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Preach the Word
23 Plays27 days ago
Series: Managing the Ministry of the Local Church
2 Tim. 4:1-22
Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
I had the great privilege of knowing Glenn Ward. Brother Glenn is a longtime Texas Baptist pastor, and he is the director of missions at the Texas Baptist Standard, which is a publication that goes out here across the state. Glenn, well, he passed away this last week at the age of 78.
00:00:26
Speaker
Now, part of his mission was to reach out to Texas area pastors like me and to pray for them by name daily, day after day, week after week. And he did so faithfully ever since I've been here in First Baptist. I received many encouraging emails and uplifting emails from Glenn over the past few years.
00:00:54
Speaker
One of the few that came at the very end just simply said, brothers, that the cancer has come back. He said, but I want to let you know I'm making my final preparations. Just a few weeks later, he was admitted into hospice and knowing that his time on this earth was drawing to a close, he asked his son-in-law, Eric, to send out a final email to us pastors.
00:01:21
Speaker
that were under his care. And while I won't share absolutely everything that he said to me, I will say that his message was clear and to the point. Keep fighting the good fight, persevere, and stay focused on the things that matter most. This is what his message was to me. He said, but above all, preach God's word. Stay true preaching God's word. And I thought this last week about these final words of a great man and how significant they really were.
00:01:51
Speaker
It's a window into his heart and his soul that we get to see. Somebody that came into work day after day and prayed for somebody like myself. It's a true measure of how they help other people, how they evaluate what's important in their lives. Glenn's final concern was not for himself, but for people like me.
00:02:16
Speaker
And his instruction was simple, be ready, be willing, and press on in the preaching of God's Word. And friends, it's that same message that we're going to see today from Paul to Timothy. Be ready, be willing, and press on in the preaching of God's Word. But it's not just the preacher's job. It's not just my job. It's a call that's the same call for you and I as Christians.
00:02:40
Speaker
We must be willing and we must be ready. We must be able and available to preach the truth of God's Word. But if we're honest with ourselves, quite frankly, there are times when we lack the courage, we lack the confidence, and we lack the commitment to do so. So we're going to look at today from the Scriptures, how can we be ready and willing to preach God's Word?
00:03:01
Speaker
We're going to look at three C's. You'll see on your outline if you grabbed one today with your bulletin. First, we're going to look at communication. This is the preaching of God's Word. It takes communication. Second, we're going to look at commitment. It takes commitment, perseverance. And third, it takes confidence. Where does this confidence stem from that keeps us going? And lastly, we'll answer, how can we be ready and willing to preach the truth of God's Word?
00:03:28
Speaker
If you have been following with us all this time, you'll realize in your Bibles that chapter four is indeed the very end of 2 Timothy. We've made it all the way through 2 Timothy. and now In the following three weeks, we'll dive into Titus. Titus, there's only three three times in Titus. And then, while I could say I, with 100% certainty, know what's coming next, I do. We're gonna jump into the Gospel of Mark, and that's what's gonna be with us throughout the end of the year, just so you have a general plan of where we're going. Wrapping up Timothy today, Titus the next three weeks, then right into Mark.
00:04:04
Speaker
Chapter 4, verse 1, reads this way, says, I solemnly urge you in the presence of God in Christ Jesus, who will someday judge a living and the dead when he comes to set up his kingdom. Preach the word of God. Be prepared whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct and rebuke and encourage your people with good teaching. For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching.
00:04:32
Speaker
They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myth. But you, you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don't be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the good news, the gospel, and to fully carry out the ministry that God has given to you. As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near.
00:05:03
Speaker
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me, the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me, but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing. Verse nine goes on here in Paul's final words. He says, Timothy, please come as soon as you can.
00:05:31
Speaker
Demas has deserted me because he loves the things of this life and has gone to Thessalonica. Cressons has gone to Galatia and Titus has gone to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Bring Mark with you when you come, for he will be helpful to me in my ministry. I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. When you come, be sure to bring the coat I left with Carpus of Troas. Also bring my books and especially my papers.
00:06:00
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Alexander the Coversmith did much harm to me, but the Lord will judge him for what he has done. Be careful of him, for he fought against everything we said. The first time I was brought before the judge, no one came with me. Everyone abandoned me. May it not be counted against them.
00:06:20
Speaker
But the Lord stood with me and gave me strength so that I may preach the good news in its entirety for all the Gentiles to hear, and he rescued me from certain death. Yes, and the Lord will deliver me from every evil attack and will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. All glory to God forever and ever. Amen.
00:06:42
Speaker
He finishes here just with the final greeting. He says, give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila and those living in the household of Anaphrasus. Orestus stayed with me in Corinth, and I left Tropimus sick at Miletus. Do your best to get here before winter. Eubulus sends you greetings and so does Purdans and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers and sisters. May the Lord be with your spirit and may his grace be with you all.
00:07:14
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And you're thankful that I didn't call anybody to pronounce all those names.
00:07:19
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This, friends, is the final chapter and the final moments of Paul's life. He's shortly to be executed. He says here in verse six, where I am already being poured out like a drink offering and the time has come from my department departure.
00:07:36
Speaker
but This is 30 plus years in the ministry. He has labored the work of the gospel. Now his life is coming to an end. And what's interesting to me is there's no regrets expressed here. Man, I should have built more tents. None of that. Man, I should have made more money. So none of that. Instead, he says, these are the things that are most important, Timothy.
00:08:07
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Preach the word, fulfill your ministry and persevere.
00:08:14
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Not thinking of himself like Glenn Ward, but thinking of others. So let's look at this call to preach the word. First thing Timothy must do is to give priority to the act of preaching. Here we see preaching is actually, we've talked about this on Wednesdays if you've been in evangelism, right? This is this word of to herald or to proclaim. It's the pastor's most primary and important function is to proclaim God's word. Thomas Watson the Puritan once said, God had only one son and it was in his wisdom that he made him a preacher.
00:08:54
Speaker
It's perfectly true for you and I. As Christ's followers, we are to be ready and have a certain level of respect for God's Word and we must prioritize it and we must understand that it was the ministry of Jesus himself in the Gospels to go out and preach the Word of God. He performed many miracles, Jesus did. And he showed great compassion in those healings.
00:09:22
Speaker
But the greater part of his ministry was given to preaching. Mark begins his gospel. If you'll remember, we step through this on Wednesday night. He says, after John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news. This was preaching the good news. And at the end of his ministry, Jesus commissioned his followers to go into all the world and to preach. Preach the good news. Preach the gospel.
00:09:51
Speaker
Now, I've heard this told me before. Pastor, I simply, well, I just live out my Christianity. People see me and they know that I'm a Christian. And to that I say, great. That's witnessing, but that's not preaching the gospel.
00:10:11
Speaker
Preaching the gospel is communicating with words, and you and I, we need to be prepared, he says, both in season and out of season, verse two here, means we need to be ready, we need to stand by, we need to always be on duty with a sense of urgency, ready and available and able to communicate the gospel message, to preach the truth of God's word,
00:10:40
Speaker
I put a note to myself, ah anytime I think about being on duty all the time, a lot of people will think about like a medical person, a paramedic or somebody like that, always ready to serve. ah When I was young, I had to work on the car with my dad. And his definition to be ready was two screwdrivers in one hand and a wrench in the other. And you stood there and you waited for him to go fill up screwdriver.
00:11:09
Speaker
you know give me the wrench, you know, and you were just, you were there at attention all the time ready to serve. And and friends, this is the message that Paul is telling Timothy. um It may not be convenient. I actually like the New Living Translation here. It says, you know, it's in season or out of season. In season or out of season, convenient or inconvenient, we're called to be ready to step in and preach, to tell people the gospel.
00:11:39
Speaker
And to which i ah the same message I gave on Wednesday nights to the people that were there, do you know what that gospel message is? And if not, we need to get some clarity upon that if you plan on sharing that with people. There are times when preaching is a great joy, but there are also times when it is an uphill battle.
00:11:59
Speaker
Not necessarily because we don't feel up to it, but and but sometimes the people listening aren't quite so responsive. He says, it doesn't matter in that sense. There must be an urgency. We must be ready. End season, out seat is convenient or inconvenient. We must step up and be ready to preach. Richard Baxter, the Puritan preacher, once said, he said, I preached is never sure to preach again.
00:12:24
Speaker
as a dying man to dying men. A real sense of urgency. He meant that in a lot of eternity, time here is very short for you and I. It's a it's a message that that Mr. Ward gave to me at the end of his life. Brother Patrick, time is short.
00:12:46
Speaker
Salvation is a matter of life and death, and the people that need to hear must hear, we must get out, we must get after that task, which Brother Wes had nicely written on the board in his Bible study class today, did not go unnoticed by me. There is a task, brothers and sisters, that we are tasked with, and that is to get out and preach the word. Paul goes on and says, the preacher must apply the word of God here in different situations. He says, you must correct and rebuke and encourage. Correction is required because sometimes we can have confused ideas about the gospel itself. And by sound reasoning from the Scriptures, we can often set people right. But you have to know it if before you can explain it to somebody and you can correct somebody. We have to be in the Word and we have to do this lovingly
00:13:41
Speaker
I put a note here, biblical preaching, as long as we stick to biblical preaching, it will do its own rebuking, its own judging. That's not something that you and I need to go around doing, judging other people. Simply preaching biblical truth will in fact convict people of their sin and bring them to repentance.
00:13:58
Speaker
But there is a real need when we hear error when it comes to God's word that we need to ah have confidence to step out and say something, well, brother, well, sister, I ah hear you say this. ah I just experienced this last week. I heard somebody say ah their back was hurting and they said, ah well, you just need to speak healing over that back issue.
00:14:23
Speaker
And a bunch of people were like, amen to that. And somebody even said, I think in the Bible, it says something about the tongue in the tongue, there's life and death. And I just wanted to shake my head and go, is this is this the moment I step in and say something? Do I do it lovingly? We have to be able to correct friends' wrong theology, wrong biblical knowledge when it comes to that. But we need to say, that's just not the way that works. Let me point you to Scripture and say what Scripture tells us.
00:14:53
Speaker
We have to not only rebuke, but we also have to be encouraging. The best way I can give you as an example of this, if you're ever baking with your your mom, I used to bake, my mom would have us bake with her growing up. If she simply told me, don't put flour in there, period, that's not very helpful. And that would be accurate if we're baking a cake and she simply said, don't put flour, she would be right. But what's more accurate and more helpful to say, don't put flour in there just yet.
00:15:23
Speaker
You also need to add cream first and then you need to whip the flour into it. You see there's this rebuke, there's a correction, and there's encouragement. And when you put the milk and you whip in, or you put in the cream and you whip in the flour and then you bake it, then you get this great cake. Instead of just saying, don't put flour in there. And friends, quite often, this is what we do as Christians. We like to just jump on somebody and say, don't do that.
00:15:49
Speaker
Stop doing that. But what happens is the full counsel of God says, not only do you correct, but you also encourage. Don't do that, but here's what you ought to do instead. This is what the word of God says. It takes an effort. It takes priority. It also takes a commitment. Let's look at commitment. Verse five gives us the reason why careful instruction in the word of God is so important and necessary. He says, for the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.
00:16:19
Speaker
Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. And they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. And Paul says this is happening in 2024.
00:16:40
Speaker
William Hendrickson, which is an author and theologian, I think he makes a very good point here. He says, friends, in every period of history, there will be a season which men will refuse to listen to sound doctrine. And as history continues onward towards the consummation, this such situation will only grow worse. Men will not endure to tolerate truth.
00:17:05
Speaker
it's It's interesting when you when you can steer a conversation when somebody is doesn't quite understand, biblically, what they're talking about, and then you steer them to the truth and say, here's what God's word says about that situation. And I've heard this. I don't care what God's word says about that. Right? I don't care about the truth. I know what I know, and that's what I believe. I've heard that. And I just want to think, really, you have an issue with God's word? That's an issue between you and God.
00:17:39
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When the truth is pointed out, friends, we have a choice whether or not we're going to adhere to that truth, or we're going to, like Paul says, we're just going to start believing in myth.
00:17:52
Speaker
Why do we falter in our commitment? This is a question I put to myself this week. Why is it so tough to find biblical churches that preach God's Word?
00:18:06
Speaker
Why is it tough to find that in America? But yet we have all these mega churches with, and I have nothing to do with styles, because as long as you have the gospel message, the method itself can change, I'm not against a different type of preaching. But when you have mega churches and they're not preaching from God's word, and it's more about an entertainment, but to entertainment um come to I come on Sunday and I've heard this a million times, to feel something.
00:18:36
Speaker
I want to have a feeling Sunday morning. I want to experience God. I want to hear from God Sunday morning. And I say, ah you're in the perfect place, friends. You just need to open up the Bible. He's speaking every day. You just need to open up the Bible. But instead, friends, what we have is we have a whole group of people that that Paul's saying it's happening in his time and it's only gonna get worse until Christ's return that they're simply wanna turn away from the truth and they wanna have their itching ears scratched. it it It's this image of a feel-good message on Sunday
00:19:15
Speaker
that that i just you know I know there's football on in the afternoon and I got to squeeze in church in the morning. Boy, I can't wait to hear just you know something encouraging and uplifting and send me on my way. um you know It's all about love. It's all about unity. It's all about its you know inclusivity. Everybody's happy all the time. ah Can I just be completely real as your pastor? I would love to give a message like that.
00:19:42
Speaker
Sunday in and Sunday out. Why? Because it's, frankly, pretty easy. If I don't have to go to God's Word and I don't have to mine it for the truths, verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book, like we've been doing since we've gotten here, it's rather easy just to go, I'm going to teach on love today. And I can pull all sorts of verses to verify and to prove what I think about love.
00:20:09
Speaker
but not what God's word says about love. And so friends, it's it's difficult and it takes commitment, not only for you and I to study it and to hear it and to have it preached, but he says here, Timothy, keep your head in all situations, endure the hardship. There's gonna come a time when nobody wants to listen to what you have to say, they don't wanna listen, but continue to do the work of the evangelist. ah evangelist discharge Discharge all your duties, verse five says,
00:20:37
Speaker
as you pursue and persevere in your ministry. John Wesley once said, he said, God buries his workmen, but he carries on his work. And I read that this week and I thought, you know, isn't that just like God in his mercy and his grace? His message will carry on. He doesn't need us. He doesn't depend upon us. Brother Glenn in his ministry was faithful and persevere and ran the race and finished well. But guess what?
00:21:08
Speaker
Now he's with the Lord. But God's work and his message is continued even though Glenn is gone. And it's the message that's passed on to you and I that you and I must persevere. We must fight the good fight. We must finish the race. We must keep the faith. But how do we do that? How do we have the confidence to do that when you when you're out?
00:21:31
Speaker
talking with your neighbor, or you're at work, or you're at school, and you have the opportunity to speak truth, either you hear error and you need to correct it, or you just have an opportunity to speak the truth, how do we have the confidence two to press on when people don't want to hear the message that we have? Well, he gives us verse 17 here, and I want to draw your attention. Verse 17 says, but the Lord stood with me.
00:22:00
Speaker
and the Lord gave me strength so that I might preach the good news in its entirety for all the Gentiles to hear." but The confidence that we have, the ability that we have to persevere when we preach the Word of God to, ah frankly, a group of people who could care less about it, and they really don't want to hear it. What what propels us for, it gives us confidence to speak up and to correct error, is that the Lord is with us.
00:22:30
Speaker
And he also says, if you look back at verse eight, he says, not only is the Lord with us, and not only does the Lord give me strength, and not only does he empower me to continue on, but verse eight says, if I do that, there is a prize that awaits me.
00:22:45
Speaker
It's the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on the day of his return. I think, and I don't know where everybody is in their biblical knowledge, but I just spoke to somebody last week, and I was on this very subject about the rewards that we receive in heaven, and they were like, what are you talking about? And I said, well, you know, the rewards that you get, you know, we won't be judged in that way that the unbelievers will be judged, will be judged how how we did with what God gave us those rewards. And they're like, what are you talking about? And I said, oh my goodness, okay, so we have some work to do. We have to explain, and friends, there are rewards waiting for you and I who are faithful, who finish the race well. And he says here that
00:23:34
Speaker
One of the ways that we can be confident is knowing that there is this crowd of everlasting life waiting not only for Paul, he says, but for everyone who is faithful to the proclamation of God's word.
00:23:47
Speaker
And I had in my Bible just two words that said quiet confidence that I had wrote down at one time. To me, this is an ability for us to have a quiet confidence that while we may face opposition, that we may face people who don't frankly want to hear the message of God, they don't want to hear the truth of God's word, that if we remain faithful and not perfect in that endeavor, but we remain faithful, that God will reward or that faithfulness.
00:24:13
Speaker
And we know that the enemy can't derail us, and there's a real advantage for us to become unshakable in ministry. So that when the time comes, when we have the ability, when we're ready, when we're waiting, and we're confident to preach the word, that we actually step out and do it. That when that opportunity presents itself, that we say, you know what, my my friend, let me tell you what but God's word has to say, and be confident in doing that.
00:24:42
Speaker
So how can we be ready and willing to preach the truth of God's Word? This is where I want to land at today. Three points. And I'm really going to take no credit for these three points because it was something that I heard somebody else preach at one time. And I wrote it down in my Bible. And I thought at the time, it's a little pithy. It's a little rhymy. I don't really like stuff like that.
00:25:04
Speaker
But I wrote it down and it's applicable today. So the first thing, if we're going to be confident in proclaiming God's word, we first must know it. So if you're taking notes, know it. You can't teach it or preach it unless you know it. You can't know it unless you're in it, meaning you're in God's word.
00:25:26
Speaker
It's the model that Paul provided to Timothy. It's this one-on-one time with Timothy teaching him, studying God's Word together, and he's leaning over to Timothy and in an essence and saying, do you see what God's Word says, Timothy? Don't just pour the flour mix in right now. Gotta add the cream first, and then add in the flour.
00:25:56
Speaker
Friends, it's these first steps that you and I can take and will take in this journey of proclaiming the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have to know it. So how do we know it? Well, I'm glad you asked that. Wednesday night's shameless plug for the evangelism class. If you're not there, this is the easiest way to understand what the gospel message is. um Quite frankly, I think many of us spend our entire life in church and then we're not really challenged to think of exactly what we believe and how to tell that to somebody else. Oftentimes we while we all kind of have a big amalgamation of beliefs. And so what I often think somebody should know, a prime example of my conversation last week when somebody said I had no idea about
00:26:46
Speaker
gifts in heaven, I thought, okay, well, not everybody knows everything. So how do we begin firming up our beliefs? It's by being in God's word so that we could have this quiet confidence to step out, to share the faith and this message, this good news that a desperate world really needs. The more you know it, the more confident you are in sharing it. We talked about that on Wednesday. But let me let me let you in on how God works in this regard.
00:27:13
Speaker
If you are serious, and so I'm only looking out to those who are serious at this moment, if you're really not that serious about God's word, this message today is not really for you. But if it's something that's foundational in your life and you really want to get to know it better, here's how God works. He says,
00:27:32
Speaker
I will honor that step in obedience. So as soon as you step out in obedience and saying, Lord, I want to learn your word better. I want to make it foundational in my life. He will honor that decision by giving you an opportunity, not only to learn from somebody who knows it really well, but then to go out and put it in practice.
00:27:51
Speaker
And I think that's the big fear for us, quite frankly, and why we aren't confident and why we don't step out, why we don't boldly share the gospel message, because we simply don't know it. But if you come Wednesday nights, this is exactly what we're doing, and you're not too late. If you haven't been there, this Wednesday will be a great opportunity. we're We're firming up what that gospel message is, and we're firming up the parts of that gospel message so that when you go out, you can speak confidently to somebody and proclaim it to them.
00:28:22
Speaker
The first step is to, everybody say it, know it. Second, write it. Boy, I should have spaced those out. Now you have all three of those right off the bat there. I should have made three different slides. Hey, the second is writing it. Why is this so important?
00:28:40
Speaker
um I'll just tell you, this is so difficult for me. This was for a very long time. I love to, in my head, think things through and go, yeah, I think I kind of know this and I think this is the direction I would go. But until you actually sit down and write it out, boy, it's difficult. And for those of you who are doing your your midweek practice for this upcoming Wednesday, I'm sure no doubt for you, it's difficult right now. You're like, man, I got to really work through this. and I got to really think, how am I going to put this down?
00:29:09
Speaker
ah We came up with this 10-word gospel message, right? Christ died for our sins and rose from the grave. Short, pithy, something for you to remember so that when you're in the moment and you're presenting the gospel to somebody and you're like, oh, I forgot it.
00:29:25
Speaker
Where do I start? Well, we have this little 10 word pithy statement, but but then we're learning that we start to unpack it as you sit down and have a spiritual conversation somebody with somebody. The picture here, friends, if you ever gone traveling somewhere with somebody, you're packing your suitcase. You know you do it just like everybody else. said you You unzip that extra part of the suitcase that makes it bigger, and then you're just cramming all that stuff in the suitcase, and then you're zipping up, and sometimes you're sitting on it to get it So it's a short, compact suitcase, this 10-word gospel message. And then when you get to the destination where you're really willing and able and that person is there and you want to share it with them, you unzip that suitcase and out pops.
00:30:11
Speaker
who Jesus is and why he died and what that means and the human predicament and and God's salvation and how that plays out and all those that everybody is going, yeah, that's a lot. Yeah, that's a lot of stuff that goes in that suitcase. That's why, friends, we're practicing on Wednesday nights so that we know it.
00:30:28
Speaker
that we write it and in writing it helps you to clarify what you want to say. Oftentimes I'll write something and it sounds really good on paper and then I start reciting it out loud and I'll go, yeah, that doesn't flow at all. Sounds great on paper. It doesn't sound great conversationally. The first part is to know it. The second part is to write it. Everybody say write it. Third part is to God is going to be faithful if you are faithful to step out in obedience. He's going to give you an opportunity to practice it to which you go, I'm not really sure I'm ready for that. Nobody is initially. Nobody is just born that goes, I love to go out and share the good news with somebody, especially to a ah society that frankly doesn't want to hear it.
00:31:14
Speaker
Some of those people who don't wanna hear it are in your very families. That as you go to Thanksgiving and as you go to Christmas, they're gonna be these people that are closest to you that really need to hear the message. But we have to get really proficient in practicing what we know, that we've written it down. Mark chapter two, we're told here that the Pharisees were enraged at the fact that Jesus ate with sinners. How dare he eat with the sinners that said, remember?
00:31:43
Speaker
Not lower case S sinners, these are the capital S sinners. These were the sinner of all sinners. And Jesus went there to eat with them. Why? Because he was intentional about sharing a message of salvation with those people who needed to be saved. So while it's great for us to learn it and to write it, telling it to one another here in First Baptist Cameron is not really going to do us a whole lot of good. We really have to get out and practice it.
00:32:18
Speaker
You know, I'll end with this. The Bible doesn't really record for us the final days of Paul. We do have tradition that tells us that he was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was probably taken outside the city and probably be beheaded. But what we do know and what is recorded is that Timothy and the other devoted believers carried on his work. They carried on that gospel message.
00:32:44
Speaker
They were faithful and devoted, and you and I must be faithful and devoted, to carry on this message, this life-saving message to future generations who must hear it and have the opportunity to be saved. May we be a people who preaches the Word, and all God's people said.