The sermon warns against spiritual sleepiness and being distracted from our Christian faith, using the biblical story of Eutychus falling asleep and falling out of a window as a metaphor. Physical circumstances like busyness, temptations, and evil influences can lead us to drift spiritually if we are not vigilant. However, even if we do fall into spiritual sleep or death through sin, God can revive us through Christ just as Paul revived the fallen Eutychus.

Transcript

1 Corinthians 10, verse 13 is, is one of the most encouraging passages in all the Bible, to me, personally. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man. Any temptation that I have or experience in my life, there is somebody out there, some other Christian, who has first of all experienced that temptation, and second of all has overcome it through the blood of Jesus Christ.

I have temptations that you've experienced. You have temptations that I've experienced. I know that these temptations are common to man. So, with the question I'm about to ask, no judgment, right? Amen. But I want you to answer honestly by a show of hands. Who in here has ever struggled staying awake in a sermon?

Uh, yeah, yeah. Okay, now I'm gonna ask just one more. Who in here has ever actually fallen asleep in a sermon? Yeah, me too. Uh, the, the first time I remember doing that, um, I'm sure it happened, you know, when I was a kid a lot and so forth. But the first time I remember doing it after I became a Christian, I had, uh, my Bible, like, out in front of me.

Um, and my head just kept going lower and lower and lower. And finally I woke up because my Bible dropped out of my hands and my head hit the pew in front of me. It happens, right? And so my admonition to us tonight is this. Be careful falling asleep, because you might die. And I want us to think for a moment about Acts chapter 20 that we read this past week.

If you'll turn to Acts chapter 20 beginning in verse 7. I say that a little tongue in cheek, but I think there's some spiritual application we can make from an account, a story that seems a little odd at first glance. Eutychus who falls out of a window and I want to suggest this evening that this account provides us a spiritual parable as So often is the count with these strange and wonderful accounts that are included in our Bibles So if you're there in Acts chapter 20 begin reading with me in verse 7 If you would please Acts chapter 20 beginning in verse 7 now on the first day of the week When the disciples came together to break bread Paul ready to depart the next day, spoke to them, and continued his message until midnight.

Yes, Paul was long winded, but it's likely they didn't begin in the morning. Uh, the first day of the week, and I believe that Luke is using Roman time here, The first day of the week would have been a work day for everybody during this time in history. And so mostly people were working all during the day.

Likely this occasion where they came together to partake of the Lord's Supper on the first day of the week was in the evening time. And so he begins preaching in the evening, maybe around this time. And so I go for the next, you know, seven hours. And at midnight, well, there's probably some people who are a little sleepy.

Especially considering what we read next in verse 8. There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together. And in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep. And as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.

But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him said, Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him. It's not a matter, I don't believe that he just appeared to be dead. No, he actually was dead. But just like Elijah and Elisha in the Old Testament, Paul falls on this young man and he works the miracle by the power of the Holy Spirit to bring him back to life.

Now, verse 11, when he had come up, uh, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he, that is Paul, departed. And they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted. Now, the title seems a little dramatic, but that has happened before, hasn't it? As we think about this idea of why is this in the Bible, I want to use this text tonight as a parable for our spiritual state, for the danger of spiritual sleep, not just physical sleep, but spiritual sleep, and where that can lead us if we're not careful.

That image of spiritual sleep is a common one that is used throughout the New Testament. If you want to Mark your spot in Acts chapter 20. That will be the lesson text, as Harold so often says. That'll provide our outline for the lesson tonight, but I want you to turn over and give you just one example of this.

Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5.

As Paul describes walking in the light instead of walking in darkness. Living our life in the light of Christ. He quotes from the Old Testament and says in verse 14, Awake, you who sleep. Uh, sometimes we have to say that in sermons, right? Awake, you who sleep. Arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.

See then, that you walk circumspectly. That is, looking in all directions. Maybe your version says, walk carefully. Not as fools, but as wise. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. And so the idea, the image, the metaphor there is we need to be awake and aware. We need to know what's going on around us and if we're falling asleep we need to wake up.

So that we can see and perceive the reality around us and be prepared for the attacks of Satan when they inevitably come. So that image, we're going to look at a few other passages tonight that use the same image. That image of sleep as being a danger to us spiritually. It's something we see throughout the New Testament.

And so as we think about that danger of spiritual sleep, what do we learn about that image, about that metaphor of spiritual sleep from our text here in Acts chapter 20? Well if you'll turn back to Acts chapter 20, um, the first thing I want us to see is that Paul continued his message until midnight and Luke gives us this, this little piece of information, verse 8.

There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered. Together. There were many lamps in this upper room. We learn it's the, the third story where they find themselves, uh, and they're there and they're listening to Paul as they've assembled together. And the physical circumstances, just to be honest, weren't great for paying attention.

They were great for falling asleep, but not great for Paul, uh, for paying attention. So the first thing I want us to see is that physical circumstances can distract our spiritual focus. That that can happen. You look at these people. They've likely worked all week. Paul and his companions have been there all week, and so you can imagine, what were they doing probably every evening?

They were probably coming together and listening to Paul and talking with Paul and hearing what Paul had to say and to teach. You think about a gospel meeting week and how encouraging that is, but it's also tiring, isn't it? And so after a whole week of Paul and his companions being there, they assemble on the first day of the week in the evening time after they've worked all day long.

And it's probably hot and stuffy in that upper room. Not just because there's many lamps up there, but also because there's a lot of people crammed in there. And Eutychus, likely, was in the windowsill, trying to get a little bit of air. And yet he finds himself falling into a deep sleep. Maybe worst of all, Paul was long winded.

And with that long windedness, this is what happened. It reminds me a little bit, I was thinking as I was preparing for this lesson, I think I've got like a million falling asleep stories. Maybe that's just part of being a preacher, I don't know. But, uh, there's a preacher who's a friend of mine named Eddie Valdez.

And he was preaching up in the Lindale area when I was preaching up there. He was, uh, Preaching for a Spanish speaking work that was fairly small. He called me Baby Preacher. That was the nickname he dubbed me, and I've not outgrown it with him. Whenever I see him, he still calls me Baby Preacher. He says there was one Wednesday evening where there were three families that were present.

There were maybe nine people total who were there on that Wednesday evening, and he was teaching this Bible class just to the adults. Again, it's the end of a long day. Everybody was really tired. And he said that the air conditioning wasn't working. Um, I thought about texting Brent and saying, Hey, can you crank up the heat tonight just to give people a feeling of what this is like?

No, I didn't do that. He says the air conditioning wasn't working, so it was hot and it was stuffy in there. And he's teaching and he's sweating. And at one point in the Bible study, he looks up and literally every person in the Bible class is asleep. And so he closes his Bible, and he sits down, and he wakes to the kids come back in, and everybody kind of, you know, wakes up and looks around, was I the only one?

And he said, I wasn't mad about that because it was not a great environment, physically, for us to be studying at all. Well, in our lives, we are physical beings. Yes, we're spiritual beings. We're made in the image of God. And the spiritual plane is our ultimate goal. Ultimate place of being and dwelling where we're where we're longing to go.

That's where we really belong But as long as we are on this earth, we're physical beings and with that comes physical distraction But may I suggest that we need to be oh so careful not to allow those physical distractions To deter our spiritual focus again. We see this throughout the Bible physically literally in the garden We remember Peter James and John fell asleep And what did Jesus say in Matthew 26 and verse 41?

Well, He told them to watch and pray, first of all. But then He says, The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. The Spirit is willing. This is what I want to do. This is what I desire to do. I want to put spiritual things first, but sometimes the flesh is weak. Sometimes I am distracted by physical things.

And this wasn't the first time that Jesus inner circle had fallen asleep. On a momentous occasion for Jesus on a mountain at the Transfiguration. In Luke chapter 9 and verse 32, Luke says, Peter and those with him, James and John, were heavy with sleep. And when they fully awoke, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him, Moses and Elijah.

Peter and James and John fell asleep, and in the text it seems like they fell asleep a lot, but it was because they were distracted by these physical things. Their spirit was willing. They wanted to stay awake. But their flesh was weak. And I think it shows how difficult it can be, even for people with good hearts, to overcome physical distractions.

Even as people like Peter, James, and John, who were as close and committed to Jesus as they were, the flesh, the physical life, can be so strong. I mean, it's all right here in front of us, right? Distraction takes place when our eyesight is moved from where it ought to be to where it shouldn't be. And so often these distractions are so visible.

They're right in our field of sight. Maybe it's busyness. I think that's one of our biggest issues. Just, just the day to day of life. When I'm talking about spiritual sleep, I'm not talking about something malicious here, but instead a pattern, a habit that we fall into that maybe, that maybe we never intended to.

You think about the things that distract us. There's extra work, there's long hours, there's travel, there's bills to pay, there are medical problems, there are kids that need to go here and there and yawn. There are things that need to be fixed around the house and on the home place. Maybe we spend all day Saturday, the day we're going to rest doing that.

Maybe the car is breaking down, maybe our parents get sick and we have to take care of them. All of these things are just kind of the realities of life, but we cannot allow these things to distract us. We take care of them. We generally don't complain. But in the midst of all of this distraction, the devil uses our time of weakness as an opportunity to overcome us, to overwhelm us, to overrun us in that moment of weakness without us even realizing it sometimes.

I mean, isn't that what sleep, as it's described here in Acts chapter 20, is? It happens and we don't even realize it. Was I asleep just then? Well, yeah, I was. And maybe I need to wake up so that my focus can go back to spiritual things. And I want to say this next part carefully. Luke makes clear that this was a young man named Eutychus.

And I think sometimes physical distraction is more likely to work on us when we're young. Eutychus is called a young man in verse 9. That's a Greek word to describe a young adult, probably in his 20s. But then in verse 12, a different word is used that actually means boy or lad. It's a Greek word that usually covers the years from 8 to 14.

So we're not sure exactly how old Eutychus was, but I think it's fair to imagine him as a teenager. Somebody in his mid to late teens, maybe early twenties. And it is during this time of transition into adulthood that physical distraction can be most effective on us. That the devil seeks to take our life, our physical life, and make it a detriment, a barrier, to our spiritual life.

And please don't misunderstand me when I say this. This is not because Young people are worse people than older people. In fact, oftentimes, the young people are the best of us. Instead, these distractions are more likely to work because we are dealing with these things for the first time when we're young.

And sometimes we aren't as equipped or prepared to deal with those distractions because we have never dealt with them before. Um, I've been doing a lot of reflection about my teens and early twenties, uh, here lately for a number of reasons. And I think about some of the things that distracted me. Yeah, there were things that distracted me physically, like, uh, you know, school and work and basketball and things along those lines.

But, but things that, that really discouraged me or deterred me spiritually were a little bit different. I remember how discouraged I was. I grew up in a congregation where I didn't have other young people my age. And I remember how discouraging it was when I was around young people my age for, you know, all the time, for the first time in my life.

And I realized that there were some people that were just faking it. You know, I knew that there were people out there who weren't really Christians, you know, weren't really living the Christian life. But I discovered for the first time that there were people who wore the name of Christ, act like they were Christians around some people, and then didn't around others.

I expected that from the world. I didn't expect it from other Christians. And, and for a while that distracted me. It discouraged me until I found those who, like me, weren't perfect, but were really trying, really trying to do what's right. Uh, the summer after my freshman year of college, um, I had a really bad interaction with an older Christian that I really looked up to.

And that rocked my world. First time I'd ever been disappointed in that sort of way with somebody else who was a Christian. And I remember thinking at that time, you know, if I can't trust Him, who can I trust? I'd never dealt with that before. I'd never dealt with that kind of disappointment with somebody that I looked up that was supposed to be a faithful Christian, who was a faithful Christian, is still a Christian today.

And yet they had fallen short. They had sinned. They had acted ungodly and unchrist like. And, and it was detrimental to me. It was hurtful. I'd never experienced that before.

And it was tough. It was distracting. It was discouraging.

And to me, those things were really more distracting, uh, than some of the other things that we associate with youth. And so may I talk to the young people for just a second here in regard to this.

It's always hardest to deal with temptation the first time.

It is hardest when we've not experienced it before. And we can relate it to sleep and talk about how teenagers need more sleep. You know, that's a proven fact. We get hard on teenagers for sleeping in. They actually need more sleep. We could talk about that metaphor all we want to, but the reality is when we face temptation the first time, it's tough, it's difficult.

But I want you to think back to the beginning of the lesson. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man. And there are other Christians, even in this room, who know what you're going through, have been through it themselves, and would love nothing more than to help you, and uphold you, and be there for you in your time of need.

We know what it's like to be distracted. We know what it's like for physical things to be a barrier. And we all had to overcome that. We think about a couple of passages that maybe deal with that idea. 1 Do not be deceived, evil company corrupts good habits. Awake to righteousness, and do not sin. Think about, he says, do not be deceived, because there are some out there who are seeking to deceive us.

Deceive us into thinking that, as a young person, I can be around evil company. Uh, in this context, it's those who are teaching wrong things, but, but that kind of company could be evil in all sorts of different ways. Don't be deceived. That can be corrupting to us. We need to wake up. Don't fall asleep to that reality.

Maybe 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 22. Flee also youthful lust. Now we think about youthful lust, a lot of times we think lust of a sexual nature, but the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, would all appeal here. And there are some things that again are more appealing and more dangerous in our youth.

And we need to be awake to those things so that we might, as he says, pursue righteousness. Faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. In regard to literally falling asleep, it was much more of an issue falling asleep during sermons when I was young. I decided when I was in college, I was, I was falling asleep a lot in church.

Um, and so I decided I'm never going to do that again. I'm never going to fall asleep again. And so I, uh, I became a preacher. So I'd be up here instead of down there. No, I, I committed myself. I wasn't going to fall asleep anymore. And so at first I just tried not falling asleep. You know, just will. I pinched the inside of my leg.

Have you ever done that? Just pinched it, pinched it. You know, I'm not getting anything out of the service. You know, I raised, I sat down and I raised both feet off the ground. And so I'm sitting there like this listening to the sermon. I even tried, in a moment of desperation, going to bed earlier on Saturday night.

But you know what finally worked for me? It wasn't when I was deciding, you know what, I'm not going to fall asleep. It's instead when I committed myself to being fully engaged and involved in the worship when I was there. And that's when I really, for the first time, started taking notes. And in virtually every sermon I've listened to since, I've taken notes.

I'm going to be an active part of what's going on. I'm going to sing from the heart. I'm going to say amen at the end of the prayers. I'm going to be engaged in this so that I don't fall asleep. Now, that's literal, physical sleep. Doesn't that same concept apply spiritually? Flee also youthful lust, Paul said to Timothy, but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

We need to be pursuing these things, not just saying, well, you know, I'm going to make sure that I'm not committing all these sins. No, I'm pursuing. Now, in the days of my youth, The kinds of things that are going to allow me to face distraction and temptation when they inevitably come. And so I'm going to be reading my Bible every day.

I'm going to be going to God in prayer. I'm going to be surrounding myself with others of like mind and like faith. I'm going to do what I can to not be distracted, even when I'm young. And he tells us to pursue those things with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. I think the third thing that we see here in Acts chapter 20 is maybe this.

Uh, sometimes we need help staying awake. You know, you know how Eutychus could have stayed awake? If he'd had somebody else sitting on the, the ledge there next to him. Again, when I was in college, uh, the guy that I rode to church with back and forth, at least my last year, my senior year, he was having trouble staying awake.

Uh, and so he said, Reagan, I don't care what you have to do, keep me awake. And so then I started pinching his leg. No, I didn't do that. But I did start elbowing him in the ribs, right? And every time he'd say, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, right? Because he really wanted to do it.

And, and sometimes what we need is somebody else beside us who can call us out and tell us, you know what? You're falling asleep. You're drifting off my brother. You're drifting off my sister. And this is what God's word says you need to do. It is much, much easier. Anybody who's ever driven through the night in a car knows how much easier it is when you have a co pilot, when you have somebody there with you to help you stay awake.

And the same thing spiritually. We need others around us who can help us in these moments. Sometimes we need help staying awake. Eutychus didn't have it. So what happened? He slowly, but surely started falling asleep. And that's the fourth thing that I want us to see. That falling asleep physically and spiritually doesn't happen all at once.

Yeah, I know some people, they fall asleep as soon as their head hits the pillow. But what we see here with Eutychus is that this is a process. Do you see there in verse 9 that he was sinking into a deep sleep? And then he was overcome with sleep? I like the way the New Living Translation puts it. As Paul, this is what verse 9 says.

I As Paul spoke on and on, a young man named Eutychus, sitting on the window steel, became very drowsy. Finally, he fell asleep and dropped three stories to his death below. When it comes to drifting off in terms of our spiritual life, it's generally not something that happens all at once. Oh, sometimes it appears that way from the outside.

We look at someone, and maybe we've not had a lot of interaction with them lately, and we see that they are committing some great sin, or all of a sudden they aren't coming to services anymore, or we see them out and about and they're acting in an ungodly way, and we say, Whoa, what happened to that person?

Let me tell you, brethren, it did not happen overnight. It did not happen all at once. It is a process where we ultimately become vulnerable as we sleep spiritually. And then if we're not careful, that spiritual sleep, that vulnerableness can lead to our spiritual death. We've all had that experience physically where we're fighting against sleep.

I'm, I'm trying to stay awake. And sometimes the fight against sin feels very, very similar. I'm fighting and fighting and fighting against it. But if we ever quit fighting, well that's the moment when It will overpower us, overcome us, just as He was overcome by sleep. Spiritual sleep leads to spiritual death.

It doesn't have to, but it can, and often does. So don't be overcome by temptation, because that spiritual sleep can lead to spiritual death. Being unaware, not seeing what's going on, not doing the things that we ought to be doing in a positive way, can ultimately lead to where we are separated from our God.

Sleep. is what led to Eutychus fall out the window. And so, too, for us, we can't set aside our prayer life. We can't set aside our Bible study and reading and meditation. We can't set aside our evangelistic efforts. We can't set aside our preparation for worship. We can't allow our attendance to become more sporadic.

We can't set aside all of those things and then think nothing's going to happen to us spiritually. Allowing all of these distractions to, to, to, to, to, to. to lead us down a path to where we're not doing those things that we ought will ultimately lead us to a place of ruin. We see all of these admonitions in the Bible that talk about vigilance and being aware.

If you turn to 1 Peter chapter 5, of course, that's a great example of that.

Be sober, Peter says. That's self controlled, maybe your translation says. Be serious about this. Be self controlled. Be vigilant. That is watchful, careful. Why? Because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the face, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

Vigilant. The idea is keeping watch. Don't fall asleep. You know, we, we know all of the books, and the movies, the westerns, and the spy movies, and the war movies, and the fantasy. The guard always falls asleep when bad things happen, right? We can't do that. And maybe the better metaphor, more relatable is, for us, is, is that same image of driving through the night falling asleep at the wheel.

Falling asleep in and of itself is not dangerous, but if we have an adversary out there who's like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, yes, it becomes dangerous. And so we need to make sure that we're not falling asleep in that way. Uh, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 contrasts us with the world in regard to that.

If you turn over to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.

This is in the context of the day of the Lord and being ready for the Lord when He comes. Begin reading with me, if you would, in verse 4. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this day should overtake you as a thief. You are sons of light, sons of the day. We are not of the night, nor of darkness.

Therefore. Let us not sleep at night, uh, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Physically we have to have sleep, but spiritually we don't. And in that way, we are like God, who neither sleeps nor slumbers. Spiritually, we don't have to fall asleep. We can be awake all the time. We can be aware of what's going on and aware of our surroundings. The world, the world is asleep. The world is I mean, think about that.

How true is that? That idea of, I'm not in control of what's going on, everything else is just happening around me. Doesn't that describe so many people in the world today? Everything's just happening to them. And whatever it is that they're told to wear, they wear. Whatever they're told to watch, they watch.

However they're told to think, they think. And we cannot allow the world to do our thinking for us.

We cannot be asleep at the wheel while, while the world drives us right into the ditch. We have to be awake and aware spiritually where I'm going to think things through and make the decision about my life based on what Jesus Christ has told me. And young or old, it's a temptation to allow those things to just happen to us, to allow the world to be in charge instead of allowing Christ to be in charge of our lives.

That is the path to spiritual death. So don't sleep. Don't sleep spiritually and yet one more show of hands. I've seen a couple of you stifle a yawn tonight. That's smart That's good Who has ever fallen asleep spiritually

where I'm not not the Christian ought to be

where I'm not doing Actively the things that I ought to be doing to build myself up To allow Christ to build me up, as his word gets in me, and as I communicate with God in prayer. To be fully engaged with the worship, as I ought to be. All of these things that wake us up, and should wake us up. And sometimes, despite our best efforts, we do fall into the pattern, the habit, of spiritual sleep.

One more sleeping story. Jason Moore actually told me this, um, When he was in college, uh, he took a Greek class where everybody else dropped out to where it was just him and the teacher. Uh, Phil Roberts was the teacher who was one of my favorite Bible professors in college. He was an awesome professor, his material was outstanding, but he could be a little dry.

And in a Greek course, perhaps that's the driest of the dry courses in many ways. And so the way they did class together, is that they had two desks that just faced one another. And Jason sat in one desk, Dr. Roberts sat in the other desk, and Dr. Roberts just delivered his lecture right here to Jason. And so there was one time, Jason said, I took notes vigorously, he said.

And I'm I'm writing, I'm writing, I'm writing, and I'm writing and I'm writing.

And I wake up, my head was on the desk. And Dr. Roberts was sitting there with his book closed and said, I think we're good for today. Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we do fall into this trap. We do fall into this pattern. Maybe even so bad that it leads to spiritual death.

There ought not be any do overs with physical death. You fall out a window and you die, you're dead. But what this account tells us is that God has the power to save even from death. And

so often what the devil wants us to do in those moments where we fall asleep, maybe even we're separated from God because of our sin, is to say, well that's it, you've blown it.

And if you find yourself in that moment, if you find yourself in that moment even right now, remember Eutychus, who Paul fell on

and said his life is still in him.

Because Jesus looks at you and he looks at me and says, Oh, there's still life in them. There's still an opportunity for them to be saved. Physical death is the end, but spiritual death doesn't have to be. Eutychus, you know what his name means? His name means fortunate. And indeed he was fortunate that on the night he fell out the window, Paul was there.

Now maybe you could say, well, Paul was part of the reason why he fell out the window to begin with. But Paul was there to fall on him and raise him up. And how much more are we fortunate, are we blessed, that God has made a way for our sins to be forgiven in Jesus Christ? To be delivered from death, to be delivered from the grave.

And what an encouragement it is. Going back to Acts chapter 20 one more time. And in verse 12, And they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted. So yes, don't sleep spiritually, but remember, even if you are, even if you have, God still has the power to save. And what an encouragement it is when someone comes back from the dead.

When someone comes back to the Lord. And you have that opportunity even this evening. As Romans chapter 13 verses 11 and following says. And do this knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand.

Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, that spiritual sleep, and let us put on the armor of light to face the day that God has in front of us, and to do so aware. To do so, helping others, so that we all might stand before Him in Heaven someday. A place of endless day, where there is no sleep, physically or spiritually, it is not needed.

But instead, eternal fellowship with God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And if you're here this evening, and you know you need to make your life right with God, maybe you've been sleepwalking through this life. The time is now to wake up and do what's right. And if we can help you, you saw the show of hands, we've all been there.

If we can help you tonight, there is nothing that would make us happier. Nothing that would make God and the angels in heaven happier than if you would come in humble submission to do what you know you need to do to make your life right. And if we can help you, come, while together we stand and while we sing.