(soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - Good morning, Church family.

Happy Wednesday. We will now begin our service. (soft piano music) (soft piano music) ♪ Christ our wisdom, we are humble ♪ ♪ When you hide your ways from us ♪ ♪ You have purposes unnumbered ♪ ♪ Each one good and glorious ♪ ♪ Trust when we grow weary ♪ ♪ Free us from our anxious thoughts ♪ ♪ Give us grace to see more clearly ♪ ♪ You are God and we are His ♪ (soft piano music) ♪ Christ our wisdom, be our gladness ♪ ♪ When we fail to understand ♪ ♪ You ordain all joy and sadness ♪ ♪ To fulfill your perfect plan ♪ ♪ Help us know you rule with power ♪ ♪ Over every raging flood ♪ ♪ In our most uncertain hour ♪ ♪ You are God and we are His ♪ (soft piano music) ♪ Christ our wisdom, we will follow ♪ ♪ Though the way ahead is bleak ♪ ♪ As we journey through the shadows ♪ ♪ Grant us faithless sight ♪ ♪ But cling to your commandments ♪ ♪ Strengthened by your faithful word ♪ ♪ We will never be abandoned ♪ ♪ You are God and we are His ♪ (soft piano music) ♪ Christ our wisdom, we adore you ♪ ♪ For the beauty of the cross ♪ ♪ Unsick foolishness we scorn you ♪ ♪ Your blood has ransomed us ♪ ♪ But sing the endless mercies ♪ ♪ Of your humble heart to save ♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, Christ our hope ♪ ♪ You are God forevermore ♪ ♪ But sing we endless mercy ♪ ♪ Of your humble heart to save ♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, Christ our glory ♪ ♪ You are God forever praise ♪ - All right, good morning.

Welcome to Bering Community Church. We have a few announcements that we need to get to first. First of all, our Korea mission team that's gonna be going out to reach out to campuses in Seoul in about three weeks. They have a sweatshirt fundraiser that's happening that'll help support what we're doing.

So they have a table outside. I'm not sure if they have pictures there, but you can buy in faith or you can ask them for a picture or whatever design that they have. But again, to support them, so I think the cost is $45 and there's gonna be a table set up outside so you can go visit that.

And you can ask them, the people are there, about the specifics of what's going on for that ministry. So that will be set up outside. Along with that, this week and next week, we are continuing to collect the missions offerings that we ask that you would be prayerful about supporting the mission work that's happening through the IMB.

In particular, Pastor Alex and his family that we went to Taiwan to support his church. And so the offering that comes in will be sent over there. So please, if you are giving today or next week, that you mark clearly that this is for Ladi Moon mission offering. Okay, Christmas mission offering.

And then we'll be able to designate that and send that over when we get it. Again, this week and next Sunday, okay? WBBA sign-ups. If you are gonna be playing basketball, please sign up for that. Today is absolutely the last day to sign up. They are going to be making teams this afternoon.

So if you wait till tonight, it will be too late. So please sign up for that for the ladies and the men. There's a table outside. If you haven't signed up, you're planning to sign up, please do so after the service, okay? Next Sunday, Christmas service. Obviously, it's gonna be a lot of guests that are gonna be coming into town.

The children are gonna be performing. And there is going to be a table for the seekers. So if you are bringing somebody that you're trying to share the gospel with, there's going to be a table set up outside so you can answer any questions. Pastor Mark and the outreach team is going to be stationed there.

It's between each of the service. So after first, second, and third service, depending on which service you come to, you can visit that table, and you'll be able to get more attention. Just wanted to give you a hands-up. We have more space in the first service, right? And so second service, obviously, is gonna be packed.

We think that third service is also going to be pretty busy. So if you want more attention than normal, first service, you go to first service. So there's less people, so you get much more attention. So if you're bringing somebody and you're choosing which one to go to, we encourage you to go to the first service, okay?

Hopefully it works, okay. New Year's Eve service, at the end of the year, we typically, as a church, get together, and we celebrate the new year that's coming in, and it's an act of giving the first fruit of our time together with our families. And I know that people who have small children may have a difficult time coming to that, but if you are able to, we have a service at 11 o'clock that we usually finish around 1215, 1220, and again, we celebrate the new year, and again, as a dedication, it's more of a dedication service for the new year that's coming.

We do this every year, but along with that, there's a ping-pong tournament that usually happens prior to for the activity, and there will be games on the cafe side, so if you want to come and not play ping-pong and you want to do that, the church will be open pretty much most of the day that day, but if you are planning to play, I think it's only doubles tournament, you can do that outside.

So you don't have to be an expert. You don't have to be number one. You can be number 20. So you can go and sign up just to have fun, okay? So that will be happening here, so please sign up for that if you are planning to, and it will be stationed outside.

And then finally, our Bible study has officially ended for this session. Next session is going to start on February 5th, and the topic that we're going to be covering is hermeneutics. So Pastor Mark is going to be teaching us how to study inductively through the various genres in the Bible, so whether it's a narrative, whether it's poetic, whether it's prophetic or the epistles, he's going to be giving us certain passages to work through, so there will be text that we are going to be working through, but we're hoping that the church would be better suited to be able to tackle not only the epistles but the narratives in the Old Testament because certain principles don't apply to different genres, right?

How we interpret a narrative, how we interpret, you know, like parables is not the same way that we would approach an epistle, and so Pastor Mark is going to give a 10-week session. It's going to start on February 5th, and it'll be ending at the end of April, so it'll be 10 weeks, not 13 weeks, and part of the reason why we're doing that is we're trying to save the summertime.

There's going to be a long break during the summer and not regular home groups, so the home group's going to take a break, but there's going to be different topical sessions that are offered during the summertime, so in order to do that, we're giving more time during the summer, and we've shortened the Bible study just to give you a heads-up, okay?

So if you are able to, if you're a member of the church, please sign up for this. Even if you are committed to the same home group for the last four or five years, we need you to sign up so that we can know for sure that we have enough space, we need you to find space, so if you are part of that, please sign up as soon as possible, and that will help us to know if we need to add two or three more small groups or Bible study, so that will help us, okay?

So if you can do that as soon as possible, the table to sign up for that is also outside, okay? All right, let me pray for us for the offering, and then afterwards, again, we'll begin our worship. Let's pray. Gracious Father, it is a privilege that we have to be able to come week after week to worship you, to meet with you, to be fed by you.

Help us to lift our eyes toward Christ, to know, Father, that this is where our help comes from. Lord, you know how easily we get distracted and entangled and anxiety and concerns creep into our hearts. I pray that this worship will serve to focus our attention on Christ, I pray that all that we do will be an overflow of gratitude of everything that you've already given us, and I pray that even this offering may reflect our worship to you and may it be multiplied for the sake of your kingdom.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - Let us all rise, and before we continue, let's spend a few moments to greet the neighbors around us.

(soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ He came to us a man He came to us a man A very natured God Pierced through our iniquities As you hung upon the cross But God exalted you To the highest place He gave to you the right to bear The name above all names And at the name of Jesus We should bow And every tongue confess That you are Lord And when you come in glory For the world to see We will sing Hail to the King In all his splendor and majesty Hail to the King of Kings Lord Jesus our God ♪ ♪ Be eagerly awake Be eagerly awake The coming of the day The glory of the risen King Will shine upon the earth The rival thrones will fall Before the Lord of all And hail supreme authority In the true and living God And at the name of Jesus We should bow And every tongue confess That you are Lord And when you come in glory For the world to see We will sing Hail to the King In all his splendor and majesty Hail to the King of Kings Lord Jesus our God Hail to the King Hail to the King In all his splendor and majesty Hail to the King of Kings Lord Jesus our God ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Thank you, wonderful, merciful Savior Wonderful, merciful Savior Precious Redeemer and friend Who would have thought that a lamb could Rescue the souls of men Oh, you rescue the souls of men ♪ Counselor, counselor, comforter, keeper Spirit we long to embrace You offer hope when our hearts have Hopelessly lost the way Oh, we hopelessly lost the way You are the one that we praise You are the one we adore You give the healing and grace Our hearts always hunger for Oh, our hearts always hunger for ♪ ♪ Almighty Infinite Father Almighty Infinite Father Faithfully loving your own Here in our weakness you find us Falling before your throne Oh, we're falling before your throne You are the one that we praise You are the one we adore You give the healing and grace Our hearts always hunger for Oh, our hearts always hunger for You are the one that we praise You are the one we adore You give the healing and grace Our hearts always hunger for Oh, our hearts always hunger for Amen.

You may be seated. If you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 10, I'll be reading from verse 1 all the way to verse 11. Okay. Luke chapter 10, verses 1 through 11. Okay. Reading out of the NASB. Now after this, the Lord appointed 70 others and sent them in pairs ahead of him to every city and place where he himself was going to come.

And he was saying to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go, behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes, and greet no one on the way.

Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house.' If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him, but if not, it will return to you. Say in that house, eating and drinking what they give you, for the laborer is worthy of his wages.

Do not keep moving from house to house. Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you, and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' Whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your city, which clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you.

Yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near you.'" Let's pray. Father, we pray for understanding. We pray for conviction. We pray, Lord God, that we would gain more than simple knowledge of this text, but our own hearts may be molded as you are the potter and we are the clay.

Help us, Lord God, as we have come to draw near to you, that you would speak to us, guide us, and lead us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. At our church, I know some of you guys who are newer to the church, and some people have been here, and I remember just this week, Esther and I sat and we kind of tabulated how many people do we have still in our church that was with us from the very beginning.

And really, there's only like two, two or three from the beginning, and then you go two years after that, there's maybe about eight or nine that's added, and then the four years after that, four or five years after that, we have maybe about 30 people, 40 people, and then we were just kind of reminiscing about that, because our 28th year anniversary is coming up in about four years, and we were thinking about how God has been faithful to us and brought us to this journey, and one of the things that I kind of was thinking about early on in the church, trying to figure out how you're supposed to run a church, because I know we have a handful of people in our church who've been to seminary, but seminary doesn't teach you how to run a church.

You spend three years basically learning how to dissect the Greek text and then the Hebrew and church history, but they don't teach you the practical things of how to manage money, what to do with small group, even how to disciple people. What do you do when the church is 100?

What do you do when the church is 200? What do you do when the church is 1,000? This is something that we just kind of learn as we go, so I remember early on thinking, maybe I should just get as many books about church as possible, and then read it and see, maybe the people have gone before us and I can glean some wisdom from them, and so I got as many popular books on church planting and church management books as I could, and I remember after reading, and I can't remember how many, but I was so interested in this subject because there was a dire need, reading maybe 10, 15 books in a row, and there was a consistent theme that kept on coming up, and a few of the things that I remember is, to don't plant a church unless you have a critical mass of 30.

In other words, if you want, from their study, if you planted a church that has less than 30 people, the chances of it being successful is very slim, so don't even begin until you can gather a core of 30 people. Make sure that you have a specific target group.

Who are you targeting? Are you targeting older people, younger people? What economic status? What ethnicity? And so you need to have a clear target 'cause if you're going to develop a church that's going to meet their needs, you need to know who you're targeting and to develop a church to meet those needs.

Make sure that you have funding to last about three years to pay for the church rental for yourself, for your children, and make sure you have at least three, so give yourself at least three years. So if you don't have funding for three years, that is probably, the chances of success is going to be very small.

Another thing that they said was location, location, location. So if you've ever had businesses, again, I think it's a little bit different now because you have online presence and people have Yelp that they look up and they go to gang-infested areas to get $1 tacos. So now maybe that principle may have changed, but back then, if you want to have a successful business, you have to put it into a good location.

And so they would say, even the church, if you're going to be successful, you have to make sure that you choose a church where it's easily accessible and just like any other business, location, location, location. But the thing that stood out to me the most was that they said, if you planted a church and it doesn't succeed, that it doesn't grow, after two years, the chances of your church growing is very slim.

And the reason why that stood out to me is 'cause I read that fifth year into our church and our church didn't grow. You know, we'd have one visitor per year and we would say revival, you know, and everybody, you know, we didn't need a welcome team because the whole church went after that one person and that one person was Pastor Mark Lim.

(congregation laughing) So when he came to our church, he was loved because he was the one guy that visited that year, you know, and he stuck around this whole time. Now I say all of this because at the end of this, it felt so empty, but these are the people who went before me and these are the churches supposedly that were successful.

And then I ran across one book because somebody referred this to me. And it's no frills, no illustration. It was just green paperback. And the title of it was "The Church." And the author of it was Dr. Clowney from Westminster Seminary. And so that's all I knew. So they recommended it, I started reading it, and right off the bat, it just opened my eyes 'cause all he did was this is what the Bible says and this is what you're supposed to do.

This is what the text says, this is what you do. And so it was about 300 pages of just going through scripture after scripture after scripture. And I know that we've been reading "The Master's Plan for the Church," and maybe some of you think it's too dense, but this is the seminary version of that, right?

No frills, just text, and 300 pages of Bible says this, Bible says this, Bible says that. I learned more from that one book than all the other books that I've read. Coming out thinking like this is what God expects from the church, this is why he planted the church, this is what he was supposed to do with leadership.

And so that was very helpful to me early on in church that this is what God desired. And if there's one thing that I learned in 28 years of being at this church is, it is absolutely crystal clear to me that God's desire for us as a church, and any church, and any Christian, is that he is seeking his own glory.

Now, some of you who may not be used to hearing that may think, well, that kind of sounds egotistical. But only when God is glorified do we live, because he's our source of life. So when he is glorified, everything that he has created benefits from that. When we are glorified, it leads to rebellion.

So what God desires more than anything else from his church is that God is exalted. When God is exalted, the light is bright, and people become saved, the debt basically is raised. Now, in order to put Christ as the head of the church, we can't just have his name and hanging a cross in the church doesn't mean that Christ is at the center.

In order for Christ to be established at the center, we need to follow his direction, which is his word. This is why we named our church Berean Community Church, because everything must be tested according to the word of God. We don't simply do anything just because of tradition. We don't simply do something because, you know, the church down the street said they did it, and it worked for them.

They did this, and so many people came. So we've always said this, and you will hear this in our membership class. Everything we do, we have to have a biblical base. Why does he do this, and what does he tell us to do, right? Now, why I say all of this is because the text that we're in, Jesus is training his disciples to go church planting, to evangelize.

And so last week, we saw four principles in the first four verses. One is the sending out of the 70, it signifies that every single person was called to the harvest. So the 12 that were called in the beginning of chapter nine, 12 apostles were preparing them, but then in chapter 10, he calls the 70 who represents the nation of Israel.

In other words, we've all been called to go to be proclaimers of the gospel. Number two, when he sends us to the harvest, there will never be a time where the harvest is going to be lesser than the workers. Harvest is plentiful, and the workers are few. There's never been a time in church history where we had more workers than the work to do.

If somebody says there's no work to be done, something already is off in the way that he's thinking. There will never be a time, and if that day ever comes, when the workers outnumber the harvest, the Bible says that he will come. So there will always be work to do.

Number three, if you go out proclaiming the kingdom of God and the good news of the gospel, he says there will be opposition. Opposition doesn't come because we've gathered together to worship and because we're helping the homeless and we're doing good deeds. Opposition comes because we're proclaiming the kingdom of God.

He says I'm sending you out as lambs among wolves. So he says sending you out. So if you don't go out, you're not gonna understand what he means by that. They will hate you because they hated me. They will reject you because they rejected me. That happens when you go.

That doesn't mean that you have to pack up your bags and go to remote parts of the world, but if you're actively engaged in taking the gospel to darkness, it's like turning on the light in a world that doesn't want the light turned on. And so there's going to be opposition.

Fourthly, he says, the Lord of the harvest is God himself. So before you try to figure out strategies and how to do this better, he says, beseech the Lord of the harvest, that he would send out more workers, that ultimately we are dependent on him. He is our sovereign God, and so if you see the great need and you feel overwhelmed by the work that needs to be done, he says get on your knees and pray that God would send out more laborers for his kingdom.

So this week's text is gonna take us to three more principles that we see. Number four, the fourth principle of church planting in the Great Commission, he says to go wherever he sends you, wherever he sends you. Now, this may sound like, you know, like no duh, but when he sent the 70, he didn't pick and choose and say, you know, if you go to this place, these people are gonna be receptive, and then you go in there, enjoy your time, establish a church, and go to this city 'cause they're waiting for you to come.

He tells them, when you go, some people are gonna receive you, some people are gonna reject you. Some people are gonna take care of you, some people are just gonna chase you out. Shake up your dust and move on. But we don't have a choice to say, you know what, I wanna go here and I wanna go there.

No, typically when we think of ministry, when people say, you know, I wanna go and do God's work, you know, a lot of times we think of even Apostle Paul's ministry, even the early disciples' ministry, that even if there's hardship, I'm gonna sacrifice, I'm gonna plant churches, and even if I get martyred, I'm gonna do this, if you're very committed.

But very few people think that they're gonna have a ministry of Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. If you look at the calling of Isaiah, after God reveals his glory to him, touches his mouth to prepare him so that he would be the spokesperson for him to Israel, this is what he says in Isaiah 6, 8 through 11, "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send and who will go for us?" Then Isaiah responds and says, "Here am I, send me," he said, "Go and tell this people." Now, that's the calling of anybody who wants to do ministry, and again, we've already established that this is not just the pastors, it's not just the elders, it's not just the missionaries.

This general call is for all Christians. Who will go? And so every Christian, when you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, has committed that in some way, maybe not physically go to another country, but that we are going to be the light, we are going to be the salt wherever it is that God places us.

So we have all said, "Here am I, send me." But we have a tendency to think that, when I say, "Here am I, send me," say, "Here am I, send me to this place, "with this people, with this support, "and with people who are gonna respond to me this way." Look what he says.

He said, "I'm gonna send you, go and tell this people, "keep on listening and do not perceive, "keep on looking, but do not understand." In other words, what he is saying is, "I'm gonna send you to these people "who have a pattern of rejecting my word. "I've sent other prophets to them, "and they've kept on hardening their heart.

"And I'm gonna send you to them "and to continue to do what they've been doing." And then he follows up by saying, "Render the hearts of this people insensitive." Now, how is he rendering their hearts insensitive? Is he just commanding, he's like, "Lord, pray that their hearts will be hardened.

"I'm praying that their ears will be closed, "so that if I preach to them, "that the people who would have listened "aren't gonna listen." Is that what he is saying? No, he said, "These people have a pattern. "They keep rejecting me. "And if you go and continue to preach to them, "what I'm telling you, your message of warning, "because they're gonna harden their hearts, "your preaching is gonna cause their hearts "to be even more hardened.

"They might render their hearts to the people insensitive, "their ears dull, their eyes dim. "Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, "hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, "and return and be healed." Now, this is a warning for anybody who goes to church on a regular basis and hears the gospel and refuses to submit.

You know what to do. You know where God is poking at, and you refuse. So after you've been listening to the message of God, week after week, year after year, and after years of refusing to submit to God, you have become much more dull of hearing. Your heart has become much more harder because you've already set a pattern that this is something that I'm not gonna do.

You've just excused that these are things that, you know, these are things that I'm gonna do, and these are things that I'm not gonna get at, and I just don't want anybody to touch that. Now, I feel uncomfortable, and then you just kind of forget about it as soon as the sermon is over.

And if that's a pattern that you're used to, he says, "Continue to preach to them "because your preaching is going to "render their hearts hardened." They're gonna become even more blind. So whenever the word of God is preached accurately, two things happen. Your hearts become melted, and you become, you draw closer to God, or the next time you hear, it's gonna have a less and less impact on you.

And he says to Isaiah to go and do this. Now, who wants to sign up for this, right? I wanna go, and even if I get persecuted, I wanna see fruits. I wanna see people come to Christ, churches planted. So Isaiah asked the same question that every one of us would be asking in verse 11.

Then I said, "Lord, how long?" How long do you want me to do this? He answered, "Until the cities are devastated "and without inhabitants, houses are without people, "and the land is utterly desolate." And that's exactly what happens. Isaiah goes and preaches, their hearts become hardened. They say, man, that guy, every time he opens his mouth, he brings condemnation, and he warns them, and warns them, and warns them for 40 years.

At the end of 40 years, the Babylonians come and take them into captivity, and everything that God warned them about happens exactly the way Isaiah told them. So why did God send Isaiah to begin with if they weren't gonna listen? If you look at the pattern in the Old Testament and New Testament, God always leaves a witness.

That even if they don't understand, at some point, maybe years later, they might look back at that and say, "God sent a true prophet among us, "a Jeremiah, a weeping prophet. "All his life, he was weeping, "and they never recognized him." It wasn't until decades later they looked back and said, "Jeremiah was a true prophet, "and everybody else who was telling us." Even if it was not for them, it was for their future generation that God left a witness so that they would recognize who was speaking for God.

You and I do not have a choice as a servant to pick and choose where and who and what we say. If we're servants of God, we go where he tells us to go. We say what he tells us to say. We do what he tells us to do.

Otherwise, you're not a servant. A servant doesn't pick and choose and say, "Give us the commandments, "and then let me see what I can do." That's not a servant. A servant is somebody who says, "Tell me what to do," and whatever he says, you do. That's the first principle, is that we don't have to be so smart if we're simply obeying.

We don't have to be sophisticated. We don't have to have years and years of training in order to bear fruit. In fact, one of the most tangible evidence that I've seen this is out in India, we're gonna take a team out in about a month, and Pastor Matthew, who was the guy who started this ministry out here in India, I asked him, "What was ministry like?" Because he was a former Hindu priest who converted, and literally no education, no seminary background.

He just became a Christian, was handed a Bible, and he just started reading, and he's just following just what it said. So I asked him, so he doesn't have training, he doesn't have seminary, he doesn't know anything, any creeks, never read any book. He just became a Christian and decided to obey, and he had three young children.

Eventually, he had a baby girl. But three young boys with his wife, with a young family, just took them and said, "Just went out to the villages," 'cause he knew that they didn't hear the gospel. So I asked him, "What was it like?" And he said he would go to the villages, and he would share the gospel, and some of the people who came to Christ during that time are still there working with him.

And he said, "I would go preach the gospel, "and if they would receive me, they would feed us." I said, "Oh, they feed." So what happened when they didn't receive? He said, "We couldn't eat." So how did you sleep? How did you take care? 'Cause sometimes it would take two days of walking into the village, so they can't just come back out.

So what happened? He said, "We would just sleep out in the field, "and I couldn't feed the kids." And he said that that burden of seeing his kids suffer, it's one thing for him to suffer, but seeing his kids to suffer, he said it caused him depression early on in ministry.

And he said that he even had suicidal thoughts, and said, "Maybe if I died, this burden "to preach the gospel would be lifted from our home, "and my kids wouldn't have to suffer." So I'm hearing this, it's like, "Is this real? "Does this guy actually do this?" So I went and talked to his children, who are grownups now, they're in their early 50s.

And I asked them, "What was your childhood like "when your dad was preaching the gospel?" And he said, "We hated it." He said, "I remember when we would just sleep "out in the fields, and we had nothing to eat. "And we were so angry with my father, "'cause he would drag us into these villages, "and then sometimes we would eat, "and sometimes we'd be out in the village.

"Or if not, we would just find some potatoes "or something out in the field, and we would eat that. "And sometimes we'd just sleep out in the open, "and sometimes we'd be in people's houses." And he said, "That's how they planted churches." Right now, they have over 2,000 people that they're overseeing, over 200 churches that these 40, 50 pastors are overseeing.

And they're still couldn't even preach the gospel. How were they able to be so successful? It just happened that God chose somebody so smart that he had some sort of skill, maybe something special about him? No, he just read the Bible and just followed what it said. The church in its purest form, that's what it looks like.

When we're not so sophisticated with all our education and all our know-how, somehow all the stuff that we have gained actually hinders us. And we have more confidence in our education and our knowledge than the power of God. That's why we have a church that is so well-educated that doesn't pray.

We know so much. We know how to do church. We know how to write books. We know how to run seminars, 'cause we've read so much, heard so many sermons. We have so little confidence in the power of God. All he said was, "Do not turn from my word to the left "or to the right.

"Read it and do exactly as I say. "If I tell you to pick up this box "and run around this city seven times, just do it. "If I tell you to take up a staff "and just put it over your head, just do it." So why, how is this gonna, what does this have to do with fighting an army?

What is this, how is this box gonna help us? He says, "Have I not commanded you? "Be strong and courageous. "Do not turn from my word to the left or to the right. "You shall meditate it on a day and night, "and you will have success." That principle wasn't just given to the nation of Israel.

It is no different in the New Testament. If you wanna bear fruit, he says to abide in me. Not figure out the new technique, not find out what's the latest things that we can apply to the church, but abide in me, abide in me, listen to me. Do not turn from it to the left or to the right.

That's why he says, "Preach the word in season and out of season." In season, out of season basically means whether they listen or don't listen. Whether it works or don't work. Because even Jesus wasn't fruitful everywhere he went. Even the apostles were not fruitful everywhere he went. So it is our pride and arrogance that we think that if we apply our know-how, our giftedness, and we apply it in the right way to the right people with right funding, with right organization, that we can be fruitful everywhere all the time.

He says, "No, preach the word in season and out of season, "whether they come or don't come, "whether they leave thanking you, "whether they leave hating you." He said, "Don't turn from my word "to the left or to the right. "You go and you say and you do what I tell you to do, period." Doesn't that make ministry simple?

You're just as equipped as I am because you have the same access to this God that I do. Oh, but you went to seminary, you have 30-some years of being a Christian and you've read so many things, you have so much experience. But you have the exact same access to God that I do.

You have the same access to the word of God that I do. The only benefit that I, maybe, is because maybe I know the Bible better than some of you and I know maybe this is what God says, maybe better than some of you. But outside of that, you have the exact same access to the exact same God.

'Cause the power is not within me. My experience, my know-how is with him. We go where he tells us to go. And it was interesting, again, and I asked his son, Pastor Saki, he's the guy that I have relationship with and calls us to go to India. And I said, "You know, with all the persecution coming in, "how do you plant churches in these remote villages "when they're so hostile to you?

"So when they throw rocks at you, what do you do?" In the Western church, he said, "Oh, they're not welcoming. "Typically, we think the door's not open "if they make fun of us." Get that crazy foreign God out of your, oh, that door's closed. I said, "What do you do when you go in there "and they start throwing rocks at you?" And they said, "We leave." Very simple.

He said, "We just leave." "And then what do you do?" He said, "We wait 'til they calm down. "And then when they calm down, we go back. "And then if somebody believes, then we plant a church." He said, "That's how churches get planted over here." That's it? Yeah, he said.

And he was looking at me, he's like, "What do you wanna hear?" We're just doing what it says. And it's like, wow, you're right. You're right. Just do what it says, and that's what he was doing. He'd just go and preach the gospel, and if they bear fruit, it becomes a church, and then that's the place.

If you look at what he's saying here, that's exactly what he says. Go and preach. If they receive you, stay there. Your sustenance is gonna come from there. If they don't, just move away and keep preaching. And they're just following that pattern. One, go where he tells you to go.

Say what he tells you to say. Do what he tells you to do. Just listen to what he has to say. Obey what he has to say. The more intelligent and smarter we get, sometimes it's our own training, it's our own knowledge, it sometimes gets in the way, because we become confident in ourselves more than God.

Whatever causes you to pray more is good, even if it's painful. Whatever causes you to be more desperate for God is good. God has ordained it. Because what the best thing that a church or an individual or a family can have is to be desperate and to come to Christ.

That's the first thing that I wanted to highlight here. Second thing, the reason why he tells them not to go from house to house and to stay at the house that they're in is so that they won't be accused of wrong motives. The first thing that you'll see if you wanna nullify the message of the person that's preaching is to nullify the messenger.

The reason why the Bible says that an elder must be above reproach is because whatever he doesn't have a clear conscience in, he won't preach. So if he doesn't have integrity with money, he's gonna stay away from that subject. If he doesn't have integrity with his purity, the church is not gonna hear of that because it bothers his conscience.

So to be able to teach, he needs to be above reproach. If you have leaders who are kind of like a blind spot that they never deal with, he's like, "I'm weak at this." In fact, we are weak. And that area that he doesn't have a clear conscience won't ever be touched 'cause he doesn't have the authority to say anything.

Or even if he does preach it and we're not above reproach, then somebody else is going to push back. Well, you're telling us to have integrity here, but what about you? I've seen the way you use money. I've seen the way you live your life. And so you're not gonna be able to disciple the church 'cause anything you say that they don't like, they're gonna use the areas of your life that you're not standing righteous before God and they're gonna disqualify you.

See, what Jesus was saying to them is because these false prophets were coming into town preaching for their own benefit and repeats that over and over again. He's not preaching representing God. He may be saying the right words, but his ultimate motive was for his own profit. And every false prophet, the end game, end motive is his own glory and his own benefit, whether it is financial or whether it is social.

In order to prevent that, so they couldn't accuse him, he says, "Stay there. "Eat whatever you eat." And it's like, "Well, how do you know? "I don't like this kind of food. "What if they give me this food that I don't like?" He said, "No, just eat whatever they give you "and stay, stop hopping around "looking for a better place to stay." Right?

He said, "Go there, preach." And in fact, in Corinthians, because they were trying to disqualify Apostle Paul because they didn't like what Apostle Paul had to say. The harshest letter that he writes in the New Testament is to 1 and 2 Corinthians. Even though he planted the church, he was basically calling out, he said, "Shall I come to you with a whip?" I mean, it's harsh.

He said, "You're allowing things "that even the pagans wouldn't allow." So he was writing harsh letters. And so people started pushing back, saying, "Oh, this guy's a downer. "Maybe he's not an apostle, so he's defending himself." And they were accusing him and saying like, "Oh, this guy's like anybody else coming into town "and he wants profit.

"He's like any other false prophet "'cause he's saying things that we don't wanna hear." And this is what Paul says. "In defense, for it is written in the law of Moses, "you shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing. "God is not concerned about oxen, is he? "Or is he speaking altogether for our sake?

"Yes, for our sake, it was written "because the plowman ought to plow in hope "and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops. "If we sow spiritual things in you, "is it too much if we reap material things from you?" In other words, I have every right.

According to the law of God, if I demanded money, I would have every right to do this. If others share the right over you, do we not more? And he's saying this because they were accusing him. This guy's coming in, he's saying these horrible things because he doesn't really represent God.

All he wants is profit, just like anybody else. He says, "First of all, I have every right to ask "if I did ask," but he says, "Nevertheless, "we did not use this right, but we endure all things "so that we will cause no hindrance "to the gospel of Christ." And he says something very similar.

In 1 Thessalonians 2, five, six, and nine. After he leaves, the persecutors, in order to disqualify his message, say, "These are false prophets. "They came into town just like anybody else. "They're gonna come in for their own benefit." And so Paul writes to them, said, "You remember how night and day we worked so hard "not to be a burden to you.

"We didn't ask for your money. "You remember that." And so he was defending himself. It was clear by our action that we didn't come for money. We didn't come to benefit that way. We were preaching the gospel to you, and we cared for you like a nursing mother. And you know, you know that what they're accusing me of is wrong because you remember how we were when we were with you.

So Jesus was telling them, "Don't give them any reason "to accuse you and disqualify what you're saying "because they don't like what you have to say. "Stay where you are, eat what they give you, "sleep where He sends you, "and make sure that you make the gospel the center." Years ago, we were coming in out of China, and SARS broke out in China, and so like a month before we were supposed to leave, we got notice from China saying we can't come in.

So last minute, we had maybe about 13 people are ready to go to China. We had to change direction, and we ended up going to Romania. So we went to the remote villages in Bucharest in Romania, and so we were going around city from village to village, and we found out that in every village there was a Greek Orthodox Church, sorry, Eastern Orthodox Church.

It was clearly visible. The biggest and the nicest building was always the Eastern Orthodox Church. And so we were there going straight evangelism, two by two, and we knocked on this door, and this young lady came out, and you could tell she was in tears. And she said, "I don't have time to talk to you." And he said, "Oh, what's going on?" 'Cause we're trying to share the gospel through the interpreter.

And she said, "My father's on his deathbed, "so I don't have time." And so we said, "Can we come and pray for him?" And as soon as we said that, what she said to us was, "How much is this gonna cost me?" I said, "What do you mean, how much is it gonna cost?" He said, "'Cause if I ask the Eastern Orthodox priest "to come, there's a certain amount that they have to pay." So anytime they come to visit, you have to have money to give them.

And I remember just being so angered when I heard that, that they're peddling the word of God for money. So we shared with them and said, "No, we're not gonna charge any money, "but can we come and pray for your father?" And so she reluctantly, through the interpreter, let us in, and we spent maybe about 30 minutes praying for the dad.

And clearly, he was at this last breath. After we prayed, we turned around, and you could tell the young daughter was in tears. And we turned around, trying to pray with her. The first thing that came out of her mouth was, "How much is this gonna cost me?" 'Cause she just couldn't understand.

'Cause she's never seen anybody come and visit her without money. And so I shared with them, again, through the interpreter, "If somebody comes to you and demands money "to share the word of God with you, "they are false prophets. "They're not from God." Christ came and gave his only begotten son freely, and offered salvation freely.

So if any man stands between God and you, and demands money to do the work, they're not from God. Jesus was telling his disciples, again, to avoid this, so that they don't get confused with the false prophets. Make the message central. Go where I send you, do what I tell you to do, and speak what I tell you to speak.

Whether suffering comes, or whether they welcome you. But sixth and finally, it is the preaching of the gospel that will bring peace or condemnation. It says in Luke 10, five through six, "Whatever house you enter, first say, "Peace be to this house. "If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him, "but if not, it will return to you." Now what does that mean?

Let your peace. So it's just like, did he give them some special power? So if I walk around and say, "Peace," right? And everybody here is, "Peace." It's like, no peace to you, right? So you're not gonna be able to digest your food, or you're gonna have trouble today.

It's like, what authority do I have, right? You know, in our culture, when somebody sneezes, what do you say? What do you say? God bless you, right? Do you ever search to find out where that comes from? There's so many things that we do. We don't exactly know what we're doing, but it's just been passed down, right, since we're children.

Somebody sneezes, say, "God bless you." You know where that tradition started? It started during the Dark Ages, because there was a plague going around, and people would cough, and they were living in fear. And they thought, again, superstitiously, that if they coughed, that their soul was gonna come out of them, that the spirit was coming out of them, because people would cough, and the next thing you would see is that they would fall to the ground and die.

So again, superstitiously, they thought that if they cough, and the soul was coming out, that if you say, "God bless you," fast enough, that the soul would get sucked back into you. Did you know that that's what you were doing? Now, obviously, you know, we don't say, "God bless you," thinking that in mind, but that's where it originated, right?

But think about that. What power do you have to simply bless people, like, "May peace be upon you"? So what does this mean? Let the peace rest on this home, and let the peace return to you if we reject the kingdom. I think this will be helpful. In a traditional Christian wedding, there's a part of the wedding where, you know, I see less and less of this today, and I don't do it when I officiate the weddings, because people don't understand the meaning behind it.

But there's a part of the wedding before you finalize their covenant oath, where the pastor will say, "If anybody has anything against these two getting married, "let him speak now, or forever hold your," what? "Peace." So the meaning behind a Christian wedding is that, again, there's no special power upon the officiant where he's kinda like, "Okay, now I'm gonna bless you," right?

Like, if you go to a Catholic church and they have water that they pour upon you, "Bless you, bless you," what power do they have to do that? All you did was get wet. There's no power behind that, right? So if an officiant says, "God bless this," all he is saying is, "We are recognizing God's blessing upon this union." And then when he opens up to the congregation, it's basically saying, "Do you agree?" So a Christian wedding is a community of believers that are gathered together and recognizing God's blessing upon this union.

And that's why it's done publicly. So if you can't do that, he says, "Speak now, or forever hold your peace." In other words, you had an opportunity to speak, but you didn't, so from this day forward, it means that you are blessing this union, that you are, in conjunction with everybody else in there, that you are blessing this union.

Now, the reason why I share that, it helps us to understand its meaning. That these 70 people did not have special authority to bring peace upon these people. What it basically means is bringing the gospel to these homes is bringing God's peace upon these homes if they receive it.

And God's peace is lifted if they do not receive it. And that's why the Bible talks about Ephesians 2, 14, "For he himself is our peace, "who made both groups into one "and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall." He is our peace. Jesus is called the King of Peace.

Ephesians 2, 17, "He came and preached peace to you "who were far away and peace to those who were near." Ephesians 6, 15, "The gospel is called the gospel of peace." The Christian greetings in the New Testament is what? Grace and peace to you. And the reason why this is so important is because the scripture says that when God created man, for six days he labored, and the seventh day, what happened?

He entered into the Sabbath. Sabbath is what? Another word for rest. When mankind sinned, that Sabbath was broken. And as a result of that, of the Sabbath being broken, God has been pursuing mankind to bring him back into the Sabbath. And Sabbath is just another word for peace. And that's why the Jews, when they greet each other, even to this day, they would say, "Shalom aleichem." Basically means, "May God's peace be upon you." And the meaning behind shalom is that all that God had intended to be restored back to what God has intended.

That's what they mean, that's what their greeting means. In fact, I thought it was really interesting because there's so many cultures that use the word peace as a greeting. Romania, the way they greet each other, they say, "Pace," which is another word for peace. In Hawaii, how do they greet each other?

(audience laughing) How do the Hawaiians greet each other? Shaka bra, no, that's not it. Maybe the surfers. They say what? Aloha, exactly. And what does aloha mean? Hello, goodbye, right? Well, that's what we mean when we say it, but the literal meaning of aloha is peace. Peace, mercy, and grace, that's what aloha means.

In fact, the whole Middle East, how do they greet each other? As-salam meleko, and then when you hear that, they would say, "Meleko as-salam." It means God's peace be upon you, and then in return it said, "May peace of God be upon you." That's how they greet each other.

And there's many other cultures where the greeting is peace. The reason why I believe that this is happening around the earth, because the Bible says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," and because that peace of God was broken in mankind. And whether mankind recognizes this or not, there is no peace until we are restored back to our creator.

Peace with God is what causes us to have peace with one another. And so when he says, "When you go preach the kingdom, "and they receive you, may the peace of God rest upon them. "But if they reject you, then may your peace return." That's what he means. Let me close with this, because I always, I thought this was really interesting.

In Luke chapter 10, eight through 11, he concludes by saying this. He says, "Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, "eat what is set before you, heal those in it who are sick, "and say to them, 'The kingdom of God "'has come near to you.'" These are people who are receiving the message of the kingdom, right?

"If they receive you, and they take care of you, "they feed you, and they house you, "may God's peace be upon them, "and remind them, 'The kingdom of God has come near you.' "But," in verse 10, "whatever city you enter, "and they do not receive you, go out into the streets, "and say, 'Even the dust of your city, "'which clings to our feet, "'we wipe off in protest against you.

"'Yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God "'has come near you.'" You notice here, the message of peace, message of condemnation, he said, "Reminds them of the same thing." Whether God's peace is gonna come upon you, whether judgment's gonna come upon you, he says, "The kingdom of God has come upon you." It is the preaching of the kingdom that will either bring peace or condemnation.

Because if you're a child of the king, and you receive the king, and you become part of his kingdom, then peace has come upon you. Colossians 1, 13 to 14, "For he rescued us from a domain of darkness, "and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, "in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." So the preaching of the king and his kingdom brings peace, because now we are under his rule, his care, and so that king and that kingdom, now you are safe.

No enemy's gonna attack you. That's why he says, "The Lord is my shepherd. "I shall not be in want." And then at the end, he says, he prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies, and I shall fear no evil, because my shepherd, my king, is with me.

But if you reject this kingdom, and you reject this rule, then that same powerful, holy, holy, holy God stands against you. And that kingdom coming, instead of bringing peace, it's going to bring turmoil, anxiety, and fear. So he commissioned his disciples to go preach the kingdom. If they receive you, may your peace rest upon them.

If they reject you, take the peace back, and move on to the next. That's the calling that every Christian has been given. That's what church planting is at the end of the day, and that's what we have been called to do. You don't have to be so smart. We don't have to be so experienced.

We don't need to go to seminary. I'm not saying don't go to seminary, but we don't have to go. Don't convince yourself. Don't add more to what God has given us. There's a reason why he deliberately chose foolish people to be the first commissioned to go and preach the gospel, because he had less to re-educate.

He had less to re-educate. He was starting from scratch to humble people. So the thing that we need to do, in order for us to be effective, first and foremost, is to humble ourselves before his mighty throne. That our effectiveness comes from abiding in him, in him alone. So you are equipped, you are ready, and you are commissioned for the kingdom of God.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your mercies. We thank you for your living word. We thank you for constant humbling, Lord God, of our pride, knowing that you are enough. Search us and know us and see if there's any hurtful ways in us. Help us, Lord God, to know who you are, that you are the Lord of the harvest, and as we see darkness all around us, as you warned us that because of increase of wickedness, that most people's love will grow cold, help us, Lord God, to labor, to fight, to struggle, Lord God, to make sure that our heart doesn't slip for the things of this world, that we do not justify our own sins, that we do not rely upon our own intellect or resources or talent, but that we would be people who are humble before your throne, beseeching you to send more workers into your harvest.

Give us compassion as you had compassion on us. Help us, Lord God, to intercede on the behalf of this dark world, that you would bring the revival that only you can bring. May your name and your name alone be magnified in this church. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Let's all stand up for the closing praise. (upbeat music) ♪ Let's sing before the throne ♪ ♪ Before the throne of God above ♪ ♪ I have a strong and perfect plea ♪ ♪ A great high priest whose name is love ♪ ♪ Whoever lives and pleads for me ♪ ♪ My name is graven on his hands ♪ ♪ My name is written on his heart ♪ ♪ I know that while in heaven he stands ♪ ♪ No tongue can bid me that deep cry ♪ ♪ No tongue can bid me that deep cry ♪ ♪ And Satan tempts me to despair ♪ ♪ And tells me of the guilt within ♪ ♪ Upward I look and see him there ♪ ♪ Who made an end to all my sin ♪ ♪ Because the sinless savior died ♪ ♪ My sinful soul is counted free ♪ ♪ For God the just is satisfied ♪ ♪ To look on him and pardon me ♪ ♪ To look on him and pardon me ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Behold him there, behold him there ♪ ♪ Love is in there ♪ ♪ My perfect spot is his righteousness ♪ ♪ The great unchangeable I am ♪ ♪ The king of glory and of praise ♪ ♪ One with himself I cannot die ♪ ♪ My soul is precious by his blood ♪ ♪ My life is filled with Christ on high ♪ ♪ Because my savior laid my doubt ♪ ♪ Because my savior laid my doubt ♪ ♪ One with himself I cannot die ♪ ♪ My soul is precious by his blood ♪ ♪ My life is filled with Christ on high ♪ ♪ Because my savior laid my doubt ♪ ♪ Because my savior laid my doubt ♪ - Let's pray.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy, to the only God our savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen.

♪ God sent his son ♪ ♪ They called him Jesus ♪ ♪ He came to love ♪ ♪ Heal and forgive ♪ ♪ He lived and died ♪ ♪ To buy my pardon ♪ ♪ An empty grave is there to fill ♪ ♪ My savior lives ♪ ♪ Because he lives ♪ ♪ I can face tomorrow ♪ ♪ Because he lives ♪ ♪ All fear is gone ♪ ♪ Because I know ♪ ♪ He holds the future ♪ ♪ And life is worth the living ♪ ♪ Just because he lives ♪ ♪ I won't be lost ♪ ♪ His promises shall last ♪ ♪ Bought by him at such a cost ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ For my savior loves me so ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ He'll hold me fast ♪ ♪ He'll hold me fast ♪ ♪ For my life he bled and died ♪ ♪ Christ will hold me fast ♪ ♪ Justice has been satisfied ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ Raised with him to endless life ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ Till our faith is set aside ♪ ♪ When he comes at last ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ For my savior loves me so ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ For my savior loves me so ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ For my savior loves me so ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ He'll hold me fast ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Lift up your gaze, be lifted up ♪ ♪ Tell everyone how great your love ♪ ♪ The love come down from heaven's gate ♪ ♪ To kiss the earth with hope and grace ♪ ♪ Sing, who is this king of glory ♪ ♪ The Lord strong and mighty ♪ ♪ Who is this king of glory ♪ ♪ The Lord strong and mighty ♪ ♪ Lift up your hands, be lifted up ♪ ♪ Let the redeemed declare the love ♪ ♪ And we bow down at heaven's gate ♪ ♪ To kiss the feet of hope and grace ♪ ♪ Sing, who is this king of glory ♪ ♪ The Lord strong and mighty ♪ ♪ Who is this king of glory ♪ ♪ The Lord strong and mighty ♪ ♪ There is one God, He is holy ♪ ♪ There is one Lord over everything ♪ ♪ There is one King, He is Jesus ♪ ♪ King of glory, strong and mighty ♪ ♪ There is one God, He is holy ♪ ♪ There is one Lord over everything ♪ ♪ There is one King, He is Jesus ♪ ♪ King of glory, strong and mighty ♪ ♪ You are the king of glory ♪ ♪ The Lord strong and mighty ♪ ♪ You are the king of glory ♪ ♪ The Lord strong and mighty ♪ ♪ You are the king of glory ♪ ♪ The Lord strong and mighty ♪ ♪ You are the king of glory ♪ ♪ The Lord strong and mighty ♪ (gentle music) (gentle music) ♪ For my waking breath ♪ ♪ For my daily bread ♪ ♪ I depend on You ♪ ♪ I depend on You ♪ ♪ For the sun to rise ♪ ♪ For my sleep at night ♪ ♪ I depend on You ♪ ♪ Yes, I depend on You ♪ ♪ You're the way, the truth and the life ♪ ♪ You're the well that never runs dry ♪ ♪ I'm the branch and You are the vine ♪ ♪ Draw me close and teach me to abide ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Where the spirit leads ♪ ♪ As I'm following ♪ ♪ I depend on You ♪ ♪ Yes, I depend on You ♪ ♪ For the victories ♪ ♪ Still in front of me ♪ ♪ I depend on You ♪ ♪ Yes, I depend on You ♪ ♪ You're the way, the truth and the life ♪ ♪ You're the well that never runs dry ♪ ♪ I'm the branch and You are the vine ♪ ♪ Draw me close and teach me to abide ♪ ♪ Be my strength, my song in the night ♪ ♪ Be my all, my treasure, my prize ♪ ♪ I am Yours, forever You're mine ♪ ♪ Draw me close and teach me to abide ♪ (gentle music) ♪ When I pass through death ♪ ♪ As I enter rest ♪ ♪ I depend on You ♪ ♪ I depend on You ♪ ♪ For eternal life ♪ ♪ To be raised with Christ ♪