Sojourners in a Foreign Land

Thank you, Oliver. We appreciate that very much. Very beautiful. Tremendous meaning in that song, for sure.

May God's will be done, and the sooner the better.

Brother, over 200 years ago, in 1785, at the height of civil tensions in France, a baby boy was born in a very small French town. He would later become a major influence in the lives of many people in America. So, over 200 years ago, this person was going to affect people here in America, and frankly, around the world in many respects. Most of you have never heard of this man, but his service and his sojourning in our country, here in the United States of America, a foreign land to him, has made a huge difference in the lives of even some of our brethren in God's Church today and throughout a number of years. His name is Laurent Clare. His last name is spelled C-L-E-R-C. How many of you have heard of Laurent Clare? There are very few that have heard of Laurent Clare in this room, so you will learn something today. Born deaf, Laurent Clare grew up in a silent world.

He grew up in rural France. His problem was not being able to hear, however.

Instead, it was not being able to communicate. He could not communicate very effectively, even with his own parents. He had no real language, no communication. He was mainly gesturing to family members to make his needs known and his desires known. Without the gift of language, many doors were closed to young Laurent Clare. His parents, in the course of time, heard of a school in Paris for deaf children. And so, at the age of 12, Laurent Clare started on a journey that would later lead him across a vast ocean to America. Having no way of understanding what was happening to him at this new school, it was so different. Everything was new. At first, young Laurent was terrified.

Thankfully, the terror soon ended because he realized that it was a good thing that he was there.

And at this school in Paris, Laurent Clare was given the incredible gift of language.

He was also given a new family to teach him that language. Certainly, he missed his parents, he missed his family, but he gained something so valuable. After learning French sign language and how to read and write French, his insatiable appetite to learn made him more highly educated than most of us here in this room. Upon graduation, Clare became a teacher of the National Institution for the Deaf in Paris. He traveled with his deaf teacher, John Massieu, and the director of the school, a priest, Abbé Saccard. And their mission was to demonstrate the learning potential of deaf people. I don't know if you knew this, but Aristotle had the bright idea that deaf people were substandard humans. He believed that they were unable to think since they were unable to hear. And that was the common view of many educators of the day.

While traveling in England, Clare met a young minister named Thomas Gallaudet. How many of you have heard of Thomas Gallaudet? Not too many have heard of Thomas Gallaudet, either. But Thomas Gallaudet also would have a huge impact for some people, especially deaf people, here in the United States.

So he met a young minister, Thomas Gallaudet. Thomas was supported by the father of a young deaf girl in America. He sent Gallaudet to Europe, traveling and searching for teaching methods to bring home to America. America was a nation that had just gotten started. 1785 or a little bit, I mean, it was a little later than that, around 1800 or early 1800s. So there wasn't much going on in America when it came to the deaf people that were born there. They were pretty much in the dark, so to speak, almost like they were blind. They were just deaf. They weren't blind, but they were in darkness to a large degree. So Gallaudet was traveling and looking for teaching methods to bring home. His goal was to establish America's first school for deaf people.

Gallaudet was invited to Paris to study at the school there. Thomas Gallaudet was impressed with the method of teaching signs, as well as written language at the school. And after three months of intensive studying, he suggested that Laurent Clerc go back to him to America, go back with him to America. His hope was that together they would establish the first school for deaf people in America. So from the start, Laurent Clerc had a lot of opposition to this idea.

Abbé Sécard, the head of the school, the French school where he'd been teaching, thought it was foolishness to go to America, saying that America practically belonged to the Indians at that point. His mother, who brought Laurent up to be a devout Catholic, said he would be going to a heretical country with a false religion. America belonged to the heathens and to the Protestants. And that wasn't a good thing when you were Catholic. So Sécard and also his parents opposed him going. But before long, Clerc and Gallaudet were on their way to America. It took them 52 days on a slow boat to get there, but they used the time well, learning from each other.

Gallaudet taught Clerc to read and write English, and Clerc taught Gallaudet some French sign language. Together, they established the first residential school for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. In his lifetime, Clerc saw his efforts magnified as graduates of the school in Hartford, when all over the country, when all over America, establishing schools in many states. In fact, 16 different schools were established in the 40-year period between 1817 and 1857. He also lived to see the establishment of the first college for Deaf people, and to this day, it's the only liberal arts college for Deaf people in the world. It's called Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. Even today, approximately 70 percent of American sign language—and you can see some sign language going on down here—70 percent of the signs are from French sign language, most of them arriving on the hands of Laurent Clerc. Through the efforts and sojourning of one man, American sign language and American Deaf culture were born and have flourished. Thomas Gallaudet really wasn't that instrumental in terms of the actual language. It was Laurent Clerc who knew the signs and could sign well. So Clerc saw tremendous results in his lifetime, and at his death, he could look back over his life, and he could see that because of his willingness to sojourn, to go to a foreign land, thousands of people who had doors shut to them, those doors were flung open, and now they could communicate with one another.

What a tremendous blessing it was for those people to have someone like that with the courage to leave things behind and come to America and share all that he had to make things better here in America. After he died in 1869 at the age of 84, the School for Deaf People in Hartford, Connecticut, erected a statue of him, and it had upon it this inscription, Laurent Clerc, the Apostle to the Deaf of the New World. And it went on to say in smaller print, who left his native land to uplift them with his teachings and to encourage them by his example.

Like Laurent Clerc, who left his native land to become a sojourner in a foreign land, you and I have been called by God to sojourn now in these temporary tabernacles, this flesh that we all have, these fleshly bodies, we are called now at this time to be Christ's sojourners or Christ's ambassadors. We are called for a purpose. We are called to leave our native land of Satan society. Satan is the god of this world. So we're supposed to leave that society, and we are to sojourn for a much better world to come.

So we are to leave Satan society, and we are to uplift others with God's teachings, and encourage them by our example of Christ living in us. So when you think of a sojourner, whom do you immediately think of first? Someone from the Bible. You probably think of Abraham, because Abraham is referred to basically as a sojourner, a pilgrim, a stranger in a foreign land. Let's go to Hebrews 11, where we'll read about Abraham. Abraham is the father of the faithful, and we are the faithful as we follow Abraham. Follow his example. We follow his lead. Hebrews 11, beginning in verse 8. By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance, to go to the land of Canaan, to the Promised Land. And he went out not knowing where he was going. He had never been there before, but God told him to go, and so he was willing to go. And by faith he dwelt in the land of promise, as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise, his sons who would follow in his footsteps. For he waited for the city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God. He waited for the new Jerusalem. We also wait for the new Jerusalem to be established. By faith, Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age because she judged him faithful, who had promised. God had promised that it would be through Isaac that the seed, Jesus Christ, would come, a blessing to all people who have ever lived and will live. Therefore, from one man and him as good as dead, from Abraham, were both as many as the stars of the sky and multitude, innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. So many have come from Abraham and from Sarah and their faithfulness and their union and their willingness to leave their land where they had grown up, where they had family, where they knew people. They were willing to leave that to be pioneers and to pioneer a new way. So, brethren, what lessons can we learn from the example of Laurent Clerc that will help us be sojourners with a purpose? Not wandering aimlessly in the wilderness for 40 years like Israel, because remember there were unfaithful spies who said, we're not large enough, we're not big enough to take on these giants. Joshua and Caleb, on the other hand, said, no, with God on our side, nothing can stop us. Let's go in now. Let's take the land. But unfortunately, the children of Israel did not listen to Joshua and Caleb. They listened to the other 10 spies. And so it did not go well for them, and they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Needlessly, frankly, they could have entered had they had faith. So what lessons can we learn, and how can we become true ambassadors for Jesus Christ? A sojourner is one who is dwelling temporarily in a foreign land.

We're dwelling temporarily here. We await a kingdom, a better land, the kingdom of God to be established. An ambassador is one who represents a country or government while dwelling in a foreign land. An ambassador is also an official messenger sent on a special mission. So all of us have a special mission because we are called to be ambassadors. We're called to be sojourners. Are you a productive sojourner? Are you an effective ambassador for Jesus Christ? We should ask ourselves this question, and we should strive to be better at our calling.

So let's talk about becoming productive sojourners and ambassadors for Christ right now, because this is where we live in a foreign land, but we have to make the best of it.

So I'd like to share with you some principles that you can put into effect right now that will allow you to be a better sojourner and a better ambassador for Jesus Christ. The first one, the first principle, is that obviously we have to value the gift that we've been given. So let's talk about how much do we value this wonderful gift that we're given. You know, I know that many of you value it greatly because you're still here after years and years of being called out by God, and you're still hanging in there. Some of you have been here 50 and 60 years. I've only been here 40 some, so I'm just a child, a baby. Some have been here quite a bit longer than I have, and we have some that are just beginning, though. New sojourners, new ambassadors for Christ. We really have to value what we've been given. Young Laurent had no language for 12 years. It wasn't until he was 12 years old that he really learned an effective language. Yes, he stumbled around and could communicate to some degree with his parents, his family, but for the most part he was cut off and could not communicate well at all.

So he was very appreciative when he was given the gift of language. He really did appreciate what he had been given. Of course, we have been given the very language of God. If you do believe in what we stand for here today, if you do have faith that God has called you out of this world and that God is opening your mind to his truth and his way of life, then you have been given the language of God. You can communicate with God. You can talk to him on a spiritual basis. God works with you through the power of his Spirit that either is working with you or dwelling in you, depending on where you are right now in your calling. Sometimes it takes going without in order to take things for granted or in order not to take things for granted. Sometimes people who grow up in the church are clueless. Sometimes the children that grow up in God's church, sometimes they're clueless as to the incredible gift that they've been given. They take it for granted. They don't treasure it.

Sometimes they even throw it away for a time. Hopefully they will always come back to it.

But it really is a pearl of great price. This calling that we have is a pearl of great price. It's something that we should be willing to give up everything for. Sometimes those of us who have been in the church for many years forget just how precious God's truth really is. Sometimes we take it for granted as well and we go through the motions.

And we're not as fervent and not as zealous as we really need to be. We need to have the same kind of vigor and vitality that someone like Lauren Clare had who faced all opposition and continued to battle so that others could learn the language that he learned. So they could communicate. Deaf people being able to communicate. He had a goal and a mission. We need to be driven as well.

In Revelation chapter 2, let's read this for a moment. Revelation chapter 2 verse 1, This is to the angel of the church of Ephesus. He says, Right, these things, says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil, and you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars, and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for my name's sake, and have not become weary. Nevertheless, I have this against you that you have left your first love. So they were dedicated people in many respects.

There were many good things about them. They had persevered. They had patience. They were long suffering. And yet their love had waned. Their first love had waned. The zeal that was behind that first love had waned. He says, remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works. Be just as excited as you were when you first came into God's church and allow that to guide you and to lead you and to motivate you and help you make choices and decisions that will make you a stronger ambassador for Jesus Christ. Repent and do the first works. And then in Revelation chapter 3 verse 15, this is to the lukewarm church, to Laodicea, verse 15, I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish that you were cold or hot. So then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth because you say I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing and do not know that you are actually wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Talking spiritually, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire. So God does want us to take very seriously our calling. He does want us to repent. He does want us to be hot, not lukewarm. And frankly, it's easy to get somewhat lukewarm when you've been at this for 30 and 40 and 50 and 60 years. So you are to be commended for being here, but also you are to stir up that first love and become even more dedicated than ever before.

So the first point is greatly value the gift that you've been given. Greatly value it. Secondly, we must love those who are now in the same situation that we were once in.

Unless you grow up in God's church and many of us have not grown up in the church, then we can understand that once we were not a part of this, once we thought differently, I was attending a Methodist church as a child. And as I was older, still at 18 years old, I attended the Methodist church at times. And it's important that I realized that if it weren't for God's grace, I might still be in the Methodist church. I might be in some other church, but I wouldn't be in God's church unless God called me and brought me out of that. So, Claire, Lauren Claire, had an empathy and a love for others who didn't have the opportunities that he had.

In America, again, they were cut off from this kind of knowledge. No one was really teaching sign language effectively in the United States of America. Without knowing their names or faces, he understood their plight. He understood that there were people who needed him.

And so, he gave it up and came to America. So, when we look back at biblical history, we see the apostles had this same love. And we know that Jesus Christ had this same love, not only for those he knew and those he had known as the primary God that's revealed in the Old Testament, but also for us today. People he had never laid eyes on. Let's go to Acts 2, verse 38, because it's talking to you and I about you and me. In Acts 2, verse 38, this was on the day of Pentecost when the Christian church was raised up at this point. And Peter preached a powerful sermon and people were cut to the heart because they had crucified the Messiah. They had crucified Christ. And so Peter said to them, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children. It wasn't just those who were there that day, or even the children that were there that day, but children who were to come. And also to all who are afar off. Okay, we're afar off 2,000 years later. This is pretty far off. So they cared about you and about me. And we should also care about others, all people who have not yet been called of God, because we frankly don't know when God will call our neighbor. We don't know when he's going to call a coworker. And regardless, we need to be doing our part as examples of God's way of life, loving all people. Because God so loved the world, he gave his only son. He loved the whole world. And we need to also have love for the whole world. Without true love, nothing of lasting value is going to be accomplished in your life. Without the kind of godly love that we all need.

The Bible tells us that we are to cry and to sigh over the abominations of the world. And I gave a sermon where I mentioned this not long ago. And those who sigh and cry are going to be protected in the last days. Those who are moved by the plight of people who are not so blessed to know God's truth now, and they're going astray, they're walking astray, and they're going to they're going to reap the consequences of a world that is sinned against God, who is not repenting for the most part. And so we should sigh and cry over all that's going on in the world. One of the reasons is because if we have the same love that God has for the people of the world, and if we're truly hurting for other people, people that God loves, then we will pray for them more faithfully, more fervently. We'll pray that God's kingdom be established soon, and that Christ return, and that things get better for them. In Romans chapter 10, the Scripture says, whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. So we should want that for all people, all people to come to a knowledge of God's truth. It says there is no distinction between Jews and Greeks. Let's go to Romans chapter 10. Let's read this together. Let's consider how this applies to us as sojourners today, as pilgrims, as strangers on the earth. Romans 10 verse 11. For the Scripture says, whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon him. For whoever calls on the name of the Eternal shall be saved. So all people who truly call upon God will be saved. And it does talk about an innumerable amount of people that will be called in the last days. So we don't know who those people are, but we might be able to have some impact and some effect upon them.

So we should really care for them. We should go out or away. We should be willing to sacrifice for everyone. We should see the bigger picture. It's not just about you. It's not just about me as the firstfruits. It's about all people who God will call and all who call upon God and are sincere in calling upon God. It says that all who call upon God sincerely are going to be saved. Now we might, as parents, ask ourselves the question, who do we cry and sigh over the most?

Is it not our children? I know my wife and I have cried and sighed over some of the decisions that our children have made, some of the things that they have done that we wish they hadn't done. I'm sure that's true for all parents.

You know, it makes us hurt when we see them making decisions that will hurt them in some way or another.

There is no greater human love than the love of a parent for a child.

And of course, we need to love people before we're going to be able to grieve for them. How are we going to sigh and cry if we don't really love people and care for them? All people. Not just our own families, not just our own children, but all people. We need to grieve for this world because things are going to get worse and worse and worse.

These are just signs of the times. These hurricanes, these disasters. Not too long ago, a tsunami that came along killed 200,000 people over in Indonesia. I mean, these things happen on a regular basis. And when it all comes apart at the seams, it's going to be very frightening for everyone who walks the earth.

So it is important, brethren, that we love those who are now in the same situation that we were once in.

Yes, we've been called out. We have a different outlook. We have a different perspective. But it's not all about you and me. It's about all whom God will call, and He will call all people eventually. And we should love all people now.

Lauren Clare loved people enough to come and do something, to give up His life to a large degree, to serve other people.

Number three, another principle in becoming effective sojourners and pilgrims, we must be willing to sacrifice all that we have so that others may share in our inheritance.

I already mentioned John 3, 16. God gave His only Son to die for all of mankind. So love produces action. We know that we are to be doers of the law, not just hearers only. We are to go out of these doors after having heard, and we're supposed to do something with what we've heard. We are to be better people for what we've been taught. True Agape love must be present to produce the zeal and willingness to make the sacrifices that will make a difference in this world. The love of the apostles, their love of God and their love for those in the world and in the Church, was something very powerful.

It was made possible because of God's Spirit working and dwelling in them. They were capable of continual self-sacrifice.

So how willing are we to sacrifice ourselves continually so that God's will be done and so that people will have a true ambassador living near them that will stand up for what's right and good and set a good example every step of the way. Laurent Clare was willing to sacrifice the comfortable lifestyle that he had achieved in France, go to a foreign country and make a difference. He took with him the most precious gift he was given. That was this gift of language. We again have that gift of God's language to share with others. The apostles gave up everything as well. Paul suffered greatly as we know, as he continued to be faithful, bringing a gospel message to people whom God was calling.

You can read about that in the Bible.

He was compelled to share the gospel with them. Let's see that in 2 Corinthians 11. Let's consider the ambassador for Christ, the Apostle Paul. 2 Corinthians 11, verse 22. He says, Are they Hebrews? So am I. He was of the children of Israel. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. No, he made no bones about who he was. He was called of God. He was a vessel that God had called out of this world.

He says, I am more in labors, more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons, more frequently, in deaths. Often, his life was at stake many times. From the Jews, five times I received 40 stripes, minus one, 39 stripes, five different times. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. I was a night and a day in the ocean, in the depths of the sea. In journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles. People who vowed that they would not eat until they killed Paul.

They were intent on killing Paul. God didn't allow it at that time.

He did later on, but not for quite some time after that. In the wilderness, in perils, in the sea, in perils among false brethren. In wariness, in toil, in sleeplessness, often. In hunger, in thirst, in fastings, often. In cold and nakedness.

Besides the other things, what comes upon me daily, my deep concern for all the churches.

So even though he had to suffer all these tremendous trials and persecutions, his heart and his mind was on serving God's people, and bringing the truth to them, and encouraging them, and helping them.

Paul sacrificed himself as an ambassador for Christ. He sets an example for all of us that we are to follow.

So the third principle was, be willing to sacrifice all that you have for the pearl of great price, and share that with others. We want them to share in our inheritance.

A fourth principle in becoming a more effective sojourner, an ambassador, is we must be willing to go anywhere. And step forward in faith. Now, I know these points intertwine. They dovetail. But we must be willing to go anywhere and step forward in faith. Laurent Clerc left his biological family. He left his family of the heart.

He left his death family in Paris. No doubt he had many, many friends in Paris. To cross an ocean with a man he barely knew, a man he'd only known for a few months, a man who didn't know his own language. He was teaching him his language. Yet he knew Thomas Gallaudet better than anyone else he would meet in the future.

He knew no one in America. He lived comfortably in France. He was a teacher. He was well-respected. One of the most well-respected deaf people in France.

He lived comfortably, but he was willing to sacrifice all that. He went to a country that was considered by the French as uncivilized, as uncouth, as filled with Indians and frontiersmen.

His goal and desire was to share his gift of language with those yet unable to understand the value of the gift that they were lacking.

We, too, must be willing to sacrifice what is necessary to fulfill God's calling in our lives. Are we willing to share the gift that we have with others, or are we somewhat fearful?

Do we try to blend in with the world too much? Do we try to blend in where we work a little too much? Are we willing to be different?

Are we willing to let people know that we're not just going on vacation, but we're going to keep the Feast of Tabernacles? Now, I'm not saying we should necessarily trumpet that in the loudest way possible, but don't hide it either.

It's good for them to know that you're going to keep God's Holy Days, that these are God's days, and that God has called you out of this world to understand this truth, and that, frankly, someday they need to come to a knowledge of this truth.

And if they're receptive now, then by all means, tell them about God's way. Tell them about the truth of God that has meant so much to you. Share that with them. Help them to have a little bit more of God's language in their life.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 5, again, we're going to read from the Apostle Paul. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 18.

Again, notice his example. He says, Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. We all have the ministry of reconciliation.

That is, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. No, it's not just us. It's the whole world that God wants to reconcile to himself. So we have to look beyond our calling and realize that God is calling others right now, as he has called us, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

When people come to repentance, their sins are forgiven.

They're no longer under the death penalty.

And we don't know, again, who God is calling necessarily, so we should reach out to whoever is willing, leave the calling up to God, of course. We can't call anyone. But the Scripture also shows that people can also call upon God.

It's a two-way thing. You know, God first draws them, but they must also respond. They must also do their part. They must also call upon God. At that point, and if you can encourage them to do that, to respond to God, you know, to heed His calling, then you've done them a tremendous blessing.

It says, for He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, Christ dying for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him, Christ living in us, putting upon us a new mind, putting the mind of Christ within ourselves, that we might think like Him. Do you try to get as close to the actions of those at work as possible instead of standing up? Do you try to blend in as much as you can, rather than making a stand when you really ought to make a stand?

When it's time to say, well, I'm not going to do that, and here's why. You know, I am a Christian. I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe He's my Savior.

I believe He died for me.

He died for you also.

So, again, we should be willing to share this language that God has given us with others, and have the courage to do that in a balanced, godly way, having discernment when to do it. You know, obviously, we don't want to turn people off. If God's not working with them, if they're not at all interested, it won't take long for us to figure that out.

So, we should use wisdom.

Today, in a physical sense, many ministers have to be willing to move to an area when people tell us to go, then it's our part to go. Sometimes we have to do things that we don't want to do, but we do them for the overall good. And we all need to have that same attitude and approach when God is the one directing us and calling us to do something.

Spiritually, who knows what paths God will lead any of us on down? Where will he lead us in the future? We don't know that. We should be searching to know that. You know, what does God want for you? Will we have faith to walk down whatever path God leads us? Will we have confidence knowing that God is with us and that He is directing us?

We need to be capable servants of God, led by His Spirit. Certainly, there's a better world coming. And people need to hear about that. People need to have some hope. So, are our lives centered on how we can help preach the Gospel today? Are our lives centered on that? Or do we just think that that's not our responsibility in any way? Leave it up to the Boys in Cincinnati.

Leave it up to the Beyond Today crew. We don't have anything to do whatsoever. Now, I think we need to take a little more personal responsibility with the example that we set and how we speak God's language and how we share that with others. So, that's the fourth principle in becoming a more effective sojourner.

Be willing to go anywhere and step forward in faith. Trust God. Follow His lead. A fifth principle is we must put personal differences aside in order to be effective team players. Now, we all have personal differences in what we think is best or right. Gallaudet and Clare were probably about as different as two people can be.

They were very different. Without their common cause, they would have had very different opinions. Without their common cause, they would have had very little in common. Gallaudet was a young, conservative Protestant minister who was taken aback by the city life of Paris. He was appalled by the sins of Paris. They had different languages.

They had different religions. One was Protestant. The other one was Catholic. They came from different cultures. They came from different backgrounds. The only thing they had in common was their desire to give the gift of language and knowledge to deaf people. They put aside their differences and they chose to sacrifice those differences for the common goal. We are a brotherhood in God's Church. We should not allow our personal differences to divide us. We should not allow that to happen. We need to love each other and make allowances for different temperaments and ways of doing things.

I'm not saying for sin. We don't make allowances for sin. The Bible instructs us what we are to do if it's a sin. We are to go to our brother and say, hey, do you realize what you are doing? You need to stop. If they don't listen, get another brother to go and reiterate what you've both seen and try to help someone. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking more about differences of approach and temperament and differences in how one thinks they should preach the gospel and how another thinks they should preach the gospel. Those types of differences should not divide us.

We should be unified and get behind those that God is using to lead things. Pray for them. Pray for the leadership in the church. Pray for the council. Pray for Mr. Kubik. Pray that God would guide them and lead them, that we could be all an effective team as a United Church of God, all doing our part together.

Now, Laurent Clare and Thomas Gallaudet had a successful partnership that lasted until Gallaudet's death. Many, many years later. Do we with God's Spirit have that type of cooperation? At times, it doesn't always appear that we do. Now, the history of God's Church, modern history, doesn't always show that we have that type of cooperation, that same team spirit, everyone working together, making good choices, setting a good example. At times, it doesn't, again, appear that we have that, but I'm hoping that that will change and that we will be more unified as God's people.

We do have something in common that Clare and Gallaudet didn't have. We have a common faith. We have the Spirit of God. We have something far more powerful than their goal. Our goal is to do God's will and to share God's truth, the good news of the Gospel, the Kingdom of God, to all people. So do we have the kind of love that will allow that to happen? Or has our love wax cold? And does it show that we really don't have love for each other, like we should? If we have the right kind of love, it will overpower cultural differences.

It will overpower personal agendas. It will overpower any barrier that would otherwise divide us. So the fifth principle is we must put personal differences aside in order to be effective team players doing God's will. A sixth principle is we must work diligently to teach others to be teachers also. We must work diligently to teach others to be teachers. I hope we all realize that God has called us to be teachers.

Obviously, we are to teach our children God's way. We are to show them the way, and we are to teach anyone that is, frankly, receptive. We don't have to just point them to a booklet. We can tell them what the Bible says. We can share with them on a personal basis. So are we now working hard to teach all those within our responsibility, with our sphere of influence, to be teachers today and in the world tomorrow?

Do we have that kind of a concept or an outlook? Starting with ourselves, are we preparing to be teachers? Are you preparing to be a teacher? Are you a diligent student of the Bible? If you're not faithfully studying the Bible, then you're not a diligent student of the Bible. You're neglecting that, and you should stop neglecting that. You should spend more time in the Bible so that you can be a more effective teacher, so you can first teach yourself and then be able to teach others.

Are we devoting ourselves to learning God's Word and living it, thereby proving that we, indeed, will live by every word of God? There is great blessing in keeping God's laws. How well do we believe that, and how well do we show that to others? How well are we speaking the language of God, and how well are we teaching our children to speak it? Is that the kind of culture that we have in God's Church?

That we love God, we love His truth, we love His way of life? We're very happy to be called now at this time. And that we want to share this with others. Is that how our children look at us? And are they also willing to share what they know? Are we devoting ourselves, again, to living by God's Word, by showing that we really do believe in God and His ways?

Are we taking advantage of the opportunities that we have to sow seed on fertile ground? Are we getting actively involved in the Church's programs to help spread the Gospel message? Are we praying about it? Are we praying about the seminars and that God would call people? Maybe God isn't calling a tremendous amount of people now, but He is calling some. And perhaps He would call it more if He saw that the intent of our heart was really in this work. That it was really in this work and wanting what we have for all people.

These are just things that we should ask ourselves. We should examine ourselves, look inside, look at the intent that we have. Are we fervently praying for God's will to be done and for God's Church to be a beacon, a tremendous light in this dark world? So we must learn to be teachers ourselves, and then we must also share that with our children, that they might be teachers as well and teach them a Godly balance so that they can get along well with their classmates and with their little friends and that they're not overbearing.

That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying with a Godly balance, people see God's way in our lives working in us. So we must diligently teach others to be teachers as well. And then the last principle, the last point, we must work diligently against the opposition, and we must never give up. To he who endures to the end, the same will be saved.

We must never give up. Many educators were against sign language and the establishment of residential schools for deaf people. Many people were against deaf people even marrying, and they tried to pass laws forbidding that. Reminds me of Nazi Germany. Frankly, some of the approach that people were having against deaf people back 200 years ago was similar to what the Nazis were doing. They were sterilizing deaf people. That's a sad commentary, isn't it? That's the human mind, that's the carnal mind, that's enmity against God. It's not subject to God's laws. We must not think like that.

Many of the people who held these views were respected and well-known in America. In fact, Alexander Graham Bell was one of the most influential against this idea. I think he had married a deaf woman who was deaf later on in her life, who could still speak and communicate. So he did not realize. He was ignorant, frankly, of the needs of deaf people who have been deaf from birth. He was ignorant, and he was opposing much of what Laurent Clerc and what Thomas Gallaudet stood for. Their unspoken goal, Alexander Graham Bell and others, was to isolate deaf people from each other and not allow them to have their natural common language in which to freely exchange ideas.

If you've ever seen deaf people get together, they know how to communicate. They can get together, and the signs are flying, and they're comprehending, and we're not. They're speaking a different language. It's a language that they've learned. It's a language that binds them together in many respects. So it is something, again, that should be encouraged, that they might have an ability to communicate with one another. And with us as well, as some of us learn sign language. There are some girls down here watching my wife right now, hoping to learn more about sign language so they can also help others.

Claire and Gallaudet fought endlessly against such persecution. There was a lot of persecution against them. They fought endlessly against it. Now, a lot of it was misguided efforts, and they frankly almost succeeded in causing the extinction of American sign language. It almost never got off the ground. Now it serves many people. Now, brethren, you and I have formidable foes as well. Satan the devil is the God of this world. He is a roaring lion. He is seeking whom he may devour. We fight not against flesh and blood, but we do fight against Satan and his influences, which is the major culture of the day, much of it highly respected by those containing the wisdom of this world.

Satan, too, wants to divide us so we will lose our effectiveness and our common bond and discourage us. He wants us to feel alone and isolated, and he wants us to become absorbed into his culture, a dark culture, frankly, that reflects Satan and his goals. Satan's culture saturates the media. It saturates the schools. It, unfortunately, saturates the building blocks of society, even the American family. TV, as it is, for the most part, not every show, frankly. I'll tell you a good show. I'll tell you a good one. It's called Heartland. I was talking to someone about Heartland. I'm not ashamed to say that I like Heartland, because it's a pretty good show. There's not much bad in that show, frankly, and it's got quite a bit of good in it. So if you want your kids to watch a show that's pretty decent, check it out. There's nine years of it now that you can go watch on Netflix. But most of the media is not perfect, by the way. I'm not endorsing every single thing that goes on in that show. But I'm just saying that, compared to the vast majority of everything that's out there, I'd rather watch that and get a chance to just relax a little bit. It's about horses. I like horses. But it's a lot of interaction between people. And there's actually some inspiring moments that I get out of watching the thing. So I would just encourage us to come out of the world, though, and be careful what we do watch and what we saturate our minds with. Let's make some good sound choices and stop saying yes to things that will hurt us spiritually. So are we fighting tirelessly against the opposition? Is that the approach that you have? You'll never give up. You'll always fight, no matter what. Or have we given up? Have we stopped fighting? Have we thrown in the towel? Are we being overcome by the world? Do we open our minds and give them over to anything and everything that Satan is trying to put there? Or do we realize and appreciate the value and the gift of a clean heart and a clean mind? Do we fight with everything in our power to possess the gift of a clean heart, a pure heart? God does look on our hearts, and he wants to see purity there. And when he sees purity, he blesses us beyond our belief, beyond our imagination, beyond anything that we could possibly understand.

He's looking for purity. Do we put on the whole armor of God? Do we go out day after day into battle, protected by God's Spirit, or are we unprotected? Have we been diligent in our prayers, in the study of God's Word, and when we go out in the morning, we have the armor of God to see us throughout the day? Or are we weaponless, allowing our minds to be polluted and our hearts hardened to sin in the suffering that is a result of that sin? Today, we've talked about seven principles that will help us be better sojourners, better ambassadors for Jesus Christ. Lauren Clara, a deaf child who, at the age of 12, was without any real language, gave up everything that he knew and sojourned into a foreign land to become known as the Father of the Deaf in America. Could it someday be said of us, as it was stated on the statue erected in his honor, that he left his native land to uplift them with his teachings and to encourage them by his example? Is that what people will think about you when you go? When it's your time? People who knew you? Will they be inspired by your legacy, what you left behind, what you did, what you were living, and what you passed on to others? When you see sign language in the future, think of the incredible gift the Deaf were given because one man was willing to become a sojourner for them. And ask yourself, am I a productive, zealous sojourner for God? Am I a profitable servant, an effective, powerful ambassador for my Savior Jesus Christ? Ask yourself, am I willing to be a sojourner in a foreign land, awaiting the coming Kingdom of God and of His Christ?