Preach the Gospel, Prepare a People

Thank you very much, Odell, for the beautiful special music. It's always so neat to see kids that have pushed themselves to learn something like that. I was one that I never tried to learn piano. I tried it later in life, and it's really hard later in life, in terms of how it's...

So, good job taking it on earlier in life. Teach those hands to do different things at different times. Make it work out. Well, good afternoon again, everyone, and welcome. Happy Sabbath. Again, a warm welcome to those of you that are on the webcast. This afternoon, it is wonderful to have all of you with us. As I mentioned in the announcements, a little over a week ago, I returned from a trip to the home office, where I had an opportunity to go through the Pastoral Development Program.

And this particular program is designed for newer pastors. It's also designed for those individuals who they have plans to bring on board as pastors in the near future. By way of example, as I mentioned, two of the attendees this year, Mr. Doug Went and Mr. Braden Beller, were both hired actually while they were there, like halfway through the week, as they kind of figured out who was going to be replacing Mr.

Martin in those locations. They had some ideas that Mr. Went and Mr. Beller would be able to do that. And so, they're going to again be helping to cover those congregations throughout Florida as he's being transferred to Dallas, Mr. Martin. The program was very valuable. It was extremely valuable. We've been going through it actually. There's an online class that goes along with it. So, it's a biweekly online class. And then, for once, they bring you into home office to go through the 10-day kind of program, and then you continue to keep going on the online.

It's a little different than the old days. The old days, there was like apparently a six-week program. It was two weeks, and then a week off, and then two weeks, and then a week off, and then two weeks. And so, you were back there for up to six weeks in this process. So, it's a little bit different. I couldn't imagine being away from home that long in the process of trying to do that for about a six-week period. But it was really nice to have that opportunity to go and spend 10 days with a very specific focus on developing our skill set as pastors.

Really, in order to be able to serve our brethren and our congregations more effectively. So, the class has covered a huge deal of topics. We talked about discipleship. We talked about biblical eldership, what that looks like, what it looks like to be a biblical elder. We talked about confidentiality in a lot of different ways, counseling situations, conflict management, combating heresies, and a whole lot of other things. Just a whole lot of stuff that we went through and we covered ultimately. And despite the variety of topics that were covered, what amazed me was that despite all these different topics that we looked at, and all these different things that we considered, we kept coming back to a couple of concepts that were over and over and over again embedded in each of these classes as threads in the process.

Kind of circled back on them in order to strengthen our congregations and really empower them to be a part of the work. To really help preach the gospel and prepare people. As we've gone through our Bible studies over this past year, one of the things that we focused very strongly on is the concept of discipleship. This idea of becoming a student, becoming a follower of Jesus Christ. Again, not a student of me, not a student of myself, a student of Jesus Christ. My job is to point you to Christ and to the Father.

That's my job. That's what I'm to do in this role. Really, consistently having you turn to Him and to the Father as our Rabbi, as our teachers. Learning what we can learn from them. Learning and growing and working to advance the work and really meet this great commission that we've been given. And so as we get to near the end of this year, it's hard to believe we've been doing this almost a year, as we near the end of this year and we begin to draw these to a close and start to wrap them up, what's the takeaway?

What are our marching orders, so to speak, going forward from here? We've looked at what it means to be a disciple. We've looked at how that interaction is. We've looked at who our Rabbi is, His characteristics, the kind of characteristics that we're to put on. We've looked at the tools of a disciple. We looked at all these things. And the question is, for what reason?

What is our responsibility as a modern-day disciple of Jesus Christ? Well, it's essentially the same task that the disciples were given in 31 A.D. It's essentially the same thing. That commission is found in Matthew 28 and verse 19. Let's go ahead and turn over there. Matthew 28 and verse 19, again, we've read this multiple times over the last year. I don't want to belabor it too much, but it helps to spell out a little bit of what the overall goal here is.

Matthew 28 and verse 19 specifically says, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, verse 20, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.

And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. You turn just briefly over to Mark 16 and verse 15. We'll see it stated in a similar way. Mark 16 and verse 15. Mark 16 and verse 15 says, And he said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, to all creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.

So this is the task. This is the Great Commission. This is the Great Commission in quotes, because that word is not anywhere but just in the margins of our Bible and in the titles and the headings. But this is the marching order, so to speak, that we've been given. In both of these places, both of these locations, the disciples of Jesus Christ are given instructions to go and preach the gospel, to make disciples in all the nations, to baptize them, to teach them, to observe all that Christ commanded them. And implicit in those instructions, implicit in those instructions, although not exactly spelled out period in those two places, implicit in those instructions was to care for those disciples.

Not just make them and walk away, but to care for them, to provide what they need, to be helpers of their joy, as Scripture says, to serve them in such a way that they could then grow spiritually, that they could grow in grace and knowledge and become closer to our Lord and Savior.

This was the mission that the disciples were given. And after a short period in time, you know, we take a look at the book of Acts, we see the church grow, we see all these things begin, and the rest, as we say, is history. The disciples at this time listened to their rabbi. They followed orders. They went out, they, everywhere they went, they added disciples.

You know, it's pretty incredible, actually, to read these early passages in Acts and see just how many people were coming in at that point in time, as these guys went out just on fire, just on fire as they went out into the world around them. They added people, everywhere they went, interested in learning about God's way of life. They added individuals who had a desire to follow Christ, to really learn at His feet, so to speak. And ultimately, what they did was they created even more people who would then go out and preach the gospel and prepare people. You know, this built, and it built, and it built, and it built.

It continued to grow. You probably recognize that phrase, preach the gospel and prepare people. It's our organizational mission statement. It's our mission statement. In fact, it's on the steel. It's our organizational mission statement. It is what we as an organization have said is our primary focus. That is, our primary goal is to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God and to prepare the bride of Christ. That's essentially what our organizational mission statement is. That's the underlying concept, the stated objectives, so to speak, that guide the organization. So the things that we do, the activities that we hold, the Bible studies that we do, the different weekends that we put together, the pen pal activities, the potlucks, the socials.

When we do all of these things, we run them through this filter first. We ask ourselves the question, will this preach the gospel, or will it help prepare people? Ultimately, if the answer is no, then what's the point? Why are we doing it? I mean, really, why are we doing it? If the answer is no, then why are we doing it? It falls outside the stated goals of the church, and we really should be asking ourselves, why are we doing this?

Really. But what's incredible about these two categories, they're pretty broad. You can fit a whole lot of stuff under some of these. Our social activities that are helping us to get to know one another as brethren, that's helping to prepare people. That's helping to build and knit a congregation together so that when difficult times come, they're close to one another. They love one another. So we ask ourselves that question, does this preach the gospel, or does it help to prepare people?

And sometimes, I don't know about you, I've noticed there's been times where maybe we're strongly focused on one at the expense of the other, right? We tend to find ourselves maybe more over on the preach the gospel side as a church, and I say church as a whole. Or maybe more on the preach the gospel side, and maybe a little less on the prepare a people side.

Or sometimes we're a little over on the prepare a people side, and maybe not as focused on the preaching the gospel side. But if you're in each of those places, if you're all the way over here, you're all the way over here, it's not something that's sustainable in the long run. You can't preach the gospel without also preparing a people. And you can't prepare a people without preaching the gospel.

It takes both of these things working together in order to do this. Again, as with most things in life, balance is essential. Really finding a place where the two of these things go hand in hand, where they can mutually expel one another, is important.

Finding that proper balance in a congregation and in a church. What we discovered over time, as you kind of look over the landscape of the church, is that people who are prepared to preach the gospel, those who hear the gospel of the Father's calling, see that example in either word or deed of those prepared people, often people will visit services based on the example of someone that they've seen. This has happened before. It's not super common.

But it does happen. Where people look at someone and they go, you know what? You're different. In a good way. You're different in a good way. There's something about you I can't quite put my finger on. I don't know what it is, but I want what you've got. I want that happiness and I want that joy that you have. And so they say, hey, where's this come from? And a person who is prepared, a person who is ready, can answer that question.

They can say, it is because of my faith. It is because of my belief in Jesus Christ. It's because of my understanding of the coming kingdom of God that I can have hope in the face of adversity. That life can knock me down and I can get back up and smile and continue on my way. Because I have a hope. I don't understand the gospel message of Jesus Christ. So in addition to this mission statement of preparing or preaching the gospel and preparing the people, we have a vision statement.

And that vision statement considers what a congregation or a church would look like when these two conditions are met. When we effectively preach the gospel and we effectively prepare our people, what does a church look like when that happens?

I had a lot of time to mull this one over because there's a big glass sign right on the side of the council chambers where we met for the PDP. We had 24 of us crammed in this little room, their home office. And right on the wall is our vision statement. I saw that thing every single day that we were there for that training.

And after a while you start pondering it. You start thinking about it. You start considering it and looking at it. The vision statement states the following. This is what it should look like when these two things are being done well.

It says, This vision statement is based on the words recorded in Ephesians 4, verse 16, and in Hebrews 2 and verse 10. We'll turn to Ephesians 4. I'm just going to reference Hebrews 2. That's the part that talks about bringing children to glory. But Ephesians 4, let's go ahead and turn over there. Is there some really important stuff that we can mine out of this particular passage?

Ephesians 4, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 11 to begin with.

Ephesians 4, verse 11.

It reads as follows. It says, Verse 14.

Verse 16 kind of completes the thought.

It causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

There is a lot of information that can be mined out of this very short passage.

First off, we see there are different administrations of spiritual gifts.

Some were given the talent, the opportunity to be apostles, to be prophets, to be evangelists, to be pastors and teachers.

But regardless of this gift, regardless of that responsibility, the expectation was that these gifts would be used for the equipping of the saints for service.

That is the purpose of these gifts. That's why they exist, is to equip the saints for service, for ministry, for the edification of the body, for the building up of the body. These were not gifts that were given for someone to be able to build up themselves in this process.

And it's not why these gifts were given. These gifts were provided so that individuals could serve others with these gifts.

And at one time, we believed that these were individual offices, and the unfortunate conclusion to that was people who sit back and say, well, I'm not any of these things.

I'm not an apostle. I'm not an evangelist. I'm not a pastor. I'm not a teacher.

Therefore, it's not my responsibility to preach the gospel.

It's theirs. They're the evangelist. I'm not.

That's the unfortunate kind of side effect to looking at this as offices.

Secondly, the end goal of these spiritual gifts was a unity of the faith. It was to become a complete man, a person who was spiritually mature to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, a person who was expected to become more complete in the administration of these gifts, people who were designed to prepare others to serve others, not to serve themselves.

Thirdly, these spiritual gifts would help the church mature.

They would help the church mature and would help the church to identify false teaching, with this ultimate goal of preventing people from being tossed to and fro by winds of doctrine.

The expectation of Paul when he wrote this to the Ephesians was that these folks would work together in concert, and that would create a stronger church.

That would create a church that was prepared to fight against heresy, who was prepared to support and love one another, to grow closer to Jesus Christ.

And in order to do that, the entire body was needed. You had to have the whole body.

They were to be knit together by what everyone did, connected, really focused together on a single solitary mission.

When every part did its share towards that mission, there would then be growth of the body and a building up of itself in love.

You know, you think about an example here, you look at oxen, okay?

You don't want an unequally-yoked oxen.

You know, there's a scriptural principle on that, but it's for good reason.

You know, you are specifically prohibited from yoking a mule and an ox. Scripture states it.

And the reason is, the ox will kill the mule, or the mule will end up harming itself in the process of trying to keep up with the ox.

You have to have these two things equally yoked, pulling together at the same time, trained well.

Or they're fighting each other the whole entire time and not getting anywhere.

It's absolutely essential that we're yoked together and we're pulling in the same direction.

So what's that mission? What is that mission? What are we pulling towards? What's the goal here?

Well, the goal is to preach the gospel and prepare people.

That is a whole church effort. That is a whole church effort. That's the title of the message today, to prepare or to preach the gospel and to prepare a people.

You know, we discuss this concept of preaching the gospel. I think often what happens is there's a picture that ends up in our heads, perhaps of a person standing on a street corner wearing a sandwich board that says, repent, the end is near, ring a bell or something, you know, as people come by.

And guess what? When we talk about preaching the gospel, boom, that's the picture that ends up in our heads.

Or we picture individuals going door to door to door to door evangelizing, like the young men that show up with the bicycle helmets and the white shirts and the black ties with the main tab. Right?

That's kind of what goes to our head when we think about this. Or maybe we consider in the Church of God, maybe we consider our public proclamation efforts.

Maybe we consider the booklets or we think about the magazines or we think about the TV program.

Is that what's indicated when we talk about preaching the gospel? Is that what it looks like in today's day and age?

Either standing on a street corner with a sandwich board ringing a bell, you know, going door to door to door to door and trying to, you know, tell people about the gospel of God.

What does this look like today? What gospel did Jesus Christ preach? How did He preach it? How did the disciples preach it?

What's the expectation for us?

So, turn over to Mark 1, verse 14, as we try to answer these questions.

Mark 1 and verse 14. We'll go ahead and begin there today.

Mark 1 and verse 14.

At this point, when this particular piece was written in the chronology of the timeline here, what we're dealing with, John the Baptist had been arrested.

Christ had already been baptized prior to that. He had immediately gone into the wilderness for a time where He was tempted and where He was ministered to by the angels.

And when He comes back to Galilee, we see His focus.

See the direction that He was facing.

Verse 14 of Mark 1, it says, Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.

Christ preached this same message as He went through every city and village in Galilee.

Everywhere He went, He preached the gospel of the kingdom of God. Matthew 4 references this. Luke 8 references this.

Matthew 4 and Luke 8 both reference this.

Where Christ went, this was the gospel that He preached.

The gospel of the kingdom of God.

Not the gospel of His own life.

Not the gospel of the prosperity gospel, health and wealth.

Not some other false gospel. He preached the gospel of the kingdom of God.

People heard, they listened, people became disciples, forsaking all and following Him.

In the four gospel accounts, you go through and search, essentially the phrase kingdom of God is used 53 times in various verses.

53 separate verses that it's used. Kingdom of God.

Now, that does not... well, no, that does include other iterations.

Kingdom of heaven, for example, like Matthew tends to record in those particular things.

That is something that there is no question as to the gospel that Jesus Christ and His disciples preached while they were here on this earth.

There's no question.

Christ Himself said in Luke 4, verse 43, let's go ahead and turn over there.

Luke 4, verse 43.

We'll see Christ's own words. Luke 4, verse 43.

Now, we'll pick it up in verse 42. Now, when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place, and the crowd saw Him and came to Him and tried to keep Him from leaving them.

Verse 43, but He said to them, I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.

Is there any question as to the gospel that Jesus Christ preached?

No, there's not. He preached the kingdom of God. He preached the coming kingdom of God.

When you look through the rest of the New Testament, and frankly, when you look through the Old Testament as well, there is this continuing thread of the kingdom of God that runs from the beginning of the book to the end of the book.

Daniel spoke of it. David spoke of it. Abraham was aware of it.

Others. Within the New Testament, Christ's disciples went out. They taught the kingdom of God.

Peter taught the gospel of the kingdom of God. Paul preached the gospel of the kingdom of God to the Gentiles.

Throughout Asia Minor, all of these men followed Christ's instructions.

So what does it entail? What exactly is this gospel of the kingdom of God?

Well, at its core, the gospel of the kingdom of God is the good news, or the glad tidings, of the kingdom of God.

That's what the term means. It's the good news of the kingdom of God. It's a message of hope to a world that is dark.

I don't know how many of you have been watching the news lately.

It's been a rough couple of weeks watching the news. I cannot, honestly, I cannot imagine being somebody who has a home or family in Paradise, California.

I can't even fathom it. Especially if there's somebody who hasn't been heard from in multiple days.

How do you deal with something like that? How do you go about your daily activities knowing in the back burner that at some point they're going to find that person's body?

Perhaps beyond recognition. How do you go about that?

This world is a dark world. It is a world that is lost. It's a world that's hopeless.

And for many, when you look at the world in which we live, overall, happiness is elusive.

Joy and contentment are elusive.

I don't know how many of you noticed that immediately, as soon as Halloween was over this year, it seems like every year, Christmas starts getting earlier and earlier.

Halloween was over. Bada-bing! It's time to put the lights up. Here comes Christmas time.

But wait a minute! There's a Thanksgiving in there that deals with gratitude and being content and thankful for what you have.

Nope! We're going to jump right over that. Just go to bring me more stuff.

People in the world around us are stressed. They're anxious. They see a constant stream of bad news on television.

And in a world that's like this, moments of beauty in the darkness get noticed.

You ever wonder why certain videos go viral? You ever wondered?

It's because it's a moment of beauty in a world that is incredibly dark. I mean, some of them are people falling down, and that's funny sometimes.

But the other ones really are like the little cute kid who's singing a song or something along those lines.

Those kind of things get noticed because it's uncommon.

People are struggling with things. They want to believe that they're still good.

There's somebody there at the door. Grab that and let them in. Thanks.

They want to believe that they're still good in the world. And there is. There is still good in the world. There is still good things that happen in the world around us.

But the good things that happen in the world around us are overshadowed by the dark things, by the difficult things.

And, frankly, media is preoccupation with all things negative.

I mean, if you look at the nightly news broadcasts, it's bad news after bad news after bad news for a half hour.

That's what it is, right? And so there's this preoccupation with that. When people get stressed, when people get anxious, when they get depressed, they start to look outwardly for their happiness.

They start to look outwardly for their happiness. There is a hole in their lives they cannot fill.

They can't fill. They're angry. They're frustrated. They're bitter. They have anxiety. They have depression. They're struggling.

They cannot fill that hole. And so they start looking outward.

They start looking at things that will make them happy.

Some turn to substances to fill that hole. Something that will give them a little shot of dopamine, make them happy.

Alcoholism is rampant. It's prevalent. Substance abuse is prevalent.

People turn to behaviors that release that dopamine.

They turn to behaviors that release that dopamine.

Some of them are not all bad. You know, running increases dopamine. It's not a terrible thing. But there are a lot of other very negative behaviors that also release dopamine and can be incredibly destructive.

And so as people have this hole they just can't seem to fill, they start looking for ways to fill it.

And those things are not always healthy. Sometimes those things are incredibly destructive and will absolutely destroy somebody's life.

And unfortunately, the majority of the time, those substances and those behaviors only make it worse in the long run.

Because they just continue to reinforce this feeling of worthlessness, which drives them right back to the substance or right back to the behavior.

It's a temporary fix. These things are a temporary fix.

That hole in their lives needs to be filled with something more permanent, something lasting, something healthy, something good.

What the people of this world around us need, they need God. They need His way in their life. They need that hope of the Kingdom of God, knowing this isn't it.

That this is a horribly counterfeited version of what God wanted in the beginning.

And this isn't it. That there is a Kingdom coming. There is an opportunity coming where people will be healed.

Where people have a chance to live according to God's way.

They need to know that they're a part of something bigger than just themselves.

They need to know that their Creator desires a relationship with them.

That He wants to be their Father and wants to offer them eternal life in His family.

That's the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

That hope, that Gospel, is what Jesus Christ preached while He was here on this earth.

As He traveled throughout Judea for three and a half years, He preached it in the cities and the towns and made disciples as He went.

You know, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God isn't just a good feeling. It's not just hope. It's more than that. It's more than that.

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God requires a change in our very nature.

It requires us to recognize and to repent from the way of life that's contrary to God's way.

And that's a change that's ultimately not fully realized or even possible entirely without God's Holy Spirit.

Without that transformative power in our life, without God's presence, living in us, we simply can't make those kinds of changes.

Let's turn to Matthew 5. Let's turn to Matthew 5.

And we'll go ahead and pick up the Sermon on the Mount here. In Matthew 5. Because in this particular message, Christ addresses the multitudes, those who were gathered at that point to listen.

This is kind of widely recognized as Christ's first quote-unquote sermon. This is His big opportunity to teach those gathered.

The kinds of attitudes that were necessary in His followers. The kind of people that they were to become.

Really, what they're looking at is the kind of change of heart that would be necessary to start to live the way of life that He wanted them to live.

Entity describes the kind of person who would enter the kingdom of God.

And as you go down this list, and as you look at these things, these are not things that always come naturally to us as humans. They're not.

Seeing the multitudes, it says right here in Matthew 5 and verse 1, Seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.

Verse 2, Then He opened His mouth, and He taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, verse 9, for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Verse 11, Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.

Verse 12, Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Humility, mercy, peace, joy in the face of adversity, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, these are not attitudes that come naturally to us.

They're not.

These are not things that we can necessarily do in and of ourselves. It requires God's help. It requires His Spirit in our lives, that transformative power of God's Holy Spirit.

During the remainder of this Sermon on the Mount, Christ essentially deconstructs many of the common teachings of the day. In fact, He expounds on them many times, saying, you may have heard it said... And then He goes, however, completely 180's it, right? And everybody listening goes, what? Whoa! What? Oh, it's completely different. That is completely different than what we understood.

What Christ taught essentially was a lifestyle change. It was a change completely in how a person approached their life.

How a person approached the hope of the Kingdom.

Because when that hope is first and foremost, when it's in the front of our minds, when we seek that Kingdom first, the rest of everything else, life can deal us, become secondary or tertiary.

We can face our trials, we can face our difficulties, and we can do it with contentment.

Because our eyes are firmly fixed on the Kingdom of God.

We look at the issues and the difficulties of this life as small speed bumps on the way to the ultimate goal.

And so Christ preached the gospel in this sermon.

He preached the gospel to the multitudes gathered in various places throughout history. He taught in large groups, He taught in small groups, He taught one-on-one, and through the gospel He worked to prepare people.

But was this the only example that we see in Scripture?

And therefore do we conclude the only way to then preach the gospel is to do it in front of a large crowd from a pulpit?

Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

Christ also answered individual questions. Sometimes those questions were part of a big set-up.

There were times where people were testing Him and knew the answer already to an extent and came to find out what He thought.

But other times they were legitimate. Let's go to Mark 10, verse 17.

Mark 10 and verse 17.

Mark 10 and verse 17.

We pick up the story of the rich young ruler.

And in Mark 10, verse 17, it says, Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, Good teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? That's like a softball lob for a discussion on preaching the gospel, right? I mean, this is like, here's the softball. I got this thing.

And so, of course, we see one of His disciples lean in and whisper into Christ's ear, Give Him a booklet.

That's not what we see. That's not what we see.

That is not what we see.

Christ answers Him personally. And He answers Him from the heart.

He answers Him from the heart. Verse 18.

So Jesus said to Him, Why do you call me good?

Often, you know, the other thing Christ did very frequently was, He answered questions with questions.

You know, that encourages conversation. That encourages conversation. That encourages people to engage back and forth rather than, Here's the question, I have the answer, that is that. Right? That question allows people to kind of go back and forth a little bit. It says, Why do you call me good? No one is good, but one that is God. Verse 19. You know the commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud. Honor your father and your mother. Verse 20. And He answered, the young man answered and said to Him, Teach her all these things I have kept from my youth.

Verse 21. I want you to notice the words that are used here, because we can blow right through this sometimes. And then Jesus, looking at Him, loved Him. He loved Him. His answer was in love. He loved Him and He said to Him, One thing you lack. You know, He's being genuine here. One thing you lack. Go your way. Sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven. And come, take up the cross and follow Me. Christ said, Look, go get rid of your things. Come with Me. For sake at all. Let's go. Come with Me. Verse 22. But He was sad at this word and went away sorrowful, for He had many possessions. Christ's teaching on the topic was too much for the young man to accept. He had many possessions. And it says He left sorrowful. But the question was answered. The young man didn't like the answer, but the question was answered. Christ answered it openly. While we were back for the PDP, one of the presenters shared a really interesting point. Chelsea Dawe is the receptionist at home office. So if you call the main home office number during the hours of, I don't know, 8 o'clock and 4 o'clock or whatever, you'll get Chelsea on the phone more often than not. Now, Chelsea's out. You'll get Kathy to Campos because she kind of covers in addition. But Chelsea is the one who works the front desk. And Chelsea's great. She does a wonderful job. More often than not, you'll get her on the phone. When people call into home office with questions, they'll sometimes ask questions about the Bible pretty frequently to Chelsea. And Chelsea, because, and not because she can't answer them, but because she didn't have the time to sit there and answer every single one of those questions while the phone's going off left and right. And so she says, well, I can connect you with a minister that can help to answer your question. And the presenter was saying that Chelsea told him one time nine times out of ten. Nine times out of ten. The person goes, I don't want to talk to a minister. What do you believe? What do you believe? Tell me how this way of life has worked for you. Tell me why I should buy it, quote-unquote. Tell me why this way of life works. I don't want to talk to a minister. I want to talk to a real person who's living this way of life. I find that fascinating. I find that fascinating. People want to know that God's way works. They want to know how this way has changed her life. How she is a different person now than she was before because of this way of life. They want to know that this gospel has made a difference in a person's life. And so often, she's the person that answers the questions. Very frequently, she's the person who answers the questions. She knows if she's in over her head and knows to spin one up the chain if she has to. But people typically want to know from her, how does this work? How has this changed your life?

Brethren, I'll ask you a question. How do we respond when people ask us about God's way? How do we respond? What is our natural inclination? Do we shy away from the response? Do we answer the question? I know in my life, I've been in both places. As a younger man, I shied away from it. I often shied away from it. I would tell people, well, we're Jew-ish. We're kind of like that. We sort of do some of these things, which is not the right explanation. It's really not. We're not Jewish. Not even ish. So, it's not the right explanation. But in my life, I've gone both ways. I have not really answered the question and played avoidance tactics. And then I've started, in the last 10 years or so, answering just point blank. Like, well, you want to know? Here's the answer. And it's been interesting. There's a lot of really good discussion that comes out of that. I had a number of people that I used to work with who were a little bit like Agrippa, where they're like, you've almost convinced me to become a Christian. But it's interesting when you can kind of work them in the conversation and kind of work it that way. It's fascinating. And obviously, we need to be circumspect. We do need to be circumspect. We need to be wise. We need to recognize when somebody's really asking or when it's just a social pleasantry. Some people do not want the answer. They're just trying to make small talk. And I think having the wisdom to recognize when that situation is is important. It is important. Let's go ahead and turn over to 1 Peter 3, though. Because we do need to be ready. We do need to be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies in us. 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3. And we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 15. Actually, we'll pick it up in verse 13. We'll go just a little bit ahead, and then we'll read through verse 17. 1 Peter 3 and verse 13 says, 1 Peter 3 and verse 14 say, It's the same word. Provide a defense for what you believe in. And not like, you know, fisticuffs kind of defense, like brawling or anything, but being able to build an argument that stands up to prosecution. To being able to push and try to knock holes in it. We have to be ready to give an answer. We have to be ready to answer in meekness and in fear for the hope that lies in us. That hope is the gospel message of the kingdom of God, that Jesus Christ came to this earth, He died for you, He died for me. That we've accepted that sacrifice on our behalf, we've been baptized, we've received God's Holy Spirit. And now, as a result of that, we strive to live our lives according to how He taught. And we wait His return when the gospel of the kingdom of God is fully realized.

People should notice that there's something different about us. As we go through our lives, as we interact with people at work or school or out in the community around us, people should notice that there's something different about us. And brethren, if they don't, it might be an indictment. It might be an indictment.

Often people will wonder why. They'll ask questions. And I love some of the different questions, and you can think about some that you've gotten over the years, too.

You know, what is it about you that enables you to be joyful, to be happy, to be content, and kind and loving to people when they don't deserve it?

Right? When we treat people decently, even when they don't deserve it, especially when they don't deserve it. Right? Why do you go to church on Saturday? Question we sometimes get. Where do you keep going for those eight days in the fall? Can I join your church? I don't want to go to school either. I got that all the time when I was in school. They'd find out I was leaving for the feast, and they're like, how do we sign up for that? I'd like to do that part. I mean, I don't want to do the rest of it. I just want to leave for the eight days. That sounds great.

What's up with that goofy-looking bread on your sandwich? How many of you have gotten that one before?

Days and 11 bread. You're eating a little thin breads for... People notice that there's been a week of weird-looking sandwiches. They kind of noticed that. Why don't you celebrate Christmas? That's going to be one coming up here in the next couple months. It's one that people will see. You're the one house on the block that doesn't have Christmas lights up. Huh. People may ask, they may not. Who knows?

Brethren, the answer to those questions is really important. The method by which we answer them is really important, because we have absolutely no idea who God might be calling. We have no idea. We're not led into that little secret. We find out when we find out.

I would argue you're more likely in today's cultural climate to bring someone that God is calling to church through your personal example. I would argue that that's going to be more frequent than maybe through a booklet, maybe even through our media programs. What those are really good about doing is getting people digging it up on the Internet. Those are great in that regard. But when people have a personal connection to somebody who believes this way of life, that's what brings a person in the door. Then, if the congregation is warm and the congregation is inviting, they come back.

It's often said, and this is a quote that's used in teaching all the time, people don't care what you know until they know how much you care. People don't know—they don't care what you know until they know how much you care.

If a person can see that this way of life works in you, that it's changed you at your core, that you are a more loving, a more caring person who lives differently as a result of what you know, there's a degree of credibility that comes with that. There's a degree of credibility that comes with that. People are more willing to listen to a sermon they can see than a sermon they can hear. And that's just reality. People want to see your example. They want to see you living this way of life that has changed you. That you're a different person because of this. And that's where the second half of our mission statement is important. We cannot effectively preach the gospel if we do not first prepare people. If we do not prepare people first, we cannot effectively preach the gospel. Let's go to Acts 2. Acts 2.

Oops. Too far. There we go. Acts 2, we're going to go ahead and pick it up in verse 41. Acts 2 and verse 41.

We often, when we go to Acts 2, we tend to stop short of here. It's typically because our point's made after Pentecost. Right? 38-39, we just leave it at that and we don't keep going. But 48-47 is really important. It's really interesting to consider. 40-47 shows the aftermath of Peter's sermon. It shows the beginning of the Church of God when God's Holy Spirit was poured out upon those gathered and 3,000 people were baptized in a single day.

That was the beginning of this process. So as we go back and we take a look at 41-47, you know, Peter just finishes up. It says, those who gladly received his word were baptized. It's an incredible description of the early Church. Those who gladly received his word were baptized. In that day, about 3,000 souls were attuned. 3,000 people were baptized in that day. I can't even imagine how the structure of that went, you know, from a standpoint. Was it assembly line style? Just one after the next?

And bloop! Hands on. Bloop! Hands on. How did that work? I would love to have seen it, honestly, just to see the process of how that might have worked. What's interesting, too, about this, if you think about it, there were only 120 people in this, really, that have been around for more than a couple of months. A lot of these folks in 41-47 are new.

They're new converts. Verse 42 of Acts 2 says, And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and in fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers. And then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and they had all things in common. They sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all, as anyone had need.

So continuing daily, with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. Now these new converts continued steadfastly in the doctrines, in the fellowship, in the breaking of bread and prayers. It was a very special time. It was a very special time. They had all things in common, they took care of one another, they continued daily with one another, eating their food, the gladness and simplicity of heart, and God added daily to the church during this time.

I don't know about you, we all desire a time like this. We do. We love this way of life. We're passionate about it. We desire other people to realize what amazing things God can provide. Who want that for people? There was, we desire a time when God opens the floodgates and begins to call people just hand over fist. Because again, we have a desire, we have a passion to share this way of life with other people. But therein lies the challenge. Therein lies the challenge. God does the calling. It doesn't matter how much I desire it, how much I am passionate about it, how much I want someone to be involved in this.

If their mind isn't open, if God's not calling them, as it talks about in John 6, 44, God does the calling. It's not going to be successful. It doesn't matter how bad I want it. We've all had this experience of trying to share what the Bible says with someone who's God's not calling. We've all had that experience. They look at you like you've got two heads.

They just don't see it. I think sometimes it's really easy for us to look at the lack of numbers coming to the truth and think, well, the fields just aren't right. God's not calling people like he was then today. I disagree. I disagree. When you look at what God is doing internationally right now, when you look at the number of people that are coming to the truth in Africa, in Haiti, in parts of Asia, Australia, all over the world, God is calling people all over the place.

We talked about the number of brethren we have that are in Angola. We have 2,500 keep the feast in one spot in Angola, and that's like less than half of the total population of the people in the country that are interested in this way of life. They have schools and hospitals, and they're all over the place. Even here in the United States, there are a number of people who are being called who are searching out the way of God, who have become convicted of the Sabbath, of the need to keep the Holy Days.

They're out there. They're out there. In fact, I think one proof that you can use to prove that is the rise of the Hebrew Roots Movement and the number of online Torah-based websites that are just all over the place. People are looking for this stuff. The issue is they're finding the Torah sites first and comes with that a degree of baggage that often people don't want to give up. They come in with teachings on sacred names, or they come in with other things.

On Facebook, one thing I've noticed lately, a number of image-shares. People like to share images. People see something that resonates with them, and they want to share it. I can't tell you how many of those that I've seen of late that have been shared, and they're biblically-based. They agree with what we believe. But they're put on by Psalm 119 Ministries, or they're put on by Torah Sisters, or they're put on by a number of these other groups and things that have other false teachings mixed in. Anyway, early in the Church, in the history of the Church of God, God was calling people in great numbers.

He was adding to the Church daily, those new converts at that time could not bear to be apart from one another. You know, early on, we read here in Acts 41-47, they couldn't bear to be apart from one another. They ate together every day, they worshiped together every day, they shared their possessions, they took care of each other. It was kind of like a couple of newlyweds.

It was a little bit like a couple of newlyweds. Just inseparable. Just completely inseparable. And we can look back at this with a little bit of a chuckle, those who've been married for a number of years and go, well, just wait until the honeymoon's over. Right? And we can kind of look at that as a church, too, and say the same thing.

We recognize in human relationships that puppy love phase doesn't always last. You know, what takes place is a more mature love, one that ebbs a bit sometimes. But recognizing one another's needs and allows for some space. The honeymoon doesn't last. It doesn't. It doesn't last. Some are a little more successful at keeping it around a bit longer than others, but it always shifts to a different type of love and a different type of trust.

So as we look through the book of Acts and we kind of continue along the church's journey, as the epistles are written, as Paul's ministry goes on, as John writes the last few books to the New Testament, you know, as we get into the beginnings of the first century, second century church, we see the honeymoon did, in fact, end. Right? We see that schisms, false teachings crept into the church. We saw conflict. We saw sin. Other aspects that enter in and cause issues. We can argue the honeymoon's over. So it's really easy for us to look at a passage like Acts 2, 41 to 47, and go, yeah, well, that's just not realistic.

It's not realistic. People spending all their time with each other constantly, I mean, hanging out all the time, and, you know, they're not mad at each other, and they're not upset, and whatever else. And we could list all the reasons why it won't work today. We could be the skeptic and go, yeah, but. Right? Yeah, but. It's the skeptic word. Though I think that all of us would probably admit, if we could go back to the honeymoon stage of our marriages, we probably would, at least to a degree.

Inject a little bit of that into our marriages. Before all the cares and the concerns crept in, back when we were blissfully ignorant of one another's shortcomings, you know, back when Shannon thought it was cute that I couldn't manage to find the laundry hamper.

Or appreciated when I needed her to help me find something because it was right in front of my face. When it was just the two of you against the world. And when you didn't want to be separated because you were so excited about being together, the reality is that in the Church of God, frankly, we could use a shift in this direction. We really could. Spending more time with one another. Getting to know one another more.

You know, I'm not advocating putting on blinders here. I'm not advocating, you know, ignoring any issues that people may have. But what I am advocating for is a recognition that we're all in this together. We are all in this together. Advocating that we have a desire to continue steadfastly with one another in doctrine and in fellowship, regularly praying for one another. Really helping to take care of one another's needs.

Fellowshipping together regularly. Especially outside of services. Especially outside of services. Expanding our social groups and not just sticking with the same folks that we're most comfortable with. Praising God together and having favor with all the people that we come into contact with. What does that look like? That looks like a church led by God's Holy Spirit. Joined and knit together by what every member supplies. With all doing their share. And growing in love to fulfill God's great purpose for humanity. To bring many children to glory. That's our vision statement. That's what it looks like.

That's what preparing a people starts to look like. When the body is healthy and strong, God can do incredible things. He can do incredible things. On the other hand, when we struggle with sin, when we struggle with our relationships, with our attitudes. When we give in to and we yield to our carnality over God's Holy Spirit. It makes it really difficult for God to work with us. It makes it really difficult for our example to preach the gospel to others. Because what others see is so contrary to what they see in Scripture.

But in our example, it's a very powerful witness. One way or the other. It's a very powerful witness. One way or the other. We have an incredible responsibility that's been given to us as we've committed ourselves to God and baptism. We've been given the truth of the kingdom of God. We've been given an expectation by God that that truth will change us.

That we will allow His Spirit to work in our lives. That will allow Him to smooth out our rough edges. Knock off the rough spots, so to speak. The kinds of things that rankle people when we deal with them and when we work with them. And as a result of those changes in our lives, to us yielding to God's Spirit, people can and will see the difference.

They may potentially ask you why. Why are you different? What's the story here? And it's in that moment that you've been given an opportunity. You've been given a chance to answer that question. A chance to preach the gospel. Carefully, of course. But a chance to provide an answer to that question. Will you seize upon it? Or will you shrink away from it? Brethren, we can't shrink away. We must preach the gospel and prepare people.