In this sermon, the speaker shares a story about a young father who has a purpose in life - to provide for his family and take care of his 14 dairy cows on his five-acre land. The young man works tirelessly, cutting grass with a wheat eater and feeding the cows by hand. He also spends his time reviewing what was taught in Bible studies, visiting people, and meeting their needs. The speaker emphasizes that this young father's dedication to his calling is a powerful testimony of his faith and commitment to the kingdom mandate. The sermon encourages listeners to prioritize their focus on the kingdom of God and let their testimonies shine as a light in the world. The speaker references Luke 12:35-40 to emphasize the importance of being ready and prepared for the coming of the Lord.

We want to greet you in the name of Jesus. I am thankful to see this group has gathered tonight on a Friday night. And those of you who have traveled a long distance to come here, we have brothers and sisters here from the state of Washington, they're from Pennsylvania, they're from all over. I don't know where all you have come from to be here tonight. And we welcome you here and wish God's blessing upon you here. And I just wondered if anyone thought this evening what we are doing here. And I ask that question another way. What did you expect God to do here tonight? What are these meetings for? What do you expect a preacher to say when he comes to your congregation to speak? What is he supposed to do? And as we heard last night, the only reason for this service, the only reason for this sermon, the only reason for this gathering together is to perfect the saints for the work of their ministering. And that will be certainly evident again tonight. And if you thought that I was going to do the work, or if you thought that God was going to do it all tonight, if you thought that the needs of your communities were going to be met because there was a service at this congregation tonight, if you thought that the work was finished because we were gathered here tonight, then we are not understanding the mind of God because the work that God wants to do, much of the work that God wants to do will not be done here. Much of the work that God wants done will not be done here. Much of the work that God wants done must be done out there. And there are two letters in the gospel mandate, in the kingdom mandate. There are just two letters that are so very important, and they form a very small word. And the word is not come. The word is go. And it's go. And it's one that goes. And if we don't go, then nothing happens until we go. And so the gospel mandate is, Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel. And it's not just here where this is going to happen. Here we're equipping the church to go. And that is probably the greatest difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament of your Bible. In the Old Testament, if you wanted to become a Christian, if you wanted to become part of the people of God, if you wanted to be identified with the Israelite nation, with the covenant people, you had to come and become part of them. You had to come to them. You had to come to the tabernacle. You had to come to the temple. You had to come to where they were. You had to leave Moab. You had to cross the Jordan River and go into Bethlehem, Judah, or Ephrathah. You had to come if you wanted to be part of the people of God. You had to leave where you were and come. In the New Testament, it's different. In the Old Testament, the needy souls, the searching souls had to come and find the church. In the New Testament, the church goes and finds the lost. It's not a matter of seeing how many of them we can bring. It's a matter of seeing how many of them we can find. We must go. That is the gospel mandate. And I think that some of you have been slightly edgy and somewhat afraid that I was going to bring a series of messages in your pulpit taking a few cracked shots from a Central American point of view at the affluence of the Willamette Valley. I think some of you were afraid that with the background we have and the things we live with and the lifestyle we have there that we might come up here and focus on some of that and in some way or another make you uncomfortable in that area of life. And I want you to know that it is not in my heart to do that. But it is in my heart to give you tonight the answer for materialism. And it is not sell 200 cows and buy 20. It's not tear down a 100-foot silo and build a 30-foot silo. The answer is not build a farm, 200 acres of grass seed, whatever it is, farm 25. That is not the answer. It's not sell your van and buy a bicycle. We had a man in our congregation who had a bicycle. He had a generator in the front tire and a generator in the back wheel. He had mirrors on every side and reflectors over this whole thing. He had everything on the bicycle chromed. He had all the gadgets and extras you could put on the bicycle. I didn't know you could put that much stuff on a bicycle and still pedal the thing. And he was prouder of his bicycle than some people would be of a Rolls Royce. And so materialism does not stop or start. With size or quantity or numbers or dollar signs or how many zeros on the front side of the decimal point. That is not what materialism is. Materialism is nothing more than being in the world with the wrong focus. With your eyes, my eyes on the wrong thing. And so I want to talk about where Jesus tells us our attention should be placed. And I will not spare you this evening. I want to be fair with the scriptures tonight. But before I go any further, I want to ask you a question. I was at a very early age called to the ministry in a church very, very far from here. It was in the state of Vermont. That's about as far from here as you can get and still be in the continental United States. And sitting in a minister's meeting, someone said that they had heard that there was someone who would like to have a meeting in which they invite all the members in the, at that point it was a Mennonite church, who had not been raised in that way, who came into this church as a result of the witness of others. And they would like to have a meeting and discuss things and see how these people who have come in among us look at our church, our doctrine, our practice, our church life, our testimony. And then someone said, well, that would be a very interesting meeting, but I would like to also be in that meeting. And then they said, well, let's do this. Let's invite also to that meeting everyone who has won somebody to the church who was not part of the fellowship and brought them in. Let's also invite those people who have been effective in bringing such souls into the church. Let us also invite them to this meeting. And somebody said, I would still like to be invited to the meeting. And I would ask you something. When is the last time you led a soul to Christ? Well, you look at me. What am I supposed to say now? When is the last time you led a soul to Christ? All right. Maybe that was the wrong question, it must be. I'll ask another one. When was the last time you spoke to someone about Christ? When was the last time? Now, the brother read something very important in the devotions. He said, everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not. And we think that means apparel, veil, ordinances. Do these sayings of mine. No oaths. Do these sayings of mine. No Iraqi war. These sayings of mine. No jury duty. These sayings of mine. Let's open our Bibles tonight to the sayings of Jesus. And let us find out this evening if we are hearing the sayings of Christ and doing them. Let us see if we are hearing the sayings of Christ and doing them. That is what I'd like to see tonight. Matthew chapter 4. As I begin reading these series of verses, and we're going to read several passages of Scripture, mostly from the book of Matthew, not all, but mostly from the book of Matthew tonight just for order, I'd like to ask you something again. How many of you today have, please, please, how many of you today in your prayers prayed for a lost soul for whom you have been diligently praying and whom you greatly desire to see one to Jesus? How many of you have in your community, in your neighborhood, someplace within your realm of contact and influence a soul that is lost and you pray for this person and you make contacts with this person and you stop by to see this person and you're interested in helping this person and you just simply want to be available to that person and you keep on searching the heart of God and you keep on searching the face of God and you're seeing what God is doing in the life of this person. You're praying for them and day by day you pray for them and as you pray you say, Lord, show me, what are you doing in that person's life? And then one thing happens and you say, thank you, Lord, you're working there and you keep praying and you stop by and see that person and give them a word of encouragement and you keep on praying. How many of you today prayed for some lost soul for whom you are diligently involved in seeking to win them to Jesus? Did we do that today? Do we have people like that constantly on our hearts? Before I left home, I had the congregation together and I gave the congregation six names. I gave the congregation six names. Six names of people for whom we are praying and I was thinking that at least maybe one or two of those six people would probably be about ready to make a decision for Christ in the two weeks that I was away. And I told the congregation, please keep your heart on these six people. Please be available. Please have your heart open to these six people because I think that maybe some of them would be ready during these two weeks when I'm not here. I don't have to be here. You can lead them to Jesus. You can take up this work. And so I gave them six that I have been working with. And as I stand here tonight, if they were sitting in this audience, I would like to put an urgency upon you. Do you have a soul in your community? Is there one on your list? Is there someone for whom you are daily praying? Is there someone for whom you prayed today? What are we doing with the words of Jesus? He that heareth the sayings of mine and doeth them, or doeth them not. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. And what is the will of your Father in heaven concerning the lost souls of men? What is the will of God? And we thought that meant no life insurance. We thought that meant. And we have a tremendous list. But chapter 4 of Matthew's Gospel, verse 19, And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. That was the early heart of Jesus. Those were the first words He said. The first words He said to the first ones He called to follow Him. I will make you dairy farmers, fishers of men. Nothing wrong with being a dairy farmer. There were cows milked at our place today unless something drastically happened that I have not heard about. We have, I think, someone milked seven Jersey cows at our house today. Probably in the morning and in the evening. There is nothing wrong with milking cows. I will make you fishers of men. Chapter 5, verse 14, You are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bush or put it on a candlestick and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. And along with this concept of light, along with this idea of Jesus, that we are the light in the world. We are light. We are not a lantern. We are a light. And no one is drawn in the darkness to a lantern. The lantern can be ever so pretty and ornate and trimmed in gold, a 24 carat. It can be one beautiful masterpiece. It can be wrought iron. No one in the darkness, no one in the storm, is drawn to the lantern. They are only drawn to the light. And you know what? In the darkness you can't even see the lantern. You only see the light. In this world where we live, where is the light in the Willamette Valley? And if somebody would be traveling down through the darkness of this sin-cursed valley in which we live, this state of Oregon in which we live, or Washington, or Pennsylvania down there. If somebody was traveling through the darkness and looking out across the landscape and looking out across the horizon, looking out across this beautiful valley and looking for a light, to whom would that person be drawn? Now, I don't know if it's wise for me to keep on interrupting you with more questions, but I just have to ask you another one. When was the last time somebody came up to you and said, please, excuse me, I'm embarrassed. I feel embarrassed to ask you. I feel embarrassed, but I think you're a Christian. I can tell you're a Christian. I think you're a Christian. I have a great need. Can you help me? We have a city of about 20,000 people an hour and a half from our house. I was walking down the sidewalk in that city. It was business. I was just doing the things I had to do. Maybe buying a car part. I don't know what I was doing there, but walking down the street. I was minding my own business. I wasn't even thinking about witnessing. I think that's a sin, but I wasn't even thinking about witnessing. I was just thinking about getting my job done. That's the way we often are. We have to get those things done, make that deposit in the bank, stop by and pick up those things at the pharmacy, go over here and stop by the mailbox and then head back the long road to home. We try to get this stuff done. We do that about every day. We run, catch this, do that, make that phone call and take care of this, and we don't think about the fact that there are people all along the way. We don't realize what those people are there for and why we are here because we're a light to the world. I was walking down the sidewalk. A man came running out of a business. Came running out from this lot over here, crossed the busy street, ran over to me and got a hold of me. I was startled. I wasn't expecting that. He said, He said, Sir, Sir, I'm in serious trouble. I said, Please. By this time he had my attention. I said, Tell me. He said, Last night it happened. My wife left me and I don't know what to do. Can you pray for me and my wife? I didn't know who the man was. You're the what? If someone's looking for light, someone's in darkness and needs light, someone needs help, would they look for you? Would they stop you and look for you? If you just keep your hand to Matthew, I'll read some verses about light that you might find interesting. Just stay there in Matthew. I'll read these to you and then we'll run back to Matthew again. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light to the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for the salvation unto the ends of the earth. Beautiful teaching there that Paul and Barnabas are giving on their first missionary journey. That was in Acts 13. And then in Philippians chapter 2, we have words that are just about known by memory to most of you. And they sound like this. That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I may not run in vain, neither labor in vain. We are the light to the world. But now Matthew chapter 10. Matthew 10 verses 6-8. But go ye rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick. Cleanse the lepers. Raise the dead. Cast out devils freely. Have ye received? Ye have received. Freely give. We can look at verse 27 in that chapter. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light. And what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. Verses 32 and 33. Whosoever, therefore, shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. And whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. That sounds like what the brother read in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 7. Matthew 18 verse 10. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones. For I say unto you that in heaven there are angels. Behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost. How think ye if a man have a hundred sheep and one of them be gone astray? Doth he not leave the ninety and nine and go up into the mountains and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you he rejoiceth more of that sheep than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so, it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. Well then tell me what is the will of your Father which is in heaven? Not everyone that says unto me Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. And you can say well, Brother Dale, the will of our Father is more than evangelism. But the will of our Father is the salvation of the lost. And my question is is that honestly tonight in your life a focus? Is that something you plan for? Is that something you get out of bed and plan to do? Is that something that you have on your schedule? You've got that in your agenda. You've got that in your date book. You've got that thing written down. Today, today we go and look. Today we go and search. Today I make that phone call. Today I stop by that store. Today I go by that house. Today, today I search for that soul. Is it part of your agenda? I know spraying that field is part of the agenda. Fixing that tire is part of the agenda. Getting that vacuum pump fixed. Getting that hydraulic pump going. It's part of the agenda. It's got to be done. I know getting so many bags of seed out today. I know getting that truck loaded. I know getting that diesel engine fixed. It's part of the agenda. Did we plan to save souls? Do we plan to win someone for Jesus? Do we plan to fill this church with needy lives? Do we plan to bring them in here? Do we plan to visit the neighbors? Is it part of our purpose? It is the will of God. Now listen, if you were the child of God, you would have the same desire that your Heavenly Father has. If you were filled with the Spirit of God, the Spirit of burning, the Spirit of jealousy, the Spirit of a jealous God, the Spirit of loving God, the Spirit of a merciful God, why wouldn't that same Spirit move us to save souls for Christ? Why aren't we interested in the souls of men? Chapter 25, verse 1. You may never have seen evangelism, evangelism in this passage, but I'd like you to see the gospel mandate, the kingdom mandate, in this passage here. Then shall the kingdom of heaven be like it, under ten virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom, and five of them were wise and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. At midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh, go you out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered saying, Not so, lest there be not enough for us and for you. But go you rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. And it came also the other virgins saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, I know ye not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man cometh. There's a mandate here. If that lantern is not lit, if there's not fire in that lantern, there's something, something has happened to the testimony of the church. The lamp, the lamp is maybe your profession, but the fire is your testimony, the true testimony. The lamp might be what you have to say about it. The lantern might be what you think about it. The lantern might be the image you're trying to portray in the whole situation. But the fire in the lantern is the truth of your testimony. It's what the world knows about you and I. The light in that lantern is what the world sees. It's what the world knows. When Christ says he does not know us, he does not know those who are not a light in this world. It is a serious point to contemplate. And when we consider later on in this chapter the parable of the talents, it's the same thing. The gifts that God gave us were for one purpose. And I don't expect to pass along a lot of financial things to my children. I don't expect to have a lot of acres for them to inherit. I don't expect to have many accounts that they will need to distribute. If there's anything that I want to give to my children, it is just a little picture of a father's heart on this subject. And I want to ask you is the saving of souls a part a part of your daily agenda? When's the last time that you left the house? Turned the ignition on that vehicle and it went speeding out the driveway and your only purpose was to seek a soul. That's why you were going. Many, many years ago at a conservative Mennonite teacher's institute in Minerva, Ohio Brother Lester Showalter said that there are very few people who end up being rich who did not plan to be. And since I've been here I've had one young man after another tell me that they know that their focus was accumulation. I'm going to be rich. It can happen. I know how to make it happen. And it's going to happen. And that young brother said he was a young school teacher at that time and he said there are very few people in this world who are rich that did not plan to be. And I want to say one thing. There are very few people who ever led a soul to Christ who did not plan to do it. And I want to ask you something. If you put those two things side by side and tell me what your focus is. Put those two things side by side and tell me what is the focus of your life. Now I'm going to answer the question. I'm very, very sorry. But I'm going to answer the question. If you can't answer which of the two is your focus I want you to know that every one of your children can answer. Every one of your children know the answer to that question. Every one of your children know which of those two is your focus. And all of your neighbors know it. Everyone that drives past knows it. The people easily know it. They're not fooled. They're not deceived by it. Everyone else knows it. And if you and I don't know which of those two things is our focus the rest of those people who know us are well aware which is our focus. The material thing. The soul wing thing. The people know what our focus is. And I will tell you that the answer to materialism is a change of focus. Nothing else is necessary. A change of focus. Chapter 28 of Matthew. The kingdom mandate to win the loss for Jesus. Verse 18 says And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Now what for? What is this power for? What is this power for? Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the world. Amen. And when you pick up this same ascension passage in the first chapter of Acts and you come running down through those verses one through five and six and seven and then you come into verse eight. What does verse eight say? And ye shall receive what? Power. After that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. And ye shall be witnesses unto me. Now that's the heart of God. Those are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. If any man hear these sayings of mine, then doeth it. Or if any man hear these sayings of mine, then doeth them not. These are the sayings of Jesus that we've read. And I've tried this evening to limit my reading basically to words that Jesus said just in one gospel, the gospel of Matthew. We say we're scriptural. We believe in two kingdoms. We believe in separation from the Lord. We don't smoke. We don't chew. We don't dance. We don't gamble. We don't swear oaths. We don't vote. We don't sue. We don't join the armed forces. We don't watch TV. We don't buy whitewall tires. We don't have flowers on the aprons. We don't have the one to dress. We don't wear corsages. We don't wear neckties or wedding bands or clasp rings. We don't join the Rotary Club or the Lions Club or the Freemasons. We have a Bible reason for each don't that we have. But I ask you something. Is that the kingdom of God? Do not. Do not. Or like brakes on a truck or a car. It's unsafe to drive one mile without brakes. It's unsafe to pull out of your driveway without brakes. But if all you have is brakes, you'd never deliver a load of grass seeds. You'd never get anywhere if all you have is brakes. Our don'ts do not prove our biblical obedience. Any more than holding on to brakes proves that we're a good driver. You can see a child sitting behind the steering wheel and he's hard to look over into the steering wheel. He's sitting there and he's got his foot way down and he's holding the brake on. He can do that all day long and it doesn't prove a thing. Hold that brake on all day and it doesn't prove anything. And so what we don't do is not what makes us Christian. It's what we are. The law of the kingdom is go and tell and witness and fish and preach and sow the seed and harvest and confront the darkness and penetrate that darkness. And the Christian life is not a question of isolation and installation. How far away can we get from the centers of traffic? How far away can we get from the centers of commerce? How far away can we get from the cities? How far away can we get from Los Angeles? How far away can we get from Seattle? How far away can we get back in the country someplace, way back in the lane somewhere? It's not isolation and insulation, but it's confrontation and penetration. That is the kingdom of God. Light penetrating darkness. The lanterns are not enough. We need light. The ultimate evidence of separation from the world. The ultimate evidence of separation from the world is not how broad the brim on the hat. The ultimate evidence of separation from the world is the power and unction and vision and commitment to save dying sinners from the world and bring them into the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the ultimate, the ultimate proof of separation from this world. And we're involved in a warfare. And we're in enemy territory. And we cannot hold the brakes on all the time. You know, what happens if you're just sitting there holding the brakes and every fire is shot? There's no war ever won like that. The brakes are held, but nothing was done. I want to warn us about that tonight. Are we saving the souls of men? I'm well aware of the fact that you parents, and you've talked to me about it since I've been here, are concerned about the future of your young people. You're concerned about the trends. You're concerned about the influences. You're concerned about the fellowship meetings, the effect that it has on their youth. In our constituents of churches, we have a grave concern about the affluence and what it's doing to our youth. They have no idea how much idle time they have. They have no idea how much money they're spending on themselves. They have no idea how much gas they're burning through the exhaust pipe. They have no idea how they're using their time. They have no idea the trinkets and worthless stuff that they are buying. They have no idea how much money it takes to keep them going. It takes as much money to keep some of the young people going to this country as it does several families where we live in a year. We have no idea. But the answer to all this stuff is not throw away the badminton set. The answer is not destroy the volleyball net. The answer is change the focus into the kingdom mandate. Our victory over this world is the measure of our testimony. Light is testimony. Our testimony is our light. I'm going to read some verses in Luke chapter 12. Verses 35 to 40. He shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so blessed are those servants. And this know that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and would have suffered his house be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also, for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not. Where is the light in this world of darkness and lostness and blindness and without Christ tonight and alienated from God and hopeless and dying and dazzling in the lust and pride and vanity of America? Where is the light in the midst of all of this? And I believe in separation from the world. There's no possible way to be in this world or be part of this world and then be saved from this world. There's no possible way to live like the world and eat like the world and dress like the world and buy like the world and spend like the world and do what the world does and be involved in the world's things and then suddenly when the world is destroyed not be destroyed but the world be plumbed full with this. There's no line of logic that would allow you to think like that. I believe in separation from the world. But separation is not so much the measure of our uniqueness. It is the measure of our love and our testimony. That is what separation from the world is. And we have heard the gospel call come out from among them. But I ask you, have we heard the call go ye therefore in among them? And we come out from them in their attitude. We come out from them in values. We come out from them in their priorities. We come out from them in their focus in what they're looking for. We come out from them and then we go in among them with the only light that will save them. That is the way we're to live in this world. That's the only safe way to live here. And you can go to town and the sights are there. You can't help but seeing it. Recently I had a young lady sitting in my living room. My wife was there with me. I wasn't there alone. She was improperly dressed. She didn't have enough of a skirt on to cover what it should have covered. Her blouse did an improper job taking care of that part. She didn't have But I had one interest while I was there. Helping that young lady who came from the country of Sweden to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so I spoke to her. I read verses to her. I tried to reach her. I tried to help her. And the best protection against the immodesty of our time is to have your focus right. Focusing on that part that needs salvation. That heart that needs the gospel. That heart If you focus on something else you're going to be defeated. That is the answer for going to town. That is the answer for cruising down Main Street. That is the answer for what we find in the dazzling attractions of this world. Focus. What are we in this town for? The only reason I'm in this town is to make a bank deposit. The only reason I'm in this town is to pick up some chocolates for after the ball game. Or pick up some coke for after the volleyball game. That's the only reason I'm in this town. I'll probably be defeated before I leave. That's not the purpose. We've got a kingdom mandate. That's why we're in town. I think it's also important at this point to recognize that and I realize in the States people don't pump your gas anymore. Where we live they still do. People don't pump the gas where you do it yourself. But that man at the gas pump or if you pumped it yourself and went into the building to pay it when it was done that lady behind the cash register she's not there to take your money. It's a culture with a child of God a living testimony a light day lantern. Enflamed and spirit filled Christian comes face to face with that person and you hand them a twenty dollar bill. But handing them a twenty dollar bill is not the important thing. There's a contact here. I was driving down through the state of West Virginia had to buy gasoline at a gas station at one of these fast food places what do you call it convenience store and I paid the gasoline that was working there I saw behind there her magazine rack in which she was selling penthouse magazines. I said excuse me young lady you offer this nice service here gasoline food and refreshments here but I'm just noticing that there's something for sale back here. How do you feel as a young lady selling a magazine like that to a man? This was a way to start a conversation it was just a way to make a contact it was a way to make it worth more than a twenty dollar bill do you understand what I'm talking about? And we have one purpose for being in this world it's not to buy the gasoline. We have one purpose for being in this world we met that person and we are liked in this world. But I ask you a question are you planning to do it? Are you planning to do it? We are as separate from the world as what we are penetrating the darkness and if we are not penetrating the darkness if the darkness is encroaching and encroaching and encroaching the influence is coming and coming and coming if that's the case we are not separate from the world we are being engulfed in it we are wrapped up in it we are part of it even though we are wearing cape and apron and all we are just getting wrapped up in it unless we are penetrating the darkness unless the darkness is held at bay because God has come and I suppose you all know that the answer to safely traveling through the darkest night is not the blackness of the car but it's the brilliance of the headlamps I'd like to read in 1 John 1 excuse me, in John 1, verse 1 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God the same was in the beginning with God all things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made in Him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not and that means the darkness could not extinguish it there is no darkness anywhere that can put out the light be it ever so little a light light is light it doesn't have to be big it doesn't have to be a welding torch it can be a candle and I had to learn that in life and I suppose I still make this mistake too often we don't come to people with a welding torch to blind them and dazzle them so that they cannot even see what they are looking at but a gentle light a candle is worth so much more and they can see it and they can see what's leading them they can follow it that gentle light and so you don't need to come with a flashing sermon you don't need to come with a with a CD on 500 watts you don't need to come at that kind of decibels just the word of truth just the word of truth just that word from the Bible just that word for Jesus if your person says I know who that person is if I ever have a need that's where I will go it's the law of the kingdom that light is never overcome and that light and darkness never mix the answer for victory over moral decay and sexual pollution and perversity is a testimony of light and truth and power in those of us who live in the midst of all of this that's the only state guard and either we are overcoming the darkness or else we are being overcome and so we want to keep that in mind the key to spiritual victory in this present evil society is going to the lost with that message I'd like to turn all of you to Romans chapter 10 I'd like to show you five words in this chapter Romans chapter 10 verses 13 through 15 we have this most beautiful verse here this beautiful promise in verse 13 it's a universal verse it's a verse that applies to everyone it applies to the Iraqis it applies to the Qataris it applies to the Canadians it applies to the Pakistanis it applies to everyone for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved how then shall they call on him whom they have not believed and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things and in Costa Rica we take these three verses and put them on the blackboard and then we ask the people to tell us of the five verbs in this verse the calling upon the name of the Lord and the believing in him and the hearing of the preaching and the preaching of the word and the sending out to preach we ask them which of these words comes first and the first word is the last one you must be sent you must be sent you must go before you can speak it all starts with go and no one's going to believe on that which they have not heard you must go first and if you don't go they're not going to hear you must go and if you go you can speak and if you speak they can hear and if they hear they can believe and if they believe they can call upon the name of the Lord and be saved and it all begins with go I guess I won't tell you who it was a young man called me on the telephone a few days ago it was a Monday the last Monday that I was in Costa Rica he said yesterday I talked to a very unusual man this man lives back up in the back up in the wilderness behind where this young man lives and this man is is illiterate and this man drinks and this man smokes and this man has a terrible reputation of being violent this man is in terrible shape this man is the most unlikely candidate for the kingdom of God that you could probably find this is a man that looks like you would call him a hardened sinner you would call him he's called him down here an atheist you would call a person like this well this is the last place you'd try if you wanted to have a little summer Bible school up in some place you'd try some nice little child you'd find a nice little mother with some little children you'd think there's a candidate and this man is living up there back in the wilderness behind this young man's house on a Sunday afternoon he went for the purpose of witnessing to this man now he knew he lived there and so he put his boots on and went it all starts with going until you're sent nothing happens until you go nothing happens the man invited him in he sat down he said sir I've been watching your life and I'm very concerned about you I'm concerned about what might happen if you would die sir if you would die do you know what would happen to you well I don't think I do well if you would die you would go to hell hell what is that what is that and so this young man began to explain what is heaven and what is hell and why there is a hell and why people go there and how to not go there and the man said you know I know that I don't live very good but he said now listen now listen he said I can't read or write I never heard anything like this before do you think a man like me that never went to school and never learned these things and can't even read do you think a man like me can understand the things you're trying to tell me do you think I can understand and he said no one has ever told me these things before and the only reason why that man heard was because somebody went it all starts there I'm going to ask you what is your focus if you have a Sunday afternoon is it time to just deflate relax wow that week that was a week and a half that was quite a week you know my schedule is for Monday morning you know what time I got to start Monday morning you know what time listen let's get some rest we got one more service Sunday night and then Monday morning let's hit this thing hard let's go on this thing Monday morning boy let's get up in the morning and so you holler at the subs getting boys awake early in the morning you tell them listen get out of these stocks we got work to do today is Monday and three days until Wednesday and we haven't worked a thing this week yet let's get moving and how about the man up there up there in that valley up there in that montagna up there behind the house and he's never heard a thing and you're sleeping in bed and you're sound asleep and the bride grooms out there with his head wet with his locks wet with the dew of the night and you're sound asleep in bed and he's out doing his work he's out working his vineyard he's wondering where we are he's coming to see his bride he's wondering why the light's not on and the bride's sound asleep in bed and he says come up follow me come with me come out here and he's out there in the dew of heaven under the dew of the night and we're sound asleep in bed it's not wrong to sleep it's not wrong to sleep there's a go in Acts 1.8 there's a go in the Great Commission and I realize it's got to be a John 3.16 go it's got to be a John 3.16 go for God so loved this world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life it must be a John 3.16 go it must be a go that's born out of burden and travail and the fear of God it must be a burden that loves the people it must be a go that's based upon compassion for the lost it must be a go like that it's not a go, repent or perish I told you now now if you want to go to hell go to hell I gave you the warning, that's up to you that's not a Jesus go, that's not a gospel mandate that's not the go of the scriptures that's not the go of the Bible, that's not the go of Jesus softly and tenderly Jesus is calling the Bible is clear that a soul-saving testimony will overcome this world it's the only key to spiritual victory I'm trying to tell you that tonight I referred to that verse in Philippians 2.15 we shine as lights in this world we overcome this world by shining we overcome this world by winning as we go we preach we stand in the temple and tell all the words of this life that is the only way we overcome in this world but now in chapter 5 of Ephesians verse 6 let no man deceive you with vain words for the cause of these things come with the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience be not ye therefore partakers with them for ye were sometimes darkness but now ye are light in the Lord walk as children of light for the truth of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth proving what is acceptable in the sight of the Lord and have no fellowship with the untruthful works of darkness but rather reprove them, this is your victory this is the way to overcome this world turn on your light, make it as bright as you can without dazzling and blinding people and going out there without witness of truth and overcoming this world witness as you go preach as you go preach as you go to the bank, preach as you go to the feed store preach as you go to the grocery store preach as you stop by your places of business look for the gospel opportunities as you go do it that way and not we're going to be defeated Revelation chapter 12 you know this verse by heart verse 11, the point is that a gospel witness going to preach going to teach, going to leave a witness going to leave a track, going to leave a word for Jesus is the key to overcoming this world and its wickedness and its evil influence upon our lives verse 11 says, and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death this is the answer for worldliness on all sides there are many bible illustrations of what I'm saying it was the answer for lust in Joseph's case how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God and its focus is on pleasing God and what am I here for I am a representative I am committed to the Holy God of Israel I'm committed to the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob and how can I do this great wickedness that's what I'm here for it's the answer to lust it was the answer to the materialism in Abraham's time it was the answer to vanity for Rahab it was the answer for pleasure in Moses' day he knew there was pleasure in sin for a season but he esteemed the approach of Christ greater witness greater than all the treasures of Egypt it was a way for salvation for the children of Noah they got inside that ark and that is the way we preserve ourselves from this wicked world by winning the souls of the lost but I want to ask you is there one soul that tonight you're seeking to bring to Christ and you've talked to them and you're watching and waiting and looking for opportunities and maybe a day goes by in a week, in a month, in a year and you keep on persistently praying and stopping by and seeing them and speaking to them and talking to them I guess I will just close with this story we have in one of our congregations a young father of three children this young man has a purpose in life he has a family to provide for he has five acres of land he has twelve or fourteen dairy cows he milks his cows and sells the milk from twelve to fourteen cows he has too small a farm to pasture those cows and so he goes out with a wheat eater and cuts the grass that's about two or three feet tall and loads it on a little cart that has two bicycle tires on it and pulls that by hand into the shed and feeds the cows in the trough and that's how he keeps his cows going and he takes care of his chores but his work is saving souls behind his house there's a winding road that goes up through the mountains and then dead ends down into a valley and that's the end of the road he knows everyone that lives on both sides of that road several miles back in that road he knows how many people live there and visits those homes visits the homes during the week and many times these people on the way out through this mountainous valley stop in his house on the way out through and many times he's two hours late and starting to milk the cows because some father came with a need, wanted to talk to him some mother with two or three children stopped by and so he gets a lot of visitors from these people that he visits back up in this mountain area behind his house on Monday evenings he has Bible studies in these homes at the present time he is rotating his Bible study between three different houses, one near the front of the valley one near the middle and one near the back and so all the people up in there are invited to these homes, so this one is a little bit easier for these people to get to and since there's no transportation for these people to get to and back there for those people to get to and so on Sundays he goes up and down the road and reminds them in which house the Bible study is going to be tomorrow night and then invites the people to come make sure that they know that the Bible study is going to be here this week or there this week and when he has the Bible study he takes that little book that many of you have seen printed by Christian Aid Ministries 101 Bible stories in every Bible lesson he reads one of those stories they sing a few songs by memory because these people do not read or write he teaches them a few songs that they can easily learn and then he reads the story explains to them the story I have seen as many as 30 people in his Bible Bible studies I have seen as few as 4 or 5 that's every Monday night and now the rest of the week is spent reviewing what was taught, visiting the people, urging them to consider their own lives, meeting their needs in whatever way they can and all of life is spent for these people in these Bible studies and there's hardly anybody in the world that knows anything about it there's no mission board supporting that no one is writing any checks there's no mission house there's no mission vehicle there's no mission committee there's no mission farm 5 acres of ground 14 dairy cows they visit for the lost I'm going to ask you something do you think that young father will ever become rich? I'm going to ask you something do you think do you think he'll have anything to pass along to his children he has 3 very happy children very contented children and they go along with daddy to the Bible studies and they go along with daddy as he goes up and down those roads and back in those long lanes and back in those mountains to visit those little cabins, they go along with daddy one night he was at home, it was 9 o'clock at night he was at home down at the hill bottom of his house several in a family had gathered together in the evening there was 2 brothers in that home that had not talked to each other for years but the mother had invited the family home, thought to have a little barbeque or something and thought maybe the family could get together and while they were together these 2 big boys, both married both with children began to fight each other in a most terrible and dreadful way and they grabbed each other by their throats and they had each other nearly dead and the wives began to scream and the mother of these boys tried to pull them apart and someone in a state of emergency went outside and jumped into a vehicle and ran, took that vehicle as fast as he could to the top of the hill to get this young man of whom I have spoken, a young man whose light shines and everyone in the community knows that if you need a Christian if you need somebody with a witness if you need somebody in hours of darkness this is who you'll go for and they grabbed this young man and said come, come right away when they got to the bottom of the hill the one had left the girl to the other one and he was out in the outside panting, trying to get up there to breathe the other one was inside the house squatted down on the couch just completely exhausted he walked in there took one boy by one hand took the other boy by the other hand these two men were both bigger than he was and he stood in the middle of them and he said let us pray this was a Catholic home you only pray around there with the beads on your fingers, you only pray around there if you've got something ceramic in front of you, that's the only way you pray in that house, he said let us pray the wives came, the mother of these boys came, he had a boy on this side he had a boy on that side, he had his hand on his shoulder he had a hand on his shoulder, he started to pray but he was done praying, these two boys embraced each other today these two boys are reconciled they're reconciled to each other, they're reconciled to their daddy and we could go on and on with stories like that he gave a young baby that can hardly read, a New Testament and he wondered if this New Testament was doing any good in that home, but you know you gave out a Bible someone didn't have a Bible, you gave them a Bible someone didn't have a storybook, you gave them a storybook you gave her a New Testament and one day she came to his house said I have some questions I have some questions she said you know, it's awfully hard for me to read, it takes me an awful long time to read a page, but I've been trying to read this Testament you gave me and I am now, I am now up to the book of John, and I have some questions about what I'm reading the answer for materialism is a new focus what are you here for why has God placed you in this beautiful Willamette Valley grass seed has virtually nothing to do with it, that is not why you are here if that's your reason why you're here somebody is not doing the will of the Father, which is in Heaven and I don't believe I would like to die without having done the will of my Father, which is in Heaven and according to what our brother read tonight, not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in Heaven I'd like to ask you are you ready to get on your knees before God and say, I need to change the focus of my life are you ready to get on your knees and say I need to plan to do it I want to plan to do it I'm here to offer myself to God I want to be a sole winner for Jesus Christ I want to reach the lost for Jesus I just thought that if we're going to prepare the saints for their work of ministering it would be appropriate to consider this subject tonight and I am sure that anyone who takes this gospel mandate seriously will experience revival in your life without attending any more meetings you will have revival in your life there is not a solitary person in this world there is not one member in our churches who is discouraged and about ready to give up and ready to throw in the towel and ready to give up the faith who is faithful in this gospel mandate there is no one who is leading souls to Jesus tonight who is not sold on his service to the Lord Jesus Christ and will give anything he has to maintain himself in this army for our Lord and I asked you last night for whom was the brother praying when he prayed for our missionaries for whom was he praying was he praying for you and somewhere somebody with a couple of cows and five acres has one purpose for living he said I don't plan to stop until I see my neighbors converted I ask you is there one person on your prayer list is there one solitary soul for whom you have been laboring you have it on your mind you want to see that person come to Jesus have you been speaking to somebody about the Lord it is the gospel answer to materialism I would like you to at least consider these words tonight let's stand for prayer our father we present ourselves to you before your word before your truth you have a holy purpose you have a purpose for this world you have a purpose for our being here you have a purpose for having called us out of darkness into your marvelous light you've had a purpose for calling us from our nets and from our fishing so we would become fishers of men you've had a purpose for giving us the holy unction of oil in the form of the holy spirit to give us power so we would go go and preach and go and teach and go and tell you have a purpose father for this congregation at Tangent you have a purpose for the brothers in Harrisburg those over there at Brownsville up at Hopewell, up there at Rochester and there at Calvary you've got a purpose for the people that are here tonight for all of us and father we know what your will is on this subject but at times we have been negligent and we have had our focus on something else I pray dear God that you would help us to see the utter importance of abandoning that which does not count in eternity for that which saves souls for eternity and help us father to spend our time with something that will last when this world is over help us father to make an investment in something that will outlast us and outlast these temporal things that when the world is burned up and all of these elements are melted with fervent heat that there are crowns being given to souls who saw the light and responded to Jesus because of somebody sitting in this service tonight. Father this being the scene does not result in the salvation of some soul then we in vain have met here this evening would you dear father put it in our hearts to make our purpose clear our agenda clear as to why we are here would you help us to make commitments there are young people here tonight dear father, there are young men, there are young fathers here who have been weighing this matter have been considering this this ministry have been evaluating their future have been re-examining their priorities would you help some of those young men tonight to make a clear decision as to what they are going to spend their lives doing would you help us father to get this focus straight would you help us father to understand your will would you help us father to know what the will of the Lord is on the subject of the saving of souls and so father would you take these words this evening and cause them to redound to the glory of your grace when someone comes up to your throne bought and washed by the blood of Christ because of the witness of somebody that was in this service tonight would you make this thing reach out in the community and reach out through this valley and reach out in the lives of those that we meet and we know and help us father to see every man as a candidate and help us to see more than the gas tank and the dollar bill help us dear father to see the soul that makes the change at the pump I pray dear God that you would give us a vision for people and help us in a new season to speak that word which will remind them and make them conscious of God and so bless this assembly this evening we ask your parting blessing upon all of us in Jesus name, Amen The message that you have just listened to is available through livesacrifice.com to download a copy of this message or additional messages that we've made available go to www.livesacrifice.com and click on the messages link or you can send us an email that address is info at livesacrifice.com