that. For the scripture says, "Whoever believes in him "will not be disappointed, for there is no distinction "between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, "and richest for all who call on him.

"Whoever will call on the name of the Lord "will be saved from this horrific disease." So what is this good news? First of all, all it takes is faith. You don't have to buy anything. You don't have to adhere to anything. Belief in his sufficiency. All it takes is faith that God's method of payment was fully and absolutely sufficient.

Second, good news. If you place your trust in Christ, you will not be disappointed ever in any way, shape, or form because he is abounding in riches and in loving kindness. Your race, your background, your sinful, shameful, ugly past, your family's dirty secrets, all of that, none of that matters 'cause there's a cure.

You can be sin free. You can be restored to your original purpose. Eternal life has availed itself to you. Why? Because the creator of the universe has compassion. He loves a sinner. And this is truly the best you, Angelion, our ears can hear. Which brings us to our second point.

There is a dying audience in need of good news, Romans 10, 14 to 15. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent just as it is written?

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things. Paul goes on to pose five rhetorical questions that follow a logical sequence. The first question has a word, then, un, attached to it. How then? There is such great news. God is promising not to disappoint.

He is abounding in true and eternal riches and all it takes is a sincere cry for help, a call out, what a great salvation, what great news. But they need to hear this. And who are they in verses 14 and 15? It is those who are living in hostility toward their purpose still and hopelessly trying to cope.

Everything disappoints, everything falls short. Religious adherence and morality are not enough. Relative uprightness is not enough. Religious heritage or ancestry is not enough. My grandparents were Christian, but I don't believe this. There is frustration. So some, in trying to cope, they turn to pleasure. They turn to the promise of luxury, status, wealth, comfort.

Some turn to superstitious rituals. Some, trying to attain holiness, practice asceticism, self-deprecation, self-denial. Some put all their eggs in the family basket. Oh, only if I have a good family. Some turn to humanitarian good deeds. Well, if I help the poor enough, maybe I will be upright in the afterlife.

If there is an afterlife, I'll be okay. Some hope in government, some in education, and none of these fixes the problem of sin. None of these cures the disease. One of the most common symptoms of the disease of sin is this belief that a change of circumstance will make me happy.

You and I know that changed circumstances always fall short of bringing any kind of lasting happiness, but we're stupid. We go from one changed circumstance and disappointment, and we turn to another changed circumstance and get disappointed again. But God says, "Whoever turns to Him "will never be disappointed." So that they, in verses 14 and 15, this they need to hear that there is a cure, that there is an answer, and that there is only one way, one cure, one solution, it's the message of the cross of Jesus Christ, because it is a power of salvation for all who believe, for the Jew and the Gentile.

So we need to preach. Even if our message is laughable foolishness, and there's sin-clouded minds and hearts. Let me put a few faces of the they for you up on the picture here. And can you dim the lights? This picture, I took it in January 2017 in Cebu, Philippines.

People know Cebu for mangoes, and for it's a very popular honeymoon destination in the Philippines. But this picture is in one of the largest dump site villages in Cebu. And this dump site was home to about 200 children. So just for your reference, about 64 million people around the world work in dump sites, collecting recyclables, and sometimes chasing rats.

Because if you catch a rat, you will find someone who will eat the rat, and you will get paid a dollar. So a lot of kids that I've met have gotten their finger bit and caught some kind of random disease pursuing these rats in these dump sites. So 64 million people work in the dump sites, but 15 million live in the dump sites all around the world, and many around the hotel resort that you're gonna frequent.

Just 10 miles away, they live there. Children die every day in these dump site villages from lead poisoning, from drinking polluted water. When it rains, no one in this village sleeps really well because the water rises, and the people have nowhere else to go. Sometimes if the government wants to use this land to build a hotel or apartment complex, and the people are not refusing, or they're not willing to go, they'll set fire.

And oftentimes up to about a third of the people living in this community will perish in the fire. And you're not gonna hear about this in the news, because in the eyes of many national governments, these are not people with any value. Next picture. So this group that you see here is from an all boys high school from Busan, South Korea.

Only one of the boys was a churchgoer. The rest of them were very, very pagan. All the ladies that you see in the back are teachers. So these boys are growing up in Korea, the country with one of the highest suicide rates in the world, the highest rate of alcohol consumption in the world, the country where sexual immorality is becoming more and more readily accepted.

They are growing up in a society full of broken families, empty promises. These Korean youths are living in one of the richest, most technologically innovative countries in the world. And they have peers who kill themselves because they cannot keep up. There's a little Filipino boy in the front. These high school boys collect money to sponsor this little boy through compassion.

His name is Johnny Ray Mapait. And this is his home. He was born in this village. He picks up recyclables about three hours a day, every day. And he makes about $6 extra income each week to help his family. So his family lacks many, many opportunities and they lack many daily necessities.

And as I shared a few minutes ago, there are about 64 million people who work in this and about 15 million people who are living in this. And these Korean youths and the people in Johnny Ray's community have a few things in common. None of them have hope in themselves.

They are all plagued with the disease of sin and of self. For Johnny Ray and the 13 Korean boys and their teachers behind them, their only hope is Christ. And there is something interesting that I found when the materially rich and the materially poor, when they meet together, both end up reflecting on their spiritual poverty.

And they kind of, you could see in their eyes, it's like, we're the same. And we have more in common than not. All of them are the day. There is need for the proclamation of the gospel in the Philippines. There is need for the proclamation, (coughs) of the gospel here in Orange County, in Ecuador, Haiti, India, Japan, China, Africa, which is not a country, by the way, it's a continent.

And what is sad is that Korea has so many churches and doing humanitarian work in the poorest of the country has now become a thing for Koreans. It's become trendy. They take selfies with the poor. But the Korean generation is losing the generation of youth. The physical needs of the poor may look different, but the spiritual needs of both the poor and the rich are the same.

There is no hope outside of Christ. How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? Which brings us to our third point. The divine strategy and the delivery of this good news.

However, they did not all heed the good news, for Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our report?" So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. Restoration through faith has always come through the proclamation of the word of God, through the beautiful feet of those who bring good tidings.

And you have many people with beautiful feet around your lives, and praise God for that. Restoration does not come through fancy gimmicks or ear-tickling words. It's simply through the hearing of the words of Christ. No human strategy, effort, tactic can change the human heart. You and I can pressure people to conform, sure, but we can't change the heart.

You and I cannot strategize for someone to come to faith. In fact, the Scriptures explicitly say that most will not listen, that the darkness hates the light, the proud hate being humbled, the godless cannot but be offended by the truth of God's existence. So it is not our job to save people or to soften their hearts.

That's not our job. I am discovering both a powerful and a liberating truth. I have no power to change the human heart. I can scatter the seed, I can plant, I can water, but only God can bring the growth. But you know what's interesting and mind-boggling? That God would use sin-tainted men like me to carry soul-saving good news to people.

I mean, donkeys get in the way less. I don't believe them to be selfish. And he can speak through donkeys. You guys got to that part yet in your Bible reading plans? He can speak through donkeys. He says he can make the rocks cry out and he can use the winds and the waves to give evidence of who he is, but he desires to use you and me.

And though he can and does use things like seminary training, evangelism classes, apologetics, tactics, that is not the primary means through which he equips his people for evangelism, there is a mission field very uniquely appointed for you. There are people in your lives, at your schools, in your families, in your workplaces that only you can humanly reach with the gospel.

And God will use your day-to-day life as a witness and a testimony of his grace to the people around you. (audience laughing) Non-believers in your life who are trying to cope with this problem of sin are watching you who say you have hope. They're watching to see how hopeful you really are.

And God in his divine strategy gives us some wonderful gifts when he ordains trials, suffering, persecution, and pain. He gives us a megaphone and a platform to share through those things. In fact, you know, trial, sufferings, and persecutions have always spread the gospel more quickly and throughout Christian history.

The early church, as they were being persecuted and being scattered, they evangelized the world. Philippians 2, 14 to 15, "Do all things without grumbling or disputing "so that you will prove yourselves "to be blameless and innocent children of God "above reproach in the midst of a crooked "and perverse generation among whom you appear "as lights in the world." Why do you not grumble or complain?

Because that is a natural flesh-driven response to difficulties. But as a Christian who says, "I believe in a God who's created everything perfect. "He is perfectly good. "He is a God of love. "And even if he were to ordain something difficult "in my life, I will give him the worship that he is due." And as that attitude starts to exude itself in your life, the unbelieving world is watching, like sailors looking at the stars to kind of direct them where to go in the Mediterranean.

The unbelieving world watches your lack of faith or lack of complaint and causes them to be dumbfounded. Trial, suffering, and persecution actually does much to clarify our thinking, to sharpen our resolve, and to embolden our preaching. So as it says in James 1 to 2, consider it all joy.

God will use difficult things in your life to save people in your life. God will use your life as an example of trust, of hope, and of joy-filled worship. He will not use your luxury and your comfort. He will use your comfort and your joy as effectively as he will use discomfort and pain.

This reads 1 Peter 3, 15, "But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, "always being ready to make a defense "to everyone who asks you to give an account "for the hope that is in you, "yet with gentleness and respect. "If you've met Christ, you are already well-equipped "for life-giving truth." If you are a Christian, a child of God, and you have met Christ, you're already thoroughly and well-equipped.

Acts 4, 12 to 13, it says, "There is salvation in no one else, "for there is no other name under heaven "that has been given among men "by which we must be saved." Now, they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men.

They were amazed and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. A little farther down in Acts 4, verse 18, we see an almost uncontrollable boldness. "And when they had summoned them, "they commanded them not to speak or teach at all "in the name of Jesus. "But Peter and John answered and said to them, "'Whether it is right on the side of God "'to give heed to you rather than to God, "'you be the judge, for we cannot stop speaking "'about what we have seen and heard.'" So what's the application here for covenant number nine?

I wanna be very careful here. We were discussing with the leaders, we wanna try to make these covenants very real and very practical in our lives, but nine is hard. 'Cause I don't wanna pressure or burden you to share the good news. Evangelism that is forced is usually devoid of spiritual power.

It's like a salesman trying to sell you something that he himself would not buy. Duty and obligation is a poor fuel for soul-saving evangelism. So though we should always feel a bit burdened and uncomfortable when we are around non-believers whom we love, what compels us has to be the love of Christ and its compassion, our joy, our passion, and our unwavering devotion are the tools that we need to use to reach the non-believing world.

So the only application I could really give you is this. Seek the Lord. I can't twist your arm and guilt trip you into signing up for things like the Gospel Night. 'Cause if it's forced, the good news is not gonna be good news to you, it's gonna be a shackle.

But if you encounter God, really, deeply, truly encounter God, you will change. It's like anything else we deem truly amazing in our lives, anything that is like life-altering, it changes us a little bit. December 20th, 2005, my cousin scored two tickets to a Laker game. It was against the Dallas Mavericks, and I love going to Laker games, but this one was really special because he got us tickets 12 rows behind the Laker bench.

12 rows behind the Laker bench affords you this. You can hear them cuss. You can see them joking around. There was a player named Kwame Brown who had a little bit of a cut, so he got blood on his jersey. The trainer at the time, Gary Vitti, sprayed the blood off his jersey and then sprayed him in the face, laughed at him.

Kwame Brown went, "What? "I was close enough to see all this." I like to believe that I looked at Kobe in the eye, I waved hello, and he just stared back. At halftime, he had 32 points, and at that time, he had only scored 50 points in a game five times, 26 for the whole career, but at that point, only five times.

So my cousin and I at halftime, as we were picking up our hot dogs, we were very excited. Like, dude, what if he gets 50? In the third quarter, he scored 30 points. So that was a 62-point game. Best game he had ever had until a few minutes later, he had 81.

But at that time, we were so excited. Pastor Aaron was texting me, "I hate you right now." We were just, and I could not wait to tell everyone and their mamas what I had just witnessed. I had just witnessed history being made. I zang-ed it, 'cause it was before Facebook.

I put pictures up there. I even show people half of the streamer that I got, 'cause my cousin, we only got one, so he ripped it in half. I wanted to tell everybody, because I just witnessed history being made, and me, this news is uncontrollable and uncontainable. I had to get it out.

And that's just basketball. When I got engaged, she said yes, even though I knew she was gonna say yes. I had to tell the world. After eight years of not having babies, two appeared, we're pregnant, born a girl, twins, oh! We could not. Well, we had to wait until the second trimester, but I was just like, "Mmm, you know what?" Because when something so life-changing, beautiful, and sweet happens in your life, you don't need training to talk about that stuff.

It happens. The problem is not whether or not you know how to give answers to everything. The problem is the gospel is often just news. That's what we need to fix before we commit to anything. So number nine is very tricky for me to try to give you an application for.

When the why is clear, the how is super easy. When the why is clear, you figure out the how as you go. But when the why is not clear, you drag your feet through every step of the what and the how. And the when. The application for covenant number nine is for you and me to figure out is the good news of Jesus Christ information, or is it life-altering, soul-saving, good, sweet, wonderful news?

So I'm gonna give you two applications, though, so that you don't get in the way of God doing his salvific work. 1 Timothy 4, 16, pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching. NIV says watch your life and doctrine closely. I like that better, actually. And do this not just for a week, not just for a month, not for a year, but persevere.

For as you do this, you will ensure salvation both for yourself and those who hear you. (audience member coughing) Are you growing in your ability to teach life-giving words? Are you paying attention? Are you scrutinizing your heart? Are you being holy as he has called you to be holy, or do you quickly discount that as legalism?

You want those around you to be saved? Live like you believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ is good news in front of those you want to be saved. But like I shared with you, I have no salvific power. I could do nothing to change someone's heart, and Jesus has said that already.

And we're gonna look at one last passage before I close. John 15, four to five, abide in me, and I in you. And I in you as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. So neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches.

He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit.

He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit.

He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit.

He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit.

He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit.