I have 10 reasons for why persevering,

keeping on going and Christian preaching

is a great privilege.

And by privilege, I mean the straightforward dictionary definition,

namely, a benefit enjoyed by a person beyond the advantages of most that's the

dictionary definition of privilege and that's what I mean now don't want to

overstate the privilege and come under the rebuke of Jesus, which he gave to the 72 when they returned from the

extraordinary privilege of having Satan fall like lightning out of the sky when they did their ministry and cast out demons.

And Jesus said to them,

Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

My first year at Bethlehem, 1980,

brand new pastor, 34 years old, never pastor before.

I don't think I'd ever made a hospital call in my life.

And now I'm pastoring a church of 700 members and 300 attenders and they're all over 60.

And I make my first, one of my first hospital calls. And the grand old man, Dr. Wyden, everybody told me,

this is the grand old man. He spent the last 20 years of his life caring for his invalid wife,

and now she died, and he's on his way to heaven. And I go to visit Dr. Wyiden. And I walked into his room.

I know what you're supposed to do.

And I walked up to his bed.

And he saw me and he knew who I was.

And he reached out of his hand, took my hand.

And his scratchy voice, he said,

...