[Darris McNeely] The last time…the last trip that we had the opportunity to make to Israel, we went beyond the guided tour, stayed for a few extra days, Scott Ashley and I, and we made a trip to a site that I’d wanted to see for some time, actually one of multiple sites there. Israel, Jordan, that area is dotted with crusader castles from the period of the Crusaders. Huge stone, block stone castles, usually setting off of high ridges, overlooking the upper Galilee, and one that we visited was Castle Karak, which overlooks the Jordan Valley. It’s a huge castle built during the 12th Century.

When you go up to a castle like that you see the traditional moats around the castle that was meant to keep people out of the moat. You walk over a bridge into the castle; you go down a very narrow walled passage way toward the gate. And along the way you see that there are niches along the walls set at various angles, very narrow niches, and you peek into them and see behind there is enough space back there for a soldier with a bow and arrow to sit, and to draw his bow. There were places where the tenders of the castle would sit and because of the very narrow slit, they would be able to fire their arrows at the attackers coming into the castle, to keep them down. So you had a moat, you had hidden archers…then there would be the gate to get through.  And if the invaders got beyond the gate, and all the other moats and defenses that were set up in place, then of course they would be in the castle. 

Every castle that would be built…this one was no exception…had at its center what they called a keep - the castle keep. Which was a secure center that if all else failed, the last defenders could get into the keep and hold off the invaders, hopefully until somebody came and rescued, and helped to the defense of the castle. That was the last redoubt…the last place there. And you look at that and you realize the story of those castles, and virtually any other castle that has been built in Europe, and in other places of those far off lands, every castle was eventually invaded, and someone took it over from those who built it, that were defending it. 

What are the lessons about a castle? That I walked away from and I remembered is this: The church is not a castle; The Church of God is not a castle. Every castle, as I said, would eventually be defeated. And those who would try to hold it would be defending the castle against those who were on the offensive trying to overtake the castle. The Church of God is not a castle.  Why would I even try to make a connection there? Well, bear with me. What I would want to do today is approach the subject of the church from a little different perspective than we might normally think about. Last week we had a very fine sermon that was given on the characteristics of the church on Matthew, Chapter 24 and 25 in the end time. The focus was on the individual characteristics that the members of the church should be developing, of commitment, of vision, of conversion, and dedication, prayer and Bible Study - having a right perspective about God.  A number of proper perspectives that we could glean out of those passages were put before us, as individuals who focus on developing within the church that is pictured there from the time of the end. 

So what I want to do today is in a sense kind of build on that, but from a different perspective, and talk about how we can marshal those traits, and any other traits that we might have indeed, into a collective effort to accomplish the work that Christ has given His Church. And I put the title of this sermon into a question: “What did Jesus Mean, ‘I will build my church’?”  Let’s turn and read that statement, or question…that’s actually a statement – I turned it into a question, in Matthew, Chapter 16. In Matthew, Chapter 16 is the well-known statement that Jesus made to Peter after Peter had made his confession that he knew, and they knew, that Jesus was the Son of God – Matthew, Chapter 16. 

Now, a little background…The setting for this particular episode in the gospels is in the Northern Galilee of Israel – it’s a place called Banyas – Caesarea of Philippi is another name that is here in Verse 13 in the Scripture. You can go there today – it’s a major tourist spot for any group that goes to Israel to tour that land - Caesarea of Philippi. When Jesus was there this day with His disciples, it was quite different than it is today as we would see it. It was a major cultist center for one of the Pagan gods named Pan.  Remember Pan?  Pan was that little god that had the horns and played a “Pan flute.” And this was a major center for it. In fact it was quite built up and had a temple, and it’s a huge rock face. And out of that rock face comes an opening – it’s actually…there is a well-spring there, which is really the head-waters of the Jordan River. And it’s quite a lovely spot, so you could visit today. But they had built an entrance around this hole that went down into the mountain. And as they imagined it, it was an entrance into the underworld; into hell, if you will – the grave - below. And they had all their shrine and their worship services there, and scattered along the face of the rock were niches built into them, and there were various idols that were placed in there as well. A kid could sit in some of those niches today that are still there, but the idols are long gone.     

But that’s the setting for this, when Jesus said to His disciples “Who am I, to know and understand who I am”, and Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God”, in Verse 16.

Verse 17: And Jesus answered and said, “Blessed are you, Simon Peter, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

And then in verse 18 He makes this statement:

Verse 18: “I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock – and they were in front of a massive outcropping of rocks, so it would have been a very dramatic illustration for them – on this rock, I will build My church, and the gates of Hades (or the grave, or hell) will not prevail against it.

I will build My church, and the gates of the grave will not prevail against it. Now the setting tells us something as far as understanding really what Jesus was saying. For many, many years ago it was pointed out to me what was really behind this…I thought, and I’ve looked at this verse, and I’ve likely taught this, that this is saying that the grave, Satan, the world, will not prevail against the church – the church will always stand. And the church will be defended, and it will never be conquered. Well I believe the church will never be conquered, but the real meaning is something else to this verse.

What Jesus was really saying is that I will build My church and the gates of the grave will not prevail against this: In the ancient world, the gates of a city, the gates of the castle, were the most vulnerable parts. And that massive stones that made up the walls of a castle, or the city, the gate was made of wood, and it was the most vulnerable point, and it was always the point of attack for any opposing force coming against the city. They would go for the gate, and if they knocked the gate down, they would then be able to go on in. That’s why when you read the story of Samson, and Samson picked up the gates of one city one time and carried them several miles off it was such a devastating blow to that city, because the gates protected the city; take the gates, you knock down their defenses.   

What Jesus is saying is that the gates of the grave, and right in front of them was this illustration of a huge cave opening down into the earth, that the Pagans imagined to be the gateway to hell…Jesus is saying, the church is going to prevail against this. Those gates will not keep the church from conquering it. What Jesus is doing here, is putting the church into an offensive position – not a defensive position. The church is to be on the offensive. Not always just defending…there are times when the church comes under attack - the church has to defend the faith once delivered – contend for the faith, as Jude put it. That too, is part of it, but the real meaning of Jesus’ words is, I’m going to build a church and it will be an offensive weapon that will eventually overcome the gates of the grave – the gates of Satan; the gates of Hell. 

Now, there’s a two-fold meaning there: Certainly to Christ, and His death and resurrection; the death is overcome. I Corinthians 15 tells us that death will be swallowed up in victory. But also other Scriptures tell us that the church, that Christ is the Head of the church, He’s building the church and how He is putting it together, and that He is its Head, and that church He will marry after it has prepared itself, and the church will be the bride of Christ. And at Christ’s return, the nations of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord, and saints will rule with Him. That’s off into the future. But do you think that Jesus is going to marry a church that does not have the characteristics of an offensive, moving forward, group of people, and body that is willing to take on the gates of hell, and prevail against it, knowing that they can do it – knowing that they can overcome - knowing that Christ is the Head of that church. That’s what is being said here.  

The New Bible Commentary makes this comment about this verse, it says: The gates that Jesus refers to suggest the picture of a fortress or prison which lock in the dead and lock out the rescuers. This would imply that the church is on the offensive and its Master will plunder the domain of Satan. “I will build My church, and the gates of the grave will not prevail against it.”  Christ is building a church that has members that look to Him as its Head – a church that looks to Christ as its Leader who is going to use that church to go against the gates of Hell. That’s the type of member we have to be. As we put on the qualities of dedication and maintain a strong vision, and pray and study to stay close to God, and to keep a proper prospective, and to be lights, and to be a strong Christian with a sense of responsibility, stewards of what God has given us. Moving forward, not just hunkering down; not just waiting for the end to come, for Christ to return, but advancing His word and advancing the cause and the whole purpose that He has given. That is really the church that we are a part of – that’s what God has called us to. That is the church of which Jesus Christ is the Head, accomplishing the very purpose of the Father. Are we of that church, are we caught up with that calling? Do we really understand what is being put before us?

There’s another verse in Matthew, Chapter 11. It contains a statement that has always intrigued me…just a few pages back, in Matthew, Chapter 11:12. I’ve read this many times…I’ve never read a satisfactory commentary by any scholar, or theologian about it, and I just…I guess I’ve always had to just take it for what it says and perhaps what it says to me.  

Matthew 11:12  “And from the days of John the Baptist until now, Christ said, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.

The kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force. I’ve always read that and tried to let it put a prod on me in my life, and in my role as a Christian, as a Pastor, and as a communicator of the gospel, that the violent take it by force - that the kingdom, eternal life, is not something for pansies, for wimps. You have to be a bit violent; and the right type of violence, but a force, a pressure, an active, offensive approach toward the kingdom and the things of the kingdom that we have within our life today. This has always been a verse that tells me that we have to be a bit aggressive as a Christian, in seizing the kingdom and putting it into our life, and the things of the kingdom. The kingdom of God is not for the faint of heart – the calling of God to His kingdom, to His church in this life at this time is not for the faint of heart – it just isn’t. I perhaps just do have a little bit of some strength - talk about this.

There is a level of striving for the kingdom that mixes with faith and reliance on God, not that we climb ourselves up and we, by our works, and we qualify for the kingdom in some way by what we do – that’s not at all what I’m talking about. It is by grace that we are saved, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. But there is an effort that we have to expend to seize the kingdom, to bring it, if you will, into, you know, what small part we can bring into our own life today as we live by the laws of the kingdom, the values, the principles of the kingdom, to strive to be Christians in a world that is hostile to that kingdom.  It takes a bit of violence, if you will, within at times - our inner spirit: I will stay faithful; I will do this. I will overcome this. I will be different after this mistake - whatever it might be in our life. We have to talk, sometimes, to ourselves like that, and if we’re really good friends with someone and find someone needing a bit of “bucking up”, be able to even encourage one another and exhort one another when we have an opportunity to do that. And I’ve had that happen, when in moments when I’ve been low…one time I remember having just really being discouraged and one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever got was from a fellow elder, who didn’t look at me because he was on the phone, but he said: “Darris, suck it up!” It just really shocked me. “Okay, I’ve got to do this.” And I did it.  Pass on, through and over, a particular time of difficulty, and you realize, “Hey, it’s not as bad,” or, “I can do this,” or, you know, “this too shall pass.”

But there’s a striving for the kingdom that mixes with faith and reliance on God. To seek first the kingdom of God, is not always an easy thing – not in this life. And that doesn’t mean it’s always hard and tough going, but it means that even as we are working through those difficulties, we do it with a joy! We do it with a thanksgiving. We do it in that way because we know that with God, all things are possible! And we will get through this, and we will deal with it. 

To build a church on the offensive, with people rightfully seizing the kingdom in this world’s arena, is a job that is fraught with certain challenges. We must understand that, but that is the church that Jesus is building. And He said, “I will build MY church”, and it’s His, not mine, it’s not ours even collectively in that sense – we are a part of something much larger than us. A timeless, eternal entity that God is putting together in a marvelous, unique way, through the ages of man and with people from different walks of life from different ages, who all who have been prepared and will at one point be manifested, at the time of the coming of Christ. And it’s going to be something that will just astound us beyond our imagination and even what we can conceive and think will be done, and we’ll be a part of.  But it is the church that has been given a job, and that Christ said He will build.

In Matthew Chapter 28, we read of what has always been called the great commission that He gave to the church, in Verse 19 Jesus said:

Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 20: “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” 

Christ is building that church through the ages, and He will be with it to the end of the age, till His coming. He’s going to marry that church, and it will be prepared in the way that He wants it prepared, precisely, in every detail the way He wants it prepared. But in the meantime He says:  “Go, make disciples, baptize them; teach them to observe all things.  Preach the gospel; make it known.” This is what he told them to do. So Peter - before His final ascension in John 21, He said: “Feed My sheep.” Take care of those that are called – feed them, spiritually. Feed them, even physically. Take care of them. Care for the disciples that are called as a result of preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. 

In Acts, Chapter 1 He got a little more specific just prior to His final ascension to heaven, when He was on the Mount of Olives, Acts Chapter 1, and He told the small group gathered around Him, who wanted to know the age-old question, “Will you – are you going to do it now? Is this when you will restore the kingdom unto Israel?” And He said: “It’s not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.” But in Verse 8 He says: 

Verse 8: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

So He gave them specific instructions, this small group, right there in Jerusalem…You will be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, in Judea, the wider area around Jerusalem of which it was a part, Samaria to the North, in the Northern part of Israel; but also, to the ends of the earth. It was an expanding mission to go to the ends of the earth that was given to the church then, and stands as a message to us to do today. And the church, at the beginning, didn’t understand fully all, how to do it; they had start-up issues and lots of growth, many things to organize, and probably for a period they thought that maybe Christ was going to return now…they just didn’t fully get what He had said here. And they just thought, hey, we’ve got a good thing going here at Jerusalem.  We’ve got our nice comfortable church. We all know one another – after all, we’re all Jews, most of us. And they had peace and they were growing, and they were happy. But they weren’t going out – they weren’t expanding to Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth. And they didn’t until God allowed persecution to come upon them and kind of smashed their happy little social club; and they begin to scatter. Stephen became the first martyr. And some of them as a result wound up at Antioch, to the North, and they began to talk about the gospel, and a church began etc. 

And you see that as you read through the pages of Acts you see the church beginning to expand, but they had to be pushed and nudged in the beginning. You know, whenever the church, whether the church we read of in Acts, or the church that we’re a part of today begins to turn inward and just to take care of itself, just to focus on whatever it is that it wants to focus on, within its own walls, my historical experience has been, we begin to chew on one another. We begin to have problems. And when we are not focusing upon the words of Christ, the church He is building, to go take the gospel, to care for disciples, to feed the sheep - without all of that being done in the proper way, the church begins to flounder and its vision and its mission begins to be a bit clouded. 

That’s the historical pattern of the church, no matter when you read about it, whatever epic or age, and it is in our own time as well today. But when the church has been able to focus upon the message, of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God, it thrives. 

In Chapter 17 of Acts there’s an episode that encapsulates the vibrancy of the message of the gospel in a unique set of verses here, in Acts Chapter 17. And it revolves around Paul as he is in his first stages of taking the gospel unto the European Continent, and he is in Thessalonica, which is a part of modern Greece. In Verse 2 of Chapter 17 he went into the Synagogue and for three straight Sabbaths he taught. And what it says he explained, in Verse 3, is important to focus on:

Acts 17:3 explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preached to you is the Christ.”  

This is what he preached for three straight weeks to a group of Jews in their synagogues; He read from the Scriptures that pointed to Christ, and he said, this Jesus whom I preached to you is the Christ - the one prophesied in all of these Scriptures that they were rolling out from their scrolls.  Well, this created problems in Thessalonica. Verse 5 tells us that some of the Jews were not persuaded, they become envious, they took evil men – they gathered a mob, created a riot, and they attacked the house of Jason (one of their members) and sought to bring them out to the people – Paul.  And when they did not find them they dragged Jason and some brethren…is this a bit of the violent, taking it by force, in that even Jason and his fellow church members are being set upon by a mob - it’s not what we typically think of how we would want to spend our Sabbath, or any of our time in the church, being literally dragged out into the streets by people who don’t like who we are. This is what was taking place here though. What they said about them though, in Verse 6, is interesting – the mob said:

Verse 6: “Those who have turned the world upside down have come here too. 

Verse 7: “Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar… 

Now what’s unique about this passage here is that you get within just a few verses the fullness of the expression of the gospel, the evidence that Paul preached to them about Jesus and Him being the Christ, the Messiah. That is the gospel – that is the good news. But in that good news as well is a revolutionary message that turns the world upside down - that goes against the established authority, and at that time it was Caesar, and they didn’t recognize that it was a treasonous message that could have really brought down the wrath of Rome upon them. What that says is, the power of the message that they were preaching. They were preaching the kingdom of God was going to come, and take over the kingdom of Caesar. And that’s why this mob had got stirred up, that and other reasons as well. Right here in these few verses you see the full expression of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the kingdom of God. Exactly as we have articulated in our Mission Statement in the United Church of God – right out of Scripture. Right out of the experience of the church in the Book of Acts. The apostle Paul and what he taught, and that is the fullness of the gospel.

That is in a sense, this gospel that Jesus said in Matthew 24:14 would be preached in all the world as a witness. It is a gospel that brings to the full the message of Jesus Christ, and His purpose, His life, death and resurrection, and by which then you and I have the opportunity to become a member of the family of God, and to realize the very reason why we were born – the very purpose for our life, to become a member of the family of God, to share the glory, to be a co-heir with Jesus Christ. We can do that through His life, death and resurrection. And we will then reign and rule with Him for a thousand years on this earth - and a kingdom that will upturn every other kingdom of this world, as we’re told in Revelation. 

That’s the fullness of the gospel, that’s a powerful message to live by, to believe, and to preach - that is the message that the church Jesus is building will preach, and as God will draw and add to the church those who believe and are called to understand that. 

Central to the church and our work, has always been the preaching of the gospel.  We were called by that, in one form or another. Some of you here heard it on a radio program; read about it through a magazine. You may have picked it up from another church member who you worked side by side with on a factory line. Or you lived next door to in a neighborhood, and you knew they were different than you, and you dared ask one day: “Where do you go every Saturday afternoon all dressed up?” And you found out about the Sabbath, as some did. Or you noticed that good example of someone that you worked with or lived by, and you were intrigued and you looked into it. Or, if you were like me, as so many of you are out here in this group here today, you were taught it by a parent – some other adults who was called. And you grew up with it, as I did.  But we all have to make our own decision about it at some point in our own life. 

However it was done, it was the preaching of the gospel, in one form fashion or another, that made that available as a message that was shared and helped people. As a message that gave people help for their daily life, as it did for my mother; finally helped her to figure it all out.  Whereas the religion of her youth didn’t, when she began to understand that, the fullness of the gospel of the kingdom of God and of Jesus Christ, she got it all figured out. And it gave the help she needed to deal with her own life and what it was – a woman raised during the depression, and married to a man who’d gone off to World War II and came back a completely different person…struggling to try to raise a little kid like me. And she figured it all out…gave her the help she needed for that day and for that time, and it gave her hope for tomorrow - gave her hope of a better world to come. And she taught it to me, and I connected to the mission, as so many of you, by the examples of parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents – some other adults in the congregation. Truly, it’s always a collective effort. To this day I have a very, very good friend, an elder in the church who was one of my mentors when I was a teenager. And he’s still in the faith; still…I think he’s still preaching.  He’s got challenges, but he’s still in the faith – he was my mentor, as were others at that time, to help me to connect to the work of the church.

When I was a teenager growing up in the church I had a minister that, no matter what he was talking about, always brought up the work of the church. If he gave a child- rearing sermon he would… we then, a calling to the work. If he’d give a sermon on the Sermon on the Mount, and the beatitudes, he always had a page that he turned to, out of his spiral-bound notebook, and he’d talk about the work – the work of the church. If he was giving a sermon on prophecy he wove into his message the work that we were a part of, and how we had to be supportive of the work, and it had to keep going out. And he would read news about the work, and he would tell us of advancements of the work. And every Sabbath we heard something, in some way or some form, whether it through an announcement or woven into the fabric of his message – the work of the church. And that’s how I began to connect to it. And to begin to think about it, and to realize what it was. 

This work, this church, the United Church of God and what we are collectively a part of was built on a commitment to a mission – a vison of a mission like what we have just read here.  That’s why we are here – that’s why we exist. So what did Jesus mean when He said “I will build My church?” And what we should understand that we really are a part of. Well first of all He meant that He would build a body of people that would be fired up with the mission of taking the gospel to the world – to the ends of the earth. That would be what they would want to do – they would want to share the news and the understanding they had that helped their life.  They’d want to share it with other people to help them understand the trues of the kingdom, and how and why things could be better in their own life.

Like those in Acts, it’s a charge to be witnesses of Him wherever we might go. And one who takes the kingdom by violence, by force, sees himself as a mission of one, in a sense, through embodied the gospel, in example of the kingdom, explain it when it might come up, when a legitimate question is asked – be able to give an answer for the hope that is within us. Not in an obnoxious, prating manner that turns people away, but in a sincere heart, out of an example, and giving an answer.  But being a witness of God’s kingdom, and of what we are, and of what we believe – wherever we might go. That’s the type of body, that’s the type of church that He would be building. 

Secondly, He also meant that He would build a group of people that would be willing to go through fire to enter the kingdom of God. They would be willing to go through hell and to attack the gate of hell, to enter the kingdom of God and to be there; largely figuratively, but sometimes our lives can be of such a nature, and we have to battle back and we have to fight. In Acts, Chapter 14:22, as they preached the gospel (Verse 21) to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch – a place by the way where they had just been stoned, as you read a few verses earlier,

Verse 22:  Strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”    

That’s the church that He is building – a group of people that are willing to go through fire. A personal fire or a collective fire, to enter the kingdom of God, to stay faithful to the truth, to see the work of God continue to go on, to grow, and to hopefully thrive. 

Thirdly He meant that He would build a group that would endure to the end. That would stay with Him, and that would be true to the calling of the kingdom and doing a work – the work would be a part of that groups’ identity; the wanting to share the good news of the kingdom of God. And to care for the disciples that were called – to see them properly fed, as Peter was told, “To feed my sheep” - properly cared for - A people willing to go through fire and a people who were fired up for the mission. Now that is what it means, in my own feeble way to explain it, to take the kingdom of God by violence. Sometimes it is rather challenging.  e have gone through many ups and downs through the years. The last turmoil, I told the congregations that I pastored, and others that I spoke to, I said, this is unfortunate, it is sad – we all don’t like it, but it is part and parcel of the history of the church. It is something that we have to deal with, work to avoid, but also understand that the church can be a bit messy at times. And religion, but certainly the church that we see God building and putting together, is going to be challenged, even as it works against the gates of hell. And it continues on.

My first months in the ministry got me involved in a world in a crisis bigger than anything that we’ve ever had since then. And it was big. And it’s been several episodes and you deal with them as they come. You sometimes grow through them, you ache through them, but you come out on the other end if you are focused upon certain elements, that are embodied I think in what Jesus said when He said “I will build My church.” And so, those of us that are a part of the Church of God, and specifically in this part called the United Church of God, continue to do the work of the church, to preach the gospel, to care for disciples and to seek the kingdom and to be a part of what God is building, and to advance the message of the kingdom of God - and it’s exhilarating! I wouldn’t want any other job, I wouldn’t want any other calling…I’d do it all over again – I would do it all over again! And hope that to the end of my days I will be doing it.  

You look around as we see our world today, with all the challenges that this world has, and we sometimes scratch our head – who’s going to hear us? And we all ask the question; you know, seek to see more new people, brand new people coming to our doors and joining us in this fellowship and in this work. And we pray for that, we want that, while at the same time we recognize that we have a number of challenges, with limited resources, and we have a challenging message in a world that is rapidly changing in front of us. We have a world in front of us….when we consider our job today and what is in front of us, we live in a world as Paul described in II Timothy, Chapter 3, if you’ll turn there. It’s a wakeup call to recognize this. He said:

II Timothy 3:1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:

Well, we’re in the last days, and there are a lot of perils outside the doors of the church, in our neighborhoods and our schools, in our culture…

Verse 2:  For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

Put any headline, put any cultural force and change that’s going on in the United States and the Western world under each of these, and you will have a description right out of the pages of the New Testament - Unholy…hard to find holiness today in this culture and in this society. There are pockets of it – there are good people who do want to do well, and who do fear God, and quite frankly, that is our audience, in many ways…there’s a reason that we go for air time on Sunday morning, when we have it available to us. Because that’s where the God-fearers are, that’s where those who believe in the Bible, to one degree or the other, in some form or fashion, are.  And we find an audience there. There are people that are wanting to do good, they see the world changing and they are confused by it, and they are looking for values. They are looking for God; they are looking for answers. 

He goes on, and he talks about unloving and unforgiving…

Verse 4:  traitors, headstrong, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.  

We all know of it, so many people that we might know and also rub shoulders with – they have no interest in God. And that may not at any one given time be the audience that the Good News or Beyond Today or any of our literature is going to reach. That’s fine…that’s what we understand. That doesn’t mean that people’s lives wouldn’t change and at some point they would seek to love God and what to know God. 

Verse 5:  Having a form of godliness but denying its power. 

So, Paul gives a description that’s right out of our headlines today – put any event in there and you can illustrate exactly what he is saying. So this is the world we live in today, in many different ways. But we go about our job, with cheerfulness, with eagerness, knowing that there are people that God is working with. When we consider our job before us as well, we also see a world that is increasingly hostile to the spiritual values that you and I hold to – the spiritual values we hold to, of marriage, of family, marriage between one man and one woman, and of the united nuclear family. And of a morality, and of ethics that doesn’t steal, that are ethics that are based on honesty. We live in a world that is hostile to much of what we hold true; we recognize sometimes that we have challenges to deal with certain issues in a way that will nail it head on, while at the same time keep certain parts of our work in other countries from being attacked through hate laws that are on the books in certain areas, that would shut them down.           

But Jesus talked of this back in Chapter 15. Again we look at this and we realize, Okay God, Christ, you knew what you were talking about. You’ll show us the way to deal with this.  In John, Chapter 15 He said, beginning in Verse 18:

John 15:18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.

Verse 19: “If you were of the world, the world would love its own.  Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” 

We get comments about some of the articles we’ll have, some of the programs that we will do…people obviously despise what we will say about them – about those topics etc. And we understand that; we also realize, we’ll you’re not our audience right now. But that audience is going to resonate with someone out there. And if it doesn’t convict a skeptic right now, it might at some other point. But Jesus knew what the world would be like, and He will give us the wisdom and the means to continue to do that work in a world that doesn’t hold the same values.  We don’t have to fear that; we don’t have to worry about it. We need to be wise, and we will be, but we also need to be strong and to the point, because the world we also live in is a world that needs the good news of the gospel.

When we read the headlines, when we scratch our heads at cultural shifts and changes that make it into something that we don’t even recognize today, we should recognize that they need what we have. And to the degree we can make it available, we should support that and make it available to people, giving them help for today, and hope for tomorrow. Help to get through each day; help to make some sense out of the chaos of their own life, whether it’s of their own choosing or because of circumstances beyond their control. We can give them a message of the kingdom of God that helps them to begin to take some steps to back out of the dead-end street of their life, and it helps them literally today, spiritually, with understanding, with knowledge, and truth and wisdom, and of the gospel of the Bible and of God, and His purpose and His plan for them. And it gives them a hope for tomorrow to see through the challenges of this present world in which we live and to have hope that there is going to be a better world to come – the kingdom of God. We give them that two-fold approach with what we do – help for today; hope for tomorrow. 

I just had a wonderful opportunity over the last few weeks, and one of the reasons that Debbie and I haven’t been around here on the weekends…we were asked earlier this year by the Canadian office to come up to Canada and do a series of Beyond Today public appearances.  And I was asked, as one of the presenters, since I don’t have a congregation that I have to be with every week, so I, beginning at the Feast of Tabernacles on Prince Edward Island and through to Windsor, Ontario just two weeks ago, we conducted five different personal appearance campaigns – seminars, whatever you want to call them. They were a combination of Sunday afternoon, of Sabbath service type of thing where they wanted to just invite the readership of the Good News and viewers of the Beyond Today television program to come and see and hear a presenter talk on a particular topic. The office has aired in Canada for upwards of eight years, longer than it has on broadcast television, cable television here in the United States.  And they have built an audience, and they have also had a number of people come into the church as a result of that as well, through these years. And so we did this, and over a course of five different presentations, to Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, Windsor and Prince Edward Island, we had forty-seven people come out and engage us – forty-seven readers and viewers of the program come out of the several thousand that they  invited…we were actually very pleased with the turnout that came. But what we were able to do with a situation like that, or where any of our ministers are doing this, whether it’s still of a kingdom of God seminar, or some other type of variation that they continue to do, we do have pastors that are still working with seminars to invite the readership to come and engage with them in a seminar, or at church.

What we are doing, and what you see, is these people that I was able to interact with were basically forty-seven disciples – that’s how I look at them. Forty-seven disciples, people that we are working with, whether through the Good News magazine, the Beyond Today program, or any of the other literature that we have, that are not members of the church, but they are in regular contact with us, whether on a Sunday on television, or through the printed word or on the internet, they’re being discipled. And I was able to engage a number of them and hear their stories. It’s always refreshing for any of us to do that, especially those of us who work in media, go out at the Feast or other church visits, and we find people who become a member of the church.  And the first contact was Beyond Today - that’s especially gratifying as we work with that particular program.

I had one lady come up to me at one of these appearances, and she said “I learned about the Sabbath by watching a Beyond Today presentation on it.” I learned about the Sabbath in that way. Now she could have learned about it through the Good News, through a booklet…she could have learned about it through a neighbor. And that’s fine too. But she heard about it - and you realize: this is a disciple. Now, I don’t know exactly where she is on the continuum from first contact, first introduction to us, to becoming a regular attendee at our services, and by God’s grace, repentance and baptism…I don’t know where she is. All I know is she learned about the Sabbath from us – that’s a disciple.

I had a conversation with another woman, divorced, several children – an immigrant: Serbian immigrant. Who told me, “If I’d known what I know today, after listening and watching and reading for about a year with you folks…she said, “If my husband and I had been obeying God, we wouldn’t be divorced today.  If we’d been living a better life…” And she’s learning something…she is not ready to probably be baptized yet today, but she saw something by what she had read or viewed. She came out and seen a little bit more what this is like…in time she’ll come back perhaps. There are some interesting conversations with people. And our ministers see that on a regular basis. People who contact them, telephone calls, and inquiries about the church…they may only come once or twice, and then they may not come back for whatever reason. My point is this, that we are discipling; we are teaching people the things that Christ commanded us. They are learning about the trues of God; the gospel of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God is being given to them. And that’s extremely gratifying to me, having a direct part in it, and I hope that it is for you, as you support it. And as you also engage with it and represent it, where you work, with people you live with or next to, who know you are a part of the Church of God, that you keep the Sabbath, you disappear every fall for a couple of weeks - that see the fruits in your own life. 

To carry the gospel of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God with us wherever we go. The gospel of Jesus Christ and the kingdom is worthy of a people who will step up to the job and take the message and proclaim it, and stay with it through a lifetime – and stay with it through a lifetime.  That message, that gospel is worthy of people to commit to that – you have! And I’m thankful
you have. I’m thankful for all the other supportive members of God’s Church, God’s faithful people, who come out every week, who get to the Feast of Tabernacles every year, who support with prayers and encouragement, and yes, tithes and offerings, the work of the church, to preach the gospel and to care for the disciples. I am thankful for all of you. I just have one thing
to wish Jonathan, who’s not here – I am only thankful for one thing right now today – that’s what I wrote down for Jonathan’s list. I’m thankful for that, because the message we carry is worthy of a people like that. That is the church Christ is building. That is the church that will prevail against the gates of the grave.

In Isaiah, Chapter 6 there’s an interesting passage that we should spend a moment on before we go our ways today. Isaiah Chapter 6 is an interesting part of the message of Isaiah. Beginning in Verse 1:

Isaiah 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, that I saw the Lord (Isaiah writes) – He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of His robe filled the Temple. 

Verse 2: Attending Him were mighty seraphim; each having six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 

Verse 3: They were calling out to each other: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s armies; the whole earth is filled with His glory!”

Verse 4: The voices shook the temple unto its foundation, and the entire building was filled with smoke.

Verse 5: Then I said: “It’s all over, I am doomed! For I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I’ve seen The King, the lord of heaven’s armies. 

Verse 6: Then one of the seraphim flew to me, (Isaiah writes) with a burning coal he’s taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 

Verse 7: He touched my lips with it, and he said: “See this coal has touched your lips; now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”

Verse 8: And I heard the Lord asking: “Whom shall I send, as a messenger to this people, who will go for Us?” Who will go? Who will go and take the message of God, is what is being put here is this image – this vision? Who will go for Us and take My message? Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”      

Verse 9: And He said, “Yes, go… And that’s what He says to us today: Go! Go to the ends of the earth – go and preach the gospel.  Go and make disciples – go and teach the things that I’ve commanded you – go! But it’s interesting He said as He put it this way: “Say to this people:  ‘Listen carefully, but do not understand; watch closely, but learn nothing.’ 

Verse 10: Harden the hearts of these people. Plug their ears and shut their eyes. That way they will not see with their eyes, nor hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts, and turn to Me for healing. 

Verse 11: Then I said, “Lord, how long will this go on?”

Sounds like a contradictory purpose, doesn’t it? - And He replied: “Until the towns are empty, the houses are deserted; the whole country’s a wasteland,

Verse 12: Until the Lord has sent everyone away and the entire land of Israel lies deserted.   

Verse 13: But even a tenth, a remnant survival, will be invaded again and burned. 

Interesting message - You know where this part of Isaiah is quoted - In Matthew, Chapter 13, when Jesus gives the parable of the Sower and the Seed. And He talks about the seed, that some falls by the wayside; some falls on good soil and bears fruit, some thirty, forty, sixty fold. This passage of Isaiah is quoted there. The seed has to be sown; Isaiah went. Some heard his message – some didn’t. Today we sow the seed of the gospel - some of it falls on good soil and begins to bear fruit; some of it springs up and is snatched away, by the cares of a world we read about back in II Timothy, Chapter 3. But that is what we are called to; that is the church that Jesus Christ is building, that is going to prevail. And as we do the work that we’ve been given, we will learn the lessons, spiritually, that we need to learn, to one day be with Jesus Christ, as the bride that has been prepared. That’s how it all works together – that’s how it works. 

For all my fifty plus years in the church, there’s been those people who’ve been fired by a vision of the kingdom of God, and have given their lives to this. And many of us are still doing it, forty, fifty, sixty years on, cheerfully, gladly. As I said earlier: I’d do it all over again! I’d choose it again. It is exhilarating! The people I’ve met, the people that you know, did not give in to discouragement, even when there were reasons to be discouraged. They did not lose their zeal, even when leaders and people may have disappointed them. They didn’t lose their love even when the vision ripped at the heart. The people I’ve known through my years and I still see, with their hand to the plow, love the truth. And they’ve loved it even when the truth might be mocked by some. The people I know that have kept their eyes on God’s purpose in their lives, when it would have been easy to go back into the world and let the cares of this world snatch away what has been sown.

The people I know, the people that I’m thankful for, have been faithful and have borne fruit, some thirty, some sixty fold. I’m thankful for all those people. I’m thankful for all of them that I have known and met through the years that are still keeping on. This Thanksgiving I give thanks to God for them, and I give thanks for you. Because this is the church that Christ is building; this is the church which will prevail against the gates of hell. This is the church that is composed of people who will endure, and seize the kingdom. And this is the church that will be prepared as the bride for Jesus Christ when he returns.