Europe Receives the Gospel

Recently, I came across a book on Christian missions by an Asian-Anglican author, Vinoth Ramachandra (The Recovery of Mission: Beyond the Pluralist Paradigm, [Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997]). Ramachandra notes how many great Christian writers of Asia, influenced by modernity and liberalism, are opposing the exclusive claim of Christianity that Jesus Christ alone is the Savior. He describes the rising tide of modernity which declares that every religion can save us. Now, if it were true that every religion can save, that would spell the death of Christian missions. But it is not true. We believe in missions and the evangelization of the world because there is only one Savior for the world, the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no salvation outside of Christ. He alone is the way, the truth, and the life.

In the previous passage we learned that the Spirit of God guided the Jerusalem council of apostles, elders and members of the churches of Jerusalem and Antioch to confirm the truth that salvation is in Jesus Christ alone by grace alone through faith alone. In this passage, Acts 15:36-16:15, we will examine how Paul was guided to preach the gospel of Christ in Europe and what the results were.

God loves all peoples, including Europeans. God promised Abraham that in him all the families of the earth were to be blessed, meaning people from all nations, and the ultimate fulfillment of this promise came through Abraham’s offspring, Jesus Christ. The risen Lord commanded his disciples to go into all the world and make disciples. The ascended Christ poured out his Holy Spirit upon the church that she may receive power and bear witness to this gospel in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And we saw the gospel flame spreading from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, Caesarea, Tyre, Sidon, Ethiopia, Syria, Cilicia, and Galatia. Finally, the flame spread to Europe, as we will read in this passage. And if you study church history you will discover that from Europe the flame of the gospel spread to Asia, the Americas, Africa, Oceania, and to the ends of the earth.

The mission to Europe by Paul was of decisive and utmost significance in spreading the gospel to all nations. Additionally, it was the basis of what we call western civilization, which at one time honored the Christ of the Bible.

Conflict Between Paul and Barnabas

In Acts 15:36-39 we notice that a certain conflict arose between the first missionaries, Paul and Barnabas. Paul wanted to make another journey to visit the churches established on their first missionary trip. Barnabas wanted to take along his cousin, John Mark, who had failed them by abandoning them on the first missionary journey and returning home when he had reached Perga. Barnabas, also known as the son of consolation, wanted to give his cousin a second chance. But Paul refused to take John, who had proved himself to be independent and unreliable when he quit the first journey.

Paul had no patience with those who would break such a commitment. He knew God’s work requires workers who will persevere and suffer, no matter what; who will put their hands to the plow and not look back; and who will deny themselves, take up the cross and follow Christ wherever he leads. God’s work requires people who are willing to die for the cause of Christ, not quitters.

Paul speaks about the type of people that he would approve to preach the gospel in 2 Timothy 2:1-3: “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” Endure hardship, persecution, and suffering! Paul was looking for people who could do that to accompany him on this missionary trip.

Barnabas was an encourager, and he wanted to give his cousin a second chance. This idea was not without precedent. Remember how the apostle Peter denied the Lord Jesus three times, yet the Lord Jesus gave him a second chance? Jesus prayed for Peter, restored him to his apostleship, and Peter became a battle-scarred veteran of the cross. In the same way we learn that later on John Mark himself became a faithful servant of the gospel. In 1 Peter 5:13 Peter calls him “my son,” and in 2 Timothy 4:11 Paul himself tells Timothy, “Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.” But at this time Mark’s faithfulness was a question mark, and the Bible tells us a sharp disagreement arose between Barnabas and Paul over whether or not to take Mark along.

No doubt Paul remembered that Barnabas had been the only one to encourage him in the early days. Barnabas was the only one who trusted Paul after his conversion, and the one who first introduced Paul to the apostles in Jerusalem. Later on, Barnabas was the one who went all the way to Cilicia to bring Paul to the church in Syrian Antioch to minister with him. Yet on this issue Paul could not agree with Barnabas. Each man kept insisting on his own way, and such angry feelings arose between them that they parted company.

What does this tell us about Paul and Barnabas? Simply that they were imperfect men. But, praise be to God, God uses imperfect men to preach the way of salvation, and it is comforting to learn from this passage that God will use human instruments, however imperfect, to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Timothy Joins the Team

The apostles parted ways. Barnabas took Mark and left for Cyprus, while Paul took Silas and began his second missionary journey, having been commended to the grace of the Lord Jesus by the church in Syrian Antioch. Silas was a prophet, a member of the Jerusalem church, a Jew and a Roman citizen. He and Paul left Antioch and traveled north, crossing the Taurus mountain range through the narrow Cilician gates. They entered Derbe from the east and then went on to Lystra, the town where Timothy had grown up. As they went, they strengthened the churches.

In Acts 16 we read that Timothy joined the missionary team. Timothy’s mother was a Jewess and his father was a Gentile. Timothy, his mother and his grandmother had all become Christians when Paul was in Lystra on his first missionary journey. This was the same time when Paul was stoned and left for dead outside the city.

Timothy’s mother, Eunice, knew the Holy Scriptures and yet she had committed a serious error early in her life by marrying an unbelieving Gentile. Paul speaks against such marriages in his first letter to the Corinthian church. Additionally, in those days when a Jewish woman married a Gentile, it was her duty to circumcise her sons, yet Timothy was not circumcised. So in the eyes of the Jews of the region, Timothy was not a Jew and was outside the covenant of Israel.

Timothy’s Gentile father may have died by the time Paul came to Lystra on his second missionary journey. So, as a father to him, Rabbi Paul circumcised Timothy. He did so, not that Timothy would be saved through circumcision because Timothy had already been saved and baptized as a Christian. Paul circumcised Timothy to remove any reproach that Timothy might experience in the eyes of the Jews who lived in the area.

Paul’s circumcision of Timothy did not violate the principle that the council in Jerusalem had recently articulated that salvation is in Jesus Christ alone by grace alone through faith alone plus nothing. But Paul was a flexible person when principles were not at stake, and he realized that circumcising Timothy would be advantageous to his ability to spread the gospel. Paul speaks of this flexibility he enjoyed in 1 Corinthians 9:20-22: “To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews; to those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself are not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” Paul was unyielding like an iron pillar when it came to principle, but in non-essential matters he was flexible.

Timothy was probably only twenty years old or so when he joined the missionary team, yet he was already held in high esteem by the churches of the region for his piety and zeal for the gospel. When Paul and Silas came to Lystra, the presbytery, or elders, of the area, together with Paul, laid their hands upon the young Timothy and ordained him for the ministry of the gospel.

Paul’s relationship with Timothy was an abiding one, as we read several places in the New Testament. Timothy was Paul’s true son in the faith to the very end. In 1 Corinthians 4:17 Paul wrote, “For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord.” And in Philippians 2:19 he wrote: “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I may also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.”

Timothy has been an inspiration to young Christians in the church of Jesus Christ throughout the centuries. A lover of Scripture, he was fed from infancy by his mother and grandmother, not only with mother’s milk but also with the milk of God’s word. Timothy was a lover of Scripture, a lover of God, and a lover of God’s church.

If you are a young person, I hope that you will look upon Timothy and model your life after this young man who turned away from the world, seeking to live for God early in his life. Even though his father was a Gentile, Timothy turned to God and loved him and followed until he died. Unlike John Mark, Timothy never quit or backslid. I challenge you, if you are a young person, to learn much from this young man Timothy.

The Holy Spirit Guides Paul

After strengthening the churches established during his first missionary journey, Paul desired to travel southwest to preach in Ephesus, which was the leading city of Asia at that time. This was in keeping with his usual strategy of establishing churches in leading cities from which others could take the gospel to outlying areas.

However, Paul was sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 16:6 we learn that his desire to go to Asia to preach at Ephesus was vetoed by the Spirit of God. How did Paul know his plan was vetoed? We do not know. It may be that circumstances did not allow him to travel or there were legal complications which could not be worked out. It may be that Paul, Silas or Timothy received a vision or prophecy directing them not to go, or that the team lacked peace in their hearts as they prayed about their trip.

Whatever the reason, Paul then began to plan to go north to preach the gospel in Bithynia, the area south of the Black Sea. However, the Spirit of Jesus prevented him from doing that also. The Holy Spirit vetoed the spirit of Paul, again in a way which is not recorded.

What did such negative directions mean? They could have meant “Not now,” as if God were saying, “Paul, I don’t want you to preach in these areas right now, but you can do so some other time.” This appears to be true in the case of Ephesus, where Paul did preach the gospel later on, as we read in Acts 19. Or they could have meant “Not you,” as if God were telling Paul, “I have someone else to take the gospel to Bithynia and to Pontus and all these other parts of the world.” That also happened. Paul, as far as we know, never went to Bithynia and Pontus, but the gospel obviously did go to those regions. The entire epistle of 1 Peter is addressed to believers in those regions. Not only that, in the writings of Pliny, the governor of Bithynia in the early second century we read there were Christians in that part of the world. Nicea and Chalcedon, sites of the first and fourth church councils, respectively, were located there, and many thriving churches grew up in this part of the world where Paul was prohibited from preaching.

After receiving the negative directions to refrain from preaching in Asia and Bithynia, the missionaries moved westward until they arrived in Troas, at the mouth of the Dardanelles, a few miles south of Troy. Troas was a Roman colony, a regular port of call for vessels journeying between Asia and Macedonia in Europe. Even today visitors can see part of the walls of this ancient city. Here in Troas the team again waited for God’s direction. They were prevented from preaching until they received further divine guidance.

God Guides His People

Paul and Silas knew that God would guide them, because God always guides his people. We find an example of God’s guidance in the Old Testament in Numbers 9:15 where we read: “On the day the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire. That is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire. Whenever the cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped.” After redeeming his people from Egypt, God guided them in the wilderness.

In the New Testament we see the Holy Spirit guiding people, especially throughout the book of Acts. Paul mentioned this idea of being guided by the Holy Spirit several times in his letter to the Galatians. In Galatians 5:16 he wrote, “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” In verse 18 he wrote, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.” And in verse 25 he wrote, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” The Spirit of the living God guides his people.

God also guides his people by other means. He guides them by means of Scripture, and from the book of Acts we learn that he guides them with visions, as we read in Acts 910,12; Acts 10:3, 17; Acts 18:9 and Acts 22:17. God can give visions in the day and at night to guide his people.

The Cry from Macedonia

As Paul and Silas waited on God at Troas, they received the guidance they were seeking. In Acts 16:9 we read, “During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.'” This was God’s direction coming to the missionary team in the form of a vision in the night of a man standing. Somehow Paul knew this man was from Macedonia, which was to the northwest of Troas across the Aegean Sea. The man was pleading and entreating Paul, saying, “Cross over,” from the Greek word, diabaino, meaning “cross over the Aegean Sea to Macedonia.” The Greek word “cross over” is in the imperative, meaning it is command. But the man also said, “Help us,” using the Greek word Boêthêô, which has the idea of someone running to help after hearing the cry of another person who is in danger. “Cross over the Aegean and help us! We are in serious danger. We need to be saved,” the Macedonian man seemed to be saying.

The same word was used by the Canaanite woman whose daughter was demonized. She came to Jesus Christ, and cried out, Boêthêô, meaning, “Please run to my cry for my daughter. She is being demonized and dying and going to hell! Help!”

This Macedonian man seemed to understand his sin. He desired to hear the gospel, like Cornelius, who heard the gospel from Peter. The Macedonian man was begging, not for soup or soap, education, or medicine, which are commonly associated with missionary ventures of today. (PGM) This man was recognizing that he and his people had a much greater need. “We are perishing!” he was saying. “We need to hear the gospel. Come over and help us.” In the middle of the night, the Macedonian man was calling for salvation.

The Gospel Comes to Philippi

Paul was a man who obeyed the Holy Spirit. He looked at the directions he had received, both negative and positive, and concluded that God was guiding him and his comrades to go right away to Europe, specifically to Macedonia, to preach the gospel to the people there. Now that these missionaries had heard from God, they were ready to go. Immediately, Paul and his companions found a ship, bought tickets and boarded. After crossing the Aegean Sea, they arrived at Neapolis. From there they traveled on the Egnatian Way ten miles northwest to the Roman colony of Philippi.

Philippi was named after Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. It was a Roman colony located 135 miles northwest of Troas. It was near Philippi that, in 42 B.C., there was a battle fought by Octavian, who later became Caesar Augustus, and Marc Anthony against Brutus and Cassius, who later assassinated Julius Caesar.

When Octavian became Caesar Augustus, he made Philippi a Roman colony. It was a little Rome, in a sense. Retired Roman soldiers resided there, enjoying full rights of Roman citizenship, including exemptions from being scourged and from imperial taxation. These Roman citizens had the right of appeal to Caesar, which, of course, Paul himself exercised later in life. Their administration was like that of Rome. The Roman Egnatian Way ran through Philippi west to Thessalonica and to the Adriatic Sea, and east to Byzantium.

Only a few Jews lived in Philippi, and it seems there was no synagogue. Thus, on the Sabbath Paul and his team–Silas, Timothy, and now, I am sure, Luke the physician–did not know where to worship. They went outside the city gate to the Gangites river where they found some women gathered together to pray to the God of the Jews. The four men sat down with the women, and when the opportunity came for the visitors to minister, as was the custom in synagogue worship, Paul stood up and began to preach the gospel to these women.

One of the women listening to Paul was named Lydia, a rich, God-fearing Gentile woman from the city of Thyatira in Asia. Like Paul, Lydia had crossed over the Aegean Sea to do business in Europe. She was a distributor to Europe of purple cloth, which was made in Thyatira.

In those days the dye used to make clothes purple was obtained from the secretions of certain shellfish that lived in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. It took eight thousand shellfish to produce one gram of this purple dye. Only rich people, such as the rich man of Luke 16, could afford purple garments, and thus selling purple garments was a good business with large profits. Lydia was a rich businesswoman and probably she was a widow. Yet, despite her riches, Lydia was unhappy.

Lydia was similar to Cornelius and the Ethiopian eunuch in that they also were rich, influential people, but they were unhappy. Why? They were chosen from all eternity to be saved, and would not find true joy until they were saved.

The Salvation of Lydia

God guided the missionary team to cross over the Aegean to Philippi. Then he guided them to the riverfront and to the group of women gathered there. God guided them to proclaim the gospel to this congregation, and the text says Lydia listened very earnestly to the gospel as it was proclaimed by the apostle Paul.

In verse 14 we read that the Lord opened Lydia’s heart to respond to the gospel, and we find an interesting word for “opened” in the Greek: diênoigô. Dia means through, ana means again, and oigô means to open widely the heart. In other words, this was not just a little bit of interest. The Lord opened Lydia’s heart wide, giving full entrance for the gospel. As Paul preached the gospel, Lydia was not sleeping or sitting in a nonchalant, “who cares?” fashion. Ordained from all eternity to be saved, she was holding on to every word Paul had to say about Jesus Christ and his death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and crowning as the King of kings and the Lord of lords. She eagerly listened as Paul declared that everyone who repents and trusts in Jesus Christ will be saved.

What does it mean to open one’s heart to the gospel? It means God makes a person alive spiritually. God regenerated Lydia, making her sensitive to God. All people are dead in trespasses and sins, and unless God raises them up, they cannot repent or believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke uses this word diênoigô in his gospel also in Luke 24:31, 32, and 45, when he speaks about God opening the eyes of the two disciples on their way to Emmaus. God opened the Scriptures to them by opening their minds. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. Unless the Spirit of God works in you, you will go to sleep when the gospel is proclaimed. You will hear the gospel, but it will not do anything to you. But when the Spirit works in you, you will want to believe, you will want to repent, and you will want to trust in Jesus Christ alone for your eternal salvation.

The Thessalonians responded similarly to the gospel preaching of Paul. In 1 Thessalonians 1:6 Paul wrote to them, “You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with a joy given by the Holy Spirit.” Earlier, in verse 4 he wrote, “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.” The gospel comes to us in words: it is not a subjective, amorphous thing. The gospel comes in propositions: that Jesus Christ died; that he was buried and raised from the dead; that he ascended into the heavens; and that he is the King of kings and Lord of lords, God/man, the only Savior.

This is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and if the gospel does not excite you, we must conclude that you are not saved. Why? Because the gospel will give you great joy. It is called good news, isn’t it? It will change your mind, your will and your emotions, and you will love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.

Whenever the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached, some people’s hearts are opened, meaning they understand and receive the gospel, while others remain blind and more hardened than ever. We read about this in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Satan blinds, but Jesus Christ opens our eyes to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ in the gospel. If God has opened our eyes, we will sit at the edge of our seats, excited and wanting to hear every word that the preacher is preaching. Why? Because he is speaking about the consolation and comfort for our souls.

In Matthew 13:11 Jesus told his disciples, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them,” meaning those who did not believe the gospel. And in Matthew 13:23 he spoke about the seed that fell on the good soil: “But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.”

That is what happened to Lydia. She was regenerated, given understanding of the gospel, and given faith to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Open Heart, Open Home

Lydia believed in Jesus Christ and was baptized in the Gangites River along with her household, including her employees and slaves. Her heart had been opened, and if your heart is opened by the Holy Spirit, everything else will be opened also: your home, your pocketbook, and everything else you have.

We said before that Lydia was a rich businesswoman. She had a large house in Philippi, so in verse 15 we find Lydia begging the missionary team to stay at her house. The opening of Lydia’s heart resulted in the opening of her home, and this became God’s provision for the missionary team while they stayed in Philippi.

Today, when people are interested in going out as missionaries, they go around to various churches to raise money, saying, “We need so much money. How much can you give?” But when I came to this city, I did not ask anyone for money. Why? I believe in a God who sends out and a God who will provide–Jehovah Jireh. I have never had to beg or plead, and yet all my needs have been met through the generous giving of this church to the cause of Christ.

The needs of Paul, Silas and the others were met by God through Lydia, the Gentile woman who became the first believer in Europe, and others who joined the church of Philippi. This is the scriptural way of doing it, as we read in Galatians 6:6: “Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.” God will take care of his preachers without their having to beg, plead and cajole. And the day I have to beg, plead and cajole is the day I quit preaching the gospel. Money will not be a problem if God calls you and leads you in doing his work.

It seems the believers in Philippi began to meet regularly at Lydia’s big house for worship. This again was God’s provision. When God calls rich people into his kingdom, all their riches, including houses, are given over to the use of the kingdom of God.

Why Evangelize?

Thus, the first church in Europe was planted. All this was a result of God’s strategic planning and guiding his apostles, first by preventing them from going certain places, and then by granting them a vision in Troas, leading them all the way to Philippi, opening Lydia’s heart, and establishing a church in her home.

Some people today do not like Europeans. But if you love the gospel, you will gratefully acknowledge that from this first church in Europe the gospel has gone all over the world. Who went to China? Who went to Africa? Who went to India? Who went to South America and North America? Who went to all the other parts of the world? Europeans. As the gospel spread throughout Europe, people who loved God sacrificed themselves and went all these places to proclaim the gospel that others might be saved.

This portion of scripture, therefore, should encourage us to evangelize others as Paul did. So I ask you: Have you ever led a soul to Jesus Christ? Have you led your own children to Jesus Christ? Let me give you some reasons why we should evangelize.

1. There is no other Savior but Jesus. There are people in India, so-called Christian theologians, who do not believe anymore in Jesus Christ alone as the Savior. “Oh, today we have to be large-hearted,” they would say. “Don’t you know every religion is equally right and valid?” That is falsehood. People have the freedom to believe whatever they want, but the truth is, there is only one Savior for the Jew, for the Greek, for the Hindu, and for the Muslim. Jesus Christ is the only Savior; there is no other. We must evangelize because only the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
2. Jesus commanded us to evangelize. Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords. And in Matthew 28:19 he gave his disciples a command which is still applicable to us today: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
3. The world is crying and needy. When the Macedonian man cried, “Come over and help us!” he was not speaking about soup, soap, and medical school, and every other thing. There is nothing wrong with these things, but they cannot save anyone. As a representative of the needy world, he was crying out for the gospel.
4. God loves people throughout the world. In John 3:16 we read that God the Father “so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God the Father loves the world, and so we must bring the gospel to that world.
5. The love of Christ compels us. The love of Christ, as Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:14, impels us, pushes us onward, and motivates us to preach the gospel. What is the love of Christ? It is that which caused Jesus Christ to die on the cross. It is that which saved a murderer, an exterminator of the Christian faith–Saul of Tarsus–and transformed him into a champion of the gospel of God’s grace. Such love compels us to preach the gospel to others.
6. As we preach, some will be saved. In Acts 13:48 we read that God ordained some people from all eternity to be saved. It is our duty to preach the gospel that these may hear and be saved.
7. God himself will open people’s hearts. Whenever we preach the gospel, we can have confidence that God will open hearts as he opened the heart of Lydia to respond to the gospel.
8. Preaching is God’s means of salvation. God’s means of salvation is the preacher preaching the gospel. There is no other way. No angel will come and preach to you. As we read in Romans 10:14-15, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”
9. Christians owe something to the world. In Romans 1:14 we read, “I am obligated both to the Greeks and to non-Greeks, both to the wise and to the foolish.” A Christian owes something to world–the gospel of Jesus Christ.
10. We are called to preach the gospel. “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” Paul exclaimed in 1 Corinthians 9:16. And in Isaiah 6:8 we read, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?'” What did Isaiah say? “Here am I. Send me!”

May We Appreciate and Declare the Gospel!

Praise God for his gospel! If you have not trusted in Jesus Christ, let me tell you, there is no other Savior but Jesus Christ, who died for you on the cross–not for himself but for you. I encourage you, exhort you, and beseech you to trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation even this day. And if you are saved and appreciate this gospel that saved you from eternal damnation, then I hope you say to God today, “Here am I. Send me!”

May God send us to proclaim the gospel to others! And may he send people whom he loves in our way that we may declare to them that Jesus Christ saves sinners. God has prepared his great banquet: May we go out to the highways and byways and compel people to come in, that the blind may receive sight and the dead may be made alive. May we be so filled with the Holy Spirit and led by him that we declare God’s glorious gospel throughout the world. Amen.