In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of dedicating one's life to serving God. He encourages young men to give their strength, days, youth, and beauty to God, rather than to any other person or thing. The preacher expresses his envy for missionaries who have the opportunity to preach the Gospel in places where it is not yet heard. He urges the audience to either go to the mission field or support those who are going, emphasizing the significance of their mission. The sermon also highlights the power and authority of God, stating that nothing in heaven or earth will move without His word. The preacher concludes by warning the leaders of the world to worship and honor God, as His wrath may soon be kindled.

For more media content from Grace Community Church in San Antonio, Texas, go to gccsatx.com. Media used by permission of HeartCry Missionary Society. Visit us online at heartcrymissionary.com. Again, I must say it was absolutely a wonderful presentation of a missionary endeavor, a hopeful missionary endeavor in the state of Utah. I remember a few years ago flying into Salt Lake City and on my way somewhere else to preach and was just amazed at the number of families that were there sending out their children to the mission field. I'm not talking about just at my gate, everywhere, hundreds of them going out. And I thought those of us who know the truth, how little is that done? What do you inspire or aspire for your children? What do you want for them? If you are thoroughly Christian, you must say, I want most of all for my child, that his or her heart be completely devoted to the Son of God. And you should count it an honor and make it a prayer that they would go forth in his name to the nations. Your children are going to die. Whether it be from accident or old age, they are going to die. It's best then that they die for him, that they live for him. But when your children look at your life and the activities in which you place them, would they say, my parents, their primary goal is that I be devoted to Christ. My parents, their primary goal is that I serve him. Is that what they would say? I hope so. Don't so much worry about a secular society leading your child down the wrong path. Many of you are doing a good job at that without a secular society. You yourselves are leading your children down the wrong path. I've made many remarks this week, blanket statements about sports and stuff. I stand by them. That doesn't mean that it is wrong for a child to be in sports or some extracurricular activity. Not at all. My two boys wrestle. They have, I guess, a private tutor. He works at HeartCry, who is a champion wrestler. I want them to know wrestling because they can get someone in a submissive hole and then witness to them for 20 minutes. It can be a good thing. So we don't want to go to extremes toward fanaticism, but we do want to go to extremes. Christ is worth our extreme. He is. Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, you should do it unto the glory of God. Parents, you have so little time with your children. For most Christian parents, other people spend more time with them than the parents do. That time you have with your children, what are they learning from you? In what direction are you pointing them? Men, turn about and face Christ and say, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. We will serve the Lord. Matthew 28. Verse 16. But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some were doubtful. Here we see in this text again, I want to iterate from last night, we do not see these spiritual giants. We see frightened, doubting men. Their obedience is not as bold as a lion or as strong as an ox. It's feeble, it's weak, but it's there. They are proceeding. They are ongoing. They are following him because in some way they see themselves as captives. Where else will they go? He alone has the words of eternal life. Now we go on and we see verse 18. And Jesus came up and spoke to them. You know, he is a compassionate high priest. Therefore, we would also expect him to be a compassionate commander. He sees their littleness. He sees their brokenness. He sees their feeble faith and he does not come at them with rebuke. He does not reject them. He is not angry. He comes to them. He comes to them. I praise God that I serve a God who comes to me. I said this at the beginning of the week and I will say it again. There is no such thing as a great man or woman of God. There are only little, pitiful, weak, faithless men and women of a great and mighty God. As I look back over 26 years of walking with him, I do not see great decisions on my part, nor feats of strength, nor demonstrations of wisdom. I see a faithful God who began a good work in me and will complete it. Who not only called me, but will see to it that I do the very thing for which I have been called. But most of all, I see a God so patient. You know, it is so reflected in our homeschooling. I will sit there and my children, I have caught myself saying, I have had to teach you the same thing ten times. And I hear the echo in eternity. And I have taught thee one thousand times the same truth. Do you know why I heard someone say one time, I do not know, they were supposedly, they called it preaching. This is what they said, they said, God is never going to give up on you. God is never going to give up on you because he never put any confidence in you to start with. God is not going to give up because he has decreed, sovereignly decreed, to nullify the wisdom of the wise and destroy the strength of the strong. By doing what? By calling people who are not among the noble, not among the strong, not among the brilliant or the wise, to call little lambs and send them out in the midst of wolves, knowing they will prevail because he will make them prevail. It is a little off the subject, but I really want to say this. This is really important. I have had young men, young women, very dedicated, who write me and say things like this. I remember a young man who wrote me and he said, Brother Paul, I am just so struggling, I am so ignorant of God, I am so unrighteous, I am so unholy. And so I wrote him back and I said, Dear brother, you are much more ignorant, much more unholy, and much more unrighteous than you now know. I signed my name. I have the gift of encouragement. And so he calls me up on the phone and he said, Thanks? And I said, Listen to me. I know your life. In many ways, in your young years, you have surpassed me. Here is what I want you to see. I used to look inwardly so much to try to find joy and hope and confidence. But over the years, I have learned that that is a hopeless cause. Young man, in many ways, you are more godly than I am, but I am happier than you. And he said, Why? I said, Because you are constantly looking at your own performance. And I have given up on that. But I look now only unto the perfect work of Jesus Christ on my behalf. And those of you who are missionaries, and going to be missionaries, listen, there is going to be so much failure. There is going to be so many dumb things you do. Your attitude at times is going to be wrong. Everything about you is going to be wrong. But He will never be wrong. And He will continue doing the work. We can continue on. We can persevere. Not because of some great tenacity in us. This is not about some humanistic strength of being some top-gun missionary. We do not persevere because we are strong. We persevere because of Him. He never fails. He never fails. And He never rejects His own. Remember this. A smoking flax missionary. Listen to me. Because that is what we have here. We have a bunch of missionaries who are coming to their captain. And they are afraid to even get close to him. What will he say? We failed him. We denied him. We ran away from him. So they see Christ, the resurrected Christ, standing over there. And look, they are hesitant to approach Him. Why? Because all their claims to dedication and devotion, they were destroyed. Weren't they? Do I come near? Now believer, you are the same way sometimes. Missionary, you will be the same way. You have failed. You have dropped the ball. You have not done what you have said. Can I go back to Him? One of the greatest promises in the Bible is this. A smoking flax He will not put out. A bruised reed He will not crush. Now what does that mean? This passage is so precious to me because I have been both a smoking flax and a bruised reed. When I was a little boy, we would have these great big ice storms. And there would be no power. And the whole house, we would just sleep in front of the fireplace. Be freezing. Sleeping in front of the fireplace. And we would have these coal oil lamps. Now the worst thing that can ever happen, young person, trust me on this. Is for that wick to burn until all the oil is gone. Because once the oil is gone from that lamp, do you know what happens? That wick starts burning. And it will stink up a house like nothing you have ever smelled in your life. And so you come home. We are feeding the cattle. And we come in and the oil is burned down. And the house just stinks. You don't think about going over there and saving the lamp anymore. No. You think about throwing open a window and throwing the lamp outside. The whole house is filled with stench. Missionary and Christian. There will be times when you will so grieve the Holy Spirit. And so be in the flesh with your wife, with your co-workers. Even with unbelievers who have mistreated you and mistreated you. That you will stink. There will be no light coming out of you. Just stench. And anyone, anyone would take you and throw you out and say, done with you. You are over. You are not useful anymore. You have blown it. The Bible says this. That a smoking flax he will not put out. What does that mean? When everyone else would throw you away. And say you are no good for the ministry. Christ comes. He pulls forth the wick. He trims it down. He refills the lamp with oil. And he sees to it that his child shines once again. A bruised reed. You go down in Israel. You go down to the rivers. And there are reeds everywhere. And they are very hollow and very delicate. And children will go down there and they will cut a reed. Make it about this long. And then with a stick or a piece of metal they will start hollowing out the reed. Making some holes and trying to make a flute to play music with. But those reeds, like I said, are very, very fragile. Very fragile. So the reed breaks. Just breaks. No music. Nothing. Worthless. Throw it away. Why? There are a million other reeds. You are not going to spend all day trying to fix this thing that is already broken. No. Cast it aside. Get another reed. Work with it. The Messiah won't do that. It is a bruised or broken reed. He won't disregard it. So here he has worked on your life all this time to make you into a missionary. And right at the point where you should most perform. Now you are on the mission field. And it seems you break. You think, I can't even. Most missionaries that I have talked to, they will say sometimes, I want to come off the field because I don't even want to write a letter to my supporters because I almost feel like they shouldn't support me. There has been so little success. I just feel like I am broken and I should be cast out and I shouldn't be supported any longer. But Messiah is not that way. Christ is not that way. You break in his hands, he can't play anything out of you. He will put it back together. And that broken thing he has mended will play better than one that has never been broken. I remember one time, and of course when you are young, you are always hearing God speak to you. I remember one time in my prayer closet, praying, praying, praying. Oh God, I just want to be a vessel. I just want to be a vessel. I want to be a sword. I want to be someone who can stand up and proclaim boldly a sword in your hands. And it seemed like he said, what about a cracked pot? Would you be a cracked pot for me? Would you be a broken cistern? Well, what do you mean? Would you be just someone who leaked? That I could fill and it would all leak out. And I could fill again and it would all leak out. Where these missionaries are going, at least the places in Europe and stuff, I know quite well. This place in Utah. I work the Amazon, the Marignone Rivers, the jungles, the Andes Mountains. That's a baby game compared to where they are going. What I did was easy. These people are going into tough places. When you put your name down there for their email and they send you an email or an update and everything is not that rosy and they have had a lot of trouble and there isn't a whole lot of people getting saved at the moment. Listen, that's real missionary work. If I get a newsletter from a missionary and every month there's glorious things happening and there's no failures, I doubt his integrity. Because missionary work is three steps forward, five steps back. Two steps forward, one step back. Five steps forward, three steps back. It is hard. It's hard. But no matter what happens, he never fails. He never casts out. He's never done with you. And you can get right back into the ballgame, missionary. Right back into the ballgame, minister. Right back into the ballgame because he is faithful. That's why we sing. We don't sing because we're faithful. We don't praise because we're great. No, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. The Lord. Now, Jesus came up and spoke to them saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. I truly believe a lot of teaching on eschatology in the United States is wrong. Eschatology is the doctrine of last things. And I believe a lot of teaching on eschatology in the United States of America has done a lot of damage. And I believe that it has taken from the glory of Christ rather than add to it. Because everything in America is future, future, future, future. One day, one day, one day, one day. I want you to know the emphasis in the New Testament is now, now, now. Jesus did not say here, One day, at the end of all these things, all authority is going to be given to me. He did not say, in my second coming, all authority is going to be given to me. He did not say, in my second coming, I will be crowned a king and a lord. No. He said, now, all authority has been given unto me. And that is the strength of the missionary. All authority has been given to Jesus Christ. In heaven and on earth. There is nothing in the universe, there is nothing visible or invisible that is not under the sovereign lordship of Jesus Christ. And we need to understand that. Now, what does this mean? You read that, all authority has been given unto me in heaven and on earth. What does that mean? Well, let's just look at a few passages tonight. Just a few to give us an idea. Go to Psalms, chapter 2. We live in terrible times. There are many places around the globe where if you preach the gospel, you will be arrested, you will be tortured, you will be killed. More Christians are being killed in this day and age than in all the history of Christianity. Some have estimated that around a thousand Christians a day in the present are being martyred. We live in a country in the west where we are seeing every day the net being closed around us more and more. It is not an exaggeration to say, it is not wrong for me to suppose that if things keep going as they are, I should be in prison inside of 15 years. The nations rail against the gospel. This country and its government rails against the gospel. The countries and their kings in the west and in Europe and in Eastern Europe rail against the gospel. The supposed powers that be today hate the gospel of Jesus Christ and will do everything in their power to silence us. It is beginning and it will continue. But all authority has been given unto Him in heaven and on earth. Look at Psalms, chapter 2. This is not something to be seen as future. It is something to be seen as reality now. Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? This is the case. In all the countries where we work, in all the countries where we gather news, every day more and more laws attempting to be passed so that the gospel cannot be preached. Every day our own government contemplating the idea of hate crimes in order to use that to silence the preachers of the gospel. Every day devising and scheming and trying to discover ways to shut down Christianity, the missionary activity of Christianity and the work of God on this planet. Why though are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together. Against whom? Against the Lord and against His anointed. Who is that anointed one? Jesus Christ. The King of kings and the Lord of lords. You take the combined strength of all the armies in heaven and earth and hell and you set them against the throne of Jesus Christ and their power is nothing more than the power of a tiny gnat beating its head against a world of granite. That's what we must understand. God has established His King and all the other kings and princes and presidents and governors are nothing before Him. And he goes on and he says this, against the Lord and against His anointed saying, let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us. Now, one would suppose that a world filled with suffering and death and pain, one would suppose that a world whose immorality increases like the plague, one would suppose that nations who now, even now, are crying out, the whole world has become chaos, what should we do? We're losing our youth, we're losing everything, all of it is falling from us. You would suppose that a world like that would look up to God and say, help me. You would suppose men who cannot escape from their own sin and nations that are being destroyed by their own sin and greed and evil, you would suppose that they would listen to the gospel and open up their lives to it. You would suppose that they would think, finally, freedom has come. But no, they consider it bondage and they want to break free from it. Why? I'll tell you why. Listen to me very closely. If a man's heart has not been regenerated by the Spirit of God, he hates God. He hates God. And not only does he hate God, but he hates God's law. And to him, God's law is not freedom, it's bondage. It's bondage. In Romans 1, verse 18, look what it says. Let's just turn there for a moment. Hold your place in Psalms, but go to Romans 1, verse 18 so you can see it for yourself. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who do what? Who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Men do not want the truth. They do not want the truth. They do not want to understand the truth because the moment they accept the truth, they know they have to submit themselves to it. And that they do not want to do. Man has so set himself against God that apart from the supernatural work of regeneration by the Spirit of God through the preaching of the gospel, men will not do anything but oppose the will of God. And so you have this attitude in Psalms, chapter 2, verse 3. Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us. Man wants this planet without God. We'll accept any Messiah no matter how ludicrous that person might be as long as he has no association with God. I would submit to you that C.S. Lewis in this matter was right. That men so oppose God that the door to hell is locked from the inside. And if God were to throw the door of hell wide open and say, you are free to leave, just bow and worship me, the door would slam and you would hear a scream from the inside, we'd rather rot in hell. That's what a missionary is going up against. But all authority has been given to God's Christ in heaven and on earth. Now look at verse 4. He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. You hear that? Every law that's made, every word that comes forth from the secular man, every opposition, every blasphemy, every great claim from man about how he is going to transform his own society, how he is going to fix everything and he doesn't need God's help, God laughs at him. He mocks him. Many of you have never heard such things like that in preaching, that God looks down from heaven and He laughs at men and mocks them. God mocks the United States of America. He mocks the West. He mocks every person, every individual, every society that claims to have the power to oppose Him. He mocks them. And then He says He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury, saying, but as for me, I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain. God has a king. You have a king. This entire world has a king. Acceptance of that king is part of what it means to be saved. You shall confess Jesus Christ as Lord. A king. Mighty king. And compared to Him, all the kings of the earth are as nothing. My dear friend, listen to me. We should not fear those who oppose us when we preach the gospel. We should not fear those who claim to have the power to kill our bodies. We should fear the one who has the power not only to kill the body, but to kill the soul in hell. And those who oppose us, we should not be afraid of them, nor should we be angry. We should pity them because they have clenched their teeth and set themselves against God. They have lifted up their fist in the face of omnipotence, and because of that they shall perish if they do not repent. He says, I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain. The uniqueness of Jesus Christ is what gets Christians in trouble all the time. Do you know why most Christians were killed in the first centuries of Christianity? They were killed as atheists. Did you know that? Many people don't realize that. Christians were killed as atheists. Now why? Well, I'll tell you why. Rome is filled with every sort of god, every sort of religion. I mean, they had so many gods they couldn't even count them. They swapped gods like baseball cards. Everybody was happy with everybody else's god. Everybody had their own gods and everyone was happy, and then Christianity shows up. And this is what they say. Jesus Christ is the Lord and the Savior. Now what's important about that statement? The definite article. They did not say Jesus is a Lord or Jesus is a Savior. If they had said that, they wouldn't have died. They said Jesus is the Lord. That means everybody else's Lord is not Lord. They said Jesus Christ is the Savior. That means everybody else's Savior is not the Savior. And that's what got them killed. Do you realize that if I were just to say, if I were to change simply the article in my preaching, instead of using the definite article, I'd use the indefinite article, I'd be on the Oprah Winfrey show. Honestly. I'd be on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. If only I would say Jesus is a Savior. Jesus is a King. But if you go one step further, and say Jesus is the Savior, Jesus is the King, they will kill you. That has been the scandal of Christianity throughout the ages. Is that Christianity is an exclusive religion. So that men and women, some estimate up to 50 million in the last 2,000 years have died because they would not say, Jesus is a King. They said Jesus is the King. The only King. And all other Kings are nothing. Jesus is the Savior. That is why even when, listen to me, even when very famous evangelicals, and there has been a few of them now, are interviewed on secular television, and they are pointedly asked the question, do you believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven? When they respond by saying, who am I to judge? They have denied Christ. Because what they must do is say this, let me make it perfectly clear. There is no other name given to men under heaven whereby we may be saved except for Jesus Christ. Because God does not have many kings. He has one King. Now we go on. In verse 7. Now the Messiah speaks. Christ speaks. I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord. He said to me, you are my Son, today I have begotten you. Now what is He saying? He is not speaking. He is not saying that there was a time when the Son did not exist. He is not denying the eternal nature of the Son. He is speaking about the resurrection, that great day when the Son was declared with power to be the Son. Paul the Apostle uses this text. Others use this text. He quotes the decree of God. You see, a president may say, I am elected by the people. But God says all the nations, all the people of all the nations are nothing more than a drop in a bucket to me. A king may say, I am king by right of heritage. And God says, and what is your heritage to me? But the Messiah stands forth and says, I am king by the decree of God. Now here is something about the Messiah's reign. It is eternal. You should never expect that there is going to be a changing of the guard. You should never expect that his administration is going to be run out of town by another. Jesus Christ is now king, eternal. And he goes on and he says this in verse 8, Ask of me and I will surely give you the nations as your inheritance and the very ends of the earth as your possession. Missionaries, this is a promise. Look what it is saying. God has promised to his Son saying, Ask of me, Son, and I will surely give you the nations as your inheritance and the very ends of the earth as your possession. The Bible tells us in the book of Revelation that God will call forth a people from every tribe, from every nation, from every language. So what does the missionary know? It doesn't matter where I go and what I see with my own eyes. It doesn't matter if I labor here for 90 years without one convert. I know this, if I preach long enough and I preach faithfully the gospel of Jesus Christ, even though I die here seeing no fruit, out of the ground will break forth fruit in the name of Christ. He will see to it that some among this people belong to him. A missionary can go out with the greatest confidence knowing if I stay out here and I preach long enough, somebody is getting saved. Somebody is coming out of this tribe, a believer in Jesus Christ. Somebody is going to stand before God one day in glory because of my time spent here on the field preaching the gospel. You can be sure of that. Realize this. Everything that God has ever done, He has done it for His Son. And when God sends a missionary to a people, although God loves that people, He is not doing it primarily for that people. He is doing it for His Son. And that is why devotion to the Son is so exceedingly important. Because missionary, like I said last night, you do not go there primarily because of the men who are dying without Christ. You go there primarily for Christ who died for men. And you serve Him faithfully because of who He is. He goes on and He says this in verse 9, You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall shatter them like earthenware. A dear brother in Romania who was shut up for many, many years in prison, one of the captains of the guard came in and found him praying. They said, We have taken everything from you. We have taken your life. We have taken your family. We have taken everything from you. And you still pray? What could you be praying for? He said, I am praying for you. Why? Because the believer who knows Christ and knows the Word, knows that he need not fear his enemies, but pity them. Because Jesus Christ is coming back to this planet one day to rescue His redeemed. And He will rule the nations with a rod of iron. Those who have trusted Him will bow before Him because of the grace given to them. But others will bow before Him because their kneecaps have been broken by the one who wields a rod of judgment against the nations. It is a terrifying thing to fall in the hands of an angry God. We don't fear men. We fear for them. Because if they do not repent, Christ is coming. His judgment is swift. I remember one time in Peru during the war. I came out of this place where they sold some Christian books. And I noticed that the lady who was selling little candies on the side of the street, a beggar, that when I came out she looked at me and she went... She was very afraid. Not catching what she was trying to tell me, all of a sudden a policeman came up. And although there were some noble policemen in Peru, I'm sure, they were very famous for being corrupt and dangerous. Make you disappear. And so he came up to me and he said, Where is your car? Right there. Your car is illegal. Get in the car. I got in the car. He gets in the car. Okay, drive me around. I drove him around. And I'm praying, Oh Lord, Oh Lord, Oh Lord. He said, We're going to meet up. I heard him call some of the other policemen. He said, We're going to meet up with another patrullero, with another patrol car. And then we're going to go somewhere else. And I knew, Okay, this is really bad. And then finally he stopped the car. And he said, Get out of your car. So I got out and thought, Well, he's just going to steal the car. Good. And then he gets out. And he walks over to me. And he goes, Why aren't you angry? And I didn't say anything. He said, Why aren't you angry? You know what I'm doing to you. And for some reason I said, I'm not angry because I'm afraid. And he smiled and he gloated. I could just see the evil. He goes, You're afraid. And I said, Yes, sir. I'm afraid for you. And he said, Why are you afraid for me? And I said in Spanish, Sir, Would you please just back up a few feet? Why? I am begging God right now not to kill you. I'm doing everything in my power, begging God not to kill you. Please don't talk to me. I must pray. I must commune with my God. The man started trembling. Trembling and crying. He just broke down right on the sidewalk. Why should God kill me? Because he who blesses me will be blessed and he who curses me will be cursed. You want to take everything from me and my Father in Heaven sees it. And it is only mercy that holds back His wrath from killing you on this sidewalk and casting your soul in hell. Now, that's not the type of evangelism they teach at Bible school. But he broke down weeping, gave me all my documents back, and then said, Would you pray for me, please, that God not kill me? Then I think I got in the flesh a little bit because I said, Well, I'll pray, but I'm not sure it's going to work because he's really mad. What I want you to see is not that we're to be belligerent or anything else, but listen to me. We are lambs. We're not John Wayne. We're not Indiana Jones. We're lambs. But the one standing behind you and in front of you and beside you and in you is the King of glory so that the weakest among us will chase a hundred, a thousand. We stand in Him. You know it speaks about the kingdom of heaven advances violently and the violent take it by force. Some men have come to believe that passage means that these types of men who have this John Wayne boldness and this great tenacity, they grab a hold of the kingdom because they're so powerful and so brave and they pray and God uses them. That's not what that text means at all. I'll tell you what it means. One time I decided that I was going to learn how to surf in Peru. I got at this old surfboard and went out there and I couldn't understand why they had a red flag up on the life. I've soon learned that that meant don't get in the water because you will die and waves were crashing everywhere and I'm just going out through there and all of a sudden I heard something go gulp, gulp, gulp. I don't know if it was a sea lion or I looked over and there was a young Peruvian man on a boogie board with eyes about that big. He was terrified. He was utterly terrified. He was about to drown. He was clenching on to the boogie board and I went over there and thought well I need to rescue him and then I realized if I get close to him he will grab me and even though I'm bigger and stronger he is so terrified. He will take me under. I won't be able to swim with him. So I went and got a bunch of other men to help me, surfers. Well anyways, the point is this. He was a weak little man. But his fear, his need, he was so desperate that he would have violently clung to anyone who would have extended a hand. That's what that means. To be violent and enter into the kingdom with violence, to be mightily used of God does not mean that you're strong. It means you're so weak that you're desperate. Missionaries that are used on the field are not used because they have some strength of will. It is because they've begun to recognize how weak they are, how failing their efforts and they desperately cling to Christ. And in that you're made strong. It's in that that you're made strong. Now he goes on, verse 10, And now therefore, O King, show discernment. If I could stand before the leaders of the world tonight and I could only read one passage to them, all of them, from the United States to France to England to South American countries to African countries, Middle Eastern, if I could only read one passage to all the great leaders of the world, this is what I would read. Now therefore, O King, show discernment. Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son that He not become angry and you perish in the way. For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are those who take refuge in Him. We do not go out to the nations fearing the nations. We go out to the nations fearing for the nations, knowing that if they do not repent, if they do not hear, there is no hope for them. Now I want you to go for just a moment to understand even better what's going on here. Go for a moment to the book of Daniel. Chapter 2, verse 44. Daniel 2, verse 44. He has spoken about Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, the great civilizations of antiquity. And then he says this in verse 44, In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed. And that kingdom will not be left for another people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it itself will endure forever. The problem is so many people just think future, future, future. And they do not realize that this kingdom was established upon the blood of Jesus Christ. When He was raised from the dead, He was then seated at the right hand of His Father. This kingdom has begun. And it is a kingdom that will endure forever. He goes on and He says in 45, In so much as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future. So the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy. If I could only have you leave here tonight ringing in your ears, Jesus Christ is King. He is not just the soon coming King. He is King. He is King now. And He has a kingdom now. And He reigns over all the kings of the earth. Do you realize all these Christians talking about plots and conspiracies. There can be no plots. There can be no conspiracies. Because man can do nothing except Jesus Christ decree it. They can attempt all sorts of things against the people of God, but none of it will prevail. No harm will touch us unless Christ decrees it. And if He decrees it, it is for our purification, for our own good. Don't fear the world. Pity the world. Christ reigns. Do you remember what Pharaoh said of Joseph? He told everyone, without a word from him, nothing will be done in Egypt. Nothing will be done without a word spoken from Joseph. When God set His King on His holy hill, when Christ was exalted to the right hand of the Father, it is though the Father decreed, now all listen, not one thing in the universe will be done except at His command. Even the one who gets ready to take our life, the slayer who slays, we're drug out of prison and we're thrown on the blocks to have our head taken off. We ought to look up at our slayer and bless him as an instrument of God to take us home to glory. You can only lift that axe and drop it on my head by the power of the one you deny. Oh my dear, we have no need to be afraid. When these missionaries who have been here, they go out to Europe, they go out to Utah, they go out to all these places. A young lady, I mean, it's preposterous, it's insane. A young lady goes to South Africa. But who goes with her? Who goes with her? Who goes with her? There is no one like Him. Strength to the weak. Oh missionary, never fear that you are too weak. You are not too weak. You are not weak enough. Make yourself weaker that He show Himself even more strong. Now I want you to go for just a moment to Daniel chapter 7. In verse 9, we don't have time to go through all of this, but we see that the ancient of days that He reigns. In verse 9, I kept looking until thrones were set up and the ancient of days took His seat. His vesture was like white snow and the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames. Its wheels were a burning fire. When God is referred to as the ancient of days, it does not mean what we mean when we call a man ancient or a civilization ancient. It does not speak of God being decrepit or weak or broken or wore down. It's speaking of His wisdom, of His eternity, that He is the same regardless of the ages rolling by, yesterday, today, and forever. His strength does not wane. His wisdom should not be doubted. Well, He sits there and it goes on and it says, let's go on to verse 11. Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time. Verse 13, I kept looking in the night visions and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming. Now, if you know anything about theology, this seems to be a contradiction. Why? He comes in the clouds of heaven and He is a son of man. There is only one who comes in the clouds of heaven and that is God. And yet this one who is identified by His deeds as God is also called the son of man. Now, for all you budding Bible scholars, let me fill you in on something. One of the most misinterpreted phrases in all the Bible in past scholarship has been this terminology, son of man, when Jesus referred to Himself as the son of man. All my life as a young man, I heard preachers say, He calls Himself the son of man because He is referring to His humility. No, that is not why He calls Himself the son of man. He calls Himself the son of man because He is saying this, Although you see Me as a servant, as weak, as one who can be nailed to a tree, know this, I am the son of man of Daniel. I am the one who will come in the clouds. The Father has decreed it. I am the one who will reign over the nations. So mark it down. Nail me to a tree, beat me with a whip, put a crown of thorns on my head, but don't you forget this, I am the son of man and I will come back. And He goes on. One like the son of man was coming and He came up to the ancient of days. That right there is proof of deity. Who can approach God but God? And He goes on and He says this, And was presented before Him. Do you remember, Joseph, again, how He is there in the prison as though He were dead? And in a moment's time, He is brought out of the prison. He is cleaned off completely. And He is presented before Pharaoh. And then Pharaoh says, Without a word from Him, nothing will happen in the entire land of Egypt. And so Christ buried in that tomb. And in a moment's notice, He was raised from the dead. He was presented before the Father as the triumphant son of man, the vicar of God. And God looks down and says, Nothing in heaven or earth or hell will move a muscle apart from His word. That's the God you're serving. And He goes on and He says, And to Him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him. Missionary, it doesn't matter where you're going. If you will just continue on. If you will just continue doing what you've been called to do, regardless of the apparent results or the lack thereof, know this, your mission will be successful. You will be victorious. Why? Because God has promised His Son that He will take for Him a people from every place. And just think, He's using you to do it. And He goes on and He says, His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away. And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. Now I want you to look at something. We'll go back to our text in Matthew. But I want you to look at verse 12 again. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time. How? How do I take this? In reality, at the incarnation of Jesus Christ and His death and His resurrection and His coronation, at that moment, all other dominions ceased. Every king is not a king. There are no kings anymore. Oh, they're allowed to wear their little crowns. They're allowed to play president for a while. They're allowed to do all that they will do. Strut their power. Declare their dominion. But they're nothing more than a make-believe. Because 2,000 years ago, God set His king on His mountain. And all the nations before Him are like a drop in a bucket. Like a speck of dust on the scales. He has triumphed. He has overcome. There is only one true king and one true kingdom on this planet. It is Jesus Christ, and it is the kingdom of heaven. And you have been called to go forth and to preach the gospel of that king. To declare to all men that God commands all people everywhere to repent and believe the Son. We go to all nations now and we tell them of the allegiance that they owe Jesus Christ. We go in humility. We go in love. We go with sacrificial service. But we go unapologetically. Jesus Christ is Lord. And He demands that you repent and that you believe the gospel. Oh. Oh. The most horrible thing about preaching is it is always a failure. I wish we could see with spiritual eyes this Jesus upon His throne. Millions upon millions, billions upon billions of angels serving Him straight before Him. Honoring Him. Declaring His virtues. Reigning in heaven. And He has appointed you. You. Of all people. He has appointed you as an ambassador. And you would not? You thought? You think it a slight thing? To be appointed an ambassador? You would rather do something else than be an ambassador of Jesus Christ? You would rather be involved in the things of this world? You think more about retirement than you think death and glory? You think more about fancy clothes and shirts and cars and all those sorts of things than you do eternal reward? You would rather trifle with an Xbox than preach the cross? You are an ambassador. Now know this. We'll end here. If you are a Christian, as one old writer said, you are of high stock. You have been given a heavenly nature. Therefore, now, there is nothing on this planet that can satisfy you. That's one of the drawbacks of being a Christian. A true Christian. You have been so transformed that now nothing on this planet will satisfy you. Isn't that amazing? Other people can just get so excited about so many things in this world, but you can't. And even when you depart from the Lord, as we all do at times, and you break out of the stall and you try to get something for yourself that you're sure will bring you pleasure, no sooner do you obtain the thing than it's like rot in your belly. It does not satisfy. Learn this lesson and live for eternity. Learn this lesson and live for eternity. Young men, give your strength for Him. Give your days for Him. Give your youth, your beauty. Give it to Him. Because it's rot if it's given to any other thing or any other person. Give it to Him. I have to say that after this week I'm coveting, I'm so envious of these missionaries. You should be. You should be so envious. They get to go and do that in a place where the Gospel is not preached. Why wasn't I picked? Why can't I go? Well, you were picked just for a different thing. A thing just as important, just as necessary. I could talk all night begging you to do two things. Go to the mission field and preach the Gospel or hold the rope for those who are going. Be their supply. Be their help. Be their aid. I'm leaving here again tonight. I'm out the door like the wind. And it's not because I don't want to meet with you. You know how I do. This is not about some itinerant preacher. This is about missions. And you go out there and you stay here till midnight asking them questions. You pray for them. Go out and find out, pray. Just look at their stands and go, God, God, give me a word. Now Lord, if you don't stop me, I'm going to do something to help these people. Instead of, Lord, cause the lighting in the church to blow up if you really want me to give them a nickel. I'm going to help these people. Everyone knows, I have been accused of many, many things on the internet, but I've never been accused of flattery. I don't think I've ever seen such missionary presentations. And I've been around a long time. I can pretty much tell when someone's throwing up a lot of smoke in mirrors. Just do what you can and above what you can to help these people. To help others. Please. Don't let them go to bed tonight. Talk to them. Find out what they're doing. I was so pleased at the presentation tonight saying, have any of you ever thought about moving out there? My friend Dave, who brought me, goes, I've never heard anybody say that. I said, that's pretty neat, isn't it? So which one of you are going? To move out to Utah? You see, anything for the cause. Anything for Christ. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you'd use this mangled mess of a word, Lord. Lord, that people would see we have no reason to fear. We have a great God. A great King above all gods. And a great commission to fulfill. And oh Lord, bless. Bless these missionaries this week. Lord, bless them. Bless them. Bless them. Just, Lord, bless them. Lord. Lord. Rend the heavens. Lord, your lambs are not beggars. Move on the hearts of people. Move on the hearts of all the people in all the churches that have heard these missionaries around this country. Lord, fill them with what they need. Oh God, fill them with what they need. Give them the support they need. Give them the power they need. Give them the love they need. Oh God. Oh God. Please. In Jesus' name. Amen.