Preaching the Gospel Together

I've been visiting a lot of different church areas lately, so it's a... I say it's letting me go out and practice before I go to my home congregation. But it's been really an honor, and it's good to be back here. Sue and I were trying to figure out, and I think it's been two years. And we never intended to be that long, but it just... you get busy, and there's this and that going on, and then pregnancy and having a baby.

But I thought, I wondered if I could play it up for humor. You know, I thought I could create this dialogue with Mr. McNeely trying to convince us to come out and say, Well, I don't know if we're ready to. Well, how about we'll cook you hamburgers and hot dogs after services? Well, that'd be okay, but I want a little more, you know. Maybe set us up with a place to stay that's only five minutes away. Well, maybe that's good enough, but well, can you get your son to fix me breakfast and come over?

Because the younger McNeighleys came over, and we had a nice brunch together, and I thought, well, then I can say, Well, okay, I'll come if you let me preach the sermon. But it wasn't at all like that, of course. We were hoping to come, and Mr. McNeely's doing a lot of work all the time anyways, and it is an honor, and I'm really glad to be back here.

And that sort of makes a lead-in, because it's a privilege for me to be here, and I've been focusing especially when we're leading into the Spring Holy Days about on what a privilege it is for us to be in God's Church. It's good for us to remember every now and then that it's a special privilege.

And calling is something unique. And when you think, God the Father called you, it wasn't anyone else. It came from the very top, the leader of the universe, the reason that you're here and the reason I'm here. Now, this, of course, is not at all because we're deserving more than anyone else. I'll call to your memory 1 Corinthians 1, 26, where Paul Wright wrote that not many wise men are called, not many noble.

No? That's not us. We're the weak, the base, the common, that God called to do the work instead of the wise and the noble. We're called to confound the mighty. So we're not better than those who aren't called, but we are much better off. We have a lot of blessings that come with this privilege. If you call to mind, once again, you've probably sung Psalm 103 more often than read it, but we have many benefits.

God heals our diseases. He forgives our sins. He fills our mouth with good things, it says. So tremendous privilege...let me back up. Tremendous blessings come from this privilege we have of being called. But it's good to remind ourselves also that when we get these great blessings, those also come with responsibilities. To whom much is given, much is required. And I thought I would quote Spider-Man, but instead, let's go to Luke 12 for our first scripture. Look at Luke 12 and we'll begin in verse 47. I don't know if you're a big comic book fan.

I have been since I was little. There's a famous line from the Spider-Man series that says, with great power comes great responsibility. And I think the writer was actually stealing from the scripture here. Let's begin Luke 12 and we'll begin in verse 47.

It says, But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, will be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required. And I'll stop there. Keep in mind, we've been given much, but to whom much is given, much is required. Now, you might be wondering, what are you getting at here, Mr. Dunkel? What kind of requirements and responsibilities are there? Well, I'll list briefly some that I think we all know and then get down to the one I want to focus on the most.

But one of the first, if you want to write this down as a reference, 2 Peter 1, verse 10, our first and greatest responsibility that comes with this calling is to make your calling and election sure. Once you get it, hang on to it. Make it sure. Don't let anyone take it away from you. You know, it's a special privilege given to you by God the Father, but make it sure. But then there are others, and we could go to many scriptures throughout the Bible to remind ourselves of various ones.

We have a requirement to mature spiritually. We're called to bear fruit. That's something we're expected to do. Jesus Christ also said that they'll know that you're my disciples by the love you have for one another.

That's not just a suggestion, it's a requirement. We're to love one another. Take care of our brethren. Now, a lot of the things that I'm listing so far are things that are individual responsibilities that we want to give attention to. But the big responsibility I want to look at today is one that we more often do as a group. We can do it individually, but most often as a group, we work together to preach the gospel. And that's what I want to talk about today, a responsibility to preach the gospel. Now, it's funny, we hear it all the time, so it might just roll past us.

But some people that aren't church-going, which is more and more of our population, might stop and say, Well, what do you mean, gospel? I hear that term and it makes me think of old-timey religion and southerners with fans and a preacher working himself up to a sweat. What do you mean, gospel? Most of us probably know it's an Old English word that has a very simple definition. Gospel means good news. And that shouldn't be news to most of us. We've heard that.

We know it means good news. But when you say that, then it adds... it means there's something more missing. Because if I just say, here are the gospel, believe the gospel. If I were to say, well, listen to the good news, I want you to believe the good news, your next reaction will be, okay, fine, I'm listening. What is the good news? You know, you don't want to just stop there saying, I've got good news.

You want to know what that news is. So what is the good news that we're responsible to preach? There are church groups out there that would say, well, it's Jesus Christ. And stop there. Jesus Christ is the gospel. He is the good news. But we think there's a little more to it than that.

Because we want to say, well, what is the good news that Jesus Christ Himself preached? He came preaching the gospel. There must be a gospel that He preached. He didn't show up and say, believe in me. And that's all you got to know. Say my name. Now, the truth about Jesus Christ is an important part of the gospel. We need to focus on that, but also on the good news that Jesus Christ Himself preached.

So let's go to a summary that we can draw from His own preaching. We'll go to the book of Mark in chapter 1. Mark 1, and we'll begin in verse 14. I'm getting used to this lectern here. I kind of like it.

It's room to spread out, and it's not too close. In Columbus, Ohio, they've got an edition that brings your Bible up closer to you, which is great if you're near-sighted. And I used to be, and I got laser surgery a few years ago, and now I find something gets too close. I can't read it at all. So I'm moving towards the bifocals, but I don't want that. Anyways, that was filling time while we're there. Now let's look in Mark 1, verse 14. And this is at the beginning of Christ's ministry. After John, that's John the Baptist, was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.

Now we could stop there. That's very important. The gospel of the kingdom of God. Not the gospel that says Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is involved, but it's the gospel of the kingdom of God. And then, what did he actually say? He says, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. Now there's four important points in this message. I'm going to come back to it later, but four things we can come out of just this one verse. One is that the time is fulfilled. Now he presented it as the time is fulfilled because now the Messiah has come to this earth.

Prophecies had been looking forward to that for many years, and now that time was fulfilled. He says, the kingdom of God is at hand, which flows naturally from that, because now the king is at hand. And he goes right there in front of them. Most of them didn't understand it at that time, but the time had been fulfilled.

Now the king is here. The kingdom of God can be at here. So then the next part, repent. Repent is one word that can encompass so much. Changing your life and believing. And then, of course, believe in the gospel. If you believe the gospel, it means you're going to do some certain things. You're going to change the way you live.

So I want to come back to those four points later, because they bear in some of what we're doing as a church. But we can also see two important things. Jesus came and preached the gospel. I love Mark. The book of Mark summarizes things and sort of condenses, gets down to the heart of the matter. And it says, Jesus Christ came on the scene after John's ministry was done, and he came preaching the gospel. And that gospel was the kingdom of God. The gospel of the kingdom of God.

Now, I like to pose questions, because the next question might come, well, okay, what about this kingdom of God? What is it? What is the kingdom of God? What's it all about? And I like to bring back to mind the description that Mr. Armstrong used for many years. He broke it down and said, well, you know, if you want to describe what a kingdom is, a kingdom will generally have four distinct parts. And how many of you remember hearing him teach this? I'm just curious. I didn't ask this.

I gave this sermon a couple weeks ago. He said, one, it has to have a king to be a kingdom. And I said, if it's a king without a kingdom, it's just a dumb. And that's not anything, okay? But it doesn't have just the king. It has subjects who make up the kingdom. It has a territory, a place where the kingdom exists, and it'll have a set of laws. Or you might say a constitution, and, you know, it's organized legally.

Let's look at some of what the Apostle Paul would tell us with those things in mind. If you'll turn to 1 Corinthians 15.

I remember one time I was reading my Bible, and it struck me, because we commonly call 1 Corinthians 15 the resurrection chapter. And, of course, the Apostle Paul delves into and explains the resurrection a great deal. But it's interesting to look at how he starts the chapter, because, you know, the church in Corinth had some problems. And he spent a lot of time correcting the Corinthians, saying, you've got divisions, you're arguing, you're taking each other to court. They didn't understand a lot of things. And when he finally done all of that in 1 Corinthians 15, I think it is where he gets around to something important he wanted to tell them. And it starts off. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 1, he says, Moreover, brethren, you know, moreover, in addition to all that stuff I've been correcting you about, I declare to you the gospel, which I preach to you, which also you receive and in which you stand. So the Apostle Paul says, now I'm going to preach to you the gospel. So we can get a lot of what the gospel is, and I would contend that the resurrection from the dead is very important. And Christ's role as our Savior is very important to the gospel. Verse 2, he says, that gospel of which you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast to that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. Continuing on, verse 3, For I delivered you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture. Central tenant of the gospel, Christ died for our sins, and that he was buried, and that he rose again on the third day, according to the Scriptures. Interesting. Paul's tying this all into the Scriptures. Christ's sacrifice and resurrection doesn't annul any Scriptures. It fulfills the Scriptures and the prophecies.

Now, let's move ahead to verse 24. We'll get to something else, because so far he hasn't been mentioning the kingdom. But in verse 24, he says, Now, I find that interesting. We know that then Jesus' resurrection is related to the gospel.

And part of this gospel message involves the kingdom of God, which he's going to deliver to the Father. And also, that all things are going to be put under Christ's feet. So, let's look at what were those elements again. We have to have a king. Well, the king is Jesus Christ, then.

He's the king that involves the kingdom. Which I said earlier, but I wanted to make sure that you could see it's in Scripture. I didn't just make it up. Who are the subjects? Well, it says, All things are put under his feet. All he has, all authority and power. Well, that means everybody that's alive. Everybody on the planet is going to be part of that kingdom when it's established and when it comes in its fullness. So, he's going to be the king. He's going to have all things under his feet. He's going to rule over all people. And then the territory, of course, will be all the earth.

Everything's going to be put under his feet, except the Father, who put all things under his feet. So, that helps us narrow things down pretty well. Let's turn also to Revelation 19. Revelation 19, verse 11. See another comment on Jesus Christ as king. This has always been one of my favorite parts of the Bible, because it's Jesus Christ finally returning to earth a second time and coming in power.

Apostle John writes this, he saw it in Revelation, he says, Clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. Out of his mouth goes a sharp sword. That shouldn't be hard to say. That with it he should strike the nations, and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. King of kings and Lord of lords. He's going to rule the nations. The gospel of the kingdom of God involves Jesus Christ as King of kings and him ruling the nations.

So there's no dispute. This territory is going to be all the nations. All nations will be as subjects, and he'll be the king. Now, as far as the law of this kingdom, that's not hard at all to cover. If you want to flip back to Matthew 5, we don't have to search for a brand new law. But we'll see what Jesus Christ himself said about what would be the law.

Or I like to say, we could say the law of his kingdom, we might say the equivalent of the Constitution of the government. And people had asked him about this, but he said, Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law, till all is fulfilled. For whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

But whoever does them and teaches them, he will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Notice again, this time, the law, the law that we have right here, the law and the prophets, that's the law that's going to be the law of the land, and it's related once again to being in the kingdom. Now, don't let it throw you off. We're here, it says, kingdom of heaven. And we've been saying kingdom of God. Notice it doesn't say the kingdom that's in heaven. It might be in heaven now because that's where the king is.

But he's coming back to this earth. We just read it in Revelation. He's coming back to this earth to rule the nations with a rod of iron. So the kingdom will be wherever the king is. He's going to rule that territory. And I could reference Acts 3, verse 21, if we had any question on that, where it says the heavens must receive Jesus Christ until the time of restitution of all things. That, as Mr. Armstrong once again called it, the pivotal chapter.

He's there until if time is right, then he comes back. He'll be the king. The law is going to be God's law, and it's going to rule over all the earth. And then I say to you, isn't that good news? And I say, the gospel of the kingdom, the good news of the kingdom of God, that's great news.

And we can add further good news. It's not just about the king and subjects and laws. There is more to it. For we want to recall that the king, Jesus Christ, before he ascended to heaven and took on those crowns, many crowns, and that title, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, he did perform one very important function on earth. He paid the penalty for our sins. Let's remind ourselves of it. If we're here in the gospels, let's turn to John 3.16. And if you don't want to turn there, you might well have this one memorized.

This is one scripture that people all around the English-speaking world know very well, and for good reason. John 3.16 says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That's pretty important, and that's good news. Let's look at one more. Well, actually, we're going to do two more. Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9 and verse 28. I would like to say, for those who don't necessarily believe everything that we believe, who want to say, you know, the gospel is all about Christ, I would say we don't disagree that the gospel is about Christ, and it certainly includes him and his sacrifice.

We just say that it's the gospel of the kingdom of God, which is made possible by Christ's sacrifice. Hebrews 9.28. So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly await for him, he will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. So we don't want to focus just on the fact that he came once and was sacrificed, but also the fact that he's coming back.

And when he returns for salvation, he's going to be king of kings and lord of lords. He's going to have his robe dipped in blood. He's going to have that rod of iron to rule the nations. And that's good news for us, because that's what's required for us to be part of that kingdom. If we'll go back to 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 15 again, I should have asked you to put a finger there.

I apologize for that, but...

I'd like to read this to remind us of what makes something really good news. Why is it such good news? The fact that Christ made it possible for us to be part of that kingdom. It says, If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. Or, I like the old King James says, the most miserable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ, all shall be made alive, and each in his own order.

So, once again, I say, What good news? That's terrific! It's wonderful! Preaching the gospel, the good news of the kingdom of God, should be exciting all on its own. And it certainly is. But you might wonder, I sort of, I sort of took a little liberties at first, when I talked about our various responsibilities. I said, I showed scripture saying, We have to make our calling and election sure. We have to care for each other. We have to bear a spiritual fruit. But you might be saying, Wait a minute, you didn't turn to a scripture that says, It's our responsibility to preach the gospel. And some might say, Okay, I'm in the church. I'm living by God's law. Why is it my job to preach the gospel? I think it's worth us looking. Let's see in the scriptures what it says. And I can give the very short answer. And as a fairly new parent, I'm working on those short answers. And you know what the best short answer of a parent is? Because I said so. Well, the short answer to why it's our job to preach the gospel is because God said so. Let's turn to Mark 16. Mark 16 and verse 15.

Once again, Mark's gospel account puts things very succinctly. And I like that. Actually, did I say, yeah, 16 verse 15.

This is, of course, after Christ's resurrection. He appeared and he talked to the apostles for many days. And gave them some last teaching. But before he was taken up into the heavens, as we see in the beginning of Acts, he said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Pretty simple. Go to all the world and preach the gospel. He told them, Go do it. Here's what I want you to do. And if you skip down in verse 20, he says, And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen. So he told them, Go do it, and they went and did it. I like it. It reminds me, I've seen those bumper stickers where they say, God said it, I believe it, and that settles it. Now, let's notice another important scripture, though, because this is going to bring up an interesting question. If you go to Matthew 24 and verse 14, I think this supports the idea of it being our responsibility to preach the gospel. Some people contend otherwise. Remember, this is part of what we call the Olivet Prophet. The apostles had come and asked him, What are going to be the signs of the end of your coming? And he described a lot of things, wars and rumors of wars and earthquakes in diverse places and things like that. And in verse 14, one of the signs of the end of his coming, he said, And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached to all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come. So one of the signs of the end of the age is that the gospel will be preached to all the world. Now, we kind of want the Christ to return. We want him to come and take rule, and we want the kingdom of God on earth. Now, if you're like me, you're not so sure about the things that have to happen beforehand. We want that kind to go by fairly quickly, but we want the good things that will come afterwards. So I always say, if we want the end, if we want Christ to rule the earth, we should get busy and be preaching the gospel. We want to fulfill this prophecy as much as possible. And we'll come to another aspect of that. First, let's turn towards the back just a few pages to Matthew 28. Matthew 28 beginning in verse 18. I should have told you to warm up your fingers in advance. I've been telling people, it's good, when you're a new minister, use the Scripture a lot. I'm starting to tell more and more stories, too, but the Scriptures will never be wrong. My stories might be more or less amusing or valuable.

Okay, Matthew 28, 18. This is a parallel account to what we read in Mark. Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you. And I'll be with you always, even at the end of the age. Now, if you look at those two accounts, it might seem like, well, did they get it wrong? Did Christ give two different commands, or are they somehow connected? Or did each of them only tell part of the story? Because one says that He told them, Go and preach the gospel. The other says that He said, Go and make disciples. Or go teach people in all nations. Well, I think most of us know those aren't really in conflict with one another at all. They fit together. We go to preach the gospel to many, to everyone that we can, to all who will hear it, and we'll be able to make disciples of some. Make disciples in teaching. We all know John 644. I won't turn to this one, but John 644, Christ reminded those to whom He was speaking, that none can come to Him except the Father draw Him. That's the reason we're all here. The Father drew us. So it takes God to call and bring someone in once they've heard that gospel message. And we don't get to decide who it is. I mean, how many of you have wished you could decide, right? I've gotten nods and other... I gave the sermon down in the Portsmouth area, and I mentioned... There have been a couple times when I was younger, as a teenager, I was dating someone who wasn't in the church, and I wanted to decide who God was going to call. I said, call this person, please! He didn't do it. He decided. And it worked out well for me in the long run. But remember, our UCG motto, I think, ties these together, and you can see it. I don't know if you would see the small print, but there it says, preaching the gospel and preparing the people. The two go together, hand in glove. We do them both. We believe and expect that if we preach the gospel far and wide, God will call some of the people to whom we preach. We'll preach to as many as we can, and then God will choose some of them to work with through His Holy Spirit and bring them into our fellowship. And we'll teach them and help them to grow and develop spiritual fruit so the Church is responsible to teach and care for those people whom God calls, but at the same time responsible to preach the gospel far and wide to as many as we'll hear. Paul shows that sequence in Romans 10. Let's go there to Romans 10. And we'll begin in verse 13.

See, he's training to be a preacher, too. Every now and then he looks up and he realizes it's his dad up here. Romans...I lost track of what I was saying. Romans 10 in verse 13. For whoever calls the name of the Lord shall be saved. He says, Well, how then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? You can't call on Him, meaning do what He says and believe in Him if you haven't even heard of Him. So how shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in Him in whom they have not heard, or of whom they have not heard? And how are they going to hear without a preacher? So how are you going to believe on Jesus Christ and do what He said if you haven't even heard of Him? And he says, Well, how are you going to hear about Him unless there's a preacher? And I'm losing my track up here. There we go. And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things. Now, somebody has to be sent. They might be sent by Jesus Christ Himself, which He did with the twelve apostles, and we know that He did with the Apostle Paul. He knocked Him down on the road to Damascus, and worked with Him and taught Him, and then sent Him out. But people might be sent by Jesus Christ or sent by the body of Christ, which is the Church. But some are sent to preach, and therefore some hear and believe. We don't decide who those are that hear and believe, but some will, because the Father will call them.

He says, how beautiful are the feet and glad tidings. For they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report. So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. They have to hear that Word of God. So that sound should be going out to all the earth. Now, I mentioned this here. I didn't know if I should... Well, I mentioned it here in my sermon before. Not that long ago, I was talking to a minister that I've known and respected, and he made the point that there are some people that are younger in the Church that believe that the body of the Church has been built up by our internal programs, by things like summer camp and ABC.

And those are good things. We teach, obviously, if you were at the house this morning where we had three babies on the floor and a toddler, and running around, you'd say, yeah, we're repopulating the Church ourselves.

But that's largely secondary. The way that the Church has been built up was by what we just read in Romans 10. People being sent out and preaching the Gospel and building up the Church by counting on God to call some of those. That's how this work and this Church was built up. Not by us, by the Father, but by us doing the work. You know, Mr. Armstrong did it for many years, but he didn't intend to only be the only one that ever did.

He wanted to train others and send them out to preach. So that's how the Church gets built. Now, I do want to address an important issue. I said I'd come back to this in Matthew 24, verse 14. There are some in other Church groups, and perhaps some that associate with the United Church of God that say, okay, we know the work that Mr. Armstrong did, and we know the prophecy in Matthew 24. We believe Mr. Armstrong fulfilled that prophecy. He preached the Gospel to all the world.

And he used to say, you know, the Plain Truth magazine is going into every nation. He went and met with leaders of nations. You know, the radio airwaves went around the world. So some would say, the Gospel has been preached to all the world. We don't have to do it anymore. The prophecy is fulfilled.

It's done. Now we can sit and wait, and Christ will return, and we'll be here ready for Him. Well, I want to say I don't believe that that's true. I don't believe that's what that means. The United Church of God does not teach that that's true. And I hope that you don't believe that that's true. Now, I don't say this to disrespect Mr. Armstrong at all. I think in many ways he did fulfill that Scripture quite a bit. He went to all the world and preached the Gospel as much as possible.

And the message got out. And many of us are here as either a direct result or an indirect result of the work that he did. But that doesn't mean that we no longer need to preach the Gospel. I would contend just the opposite. It's more of an example for us. Let's consider some factors. Now, I think most of us are here because we believe that we should be part of a work and we should be preaching the Gospel.

But there might be times when you come in contact with you, you get in a discussion with someone who doesn't. We want to think through and know how to answer them, not only from our own opinion, but from the Scriptures. So let's consider in Mark 16, verse 15.

We read that earlier. Jesus commanded the apostles who were right there with him, go and preach the Gospel. Now, if you want to take that literal interpretation, you could say, well, those 11 men had the job of preaching the Gospel. You know, 11 because Judas Iscariot wasn't with them. And as far as we know, they hadn't yet cast lots to replace him. So was the obligation only on those 11? Well, I don't think so.

We know that there are others who felt an obligation to do so. Let's turn to Acts 8, Acts 8, verse 4. Now, I'll summarize what happened before that. But persecution was coming on the church, some of it led by the one who would later be known as the Apostle Paul. He was called Saul then, and he was throwing believers in jail and wreaking havoc. And Stephen, the disciple, would be martyred.

But it says, those who were scattered because of the persecution, in Acts 8, verse 4, says, therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the Word. That Word was the Gospel of the Kingdom. So they went out preaching the Word, and it had some good effect. We know, we see, the story follows that, of Philip going and talking to that powerful governmental leader and preaching the Gospel to him. A lot of people that weren't the original 11 that Christ was speaking to felt the obligation to preach the Gospel. And they did it. Let's turn also to 1 Corinthians 9. 1 Corinthians 9 will begin in verse 16.

And I just pointed out that Paul, before he was called, was persecuting the Church. He certainly wasn't supporting the preaching of the Gospel at that time. He wasn't one of the 11, but he felt a very strong obligation. We'll read here beginning in verse 16.

He says, Now, if we continue, he says, Interesting. He's saying, That's difficult to say. I want to do it because I want to do it. Or you don't want to do it because you feel forced. He says, Basically, he said, you know, since I'm required to do it, you know, preaching the Gospel is no big deal. He said, So if I want to do something extra, and he was saying, I want to make up a little bit for the damage I did to the Church earlier, he said, I'm going to do it for free. I could live off of tithes and offerings, but I'm not going to do that. And we can read through the book of Acts where he would go, and he worked as a tentmaker, supporting himself with his own two hands. So, you know, he was putting out that extra effort to make sure he preached the Gospel, not even using the resources of the Church to do it.

Let's notice also, we can derive a little from Jesus' instructions. Let's go to John 14. John 14, we're going to break into Jesus' last Passover service. Let me say that again slower, more slowly. Last Passover service with the apostles. He was there giving them a great deal of instruction. John 14 and verse 12. But we can see, even though Jesus was very intent on teaching those men there, and relaying information, he was concerned with what would come after, on those that would believe and follow, believe them and follow that work later.

John 14 and verse 12, he said, Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do. And greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father. Now, I said, some people say, Mr. Armstrong, preach the gospel so we don't have to. Well, the apostles could say, Well, Jesus preached the gospel pretty effectively.

How can we follow him and hope to do anything? But they knew that they had to, because he told them to. Before he left them the last time, he said, Go preach the gospel. But he made it clear, he said, I did great works. You're going to do greater works, because I'm going to the Father, which meant he was going to send them the Holy Spirit. God's power would come in them and make it possible for them to do greater works.

I went, how can we do greater works than Jesus Christ? But when it comes to preaching the gospel, he traveled around Israel. He went to Nazareth in Galilee, and he preached in synagogues. He did a powerful and effective work, but what came beyond was what really reached out, because he prepared a people to do that work. And, of course, he's doing it through... He did it through them. He'll do it through us. So a greater, more powerful work would be done.

And if you'll turn forward a couple more pages to John 17. John 17, verse 20. I want to tie this in now. In this scripture, he's praying to God the Father. But he takes time out of this prayer, or as part of this prayer, to pray about those men who are there listening to him. I can imagine they might have felt a little bit self-conscious. Here is the Savior who has told you he's about to be crucified, and he's talking to God in front of you, and he starts talking about you.

That could make you a little self-conscious, but I take some reassurance from this, and they probably did too, because he says, I do not... Well, actually, let's back up a little bit. Because in verse 19, he says, For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified in the truth. So he's praying for them to be sanctified or set aside. And then he says, I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.

So I'm praying for these men right here, but also for those who don't believe yet, but are going to. That would include the thousands who were baptized on that first Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out. Those who came to the truth when the apostles and the brethren were scattered and preached the gospel everywhere. But I think it also continued down through the ages, all the way to us. We are among those who believe through their word, through their written word, through their example, and through those who, as Romans 10 said, those who were sent. And we've heard the word and we believe because someone went out and preached the gospel.

So Jesus Christ was praying for us, and I think there's a responsibility laid on us to continue that tradition. We are here because someone did the work of preaching the gospel and making disciples of us. Certainly we want to carry on and do that so that others will be here later on. You know, that of course includes our little children. I'm looking for mine. He disappeared. Luckily we've got a microphone here. So he's in there listening, I'm sure, and taking notes.

Now, some might say, okay, you know, all that applied to them. That was New Testament first century stuff. But what if Matthew 24, 14 had been fulfilled by Mr. Armstrong? We seem to be at the time of the end. And the disciples in the first century, they traveled and they preached the gospel, but did it go to all the world? They say maybe that the prophecy wasn't fulfilled yet, but now it has been.

Can we say we're done? Well, I still don't think so, and I hope I've made a case with you already that you're convinced. There's one other interesting story that I think helps make this point. If you'll turn with me to Matthew 26. Now, I'm going to be honest, the Scripture, the story, is absolutely true.

It's in the Word. I'm going to draw a little speculation on one lesson we can learn from this. In Matthew 26, we'll begin in verse 6. Now, this is not long before Christ's crucifixion, obviously. It says, Jesus was in Bethany, and he stayed in the house of Simon the leper. And a woman came to him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on his head while he sat at the table. But when his disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, Why this waste? This fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.

When Jesus was aware of that, obviously they weren't making too much of a fuss directly to him, but he became aware of it, and he said, What are you troubling this woman for? She has done a good work for me. He said, You always have the poor, but me you do not have always. Sorry, I'm paraphrasing a little. For in pouring this fragrant oil on my body, she did it for my burial. Assuredly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.

Interesting. Now, this story, you might wonder, how are they connected? This woman comes and she anoints him, and he says, This is for my burial. And it's so important that wherever the gospel is preached, this story is going to be included. Okay, that's a prophecy by Jesus Christ. How has that been fulfilled? And I'm asking the question, I've pondered this at times because I read it and said, Wow, that's kind of interesting. When I was a kid, I was watching the World Tomorrow program, and I'd read the Plain Truth and the booklets.

And I don't know, at some time it might have been addressed, but I never saw this story discussed. You know, in all the preaching of the gospel, there are other things to talk about. You know, Jesus Christ returned, and the kingdom of God, you know, lay on us. I don't hear Him talking about this woman anointing Him. And then I thought, well, it has to be fulfilled.

Maybe it's been fulfilled in a way that I wasn't thinking of. You know, it's in the Bible. It's in the Bible not once, not twice, but three different times. You know, Matthew has it, Mark has it, and John has it. And I'm not sure what Luke was thinking, but maybe he was thinking they've already covered it. I don't have to say it again. But okay, I thought, well, it's in the Scripture, and in our modern era, and even a little before, the words of this book have been translated into just about every language we can imagine.

And it's been disseminated all around the world. In this are all the words and are all the teaching that would ever be necessary for preaching the gospel. So you could say, in one sense, that prophecy was fulfilled because the Bible has gone to all the world. And that way, the gospel has been preached to all the world.

Now, I'm not saying that's the absolute definition of this, but if that were true, could Mr. Armstrong have said, well, Matthew 24, 14 has been fulfilled. This has been done long before I came on the scene. I don't need to preach the gospel. Maybe he could have, but he didn't. And he would never have suggested that we should have said that.

He instead said, like the Apostle Paul, woe is me if I don't preach the gospel. God has opened my mind to a special, precious truth. I've got to go forward and preach the gospel, whether or not it's already been done. I don't care if Matthew 24, 14 has been fulfilled. The end will come when the end comes. We need to be busy doing the work. One of the things I would say in Mark 16, verse 15, when he said, go preach the gospel, he didn't give an expiration date.

He didn't say, preach it until this happens, or until such and such a date on the calendar is reached. He just said, go out and preach the gospel. And if we'll turn to the book of Luke 12, I think that will, a parable that Christ gave, will demonstrate the mindset we should have both towards living this way of life and towards doing the work that we've been given.

Matthew 12, and we'll begin in verse 40. And this does relate. Remember, the gospel will be preached to all the world, and then the end will come. Well, the end hasn't come yet, so I maintain we'd better be still preaching the gospel. And it says here, be ready, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour that you do not expect. I keep wondering about that, because when I listen to the news, I'm starting to expect Him anytime now. I'm not sure how He's going to pull it off, because if things keep getting worse, I'm going to keep expecting it.

But that's another story. Verse 41, then Peter said to him, Lord, are you speaking this parable only to us or to all people? And he said, Who then is that faithful and wise servant, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food and do season? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. So who is responsible? The one that he finds doing the work. Truly I say to you that he'll make him ruler over all that he has.

But if that servant says in his heart, My master is delaying his coming, or I could paraphrase him. If he says in his heart, Ah, someone else is doing the work, and begins to beat the male and female servants and to eat and drink with the drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he's not looking for him, and an hour when he's not aware and will cut him in two.

That's pretty harsh punishment. And appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant, though, who knew his master's will and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, will be beaten with... Did I skip a scripture there? I'm looking for the one that says, the one that did his will...

Oh, we already read that. We'll make him ruler of his house. Sorry. But he who did not know and committed these things deserving of stripes will be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given from him much will be required, and to whom much has been committed of him they will ask them more. That's sort of where we started, wasn't it? We've been given much. There's a lot of requirement on us. God has given us tremendous blessings, tremendous understanding of his word. He asks us to go and share, to give to others.

Much has been given to us. Much also is required, but it's something that should be a joy to do. How exciting is it when we can share the good news of the kingdom of God? That might bring up one more question, which is... Well, I didn't figure anybody would mind if I ended a little bit early, not with the temperature in here. Although Mr. McNeelie might not be in a hurry to go get over that grill.

How do we do it? How do we preach the gospel then? If I've got you convinced we need to do it, and we know what the gospel is, how do we go about it? Well, I think we tend to think of it in two general ways. One is that overt proclamation. Making a...not a noise, but teaching the word.

Getting the word out there. Preaching what it is. And then there's also the other way of being an indirect witness. Living God's way of life so that people will look and say, there must be something to this. I want to know what's behind it. And if they look into it, they'll find that what's behind our way of life is that we consider ourselves to be citizens of the kingdom of God now, and we're living by that standard.

Now, as a group, as the church, we do a lot of public proclamation, right? We've got websites. We print a magazine. We put out booklets. We've got a TV program. You know, we're doing a lot publicly, and very...it's good, and it's effective. We heard about Mr. McNeely's trip up to Canada, preaching the gospel to a bunch of people that might not have heard it in that way otherwise. I think it's worth mentioning before I go on to some of what we do as individuals.

We tend to overlook that as a group, we also provide a witness. I wonder the people that live around here, if they think, you know, what's going on on Saturdays, that this group of people shows up? You know, and they seem to be nice, and they're not arguing and making a bunch of noise or fighting, and, you know, that makes an impact. And much more so when we all go to the Feast of Cabernacles. You know, suddenly hundreds or perhaps thousands of people are gathered. And I don't know if you've ever had this experience.

If you talk to the people in the hospitality industry, people who work in restaurants and hotels, you know, other groups have conventions and meetings all the time, and people come to tend to come together and they use it as an excuse to party. And stuff gets broken, people get drunk, they get arrested, all kinds of crazy things happen. But when we're living by God's way, we have a group of people that come together, and we provide quite a witness. They say, hey, these people come together, and they're not getting arrested. They're not breaking things. They're not stealing out of the hotel rooms. There's something different about that group. And some people say, I'd like to know what that difference is.

As a matter of fact, it brings to mind, now I'm trying to remember, I was 13 or 14. I hadn't been keeping the Feast of Cabernacles very long, and we were in Norfolk. And this was back in the worldwide Church of God, and we had like 3,000 or 4,000 people there keeping the Feast. And it was the last day, the last great day. And I think it was after the final service. My family was meeting with another, and they were getting ready, we were going to go out to eat.

And this fellow walked up to me on the street. I was out in this paved area outside of the auditorium, and he said, hey, are you at this group meeting here? Probably. He thought I looked a little less threatening because I was a kid. I said, well, yeah, I am. He said, what's going on here? And then he started asking me a question, and I mentioned we were there for the Feast. Well, what's that about? And he started asking me what we believe.

I was totally unprepared, but I guess I was young enough and naive enough that I just answered his questions as best I could. And I looked back later and said, wow, I had a small chance to preach the gospel in a small way because our group provided such a good witness. He had noticed people coming in and that they were different, not like the concert crowds or the salesman or whoever would come and meet.

And we still can have that kind of an impact when we come together. And we can have similar methods available to us as individuals. You might think, how can I preach the gospel? Well, you can go out and try to do a public proclamation, but knowing John 644, we tend to not do that as much. You know, if you go to your next-door neighbor when you get home from church and say, let me tell you the good news of the kingdom of God, they might say, no, thank you.

You know, I had the Jehovah's Witnesses here earlier today, and I don't want to hear from you either. But we can set that example. We can be that witness that gets their attention. Let's turn to Scripture that you probably know, 1 Peter 3.

1 Peter 3, verse 15. 2 Peter 3, verse 16.

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear. So be ready to give an answer. Well, actually, it says here, be ready to give a defense. The old King James, I kind of like better, it says be ready to give an answer.

Maybe because I heard that so many times. But be ready to give a defense. Now, that might sound kind of odd. Is that like a lawyer getting up before a jury and giving your defense? It is sort of. In other words, you might say, be ready to give an explanation. People might ask, what are you doing?

Why do you have this hope within you? Why do you act and live the way you do? It says, be ready to give a defense. Are you ready? Well, when I say a defense or an explanation, it's the same word that we use in academic circles.

When I was going to graduate school, when I finished writing my big, long dissertation, I had to meet with a group of professors for what was called a defense. Meaning, they were going to ask me, okay, how do you explain the stuff you've written? I get some questions about your research. How did you find this out? Why doesn't this apply?

And I had to give an explanation of why I wrote what I wrote. It's the same thing if someone asks you, why are you going to church on Saturday instead of Sunday? You have to be ready to give a defense, which is not being defensive, but giving an explanation and explaining. Now, this... and what this is saying is, you have to live it first, and then you'll have an opportunity to explain it. If you try to explain it, but you're not living it, people aren't going to care. It won't make a difference. While we're here in 1 Peter, let's skip forward a page to 1 Peter 3.

We're in 3, verses 1 and 2, because this is going to apply in a public. It can apply in families. It says, Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, meaning they haven't been called, they may without a word be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. Now, he's addressing women, but it could apply to men as well. And I like to share the story, especially because they're not here to be embarrassed by it.

My in-laws, you know, my wife grew up in the church, but she shared the story with me many times of how her parents came in. Her father first started receiving the Plain Truth magazine and listening to the telecast, and he became convicted. And he said, I think this is the truth. I need to live this way. And then he came to his wife and explained it, and she said, Henry, you're nuts!

I'm not sure if she said those exact words, but she thought, this guy's off his rock, or everyone knows you go to church on Sunday, and you keep Christmas and all this. But he, you know, he realized he wasn't going to just convince her by words, but he lived it. And there was a little bit of a clash over at first in their household.

One of the favorite stories is, you know, she liked to use Saturdays as laundry day. And so she'd get a load of clothes going, and he'd come along behind her and unplug the washing machine. You know, convince her that's not the day for doing laundry. Well, the story, as I mentioned, Sue grew up in the church.

Her mother finally said, well, if he's going to go to this crazy church and take the boys, you know, I'd better go with him. You know, I'm his wife. I want to present a unified front. So she started attending services. She started listening. She started reading, and God opened her mind to it. She was won first by his conduct and then by the words, not the other way around. Another scripture that relates to this is 1 Corinthians 7, 1 Corinthians 7 and verse 16.

Here it says, for how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife? And of course, it goes on also in the section dimension that talks about how our children would be unclean, but now they're set apart. They're sanctified. Our calling is not only to us, but to our children. So we do give that answer first within our families, but we need to be ready to give an answer, to give an explanation to those without.

And it comes up, you know, or it often will come up if you're living it first. And it doesn't have to be a long, drawn-out answer, but it has to be your answer. One thing you don't want is if people say, why do you do this? And you say, well, here, read this booklet. Or let me give you a URL, go to the website, or talk to my minister. Now, I can tell you now that I'm on this side of the lecture, and ministers are happy to talk to people if they're curious.

So if you want to make a reference, that's great. I'm sure Mr. McNeily would love to have a phone call from someone that says, well, my neighbor is keeping this religion, can you explain more of it? But if someone asks you, why do you go to church on the Sabbath? You should have a reasonable explanation, and it doesn't have to be a lot. That's one of the things it's good for us to keep in mind. You could say, I believe that it's the day that the Bible teaches that we should worship, and Jesus and His disciples went to church on Saturday.

Most people will say, no, okay. You know, someone asks you, why do you keep Christ—or why don't you keep Christmas? A nice, reasonable explanation is, well, I don't believe it's biblical, and I see in the Bible that there are other days that we should keep. You know, some people might want to argue, but most people will say, okay, now I know.

Someone will say, well, really? Can you tell me a little more? That's where the principle of Proverbs 26 comes in. Proverbs 26 verses 4 and 5, if you want it. Well, let's go there. Where you have to exercise a little wisdom and discernment, and how much of an answer to give. But still, as I said, it needs to be your answer. Which means, if you're not sure why you're doing something, you might need to do a little extra study to make sure, why am I doing this?

What do I understand about the gospel of the kingdom of God? Proverbs 26 verse 4, do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him. But the very next verse, the very next verse, it says, answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. Answer him according to his folly. Don't answer him according to his folly. Well, the principle is, discern what their attitude is and answer them as is appropriate. Give them a little answer, give them a lot of an answer, but explain it as appropriate.

And you might have some really good feelings. I'll share one more example. This is, once again, when I was in graduate school, I went down to attended school at Texas A&M, and at one point early on in my career there, I shared an office with two other people, and the office was about as big as this podium here. So we were crammed in there, and we weren't all in there always at the same time.

You know, we were out grading papers, and we'd come in. But one of the fellows that I shared with was a younger fellow, and he was a lawyer's son and very liberal politically. He and I did not see eye to eye on much when it came to social issues or political issues. And when he found out that I was religious, and I went to church every weekend, at one point, I don't remember what it was, and he said, I suppose you believe that I'm going to hell because I don't believe the way you do.

And I said, well, no, I don't. Well, you don't. Why not? And I had an opportunity to explain briefly the resurrection. Well, we believe that people don't burn in and never burning hell, but everyone who's ever lived will have a chance where they'll be resurrected, and there'll be... God will teach them His way of life, and they'll have a choice to accept it. So nobody's going to be condemned without knowing and having a full choice and knowing that it's really what God wants.

And I'll never forget what he responded, and we talked a few more minutes, but he said, hmm, I find that very comforting. And I thought, this guy has never... I thought he'd think I was a crackpot or argue or tell me I'm foolish, but instead he said, I find that comforting. I don't know if he ever changed his life, but I'm looking forward to seeing him, and I have no idea where he is now. This was like probably 20 years ago. He's probably practicing his career, but in the resurrection I hope we get a meet, and I'll say, you might not remember me, but I explained this to you once, and it comforted you then.

It's going to comfort you a lot more now, because you're not in that hot place that you envisioned.

Well, getting towards wrapping up, one other element I wanted to bring into this. I've been talking about our families, talking to our friends. We're introducing a new effort in the church, and I'm sure you've heard about the Kingdom of God Bible Seminars, and it's funny, the latest issue of the Good News, I was thrilled to see that the advertisement, and most of you have probably seen that, or you've seen the crawler on the Beyond Today program.

I'm excited about this happening. It's going to be a chance for all of us to have... well, some of us to have a little more opportunity than others, but all of us to participate in an effort of preaching the gospel, because what we're doing is we're telling all the world who's looking at our message, we'd like you to come, we invite you to come and hear more. And we're going to break this down using those four categories that were in Mark 1, verse 15. The Kingdom of God is at hand. The time is fulfilled.

The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. At least, I'm assuming we're going to be doing this. The reason I'm commenting on it here is, in Columbus a few years ago, we actually did a trial of this. Mr. Stiver had done something similar in the northwest, and he said, let's try this here. It had some effect. Let's try it in Columbus. And we got permission from the home office, and we sent out mailings to everyone in our area that was receiving the good news, saying, we're having this public seminar, you're invited to come and learn more. And he was very careful to explain to all of us sitting in the audience, okay, this is going to happen.

He said, I'm going to get up and teach, but I want you to be there. They're not coming to an empty room. We want them to come and see that other people who read the good news, that other people who watch the Beyond Today program, are normal people. You know, we're not a bunch of weirdos wearing tinfoil hats or something like that, but you'll be there, and they'll say, oh, there's other people, look nice, and they can chat with you.

You know, we're going to have snacks during the breaks. And I think some congregations will have even more of a meal, but they can rub shoulders, and they might listen to Mr. McNeely up here, and some of them will come up and want to talk with him, but some of them, you know, there are some people who are shy, and instead they might want to talk to the person sitting next to them, which could well be you. You know, they might chat with you over a cup of coffee and say, yeah, what about this article that was in the good news talking about, you know, what's happening in Europe?

You know, what do you think about the end of the age? You know, they might ask you about the Sabbath or something like that. It's important for us to all know what we believe and be ready to give that answer, and encourage them to come back. In Columbus, we didn't have a flood of people show up, but every time we did it, we would have half a dozen or so people come in who weren't church members, but they'd been reading the good news, and they wanted to come and hear more.

And some of them came back regularly. Some would attend services. Now, I don't think we had in Columbus, but in the Cambridge congregation, we had a couple who got baptized and are still members of the church that grew out of these public seminars. So I'm excited about them, and I hope that you'll have some excitement. As I said, it's a chance for all of us to make a little more effort at preaching the gospel. It's not going to replace TV and Internet and, you know, printing, but it's a good supplement to it.

Now, I began the sermon by reminding us that our calling is a privilege, and it's a blessing, but with those blessings come responsibilities.

God called us to be in His church not just for our own sake. And you've probably heard that before. You were not called just to get salvation for yourself. You were called now to be part of something bigger, part of a work that's going on. Christ said to His apostles, to His disciples, He told them, preach the gospel and make disciples. With God's blessing, we're going to do that. Let's all work together, and all of us, let's preach the gospel.