As I announced this morning,
the title of tonight's message is Ministering. Brother Ralph Barnard, we quote
him quite often because He made many profound or any thought-provoking
statements based upon his experience, his God-given wisdom. But he
said this one time, he said, one of these days, and he said this in his later
years too when he was older, he said, one of these days I'm
going to get in the ministry. He said, one of these days, I
hope that I'm going to get in the ministry. And that's my desire,
my desire for me, and it's my desire for you. I would like to be, have you ever
heard the name Epiphas in scripture? You know, his name, this man
named Epiphas. is not a household name, not
like the Apostle Paul or Peter or James or John, but Epaphras
is mentioned three times in the scripture, twice in the book
of Colossians. Evidently, Epaphras was a real
leader in the church, yet he wasn't well known all over, but
the people in that church knew him. And Paul said of Epaphras,
what he said of Epaphras, I would like to be said about me. I don't
necessarily want to be well known, but I want this to be true of
me, what he said. He said, Epaphras is as unto
you, a faithful minister of Christ to you. And at the end of the
chapter, he said he labors fervently in prayer. He has such zeal in
prayer and such a holy concern for you people, to the Colossians.
Epaphras was in prison with Paul. We don't hear about him, but
he was. And I'd like that to be said about me, and wouldn't
you? A faithful minister of Christ to Christ's people. I want to
be faithful and true to God's Word for God's glory, principally,
and faithfully, unceasingly, without failing, preaching the
gospel of Christ. the whole counsel of God. And it's my desire, like I said
a moment ago, it's my desire for you that you be in the ministry
as well as me. Don't you want that? Do you want
to be in the ministry? We're all in the ministry. Did
you know that? Every member of the church is in the ministry.
Not like the ministry, not in the same way as the ministry
we spoke of this morning. Paul, he said in writing to the
Corinthians, he was writing for him on behalf of him and Timothy. He said, we preachers of the
gospel have this ministry. And he went on to talk about
the ministry of preachers of the gospel, declaring the gospel
publicly all over this ministry. But we can all preach the gospel. We can all preach the gospel,
not necessarily behind pulpits, but we can all prophesy. We can all proclaim or relate
the gospel to anyone that we come in contact with. We all
can prophesy. I believe this is the meaning
of Joel 2.28, that prophecy, which says that all your sons
and your daughters shall prophesy. I believe that means preach the
gospel. women preachers. And not behind
the pulpit, because Paul plainly said in 1 Timothy 2.12, I suffer
a woman not to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man,
but to be in silence. So it's not talking about the
public declaration of the word from a pulpit. Yet, women can
preach the gospel to anybody they come across. There's scriptural
examples of that. I get preached to every time
I step out of the pulpit. One of our ladies steps up and
says something to me and blesses me. And I say to myself, I wish
I'd have said that from the pulpit. And I end up later on saying
it. So we're all to prophesy, we're all exhorted to be witnesses
of the gospel to others, ministers of Christ to the hearers. But
there are many other areas of vital service that we are called
to. Paul talked about, in another
place, different administrations or ministries that each individual
is called to. Every individual, if you are
a regenerated child of God, a member of God's Church, every person
has got a ministry. And it's vital, and God puts
you in it, and we need to find out what it is and fulfill it
to the best of our abilities. Faithful stewards of this grace,
this gift God has given us to perform, okay? We've all got
a ministry, and we're all called as members of the body to fulfill
our ministry. Now look at it with me here in
Romans 12. We'll get into that a little
more fully in a moment. But he says, beginning with verse
one, he says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies
of God. Now, therefore, he says that
because of talking in Romans 11 about the glory, the grace
of God to the Gentiles. Because we were not, we are God's
people who were not God's people, but we've received mercy. We've
been called. We've been chosen. And he says,
therefore, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of the
living God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Your
reasonable service. Does that sound familiar? Does
that sound like 2 Corinthians 4.1 that we read this morning?
Paul said, Therefore, seeing we have this ministry as we have
received mercy. Right? Mercy is always the motive
for every form of service. That can only be the only motive
for service, not reward, not heaven. The only reward for service
that is acceptable to God, or the only motive that is for service
that is acceptable to God is a motive of love and appreciation
and gratitude and thanksgiving. That's the only motive, and that's
the chief motive and cause for service, service out of gratitude,
praise and thanksgiving. Because God in his sovereign
mercy has been merciful and gracious to us, it's our reasonable to
devote all that we are and all that we have for his glory, a
reasonable servant. Paul said, the love of Christ,
that unspeakable gift, the love of Christ, that unspeakable sacrifice,
constrains me, constrains me to do what I do. Not for reward.
Nowhere in the Bible does God promise anything for obedience. Nowhere does God strike a bargain
with anybody. No, it's our reasonable service. Besides, if God never was merciful
to us, we'd still need to serve him, because all that we have
and all that we are belongs to him. It's his rightful due. So
mercy is the only acceptable motive for service and for ministry,
not for reward. There's a lot of people out there
who have a mercenary idea of this thing of Christian service,
that is, they're in it for what they can get from God, for the
reward, for the little crown in heaven, you know. Not so with
a believer. He sees that it's his reasonable
service because God's been merciful to him. And he says here, he
presents your bodies a living sacrifice. Presents your bodies
a living sacrifice. Now, he's not talking about a
sacrifice, a dead animal on an altar. He's not talking about
dead works either. He's talking about our bodies,
a living sacrifice or a life of sacrifice. Now, listen, what
does he mean here by our bodies? Think about this. Listen to this.
Our bodies are many members. Paul talked about that in 1 Corinthians
12. Many members, but one body. Our bodies consist of a tongue. The first thing that came to
my mind was a tongue. Our tongue can be used for the
praise of God, right? Our tongues can be used, or should
be, or are commanded to be used for the praise of God. To sing,
to pray, to preach, to witness, whatever. For the praise of God. We've got a tongue? God says
use it. You can't sing? Oh yeah, you can. Anybody can
sing. Anybody can sing. Can't pray?
Oh yeah, you can. Anybody can pray. Anybody can,
maybe not publicly, but anybody can sing. Anybody can pray. Anybody
can tell what things, what things the Lord has done for them, can
preach in that way. We can all do that. The scripture
says, let everything that hath breath. You got breath? ain't a person in here who doesn't
have breath. He says, let everything that
hath breath, what? Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. It's not an option. The scripture
says over and over again, sing unto the Lord. Sing. He says,
if you can't sing, we just read it, make a noise. A loud noise. You say that? Listen to this.
Oh, sing unto the Lord. He's just a few. There's hundreds
Sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing unto the Lord all the earth.
Sing unto the Lord. Bless his name. Show forth his
salvation from day to day. O sing unto the Lord a new song.
He's done marvelous things. Make a joyful noise unto the
Lord all the earth. Make a loud noise. Rejoice. Sing.
Sing and pray. He says the fowls of the heaven
have their habitation in the branches and they sing. I'll
sing unto the Lord," David said, as long as I live. I'll sing
praise to my God while I have my being. Sing unto him. Sing
psalms unto him. While I live, I'll praise the
Lord. I'll sing praises unto God. Sing unto the Lord with
thanksgiving, he said. I'll sing praises. Sing praise
upon the heart. Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto
the Lord a new song. Let the saints be joyful in the
glory. Let them sing aloud on their
beds." In the bed, in the shower? wherever you may be, especially
in here. God's given you a tongue, given you breath. Sing, especially
if God's given you the ability to sing. Sing. Use it for God's
glory. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wondrous works to the children
of men. Sing. And like I said, if you can't
sing in key, sing anyway. Some of the best singing I've
ever heard has been out of key. Yes, sir. I know a man, and I'll
tell his name, Brother Jim Eccles. You know him. Precious, blessed,
Christ-like, gentle, tender, wonderful man who loves the gospel.
And Brother Jim's hard of hearing. He's hard of hearing. And he
can't hear himself sing. And that's good. Because Brother
Jim doesn't really sing on key. But, buddy, I've been blessed.
to no end, but hearing that man sing. And you remember him? We
sit on the second row, and Brother Jim would sit on the third, right
behind us. And he'd sing. Boy, he'd sing. Off key, but
he'd sing. And I'd think, now that man's
singing. Now I'm trying to sound good, and he's singing from the
heart. He's singing. Our tongues are to be used in
praise to God. They're to be used, as Paul said
in one place, to minister grace to the hearers. Whatever comes
out of these mouths ought to be seasoned with salt, grace
to the hearer. That's what they're for, not
murmuring and complaining. Let's refrain our tongues from
murmuring and complaining and evil speaking and so forth. There's
nothing that does more damage, James said, than the tongue.
It's a little bitty member of this body, but it can sure candle
a great matter, the Scripture says. A little member kindles
a great matter with fire. So let's keep a watch over our
lips and our tongues. And whenever we use them, make
sure it's for praise and not murmuring and complaining and
bitterness and stir up strife and discord. God hates that.
Hates it. One of those seven things. Our
feet are members of our body. Our feet. Let my feet carry me
into the house of worship. Whenever the doors are open,
Lord God, let my feet carry me there. Let them carry me there. Let my feet take me wherever
you send me to carry the gospel for. Let my feet take me to other
lands to preach the gospel. Let my feet take me to the door
of the needy. Let my feet, most especially,
Set my feet in paths of righteousness. Let me follow the Lord Jesus
Christ by faith. Put my feet in those paths. Shod
my feet with preparation of the gospel of peace. Let me be prepared
at all times by your gospel. My feet, my arms and my hands,
arms and hands, lift the fallen, help the needy, the scripture
says. Do what I can for the glory of
God, for the good of the church and others. Turn with me over
to Hebrews chapter thirteen. Hebrews chapter 13, and I want
you to mark well with me what this says about good works. Let's not despise now what the
Scripture says about this. Let's not be such hard-shelled
Calvinists that we cannot receive this thing of good works in the
believer. The believer does have good works, according to the
Scripture. They're not his. The Lord works within him. It's
the Lord that works in us, both the will and the due of his good
pleasure. Nevertheless, we do perform good works that God calls
well-pleasing to him. Do you know that? Look at it
here with me. Hebrews 13, verse 15. He says,
By him, therefore, and this is the only way we can offer praise
from the heart, that is by his grace, by God. By him, therefore,
let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that
is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name," that's our
first and reasonable service, isn't it? Look at verse 16, "...but
to do good, and to communicate," that is, give, help, "...forget
not for," are you looking at it, everybody, verse 16, "...with
such sacrifices God is Well, please. Did you read that
with me? Well, please. Now, listen, I
shouldn't have to qualify this all the time, but I will, nevertheless,
to prevent anybody from thinking that they're doing something
for the Lord. There's nothing good or acceptable
in or from us. Nothing. But the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ cleanses us from all of our sin. The blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ sanctifies us, sanctifies us, makes us new
creatures. Paul calls us his workmanship. Anything good in us, he did it. but he calls us his workmanship,
but created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk therein." Right? And right here
it says, God is well pleased with such sacrifices. God takes
note of and accepts as a good work all that is done in the
name of Christ. Yes, he does. Otherwise, he would
not exhort us to do anything, right? If it wasn't acceptable,
he would not exhort us to do anything. What will be the use?
Right? But remember who gave you the
grace and who made it acceptable, who makes whatever we do acceptable
by the grace of God, by the righteousness of Christ, by the sacrifice of
Christ. I live, Paul said. Nevertheless,
not I. but Christ liveth in me." All
right, he says, it's your reasonable service. Back to the text. Present
your bodies a living sacrifice. And there's so many more members
of our body you could relate that to. Living sacrifice, holy,
there that word is again, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. Why? Because you're not your
own, you're bought with a price. You don't belong to you anyway.
Don't belong to you anyway. Now look at verse 2, he says,
"...be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Do you remember
another place where he talks about the acceptable and perfect
will of God, even your sanctification? He says, Be ye transformed, not
conformed, but transformed by the renewing of your mind. I
want us to think about these two words here. We need to understand
these two words. It's the word conformed and transformed. OK? The word conformed. The word conformed means simply
to pattern after, to be fashioned like unto. And he says here,
don't be conformed to this world. Doesn't he? Don't be like the
world, he said. Don't try to live like it, according
to the way the world lives. Don't try to do what the world
does, say what the world says, wear what the world wears, go
where the world goes, live like the world. He says, don't do
it. We call this peer pressure. I talked to our young people
about peer pressure, because your friends, Stephen and Catherine,
young people, Jennifer, listen to this. This thing called peer
pressure. Because your friends do something,
you feel like you have to do it, don't you? Because they're
wearing a certain thing, you feel like you've got to wear
it, or you feel out of place. Because they're going somewhere, you've
got to go there. Whatever they do, you want to do. The Scriptures
say, don't be conformed to the world. Don't succumb to. Don't fall under this pressure,
this peer pressure. Don't be conformed to this world. It's dangerous. The world is
headed toward a cliff. The world hates God. The world
is running from God. And the world is going to fall
over a cliff. Don't go with them. Don't go with them. Your friends
are going to destroy themselves with whatever. Don't follow them.
They'll lead you. They're blind. And if you follow
them, you're a follower of the blind, and you'll both fall in
the ditch. A good advice? Peer pressure. Peer pressure. This world is a sinful, and he
says it to us adults, too. This world is sinful, pagan,
evil, wicked, and damnable. This is a damn world. Everything in it is an abomination
to God Almighty. And we're not to live like it,
act like it, look like it, sound like it, live for it, dress like
it. He says, don't be conformed to it in any way. This is sad but true. There are many people who profess
to be believers. At least they've got some head
knowledge of doctrine or whatever. They profess to be believers.
followers of Christ, and except for the fact that they go to
church on Sunday every now and then, or talk a little bit of
doctrine, if you saw them anywhere else, if you heard them anywhere
else, you'd never know they was a believer. Now, the Scripture said, Don't
be conformed to this world. Don't dress like it, don't look
like it, don't listen to its music, the subliminal messages,
don't go to its movies. Preaching is movies. That's right. Don't sound like it. Don't dress
like it. Don't look like it. But there's
some people, really, they're in a rut just like this world,
doing the same thing, liking the same thing, and you'd never
know unless they told you that they were believers. I don't
want that. I don't want that. I don't want that. I want, Christ
said, when he prayed about his disciples in John 17, he said,
Father, they're not of the world, even as I'm not of the world.
And I hope he's praying that about me, don't you? They're
not of this world. I pray keep them from the world.
They're in the world, don't take them out of it, but keep them
from the world, because they're not of this world. And I'll tell
you the truth. Can you say this? That there's
really not much, if anything, about this world that I like.
It really appeals to me. Oh, I enjoy the world. God's
given us all things richly to enjoy. But I tell you, when it's
all said and done, there's nothing to this, is there? It's water
that leaves you thirsty. And I don't like much about this
world. I tell you what, especially the way this world's headed,
all of its principles, all of its ways, I definitely don't
like it. I hate it. I hate it. The way religion is headed, the
way our country is headed, I hate it, and I don't want any part
of it. I sure don't want to be like it." And he says, look at his second
word, be transformed. Don't be conformed to the world,
but be ye transformed. by the renewing of your minds,
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God." Transformed, changed. That word means changed, renewed,
transformed. The word comes from a Greek word
meaning, the Greek word is this, and I'm giving you this so that
it will click something in your head here. Some of you, that's right, I
see some of you mouthing the word. We have a word that comes
from that, metamorphosis. What that is, let me give you
a simple illustration. He says, Be not conformed to
this world, but rather metamorphosize, transformed by the renewing of
your mind, a caterpillar. I don't have any legs that have.
I'm not a science student. Eighteen legs, whatever, twenty-four.
Crawling around, a caterpillar crawling around on the ground
or up in a tree. It's ugly. Anybody like caterpillars? Anybody made a pet out of a caterpillar
lately? Ugly. We get the word groveling. We
got that song, Come Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove. It said, Look
how we grovel here below. crawling around in this dirty
world, groveling. A caterpillar is always looking
down, always got his nose to the ground, groveling around
in the world. Can't fly. Couldn't fly if it
wanted to. Doesn't want to anyway. Doesn't
have the nature. Doesn't have the desire to. He eats twigs,
branches, leaves, base things. He doesn't have any desire for
flowers. Caterpillar doesn't think a thing to worry about
flowers. the smell of them, doesn't like the taste of them, only
green things. But one day, one day in the providence
of God Almighty, winter comes. And with winter, God in his miraculous,
glorious creation, his providence in creation, begins to weave
around that little caterpillar, or let that caterpillar weave
around itself a cocoon. And eventually, finally, in time,
that caterpillar is completely wrapped up and covered with,
for all practical purposes, a coffin. He dies. He's dead to the world,
right? Shut off. Shut off from the world.
Cut off from the world. About like Noah in that ark.
He's woven an ark. He's dead. He's in an ark, a
coffin, apparently dead. springtime comes, springtime
comes. And with it, metamorphosis, a
change, a change. You see little holes start to
be eaten out of that little cocoon, little hole, gradually. And it
gets bigger and bigger and starts to open up. And first, as soon
as you see him, he looks much like he did before. First thing
sticks out is that head. But as time goes on, finally,
That little thing comes out, and he's no longer a caterpillar,
buddy. He mounts up on wings and flies,
flies. He's a beautiful, changed, transformed
creature, a butterfly, not a worm, a butterfly. And he doesn't grovel
in the earth anymore. You can't entice him. He's too
busy flying, having a good time. And where does he fly? He flits
and flops and flies from flower to flower. He tasted good things.
He doesn't want leaves anymore. He doesn't want bark. He doesn't
want dirt. Flowers! Sweet things. Good smelling things. And that
caterpillar is pitiful. Colorful. Colorful. Beautiful. And that's the child
of God. The child of God wants dead in
trespasses and sin. Grubbling in the earth. affections
set on things below. But then, God in his good providence
slays him, kills him, but then brings a change with it by his
grace, his faith in Christ. And with that faith in Christ,
by the work of the Holy Spirit, a change is brought, a new creature
in Christ, a new creature. He has his mind renewed. He doesn't
think like the world so much anymore. He doesn't have the
same thoughts, doesn't have the same affection, doesn't have
the same principles, doesn't have the same desires anymore.
He doesn't want dead things. He wants to try things that differ,
or excellent things, like Paul said, to flip him. He's tasted
that the Lord is gracious, and he doesn't want to grubble. He
wants to fly! Mount up on wings of eagles and fly. Don't grubble
around here. He's got bigger and better things. Gay things above where Christ
sits at the right hand of the Father. And there's nothing on
this planet that's going to change or turn him. He's transformed.
Transformed. And you'll be transformed if
you've ever tasted but the Lord is gracious. No change if there's no change. No change, no fruit, no root. the scriptures say. Now, listen
to this. Most people, or many people,
have no knowledge of the scriptures. to fake a good, to play a good
ball game. Most people have just enough
religion, they've taught just enough doctrine, can quote just
enough scriptures to make them and everybody around them miserable. Most people have just enough
religion and doctrine to make them miserable and hard on other
people and unhappy and everybody else that gets around them. But
that's not so of a new creature in Christ. The Scripture says
a new creature in Christ adorns the doctrine of God our Savior. And he rubs off, he's salt, he's
a savory thing to everybody around. Life. Life. Mercy. The new creature in Christ
is merciful, gracious, tender, compassionate, kind, forbearing,
forgiving, not hard, unbending, intemperate, mean. No way. No fruit, no root. Forget
it. Most people have just enough
religion and doctrine to make them miserable and everybody
else around. I didn't say that. I heard another preacher say
it. And it struck a chord. Well, look at verse 3. Now, he says, and I say through
the grace of God given unto me that every man, to every man
that is among you, don't think too highly of yourself. Don't
think more highly than you ought to think. Think soberly. Think sobriety. According as
God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. What do you
have, Paul said, that you have not received? If anybody does,
bear it in. If anybody does have any grace,
any gifts, any whatever, whatever you do, whatever you have, remember
where you got it. And don't gloat in it, and don't
even acknowledge it. Don't even acknowledge it. We'll
look at this thing of the ministry now. I said I was going to get
into it. And let's look for a few minutes at this thing of the
ministry. It says in verse 4, we have many members in one body. Many members in one body. and
all members have not the same office. So we, being many, are
one body in Christ, and everyone, members though, vitally connected,
one of another, one body in Christ, members of, or for the service
of, one another. As I said this morning, our principal
reason for being here is to worship and exalt our God. That's the
first reason we meet together. But the second is like unto it.
Didn't he say, all the laws fulfilled in this one word, love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart and thy neighbor as thyself. And
you know that all the commandments, those ten commandments can be
summed up in that. Verse four to God, the last several
to men. Right? Our principal reason for
being here is to praise God, praise him for the glory of his
grace. And secondly, to serve one another. to build up one another in this
most holy faith, to exhort one another while it's today, endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit, provoking one another to love.
Just go on and on with these exhortations in the Scripture,
on and on. You know, every member of your
natural body is vitally connected to every other part. You couldn't
do, you wouldn't want to do, and you can't really do without
any member of your body. Every part of it is joined to
and in the service of the rest. I illustrate. My toes, my little
toe, my little toe on my left foot. It's the ugliest thing.
I wouldn't want to show it to you. Most everybody else's is,
too. Got bunions and corns all over.
My little toe is vitally connected to my heart. You know that? You know that my little toe benefits
and edifies and takes care of my heart? You know that? You
know my heart would grow weak without my little toe? Oh yeah. I couldn't do this very well
without my little toe. Try it. Anybody here lost a toe? You've got to learn to walk all
over again. One toe. You lose one toe, you've got to learn
to walk all over again. And what is it that stimulates the heart?
What is it that exercises the heart? What is it that gets the
blood circulating? Walking. That's what every heart specialist
recommends to their patients, right? Right, William? Walking. Do without a toe, buddy, your
heart's hurtin'. Be a little tough. A little tough. Fingers. You know my fingers
are directly connected to my back? I couldn't scratch it. I couldn't scratch it. And boy,
ain't nothin' like a good back scratchin'. I tell you what,
Joe, you scratch me and I'll scratch you. Is that right? That's
what they're for, buddy. And you know, a lot of time we
can't scratch our own back. We need somebody else to do it
for. Our ears. You know my ears help my eyes?
I couldn't get, my eyes couldn't get along without my ears? Oh
yes, you ask a blind person that. You get in the dark, we get in
the dark room, what is it that leads us and guides us? Our ears. Right? Every part, vitally connected
to the other. All different, but all vital,
right? None are unnecessary. None, not even a little toe.
Not even a little toe. None of them are Some are more
visible, some more prominent, but all vital. Look at verse
6 with me. He says, having them gifts differing,
we have different gifts, but it's all according to the grace
given unto us. God, 1 Corinthians 12, deals with this in depth.
God has given the gifts according as it pleases him. According
to the grace of God that is given unto us, different gifts. He
says here, prophesy, that's preaching. Everybody can't stand behind
this pulpit. Boy, it would be a mass confusion. Wouldn't it? Everybody stood
up here. Only one person can stand here at a time, anyway.
But we can sure go out there. Go out there. Preaching, though,
this seems like the most prominent position. At least it's the most
visible, isn't it? But it's not the most prominent.
It's not the most prominent. There wouldn't be a need for
preaching if there wasn't hearers. It's not the most prominent, and there
are other ministries. Look at it, verse 7, he says, on ministry.
Prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith, or
preach according as God gives you the ability. Ministry, well,
that takes in a lot. The word ministry means service.
Let me give you a few quick areas of service that we're on. This
involves everybody in here who claims to be a member of this
church. Different areas of ministry.
prayer. Prayer is invaluable. Prayer is an invaluable ministry. Paul said, Brethren, pray for
us. Isn't it? We're exhorted over
and over, pray without ceasing. Brethren, pray for us. Somebody
pray. Would somebody in here pray?
Huh? What a ministry. Is anybody in
here praying that the Lord will bless our services? What a ministry!
They asked Spurgeon one time, foolishly, but they asked him,
What do you attribute the success of your ministry to? He said,
My people pray for me. It ain't me. They're praying
for me. And God's answering prayer and
blessing. Pray for us. That's a real ministry. Visiting. Visiting. The scripture talks about pure
religion, pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is
to visit the fatherless, doesn't it? You know what I'm saying?
To visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction. This
word visit means many things. It means to care for, it means
to look after, it means to check upon, it means to call, it means
to encourage. We can all do that, can't we?
Everybody in here can do that. Entertaining or hospitality. The Scriptures mentions that
many times. Hospitality. Use hospitality
one toward another, Peter said. Twice it is told to preachers,
to pastors, to use hospitality. Twice to everybody. So it's equal. This thing is to be divided up
equally. Everybody is to use hospitality. I tell you what, and we don't
do it because we have to, because we've obtained mercy. We don't
do it because we're not to do it, because it's the thing we're
supposed to do, but because we've obtained mercy. Because God's
given us a home, we want to share it with people. Right? Yeah. entertaining. Besides this,
the scripture says some have entertained angels unaware. I tell you, we've had some angels
in our house. Bill Clark flew into our house
one time. The Apostle Paul slept in our
house. Y'all missing out on something
if you don't entertain some of these angels. Look at verse 13,
it says that, right here in verse 13, distributing to the necessity
of saints, given to hospitality. Hospitality. It's the reason
we have our houses, people. It's the reason we have our cars.
Everything we have is to be used in the service of God's kingdom.
Everything. Entertaining. Letters and cards
are ministry. And if you don't believe they
are, you've never received one. Do you know of anything you enjoy
more than going to the mailbox and getting a letter from somebody,
a child or a friend, a card, a letter, anything? I mean a card with some writing
on it. I don't mean a Christmas card. Everybody sends those,
especially when you picture your kid, an eight by ten of your
kid on the front of it. Oh, just what I wanted for Christmas,
a picture of your child. You see that? I mean a card or
a letter. A card or a letter with some
writing on it, telling people, you got one, from Ken Wymer.
Doesn't that mean something, Terry? A missionary. And I've
got that written down right here. Boy, the missionaries sure need
a card or a letter every now and then. Mary Wymer. You're talking about good news
from a far country, buddy. Go to the mailbox. She'd been
fighting mosquitoes all day, picking the worms out of her
children's hair. She needs some good news. She
needs some encouraging words. You're talking about a mission.
You're talking about a ministry. That might be just the thing
that she needs. And we've got somebody in here.
I'll not call her name. Everybody in here knows who it is. It's
got a ministry. It's invaluable in it. I wouldn't
replace this woman. for nothing. She writes a card.
I'm telling you, if you do anything for her, she writes a card. Appreciation. Ministry. She's one of the greatest
ministers in this church, bar none. Ministry. Letters and cards. We can all
do it. Can't write? Yeah, you can. Our daughter has written
a thank you note so far. Has she written them all yet?
Get on it. She started. She can't hardly
write. But she's writing thank you notes
to everybody that gave her a Christmas gift. We can all do it. We can all do it. Sure we can. Teaching, verse 8, he says, he
that, teach, verse 7, he that teaches on teaching. We got two
ladies in here that are teaching our children. I value and prize
those two ladies. Above or more than anybody in
this congregation. They're teaching our children
the gospel. I'll tell you what. I'll just
be honest with you. Straight from my heart here.
I bet you our ladies have taught our children more gospel in a
couple of Sundays than we have in a lifetime. Have we thanked them? Have we
even acknowledged them? Go down and look at the time
and the work that they spend in their classroom for the sake
of our children. Right? Thank you. That's a ministry. Thank you.
And they're both sitting there hanging their heads saying, we
don't do anything. But they do. It's a good work. It's well pleasing
to God. And it sure is well pleasing
to me and I'm grateful for it. And you ought to let them know.
If you've got a child in one of their classes, you ought to let them know that
you're thankful for what they're doing. Teaching. Teaching. We can all teach, brother.
We can teach one another. You older ladies, Paul talked
about that. He said, you older ladies, Virgie, you can be the
biggest, the best teacher in this congregation. Yeah, you
can. You've got more experience. You've got more years behind
you. You lead by example. You teach, these younger ladies
ought to be looking at you as an example of faith. Yes, they
should. I don't want to put you on the
spot, but that's exactly what Paul says to older women. Teach
them, guide them, lead them, teach them to be sober, and so
forth. Lead them by example. Verse 8, we're all going to do
this, exhortation. One of the greatest ministries
of all is encouragement. If everybody in here was like
some people are in the house of God, I just wouldn't want
to come here. Some people make coming to the
worship an unpleasant thing to do. Stuck-up,
unfriendly, moody, irritable, don't sing, unsmiling. I hate to say things like that,
but we sure need to hear it. But some people make it a pleasurable
place to come. I look forward to coming. I look
forward to coming and seeing the smiling faces of some of
God's people. Yeah, they do. But other people,
I hate to ask them how they are. Don't you? Y'all, that's the
first thing you say to someone. That's just the thing you go
through whenever you see someone. How are you? Well, let me tell you
about my roommate. Every time. Oh, my soul. Can't you say something good,
huh? Huh? He says, exhort one another.
He says, exhort one another daily. Hebrews 3, 12 and 13 says that.
Exhort one another. While it's today. Huh? Doesn't he say that? Provoke,
he says, provoke, not to anger, but to love. Provoke one another
to love. What have we got to complain
about, anyway? Nobody in here has got anything to complain
about. God's on the throne. Christ has put my sins away.
It is well with my soul. Put a smile on your face. Everything's
going to be all right in it. Christ said, Gates of hell won't
prevail against my church. He said, nobody or nothing is
going to come nigh you except what I ordain, so smile. God loves you. That's the only way you can say
that to a believer. Isn't life great? Not the world,
just life in Christ. He that exhorteth, let him exhort.
We can all do that. He that giveth, let him do it
with simplicity or liberally giving. Everything in this assembly,
everything in this church depends on money. Let's just be honest. It depends on money. Everything
we want to do around here depends on some money. Money. Everything
we do. Just like your house. You've
got a house and anything you want to do to your house, you've
got to have some money to do with. Right? And God prospers
us, not that we may consume it upon our own lusts, but that
we might use it for his glory, that we might use it, return
it for the good of others and the good of the body. And listen
to me, I want to turn real fast with you in 2 Corinthians 9.
Nobody, 2 Corinthians 9, nobody is going to get a blessing here
unless you start investing in this ministry. That may sound
a little bit like these TV preachers, I'm sorry, but this is what the
Scripture says. It uses the word reaping and
sowing several times in the Scripture. Reaping and sowing. The way you
can remember this is 2 Corinthians 9 and 1 Corinthians 9. And Galatians
6 talks about it. Galatians 6, 2 Corinthians 9,
1 Corinthians 9 talks about this thing of reaping and sowing.
Every time Joe Parks, he talks about reaping and sowing, he's
talking about money. Exactly. Communicating at his giving. Every time. We reap what we sow. Look at this, 2 Corinthians 9,
look at verse 6 with me. This I say, he which soweth sparingly
ain't going to get much of a crop, is he? Ain't that what it says?
He that gets fied up, I told you that. Everybody's heard every
illustration. I've got to tell you what I've
got to tell them all again. The little boy went to church
with his mom and dad. His dad, on the way home, was
complaining about everything. Ah, he's a preacher. Look at
the way he dresses. I don't like his fur, but I don't
like anything about it. Look at his wife. She's a gaudy
and all this stuff down there. There's old so-and-so. He was
out during the last night, I know. Nothing but complaining murmurs.
And the kids said, well, Dan is a pretty good show for a quarter,
wasn't he? Exactly. You reap what you sow.
He said, He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly. He
that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Everybody
in here, nearly everybody, sows a garden. Are you stingy with
your corn? Huh? Oh, my, I sowed turnip green. I went down to Angle Hardware
and got some turnip green seeds and some turnip seeds. And you
know, I forgot which was which. When I went home to plant, I
forgot which was which. So what did I do? Boy, I sowed to seed.
laid them thick, about an inch deep. Thick down through here. And I had them running. I couldn't
even thin them out, this thick. My terms were about that big
around. But you're not stingy with your
seed. You want a big crop, don't you? This is exactly what, now
look at it. Look at the context here, verse 7. Every man according
as he purposes in his heart, so let him give. Not grudgingly,
of necessity. Look at this. Isn't this wonderful?
Isn't this striking? God loves a cheerful giver. It's
said in Hebrews 13, he's well pleased with his sacrifice. Here
it says God loves a cheerful giver, a sacrificial giver. Loves
it. Why? That's what his son did,
and he loves his son more. The unspeakable gift gave himself. Laid down his life for sinning.
God said, boy, I love that son of mine. He didn't withhold anything. He didn't withhold himself. He said, God loves a cheerful
giver because everything we've got, He gave it to us. Anything
I hate worse than my child is stinginess. Why? I gave her everything she's got. She's got, I don't know how many
dolls now. And I want her to share them. Whatever she's playing,
I want her to share them. And I'll get angry if I see any stinginess rise up in her. Because
I gave her everything she's got. And God gave us everything we've
got. Our jobs, our homes, our family.
Freely as you've been given, freely distribute. Cast your
bread upon the waters. You'll see it after many days.
How many times? How many times? Has God enabled
you to prove his bounties? How many times? Some of us, I'm
afraid, not very many times. Well, look back at the text now. He says, in simplicity, or liberally,
liberally, liberally, give liberally. And I tell you what, it takes
a lot these days to live, and it takes a lot for this Church
to go on. And he says here, let's go on,
he says, he that exhorteth the exhortation, he that giveth let
him do it with simplicity, he that ruleth with diligence, he
that showeth mercy with cheerfulness, and so on. Ministries, there's
many ministries, you could go on and on. And so one of our ladies, a couple
of our ladies, one principal, does all the bulletin work for
me, and I'm so thankful for that. Cherry, you know what a job it
is, don't you? Deborah, you've folded bulletins,
you've stapled bulletins, you've addressed, you've stamped, and
you've sent them out. It's not a very pleasant job. One of our
ladies does that, and she says to me, oh, I don't do anything.
It's a good work, and I appreciate it. That's the ministry. You know that just being faithful
in attendance to the services is a ministry? Ellen Fralin,
I hate to mention people. I just rejoice and am encouraged
just to see your face. I really am. Violent? Attendance. Those that are faithful are here.
They're going to be here all the time. That's what keeps me
going. That's what keeps this boy going. Being faithful, I tell you what. And whether you know it or not,
it's an encouragement, it's an example to everybody. You're
ministering to young people by showing them where your affection
is. Food preparation, you ladies.
Helping out one another with chores. You see somebody that
needs help at home, whatever. Ministry to children. Just being
kind to our children. You know a kind word? Condescending
to talk to our children is a real ministry. You just don't know
what it might mean to our children to talk to them, pay attention
to them. You just don't know. Todd Nyberg, I'll give you this
illustration. Todd Nyberg, he said there's one man who made
more of an impression upon him as a young boy than anybody else
at 13th Street. And there were a lot of men there,
a lot of men there. He said Bill Borders. I've mentioned
his name many times. Just a small man, very quiet,
very meek, very humble. Couldn't preach, couldn't sing,
didn't pray publicly much. But that man was so good with
children. He said, you know, Bill Borders
paid attention to me when I was a boy. He said I'll never forget
him. He acted like I had some sense.
He was interested in the things I was doing. Bill Borders, he'd
come up and talk to me like I was an adult, interested in the things
I was doing. He said, I never forgot Bill
Borders. I forgot him. That's a ministry. A ministry. And it's all motivated by mercy. He said, present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto the God because it's your
reasonable service. Now I want you to turn with me
to Matthew 25. Matthew 25. In closing, I'm going to read this. Do you know that, do you know that whatever is
done to a member of the church, Christ said, it's like guns to
him? Whatever is done for or to a
member of Christ's body, Christ said, it's just like a gun to
me. Exactly. For all practical purposes, this
man, to me, is Jesus Christ. Everything I do for him, everything
I say to him, or everything I don't do for him, or everything I don't
say to him. I'm going to read this with you
in a minute. Do you know if I neglect this man, it's like I've neglected
and not paid attention to Jesus Christ? Here's Sunday morning. Here's Henry. Would I do that to Jesus Christ? Read it with me, Matthew 25. Let's look at it. Verse 31, "...when the Son of
Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with
him, and shall sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him
shall be gathered all nations," that is, every human being that
ever lived. He's going to separate one from
another. The shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. He's
going to set the sheep on one hand, on his right hand, the
goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto
them on his right hand, that is sheep, here's marks of sheep,
come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world, because I was hungry
You gave me meat. I was thirsty. You gave me drink. I was a stranger. You took me
in. I was naked. You clothed me.
I was sick. You visited me. I was in prison.
You came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer
him and say, When? When did we do this to you? We
don't remember that. When did we do all this? And
look at verse 40. The King shall answer and say
unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done
it unto one of the least of my brethren, you have done it to
me." Is that what it says? That's exactly what it says.
For all practical purposes, this is the body of Christ, the man,
the woman, In here, my brother in Christ is Christ to me, in
practical sense. You understand where I'm coming
from? It's exactly what Christ said. Whatever I do unto him,
Christ takes it as being done to him, as well-pleasing. Whatever
I don't do unto him, Christ takes it as being not done unto him. And you go on and read the rest
of the chapter, and he says, I'm angry. I'm angry. Besides that, it sows discord.
It makes a person wonder, what in the world have I done? What
have I done? We've got a ministry. We're all
in it. We've all got a calling. Let's use it. Let's find out
what it is. I think it's pretty obvious about some of us. We've
got a gift. We've got a calling. Use it. Don't despise it. Who
has to despise a day of small things? Cards, singing a song
every now and then, doing a broadcast, teaching a class. Sing not small
insignificant things, don't you? God says he's well pleased with
it. Well pleased. It's a good work. It's a ministry. Therefore, see, we have this
ministry as we've received mercy. Don't quit. Don't quit. But do it even more. for the
best of your ability as unto the Lord. Staying with me now,
dismiss this and pray.