In this sermon, the preacher discusses the concept of heroes and role models in the world today. He contrasts the popular figures idolized by young people, such as movie stars and rock stars, with the true heroes of faith. The preacher then focuses on the life of John G. Patton, a 19th century Scottish missionary, who found inspiration in the scripture Matthew 28:20, where Jesus promises to be with his disciples always. The preacher highlights Patton's dedication to his mission work in the New Hebrides, his reliance on God's presence, and his unwavering faith in the face of trials and danger.

We thank Thee that we are again in Thy presence. In Thy presence there is fullness of joy. We pray that the sense of Thy presence will fill the place. And O may Thy Spirit minister graciously to our hearts as we once again consider Thy Word and the life of a man of God who was impacted by Thy Word and impelled by Thy Word. Lord, may our hearts be touched. May our souls be stirred. I pray that if there's one without Christ, Thou wilt save that one. And those of us who know the Lord, we pray that our walk with Him will be deepened and strengthened. Lord, come and speak to us now. Give us Thy Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Matthew chapter 28 verse 20 and the closing words are the words that I wish to consider with you tonight and to weave around these words the life story, some of it at least, of John G. Patton of Scotland, the great missionary to the New Hebrides. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. We have been looking at some of the favorite scriptures of famous saints of God, Bible texts that have impacted the lives of outstanding servants of God in the past. Now, in these biographical studies, that's really what they are, it is my purpose to educate my hearers. There are young people in the service tonight, and that's a good thing. And there are people who are just a little bit older, and that's also a good thing. And all of us can stand to learn about the giants of church history. And it is my purpose, with the Lord's help, to educate you a little bit more as to the history of some of these men of God. But it's also my purpose to evangelize the lost, to seek to bring the gospel to those that know not Christ. And it is also my purpose to edify and to build up the hearts of all the Lord's people through these texts of Scripture that God used to bless those godly saints of a bygone day. Now, we all know that the world has its so-called heroes. The movie stars, and the rock stars, and the sports stars, and many a young person's bedroom walls are adorned with images of some of the most filthy, depraved, and ungodly individuals that you could ever wish not to meet in your life. And these are their heroes. Well, I want to inspire you in these messages with the stories of real heroes. People whom God made great, and who would make the most wonderful role models, not just for our young people, but for all of us. And one such man was the 19th century Scottish missionary John G Patton. Patton's favorite text of Scripture, undoubtedly, was Matthew chapter 28 and verse 20. And the words of Jesus to his disciples, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Incidentally, this was not only John G Patton's text. It was the great model text, and the favorite text of David Livingstone as well. David Livingstone, also from Scotland, was a pioneer missionary to Africa. Livingstone said of this Scripture, it is the word of a gentleman, of the strictest and most sacred honor, and there's an end to it. Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. That's not my purpose to preach on David Livingstone, but it is a fact that when David Livingstone was found at his death, he was found kneeling in the attitude of prayer in a little hut in Africa. His Bible was open on the bed before him. He was kneeling there. He was already gone into the presence of the Lord, but his hand was upon the page at Matthew chapter 28 and verse 20, and he had written in his Bible, it is the word of a gentleman, of the strictest and most sacred honor. Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. And so it is the word of a gentleman, of the strictest and most sacred honor. It's a word to be trusted. It is a word to believe in. It is a word that we can take to our souls as God's people and be encouraged by it. A word that will be the same at the end as it is at the beginning. The same to us as it was to the disciples of old. Lo, I am with you always. I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. John G. Patton was born in Scotland in the town of Dumfries, or near to Dumfries in the south of Scotland. He went out to work very early in life as a farmer's boy. At the age of 12, he began to learn the trade of his father, which was stocking making. He worked, listen to this, 15 hours a day, but he always had lesson books at hand. So he was a student as well as a worker. He worked also as a gardener and a harvester, saving enough money for six months study at Dumfries University. In his early years, the Lord was certainly with him. Now, of course, again with the constraints of time, I will not be able to tell you everything about the life of John Gibson Patton. I will not be able to fill you in on all the little details and the little incidents that took place in his life. You will have to find a biography of Patton for yourself and read it. And by the way, that's part of what I want to do in these meetings, is to instill within you an appetite to read about men and indeed women of God of a bygone day. And I'm sure that will be a blessing to you as you search out some of those books. And they are available despite the garbage that you find in many so-called Christian bookstores today. There are books like this available if you just look hard enough. But the Lord was with John Patton in accordance with his promise. Lo, I am with you always. And certainly the Lord was with John G. Patton in a number of ways. For instance, we could say the Lord was with him, first of all, in salvation. You see, the Lord does not say this to everybody. But rather the text shows us in verse 18, and indeed in verse 16, that the Lord came and spake unto them who, verse 16, the eleven disciples. A disciple is a follower. A disciple is one who learns. A disciple is one who sits at the feet of his master or his teacher. And so the Lord is speaking these words to those who are followers of his. And what does he say to those followers of his? I am with you always. The Lord was with John Patton in salvation. The sunrise of God's salvation rose on Patton in his early boyhood. He tells us about that little Dumfriesshire cottage, what the Scottish people would call a little Button Ben. Just a little cottage, very small, little hovel almost. And there in the south of Scotland in that little cottage he was brought up. And he tells us of the sacred memory of his father going into that little room in that cottage. And there before God, kneeling in prayer. And when he came out of God's presence from that room, Patton said there was a light, as it were, shining on his father's face. Patton was greatly impacted by his parents and particularly his godly father. This is what he said about his dad. He said, we children came to know that that light on his face was a reflection of the divine presence in which his life was lived. Never in temple or cathedral, on mountain or in glen, can I hope to feel that the Lord God is more near, more visibly walking and talking with men than under that humble cottage roof of thatch and oaken wattles. God was in that home. And God bless the faithful example and the instruction of John's parents. Let me read to you just a little of what John Patton said of his godly parents. He spoke of their influence upon him and he said that the good seed that was sown by his parents bore fruit in his own life. Early in life he testifies that he was led to give himself to Jesus Christ and to consecrate his very all, holy and fully to the service of Jesus Christ. He trusted his father's God. He came to know his mother's Savior. And before I go any further, I would challenge the parents that are here tonight. I wonder what memories will your children carry through life of you? Do you desire God's best for your children? Would you rejoice for instance if the Lord were to call your children as missionaries or Christian workers as he did call the son of that home in the south of Scotland. When John Patton was still a young man, God called him to be a mission worker in the city of Glasgow. The time came for him to leave home and there was an opening as a mission worker that occurred in Glasgow for him. With just a little small bundle containing his Bible under his arm, he set out to walk to that great city. Now it is said that he walked as far as Kilmarnock. Why he would want to go to Kilmarnock, I'll never know. But anyway, it was 40 miles from his home in the south of Scotland and then from Kilmarnock there he would catch a train on up into the city. His father walked with him for the first six miles and to read that story of that journey is a very touching thing. Mr. Cranston and myself were both reading about it today and how that his father for about the last couple of miles of that journey really didn't say anything and both of them were feeling it very much, the parting that lay ahead. And John Patton said that he could just see his father's lips moving gently and he knew he was praying for his son, that the Lord would bless him as he set out on this life of service. But he didn't really say anything but just once in a while the tears would come down his cheeks. And Patton said when the time came to leave his father, neither one of them could speak for a time. But just on parting from the lad, he took John's hand and he said, God bless you my son. Your father's God prosper you and keep you from all evil. He said at that point they embraced with tears and John began to walk away and in fact he said he began to run because he just wanted to get away and make sure that he didn't turn back with his father. And he said he ran to a corner where he was just going to go around the road around the hedge and he looked back expecting to see his father quite a long way in the distance but his father was standing there with his cap off in exactly the spot where he had left him watching his son. And he said that was a very difficult parting and of course after a few moments he said when he was out of sight of his dad he had to get into the side of the road into a ditch and just weep his heart out. Then he said he stood up on top of the ditch to see if he could see the old man and he could just see him climbing the same ditch further down climbing up to see if he could see his son and Patton said he just went on and sought to go on with doing the will of God. But years afterwards John Patton declared that those words from his father in an hour of great trial and an hour of great difficulty the hour of parting those words God bless you my son your father's God prosper you and keep you from evil that those had been as a guard about his pathway. Now for a time John managed to attend an educational seminary in Glasgow where ultimately he became a teacher and then having saved the sum of 10 pounds about 20 Canadian dollars now he entered Glasgow University and later he settled down to work as a city missionary. Speaking in later days of his life's battles during those years of struggle he said that he committed his way and his future to the God of his father and was not disappointed. Darknesses were dispelled, obstacles removed and crooked looking ways made straight before him. John Patton no doubt was greatly influenced by his godly father and I say now to the young people that are here believing parents are a great blessing and privilege. You ought to thank God for Christian parents. Personally I thank the Lord for my mother and my father who brought me up to love the Lord Jesus Christ and to serve him and you can have no greater blessing I believe outside of salvation than parents who love the Savior. Make sure that you trust Christ for yourself however. John Patton resolved that his father's God would be his God and I ask you have you trusted Christ? Do you know the Savior as your own? The words of Matthew 28 verse 20 were spoken to believers, those who had experienced God's salvation and without saving faith in Christ you can take no comfort from this promise. The Lord is not with you if you are not with him. The Lord is not with you if you're not saved and you need to be saved. You need to be redeemed. You need to be born of God and when you receive God's salvation the scripture shows us that the Lord comes into your life and he comes into your life to stay. Away with this nonsense that the Lord will come into your life and then at some point because of your failure he will leave you. No, I give unto my sheep eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. The Lord Jesus has given us his promise that he will be with us. For instance in John chapter 14 on several occasions in verse 16 he said, I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you for how long? Forever. Forever. Lo, I am with you always. Verse 18 of John 14. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. Verse 20. At that day you shall know that I am in my Father and ye in me and I in you. Verse 23. If a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. The Lord will be with us if we're his people. He will never leave us. He will never forsake us. God said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Lo, I am with you always. It is a promise. It is a word from God for God's people alone. John G. Patton was saved. He was redeemed by faith in Christ and so the Lord Jesus was with him. The Lord was with him in salvation but then the Lord was with John G. Patton in service. John was a missionary but I want you to think about this. He was a missionary at home before he was ever a foreign missionary. Some people get the idea that well they're going to go off and serve the Lord in some other place but they've never learned to serve the Lord at home. God will never take you abroad to serve him if you can't serve him at home. That was true of John Patton. For ten years in the city of Glasgow he went out into the closes and wines of that city preaching the gospel of the kingdom of heaven and it was an uphill work. He had all kinds of problems. There were those of the Roman faith. There were those who were infidels. There were publicans and sinners combined against him but the Lord was with him and success came. Many were blessed by his mission. Drunkards were reformed. Infidels burned their books. Romanists renounced their creed and hundreds it is said were led into the light of the gospel of Christ through his ministry. Now alongside of his mission work Patton continued his studies in arts and divinity and actually succeeded in obtaining training in the practical branches of medicine. That is why he is referred to as Dr. John G Patton. He was a medical doctor but all this time that he served in Glasgow his heart was going out to the perishing heathen and at the end of ten years he offered himself to the New Hebrides mission a place that's now known as Vanuatu in the South Sea Islands. He was accepted as a missionary but for a time with all the strength that he could muster he devoted himself to special training including several trades that he might need on the mission field. His parents hearing of his determination to be a foreign missionary lightened his heart by informing him that they had long ago given him up to God and were satisfied that his going to the mission field was right. The Lord was with him in service. His work among the cannibals on the islands of the New Hebrides ultimately proved that the Lord was with his servant. What a text this is by the way for a missionary. What a text for one who is going out to serve the Lord not knowing what befalls him. Lo I am with you all the way even unto the end of the world. It doesn't matter what comes or goes. It doesn't matter about the discouragements. It doesn't matter about the hardships. It doesn't matter about the persecutions. Lo I am with you all the way even unto the end of the world. Those are the words of the Great Commission and I say this evening that this word is a word that is good for us as it was good for Patton. The Lord is with us. He's with us in service. The Lord was as good as his word to the original disciples for these men to whom he said Lo I am with you all the way. They experienced his presence with them as they went out to preach for Mark 16 verse 20 says and they went forth and preached everywhere the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following. The Lord is with us. He's with us if we're saved in salvation. The Lord is with us in service. This was true of John Patton. The Lord was with him then also in sorrow. Sometimes we get the mistaken notion into our heads that when you come to know Christ then all problems cease. There's a kind of a gospel that is preached by many today which is a feel-good gospel that if you come and make a profession of Jesus all your difficulties whether they be financial physical or whatever all these problems will cease. If you're a true Christian walking with God for instance you'll never become sick. What a load of garbage that is. What absolute nonsense and drivel that is. That if you are serving the Lord the way that you should you'll never be sick. Well the Bible tells us about Job that he was a perfect and an upright man one that feared God and eschewed evil. Yet he lost in one day his whole family, his children, ten of a family, lost his health, lost his wealth, his wife turned against him. Yet the Bible says that Job did not sin with his lips. Continued to worship God. Oh many are the afflictions not of the sinner many of the afflictions of the righteous. But the Lord delivers him out of them John Patton on the 5th of November 1858 landed on the island of Tanna in New Hebrides with his wife. It was a cannibal island in those days and the white man found his faith sorely tried but he was prepared to trust his God for the Lord had told him lo I am with you always even until the end of the world. The Lord tested his servant and within three months of his landing on that cannibal island he had to dig with his own hands a grave for his young wife. One week after he buried her he had to bury their baby boy to whom she had given birth just recently. Mrs. Patton had insisted on accompanying him to the mission field but she contracted this which caused her death she died in childbirth and there in the darkness of a terrible midnight John Patton had his Gethsemane but God's Word did not fail him God's Word was still true lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world even at the grave of your young wife even at the grave of your baby son lo I am with you always and friends it is easy to accept isn't it that the Lord is with us when things are going well it's easy for us to say oh the Lord is with us how wonderful it is when you don't have any problems when you're not taking the wind in your face but the wind is to your back but oh how different some people are under severe testing and it is a great measure of your faith how it bears up under the severest of trials again if I might refer to Job he said though he slay me yet will I trust in him John Patton stood firm in trial and of that very trial he speaks and he says I was never altogether forsaken the ever merciful Lord sustained me to lay the precious dust of my loved ones in the same quiet grave but for Jesus and the fellowship he vouchsafed me there I surely must have gone mad and died beside that lonely grave but the Lord was with him and I can tell you this evening that the Lord is as good as his word to his people no matter who they are and he tells us in his word lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world Bible says in Hebrews 4 14 saying then that we have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our profession for we have not on high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need oh how often we hear of those who have been through the most terrible of trials yes but what do they do they start blaming God they start shaking their fist in the face of almighty God and blaming the Lord for their trials and blaming the Lord for taking this from them or taking that from them it's one of two things that we can do under the severest of testing we can either run away from the Lord or we can run to the Lord and when we run to the Lord we will find that he's as good as his word we will have we will obtain mercy we will find grace to help in time of need does that mean it's not difficult no it doesn't mean that doesn't mean that we won't shed tears no it doesn't mean that what it does mean that it is that in our tears and in our sadness the Lord will be there because standing somewhere in the shadows we can find Jesus he's the only one who cares and who understands standing somewhere in the shadows we will find him and we'll know him by the nail print in his hands a few weeks after Patton had buried his wife and his child a man called George Augustus Selwyn the pioneer Bishop of New Zealand and James Coleridge Patterson the martyred Anglican Bishop of Malaysia happened to call at the island of Tanna they had met mrs. Patton they had seen her as a perfect picture of health and how shocked they were to find that she had gone now along with her little child standing there beside the grave of mother and child John Patton says I wept aloud Patterson sobbed quietly on my left and the good Bishop poured out his heart to God and then laid his hands on my head and advocated heaven's richest consolations and blessings upon me he says the virtue of that kind of Episcopal consecration I did and do most warmly appreciate you see Patton was a Presbyterian and had no time for Episcopacy in that sense but he appreciated the words of that man of God and as a believer you can and I can prove the truth of God's promises in our time of sorrow the Lord says to us for instance in the Psalm 91 and the verse 15 I will be with him in trouble I will deliver him and honor him he tells us does he not in Isaiah 43 and verse number 2 when thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when I walk us through the fire thou shalt not be burned neither shall the flame kindle upon thee and in verse 5 of that same chapter he says fear not for I am with thee the Lord is as good as his word hold on to it even in your times of trouble you'll find that lo I am with you always is true John Patton said I was never altogether forsaken for the ever merciful Lord sustained me but for Jesus I might have gone mad and died but lo he says I am with you always even unto the end John Patton it seems constantly through his weight upon that text of scripture for he keeps writing about it for example in another place I read where he said during this crisis and this was another crisis that he went through I kept generally calm and firm of soul standing erect and with my whole weight on the promise lo I am with you even unto the end of the world I should say as a postscript to the story of the death of his wife and child that it actually got worse because soon after that Patton was struck down with a fever of unusual severity but on recovery he turned to his beloved work with admirable heroism in a short time he had built up a mission station and had printed the very first book in the language of that cannibal people troubless times then arose after three years of toil and adventure and many herbbreadth escapes he was actually driven from the island of Tanna and with a breaking heart he said farewell to his beloved cannibals but yet in his darkest moment he wrote these words I never doubted that ultimately the victory there as elsewhere would be on the side of Jesus and the victory did come and the dark island was wholly changed why because Christ is as good as his word lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world Patton tells us on one occasion which was a time of great trouble a time of great affliction a time of great sorrow that there was a fight that raged on the island of Tanna and as that fight broke out he was told by the chief who later became a convert to claim a tree and remain there until the moon rises so Patton got up into that tree and he said as I sat on that tree and looked right over that terrible scene the discharge of muskets the hideous yells of savages the blood the murder and the strife said I never felt the Lord's presence so near to me lo I am with you always I was alone yet not alone I would cheerfully spend many nights alone in such a tree to feel again my Savior's spiritual presence as I felt it that night lo I am with you always that was the promise I pleaded that was the guide I followed and though I often felt my brain reeling my sight coming and going my knees smiting together when brought face to face with violent death still I was never left without hearing that promise coming up through the darkness and the anguish and all its consoling and supporting power lo I am with you always and he says trials hairbreadth escapes only strengthened my faith and nerved me for more to follow and they trod swiftly enough upon each other's heels the trials without that abiding consciousness of the presence and power of my Lord and Savior nothing in the world could have preserved me from losing my reason and perishing miserably his words lo I am with you always even to the unto the end became to me so real that it would not have startled me to behold him even as Stephen did gazing down upon the scene it is the sober truth that I had my nearest and most intimate glimpses of the presence of my Lord in those dread moments when musket club or spear were being levied and my life the Lord was with him and the Lord will be with us even in our times of sorrow but not only was the Lord with him in salvation and in service and in sorrow but these words of the text Matthew 28 verse 20 lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world proved true to John G Patton in soul winning John Patton was a successful missionary and by that I mean he was faithful but also the Lord caused him to be fruitful when he went to the New Hebrides those people were indeed savages they were cannibals they were eaters of human flesh the chief of the cannibals through the ministry of John Patton became a convert to Jesus Christ many of the people on that island became decided Christians and certainly that group of islands became civilized and settled down because of the work of the gospel now Patton when he was involved in the missionary work on the island of Tanna he decided that in order to make his mission work a success he was going to need a mission ship a boat to travel around and so with the object of raising funds for the purpose of procuring such a ship he visited several countries including to his great delight his native land so he returned to speak of the work in Scotland success attended his efforts wherever he went apparently his story touched the hearts of men and roused an interest in missions in others such as had never before existed the Lord called many other young people to go to the mission field through the ministry of Dr. Patton he eventually was unable to float a ship called the Dayspring he returned to the islands of the New Hebrides in 1864 and that new mission ship visited island after island and planted missionaries where others had either failed or fallen the mission Synod of Australia which had adopted Mr. Patton as the first missionary from that country constrained him actually to turn from the island of Tanna and to settle in another called Aniwa and here for the next 15 years that indomitable if I can say the word right indomitable Scotsman toiled earnestly and lovingly houses were built wells were sunk other improvements were made which had a far-reaching influence after incessant labor the first Aniwa hymn book was brought out the first church was built and schools were established the tide of victory had set in and it was a grand day for John Patton he testified when he held the first communion service in that heathen land when people who formerly had been eaters of the flesh of each other became spiritually those who feasted on Christ and who enjoyed fellowship with the Savior at his table there were many who were turned from darkness to light in the course of just a few years men who began to worship the true and the living God of course there were many perils there were many difficulties which I haven't got time to speak of tonight but one of the most remarkable answers to prayer in the history of Christian missions is recorded in connection with the sinking of a well a water well in the face of these savages of Aniwa for in a time of great dearth we read that when their false gods had been appealed to in vain the brave missionary John Patton made the startling announcement I am going to sink a deep well down into the earth to see if our God will send us fresh water up from below put God to the test and those savages stood around him watching him digging with unceasing labor they thought he was mad like the priests of Baal at Carmel they waited to see whether Jehovah would help his servant and for a long time John Patton toiled and digged apparently in vain and across the eye of his faith there came clouds of doubt for you see he was actually working on a coral reef and there was a possibility that when he did reach the water that it might be salt water at last when at his weakest the answer came there was a little moisture in the sand that was to him just like a the size of a man's hand and not salt water but a spring of fresh water came bubbling up and he made those savages come and drink and this is what he said Jehovah my God gave it to us out of his own earth in answer to our labor and prayers do you know that the idols of the people were burned prayer and praise began to be heard in their homes and a new social order prevailed in that place the great dream of John Patton's life was to see a missionary and a band of well-trained native teachers on every island of the New Hebrides to this end he devoted the declining years of his life and in this he was wonderfully blessed his day of sowing and tears changed to a day of reaping with joy and thankfulness because the Lord had fulfilled his word to him lo I am with you always even unto the end you know in soul winning the only thing that will enable us to see men truly one to Christ is when the Lord is with us in our evangelism we cannot create an anxious thought I can't cause you if you're unsaved to become a Christian I wouldn't even try to make you become a Christian for I am not able to do so now if I thought by all the efforts of mind that I could make you a Christian I would do so but this is the Lord's work salvation is of the Lord and souls are truly one to Christ when the Savior according to his own promise is with us when he accompanies the word by the power of his spirit and John Patton found that the Lord was as good as his word to him in his evangelism for he saw people come to know Christ John had a son of his own later when he married again writing of his father the Reverend FHL Patton said this in his private conversation and in his public addresses my father John G Patton was constantly quoting the words lo I am with you always as the inspiration of his quietness and confidence in time of danger and of his hope in the face of human impossibilities so much was this realized by his family that we decided to inscribe that text upon his tomb it seemed to all of us to sum up the essential element in his faith and the supreme source of his courage and endurance lo I am with you always the secret of his quiet heart the secret of his gallant spirit the secret of his sonny faith the text so often on John G Patton's tongue the text upon his tomb lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world and as John Patton leaned upon this word of Christ I trust that we too will learn to lean upon it for it is a word for believers in all ages lo I am with you he doesn't say lo I will be with you he says lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world I don't care what your circumstances are tonight in the sense that it doesn't matter to God it is not difficult to him it is no problem to him whatever your situation whatever you're facing whatever the trial whatever the trouble whatever the affliction and if you're not going through it now just wait a little while and you will you'll find that if you're trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ that he will be as good as his word to you as he was to Patton lo I am with you he will be with us always and then thank God when our time has come to leave this earth we will go to be with him that's what heaven is heaven is to be where Jesus is where Jesus is tis heaven there no matter where on earth we dwell on mountaintop or in the dell in cottage like Patton's father and mother in cottage or in mansion fair where Jesus is tis heaven there it is heaven to know the Savior I ask you tonight are you going to be with him for you see the Lord gave the promise I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also see the Lord not only is with his people here he is with his people hereafter for they are with him are you going to heaven do you have the courage and the confidence that Patton had in the midst of all of life's trials because of the knowledge that the Lord is with you I trust tonight that you will not go away from the service without knowing that the words of this text are words that are also directed to you that the Lord is saying concerning you I am with you always may God bless his word to all our hearts