Who Then Is Willing

Lord, we just come to you this morning and we want to humble ourselves and just admit that there's nothing we can do without you Lord, that's going to value in anything Lord, we ask you to come and be a part of our meeting. I pray for my brother that you would anoint him with your spirit Lord that you clears mind that you would Just lead his thoughts and lead his tongue that he may speak your words Lord we we lift up the rock family right now as they've lost Lynette. We pray that you would comfort them And be with them during this hard time and give them grace and peace to go through this trial Lord, we also lift up Glenn and Glenn and Greta as they travel pray for safety You use them for your kingdom as they go to this funeral Also pray Lord for David's daughter Sarah He's asked for press requests this morning Lord that you would help her to repent and return to her first love Lord, we just ask you to work in that area and on her behalf And Lord we lift up Jeff Burt's friend as he's had this stroke Lord, we ask you that you would use this to draw near to yourself and Lord that if it be possible that you'd heal him Lord just work your grace in this situation Also lift up the Zimmerman family and Lance Lord, you know why this happened.

We know that you're still on the throne and you're meaning this for they're good so Lord help them to trust you in that and Lord, I pray that if it be possible that Lance would come out of this a coma that you'd bring healing Also Lord we pray for our brother Carl and Yvonne as they go to be servants I pray you'd strengthen them and give them wisdom as they go to West Virginia Help them to know the details and how everything should line up. I pray you just go with them and bless them Thank you for the good Work you're doing in Kuwait his family the two good things that you've done But Lord, we continue to lift them up that you'd work in that family and Lord We pray for grace to be on the gusty family as they go and minister to rod today Thank you for their heart to do that And I just pray your spirit would go with them and use them To work for your kingdom and for your glory and once again, we just lift up Roger now We just pray you bless him and use him mightily in Jesus name. Amen All right, well good morning again and Welcome and thank you for that Those prayer requests and that prayer, you know If there's a reason we come together if there's maybe many reasons we come together for fellowship and for praise and worship and preaching But you know if there's anything that we dare not neglect.

It's that one of prayer. That's a reason we come together and we Have a special time prayer meeting on Wednesday night, but it seems like that's that's one of God's in fact in the Bible study It described the people who were part of the church You could you could have you know, Luke could have written. These are the people who obey Jesus These are the people who follow Jesus, but in that particular case He said these are the people who call on his name.

And so that's a characteristic of a Christian someone who calls on the name of Jesus and So it's a good Thing that we can use to examine ourselves. Am I really a Christian? Do I call on his name? Do I call on his name regularly is that part of my everyday life to call on his name as I was preparing for this? Message I was thinking about what leading up messages We had and I thought you know these there was there. I think God has been preparing, you know us in other ways for The series of how things have come together a few Sundays ago I had a couple of sermons on how to love God more it was going through the Through the eye of a needle book and then Jeremy King had the message on authority And then we listened to John D. Martin's message on culture.

And then I think last Sunday we had Denny Keniston's message I am a disciple of Jesus Christ and Putting all that together It just seemed like This was the time then to share what I would like to share. But once again, we've already prayed I just like to bow our head bow our heads again Just ask God to come and lead us if you don't mind. So let's let's pray father We come again.

And once again, I feel so dependent so Like I can't do this and Lord, that's how it always is. Sometimes we just don't realize it But without you we can do nothing. And so I ask you for your anointing on my lips and especially Lord I pray for an anointing on every set of ears here in this building That we would hear what you have for us So Lord, I thank you for gathering us here you have blessed you have guided you have directed you've been with us in the service Already and I thank you for that Please come by your Holy Spirit in Jesus name.

Amen. I Remember when I was young, I heard a story I heard something that was going on I didn't know really what to make of it. I forget how old I was I might have been 10.

I might have been 15 somewhere in there, but a friend of our family We had visited up there in Canada a number of times back then the borders were more open than they are now but we go back and forth and we'd visit the different families. I had an uncle living up there and There was the a big family of their last name was Torkelson, I think that's Scandinavian or something but Torkelson and one of the men was a man named Howard and Howard Torkelson had his family there and we heard one day that he was Going across the seas to India And that was kind of a different thing and we had heard of missionaries, you know, maybe going to Central America That was a big thing. But here's this man going to India taking his family they all packed up and went and I don't have a lot of details.

I thought about calling him he's Back from India by now been back a number of years and he's actually on the phone team with me So I couldn't have gotten a hold of him and asked him. Hey, can I get more details about how all that happened? but I Didn't do that, but I had a few details that back in my young age It I didn't I didn't wrestle a lot with the question why he went to India It's just well must have been the church wanted to go so he went but you know after he went a Typical term seemed like it was about two years and you think well, maybe he's gonna come back But no two years came and went and another two years and another two years and I don't know if I have the detail Right, but if my memory serves me correctly, he was there around ten years in the country of India serving the people sharing the gospel as a missionary there and so Later I received some more information about that question why he went to India Several pieces as I started piecing these things together and It struck me. Wow, this is this is interesting Why did he go to India I Heard more of what led up to that decision.

That's quite it That's quite a it's quite a life-changing decision when all of a sudden you pack up your family young family and take them overseas and Spend ten years of your life in a country where you don't know the language. You don't know the people you don't know anything about it at least you didn't before this this decision was made and I'd like to share some of those details with you. I'd like to share what I know There's a lot of things.

I don't know a lot of things Maybe I'll find out in the weeks ahead if I if I do make that phone call But I'd like to share you with you what I do know and I probably will get a few details wrong, but that's okay I'm gonna fill in some of these details that that makes sense to me as that I think probably happened or something like them and We're gonna see what we can learn from this about why Howard went to India He he grew up in what was called the fellowship Movement he was probably a small child at least maybe a young man even during the time that this happened We also called it the non-conference movement. You see they were part of his parents and Their peers were part of a larger Mennonite Church that they had these conferences around I think they call them the conservative conferences if I'm not mistaken, but there was a number of them They had the Lancaster conference They had the Western and I don't know what all how many there were but there were a number of these but these conferences Hook together church by church around the country We're starting to make changes. There was a time They stood for certain things that they were no longer standing for they were sliding toward the world in certain things in there You know in their materialism in their sports emphasis in the you know in their clothing in their music Entertainment and eventually their theology began to go toward worldly churches around them Just simply giving up inch by inch foot by foot the all these things as they started marching Toward the world in certain areas and Howard's dad along with a number of his peers were concerned about this They said we don't want to go this direction and they talked among themselves.

What do we do? We have to Make a decision. Can we somehow use our influence to stop the churches from making these steps that they're making? and There was a number of these men that were concerned one day I don't know. I could have probably got a list of names One of them that comes to my mind is Mervyn Bair.

He was one I heard about up there in Canada Another one is Paul Landis. He he's the one who later started or helped to start Rod and staff You want to know about Rod and staff talk to Joel back there He could probably fill you in more about that ministry, but if I understand it, right Paul Landis was one who? Helped start that publishing house. He was also one that was concerned about the drift of the church Wilbert crop some of you maybe went to his funeral here Couple of months ago.

He was in that generation of these men who said no We're not going this direction. We're taking a stand and eventually they pulled out and they started this church and also then There's there's this Ben Torkelson another one. I think may have been involved was was I think of this name Burton Troyer? I think he was up there in that neck of the woods as well.

And he's got he's got relatives in our area right now But these were men who who said We're concerned and we're concerned enough to do something about it Maybe there were other people who were concerned not concerned enough to actually Step out and go a different direction a few weeks ago. I was at a no, it's been more than that It's been I don't know how many years ago now. I was at my uncle's funeral and My uncle he was one who stayed in the old church and maybe he had some concerns that these other men had as well He stayed in that church that was heading toward the world by the time he died It seemed like he was pretty wrapped up in and in fact at his funeral about all they could talk about was how much this man loved to farm and He just talked about farming and he loved his tractors and so forth And that was even on the obituary about how much he loved his farm.

I think he was a lifelong member of that church that that that he was part of and And it just struck me somebody made a one of my cousins made a comment after Wilbur's funeral Wilbur would sit in his tractor and prepare his sermons. He said remember that our uncle's Funeral he would sit in church and think about tractors Wilbur would sit in tractors and prepare for his sermon two different Emphases on on light and it showed it showed in you know the direction they went and and so forth Well Howard grew up in this environment. He watched his dad make these decisions and I can only imagine how this went When his dad comes home from one of their meetings their brother's meetings They're trying to decide what to do about the drift and finally they they decide we need to pull out and start our own Church, we just need to start our own fellowship.

He comes home makes an announcement to the family We're we're going a new direction We've started our own church and we decided that one of the things that has to go is our television set and so they walk into the living room and it's one of those, you know back then you took two people to pick them up you couldn't do it by yourself and Gets one of his boys to help him maybe and they load that thing onto the pickup truck and and haul it to the dump You know and the way they were shaped back Then you tip it over the edge and it would roll now the type they have they just slide They're like a sled but those would roll and you know, they could have sold it at a garage sale We'll just get rid of it because we don't want this thing polluting other people's minds and of course people out the children I can only imagine the question but dad, you know, what about our movie night? We're not gonna be able to know We're not gonna do that anymore and that's disappointing. And you know, what about this series? We're listening to you know this this Well, we decided we're not gonna do movies anymore. So but but we're you know, we're just season two already and Episode 8 is coming up and we don't want to miss it And you know children get disappointed about things like that and this probably was hard and Howard watched his dad Say well, you know, yeah, there's some disappointments but we're we're gonna we're gonna go a different direction and and then they saw dad out the next day with a Screwdriver up under the you know in the car and fiddling with something.

What are you doing dad? Well, I'm disconnecting the radio We decided we're not gonna have the radio either Well, what are we gonna listen to when we drive that's a tough one, isn't it? Well, um Well, we'll listen to these newfangled things called cassette tapes. Either they were And well, those haven't been invented yet dad. Well, they will be soon and And they were and so they did have something to listen to and then their clothing patterns changed and they have these weird Things called cape dresses and they had their their suit coats that they adopted and you know Maybe some larger head coverings and you know it was it was a whole new direction and Howard watched his dad make these changes for the family and You know some a lot of people stuck with them, but there were some that came and left, you know They said hey, we'd like to be part of you But I still need my TV or I need my radio or I need you know I need something I just just too strict and so they'd stick with them for a while and then they'd leave and you know sadly many of those families didn't turn out very well that you know, there was train wreck after train wreck and Some of them maybe Stepped aside.

Maybe they did maybe they did. Okay, you know in biblical terms It says made shipwreck. There were some of those some of those sad events that they watched as people Took the the route that they did and So this was the environment that Howard grew up in he watched a dad with courage a dad with wisdom a dad with foresight knowing where these things would lead and he admired those qualities as As as these decisions were made and so now he is the beneficiary of that and he's growing up and out of his childhood Into his teenage years out of his teenage years into his early married years and now he has his own Family and he's he's benefiting from the stand that his dad and the men around him Took and established and said this is the direction that that we're going and it was a good life That they have as a result of some of those decisions.

It was a stable life it was they were receiving good godly teaching and Howard he was grateful for this and he was grateful for the Stand that they took but maybe he asked himself the question if I ever have to take a stand for Christ Like my dad did would I have the courage? He probably asked him not himself that many times Would I have the courage to do what my dad did? Now, of course, the next question is easy to come well, that won't be necessary because my dad made the sacrifices I won't have to but What if what I what I have the courage to do what my dad did and and and and take that Take that stand. But so this is that the heritage that he had and as he grew up he was he was a beneficiary of this it was a it was a It was a good life that they were living up there in I think Southern Alberta is is where he grew up But you know as time went on now, we're a generation past maybe 20 years down the road There were things he was maybe noticing that weren't quite what he wished they were he noticed in his own Generation the men seemed to be focused Maybe their focus was a little too much on the materialism their businesses They're what they were building and doing the money. They were making he noticed maybe the women were you know, they were pretty focused in on the canning and the cleaning and the housekeeping in the gardens and The young people seems like you know that they were doing well They're stable group of young people But it at the same time it seems like they're fairly focused in on on play and volleyball and you know How do you make? Each volleyball game a little bit better than the one before what who can we you know? Kick off or bring on or better place to play or whatever that you know One game would be over and instead of talking about the you know the outreach Next day, it's talking about the next volleyball game a month from now How do we make it just a little bit better and that does seem to be the focus it but at the same time? He was still grateful.

He was still grateful for What you know the the stability that they had and and the good people that he had around him and and so Here it was in this situation That Howard was like a pile of maybe dry kindling in a stove in a in a fireplace just waiting for a match to come along and light it and the match came the the the The thing came that that changed Howard's life and You could say it hit him like a cannonball. He was permanently changed after this thing happened. You say well What is the thing well it was a sermon? He was given a written sermon like a booklet sermon, and he sat down and he read that sermon Maybe it was even preached him, but I think it was written, and I think his first exposure was it was he read it and This was a sermon that was written by One of the men in his father's generation Paul Landis not the Paul Landis that goes down there to the press and loads trucks.

It's a different Paul Landis He's get dead and gone now, but this man wrote a book a little booklet maybe you call it more of a tract called who then is willing and This was handed to Howard and was handed to everybody else in his church. It was handed But probably it probably was handed out to everybody in his denomination now by this time But as he sat down and read it he felt God's called I have to do something with what I'm reading I can't stay the same ever a lot of other people stay. You know we're around him and well Yeah, good points, but they largely stayed the same Howard when he read it it ended up Sending into India.

I was given this book about 15 to 20 years ago of course by then it had already been written 15 to 20 years prior to that when I myself received this little Tracklet track or booklet, and I read it so wow this is This is quite Has quite a message to it, and I asked some other people maybe even handed out a few copies of it And then one of my older generally the generation older than me Said oh, yeah, we heard about that book. You know we remember when that thing was written. Well.

I didn't remember I was just a child probably when it was written But we remember when that was written and you did you know by the way? I don't remember my mom or my dad or one of my uncles or who it was that did you know that that book is The reason Howard Torkelson went to India. Oh, no. I didn't know that And that's the first I even knew anything about this little book, but all of a sudden.

Oh, this is making a little bit of sense and Suddenly I looked at that event Howard going to India And it wasn't just a far-off thing that happened suddenly I realized there were some things going on in his heart That prompted him to pack up his family and and go to India now It made sense you know why he was willing to walk into his living room like his dad had 20 years earlier and say children We're going to India, and you know all the objections that could come When that would when that happened you know dad well What about all the the volleyball games were gonna miss if we go to India for two years or longer? You know what about all our cousins weddings. We can't attend those now What's what's gonna happen about that and you know dad? I'm just about old enough to go work on the Harvest Crew next summer and You're saying we're going to India, but yes, that was the decision and he probably took their counsel I don't know how all this went, but that's what happened They went to India and for the next 10 years That's where they were and I'm just guessing if you'd ask any of those children now whether they regret I'm guessing the answer is no they don't regret that at all But the question comes probably in your mind What kind of a message was this that Howard listened to that impacted him so greatly that changed him to that point where he said I Have to do something with it Even if the people around me aren't What's it gonna take no see Howard wasn't the first person to Go to India that people have gone to India before I don't know back in the 1800s there was a Baptist missionary that went to India and He He can he talked to people about the Lord Jesus and one of the men's one of the men who got converted was a was an Indian man named Noxing N-o-k-s-e-n-g Noxing was he decided he's going to Follow Jesus and he shared the gospel with people around him and they started following Jesus and the village chief got angry You can't do this. I'm losing my people.

I'm losing control he brings Noxing and his wife the two little children to the village square there and threatened him says you're gonna die where if you don't renounce Christ and your whole family's gonna die too and Noxon said I have decided to follow Jesus and They said well then your your family's gonna die and they killed with arrows his two little boys Said now, what are you gonna do? He said though. No one joins me still I will follow and they killed his wife. Now.

What are you gonna do? he said the world the cross before me the world behind me and They killed him all of them died as a as a result, but that village chief. He was watching this whole thing and you know if you Pull up that song we sang right there in between right before the sermon I have decided to follow Jesus It has an Indian name over there on the left where he has the name and it has an Indian tune on the right where it Says the where it has the tune that was written By someone who witnessed this or talked to the chief because that chief as he witnessed this whole thing He became a Christian he shared he shared this this story and you know He told his the rest of his people after Noxing and his family were dead He says I'm gonna become a Christian myself and the whole village was converted as a result of that So India has has situation, you know, people have gone to India before the first man to go to India I think was in in as a missionary was at least historically the way the way some historians presented is that it was Thomas the gospel the the Apostle Thomas Thomas was He was after Jesus went back to heaven even before the Holy Spirit came before they had elected the replacement for Judas Judas 11 of these disciples got together and drew lots. Jesus said go through the whole world.

Where are we gonna go? So, you know, you only have so many directions on the map but they pulled lots and said here's where we're going and Thomas drew India and He said no remember he he had a problem with doubting. He says I can't do that. I'm a Hebrew I can't how am I ever gonna witness to these Indian people? but that night Jesus appeared to him in a dream so you go I'll give you grace and And Thomas still had struggles How's this gonna work? I don't know how to start Well, a man came then he heard right there in Jerusalem was a man who wanted who was who was visiting from India It was a king over in some Indian tribe that was wanting somebody to come and build him a palace It's not a carpenter from Jerusalem.

And so Thomas finally decided that's my way to go He went with him and while he was there in India God's anointing did come on him He shared the gospel with many people many people became Christians and once again it became a threat to the village chiefs and they ended up killing Thomas and He died and went to be with his Savior. But so India is it has a history of these Missionaries going so back to to Howard, you know, they he was he was there and and or he was getting ready to go he was thinking about going he was felt the call to go and The the question is what was it that was written? What was it in this little sermon that he read? What was it in this booklet that he read that got his attention and and I actually received it Like I said, I had received a copy years ago, and I went back to my computer tried to find it and I did I found this this this booklet. Here's part two put together in a booklet like that.

We're rock. We're not going to read that We don't have time but this is part one who then is willing I'd like to share with you what was in this message that was so life-changing and Remember other people read it Howard wasn't the only one that read this many other people read it and didn't go to India Now I don't want to say it didn't change their lives It very well may have it probably did probably changed a lot of people's life because there's more than one way to change your life Sometimes you're going somewhere. Sometimes you're changing something in your personal life, and I trust that God used it But I'd like you to hear this message Who then is willing but Paul Landis go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature baptizing them teaching them God is being very good to the church in our countries in North America The only real hardship financially is that which we bring on ourselves by insisting on a plush standard of living These blessings will lead our heart Will lead our hearts affections away from God if we use or hoard them for ourselves In our return to consistent Bible practice We have not yet recaptured the vision of the lost world around us and the responsibility of our Lord Jesus the head of the church placed upon us to spend and be spent Evangelizing the lost throughout the whole world until he comes now Remember, this is 20 years after Paul Landis and the people around him It pulled out of the apostate the the were the going to the world church They call them the apostate churches call them the worldly churches.

Maybe that sounds judgmental I don't know what else to say, but that's what was happening And but he's saying now 20 years later a generation down the road. We made some right decisions But something feels wrong and Paul Landis was called He was he was calling to repentance the people around him he was saying something isn't quite right and howards listen to this he's reading this and Thinking what am I going to do with this message? Paul says we are producing Churches of people who are basically faithful to the ordinances and commandments of God as pertains to standard of holy pious living But we've failed miserably to lead our people into forsaking of all so the Lord can work through us to evangelize this generation We're not able because we're not available We have too many strings attached to financial institutions farms businesses and so forth of material consequence. Only our All is not in Jesus Christ alone in that respect Too many become heartbroken and turn away sorrowful as that did the rich young ruler because they have great possessions They have many heirlooms to hover over as a hen does her brood Their love is greater by far for the old home place and mother's old dishes quilts and furniture and for father's farmland Then for souls of neighbors all around them young men and women who first learned to make money heal and financially and secure their future as soon as there are Soon in their 30s and 40s and they monies and services are locked in for life They are not available for the Lord's work except on a very marginal basis They acquired a wrong sense of values from the beginning their vision of the needs all around them is very dim It's high time that our young men women learn to do some things other than earn money Nor should we think that they take the first 20 or 30 years of the mature years to produce to prove their ability to make financial success Multitudes around us will have perished in the fires of hell by that time Unless our young men get a primary vision of the nurturing of the church and gathering it of lost souls the seeds of apostasy are Already well established in our churches millions of dollars lie in waste among us because of a false concept or a false God that we call good stewardship as Did the man with one talent we are hiding it lest it'll be wasted God would have us use it to reach souls not put into material usury, but spiritual usury The scriptural injunction to forsake all and follow Jesus is very vague among us forsake all Certainly not financial security or the finite finances.

God has blessed me with today The question is primarily who is willing not who is financially able to require a vacuum a comfortable investment at home in the bank or in the property or Or in property to fall back on and take care of us in our old age to qualify us for the Lord's work is to render Us unable to live and work a work of faith in God's kingdom today Which of the Apostles or prophets had such an arrangement? Peter and the others led about a wife who needed food and shelter Jesus had not where to lay his head who then is willing faithful then able God will enable the vessel that's available and pliable with no reservations as a people were full of reservations We're not available We have to make money heal and materially build up our own little kingdom and some are not so little To make our mark in the world. We teach simplicity and live simply grand Most men whom God has blessed with the gift to make large amounts of money are not willing to throw away Quote-unquote their money by supporting some humble faithful worker in the vineyard They quote have to be good stewards to invest their money in some project that will remain in the sight of men So they can get the satisfaction of looking at it from afar knowing that others are also seeing it And giving praise to the investors of the same but to have their money support mission workers or produce literature that will be distributing gone never again to be seen as a monument of Status and stewardship is considered wasteful and lacking qualities of quote good stewardship We are so soaked through with a false economy of our age that God's quote follow me cannot even speak to us We cannot hear him. Our ears are full are very dull of hearing our affections are set on this world's goods not on things above The case with which we can borrow money Has captured many of our people The result is that most of us find ourselves in the first 20 or more years of married life strapped to obligations that we planned Shall make us financially secure by middle age or before Many by the age of 40 or 50 could sell off their holdings and support themselves for a number of years in a foreign mission work But they have not been conditioned for it in their 20 or 30 years of financial drive for success and security Through this material program They have thoroughly imbibed a worldly sense of values which unfits them for the work of the church Which is a work of faith both financially and spiritually These 20 or more years of material drive have serious effect on the spiritual life Instead of training people to more and more trust God for all in life and fulfill his will to lean on and to lean more And more on him for guidance and all things of life It trains men to believe they must figure things out for themselves that the Lord has nothing to do with their decisions and material at things And that a life of faith is fine for the mission workers It fits them not to work the work of the church and missions by faith and the scriptures But by the worldly material philosophies by which they have succeeded in the material pursuits They do not see how anything could succeed.

Otherwise If we're not learning through our daily responsibilities Which are both home duties and pursuit of our financial obligations to live a life of faith and trust in God We are not building the true church. We're a spiritual liability to it. We're not providing a sound spiritual heritage for our children We're not preparing to be effective witnesses for Christ The compassion for the loss that hums and drives is little known among us Paul said woe is me if I preach not the gospel and the lost perish around us daily not because they're gospel hardened But because we're tied to the things of the world our hearts cold and faithless Without burning compassion for these souls who are going to be cast into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone Perhaps in reality the reason none of our members sell all that they have and give to the church and the poor and follow Jesus Be fishers of men is the church provides neither call nor direction for such Members would rather feel threatened with disfavor the church being labeled radical or extreme or unfaithful for not laying up in store for old age treasures on earth They cry the cry will immediately go up suppose.

We all did that Someone must stay home and support those who go the answer is obvious and simple That's not what most of us are using our money for we're using it for ourselves. Our neighbors will readily and truthfully testify to that Our vision is a better life for ourselves and our children and secure old age We're without excuse perhaps more than any generation since the time of Christ Opportunities for good income to conscientious workers abound in most of our communities good income Combined with simple life living and a life of faith Equals large church coffers full of mission funds give as the Lord has prospered thee ready to distribute Numerous fields throughout the world are white or ready to harvest Germany Paraguay, Guatemala Belize the Dominican Republic Mexico the Philippine Islands the Northwest Switzerland India all are calling for sound gospel witness. We are sure there are many other people in other areas who are longing and reaching out for the truth Satan has lied to us with many lies.

The serious part about these lies is we believe them He says our children are to be pitied if they have to be on the mission field Robbed a fellowship of the young people in their activities The truth of the matter is that on the mission field with its needs and demands They will learn true values of life and many other valuable lessons that they cannot learn in plush settings Truly pity the children that must grow up without the opportunities to learn them They can be learned in the home church if parents live by true values to believe them is to live them But is it not true that few do? Another lie of Satan is that we must stay home to make money so that we can support those who go as was mentioned above This seemingly is wise reasoning, but is this what is happening? I fear not observation would tell us that the basic support that keeps the mission work going is the burden in the hearts of the poorer among us and Others look down on them saying it's too bad. They don't know how to manage better If we do not follow Jesus to become fishers a man will fossilize into liberalism, which is Sadducee ism or Ultra conservatism and traditionalism which is Pharisee ism or political ism, which is Herodian ism This has happened to all other groups gone before us to have the primary emphasis on being good stewards of material things will result in a program of humanism helping people to a better physical Life comfort and security to be good stewards in this area is important, but certainly secondary not primary But to be good stewards of the grace of God is of utmost importance first at home And then in all the world the evidence of a gradual but certain increase of affluence and living standards among our churches Indicates a definite step in the direction of apostasy a shift from dependence on God to dependence on things if this were not true The money God blesses us with would be used for God's work not finer things or items of pleasure Children who grow up in such soft circumstances will have little comprehension of the realities of life There's is an artificial understanding of what life consists of and how to cope with it properly all too soon They themselves will become a mission field Satan says material prosperity indicates spirituality There is no New Testament scripture that teaches us Many New Testament scriptures do teach us however that we use material things God has blessed us for for ourselves or to give them to the poor in the church Does tell the true condition of our heart and he lists a bunch of them mark 12 Luke 12 first Timothy 6 mark 10 Luke 6 James 5 and so forth James also caught our Satan. I'm sorry Satan also causes many to believe that the money They have is their own because they say I worked hard for it I must not waste it by giving it to the church or to be used where I cannot control it the deacon or the school Board of the mission board of the workers or so forth.

They don't have the best judgment on the use of money God Says he's the one who gives power to gain wealth when he gives to us. It's still his The silver is mine. The gold is mine.

He's entrusting it to us to use for his purposes Not our own We will someday answer as stewards to give account of all that we did with a hundred percent of what he is entrusted to our care not just the ten percent In the home school and church We're training our members to be hard workers good businessmen farmers good financiers Thrifty diligent and labor and efficient and putting material things to good use God is blessing and multiplying the fruit of our labors if we lavish these blessings on ourselves and on our children They will eat away our faith as cancer does the body if we will work to be rich It will drown our souls in destruction first Timothy 6 and pierce us through with many sorrows if we lay up treasures on earth There will be hearts there will our hearts be with our affections When will we believe these and many other such like scriptures and heed the warnings when will we seek and practice sound Applications to them the cancer has already set in this is easy to be observed across the spectrum of the conservative churches effeminate living soft gorgeous delicate plush costly is Steadily on the increase you've lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanting you've nourished your hearts is in the day of slaughter James 5 does this not describe many of our people Pleasure not on the public ball field or before the TV But in finery status building image buildings and equipment these provide much central gratification and gradually destroy simple faith But of that day and hour knoweth no man know not the angels which are in heaven neither the Son but the Father Take heed watch and pray for you know not what time Not when you know not when the time is for the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey Who left his house gave authority to his servants and to every man his work and commanded the porter to watch watch ye Therefore for you know not when the master of the house cometh he at even at midnight or at the cot growing or in the Morning lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping and what I say to you I say to all watch Mark chapter 13 20 32 to 20 37 read also also Matthew 25 Talking about the talents this lesson is pertaining to the spiritual talents and the opportunities and responsibilities not material Although it does offer guidelines for the material read Matthew 24 a similar warning When Christians in former years in any setting settled down into material complacency feeling God was surely pleased with them because of the way he blessed them materially They experienced spiritual decline and apostasy. We will be no exception We may be Orthodox for a number of years, but also apostate our fellowship will be traditional and former formal rather than spiritually satisfied and fruitful We will be satisfied to bring most of our children into it and to a traditional shelter The vision and power to bring the world to Christ and be part of his church will be gone The Lord of the church is calling on the shepherds of the flock to lead out both in precept and example who then is willing Will we allow Satan through the wrong use of material blessings rob us and our people of true faith in God? The evidence at present seems to say we will The challenge we face is we must very soon lead our people to the vision of the vision of the perishing world to lay all In the altar in a meaningful way to be available to be used as Christ in the church will call We as leaders must gain the vision of our responsibility to provide call and guidance to the sheep in our care and sell all that they have give to the poor and the church And be vessels in God's hands to evangelize the world At this point most of our people are conditioned to respond to the call to discipleship before many years Before many years many of them will no longer be they will have been spoiled by the central enjoyment of their material blessings The call is to heed the scriptures not the traditions of the past 200 years The Apostles and the early Anabaptists found a good application of these teachings in their time We can and must to if we're willing and determined God will enable us who then is willing Galatians 6 says be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap for he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the spirit Shall of the spirit reap life everlasting so that's what Howard read and You've already heard How he responded there are some times when response is Not voluntary You get a call and It's something that absolutely cannot be changed Howard was in a position. He could choose What to do with what he read sometimes? We can't choose and God sometimes in his mercy brings those things you get a call from the cancer doctor sir I have bad news for you about your wife You get a call from the banker We haven't been able to renew your loan.

It looks like you're gonna lose your farm Maybe you get a call from a child. I don't want to serve God the way you're serving anymore. I'm gonna leave home and these things are Involuntary and we have to respond appropriately when it happens Howard was reading this and he didn't have to respond to what he just read he could have ignored it He could have done something different than he did To be honest.

I don't even know how I'm gonna respond to this article that I just read I've read it years ago Read it again this week But is God calling me to do something different? What are the options? What what does it mean? What what you know has God laid anything in your heart? Is there something that? In your life is gonna change, you know, maybe Maybe they're not as big as going to India for 10 years. Maybe they are maybe that is what it's meaning But maybe there's other things maybe it means calling your boss and saying hey, I'd like to Work an extra hour of overtime each day. So I have more to give to missions.

Maybe that's what it is Maybe it's calling your boss and saying I've been working too much over time I'd like to cut back a little bit. So I have an extra hour to pray every day. Maybe that's what it is Maybe it's your Bible reading your memorization the commitments that you're gonna change Maybe it has something to do with your giving maybe After you make the changes that God's calling you to make your checkbooks gonna turn around look at you and says I don't think I know you you're a different person than you used to be the way you're treating me Snakes can talk and donkeys can talk.

I don't know if checkbooks can talk or not, but maybe Maybe there's something else. Maybe there's neighbors to talk to about the Lord Maybe there's mission trips that need to be planned instead of some other trips that you were planning I don't know what all that's called. What all God is calling you to I want You to think about that I want you to remember the example of Howard But maybe there was other people around him that could say, you know What the same time Howard was making his choices.

I also made some very serious choices during that time. I have to believe I Fear it's true that there were people around him who made no choices I'm afraid that's Really what happened but I bet there was also a lot of people who Read what he read and said I'm gonna I'm gonna make some choices. I am gonna live differently I'm not going to India like Howard.

I'm gonna stay home and make it so that Howard can go to India whatever that took So I'll leave that between you and God let's pray father we come to you in the name of Jesus and I pray Lord that You would guide us it would be your voice that we would not Think that we're all doing the same thing Lord But that we all do need to lay all on the altar and that we cannot be your disciple unless we give up all that We have according to your son Jesus Teach us what that means Show us Lord step by step how to be a true disciple To hear your call. Come follow me to build your kingdom And seek that first and nothing else To lay up treasures in heaven rather than on earth Lord show us what that means We need you to guide us. We thank you in Jesus name