You Hath He Quickened

verses here and you know it can be I suppose applicable to people who are wanting to come to Christ but that wasn't what Paul was talking about here he was talking to people who were already right with God they were already saved and he's talking in a past tense and whatever God had done in their heart he was looking at them and saying this is what God has done and he has done it by his grace and he has done it through your faith and it starts out with the first five words and you have he quickened and if you need a title for this morning that's what the title would be and you have he quickened and so I just like you to imagine Paul standing in front of the Ephesian church talking to them and telling them what has happened talking to them about what has happened in their life so we're going to read Ephesians 2 verses 1 through 10 and then the first two words of verse 11 Ephesians 2 starting with verse 1 and you have he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin sins wherein time passed he walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience among whom also we all had our conversation in times past and the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as others but God who is rich in mercy for his great love were with he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ by grace you are saved and have raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works less any man should boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them and then verse 11 wherefore remember and we will stop right there I'd like you to further imagine not only as Paul standing in front of a group from Ephesus but he's speaking in a room with one man or one woman and talking to that one individual and looking them in the eye and saying you you have the quickens who were dead in trespasses and sins imagine even further that the time is now fast forwarded two thousand years and now instead of Paul it's a small gray-haired woman looking into the casket of her dead husband and as she looks at her husband in that casket her mind starts to go back through various memories that she has and that's what she whispers to her husband and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins and she's younger than he is she's in her late 60s he died in his early 70s after he passed away she would go on to remarry but before she remarried she had something she wanted to do and that is write memories write a eulogy if you please about her husband and this eulogy contains these first six verses that we read here and you have he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins I like to tell you the story about that woman and by extension by about her husband and what God did in their lives I've shared parts of this story before but parts of it I haven't I've never shared it here in this building that that I can remember some of the parts that we're going to talk about the the name of the lady I'd like to talk about is Martha Shank and later it was Palmer she was born around 1909 she was born into a good solid Mennonite home in the state of Virginia and as she grew older they would do various outreaches they would reach out to the community around them and she had a job back then the phones weren't like they are today camera on your pocket there they were nailed to walls and tables and so forth and they only had one for the whole community and so they have to have somebody there to take these messages and relay them to the rest of the people that was her job she took a message one time talking about the message came through there's a man who was dying in the hospital you want to talk to somebody about his soul so she got a hold of she passed the message on to their Bishop George Brown George Brown senior and eventually went and he went and visited this man dying man sick man in the hospital was young man in his 20s but he was dying he was sick they thought he was dying anyway but he led him to the Lord his name was Ralph Ralph Palmer and Ralph came to church one of the next Sundays after he became a little better he was still weak from his sickness but he he came to he came to church and gave his testimony of salvation eventually he became a member there at that Mennonite Church and not too long after he must have asked her to marry him and she must have said yes because they got married when they were 24 and 36 years apart I guess and you know I don't know what all went through their mind he this young man was from the streets he was he had a rough background he had all kinds of sin issues before he was saved but now God had done the work in his heart and I don't know as they contemplated marriage whether or not people would warn her say hey Martha I don't know if you should marry this guy he's not from the same background that you are he comes from a different culture he's he's different he's he's I don't know what kind of she had I can imagine but I don't know and but whatever happened she felt led to go ahead and get married to this man she must have said yes because they were married now after they got married Ralph wanted to he had a burden for people in his past people who grew up on the streets people who still have these same addiction issues and sin issues that he had he wanted to go out and talk to them he went to visit people in the hospital he wanted to talk to people about the Lord he wanted to put up gospel tracks he put these boxes around his the place where he would work and fill them with gospel tracks that was what his interests were his wife wanted to just fit in let's we want to we're part of this community I want you to learn to know my people let you know we have all these social functions can't we just relax a little bit and settle down but Ralph was he was passionate about these people that were out there who used to be where who were still where he used to be and he just couldn't relax and settle down he wanted to share the gospel he tried to get other people from their church to go with him and they'd go a few of them half-heartedly kind of they were it wasn't really their passion and it became discouraging to him to try to get others to see the need we live in a dying world we live in a sinful world can't you see how people need the gospel and his you know I don't know I'm not going to judge those people that were around him but there is a problem that does happen when we are following Christ that we can cool off was that what was happening in their life were they becoming lukewarm I don't know maybe God had simply called them to something else either way it was discouraging to Ralph as he tried to get other people to join him in sharing the gospel and as he got discouraged to begin to cool off spiritually though the bishop George Brunk senior who had led him to the Lord noticed that he was cooling off and he gave him a warning he said Ralph when we were in that hospital room and I led you to the Lord you made a promise you said that um he said that if you spare my life God I'm gonna serve you faithfully that was a promise you made before God he heard it and he says Ralph if you go back on that promise something worse is going to happen to you and he gave that warning but he didn't live to see the results of that warning because George Brunk died not long after that in the year 1938 the next year was the year 1939 when World War two began and as people went off to war and as shipments of goods were up and going up and down these railroads Ralph who worked in the railroad he suddenly found his workload like doubled from what it was before because all the young men weren't there plus they had more stuff to ship and so his work was taken over he was already starting to cool off spiritually and he he quit going to church he was he got back into some of his old habits tobacco and alcohol he was spending time with friends that were not a godly influence on him he was he was in the process of a word the Bible uses backsliding or backslider one of those words is in the Bible at least maybe it's there several times but that whole thing of backsliding has been on my mind lately what does it mean to backslide what are the causes of backsliding what are the results of backsliding we talked about this we had the youth over our place last night we talked about this thing of backsliding and and what is it that causes it what's the antidote to it there's a few thoughts that came up and I'd be open to more and you know if somebody has some of the testimony time but you know the the the idea of we are designed as people to not simply be a reservoir of God's grace but to be a channel what flows in needs to flow out when we stop letting it flow out we start to dry up or gets get to start to die like the Dead Sea has an in in look but not an not an outlet and that's one of the issues another issue that came up in the discussion was what about your own quiet time the time you spend alone with God that time reading his word if we don't guard that time protect it we will backslide no the issue was prayer you know I think this is an issue that I have seen I felt when our ministry time whatever whatever our ministry is in Ralph's case he was putting up track racks all over town he was talking to people is it possible that his ministry life got ahead of his prayer life that's another possibility I think that can happen I'm not saying all of these happened to Ralph but this whole issue of backsliding what we're doing for the Lord is far ahead of our time praying praying to the Lord the the time spending with the Lord is that possible is that a danger maybe there was an issue of unforgiveness you know that half that is one of the most common things that that happens to a person Paul or in Hebrews it warns about whoever wrote Hebrews that a root of bitterness springing up could trouble you and many could be defiled by it that is so common as I talked to struggling people that's one that they don't even recognize most of the time they don't even recognize especially if they're a Christian oh I've forgiven everybody yes but when you start hearing them voice grievances you suddenly start to get this feeling that really still is unforgiveness maybe it was this thing of a clear conscience but if you have this precious gift this morning if you have the precious gift of a clear conscience guard that with your life that is a gift that you have it is precious and if you lose it get it back right away don't waste any of your life walking around with an unclear conscience do whatever it takes to get it back pay the price whatever it is to get back that clear conscience and then guard it was there small things in Ralph's life that violated his conscience and he tried to live with the unclear conscience and eventually it just kept taking him down I think there's various things another thing we talked about last night was maybe the beginning of all backsliding at least if you look at Romans 1 it seems to be the beginning of all backsliding was this thing of neither were thankful just that tiny little phrase in there they go they went through life maybe they weren't thankful for the salvation that they had received maybe they weren't thankful for the Bible that God's given us the Word of God Jesus the sacrifice that was made maybe they weren't thankful for the people around them they're finding maybe that was what Ralph was instead of being thankful for these church members that weren't quite at the same place he was maybe he started to become unthankful and critical I don't know I don't know what all went on and you know that's that's also a result of pride humility produces thankfulness pride produces unthankfulness and then this this thing of of backsliding it's you know as I think of us as a church we've gone through a lot in the last 15 years whatever we've been here I begin close to 20 by now but we've seen many people come many people that have really had a fire for God at one point many people who they spent time on the streets preaching and yet today they're far from God by all fruit that we can observe or maybe they had a very godly family at one point and today they're far from God and what is the reason for this backsliding and so so again are we being diligent do are we guarding the clear conscience are we guarding our quiet time our prayer time are we guarding our hearts against unforgiveness and other sins of lust or pride or rebellion or anger are we sharing our faith with others I think these are good things to be to be thinking about meanwhile what about Martha Martha she's now a young married woman she's been married about five years by now five six years something like that now her husband is a long ways from God he's backslid she's still faithful she wants to be faithful even though you know maybe there was still work in her that God wanted to do maybe she didn't have the same passion her husband used to have but now he's backslidden she still wants to walk on with God what is she what is she what is she gonna do right now I'd like to ask another question do you know what it's like to live with a cloud hanging over your life you know what a cloud is there's all kinds of clouds can hang over our life there's maybe financial troubles maybe our finances just aren't going the way they're supposed to our debts are increasing in our assets are going down we're not sure we'll pay our bills and and this this is a cloud hanging over so I'm just not sure how this is going to turn out and I try to go on with life and and you come to church and you go to social events and you try to put a smile on your face and yet you have this cloud of financial trouble hanging over your life maybe it's trouble at work I'm just not sure what I'm gonna do with this problem I'm facing at my work maybe it's you know maybe it's other struggles conflict in the home church struggles there's all kinds of things like that that can be a cloud that hangs over our life maybe it's a health issue I remember a couple that we just met this past year in June when we were back east that had a cloud hanging over their life Clayton Shank and his wife Mary Lois they they started a year ago in the year 2000 and 2019 as far as they knew everything was good health-wise what they didn't know was that he had cancer I think they found out in February that he had cancer and by June and I think by that time is already stage 4 cancer and they were trying different treatments and had different ideas maybe about how to get victory or get get a cure for this cancer in June they bravely came to the billboard conference because he was uh he had just recently joined the billboard team answering phone calls and here they were just with a high degree of uncertainty what's gonna happen with with this cancer that I have there he had this Walker he's walking around but you know I don't know of all the people that were there at that conference if there was anybody more joyful and happy than Clayton Shank and his wife they were walking around with making jokes and making people smile and cheering people up and looking at other people and just that was just the way he was even with this cancer with this cloud hanging over his head and you know his faith he was he was praising God whatever's gonna happen he was okay with it but they're trusting God for a miracle and but if not it's it's alright you know we're gonna we're gonna keep on praising God after that he went back home the rest of us went back home we keep getting emails from him but those emails weren't talking about his problems cancer pain none of the emails were writing poems for the billboard team to cheer them up and encourage them as they answer some of these difficult calls and he himself was even taking calls as much as he could in between the struggles and right up on into November we even have a recording of his last call and it was very interesting call of his of the you know his encouraging the man on the other end that was in November and but you say well with that kind of faith God must have healed him right well actually no not physically anyway Matt Christmas Day the 25th of December early in the morning he passed away the year started out they didn't know he had cancer the year ended he was gone and so there they were with this cloud hanging over their lives but joy in their hearts and now his widow is going on brand new year didn't expect this year to turn out this way but now she's alone she's got a cloud a cloud of grief hanging over her head and she's got to go to church on Sunday and face family and friends and fellowship meals now she's got this cloud hanging over her head there's lots of different clouds that can face us but one of the most difficult clouds is when you have a loved one who is not walking with the Lord and that's the cloud that's been hanging over us as a family for the last few years with our daughter and some of you know what that feels like and that's the cloud that was hanging over Martha's head as she thought about her husband who was out in the world far from God but you know she still had a work to do they had a little girl to raise they still had people to minister to and there were new things ministries that God was open up ministry of prayer it seems that she was a praying woman before that but she became more of a praying woman and she would try to talk to her husband you know two years ago by three years went by four years and he was still a long ways from God she tried to talk to him and encourage him to come back to the Lord but he would just brush her off and say no I can't you know take care of yourself finally she just knelt before God and said God you have to talk to him because I can't and you know sometimes that's what God's waiting on he wants us to say I can't do it and turn it over to him to let him do that and that's what and it was you know God did work he would send other people even their little girl you know she talked to her daddy and he could tell he was touched by her pleas to him her songs to him there's a young man from church that went and visited him even at his place of work and talked to him just real briefly and he was touched by that so his heart was seemed to be still have some softness in it but the years kept going by you know five years six years eventually World War two was over 1946 and work started to slow down a little bit he told his wife he said okay you've been bugging me to go to church with you okay I'll go if this particular branch of my work gets shut down because that's what I got to work so much overtime if that gets shut down I promise you I'll come to church with you and a few weeks later she saw in the newspaper had been shut down that was on a Wednesday she and on Saturday she told him hey I saw that that was shut down and you promised to go to church with me well Ralph wasn't ready to keep his promise he looked at his wife and said I'm sorry I can't make it I just I just can't I just can't go to church with you and she was devastated they went to bed that night Saturday night well at 2 30 in the morning all of a sudden she wakes up and the bed is that his other bed is empty and she looks around where is he and he's calling out help me help me he's trying to walk and he can't he can't pick up his feet he's just hit with some kind of a disease and he could hardly breathe and he was crying out for help and asked for her to pray for him and she did but this was a sickness that struck him down as they went to the hospital he realized that you know when he told God I can't go to church that God was making it that he really couldn't and it was a punishment from God he went back on his promise well as he sensed God's chastening hand on him he began to confess his sins and repent he told his wife I guess I got I want to I want to get right with God there's I have some cigarettes up in my room you know upstairs go get him and burn him and so she did he met things to make right with his family to make right with his church he went to work after he got a little bit better and he told his co-workers that he had become a Christian they laughed at him said now you know it'll be two weeks and you'll be back to doing the same thing but this time he said no it's for real and as time went on he you know a week or two later after he had a chance to make things right with his wife with his family with his church with his co-workers it he was only well enough for a short period of time and then he started to get sick again and it was like God was chasing him chasing him even deeper and everyone thought he was gonna die they went to the doctor that out of the hospital the doctor they looked at him and says this guy's in bad shape he's not gonna survive but Martha started praying to God what are you gonna do God and God said to route Martha this he said Ralph is being chastened but if you requested his life will be spared and so she has this dilemma what do I pray should I pray for him his life to be spared after all he's right with God now and he said I don't want to go back into sin I'd rather die than go back into sin so she prayed a conditional person God will if you know that'll be faithful then yes please save his life and the answer came back well all right I'm gonna save his life as long as you stay with him and I have work for him to do but you got to stay with him and help him and that just burned in her mind I have to stay with him even though it's hospital room there's no bed for her she's got a chair to sleep in that wasn't very comfortable but she stayed with him for the next three or four weeks as he just hung there between life and death all the doctors thought he was gonna die he was having like delusions he would have these dreams he would be crying out he had visions of people who had died unsaved and he would he would scream that it was his fault later he didn't remember these things but his wife would talk to him so God told me that if you she says Ralph and he could communicate even though he was in this you know this very sick state do you know of anybody else who's still alive that is not that are not safe she says oh yeah I got a lot of people like that well God has told me that he wants to use you to work among city people and he says well okay even though he felt like dying he finally agreed to to stay living and as as time went on eventually the doctors you know he kept getting lower and lower and they take these blood tests they say this is so sad we've never seen anybody this sick before he should be dead by now and there's no hope he's ever going to recover but she had had that promise from God he's going to recover and sure enough he did when he did recover when he finally felt like his testimony was God gave me a whipping I never forget he says this was God's chastening but when he finally got I got out of that hospital bed he was still weak he didn't know can I what can I do for God now one of the one of the preachers was actually George Brown jr. asked him a question do you think you could stand on a street corner and hand out gospel tracts and he says well I think I could probably do that and he they keep driving around he still had his job in the railroad and they drive through towns and he'd see these people and he's so burdened but that question do you think you could just hand out gospel tracts yeah he finally decided I got to do something that burden for the loss was still burning in his heart he went bought a couple thousand tracts gospel tracts and he took them downtown took a box of 1,000 of them and he was out there in the streets and his wife was sitting in the car waiting for him in a while he came back she's what's the matter won't people take him she's he says of course yes they took him a he says I gave out that whole box give me some more and so they took another box out there and in about in an hour it was like a thousand tracks and that's that's quite a few having passed out some tracks I know that to do a thousand an hour I don't know I that's really doing it quick I guess but that was only the beginning of a nationwide ministry he started in in their local areas you know the towns within driving distance and and do it kind of in between work he would he would work and do about he'd still work in a full-time job so he would take about 15 hours a week passing out these tracks but eventually they felt called to go to other states and so they they got in their car and drove to other states handing out tracts in the towns and that became began a ministry that lasted like 20 years this happened in his 40s I think so up into his late 60s going from city to city all over the United States and some of the amounts of gospel tracks are just to me mind boggling it's hard to understand how you could do that but he kept record you know here I passed out 7,000 in one day 8,000 in a day one of his records was Portland Oregon 10,000 in one day of gospel tracks and that's one of the time hand to hand it's like you know you can calculate that out how many that is you know every how many every second you'd have to or every couple of seconds you'd have to pass them out have to pass out another track and so that's that's what they did just over and over again through through most of the rest of their life somebody estimated that in his lifetime from that day till the end of his life they passed out somewhere around 10 million gospel tracks which at that point the United States had about 200 million people that's that's 5% of the population the people that got a gospel track of course some may have got two but anyway that's it's still that's a lot of tracks that he passed out during that time and his wife was beside him she was going along the book says the book that she wrote later says a sower went forth but in the introduction it says well actually it was two sowers that went forth it was a man and his wife and she would drive and she would cook and clean and she would pray and she'd help prepare tracks and pray some more and so that's that was her life this time she wasn't dragging her feet this time she was with him the whole way as they went they also started seeing other opportunities he looked for these opportunities he saw these signs up and down the road he said well if the people gonna advertise potato chips and automobiles why couldn't they advertise the gospel and so he started building gospel signs that was reading this story years ago is when we started making signs as well after getting the inspiration from this book they would and eventually they you know people from the church came and helped me be sending these these gospel signs out all over the country and again the numbers of how many signs they made it to me are mind-boggling knowing how much work it takes to make one sign but somebody again estimated they did somewhere around 200,000 gospel signs in their in their life and you know you know people would read them and people would ask the question is this really doing anything does it really work well there was one of his friends well actually two of his friends of a couple Paul and Irma who lived there in Virginia they'd helped make some of these signs but they went on a mission trip they were over spent some time over in the country of Ethiopia and while they were in Ethiopia you know anytime you meet somebody from United States it's kind of special so they were there and they met this college student actually she was maybe she was by that time a nurse over there her name was Susan and Susan asked Paul and Irma where you from I'm from we're from the States like you are okay what state we're from Virginia she's okay why I really I have some special memories of Virginia she says you see Virginia was where I got saved she said I was in college in Virginia and all my people the people around me were ungodly I'd grown up in a Christian home but I wasn't godly either and one day one night we went out to town and we always needed somebody to drive home because we don't want anybody to be driving drunk so they designate one person you don't drink tonight the rest of us are going to drink and have a good time and then you know but you you know stay sober so you can drive home and next week we'll switch and you can get drunk and the rest can be sober or somebody else can be sober and so she was the designated driver this night this this evening and people as they drove away from the town the bar wherever they were driving back to their dorms people around her were making their jokes and talking their filthy talk and and here they are driving through the dark night in Virginia and all of a sudden right there is a sign right in the in their path as they go around the curb prepare to meet thy God and this sign she says just kept going through my mind I kept thinking about that what does that mean she says I knew from the actions of people behind me they weren't prepared to meet God and I knew from past experience if I had been like them I would do the same thing it was only because I was a designated driver that I wasn't doing what they were doing but this kept going through her mind but back to the dorm prepare to meet thy God prepare to meet thy God to finally she said I gave my heart to the Lord I repented and this was her testimony to Paul and Irma and Paul and Irma they had they said well you know we think we might know where that sign came from in fact we think we might have helped make that sign this was of course many years after after the sign had been made this is still bearing the fruit of it as Ralph witnessed the power of gospel tracts and the power of gospel signs and then you know as they're driving around getting older getting weaker I think it was long before that he saw another opportunity to share the gospel and that was you know just the idea as he drives this camper that they had bought around through the towns of thousands of people who would see their camper he said well you know why not put gospel signs on that so that's where he got that idea put signs on that and you know warning them about judgment and hell sinners shall be turned into hell all nations that don't forget God and again people would ask the question I this is maybe one I've shared before but just you know just a little testimony the questions people ask is it really do anything here's just a here's just a testimony one day as we sat at a lunch counter middle-aged man who we have known since it's his youth came up to us I want to tell you Ralph how much I appreciate those signs you have on your car and camper you know I've been a church member for many years but I was not really right with God whenever I saw those messages about judgment and hell I would wince they hit me pretty hard you touched me many a time Ralph when you didn't even know it was anywhere around well about six months ago I made a change a definite commitment to God and I really got right with him I saw your camper out there so I came to tell you again does it have an impact does it have does it does it make any difference these testimonies confirm that it does there was another time they were parked or they're at a streetlight and here comes a man carrying a Bible across the street he tells them his testimony he says I used to be way out there in sin I was I'd become a Christian at one point but I backslid but all of a sudden I saw your camper with the sinner shall be turned into hell and it made me mad and I tried to get away from I tried to avoid it but you'd be driving through town peacefully again the next week and here it was again just right in front of his face and he just kept gotten kept getting reminded until he finally gave his heart to the Lord and he says I've been looking for you guys been waiting to see where can I tell you that this have this impact he says finally I caught you stopped and I just want you to know is it that it really did have an impact we also get questions I don't know how much this testimony in this book inspired David Troyer to start putting up gospel signs through cam all over the United States I think it probably had something to do with it but we get questions on the billboards does it really have an impact is it really working is it successful well to this fine success you need to know what your is and you know if I was to say well the goal is we want to have X number of converts and you know every year that we can deliberately we can directly trace back to one of those billboards it'd be a little bit hard to do that I would admit because we certainly want to win souls that's why we do what we do but there's another thing that we really need to do as well and that is to warn those winning souls is important but warning people is also important if he Ezekiel says he's equal 33 79 so thou art so thou O son of men man I've set thee a watchman into the house of Israel therefore thou shalt hear thy word the word of thy mouth at my mouth and warn them from me when I say unto the wicked O wicked man thou shalt surely die if thou does not speak to warn the wicked from his way that wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood will I require it thine hand nevertheless if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it if he do not turn from his way he shall die in his iniquity but thou has delivered thy soul so when I was that's our responsibility to warn the wicked so when I was talking to this billboard caller he asked me is it really successful I told him it is amazingly successful because we are warning people by the millions every day about the judgment that's coming and I don't know how many of them are getting saved there's certainly some we prayed with people already I don't know how what happened to them after that but no question that there are millions and millions of people getting a clear warning about the judgment that's coming John the Baptist he warned Herod about his marriage it's not lawful for you to have her Noah warned the people of his generation about the judgment that was coming and he didn't get many converts in fact he knew ahead of time he wasn't going to get many converts because God told him when you get in that boat it's gonna be you and your wife and your sons and your sons why there's eight people and so he wasn't expecting it doesn't appear to get a lot of people one to salvation but he still had a responsibility to warn them seems like God has a desire that sinners come to repentance he doesn't want people to repent to perish but if they are going to perish if they are going to end up in hell make sure they have a clear warning and that is our us as Christians that's our responsibility and so let me just read a little bit of Ralph's testimony here as Ralph is talking about what he did the way he lived his life he wrote this personal testimony called scattering precious seed Ralph says I grew up in cities living in sin drinking fighting gambling I know the ropes in the sin game six of my former companions in sin met untimely deaths years ago after serving the devil for years I realized that the only wages such a life brings our death sorrow and death I took the gospel remedy of repentance faith and obedience when I look to Jesus Christ in faith he saved me the only thing that was able to release me from my bondage of evil was presented to me through a tract and visitation workers from the Mennonite Church the sheriff could not take the whiskey bottle from my lips my mother could not get me to stop but when Jesus came into my heart I was through with whiskey cigarettes and a multitude of other sins now I loathe my former way of life and I have a great concern for others who are still held in the devil's clutches the sight of thousands of unsaved people walking the streets dissatisfied and unhappy made me stop and think I knew how they felt I had been one of them they needed the gospel and I felt responsible to give it to them I thought of the command of Jesus in Mark 16 going into all the world preach the gospel of every creature here was a part of the world here were multitudes of lost souls but how could I reach so many people to speak personally with each one of them would be impossible the great majority I knew would not come to church to hear a message suddenly the answer came to me I would try to give them the message in printed form with several with a supply of several thousand gospel tracks I parked my car down on downtown Street and began offering the attractive little leaflets to the shopping crowds I was surprised at how readily they accepted him them while a few refused them and some threw them away the great majority received and kept them many read the messages as they walked down the street and a little over an hour I had given out 1,000 tracks since that small beginning my track work has greatly expanded during the past 20 odd years I've given out more than 10 million tracks weighing over 20 tons this number of tracks laid end to end would make a line nearly 800 miles long and more than 1 4th the distance across the United States the great majority of these have passed out personally hand to hand on the streets of the larger cities and towns of the United States and Canada some of them little 24 page booklets containing Bible verses on the plan of salvation living the Christian life I gave to schools for distribution to the pupils and then he talks about some of the longer trips the one the longest one that he took was like 16,000 miles long covered 28 different states and he passed out 200,000 tracks on that one trip and that was while also stopping in the evenings at churches and giving a talk on the you know what he was doing and so he talked in 125 different churches in the evenings while he's passing out these tracks that was that was his longest trip but he took many others as well he talks about some of his record days including Portland Oregon and Seattle Washington 10,000 in a day my object in writing this message is to encourage others to engage in this work it needs to be done it can be done it has been done I know because I did it I tell these things not to boast of what I've done but to help others see the need and the responsibility fulfilled fulfilling that need as far as I know there's no more effective way to reach the masses of people in our large cities than by the distribution of tracks responding to this call may involve the sacrifice of material things in physical comforts I gave up a well-paying railroad job to do this work some of my friends and relatives said I was foolish but I want to save the rewards of knowing him obeying the command of Jesus far exceed the sacrifices I thank the Lord for many people throughout the church who've been concerned enough for the salvation of lost souls that they're willing to give money to keep the work going through the years the track work grew to the extent that I could not have kept it going without the prayers and some financial support of such people while I am no longer able to go as far or do as much as in earlier years I'm still engaged in distributing tracks as Lord gives me strength my wife and I have a new pickup camper which provides living quarters while we're away from home on the four sides of the camper are painted large attractive letters quotations from God's Word so that as we travel the highways and streets people are reading the signs reading the warnings and invitations from God and then he asked them to pray for him he says as I go scattering the precious seed of the word I find much evidence is still true that some seed falls on hard ground some on rocky and thorny places and some on the good soil of honest hearts where it grows and brings forth fruit people take the tracks better now than all the 25 years of my track work many expressed to me their distress over conditions in the world they're afraid of what's going to happen we have the message they need I urge every child of God to do what you can to give the message of salvation to the great multitudes in our cities then he talks about using good tracks you got some recommendations about where to get good tracks and then he says I am 100% in favor of sending missionaries to foreign lands and giving our means to support them in their work of telling the gospel message to people in all the world but let us who stay here not settle down and think we can we've thereby done our duty here we are surrounded by millions of people who don't have a clear knowledge of the way to salvation he says there are over 200 million people in the US we hear people say here's the Bible here's the church if they want to let him come and get it but that's not what Jesus said he told us to go and give them the message how are we gonna face him in the judgment if we fail to carry out his instructions the signs of the world seem to indicate that coming the Lord is near at hand may God shake up and wake up the church may we who know the Lord see the need and hear the call to spread the gospel while we can ours is the responsibility for the generation which we live to the Christian Church comes to command to give the gospel to every creature by the grace of God let us do all within our power to carry it out as I went through this story of Martha Shank Palmer and her husband Ralph I had to ask this question there's a number of different characters in this story I have to ask who am I who are you and I'd like you to ask that question who are you of the various people that we could list first of all we have Ralph in his unconverted state he was dead in trespasses and sins is that you today if so the gospel message is repent and believe the gospel he who believes in his baptized shall be saved he who believeth not shall be damned the invitation is there come to Christ if you are currently where Ralph used to be dead in his trespasses and sins secondly we have Ralph in his state and he is now been forgiven of his sins and he is now seeking to live for God walk in obedience and so my question is if that is you do you still have your first love are you still being a channel of God's love and power are you guarding this thing right here the clear conscience are you treasuring that like your most prized possession I dare not lose my clear conscience are you treasuring your time alone with God and keep making that priority your time of prayer and so forth the third group of people we have are the fellow church members of Ralph the people that were around him he was excited about the gospel his newfound faith they didn't seem quite as excited is that you you've been saved for how many years you're you're you're you've been a Christian for a while it's just kind of it's not as exciting as used to be and when somebody else comes along that is excited about it's kind of like well yeah that's fine but I got other things to do is that where you are that you've cooled off your maybe lukewarm would be a adjective that would describe you not really concerned about the lost are you do and if so are you a discouragement to others because of your lack of passion for the gospel so the fourth group of people would be those who are where Ralph was after that period of time he's backslidden the state is that you you at one point we're walking with God but today you're not there's hidden sin in your life you have backs that maybe people know it maybe people don't know it but you're backslidden you're not right with God any longer and if that is where you are are you open to God speaking to you the fifth group of people would be Martha as her husband is in his backslidden state and she has this cloud hanging over her head is that you this morning you have a cloud hanging over your life there's a grief that just won't go away you're just maybe it's a health issue maybe it's a lost family member what are you doing with this cloud that hangs over your life are you willing to be used by God even with that cloud hanging over you is it maybe even possible that you can be more useful to God because of the grief that you are facing like Clayton shank and his cancer like many others who have been through pain or still going through pain are you willing to become a prayer warrior to give yourself the prayer more than ever before and let that cloud be a motivation to prayer I remember my grandma passed away 20 years ago just a December 31 1999 she had an ungodly husband I think she prayed for his salvation and at least in her lifetime he never did get saved but she kept on praying and today as you look at her descendants many of them if not if not the vast majority are serving the Lord in spite of the fact that they had an ungodly grandpa and father and so her prayers were not in vain she kept on praying and December 31 1999 just a few hours before the century turned she passed away she had been enough she had been she had Alzheimer's she had lost her mind months and months before that and she couldn't respond her mouth was hanging over skinny she didn't have the muscle power to close her mouth but right before she passed away all of a sudden her face just burst into this big smile and she had smiled for a long time couldn't talk nothing but big smile and then it faded and my mom was there and her caretakers were there and they saw they were just gasping wow this is something and then that smile went away but another one came second one and then that faded away and then the third one and then finally the fourth one and after the fourth one she stopped breathing and that was like I say 530 in the evening we were we heard she was pretty low we were on our way but we didn't get to see it we were just we'd have been 30 minutes earlier we would I would have been able to witness that myself but there was enough witnesses there that there's no question that it really happened but she lived most of her life with a cloud hanging over her life a cloud of an ungodly husband maybe the cloud of an unfortunate marriage she made maybe me I suppose people said she made a mistake and I think maybe she would have admitted herself I made a mistake when I married this this man but the cloud that was hanging over her life was a motivation to to pray for people around her including her own descendants the sixth group of people is Ralph once he's finally under conviction in the hand of God has settled upon him and in this deep sickness and the pain and he realizes I have sinned against my creator and now his chastening is upon me what am I going to do now he had a choice you know the most two most powerful words in the Christian life is humble yourself I've said that before here I'll say it again wherever you are whether things are going good whether they're going bad humble yourself if I was to write two more words on the board that's what it would be I would write the words humble yourself up there humble yourself under the hand of God you want God to be on your side when God to be with you rather than against you see God resists the proud you become God's enemy with pride but when you humble yourself God gives grace well chose to humble himself when the chastening hand of God came upon him and the seventh group of people would be Ralph once he has recovered once he has repented and come back to God and now he is a Christian and now he is on the way to heaven and now he is walking in victory once again and my question is like Ralph do you have a burden for the lost are you seeking first the kingdom of God or are just are you just enjoying your newfound freedom in Christ the salvation that God has given you so again which group of people are you and are how are you responding again those seven groups Ralph when he's unconverted Ralph when he's converted that first love the church members around Ralph Ralph in a backslidden state is that you Martha the believing wife now a grieving wife with a cloud hanging over like is that where you are Ralph under conviction he's got to choose am I going to submit myself to God and finally Ralph recommitted walking in victory saved once again what am I going to do with my life I'd like to read Martha's testimony just a few words of her writing just in closing here she says this she says one of my reasons for writing this account of Ralph's life and work is is in the hope that many may yet through this testimony find the same Savior that he loved and served many times I heard Ralph give a witness concerning his life telling experiences he had before conversion as well as after these things he gave not only orally but in printed form as well the latter distributed by him by him by the thousands in track form I can think of no better summary of his life as he told it then as and as I knew him then this passage from God's Word and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins wherein in time passed he walked according to the course of this world according to the prints of the power of the air the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh fulfilling the desires of our flesh and of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as others but God who is rich in mercy for his great love were with he loved us even when we were dead in sins has quickened us together with Christ by grace you're saved and it raises up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 to 6 let's bow for prayer after this I'll give the time to Glenn and maybe if others have something they want to say about you know there's time for testimony about this whole thing of backsliding maybe your own testimony that's powerful somebody has a testimony yourself of how God is getting ahold of you has gotten ahold of you has spoken to you about some area of backsliding you know I think it'd be I think it'd be valuable to think about that but let's pray I'll turn the time to back over to Glenn Lord we come to you in Jesus name and we pray that you would be with us this morning you would speak to us and I thank you God for this testimony of Martha Shank later Palmer and Ralph Palmer a man who you redeemed you quicken Lord and showed mercy to him not only once not only twice but many times but you did save him even in his backslidden statement used him to build your kingdom and I pray that you would use us I pray that you would inspire us to be your people or does your people as we think of the great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 11 and now here's one more that by the fruit that we can see was a faithful servant of yours later in his life Lord I pray that you would just move on us by your spirit you would motivate us to be active in your kingdom wherever you've called us to Lord maybe it's something similar Ralph maybe it's different but still it's your calling help us to know what that calling is and to fulfill your calling on us just be with every person that came here this morning whatever effort they've had to make to be here bless them for that and guide us as we go home just make your hand be upon us in Jesus name