In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of having faith in God and surrendering ourselves to Him. He highlights the freedom that comes from giving control to Jesus and escaping the burdensome cages of life. The preacher encourages the congregation to hold fast to their faith without wavering, reminding them of God's faithfulness and His promise to provide a way of escape in times of temptation. The sermon also emphasizes the power of the Word of God in strengthening our faith and overcoming unbelief, using examples from the Bible such as Abraham's unwavering belief in God's promises.

Jesus is here. Aren't you glad? Those that gather in His name, Jesus says, I am in the midst. Amen. Let's kneel together for prayer. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Lord God. Thy kingdom come, and Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil, O God. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. So be it, Lord. Amen. So be it, Lord. Father, I am weakness full of weakness. I am needy, Lord. But Father, Thou art full of grace and truth and strength, O Lord. Father, I pray that today You would cause our eyes to behold the beauty of our King Jesus. Father, touch our lives today. We need the touch of heaven. We need the strength of God. We need the wisdom of God. Father, bless this congregation. Bless the word of the Lord. Feed us, Lord, for we are hungry and thirsty after You, Lord. Father, if there be any otherwise, O Lord, would You in Your tender mercies speak to the careless soul, to the wandering soul. Draw us after You, Lord. We will run after You, Lord. Father, bless each one. Do not pass any of us by. Have Your way, we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. You know, life is plans. We just sort of make our plans and we go on in life. A family made plans to spend some time at the mountains with family. On the way to the cabin, they decided some of the women and ladies' children went first and the men were coming afterward. And so they decided to stop and do a little swimming in the Pine Creek. And the young seven-year-old boy got caught in a current. Mother was there too, and so she went after to get him, to rescue him. Both went to meet the Lord. And this was the only child, seven-year-old child. And there's a father and a husband so quickly. The rest of his wife, of his children. It's one child. And then Brother Luke Martin just shared a sermon with me this morning. A man I sold seed to. I'm not sure why I went to see him just maybe six months ago right over here in New Holland area, Railroad Avenue. And somehow he despaired of life. He's not here anymore by his own choice. This month it will be a year that my niece, Christine, her husband Richard, passed away with a glorious testimony. I shared that here some. Some visitors came to try to cheer him up and say, you know, surely it must be difficult and hard and, you know, knowing that you're dying. Oh my, no. Don't speak like that. I'm going to see my Savior. You know, but yes, of course, he was sorry for his family and his wife. So my dear friends here this morning, if you died today, oh, as Brother Denny would say, did you know for sure you'd go to heaven? You know, life isn't a game. It's serious. Oh, for the Christian, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. We have a bright future. The blood of Christ Jesus avails for sin and uncleanness today. Oh, sinner, today if you hear His voice, harden not your heart. Be saved today. Open your Bibles to Galatians 2. Galatians chapter 2. We'll take a look at verse 20. I believe some of you have probably committed this verse to memory. Beautiful anointed Word of the Lord. Galatians 2.20. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Oh, is that your testimony this morning? I am crucified with Christ. The Scriptures tell us in Galatians 5.24. Just walk with me through the Bible this morning. Galatians 5.24. They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. Oh, is that your testimony this morning? I can testify to the saving grace of God in my life. I can testify to the work of the cross in my life. I am crucified with Christ. Walk with me over to Galatians 6.14. God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. Oh, are you glorying in the cross this morning? And has the cross of Jesus had an effect in your life and in my life in the crucifying of the world unto me and I unto the world? The world holds no attraction. Its allurements have been nailed to the cross and put to death. My carnal nature, my carnal flesh is crucified. I am crucified with Christ Jesus. And because of that crucifixion in my life, the world is crucified unto me. Oh, glory to God, brother, sister! When Jesus comes in and He gives us a brand new life and a brand new affection and our affections are set on things above and not on things on the earth. Oh, it's a glorious life. It's a beautiful life, as one hymn writer said it. Oh, what a beautiful life! As the Scripture up here says, delight thyself also in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Oh, it's an abundant life to be crucified with Christ. Romans tells it this way. In chapter 6 of Romans, why don't we just turn there as we take a look at these different Scriptures. Romans 6. And we'll begin in verse 3. We sort of drop in here. Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Oh, my brother, my sister, my friends this morning, are you dead, crucified with Christ? You see, a dead man is not affected by the allurement of what's around him. A dead man, though he was an alcoholic for all his life, you can put a bottle of alcohol next to a dead man and he won't even move. A person who was addicted to cigarettes all their life and they couldn't kick the habit of smoking, you can blow cigarette smoke right on that dead man's face and he won't even respond a bit. Brother, sister, that's how we are to be to this flesh. We are to be crucified with Christ unto this carnal nature that we are dead with Christ. Crucified. The old nature, the old man nailed to the cross. Hallelujah. Oh, yes, a lot of people just look at the cross and say, oh, thank You, Jesus, for dying on the cross. And that's all the further their understanding of the cross goes. But Jesus one day stunned His listeners. He said, if any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. And see, the cross is an instrument of death. The cross is an instrument of death to my self-life. An instrument of death to what I want and my own carnal nature and my way and my will. And we need to lay down our life and be crucified with Christ, buried with Him in baptism, and then resurrected with Him into a new life in Christ Jesus. I am crucified with Christ. Is that your testimony this morning? 100%. All of it. Everything's on the altar. Not just withholding a little 10% back here or a 5% over here. Lord, I'll give You everything, but I want to be in control of my finances, or I want to be in control of the way I behave myself and the attire I wear and all these different matters. Lord, I'll give You everything else, but let me just pursue my own dream. Let me be in charge of my own bank account. I am crucified with Christ all the way, totally, 100%. You see, God gives everything to those who give everything to Him. Oh, delight yourself in the Lord. He shall give you the desires of thine heart. And our Heavenly Father is a good, benevolent God. He gives good gifts to His children. Oh, but we've got to let go of the rubbish. We've got to let go of the filth of this world. We've got to let go of our pride. We've got to let go of our reputation. We've got to let it be nailed to the cross and mortified and put to death the deeds of this old carnal nature. Crucified. Oh, is that your testimony this morning? I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Wow! I live. Aaron Hurst is very much alive. Can you tell? Aaron Hurst is very much alive. My nature, my makeup, my personality is still very much alive. I'm still Aaron Hurst formed in the womb and the belly of my mother the way God decreed and designed that I should be. Ah, but I'm a new Aaron. Oh, that old Aaron. I wouldn't want to go back to that one. I'm a new creation in Christ Jesus now. But you see, I'm yet alive. The flesh hasn't been eradicated. The old man hasn't been eradicated. He's not been put away. Some people want to preach a gospel that says that when you become a new Christian in Christ and you're crucified in Christ, then the old man is eradicated. He's not even there anymore. You have nothing to do with the old man. Well, the Scriptures are full of teaching us that we must put to death the deeds of the old man. We must render those things dead indeed and our lives alive unto Christ. Ah, nevertheless, I live. I could point out different names out here. You know, you didn't lose your character, brother Mel. You didn't lose the ash in you, brother. You know what I mean? The Charleses, the Lambrights, the Eshes, the Smiths, the Zimmermans. You know, we don't lose our personality and who we are, but we are transformed and we are changed and God cleans us up and fills us with His Holy Spirit and now the life that we live, we now live by the faith of the Son of God. Yeah, he says, nevertheless, I live. But he comes back around and says, yet, not I. I mean, this is so like a paradoxical thing. I live, but hey, but wait a minute. It's not I. Is that the testimony of your life this morning? Can your neighbor say, oh yeah, he lives for the Lord. He's not living for I. Can your spouse say, he or she lives for God. Not I. Not I. No, it's not I. Yeah, he's very much alive. She's very much alive. But oh, I see Jesus in you. Oh, glory! I see Jesus in you, brothers and sisters. That is such a delight to my soul to see Jesus in you, brother, sister. Ah, henceforth we know no man after the flesh, but we know him after the Christ that they've been bought by and purchased for and paid for and that they're becoming more like, transformed from glory to glory, changed more and more into the image of Jesus. Ah, not I. Not I, but Christ. Oh, can your father and your mother say that of you, young person? Can they say, I see Jesus in my daughter and my son. My teenagers, they love Jesus. Not self-willed, not stubborn, not hard to instruct and correct, but they're just open lives and just being transformed and changed by the Spirit of God. Oh, I see Jesus in you. Parents, let's call that out in our children. Amen? You know, we're so easy to see the one little slip-up or the one little mistake or the one area that needs a little correction. And I'm not saying we don't need to take care of those matters, but oh, let's call out Christ in them. Let's call Him to higher ground and believe that Christ that has saved them is able to keep them and sanctify them wholly until the day that He comes for them. Ah, glory, that goes a long way. Husbands, are you encouraging your wife? When's the last time you told your wife, I see Jesus in you? You remind me of Christ. You're such a godly woman. I am so proud to be your husband. I am so delighted to introduce you to my friends. This is my beloved wife. Ah, when's the last time you did that, brother? Oh, glory. Sister, when's the last time you told your husband, I am so thankful that you're a man of God. I know you pray. I know you seek the face of God. I see Jesus in you. Oh, I live. I have a free will. I can make decisions and choices and I can choose. I'm alive. Aaron Hurst is alive. Dwight Scrubar is alive. Melvin Nash is alive. Paul Lloyd is alive. We can make choices and decisions. We live. Oh, but we live and move and have our being in Christ. I'm alive. But no, it's not I that's living. It's the exchange life. Now it's Christ in you. The hope of glory. Our brother Mel just preached on that not too long ago. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I. Surely, Paul said, no good things comes out of my life by my own self. Ah, but I am what I am by the grace of God. I am what I am by the gift of God, of the eternal life of God in my very inner being. Oh, praise the Lord. Not I. No, it's not I that's alive. Is that my testimony? Is that your testimony? Not I. Not my way. Not my rights. Doesn't have to be the way I want it to be. Ah, but rather surrender. All to Jesus I surrender. All to Him I freely give. Hallelujah. I will ever love and serve Him. And then in His presence daily live. Isn't that what we want? Oh, to know the Lord Jesus Christ is His eternal life. To walk in His presence. Ah, then it's not I, but it's others. Oh, then he preached a whole sermon on that. Others, Lord, others. Let this my motto be. And then while I have lived for others, I will have lived like Thee. Not I. No, not I. But Christ liveth in me. Romans 6, 8-13. Let's read that. Romans 6, 8-13. Are you there still from the last time? Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more. Death has no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once. But in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Oh, glory to God! Yes, I was dead in trespasses and sins. I was dead, lost. But Jesus Christ, while I was yet a sinner, died for me and for you, brother, sister. And He died unto sin once. But in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. And now, likewise, verse 11, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. And that word reckon is a beautiful word. It means consider yourselves to be dead to sin. Count yourselves to be dead unto sin. And your relationship to sin broken. The power of sin broken. You see, Jesus Christ was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil. Jesus Christ was manifested to save us from our sins and to break the power of sin, that sin should not have dominion over us, that sin should not reign in our mortal bodies, that we would have to pay it in the lusts thereof. But rather, we are to be alive unto God through Jesus Christ. Oh, who are you yielding yourselves to? Whomsoever you yield yourself to, a servant to obey, His servants ye are. We are not bound to yield unto sin no longer. Let not sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in the lusts thereof. Or don't yield your instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead. And your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Ah, yes, your entire faculty, your eyes, your ears, your hands, your feet, all of the instruments, all the faculties that God has given to us to yield them to God and to yield them unto righteousness. Can we ask the question, what did I look at this week? What did I see this week with the members of my body, my eyes? What did I look at? What was I beholding? These members, what did I listen to? Did I hear some juicy gossip? Where did my feet take me this week? Where did I go? Where did I walk? What have these hands touched this week? Was it all unto righteousness? Oh, that's the will of God and that's the possibility in Christ Jesus that our entire being, all of our faculties, our mind, our emotion, our will, surrendered to Jesus Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit, our members yielded unto God and unto righteousness. Instruments of righteousness. Because sin shall not have dominion over you. Why? For ye are dead. We are crucified. And our life is hid with Christ in God. Oh, how beautiful. We sing that little hymn. I have decided to follow Jesus. I reckon myself dead, crucified. I reckon myself buried with Jesus Christ. I reckon myself raised with Christ Jesus. Alive in Christ Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. All alive from the dead. But you know, it's a daily walk. He goes on to say, and the life which I now live in the flesh, the life I live in this earthen vessel, in this flesh, in this body, the life that I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. You see, we walk by faith and not by sight. You know, sometimes sight, oh, and the things temporal. You know, the things that are just for a moment. You know, the temporal things. Oh, we can get so here and now focused. But brother, sister, our walk of victory is the walk of faith. We walk by faith and not by sight. And our God, He counts those things that are not as though they already were. And we need to have a strong faith in God, believe in God, and walking with God. The life which I live in this flesh, in this earthen vessel, this Aaronhurst, in this body, oh, we live it by faith. We walk by faith in the Son of God. We walk by faith and not by sight. I like the testimony of the Thessalonians. Paul said of them, Your faith groweth exceedingly. Your faith is alive. Your belief in the Almighty God quickens your hearts and your minds to rise above the natural things and the temporal things and into the heavenlies. And your faith, oh, it groweth exceedingly. Oh, may that be our testimony. That as we walk with the Lord and as we put Him to the test and we see the Lord come through, that our faith is strengthened and built up and it groweth exceedingly. In Hebrews 10, He says, Hold fast the profession of your faith, for He is faithful, that promised. Oh, I left a little something out there. Did you catch it? Hold fast the profession of your faith without wavering. Hold fast without wavering. Steadfast, tenaciously, hold fast without wavering. Why? Because God is faithful, that promised. He will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with every temptation make a way of escape. That you may be able to bear it. Our God is faithful. He that has begun a good work in you, sister, He will perform it until the day of Christ. He is able. Our God is faithful. This life which I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God. Because our God is faithful. In 1 John 5, He says, this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. We could go to the faith chapter. Noah, by faith, he believed God, that what God had said was going to come to pass. He believed God. And he prepared an ark to the sailing of his house. And how did he do that? By faith, he built the ark. Brother, sister, are you by faith building with the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you by faith walking with God, day by day, moment by moment? This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Turn to Romans 10. We're here in Romans. In Romans 10, we'll go to verse 17 and then we'll back up and get a little more context. He says, So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Let's go back to verse 14. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah saith, Lord who hath believed our report. So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they not heard? Yes, verily their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. I want to encourage us here today to fill our hearts and our minds with the word of God. Faith comes by hearing, and by the hearing of the word. The word of the Lord is alive, and it's quick, and it's powerful. The word of the Lord strengthens our faith. When we read about the faithfulness of our God, and when we read about the promises of our God, all our faith will grow, as we soak ourselves in the word of God. The greatest hindrance to this walk of faith is unbelief. It's the natural. It's seeing what's before me, and feeling like it's impossible. The disciples marveled greatly. Jesus, the fig tree that you cursed is withered away. He said, well, have faith in God. Believe God. Have faith. Believe. Oh, I feel myself so far short of what the Lord has. You know, we sell Him out so short, so often. Oh, that we would lay hold on these promises. And these promises are laid hold on by faith. And by faith we overcome. And by faith we embrace the promises, and we make them ours. Just like Abraham, by faith he believed God, and he embraced the promise. Even though all evidence looked otherwise, he believed God. And God said, ah, there is a man, righteous because he believed. And Putin writes this aside to him because he believed God. What is your situation today? Does it look a little bit bleak? Does it look pretty dire? Does it look almost hopeless maybe? Brothers, sisters, with God all things are possible. Believe God. What do you need? Do you need a miracle? Ah, God is a miracle working God. He can meet you right where you are at. Do you need Him to move the mountain? Do you need Him to give you strength to climb? God is able. God is faithful. You know, as I was just meditating on this Word this morning, you know, sometimes people fight very serious battles very alone. And they don't share. They don't open up their heart and reach out. And I want to encourage you this morning. Cry out to God. I remember one time in my life as I was going through a trial and a struggle, and I was so longing to be able to just share my heart with another brother, but it seemed like it just wasn't happening. There was just no one that I felt I could trust to confide in. And then the Lord so deeply ministered to my heart. He said, Lord, I need someone to talk to. And then Jesus said, I'm someone you can talk to. You can tell me exactly how it feels. I won't betray you. I won't go tell it to anyone else. You can just tell me exactly where you're at. It won't shock me. You know, sometimes we feel like we're wrestling with deep things and we feel like it would be too much. And somehow we just have to sort of keep up some sort of facade. But no, no. Bring it all to Jesus. Bring your cares to Jesus because He cares for you. Believe Him because He is able. He is able to save you. He is able to give you grace for your situation. He is able to bring you through every trial. Though the trying and the testing of your faith, oh, it's trying, it's difficult. Oh, but Job said, once I have been tested and come through the fires, I shall come forth as gold. Believe ye that I am able to do this? Jesus said. I mean to tell you, blind from birth? Blind Bartimaeus, believe ye that I am able to do this? Or the two blind men by the wayside crying out to the Lord, do you believe I am able to do this? He said, yes, Lord. And He said, according to your faith, so be it unto thee. You know, this matter of faith, it's just a lifelong growing and learning and experiencing Christ Jesus, Christ the Lord, my Heavenly Father in more beautiful new ways. It's a beautiful, lovely journey. I want to encourage you with the words of Jesus. What you desire, what you long for and you desire to see in your life, ask God. You have not because He has not. Sometimes we're timid in asking. I want to encourage us. Ask God. Ask Him. And then believe Him that He'll give you what is best. I mean now, if a two-year-old asks for a car, you know, or a three or four-year-old and they want to drive it on the road, well, no, a wise papa won't give him that because he knows he's not ready for that. You know, and many times, God I think has to say no or He just waits because what we're asking for would not be good for us. And He knows. But I want to say, let's ask. Let's ask extravagantly. Let's ask in faith and believe in God that He wants to give good gifts to His children. What do you need? I want to encourage us today. Faith. Oh yes, the life which I now live in this flesh, I live it by the faith of the Son of God who loves me. Wow! Stop and think about it. God loves you. I live this life by the faith of the Son of God who loved me. And if that were not enough, and gave Himself for me. My dear friends here this morning, brothers and sisters, why wouldn't we ask? Why wouldn't we come? Why wouldn't we give our lives to Christ? What's holding you back this morning? What stands in the way? Maybe it's unbelief. Maybe it's fear. Afraid of what God would ask of me. If I let go of the controls of what God would ask of me. Oh, I had that fear for many years. Maybe some of you had that too. Maybe someone has that right now. What if I would just surrender everything to Jesus? Oh, those who surrender everything to Jesus will find comfort and blessing and forgiveness and cleansing and healing and washing and regeneration and life in Christ. Galatians 2.20 I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, in this body, this earthen vessel. Oh, I live it by faith in the Son of God. My faith in Christ Jesus, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who loved me and gave himself for me. Is that your testimony today? It's a beautiful life. It's an abundant life with Christ Jesus. But it's a death to self. God bless you, brothers and sisters. It's all the Lord gave me. That's all I'm going to say. Amen. And I see Paul saying there, he says, likewise reckon ye yourselves also to be dead indeed unto sin. But then he says, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. It almost seems like Paul is saying, you know, this is actually what it's all about. Being alive. Being alive unto Christ. Our instruments of righteousness unto Him. Amen. Thank you, Brother Aaron. I wrote an article this week on the double cure. I love that song, Rock of Ages. Sometimes it mentions a perfect cure. Sometimes it mentions a double cure in some of the psalm books. I love where it says the double cure. You know, bringing out... There's cleansing from sin and there's power over sin. Cleanse me from its guilt and power. So there we see the... Okay, I'll open it up here if someone has some comment or a testimony that you might have on Christ's life within you and the power of the cross in your life. I appreciate the message this morning, Brother Aaron. You mentioned that young mother that drowned with the son she tried to save. If I heard correctly, it was the same woman that years ago stopped in her car when my nephew was backing his fuel truck in his drive. And his little son was running out to meet his father and his father never saw him behind the truck and crushed him under the wheel. So I think that was the same mother that had stopped in her car there and saw this happen. We heard a lot about death this morning in the message. Dying to self. There's people everywhere around us dying spiritually. Just the other night, my neighbor called me, asked if I'd give him a hand with something. He said there's a raccoon up the road. He came down the road. This raccoon was standing along the road with a trap around his neck. So I'm a little familiar with some traps. I use a few of them for groundhogs. I took my tool along. I'm thinking if it was that kind of trap, I'll need that tool. And here he was in the middle of the road. It was dark already. Took the flashlight out. Car lights there. And this thing, I don't know how I never saw anything, an animal survive in a trap like that. He must have been in that thing for days. It was tightly around his neck. He could barely breathe. And the flies had already been on him. So we released the trap and he set him free. And the Lord reminded me of that illustration. I'd met two different people this past week. They also seemed to have a trap around their neck spiritually. And we learned this morning Sunday School lesson about deception and how it can snuff the life out of people. And I went to check in and got a tombstone from my parents. And the lady there, an older lady, we stepped outside. They had some samples out there. I said, you know some of those pillars you see in old cemeteries with the pyramid on the top? I said, they're usually probably Masons that were buried there. Well, she said, you know, her husband was a Mason. And she's, of course, the Mason religion, it's a men-only religion. But then the women have what they call the Eastern Star and she's part of that. Then we got a little discussion on that and she said, you have to believe in some kind of supreme power or supreme being to be part of that. So it opened another door of opportunity and she claimed to be a Christian. She was a Methodist. And I told her, I said, I don't think you can be both. But anyway, then just the other day Jehovah's Witness, a young man and an older man stopped and again, I perceived them as somebody with a trap of deception around their neck. And we agreed on a number of things in our discussion but then they do not believe in the resurrection of the dead unto judgment. So I brought a few examples out and that's where we differed greatly in what the Scripture says. I asked him if what he thinks about the rich man of Lazarus, the story where the rich man was and he couldn't answer it. Then I asked him, what about the goats on the left? Where are they coming from if they die and cease to be? And he couldn't answer that either. So he finally said, I think we'll have to agree to disagree and we have more doors to knock on. So it's a challenge to us. There's people everywhere that have that trap around their neck. Do we have a life-giving message? Thank you. Bless you, Ivan, for your evangelistic heart. I've noticed that in you. Amen. Lester, go ahead. I was very blessed with the message. Thank you, Brother Aaron, for that. You made the remark that that's all you have. That's the Gospel. And my mind just went, as you were speaking here, that Jesus said He came to set the captives free. And it's so freeing to just give Himself and just let Him have the controls. It sets us free. And we don't have to have the burden of being in this cage with this iron cage that has bars over the door and we can't get out. We can be set free. Praise God. Amen. Is the microphone on? God spoke something to my heart here this past week. And I just said it out loud to myself when He spoke it. And maybe I'll just say it out loud here again. And that is, pride is absent from my life to the degree that Christ is the center of my life. And if you notice there, I didn't say the teachings of Christ. If you wonder why or what the difference is, you can ask me sometime in person what the difference is there. Thanks Aaron. I was awash in the Word. I really appreciated that. I've been seeing this a lot in the Scripture. How we're being transformed through our dying into the image of Christ and into a glory of Christ. I was reading Peter a lot. 1 Peter. And I noticed that every time it mentioned suffering, it also mentioned glory. And so all the things that God has been bringing me through or whatever, it's working for a glory. But I'm ultimately looking forward to the day when I put off the old man completely. When I'll see Him as He is in all of His glory and be transformed completely into His image and glorified in Him and with Him. That is a little bit of a taste of what we get here on this earth. That's now. But it's also not yet. It's coming. And it's exciting because we can be transformed now in the salvation of our souls, but we're also going to leave this awful flesh behind. You mentioned you felt like you were washed, Clark. That's how I felt. Sometimes the teaching of the Word does us good, but sometimes it's just the washing of the Word. I felt the same way this morning. Thank you for listening. We hope this message has blessed you. If you would like additional messages, please visit our website at ccfsermons.org Call us at 855-55-CHARITY or write to us at Charity Christian Fellowship 59 South Groffdale Road, Leola, PA 17540 This ministry is supported by your donations. May Jesus Christ be Lord of all.