In this sermon transcript, the speaker reflects on the importance of turning away from disappointments, sorrows, and fears and focusing on God's plan and purpose for our lives. The speaker emphasizes the need to be channels through which God's will can be introduced into the world. The sermon also highlights the importance of loving God and obeying His commandments as evidence of our discipleship. The speaker shares a personal experience of speaking at a conference and receiving an offering from Congressman John Buchanan.

In a history like these, now given to us, I am wholly privileged in serving thee in times of difficulty, times of stress and pressure, times when hearts of men do fail them for fear, and when men are perplexed on every hand. We rejoice that we know him whom is worthy to stand upon the sea of glass and to hold the book in his hand, the book of the future, all things that will be unfolded. The one whose all was previous, the one by whom all things were made, and into whose hands thou hast committed all power, all authority in heaven and earth, the Lord Jesus Christ. Save us, Father, from small and little views of thy lovely Son. Rescue us, Father, from being too pally with the Lord Jesus. Give to us that kind of awe that moves the elders to fall upon their faces before him and cry, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive riches and honor and glory and dominion and majesty and power and praise, now and forever. Stir us again with the same feeling of the one who did lean upon his bosom and was the disciple whom Jesus loved. And looking back at the good old days, said he heard a voice behind him, the one who was all was previous. When he turned, some of us, Father, are going to have to turn from our disappointments and our sorrows and our fears and see one who's standing out there in tomorrow and who knows all about us and has called us to himself that we might be the channels by which his mind and his will and his plan and his purpose can be introduced into times like these. And so with John this morning we would be on our faces before him, dead to all but his plan and purpose and will and intent for us. Might we see his face and hear his voice and feel his touch. And somehow because we've been here and thou art here in our midst, as near as the air we breathe, as close as the light upon our faces, but neither air nor light, thou art God, always and gloriously God. Speak to us. Make this hour precious. And make it somehow to glorify the one who's worthy of all glory, the Lord Jesus Christ. In his name we pray. Amen. When he was asked, oh yes, the name. I don't know which name I should. I stood before you on one occasion years ago when we were just beginning to try to find how God wanted to work through some of us. And I said we were here with help for a hungry world. Well, we're still trying to help a hungry world. That was a little, they call it, the lawyers call it doing business as, under the aegis of the National Association of Evangelicals, just a little means by which we could explore and pilot project whether there was a possibility of getting Christian businessmen in this country to joint venture with Christians and with others in developing countries, and in so doing to provide employment. So many of our fellow believers are unemployed and hungry. You know, if you're reading the New Testament and you see, my God shall supply all your needs and you don't have enough food to eat, it's pretty tough. It's just awfully hard. And so that was the thing that burdened us. So many of our brethren are hungry. So many parents look into the face of their protein deficient children after they're weaned and see them being deformed. And four out of the nine who survived the first year or two weaning, dying of malnutrition. And of the five that survived, two permanently damaged by inadequate protein between the ages of 18 months and six years. And this problem, this concern, is that which has moved some of us to pool our efforts to find if we could succeed in getting Christian businessmen in this country to use their business skill and business funds to joint venture with businessmen in the third world, developing countries, so as to help create jobs. Well, a prior project was successful for two years, and then we were asked to enlarge it by becoming a part of International Students Incorporated. So we created a division called Development Assistance Services, which again was a little DBA, a little doing business ad, this time under the age of international students, because so many students from third world countries, and you know there are tens of thousands of them, in Washington particularly, and so many of them are training for jobs that don't exist when they get home. And consequently we found that by meeting these students and talking with them and stimulating their thinking and collecting their ideas, we were able to get some very, very fine and promising projects. And of course if you can relate the student to a businessman, then you're building a bridge between them here, and it's stronger when they return. And so Development Assistance Services continues to go on under the good leadership of over all of Hal Guffey, whom you know and love. And now heading up this division is Dr. Gerald Holmberg, who as a psychologist was heading up a ministry for HEW in the far west on dealing with a resource center for special children, special education. And he just felt the Lord was leading him to use his time and energy with those who could in turn multiply it. So he left that work and now is heading up this for ISI and doing a really splendid job. So here I've been before you, when you talk about names you've got to be exact. I don't know what name I go under. So in 1971 we found that this was so well, actually November 1970 I had what they call the mission minute. They stopped it. I never could control myself to a minute. It takes me 20 minutes to say hello. But anyway, that day I shared for a minute, maybe it was two and a half. I don't know. I didn't look at my watch. I was afraid to. But anyway, afterwards a gentleman came up and handed me one of those offering envelopes and his name on it. And he said, come and see me. And I looked at it. I didn't know who he was. Somebody gave me his address. So I assumed he was from the hill and found out it was Congressman John Buchanan. And so I had to leave then. And then I came back and was here for a few days and left. Again on a trip. And it wasn't until April from November that I finally called him and he said, oh, come on, I've been waiting for you. Not breathlessly, but, you know, just. And so we had lunch and I shared with him the burden that we had. And his words were, what can I do to help? I left. He was a Southern Baptist pastor, as many of you know. Outstanding in Birmingham, Alabama. He became burdened about government. He ran and was elected finally as a representative from Birmingham and has now had his fifth term. He's on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. And he said, as I was praying about what committees I would seek or be on, I was asked if I wanted to be on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. And I took it as from the Lord that I would get a better understanding of the needs of the third world. And he shared the feelings of so many that with all the effort we've put forth in the third world to help through our foreign aid program, we've been significantly unable to get businessmen from the medium and small-scale sector involved. And so he said, I want to help. Well, I said, I'd like to have you assist me. So with his assistance, we then began, and in 71, incorporated what is known as the Institute for International Development. After incorporating and getting our directors, we applied in September for a tax-exempt status. Now, all the effort I've been doing, this is the first time we've made an effort to incorporate. And so in December, we were given a 501c3 publicly-supported tax-exempt status, and that was the key. And then Congressman Buchanan introduced us, arranged for a meeting with the administrator of USAID, and we laid before him what we were doing. And in August, we were granted a one-third matching grant from the agency. And subsequently gone on, there are now six men whom God has brought to this ministry. Let me tell you about one of them, because we would like to think that when God builds the house, he's prepared to use whom he will in the building of it. I had for many, many years, I think last year was the 11th in succession, spoken at Harvey Seder's Bible conference up in Long Beach Island. And the director, Al Oldham, had been very, very kind and very helpful in prayer with what we were doing. And on this particular Labor Day Sunday in 1971, a month and a half, two months after we'd incorporated this, he said, before Paris speaks, I want him to take a few minutes. I don't know what I was going to do, but I guess if I were to talk, I guess that's what he meant. Before I spoke, I was to talk and tell him about this ministry. He said, I consider it one of the most important new aspects of service, and so on. So I did. He said, take ten minutes. The first time in my life I ever went under, I took eight and a half, I was told, by one who was watching carefully. And we saved two for you right here. And then went into the message. Afterwards, to lunch at the conference standing room and back to speak with a businessman from Pennsylvania who had some ideas and wanted to help. And the telephone rang. The secretary was there in the room, living room with us, got up and went and came back and whispered. He said, Al Whitaker would like to talk to you this afternoon. Now I knew who Al Whitaker was. I knew he was a member of the Christian Missionary Alliance. I knew he was on the board of directors, the chairman of the board of Nyack Missionary College. I knew he'd been president of Bristol-Myers International Division. And I knew he'd gone over to the Men and Company. And I knew that. But we'd never met. I'd been ten years in New York. He'd come in to hear Dr. Tozer, but he'd never come in to hear me. And we just never, never shaking hands. We zigged. I was zigging when he was zagging for ten solid years or longer. We never met. But we knew a good bit about each other. So he came over and went to my room and I said, how are things? Oh, he said, great. He said, these three and a half years at Mennon's, we've been able to more than double the growth sales and the growth in the profits accordingly. I listened to a little. I said, Al, what in the world are you talking to me for? He said, I'm engaged in ministry here. What are you talking to me? Everything's going. You've got the world by the tail on a downhill pole. I said, I don't. What do you want to talk to me for? He looked at me and he said, I'm just tired of living to make ungodly rich people richer. See, that company happened to be owned by four people. It's a big company. And none of whom have any real concern or commitment to God or to his lovely son Christ. He said, I just can't do that any longer. I'm to that point where I can pretty well do what I want to do. Why would you use me? And I showed him what we were thinking and how it was going. And I said, look, God's given me the burden. God's given me the vision. And we're now to the point where we're beginning to move. But if it's to ever be accomplished, there has to be someone who has the administrative experience and skill and background that I haven't had time to get. I don't know how to do it. And I had been praying that God would send us someone. And I said, you could be an answer to that prayer. I hope so. But why don't you just get acquainted with us? So he came in. Mr. Buchanan had Whitakers and Al Hagen, one of those working with us, one of the directors, up to lunch at the Hill. And he began attending some meetings. And in November, well, the latter part of November when we were meeting together in New York, he said, look, I'll be joining you on the 1st of February. And so he walked out on all the emoluments and salary and bonus and whatever you'd want to put in it as the executive vice president of the Men and Company at the height of his career in order to become in charge of all the operations for what we're doing. And we think this is a miracle. We think this is marvelous, a thrill. We've had two years together. We're beginning our third. And sense that God is doing something. You know, one of the problems we have as evangelicals is that, as those who love Jesus Christ, is that we often make our commitment to the program and to the work. And there's no commitment to people. You know what I mean? Get involved with a program. You think back over the people you've known the years past and where are they? You work together. Your commitment was to a job, to a program, to an activity. But what we're trying to do, and believe that it's God's will and purpose, is that first the commitment should be to each other. And when the program is finished and the work is over, that we still have a personal commitment to. You see, but that all begins right where we were when I last spoke to you. I always count on everybody being present. You know, every time. What can you do? You have to. So I started talking about that first and great commandment. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, with all thy soul, and elsewhere it says, and with all thy strength. We saw and we looked at it the first time that the love in this connection doesn't mean feel soft and warm and cuddly. It's not an emotional word in the New Testament. It's a volitional word. And it doesn't make any difference about how you feel. You look at the thermometer, it says 44 degrees. And you don't shiver because the thermometer could be broken. You're either cold or warm depending on what the temperature is. But the thermometer doesn't control the temperature. It may be out of kilter. So emotions are not the factor as far as this word in the New Testament is concerned. To love God doesn't depend on your feelings. It has to do with your volition, with your purpose, with your commitment, with your decision, with the supreme choice of your life and the supreme program of your life. Well, what's that? Well, to love God is to have that intention, to purpose, decision, supreme choice, ruling passion, give any synonym you want as long as you're staying inside the way here, to seek God's highest good and blessedness and happiness and joy and satisfaction. That's what it means to love. To seek the well-being of, the happiness of, the satisfaction of, the joy of, the blessing to another. In this case, God. Now, in contrast to loving God with all your heart is something we call sin, which is that which at the age of accountability we did, namely committed ourselves to the supreme choice of our life and government of our life to seek our own pleasure and our own happiness and our own satisfaction without proper regard for the happiness of God or the rights and happiness of others. That's what sin is. It's a committal of the will at the age of accountability to the principle and the policy and the practice of pursuing your own pleasure without due and proper regard and for the rights of others, the well-being of others, the happiness of God. Now, Christ said about that attitude, which carries us all as sin, meaning at the age of accountability we all did what our first parents did and made that the ruling practice of our life. Now, he said, except you'll repent, you'll have to be a parish. Now, to repent means to change one's supreme choice from pleasing oneself to where it ought to be, to pleasing God. Instead of seeking to gratify oneself without regard for the interest and the happiness of others, to seek the happiness of God as the supreme purpose of our life, to please Him, to gratify Him, to satisfy Him, to make Him happy with us. Now, that's repentance. It's a change from, I'm going to do what I want to do to, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? Now, the Lord Jesus said, the only evidence that there is that you've made that change from seeking to please you to pleasing God, because, you know, God's there and we're here, though God's here, but we aren't seeing Him. So we have to visualize God as in the third heaven, and therefore it's a little difficult for us to transfer anything. I mean, God doesn't need your dollar bill. I mean, you don't like that and blow it to Him. He isn't getting any. He pays the street where He is with gold, so that's not going to be terrifically impressive. You can't get it to Him. So God has said, the only way that you can really prove that you love Him, that is, now let's go back to our meaning of the word love. You're seeking His highest good and blessedness and happiness and joy and satisfaction. The only way you can prove that is that you love your neighbor as you do yourself. What does that mean? Well, that means that there's a commitment to seek the highest good and blessedness and happiness and joy and satisfaction of yourself. There's a proper self-love taught in the Bible. Did you know that? I just said two minutes ago that the essence of sin is an improper self-love, loving oneself and gratifying oneself without due and proper regard for the interests of God and the rights of others. Then God turns around and says, now you've got to love your neighbor as you love yourself. So you've got to love yourself. There's a proper self-love. The commitment of the will to seek the highest good and blessedness and happiness and joy and satisfaction and fulfillment of yourself. Absolutely. There is a right and proper self-love. Now, if you don't have that and you're not clear about it, I hope we're never neighbors because according to the Scripture, you don't have to treat me any better than you treat you. And if the way I see some people deal with themselves, I know I don't want to be neighbors to them because there's a self-loathing and a self-hatred and a self-denigration that is almost a self-destruction. Now, you're valuable to God. So valuable, He said, you're worth more than all the world. He's vitally interested in you. Christ died for you. He has a plan for you before He made the world. And you're tremendously important to Him. And there are some things you ought to want for you. For instance, let's enumerate them. One, you ought to want food and clothing and shelter. Food so that you and your children can function effectively and normally. Some of our missionaries have spent years talking to people that couldn't comprehend what they say because they had an 85% protein deficiency and protein is essential for the function of the brain. And so here they are bringing children into the schools and teaching them and the little kids don't have enough amino acids to be able to understand or absorb what's being said to them. That's an exercise in futility, isn't it? So you ought to want for yourself food sufficient so that you can have a proper function of the organism that you are. You ought to want clothes so that you can walk. You're unselfconscious among your peers and fellows. You ought to want shelter so that you can come for whatever your purpose in life is refreshed and rested and equipped for it. These are normal things and right and proper that you should want them. Then you ought to want an opportunity to develop your potential in education. And then an opportunity to use your skills that have been developed by education. You ought to want freedom from fear in the streets. Protection of yourself as you move about. You ought to want freedom from fear of faulting and contracts so that when you make a contract people are obligated to obey it. And by the same token they're going to be protected from you and from me if we make a contract. We're obligated to. There ought to be these kinds of things we want for ourselves. And go ahead. Make the list as long as you want it. Just remember this. When you've gotten that list where you're putting it as long as you want it the things you want for you you just turn around write your name at the bottom of it and then write my name right next to it. Because what you want for you you're obligated to want for me. And what I want for me I'm obligated to want for you in this family. Now you see this carries implicit in this is the solution to the problems of the inner city and the rural area and the developing world and you name it. That one principle to love your neighbor as yourself. That what you want for you you're obligated to want for me is the best evidence of repentance and it's the proof of a relationship with Christ. Now having seen that we have to turn around. This is the great commandment. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. It has to do not with emotion but the commitment of the will to the principle and the policy and the lifelong practice of seeking the highest good blessedness and happiness. Now let's transfer it to where we were a moment ago. A group of men are brought by God to work in a given task. How easy it is for us to organize the task around the task. But I have found this wherever people who are committed to Jesus Christ find their bond and their union in the task it isn't long until they're not together any longer. They're not together any longer. Why? Because he didn't say that we were to love the task. We are to love him with all of our hearts and to love our neighbors or these who've been joined in the family in the community to seek their highest good and blessedness and happiness. Therefore in your home in your business whatever it involves you the commitment has to be first to the Lord first to him to seek his blessedness and happiness and then because that's the most essential relationship you have to your family to your wife your children your husband to seek the highest good and blessedness and happiness of those with whom you are thus associated. Commitment is basically first and foremost to each other to seek the highest good and blessedness and happiness and fulfillment and we're quite prepared to stop a program to protect a person because programs come and go but people are forever and this I think is an essential essential thing for anything that we're going to understand in our relationship to Christ and in our relationship to each other. Now let's go back take one step further. We talked for a moment about the great commandment thou shalt which he said is the door or the hinges on which the door the law and the prophets swing on these two commandments these two hinges and all the law and the prophets thou shalt love the Lord thy God thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Now let's go to something else. The call that you have received as a Christian you have to find this in Luke 14. I've talked about it before but I never talked about it with you in this connection before. Notice now Luke 14 in the 25th verse the Lord Jesus is talking to a multitude. This is not a deeper life conference message. I want you to get that straight. This is not something that's for the little esoteric group few that are gathered there. Now there are some things you preach from the housetop and some things you share in the group and some things you whisper to faithful men who can teach others also. But this is the multitude. So I want you to get the context. And notice what he's saying. If any man come unto me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters yea and his own wife also he can be my disciple. Talk about paradoxes and conundrums. I've just finished saying that the evidence that you love God is the fact that you love your you love your family and you love your neighbor as you do yourself. And now we have the Lord saying what? What do you say? You're going to hate your well look who you're supposed to hate. You're supposed to hate your father and your mother and your wife and your children and your brethren and your sisters and your own wife. Whew, that is something isn't it? Now either we better understand it or else this thing is we're playing games with ourselves. What does it mean? Well let's go on to the next one. And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me can't be my disciple. And then down to verse 33 So likewise whosoever he be of you that forsake not all that he hath he cannot be my disciple. Now to whom is he talking? He's talking to the multitude. He's talking to just the Tom, Dick and Harry off the street. And what's he saying? In a sense he's saying this. In a very direct sense he's saying this. The essence of sin and he's not talking I'm putting in his theological terms he's just saying the essence of sin is to please yourself at the expense of your children and your wife look at Mel Trotter whose child died perhaps because his wife gave him money to go get the prescription the doctor had given and instead of going to get the prescription that might have saved the little boy's life he turned into this fool and got drunk on the money the wife took out of the mattress and then when the baby was being buried no one was in the mortuary he went in and took the shoes off his dead baby's feet put them in his pocket and pawned them for another drink that was Mel Trotter now while he was a sinner what do you mean? He was committed to please himself at the end of his being even at the life of his child that next drink meant more to him than the possibility of his child living so the idea of isn't new this is the area where people are at the expense of their family and their friends every crime that's committed is a crime committed by a person not only against the victim of the crime but the family and the friends who suffer and we've had in this city some of these last months instances where there's been enormous heartache to innocent people who've been unaware of what was happening and trusted implicitly those who did it now I this is what we have sin always afflicts the innocent they're always victimized by it and so now Christ is saying you can't be a disciple or whatever that is and we're going to see in a moment without understanding that I am God that's what he's saying I am God and as God my sovereignty my lordship my government in your life transcends all other human relationships now what did we say the great commandment is? thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and mind and soul and state and what's he saying? he's saying to a group of people on the street listen I am God I am God and you can't become a disciple unless you recognize that I am God and I don't bargain and you have to come on my terms and my terms are that my sovereignty and my lordship transcends the rights of all others now that's the message to the people in the streets this is what it means therefore now that he said something else if you don't take up your cross and come after me you can't be my disciple there's something about that he couldn't have said anything more horrendous to his ears than that because the cross was the instrument the Romans used to execute the nationalists the ones that wanted to get Rome out of Palestine and to have the throne of David established and Israel returned to the Jews and the consequence was he is now saying to them that they have to if they're going to follow him and they've all seen this happen they've seen someone that they knew was working for the overthrow of Rome as he goes down the street carrying the cross and he lies down on the cross and puts his hands out and nails it driven through his hands they've all seen that this is a common experience and so Christ said listen when you come to me you have to so embrace me and you have to so commit yourself to me to my sovereignty, to my lordship, to my government in your life that it's for all practical purposes as though you just held your hands out on a cross and you said Lord drive nails through them, drive them through my feet I'm your man from here on I have no plans of my own that's how he illustrates what it means to be a disciple of Christ the lordship of Christ transcends all personal plans and right to initiate now remember he's saying this to the street people just the common folks off the street and then he goes on something else and he said look I want to get one thing straight when you come to me you lose all right to ever say my about anything else again you can't say my life, my talent, my time, my ability, my money you never can say my in a proprietary sense because when you come to me you sign a quit claim deed to me you have to forsake all what you have you give to me all that you have it's never yours again now I sound repetitious but you've got to understand this is not a deeper life message this is what he is saying to the multitude why? because our wonderful lord never wanted to con anybody or fool anybody or mislead anybody or sell anybody a bill of goods that wasn't there and so he said I want you to get it right straight right at the going in position I am God and you don't monkey around with God you don't bargain and you don't wheedle you meet him on his terms and as God these are my terms like it or leave it that's what it is and he's saying this to the multitude now remember what he said to a group of people come follow me now as I search the scripture I can find only one call taught in the bible as far as general people are concerned they can expect Paul said he was called to be an apostle but I don't think you can expect that at least I'm not counting on it and he said but as far as a call is generally applicable the only call taught in the bible that you can expect is the call to the person of Jesus Christ come follow me you heard here from Pastor Threeson and echoed by Dr. Halverson that that great commission go into all the world really is literally in the Greek as you are going into all the world preach the gospel the commandment is to preach and the other is not a commandment he didn't say go into all the world he said come unto me that's the commandment follow me that's the commandment as you are going preach the only call the bible teaches is a call to the person of the son of God to follow him and if you are a child of God today through faith in Christ you have the only call you can ever expect it yet and that's the call to follow Christ what about all us nice missionaries that say well God called me well forgive us we are just echoing what we heard what we really should say as best I could understand what was happening it seemed to me that maybe the Lord was leading me now that's why we should have said it but we were doing what we heard done and so we said God called me half of the people that he called never got there but we can't explain that anyway and half of them that read didn't say very long we can't explain that so I urge young people now don't say God called me be a little humble about it as near as I can see from what's happening I gather that perhaps there's a possibility that God may be leading me in this way but we'll see pray with me about it there has to be that because the call is to follow Christ and from that time on it's to find his leading and see how he's leading nobody ever wants to sit if someone says God called me who's going to say oh God isn't stupid you know call you or look you who's going to say that maybe you ought to say it so you go well isn't that fine and lie to our teeth and the person goes on thinking that maybe we can call with them but if the person is going to approach it and say as near as I can see it it does look as though God is leading me this way then there's some humility and there's a place for counsel and for prayer and for sharing the call is follow me that's the call and then as you are going preach now what are his terms for following him come follow me remember the rich young ruler came and said good master what must I do to inherit eternal life well he said obey Moses and the ruler he could have said you know I told Moses what to write in fact I wrote it on the table of stone for him and Moses carried it and what did you do about what I said through Moses and he says oh all these things I've done from my youth up well you're on the right track Moses knew I was God how much sense do you got you're talking to the same one who talked to Moses when I told Moses what to write he wrote it and Pepe tried to do it now I'm talking to you same one who told Moses have you got as good sense as Moses had sell all you have give it to the poor come follow me and the rich young ruler remembered that his auditor just brought him in and said my this is sure a bull market everything's going up I can't no time to sell now let's buy and so he walked away and so the lord said oh come on back I've been hoping I'd get somebody on those terms but nobody seems to like it that way you just believe on me and then maybe six years from now at a summer conference we can take care of these other issues uh uh now the lord let him go and he watched him go sorrowing because he loved him but he couldn't change the terms because he said I'm only teaching and preaching what my father told me to say and one of our tragedies is I'm afraid that we have had the temerity to do what the lord Jesus wouldn't do he changed what his he couldn't change what his father said but we do do you know what it means to believe on Christ it means to receive him on his terms and what are his terms when you come to me you're coming to God and to receive me is to let man accept me as having complete authority over all human relationships in your life have complete authority over all career plans in your life have total authority over all possessions and resources and assets of your life now this is what it means this is not some deeper life message this is what he said to the multitude is it any wonder he talked about a straight gate I mean this is it this is what he's saying this is what he's saying now this is what it means to love God therefore with all your heart this is what it means to receive Christ this is what we're talking about when we talk about belonging to the son of God you say I never heard that all I heard was believe well if you believed when you hear this you say hey man that's what happened when I believed but if you say oh no that never happened to me well then honey we're not too interested in the history we're interested in current events see and the question isn't what took place in some yesteryear the question is what's your attitude today that's all I'm interested in what's your attitude today is this who Jesus Christ is to you God God come in the flesh very God of very God who says I want you to come I urge you to come I plead with you to come to me but as much as I love you and as much as I plead with you I can't change what my father told me to tell you he told me to tell you that sin is governing your own life living to please yourself living to satisfy yourself and that when you come to me you must change your mind about your right to rule and you must receive me as God come in the flesh and to love me with all your heart and mind and soul and strength means that you're going to receive me in the only way I've ever come to man as God and my lordship transcends the right to all human relationships all career ambitions and the right to all possessions friend you never can say my about anything in your life my family my job my talent my money you never can say my in a proprietary sense if you've once said my lord and my God that's the last time you can ever say my if you've once said it to him from that time on if you should use as a matter of speaking my family given to him my career surrendered to him my talent or money abandoned to him I'm the custodian of that which he's entrusted to me but I own nothing because I am his and his I have everything in him this is what it means to love him with all your heart and mind and soul and strength now and that's where he said he that heareth my words and doeth them he it is that loves me so what is the evidence that you love God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength what's the evidence of it that you've answered the call that you love his word he that heareth my words and doeth them he it is that loves me what's the evidence that you love his word that you read it not because you've signed up with a group that's going to read 10 verses a day but because you love the son of God God come in the flesh with all your heart and mind and soul and the only way you can evidence that is to use your mind to find out from him by the spirit what it is he wants you to do now there's no issue oh there may be a momentary lag but there's no real issue about whether you're going to do it because if you have repented of your sin if you have received him on his terms if you have come to him you've already settled the issue about who's going to be bought so the evidence that you are his disciple is that you hear his words and you do them if you love me he said you will keep my commandments this is the evidence that you love God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength that you love his word that you hear his word that you do it that you love his commandments and it's also that you love one another by this shall all men know that you are my disciple because you are indefatigable in your project working night and day to accomplish his worthy goals and aims getting ulcers on top of your ulcers as you strain to do in the flesh what God wanted to have done in the spirit now now, now, now, now by this shall all men know that you are my disciple that you love one another that you're seeking the highest good and the blessedness and the happiness and the well-being oh, he said go into all the world and preach the gospel but he wasn't afraid they wouldn't go he was afraid they would before they were ready so he said now you go into Jerusalem and wait till you get this thing straightened out sorted out so after that the Holy Spirit come upon you he said I know you fellas, boy you're right down the pike stick the bit in your teeth and you're gonna run out but that's not how I want it done but that's how we're still doing it so often we're project oriented instead of being we were disciples of Christ having come to the point that we love him now that's not to be let's go back for a moment I said we had a paradox here and the paradox is that he said love the Lord thy God the first aspect is to love him the second's your family he said if you hate that your father and mother, husband, wife, brother and sister let me illustrate it in closing maybe I've done this before but it's appropriate now or at least I think so because you weren't all here before here in that case years and years ago in Chicago there was a ministry by Mrs. Rounds and Mrs. Uptree and one little Jewish girl came into the Chicago Hebrew Mission and through the love of Mrs. Uptree and Mrs. Rounds came to know the Lord Jesus Christ and when she went home and told her family about it her family said Elfie you must you must either give this up or else you know what we will have to do because it was the custom in those days not now thank him she said I can't they waited a few months and finally they said Elfie you must choose between Jesus and her family and she said I can't deny I am a child of Jesus and her mother said you hate us and her father said you hate us and she said no mother father I love you but they said today is the last day and she said Elfie pack your things and left the home and the next Sabbath or the next when it was arranged they had in the synagogue in Chicago a funeral for Elfie the friends were invited the family came the coffin was there and there was a large blown up picture of Elfie in the bottom of the coffin flowers were there the coffin was taken out to the cemetery Elfie was dead I know a little about it because Mrs. Rounds and Mrs. Uptree they sent Elfie Claw out to what was then the old center let's see John Fletcher College is the name I knew it under out in Oskaloosa, Iowa that's where I met my wife years ago her mother was a librarian at the school just a young woman had been a teacher came to the school and Elfie was a young woman who had been in nurses going into nurses training or in nurses training and so my mother-in-law and Elfie were very close friends Elfie then went out to what was Palestine as a missionary served the Lord there with the Southern Baptist group and several terms she came back I think her second term and was walking down one of the streets of Chicago and she looked up and there were two people she loved more than all the world her mother and her father and she said mother, father they didn't see her they walked on either side of her they didn't speak their eyes didn't turn this woman was dead there was no Elfie Krohr she continued to send her prayer letters to her parents and her sisters sometimes returned a few sometimes not and it was several years some 18 years or more when one of her sisters wrote her a letter and said father is ill excuse me, mother is ill will you come home she does want to see you so Elfie did and she came she left Israel, Palestine she came and she went to her mother's bedside her mother didn't see her and she said Elfie will you nurse me so Elfie stayed and then there was no one around in the midnight hours between midnight and morning Elfie would sit by her side and her mother would say Elfie, is Jesus really the Messiah and Elfie had a chance to witness to her and one day one night one of those night vigils she said what do I need Jesus I need something I've lived all my life in doing what the rabbis said I have no peace and you have such peace and Elfie led her mother to the Lord