In Safe Hands - No Reserves...No Retreat...No Regrets...

Let me tell you about a not fun time It was Christmas season years ago, and all five of the Hutchcrafts were in a car coming back from a staff Christmas party Uh in New Jersey, and somewhere along the way, a driver in a pickup truck on the other side of the road, in a two-lane highway, decided he liked my side of the road better than his He later was tested for uh three times the legal limit of alcohol in his system. And all of a sudden, instantly, our car wasn't no more, basically. All I'm looking at is a hood that's in the windshield, and I'm listening to crying kids in the back, and I'm sitting there going, what just happened? What just happened? It was like December 10th, I think. I think I think I remember the date even. I'm like, I mean, I was, I think, in shock there for a minute. What just happened? What just happened? Well, um my friend who owned a gas station came with his tow truck and he said, Ron, this is a miracle. He said, I've come to many vehicles like this and the people are either very injured or very dead And we were neither. I did have to wear a neck brace for a few days, and I had to leave the next morning for a youth retreat to speak And the kids had such sympathy for me, there were many commitments that weekend. So I continued to wear that neck brace for the next two years Because it's thinking like an evangelist, I mean, you know. So um but that we had no car. I mean, that was our only vehicle. And it was December, and you know, I had a lot of appointments. You know what people in nonprofit ministry do at year-end. We have to talk to people about giving at that time. Well, we had no car and Karen said, should we call and get a loaner or something? And I said, Well, let's just pray through the weekend. I don't need one because a friend was taking me up to the retreat So when I got back, she's she said, named a friend, and she said, he called and he said they're gonna be in Florida for the next six weeks. He heard about the accident. And uh he wanted to uh uh lend us one of his cars. I said, tell him to lend us what the oldest thing he's got, please. About an hour later, my friend drove in in his brand new Cadillac Coupe de Ville I mean brand new, hardly any miles on it. So there was some good news and some bad news. The good news is I'm gonna be driving my friends Brand new Cadillac for the next six months six weeks. The bad news is I'm gonna be driving my friends brand new Cadillac for the next six weeks I scared to death. I'm like, oh my goodness, I can only mess it up. So the kids knew, no french fries You couldn't you couldn't even have water in that car, believe me. Change the oil three times a week. I mean, you I mean, this is this is serious stuff, man. And I realized I'm driving his new Cadillac. Um, by the way. Remember, I'm going on fundraising calls. Pulling up in my brand new Cadillac Coop to Bill. I was that took as Ricky Ricardo was saying, got some spinning to do. You got some spinning. I had some splitting to do. Um so uh but you know This friend, God bless him, trusted me with something of great value, and I felt the responsibility for it very much, as I should. The Apostle Paul, as he is sensing the time slipping out of the uh out of the sander thing and realizing what's at stake. Has a word that he uses several times in his letters, and including to Timothy. That is the key to the enlargement of those who understand the power that you use this word rightly, and it will enlarge Everything about the subsequent consequences of that decision. Here's the word. You see it in your book. It's the word entrust. In a sense, God has entrusted a Cadillac to us, and He expects us to really use it well. A couple definitions here of the word entrust. It's a valuable deposit placed in the custody of a trusted guardian So when I drive through uh at the bank and I put for deposit only on the check, I'm obviously expecting that it will be there uh when I need it, right? They'll take good care of it. It's money or property handed over for safekeeping under strict obligation to return it intact. For example, letting your teenager drive your car Now that you're entrusting it to them, and some of you right now are having flashbacks, even as I say that, uh, or fear of the future is gripping you. Um One of my sons was able to be at a wedding that I wish I could have been at. Uh since the early days of Arn Eagles Wings, Nanette and Dino Butler have been dear Navajo friends and Uh and uh Dino sometimes will speak at Warrior Leadership Summit. Uh and when they met each other, uh they uh they fell in love. And I wasn't able to be at the wedding, but boy, they came back, and I I was very moved when I heard how the vows were done at that wedding. Dino actually gave his vows to Nanette on his knees. And he knelt down and made it a very sacred thing to pledge his vows to her. As Nanette gave her vows, when she was finished, she had a blanket. It was an Avajo blanket, and it was probably her most treasured possession. Because it was given to her by her father, with whom she was very close, and who had died a few years earlier, I think when she was a teenage girl. And that that was her, she cherished that. That was her dad, her dad's love gift to her. And as she gave her vows to Dino, she gave that blanket. To him as a statement that I now entrust my future to you and my life to you. What a beautiful thing, huh? Let's get the Kleenex. We're gonna pass the Kleenex down. That was entrusting. And that was a symbol of entrusting her most precious treasure. from her most precious person. That's what we have from God. And Second Timothy, boy, this is fascinating, portrays a circle of trust. And we're going to go around that circle in the next few minutes. That has power to enlarge whatever has been entrusted. And trusting leads to enlargement. Remember that. We'll see that several times over. And trust becomes the great exponent of your faith. Alrighty, the great circle of trust. Here's where it starts: God entrusts to Paul What matters to him? What matters to God, God says, I'm taking that and I'm putting that in your hands, Paul This is in 1 Timothy chapter 1. Here's what Paul says. The gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted To me, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that He considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy. Because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. Can you catch the wonder here? He has never lost the wonder. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly Along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. And then in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, he says, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted. with the gospel. A valuable deposit placed in the custody of a trusted guardian. Property handed over for safekeeping under strict obligation to return it intact. You know what the trust is? He has trusted us, and this is what amazed Paul, to be the representatives of Jesus on earth They will form their opinion of him based on us. Colossians 3:17. Whatever you do, whatever you say Do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. Here is Paul overwhelmed by amazing grace Well, I want to tell you something. Every person in this room, because of the work, the saving work of Christ in your life, you are walking-talking grace. Look in the mirror and say, I am walking-talking grace. Grace you can see, grace you can listen to, grace you can talk to, grace you can hang out with. You are walking talking grace. Look for somebody near you that you're not related to. Right now, real quick. See, see with somebody, yeah, okay. Just tell them. You are walking talking grace, man. Bo, tell them right now That's right. You are walking talking, Grace. Because there is no other explanation for me. There's no other explanation for you than an undeserved, miraculous work of God. That's the trust we have been given. To be a model of his grace. And to be a messenger of it. To show what it looks like in flesh, and to be ready to explain, you gotta tell it and you gotta show it. So the fire that he talked to Timothy about is first lit in Paul's heart with an entrustment from God. You can't ever live aga live the same way again. Once you realize the trust that you have in your hands, the the divine Cadillac you're driving. Because we have the only message on this planet. There are messages online, there are messages how many of you are not missing the political uh uh advertisements this weekend? Are you uh I'm sorry even brought them up. Sick, sick, sick of them. There's no programs on anymore. Just political commercials. But there are so many messages out there today. There's only one message on this planet that can change a human's eternity. There's nothing else, no other message that can change a destination, like the destination tag on an airline luggage, which it may not get there, uh but It will with this destination tag. It either says heaven or hell on every life. And you can change that tag. God changes it through your faithfulness in being a good steward of a model and a messenger of the gospel. Isn't it beautiful? It's delivered by a sinner to a sinner. That's what Paul Paul never got over that. And we are called to be the living proof of the gospel. Someone in this room is living proof that a dad can change because of Jesus. Someone in this room is living proof a mom can change, a husband can change, a wife can change, a control freak can change A hurtful temper can change. A self-centered person can change all about themselves. You are living proof that an addicted person can change. Each of us is living proof of something only Jesus could do. And that is a trust to represent that miracle that He has done in us. You know how they talk about patient zero? Back during you know that thing that we had? That thing that I don't say the C word anymore. Uh you remember when we had to wear masks and all of that? We we don't say that anymore. We say cooties now. When we're referring to it, I I refuse to say co You know the word. Well, um, remember I heard it first when Cooties first surfaced and they had to find the the first patient, remember, and track it and then start to go down the contact chain and see how many well Paul was the gospels patient zero Trusted by God to viralize that message. So I hate to use the word infect because it's negative, but in a sense, God infected Paul with the gospel so he could infect a whole lot more people, starting with Timothy. To viralize the message. By the way, some of you were selected by God to be patient zero in your family. I was in my family. This is a little boy. I was the first first one to know Jesus in my family. God planted a little boy in that family who knew Jesus and then they all knew Jesus eventually. You were patient zero. In your workplace or in your tribe. I don't mean a you know ethnic tribe, but your social tribe, your your occupational tribe, your patient zero I saw this great quote. If there be, this is from S. D. Gordon, if there be one, if there be but one in a home who's in touch with God. One becomes God's door into the whole family. Patient zero. That's what Paul was. And you very well maybe in your neighborhood, somewhere in your circle, you are patient zero. And there's supposed to be a whole lot more people infected with Jesus through you. So by entrusting his treasure, the gospel, to his grace exhibits like us It can spread rapidly. You see, and trusting means enlargement. God takes his good news about what his son did, says, Paul, I'm gonna put it in you, so you put it in some more, and so it enlarges. That impact by it being entrusted by God to Paul. Let's go to the second part of the circle. Paul now entrusts to God What matters to him. So it starts, God entrusts to Paul what matters to him, and Paul entrusts to God what matters to Paul. One verse I truly love and it is a go-to for me so many times. 2 Timothy 1. 12. This is why I'm suffering as I am yet And he's been talking about his reputation and he's been talking about his suffering. Yet this is no cause for shame because I know Whom I have believed. Not what. This is not a not a creed. This is a who he believes in. I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced That he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. Now Paul's immediate concerns were his suffering and his reputation, and he says. In the context for the verse, I'm entrusting those to God. I'm not going to worry about it. They're gods. Um who um I don't remember, uh, basically, but uh back was he in the nineteen twenties I think he was uh president. I wouldn't I wouldn't remember, but Um but but uh he they called him Silent Cal. He's a Vermonter, and he was known for his very uh few words And so when they asked him after he went to church on his first Sunday as president, they came out of church, they said, well, what did the preacher talk about? He said, sin. He said, what did he say? He's against it. That was like his first interview. So don't expect a lot of information from Calvin Coolidge. But he uh listen, he w that he was pretty consistent. One day he gets he's in Los Angeles, he gets handed a note That there is possibly a plot to kill him. He turns over to his guard and goes, I think this is for you. That should be your first resort. Father, I think this is for you. What's going on with my kid? What's going on with my health? What's going on with my money? What's going on with an election? Whatever. I think this is for you. and trusted to God. Now, this is a little counterintuitive for us, because you see here this little sentence, I must control it. So I can have a good outcome. The only way to make sure there's a good outcome is if I keep hands-on this whatever, fill in the blank. There are two issues in the Lordship of Christ in your life control and release. So long as you are insisting on keeping a hand on it, He is not Lord of all. You are at least part of the Lord over that thing. So that's control We believe the myth that control will lead to a happy outcome. I've got to control this kid. I've got to control my husband, my wife. I've got to control this ministry. I've got to control Oh w fill in the blank, and then there is release, which says it's out of my hands. And it's in yours, Father. I know whom I have believed, and I know he is able to guard what I commit to him until that day. Um I remember reading a an Asian it's a famous little Asian story. about a uh a little boy who who uh they had there were birds that came and ate in their field and he wanted to always catch one and they he he it took him a long time before he finally was able to get one And he cupped him in his hands and he came running home to mom. He said, Mommy, I got one. I got one. He's so cute. He said, here, see. It wasn't breathing anymore. He said, Oh, I didn't want to lose it I held it so tight. I crushed it. Do I have to elaborate? I just wanted to catch it. I just want to control it. I just want to have it. But I've held it so tight I've crushed it. Then there is the alternative to entrust it to better hands. When in fact, look at your notes, nothing is safe Until it's in God's hands. So long as it is in your hands, who knows? But when it's in his hands, it's safe I was uh Karen was having uh if there is a routine heart procedure, she was having that some years ago, uh and one in which you're conscious during it and everything. Um And I was in the waiting room and as usual I don't like I can I don't like to waste time. I had work with me and so I was working on it and um and I suddenly hear over the loudspeaker, something about code blue, and I wasn't paying much attention. I think I said Lord, whoever that is, help them, until I saw the doctor appear at the door. And saw the face on the doctor. Next thing I knew, I was racing down a hall with the doctor to catch up with the gurney Karen was on. Because they found seven and a half liters of fluid in her lungs. She was drowning. I remember when it dawned on me that that code blue, which is life or death, was the lady I love. It was literally, you know, Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would bring to remembrance things he Jesus said It was like there was a verse flashed on a screen in my mind. I know whom I have believed. And I know he is able. To guard Karen, who I have entrusted to him. And he did. And gave her back to me for years to come. That's releasing. That's trust. I have had a couple experiences the last couple of days that I want to share with you along these lines. Because Karen was safe at the moment I entrusted her into his hands. Dear friend, he and his wife have been here many, many years. And in the middle of preparing actually this message yesterday, um I wasn't just starting, I wasn't finishing. Some of them were like, wait, you just did me? Um But uh I felt I just felt the burden to text them and say how much they would be missed. Um he said I could use his name, I'm not going to, but um um he has served on our board and Our board brothers know who this is. In the past year, his wife has developed both cancer, but more heartbreakingly, um That kind of um uh you know Alzheimer's type of thing where the person you love slowly disappears So I wrote to him just a word of encouragement. He said, thank you, Ron. I'm taking one day at a time, as someone I know and love told me to do, actually. Yes, I did. Right now I am asking him each day for his strength and not mine. His grace is sufficient for me, and his power is made perfect in my weakness, and I sure have a lot of that. This very uncomfortable time has brought me into an even closer relationship with him. My free time Is now my time with him from 4 30 a. m. until about 6 30 or 7 when she gets up. I really value it. Anger and impatience and frustration Crop up once in a while, but my Jesus time is extinguished. Much of that. Right now praying I can keep her home with me as long as possible I have some outside help, but we'll probably need much more. Our family is closer than ever. We've been asked often to pray for their family who have not yet begun a relationship with Christ. There's a man who's been to many many of these retreats. Um hasn't been able to come lately. Um strong man, big man. A force and been significantly weakened than life changed physically by Parkinson's And some other things. And that's why he's unable to be here this year. But something's happened in his life This man has bec has meets regularly with other men who are wealthy. who are powerful and who are extremely lonely and lost and have no one to talk to. They don't have anybody they trust because everybody has wants something from them Everybody has an agenda except him. And he is helping point these men to Jesus in a way he's never done in his whole life. Physically, it's the worst time of his life Spiritually, it's never been a time like this. Because he couldn't control things anymore And his life has truly been entrusted to God on a new level. And it has enlarged the impact of his life. Because entrusting leads to enlargement. My kids and now grandkids have gone to sleep at night singing, Say for my, say for my, in the hollow of his hand. That truly is the only safe place for something you really care about. So let it go. Let it go And trusting will allow God to do things that never could happen so long as you've been hanging on to it. When you entrust it to God, he can do so much more with it than you ever could. Is it a child? Is it your marriage? Your bank account? Is it your loneliness as a single person? Is it a chronic condition? Is it a broken relationship? Is it parents who are aging and slipping? I don't know. But I bet you got something you need to entrust to um what's that say a valuable deposit placed in the custody of the most trusted guardian Your Heavenly Father. And trusting means enlarging. So let's go round the circle. We got God, trust Paul. With representing Jesus through the gospel. Paul entrusts God with the things that matter to him. Now, Paul entrusts to Timothy what matters to God and what matters to him. 2 Timothy 1, verses 13 and 14. What you heard from me, keep, I can't, but you do this, keep as the pattern of sound teaching with faith. and love in Christ Jesus. I gave you the pattern. Follow it. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you guarded with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. By the way, a little detour here. Some of you ask, do we know anything more about Timothy's life? There's a little bit more we know. That will comment uh uh on on how he did with the trust and how he did with rekindling the fire. First of all, apparently Timothy's Timidity was known to the other churches. When Timothy comes, Paul said to the people of Corinth, see to it, he has nothing to fear. Isn't that interesting? You know how he is. So make sure there's nothing to fear. So His weakness was known while he is with you, for he is carrying on the work of the Lord just as I am. You can trust him. He's just a little little schemeish. Squeamish is the word, yeah. Sounds like. Um now, let's do an update. Uh and Let's go because Timothy lived about 40 more years. We think he was about Late 30s or maybe 40 when you got that letter. Because young back then that was still young and not you know not trusted. That's why Paul could say to him, Don't let anybody look down you because you're young. He was considered young Then you say, I'm for that. Let's go with that. But he he lived to be about 80 years old until he stood in against that pagan parade all by himself. And paid with his life. But he was the first bishop of the church at Ephesus. So we have one little clue about how he did with what Paul asked him to do. Because in Revelation, if you remember chapter 2, where Paul, Jesus is visiting the churches, it starts with the church at Ephesus. And yes, Jesus had to call them out because of having lost their first love. But look at what else he said about them. I know your deeds, your heart. This was Timothy's parish. Your hard work, your perseverance. I know you cannot tolerate wicked people. Remember he said fight the false teaching. He talked a lot about the false teachers. He said, You have done that. You have tested those who claim to be apostles, but are not, and you have found them false You have persevered, you've endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. And while he is a corrective of their having having lost their first love, notice these things that Paul told Timothy to address. Happened. So apparently the fire got rekindled. And apparently that man who would stand in front of a pagan parade and call them out No longer let fear decide. Pretty awesome. He got the trust, handed to him. And um so Paul demonstrates that we are responsible to reinvest what's been invested in us. When we have entrusted our treasures and our trials to God, you know what that means? I now am not I'm not fretting this stuff God's got this. So I now can pour myself into you. I am freed up to be about others because my stuff's in God's hands And so once again, enlargement comes from entrusting. I no longer have to be all tied up in the stuff I was trying to control. I'm free now from you. The holy handoff happens when you tell them about Jesus. 2 Timothy 1 13 says, What you heard from me Keep as a pattern of the sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus. But it also you have to show them. You are a model and you are a messenger. You show them, 2 Timothy 3. Know all about my You know all about my teaching. You know my way of life. You know my purpose, my faith. See, he showed it. He said, with purpose, with endurance. Persecution, sufferings. What kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra? He was an eyewitness to those. The persecutions I endured, yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. They see it in you, you tell them what it is. Now, did you notice he said guard the good deposit? Yeah, we we need to have some security here. He says we of course we are assigned to guard We say God's able to guard what I've entrusted to him, but Paul says to Timothy, you entrust what I'm entrusting to you. Oh, you guard it. Now, why do we have to do that? Because the treasures of God in our life are under attack. And the enemy is going to do everything possible if while you are here There is a rekindling of the fire in you. If while you are here, there's a sense of release of things that you've tried to control. You now become much more of a threat to the enemy. And he will. I'm not a prophet, we're a non-profit ministry. But listen, I will prophesy that he will be knocking on your door, knowing what buttons to push in you to try to steal that new fire. Or to some somehow subvert it or redirect it. And you know what you're gonna do? You're gonna resist him. Because resist the devil and he will fight you. Does the Bible say that? It does not. It says, resist the devil and he will flee from you. He's like, oh, you're gonna say no this time? You always say yes when I push this button. I'm pushing the button. You always do what I want you to do. When I push this button, you're not doing it anymore. That's right He will flee from you. So the treasures are under attack by the enemy and by erosion. By the way, and you're going to hear more about this from Doug. But perhaps the most dangerous thing spiritually is drift. It's slow, imperceptible. Going off course. And so erosion, the enemy can attack by explosion, but more often he attacks by erosion. So how do we guard this deposit? I mean there are powerful spiritual forces that want to silence it or steal it. You notice this. He is able to guard. Let's let's complete. Can I add to the verse? Not not righteously I can't, but he is able. I am not. He doesn't say, and now he said to Timothy, you guard the deposit, but what you've entrusted to God, God says, I'll take care of that. He is able to guard. You know how he's going to do it? 2 Timothy 1. 13. Chapter 2. With the power of the Holy Spirit. You will have supernatural reinforcements, Timothy. To guard this. You got the third person of the Godhead. Okay, circle of trust. Paul is entrusted by God with God's treasure Paul entrusts his treasures to God, to guard and to keep. Paul entrusts to Timothy what matters to God and what matters to him, Paul And now Timothy entrusts to others what has been entrusted to him. Let's go to chapter 2 and verse 2, and the things you have heard me say. In the presence of many witnesses and trust. Here we go again. And trust to reliable people Who will also be qualified to teach others? How many generations do we have here? Well, we've got Paul, and then we've got Timothy, and he entrusted to people. That's three. And they're gonna they're gonna those others are gonna go to others. So you got now you got C and trust and large and trust and large. It keeps growing. What does this mean to you and me? Everybody in this room has one thing going for them. You say, I can't sing, I can't preach, I can't. Let me tell you what you got. You have influence There is someone who listens to you, looks to you, trusts you You're important to them. This is becoming intentional with your influence. Some years ago, um, I've told you the story before, but uh one of the leading most respected financial figures in our community uh came to the president's retreat was a believer, established a wonderful banking system in our area, was known for his principles. And he heard us talk about rescue here. And he told his wife, he said, honey, you know, I have been trusted with God with a lot of influence. I have so many people in and out of my office all day. He said, and I've tried to really live a Christian life in front of them, but I've never told them about Jesus. He said, I'm going to start telling them. And he became intentional about his influence. There it was a trust. And interestingly enough He told, I don't know, if you worked for that banking system, you probably heard about Jesus from him Eighteen months later, I believe it was, he died in a plane crash. He was a private pilot. Little did he know, he had a matter of months. to mark those lives. Dan Bowers and I were privileged to speak at his funeral. Bank employees, what, a couple hundred of them? Probably. They're in the church. And we said, Leigh , we don't have to say much, because I'll bet you know. I'll bet you know about what he believed. I'll bet he told you. We only had to reinforce the impact of his life. He became intentional about his influence. And that's the circle of hope that continues. And entrusting is intentional transmission that triggers enlarging And all of a sudden it's not as dark as it used to be because there's more lights. And those others, entrusted by Timothy, now find others they will entrust, which leads to the second accelerant. The first one, of course, is rekindle fire. The second one is entrusting God With the things that really matter to you and entrusting to others the things that really matter to God. Psalm 145, 13. The Lord is trustworthy. In all he promises, and he is faithful in all he does. Your job is to be a contagious Christian. Yep, to be a contagious Christian the rest of your life You walk in, Jesus walks in. They get near you, they get near Jesus. That's intentional. We begin to see our influence as a vehicle God has trusted to us. He's trusted you with influence to change lives and to build his kingdom If you got anybody who you're connected with on social media, you take that influence and you say, This is for you, Jesus. This is for you now. Because he has trusted us. You know the old hymn says We never can prove the delights of his love until all on the altar we lay, for the favor he shows. Joy he bestows. Remember the rest are for those who will trust and obey. We are living in unprecedented times. Do I have to tell you that? Everything's upside down. And in days like these, there are two kinds of faith. You ready? There's kinetic faith. And there's a pathetic face. Or maybe better yet, pathetic. It's either kinetic or it's probably pathetic. Jesus himself said, when it's counting down to the last days, the love of most of my people will grow cold, probably because the fire's down or out. But he said this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony of all nations. They'll be cold and they'll be bold. Most will be cold. You don't have to choose cold. You can just drift there Apathetic, business as usual, doing fine, believing all the right things, making no difference. Or you're part of the greatest cause on the planet. Giving life-giving gospel and pouring it into people's lives and living it as living proof This is full-throated faith. It is what one missionary calls reckless abandon to God. Reckless abandon. Whatever I've been crushing in this hand, that hand is open and empty now and raised. Entrusted, turned over for him to use. You see it here in Second Timothy. The fire begins in one rekindled heart. And then it's lit in someone else's heart who says, I want to be like that. And then another And then it becomes a holy blaze that slowly starts to push back the darkness in more hearts than we will ever know. In Lord of the Rings, Tolkien's masterpiece and the Return of the King By the way, um I've been doing some ancestry research and I learned something very interesting about myself. I'm actually a hobbit. I will never live that down. You will use that. I know you will. I know who's in this room. Um but But this is terrible because you won't remember anything else. But um in the conclusion w coming down to the conclusion, if you're not familiar with the story, count quite simply in Middle-earth These subhuman creatures, ugly and evil, have really begun to take over of things and and um there has not been an effort really successfully to push them back In one scene in the movie, um the rightful king begins to emerge. His name is Aragorn. And there now becomes a determination to say the darkness has won long enough. It's time for the forces of light to push back that darkness. Uh not everybody has decided to throw in with this yet. But there's a very powerful scene. I'm gonna take you there right now. But I want you to put it in the context of what we've just talked about this morning. The fire that begins in one heart, and the spreading fire that comes from that fire, because fire catches. And the beacons are lit. And there is hope. For light has come into the world. And the darkness could not overcome it. Let the fire begin. In us, in me, and in you. The beacons are good. The darkness is done. Let's pray. Lord, um you know the intimate battles, victories. Failures, treasures, losses, successes, all of that you know. And Lord, I am but a voice for your word. Your Holy Spirit can go where I can't and do what I could never do. And that is turn these words into change in the life of a brother or sister in this room For I am confident that your Holy Spirit is exposing what needs to be exposed and summoning us to something bigger and better. Our times demand spiritual excellence and kinetic faith. Not pathetic apathy. I pray each one of us here might be part. of lighting the beacons to push back the darkness. And I pray for that in the name of the one who beat the darkness at an empty tomb. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen