True Disciples

Well, happy Sabbath, everybody! Good to see all of you as usual. Hopefully you had a great week. Seems like that the weeks are full. And, you know, so many things happen during any given week.

I was kind of interested in what Mr. Zimmerman was talking about, the experiences that you have, and being in contact with people during the week. It is a way, of course, of letting people know about the Church. And who knows what's going to happen? You don't know, really, down the line.

I once heard this story about somebody was called down in somewhere in South America. Maybe Mr. Zimmerman remembers this particular story. But there was a piece of a plain truth magazine that was blowing, apparently. And so they saw this paper blowing across the street, or whatever the situation was. And they stepped on it. It was a plain truth magazine. And it was enough, I guess, information. And they received a free prescription to the plain truth. And that person was called into the Church. So you never know. Maybe the individual that Mr. Zimmerman talked to, you know, she'll be able to look back that she was able to, you know, be called over discovery of avocados. So it would be an interesting story to actually tell. I have to tell you about this. My wife and I get these advertisements now. I guess we're in the age bracket where people start sending these things. You know, we get these things for hearing aids and things like that. I always put them over so my wife can find those, you know. Of course, she's always trying to make sure I find them, because she thinks I have a hard time hearing. But we got a big chuckle this week. We got one about cremation. How many of you received those ads about all of you here? Okay.

You know, I really don't, you know, I don't think of myself as wanting to be cremated.

It's not something I think about a lot. So I haven't received that before. But interestingly, they're going to have a, I guess, a discussion, a workshop, and they're going to give us a free lunch.

You know, it says there's no such thing as a free lunch. They're going to give us a free lunch.

And I thought it was kind of uncanny. The place they're going to give it to us is called the Native Grill. So I guess, you know, they want you to get into the field of being cremated already by meeting at the grill. You know, maybe they, I hope that's not where they do the grilling when you're gone. But anyway, again, kind of interesting the experiences we have in this world. It's kind of crazy, isn't it? And if you take life too seriously, you will go crazy. So it's always good to find a chuckle here, there, in the lives that we're leaving, leading.

Let's begin in Matthew chapter 28 over here. You know, Jesus Christ was about ready to ascend to heaven, and He would not, of course, return until our time, until the end of the age.

But here in Matthew chapter 28 and verse 18, it says, And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, He said, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. So He had received all of the authority, you know, as the one, of course, that was sent to the right hand of the Father, and heaven and earth. He commands, of course, the angelic realm and all things, in fact, there. And He has command over the earth as well, and ultimately is going to come as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And then He said to His disciples, He said, Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. And of course, it says, Amen, or so be it.

And so we see that Jesus Christ was saying to His disciples that they were to make disciples of every nation. And actually Strongs, where it talks about this word, disciples, renders it to enroll as a scholar, as a scholar. We look upon a disciples being a scholar. And in a lot of ways, really, I think within the Church of God, God's people are scholars. You know, I heard in one case where a person said, even after they had left the Church, they had departed from the Church, they said one thing that the, then it was the worldwide Church of God, but one thing the Church taught me was the Bible. They taught me the Bible. And so I think to a large extent, God's people do eventually become scholars of the Word of God, if they're really applying themselves, and they're doing as, in fact, we are instructed to within the Church of God.

But these verses here state, from Jesus Christ, who is the Master of all, heaven and earth, under the Father, that we are to go to all nations and make disciples.

And that's a part of the Great Commission that we have, not just to preach the gospel to the world, but to make disciples, to prepare a people for, in fact, the arrival of the Kingdom of God.

The main point of Jesus' comment was that we were to go to this world and make disciples of all nations. The goal of preaching the gospel, in other words, brethren, to the world, is to make disciples, to make people that are knowledgeable of the Bible, that are, in fact, scholars, people that know the Bible. You know, there are many people in the world that claim to be disciples. In fact, there is a church group you may have heard of that is called the Disciples of Christ.

And I have no idea what their religious beliefs are, but they're called the Disciples of Christ. The whole church considers themselves, again, to be disciples.

My question for you is if the church was supposed to, from the time that Christ commissioned it in 31 A.D., to go into the world to preach the gospel and to make disciples, and you've been called as a result of the gospel of Christ, are you a disciple of Christ? A true disciple of Jesus Christ. And what does a true disciple do? You know, do they come to church every week?

Do they keep the holy days? Do they keep the feasts of God faithfully? Do they tithe?

Do they refrain from eating clean and unclean foods? Is that really what a true disciple is? Is that what makes a disciple of Christ? Is that all that is involved in making a disciple of Christ?

I would say there are many here that do all those things, but is that what makes you a disciple?

Well, first, let's define the word disciple. The word disciple literally means a learner, a learner. In the Vines Expository Dictionary of the New Testament Word says it denotes one who follows another's teachings. Somebody is really clued in to somebody else, and they're following their teachings. You know, Paul told his followers in the first century of the church, he said, follow me as I follow Christ. And so he said, you imitate me.

In fact, I think in the King James it says imitate me as I imitate Christ.

So Paul imitated his teacher, Jesus Christ.

You know, what is the goal of being a disciple then? The goal is to imitate Jesus Christ, to be like Jesus Christ. Let's go to Luke chapter six over here. Luke chapter six.

Do you know, brethren, that Jesus Christ in the book of Hebrews, the first chapter, I know that many of you have been around for a while, have read this and seen it, that Jesus Christ is an exact replica of the Father. Remember, he even told his disciples, he said, you see me, you see the Father. He was an exact replica of Jesus Christ.

You know, I was back not too many months ago, and I was able to see my oldest brother, Philip, and I hadn't seen him for a while. And my dad used to wear overalls.

Any of you old-timers remember the old blue overalls that oftentimes country people would wear?

And anyway, I saw my brother. He's in his late 70s now. And you know what I saw him? I thought of it. I did a double-take. He looked like my dad. And my dad died back in 1992. But my oldest brother has become the exact replica of my dad. He's got the walk. He's got the talk. He's got all of it. And you know, all of us, of course, when you were a teenager, you don't want to look like your dad when you get older. But I looked at him, and I was really amazed at how much he looked like dad. I wouldn't say he's an exact replica of him, but he's pretty close.

But Jesus was an exact replica of the Father in heaven. And we already imitate Christ. But listen to us here in chapter 6 of Luke, Luke 6 and verse 40. Here Jesus said, a disciple is not above his teacher. But everyone who is perfectly trained, this is what it says in the New King James, will be like his teacher. The teacher hasn't done his job if he has not taught his student to be like him. And you know, oftentimes when we train a new minister, the minister goes with somebody who's older. We had Mr. Eckema here, and wherever I went, that's where he went, basically. If there was visiting that we did, he was with me to see what happened, to see what occurred, how to handle different things that would come up. And so it's a way, again, of training, even in the ministry. But here Jesus himself is saying that if somebody's perfectly trained, they will be like their teacher, their instructor. And in this case, their master was Jesus Christ. That we would be exactly like Jesus Christ. Brethren, this has been the plan from the very beginning.

The whole idea, in fact, of what God was going to do, he would use Jesus Christ, you know, as a forerunner to show us the way. Let's go to Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8, where Paul, who had a great understanding of this, of what God expected of us, he was striving to be like Christ and what he did. And we know even to a great degree, suffered in his life more than most people do. And that's what Jesus Christ did for us, and he paid the ultimate price. But here in Romans, the book of Romans chapter 8 and verse 29, let's notice this, for whom he foreknew, and we know that God knew that in our time, he was going to call people, that he was going to bring people along, be a part of the church, that would need to be trained. For those he foreknew, he also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

So Christ was the form, brethren. He was the forerunner for us. To help us, we are to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. We are to mimic Christ, to be like Jesus Christ.

He was our pattern, as it were, of how our lives are supposed to be, our example for us.

Now what pattern is there that Jesus Christ has laid out for us? What kind of pattern has he laid out for us? What form has been placed there for us? You know, in manufacturing, manufacturing has been a boon in this modern time that we live in. You know, Henry Ford was one of those that mass produced, but it all had to do with patterns. Patterns of how things were to be done, and not just from the standpoint of maybe parts to a car, but how to assemble a car. McDonald's, in fact, came up with a pattern that made them one of the greatest corporations in the world in terms of producing hamburgers. It used to have on their their marquee, you know, over a billion sold.

Now they can't put the number on the on the marquee of the golden arches of how many they've sold. It's in the trillions, in fact, of hamburgers that they've sold, but it had to do with a pattern of how things were to be done. If you can get what I'm saying here, if you can you can have a pattern, you could do things into the trillions if you want to. And Jesus Christ, brethren, was that pattern. And patterns and molds are used in manufacturing all over the world today, and it has given us, you know, the cell phones that, in fact, that we have available. You can look up the Bible on, and you can, in fact, you could have your hymnal on the cell phone now because of patterns and molds. Well, Jesus Christ is that tremendous mold for us, brethren, that we are to conform to, that we are to be like. But in the remaining part of the sermon, I want to ask the question, what is the pattern that Christ set for us? I don't want to stand here, brethren, and just say to you, follow Christ.

He's the pattern, and then sit down. There's more to it than that.

There's a whole lot more to it than that. What is the pattern to follow for a true disciple?

I've got a few points I want to give to you in the remaining part of this sermon.

Number one, though, a true disciple abides in the word of the teacher.

He abides in the words of the teacher. Let's go to John chapter 8. John chapter 8 here.

In John chapter 8, in verse 31, John chapter 8 says this, And Jesus said to those Jews who believed, If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed. If you abide in my word. In the Greek, it means to stay in my word, to stay in my word.

This shows we must diligently remain. Another word we might use is live in my word. When I was called back in the 60s, from that time forward, basically, I would have to say, my goal has been to strive to live in the word of God, to pattern my life after this book here.

The most important book that was ever written for human beings here, this manual for life, to live in God's word. And if we live by God's word, we're going to have life.

If we do not live by God's words, then we will have, of course, the cremation thing will be the end.

If somebody chooses cremation, that will be the end for us. If we choose, knowing what we know, to not live in God's word, death will be the end result. But I hope and pray, brethren, all of us desire with all of our heart and soul and mind to have life. Let's go to Matthew 7 over here. Matthew 7. And so, Christ, again, in his own words, he said, if you abide in me, you're going to follow my words. You're going to do what I say, what I instruct, what I've given to you. In Matthew 7, here, in verse 21, we'll just read parts of this account here that you're very familiar with. But it says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven. There are a lot of people that claim to look to the Lord. It's kind of interesting that in the world, the word Lord is used a lot.

You know, I remember even my father used the word Lord a lot. They don't often speak about the Father. They don't often talk about Jesus Christ, but they talk about, well, the Lord this and the Lord that. But Christ says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of my Father in heaven. The will of my Father in heaven.

And many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name? And then I'll declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. These same people very often talk about doing away with the laws of God. And interestingly, some who claim to be ministers will stand up and say, the law's not binding on us. We don't have to do that. We're under the new covenant. We're under just grace. By grace, we're saying, we don't need that old law. Well, brethren, that, of course, is not true. We have to abide by the laws of God as well. God gave the law. There's nothing more perfect than the law he gave. Often when people talk about certain things being done away with, they are thinking more of the sacrifices. They should think in that way, the law of God has not been done away with. But in James chapter 1, let's go back over here to James chapter 1. Here, the brother of Christ, James. In James 1 down to verse 21, let's notice this.

You know, James says in verse 21, and we'll go down to verse 25, therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls, the implanted word. But be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves. You know, we can deceive ourselves and behead in the wrong direction. We don't apply what we are hearing. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man observing his natural face in a mirror, for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man that he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, in other words, he lives in it, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. So when we look at the law of God, we begin to see what we need to change, then we make those changes. We don't say, well, you know, we look at the law of God and say, well, that looks nice, and I know I need to change this in this Go Our Merry Way and forget about changing. That's like a man, if he's a pilot, he's in the the cockpit, and you know, this big red light comes on, and it starts, you know, flashing, and the flash means that he's about ready to lose all of his engines, you know, in his jet aircraft, and so the coal pilot says, well, what do we do? And then the pilot takes the ball peen hammer and knocks out the red light. That's what people do when they look at the law of God sometimes. They see what it says, but then they don't do it. They just, you know, do away with the red light that is blinking off and on in their head, they walk away, and they do their own thing. Brother, we are to heed the warnings that God's law gives us about how we need to change.

So again, the first thing, brethren, that a true disciple will do is a true disciple abides in the words of the teacher, and our teacher, of course, is Jesus Christ and God the Father. You know, the things that Christ said that were not his own, it's what the Father instructed, and so Christ faithfully taught what the Father instructed. Another point here, point number two, if you're writing down the points, a true disciple loves God's people. A true disciple loves God's people.

Over here in John chapter 13, again, some of these scriptures that are so familiar to you, if you've been in God's church for, you know, five or ten years, or in fact a year or two, even it would be very familiar to you because we use this a lot. But in John 13, notice here, down in verse 34, let's notice this, it says in John 13, verse 34, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. So here's a commandment that Jesus Christ gave. And by this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. So this pattern was set by Jesus Christ for us of loving. How much has God loved us? How much has he given to us? How much did Jesus Christ love us, brethren? Well, we know he gave his life for every one of us that are sitting in this room right now. You know, a true disciple of Jesus Christ has to love, in fact, to try to love as Jesus Christ has loved us, and as the Father has loved the entire world. That love is an agape love. It's an unconditional love of God. That God has unconditionally loved us, and we need to again unconditionally love God, and unconditionally love one another to have love for one another. But again, this is the mole that Christ set for us, brethren. He set this perfect example for us, even by giving his very life for all human beings upon the earth. This we must learn, brethren, to mimic. We've got to mimic this.

I think that the church, frankly, many years ago, had a little better grasp on this than we do today.

I think we were more compacted together. We live in a world that is toxic, turvy, upside down.

Everybody's busy, busy. You know, if you ask somebody, could you come over and let's talk?

Oh, I'm sorry, I've got something else I've got to do. It's like that song many years ago, you know, about the... I can't remember the name of it now, but it was a song about a father who had a boy he never had time for. And every time there was a ball game or whatever, he said, I'm sorry, can't do it now, too busy to do this, but we'll have a good time soon. He was always putting it off. Some of you may remember the song as I'm thinking about it here, but, you know, we can't put those things off. We've got to love one another now. We need to love our children now. Now's the time for all men, all women to begin to love and to apply those things that Jesus Christ set the example for us. A true disciple, brethren, would know and they would be known of the brethren. You know, when you walk through this door out here and come in this room, everybody should know who you are in this congregation. Not because they've made a B line to find out who you are, but because you have made a B line to find out who everybody else is in the congregation. So a true disciple knows and is known by the disciples. A true disciple gathers with God's people when they gather. You know, they gather with God's people on the Sabbath, they gather on the Holy Days, they gather where there's a Bible study, where there's a need, where there's something that comes up. God's people are together. They spend time together.

That's what a true disciple is, brethren. A true disciple is willing to sacrifice themselves for the brethren like Jesus Christ sacrificed himself for us. And maybe that sacrifice sometimes is just our time. Maybe taking the time, just talking to people. Maybe it might be going over and helping somebody move, you know, something that's too heavy for them to move.

Maybe something physical. That's to be done. These things, you know, we need to be doing. I remember when I went out as a trainee, you know, you go out of Ambassador College, you have these high ideas about what the ministry is going to be. And I went out, I assisted Roy Demarest, who was a pastor in the Harrisburg area. One of the first assignments he gave me was to go over and to help a member, an elderly member of the church. And I didn't know what I was going to be doing. I just knew it was going to be physical labor, though. And so anyway, I got over to his place, had a pair of jeans, and that visit entailed pouring concrete. And I never really had much opportunity to pour concrete before. I had a brand new pair of jeans, though, that you don't get a brand new pair of jeans to pour concrete, by the way. They were gray all over.

And they could almost stand up by themselves when I got out of them. But that was what the ministry was, going out and spending time with people. Going out, maybe helping with somebody to pour concrete, or helping with somebody with another task, whatever it would be.

Or just sitting beside somebody's bed, holding their hand, talking to them.

You know, these things are what, again, God is striving for, and all of us for, frankly, that all of us learn to, again, have love for everyone in the church, to know everyone within the church. And sure, brethren, over a period of years, if you've been in the church for any length of time, you know everybody. You know with all the wrinkles of the works that people have, and maybe sometimes you know their problems. That's okay, because you could pray for them, and you can ask God to help them. So a true disciple, again, has God's love for the people, the people of the congregation. Point number three, I don't have very many points, so don't worry. We're not going to be here a long time. A true disciple bears much fruit.

Bears much fruit. Over here, let's go to John chapter 15. Of course, we turn to these at Passover. But in John 15, verse 1, let's notice, I am the true vine, Jesus said, and my father is the vine dresser. And every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away.

And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. You notice the father is the one that draws us, but the father also, he's got the snippers. He can prune us if we're not careful. Hopefully, he wouldn't be completely pruned off. He might have to cut some dead parts off of us as we're part of the true vine. But it says, you are already clean because of the word, which I've spoken to you, abide in me. There's that word, abide again. And I in you is the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. So it does say you're going to have little fruit. It says much fruit is going to come as a result of you and your part in the vine of the church. And you know, I've seen people in the church that were the quiet ones of the congregation and behind the scenes they were always helping other people.

You didn't know what was going on. We had, I know we've had people through the years, and I as a pastor, I've seen it. I'm sure Mr. Zimmerman, through his years of ministry, have seen people in the church that were always doing things in the background.

And they would never, never ever want to be the ones in the forefront.

You know, sometimes I have gone to those people, by the way, if there was a need in a congregation, and I've said, you know, I've been around here for a little while and I've been watching you.

And I think I would like you to be one of our deacons of the congregation.

It's happened that way, just that way. Or, you know, I think you should be a deaconess in the church.

You're the kind of example we want in the Church of God.

And, you know, it's happened quite a number of times through the years that that's occurred.

But they bear a lot of fruit. They impact a lot of people.

I remember there was one lady up in Oakland, and again, watching from a distance, as a pastor does, if we had somebody new that came into the church, she was very careful with them. She would try to visit with them. I knew if somebody came into the church that this woman was sure to sit down and talk with them. And she had a very good mind. She was very converted, very knowledgeable of the truth.

And, you know, if one of the young ladies was having trouble, she would sit down with them. She would be a soft and a gentle guide to them. And they loved her and respected her.

And I've, again, seen this many, many times, you know, in the church. But God, of course, is looking as well and is going to reward all of us accordingly. We don't have to be a deacon or deaconess in the church. This woman, incidentally, later on, was found that she had cancer and she died. But I know that her reward is laid up for her. And she's going to be in the kingdom and she's going to have a great reward because of her attitude and because of her approach. You know, what is Christ talking about when he talks about burying much fruit? Is he talking about doing, you know, one or two things occasionally to help people? I don't think so.

You know, you heard about the guy that, you know, went to heaven, did you? You know, we don't tell jokes about going to heaven much, but I'm going to have to tell you this one. But, you know, there was a fellow who came to the pearly gates and St. Peter was there to greet him. And he said, he said, he said, I'm here, you know, for heaven. And St. Peter looked at the book and he said, I don't see anything here that you really have done. And he said, I'm sorry, we can't let you in. He said, what exactly did you do, the merit you being here, you know, at the pearly gates, ready to go into heaven? And he said, he said, well, he says, let me tell you this. He said, one time was at this bar and he said, I came out and there were a bunch of these motorcycle gang people out there and they were harassing a woman. And I went up to them and I said, you guys get your hands off of her. And, you know, anyway, he says, that's what happened. And St. Peter said, well, when did that happen? He said, about two, three minutes ago. You know, sometimes people have this idea and I think movies kind of popularize it, don't they? All you got to do is one deed.

Now, how many movies have you seen about how somebody, you know, goes to heaven and somebody tells them to go back, you got to do one deed before you can get in here?

I don't think it's that way, brethren. I know it's not that way. That's not the way it's going to be.

Doing good works is supposed to be a way of life for all of us. It's going over and helping a woman find avocados. It's helping somebody in a time of deed. It doesn't have to be in the church, even. To be a light to someone. Who knows, maybe an angel to someone at some time or point, that God would send you to help. Let's notice over here in Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. In Matthew 5, in verse 16, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify the Father in heaven. You know, through our examples, maybe they don't care for the theology, they don't appreciate that we don't believe in the Trinity. They don't appreciate that we keep the Sabbath. That we're renegades in doing that. And of course we're not. We're simply trying to obey God. It's like there were sometimes back, I remember, back in the when we had Ambassador College in Pasadena. And Mr. Armstrong would would mention about this, how that sometimes people come on campus in Pasadena and they see everybody happy and laughing and enjoying life. And they'd ask the question, how did people get this way? How does it you have this kind of environment here at Ambassador College? And Mr. Armstrong would talk about it's the Word of God. Of course, they didn't want to hear that.

They thought it had to be something else. You know, maybe we're spiking the water or something. Then we're doing something to make people all this happy. But you know, it is being a light that causes people to maybe take a second look at God and maybe even go further than that to praise Him for all He's doing. You know, it's easy, isn't it, to look into the heavens and be amazed by the grandeur of the creation of God, as was talked about in the first resurrection, or the first message that was given. But we ought to be that spectacle, that example that would amaze people, too.

We ought to be the kind of people that are lights, that people maybe take a second look at God, that God does exist and He sits on His throne with tremendous glory. In Luke 14, Luke chapter 14, you know, Jesus Christ had a lot of people that followed Him. And frankly, there were probably a lot of them that otherwise would have gone hungry, because sometimes remember He fed thousands of people, you know, bread and fish.

And there was, I'm sure after maybe this occurred, there was the expectation. Hey, we'll hang around here a little bit more, maybe we'll get some more bread and fish. They were thinking about just filling the stomach. And I'm sure as the miracles increased, the expectation of that increased as well. But notice here in Luke 14 and down in verse 25, it says, Now great multitudes went with Him. You can sort of picture this scene here, this huge crowd of people following Christ. And notice, and He turned around and He said to them, If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, in his own life also he cannot be My disciple.

He could have further said, so if you're following Me for some other reason, if you're not willing to do this, then you cannot be My disciple. And I'm sure there were many who did at that time decide not to follow Him. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. It's like He's fiddling the crowd down of who's going to be willing to do these things.

And He talks about counting the cost of how that we need to count the cost if we're going to follow Him. And so God wants us, brethren, to do this. He wants us to count the cost of what it is to be a true disciple of Christ. It's a price tag that you have to pay. It's a lifelong commitment. I never ever thought when I was studying the Scriptures, when I was like 16 years of age, looking at the Bible for the first time in my life, really, I didn't even have a Bible.

And I looked at the Bible and started reading it. And I never thought I'd be here in Phoenix in 2018. Now, I have a clue. I did not know I would know all of you. My parents had actually lived in Phoenix way back in the 50s and the 40s. And then I heard them talk about coming to Phoenix and how it was so hot in Phoenix in those years.

Probably hotter than... because I know they did not have air conditioning back in that time. I'm not even sure they had a water cooler as far as that goes. But I heard them talk about it and events in our family that happened. But I never thought I'd ever be here.

I never thought I would be married to my wife after more than 40 years of marriage. And never thought we'd have grandchildren sitting in the audience here today. All of these things I never thought about.

But it's all come by a decision to follow Jesus Christ with all my heart and soul back in those years. And I'm talking about my story. You have your story, too. And there have been ups, brethren, and there's been downs as well. And, brethren, given that God gives me more life, I intend to be here in another year, in another five years, if that's what God so desires.

But there's a high cost, brethren. A high price for discipleship demanded by Jesus Christ on us. And we have to abide by the words of God every day of our life and never give up. Never, never give in. Now, what are the rewards of obeying God? Well, you know, we know the blessing of eternal life at the end of it all. That's a great promise, isn't it? The great promise of eternal life. And not only will, in fact, we have eternal life in the future, but we'll have a wonderful life in the time being when we, in fact, are living through our life.

I'll tell you, we've had some of the most exciting times that any human being can ask for. We've had more fun than any human being can ask for. We'd be pretty selfish people, Jonah and I, to think we deserve more than what God has given to us. He's given us far more than we ever imagined. And I know that many of you feel exactly the same way.

That Christ has come to give us life and He's come to give it more abundantly. And I really believe that He's given that to us and our family. And I truly believe, for many of you here, God has given it to you as well. But when Jesus Christ was talking to those that great multitude that were following Him, He wanted them to do what He wants us to do, to follow God fully. Not half-heartedly, but to follow God fully. And if you do, you're going to have other blessings that are going to come your way, besides eternal life.

You're going to have the blessing of peace. A lot of lack of peace in the world today. You can have peace in your life. Sometimes you will have turmoil, but most of your life will be peaceful. And you will have peace of mind, also in your life. And the peace that God gives us, brethren, is not available to the world. The peace we have comes from within, and God will give that to us. Jesus Christ also said that He would give us joy.

He would give us joy over in John 15, verse 11. Christ wants us to have joy. He would give us no fear. We wouldn't have to be afraid.

Most people go through their lives afraid of what the future is going to be. You don't have to be afraid of what's going to happen when you die. A lot of people don't know what's going to happen to them when they die. You know! And you know what is going to happen if something were to happen to you. Frankly, though, too, that we have the blessing that God protects us. Probably far more than we realize. And you know what? You're not going to die until God has rung everything out of you in terms of learning to develop godly character until God is finished.

So you really have a good insurance policy.

You know, if you're like me, you've got a long way to go.

And I think God needs a little more time with me to straighten my head up, sometimes, about different things.

We have freedom, brethren, from being in bondage to the sin of the world out here.

From Satan's world.

We have freedom, brethren, from the anxiety of not knowing what our purpose for life is.

I can tell you what your purpose in life is. Very simple sentences.

Why God has called you right now is number one, to train you to be a teacher.

You've been born to be a teacher.

And he's called you, for another reason, he's called you to help to get the work of God done.

Those two great reasons.

And when you've learned to do both, you'll be able to be a part of God's strength.

It's important to understand how the world is going toaping your community that you are eventually bound.

And I think we should Marshall Two parts of mission of his life time to have an unusual loss.

And then you will begin the fear and the lack of reason and which will affect those who quake at the moment.

While we've gone back, you should have a serious Emma the satisfied turning to one of yourbys.

Follow Mark 10 over here. Mark 10. Mark 10. Mark 10, verse 28. Peter asked that question that is on the mind of everyone when they are called. And then Peter, verse 28, chapter 10 of Mark, Peter began to say to him, So, see, we have left everything, and we've followed you. We've given our life up to follow you. And you know, for you and me, brethren, this is what we've done too. We've given everything up to follow Jesus Christ. And Peter said, so, Jesus answered and said, Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or family, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospels, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time. Houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions, he said here. Yes, that's a part of it. But it says that in the age to come, eternal life. In this life, we have, you know, hundreds of brothers and sisters. You know, my wife and I have been in quite a number of church areas, and you know, it's been a privilege to get to know God's people through the ages, the times that we've been in the church, you know. But everywhere, people we have known, people that we love, and you know, you see them after many years. Sometimes we haven't seen somebody for maybe 30 years, but it's like old home week when you see them, you know. You hug each other, and it's like you were back there where you were in those times. But it's like our family never stops growing, does it? We're always adding to the numbers. You know, people get proud because they maybe have two or three hundred friends on Facebook. Let's face it, is a Facebook friend a real friend? Chances are, no. You know, how many people try to gather friends, you know, they want to be friends with somebody, they have no clue who they are. They don't know, they will never have a relationship with each other, but we have relationships with each other. We know each other, brethren. Certainly, brethren, there are rewards that exceed the cost that we pay to be a disciple. We should desire to be the true disciples of Jesus Christ, and God is going to give us a tremendous reward for the future.

We start being a disciple of Christ when we're baptized, a true disciple, and we receive God's Spirit. Remember, in Romans 8 verse 9, it says that if we do not have the Spirit of God, we are none of His. We have to have God's Spirit to belong to Christ. Now, God's Spirit can be with us, and it will and should be in us before we are baptized, but we need the Spirit of God to be in us. And, brethren, that is when we begin the pattern, though. When we have that Spirit, we begin the pattern of following the pattern Christ set for us to be a true disciple. And we're told that we are walking newness of life, that we are to get rid of the old man, and to walk a newness of life. We begin that new life to be, in fact, conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. You know, Romans 12 verse 2 tells us not to be conformed to the world, and we have also read that we should be conformed to the image of Christ.

So we should be transforming our lives from the time we are made disciples. You know, you may have been a baptized member, and one who's striving to be a disciple for many decades now.

And, you know, there are people that are coming into the church on a regular basis, people being baptized here and there. But we have to endure to the end. Jesus Himself said that He that is going to endure to the end is the one that is going to be saved. So we have to endure, brethren, to the very end. And don't allow, brethren, any doubt to ever enter your mind. You know, you find out when you're baptized that Satan has laid out minds to try to throw you off, throw you off the track.

You know, we lived at a time, brethren, when events of the past could cause people to have doubts. You know, those of you who were around in 95, those events that happened back in that time, you know, we even hate to mention them. We hate to talk about them. But it can cast doubt in our minds. How many people, you know, back in 95, threw the laws of God out the window and stopped being the true disciples that they could have been? Because of a doubt that was implanted in their minds. Well, brethren, we can't allow doubts to enter our minds. We have to put it out. It kills faith. It kills zeal in us.

You know, and we need to understand that in the future, we're going to probably have people that are going to depart from the church, and the state will use that to try to cast doubts in our minds. We simply cannot allow, brethren, any of that to ever impact us. There are those that sometimes reject what's in this book right here, with various ideas that people have, and I think I've heard just about all of them. And you may have also, if you've been around for any length of time, heard them all. And maybe there will be new ones that people come up with new ideas. We had a man I know was back in, if he was back in the 70s or 80s, he believed, he began to believe that flying saucers were going to come and pick up, you know, the elect.

And I don't know where they were going to take them, but there were a group of people that went off and followed him. As strange as it might sound, brethren, don't let anyone dissuade you from going God's way of life, that track that you've been set on. Follow the pattern that Jesus Christ has set for us, brethren. And we've got to earnestly remember what else Jesus said about the end of the age. Let's go to Matthew chapter 24. Here, this will be the concluding Scripture. But in Matthew 24, verse 11, Jesus said here in Matthew 24, here in the Olivet prophecy, Then many false prophets will rise and deceive many, and because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. You're living, brethren, in a time where this is happening right now in this world out here. Lawlessness is abounding. And it's easy for us to get caught up in this. But notice what Jesus says here in verse 13, and I will leave you with this, but he who endures to the end shall be saved. So, brethren, a true disciple is going to endure to the end, and he or she that endures to the end as a true disciple is going to be saved.