Monumental Ministry to a Monumental Generation part 2

Go ahead and take your Bible and turn back with me to that passage in Romans that we read earlier. Quite a bit of scripture, but we will only use two verses. I wanted to read verses 23 on down to verse 26 to kind of get your mind around what's being communicated there. Like I said earlier, we will read these verses in the message, but we'll refer to other scriptures. As always, I just encourage you to follow along, take good notes, so that you can follow along and go back and study those passages later. Now, I believe most everyone here knows that we just got back from a week with our teenagers. I call them teenagers, students.

Sometimes I revert back to that phrase, "youth." We have some college students as well. Along with nine other churches, I think it was a little over 180 people. Now, we took 17 young people and five or six adults, and most of you know we attended Glory Day Student Summer Camp, which is held every year in southeast Tennessee, the little town of Ocoee. And I appreciate your prayers. I'm very thankful. I'm very thankful for the help from the adults who went, those who chaperoned, and those who poured into the lives of our young people. I thank you, parents, for allowing us to take your sons and daughters with us and pour into them.

Now, our goal for the week was to teach the Bible as one story. Now, that might surprise some of you, but we know that the Bible is one book. It's one book that contains 66 books, but yet there is really one central character. There's one main character, and we see that from Genesis 3 all the way to the end. Really, Genesis 1 all the way to the end, the book of Revelation, and that main character is Jesus. Besides small group Bible studies and personal Bible studies, we had eight different messages and different worship services. Eight different worship services. And we started with God being God.

We went into the creation, and then we moved into the fall of man. And then we started real quickly to see that God promised a Savior all throughout the Old Testament. And then we looked at God's promise fulfilled, and that was in the person of his son Jesus. That led us then to the institution of the church, and then we went into the last things and into eternity. It was a real quick journey throughout God's Word. We really put it in high gear, and we covered a lot of material very quickly. Now, some of you might be interested, but some of the messages, all of the messages from camp will be available on our church website.

More than likely this week, if not definitely the next. Now, as your pastor, I believe that it is important to report to you what took place in the lives of our young people and our adults this past week. First, I believe that we all learned a lot of information. We taught them that the Bible is one story with one main character. I said that earlier. That is Jesus. And we learned quite a bit of good Bible information, and this is always needed. But more than giving them information, we believe God worked within them. Some were very open about personal struggles, and that's part of Christian body life. That's Christian community.

And then some were very open about being convicted of the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit of God. Some of them were coming to grips with their lost spiritual condition. Brother Keith, myself, and some of our ladies provided counsel, and we will continue to provide more counsel in the days ahead. But I do want to say to you as a church that our students did do well. They behaved well. They participated in all of our activities very well. And I'm proud of our young people. Very proud to minister to them in that setting. And I always say it is a privilege to minister to any people, and especially our young people.

God did do a work in them, and I'm confident that God will continue to do a work in them in the days and years to come. Now, not only do I want to report to you about this past week, I want to share a message with you that I believe spoke to our young people. I had the blessing of teaching on the life of Jesus. We did that, or I did that, on Wednesday in one particular day. In the first message I taught on the Incarnation, the fact that Jesus, the Eternal God, became man. And then in the second message I taught on the death, the resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus. And this is the message that I want to bring before us this morning.

Now, I will put before you the main truths that we looked at. Very simple. The fact that Jesus died on the cross, the fact that Jesus resurrected from the grave, and the fact that Jesus ascended back into heaven, being that we covered all of the life of Jesus. The title of the message was "The Gospel, The Life of Jesus." The Incarnation was part one, and then the death, the resurrection, and the ascension was part two. Now, I will change that title. I'll add to that title for us. I've been altering titles on you. That's one of my tricks, or one of my habits sometimes. And I'll give you the additional title at the end of the message.

And as always, I do encourage you to take notes and follow along, because we want to be good students of what we get. And we want to go back during our personal time with the Lord, and our prayer over what we've learned. And we want to let it assimilate into our minds and in our hearts, and to change us and sanctify us. Now, I won't go back and read the verses that we read at our Scripture reading. We'll just start with our main truths, and we'll read various Scriptures throughout the message. So, you see before us our first main truth in our outline, our first main truth in our outline is Jesus died on the cross. Jesus died on the cross.

Now, when we look at the cross, there are a lot of people that immediately think about a body hanging on a wooden cross. But we're looking at more than a body on a cross. We're really looking at what theologians call the atonement. Simply, the atonement is what Jesus did in his life and his death. Not just his death. The atonement is what Jesus did in life and death to earn salvation for man. Yes, you might need to write that down. To earn salvation for man. Now, there are two primary causes for the atonement. I think we all need to see these causes, these primary causes. The first cause is God's love for mankind. God's love for mankind.

I think we all know this verse, John 3 16. You probably memorized it throughout your years. And that is, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son," the King James, the only begotten son, "that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." Now, the first part of the verse tells us this first primary cause, "for God so loved the world." "For God so loved the world that he gave his son, and his son went to the cross." So that is the first primary cause in Christ dying on the cross. God loved the world. This second primary cause in the atonement, and that was to satisfy the justice of God.

This was to satisfy the justice of God. Now, I go back to that phrase that I used earlier, "the life and death of Christ." The life and the death of Christ was the only satisfaction for the justice of God. Let me repeat that. The life and the death of Christ was the only satisfaction for the justice of God. Now, I will go back to our verses that I read earlier, and I'm reading portions of verse 25 and verse 26.

Notice what verse 25 says, "Whom God put forth," that's Jesus, "whom God the Father put forth as a perpetuation by his blood." Now, we're going to explore that phrase a little later, but verse 26 continues, "It was to show his righteousness at the present time." Now, notice verse 26, "so that he might be just and the justifier." "He was the one who met the justice of God." This was a quick look at the atonement, and by no means is this extensive. But look at what we saw, just in this moment of time, Jesus dying on the cross was the climax of God's atonement.

Jesus' life and death was an expression of God's love for man, and Jesus' life and death satisfied the just demands of God's holy law. What does Romans say? That he was the just and the justifier. And we must remember this biblical fact. We must. In everything about the life and the death of Jesus, we see two words, love and justice. Love and justice. I asked our students this past week to write those two words down, and I'll ask you to do the same as adults. Love and justice. And we'll add to those two words a little later.

Jesus' life and his death was the ultimate expression of God's love for man, and Jesus' life and death was the only satisfaction of God's holy and right and just demands. Now, this leads me to a question. We explored this question with our young people. It gets asked from time to time, and a lot of times it will cause controversy and conversation. The question is this. Who killed Jesus? We know the story of the cross, but who killed Jesus? Well, if you know your Bible and you have a thorough understanding of the atonement, we know that it was God, God the Father who killed Jesus. Now, we know the Romans were guilty of crucifying Jesus.

It was Roman soldiers who nailed him to the cross. It was Pontius Pilate that put him on the cross, but yet it was the Jewish leaders who killed Jesus. They forced the Romans to execute Jesus. But we must see that God used sinful men for his purposes. It was God who killed Jesus because it was God's predetermined plan for Jesus to die on the cross. Again, I go back to Romans 3.25, that little phrase, "Whom God put forward." Look at that phrase with me. "Whom God put forward as a perpetuation by his blood." God put Christ Jesus forward. So it was God himself that crucified his son using sinful men. But we must move on. This just gets deeper.

On the cross, Jesus, he bore the wrath of God for sin to satisfy, again, there's that word, to satisfy the wrath of God against sin. Jesus' suffering on the cross was a suffering of bearing the wrath of God upon himself. Jesus bore the guilt for man's sin. A holy God poured out his holy wrath and fury on Jesus the Son. On the cross, Jesus was the object of God's holy hatred of sin. Jesus was the object of God's holy and just vengeance against sin, which was against him. Now I'll continue. We need to see two more realities here in two passages. We need to go back to Romans 3.25. Look back in your copy of God's word with me.

That's why I wanted you to keep it open there in your lap. What do we see? Whom God put forward as a propitiation. That word propitiation is key. Sometimes it could be translated "a toning sacrifice." Underline that word. Highlight that word. Note that word. Now this particular word is used in one other place in the New Testament, and it's in Hebrews 9.25. And it speaks of the lid, which was on the Ark of the Covenant, which was the mercy seat. And the idea here is the appeasement of the wrath of God. And so this word, propitiation, is key. Here we see that Christ's death satisfied God's holy and just wrath against sin.

Now remember I asked you to write down the word love and justice. I want you to write down the word satisfaction here. Jesus satisfied the wrath of God against sin. But also we see that this word is used again. Slightly different meaning, but it's the same word propitiation. I wish I had time to go a little deeper in these words. Maybe I'll do that one day. If we turn over and just write this verse down, I want to read it for you. In 1 John chapter 2, verses 1 and 2, John's writing to Christians, he says, "My little children, a term of endearment, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin." Now if anyone sins, we have an advocate.

That's the Holy Spirit with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Now Jesus is at the right hand of the Father as an advocate, and the advocate, the Holy Spirit lives within us. We understand that work of the triune God. In verse 2, "And he himself," that's Jesus, "is the propitiation for our sins." The same word, but used in a little bit different way. We see this word again, but yet it is a little different. Here we see that Christ satisfied God's holy wrath and God's holy just wrath for sin, which was meant for us. Yet with this word here in 1 John, it is a little bit different meaning. It speaks of the substitutionary work of Christ.

Christ died to satisfy the wrath of God, yes, but he died as a substitution for us. So I want you to write down another word, that word substitution. Now what have we seen? Again, this is not a thorough explanation of the atonement, but what do we see? Love and justice and satisfaction and substitution. Oh, I ask our students to write these four words down. We must grasp the meaning of these words. We see that God's love compelled Christ to go to the cross. And we see that Christ on the cross satisfied the just demands of God's holy law. And we see that Christ on the cross satisfied the wrath of God against that sin.

And we see that he was our substitute. He bore our sin. He died in our place. Now that is the atonement. Oh, theologians can do a better job than myself. Some who are more schooled and who have greater learning, I'm sure, could go a little deeper and a little broader. But this is thoroughly biblical. This is the atonement. Now how might we apply this to our lives? We must see that God's love was expressed in a way in which it never could be expressed through this death on the cross. For God so loved the world that he sent his son to die in my place. For God so loved the world. For God so loved the world.

Forever ago he looked down the tunnel of time, not being contained by time, no, because he is in forever past, present and future, all at the same time. But he knew that I would sin. He knew that I would rebel against his holy and just standard. But yet he chose to love me. And he chose to satisfy the just demands of his law by providing a substitute. And he satisfied his holy and just wrath against sin through his son Jesus. And Jesus died in my place. That's the atonement. It's personal. It's not just language in a book that we might read and study and sound all theological about. No, this is personal. He died for me. And he died for you.

Let's move on. I want us to notice our second major truth and that is Jesus resurrected from the dead. Now, that's before you. I'm sure you've already written that down. Jesus resurrected from the dead. Now, when we talk like this, most people think about Easter, which is normal. And it is good because the resurrection is the time of Easter is when we celebrate the resurrection. Now, after Jesus died on the cross, we know that he was placed in the tomb and he rose again on the third day. We studied that not too long ago in John chapter 20.

In John chapter 20, it records that there were two men, Joseph of Arimathea, a very wealthy man, and then Nicodemus. He was a religious leader who came to faith in Christ. They took the body of Christ. They cared for it properly according to the Jewish laws and traditions and they buried the body of Christ. And then in John 20, it goes on to record that after three days, Jesus was resurrected. He was seen by Mary Magdalene and the other women and then later the disciples and then later a whole host of others. And the scriptures are filled with accounts of the resurrection, the resurrected Jesus appearing to others.

Now, I'm not going to refer or mention any verses, but we see this in all four gospels and then over into Acts chapter 1. Now, there are two observations about the resurrection that I want us to see. One is important, but one is really, really important. Again, this is personal. Now, the first observation we need to see is that Jesus' resurrection was physical. He was not a ghost. He was not a mirage. This was a physical bodily resurrection. Now, there are many, many passages of scripture that show us this physical literal resurrection of Christ. The disciples took hold of his feet in Matthew 28. That was physical.

Jesus revealed himself to the disciples on the road to Emmaus. That was in Luke chapter 24. That was physical. Jesus took bread and he broke it in Luke 24. He ate a piece of fish before the disciples also in Luke 24. Mary thought that Jesus was the gardener in John chapter 20. He revealed his hands and his feet to his disciples in John chapter 20. Jesus even allowed Thomas. He called Thomas to touch his wounds in John chapter 20. Remember Thomas? He said, "I won't believe." And what did Jesus do? He took a step towards Thomas and called him to touch his wounds, his physical wounds. Jesus prepared breakfast for the disciples in John 21.

He boldly called his disciples to see his hands and his feet. And he showed them that he was not a ghost in Luke chapter 24. And Peter testified of his physical bodily resurrection. And he said that he ate and drank with him. So this is the physical bodily resurrection of Jesus. But now it gets personal. We see that Jesus' resurrection was spiritual. It was spiritual. Now, there's a lot that needs to be seen here. There is a lot more to this resurrection than Jesus just coming back to life physically. There were some spiritual aspects of the resurrection. And I will show us two. And one that points to his deity and one that gets personal.

It affects us as humanity. Notice first that both God the Father and the Son participated in the resurrection. Both God the Father and the Son participated in this miraculous work of the resurrection. Acts chapter 2 verse 24 says that God raised him up, God the Father. And then John chapter 10 verse 17 and 18 says that Jesus has the authority to lay down his life and to take it up again. Now, this speaks to Christ's deity. This speaks to his power and his authority. The power and authority of both God the Father and God the Son to do this miraculous work. And then notice Christ's resurrection provides new life in Christ.

This is where it gets personal. First Peter chapter 1 verse 3. That's a good verse for you to go back and study on your own. First Peter says that through the resurrection of Christ, we have been born into a living hope or born into a hope of a new life. In the resurrection, Jesus purchased for man a new life in Christ. According to Romans 4.25 through the resurrection, we also are ensured that we can be justified and are right before a holy God. And then it all and also first Corinthians 15 verses 12 all the way down to verse 58 tells us that through this resurrection, we have the hope of a future resurrection after our death.

This is how this resurrection is spiritual, but yet it affects us in our lives. Now notice what we've seen here. Jesus was resurrected from the grave, a physical bodily resurrection. And here we have the greatest example of his deity. If the cross was the greatest example of his humanity and the fact that he died on that cross physically, then the resurrection is the greatest example of his deity. Now we have to be careful. This can't be just information. We can't stop here. Notice what born again Christians have in the resurrection. We have a hope in a new life in Christ. Born again Christians possess a new life, a new life in Christ.

We are born from God, born from above, and we have life in him because he has risen. But even more, there is hope of a resurrected body after our physical bodily death. Now I shared this example when we were at student camp this past week and I think it's very personal for us. It wasn't that long ago that our old friend Bruce passed away, did he not? I look at his place where he always sat and it's always empty to me because Bruce just isn't there. Now throughout the years not only was I Bruce's pastor but I was Bruce's friend. Most of you know Bruce's spiritual journey. He lived most of his life outside of Christ.

I would say this with Bruce standing right here beside me or sitting in front of me. I told him I would share this. Bruce was an example of one who lived with many regrets. He lived a sinful life before he met Christ and there were ramifications of that sinful life that he struggled to deal with. And I watched him struggle to deal with his past life. But Bruce could tell you how God saved him. He was counseling his daughter-in-law and the Spirit of God began to deal with him that he didn't have what he was telling his daughter-in-law about. And he professed many times that God had saved him.

We watched him grow and be used of God and used in your life and in the life of this church. And I saw Bruce have a hope, a hope of a new life in Christ, dealing with his life of sin, trusting in Christ, and having a new life and hope in this life. But as he passed away, we saw him grasp the understanding that there is a hope in the next life to come. And you know the wonderful story how when he passed away, God provided his people to be with his man as he went from this life to the next life. And it was a glorious, wonderful story of a man of God just leaving this life and going on to the next.

And Bruce had hope, and we have hope, and because of the resurrection, we can have a new life today. We can have a new life this week if we're born of God, and we have a hope. If my life is snuffed out today, I have a hope and a new life in Christ. You know when I was preparing for Bruce's funeral, his sons were telling me about some wishes that he had jotted down. They were in his old desk drawer in his home. And somehow I remembered maybe it was an accident or maybe it wasn't true, but somehow in my mind I thought that Bruce's wishes were to be cremated.

I was sharing with a friend of mine that, and he said, "Listen, if you can help, don't advise the family to cremate." Because 1 Corinthians 15 talks about the body being put in the grave and the body coming out of that grave. And somehow, someway, what do we see? It's the new body. God touches the body. And what am I showing you? There is a day when the grave will open and all the saints will come out. What am I showing you? We have a hope in this life and the life to come. And then the third major truth or the third point in our outline is Jesus ascended back to heaven. Now we celebrate at Easter and now we move on to a greater miracle.

After Jesus was resurrected, he was on earth for a period of 40 days. Acts chapter 1 verse 3 tells us that fact. And after this time, Jesus led his followers outside of Jerusalem. Then he lifted up his hands and he blessed those followers. And he was physically ascended back to heaven before their eyes. This is recorded in Acts 1, verses 9 to 11. Now in these verses, we see that Jesus did ascend physically back to a particular place and that is in heaven. And that is where he came from. Now, there are two things about the ascension that you definitely need to see. First of all, when Jesus ascended, Jesus received glory and honor.

Jesus received glory and honor. When Jesus ascended back to the Father, there were certain things that took place. He received glory and honor and authority that he did not have before. In Acts chapter 2, when Peter was preaching at the day of Pentecost, he said that Jesus was exalted at the right hand of God. In Philippians 2.9, the Apostle Paul said that God has highly exalted Jesus. He is there now receiving glory and honor because of what he did on the cross.

Revelation 5, verse 11 to 12 says, "Then I looked," and this is the Apostle John with that great vision of heaven, "Then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders and the voices of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads in thousands of thousands." Verse 12, "Saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." So when Jesus went back to heaven, he received glory and honor that he did not have before. Why? Because he suffered and bled and died on the cross.

And then second with this ascension, Jesus was seated at the right hand of the Father. Jesus was seated at the right hand of the Father. Hebrews 1, verse 3 says that after the purification for sins was made, Christ sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high and sitting at the right hand of God was the number one indication that Christ's work of redemption for mankind was complete. This is a direct fulfillment, a direct fulfillment of Psalm 110, verse 1. Notice what the psalmist says, "The Lord says to my Lord," I wonder who that is.

"God the Father says to God the Son, 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool.' Sitting at the right hand of the Father also signified that Christ had all authority." In Ephesians 1, 20-21, Paul said that God made Christ to sit at the right hand far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. So notice what we see in the ascension. When Christ ascended, He received glory and honor that which He did not have before. Why? Because He was the Lamb that was slain to purchase a people for God. And also when He ascended to the Father, He received an authority that He did not have before.

All power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory belonged to Him. Why? Because He was the Lamb that was slain. And sitting at the right of the Father signifies that authority. Now I've asked you to write down certain words, and I'll ask you to write down this word authority. Listen, there are so many people that have a skewed and unbiblical view of Jesus, even as He is sitting at the right hand of the Father. Listen, this isn't Hallmark Jesus. This isn't get out of jail free card Jesus. This is the glorified Son of God who possesses all power and all authority and all dominion.

This is the Jesus that we see at the Great White Throne Judgment. If we flip over a few pages to Romans, or excuse me, Revelation chapter 20, we see the Great White Throne Judgment. This is where we see lost humanity stand before this Jesus. And what do we see? His holiness, His authority, and His power is so great that even the earth and heaven flee from His presence, but not lost humanity. They are made to stand before this Jesus and give an account. Now I'll be personal with some of you this morning. Do you want to stand before this Jesus?

Those who are without Christ, those who are not born from God, those who are not in Christ Jesus, that is the Jesus you will stand before unless you repent and trust Christ and receive a new heart which can only come from Him. You will stand before the One who has all power and all authority and all dominion. Even the earth and sky will flee from His presence, but not lost humanity. They will be made to stand before this Jesus. Now, in taking a few steps back from the message, what have we seen here? I'll go back to those four words. Love, justice, satisfaction, and substitution. It was love for man which compelled Christ to die on the cross.

Yes, a love for mankind. See, when He went to the cross, that was an attribute of God that could only be seen. For God so loved the world, He had to die to display that love. I shared this week with our young people that God's been doing a work with that verse in my own life. If Jesus said through His word, "For God so loved the world," then I can say, "For God so loved Brookhaven." I could park in the Walmart parking lot and say, "For God so loved these people going into Brookhaven." And look, folks, we need to be gripped by this love. We need to ride through town, and we need to be gripped with God's love for lost humanity.

Now, we don't know who God's going to save. No, that's God's business. But God's word says that He loves humanity. Jesus wept over Jerusalem. And then this word, justice. Christ's death was the only way the just demands of His holy law could be met. The only way. The only way. And then this word, satisfaction. Christ's death satisfied the holy wrath of God against man's sin. He satisfied the perfect demands of the law, and He received the wrath of God, which was poured out for sin. And then the word, substitution. Christ died in our place. He was our substitute. I should have been on the cross. I should have received that wrath.

I should be receiving damnation right now for forever. But what do we see? His love was demonstrated. He met the just demands of the law, and He satisfied the wrath of God against sin. And He was my substitute. Is He your substitute? Is He your substitute? If He is not your substitute, listen. You will die, and you will stand at the great white throne judgment, and earth and sky will flee from His presence, but not you. Because you will have to give an account for every deed done in the body, every thought that ever came through your mind. And through this resurrection we have new life.

Through His ascension He possesses all power and authority and dominion as God. And listen again, do you have this life? Again, this 1 Peter 1, 3 verse. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." Is this you? Is this you? You are either in Christ or outside of Christ. Listen my friend, we talked about race during our vacation Bible school. There is one human race and there are many shades. But we saw that the human race is divided, not divided equally, because the road to heaven is narrow.

And there are those who are in Christ, and then there are those who are outside of Christ. Now in conclusion, I want to ask us a question. Remember our context here? We had a great week with our young people, and joy taking them and spending that time with them, and seeing them intensively be taught from God's Word. Just pouring into them other men that we know that love the Lord and desire to do this same work. That's the backdrop of this message. Last week we had a wonderful message out of Titus 2. And so this leads me to a question.

How are we going to minister to youth or students depending upon what language you use in the future here at Nola Baptist Church? I'll tell you how we're going to do it. It's the Titus 2 verses 1-10 approach. We're going to pour into our children. Listen, your pastor loved vacation Bible school this year. I loved being in that classroom with your children. There were times we were teaching God's Word. We just had to turn away because tears were well up in my eyes. For my love for them, yes, but for my desire for God to work in them. That's Titus 2.

And we're going to continue to pour into our teenagers week in and week out, month in and month out. And listen, this is the older ministering to the younger that we see in Titus 2, and this involves you too. This involves you. It's just not the pastor, no. It's all of us pouring into our children and pouring into our teenagers and fleshing out Titus 2. And yes, meeting their unique spiritual needs. We do that with vacation Bible school. Those children have unique spiritual needs and we will take teenagers and meet those unique spiritual needs.

And it'll take all of us and it'll take moms and dads doing it in the home and all of us doing it in the body of Christ. And that's going to be our approach in the future here at Nola Baptist Church. But I'll say some more things that will shed a little more light with this heart that I'm expressing. At the conclusion of glory days, we always have a final message. That last day, everybody's packed up and kind of ready to go. Some are ready to get a meal outside of the cafeteria. Some are ready to get some clean clothes or maybe get to their own bed.

Sometimes we're just tired and we want to get home, but we work hard to have a final message of charge. And this year that responsibility fell to me. It doesn't always fall to me. Now, it might seem odd for some of you, but I called everyone there. Teenagers, adult chaperones, youth ministers or student ministers. They were pastors there too. I called them all to one thing. Go home and be a part of the church. It is our responsibility to pour our lives into the local church. And listen, I warned them, and I got a lot of "Amen's" when I said this. I said, "Don't go home to your youth group. Don't go home to pour your life into the youth group.

Go home to pour your life into the church." And listen, here's your pastor's heart here. I don't want to build a youth group. I don't want to build a student group. I want to build a church that ministers to students. And there is a big difference. That's Titus chapter 2. It's about the church and meeting the needs of certain individuals in the life of the church. It is our job. It is your job. It is the body of Christ working in people's lives. Titus 2 is our example. And I think that last week we saw that. Now, I'll refer to our title. It's before you. Again, that title reflected what we looked at. Two messages.

We looked at the Incarnation. Getting Jesus from eternity past on earth. Then we zoomed into his earthly life. We looked at his humanity, his deity. We went right up to the cross. And then we looked at his death, his resurrection, and his ascension. So we called those two messages, the Gospel, the life of Christ. Now, I'll take what I shared. My report from glory days. Tied all back into what we looked at in Titus chapter 2 last week. And what's the title of the message? Again, what do we see? A monumental ministry to a monumental generation.

And I believe with all my heart that God's going to give us a monumental ministry of the church to build a new generation of young people. They are God's greatest resource for the church of the future. And I look forward to that work and the work and life of Nola Baptist Church. May our Lord help us in this work. Let's pray.