How to do the work

Many brethren ask a question often, how can I help in doing the work? How can I do the work better?

If you've been in the church for a while, you probably remember in the days of worldwide, the cynical statement would be, all you have to do is pray and pay. You know, you remember, yeah? If you've been around, you remember that. Pray and pay, you know, just pray and pay. You know, pray for God's work and pay your tithes and that's it. Now, obviously, I'm not saying that you should not do that, but I think there's a lot more than that.

And so today, brethren, I want to talk to you a little bit more about how can you and I preach the gospel of the kingdom of God? Or in other words, how can you and I help or support or hold the hands up of God's work at this end time? So maybe it's two different titles, but it's the same thing. It's basically how can we do the work? How can we preach the gospel of the kingdom of God? You know, there's many, many groups that go out on the streets and knock from door to door and you know what I'm talking about. And people are sincere, people are honest. By no means am I speaking bad of those people.

They really, a lot of good people out there, really. They are a lot of good, kind, loving people, serving people. I'm not speaking bad of them, but I'm just asking what is the way that you and I can help in doing the work?

Is it just pray and pay or is there more to it? Now let's start with... Yeah, please, thank you. I just remembered just the Bible. I forgot my sword. So, pass your eyes. Suddenly I say, where's the Bible? Man, I'm getting old. You know, I didn't just forget what happened before and after the accident. I'm forgetting little things. I'm noticing now that it's just then, I'm all says and says, I forget this thing.

You know, it's just, I know, it's an excuse. Anyway, let's go back to Matthew chapter seven because Christ was very straight in things that he said. In Matthew chapter seven, it's part of the sermon on the Mount. I usually equate, brethren, by the way, the sermon of the Mount as the Ten Commandments of the New Testament. Think about it. You know, on the Mount, they receive the Ten Commandments. The sermon on the Mount is like expounding the Ten Commandments into a spiritual plane, a spiritual level.

Very, very important. And the important thing there, you can see because right in the beginning, Christ amplifies the Ten Commandments right there, you can see. But it begins that by giving the Beatitudes. And the very first Beatitude is humility. And that is so important, really, in true Christianity. In true Christianity, probably one of the most important attributes we need is humility. That is like the groundwork, the foundational attitude upon which all others build. And if when we lose humility and we become proud and arrogant, then that's when problems start. That's when problems start.

By the way, brethren, that's how they are divisions, lack of humility. Whatever it is, that is like a keystone for us to remember. But anyway, Christ then goes on to say a little bit further in Matthew 7, it says, beware of false prophets. That's in verse 15. I'm putting it into modern language, in modern way of science. Beware of false ministers. Beware of false religious people who come to you in sheep's clothing. Really, they're nice people. Really, they're really good people.

And I'm not criticizing them being good people. So we all should be. But the Bible says they are inwardly like ravenous wolves. Why? Because they're not speaking the truth. This is the key. You gotta be speaking the truth. When they are saying something which is not true, knowingly or unknowingly, they are wolves. Or if it is unknowingly, they're acting as wolves without knowing. You see, and there is a problem there. And so, Christ says, you will know then by the fruits. And then a little later, in the same section, verse 21, he says, not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven.

In other words, you see in this society, people say, oh, give your heart to the Lord. Give your heart to the Lord. Oh, Jesus and Jesus. And yes, we have to do these things. I'm not saying we do not have to do these things. But what I'm saying is, just because they say it, does not mean they'll enter into the kingdom. Because Christ said, they're like sheep. They act like sheep. In other words, they act like true ministers of God, but they're not. And then he says, who is the true minister of God?

He says, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Now, this is very interesting, because what people today say is, oh, well, I keep the commandments of Jesus, not the commandments of God, because God in all the schism was harsh. But you know what, brethren? It's the same God. And it's the same word. And it's the same commandment. And Christ is saying, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven was he that keeps the commandments of God.

So yes, indeed, you and I are justified by faith. I am not denying that, brethren. You and I are justified by faith. But as a retribution, think of it that way, as a gratitude, as a way of thanking God for that graciousness that we are justified freely by grace, we now have to do what God tells us to do. That does not make us justified, but that is a proper, accurate response. Just like if your dad gives you something and you love it and you're so grateful, you're gonna show respect and gratitude to dad by doing what he wants you to do.

And God's commandments are not grievous. They're not burdensome. They're for our own good.

So that's what Christ is saying. So he says, you know, these people, they say, but we have done so much good for you. We spoke, we preached in your name, we preached the gospel of the kingdom, we went from door to door, or whatever method you've used, they've used.

And we've cast out demons in your name, and we made so many wonderful works, works, out by preaching, out there. And you know what Christ says? Get out from here. I don't know you. You that commit sin. You can see that in verse 23.

Get out from here, you that sin.

You see, brethren, you and I read in Jude 3 and 4, and it says, they have converted the grace of God into an excuse to break the law into licentiousness. And that's what it is. Well, because God is so merciful and so loving, I can just go on sinning, because He'll forgive me. I can just do what I feel like. And usually when you tackle these people and talk to them, oh, so you mean you can, you can kill? Oh, no, no, no. Oh, so you mean I can commit adultery? Oh, no, no, no. Oh, you mean that I can lie? No, no, no, no. Or you mean that I can covet? Oh, no, no, no. Or you mean I can have idols? Oh, no, no, no. So what's wrong with the Ten Commandments?

Oh, it's the Sabbath. It's the Sabbath that's a burden.

You know, why the Sabbath? Because that's the indicator that God uses that we are really paying attention to Him. You know, it's like if your boss at work says, on Tuesday I want all the employees together at a general meeting on Tuesday at nine o'clock. And you know what you say? You say to your boss, I'll go whichever day I want. Every day is good enough. Why choose me at nine o'clock? I will go it whenever I feel like. Do you know what your boss is going to tell you?

You see that door? Get out. It's the same thing with God. God has given us a day to be within, extra time to be within, but also a day which is a prepaid vacation. A prepaid vacation.

And you know what? We snob our nose to God on that.

That's an example of breaking God's laws. Well, you see, you see the Pharisees in Old Testament, they kept the laws. But you know what? They didn't keep them in spirit, in the mind.

They were not careful how they spoke to people, and they hurt people. That's why Christ in Matthew 5 and 6 expounds the Ten Commandments by giving a spiritual example of the commandments, by amplifying the law. So, indeed, God is merciful to us. God is very merciful.

God is very forgiving. And you know God gives us time. Gives us time. And gives us time. And you know what? Sometimes when we see other people, we say, why are they still getting away with it? But God, in His goodness, gives us time so that we might repent. Romans 2 verse 4. The goodness of God is there for us to repent, for us to change. He gives us time to repent.

But He also gives us tools to help us to change. You see, when you repent, we make a commitment to God. And we make that commitment to say, yes, God, I'm going to live your way. Do you know what that commitment is called? baptism. That's the contract we signed. We signed a contract. And the contractor we signed says, God, I'll live your way. And we signed that contract by going under the water and say, I am showing that I'm committing to live your way to say, I'm going under the water and my old man is dead and I'm going to come out as a new man. That's symbolically, of course, but it is the signature of a contract. It's a symbolization of what we committed. And now we've got to live the right way.

But you and I fail. You know, I'll give you another example. Say, for instance, you are a builder and you're going to build a building, a house. You're going to build a house.

But you as a builder are building a house. Do you do it all with your bare hands without any tools?

Or do you maybe have a hammer to help you? Or you eat the hammer with your finger? No, you have a hammer. I mean, you eat the nail with your finger? No, you have a hammer. Do you cut the wood with your hands? No, you have an axle. Do you, when you finish it, do you have to plaster it? Do you do it with your hands? Or do you have a special thing to plaster it? You have tools. Do the tools do the job? No, they help you to do the job. But you could not do the job without the tools, right? You can't do it. Likewise, the house you're building, the temple you're building, is the temple of God, a spiritual temple in you. You and I, we're all part of that temple. And as we heard it very nicely in the sermonette, the time will come that we'll all be together and be part of that temple. So we build in a temple, a bigger part, but we need tools. We need a hammer. We need a axle. We need different tools. Did you know what the name of that toolbox is? Speaking spiritually?

God's Holy Spirit. God's Holy Spirit is a box of spiritual tools called love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, mercy, self-control, meekness, etc. and others. The ability to speak, the ability to understand, the ability to comprehend, and other tools that God may give for the job as needed. For instance, if you're building a house and you need a big house, and you need a tool to build a house, He's not going to give you a car to say, well build the house with a car. Well, that's useless. Or, yeah, He's a bicycle. Well, maybe you're going to need a bicycle to bring and fetch things, but to actually build it, you don't need a bicycle. Likewise, God gives us tools as they are needed to do the job. At the time of the Apostles, at the beginning, when the Holy Spirit was first given, and people had come in from different areas, they needed certain tools to communicate and tell people what had happened. And that tool was called the gift of languages. So they all could understand. But now we've got Google Translators and I don't know what else. We don't need that. So God gives us different tools. You see? So God gives us His Spirit, which is that spiritual toolbox with all the little sets of spiritual tools to help us build the spiritual temple. Or, in other words, to help us becoming saints. Right? To be the new man, a saint, a separate being, a separate person. Turn with me to 1st Peter chapter 1. 1st Peter chapter 1. 1st Peter chapter 1. 1st Peter chapter 2. Talking about us being elect according to the foreign knowledge of God, the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit. In other words, the Spirit's job is to help us becoming saints. The sanctification of the Spirit. For what purpose? For obedience. For us to obey God. You know, God's Holy Spirit helps us to change from the old man to the new man. And that's the sanctification of the Spirit to go from that old man that we are to new man.

Now, is that easy? No. Nobody's saying it's easy. But that's why God gives us the Holy Spirit. So, different people go out there and say, well, I've got the Spirit and they start preaching purely and plainly a lot of heresies. Right? A lot of untruths.

And that's when Christ said, I don't know you. I don't know you because you're preaching untruths. You're preaching, basically, things that are wrong, which are lies, and therefore you practice iniquity.

Now, do we need to preach the Gospel? Yes. Will the Gospel be preached? You and I know. Matthew 24 14 says the Gospel of the King or God will be preached on the whole world. And then you know it's the time of the end for a purpose. For what purpose? Why is the Gospel preached today?

Now, think about it. Think about it. It says the Gospel will be preached at the time of the end, and you know it's the time of the end, which means the Gospel was not preached to the whole world before. If you think about 200, 300, 400 years ago, the Gospel was not preached to the whole world.

It's only been preached in the last 100 years or so to the whole world. Why? For what purpose?

Wow, we're going to preach the Gospel to save more souls.

Is that why? When you read Matthew 24 14 says, preach the Gospel on the wall as a means to save more souls. Now, as a witness, what's the difference between being a witness and saving more souls? A witness means that when these bad things are going to come, and brethren, we can see they're coming. We can see they're coming. And when these real bad things are coming, and by the way, the things that are happening now are only the beginning of sorrows, right? Or put it in a different way. They're just a rehearsal.

They're just a rehearsal. So you and I are kind of learning how to handle it. Because when it really gets bad, we better use the skills that we learned on these rearsals. So we don't have an excuse to say, oh well, things are bad if I'm going to leave the church.

So, but getting back to the point, the Gospel is being preached for a witness. For a witness. The reason is that when these things get bad, the people know, I've got a hope. I've got a hope. As we heard in the sermonette, that Christ will come and will fix these problems up. It's not you and I that are going to fix these problems. It's not going to be the next president, or whatever president it is, or the next elections, or whatever it is. They're all going to make a mess. Whether it's from the left or the right, the top or the bottom, the whatever corner they come from. They all make a mess. So don't get into these useless arguments.

Because they're not the Messiah. They're not the Savior. They're not the one that's going to save the country. The one who's going to save the country is the Messiah and that's Christ. The others are just fake. It's like we have fake news. We've got fake leaders. Well, because they're not the real Christ. They're fake. You see, we human beings have the proclivity to get wrapped up with these things. And you know, this is just a rehearsal. Because when these real fake ones will come, they'll make such miracles that if it's possible, deceive the very elect. Now, hopefully that's why you've gone through these rehearsals. So when it really comes, you're not going to be deceived. You're going to say, this is fake. This is not the real Christ. But what is therefore the minister's job?

What is therefore the minister's job? Yes, we have to preach the gospel.

But what is the minister's job? What did Christ give to each individual minister in the church as a job? So, Matthew 28, verse 18 through 20. So let's go there. Matthew 28, verse 18 through 20.

Matthew 28, verse 18 through 20.

See, yeah, the church as a whole will be preaching the gospel as a witness. But each minister has a role, an individual role, to play. Christ gave that role to the disciples. And in Matthew 28, starting in verse 18, he says, all authority has been given to me.

In other words, the Father has delegated everything from A to Z, from Alpha to Omega, to Christ, all power, all authority. He is the man. He is the prophet. He is the Messiah. He is the one who's going to fix all the problems. He is the high priest. He is everything.

Because the Father delegated to him. All authority has been given to me. And not just on earth, in heaven. Not just yeah, but in heaven.

And therefore, by his authority, in other words, the way we say that, typically in English, is in Jesus' name. Right? That means by his authority. That's what he's saying in verse 18. By my authority, that means in Jesus' name. Verse 18 is saying, in Jesus' name, go out and do the following.

Go and therefore preach the gospel to all nations. Is that what it says?

So I'll read it again. Matthew 19. Go therefore and preach the gospel to all nations. Is that what it says?

Go and make disciples. That's the difference. To be difference.

You see, as the warning is preached, and as God calls people, they will come and they will ask, teach me the way. And we will tell them, this is the way go you in it.

That's our job today. To make followers of Christ.

To make followers of Christ.

And he says, therefore, make disciples of all nations. That means not just Jews, not just Americans, not just Brazilians and South Africans and whatever it is, of all nations.

And it says, baptizing them into what? Into this church or into that church or into the other one? No, because the word in there is EIS, which means into, into the name of God, into the family of God. We baptize people into the spiritual organism, which is the family of God. How is the family of God kept? In the name of whom? The Father. God.

So we baptize people into the name of the Father, which is God. Into the name of the Son, which is the Son of God. Into the name of the Holy Spirit, which is the Holy Spirit of God. We baptize people into that family name. You, that have been baptized, know very well and remember very well, or maybe you should, that when you were baptized, the minister told you at the baptism ceremony, I am not baptizing you into any sect or human organization. Remember that? But I'm baptizing you into the body of Christ, into the family of God, into the spiritual organism, not into an organization. Oh, so we don't need an organization. We do, and I'll come to that. That's one of the purposes of what I'm explaining today. We need an organization. But we are baptized into the spiritual organism, which is the body of Christ, which is the Church of God, which is kept in the name of God, the Church of God. We baptize into that name, which is the name of the Father, God, which is the one that calls us, which is the name of the Son of God, which is the one that redeems us, and the Holy Spirit is the one that sanctifies us. It doesn't mean it's a trinity, no, but it means it's a trinity. No, but it means the three play an important part in our conversion process. The Father, the Son, and the power of God, those spiritual tools that are there to help us being saints. And then in verse 20, teaching them to observe. All things have commanded you. And that's what discipleship is. The job of the minister is to make disciples. The job of the minister is to make children of God living and behaving like children of God. So that is the job of the minister, to make disciples.

So, brethren, what is our important role as members of the Church? Is it to preach the Gospel, or is it to live the way?

Think about it. What is our main job?

Is it to go out and preach? And this is what a lot of people out there are preaching. And again, please, I'm not criticizing them as bad people. I'm just saying they are deceived and deceiving.

Where do I get that from? I get that from 2 Timothy 3, verse 13. Turn with me 2 Timothy 3, verse 13.

2 Timothy 3, verse 13. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. If you are deceived, you are sincere. But you're sincerely wrong. And you are deceiving because you sincerely telling people what you don't know. And you should shut up and keep quiet if you don't know it. Because your first job is to live it and to practice and to learn before you can teach. Isn't that the case? I mean, think about any profession out there. Can you be a doctor without first going to a special school to learn about your profession? Can you be a teacher without first being taught how to teach?

I usually call them in a sense of joke. If you go to a doctor, he doesn't know what to do. I call him a shoemaker. But that's just that expression I have. I mean, he should have helped you. Maybe you go to a dentist. I just happened to one of my children went to a dentist and to remove a tooth and for over four hours later they made a big mess into her sinus cavity and all that unnecessarily. So I usually say they are dentists and they are dentists or they are doctors and they are doctors. The point is you should not practice something unless you really know it. Otherwise, if you don't know it, go on a mentorship or work with somebody else under somebody else's. Now, if it is bad, I mean, I know I used to fix computers and I made a lot of mistakes fixing computers. You know what? If I made a mistake, we'll throw it away and put a new computer in there and work it. Okay, so that's fine. But if you're dealing with human beings and you damage somebody's health or whatever because of you not knowing what you're doing, you can't just replace that body or a crash can, but that's his time. But you should be careful with that. And that's a physical health. So if you go to get computers or you're fixing a car and you make a mess, you can get a new car and fix it up. Whatever. Physical body, physical health, it's another issue, isn't it? But what about the spiritual health? If you're going to affect that person's eternal life, should you not be careful that before you preach that you're preaching the truth? That is very serious. That is very serious. And that's why it says, deceiving and being deceived in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 13.

You've got to be careful because if you are doing that, the Bible calls that evil man and impostors. It's not George, the camp was calling that. It's the Bible.

Evil man and impostors. And what's an impostor? An impostor is somebody that is doing what he does not do between inverted commas and shoemakers. And I don't mean bad about anybody that's called that with that name, please, nothing wrong. I'm just using that as an example. Somebody that is, and I'm not speaking bad of the profession either, please, I'm just using that in a little bit of likeness to actually bring the point home. So please forgive me if you if I use that term and you've felt insulted because I use that. I don't mean it in any negative way. I'm just trying to bring the point that when we profess a profession, we better know what we're doing. And even more so, if we're professing a profession which has eternal life implications. So back to my question. What is more important? To preach the gospel or to live the way?

I think it is self-evident that is far more important for you and I as a Christian to live the way. We gotta live the way. We gotta be, for instance, good disciples of Christ before Christ tells us, okay, I'm gonna give you a job now beyond that to do more.

You see, so everything's got to be done decently in order. We read that in 1 Corinthians 14 verse 40. Everything's got to be done decently in order. But what do we have in this day? We got people that are deceiving and being deceived and it says they'll grow worse as time goes on. But what people are deceiving? Oh, why are we gonna go to heaven? Or you have an immortal soul? Or you're gonna be in hell burning forever? Or you don't need to keep the Sabbath? Every day is good enough.

Any day?

Or is it? Do you know what the Sabbath law says? Yes. Well, the Sabbath law says you don't work on the seventh day. Is that all it says? Have you read it? Go back and read it again. Do you know what the Sabbath law says? It says six days you shall work.

Hmm. It means if you don't work, you're breaking the Sabbath. Think about it. So, if every day is good for you, that means you never work.

Well, you know, I mean, it's just what I'm really going down to the point is people gotta obey God first. They gotta love the way first.

Now, there is an amazing scripture, an amazing scripture, that God has given.

Two pastors, two ministers. Do you know which scripture that is? Let's turn to it.

So, just look at where I'm going in a Bible, more or less, to get an idea where it is, the New Testament or the Old Testament, right?

So, it's kind of in the middle of the book, so it's not the New Testament. It's actually Jeremiah 23, an amazing scripture.

I recommend you to read that chapter through and maybe a few times over it, because it's mind-boggling.

I'm just going to read a few verses from it. Jeremiah 23. I'm going to start in verse 1. Woe to the shepherds! It was to the pastors, to the ministers, who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pastor. You know, who are the sheep of God's pastor?

Every human being.

Every human being, sooner or later, will be, if they don't turn it away, if they don't reject it, they'll be part of the family of God.

So, woe to these ministers, woe to these pastors, are going out there and preaching, preaching, preaching, and they don't know what they're preaching.

Therefore, says the Lord, verse 2, God of Israel, against the shepherds who feed my people, what have they done? You have scattered my flock. Wow! Have ministers scattered God's people.

What an indictment! What an indictment to a minister, if he has caused a vision.

It's frightening, isn't it? It's frightening. You've scattered my flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. How many people say, if this is what the church is, if this is what whatever the ministers are, I don't want to have anything to do with the church.

Have you seen that? If you've been in the church wrong enough, you've heard people say things like that. And he says, woe to these people. Woe! So let's go on, read a little bit further, then he says you'll raise up Christ. All right, but let's just read a few other points.

Look at verse 11. Look at verse 11. For both prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in my house I have found their wickedness, says the Lord. Therefore their ways shall be to them like slippery ways. In the darkness they shall be driven and fall in them, and I'll bring disaster on them. Wherever you read this section, it's just amazing. It's amazing. Look at verse 18. Look at verse 18. That says the Lord of hosts, do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you.

Put it in modern-day language. Do not listen to these ministers that are teaching you things.

What things? Obviously things that are untruth. They make you worthless. They speak a vision of their own heart. Oh yeah, I had this dream. You know, I had this vision. You know what? I have encountered many people that told me I had this vision, and every time I hear that somebody has a vision, my scheme goes up like this. You know, like, ah, what is going on? Like, you know, like chicken. You know what you call the scheme gets up, all rippled up. So he says, oh, I've had this vision.

Not from the mouth of the Lord. Oh, they say it was God gave them that vision, but it's not from the mouth of the Lord. They continually say to those who despise me, the Lord has said, you shall have peace. Oh, they say, oh, peace, peace, everything will be peace.

And then looking at the end of verse 17, no evil shall come to you.

Reverend, and then look at in verse 20, he says, in the latter days, the T.N. says, you will understand it perfectly. I think who you and I can start to understand this perfectly.

Look at it a bit further down. Look at verse 25.

I have heard what the prophets have said to prophesy what? Lies. They preach lies.

As I mentioned, oh, you're going to go to heaven, or you have an immortal soul, and whatever, then lies. You know, it's lies. And right from the beginning, the serpent told Eve, well, Eve said, well, if you eat of the fruit of the tree, you will die. And what did the serpent say? You will not die. In other words, you have an immortal soul. Lies.

So, and they say, prophesy lies in my name. Oh, I'm speaking in Jesus' name. Ah, in the name of Jesus. And they use this in the name of Jesus. Reverend, in the name of Jesus means by the authority of Jesus Christ. Those people are fake. They don't have the authority of Jesus Christ.

So, using the name means nothing. It's like you having a certificate by the Department of Health that says this, that, that, but it may be it's a false certificate. Maybe you have a diploma by you went and you went to some university that said, well, you got this degree, but you know it was a fake university that gave you a degree and it looks like a real degree. It looks like real stuff, but it's fake.

Or maybe it's a hundred dollar note. It looks like real, but it's fake. And for it to be fake, it must look pretty well like real. Otherwise, you're not going to be deceived.

So, when they speak in Jesus name, they are speaking lies. For Christ's sake, you shall know them by their fruits. You know by their fruits whether they're speaking according to God's commandments or not. And what do they say? I have dreamed, I have dreamed. Oh, I have this vision, I had this dream and God told me that this, that, that and here, whatever, whatever, this, wherever, this is going to happen full of lies. How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart. Verse 28, the prophet who has a dream, let him tell the dream and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. You see, we've got to speak God's words faithfully.

And then he says, verse 30, therefore, be all, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who steal my words. Oh yeah, they use the Bible, but they twisted everyone from his neighbor. Be all, I'm against the prophet, says the Lord, who use their tongues and says, God says, but they lie us.

Be all, verse 32, I am against those who prophesy false dreams, says the Lord, and tell them and cause my people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them, or command them. And they're lying to us. And they're lying to us. If these are ministers and they were not sent by God, and they were not commanded to go by God, by whose authority are they preaching?

You know, brethren, you have to be sent by God. Just like you have to be called to be in the church and to understand, as a minister you have to be sent by God, given that role, you can't self-appoint yourself as saying, I'm going to preach the gospel. Hallelujah, hallelujah, I'm preaching the gospel. And Jesus says, if you're not sent by Jesus Christ, He has all authority, you cannot be, you are not speaking in Jesus Christ's name, even though you're using that name.

Sorry if I'm shouting. I'm not cross with you. I apologize. But I'm trying to bring the point home. I'm trying to bring the point home.

He says, I did not send them or command them, therefore they shall not profit to those people at all. So brethren, Jeremiah 23 is very telling.

You see, what is our role? Our role is very well described in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 1, all the way through 32. And basically, our role is to bring unity into the body so that we all grow to the fullness of Christ. Like in 1 Peter 3 verse 18 says, we ought to grow in grace and knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ. And Ephesians chapter 4, I mean, it's a beautiful scripture. And Ephesians from Ephesians chapter 4 is where the mission of the church statement has been derived. Basically, Ephesians chapter 4. Look at Ephesians chapter 4, and let's just read there, starting from verse 11. It says, and He Himself, who's He? He's talking about Christ, that has all authority been given to Him, gave some to be apostles. Christ appointed ministers. You cannot appoint yourself.

What we have in this world is many self-appointed ministers. You do not have the right.

I mean, I worked for a large enterprise. Germany used to work for the same large enterprise. And I could not go out in the street, or a person out in the street could not come and says, I am an employee of this company, of this large enterprise, and I am a manager, and I can tell you what you cannot do if you're not employed and selected by that company as a manager.

Likewise with God. You cannot go out and preach something if you do not have the authority given to you. But you see, here's the problem. It's the concept that people think we have to preach the gospel to save more souls. That is the whole mistake. I have to preach the gospel to save more souls. That is not what the Bible says. The gospel will be preached as a witness.

By whom? By those that God sends. Look at the example. Moses, did he self-appoint himself? I am going to save Israel from Egypt.

Do you think he would have succeeded? He didn't self-appoint him, did he? God called him. Look at another example. What about Samuel, Prophet Samuel? Did he self-appoint? No. No. He was selected for that role right from birth.

The Prophet Elijah, did he self-appoint himself or did God select him?

And even the kings, God selected him. King David, Jeremiah. Well, let's look at the New Testament. What about the 12 apostles? Did they self-appoint themselves as the 12 apostles? I am going to be one of the 12 apostles. No. Christ selected them. Oh, what about Paul? Did he appoint himself? I am going to be a minister of Jesus Christ. No. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees committed to destroy the church. Until one day, he hit his head against the wall. And then what did Christ say?

It's hard to hit against the pricks. Isn't it? It's hard to hit. There's a Portuguese expression that says it's hard to punch against a sharp knife. I mean, you got a sharp knife looking at you and you're gonna punch it. Well, that's the same thing. It's... and that's what Paul was doing.

And then Paul said, who are you? And what Christ says? I am Jesus, whom you persecute.

And what did Paul say? Yes, sir. And you know what? Three days later, he was baptized.

Three days later, he was baptized. What a 180 degrees turnaround. So turnaround from that day onwards, he was 100% committed to follow Christ. Wow!

But did he choose himself? No. Did he appoint himself? No. You read many places. He says, uh, separate me. For instance, in Acts 12 verse 2, he says, separate me, Barnabas and Saul, which became Paul. Christ said that through the Holy Spirit. Then in Acts 20, Paul says, the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus. Romans chapter 1 verse 1 says, I was called to this job as a minister. First Corinthians chapter 1 verse 1, he says, I was called by the wall of God to be a minister. First Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 4 says, I was approved by God. I had a sacred trust be given to me to preach the gospel. Wait, wait, wait, wait. A sacred trust was given to me because I was proved faithful. Think about it again. A sacred trust was given to Paul to preach the gospel.

He that preaches the gospel has been given a sacred trust by God to do so. Who are you to take that upon yourself?

Only those that that responsibilities became into them by God. And you know what? What does Hebrews 13 verse 8 says? Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. And forever. It's not any different today. He has to call people to preach the gospel. Otherwise, you don't have that right. You don't have that right. So, I'm a lay member in the church.

How can I do the work? Because you know, God has got a body. We're baptizing to the body, and the body has got arms, legs, stomach, intestine, and other parts which I don't even want to talk about. They're not so pleasant, but He's got them!

Is every finger a mouth? Is every nail a mouth? Is every toe a mouth? No. Only the one that God has given the sacred trust is the mouth.

That's you read that in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. God puts you into the body as He chooses.

So how can you and I preach the gospel? Well, let me give you 10 simple points. That is it. It's more than just pray and pray. Number one, we have to be organized physically.

There's got to be a team to do the work. You know, I can't do the sermons. I can't post everything on a website. I can't develop the website. I can't develop the TV programs and beyond today programs. Can't all be one man and just one man. It has to be an organization. It has to be a team. And for it to be a team, we all play a part in that team in one way or another.

For instance, in church, there are some people that sit up to PA. Some people that sit up to Zoom. Some people that sit up to bring the flowers. It's all part of a team. And we all help in our little individual ways how we can help. Somebody will play the piano. Somebody will do this. Somebody will organize the children's lessons. And as you have talents, use them. Go out. I'm not stopping you. I want you to use them. You want to serve in one way. Show me. Tell me how you can help. And I will open up doors for you to help.

So, we have to be organized physically. We have to have a registration, to be able to have a bank account, and all these things. We have to be organized physically. We all, as physically, we all can put the shoulders to the wheel to help the work being done. We all play some role in this physical organization. Yes, indeed, we are baptized into a spiritual organization. The church of God is a spiritual organization. But to do a physical work, we need a physical organization to do work. That's point number one. Number two, a physical organization needs resources. And one very important resource is tithes. It's money. Now, brethren, we, the church of God, never come around and tell you, where's your tithes? I haven't seen your tithes this month. You have to come on. Yeah, yes. I don't even know who tithes or doesn't tithes. Or how much? It goes to the central, and I don't know who does. I don't ask you. Yes, I tell you about God's laws. Yes, God's laws. You got a tithe. But whether you tithe or whether you don't, I don't know. I'll never check up, and you know that. And I'm glad I don't know. Because then I would treat people differently. Because I'm a human being. I've got my faults. And I don't want that. I want to treat everybody the same. And I'm so happy about that. I'm so happy I don't have to worry about that.

Okay, so what's number three? Sure, we gotta pray. Sure, pray and pray. Yeah, yes, we do have to pray. We do have to pray for the work. We have to pray for one another. We gotta pray for, are we praying for the members of the council that they may have the wisdom? Are we praying for the president, the heads of the different departments, and there's a media so that they can actually execute things in a godly way so that the work can go more effectively? Are we praying that the TV programs and all that gets more effective? Are we praying for these things besides praying for one another's health and things like that? Number four, we all need encouragement.

You know, we're all human beings. We all have gray days and dark days and yellow days, you know, we're happy and more. But, you know, we all need encouragement. You know, it's for instance, we had Zach here came and gave us a sermon there. He came out all the way. He arrived a little bit late because our phone away is telling me his exhaust fell down in the road and now he had to fix up the car and whatever it is and whatever it is to get you. But he's here.

You know, we got to pray for little things like this that we don't even quite often think, but you know, they are problems. Last week, as you know, one of the brethren was leaving here, going home, and as we know, his car started accelerating for no reason. He had an accident. You know, Satan is angry with us and wants to destroy us. We got to pray for one another. We're going to encourage one another. So those are things that are part of doing the work, you know. They are part of doing the work because we are that team. Number five, and this is probably the most important one. We got to be the salt of the earth and the light. We got to be an example.

This is probably the key one.

You know, how many people say, well, look at that guy the way or that person the way he treats people and he says he's in the church of God? Well, if that's it, I don't want to have anything to do with the church of God. I have seen cases when people committed adultery or something like that and they went in the church and other people said, if that is the case, I don't want to have anything to do with that church. Are you doing the work or are you undoing it by your example? That is the most important. Yeah, we got lights in the room. We got lights all over the place. There's lights at home, everywhere you've got lights. You know, if the lights are not working, you're gonna throw it away. If the light is making a noise, it flickers and comes on and over. What are you gonna do? You're gonna throw it away. How is your example of flickering light or a solid steady light?

And with the salt of the earth, which means a bit here and a bit there, and you know what the salt does? It makes it taste good. That's what God tells us to be. And yeah, it's the sixth point. In our families, in our little boats, husband, wife, parents, child, how are we talking to one another? Respectfully, kindly. That's in a sense, is part of being a light as well, but it's actually living it at a real core. You know, because I mean, if I live it but you don't see me, only see me once a week, well, you don't know. But your husband and wife see you one another every hour, every minute.

And you know why a lot of children are not in the church today when they became beyond teenagers? Do you know why many young adults that were raised up in the church are not in the church today?

Because of the hypocrisy of the parents, which were members of the church.

Because their parents went to church on the Sabbath and did all these things, but at home they were a bad example. And the children grew up, and they know the truth, but they walked away. These are the very children that should be in the church, yeah, today.

We, collectively speaking, have chased them away by our bad example. So how we treat people is very important, particularly in our nucleus area. So that's the 6 point, 7 point. You read, for instance, 1st Peter chapter 3 verse 15 through 17, and he says, when somebody comes to you and asks you the reason of your hope, you answer them with meekness and fear.

And yeah, it's your opportunity to actually use your mouth, but it's because of your example. It's because of your example. And your example now, you answer them with meekness and fear. Why? Because that question is a little test that God is entrusting you to teach those people something.

And so you teach them in meekness and fear.

And then there's many other ways you can do life research, for example. You, as you talk to people, and as you, maybe you carry with you an extra two, uh, magazines of Beyond Today or, or whatever, you carry that with you. And if somebody asks you who you are or whatever it is, well, I'm so-and-so, and but what church, whatever it is, and if they ask you more, you tell me, yeah, and you point them to the website, or you point them to a magazine, or whatever it is, and you're actually pointing them in the right way. What is causeless is your good example, and God starts calling those people. As God starts calling those people, they will then go out and search for it because of your example.

So, a ninth point is, as people ask you questions, not only to distribute them or point them to, to things of the church he's doing, but you also give them answers as they ask, but you don't download them. You know, they ask you a little question, and you give them a machine gun of answers. No, you answer them what they asked you, and then they ask you a little bit more. You answer them more, and so on. So, it is with meekness and with fear, and that example. And the tenth, the last but not least, is that when they really want to know more, you point them to the ministry. You point them to the true ministers of God, and to help them to go the right way. So, indeed, there are many ways that you and I can preach the gospel, can support the work. You see, so, we saw in Jeremiah 23, he says, they go out and do this, but I do not send them. Now, when people ask you a question, and your good example brings those questions, God is now giving you a door to actually go a little bit further, and use it. Sometimes, some of us are shy, and don't want to say too much, and don't want to say anything. Well, maybe we shouldn't be shy. Maybe we shouldn't be shy. Maybe we should be able to speak openly, or what they ask, but not again, not downloading it onto them. So, there is a point there. So, this is a way of us being able to do the work.

Basically, it's by being alive. Basically, it's by being different. Basically, it's by obeying God. That's how we do the work. So, in summary, what is the key? What is the key? The key is being a disciple. The key is living the way. That's the key. That is what's more important. Practice. Be a disciple. That's what Christ said. All of our has been given to me, and you ministers of God, go out and baptize people into the family of God, and teach them to obey and do all the things that I've taught you. Teach them to be a disciple. So, what does God want of you and I? What does God want of us? Look with me in Micah, chapter 6 verse 8. Micah chapter 6 verse 8. And this goes hand in hand with Matthew 23-23, because Matthew 23-23 tells us what is the weightier matters of the Lord. And Micah chapter 6 verse 8 is basically saying the same thing. And it says in verse 8, and what does the Lord require of you? In the middle of chapter 6 verse 8. What does the Lord require of you to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? In other words, to walk in faith. The walk of God. So, brethren, how can you and I preach the Gospel? By living the way.