Are You a Diligent Christian?

Well, happy Sabbath, everyone! Good to see all of you. Hope you've had a good week. I think time really is speeding up. I don't know what the reason for that is. They say the older you get, the faster it gets. So maybe the vibrations increase. I was talking to somebody last week and saying that they say there might be a scientific reason why. Time seems like it's speeding up. They were being raised to a higher vibration level.

I don't know. I haven't been feeling on vibrating right now, actually. There's a little vibrator down here below. I don't know what it is, but it's sort of vibrating here. Anyway, maybe we're going through time. A time portal here. We get star trek-ish. Well, tomorrow, brethren, is a high day. And of course, you all know it's the Feast of Pentecost.

It's also the Feast of First Fruits. And we know the First Fruits gather on the day of First Fruits. It's a day when dramatic things occurred in Israel of old. Remember, we're not going to go through to show that. But Israel received the Ten Commandments. They were thundered from atop Mount Sinai. And remember, the people were so shaken by it that they ran away. They fled. And of course, in the New Testament, Pentecost was a very momentous time as well, the Feast of First Fruits, because it was the time, remember, when the Holy Spirit was given with equal fanfare, with great drama that was attached to it.

And anyone who has read the Bible knows the story of the giving of the Holy Spirit and how special, how very special it was. It was an exciting day, because that day, over 3,000 people were added to the church. Now, that has not happened, so far as I know, at any other time in the history of the church. And perhaps in the end of the age, that may happen. But as we know, the church is a very little flock, and doesn't tend to be very big.

But the apostles and the brethren were enthused. They were excited. If you read over there in Acts 2, they were excited to proclaim the good news to the people that were gathered there in Jerusalem. And they were, it says, people from all over, you know, the Roman Empire, that had come there for the special Feast of Pentecost. Now, don't you think, brethren, that day made a lifetime imprint on the minds of those 120 that were part of that original church that was founded there in June of 31 A.D.? And don't you think, brethren, that they were motivated throughout their entire lives by what they experienced? You know, on that day, they were on fire.

They were on fire from a spiritual perspective to do the work and the service to God that they had to offer. You know, how about us, brethren? Do we have that fire in our belly? A desire to get the work done, to accomplish what God has called us to do? You know, the Bible tells us, and I'm not going to go again through this in more intricate detail, but we're commanded to be transformed, as the Bible says, by the renewing of our minds.

We're to be transformed, brethren, and to yield our lives on over to God as instruments of righteousness, rather than instruments of unrighteousness, as they were before the time that God called us. Let's go to Romans 12. Romans 12 is, we here today begin what we call Pentecost weekend, when we have a double Sabbath. Tomorrow, of course, is a Sabbath as well as today. But in Romans 12, verse 1, it says, Paul says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice.

Have you sacrificed, brethren, your body, your life to God, and how you live your life? And it says, holy, acceptable to God. God doesn't want you just as you are. He wants to transform you. Oftentimes, the Church of the Worlds talk about just as you are. God doesn't want us just as we are. Parise the thought. God doesn't want that. He wants us to be a changed people, a transformed people, different than the people that are in this world. But holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Of course, Christ gave Himself for us so that we would have the opportunity to have this tremendous opportunity we have in being called and being used of God.

And do not be conformed to this world. We don't need that. We don't need to be conformed to the world that is out here, even the world of Christianity. We need to be transformed in the image of Christ. And Christianity certainly very often does not reflect what Christ does. But it says, be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And it says in Romans 12, verse 3, For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function.

So we, being many, are one body in Christ, individually members of one another. We talked about how the talents, the abilities, the fruits that we bear by the Holy Spirit, the gifts, the respective gifts that God gives to us. He doesn't do it in giving gifts to us, brethren, for our own vanity. You know, what do you have? What do I have in fact that we worked up ourselves, that we developed ourselves? What we look like, in fact, we owe to God. He gave us whatever looks we may have. He gave us whatever mind we have.

You know, whatever power of thinking that we have. You know, He's the one that is given us that, and so we don't have anything to boast about in this physical life, do we? Because God has given it to all of us, and we ought to be working together as God's people to develop those talents to serve one another and to help one another.

And going on, verse 6, having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. If prophecy, in other words, if inspired speaking, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith, or ministry. Now, these words, of course, have a sort of a Christian sound to them, don't they? Prophecy and ministry, you know, as I mentioned, to ministry is just simply service to one another, serving God and serving one another.

Prophecy is just inspired speaking. You know, it's not foretelling the future, rewriting Scripture. That's not what God has given that gift to anyone given that gift to now, because the can is complete. No, this book that you have in your lap is all we need right now. We've always said that probably the book of Acts would be extended a little bit, because it was sort of a chronicle, beginning with Paul and the apostles. And it's going to be, again, probably continued. We don't know that. But we know that otherwise the Scriptures are complete. And whatever God may add to it, He'll have to do it, because if you try to add to the Bible, you know, you face a curse by trying to add to the Bible.

And a lot of people have tried to do that. Some people have written whole other books and said that they were, you know, in fact, more important than the Bible. Whole religions, in fact, have been founded on those ideas that are contained in some of those books. Going on, though, it says, He who exhorts, He who can teach, in other words, to teaching.

He who gives, if you have been blessed physically, He says that you should give liberally. He who leads with diligence, notice this word, diligence. If you're going to lead, you know, it's like the old saying, either lead or follow or get out of the way. If you're going to lead, you better lead. Lead with diligence. And He who shows mercy with cheerfulness. And let love be without hypocrisy. You know, one of the things that God simply doesn't like, Reverend, is people.

Putting themselves forth is something which they are not. And God, we need to be, you know, God wants us to be real people. Of horror, what is evil? Clean to what is good. Be kindly affection to one another with brotherhood and love, in honor giving preference to one another. In other words, the prizing, the brotherhood of the church. And if you have a New King James, it says, not lagging in diligence.

Well, brethren, do you lag in diligence? How diligent are you about your calling? It says, fervent in spirit. Fervent in spirit. Serving the Lord. So again, are you lagging in diligence? Fervent in the spirit? Serving the Lord in your life? Like I said, how motivated was the early church?

I don't believe we would have the Bible today, you know, if they had been lawful in their business. If they were lagging, you know, in the jobs that they had to do. No, they were enthused. And what they did impacted generation after generation. And we know that the church, Christ said, I will build my church in Matthew 16 and 18.

And the gates of the grave will not prevail against it. In other words, the church would never die. The church would always be around. And so for generation after generation, there's always been God's people, God's church, God's true church that has been around. Now, in Romans 12 and verse 11, by the way, if you happen to have a King James Version, it says, not slothful in business. Not slothful in business. You know what a sloth is?

A sloth? I'm sure you've been around for a while, you know what a sloth is. But a sloth is an animal. It's a mammal that resides in the jungles of Central and South America. And they're known for being slow-moving. And hence, they are named sloths. And extinct sloth species include many ground sloths. And the Wikipedia, by the way, says sloths make a good habitat for all other organisms. Now, I want you to think about that. You know the saying, don't let moss grow on your north side? What does that mean when somebody says that? Don't they mean keep moving?

Keep doing things in your life? Well, sloths make a good habitat for other organisms. And a single sloth may be home to moths, beetles, cockroaches, fungi, and algae, even. Imagine this. All this accumulates on slow-moving sloths. Now, how does that translate for us spiritually? You know, if you're slow-moving, if you are a sloth, in the spiritual sense, you know what? We're living in Satan's world. And you attract so many critters.

Critters, in fact, you don't want to attract. And the spiritual kind I'm talking about. And you attract the wrong kind of influences in your life. Certainly, I don't know, I get the E.B.G.B.s when I think of cockroaches crawling all over you. You know, fungi growing on your body.

You know, algae, imagine that. But in the King James in Romans 1211, it says, not slothful in business. As slothful comes from the Greek word, ocneros, and it means tardy. Party. That's what it means. It means indolent. You know, when I see the word indolent, I think of somebody that is just so big that they can't move.

But it means somebody that's indolent is lagging, basically, as the New King James says. It means somebody grievous, actually, too. Slothful, you know, that's what it means. Again, being tardy, being slow, being idolent, and slow about doing things, I mean. And the word business comes from the Greek word spudae, S-P-O-U-D-E. And you know what that word means? What would you guess the word spudae means in the Greek? Speed. Slothful or lagging, tardy and speed. In other words, in the Greek, from Strong's dispatch. In other words, people, we tell them, we say, well, he's sort of slow on the uptake.

Or it means that people are just slow and coming back. The word business also in the Greek spudae means eagerness, earnestness. And of course, it's used as business in the King James. But, you know, lagging in diligence. The word is diligence, by the way, in the New King James, if you happen to have that in your lap. So, brethren, we're not supposed to be lagging in our business. We're not supposed to be lagging or slothful in our diligence as God's people. You know, we ought to be excited. I remember I had a professor when I was at Ambassador College many years ago.

And he told the story of when he got up in the morning, very often he was sort of dragging around. And he would get in the shower, and I don't know whether it would turn the cold on or not, in the morning. But he would shout to himself in the shower, Drive, drive, drive!

I remember that in his lecture. Can you imagine a guy in the shower saying this in the morning? I'm sure it scares his wife half to death if he does that. But, you know, he turned out to be a very diligent man, by the way. You've got to apply yourself. You know, how are you in the morning? Are you the kind of person you get up in the morning, and you go to the window, and you break it back open, and the sun shines in, and you say, Oh, great! It's morning! It's wonderful today! Oh, what a beautiful day!

You know, like the song goes. Or are you the kind of person in the morning you get up, and you sort of peek out from under the covers, and then you sort of slither out of bed, and you crawl over to the window, and rather than saying, Oh, Lord, it's morning, you say, Oh, Lord, it's morning. Does that describe you, brethren? You know, hopefully we've changed a little bit with regard to that. I have to be honest with you. I am not a morning person.

But I made myself a promise many years ago. I know I can't have things on my schedule in the ministry that I do what I need to do. You know, in other words, I push myself to do what I need to do. You know, if I can sleep in, wonderful. You know, if I can't, I understand that. I remember when I was at Ambassador College, there was a, I think it was a senior. And by that time, I had some idea I might actually go into the field ministry to be a trainee and to be trained as a minister.

And anyway, one of the professors was describing how that one young fellow said, well, you know, if I can go out into the field, you know, I'm going to have to get to bed by 9.30 or 10. And, you know, I can't be out all hours of the night. And, you know, because I just, it's not for me to do that.

Well, naturally, that young man did not get sent into the field, because that's not the way the field is. The way the field ministry is not, it's not that way.

You know, because in the field ministry, very often, many times I would roll in, you know, four and five in the morning from visiting people. Now, you wonder, what in the world, why are you out until four or five in the morning? Well, let me tell you how that happens. When you go into the house of somebody and you start talking to them, and they have all these questions, and they keep asking, and it's two o'clock in the morning, and it's three hours home, that's how it happens.

You know, you can, I remember many times when we would be talking to somebody at night, and it would, you know, you'd say, well, we've got to leave, we've got to leave at least by midnight. You know, because, you know, you get there maybe seven or so, and all this time has gone by. You know, you can imagine people are pretty excited, pretty on fire. But many times it's that way, so you have to respond with whatever you have to respond with in the ministry.

I remember, in fact, getting in at four and having to get up and get out and do the same thing the night afterwards. And when the Sabbath comes, I'll tell you, you know, getting up at a decent hour on the Sabbath works out nice, very nice. Now, what might be a decent hour for me may not be a decent hour for you. But, you know, to me, to be able to sleep in, you know, to 7.30 or so is a decent hour, you know, and to get up and get around.

But, brethren, we are not to be slothful in our business as God's people. We're not to be lagging in diligence. And like I say, that early church was so excited. They were so excited, brethren, you've got a book in your lap. That records things that they did. Things that they accomplished and God saw fit to put it in Scripture.

You know, what are you doing, brethren? What am I doing that is perhaps someday going to be in the book of Acts? We don't know, again, what God will do. And so, brethren, are we eager? Are we eager? Are we diligent? Are we on fire as God's people? No. Are you a diligent Christian, brethren, in your service to God and within the church? Are you diligent, brethren? You know, the idea is, brethren, that we should be diligent in all that we do.

What is the old standby Scripture, brethren, back in the book of Ecclesiastes 9-10? Everybody know what it says in Ecclesiastes 9-10? You know, we hear that so much. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. And the last part of that Scripture says, For there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going. You know, God gives us this physical life to make hay while the sun shines, as it were. And He says, Do what you do with your might, with all of your might. Let's go to Colossians 3. Colossians 3. And let's show what the Bible tells us, brethren, and how we can get our spiritual lives on fire and get motivated.

You know, when I went through my physical health experiences, my wife and I were sitting in the doctor's office afterwards, and I said, Doc, I just don't seem like I have any energy.

And he gave me a coke-cued tin of one of these tablets, a horse tablet, you know, kind of thing to take. But I said, Well, is there anything else I could do? And he said, The only way that you're ever going to feel better and have more energy is if you do something.

And I didn't want to hear that. I didn't want to hear that I had to do something. Give me a pill, you know, to solve this problem. But that was the answer. And so, brother, if I feel like I don't have the energy to do something, you know what I do? I get on the treadmill. And every time, I'm telling you, every time I feel better afterwards. I work out. And that, he really hit the nail on the head. That is it. You want to feel better? You want to be more excited and eager about life, brethren? You want to get out of the doldrums of your life? Get up and do something. And don't lag behind. Don't lag in diligence. And you will, in fact, be more inclined to have that energy. And it will return. The energy of your youth will begin to come back. You know, unfortunately, young people don't realize what a good thing that they have. But when you get to the point where you begin to lose it, then you realize how special it is God gives it to you. And really, it's a gift, isn't it? That God gives to young people. But for you and me, brethren, those who are a little bit older, the way to feel better, to feel more invigorated, is to do something.

But let's go to Colossians 3. I'm pontificating too much here. But Colossians 3 and verse 22, here it says, Bond servants obey in all things your master according to the flesh. You know, somebody who is a servant should be obedient, as he's saying here, in all things according to the flesh. Now, obviously, the exception would be you can't do something that God would forbid you to do. It says, not with eye service, in other words, not just when the boss is looking, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. So, when we do things, we should do it, brethren, because we are trying to please God in our lives. You know, we want to please God in what we do, as God's people. But notice in verse 23, it says, Whatever you do, do it heartily. Ask to the Lord and not to men. So, brethren, do you have heart? Are you excited again? Are you eager? In your workplace, where you are to try to please God on the job, may not be a job that you necessarily care for, but are you trying to please God even there? Maybe in a bad situation. Or are you also trying to please God again through the work that you do in the church? We're working, brethren, toward a great inheritance, a very great inheritance. And our inheritance, brethren, is priceless, very priceless. Going on here, notice verse 24, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Jesus. Now, you may not realize that working on your job and being diligent there involves your spiritual life, and therefore God is concerned about it. What kind of employee you are, and how are you doing in terms of service to your employer? Are you being an example? The Bible indicates we can be blasphemers just by our example. How many times do we walk along and we see construction workers sitting on the side of the road, and we were commenting, my wife and I were commenting, coming down from Brittenwood today. They've been working on our road up there for 12 years. How do you do that? How do you do that? They could have built probably 15 bay bridges. By the time they've done this. You have to work to figure out how do you make this thing drag out for 12 years? Didn't they build the China Wall? Imagine that! If that was a U.S. government project, the China Wall, they'd still be building on it today. It wouldn't have even had time to erode and begin to fall apart. We all practically knew. I am just dumbfounded. Of course, you have to understand, I complained about ADOT when I was in Arizona, because they did the same thing down there. And you have to leave for about 10 years before you see any progress. You go back after 10 years and you say, well, yeah, they'd make some progress down here. After 10 years. About the time they get it constructed, they'll start tearing it down and building something else at the other end. But when you look at five workers on the department, five workers out there and one guy's got a shovel and everybody else is looking at him. So you can only assume there are four supervisors and one worker. They're there. But anyway, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58, I'll just read that to you. You might want to write it down. It says, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. And all you do, again, always, brethren, laboring to serve God to be a good example. You may be made fun of on the job, by the way, if you actually work.

But they will not be laughing when you receive your inheritance of the world tomorrow. They won't be laughing then. They won't say, well, you just think you're a goody two-shoes, you know, or you are... What do they say today? I don't know what people say today. But, you know, what areas, brethren, should we be diligent about in our lives, though, spiritually speaking? Well, the big four. You know, prayer, Bible study, fasting, and meditation as God's people. Those big four. And we should be obedient to God as well. Diligence and our obedience to God. Careful with the Word of God. We should obey God's law in the letter and also in the spirit of the law. Not trying to get around God's law, but trying to obey it, you know, and to the best of our ability as God's people. Let's go to Hebrews 4. Brethren, again, we need to be on fire as God's people, spiritually speaking.

You know, they ought to have a sitcom on the slow family.

And, you know, each week they wouldn't really have to put too much on the screen. You know, the slow family's going to get up. You know, from the couch. You know, this week's episode, you know, they're on the couch.

Next week's episode, they spend 30 minutes, you know, with 20 minutes of advertisement.

And, you know, they're getting up. And they show that for, you know, 15, 20 minutes. They call it the slow family comedy. It'd be very low budget. Probably be funnier than some of the stuff they got on television. I don't know if I told you, but we canceled our television. We disconnected. So we're not hooked up to cable or satellite. We do have internet, by the way. And I love it. No advertisements. So I don't watch advertisements anymore. You know, you watch news, and it's, what is it? 10 minutes of news and 20 minutes of advertisements. Something like that. And when you finish, you don't know anything more than what you knew before you started. Hebrews 4 and verse 11. Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 11. I'm the wrong book. I mean, Ephesians. But in Hebrews 4 and verse 11, over here it says, Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, that inheritance of this coming, brethren. The kingdom of God. Helping, assisting, and ruling with Christ in the world of our own. So tomorrow, having what I like to call, wherever bodies. Wouldn't that be wonderful, a wherever body that, it's like a, you know, used to be that, you know, they used to have permanent press shirts. You know what I used to call those? They were called perma-wrinkle. Because they may, you know, they would be permanent press, but if you ever wrinkled them, they were permanently wrinkled. But would you like to have a wherever body, never wore out? Well, God's going to give you that in the tremendous time of the rest. But he says that we need to be diligent about it as God's people.

And our, again, we're diligent. Let's fall according to the same example of disobedience, talking about the children of Israel there. But in verse, let's go to chapter 6 over here.

In verse 9, but it says, Yes. Things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner.

They were serving God's people and serving in other ways. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end. In other words, don't be diligent just a little while, but until the end as God's people. You know, if we're going to go, let's make sure we go with our boots on. Doing the work of God. That you do not become sluggish, again, lagging, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. You know, those who are sealed in the grave right now, brethren, waiting for the time of the resurrection. What a wonderful time that's going to be, brethren, you know, when the resurrection occurs. And we can begin to see all of those who have been called through the ages. But the ones that are going to be there are those who were diligent about their calling. They weren't just hanging around, you know, but they were involved. They had on the garments of involvement. Remember the wedding supper? You know, where Christ bids them to the wedding supper. And here's a fellow that came, didn't even have on the right garments.

And by that, of course, it means that he didn't have on the garments of involvement, spiritually speaking. That's how that translates. That we have to have the garments of involvement in the church, not just be in the right place at the right time. But we have to be engaged in what is going on. You know, you can't sit on a fence in God's church. You either have to get off the fence or go back into the world. You know, hopefully none of us are going to do that. We want to get off the fence and we want to start serving in the church because we know that that is important. We can't equivocate. We have to be single-minded. You know, the Bible says a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. You know, as a soldier, we need to know which army we're fighting for, too. Which unit we're fighting for. Now, we don't claim, by the way, in the United Church of God to be the only group of God's people. There are other people that are part of God's church, but we are a unit fighting. And you need to determine which unit you're going to be with and fight on that team. For us to accomplish what needs to be done in this time, in this day, in this age. Eventually, you know, God will bring the units together into one. We know that's going to happen eventually, but Christ is going to do that. Let's go to 2 Peter, chapter 3, because he's the general. No, Christ is the head of the church, not a man. Not a physical man, but Jesus Christ is. 2 Peter, chapter 3, and down in verse 13 and 14.

Ok, 2 Peter 3, 13-14. Did I write down the wrong scripture? Probably did.

No, no, I think it is. Nevertheless, it says in verse 13, We, according to His promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. You know, we want to be in a place where there is righteousness, and hopefully that's why you're here, brethren. Hope none of us, though, think that being in the church means you're among a bunch of perfect people. I know that. I made that mistake when I first attended church years ago. I thought everybody in the church was perfect. And it wasn't that the fact that everybody in the church was perfect, it was that I was so flawed. And so, you know, they, of course, eventually I realized that, hey, they're like me. They're struggling. They're striving to obey God. But going on, it says, Therefore, beloved, looking forward to those things. Not looking back, brethren, but looking forward to those things. Be diligent to be found by Him in peace without spot and blameless. You know, we don't want to be found with spot and blameless, or blameworthy, I should say. You know, in this world, the world can be blamed. Somebody who knows the truth and doesn't do it can be blamed. And we need to be diligent to make sure that we are spotless as God's people. That we knock all the rough edges off. And how will you know when you're there, brethren? How will you know? I can tell you how you know. When Jesus Christ returns on the last trumpet is sounded, and God's saints rise in the air, then you will know. That you did what you were supposed to do. Hopefully, though, you've got some cues in advance of that, that you are striving to obey God and walk in His ways and trying to overcome. That you're careful again in obedience to God. And God only gives His Holy Spirit to those who obey Him. You know, was it Acts 5, 32, tells us that? Let's go to 2 Timothy 2, because God is looking at us, brethren. He's looking at all of us as God's people. He's checking us out on a daily basis. God cares. He cares enough, brethren, to have drawn you to the church.

We know that Jesus Himself said, no man could come to Me unless the Father draw Him. So God, the Father drew you to Christ, drew you to the church.

And He's the one, of course, that has dealt with us. And Christ, of course, once we're brought into the church, begins to work with us. And, of course, those that He gives that responsibility to when the ministry began to work with us.

And again, not that they're perfect, but it's imperfect people working under Jesus Christ toward perfection, as the Bible indicates. But 2 Timothy 2, verse 15, notice it says, Rightly dividing the Word of Truth. Are we handling again the Word of God in a righteous manner? Are we careful to what the Bible says, what it instructs us? Let me tell you this. The Bible says, think not. Christ Himself said, think not. I've come to destroy the law or the prophets, but I've come to fulfill. The word fulfill, by the way, means to magnify. And so Christ came to magnify the law and the prophets. But interestingly, many in the world believe the law is done away with. The exact opposite of what Jesus Christ said is what people believe.

So, you know, how about us? Are we applying what God's Word says? Are we diligent about it? Are we studying the Scriptures on a daily basis? Are we handling God's Word in a right manner? Are we judging righteously as God's people? No, I don't mean judging to condemn other people. I'm talking about making right judgments in our lives.

God judges human beings. That's not our job to do, to judge people. God will do that. You know, Proverbs 4 and verse 23 says, and I will just quote it to you, Proverbs 4 verse 23, Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it sprang the issues of life.

Are you keeping your heart, brethren? Remember, if any of you remember, of Shakespeare's Hamlet, what Polonius said.

He said, This above all, to your own self be true. It must follow, he says, as the night, the day. You cannot then be false to any man. In other words, be true yourself, be true. And it follows, as he says here, night to day, that you cannot be false to any man. You have to be right. You have to be willing again to examine your own self so that you're not hypocritical to yourself. Often times people can be that way, can't they? And Jesus Christ, remember a long time before Shakespeare ever came along, said, It's not. You know, that that which is without the condemns a man, but what comes from within? The condemns a man, and what comes out of a man, you know, what defiles a man is what comes out of a man, which are evil thoughts, adultries, fornications, pride. Pride can be a very big issue with people. And he said, These are the things that defile us.

But, you know, Shakespeare said, Do your own self be true and be the same with all men? Be true to all men? Like I was telling my son recently, we were talking, and Abraham Lincoln made this statement, I had never forgotten, I think I read it in some of the works about him, maybe Carl Sandberg, but Abraham Lincoln said he never met a man that had a good enough memory to be a liar.

I like that quote, by the way. I've always remembered it, since Ambassador College. And from that time in my life, I've always tried to be truthful. As I explained to my son, I said, Look, all you have to do is tell the truth. Speak the truth, and you always know what you said. You don't have to remember what you said. I have people come to me sometimes, and they say, Remember what you told me 30 years ago? I said, No, I don't remember what I told you. What did I tell you 30 years ago? There have been so many experiences in 30 years, or 40 years. We'll be 40 years, by the way, next July, June. 40 years? No, no, is it the 40th year, I guess, Don? No, no, it's 2004. It will be the 40th anniversary, since we started in the ministry. And it's indeed a miracle, because my wife is only 25. So, anyway, 2 Corinthians 7. Now, I have to say, I robbed the cradle when we got married.

I'm not telling you how old she is, but... I don't know if she would tell you, but she might not. She might actually hit you with her purse.

You know what people usually say when you play that age game? They always say, Well, how old do you think I am? Oh, boy, that's a loaded question. And then, if you're ever put in that position, you say, You don't look a day over 21. And you get... And you better repent of it later, but... 2 Corinthians 7. We're talking about honesty here, aren't we?

2 Corinthians 7. In verse 10, it says, It says, Talking about repentance here.

You know, the world gives... Oftentimes, they go up to the altar and they give the hearts of the Lord only on Monday morning to go back to doing what they normally have done before. This is the way oftentimes the world is. He says, For observe this very thing that you sorrowed in a godly manner, what diligence it produced in you. You see, if we have really repented and we're trying to change our lives, brethren, we become diligent in our lives to begin to do those things that we learn. We gobble up, in other words, the truth when we hear it, and we apply it to our lives. And that's why it transforms us. We begin to change. We're different people.

You know, when you... I know many a time when we have gone visiting people, you can just see the knowledge that they receive help to transform them in a different way, that they would never be the same with the knowledge that was given to them. Now, whether God actually ends up with a call or they respond to their call, that, of course, depends on what they do with it. But at least the knowledge, you could help them if they did apply it.

Sometimes we've had a situation... I remember there was a case up in Idaho where we had a father who had known about the truth for years. In fact, I think he had learned 25 years before I ever got to Boise.

And Jonah and I got to... we were up in Boise, I think, 1985.

But there were these two young ladies who contacted us up there, and we visited with them. And, you know, they responded because of what their father had taught them. Although he never came to church. He never was involved in the church. But these two young ladies came to the church. So, you know, God sometimes works that way with people. Some hear and don't do anything about it, you know, whereas somebody else might take it and just run with it. I think we've told the story about how in South America... I remember there was one individual that came to the church because I guess the wind was blowing, and one day there was a page that was blowing, and he stepped on it, this piece of paper. And he picked it up. It was a page of the Playtruth magazine. And that's how he began to come into the church. So you never know how it's going to happen. How's somebody going to come along and begin to see? 2 Peter, 2 Peter, chapter 1, 2 Peter chapter 1.

Again, the Apostle Peter over here talks about, you know, how we as God's people need to be diligent. But, you know, Peter was the kind of man, after the resurrection, remember what he said? I'm going fishing. But what happened to Peter? What happened to Peter? You know, usually fishermen are kind of slow and easy kind of people. But, you know, that wasn't Peter who stood up on Pentecost, was it? It's a different man, all together. A transformed man. But 2 Peter chapter 3, and verse, where are we? Oh, okay. Chapter 1, I'm sorry. Did I say chapter 3? 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 5.

Here he says, but also for this very reason, he's talking again here, the church at large, giving all the diligence, add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge. He's saying here that once God has called you, you ought to be diligent about adding to your faith virtue. This of course has to do with character, your internal character of your life. You're different that way. You're not crawling to the window to say, oh, Lord, it's morning.

But rather, you're trying to change the way you are, to be transformed, trying to break open that curtain and let the sun shine in and say, oh, God, it's another day. It's a beautiful day. Remember, my wife used to have this little music box, and she would open it in the morning, and I think it was, oh, what a beautiful morning. I hated that box. I don't know if you still have it or not, but I didn't like that song. Who said it was beautiful? You know, but, but you know, the days are wonderful and beautiful. It is wonderful to get up and smell the fresh air in the morning, isn't it? Remember, Christ is an example of getting up early in the morning and going out and praying. But it says, giving all diligence to add these things. The knowledge, self-control, to self-control, perseverance, and to perseverance, godliness. And of course, he goes on down through there to make your calling and your election sure. You can read the remainder of this account here. You know, like, like again, Paul said, not lagging in diligence as God's people, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Well, again, brethren, do we lag in diligence? Are we fervent in spirit? We should be diligent, brethren, and fervent. And this should describe our constant state of mind as God's people.

You ever seen somebody, brethren, that had a mission? You know, you see somebody, sometimes you see a little kid. It's like, you know, they got something on their mind. They're heading somewhere.

I remember when our grandchildren were up, was it Seth or Phineas that had gotten in trouble?

But the thing was Phineas. And anyway, he was about one foot tall, something like that, walking along in a little pencil legs. And cute as a bug's ear. And anyway, but he was coming down the hall. I was sitting on the couch, and I noticed little Phineas coming down the hall, and he was heading out to the patio. We have a little patio with a fountain. And he was heading out there, and I think we said, where are you going? Where are you going? Phineas, and he said, you know, he had those big eyes, he said, I'm in big trouble. You know, and I wonder what in the world had happened? Well, what he had done is he put my clock in the fountain. It's a wooden clock. And he thought, you know, make a good boat. And he was in big trouble because his mother was going to chase at him. But I'm in big trouble. But when he was heading out the fountain, he was a man on a mission, because he had him his head right out. He was in big trouble. You know, and sometimes people can be that way. They've got their mind on something they're trying to accomplish it. Well, brethren, are you men and women on a mission? Unstoppable? Are you headed toward the promised land of the King of God? And you're focused on that?

The word, by the way, fervent and fervent in spirit, it comes from the Greek word zeo, which means to bubble, to boil. Again, are you fervent? Are you bubbling inside with God's Holy Spirit? And, you know, are you doing your work that you do, again, wholeheartedly? Not half-heartedly, but wholeheartedly? This should be how, brethren, we're motivated. When we labor, when we do so physically, and when we do so spiritually, we should all be doing it again to serve God. And, even, brethren, if we were a slave, now we don't have slavery today, you know, in the United States as it once was, thankfully, but we do all work for, you know, employers. But even if we were slaves, brethren, and you know, there's some indication that, in fact, slavery will come back, during the Tribulation, by the way, it talks about how, in the Tribulation, that a girl will sell for a glass of wine, by the way. You read some of the Scriptures. So we are going to live, brethren, to see slavery return. But even if you were a slave, you should do so with a right attitude. You know, like in the case of Daniel, who rose up to be second in charge in all of the Babylonian Empire, and was a leader, you know, not only in the Babylonian Empire, but the Persian Empire. But what is often the case, brethren, is that we are diligent about the things that we want to do, aren't we? When it comes to the Sabbath, the Holy Days, you know, the laws of God, very often people in the world, they want to be very diligent about those things. They want to be diligent about the things that they want to be diligent about. Golf. You know, we know that also people get, you know, caught up in all kinds of hobbies and pursuits in their lives. And even pleasing people in the world. Sometimes people, you know, get motivated if they, you know, in the community and people praise them. You know, they love people in the community to praise them. Sometimes, you know, they want that to occur also in their churches about how Brother so-and-so is so wonderful and so fantastic. But, brethren, we ought to more earnestly desire to be pleasing to God as God's people.

Some can be slothful in their business of serving God. Some of the world can get up at the crack of dawn to go fishing and play golf, but they can't manage to get out of bed to go to Sunday school. I'm talking about people in the world who don't keep the Sabbath, even. You know, hopefully we don't take the same approach to the Sabbath. I sometimes wonder, though, brethren, if we did not have a place where people could go to church in the afternoon, how many would show up in the morning? You know, you wouldn't have liked, by the way, the Florence, Alabama church I used to pastor. You know what time we had services there? 9 o'clock in the morning.

So, if you think 10.30 is too late, or too early, I should say, you know, try 9 o'clock. And, by the way, Joe and I had to drive from over in Huntsville, which was an hour and a half away. And so, we usually had to get up on the Sabbath. I don't know what time we had to get 5.30 or so to get around, to get over there, and be there in time. I don't remember. It was always cold in the morning. You know, in Alabama, in the wintertime, especially, because not only that, it was a place where a meeting was downstairs in a basement. It was a small little church when I first started pastoring there. There were very many people there. But it grew, and God blessed us, so that things increased over time. So, brethren, again, are we slothful in God's business, in serving God, serving within the church, and enthusiastic when it's our own thing that we want to do? You know, some can work 40 hours on the job, but Balk is spending 4 hours to worship God on the Sabbath. You know, some can watch television for 3 or 4 hours, but can't manage to study the Bible for 15 minutes a day. Amazing, isn't it? How people can be. Some know the score on the latest football game and baseball team. You know, they know every player. They know how much they weigh. You know, they know how many hairs are on their head, if they have any hair. But they fail to be able to memorize the Scripture. Oh, I just can't remember Scriptures. I can remember all these statistics in my brain about every baseball player that was ever born, or existed, and the scorers, and all the championship games, and all the games leading up to it, but I can't remember a solitary Scripture.

Well, brethren, when we have an apathetic attitude such as this is as God's people, we leave ourselves wide open for Satan the devil. It can be a weakness, a chink in our armor. Let's go to Luke 14. Luke 14 will begin to wind this down. But in Luke 14 and verse 15.

Luke 14 and verse 15. Luke 14 and verse 15.

Here, notice it says, And when one of those who sat at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, Blessed be he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. He said, Then he said to him, A certain man gave a great supper, and invited many. And sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, Come, for all things are now made ready. But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, I bought a piece of ground, I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused. Another said, I bought five yoke of oxen, I'm going to test them. I ask you to have me excused. Still, another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and the lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind. And the servant said, Master, it is done as you commend, and there still is room. Then the master said to the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.

I ask you, brethren, what is your favorite excuse?

What is it that you want to do that you bade our Lord and our Savior for you to be excused? What is standing away, brethren, of you and the kingdom of God? And I trust, brethren, that you realize that nothing is more important. Nothing is more important to you, or should be, than the kingdom of God and pursuit of those things through, in fact, obedience to Jesus Christ. I'm not going to go, but remember over to the Scripture that talked about the man who was given the talents and so forth. What did he do? The man who was given the talents, the one that had the one talent, he took and he buried it. Brethren, what about us? Are we taking the talents, the gifts that God has given us, and burying it? Christ called him a slothful, wicked man, by the way. I know we don't think of ourselves, if we tend to be a little lazy, as being wicked. But that's what the Bible says, if we get lazy. We begin to lag behind. Let's go through Revelation 3. Revelation 3. Over here. Revelation 3 and verse 14.

Revelation 3 and verse 14. I remind you, brethren, that when the people of the early church gathered right before the Feast of Pentecost, it says they were all with one accord. I wonder, sometimes I wonder about this. There were 120 that were there that day. How would you like to have been one of those that didn't show up?

Maybe there would have been 125, you know, but there were only 120. I think you would probably have said I made the biggest mistake of my life, not being there on Pentecost, if you, again, were there among those 120 who saw these miracles take place that day. But Revelation 3 and verse 14. Notice it says, in the age of the church, the land of the sea is right.

These things, says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish that you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth.

You know, I find it very intriguing, by the way, in the American, in the English language, that very often people, like, for instance, they'll talk about, you know, somebody's speech. You know, I'll give you an example. You know, someone will say, well, you know, the president's speech was sort of received in a lukewarm manner. In other words, people didn't think an awful lot of it. At least they didn't react to it. Well, brethren, how about you? Are you going to respond to this speech today? A sermon is nothing more than a spiritual speech, in a lukewarm manner. In other words, you're not going to do anything about it. You're going to be the same tomorrow as it was today or yesterday and the day before. The same old same old. Well, brethren, we've said many times that we're living in the Laocian time. Now, you can choose to be a Philadelphian in the Laocian time that we're living in, brethren. But the Laocian time means that the world at large, brethren, has a certain attitude about it. They can take or leave anything. They have apathy. You know, they don't really care that much. You know, it's like the sixties. What was it? Toon out. The toon-out time, basically, people were tooned out of this world. It was the free love time, you know, the time the Aquarius, you know. But I don't think people in this age have ever gotten out of that apathy. And things don't matter that much to the brethren. But, you know, brethren, we better realize they better matter to us. We can't afford to be apathetic as God's people. We can't afford to be lukewarm. We need to be on fire. We need to bubble over inside spiritually as God's people. And so, brethren, let's make sure that we are thinking about this as we're approaching the feast of Hearst fruits.

You know, we ought to, again, be diligent in our thankfulness to God for what God has given to us.

You know, somebody who is lawful, by the way, says in the Proverbs, they are a brother to him who is a waster.

Actually, you read in the New King James, a brother to he who is a destroyer, a great destroyer.

In fact, the word means a corruptor. So, if we're slothful, apathetic, kind of a laissez-faire, apathetic, I don't care, indifferent kind of an attitude, we're going to have a corrupting influence and not one where we're helping and being iron-sharpening iron. So, brethren, if after self-examination we admit that we've been slothful in our service to God, then what are we going to do about it? What are we going to do about it? Well, brethren, I pray for all of us that we will be desirous of rededicating our lives and our hearts to make a better effort as God's people. Because God is preparing a people, brethren, and I trust you want to be one of those people who is going to be ready when Jesus Christ comes and returns, and those that have been prepared are going to receive a great inheritance. So, brethren, are we diligent Christians, or are we lagging behind in our service to God and within the church?