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Let's turn to page 105. 105, Rescue the Perishing. Let's sing the first, second,
and last verse. Rescue the perishing, care for
the dying, snatch them in pity from sin and the grave. Weep for the erring one, lift
up the fallen, Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save. Rescue the perishing, care for
the dying. Jesus is merciful, Jesus will
save. Down in the human heart, crushed
by the tempter, feelings lie buried that grace can restore. Touched by a loving heart, wakened
by kindness, cords that are broken will vibrate once more. Rescue the perishing, care for
the dying, Jesus is merciful. Jesus will save. Rescue the perishing, duty demands
it. Strength for thy labor the Lord
will provide. back to the narrow way patiently
win them tell the poor wanderer a savior has died rescue the
perishing care for the dying Jesus is merciful Jesus will
save thankful that's our calling and our enabling through the
Lord Jesus Christ. And it's certainly good to be
here this morning, good to be in a place where folks still
worship God and understand how great a God He is indeed. Well,
it's missions conference time, the last day of missions conference.
It's hard to believe. It seems like we just began all
the planning stages and here we are on the last day. It's
been a good week, a very good week. So thankful for what the
Lord's done through the teaching, the preaching. And the morning
sessions were tremendous. Sharing with the men as we were
praying in the back. I know I say this every year,
but I think it's the best conference yet. And rejoice. I was given this envelope by
the kindergarten class, and I was going to get a kindergartner
to carry it up here for me. It's quite a few quarters. You
know how those kindergartners gives. But it's a $76 missions
offering. How about that? Praise the Lord
for those kindergartners giving and they they have a missions
lesson every week in their missions and their Sunday school class
admissions emphasis. And so praise the Lord. They
can give. We can sure give. Amen. Well, we want to take a couple
minutes right now and welcome each other. Please, church family,
there's visitors in our midst today, so make sure you welcome
them, tell them how thankful we are the Lord led them our
way. Let's do that right now. ♪ Praise the work for all to do
♪ ♪ From the ruins of God is calling ♪ ♪ To the heart is calling you ♪ ♪ Live
as one with God is your name ♪ ♪ Labor on for wealth or fame ♪ ♪ There's
no power that you can take ♪ ♪ Is the one I cherish in me ♪
♪ And your grace on earth is grand ♪ ♪ We will share to be
your faithful ♪ ♪ Love and hope, my children and I ♪ ♪ With the stars that guide us today
♪ ♪ We will love forever more ♪ If you would make your way back
to your seats and you can go ahead and be seated Metropolitan. Give me a passion for souls,
dear Lord, a passion to save the lost. Oh, let my love arise. Jesus, I long, I long to be winning. Men who are lost and constantly
sinning. Oh, in this hour we want a beginning. This story of glory to tell. Oh, there are dangers untold
and stern, confronting me in the way. Willingly still could
I go the turn, but trusting your grace each day. Jesus, I long,
I long to be with you, and you are lost and constantly sinning. Oh, in this hour, we want a beginning,
the story of gardeners. ♪ Till this passion for souls be
mine ♪ ♪ For faith I'll be answered near ♪ ♪ Help me to throw out
the old lifeline ♪ ♪ To those who are struggling near ♪ ♪ Jesus,
my Lord, I long to be with thee ♪ ♪ Lived through our loss and
constantly sinning ♪ Oh, may this hour be one of beginning,
the story of pardon to tell. Jesus, I long, I long to be with
Him, when through war, loss, and constantly sinning. Oh, may this hour be one of beginning,
the story of pardon to tell. Please stand once more. Let's
turn to page 96. Hark! Tis the Shepherd. Let's
sing the first and last verse. Hark! Tis the Shepherd's voice
I hear, Out in the desert dark and drear, Calling the sheep
who've gone astray, Far from the Shepherd's golden way. Bring them in, bring them in,
bring them in from the fields of sin. Bring them in, bring
them in, bring the wandering ones to Jesus. Out in the desert hear their
cry, Out on the mountains wild and high, Hark! Tis the Master
speaks to thee, Go find my sheep, where'er they be, Bring them
in, bring them in, Bring them in from the fields of sin Bring
them in bring them in bring the wandering ones to Jesus Good
singing you may be seated Jim and if you'll take your places
and get ready for this Morning's offering. And while we're at it, we'll
go over a few announcements while we're there. Can you handle that,
Brother Gerardo? Goodness gracious. Yeah, I'll
try to make it quick here. Everybody, right after this morning
service, we are going to go back and enjoy a fifth Sunday type
setting. We have enough chicken for everybody, so everybody,
please stay. Visitors, please stay. Folks
who normally don't stay, please stay. We've got enough chicken
for everybody. In fact, if you were planning to go out and get
chicken in Lake Worth today, you won't be able to get it because
we have it all right here. So please, please stay for that. We've got a men's fishing trip
that's going to be this Friday night and Saturday, and there
might be one or two that's heading up before then. Please see Brother
Allen Webster for details. In fact, it might be a good idea
If you're going on the fishing trip to give him a call and say
hey, what can I do? What do I need to do? Whatever
okay there might be some little details that you've overlooked
or he's overlooked or possible Just just need to get some good
directions or anything So I want to say a very special. Thank
you for everybody has done A lot this week. Some, I mean, it doesn't
seem like anybody's just done one little bitty thing. Everybody
is all hands on deck. It's been a lot accomplished
this week. It's been a lot of food brought, been a lot of food
ate. Needs to be some fasting next week, I think. Of course,
after all the leftovers are gone, of course. Thank y'all. It has been a very good week
as far as that goes, as far as the logistics of this thing.
Everybody who's been involved, thank you very much. And I think
that's all we're going to cover right now. There's a few thank
you notes. Oh, one more thing. If you are a veteran or a wife
or spouse of a veteran and you have not received a questionnaire
from my wife concerning Veterans Day, please see her. She's trying to put something
together for Veterans Day. And she has a little questionnaire
that she'd like to Get you to look at and ask some questions
about so anyway, let's pray Lord. Thanks so much for us today Thank
for everything you've given us today Lord. Thank you for a wonderful
week. We've had so far Lord Lord I'm Thank you for the word that's
been spoke to us so far Lord I'm asking today Just meet with
us again here in just a little while and brother Wayne comes
and Lord, please, Lord, just give him liberty. Lord, take
the scales off our eyes and our hearts, Lord. Lord, soften our
hearts. Let us receive it, Lord. Lord,
it be the offering we are about to receive, with the gift and
the giver. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen before our special Brother Ted Tharp is going to
come and you know how best laid plans and you have all the technology
and everything set up. We went through a big thing on
Friday morning about making use of technology. And then his,
our technology failed us. And we aren't able to show his
presentation due to some kind of issue, failure of some kind
of equipment back there. But Brother Tharp is going to
come and tell us about his ministry through Rock of Ages. You come
ahead, Brother. And again, I'm so thankful, as
Brother Curtis mentioned, for all those who labored this week.
Please, when you get back there to the to the gym, to the fellowship
hall. Would you please tell those ladies
how much you appreciate their labor? I went home every night,
my dogs were a-barking. And theirs were probably howling
because they were on their feet a lot this week. And even now
are several ladies in the kitchen working and preparing for our
lunch today. Now, I'm going to do something
that's going to embarrass somebody. Becky, will you stand up? She doesn't like to do this.
One church we were in, I went to introduce her and said her
name and she stood up and sat right back down. There was a
little old lady sitting in the front row. She turned around
to look for my wife and there was nobody standing up. So, after services, this little
old lady comes up to me and starts giving me, what, four? because
my wife didn't stand up. And I said, yes, she did. So
I took this little 80-plus-year-old lady to my wife, and then I beat
a hasty retreat. My wife and I are missionaries
with the Rock of Ages Prison Ministries. It's a ministry that
was started way back in 1977. Since then, 39 years, We've gotten into several different
areas of the ministry. There's prison revival teams,
there's chaplains, the lovely ladies ministry and the juvenile
ministry. The juvenile ministry has fallen
under what we call now the prison prevention program. We go into
schools and we have a character under construction classes. We
have school assemblies, Bible clubs, and what they call the
Yes Club International. We're on the college campuses.
We're in military bases. We're basically around the world.
We're on six continents. We're in seven different countries, ranging from Brazil, Cambodia,
Hungary, Uganda, Togo, Guyana, the Philippines. In those countries
alone, last year, we saw 15,210 souls saved. Now, in the United States, we
saw a total of 22,107 men, women, and children, school kids, military
guys, come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. The
total for last year was 37,397 people that came to know Christ. In 39 years of existence, the
Rock of Ages has seen 700,347 souls saved around the world. This ministry was started by
two men that had a vision for the inmates in a local jail.
It started out as a tape ministry. It has grown to what it is today. Because men, as I touched on
in the Sunday School class this morning, got inspired to want
to do something for somebody that was lost. Going into a jail
is not for everybody. Going into a prison is not for
everybody. When you hear those big heavy steel doors slam shut
behind you, you get, if you will, claustrophobic. Now, I've been
working with Rock of Ages as a layman from 99 to 2008 when
I became a missionary. I've walked in those prisons,
jails. I've seen the doors slam shut behind me. There are people
in there, young, old, in between. They have no hope. The Rock of Ages, and trust me,
there are Different organizations should
come into a prison that do not preach the gospel. They do not
bring the truth. They bring lies. I probably shouldn't say this,
but my life has been threatened. I've never told my wife this,
but my life has been threatened. People wonder why I carry. Now, the whites, and no offense
to you sitting in front of me, sir, the blacks and the Mexicans
don't bother me. I can talk to them, they can
talk to me, and we work things out if they feel like they got
a problem with a missionary from the Rock of Ages. But the one
that scares me the most are the Muslims. The Islamic religion
is out to get us. We have a hard time. I have a
facility right now in the state of Indiana that the Muslims come
and sign up and take away seats where the normal prisoners could
come for services. And the Muslims don't show up. So I'm asking you, please help
me. Help those inmates that are incarcerated
in this prison. Because if we can get them enrolled
in the Bible Institute that the Rock of Ages has and get them
grounded, We've come, they can come out and they can be a solid
citizen again in society. We've had inmates coming out
of prisons and jails who are now in churches. Some of them
are even pastors that are working and you would never have known
that they had spent any time incarcerated. They don't go back
to their old ways. They stay true to the call. So like I said, I'm asking you
to help me help those inmates. Thank you. Jesus loves everybody, whether
rich or poor. He's standing on the threshold,
He is the door. That door has one handle, it's
only on your side. When he knocks then open and
you'll be justified Listen for a knock, knock, knock on that
door He'll forgive, forgive forevermore And you'll live, live, live eternally
Just wait, wait, wait and see Come, come, come again For His
saints, saints, saints to take with Him When we hear a trumpet
sound We'll be heaven-bound So listen for a knock on that door People get so busy in this world
doing things. They'll miss heaven's glory and
hear the angels sing. Heaven will be home. You can live there too. Just
open up that door and He will sup with you. Listen for a knock, knock, knock
on that door. He'll forgive. Forget forevermore. And he'll live, live, live eternally
Just wait, wait, wait and see He will come, come, come again
For his saints, saints, saints to take with him When we hear
a trumpet sound We'll be heaven-bound So listen for a knock at that
door It will not open if you don't
heed his call. There will be a time he won't
knock at all, but he's still knocking and reaching for your
heart. So open up that door, let Jesus
in your heart. Listen for a knock, knock, knock
on that door. He'll forgive, And you'll live, live, live eternally
Just wait, wait, wait and see He will come, come, come again
For His saints, saints, saints to take with Him When we hear
a trumpet's sound We'll be heaven-bound, so listen for on that door. So listen for a knock on that
door. Thank you, brother. Amen. Well, I think it was Friday
night I didn't formally introduce Brother Hudson. So here I am
to formally introduce him. He mentioned something about
Oklahoma one night, didn't you? And I remember the very first
missions conference. It was in Wichita Falls that
he preached for us. And we had a couple of missionaries
that we supported that had missions in the States and within the
United States. And I forget, I think one of
them was in Minnesota. And so we had a Minnesota flag
and we had a Texas flag because we had somebody working in Texas.
And, well, I'll tell you what, he was kind of poochy-faced that
we didn't have a flag up there for Oklahoma. I had to go find
a flag for Oklahoma. And he smiled the rest of the
week. I was so happy about that. Well, I'm thankful for a faithful
servant, someone that values the Word of God. Then when they
stand behind this holy desk, they understand that it's not
a message about him, it's not a message about worldly things,
but a message about the Lord Jesus Christ that folks need
to hear. And Brother Hudson's been very
faithful this week to preach the truth from God's book of
truth. And this morning he's going to
preach for us once again. So please, please be in prayer
as he comes, my brother. Hey, they trusted you with the glass today. I figured we
had a new water boy here. They usually don't let me have
one of these. Curtis always calls it Tommy
Tippy Cup. Well, I wasn't too proud of those
Okies last night. They beat Texas Tech. So, anyway,
that's neither here nor there. Texas Tech beat themselves. Take your Bible, please. Turn
to 2 Corinthians chapter 10. I'm thankful to be home this
week and thankful, I'm thankful to be a part of this church and
a part of the missions, outreach of this church. And I count it
a great honor and privilege. We have been, our theme for the
week is pray ye the Lord of the harvest,
Matthew 9.38, pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that he would
send forth laborers into the harvest. We hear that verse and
I think we get a connotation that it's all in Africa or China
or South America or somewhere and we're out of the picture. The verse is to the church. And
the verse is to us as individuals in the church. And so I wanna
try to establish our link to the harvest. I'm gonna try to
preach on faith promise a little bit here in a minute, but I'd
like to get the link, how we get there. I've noticed in Bible
books that John and Paul and the writers many times put the
signature to the book, the really emphasis verse of the book at
the very back. 2 Corinthians 8, 9, 10 are the basis for faith promise. It's not some dream that somebody
dreamed up, but it's a scripture. We follow the scripture. And
if it's not scriptural, I'm not interested in following it. And
I wouldn't ask you to follow it. But I want you to see what
the Bible says as best I can with the time I have. But first
of all, I would like for us to read this text I don't know what
we put up there, but it's 2 Corinthians 10, verse, I think I put 13 up
there, but let's start in verse 12. 2 Corinthians 10, 12. Paul is writing to the weakest
church in the New Testament, the most divided, the most unstable. but he has great confidence in
them as he writes this letter. He said in verse 12, for we dare
not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some
that commend themselves, but they measuring themselves by
themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise. That goes on all over this country.
I had a fella start a church next door to almost our church
in Alvin, and he ran a big ad in the paper, the most exciting
church in town. I was talking with him one day,
and I said, I didn't realize we were in competition. And he
wanted to know what I meant, I said, I imagine God meets with us like
he meets with you. I hope he meets with you. And
it's exciting when he shows up wherever he meets with us. So
he says, those that measure themselves by themselves are not wise. But
we will not boast of things without our measure. But according to
the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a
measure, to reach even unto you. For we stretch not ourselves
beyond our measure as though we reached not unto you, for
we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel
of Christ. Not boasting of things without
our measure that is of other men's labors, but having hope When your faith is increased,
that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly. To preach the gospel in the regions
beyond you and not to boast in another man's line of things
made ready to our hand, but he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. For not he that commendeth himself
is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. There's some great
truths in that passage. We're sitting here in Metropolitan
Baptist Church. I don't know how old this church
is now. A few years ago, didn't we do the 90th? We did the 90th celebration. I don't know when that was. Some
of y'all know how old it is. Some of you older members probably
remember. But. We're sitting here because somebody
back there had faith. Somebody out there had a vision.
Somebody back there sacrificially provided what we enjoy today. And some of you here have been
involved several years in the faith effort of this church.
Hey, this church has got a reputation all over the state of Texas.
I knew about it long before I, in fact, I got my education on
faith promise off of Metropolitan Baptist bulletins sent out by
Dr. Hugh Atkinson years ago. And
he stirred me and whetted me on this idea of mission support. So I'm thankful for the heritage
that we enjoy here of others' faith. But we're not living back
there. And we're in the present. We have come this far by faith. I had a brother, Drew, I had
a black choir at my church come one Sunday and they sung, we've
come this far by faith, just leaning on the Lord. I'll never
forget that song. What a victory. That's all we
are, is what we are by faith. All we are is what we are in
Christ Jesus. And without faith, it's impossible
to please God, and so we're here by faith. If we go further, we
go further by faith. And I like what he says in these
first verses about, y'all don't mind, I'll move this. Excuse me. I like what he says about if
we measure ourselves by ourselves, we're not wise. See, we have
a measuring stick and we say, we look over at brother so-and-so
or that church or this church or something and we say, well,
we're not, we're much, much further along than they are. But that's
not wise. Comparison is dangerous. Comparison
will lull you into complacency when God wants to take you further.
And that's what he's gonna say. You get satisfied where you're
at and you stagnate. This thing we call the race is
a lifetime race. And he said, lay aside every
weight and the sin which does so easily beset you and run that
race. There's no end to it. I mean,
when he says, well done, good and faithful servant, that's
the end of the race. But until then, we're in the
race. And gray hair, no hair, baggy, saggy, whatever you are,
we're still in the race. And so Paul's saying, don't get
your confidence in where you've come to, because you're just
here by the grace of God. And so our confidence is there. Our motivation, look at verse
15. Paul establishes our link with
the harvest. We've had some exciting days
this week. Brother Milton just lifted me
back up the other morning and I remembered a mission conference
I was in with him in 1990 something and how that my heart was stirred
to do what I'd never done before and how it accomplished and what
had happened. And it was just to get in the
presence of these men of God that have a vision and are doing
something that'll challenge us. But he says here, But he has
no problem, verse 15. He says, he says, when your faith,
having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be
enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly to preach
the gospel in regions beyond you. He said, I've got here.
He said, I've came all the way to Corinth by the rule of God
that brought me here. He's gonna say over in Romans
that I preached all the way to Illyricum, wherever in the world. That's up north of Turkey somewhere,
somewhere in the edges of the European continent, across the
Adriatic Sea from Rome. He wrote that letter to the Romans
and he said, now I'm ready to come over there where you are
also. But what he said to these Corinthians
is I've got here by faith, by my faith and those who help me,
those who God put in my path to help me to get to you. But he said, if your faith is
increased, hey, God's given every one of us something already by
faith. For by grace are you saved through faith. He sung that song
about the door. If you read Revelation 3.20,
the door is the door to the church. And Jesus is standing on the
outside of the door saying, if one person in that church would
just hear me and open the door, he said, I'll come into that
one part. You say, well, my church is just
not doing well. Well, you do something. It's
an individual call. And so when you by faith open
that door, I call it double supping. He said, I'll sup with you and
you can sup with me. I mean, when he pours it on your
saucer, your saucer will run over and then you'll be ready
to do something. That's what Paul said. My little
old measure, I couldn't have got out of any odds. But with
God's measure, I've been all the way to Illyricum, and I'm
down here to Corinth by God's measure. Now, when your faith
is increased, when you are enlarged in faith, my ministry will be
enlarged and I can do more. And that's what faith promise
is. It is a means for, see, we're the call. Sometimes we've got the idea
that the calling is only for Brother Morrison, Brother Gavinsky,
Brother Tharp, or some of you preachers. No. When you got saved, you were
called to salvation. And when you were called to salvation,
the next step was you were called to sanctification. The next step
is called to service, and it goes on. You've got a cause. You've got a ministry. God's
placed you here maybe for preparation time and education time to get
you ready to go further in your faith. But some are called to
go to somewhere that we can't go. But the saint is no less
who stays right here. that is called to sin, support,
intercede, pray. And so don't feel left out. You are a part of the program. God's ministry is a ministry
of the church. So our motivation then, he's
gonna talk about, I'm gonna back up now. I wanna talk about I don't remember what we called
it, next step, the measure, and what's the next one, brother?
The definition, I want to get it down, definition. I didn't
put down what I got on my paper. I wanted to find faith promise
for you from the scriptures. If you'll look at these first
verses, and we'll read, I'll read a few verses. I'm not gonna
read everything. We're gonna go down through the
verses. If you'll just get in eight and nine, we'll be there.
In verse four of chapter eight, he says that we should receive
the gift, praying us with much entreaty that we should receive
the gift and take on us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.
That's what faith promise is. The grace gift that allows you
and me to fellowship in the ministry to the saints. I've been amazed. I've been in faith promise now
over 30 years. I don't know how much over 30
years, but I've been amazed what God's done with it. I've been
in countries out of this country that I never thought I'd go to.
I know missionaries around the world. I can pick up the phone
and call folks and call them friends that are scattered all
over the world. Some of you have been more than
me. But what I'm saying is we become partners in the ministry
that God's given the church to go into all the world, preach
the gospel to every creature. So, maybe you didn't come from where
I came from. I came out of one of those associational churches
where missionaries were kind of imaginary people. You read about them and but we never saw them. You missionaries
stand up. If you're here for this mission,
or if you're a missionary out of this church, stand up. Now
look here, there's flesh and blood. These are real missionaries. They're just folks like we are
who have answered the call of God, and now God is using them
and will use them beyond even what they have said is a rule,
beyond what they can imagine as our faith, Our faith is increased. He said over in verse number
five of chapter nine, I'm gonna be back and forth eight and nine
now. Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren that they
would go before unto you. He sent Titus and some other
men over here to encourage Corinth to go before unto you and make
up beforehand your bounty. That is an abounding gift, a
plentiful gift, a generous gift, a gift that does not come out
of my pocketbook, but it comes out of the grace of God. I couldn't
imagine giving what he's gonna do. Whereof ye had noticed before
that the same might be ready as a manner of bounty and not
of covenants. He said, we don't want what you
got. We want you to be sparkling in grace and we want to carry
your grace bountiful gift over there to some folks that'll use
it for the glory of God. So this grace gift, this abounding
gift, it's different than the tithe. I had a young man work
for me one time in a chemical plant. He said, he come up there
one day and he said, Wayne, I got a new vision, what God wants
me to do. I said, really? I said, what is it? He said,
I've got a vision, I'm gonna pray that God will give me a
million dollars and I'll give him the tithe back off of it. Well, listen to this. 3.8, Malachi said, will a man rob
God? Yet ye have robbed me, but ye
say wherein have we robbed thee? in tithes and offerings. See, when we give our tithe,
we've not given God anything. He gave it to us first. A million
dollars is God's money. He gave it to, if he did give
that boy a million dollars and he tithed back, he's not given
anything. So, we're not talking about tithes. There's three levels of giving
that I see in the Bible. There's the tithe, Then there's
offerings, and then there's the alms. Alms are what you do for
needy people as you run into them here and there. That's my
opinion. That's a country boy definition
of it. But I wanna talk about faith,
promise, offerings. See, in this chapter eight, he's
gonna define faith promise offerings, and could I say, I'm not there
yet, but could I say that first of all, it is a gift of your
love. Look at verse eight. He says in 8.8, I speak not by
commandment. This is no commandment. This faith promise is an issue
between you and God. The preacher doesn't set the
requirements. The church doesn't set the requirement. It's you
and God. You can be stingy if you wanna be. You miss the blessing
of being of the grace gift if you want to, the bountiful giver.
I speak not by command but by occasion of the forwardness of
others and to prove the sincerity of your love. Do you love him? Did He save you? Are you going
to heaven on His grace? How could you not give? How could
you not love? Down to verse number 24. Wherefore
show ye to them, and before the churches the proof of your love. My wife tells me every once in
a while, anybody can say they love you, but it's doing that
proves your love. So, first of all, it's a gift
of love. And the definition, now let's
read. Let's read chapter eight, the
first five verses. Here's the witness of the grace
that was given to these churches in Macedonia. Moreover, brethren,
we do you to wit the witness of the grace of God bestowed
on the churches of Macedonia. How that in great trial of affliction
and the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded
under the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record,
yea, and beyond their power. Listen to that. To their power,
that's their ability. Beyond their power is their sacrificial
ability. They were willing of themselves,
praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift
and take upon us the fellowship of ministering to the saints.
And this they did, not as we had hoped, but first gave their
own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God, insomuch
that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, he would also finish
in you this same grace also. Verse seven, therefore if you
abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and
diligence, in your love to us, see that you abound in this grace,
this grace of giving also. It's more than, I was listening
to somebody this morning teaching on love. No, I was reading a
devotional this morning on love. And Dr. White said that 1 Corinthians
13 does not define love, but the love of God, charity in the
Bible is that agape love that we can't define. 1 Corinthians
13 simply gives you the output, what that love accomplishes.
And you'll never know that love until you're saved. But if you
are saved, that love has already been shed abroad in your heart
by the Holy Spirit. And Paul said, it is the love
of Christ that constrains us. So get out of yourself and by
faith access Christ, that love will motivate the giving that
will take place. It's a gift of love. It's a gift
out of poverty These Macedonians, I've got a little note here in
my Bible. He said, verse two, the abundance of their joy, the
trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy, and the well of
their deep poverty. God brought them down to a place
that they could look up. When they looked up, he gave
them abundantly grace. He gave them more than they ever
could have dreamed, Grace. And now they've done more. I
don't want to compare. But I was in a little old church
last week. They had their first faith promise
mission conference. And I challenged them on the
will of God and the work of God. The preacher called me yesterday. I talked to him. He said they
had 30 there on Wednesday night. That's more than they've been
running on Sunday. He said the people came in talking about
doing the work of God in that community. Hey, we got a community
here. It's our Jerusalem. Somebody said, well, he's gonna
talk about dollars. No, I'm not talking about dollars.
I'm talking about your heart. If your heart gets right, your
dollars are not a problem. I've seen that happen over and
again. I saw it happen in me first. So, out of their hand of poverty,
they put it in the hand of the grace of God. Now I've gotta
go on. Secondly, or thirdly, whichever
that is, it's a gift of promise. Look at verse 10. And hereby
have I give, I'm in 8.10 now. And hereby I give my advice for
this is expedient for you who have begun before, not only to
do but also to be forward a year ago. It is a promise for a year
at a time. That's what that verse says.
8.2 says, We know the forwardness of your mind, which I boast of
you to them in Macedonia and Achaia. And Achaia was ready
a year ago, and your zeal has provoked very many." And then
he says over in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, it's a promise for
a year time, but it's gathered up every week. Now concerning
the collection for the saints, as I've given order to the churches
of Galatia, even so do ye on the first day of the week, that
every one of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered him,
that there be no gatherings when I come. You understand, he said
it over and again, and I haven't, he said it's the offering for
the saints. The famine was on in Israel and
the saints in Jerusalem were struggling and the church, that
mighty church was struggling and the gift was being given
to further the gospel over there. Here's these Macedonians and
Corinthians that they just got saved. They've come out of heathen
world. But now they're sending them
back over there to the other country that has rejected them
all these years, but they're doing it by the grace and love
of God to do the work that God's called them to do. It removes
all the barriers. It tears down the barriers. A gift of promise. You say, well,
how do you promise You don't know what your income is. Put
it on the same priority with your car payment. Put it on the
same priority with your house payment. You made a faith promise
to the car dealer or the insurance or the banker or somebody when
you bought your house. Put it on that same priority.
You be as faithful to God as you are to the car dealer. I gotta go on. A gift of purpose.
Look at verse number 11 now in eight. Now therefore perform
the doing of it, as there was a readiness to will, so there
may be a performance also out of that which you have. For if there be first a willing
mind, it's accepted. Over chapter nine, verse seven,
he says, every man is courting as he's purposed in his heart,
so let him give. It's not budgeted giving. It's
not something that you don't have, but it's out of what you
do have that you can trust God to replace. How much is that? Well, I've been in it over 30
years. Every year they hand me one of these cards and they say,
how much you gonna give? And I pray about it and God never
has said less. He's always said more. Put a
little more on there. Sometimes I say less, and then
he changes my mind. But a gift of purpose, what you
purpose then, commit to, it begins with what we have, verse 11 and
12. If there be first a willing mind,
verse 12, it's accepted according to that a man has. Nobody's saying
what you gotta give. It's what you're willing to give,
what you can give. And nobody compares, there's
no place on the card for your name. Nobody's comparing you
to anybody else. You won't receive any greater
stature in giving or less stature in giving. It's a God promise,
a faith promise. I gotta go on. If you look at
verse 12, it's an attitude that's blessed. Verse 12 said, if there
be first a willing mind. Down verse seven, every man courting
is he purposely in heart. Verse eight, verse seven, so
let him give not grudgingly necessity for God loveth a cheerful giver.
And if you go over to, I think, I don't know what chapter it
is. I've got it wrote down here somewhere. but Jesus standing
by the treasure, remember? And the rich folks came by and
dropped in their offerings. We've been in some offerings
like that, haven't we? Brother Drew, that's common practice
in a lot of places where you go by and drop it in and they
say, uh-uh, more than that. They were dropping in the offerings
and the widow came with two mites. Two mites is one fourth of a
cent. One fourth of a cent is one fourth
of a day's labor. That lady gave one fourth of
one day's labor while they gave their riches, but Jesus said
she gave more than an all because she gave it out of her heart
and she gave all she had. Your amount makes little difference
to God. You're not gonna out give God.
I've got some promises I won't get to, but he's already promised
to replace it at least 100 fold in this life. You're not gonna
out give God. So what are you holding back
for? He said, I like a glad giver. A glad giver will always give
more than a sad giver or a mad giver. Some of you are mad givers. You get mad every week when you
write the check. Some of you are sad givers. It
breaks your heart to turn loose. You squeeze the wings off that
quarter before you get the eagle over to us. Be a glad giver. God gave it
to you first. All you have is what he gave
you. He said to his disciples as he
sent them out to preach, he said, freely you've been given. Now
freely give. Hey, we got saved. You know, I haven't had an alcohol
bill in years. I haven't had a car wreck due
to an alcohol bill in years. God's given to me. My kids grew
up without dope. My kids grew up without alcohol. God's given to me. I can't ever repay what he's
done for me already. Freely he's given. He's gonna say some things down
in chapter nine and then I'll be done. The blessings. In chapter nine, verse six, he
said, you reap what you sow. It's an agricultural principle.
A couple of years ago, I went after the big Drought here in
North Texas, I went down to buy Bermuda seed to replant my yard. I'm stingy. And they had a five
pound bag or a one pound bag. I bought a one pound bag and
dropped them. You know what happened? Half
my yard was bare for another two years. You know what I did
is I reaped what I sowed. If I'd have bought a five pound
bag and just saturated it, I could have enjoyed a yard two years
before I did. Agricultural principle. Here's
not an agricultural principle, but here's an attitude principle.
Verse seven, every man is repurposed in his heart. I've already said
that. The motive of our sowing. And
then verse eight says, verse eight, nine, down through verse
11 says, we reap In the moment of our sowing, he says in verse
eight, God's able to make all grace abound toward you. I've
got four or five promises that he'll keep to us. I don't mind,
I'll get to them. But let's skip down through these
verses. He says in verse eight, when you let grace abound in
you, you will abound to every good work. Verse nine says that
his righteousness remains around you. Verse 10 says, he'll minister
seed to the sower, and minister bread for your seed, and multiply
the seed that you sow. I used to play games over in
the wintertime at a peanut farmer's house. He was an old German.
He was tighter than I was. He'd grumble, sit over there
and grumble. Them boys, his wife knew what to do with peanuts.
And we'd go to the seed barn, get peanuts, She'd do wonderful
things with peanuts. She could make peanut candy or
fried peanuts or a hundred different ways she made peanuts. And old
Ernie'd be sitting over there, I'm boys gonna eat up all my
seed, I won't even have enough to plant. He can multiply the
seed to the sower and he can multiply the seed so that we
have bread to eat while we're sowing. Increase the fruits of
your righteousness. Verse 11 says, he'll cause through
us thanksgiving to God, just because the grace of God is on
us. He causes through us thanksgiving
to God. Verse number 12 says, that he'll bless the many through
our giving, he says, the administration of this service not only supplies
the one of the saints, these men are here this week, these
families are here this week, going by the direction of the
grace of God, going in the hand of God to administer seed out
there, to sow the seed. He said, these saints that are
in our midst, will be blessed by what we do for them. They'll
be able to sow seed. Verse number 12 says, and it
supplies the one of the saint, but it's abundant also by many
thanksgivings to God. The sinners who get saved, that
song says, they'll come and say, thank you for giving to the Lord. I'm alive, it was changed. Then verse 13, here's the most
important thing. Verse 13 says, while by the experiment
of this ministration they glorify God, for your professed subjection
unto the gospel of God, and for your liberal distribution unto
them and all men. I passed a sign in the hall a
while ago for the kids, it said, let your light so shine before
men. The rest of that verse says that
they may see your good works and glorify God on your behalf. Somewhere over there, somewhere
over there, somewhere over there, somewhere back there, somebody
comes and says, thank you, Lord. I've got a good friend, Humberto
Gomez. He wrote that Gomez Bible. He
talked about being a 17 year old drunk on the streets of Matamoros,
Mexico. And he said, I just wanna thank
you churches in America. You sent a missionary. He said,
down there on the backside of the dark corners of Matamoros,
he established El Cordero de Dios. Iglesia Bautista, El Cordero
de Dios. I'll let Bruce tell you what,
it means Lamb of God Baptist Church. And he said, thank you for sending a missionary. He
wept. He wept in our church and said,
thank you for sending missionaries to Mexico. You don't get to hear much of
that here, but we'll shout over heaven about it. It's going on
all over this world. And you think about this, they
talk about They talk about communist China. You remember when communist
China kicked out all the missionaries? And now they say that that church
in China is growing like never before. It went underground,
but it was alive. Old Hudson Taylor went over there
and was seven years before he won his first Chinaman. Can you
imagine what his glory is piling up to the Lord? And when he throws
crowns, it'll be a clatter and a scatter for quite a while.
It's still going on. I'd like to get in on that, wouldn't
you? When we started this series on
the harvest the other night, It begin right here. Verse number one of chapter two
of Acts. When the day of Pentecost was
fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Now look at verse 14. Verse 14 says the sower the saints
and us. For by their prayer for you,
which long after you, for the seeing grace of God in you. To me, one of the great opportunities
we have is to be united, to work together. You know what happened
to Texas Tech last night? They didn't play as a team. You
know what happened to Oklahoma last night? They played as a
team. God said, if you'll just get
under the grace of God, quit pouting, quit bitter, get all
the bitterness out, get all of your self-interest out. Come
back to Jesus, let the love of God fill you. Come back to the
burden of Jesus, lost souls, red or yellow, black or white,
they are precious in His sight. Doesn't matter about the outside,
it matters about their hearts. And their hearts can be reached
only with that agape love that's been put in your heart. And by grace, he unites us all
together. And we mold together. It's not,
Faith Promise is not Wayne Hudson or Jim Turner or anybody else. Faith Promise is Metropolitan
Baptist Church, reaching this world. We come together and are
united. And that's what he says here
in verse number 14, one of the great benefits. Let me ask you
something. Are you sitting on the sidelines
and criticizing? Are you involved? If you're not
involved, you're not in the church. Are you involved? I'm not asking
for hands. I just want you to search your
own heart. Are you a used to be? Or are
you today? Where are you at? I think these
altars ought to be full of folks rededicating themselves to a
commitment, not just of money, but of my heart to the work of
God. See, it doesn't cost us anything
to go over here on on one of these streets around here in
Lake Worth. We can do that, we may not have the, they gave out
of their poverty. I stepped into the foyer, I'd
preach the missions thing in a church in Austin. Little boy
come out of the bathroom, his hands were black. I said, boy,
where you been? How'd you get your hands so dirty?
He said, oh, I've been back there shining shoes. I said, you mean
the church? He said, yes, sir. He said, he's
back there in the men's bathroom, he shines shoes. I said, why
do you do that? He said, that's how I get my
faith promise money. We had a little girl on our bus,
14 years old. Her mom and dad didn't come to
church, she rode our bus. She came weeping. She said, Brother
Wayne, I want to give the faith promise, but I don't know how. I can't. I sent her to Susie,
and Susie and her come up with the idea of selling marshmallow
treats after church on Sunday mornings. And she sold marshmallow
treats on Sunday mornings to make her faith promise. There's
a way to do it if you want to do it. You do about anything you want
to do. If they're having a game over in Jerry's Stadium, you'll
go if you want to. You'll figure out a way. If you get serious about serving
the Lord, you'll figure out a way. I remember when I refused and
God closed in on me. I'm so glad I submitted. So glad
for that day. I've already told the story here,
I'm not going to tell it. But he changed my heart that
day. And it's only been blessings ever since that day. And it will
be for you. If you'll get out of yourself,
get out of your attitude, get out of your hurts, and we've
all got them. And come back over here to Jesus,
let him fill you again with that agape love, that love that has
no description. That love that can do all things,
he said in chapter 13. It can overcome your problem too.
And come back into the fellowship of the believers who serve with
a vision for the grace of God. Not in your boundaries, but in
God's boundaries. Not in my measure, but His measure. We've come this far by faith,
leaning on the Lord. How far are we going, church?
How far are we going? What are we gonna do? They're
gonna give you a car. It is to the glory of God. I
urge you to consider it, pray about it, and put something there. Put more than you thought you
could put and let God have his way and get into the harvest. Father,
I pray, Lord, you've had your way this morning. I pray, God,
that this, I know we've just hurried through everything, but
Lord, I pray that something would land somewhere. Lord, I pray
that you'd just touch our hearts and help us, Lord, to be all
and do all that you'd have us to be. Lord, we're not even worthy to
call on you as our Father, much less as the laborers of your
harvest. Oh God, I thank you that though
we're unworthy, you're worthy. And the greatest blessing is
that verse 15 when he said his unspeakable gift, that unspeakable
gift that's ours. Lord, I thank you for that unspeakable
gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. overcomes all the problems, heals
all the wounds, motivates, empowers, directs, and leads us just where
He wants us to go. Help us to look to Him today.
Take charge, in Jesus' name I pray, amen. Want another? Page 156. Listen, while we're
singing, why don't you come? God's speaking to you. You may
need to be saved. God's here to save you this morning.
Maybe you just need to get right with Him. Get settled with Him. Whatever He's telling you to
do, do it right now. We're here to worship. I hope
you'll worship. You have longed for sweet peace,
for faith to increase, and have earnestly, fervently prayed. But you cannot have rest or be
perfectly blessed until all on the altar is laid. Is your all on the altar of sacrifice
laid? Your heart does the Spirit control. Why don't you come? God's speaking in your heart. Why don't you come right now? What are you waiting on? Don't look to someone else. Look to Jesus right now. Would
you walk with the Lord in the light of his word and have peace
and contentment always? You must do His sweet will to
be free from all ill. On the altar you're all you must
lay. Old Brother Paul said, I could
talk about my measure. I could talk about where I've
been and what I've done But it's my measure. He said, the greatest
day of my life was when I laid my measure down and picked up
the measure of God. You may be accomplishing a lot.
Somebody might be here that said, well, I fell out along the way.
I don't know how to get back. He says, come unto me. Oh, you
that labor heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Why don't you
come to Him? Why don't you let Him do business
with you? Don't go out like you came in,
but let Him change you, make of you what He wants you to be.
All you do is lay it on the altar. He gives you Himself. You walk
out with that grace on you. Is your all on the altar of sacrifice
laid? Your heart, does the Spirit control? You can only be blessed and have
peace and sweet rest as you yield him your body and soul. Oh, we never can know what the
Lord will bestow of the blessings for which we have prayed. Till our body and soul He doth
fully control, And our all on the altar is laid. Is your all on the altar of sacrifice
laid? Your heart, does the Spirit control? You can only be blessed and have
peace and sweet rest as you yield Him your body and soul. Amen. You can be seated, folks. As we do this one time of the
year, I'm going to ask the ushers to prepare with the the faith
promise cards and the pens there. We do this once a year. Make that commitment with the
Lord, what we've prayed and settled with the Lord that he's going
to help us to do for the coming year for the cause of Christ
in missions. I've been asked the question
so many times, well, why don't you just take care of that out
of the general fund, out of the regular funds of the church?
Okay, is that better? Out of the regular funds of the
church. Beloved, we could never ever do what the Lord has enabled us
to do over these past years out of the general fund of the church.
There's two things. There'd be missionaries that
wouldn't be able to be on the field, and you and I would not
receive that blessing for having given by faith. and God reward
and pour out his blessing on us. This is a gentleman, if you're
ready, come forward please. And what we're going to do is,
if you're a member of Metropolitan Baptist Church, you call this
church your church, you want to be part of this church. They're
gonna pass out what we call our faith promise cards. And as Brother
Hudson mentioned, there's not a place on that card for your
name. Brother Gerardo, I need one. There's no place on this card
for your name. This is a commitment between
you and the Lord. There's a line there for you
to put the amount that God has given you peace with. And then
below there's two boxes there, whether that's what you'll be
able to give weekly or monthly. Some folks do their offerings
monthly, some do it weekly. And you say, why do you bother
with these cards? As we finish this offering, we
go back to eat lunch. The fellows will take and they'll
add all this up, put it together. And as we total that up, what
we, as Brother Hudson shared, what Metropolitan Baptist Church
covenants together with God to do. It enables us to have an
understanding of what our missions budget is for the coming year.
And so it's both a matter of faith, trusting God, but also
a practical thing. It enables us then to plan how
we can support and help different missionaries hopefully be able
to do more than we've been doing. And, you know, I shared my Sunday
school class. I go through the same thing every
year. Brother Hudson said, you know,
Lord, I can't do no more. You know how much I've been doing.
And I just can't do no more. And then he starts poking and
prodding me. He says, what he he says, have
I taken care of you this year? And as you look at me, I'm I'm
pretty well taken care of. I'm not hungry. And the Lord
supplies my need. And over 42 years of being involved
in faith missions, The Lord has enabled us to do a little bit
more every year. And we're a whole lot different
place in our faith missions giving than we were 42 years ago when
we first started out those very first steps of faith. But along
the way, God's grown us and helped us and shown us that He will
not, He will not be my debtor. And He will take care of me in
every area and every need in my life. And so as we've encouraged
you over these past weeks to pray. We don't want you to give
because of an emotional thing going on in your life during
this week. We want you to give what God's
directing you to give because that way, Comes this time next
year, this commitment will be met as we give obediently as
the Lord enables us. Last year, Brother Robert Stevens
sent me the numbers, I believe it was yesterday or Friday. The
last year, and again it just depends on what date you start
and what day you finish, But very close, if I remember right,
you nod your head, Brother Robert, very close to $108,000 Metropolitan Baptist Church was
able to give to missions. That's tremendous. But as always,
we could do more. I can do more. And so as you
take those cards, and we're going to pray, And then, because I'm
not going to put down my mount here until after I've prayed.
Then the men will come and they'll receive those cards back. And
then we're going to go enjoy a wonderful lunch. Father, we
bow before you today. Lord, I realize that it's a very
important day in my life and ministry, but also in the life
and ministry of Metropolitan Baptist Church. Father, I'm asking
you to give your direction and your leadership that you would
guide and direct with each individual, each family in our midst today. Father, I'm praying, I'm asking
you to help me and help every one of us to give as you direct,
as we would purpose in our hearts, as you would give liberty, as
you would give the provision, and Father, as we would be obedient
to you. Father, I'm so thankful for this
church. so thankful for the generous folks that are part of this church
family. Well, we're a great privilege.
We're a privileged church to be involved with the missionaries,
their families that we send and sponsor through our church, but
also the many, many missionaries and ministries that we're part
of as well over and above that. And so, Father, I'm asking you
to help my faith today. Pray that you'd would enlarge
our ability to trust you, that you are indeed a giving God,
a God that blesses those who give. And I'm praying that you'd
enable me to be that cheerful giver, especially, Fathers, we
hear those reports, souls saved and lives changed from around
the world. Thank you, Father. Thank you
for allowing me to be a part of what's going on here today.
Please bless for your glory, for your son's glory, and for
the cause of Christ and the gospel. In his name we pray. Amen. Right, men, as you come, those
plates. Brother Hudson reminded me as
they begin to receive these cards back, reminded me, and some of
you have traveled with Milton Martin to southern Mexico and
the state of Chiapas and different places, and I've been in church
after church after church, where after we've had a meeting sometimes,
maybe a few days, maybe just one night, And then Brother Martin
would go to the back like we do and there would be a line
of people. Sometimes it would take an hour
or sometimes longer. In the case of the 50th anniversary
of his ministry, it was hours upon hours. But person after
person, and Brother Martin always wanted me to stand there next
to him. I was his pastor. And person after person, young
and old, would come and wrap their arms. I mean, most of the
folks in those Mexican villages are shorter, especially shorter
than Brother Milton. And they'd come and wrap their
arms around his neck and weep on his chest. And I could hear
those words repeated over and over and over. Gracias, hermano. Gracias, hermano. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. One after
another. He was the one, folks, that for
some of those old saints, that he'd walk sometimes days to get
to their village and share Christ with them. But there were churches
back home that made it possible for Milton to do that. Brother
Milton shared the other day about the first time he took a 10-year-old
boy into one of those villages. The boy's sitting right over
there. He grew up in that kind of atmosphere. What a privilege. What a privilege
we have as a church to be part of their ministries. Amen. It's good. Well, they've got
those cards gathered back up, and it's time for you and I to
go have something to eat. As Brother Curtis said, why would
you go somewhere else when there's going to be a beautiful... You
got to eat. Is everybody going to eat? Somewhere you're gonna
eat somewhere, right? You might as well eat here Tables
are set the food is prepared. You might as well just come on
back where you go now You know, you're not gonna find better
fellowship anywhere Right. Hey, man, let's stand together
Visitors we sure would love to have you stop stay with us brother
John, you know what? I'm gonna ask you to do two things,
right? What's the first thing and prep
folks? We're gonna go through those
doors. Just follow your nose and you'll find the food Let's
think little as much Little is much when God is in
it, labor not for wealth or fame. There's a crown and you can win
it if you'll go in Jesus' name. Let's pray.
Our Link to the Harvest
Series Misionary Conference
| Sermon ID | 1030161315135 |
| Duration | 1:31:32 |
| Date | |
| Category | Conference |
| Bible Text | 2 Corinthians 10:12-18 |
| Language | English |
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