He will be turning to the book
of 3 John. From the beginning of our labors
together in the cause of Christ, I've tried to convey to this
congregation a sense of responsibility for the kingdom of God beyond
these four walls. for the church and kingdom of
God around the world. And you have generously assisted
in the support of faithful gospel preaching pastors and missionaries
around the world from the very earliest beginnings of our labors
together. Let me remind you of some of
their labors. Walter Groover and his wife Betty
have been in Mexico for 47 years. faithfully serving our Redeemer. God has used Brother Walter and
his labors there in the establishment of 39 gospel churches. Pastors
raised up for those churches, trained in the preacher school
that he started there in Merida about 40 years ago. I'm just guessing. I think it
was about 40 years ago. Mother Cliff Heller and his wife,
Marty, went to New Guinea, about as remote a place in the world
as you can imagine. Mother Cliff first went to New
Guinea for the first several tours there as a missionary.
He was an electrical engineer, hadn't got it right yet. Some
kind of an engineer you fellas working in big shop stuff out
in the West Coast in the aerospace stuff is a sharp cookie. He came
back every three or four years and would work a year to raise
enough money to go back and spend three or four years down there.
Why? Well, all he was doing was hiking
in the mountains every day, miles and miles and miles to go preach
the gospel to some folks who were running around naked with
bones in their noses and eating each other. Literally. Literally. Developing a written
language for them. Translating the scriptures into
their tongue. He'd been doing that for over
45 years. Brother Cody Groover, 16 years ago, was called of God,
preached the gospel, and he started working with his dad in the works
in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico. His wife, Winna, moved their
three children to Mexico, just like his daddy before them, and
started planning churches, and has now taken over the preacher
school and instructing the preachers in the various churches. Brother
Daniel Parks and his wife Sandy in St. Croix. I've known Daniel
all my life. He was a landmarker, landmark
missionary. When we got out of school, we
parted ways for that reason. And in time, God showed him the
fallacy of that. Of course, they dropped him like
a hot potato. He was down in Tortola, and I introduced some
folks here, and folks started supporting his ministry. Then
he came home and passed it at Redeemer Church for 14 years.
He and Sandy are back in St. Croix now. Lance and Robin Heller. or in New Guinea, and it may
sound like they're real close to their parents or Lance's parents,
and they are. They're only about 800 miles,
but if I remember correctly, it's an eight-day drive, not
real close. They're doing the very same thing
in their section of New Guinea as Cliff has done over these
past 45 years where he is, planting churches. translating the scriptures
into the language of the people there. And in order to do that,
he has developed a written language for them. The tribes in New Guinea all
speak what they call a trade language, pidgin, but all of
them speak a different language, not just different dialects,
speak a different language. Every tribe has its own language.
Most of them have no written language. So Brother Cliff before
in his place and Brother Lance now where he is, had developed
a written language for their tribes specifically so they can
translate the scriptures into their language. Monumental works. monumental works. The preacher
school in Mérida, been going on now, like I said, for about
40 years. The preachers in Mexico, we don't
regularly support the preachers. We don't, as denominations do,
we don't go down and hire preachers and set them up and build buildings
for them. But where there's need, we assist
them. Gilberto in Calcutta, Elio in Dixitun. I can't pronounce
those names. If I get them wrong, you won't
know the difference. Brother Jose in Tecau. Many of
these men I've known since I was 26 years old. They've been faithful,
faithful men. Other churches have no pastors
yet. And we try to help other churches
and pastors in the states as God enables us. Every year, you
send your pastor on at least one missionary trip to encourage
these missionaries and to assist them and the pastors and the
churches where they're located. Now, if you imagine that those
trips are in any way a vacation time, speak to Brother Inari
when service is over, or anyone else who's traveled with me at
all. It's time for tremendous work. I'm working all the time
I'm gone, preaching all the time I'm gone. When we left here Monday
morning, we got down to Cancun about 7.30, about 12.30 time
we got back to Merida. And then I lectured in the preacher
school twice. Tuesday, preached Tuesday night
in one of the churches a little ways from Merida and went out
to another church on Wednesday night and then back to Merida
on Thursday night to preach. And if you want to listen to
the messages or to the lectures at the preacher school, you can
download those at the Freegrass Radio. I believe the Lord. blessed our visit. I believe
he blessed the messages to the folks who heard them. Needless
to say, all week long, I've had my mind on missionary work. And
upon the labors of those faithful men and their churches, they're
put under their care. And I believe the Lord's given
me a message for you. Turn with me to 1 John 1, verse 5, 6, 7,
and 8. John's writing to his beloved
son in the faith, Gaius. Beloved, thou doest faithfully
whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers, which have
borne witness of thy charity before the church, whom if thou
bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt
do well, Because for that his name, because that for his namesake
they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles, we therefore
ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers to the
truth. Fellow helpers to the truth. The title of my message this
morning, Missionaries and Fellow Helpers to the Truth. Our brethren
on the field are missionaries. We who are privileged of God
to support them and assist them are fellow helpers to the truth. Sometimes people get the idea
that maybe we're a little extravagant. I've even had folks ask why.
Why do we support missionaries? Why are we expected take hard-earned
money and be sacrificial with that money, give it to supportive
men who preach the gospel in other places. Sometimes, men,
we don't know. Times are tough, money's tight,
and we're not, as a congregation, affluent people. We're a congregation
of working folks. People, for the most part, who
just live normal lives and make average salaries at best and
don't have a lot, sometimes have struggles meeting things month
to month as a congregation. Why would you expect such a congregation
to give generously to the support of missionary works around the
world? Those are good questions, reasonable questions. I want
to answer them. First answer is found in this,
there's no other reason for our existence as a local church except
the preaching of the gospel. No other reason. Now, I know
churches up and down the road, churches all around town, churches
all over the country exist for a lot of reasons. Gospel churches
exist for one reason, to preach the gospel. That's all. The Church of God is a sounding
board for the gospel around the world. The Church exists for
no other purpose, not for your entertainment, not as a social
club, not as a meeting place for friends to get together on
Sunday morning, and not as a place to network with other business
people and succeed in life. The Church exists for the preaching
of the gospel of God's grace, for the edifying of the body
of Christ, for the gathering in of God's elect here and around
the world. And it is our privilege and our
responsibility, Bill, as a congregation to preach the gospel as widely,
as often as we possibly can through this generation. Wherever God
opens the door, by whatever means God sets before us. The Lord
Jesus left us here for this purpose. Four times he gives the Great
Commission. Four times he declares that we're
to go forth into all the world preaching the gospel. Proclaiming
to men that repentance and remission of sin is to be had in Jesus
Christ the Lord by his accomplished redemption. Four times he tells
us, go tell sinners everywhere, whosoever believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Go tell sinners everywhere to
trust my son and life everlasting is theirs. That's our business. And God commands us to do it
all the time. Now, there is no greater means
by which we can preach the gospel to chosen sinners around the
world than through the labors of missionaries. We preach the
gospel for the salvation of God's elect, for redeemed sinners wherever
they're found. People often think, well, you
folks believe in election and predestination and limited atonement,
you ought to believe in missionary work. What foolishness. What
absurdity. We believe and practice missionary
work because of God's sovereignty, because of God's election, because
of Christ's redemption. We know for certain God has a
people in this world whom he will save by his grace. And the
means he's chosen to do it is the preaching of the gospel.
Now, we don't know who they are. We don't know who they are. We
don't know where they are. So we preach the gospel to everybody,
everywhere. Mr. Spurgeon said one time, if
you can tell me who the elect are, if you can paint a yellow
streak up their back, I'll go around and lift up shirt tails
and look for the yellow streak. But until you can do that, I'm going
to preach the gospel to everybody. We have to preach the word to
everybody, knowing that those who are born of God Hear the
word, believe the word, trust the Savior, and follow Christ,
and thus prove their election. The gospel we preach, the gospel
of God's free grace in Christ Jesus, is the power of God to
salvation to everyone that believeth. The gospel is the instrument
God uses for the saving of his elect. What a great privilege
is ours. Don't you believe God could save
sinners without gospel preaching? Well, of course he could. That's
not a question. Of course he could. God could
save sinners by having an angel throw rocks at him if he wanted
to. That's absurd. God's sovereign. He can do whatever
he wants to. But God condescends to you such things as we are
to tell sinners about his grace in Christ. He allows us. to be instruments of good to
immortal souls by the gospel. Oh, what an honor. What an honor. What an honor. Faith comes by
hearing and hearing by the word of God. I've said to you many
times, and I've said to my grandson sitting back there many times,
I pray that God will do two things for him. Save him by his grace. and make a preacher of the gospel
of him. I'd rather see him preach the
gospel than see him be president of the United States or any other
nation. Oh, you're not serious. Give
me a try. Give me a try. Let's see. What
an honor to this congregation that God would allow us to carry
the gospel to this generation. by which God calls out and saves
that which is most precious to him, his own people. We use every means at our disposal
to preach the gospel to needy sinners. In our worship services,
we don't waste time with all the frivolities and nonsense
that you find most anywhere in churches. We don't have plays
and skits and movies and entertainment and bingo games and all the... Yeah, that. All the crap that goes on everywhere.
Oh, preacher, you shouldn't have said that. Believe me, I'm being
nice. I'm being nice. None of that stuff. Why? Because
we're sent to preach the gospel. To preach the gospel. Not going
to do anything else. Well, but people expect something
else. I know. People want. I know. And I know that it is
the trend of the day in church planting to find out what folks
want to give it to them. We're not here to give you what
you want. We're here to declare to you
what you need. and you need the gospel of God's
grace. Our bulletins, our books, our tracks, our tapes, our CDs,
videos, everything we do is preaching the gospel and the missionaries
we support. We support men who believe and
preach the gospel of God's free grace. I can't tell you how many
times I have been asked by people, people who ought to have known
better, Are your missionaries men who
believe what you do? Bobby, I'm insulted by that.
I am. I'm insulted by that. Are you
asking me if we preach the gospel here and pay fellows to deny
it on the foreign field? That's absurd. That's absurd. If they didn't believe and preach
free grace, I wouldn't send them a dime. except maybe if I can
send them some money to get them to come home. No. Anybody that we support as
a congregation, anybody I recommend as a preacher here or anywhere
in the world believes what your pastor preaches and they preach
what your pastor preaches, you can bank on it. Yes, sir. One
of the most effective means we have of carrying out the work
of our God is to support these men. And I have no hesitancy
in calling on you to give generously to that cause. I'll tell you
what I found. We've been together now getting
into 33 years. Rex, the more we've done, the
more we've been able to do. The more we give, the more we're
able to give. The more we give ourselves to
the work, the more work God gives us to do, and the more we're
able to do. Just no more. I'll tell you what
I've experienced. You tell me if it's otherwise.
Anybody here? Anybody here? I have often looked
at things and said to myself, boy, I can't afford to do that. I'm sorry, I'd like to help,
but I can't afford to. and I've never had it to do. Oh man, there's a need. I've never reached in my pocket,
find something to give and didn't find something to give. Have
you? I've never wanted to give that
God didn't enable me to give. Never. I've never wanted something
to do in the service of Christ's kingdom. God didn't give me something
to do. Now I've looked and said, I just can't do anymore. And
you know what you can do when you can't do anymore? Can't do
anymore. Can't do anymore. You know what
you can do when you want to? Anything God puts in your hand.
Anything God puts in your hand. And as a body of believers, what
have we lacked? What have we lacked in anything? What have we lacked? Nothing. Nothing. God supplies our needs,
just like he said he would. He said, give and it shall be
given unto you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken
together and running over, shall be given to you into your bosom. For with the same measure that
you meet, with all that shall be measured to you again. The
Apostle Paul, writing to the Philippians, he was in prison for preaching
the gospel. And those Philippian saints, they sent him what they
could. Wasn't much, but they sent him
what they could. I don't really know what it was.
It was just some stuff they could get together. It wasn't that
they gave him what they couldn't use. It wasn't that they gave
him things that were left over. Well, that suits about war out.
That'd be good enough for missionary. No, it wasn't that. It wasn't
that. They gave the best they could of what they had. And Paul
wrote them back and said, you've been so generous. I recognize
that you can't afford this. You couldn't afford to do that.
And then he made this statement, Philippians 4.19, but my God,
shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ
Jesus." Reckon that's so? I've proved
it for 44 years. My God shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now, let me give you another
reason why I'm not hesitant in calling on you and myself to
give ourselves in the cause of Christ by defining what a missionary
is. The word missionary is never
used in this book. Turn to Ephesians chapter 4.
Ephesians 4. But that shouldn't bother us.
The word trinity is not used in this book either. We worship
God and the trinity of the sacred persons because the teaching
of the trinity is throughout the book. And though the word
missionary is never used in the book of God, The word evangelist
is the word that commonly we would think of as being what
we commonly refer to as missionary, but the concept of missionaries
and missionary work is found throughout the scriptures. Paul
and Barnabas were missionaries in Acts chapter 13, set apart
by the church and sent out to preach the gospel to the Gentiles.
Philip, the evangelist, was a missionary sent out to preach the gospel.
All pastors are taught to do the work of a missionary, of
an evangelist. And yet, God has called and gifted
some specific men to be missionaries, to do the work of a missionary.
Now, let me specify what that is. An evangelist, a missionary
is not one who is an itinerant preacher and goes here and there
and preaches and that's how he makes his living. That's not
what a missionary is. A missionary is one who goes
out to establish gospel churches and to assist and strengthen
gospel churches and gospel preachers in the work of the gospel. That's
what the work of an evangelist is. Look here in Ephesians chapter
4 verse 8. Wherefore he saith, when he ascended
up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men.
Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended
first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended
is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that
he might fill all things. That's Christ our Redeemer. And
when he did, he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists
and some pastors and teachers. Now here are the gifts of the
New Testament church. God's gifts for his people in
this gospel age. Evangelist and pastors teachers. Evangelist and pastors who are
teachers. Missionaries and pastors who
are teachers. It did it for the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ. What's a missionary? Well, I
have to make this statement. But it's got to be made. And
I suspect it's got to be made in this congregation. A missionary
is a man. No women. A man. Well, but Betty
Groover is a missionary. Well, not really. She's married to one. Shelby
Fortner is a pastor. No, she's just married to one.
And being married to one doesn't make you one. A missionary is
a man. A man. Well, Shelby called me
pastor's wife. Who ever heard of such a thing
as that? You only hear about that stuff in religion. You don't
hear about it in God's Word. No, she's my wife. That means she
goes where I go, and she does what I do, and she follows me
wherever. If I were a ditch digger, and
ditch digging took me to Lexington, and ditch digging took me to
Raleigh, or ditch digging took me to New York, she'd go with
me because she's my wife. That wouldn't make her a ditch
digger. And as a preacher, my wife's not called to be a pastor's
wife or called to be a preacher's wife or called to be a preacher.
She's my wife. And because she's my wife, a
faithful and good wife, she follows her husband. Ooh, man, that's
out of sync with society. Society is out of sync with God's
word. And if you're out of sync with God's word, you're in a
pickle. You're in a mess. This is the way things are done
among God's people. Missionaries are men. God doesn't
call women to preach. Just doesn't do it. Well, God
called me to be a medical missionary. No, he didn't. He called you
to be a nurse. God called me to be a pilot, or to call him
a flying missionary. I forgot what he called it. Got
special school for it. No, he just gave you some ability to
fly a plane. That's all. God's servants are men called and gifted
of God to preach the gospel. They're men with a message. And
the message they have is exactly the same as the message you hear
from this pulpit, the message of God's free grace in Christ
Jesus. And they have a mission. That's the reason we use the
word missionaries, a mission. is the preaching of Christ's
gospel, the building of Christ's kingdom for the glory of Christ's
name. That's the mission. That's the
mission. But people need to learn to farm, and they need to learn
to sew, and they need to learn to automobile mechanics, and
they need to learn to type. There are lots of folks that
teach folks that. Nobody else can teach them the gospel except
somebody who knows it. That's what missionaries do.
So with those things in mind, let's look here at what John
says concerning this matter of supporting missionaries and why
we should. John writes to this man Gaius,
one of his brethren, not a preacher. Not an elder, not a deacon, Gaius. As I prepared this message, I'll
tell you who I thought about. I thought about Brother Pottser, Gaius. There were some missionaries
who came to town. And while they were there, Gaius
put them up in his house. and did so for several days,
more than likely for several weeks. And when they got done
with what they were doing, he gave them some pocket money so
they could travel to the next town. And they started bragging about
gas. Do you know wherever I go in the world, I'm going to tell
you sitting here now, you'll know it, Sally, wherever I go
in the world, literally wherever I go in the world, And I went
across folks who've been here, asked me about Brother Ponson,
because they know Brother Ponson. They know. If anybody speaks
to him, Bob and Sally spoke to him. If anybody takes him home,
Bob and Sally took him home. We ought to all follow the example. And what's needed? What's needed? What's needed? Paul or John says,
when these fellows came, they told me about it and they told
the fellows they ate dinner with about it. And when they got to
the church, I said, y'all want to give us a report of how things
are going? And they stood up and told everybody in the congregation
about this man Gaius. They spoke so highly of him,
John takes up his pen and by divine inspiration, By the order
of God the Holy Spirit, he writes this letter to one man named
Gaius. He wrote it to Gaius because
Gaius is held here as an example for you and me. In verses three
and four, he tells us that Gaius loved the gospel. He walked in
truth. Gaius was faithful in all things. Verse 5, Thou doest faithfully
whatsoever Thou doest to the brethren and the strangers. That's a combination, isn't it? Doesn't matter whether he's in
the church house, or he's down at the grocery store, or he's
out at the service station, or he's out in the field, Gaius
behaves faithfully. Faithfully. What's that? You
can count on him. You can count on him. He's as
faithful as the day is long. He's upright. He's honest. He's dependable. If he says something,
you can bank on it. Now do us faithfully, whatever
you do. And Gaius was generous. charitable, hospitable to his
brethren, even to those who were strangers. In our text, here
comes some strangers. Here comes some strangers. Brother
Walter was telling me about when he first went to Mexico, he was
hurting, hurting. He came to Ashland and Eddie
Robinette, somehow he ran into Eddie Robinette. And he really
didn't remember exactly how he ran into him. Brother Mayhem
was out of town and ran into Charlie Payne. Who was scheduled
to preach? He said, I don't know, but they
asked me to preach on Sunday morning. And then Brother Mayhem came
back to town. Well, he was a stranger to those fellas. This oddball
fella from Texas, a Texas stranger. And they took him in their house,
took care of him. That's what Gaves did. Here came
some strangers preaching free grace. Here came some strangers
proclaiming Christ Jesus the Lord. And Gaius said, fellas,
I got a place for you to sleep. Come on to my house. You stay
right here as long as you need to. Like Abraham, Gaius entertained
strangers who came to him in the name of Christ. And in so
doing, entertained angels unaware. You men and women, Learn to do
something that has become out of vogue in these days, as they
would say. Open your houses and your hearts to God's people. Open your houses and your hearts
to entertain God's people. Who knows, you may just have
an angel stay at your house, wouldn't I? who brings a message
from God for you that you couldn't receive in any other place or
in any other way. And then John, after highly commending
Gaius for all that he had done, urged him to do even more, realizing
that God's servants are to be supported entirely by the generous,
free, voluntary gifts of his people. And John gives us, by
Gaius, four reasons for the support. Number one, he tells us it's
pleasing to God. Verse six, he says, you're to
bring them onward or forward on their journey after a godly
sort. If you look at your marginal
translation, that means after a manner worthy of God. After a manner worthy of God.
After a manner of one worthy of following and wearing the
name of God. You see, missionaries have all
the needs that other folks have. All the needs that other folks
have. A friend of mine, a very dear friend, asked me about how
the church should take care of the pastor. Well, he's got to
have everything you've got to have. You've got to have everything
you've got to have. He's got a family to feed and
clothe and educate and provide for. You've got to have a car
to get them around in. You've got to have everything
you've got to have. Missionaries do too. And more. All the expenses of the work
come out of their pocket. All of it. Brother Coder didn't
say this to me. I just got to figure it out while
we're down there. He drives 200 miles one way to Cancun and preaches
to the group down there. He spends over $400 a month just
going to Cancun. And that's just one of many places.
That's one of many places. We got to do more to help. We're
going to. We got to do more to help, and
we're going to. God's given us grace to do so. We're going to.
Starting right now. Starting right now. How come?
because he's preaching the gospel. Preaching the gospel of God's
grace. The preachers come in from the other areas to preach
at school. Why, they can't afford to make
that trip. They can't do that. They come in from long ways.
So he buys, gives them bus fare. So they can come in and sit and
learn. They need the support, and God's
given us the privilege of supporting the preaching of the gospel.
Not just missionaries on foreign soil. Wherever men are found
faithfully preaching the gospel of God's grace, let us do whatever
we can do to assist them so that no man going out to preach the
gospel lacks anything he needs. Not only that, we should do it for his namesake.
Look at verse 7. For his namesake they went forth. For his namesake, let's supply
their needs. I know these men personally that
we are blessed of God to assist. I know them personally. I know the sacrifices they've
made. They wouldn't tell you about
them. I know the sacrifices they've made. I know the kind of careers
they gave up. I know what they're doing. I
know what they've done with their children. I know what it's cost
them. And they do it for one reason. His name's sake. That's all. Now, that's Doug, I got your
attention this morning. That's my son-in-law, you know.
He's the father of my two grandchildren. He's the husband of my only daughter.
Should God be pleased to send him to New Guinea as missionary,
and I know I'd never see them again. What an honor. But what a cost. What a cost. Which one of you
would choose to go? Oh, I'd like to pack up and go
to New Guinea. Wouldn't that be wonderful? The
only fellow who talks like that is some starry-eyed fool. Why
do they go? For his namesake. For his namesake,
let's see to it that they like nothing. Our Lord is highly honored
by the service of his servants, so much so that he says, whatever
you do to them is done to me. Whatever you do against them
is done against me. And if a man offers so much as
a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, he'll not lose
his reward." He said, the concern goes on to the day of judgment,
I was hungry and you fed me. I was naked and you clothed me.
I was sick and in prison and you came to visit me. Well, when
did we do that? When you did it to Daniel Parks. Well, you did it to one of these,
my disciples. Here's the third thing. We should generously support
faithful men because faithful men, now listen to me, faithful
men have no other means of support. None. We're told here in verse
7 that because that for his namesake, they went out taking nothing
of the Gentiles. Taking nothing of the Gentiles.
Well, how could they expect to live? Our Lord sent his disciples
out. When he did send them out to
preach the gospel, he said, don't you go from house to house. Don't
you go begging. Don't go do deputation work.
The Lord's called me to preach. I'm going to be going down to,
I'm making a real sacrifice. I'm going to move to Honolulu
and be preaching. But I can't go until I go out and raise some
money. Now, would you pretty please
give me some money so I can go do God's work? No, I won't. Not a dime. Not a dime. How come? Because
if God called you to do it, he said, don't go begging. Don't
go begging. Don't go from house to house.
Don't you go dishonor the name of God by behaving in such a
way as to suggest that God Almighty doesn't care for his own and
supply their needs. They went forth taking nothing
from the Gentiles. I've been preaching now. Preaching
the gospel of God's grace since I was 17 years old. And I'll
tell you something I've never done. I've never asked for a
dime from anybody. Nobody. And I'm not going to. Not going to. Well, what will
you do if things aren't supplied? I'll quit. That's exactly what
I'll do. I'll presume God's not in it.
I'd quit. When you called me as your pastor,
some of you men asked me about what required for me to be taken
care of, and I responded. Lindsay and Burrow were present.
I said, that's of no concern to me. Is
that correct? No concern to me. I'm perfectly
willing to pastor, folks. who want to support me and are
not able, and I'll do whatever I have to supply, supplement
my income. I'm not willing to pastor folks
who can support me and don't want to. That's a different story. That's a different story. God's
servants are to be supported by the free generosity of God's
people, both the pastors of local churches and missionaries on
the field. It is our privilege to take care
of them. to take care of their needs.
God's preachers, God's service don't preach for gain. They went
forth taking nothing of the Gentiles. Preachers, how do you know whether
a man's in it for the money or not? If he's talking about money,
more likely he's in it for the money. You pretty well bank on
it. If he's more interested in what
you got in your pocket than he is in your soul's needs, that's
what he's interested in. If he's talking about what he
can get, what he wants, what he needs, that's what he's interested
in. Our Lord expressly forbids that they should supply their
own needs and forbids that any should. Churches, it is our responsibility,
our privilege. We should see to it that no faithful
gospel preacher has to provide a piece of bread for himself
or his family. It just ought not happen. It just ought not
happen. Not where God's people are concerned. The Lord Jesus
forbids that his servants go begging and seeking their goods
and benefits from other people. and we should faithfully and
generously support God's servants, faithful gospel preaching pastors
and missionaries. Because by our loving, free,
generous support of God's faithful servants, look what Paul says
in verse 8 or John says in verse 8, we become fellow helpers to
the truth. When we can supply man's needs
so that he can preach the gospel, preach the gospel freely to others,
we become allies with him in the work of preaching the gospel.
I've used this illustration many times, but you will bear with
me. I recall years ago, many years
ago now, I was scheduled to go to 13th Street to preach for
Brother Mahan at one New Year's Eve, one of the New Year's Eve
meetings. I invited any of you who wanted to go, any of you
men, because I was going to drive up and come back that same night.
And Brother Rex met me back there at the door. He said, man, I'd
like to go up there, but I've got to work tomorrow. And I said,
don't ever apologize to me for working, because if you didn't
work and pay the bills, I couldn't go. We are fellow laborers, fellow
helpers to the truth. when we assist men in carrying
the gospel around the world. God's church is one. God's family
is one. Those brethren in Mexico, I often
see their faces as I pray for them. I have the privileges that
you don't have. I know them. I'm talking about
the Mexican pastors. They're family. They're as much
family, Bill Raleigh, as you are. There's family. They labor
in the cause of Christ, give themselves faithfully to it.
Next time you think about giving in the cause of Christ, remember
this is a work pleasing to God. It's a work that's done by faith
in Christ for the honor of Christ. We give and God supplies our
need. This is a work done for worthy men. Men who've forsaken all for the
Redeemer. Merle, a man who forsakes everything
to preach the gospel to you, or to preach the gospel to somebody
in New Guinea, or to preach the gospel to somebody in Mexico.
Oh, he's worthy of just about anything we can do with him.
Just anything we can do. What do you need? If I've got
it, it's yours. It's yours. By these things,
we're fellow helpers to the truth. Well, Brother Don, what do you
want me to do? What do you think I ought to do? I'll tell you
what you ought to do for the cause of Christ. Whether it's
here in this congregation or whether it's an opportunity God
gives you elsewhere, Brother Merle's grandson-in-law, Eric
Richards. You know what he's doing every
Sunday afternoon? You know where he goes every
Sunday afternoon? Young married couple. You know
where he goes every Sunday afternoon? While we're taking our nap, he
goes to actually not even a rest home, it's a hospital where some
old folks stay all the time and preaches to three or four or
five old people. Well, that ain't much. If it's
your mama, you're thinking of something. If it's your daddy, you're thinking
of something. What's the significance of that?
That's what God gives the opportunity and the ability and the means
to do. Whatever God gives you and me,
the opportunity and the ability and the means to do for Christ's
sake. Do it faithfully and do it with
all your might for the glory of God. And watch God work. Yes, just watch God work. I read things to you about the
reports we get from the missionaries or from Family Regress Radio
or from various aspects of ministry and we're sometimes astounded.
I wonder why. Why? Just what did you expect? Expect God to do nothing? Expect
nothing? He said, my word will accomplish
what I please. It will prosper in the things
whereto I send it. It will not return to me void.
Amen. All right, let's sing a hymn.
We'll have the Lord's table together.