says, the memory of the just is blessed. And that's certainly true concerning these two believers who have now gone to be with the Lord. And being missionaries for many years in New Guinea, we're not having our regular Bible study this morning, but their son Lance is going to share with us some of the things that took place in New Guinea when they first went there many, many years ago.

Now, if you're sitting where the sun is shining directly into your eyes, feel free to move, find another place. If we need more chairs, we'll make sure we find some more chairs. But we're here to worship the Lord, first of all. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Let us go to the hymn in prayer. Dear Father, we are so thankful today that we may gather together here to worship thee. And Father, we are thankful for the memory of two of your servants, Lord, that we know now are there rejoicing in your presence. And Father, we pray that what is said and done here today will first of all be for Thy glory, that we will exalt the Lord Jesus Christ in our thoughts and words and prayers and singing, Father, that all will be for Thy glory, at the same time that we will give thanks, Father, for these two that have, as I said, gone home to be with Thee. Again, Father, receive our praise and thanksgiving today through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Now, if you take the bulletin-like thing that we've made up, the first hymn is the first hymn 502 is the number, I believe. And we'll sing and worship the Lord together. And after we finish singing this hymn, Lance, you come, if you will, and speak.

? ? When my life work is ended and I cross the swelling tide,
when the bright and glorious morning I shall see,
I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side,
and His smile will be the first to welcome me.

I shall know him, I shall know him,
and redeemed by his side I shall stand.
I shall know him, him, I shall know him
at the print of the nails in his hand.

Oh, the soul-thrilling rapture when I view his blessed face
and the luster of his kindly beaming eye.
How my full heart will praise him for the mercy, love, and grace
that prepare for me a mansion in the sky.

I shall know him. I shall know him.
And redeemed by his side I shall stand.
I shall know him. him, I shall know him
by the print of the nails in his hand.

Oh, the dear ones in glory, how they beckon me to come,
and are parting at the river I recall.
To the sweet bells of Eden they will sing my welcome home
But I long to meet my Savior first of all

I shall know Him, I shall know Him
And redeemed by His sight I shall stand
I shall know Him, I shall know Him
by the print of the nails in His hand.

Through the gates to the city and a robe of spotless white
He will lead me where no tears will ever fall
In the glad song of ages I shall mingle with delight
But I long to meet my Savior first of all

I shall know Him, I shall know Him,
and redeemed by His sight I shall stand.
I shall know Him, I shall know Him,
by the breath of the nails in His hand.

Good morning. What an honor it is to meet together once again this morning, as David mentioned, to honor the Lord and glorify Him. And of course, I consider it a particular blessing to be able to speak this morning about my parents, Cliff and Marty Heller, who truly, above all, were servants of the Lord. And we want to remember them in that way and recognize that they glorified God as he enabled them for their entire Christian lives. And what a blessing that is. What a blessing.

And this morning, when we think of my parents, Cliff and Marty Heller, I think most people will think of them as missionaries and that's how it should be. This is who dad and mom were. They labored in the ministry of the gospel in the Kayagona tribe of Papua New Guinea for 54 years and left for the last time when they were 85 years old. My parents lived a full life. You know, I thought about that. I thought so many people They live a whole life and they hardly live at all because they don't live for Christ. My parents lived a full life, a fruitful life. And there was, there's so much we might say about them.

I remember many years ago telling a dear friend, Pastor Donnie Bell, how there was no one else in this life that I respected more than my father. And Donnie was choked up. And I realized then what a blessing it was for a son to be able to say that, a Christian son to be able to say that about his father. Shortly before dad died, knowing that he really wouldn't know anything at all in all likelihood of what I was saying, I told him that it was the greatest privilege for Robin and I to labor together with him and mom in the work of the gospel there in Papua New Guinea. And that it was such a blessing and such a help to us and meant so much to us in the ministry there.

But this morning, as I said, we could say so much But this morning, I would like to consider more than anything their calling and ministry through which the Lord accomplished such a great work of grace among the Kayagona people in Papua New Guinea. There's no other work like it in Papua New Guinea. I say that without any reservation. And no contemporary work anywhere in the world that I know of which compares to this work that God did. Multitudes of people have been saved over the years. There are 23 Kayagona churches in Papua New Guinea, many preachers of the gospel. And I think it's notable that not one of these churches or preachers has ever received any financial support from my parents or from overseas.

The Bible translated by my father into the Kayagona language is in continual use in these churches all over the tribe and in several parts of the country. Mom and dad were truly one of the last of the pioneer missionaries. More than that, they were what my father would refer to as a New Testament missionary. And this is what I want to focus on this morning. I think many of you will know that my father wrote a book called The New Testament Missionary. It's a book that the Lord has been pleased to bless greatly and use, not only here in the U.S., but in other parts of the world. So I'd like to start with that. What is a New Testament missionary? Well, it's a biblical missionary, and that's what we're interested in, isn't it? The Word of God is the only guide of faith and worship. So when we consider what a missionary is, that's where we look.

And I would like, turn with me to Acts chapter 20, and what I would like to do is use this as a loose outline in speaking about the work of my parents. And as I think many of you would know, In this passage, we have the last words in this life that the Apostle Paul will speak to the elders of the church at Ephesus. Paul knows this, and so there's added weight to the message he wants them to hear. And at this point, the Apostle Paul has spent a period of three years in this church in Ephesus, and he's about to leave them, and he has great concern for the church, and he wants these men to consider, above all else, the glorious ministry of the gospel of God's grace.

Now, Paul does this in an unusual way. He says, look at me. Consider my life and labor among you in the ministry of the gospel. So when Paul describes to the Ephesian elders the manner in which he lived among them, were given a powerful description of the character and the ministry of a New Testament missionary.

To the church in Corinth, too, the apostle wrote, our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant. Well, we can certainly say that the scriptures reveal the pole more than anything else, was a missionary minister of the New Covenant.

So let's listen to Paul as we read, beginning in verse 17 of Acts 20.

Acts 20, verse 17. From Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. And when they had come to him, he said to them, you know from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews. How I kept back nothing that was profitable, but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy. And the ministry which I receive from the Lord Jesus Christ, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

And now, indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.

Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God. which he purchased with his own blood.

The Apostle Paul was ever mindful of something we so easily forget. The Church is the Church of God. It's his. He bought it with a great price. He purchased it with his own blood. If all men and all angels of a thousand worlds were given, they would not approach the worth of even one drop of the blood of Christ.

This purchase price, too, we see here was a distinctive purchase. The purchase was not the whole world. The purchase was of a particular people here called the Church of God. The death of Christ did not make it possible for people to be saved. His death accomplished the salvation of His people. A particular people given to Him by His Father, entrusted to Him. A people that He saved from their sins.

The Lord speaks to His people, to this people, in the prophecy in Jeremiah and one of the most wonderful texts in all of Scripture. You know it. He says, this is the Lord speaking. He says, yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, I have drawn you. In God's appointed time, everyone for whom Christ died, everyone, everyone are drawn to him in faith through the preaching of the gospel. Is this important? My father thought so.

Here are his words. When I was in missionary training, the director, who was a returned missionary, told us in class one day, I trust none of you are going out telling people that Christ will put away sin, but rather the good news that Christ has put away sin. I had never heard such a thing. I was stunned. I left class thinking. It is a very different message to preach that he has put away sin, that he will put away sin, but is it true? I didn't know. I talked to the director and he encouraged me to use Hebrews to preach Christ's work. I then began to study Hebrews diligently and came across Hebrews 9.26. He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, I thought. If he has appeared to put away sin, he must have done it. Yes, it is as I've heard. Our message is to preach a finished work, a work that has accomplished something. I had never seen it. It was a great and glorious revelation to me. Suddenly, I saw our message to be good news. I rejoiced with great joy in such a glorious gospel. I couldn't wait to preach the good news. That very day, I borrowed a car to go into town to tell someone this good news of Christ, having put away sin. And so I did. And my father and mother did that for the rest of their lives.

It was the truth of the finished work of Christ that inspired such zeal in them for the missionary work of preaching the gospel. My father believed there were a number of pivotal events like this which were greatly used of the Lord to mold him and mold my mother in terms of the ministry of the gospel in New Guinea. And another of these events occurred at the very beginning of the work. Look there again at verse 28 where towards the end of it we read Paul telling those Ephesian elders to shepherd the church of God, shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

Now, the work of the gospel is not our work. It's God's work. It's the Lord's work. You know, I so easily forget that. The work is not dependent upon what we do, but upon what God does. The church is the church of God. It's his church and he does all the work. He builds the church.

My father writes of these circumstances which occurred a few months after they first arrived in Papua New Guinea in 1962. And this truth was powerfully impressed upon him. I'm going to read a long quote. I want you to hear it in my dad's words, and it's a long quote, but it's important. Every bit of it is important. So follow along. Follow along. Give your attention to this.

He says, I hiked through the mountains to Dean and Laurel Van Vliet's house in the Fregano. He, as the field director of the mission that they were with at that time, had planned a trip for us to visit the Cayagones, a possible field of labor for us. He had previously written to us that a linguist was needed in the Kayagona work to arrive at an alphabet and break down the grammar so it could be written and later translated. By the time I arrived at his house, I was exhausted. I was not used to hiking the rugged mountains, trails. The following day, we set out and spent most of the day hiking through the mountains, arriving at Roland Boy's house in the Kayagona. This was the tentative location for our missionary service. The next day, a large group of Kayagona people gathered to discuss their practice of murderous sorcery. This discussion was completely unintelligible to me, which I expected. However, more disturbing was that I could not hear the language well enough to isolate or mimic any words or phrases at all. It became apparent to me that the language was very difficult and would not readily be learned, and in fact, could I learn it? Having hiked for two days to this spot, I realized it was remote and difficult to reach. Marty was pregnant with Amy, our third child at this time, and I began to wonder if we moved the family in there, how would we get Marty out when her pregnancy became advanced? Two, it would be necessary to build a house as soon as possible. It seemed a daunting task with no materials available, no roads into the area. I wondered how we would be able to just live in that remote area with no medical facilities near and among an illiterate tribal people practicing sorcery, having a very mysterious unknown culture, and speaking in an unwritten language that seemed impossible to learn. I was overwhelmed by the difficulties. I could feel the fears and uncertainties in the pit of my stomach. I knew I was not sufficient for the task. The field director had made this trip to not only bring me into the Kaigan area as a possibility to work, but also to see a missionary who was working with his family among the Gimi people, which is beyond the Kayagona. This missionary I had known for some time. He was a strong man spiritually. He was discouraged, so the field director wanted to talk with him and understand the difficulties with the hope of encouraging him on. This was another day's hike beyond where we were, and the last miles were up a steep mountain. When we got there, the missionary said he was a failure and could not continue on. When he said that, I sympathized with him and thought, you are right and neither can I. Then in a strange way, I saw it all. If God had sent me to do this work, He will do it in me and through me by his power, for I had none. Immediately, I was at peace. The verse the Lord brought to me at that time was, without me, you can't do nothing. I then spoke to my own heart to never take any glory for the work if God did use me, saying to myself, Even before you began the work, you knew you had no adequate strength or ability for the task. What a horrible thing it would be to take glory for a work which I could not do, but was a work accomplished by God." And then he quotes Psalm 115. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us. but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake." Well, something which my father believed was of utmost importance also was that a missionary be one who is called of God. The first words of the first chapter of the New Testament missionary are this, to do God's work, a man must be called of God. It is God's work, and he is the one who chooses his laborers. The initiative lies with God and not with man. Look there in verse 22 of Acts 20 again. Let me just read those. Paul says, and see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city saying that chains and tribulations await me, but none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus." That's where he received his calling, isn't it? The ministry that he received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel. of the grace of God. The Apostle Paul didn't know what would happen to him in the ministry of the gospel at this point in time. But he did know that tribulations and chains awaited him. Did any of these things move him? No, not at all. Did he count his life dear to himself? No, not at all. What moved Paul? And what did he count dear to himself? The ministry that I have received from the Lord Jesus Christ. And in reality, that's all that matters. That's all that matters. If a man has received the ministry from the Lord Jesus Christ, he'll equip him with everything he needs for the work. Everything. The abilities necessary for the work of the gospel are all spiritual, God-given abilities. They're the only abilities that matter. And no matter the difficulties, trials, enemies, persecutions, he will not give up. He's been bought with a price. And he is willing even to give his life for the sake of Christ and for the sake of the church. He will yet testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Yes, Paul once persecuted the church of God. He never forgot this. You can see this in all his epistles. And he could never get over the wonder that Christ would call him into the ministry of the gospel. Here he was. How does he describe himself? A blasphemer, a persecutor, an innocent man going about to destroy The Church of God. And what a privilege. What a privilege for him to be called. Called of God into the ministry of establishing churches for the glory of God. Paul's desire was that he might finish his race with joy. Well, how would he accomplish that? What does he tell them? By testifying to the gospel of God's grace. Preaching the kingdom of God. Declaring the whole counsel of God. The gospel ministry is such a glorious work. And every true gospel minister looks upon it as something which is of surpassing value. A great gift. A great privilege. Now, if a man is called of God, he will be a man of humility. The Apostle Paul, as you know, was a man of remarkable ability, astonishing intellect, enormous reserves of strength and perseverance. The accomplishments of Paul in his ministry are staggering, really. Paul was and is a giant in the church of God. Well, how does Paul think of himself? How does he view his labor in the gospel? Paul sees himself as a servant of the Lord. That's what he says in verse 19, doesn't he? A servant of the Lord. Serving the Lord in all humility. Here's what Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus. Now think, this isn't false humility. This is the Word of God, which never lies. This is how Paul truly saw himself. He says, to me, who am less than the least of all saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. A man called of God is a man who serves Christ. If a man sees himself as a servant of Christ, who will he seek to please? Not men, but Christ. Who will he preach? Not himself, but Christ. What will he be interested in? Not his own things, but the things of Christ. Isn't that all descriptive of My parents, Cliff and Marty, those of you who knew them, what will he feed the Church of God? He'll feed them with what's profitable. He'll feed them with the bread of life. And that's what mom and dad did their entire lives. Certainly, this was true of my parents from the beginning of their ministry, as we saw, to the very end. And if there was one thing above all else that characterized My father's ministry, it was what Paul says in verse 20, I kept back nothing that was profitable. Every gospel minister does this. He keeps back nothing that is profitable. The missionary knockhold of God does the exact opposite. Have you thought about that? He keeps back the things that are profitable. He keeps back Christ. He keeps back the word of the truth of the gospel. What he doesn't keep back is a man-centered religion. He doesn't keep back a religious worship which is pleasing to the flesh, pleasing to men. He builds, in effect, a religion made with hands.

To the natural man, the things that are helpful are food, clothing, housing, education, healthcare. These are all good things. Yes, that's true. And this is what most missionaries in PNG are busy doing. But to Paul, what was helpful to the people of Ephesus? What was profitable to them? He says in verse 20, I kept back nothing that was profitable, but proclaimed it. That's what's profitable. Proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly from house to house testifying to the Jews and also to the Greeks, and here it is, repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

And as he goes down on further, we read, he speaks again about testifying to the gospel of the grace of God. And he says then, in another description of that, I have gone preaching the kingdom of God. That's what he saw as profitable. The religion of man is always about the outward, the visible, the things made with hands, the things that are passing away. How clearly my parents understood this. The things that are profitable are the inward, the spiritual, the things not seen, the things not made with hands, not of this creation as the word says. These things are the things that are everlasting.

Let me just tell you a story quickly, we're running out of time here, that I think captures all this so clearly. In my first visit back to the Kaogon after my parents had left for the last time, I went in and I found that the Seventh-day Adventist Church had come and built a whole bunch of temporary dwellings and had a conference on the land, on our land. And I went down and started tearing all those down. And here comes the SDA pastor with a mob of men and he says, well, look, he says, look, we're going to put an elementary school here. He says, your father was here. Fifty years and he did nothing. There's nothing here. No, what was he talking about? No school, no hospital, no vocational training, no program of any sort.

Well, the Lord and his providence had me visit the church at Luko Taco. one of the village churches up the valley the previous week, and it had been arranged. And I went up, and it's a few hours hike up the valley, and as I climbed over the stile into the village area, all the church was sitting around, they were cooking amumu, and sitting around waiting for me to arrive.

And as I went up over that fence stile, A dozen people or more just began to weep, tears running down their faces. And I didn't know what was happening. And two women came over, sat on the ground and held onto my legs, weeping. That's the ultimate sign of affection in the Kay Ghana tribe.

Havaguli, the pastor of the church, came over to me and said, they're weeping because they're saying, we thought Cliff had left us, but he hasn't. And what did they mean by that? Yes, I was Cliff's son. That's very important in Papua New Guinea culture. But that's not what they were weeping about, was it? They were weeping about the fact that I had come to preach the gospel to them. That's what mattered to them. And as I went up over that fence style into the village area where the church is, all these memories obviously had come flooding back to these people, all of these believers there remembering Week after week, month after month, year after year. In fact, decade after decade of my father coming up to preach the gospel to them. That's what mattered to them. This is what was precious to them.

Why? Because my father had come preaching the glorious gospel of God's sovereign grace in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He did this all over the Kayagona tribe. and the Holy Spirit worked powerfully in their hearts, raising them from death to life, as Paul describes his ministry elsewhere, opening their eyes, turning them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Christ.

God in his mercy and loving kindness had saved them, and they believed the gospel, and they rejoiced in Christ Jesus with a joy that is truly inexpressible and full of glory.

Well, I've got to finish quickly here. Let me just say a few concrete things. I apologize for going so long. My father did learn to speak the language of the Kaygana people, despite his concerns. He did the extraordinarily difficult linguistic work of breaking it down into its constituent parts, developing an alphabet and writing their language. And then began the overwhelming task of Bible translation.

He write, let me use his words again. The task of translation is a fearsome task. I often feel, who am I to touch the holy ark? As it is written, who is sufficient for these things? I have cried to the Lord to show mercy to me in that great day in regard to my translation. It is a crushing task. However, I found myself among a people who had none of the Bible in their language and there was no one else to do it. What could I preach from? A translation had to be done.

I readily admit, not that we are sufficient of ourselves. Our only hope is God. Our sufficiency is from him. And as my father completed translations, portions of translations of books of the Bible, they began another momentous task of a literacy program to teach as many people who are willing to learn how to read in their own language. This is very time-consuming. It's a never-ending task. Literally, dad was still helping people with doing literacy work up to the last days that they were on the field. We spent, we were there with them.

As far back as I can remember as a child, my father would work on language and translation on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Often on Tuesday morning, he would go down to the market to preach the gospel. And then every Thursday, every Thursday morning, he would pray and prepare to go out preaching. and leave Thursday afternoon for a village somewhere. He would sleep with one of the village families and preach that night, and the following morning, he would go on to another village to do the same thing.

Saturday morning, he would hike to the place where the weekly meetings were held for the teachers and preachers of the churches, which were slowly beginning to be established. Saturday afternoon, he would hike home, and then Sunday morning, he would go out to preach at another village. My father did this for almost the entire time on the field. Think of that. That Saturday meeting with those teachers, preachers of the churches, and then later some pastors. Every morning, every Saturday morning for more than 40 years, as he sought to see the Lord raise up and equip men for the ministry.

Well, has God done a work among the Kayagona people? Or is there nothing there? Today, if you could visit the Kayagona work, you could go to villages throughout the tribe, go into one of these villages in the valleys, perched on the sides of the mountains, go into one of these dark and smoky grass-roofed huts, and sit down with the family as a mother reads scripture to her children in the Kagana language.

Or you could go on Sunday to one of the 12 churches scattered throughout that tribe. I'd like to say more about that, but I'll just quickly run through some of this great work that the Lord has accomplished. here in these churches. Not only in these 12 churches in the tribe, but the Lord expanded the work into the bordering tribes, which are dialects of the Kayagona language. There's a church in Crito Haga in Fusa, another in Ehi, several churches in the Frigano. And as the Kayagona tribal people moved out to the towns and plantations to find work, the Lord has raised up churches in these places as well. There's a church at a coffee plantation in the Juaka province, another in the town of Garoka, three churches and settlements in the capital city of Port Moresby, and that's not all.

As I said, there's 23 churches where the gospel of God's grace is preached every week in Papua New Guinea. And a conference is held for all the churches every six months. I wish I had time to speak of these. The people gather from all over the tribe and it's all organized by them in terms of where people can sleep and the food and all of these things. And typically, in the Kegana, there's over a thousand people in attendance at these conferences. What are they coming for? There's three services, three preachers every day who preach the Word of God over the course of four days. That's all. and singing of hymns. They take this songbook, which is songs that the Lord laid upon the hearts of the believers in the Kagana. And over the years, my parents collected into a songbook and printed it. Songs in their language, in their traditional style of music, which is different. But what a glorious experience it is to be at one of these conferences and have more than a thousand voices raised in their own language. singing and praising God.

Well, there's so much more we could say. The Lord has accomplished a great work, a great work. And the word that comes to mind is found in Zachariah. Now listen. He has built his temple and he has borne the glory. How great is his beauty. and how great is His goodness. Amen.