 So today, the first one, we're going to look at the motivation for reaching Muslims. Okay, so I'm going to, we're going to look at a study from the Bible and we're going to look at what is the motivation for reaching Muslims. We need to understand before we go into this arena of reaching Muslims, why do I do what I do? What is it that drives me to do this and drives you to do this? So we're going to look at that. Next week, we're going to start the foundations of Islam. Part one and then the third week foundations of Islam part two. So those two classes will be the following. A, looking at a brief history of Islam. Second, looking at the sects of Islam. C, looking at the five pillars of Islam. D, the articles of belief. E, the authoritative texts, which are the Koran, the Hadith and the Sunnah. And if you want to, if you want to impress a Muslim, whenever you see the Q or whenever you say Koran, it's not Koran, it's Koran. That's kind of a hard thing for us to say. It's a Qa. It's like from the back of the throat. Koran. And then F is jihad, okay, which is holy war in Islam. So we're going to look at that. So we just need to, you know, before we go into it, we need to understand what is it that they believe? So we need to build. And I think it's a lot, it's a lot like ministering to Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons. You need to understand what they believe. And then you can move into, okay, now how do I minister to them? Okay, so we're going to look at those things. Then the fourth class, looking at answering Islamic objections. Now these are, this is really starting to get where really these are the things that you will deal with. Almost all over the world, anywhere you go. And really what's amazing is, I mean, it's like if you've shared with Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, you deal with the same things. They all say the same thing. It's like, they're like robots. And it's the same thing with Muslims. They say the same things. So these are the things that you will deal with. And these are the things that you need to know. So it's the corruption of the Bible. B, the Son of God. C, the crucifixion of Christ. They don't believe that Christ was crucified. D, the Trinity. E, the deity of Christ. And then F, Mohammed in the Bible. So we're going to look at that. These are things that they're going to throw your way. So we need to learn, how do I share my faith? How do I deal with these objections as a Christian? Then the fifth and sixth class, the last two sessions, will be now taking all of this information. And now how do I, as a Christian man, a Christian woman, communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ to them? Okay, so we're going to look at that in two classes. And we're going to look at these several topics. The first, uniqueness and supremacy of Jesus contrasted with Mohammed. B, the scarlet thread of redemption. The principle of the blood atonement. This is huge, guys. And you would be amazed how many Christians don't know this. And yet this we should know. If somebody were to say, what is the scarlet thread of redemption, we need to know that. Because this is extremely powerful. And it's from Genesis 1, 1 to Revelation 22, 21. It is the scarlet thread of redemption. It's all there in the Bible. And if you know that, now you have the ability to share that with a Muslim, your Muslim friend. Then we're going to look at C, the path of the prophets. D, receiving eternal life. Looking at God's work, what he has done through Christ versus us trying to gain salvation through our works. Then we're going to look at E, relationship with God. God indwells his people, not a holy site. See, the Muslim world, everything is about the external. Everything is about, well, this is holy right here. This place right here is holy. Well, guess what? For the Christian, we actually have no holy place. I don't know if you've ever heard that. We don't have a holy place. We don't have a holy position or a certain way. No, God is everywhere. Even if I travel to Israel and go to Jerusalem where Jesus died, well, that's great and that's a blessing, but that's not holy. I can be just right here and experience the amazing presence of God right here where I'm at. Because Christianity is Christ comes down and dwells within us. There's no other religion in the world where the God that we worship comes and dwells inside of the believer. There's no other religion in the world. And so we're going to look at that. And then lastly, we're going to look at the powerful Christian witness. How you, as you are, as a Christian, are a powerful witness because they are watching you. The Muslims are watching you. And let's be honest, if they don't see Christ in me, then where are they going to go? They need to see Jesus in me. And so it should just challenge me and it should provoke me and it should stir me to just live for Christ. So amen. Does that sound good? Let's open up in prayer and then we'll begin with a worship song. Father, we thank you, Lord God, for this evening, Lord. We're excited, Father God, because Lord, you're moving, Lord. Lord, it is not by coincidence that each one of us are here. It is not, Lord, but it is by your sovereign, mighty hand that you have drawn us here to this place. Father, we just ask that, Lord, you would speak to our hearts, Father, tonight. Lord, we pray that, Father, through these these six weeks, God, that you would just move in our hearts, stir our hearts, Father God, break our hearts with the things that break yours, help us to love the things you love and to hate the things that you hate. And Lord, we just pray that the Spirit of Jesus would dwell in each one of our hearts today. Lord, we just pray that you would equip us, as Lord, you have called us to be disciples of Christ. And a disciple means we're learners, we're learners of you, Jesus. So help us to learn your ways. And Lord, help us to take everything that we've learned and to apply them. And Lord, help us to be your hands and your feet on this earth that we walk. Because Lord, life is short and eternity is long. And Lord, you are real and you are here. And so Lord, we just pray, God, that you would meet us. And Lord, empower us with your Holy Spirit, Lord, because just as you said, without you, we can do nothing. And so Lord, we just come to you and we say, Lord, speak to us. Lord, we need you. Help us, God. Be our strength tonight. And Lord, we just give you this time now, Father, in Jesus' name. My wife's going to join us, too. Okay. If anyone came in and didn't get a sheet, there are two sheets of, one is the outline of the class and the other is a prayer point for the month of Ramadan. So if you didn't get one, you're going to make more copies. Okay, great. So whoever didn't get a copy, they're coming. All right. So that's good news. Okay. Well, this is great. What a blessing. As I said, my name is Stephen. I've been coming here to Chino Valley. This has been my fellowship ever since I got saved in 1991. We first came in 1990, but got saved in 1991 and been coming here ever since. And it's been just an amazing, amazing place. God has really moved here and he continues to move and it's exciting. And my prayer is that God's going to just equip us here, because what's exciting is when you guys, just as I was once in a chair like this and I was listening and I was learning and I was growing. And then I took that and I wanted to reach Muslims. And I'm sure every one of you here have someone that maybe you know. I'm sure there's probably Muslims in your life. And if not, I'm sure you're running into them and you're seeing them at the store. I mean, you're seeing them now everywhere. They're coming here by the droves. And I believe that it's totally the hand of God that he's beginning to bring them. I mean, what's amazing is that from 9-11 and before 9-11, people really didn't talk about Muslims. It really wasn't on the forefront. But it's so interesting and I think amazing and I think very divine that this, what occurred in our nation. And what's interesting is if you study the Old Testament, you will see that God has a way of waking up Israel and waking up his people because they refuse to listen and God has a way of doing that. And I believe God is very merciful and I believe that by God bringing the Muslims to us, he is saying, my people, reach them because I love them. And that's what he's doing. And that's why you're here today. You've come today because you want to learn how you can reach Muslims. And I pray that every one of you will be able to take the things that you're going to receive here in this class and be able to go and begin to plant and sow seeds of the gospel throughout this whole valley so that people begin to say, oh, I know the people at Chino Valley, they share with us. They talk to us. Those are the ones that they're preaching the gospel. And that's my prayer. But I just want to give you a little brief background. As I said, in 91, I got saved. I just began to take, was involved in the youth ministry here in the high school ministry. I was involved in the street witnessing door to door. And the Lord just at a young age, probably my junior year of high school, I just began to just want to learn the Bible and learn how I can share my faith. And so I began, I had friends, actually my best friend before I got saved was a Jehovah's Witness. So he used to come to my house. I would go to his house. His family would share with me and try to convert me. And they would just say, man, it's too bad that you go to Calvary Chapel. It's too bad that you're saying you're born again. We know there's only 144,000 that are born again. Man, we used to go at it. I remember that. And then I think my senior year of high school, there was a Pakistani man, young guy in our high school. And I began to just go, what are you all about? What is this? Islam? What do you believe? And so it was new to me. It was like crazy. I mean, that was, you know, back in, I don't know, like 97. So it was just, it was crazy. So God just began to stir. And I began to pray. I began to say, Lord, what do you want to do with my life? So to make a long story short, those of you who have been coming to Wednesday nights, who's been who comes to Wednesday night service? Okay, Pastor David. Now, I guess this is the second time he puts on a Keith Greene song. Okay, that man Keith Greene. I would say if somebody were asked me who, who was the catalyst in your life to go to the mission field, I would say Keith Greene, my pastor and my youth pastor, Steve Solomon. Those three men were the, were the catalysts to send me off to the mission field. And Keith Greene, look up his songs, look up his song, a sleep in the light. And I read a brochure by Keith Greene that he wrote and he said something like 25 reasons or something like this, why you should go to the mission field. And I read that. And I remember telling my mom after I said, I'm going to the mission field. There's no way I'm going to stay here because there is a lost world out there going to hell and nobody's reaching them. And so we had a guy in our youth group that actually went to Kazakhstan. And that was my very first experience with hearing of a man going to a Muslim country and hearing about the Muslims. And he came back and he said, you realize that there is only one missionary per one million Muslims. And I was like, what, one in a million? I mean, it's like this, if you can imagine one Christian, not one pastor or one church, I'm saying one Christian, imagine one Christian and you have to reach one million unbelievers in China. I mean, that's like, you can't even fathom that. And we're like, you know, we're a church of how many thousands, you know, in this city, and there's how many churches. So it's like, it's we can't even fathom that. But that was the statistics. So I mean, the whole Muslim world is being unreached. So at that time, God just began to stir my heart. God opened the door and I went on a short term trip to Morocco. There was an organization called Operation Mobilization. And they were taking trips to North Africa to the Middle East and they'll do these summer trips. So we went out to Spain, met up with groups. They broke up into teams. And that was my very first encounter with the country of Morocco. And that was in 94. I was 18. And then I went the following year when I was 19 again, the second time. And at that time, I was going to Bible college and God just began to speak to my heart and he said, this is where I want you. I want you in Morocco. I'll never forget it. I was in Morocco in the city of Fez. And we were at a missionary's house. And it was in the middle of the night. And I remember hearing the call of prayer. Because in the Muslim world, if any of you have gone to Israel, you'd probably know this, but five times a day, the Muslims, you hear the call to prayer throughout the whole city. So you hear, oh, you hear that? God is great. God is great. And it's calling all the Muslims to come and pray. And you just see all these people coming out of their houses, closing up their shops. I mean, there will be shop owners literally even leaving their shops open because nobody's going to steal. And they'll just go to pray. They'll go leave it and go to the mosque. I mean, so it was just like this was blowing my mind away. So it was like three in the morning. I remember getting up and being awakened by the call of prayer and just seeing men getting up three in the morning, out of their houses and walking in the darkness in the pole going to the mosque. And I just remember hearing the voice of Lord saying, who's going to reach them? Who's going to tell them they're in darkness? There's nobody. And I just said, Lord, I will, I will. And so that was when I was 19. So in 1999, Pastor David sent me. And of course, I didn't share the story about my mom. My mom also, she, the Lord began to stir her heart. And she got, the Lord just began to just call her. And she took two trips with Calvary Chapel Downey and also with Operation Mobilization. And she went to Morocco twice. And in 99, my mom and myself, we went to Morocco. Pastor David sent us and we went as long-term missionaries. So we went there. And in a Muslim country, you have to set up some sort of a business because you cannot be a missionary or pastor. Everything you do that's evangelical is illegal. So you can be arrested. You can be interrogated. They'll expel you from the country. All of those different risks. So missionaries that go into the Middle East or into North Africa, they have to go as tent makers. Okay. So we went and God just began to show us to teach English. That was my vision. Let's teach English. So we ended up, I'm making a long story short. We ended up establishing an English school with another Moroccan in 2000. And that school, we had it ever since we left Morocco in 2012. And we actually sold that school over to a Swiss missionary family that is now continuing to run that school, which is called CLC California Language Center. How funny? It's called California because I'm from California. So that's how the Lord allowed us actually to stay in that country legally. And I cannot tell you guys the amount of open doors that we had the people as a school teacher, teaching English to students. We had kids from seven, eight years old, all the way to grown men, businessmen, lawyers, directors of hotels, doctors, chief of police. And God just opened so many doors. And it's just been amazing. And it's been such a blessing. In 2002 is when I married my beautiful wife, Rosalie. And so we got married here. Pastor, they married us and like two, three weeks, our honeymoon, two, three weeks. And then we took off to Morocco, back to Morocco. And that was actually her very first experience in Morocco. She had never even been there until we got married. So it was a very rocky journey. She could tell you a lot of stories. Yes, she was 19. So we went to Morocco in 2002. We were married. And just to give you just a brief summary, what did we do in Morocco? How did many people ask the question? How did you reach in a Muslim country people when it's illegal to do what you're doing? Well, like I said, we had an English school. So most of our classes were in the evening. So we had the day free. But evenings, we taught English. But we did things like evangelism using the Jesus film, using media and literature distribution. We went out to villages and did ministry with shepherds. It's amazing. Every time I go into the foyer right there and you ever look up and you go into the sanctuary up on the right, there's a big mural of shepherds in the fields. And it just always, every time I see that, it just brings me right back to Morocco. And I think of these shepherds that I used to just go out, take a care package to them and just sit with them with a media, a solar MP3 player. And you press it and it says the gospel in their mother tongue. So I mean, you have these tribal languages out there where everything has been translated. And it's just amazing to think that the gospel is going through those places. We got to do ministry with abandoned children in the hospital. Obviously, in a Muslim country, it's a big, it's a big shame for someone to have a child at a wedlock. And so many times what will happen is the mother will give birth, take the baby, many times either abandon it or give it to a hospital and drop it off and then take off. And so you have all these children that have been abandoned in these hospitals. And we would go, my wife, my mom and other missionaries and go and just hold the babies, just speak to the babies, speak scripture over them, pray for them, sing songs to them, just loving on them. Who's going to do that? No one except the Christian. We did discipleship. We had the privilege to see several people come to Christ and leave Islam. We had a widow with three daughters. They all came to Christ. We had a man who was married to a Muslim and she never knew actually that he was a Christian. But things are happening right now. I'm still in contact with him and it seems like she might, she might be coming to Christ. So we had a church in our home. We led a Bible study. I taught a Bible study there and we did worship and discipleship. And we also had teams come out from Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale, from here, from Calvary Chapel in Utah. So we had different teams do some outreaches, do a basketball camp, things of that matter. And then in 2012 we returned back here to the States to take care of my elderly father. His health was declining and he has no one to care for him and so the Lord said, I'm bringing you back. I'm bringing you back and it was very hard. It was very hard for our family. I'm not saying it was a difficult decision because I knew this was the will of God to come and take care of my dad. But I also knew that it was very difficult for us overall. All 13 years, actually our entire married life was in a foreign country. We never had a married life in America, if you can imagine. All of our children grew up there on the field and so it was tough. But God was so good and he did a lot of things. He taught me a lot of things. And I was just thinking about even what Pastor Dave was teaching last night and just the restoring and just how God will take us through pain. And that's where God meets us in our pain and in our hurts if we want to get deep with the Lord. And that's absolutely true. So tonight I want to look at the motivation for reaching Muslims, the motivation for reaching Muslims. And I have a memory verse that I would like all of you to memorize. And this is, I had the opportunity to teach this class before and this is what I encourage our class is let's memorize this verse because this verse right here I think summarizes what you and I as the Christian need to just get engraved in my mind. And that's 1 Corinthians 118. 1 Corinthians 118. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. This is something that you and I have to understand because as you are encountering the Muslims that we come across, as you look at the media, as we read the newspaper, as we look at the news, we are going, we are seeing obviously in the world not, it shouldn't be in the church, but we see there is a hatred towards the Muslims. But we have to understand and we have to ask the Lord to help us as the church to remember that they are in the darkness. They do not know they are lost and they are blind. And for them the message of the cross is absolute foolishness. It's foolishness to a Muslim. Absolute foolishness. But the Bible says what? They are perishing. Don't ever forget that when you see, when I see a Muslim in the streets, remember that soul is perishing. They could step right now into eternity and go into everlasting fire where there is no mercy, where there is no return. They are perishing, remember that. But to us who are being saved it is the power of God. And so you and I want to take the message, that message of the cross that is power to me and I want it now to become power to them. But guess what? It takes you. God just, God just doesn't, it would be wonderful if God just says I'm going to save them all. But he says wait, I want to use you. I want to use you. And that's the humility of God. God wants to use you and me to reach the lost Muslims with the power of the cross. So let's keep that in mind. So let's memorize that. I encourage you to, you know, maybe have your, you know, with your family, with your children, just say hey guys, we're going to memorize 1 Corinthians 118 for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved it is the power of God. I love it. So we already looked at the class outline. So we're going to look at now and look at the scriptures. So the motivation for reaching Muslims. I'm going to look at two areas. First, what is our motivation biblically? And then we're going to look at what is our motivation practically and myseologically. Myseologically just means from the standpoint of missions, from the standpoint of reaching the world for Christ. Okay. So let's look right now. What does the Bible have to say to us? And I'm going to take, we're going to look at one scripture today. We're going to focus on, well, not technically not really one scripture, but it's a couple verses together. But we know that everybody is motivated by something. Everybody is moved by some driving force. What is it? Everybody is moved by something. What is the reason that I get up every day and I come to work and I put in my hours? Well, because I need to provide for my family. What is the reason that some people do the things that they do? Some people for applause. Some people they want, they do things for the recognition of men. Some people do other things for the desire for wealth and power. Some people are driven by hatred. When you see right now what ISIS is doing and what all of these radical Muslim groups are doing around the world, and there are so many. You know what drives them? It's actually, it's their submission to God from their standpoint because they're actually obeying their holy book. What you are seeing, just remember that, what you are seeing is they're obeying their holy book, what they understand. And so now, when I see that, you know what it translates to me and the Christian? What they do? Let me do. What I mean is, may I be faithful and submitted to God completely just as they are. Because guess what? If you are just as obedient to God, then you're going to reach them with the love of God. And that's going to bring them to salvation. The problem is, I don't. That's the problem. They are obedient, but I am not. And that's when I need to say, Father, forgive me. Change me love. And so, what is our motivation? As we go forward in our Christian walk, and as we learn week by week how to reach Muslims for Christ, we must have a biblical and God-empowered motivation to reach them. And not only Muslims, but all people. I mean, that really, the things that you're going to learn today, the things that we're going to look at in the scripture, we are in a ministry to Muslims class, but the things that we are learning today, it applies to every soul, every soul. So, let's look at Paul the Apostle. What was his motivation in life? What drove Paul the Apostle? I mean, just read the scripture. Read the book of Acts. Read the epistles. But if you want to jot these things down, I'm not going to look at them because we have, there's too many scriptures. But in 1 Corinthians 4, verses 9 through 13, 1 Corinthians 4, 9 through 13, and 2 Corinthians 11, verses 23 through 28, you can see there in those two scriptures, those two passages, the amazing adversity that Paul went through. Paul says we are beaten, we are homeless, we are stripped of everything. And in 2 Corinthians, he talks about I've been lashed, you know, with 39 lashes times 3, shipwrecked, persecuted, cast out, rejected, all of these things Paul endured. It's like, man, how much can you endure? Why would you keep doing what you do? Well, there must be a reason. So you and I need to go, man, what was in the heart of this man? Something beyond this earth, something supernatural, something not natural, but supernatural was driving him. And that's in 2 Corinthians. So let's turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5, beginning with verse 9. Let's get into the heart of this man, the apostle Paul. And actually the Lord, if you will, it's the Lord unveiling to us his heart through the heart of Paul. So 2 Corinthians 5, verse 9, we're going to look at two motivations, the two motivations for reaching Muslims for Christ. And as I said, really, these are the two motivations to reach anyone for Christ. And these are them. These are the two that I am, we're going to focus on as Paul opens that unpackages that for us. And those two motivations are the terror of the Lord and the love of Christ, the terror of the Lord and the love of Christ. I think not too often we hear the word, the terror of the Lord. We don't hear it very often, but we're going to look right here what he says. So those are the two motivations. So starting with verse 9, he says, Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. But we are well known to God, and I also trust our well known in your consciences. For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to glory on our behalf, that you may have something to answer those who glory in appearance and not in heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God, or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ constrains us, because we judge thus, that if one died for all, then all died. And he died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. So Paul says here, speaking about in verse 10, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. We know that in scripture, the Bible says that there are two judgments. There are two judgments. The Bible speaks of two. The first one is the great white throne, the great white throne judgment. And we know that this judgment seat is not for the believer, but is for the unbeliever. And there are a multitude of scriptures. The main one, Revelation 20, verses 11 through 15. But you find it in Psalm 9, Isaiah 66, Jeremiah 25, Daniel 7. If you want to see me after I can give them to you, there's a lot. But Revelation 20 is really the consummation and where you see the great white throne judgment. And that is for the unbelievers, where they will be cast, really, they will be cast from there into the lake of fire, because their name is not found written in the book, the Lamb's book of life. The second judgment is the judgment seat of Christ, which we find right here in verse 10. And this is the judgment for the believers. This is for you. And this is for me. And we find it here. We find it in Romans 14. We find it in 1 Corinthians chapter three, also 2 Timothy chapter four, verse eight. So this is the judgment seat of Christ, where we as Christians will stand before the Lord. And as he says here, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. And so we as Christians need to live in light of the two future appearances. Number one, we know that there will be an appearing of Christ to gather his bride. We call that the rapture of the church, when Christ will come and take his church, snatch his church, as it says in 1 Thessalonians chapter four, and take his bride to be with him. And second, there is the appearing of the believer before the judgment seat of Christ. And as Paul is speaking here in verse 11, he says, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Paul the apostle had a personal and life changing experience with the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, he was there on the road to Damascus and Paul, really he was a terrorist. That's what he was. He was killing Christians. Was he not? He was killing, that was his aim, that was his mission in life, to find them, track them down and kill them. He was a terrorist. And God met this terrorist on the road to Damascus. And there was a divine collision of the Savior with Paul the sinner. And when Christ meets a man, that man will never be the same, never. And so Paul met Jesus. And yet Paul understood and knew that Paul will give an account of his life to Christ. He understood that. And every single day, Paul lived in life of the judgment seat of Christ. And so he says right here, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord. That word terror is the word in Greek phobos, where we get our words phobia, right? Different phobias, different fears. That is the word. And it means fear, dread, terror, or alarm. So you can read that knowing therefore the alarm of the Lord. There is an alarm. We need to be, I need to be alarmed. Why? Not whether I'm going to go to heaven or hell. I know I'm going to heaven. I have that assurance. You have that assurance. But the thing is, I will stand before Christ and you will to give an account of the things I did in this body. Did I do everything for him? Or did I do it for my flesh? Did I do it for the pleasure of God? Or did I do it for the recognition of man? What did I do? Why did I do the things that I do? And so Paul says, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. That word persuade, it means to win one's favor or to seek to win one. And so Paul, that's what his mission was. He wanted to persuade men. And you see him in the book of Acts, debating and persuading and conversating and discussing with the Pharisees. He was desiring to win them to Christ. And that's why you're here today. Because you want to persuade the Muslim to love this Christ that you have come to love. So we must live in light of the reality and the seriousness of the future judgment. And we have to remember, Paul did, Paul says this right here, knowing, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men. He understood that. You know, when you think about Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, the Apostle John, all of these men, if you just look at their lives, they had an encounter with the amazing God, the God of majesty. And in each of these instances, how does God reveal himself? It's very interesting. In Exodus chapter three, God appears as a burning bush, fire in a burning bush. And God speaks to Moses and Moses gets on his face and he said, and the Lord says, remove your sandals for the place you stand is holy ground. In Isaiah chapter six, what happens? Isaiah has a vision of God. And later in John chapter 12, it tells us that Isaiah actually saw Jesus Christ in glory, in majesty. And what does he see? He sees him sitting on his throne. And he sees the seraphim. Remember the seraphim? Well, those words, seraphim literally means fiery ones. There was fire around the throne of God. Ezekiel. In Ezekiel chapter one, if you look at the vision of Ezekiel, he also saw God with fire surrounding his throne. And in Daniel chapter 10, you again see Daniel seeing a vision of God exalted holy. And it says he sat around about his fiery throne. And then the Apostle John, in Revelation chapter one, remember the most closest disciple to Jesus. This is what I think about. He was the most closest disciple to Jesus. You know, we hear people talking to say, and they're like, you know, when I see God, I'm going to ask him this and say that. But this was the Apostle John who laid upon the chest of Jesus. And what does it say? It says that when he saw Jesus in all his glory, he fell as a dead man. And it says that, what did he see? He says his eyes were a flame of fire. So time and time again, God is revealing something about himself to us. The fire of God. In every instance, God is always associated with fire. And we know that in Hebrews chapter 12, verses 20 through 29, it says that our God is a consuming fire. It is an amazing picture, amazing that God would describe himself as an all consuming fire. And many of you have heard what Pastor David has taught us. Fire consumes and fire burns. Anything that is in the path of fire, it burns it. But also, it purges and it makes clean when something is passed through the fire, like gold. And so as we come into the presence of God, we are purged, we are cleansed. But we need desperately the fear of the Lord in the days that we're living. We are desperately in need of that. And that's what Paul saw. This is what Paul knew. And that's why he says, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade man. In Deuteronomy chapter 10, verses 12 through 13, God says, and now Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? But to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways and to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes which I command you today for your good. And then again in Deuteronomy chapter 25 verse 12, he says, who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way he chooses. And then in verse 14, the secret of the Lord is with those who fear him, and he will show them his covenant. And then in Isaiah 66 verse 2, the Lord says this, but on this one will I look, on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word. You know, I often think about that. I like to meditate on that. God says, on this one will I look. You know who really I want to draw close to? Because the Bible says draw close to God and he will draw close to you. God is a gentleman. He doesn't force himself. You must draw close to him and he will draw close to you. But this is the one that God says you want to be close to me. He says right here, you need to be poor and of a contrite spirit. We need to have spirits that are broken because of our sin and falling in love with Jesus. But secondly, he says, be trembling at my word. How often do I come to God's word and I say, Lord, teach me what does that mean? What does that mean to tremble at your word? It means that I take it seriously. It means that there is really a heaven and there is really a hell. But do I believe that? Every day when I get up, every day when I go out on the streets, every day, do I believe that this soul right here will spend eternity in one of two places? Do I really believe that? So often I don't. And that's why we need to come to scripture and we just say, Father, teach me, Lord, burn it on my heart, Lord, because Lord, we need, surely there is no fear of the Lord in the world. So it has to be in us, in the church. But we need to ask God for a fresh baptism of the fear of the Lord. And this is why Paul says this because he knew he was going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. I think it's very easy as Christians. I think we have to be very careful because I can think, man, yeah, I'm saved. I know I'm going to heaven. And it's so easy to forget that you will stand before Christ and give him account because I know I'm going to heaven. And yet I'm not, am I really living in light of the judgment seat of Christ? I need to, we need to. And Paul did. And so we need to learn from Paul. And so like Paul, as we spend time in the presence of the Holy One, we will have a holy fear. Number one, because of the judgment seat of Christ, where I will give an account of everything I've done. But also I will have a holy fear because number two, the terror, I understand as a Christian that there is a real eternal punishment that is awaiting those outside of Christ. And that is what I'm talking about. That's what the scripture is saying here. And so he says they're knowing therefore we persuade men. You know, so often when we're sharing the gospel, we want to share the good news. And you know, so often we want to say, you know, God loves you. God wants to give you a free gift of eternal life. And you know what, we're giving them the good news, but we don't give someone the bad news. We cannot expect someone to really take a medicine prescribed to them if they are not fully convinced that they have a terrible sickness. How can someone, you, you want to give them this medication and tell them to take it and they're going to take it every single day and you have to take it at eight o'clock in the evening and don't forget it. They're not going to take that medication if they're not convinced that they're sick and they have a fatal sickness. But if someone understands that they are fatally sick and they will die if they don't take this medication, then they will. But the problem is, so often we're giving people the good news when we first need to give them the bad news. I need to understand that I am separated from God and my sin has separated from me. And there is, the Bible says that God is coming. He is coming back and he will judge every man according to his life. And everyone outside of Christ, there is a punishment. And yet God has made a way he has provided salvation through his son Jesus. And so that's why Paul said that he persuades men. Interestingly enough, Muslims are also driven, they are driven, their whole life by fear, believing that if they don't do enough good works and even if God so desires in spite of their works, he can send them to hell. However, they are deceived and there is an absence of the next motivation, which is love. See, the thing is with the Christian, you and I as a Christian, I need to have the mind of Christ, the mind of Paul. Paul said, I go out and I do what I do. Even if people beat me, they scourge me, they imprison me, it doesn't matter because I know there is a real judgment. My body may die, but that man right there, he may burn forever in hellfire. And so I'm willing to endure whatever pain I have to go through so that I can reach them with the gospel. And so Paul understood that, but also he knew the love of Christ. And those two things right there mixed together, he was a complete Christian, and that's what we need to have. The problem with the Muslims is they don't have the love of Christ. Every day when they get up, when they do their good works, when they give money to the poor, when they pray five times a day, when they fast all of Ramadan. And I mind you, even like when it's in the summer months because Ramadan moves because they follow a lunar calendar. And so I've seen over the past 13 years how Ramadan has now come into summer. It's hardcore because they have to fast from sun up to sun down. And they cannot drink water, no food, no sexual relations with their partner, no smoking. They're not supposed to think any bad thoughts or say any bad words for that moment, for that day of every day of Ramadan. And so it's like, man, but they are driven by fear. And what is amazing to me is that in the Qur'an it also says that their God can still throw them in hell if he desires. Even if they've done all these good deeds, God can do whatever he wants. So the Muslim is driven by fear. They do not know the love of God. But now we move into Paul's second motivation. As he says in verse 14, For the love of Christ constrains us. The love of Christ constrains us. This word constrains means to hold together. And it also means, and I love this, it means to arrest as a prisoner. Think about that guys. Every day you and I get up. I need to say, Lord, may your love arrest me like a prisoner. I want to be arrested by your love because if you and I are arrested by the love of God, I will be willing to do whatever he asks me to do. And the reason why the church is in the condition it is, is because we don't really understand. We have not experienced the love of Christ. And secondly, I am not responding in obedience to Christ. And a Christian that is not responding in obedience has not fully understood God and known God. And we need to understand God. We need to know him. But the way you and I are going to know him is we need to bask. We need to bask in the scriptures. And we need to bask in the love of God. And we need to say, Lord, I ask that you would just arrest me with your love. And so Paul, knowing that he was once a slave of sin and a son of wrath bound by sin and condemned by the law of God, was gloriously saved by the Lord Jesus and set free from sin and made a prisoner of Christ. He says he was arrested by the love of Christ. Notice in Galatians chapter 2 verse 20. Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God. And then look at what he says, who loved me and gave himself for me. See, Paul understood that. It's one thing when I say God loves the world. God loves us. But do you really understand that God loves you? God's love is for you. And just as God is omnipotent, I believe everything that God does is omnipotent. It is all in. And so all of God's love is focused on you. And he is able to focus every bit of his love on every single person at the same time. That blows my mind because all that God is, is enormous, is magnificent, is amazing. And that's his love towards you and me. You know, when you study the first epistle of John, first John, you see that John brings out two characteristics of the nature of God. He speaks of God being light and he speaks of God being love. God is light and in him is no darkness at all. And he says, God is love. In first John chapter four, verse eight, he says, he who does not love does not know God, for God is love. Doesn't say God has love. He says, God is love. And he says in 1 John 1 5, God is light. And so taking those two things right there. But what motivated God the Father to send his son, John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he did what? He did something about it. God didn't simply say, I love the world. I love the world. I love the world. And then do nothing. God did something about it. And when I share with my Muslim friends, one of the things I say to them as I say, do you believe God loves the world? Sometimes they'll say, yes. And I'll ask him this. So can you tell me from the Quran, how did God show his love to you? And that's the problem. They have no manifestation. There is no demonstration of God's love. Okay, God sent the prophets. They believe God sent prophets to give us the message of God. But where does God show his love for you? One of the greatest demonstrations of love is through sacrifice. If someone has not sacrificed for you, then how can they love you? Sacrifice is love. And so we have in the scripture that God showed his love for us by becoming flesh and dying on the cross for our sins. And this is the amazing thing. And so the love of Christ, Paul speaks of here, he says, constrains him. But let's look at the love of Christ. First of all, the love of Christ is unconditional. It is unconditional. It isn't dependent upon the recipient. Romans five verse eight, it says, but God demonstrates his own love toward us. And that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God didn't say, you know what, when they clean up their acts and when they get it all together, then I'm going to love them. And God didn't say, you know, I'm going to love you as long as you're, you know, reading your Bible and as long as you're praying and you're being a good Christian. No, he loves you when you're sinning. He loves you when you're not. He loves you no matter what. His love is unconditional. There are no strings attached. Secondly, the love of Christ is sacrificial. The love of Christ is sacrificial. It's costly. What did it cost God? This is what, this is the question I think that we have to ask. And I would ask that to my Muslim friend. What did it cost God to love you? What did it cost him? For the Christian, it cost him everything because the Bible says that he gave his very best. He gave, do you realize this, that God didn't simply give outside of himself? But the most amazing thing that a person can ever do is give himself. God didn't even say, I'm going to give you the most amazing man or something else or I'm going to give you this whole universe of diamonds. God says, I'm going to give myself. I am going to come down myself. And so God's love is sacrificial. It's costly. In Romans 8.32, he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? I love that verse because that reminds me. Lord, I'm asking right now for the salvation of my son, my daughter. Lord, I'm asking for the salvation of my friend, of my aunt, of my spouse. Do you think the Lord wants to give you that? The Lord, if God gave his own son for you, then why wouldn't God want to do things for you that are going to bring glory to him? But God's love is sacrificial. And I also want to mention this to you as you are here and as you are committed to minister to Muslims. It will mean your sacrifice and it will mean that it will cost you something. It may cost you your time. Are you willing to give up your time to minister to a Muslim? It may cost you your energy. It may cost you your finances. It may cost you your comforts. You know, it's amazing to me. Once again, you look at ISIS and me and my wife were just talking earlier about I mean, they have websites, they have blogs, they have, you know, these, even these women that are leaving the United States to go and marry someone in ISIS and they have set up instructions of what to do and how to do it, how to get on the plane and what you should carry, you know, you should carry a weapon when you get to point B and what you should do and what you should prepare for. These women and these men are leaving everything. They're leaving the comforts, they're leaving their finances, they're leaving their families to do what? To take a life, to kill. And so now the Muslim world needs to look at you and see what does it cost you? How much do you love me? That's what the Muslim world is looking because they're not going to find hope outside of the church. It's got to be inside the church, but it's going to cost us something. And thirdly, the love of Christ is active and powerful. You know, it's easy to talk about things, but when you go and do those things, that's, that means something. Now, when you, when you put feet to the, to that love, you know, one of the things that we learn about in marriage is there's a book we read a while back, me and my wife, the five love languages. And you learn that, you know, many times the way I'm loving my wife is actually the way I feel loved. And so I'm actually not reaching her heart because the way my, my wife feels loved is when I actually come home and I do the dishes and I take the kids and I say, honey, you get away, I'm going to take the kids and put them down to sleep. Now that's love, not giving roses and saying these words. Oh, I love you. Well, that's easy, but it's like, okay, where is it really active? Where is it really going to be practical? And you know what? That also has to happen with us reaching the Muslims. And one of the things I challenge you, and I was just sharing with someone earlier is that you can just simply, when you see a Muslim, just say hello to them and you will see what will happen. Don't be surprised if you simply say hello to them and they begin to talk to you and you say, oh, where are you from? You know, and that conversation ends up you being invited to their house for dinner. Don't be surprised because they will do that. My wife has met several Muslims and because we speak Arabic, you know, she'll go up to them and she'll say, so she speaks the word hello in Arabic. It's like, boom, you're all in and she's there and you know, one day she was at Walmart and she was talking to this lady and this lady was Moroccan at Walmart and she know and my wife's speaking the language with her and they're talking away. And pretty soon, you know, this lady's like, given her phone number, you know, we were at the couple's retreat and once again, I saw these two ladies right there and I was like, she's like, I don't know. So I was talking with one of my friends and then there goes my wife. She goes and talks to them pretty soon. She's talking with them for 20 minutes. These two Somali girls, they're from Seattle on a business trip here in Palm Springs and they give her her phone number and they exchange phone numbers. So it's like, you don't even know what's going to happen. But what if guys, I want to challenge you and never forget this image. What if because your obedience to Christ means they will receive the gospel and because they will receive the gospel, they will be standing before the throne of Jesus and one day when you're in heaven, you're going to look and you're going to see that lady or that man you shared with and they're going to look at you in the eye and they're going to say thank you because you know what, they belong to Jesus. They belong to Jesus. Every Muslim out there and every soul belongs to the Lamb because he purchased them and every person that is not serving God and not giving their life to God, they are ripping off God what he deserves. He deserves my life in their life but we have a place in that plan to reach them and so Christ's love is active. It's tangible. It's revolutionary. The love of Christ is willing to get dirty. It's willing to get dirty. People used to ask me when we would come back from Morocco, they would say, so do you like it? That was always a funny question. So do you like it in Morocco? I said, okay, so how do I answer this question? It's funny because before I went to the mission field, I told the Lord, I will never be a missionary but God does something in the heart of a person when he takes you somewhere or when he puts a ministry or a person on your heart so that it becomes your passion. But the thing is, it was not that I liked being there because many times I hated being there in Morocco. It was miserable many times. It was hot. It would be, it was lonely many times. There was a lot of tears. People hated us. People would, you know, my wife has to be a certain way. Men would make comments at my wife. You know, even however, you know, just being a foreigner and you know, my kids, they, they missed just being here. They missed their family. They don't have parks like they have here. I mean, simple things. They can't just go and get any cereal they want and it would be very hard. But the thing is, I was not there because I liked it. I was there because God loves them and God's love is tangible and if they don't know God's love, then who's going to tell them? And that's what I want to challenge you with. The greatest demonstration of this was in the incarnation because God became a man and God came down and not only became a man, but he also became a servant. In 1 John 3 18, it says, my little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but indeed and in truth. In 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 5, Paul said, for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. You know, once again, it's one thing if we can share the gospel and we have the answers, but it's another thing when you begin to share your life with your Muslim friends. And just this past year, year and a half, through a brother here at church who works with a man, a Muslim man from Morocco, we got to meet him and now me and my wife are close friends with him and his wife and they don't have children. They've been actually trying to have kids and they can't and we've been inviting them over to our house for dinner. We came over to their house and just this last week, we sat down with them at their table and her mother from Morocco is visiting and Said begins to tell his mother-in-law. We were sharing with them about the couple's retreat, why we went to this retreat and he was just like, he was like, you see what they're saying? It's all love, the love of God. Look at what God's love does for them. And I was just, I was looking at my wife and I said, isn't that amazing? What God's doing? But you know what? It's not in word only, but it's in power. When I think of the Christian, I think, okay, do I, can I describe that my life is not word, but there is a powerful life behind us? I think about that. I think is, would people look at my life and say, there is a power behind your life? That convicts me. I mean, to be honest with you, it convicts me because Paul says right here, the gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power. And there needs to be a power in our life where people see that you're living holy, you're living a life of love, that you're willing to get dirty and to reach the center and we need that. And also in first Thessalonians chapter two, verse eight, Paul says, so affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives because you had become dear to us. And actually we just recently found out that this couple is pregnant. She just got pregnant and she shared with my wife and my wife really got me, made me emotional because she told me later on that she told Muna, who is the wife, that when she goes into labor to call her because she wants to be there with her in the delivery room because Said, her husband will most definitely will not be with her and she has no family here at all. Nobody. So you know what? That's power. That's power. That's the gospel and that may, that will be you too. That will be you because we need to be right there with them. And you know what? That's how the church is going to reach the world. Fourthly, the love of Christ is relentless. It's relentless. His love never ceases, never lessens, even when rejected. God's love is not lessen. He continues to love. Look at what Matthew, what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 23 verse 37. You can just hear the broken heart of Jesus as he is looking to the cross, looking down at Jerusalem who has rejected him. And he's weeping over Jerusalem. And he says this, Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones, those who are sent to her. How often? I mean, just let those words sink into your heart. How often? But Jesus says, how often? How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you were not willing. And the problem is many times we are not willing. Or that person is not willing. God is loving them. And God continues to pour out his love and pour out his love and pour out his love. But first of all, they have to know God's love. But secondly, are they willing? And when a person rejects and rejects, well, the Lord has loved them, but they are not willing. Paul says in 2 Corinthians, chapter 12 verse 15, I love this verse, 2 Corinthians 12 15. And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls. Though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved. Let me read that again. And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls. Though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved. Isn't that amazing? That is amazing love to me. That Paul says, even though I know the more I pour out love on you and you love me less, it's not going to stop me from loving you. And I will continue to spend and be spent. And that's the kind of love I want. That's what Paul the apostle had. It constrained him. It arrested him. Listen to what this pastor, his name is pastor Paris Reedhead. He's somebody I listen to. I don't know if he's still alive. But Paris Reedhead said this, a sinner may go to hell lost and unsaved, but he cannot go to hell unloved. He cannot go to hell unloved. Every sinner that enters hell will never be able to say I was unloved. God loved them. But the challenge that lays before us and it knocks at the door of the church is who's going to tell them? Who's going to tell them? Because Muslims are one of the most unreached people on the face of the earth. They are one of the most unreached people on the face of the earth. And I'm going to move into that. And so first we looked at biblically the terror of the Lord, knowing Paul said that I am going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And secondly, knowing the love of Christ, knowing Christ's love to me that constrains me and that pushes me to take the gospel. But now let's look practically and misciologically. Why Muslims? And why now? That's the question. Why Muslims? First, God loves them and desires all people to worship him. And so we need to do that. Number two, the Great Commission. We know the Great Commission that Jesus gave the church He said, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore into all the world and make disciples of all the nations, teaching them all things that I have commanded you, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And I will be with you with or so ever you go even to the end of the age. And so Jesus gave us a command to go. If you know the one of the great missionaries Hudson Taylor, he was a missionary to China. He said this, the Great Commission isn't an option to be considered, but a command to be obeyed. And that is absolutely true. So often we as Christians are thinking of it, I don't have to do this. Well, no, wait a minute. Do you call Jesus your Lord? Yes, I do. Well, then that means you have no rights, my friend. I have no rights. What he says, I will do it. The question is, is he my Lord? And so I need to be honest with myself. But that's the Great Commission. Number three, Christians are debtors to the Muslims in relation to hearing the gospel. In Romans, chapter one, verses 14 through 15, Paul says, I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. And so you know what? I have to understand that guess what? I am a debtor. I have a debt. That's what Paul is saying. He said, I know that I am a debtor to the barbarians and to the Greeks, to the wise and to the unwise. Those who are literate and illiterate, it doesn't matter. I am a debtor to take them the gospel. And so we are debtors to them. Fourthly, the growth and spread of Islam. It is the second largest religion in the world, one out of every five people on the planet. By birth or geographical reference is a Muslim. Islam encompasses North Africa, the Middle East, and a majority of Southern Asian countries. There are between six to seven million in the U.S., roughly two percent of our population. One percent of California. One percent of California is Muslim. At the current rate of growth, it's estimated that Islam's population by the year 2025 will be 1.9 billion people on the planet. That is 24 percent of the European population. In 2025, 10 years from now, 24 percent of Europe will be Muslim. How is it growing? Well, normally two things, birth rate and immigration. I mean, and when you see Muslim families, you know, they have seven, eight, 10 kids, you know, so it's like, wow, you know, and immigration. The largest concentrations of Muslims in the United States are California, New York, and Illinois. And so, man, this is a challenge. This is a challenge to us. We need to wake up, and we need to say, Lord, God, you are bringing them to us. I mean, I'm not, the Lord, yes, wants us to go out, and I'm praying that God will send out more missionaries from our church here to into the darkness of Muslim countries. Yes, but God is so, so, so merciful that he is bringing them to us. So to me, to me, I see it like it's almost like the last straw. God is saying, go, go, go to the, go to them, go to them. People are not really going. So God's saying, okay, well, I'm going to bring them to you. I'm going to bring them to you. I'm going to bring them to you. Am I going to do it? Are you going to do it? So it's a challenge. Take it as a challenge. Between 1989 and 1998, Islam grew by 25 percent. Since 1990, the number of registered Islamic centers and mosques has tripled to more than 2,500, 2,500 Islamic centers and mosques throughout our country. I mean, they're everywhere. And you know, I've, I've actually gone, I mean, just in this vicinity between here, Chino, Montclair, Pomona and Ontario. And there is about, there is at least, at least six mosques within, within, I don't know, maybe 10 miles, you know, circumference. I mean, they're all over. And the, and the funny thing is, most of them does not, it doesn't say mosque. It doesn't say mosque. It'll say Islamic center. Okay. That's a mosque. The one down here is in a business complex across from Ayala Park. So you would never know. And I haven't been there a while, but I think it just has an abbreviation. It's like I S O C or something like this. So no one's going to know what that is. But it's like Islamic center of Chino Valley or something like that. Okay. So they're growing. Yes. Well, it's, it's not good what they did by burying the pig there. But, but for the Muslim, I mean, the pig is a, it's a forbidden animal. It's an animal that's, yeah. Yeah. I mean, obviously, I mean, somebody obviously had a, there was a dirty trick and they wanted, they didn't want them to build that mosque there. So I mean, that's, that's what they did, you know. And I mean, there have been other things too. I mean, recently in Phoenix, in front of a huge Islamic center there, there were people, you know, I think it was put on one guy was actually the one who kind of put the people together and had them come down there. And I mean, they were, they had all sorts of profanity and vulgarity towards, you know, the Muslims. And then you had the Christians coming out and they were kind of like, you know what, praying for them and just, but it was like kind of a, not a very nice scene. Oh, absolutely. Hatred. Hatred. Absolutely. Yeah. Hatred. I mean, by burying the pig, that's not a good thing to do. So, so that's why, you know, we, we're going to learn here that we need to reach them with love. We need to reach them with love. Right. We reach them with truth and love. And these are the two things that need to be married together. And that goes for everybody. The problem is, I often want to love, love, love and never tell the truth or tell all the truth and never love. The two need to be married. Truth and love. And that's, that's the way it works. So, fifthly, why, why Islam? Why now? The seriousness of Islam entering our society. And obviously I can't go into detail, but obviously as you shared, many of us, you guys know, you read the newspapers, you read the news on the internet. It is very serious of the influence of Islam in our society. The governments accepting their ideology, some places, some towns, some cities are accepting, considering Sharia law. It's amazing. You know, some of the things I mean, if, and if you go on YouTube and actually go look at some places, even in England, where I mean, it is, it is full on under the Muslims. Like they are, they have like gangs almost like going down the streets and they make sure the women are dressed accordingly. You know, they can't be out after a certain hour, otherwise they know they might beat them or do something. You know, so they're like running Sharia law. You know, and, and, and our government, obviously, you know, our president is very sympathetic. You know, and I don't know where his heart is. I don't know what he is. But he's going to stand before God. But Islam is infiltrating our government. It's infiltrating every part of our society. You know, I've even heard of, I think, different public schools. I've heard, I think I heard of one in like San Diego where they taught them like the Muslim prayer. They maybe had someone come in. They shared with them all about the belief system of Muslims and even, I think, even got them how to pray and do the prayer. You know, it's like, wow, it's in the curriculum. You know, and yet if we want to bring and say, okay, well, let's, let's share, if we're going to be equal and if there's not going to be discrimination, well, let's share about the Bible. Let's share about Jesus Christ. But that's obviously offensive because, once again, let's go back to our memories. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. And we have to always get that and we have to come back, go back to the cross. It will be foolishness. And it is a shame. It is offensive, guys. Don't ever forget, the cross is offensive. But if that offense leads to their salvation, then so be it. The thing is, we have to remember, don't let it be your personality that offends. Let it be the cross that offends. And I learned that from my pastor. He once said that he says, don't let it be your personality that is offensive. Let the cross and let the message offend, but don't let it be you that offends. And that's where we all, we all have to learn like, where is that line? And I have to learn that before God. So sixth, very few Christians are attempting to reach Muslims or even befriend them or share their lives with them. As I shared earlier, and these are the, these are the statistics. 1%, think of that. 1% of the world missionary force is working with Muslims. 1%. And over 80% of Muslims in the world have never heard the gospel once. Not even once. You know, never mind, you know, people, people, let's, let's be honest. I mean, people in the United States, they have the opportunity to hear the gospel. And maybe they heard about it. Maybe they saw it on TV. Maybe when they were a hear this or that or they, people have heard it. You know, now of course you can be technical. I mean, there are those that yes, but like to say, okay, they have never heard the gospel once. 80% of Muslims in the world have never heard the gospel. Not even once. So keep that in mind. So you wanting to reach them are a minority or a minority, but nevertheless, the, the, the responsibility lies on the church. And seventh, God has brought Islam in front of our faces and much attention has come to this religion since 9 11, especially the terrorism done through radical Muslims. This isn't a coincidence. And so I believe that even as it's brought before us, God once again, he's knocking on our, on the door. And eighth, the lastly, the common ground that we can build, that we can build on with Muslims, they are spiritually conscious and a God conscious people. That is something that I want you to get into your heads and into your hearts. There is a common ground that you necessarily do not have with the average secular Westerner. Okay. What is it that you always hear? You know, don't talk about religion and politics. Well, guess what? With a Muslim, they're like, man, bring it on in Arabic. Marhaba. Marhaba. Welcome. They want to talk to you about God. God is in their vocabulary every day. They talk about God. They, when they go into their house, okay, one of the things they always say is Bismillah, which means in the name of God. So when they get in the car, they say Bismillah, they say in the name of God. When they go into, you know, get inside of a, go inside of a store, when they enter their house, they're always saying in the name of God. You know, when we were in Morocco, we got inside of a taxi and you get inside of a taxi and he says, where are you going? And I say the airport and he says, inshallah, that means God willing. That's what they say. Yeah. And it's just, oh, I used to, I used to, I used to like crack up inside every time you need to get a taxi. Where are you going to the bank? Inshallah, inshallah, if God wills. And sometimes I think, no, no, no, that's where I'm going. I'm going to pay you and you're going to take me there, please. But, but they say it all the time. And I used to have conversations with them and they say, how come you never say God willing? And you know what's interesting? I would tell them, I would have these conversations and I would say, you know, the Bible actually teaches us that in every aspect of our life, we are to say, God willing. God willing, I'm going to go to this class tonight because I don't know. God willing, yeah, God willing, we're going to go here, go there, do this or do that. And we can forget that actually. And I think we need to be kind of reminded of that. God willing, if God wills, we will do this. But guess what? For the Muslim, they say God willing about everything. And when you ask them, when you die, do you think you will go to heaven? And they say, God willing. And I say to them, I say to the Muslim, do you know that for the Christian, this is the one and the only thing that I cannot say God willing? Think about that. In everything, I will say, God willing, I will do this. But that I cannot say. And they say, why? I cannot say that. You know why? If I say that, I'm actually slapping God in the face. And they're like, what? Yeah, you know why? Because God told me in His Word, if I believe this and if I come to Him on His terms and receive His gift, I have everlasting life. It's a promise. So how can I say, if someone promised me something and I say, well, God willing, no, it's a slap in the face. God does will it. And He has given me everlasting life. So I know I will go to heaven. And they'll just trip out on you. But that right there is a place of conversation. And so they are a conscious people. They're thinking about God. They talk about God. And especially during this time of Ramadan, they're fasting, they're praying, even though they are blind and they are they are not worshiping the God of the Bible. But they are thinking about God. They're thinking about heaven. They're thinking about hell. And it is an opportunity for you to come and say, you know what? I want to be able to share with you. And one of my one of the things that I encourage you, the best way to reach a Muslim when you don't know anything is ask them questions. And I tell that to everybody, just ask a Muslim a question. Just say, you know what? I don't really understand Ramadan. Can you explain me? Because I'm very interested in what you believe and let them share with you. And that will open so many doors. You know, I saw this on TV. What do you think about that? And you know what? You let them speak, let them tell you and see where that leads you. But I want to encourage you in that. But we're going to close up this evening. And so this is our motivation for reaching the Muslims. And I pray that we will be able to take these things and take them to the Lord and take it to a lost world and take it to those friends, those co-workers, those neighbors, people that are lost. There's so many and they need Jesus. What I like to do is just close this time in prayer. And I like to open what I like to do is just open this to an open time of prayer. And I want to encourage you as the Muslims are entering their month of Ramadan right now. Let's pray for the Muslims. Let's pray that God will reveal himself to them. Let me read to you a little bit something I printed out here just so you kind of understand Ramadan. Wednesday evening, which was last night, is expected to mark the beginning of Ramadan, a month of sunrise to sunset fasting for nearly 1.6 billion Muslims across the world. But what exactly is Ramadan? For Muslims, Ramadan is a holy month dedicated to prayer, Quran recitation, introspection and fasting during the sunlight hours. But the Arabic word for fasting, Psalm, doesn't only refer to abstaining from food or drink, it translates literally to refrain and encompasses abstinence from food, drink, having sex and all evil thoughts and deeds in the interest of self-purification. Muslims observing the holy month break the daily fast with an evening meal called iftar, often beginning with a few sips of water or something sweet, something sweet like dates. That is actually something they do. They'll break the fast as soon as they all hear the call to prayer. The sun goes down, they'll take a date and they'll eat it. And that's actually because Muhammad, their prophet, did that and so they follow him. What is the religious significance of Ramadan? Ramadan is believed to be the holiest month of the year within Islam and the month in which the Quran was revealed to their prophet Muhammad. In this month, so this is what they believe, the gates to heaven are believed to be open and the gates to hell are closed. Muslims are instructed to fast in the Surah al-Baqarah, okay, which is the second book or second chapter in the Quran, the second and the longest chapter of the Quran. Does everyone fast? This is something that people wonder. Technically, all healthy Muslims are expected to fast, but there are a number of exceptions. Children don't have to fast. Elderly people and pregnant, postnatal, breastfeeding or menstruating women are exempt, as are travelers or people who are physically or mentally ill. Non-fasters can compensate by fasting at a later date or feeding a person in need. That always blew my mind because we had friends in Morocco, normally women, and if they didn't fast, let's say they were on their cycle, they waited to finish, and then they would have to make up the time. They would make it up, so it's like, wow. Wasn't Ramadan later last year? The date of Ramadan is determined by the lunar calendar, so it falls about 11 days earlier each year than it did the year prior. The task of fasting is considerably more demanding when Ramadan falls in the summer months, as there are many more hours of daylight and warmer temperatures can be taxing on the body. This year Ramadan will coincide with the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere on June 21st, the longest day of the year in that part of the world. There will be 15 hours of daylight. Why is Wednesday evening the expected beginning of Ramadan? The precise beginning of the lunar month and thus Ramadan can only be confirmed by the sighting of a slender, crescent moon in the sky. Prominent mosques or committees of Muslim scholars often hold meetings to deliberate the sightings, sometimes leading to rival dates for the beginning and the end of Ramadan. This year Ramadan is expected to begin on the evening of June 17th or 18th, and last 29 or 30 days depending on the length of the lunar month and on Wednesday night's sightings. So it's really interesting. I know when we were living in Morocco and we would be like with our friends and we'd say, so is Ramadan tomorrow morning? They're like, you know, we're not sure we're going to watch the nightly news, you know what it's going to say. And you know, the scholars, they, you know, they're watching the moon, they have to determine all this stuff. But it's like a huge celebration. I mean, it's really big, you know? So when they know like tomorrow is Ramadan, it's like people are partying. I mean, they're just like happy. They go to the city, they get new clothes for people. And it's the same for the end of Ramadan. When Ramadan ends, there's a lot of feasts, you know, families get together, you know, and it's like a big celebration. And actually, yeah, I want to encourage you, there's some really opportunities to reach people. They invited me, a friend of mine invited me to the mosque where over where I live in Roland Heights, West Covina area. And they had a big celebration at the end of Ramadan. So a lot of food, you know, people and stuff. And it was really neat, you know, and I got to meet other people there. And I just want to encourage you, take the opportunities, take any opportunity to befriend a Muslim and take those invitations. So let's just take a little bit of time right now to pray. Let's pray for the Muslims. If you have someone on your heart, I encourage you, let's lift them up in prayer. And let's especially just pray that God will move and open the hearts and minds of the Muslims.