In this sermon, the preacher discusses the life and ministry of C.T. Studd, a missionary who dedicated his life to spreading the gospel. Studd's conviction to go to China was solidified when he read the Bible verse about a man's foes being those of his own household. He was joined by six other men, known as the Cambridge Seven, and together they sparked a revival among student groups in England. Studd committed himself to living for Christ and doing God's will alone, regardless of what others said. Through his obedience and faith, Studd left a lasting legacy and was used by God in a remarkable way.

What I would do this evening in opening up is really just reiterate what was read to you this morning in the adult Sunday school class, if you were there, from Hebrews chapter 11, from what has been dubbed by some the Hall of Faith, rather than the Hall of Fame, the Hall of Faith. And let me just read some of these verses to you, and really emphasizing one aspect of this. I'll jump right in. You're reading through, and you know the chapter, brings up many of those names whom we recognize from the Old Testament, and then there's some references, general references made to others in general. Still others had trial of mockings and scourging, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. And as we get into C.T. Studd's life, I think you'll recognize him as one of those men of great faith, of whom this world was not worthy, but he gave much of his life to serving Christ and the gospel, spreading the gospel across foreign lands, three in particular, and he was used really in an immeasurable way. And I keyed in on this particular man because of who he and what he was before Christ converted him. It'll speak to many of you young people this evening. So let's begin. C.T. Studd, and you'll notice in your little handout that he's on the second page, I believe, and there's sort of a progression of age there. I didn't label all the pictures, but you can see that at the top I tried to make it a progression of age till you see the very bottom, and then I think there's a picture of his wife there. But you'll notice on a lot of the pictures in that handout that they went by their initials. And I think that was something of the era. D.L. Moody, whom you'll hear about, the same thing, Dwight L. Moody. But Charles Thomas Studd, he was known as C.T. Studd, was a man who possessed everything that the world could give. And a man who gave all he had back to the world for his own glory, not for God's glory, for his own glory and for the satisfaction of his own heart. His father was a millionaire who made his fortune in India in the 19th century. And so as a result, C.T. and his brothers were reared quite literally with a silver spoon in their mouths. And they were reared in the arrogance and the attitude of superiority that was seen only amongst the wealthiest children in England. They were fox hunters, they raced horses, they were welcome in the elite homes of those wealthy, the wealthiest individuals of England. There was privilege, obviously, with being a part of such a wealthy family. And they were admired by all of those who were in England because C.T. and his brothers were amongst the greatest cricket players of their day. Now, how many of you know what cricket is, you young people? It would be the equivalent of baseball in this country. They're different, but I want to draw an analogy here and a parallel. These men were popular, C.T. and his brothers, because of their athleticism. And they would be akin to Barry Bonds in our day. Fill the blank with any name that you want in there with regard to a famous baseball player, a basketball player, Michael Jordan. They would be of that par, recognized in England for their ability to compete in cricket. So they knew, they were known, and the question, of course, would arise because of who they were, who their father was, could the Lord Jesus Christ ever lay hold upon Edward Studd and his three sons? And if they did indeed become Christians, wouldn't the world into which they were so deeply entrenched, because of their rich background, because of their wealthy background and their fame, wouldn't that crowd out any real commitment to Christ anyway? Well, you judge for yourself as I tell you about the life of C.T. Studd. It all began when Edward Studd, the father of C.T. Studd, was invited by a friend to attend a D.L. Moody evangelistic meeting. And to the surprise of all, Edward Studd, this worldly man, this money-seeking, pleasure-loving millionaire, was converted to the Lord Jesus Christ. And immediately, his whole concern became the lost souls of the world, and his love for money and pleasure had vanished. Edward Studd actually lived only two more years after he was saved, but he accomplished more in those final two years of his life than he had prior to his conversion, his whole life prior to his conversion. He left a legacy in his sons that was beyond belief and the effect which is immeasurable. This ought to be an encouragement to those of us who are parents. You have a legacy that you're trying to leave as a saved individual, and the legacy that you're leaving has to do with your sons and daughters if God's blessed you. And perhaps right now those sons and daughters aren't saved, and perhaps right now they're going quite the opposite direction you would desire them to go. My encouragement to you this evening would be don't give up hope. Continue to pray and continue to live the life of Christ before them, and let God worry about saving them, so to speak. This man God snatched from, really, the very fires of hell, and through his sons he left a legacy that is immeasurable. At the time of Edward Studd's conversion, his three sons were away at school, of course very good schools, and he arranged to meet with them. And what a shock it was for them to hear that their father had been converted at a Moody meeting. And then to hear his request that they all come to a Moody meeting with him, this was unbelievable to them. They were not at all happy to hear about their father's conversion. After all, they were leading athletes in England and really amongst the nations. And they thought, what kind of sissies would our friends think we are and our fans if a reporter, a news reporter, actually saw us at a Moody meeting? But they gave in to their father's gracious insistence, and the three of them were also converted that night under the preaching of D.O. Moody and by the power of God. Their lives were changed radically by the power of Christ as had been their fathers. And so these three men who were idolized, really, in England, who had been drifting away into eternity on the perilous sea of this world, were rescued by the Lord Jesus Christ. The three Studd brothers were, the other two brothers were also known by their initials. So you had J.E.K., you had G.B., and you had C.T. And they had not only risen to the highest circles in the athletic world in college, but they also were the recognized athletes in the amateur and professional world of cricket. C.T. was labeled by many as the greatest cricket player of his day. If you go on the Internet and you type in his name, he is the topic still on cricket discussion lists. So he still is regarded, his name is still well known. And again, I would liken him to almost like a Barry Bonds of his day. During the days following their conversion, all conversions, all three brothers lived for Christ and with even more commitment and enthusiasm that they had given to cricket. But after a while, C.T. fell into a coldness of heart and there came a turning point in his life when his brother, G.B., was on his deathbed. And it's quite unexpected, he had an illness come upon him and C.T. was constantly at his brother's bedside. And during those days of his concern for his brother, he reached this conclusion. What is the worth of popularity, fame, riches and the possessions of this world when a man is facing eternity? Sounds familiar, doesn't it? What will a profitable man if he gained the whole world and yet lose his own soul? Well, C.T. Studd had had it all. Vanity of vanities, he concluded, all is vanity. And this portion of his life turned out to be a turning point that brought him to a fresh commitment again to Jesus Christ. And from that hour on, we are at least we read that his soul burned, his soul burned for the souls of lost men and women. And this world and its things meant nothing to him. Now, it was during this time also that God used him for the first time to lead somebody to Jesus Christ. He said, quote, I cannot tell you what joy it gave me to lead that soul to the Lord. I've tasted all of the pleasures that the world can give. And I can tell you that those pleasures were nothing compared to the joy that the salvation of that one soul brought to my heart. So you young people, you don't have to experience all that C.T. Studd experienced of the world. Here's an eyewitness telling you that that has nothing to offer you as far as pleasure, true, lasting pleasure. So from that moment on, he was burdened for the souls of men, especially those who had never heard the gospel. He began to hear their voices, to see faces in his mind, though he had never been to the nations that he was concerned for. He knew that he had to live for the salvation of the lost. Following the renewal of his faith and his commitment to seek the loss of this world, he found his heart was no longer for the sport of cricket. C.T. Studd became a speaker at Moody's subsidiary meetings in Britain because Moody had left to evangelize in America. Strange, isn't it? We actually need missionaries now in this day in our country, in the state that we're in. But Moody had left for America. And so C.T.'s seeking to find God's will for his life. He spends three months in intense Bible study and prayer, praying for God's guidance. He rejected business possibilities. It was during this time of seeking to understand God's will that he encountered this tract that was written by an atheist and a portion of it read this way. If I firmly believed, as millions of Christians say that they do, that the knowledge and practice of their Christianity in this lifetime influences their destiny in another life, then Christianity would mean everything to me. I would cast away all of my earthly enjoyments as dross, my earthly cares as well, and my earthly thoughts and feelings as vanity. Christianity would be my first waking thought and my last image as I sank into unconsciousness of sleep. I would labor in the cause of Christ and I would take no thought of tomorrow, but only of eternity alone. I would consider one soul gained for heaven worth a life of suffering. Earthly consequences would never stay my end, nor seal my lips from telling men of Christ. Earth, its joys and griefs would occupy no moment in my thoughts. I would strive to look on eternity alone and on the immortal souls of men around me. So to be everlastingly happy or everlastingly miserable, I would go forth to the world in preach and preach to it in season and out of season. And my whole text would be what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and yet loses his own soul? By a by an atheist. CT immediately saw that this was truly consistent Christian living as impossible as it seemed to live in that manner, and he saw as well how inconsistent his life had been, and he was determined to go from time from that time forth to to live in the grace of God as consistently as he could, committing himself once again to living for Christ as much as he could by the grace of God. He would do God's will. He determined and God's will alone, regardless of what any man might say. And God was faithful in revealing his will for CT's life. CT concluded at this point in time in his life that he must go to China. But then came the biggest test of his life, his family, not his brothers, but his other immediate family and extended family. They had learned to cope with CT's conversion, but a missionary on a foreign field, that was too much. So every means was used by his family to persuade him not to go to China. Even some missionaries and Christian friends told him that he was making a great mistake. Many told him that he could stay in England and give all his money and inheritance to missionaries. You see the temptation. Stay here, give your money, help the cause of Christ. Some told him that he would break his mother's heart if he went. But as he kept praying, God kept the worlds before him and his word before him. Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession. And these words became CT's marching orders. This conviction was solidified in his mind when one night he stood under a flickering light waiting for a train and he read the words, a man's foes shall be they of his own household. And from that moment on, he never looked back. He must go to China regardless. After this commitment, six other men, to be exact, followed. And that's what you have in your sheet before you. They they were dubbed by the media in England, the Cambridge Seven, the Cambridge Seven. This led they became so popular in England that it led to invitations for these men to speak at student gatherings where they were where they were, in a sense, cheered. And a great revival began amongst the student groups there in England, finally faithful to their callings. The Cambridge Seven set sail for China in February of 1885, sponsored by China Inland Missions. And that's why you have a picture of Jay Hudson Taylor there, a founder of China Inland Missions. They sailed and as they sailed, they impacted the lives of those who were on board the ship. Many of those crew and passengers before the ship landed in China came to know Christ. And when they arrived in China, they began adapting to the Chinese culture and there was nothing glamorous about what was going on in China. The stench of dung was prevalent, mingled with the stench of unwashed bodies. They were heading into the interior of China. Disease was common, especially amongst the poor and peasant class. These seven men dispersed themselves into the inland areas of the nation of China and faced journeys on mule. They had to walk by foot. They had to take houseboats, trudging through the mud daily, sometimes living in dirty inns at night, as well as trying to learn the language. The CT committed himself at this time anew to reading the Bible extensively. But yet another decision was pressing upon him. What am I to do with my large inheritance that is going to be coming to me soon? All through his life, because of the wealth of his father, he lacked absolutely nothing. He had enjoyed and lived in an expensive estate in a mansion. He had always had money for these needs and for whatever pleasure he desired, and he never had to learn to live by faith with respect to God meeting his needs for God, with respect to God being the sole object of his faith for his provision. He'd never known what that was like. And though he understood that it was not the decision that every man was to make, that is, what was he going to do with his inheritance? He felt that because God had been because money had been a God in his life before he was saved. He thought that because he'd never learned what it was to live by faith in that area of his life with respect to money, he came to the conviction that he was to give away his massive inheritance in order to know what it is to live by faith. And so when he reached his 25th birthday in China, he signed papers to give up his inheritance. One biographer wrote this, this was not a fool's plunge on his part. It was his public testimony before God and man that he believed God's word to be the surest thing on earth and that hundredfold interest, which God had promised in this life not to speak of the next, is an actual reality for those who believed and acted upon it. Now, he didn't know the exact amount of his inheritance, but he began giving it away. He sent money to deal Moody, which helped start the Moody Institute as well. He sent money to George Mueller in Bristol, England. Now, can you imagine this? We don't appreciate this, but I like because we're we're in the Bay Area and the Giants and Barry Bonds is so huge in the Bay Area. Could you imagine Barry Bonds standing up one day in front of the media and saying, I'm leaving baseball to go become a missionary in China? And oh, by the way, I'm giving away all my money to mission work. I think if you heard that, you'd you'd do a double take. What is that? Is that did he say what I thought he said? This is the type of impact that this had in England upon those countrymen. Who saw this man converted and then acting upon his faith, really, with everything he had. He gave other portions to other worthy ministries and he kept a small amount for himself. And now his friends and family hear about this and they thought that CT had lost his mind. Also about this time, having been in China now three years, he got married to Priscilla Livingstone Stewart. You see a picture of their also of her on the second page. So just before his wedding, he presents his wife to be with the remaining money from his inheritance. And it's recorded that she looked at CT and said, Charlie, what did the Lord tell the rich man to do? And he responded, sell all. And she responded, well, then we'll start clear with the Lord at our wedding. And they proceeded to give the rest away, the rest of the money away to the Lord's work. Clearly, Priscilla was a godly woman who had married CT, not for his fame and not for his money, but that they might pursue the will of God together. And the richest gain, according to the world, they counted but loss. And the vain things that had charmed them most, they were willing to sacrifice for the blood of Christ. He demanded their lives and their all. As he grew in the Lord and as he contemplated, I'll have some quotes for you at the end, some common quotes from him, and you'll see that he was taken up. That's what drove him. He was taken up. He understood how much he had been loved and it was nothing for him to give it away, nothing for him to give it all to God. Well, CT's new wife was from Belfast, Ireland. She had come to China the same year that Cambridge Seven had come to help in the missionary work before her conversion. She had set her heart on the world as well until she was found by Christ. And from that point on, her full allegiance was to Jesus Christ. Immediately after their wedding, they went to work in the inland city of China, Loom Gang Fu. And for five years, they never went out of their house without facing the cursing of the people in that little town. Anything that happened bad in that city was blamed on them. Droughts, floods didn't matter. They blamed the missionaries as they left their houses, housed glass and bricks would be thrown at them. But in time, God melted the hearts of the people, giving the studs the fruit of their labors. Their converts became bold for Christ, even though they too faced severe persecution and suffering from their fellow countrymen. And during this time, CT also opened an opium refuge, a ministry to the opium addicts of China. There were as many as 50 refugees or or patients in this in this facility at one time. And during their seven years in China, 800 men and women passed through the doors of that refuge, and many went away knowing Christ as well as being cured of their opium opium addiction. During this time, God gave studs five children. They never had a doctor present for the birth of their children because they were in such a remote part of China. Mrs. Studd, in fact, almost died at the birth of their first child in 1889. Their fifth child was born and lived only one day in the year 1893, CT himself almost died. He returned home to England in 1894 after serving 10 years as a missionary in China. In 1896, he traveled to America to help stir revival amongst the students as he was used of God in England before he left for China. So God used him again in America amongst the students as the revival has now spread to the states. CT traveled extensively, speaking to hundreds of students at a time. Many were saved. Many deepened their commitment to serve Christ in any way that they could. In 1900, in the year 1900, CT and his family went to Udi, India, and he pastored a church there for six years. He was especially excited to go back to India because this was the nation in which his father had made, had acquired his wealth. And now his desire, CT's desire, was to harvest souls from that nation. And indeed, he found many responsive hearts. He even joined the cricketer for a time in order to gain opportunities to minister the gospel and soon returned to his old form. But all of this work in India was not without trial. CT was beginning to suffer from asthma and he was actually getting about two hours of sleep a night. He was having to sleep. He could sleep somewhere between the hours of two and four a.m. Otherwise, he was up sitting upright in a chair, struggling and gasping for air. In the midst of the trial, though, God also gave victories. All four of their daughters, Grace, Dorothy, Edith and Pauline, came to know the Lord during these days in India. The family left India and returned to England in 1906, and God continued to provide all of their needs, including the funds for their daughters education, educations. And to those who said that they might have given up too much during their earthly years of marriage and family, CT and Priscilla needed only remind themselves of the sacrifice of Christ, what he had suffered, his humiliation, his life, his death on the cross. Christ's love for them, that in turn motivated them to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, who had loved them so much. Again, it sounds like this morning's sermon, doesn't it? The last and perhaps greatest era of CT Studd's ministry was into the heart of Africa. While home during this period in 1906 and following, he came across a posted sign advertising a missionary speaker by the name of Carl Kuhn. The sign read rather humorously, cannibals want missionaries. Cannibals want missionaries. It caught his attention. Carl Kuhn had walked across the interior of Africa preaching the gospel, and now he was in America telling his story or in England, excuse me, telling the story of his life and ministry experiences. CT went to listen to him and to hear the large, large amount of tribes across the middle middle of Africa who had never heard the gospel. Kuhn said this, explorers had come, big game hunters have come, traders, scientists had traveled and braved the dangers, but no missionaries have gone into these areas. And that truth sank deeply into CT's heart. He asked himself, why haven't the Christians gone? And the Lord seemed to answer back, why don't you go? And CT thought in return, my doctors won't let me go. And thought came back into his mind, am I not the great physician? Can I not take you through? And so he felt he had no excuses. He knew he had to go to Africa, but he knew it would not be easy. He had no money. He was now 50 years old. He had gone through the past 15 years of bad health. How could he face the tropics and all of the problems in Africa with his health? What about his family? He would have to leave them in England. Priscilla could not travel because of her health. And when he discussed the matter with his wife, she agreed that he had to follow the Lord wherever he led. But then the Lord put CT down with malaria. One group of Christian businessmen agreed to sponsor CT and his trip to Africa, but only if the doctors would approve it. CT knew that the doctors would never approve of such a trip, but then the businessmen agreed to back him no matter what, if he would only go to certain areas that had already been evangelized and not south of Khartoum. CT refused to such an agreement, he did not want to go to an area that had already been evangelized, so the businessmen refused to support him. So here he is, he's penniless. He's opposed by his doctors. He's forsaken by his prior supporters. And yet God's still burdening him to go. What is he going to do? What he'd done for all of his life, he staked everything upon his faithful God, the one who had been faithful in the past, he concluded would be faithful to him now. His answer to his doctor and the committee of businessmen was this, gentlemen, God has called me to go and I will go. I will blaze the trail, though my grave may only become a stepping stone for the younger men who may follow. And God did not fail him. Funds were provided for him in a matter of days, and CT sailed for Africa December 15th, 1910. By this time, he was a man who was of age. He was well past the age of of a pioneer missionary. What was he doing in Africa on a pioneering mission endeavor? Yet he was willing to set out alone and with very little backing. His only certainty was God had called him to go. He was convinced that this trip would not only have an impact on the on Africa now, but the future evangelization of Africa. And he was right. He left a lasting impact upon the mission endeavor into Africa. The following years in Africa were more difficult than any of his previous days as a missionary. His daily situation could have led to discouragement and disillusion if he would have allowed it. He suffered many bodily weaknesses. He continued to face negative attitudes, not only in Africa, but of those back home, but not from his beloved wife, who stood solidly behind him, understanding the great necessity of his ministry and his work. That's interesting. I don't know that that I would have counseled CT to leave his wife and family to go to the mission field. But I'm not there and I wasn't in the context of everything that was going on there. No idea what the rationale was. You might be sitting there thinking, well, he was irresponsible. He left his wife and family. Bottom line is, we don't know exactly what the context was. So he stated this at one time. Well, we know at least this, his wife never stopped backing him. So there was no bitterness there. He stated at one point that the doctors would have frightened me into my grave a long time ago had I paid attention to them. But I live by faith, by the faith in Jesus and by faith in the power of God. And Christ never failed him. Maybe he wasn't seen as prominently in every situation, in the circumstances, in his friends and family who opposed him. But Christ was there in the shadows, strengthening CT and helping him in the most difficult of circumstances. In the years that followed, though he was weak in body, he trekked through the very heart of the great continent of Africa, evangelizing the lost and planting churches. He was the first pioneer of the Heart of Africa Missionary Society. He constantly challenged others to this great work. CT returned home after several years and laid out the challenge personally to others. And when he left to return to Africa from his visit home, parting from his family and his daughters, his wife and his daughters was even more difficult than ever before. When others questioned his need to stay at home and not return to Africa, he said this. If Jesus Christ is God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him. His only companion on this trip, as he pioneered again into Africa, was a man named Alfred Buxton. They faced unimaginable dangers. While on this tour, he heard that he'd become a grandfather for the first time, which no doubt was a time of joy, but also a time of homesickness. Men continued to question him and his his his endeavors in Africa. In addition, there were threats to his life. There were headhunters, there were cannibals. His friends asked him, what if you die there in Africa, to which he would reply, Hallelujah. He also replied, some wish to live within the sound of a church or chapel bells. I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell. That's amazing conviction, isn't it? I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell. In the year 1916, CT returned home once again, and when he left for Africa after this visit, neither he or Priscilla realized that this was going to be their final extended period of time together on Earth. They did meet briefly for a few hours over the next 13 years, but this was their final extended time together. When he got back to Africa, he pushed further and further into the dark heart of the Great Continent until finally his body couldn't take it anymore. Not only was he continued to being plagued by his asthma, but now he had bouts with fevers. He suffered suffered several heart attacks and he had intestinal problems. Having already opened a great part of Africa up to the gospel, he would not stop working. He was determined to translate the New Testament in the King Wano language. It would be a marvelous intellectual feat for a man 70 years of age. He worked day and night, 18 hours a day with no set meals. He was a man on a mission, perhaps realizing it was his last. He finished the New Testament in portions of the Psalms and Proverbs, but at a great cost, he was finally confined to his bed. Only those who were with him could understand the suffering of his last two years. He had an agonizing weakness of body. He had nausea. He had heart attack after heart attack. He had terrible fights for breath because of his asthma. He had violent shivering. And yet the spiritual man was full of joy as he saw other missionaries going forth following the trail that he had blazed, winning souls to Christ. In 1529, it can't be the right date. I've got the wrong date here. And what is it? Is it there on your sheet? 1829? 1929, it had to be right. He received word that his beloved wife had been taken home to be with the Lord. He knew that it wouldn't be long till he joined her. And the years that the people had thought that he had lost with her would be regained, rejoicing at the throne of the Lord Jesus Christ. The last few months of his life, he saw the native church in Africa catching fire for evangelizing their own people, sending forth their own people to evangelize their own countrymen. His death came suddenly at 1030 on Thursday, July 16th, 1931. His breathing became labored. Between each hard-fought breath, he would cry out hallelujah until finally he passed to his eternal reward. Thousands of natives came to his funeral and carried him to the gravesite and buried him as they sang standing by the cross, standing by the cross. We shall help each other standing by the cross. He had finally reached his destination. The battle was over. Jesus had welcomed him home. Now, someone has said that the life of C.T. Studd will be an eternal rebuke to the easygoing Christianity of America in the 20th century, and it is, isn't it? There's no doubt that C.T. Studd had a tremendous impact on the cause of missions. One man wrote to him during his life and he wrote these words, Let the victors when they come, when the forts of folly fall, find your body close to the wall. And certainly that's where they found him, close to the war of battle for his Lord. Albert Buxton, who was C.T.'s co-pioneer into the heart of Africa, wrote of him, C.T. was essentially a cavalry leader. In that in that respect, he led several splendid charges. China, India and Africa. And like a good cavalry leader, he never sounded retreat. But he lived the life and died the death of a faithful soldier for Christ. His body was truly found at death close to the wall. Yes, C.T. Studd, the famous athlete, the one who had been raised with a silver spoon in his mouth, the man who gave up his fortune to go to the mission fields, to live in shacks and huts and to even die for the glory of God in the souls of men. Yes, he was quite a man. Now, I'm not suggesting this evening by setting this man's life before you that all of us should follow exactly in the footsteps of C.T. Studd. There are those of us whom God calls to given stations. God calls some of us to right where you're at in your present job situation. God may be calling some of you young people, older people to the mission field. God calls some to pray and to give to mission causes. So don't do as I used to do when I hear these biographies, you get so discouraged. How could I ever live like that? Well, maybe God hasn't called you to live like that. But perhaps there's someone here this evening. Some of the young people whom God might use. And you whom you might be one of those that follows in the steps of C.T. Studd to the mission field to give up everything. It's truly amazing to think about what he gave up. I'm not saying go out and become a famous baseball player, make all this money and then give it up. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying this man had a commitment to Christ that would put most of us to shame because of the willingness of what he was able, the strength of faith that God gave him and what he was able to give up for the cause of Jesus Christ. But I would exhort you tonight, whatever station God has called you to right now in this particular aspect of your life, particular time of your life, ask yourself, which one am I? Am I one of those that God's calling to go? Am I one of those that God has called to pray and to give and to support with my prayers? That's just as important, believe it or not. You saw the struggle that C.T. went through to get funding to go to the mission field. Yes, it's important that we support missionary causes so that the missionaries free to preach the gospel. Which one am I? Are you the one who's going to go or wants to go or is being called to go in that sense? Are you the one who prays and gives? Perhaps God is calling some young man tonight to follow in C.T. Studd's footsteps to the mission field. Perhaps, perhaps it's one of your sons whom God's going to call. I would encourage you parents to keep ever before your children's eyes. The glorious aspect of serving God. Not necessarily here, but perhaps abroad. Don't paint a romantic picture in that sense. But perhaps God has placed within the confines of this church a missionary to go forth and preach the gospel. And bring rejoicing to your hearts, wouldn't it? As a church, all of us must fill the place that God has given to us. No one else can fill it for us. And that place will surely include if we stay here in America, giving and praying for mission fields. And don't beat yourself up over that. It's just as important. Giving and praying for the mission fields of the world and missionaries whom he calls to the field. Are you willing? Are you and I willing? And are we fulfilling our callings to evangelize the world with the gospel? Whatever that might mean, there isn't an option with us. What are we doing? Are you praying? Are you giving? Is God calling you? We're all participating in the Great Commission, one way or another, God sends us into this world to reach the lost with the gospel of Christ. We must have a part in reaching the world with the gospel. And I know that you as a church are. But I'm asking you individually, make it a point in your family devotions, in your schooling. To bring up the mission field and to give your children a vision beyond Sacramento and beyond California. And perhaps God will stir up within their own hearts a heart to go. And preach the gospel to lost souls, perhaps within your families, God will raise up one of your daughters. Who will have a heart. That wants to go with a man who's going to go, you see what I'm getting at, right? Oftentimes, young ladies aren't interested at all in going to a mission field and giving up what Priscilla gave up, the comforts of England, the comforts of Ireland and going and serving God beside her husband. Raising our daughters is just as important with that mentality as it is raising our sons. And may God, may God lay hold of some of you young men here, not only in salvation, but with a heart to serve God at whatever cost. Whatever cost, leaving the comforts of this country to preach the gospel to lost souls. What a joy and what glory it would bring to God. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we do we do marvel at the grace, the work of grace that you fashioned not only in Edward Studd, but in his sons and the impact that they had for the cause of Christ as they sought to follow the Great Commission. To live out the Great Commission, especially C.T. And God, we recognize that you have not called all of us to be missionaries, but you have called us to do something. God, we pray that you probe our hearts, that we would have a gut check, as it were, with you this evening. And that we would have a clear conscience as to what we're doing. But as far as our prayers and as far as our giving for the cause of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, stir up within each of our hearts a greater love for the souls of men. Not only here in the in the Sacramento area and within right right in within the proximity of this church building, stir up within us a love for the souls of men. Perhaps whom we've never seen. And yet we know are dying and going to hell. Help us to that end, God, you've loved us so much. God, might we manifest that love in our own lives by loving the souls of lost men and women and boys and girls. We ask it in Jesus name. Amen. We're going to sing a close.