In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of surrendering oneself completely to Jesus Christ. He encourages the audience to abandon their own desires and submit to the will of God. The preacher references Bible verses, such as John 10:11 and Matthew 25, to illustrate the concept of following Jesus and serving others. He also mentions the need to continually seek and study God's word in order to stay spiritually alive and fulfill God's purpose.

From John chapter 10, and you turn to it if you will, I just quote to you now those verses that are familiar. I am the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, he shall go in and out and find pasture. I am the good shepherd, said our Lord Jesus Christ, I give my life for the sheep. Last evening we were concerned about the matter of going out. Having gone in, in worship, in union with him, abiding in that union with him, we go out again into the world, there to represent him. He said, ye shall be witnesses unto me. He didn't ask if you wish to be, he said you shall be. Implicit in your faith in Christ, in your being born into the father's family, is the responsibility to be a witness to the Lord Jesus. Now, when you're in a family, you usually are interested in the family business. It is rather strange to me that some seem to be almost oblivious to the family business. Now, the business of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is very clear in the word. The Lord Jesus gave it when he said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. This is a commandment to all who name his name. You see, the Bible is a missionary book. The church is a missionary society, and every Christian is a missionary. Either a good one or a bad one, but missionary nonetheless. The very name is high priestly prayer. He prayed to this effect. Father, as you made me a missionary, I've made them missionaries. He didn't know that. What you have in the King James is, Father, as thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. Now, the word to send in the Latin is mitto, from which we get the word missionary. So am I not in the right when I suggest that he said, as thou hast missionary sent me, so I have missionary sent them. And the first thing he said when he came into the upper room, as he gazed upon his disciples present there, were peace be unto you. As the Father sent me, so send I you. It hasn't changed, hasn't been altered. It's still the family business. All the resources of the Godhead are dedicated to the task of getting the message of the incarnation, the sinless life, the atoning death, the bodily resurrection, and the full salvation that Jesus Christ purchased by this invasion into time, out to those that haven't heard. And if you've been born into the Father's family, it's right and proper to expect that you're going to be involved in and interested in the family business. Now, should it be that you claim kinship to the Father, and you have no interest in the family business, of getting the message of the death and burial and resurrection of Christ out to those for whom he died, I would think you would have grounds for being suspicious about your relationship to him. I would think you would have grounds, if there is no concern on your part for those who've never heard and never had an opportunity to hear. I would think that you would be prepared to say, well, now wait, just how closely am I related to him? A Christian is one who's a partaker of the divine nature, and here I am, with virtually no interest in getting the gospel out to those for whom Christ died. What does this say about me? What should I read from this? How should I interpret this disinterest on my part to what is the great consuming concern of the Godhead? Wouldn't you think so? Could you think one could consider himself a normal, wholesome Christian, and have no concern about that which is the great burden and the part of the Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the great work of the Holy Spirit? Oh, I think not. Every instruction in the Scripture that's given to believers is to the end of making us more effective witnesses for Christ, and every provision of God's grace is to enable us to be effective witnesses for Christ. And every exhortation is to that end, and the warnings regarding our indifference or unconcern are tied to this. I think it's important for us to realize that the ones that are his sheep hear his voice. He that heareth my words and doeth them, he it is that loveth me. My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me. Well, what is his voice? Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Now, we've talked about the result of going in, in this union with him, crucified with him and buried with him, quickened with him, raised with him, seated with him in the heavenlies. We've talked about presenting your body to him, your mind, your eyes, your ears, your heart, your feet, your hands, your lips, your personality, your faculties, so that as the light bulb is presented to the electricity, so that the electricity can reveal itself, you present your personality to him so that he can reveal himself. We spoke briefly about some of the ministries that will be a result from his living, abiding in you. We spoke, you remember, from the hand, that the first ministry is the ministry of the fruit-filled life, the fruit of the Spirit, Christ-like character, produced in your life, in you, by the presence of Christ. And then we spoke of the ministry of intercession. Now, I'm not going to dwell longer on the others. I'll merely touch them and then move on. This is the ministry of ambassadorship, intercession and ambassadorship. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God doth beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. And if Jesus Christ is in you, then this is what he's going to be doing. You are an ambassador, and you will be exercising that ambassadorship, beseeching men to be reconciled to God. And then this is the ministry of authority. He's given to his body the privilege to his members, Christ being the head and the believers being the body. He's given to his body the right and the responsibility of exercising his victory. We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this age. And it's important for you to understand, in behalf of your family and your friends and your business and all the interests of your life, proper use of the ministry of authority. Remember last night I quoted from Revelation. We read that unto him who loved us, who washed us in his blood, and made us to be kings and priests. Now I dwelt on the priestly aspect. I might well have, and do now, touch on the kingly aspect of it. Because his priesthood was a king and a priest after the order of Melchizedek, and it is this to which we are heirs. And the king reigns, and we are joint heirs with Christ, and he's given to his body authority over principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this age, as far as his interests are concerned. Now that's worthy of a whole week's study itself, but we'll not go further with it. And then the little finger speaks of the gifts and the enablings and the particular ministries that the head of the church gives to the members of his body. I believe that every believer will have some ministry. A ministry of health, a ministry of administration, a ministry of the word of wisdom, some ministry for the good of the body. And it's so very—I remember being at the Ben Lippin Bible Conference years ago, and dear Gladys Dieterle was there. Gladys Dieterle was the founder of the Door of Hope Mission in Shanghai, China, and she was 80 years of age, just getting ready to go back to Taiwan to establish a new work. So some of you, cheer up, you're just at the right age to get started for the Lord. And Gladys Dieterle had such an evident blessing of God upon her ministry. By the way, she—Dr. Tozer said something lovely about her. Dr. Tozer never was too excited about women preachers, but he said one time about Gladys Dieterle, If I was preaching the greatest sermon God ever gave me to preach, and Gladys Dieterle walked in the back door, I'd stop in the middle of it and ask her to come and share with us. She always has something from the Lord. Well, that was this dear woman. Well, at that time, I felt led to counsel with her. I asked her if I could see her. She was very gracious, so I went to a sitting room at Ben Lippin. And she said, after I talked with her about the issues that were before me, she said, Well, let's just ask the Lord for a word of wisdom. And so we went to the Lord in prayer. And it was so sweet that this dear, dear woman, who'd lived so closely to the Lord, and whose little booklet, Christ in the Midst, has been such a tremendous blessing to me and so many others. And she just said, Let's ask the Lord for a word of wisdom. And she joined her heart and her concern in prayer with me, and how sweet and precious it was to see the matter just open and clarify. And the course that I should take was made clear in that time of prayer together. Every member of the body of Christ has a ministry. Have you ever read in this connection Exodus 31? Why don't you turn to it for just a little vignette that'll maybe bless your heart somewhat the way it has mine. You remember when God brought this mob, that's about all it was, mob of slaves out of Egypt. He had to make a nation out of them. They hadn't seen each other, they didn't know each other, they were scattered all over the country. And God put them together under the leadership of Moses. And then God said, I want you to build me a tabernacle, a dwelling. Now, aren't you glad that they didn't do it by committee? You know, can you imagine what would have happened if they'd have had a committee meeting to decide what the tabernacle was going to look like? They'd have had some of the people say, Well, I think, and I think they had a 100% vote, it ought to be made out of mud bricks. We're the best bunch of mud brick makers in the world. And wherever we go, we can just quickly make up a, and it'll dry in a few days, we can give God a tabernacle, plaster it and whitewash it, we'll make him a mud brick. But you see, God didn't want it a mud, wasn't to represent the best that men could do. The tabernacle was to be a picture of his dear son. And so he said that it should be of fine twine linen, and silver, and of gold. Can you imagine the Egyptians teaching these Jewish slaves goldsmithing and silversmithing? Not on your life. Mud bricks were more their style, not gold, silver. And God is telling them, Now this is what I want you to do. They had the gold and silver. The Egyptians were so glad to get rid of them, they took their jewels and said, Here, take them, take them. But they didn't know what to do with them. And so instead of it being a committee, it's a revelation of God, and he's asking his servants to do it. And the thing that God is going to ask you to do is far beyond your skill and ability. If you're going to have the fruit of the Spirit, that's beyond your ability. If you're going to have an effective ministry of intercession, that too is beyond your ability. If you're going to be an effective ambassador, there again, it's beyond your ability. And if you're going to exercise the ministry of authority, there again, beyond your capacity. And if you're going to have an effective ministry for Christ, well, that's where we are, aren't we? So what does he say? Notice now in Exodus 31 and verse 1, And the Lord spoke unto Moses. I think Moses was about to have a nervous breakdown on how he was going to ever get that tabernacle made with the bunch he had to work with. Because he just went through the inventory skills and he didn't have it. They weren't there. And he just couldn't send back to Egypt and say send us some goldsmiths and some silversmiths and some weavers. That wouldn't have been right. But notice how marvelously the Lord anticipated it. And look what we have. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name. Isn't that wonderful? He knows you. He knows all about you. He knows your limitations and your handicaps and your inadequacies. I've called by name Bezalel, the son of Uriah, the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom and in understanding and in knowledge and in all manner of workmanship. Do you know what that means? Well, I don't know anything about computers, so you share my ignorance. But I do know, heard the word programming. And I guess that that's what you put in. Someone has said that in the computer business you have to be careful. If you put garbage in, that's all you get out, see? So the programming is important. And so here you have programming. God is programming some ex-Jewish slaves to remember things they've never learned. Well, what do you think about that? That's right. He is programming them to do things they've never been trained to do. God made the brain, and he made it so we could remember and acquire skills. Well, it wasn't too hard for him, was it? If he was the man, he was the one who made us, it wasn't too very difficult when he said, I have filled them with the Spirit of God, for the God who is wisdom to have brought wisdom to these, to Bethlehem. And I have filled him with understanding. He is the God of understanding, so that wouldn't have been too hard for him, would it? And knowledge. All knowledge is his. So all he did was just program this man with the wisdom that he hadn't acquired by costly experience, and the understanding that he hadn't gotten by apprenticeship, and the knowledge that he hadn't obtained by years of discipline, and then in all manner of workmanship, or as one version says, in the skill for all manner of workmanship. Now, isn't that wonderful? Have you ever wondered how he got to Tabernacle? Well, this is how. And have you ever wondered how he's going to accomplish his purpose? Just the same way with you. That's what happens when you go in. You go in and worship. You go in in abandonment. You go in in union with him in his death, in his burial, his resurrection. You present your body, your personality to him. And then, Lord, if it's to be done, you'll have to do it. You'll have to give me the wisdom and the understanding and the knowledge. Now, that doesn't give you any excuse for laziness by any means, but it does mean that you have access to infinite intelligence. And thus we have here the fact that every believer has a ministry. Every member of the body of Christ has a service for the body of Christ. And it's so important for us to understand that. When God asked me some years ago to be responsible for this work of helping get employment opportunity for our hungry believer brethren in mission fields where there's a 25 to 30 percent continuing and increasing unemployment with the attendant poverty and despair and hopelessness and suffering and malnutrition and starvation, I had to learn an entirely new profession, an entirely new matter of economics and sociology and political science and finance and all of these other things. Well, you can be very sure that I came to him and said, Lord, I've just got to have the promise of Bezalel. I've got to have it. And continually read and study the lowly hours of the morning, but at the same time, moment by moment, knowing that you can stare at a book till your eyes are glazed, and if God doesn't bless your mind and spirit, you don't profit from it. And God can teach you things you haven't learned. And so he'll do it with all of us in any place that he wants us, any place that he puts you. Well, what happened? Oh, we didn't finish yet, did we? Again, all manner of workmanship to devise cunning works to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in cutting of stones to set them and in carving of timber to work all manner of workmanship. And I behold, I have given with him a hiliab of the son of Ahissamak of the tribe of Dan. And, here we all are, in the hearts of all that are wisehearted, I have put wisdom that they may make all that I have commanded thee. Now, isn't that marvelous? When you find out God's will for your life, then you know that you have in him everything you need to fulfill. But how often as a pastor I've gone to someone and said, would you please, and they say, I've never done it. What's that got to do with it? What's that got to do with it? Well, I wasn't trained in that field. What's that got to do with it? Do you know what an education is? An education is nothing more than the understanding of how to find out what you need to know when you discover that you need to know it. That's all. I suppose you could give the most of the benefit of a college education in the six weeks instruction in the library. That's because, oh, it's important to have more than that. But by and large, an educated man is not someone that remembers everything he had in general science or in the types of philosophy, but someone who knows how to find out what he needs to know when he discovers that he needs to know it. Now, if God has the right to control you and govern you and direct you, and he's prepared to fill you with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, then what right do you have to say, Oh, Lord, I can't do that. None at all. Well, I've never done it. So what? What does that have to do? When you stop learning new things, friends, you've already died. They haven't lowered the satin-lined cover over you yet, but you're dead. I like the time when Franklin Roosevelt was elected president. One of his first official visits was to the home of Charles Evan Hughes, the great chief justice of the Supreme Court. And he'd retired, and he said, Mr. Hughes, what are you doing now that you're not active on the court? Ninety-two years of age. He said, I am learning Greek just to discipline my mind. Now, I like that. That's the kind of a person that I think all of us ought to be. If God gives you the arteries and they don't harden to the point where you can't do more, then learn Greek at 90. Set that as a goal, make that your objective for your 90th year. You're going to be younger all the time until then. Bernard Baruch said at 90, well, there's just one concession that I am making to what they call the ninth decade, and that is, I only go up the stairs one at a time any longer. Doesn't run up two at a time. Well, I don't know how God's going to deal with me or you in these eras, but I do know this, that as long as we live, let's stay alive all of our life, all of our life, and learn and study and be available to the Lord. Lord, what will thou have me to do? And he said he'd renew our youth like the eagle. What happened? Well, in Exodus 36, we have an interesting statement in the first verse, It is then wrought, that's worked, Bezalel and Ahiliab and every wise-hearted man in whom the Lord put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary according to all that the Lord had commanded. And Moses called Bezalel and Ahiliab and every wise-hearted man in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom. Now that's a third time he said in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom. Everyone whose heart, but who is it? Into whose heart he's put wisdom. Look, everyone whose heart stirred him up. Everyone whose heart stirred him up. Well, how was his heart stirring him up? Because he thought about it. Everyone whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it. How are you going to know that you're one to whom the Lord will give wisdom? Because you think long enough for your heart to get stirred up to come to the work to do it. Because as you think, you feel. Tell me what's important to you, I'll tell you what you've been thinking about. It's that simple. Now, let's go back to John 10. And he shall go out. He shall go out. How will he go out? He'll go out in his own energy, in his own strength. No, Christ is living in him, dwelling in him. He's presented his body to him. He's invited the Lord Jesus to fill him. And he has done so by the Holy Spirit. And wisdom and understanding and knowledge and skill for all manner of workmanship is implicit in the presence of the risen Christ by the Holy Spirit. For whatever it is that he would have you do. So all you ask is, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? One who said, never ask for tasks equal to your strength, but ever ask for strength, wisdom, understanding, knowledge, skill equal to your tasks. And this is what he would have us do. So, here in John 10, they shall go out. But, how? Well, they will go out indwelt by the Lord Jesus Christ and equipped by the Lord Jesus Christ for a full ministry. And we've now talked about the ministry of the Christ-filled life. But now what will the effect of it be? I think we need to go at this point to Matthew chapter 25. No scripture is a private interpretation. You understand that. And so it's extremely important for us to understand the effect of, or the results from, the presence of Christ. Here in Matthew the 25th, he gives a preview of a judgment scene. And the thing I am concerned about at this juncture is not the eschatological aspects of it, the prophetic aspects of it. I'm concerned about understanding what he has said here in respect to one thing. You're going to see as I read this that when our Lord Jesus examined those who came before him, he was looking for something. He was looking for himself in his people. Now I want to repeat that because that's the clue. He was looking for himself. You see, salvation is not a decision, not a scheme, not a plan, not a system of doctrine, not a selection of scripture verses. Salvation is not an insurance policy. Salvation is a person. He that has the Son has life because Christ is our life. Now, if Christ, Paul said to the church at Corinth in the second letter, the 13th chapter, the fifth verse, examine yourself, whether you be in the faith. Prove your own self. Know you're not your own self. How that Christ be in you, except you be reprobate, salvation is a person. So what do we have here at this judgment, see? Christ is looking for himself in his people. If you have been born of God, you've partaken of the divine nature. If salvation is a person, then it's Christ in you, the hope of glory. How many Christs are there? One. And he must ever be himself. Always himself, never other. And therefore, this judgment scene, and I've selected it merely to illustrate that in this, as you'll know, he is looking for himself. Now, the interesting part is, given in Matthew 7, there again, you recall, how many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, and elsewhere he said, did we not cast out devils in your name? Did you not eat and drink with us? Did you not preach in our streets? And he said, I will say unto them, away with you. I never knew you. Now, I never ask anyone anymore, do you know the Lord? I find there's a will of a lot of people that say they know the Lord, that don't give the kind of evidence the scripture indicates. So, I would rather say, when was it that you found out that the Lord knew you? When was it that he bore witness with your spirit? When you knew without inner knowing that transcends argument or proof that you were born of God. When did he tell you? See, in my case, my pastor told me I was a Christian. He asked me six questions, and I said, uh-huh, at the right place, and he rubbed my hair. I wanted to kick him in the shins, because that's my hair. You keep your hands out of it, see. But I didn't. I was a nice little boy and tried to live up the image. The next Sunday he said, now I want you that are coming into the membership of the church to come, and come along, Sonny. So, Sonny came down, and he put his arm around me so warmly. He said, I talked with him last week, and I'm satisfied he's a Christian. And I wanted to bring him. So, here I was. And I, this was great. I went and told my seventh, my eighth grade teacher about this, and I joined the church. Tears came into her eyes. And she said, I don't think you were ready to join the church. Well, I know the answers to all the questions. She said, there's more to being a Christian than knowing the answers to the questions. I said, what? She said, Sonny, no one's a Christian until Jesus comes into his heart. And then your preacher doesn't have to tell you who he tells you. And I was a church member for nearly three years before the Lord Jesus came into my heart. For I knew that I'd pass from death to life. And so, many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, and he said, I will say away with you, I never knew you. It wasn't that they knew him, but did he know them? So that's what we're looking for. That's what we're concerned about. Is Christ a reality in your life? So this is what we have here in Matthew 25. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. I was hungered, and you gave me meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee, and hungered, and fed thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink? Or, when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee? Or, when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? They didn't say, we didn't do these things. We just didn't know we were doing it to you. No, they were doing it. Well, why? Because he was in them. And he was expressing himself through them. They were manifesting his concern, and his compassion, and his love. And he was looking for himself in them, and he found himself in them. And he said, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, whom I counted my brethren, the poor, and the hungry, and the stranger, and the naked, and the sick, you did it because they were poor, and because they were hungry, and because they were strangers, and because they were naked, and because they were sick. You did it because I was in you, and being myself through you. And in you I was as I was when I was here in time. And I recognized the reality of my presence in you. And then to the other group he said, Depart, he cursed, into everlasting fire. I was hungry, you gave me no meat. I was thirsty, you gave me no drink. I was a stranger, you took me not in. Naked, you clothed me not. Sick and in prison, and you visited me not. And then shall they say, Oh Lord, we never saw thee like that. We'd have surely done it if we'd have seen thee. But what you see was the difference. They knew a lot of things, but they hadn't partaken of his life. And consequently, certainly if he'd have been in that condition, they'd have ministered to him, but they had no concern about his brethren, these who were sick and hungry and naked and poor, and they had passed them by. They're too busy perhaps in their service to see them and to understand them. So what is he saying? Why, he's simply saying this, that I'm looking for myself in my people, and what am I saying? I am saying that when you go out, if you have invited Jesus Christ to live in you and to fill you, then he is going to be himself in you. He will be himself in you. That's all. He'll be himself. Now, not you. I'm not expecting you to care about the hungry or to care about the sick. Oh, maybe there are some nice people who were taught this and are concerned, but by and large, I know you. Oh, I know you far better than you realize. I could write your biography. Say, who told you about me? Well, you see, we were woven on the same loom. Maybe the wolf is different, but believe me, the warp is the same. And I know you, and I know that you don't care about anybody in this world but yourself. I, me, my, and mine. That's the soliloquy of every single son and Adam's family and daughter too. Selfishness is the whole of sin, the essence of it. And I know that's what I am by nature, and I know that's what you are by nature. But I know the purpose of God in grace is to make us new creatures in Christ and all things are to pass away and all things are to become new. And anyone who thinks that salvation is just kind of a little hell insurance policy that's tacked onto the back of selfish carnality has just missed the whole point of the grace of God. Thou shalt save his people from their sins, not in them, for you to make us new creations. He became what you were so that you could become what he is. He was made to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And I'll always be me and you'll always be you. But the Lord Jesus died so that he might remake us and remold us and give us a new heart and a new nature and a new spirit and one day give us a new body and a new name and a new robe and a new home. But the evidence that we're going to get the new body and the new robe and the new home is the fact that we have new hearts and new natures and new spirits. We've been made of born of him. And when that happens, it's Christ. Christ our life. He's everything you're not. He's everything I'm not. And so he said, I've come that you might have life. I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved. He shall go in in worship, in adoration, in love, in union and identification and presenting himself wholly to me as a living sacrifice and then he shall go out. Not as he went in but indwelt by me. My living in him, my life and being myself in him. Isn't that marvelous? Aren't you glad that you don't have to act like Christ and play your Christ and pretend your Christ and imitate Christ? I'll tell you, that would be enough to drive you up the wall before Christmas. Just enough to do it. Because you're so utterly unlike him. But oh, to say, Lord Jesus, I can't. I know I can't. I know me. I've tried, Lord, and I've failed. But oh, Lord Jesus, I'll stay here with you on the back of the cross, crucified with you and buried with you and quickened with you and raised with you and seated with you and I'll present my body. Now, Lord Jesus, you're going to have to live this life through me. If there's to be intercession of the fruit of the spirits to be in my life, it'll have to be your presence. If there's to be a ministry of intercession, it'll have to be from your presence. If there's going to be an ambassadorship and a witness, it'll have to be you. Not I. Nevertheless, I live. But not I. You'll have to live in me, Lord Jesus. And if there's going to be all these ministries... But isn't that a marvelous... Don, you know why the writer of the Hebrews said, labor to enter into rest? For he that's entered into rest has ceased from his own labor. You can't live this life. I can. But he can't. And what he's asking us for is to recognize we can't and invite him to do it and permit him to do it. Now, how? Well, if you know these things, how happy are you if you do them? If you know that the day Christ died, you died, then reckon. Reckon yourself to be dead. Do you understand what reckoning means? Meet the need of the present on the basis of the past. Is that correct? Well, I'm sure it is. You understand that. And so the consequence of that is that if you understand the truth and you walk in the truth and the word can have free course and be glorified in you, then, then it'll be, this life will be fulfilled. Now, how is it effective? Well, you see, the call, there's only one call taught in the Bible. Did you know that? Only one. You hear us good missionaries sometimes say, the Lord called me to Africa or somewhere. Please be understanding and sympathetic and don't be critical and don't come to us and set us straight. We're just using a matter of speaking. But the Bible only teaches one call. I don't care what anybody says. And I've used the other expression myself. It's just a matter of speaking. But there's only one call taught in the Bible. And I don't care what someone says about a call. They've used the wrong word. The call, the only call the Bible talks about is the call that he gives to sinners to come follow him. It's the call to the person of Jesus Christ. Now, that's the only call in the Bible. No other call. And everyone who is a Christian has been called to follow Christ. Come follow me. Now, if you're a Christian, then you've answered that call. That's implicit in your faith in Christ because faith is a commitment to Christ. And his call was to himself. Now, what we missionaries call a call is actually the leading of the Lord. He led me to Africa. He led my wife and I in 1940. He led us. But he called us to himself. Then he led us to deputation work for the mission. Then he led me into Bible conference work and into missionary work. And he led me into the missionary work I'm now doing. He led. But the call has never changed. The call was to follow Christ. And you have an absolute right and obligation to follow him. An obligation to follow Christ. Let me illustrate how it works in closing. One of the aspects, new aspects, of the work we are doing in helping to get businesses, employment opportunities for hungry believers overseas has been to create a new area of service. And we needed help. God has given me certain abilities and I think I recognize them and can use them. But one of the areas I've not had is day-to-day administrative experience in a large organization. And so as this work began to shape and to form, it became apparent that if we were to have the ministry God wanted and accomplish what was needed, we had to have an administrator. And it was a matter of prayer, but I must admit that I didn't have much faith because the kind of man we needed was the kind of man we couldn't afford. I mean, we couldn't afford somebody making an income of $100,000, $150,000 a year, could we? Of course not. But that's the kind of a man we needed. So what do you do? You say, well, Lord, you know. And if you're building the house... So while I was in Europe and came back in just the last day of August, first day of September, I was speaking at Harvey Cedars Bible Conference, where I've been every year for eight years now and will be back again, the Lord willing, this Labor Day weekend week. And on Sunday morning, the head of the conference, Sal Oldham, said, now, I want to have Paris tell something about this missionary ministry I consider one of the most important kinds of new work for Christ. And I'd ask him to take 10 minutes before the sermon. He could put the end on if he wishes. And I did. It just poured my heart out for a few moments. And then the message, and then the conclusion, and then to lunch. And I was seated in the lounge, and the hostess came and said, I'd like so much... We have a telephone call from Mr. Al Whitaker. Would you be willing to talk to him? Could he see you? Well, I knew his name. He was a layman of the group I've been part of for many years, the Christian Missionary Alliance. I'd known him in his various capacities, but I'd never met him. We'd never shaken hands. We'd spoken on the same program, but he came in the morning, I came in the evening, or something of the sort, and we'd just missed for years and years, probably 15 years. So he came over, and I shook hands with him, saw him for the first time. I asked how he'd been when I first knew him, president of Bristol-Myers International Division, health and beauty aid people. Then he'd gone over as executive vice president of the Menin Company. And that's where he was. I said, how is he? Well, he said, God is blessed. In these three years I've been here, we've more than doubled the gross sales, considerably more than that, the profit, and God is blessed. But he said, I'm just weary of living to make rich men richer. And where do I fit into what you're doing? Well, I knew what he was getting, or roughly what he was getting, and so I went through the charts I had and showed him this. And I said, well, what would I do? Well, I said, chief of operations, of the day-to-day operations, because I haven't that background and you have. That'd be the place. But I couldn't say come. He asked, where would I go if I came? Is that right? I said, this is what I'd love to have you do if you came. And I told him and described it. Well, he was on vacation. He came to see us in Washington, met with some of our board members and talked with us. And then he had two meetings with the staff elect. In November, he said, I'm resigning from Menin's after the first, as of the first of the year. And so this man, who's been the chief executive officer, executive vice president of Menin's, came with us three weeks ago to assist us. I never asked him. Someone said, how come you persuaded him to? I never asked him. I wouldn't have dared. Someone said, Al, why'd you go? He said, because when I became a Christian, I committed my life to Jesus Christ. The only call I've ever had was to obey Christ. And the Lord told me to do it. Told me to do it. What am I saying? Just this, that when you come to Jesus Christ, you've signed a quitclaim deed to all you are, to all you have, to all you can ever be. You've looked into his nail-pierced face, nail-pierced hands and into his lovely face, and you've said, Lord, what will you have me to do? That is how you go out, totally and completely abandoned. I am the good shepherd. The Lord the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. And what does he say? Come, follow me. That's how you go out. There's enough people here to change the world for God's son if we'll go out that way. Father, we do thank thee and praise thee today that there is this wonderful privilege of knowing the good shepherd, the one who said, I am the door of the sheepfold. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved. He shall go in, he shall go out. He shall find pasture. I'm calm that they might have life, and they might have it more abundantly. So, Father of Jesus, speak to this people today, and grant that there may be someone like Mrs. Dieterle here, someone like our brother Al, someone else, Lord, who's willing to look into thy face and say, Lord, all that have me to do. I've given my all to thee. Only show me. I go not in my strength, but thy. If you'll live in me, through me, I'm available, Lord, for anything thou hast for me. So might it be, Lord, This matter of going out has a new meaning to each of us, a new sense of responsibility. And, Father, may it be that when we as a people, each of us alone, stand before him, we'll hear him say, My son, my daughter, you have done what you could. Won't make any difference then, Father, what we did, it will only be what we could have done, if we loved him as much as we try to make him think we do when we sing about it. So to that end, bless us, and teach us the Christian secret of a happy life, being totally and completely available to Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.