Thank you. It is a great privilege for me to be here with you, a great privilege.

Although I must say that I feel someone like a story that I heard about John Wesley.

He had been preaching throughout the countryside, and as he was riding his horse and meditating on God's Word,

he realized that in three days no one had persecuted him.

No one had chased him, no one had cursed him, no one had tried to buffet his body with stones and sticks. And so he got off his horse, and he began to pray and search his heart.

He said, God, have I become a carnal man? Has my message become so worldly that no one long,

no one any longer persecutes me? Just then as he was praying, a farmer who hated John Wesley,

saw him praying and picked up a brick and threw it at him. It barely scraped his nose.

And Wesley praised God. He said, God, thank you so much that I know now that you've confirmed your favor toward me.

So when you get up and people applaud, it's a little bit scary.

You hope that it is a reflection of both parties' godliness,

but we're never for sure. We must realize that Christianity will never be a friend of this world.

Christianity holds out the only arm of salvation to this world.

They will never be friends.

Christianity will never cross over,

but demands that the world crosses over to it.

Tonight, as I look out over this congregation,

I realize that I'm helpless and I'm hopeless. There's so many needs

here tonight that if a thousand sermons were preached, I would suppose that in the power of men,

it would not be enough to minister to all the people here tonight. And that is why a preacher, when he preaches, he is cast upon the

mercies of God. Every time you stand up before a group of people, you are as Ezekiel

standing in that valley of dry bones, and you know that no one will live unless the Spirit of God

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