The sermon titled 'If you deny me before men...' by Steve Hopkins, though the church is unknown, recounts an experience of preaching on the streets of Burnet. The focus of the sermon was on Matthew 10, where Jesus speaks about confessing and denying Him before others. Hopkins challenged listeners to consider whether they would publicly stand for Jesus or remain incognito in the face of ridicule. During the sermon, a state trooper approached Hopkins, not to reprimand him, but to express gratitude for his bold preaching and to pray with him. This incident was highlighted as a powerful witness to the public, demonstrating the importance of standing for one's faith, even in a professional capacity that might carry risks. Hopkins found this encounter inspiring and a strong testimony to the gospel's impact.

I want to share with the congregation something that happened this past week as we were preaching on the streets of Burnet and giving out Bibles. The young men were handing out Bibles and tracts. I was preaching on Matthew chapter 10 where Jesus said, if you confess me before men, I will confess you before my father which is in heaven and where he said if you deny me before men I will deny you before my Father which is in heaven." And I was asking the listeners, you know we have the the PA system set up there, it's half-mile hailer, it can really be heard and reach out and touch people, and people had their windows down and people are pumping gas and listening and I was asking them if you were out in public in a crowd and all the people around you were mocking Jesus and laughing at the gospel. And laughing at the gospel. And one person stood up in the midst of the crowd and proclaimed Christ, that they believed in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Would you side with them? Would you stand with them? Would you remain incognito? If it happened at the pump right there, would you remain undercover if someone else stood up and proclaimed Jesus publicly? Or if everyone was blaspheming his name, would you stand out in the crowd yourself alone?

Or would you remain incognito? And I kept repeating that passage and speaking on that, and I said to not confess Jesus before men is to deny him. And then I turned around, I kind of heard something behind me, I turned around and there like right in front of me or right behind me was a state trooper. And so I turned around and I was like, I mean my first thought was, oh, I'm in trouble. Either the PA's too loud or somebody's getting into the street or something's going on here, you know.

And to my pleasant surprise, that wasn't the case at all, this young state trooper put out his hand and he said, I wanna thank you for preaching the gospel boldly in the streets. And then he said, can I pray for you? And then he put his arm around my shoulder, I put my arm around his shoulder, and I know there were people that were there that were thinking, oh, you know, we're not expecting that, you know. Maybe they thought I was about to be removed, or the young guys and I were about to be removed from the street, but it was just a wonderful time, and he began to pray for us and for the young men, for the preaching of the gospel, and then he went back to his patrol vehicle, he drove away, this was all in about five minutes, and I thought, what a witness, what a witness. And right there at a time when I was preaching to the people out there publicly, if you confess me before men, I will confess you before my Father, which is in heaven.

If you deny me before men, I will deny you before my Father and the angels of heaven." And I thought, wow, what a statement this was to the public and to all the world that this state trooper was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ and publicly confessed him before men. And I don't know if that's something I don't really know. I don't know if that's something that You can threaten your job as a state trooper. I don't know what their regulations are, but still it was just a very good thing and very inspiring to us and I think a real testimony to the gospel.