Well, great, I'm so happy we're all here this morning. This is our last session before the team heads out to the Baptist Conference Center. And from there, we will be going to the Miango Conference Center in the north, and then to Jaws, back to Legos, Acura, be a little over two weeks of full messages pretty much every day. and it's been great meeting with you in the morning. I don't know, we'll be finishing convictions, prospective priorities, we'll be finishing the conviction section, looking at the imminent return of Christ and the personal responsibility of the believer. Will any of our seminars be on Zoom from now on? Some of the We can share a link for some of the voices. Some may. It will depend on the technology of the conference centers we're at. If they are, I'll let you know. But either way, all of you who've attended this Tuesday morning will receive a flash drive with all of the messages from our month here in Nigeria. Well, Having said that, let's go to the Lord in prayer, shall we? O Lord, this is your holy word. We are your servants. Give us understanding that we might know your testimony. You have prayed, O Lord, sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth. Use your holy, eternal, inerrant written word to set us apart to your service and to your glory. Show us this morning great and mighty things which we do not know. The sower sows the word. Let not your word go out and return void, but accomplish that purpose for which you have drawn us together and for which you are now sending it out. Protect us from Satan, Lord, who will snatch your word, making it fruitless. Protect us from the world's cares and the delight of wealth and the passion of other interests which enter in and choke your word, making it fruitless. Protect us from a wrong reaction to difficulties and discouragements and persecutions which make our hearts hard and unresponsive to your word. Rather, plow up now the hard ground of our hearts, O Lord. Give us good soil that your sown word might send roots downward and bear fruit upwards. Unsheathe now the sword of your spirit, O Lord. Cut to the dividing point of bone and marrow, soul and spirit. Judge the thoughts and intentions of each heart gathered here. Spread your word before us as a banquet table, O Lord. Grant grace that we might eat of the rich meat and drink of the sweet milk of the great doctrines of your word. Give us the heart of the prophet who cried to you. Thy words were found, and I did eat them. And thy words became to me a joy, and the delight of my heart. For I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts. Oh Lord, we live in a dark and a wicked age. Broad is the way and many are on it, which leads to destruction. Make your word a lamp to our feet. Make your word a light to our path. Show us that narrow way that you would have us run. And Lord, as we run in the paths of your commandment, enlarge our hearts that in loving you we might be more obedient to your word. Drop your word against our lives as a plumb line, O Lord. Grant grace that we might see how we deviate from its high and holy purposes. Make your word to us a mirror, O Lord. Grant grace that we might not be as those who look and go away and forget, but make us active doers, not forgetful listeners of your Holy One. Oh Lord, because of our fealty to you, because of our undying love and devotion to your Son, our resurrected Savior, We pledge to you this morning our total submission to your holy, eternal, inerrant written word. And we pledge to you this morning our unquestioning obedience to all of its commands. In the name of our Lord and our resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Well great guys, we are going to have a good time this morning in the world. I was up at 4.30 looking over this and some other messages for the day and you know I had a problem last night that I have sometimes when I'm in a conference situation like this, and that is I get so excited about my message, I can't get to sleep, which becomes counterproductive. And so I was having that problem last night. I knew if I got up, and started working on them again that I would never get to sleep. But this is a fun series that we're going to look at. It really is. Now, the basic convictions which grant us stability, we remember first, is the nature of God. He is three yet one. He is sovereign yet a loving father. So God is in control, but he exercises his control as a loving father, not as a stern taskmaster. Also, he is three yet one. There is no single event that one member of the Holy Trinity is involved in that all three members of the Trinity are involved in. Now if we were doing a study on the Holy Trinity, I would point out to you that all three members of the Trinity were involved in creation. Genesis 1, God is speaking. Genesis 1, the Spirit of God is moving on the face of the waters. And then of course we know in Colossians 1, and other places Christ was involved in creation and holds creation together. In our salvation, God the Father is extending his call of his chosen. Jesus Christ is knocking on the door of men's hearts and God the Holy Spirit is convicting of sin, glorifying Jesus and causing men to repent and be born again. And the Word of God, God the Father has given the Word, Jesus Christ is the living Word, God the Holy Spirit inspires the Word. We see the words of God the Father in the Bible, God the Son in the Bible, God the Holy Spirit in the Bible. So, We see that no member of the Holy Trinity acts independently from the others, which brings to the nonsensical teaching that you can have Jesus Christ and not have the Holy Spirit. So God is three yet one. He is sovereign yet a loving Father. We looked at the sufficiency of Christ. his sufficiency and salvation, that every spiritual blessing in the heavenly spheres is ours in Christ, Ephesians 1.3. Everything for life and godliness is in Jesus Christ, 2 Peter 1.3. All the fullness of the Godhead, the Trinity, is in Jesus Christ. at Colossians 2.9, and one of the applications for that was that there exists no set of second-class Christians who only have Jesus. I almost don't want to say that, but it's commonly taught by Pentecostals, Charismatics, and Evangelical mystics involved in Spiritism. rather than the spiritual ministry of the Word of God. We remember that after Christ there exists no sacrifice which is needed to satisfy the just demands of God. Hebrews 10.18 says where there is sacrifice such as this, there is no longer an offering for sin. Isaiah 53, 11, where God the Father reveals to us that He looked upon the sacrifice of His Son and was satisfied. That's the doctrine of propitiation in 1 John 2, 1 and 2, whereby God is totally satisfied in Jesus. Therefore, there is nothing you can do that will make God love you more, nothing you can do that will make God love you less. It's too late to do something to get God to love you because of Romans 5.8. God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. It's as nonsensical to say I need to do something to get God to love me as it would be to say I need to do something to get my mother to give me birth. Your mother had a desire for a child. She loved you before you exited the womb. and that is true also with God. We then looked at the authority, finality, and sufficiency of God's written word and how to use it correctly. So now we return to an important doctrine, which is the imminent return of Jesus Christ. Let's turn in our Bibles, if you will, to Philippians 4, verse 5, let your gentle spirit be made known to all, or the Hebrew word there is forbearing, your gentle and forbearing, the Greek word, spirit be made known to all, the Lord is near. So the conviction that Christ is near, This conviction will shape our perspective and priorities of life, that Christ is near. Now, I was going up to do consulting work for a navigator business, a navigator community team. in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and I had to get a connecting flight in Chicago. Well, the flight taking off to Houston was late. because the pilots were late getting to the plane. We were late getting into Chicago because the planes were backed up. And I got off my plane, my flight, and I dashed to my connecting flight to Minneapolis, St. Paul, and I could see the plane pulling off the tarmac. Well, I was, you know, they were expecting me there. So I went up to the desk and the lady was very calm. She said, Reverend Mayen, because you missed your flight, I'm working on getting you another flight. Don't worry, Reverend Mayen, when you miss a flight in a case like this, we will put you on the next flight out, even if it's on a different airline. Reverend Mayen, missing your flight because of weather, Not an uncommon occurrence. We will take care of you. Finally, I stopped her. I said, ma'am, I did not miss my flight. I did not. I was at the airport in Houston an hour before it left and sitting in a plastic chair. I boarded my plane on time. I immediately got off the plane. I did not doddle. I did not have to get a check bag or anything. I took my carry-on and I raced here and the plane was gone. Please do not say, because I missed my flight. Say, because we caused you to miss your flight, we are going to do such and such and such. You did this, not me. So she kind of got taken aback and said, well, yes, huh? I'm sorry. And then she was going to say, you missed your flight. And I looked at her and she said, because we caused you to miss your flight. I said, thank you. She said, if you'll just sit down over there, I'll take care of you. So I sat down. And then at that time, I was teaching through the book of Philippians and memorizing the book of Philippians. And guess what my Bible verses were for that day. Philippians chapter four, one through five. So as I was reviewing those verses, I came to let your gentle spirit be made known to all the lawyers here. And I thought, you know, if the rapture occurs right now, I know someone who will be happy. And that is that gate agent to get rid of this cranky minister. So, I walked up to her, and I said, you know, I was just reading this verse in the Bible, and I realized I wasn't being forbearing or gentle in my communication with you, and I just want to personally apologize. I'm both a Christian and a minister, and I should know better. And she smiled at me and said, you know, we understand it's, you know, traveling is a lot of pressure. And I said, yes, but I am sincerely asking you for forgiveness. And so she smiled at me and said, well, thank you very much. I don't hear that very often. So the conviction that Jesus Christ can return at any moment. should shape our perspective of how we see the world. And it should shape our priorities. Richard and I, when we were boarding the plane in Houston, I turned to Richard and I said, well, if the Lord returns sometime in the next four weeks, I don't know what anybody else is doing, but I know we will be preaching Jesus and teaching his work. And Richard smiled to me and said, yeah, yeah, that's what we'll be doing. So when Jesus Christ said, labor while it is day, night comes when no man can work, from that I have this phrase, there's no rest for the righteous. That those who are about the Lord's work are working hard and fulfilling their responsibilities so that they will be found doing so when the Lord returns. Now, Houston is a big city and you don't usually bump into people very often like we did when we were in the campus ministry in Stillwater, which is a town of about 20,000 people with 20,000 students. But there are two places that I go and I tell people you always need to behave yourself if you go here. One is the Super Walmart, because it has just about anything you want to buy at a discount price. So, invariably, when I am shopping at the Super Walmart, I will meet somebody from my church or Sunday school class or somebody I know. And the other is the post office. So I always tell people, if you're at the Walmart or at the post office, you need to be behaving yourself because you'll probably see somebody you know. But I use that application. I say that jokingly because I use that application in my daily life. Jesus, the Bible says, is standing at the door. Turn with me, if you would, to James. and if you uh... and uh... uh... if you look at james it says uh... you to be patient james five verse eight you to be patient strengthen your hearts for the coming of the lord is near verse nine and do not complain brother against one another so that you yourselves may not be judged behold the judge is standing right at the door Jesus is ready to open that door and step out from heaven into his creation. He's standing right there. That's the work picture. He's ready to make that leap. And we need to be ready to receive him when he does. One of the things that the Bible says that we should be found doing because the Lord is near is we should be faithful also not only in expressing Jesus Christ through our character but also through our faithfulness and fellowship. Hebrews 10, 24, and 25, let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good works, not forsaking our own assembling together as the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day of the Lord drawing near. Now, that verse doesn't say never miss a meeting, does it? It says though that you should not be classified among those people who are not counted on, that habitually miss meetings. And you know, in churches where I have ministered and in the NAV ministries where I have ministered, and even on the mission field with some missionaries, there are some people I just don't count on. If they're there, if they fulfill their responsibilities, if they're ready, it's great. But I don't count on them. Proverbs says, many a man proclaims his own steadfast love who can find a faithful man. Well, I can tell you that Amika, he's a faithful man. He's not my faithful man. But I don't have to worry about when I'm ministering in Nigeria about the schedule, about the organization, about anything. When I was in South Africa, Alex Steinberg, he had everything lined up, the churches, the sessions in different venues outside the churches, transportation to the airport, transportation from the airport. I didn't have to worry. I don't worry when I'm doing something in Baden. I know even if it's by Zoom, there are the people will be in his home. The link will be there. If I'm in his home, the chairs will be set up. There will be refreshments. He will be ready to hit the ground going. And there are many men like that. They are faithful men and I simply don't have to worry about them. And I praise God for that. I remember when I was in Cameroon, we had an early morning meeting and Dr. Arnold Fruh, I just knew, I just didn't worry about it. He was going to be there. He was going to be helping us set up things. Dr. Fruh was always there. was always faithful in his duties. And I could mention many people like this, but I can also say that I have some missionaries that I've ministered with that I always have an Uber or a taxi ready. Because I can't count on them. They're so distracted. And I hate being late for a meeting. And in some cultures, you know, the feeling is that the chief or the director or the big kahuna, he sits around and everybody else comes and they sing songs and wait for him to arrive. But I don't like that. I like to be at the meeting early and greet people when they come in and greet them as a servant. I like to do that. My son-in-law gave me a pin. It says doulos, which means servant. And I wear it to remind me that I am a servant. And I know that there are some people who are assigned to get me to a meeting that won't be there to pick me up till after the meeting has already supposed to start. So I always have an alternative ready. And they get their feelings hurt, but they're just not faithful. When Eleanor and I have flown into an airport in certain countries, I never count on that missionary to be there waiting for us. I've always make arrangements with one of the other men in his ministry to be there for us. Or I've leased a van for the boxes to be there for us. God the Holy Spirit here talks about being faithful when we're on time and we can be counted on whether it's a meeting or a responsibility in the ministry. Now, does that mean that if you miss a meeting for circumstances beyond your control or because of a special family event or something like that, you're in sin? No. What it says is not forsaking. That is somebody who is habitually late. In other words, you should be able to be counted on. And why? Because the Lord is near. So if Jesus comes back and there is a fellowship or ministry responsibility taking place for which you are supposed to be there, you'll be found to be there. You're a faithful man. Another responsibility that should motivate us with the return of Christ is witnessing. In Revelation 22. In Revelation 22, verse 17, the spirit and the bride say, come, and let the one who hears say, come, and let the one who is thirsty come, let the one who wishes take freely the water of life. And in just two verses later, he says, he who testifies to these things says, yes, I am coming quickly. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. So when Jesus comes, we want to be found sharing Christ. And I could just say on the aside that in heaven, there will be fellowship. That's clear. In heaven, there will be prayer and praise. That's clear. The word of God is eternal. I had someone tell me, well, you know, if we'll understand everything, why do we need the word of God? I said, how selfish can you be? If somebody wrote a history book about your father and you read that history book and now you know everything about your father, would your application be, well, I don't need to call my dad anymore and talk to him. I already know everything. No. The Word of God is eternal and we will still feed on it. We will still be delighted by it. We will still be, our hearts will be thrilled by its reading and its understanding. The Word of God is eternal. So that will take price. So, word, prayer, and fellowship will all take place throughout eternity, but witnessing will not. You have a narrow opportunity to witness. What does James say our life is like? What does it say our life is like? Jane says that we're like a vapor that appears for a little while and then disappears. We're only around for a short time. Come now you, verse 413, come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such city, spend a year there, engage in business and make a profit. You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes. And he concludes this teaching with he who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it's sin. So, we know we should be witnessing. And we, even if we live 90 years, that's still a wisp of time in eternity, isn't it? So you have this opportunity Because even if you live 90 years, you're not witnessing as a child. You're not witnessing until after you receive Christ and learn how to witness. I didn't learn how to witness until I was almost 20 years old. A navigator took me door to door, trained me how to witness in the door. I'm 70 now and I've tried to be a faithful witness. Every week, every Monday, when I review my life before I start the week, I look at the wheel illustration and I think, is Christ the center of my life? And am I obeying him this week in word, prayer, witnessing, and fellowship? Somebody said, well, why do you use a week? Well, God created the world in a week. He made the decision that That is one of the basic breakdowns of the Christian life. So I just use it by a week. Every week I try to evaluate my life like that. Well, we have a narrow opportunity. Revelation 22.17 says the Spirit is saying come. The Bride is saying, Come. And as a member of the Bride of Christ, I want to be among those who are being led by the Spirit. Acts 1.8 says, You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witness. Sharing Christ, witnessing, is the only universal manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the Church. There are many other manifestations. There are many other universal areas of obedience. There are many other universal areas of fruit of the Spirit. There are many other convictions of the Spirit, but in terms of a manifestation, in other words, the Spirit is going to do this and all people who are filled with the Spirit do it, witness. Are you living in the power of the Holy Spirit? You witness. Are you filled with the Spirit? You witness. Do you have a Spirit-filled church? It witnesses. Are you being led by the Spirit? You witness. Are you walking in the Spirit? You witness. Because that's what the Holy Spirit does. Luke 16.14, He will glorify me. Luke 16.8-10, He will convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. That's the work of the Holy Spirit that's universal in our lives. So, according to Revelation 22.17, we want to be about that. What else do we do in light of the eternity? Well, in verse 18, it says, I testify to everyone. Here's the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to them, God will add to him. The plagues are in this book. If anyone takes away from the words of the prophecy, God will take away from his part in the tree of life and the holy city in this book. And people say, well, John, does that mean you can lose your salvation? No, it doesn't. What does it mean? I don't know, but it's not good. I asked a businessman, he's now with the Lord, named Gene Moore. Billy Graham said he was the greatest lay evangelist of the 20th century. Now that's high praise, isn't it? Billy Graham's known a lot of lay evangelists. the greatest and most effective. I asked in a question and answer session from Mr. Ward what that meant, if it means you can lose your salvation. And he says, no, John, you know it doesn't mean you can lose our salvation. I said, what does it mean? He said, don't do it. That's what it means, doesn't it? Don't do it, don't go near it, don't do it. So as we see the Lord going near, we are faithful stewards of his word, aren't we? Ezra 710, Ezra disciplined himself to study the law of his Lord and to do it and to teach its statutes and ordinances on all of Israel. And as we see the Lord coming here, we don't add to the Word of God, we don't take away from the Word of God, we are good stewards as first Corinthians 4.6 says that we do not exceed the written Word of God, but we are faithful stewards of it. So we are fellowshipping, we are maintaining high standards of character, we are praising Jesus, we are witnessing, and we are stewards of the Word. And all those are given to us in the Word of God in the context. of him coming soon. See, now there are two ways the Lord can come soon, aren't there? One is the rapture, isn't it? In Hebrews 9, 28, the Word of God says, So Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time. So, how many times does it say Jesus will appear? How many times was Jesus born? Once. How many times was he offered? Once. How many times will he appear? Once. A second time. So all these people who say Jesus has appeared to them, they've either are deceivers or they've been deluded by a false spirit. Jesus will appear a second time. That's it. And you say, well, I think that just means his primary second appearing. You know, I know how that goes. It's kind of like pastors to be the husband of one wife. And they say, well, that just means his current wife. I know how those numerical word games go. Well, if you're going to allow Jesus to appear many times, you're going to have to let the Roman Catholic Church sacrifice him many times. Because, what does it say? Have him been offered once? If that doesn't mean once, if that's figurative, then the Roman Catholic Church gets the mass, don't they? They get to offer Jesus up as many times as they want. And he will appear a second time. So it's either literal or figurative. But if you decide it's figurative in order to make money by taking offerings for hearing people's delusions about the appearance of Jesus, then you also have to give the Roman Catholics their mass. Now, I've talked to Roman Catholic priests. They're happy with this because they believe Mary and Jesus and the saints and angels are appearing to us all the time. So the Roman Catholic Church will say, sure, we'll give the Protestants all the appearance of Jesus they want, and you give us Mary and the Mass. But I don't give either side to either of those. He will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, and that's what Jesus is going to do. We're going to be eagerly awaiting Him. He is going to appear. We're going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Romans 8.1, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We will receive our rewards. We will be clothed in Christ. There will be no reference of sin. And we will enter into our reward. that's the rapture and it's exciting to think about that isn't it and in revelation we won't look at all those verses but in revelation 22 6 What does it say? These things are faithful and true, and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his bond servants that these things must soon take place. And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is the one who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book. And he said to me, Do not seal off the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is what? Near. In verse 12, Behold, I am coming quickly. My reward is with me, to render to each man what he has done. and then 7 and then we look at verse 20 he who testifies to these same things says yes I am coming quickly amen come Lord Jesus so Jesus is coming quickly And those prophecies can be filled. A lot of people say, no, Jesus can't come quickly because the prophecies haven't been filled. Well, if God decides to fulfill those prophecies, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, pop, same day, he can do it. He can do it. So we don't know when Jesus is going to return, but our conviction that we are living in the light of eternity. Jesus is standing at the door. That causes us to live and behave a certain way. It causes us in terms of our character and our relationship with other people. It causes us in terms of our commitment to being faithful in the ministry to which God has called us to. both in fellowship and ministry, it causes us to be a faithful witness, and it causes us to be a good steward of the Word of God. Because we have to remember that it is the Word of God. We are stewards of it. A lot of people treat the Bible like it's their Bible. It's on loan from God. It's his work. He's letting us use it. One of my verses in my prayer notebook is when Moses comes down from the mountain with tablets, and the people said, what's going on? And Moses said, God speaks, yet I live. And we have to remember that beyond the grace of God, when we read the Bible, we would burst into flames and blow away as ashes. But God allows us to actually read what his verses say. Why didn't he speak to us personally? Well, that we would die. No one can see God and live. Okay. What's another way, though, that Christ is imminently at the door? The first is his rapture, but the other is our death. Let's go back to that passage in James, shall we? Come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, engage in business and make a profit. Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor who appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, if the Lord wills, and what? We will live and also do this and that. If the Lord wills, we're going to be alive. If he doesn't will, we're going to be alive. We are not going to be alive. And nothing has gone wrong. If you write in your Bibles, circle, if the Lord wills, and then circle the word live. We live or do not live based on the divine will of God. But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. We do not know when we'll die. I am the first male man on my father's side in three generations to live past 65. So I have told the board of directors and I tell the people I'm ministering with, if I die, if the Lord takes me home on the mission field, cremate me. Don't go, don't, it's such a pain. Cremate me. Put me in a jar, put me in a UPS or FedEx box, and just send it back to my wife. You know, I think she would like to have it. And if they won't take it, pour my ashes out on the land and then take just enough ashes to put in a Ziploc bag and then stick that in a FedEx or UPS envelope and send it to my wife. But, you know, I don't know. I have asked the Lord, just for the sake of the grief of my family and my children, that I will still be alive and on the airplane when I get off. But I don't know. Only God knows. Before I leave, I once mentioned to Dr. McCallway, he was going on a mission trip, and I said, you know, before I go on a mission trip, I either see, or if I cannot visit them personally, I talk on the phone with each of my children and each of my grandchildren, personally. Why do I do that? Well, should the Lord take me home, I don't want any of them to labor onto the false guilt that I didn't get to say goodbye to Daddy or to Grandpa. So instead, at my memorial service, they'll say, you know, one of the reasons I'm such at peace is Dad and I had such a nice long talk before he left for the mission field. Well, that's on my countdown list. I don't want that shadow over them. If only I could have said goodbye. Same with my grandchildren. I once had a letter from the dead. My first Navigator representative, Charles Casebolt, who was in charge of the ministry at the University of Texas, he wasn't that much older than me, as is the nature of things with college ministers. He seemed like he was 20 years older than me, but he was only about six years older than me. But the difference, when you're a sophomore in college, the difference between 19 and 25 seems a lot, doesn't it? He was married, he had children, he was ministering with the Navigators. So, but over the years, we stayed in touch. Now, 10 years later, in the middle 80s, I was ministering with the Navigators at Oklahoma State University. And by that time, Charles had retired from the Navigators and was on staff with Bible Church, as well as his own as running a feed company in this town, very successful. He had a nice standing in the business community and had a large ministry among the business people, especially in the agricultural community, the ranchers, farmers, and those who serviced them. So he asked me to come speak at his church because he wanted to start a disciple-making ministry, especially for those in the agricultural community. So I came and spoke, and we had a great time. I did a series of four or five messages. I met with businessmen in the morning and the afternoon. I stayed at Charles and Kay's home there in Temple, Texas. It was just delightful. As I got in the car to drive back to Houston, Charles and I stood by the car and prayed. And he said, you know, John, this has gone really well. What I'd like you to do is, we have a lot of people signed up for this discipleship program. I'd like you to come back and This was in the fall. I would like you to come back and let's have a couples conference with these same people and you can minister on marriage. Valentine's in February. And also, we are going to have a fall retreat coming up, and I'd like you to be one of the speakers. So we made all sorts of ministry plans, and I said, that would be great, Charles. And you know, I think I've got some men in the business community who I think need your vision. And so I'm going to, at the next church staff meeting, talk with the staff about having something like this for the businessmen and you come down and I'll hook you up with a couple key men and you can be their mentor in this area." He said, great. So I was home. I was just happy as anything. I went into my office. And I was sitting there and my church secretary was reviewing the day from me and I got a call from a friend of mine and said, did you hear Charles Casebolt died of a heart attack this morning? I said, no, no. And he said, Kay has asked me to make some phone calls and they wanted to know if you would speak at his funeral. And I said, of course, just send me the details. Send me the details. So they did. Okay, that's Monday. Well, evidently, on Saturday, Charles had written a letter to me and posted it in the post office. So Sunday, it sat in the post office. Monday, it was processed, and I received it on Wednesday. And it was a letter from a dead man. And I opened it up, and it was in Charles' handwriting, and he was reminiscing about the good time he had. And then there was the schedule. of all the things we were going to do together that fall and spring. You see, we make plans, don't we? But we don't know. But you know, Charles went to the Lord faithful. He was in the middle of his faithfulness in the word, in prayer, in witnessing, in fellowship, to his church, to his ministry, to his job. He was a faithful to his wife, to his children, to his family, and God took him home in the midst of that. Let's turn, if you would, to Job, shall we? Job 14, and we're going to look at Job 14. Job 14.5, Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with you, and his limits you have set, so you cannot pass. That pretty much nails it down, doesn't it? That pretty much nails it down. I had that businessman named Gene Warr, did not take very good care of his health. I think that's a real temptation for very a real temptation for very wealthy men. And he told me late in life, he lived to be in his 90s, that if he had known he was going to live that long, he would have taken better care of himself. And so we are good stewards of our health and fulfill our responsibility into the stewardship of the care of our body for our service to the Lord. But it has nothing to do with longevity of life. That's a key conviction. Because if you believe that what you do lengthens your life, then two things can happen. One is, if that's a conviction, your perspective is that, boy, I have to stay on top of this. I can't do anything dangerous. I have to be very cautious. I could be responsible for the death of my life. I know people who won't go the mission field because they're afraid of dying. They won't go with me on a mission trip. The other thing that you'll do is you will become hyper-conscious about diet, about exercise, about germs, about everything. Almost paranoid, rather than a steward. So, we take good care of our bodies because we need to be healthy in order to serve the Lord. But it has nothing to do with longevity. Jesus Christ in Luke 23.43 says, this day you will be with me in paradise. And you know, we always die in the present, don't we? No one ever dies yesterday. They died, past tense, yesterday. No one ever dies in the future. You always die in the present. So we live our life so that when we die in the present, or Jesus comes in the present, we will have a clear conscience before God and before men. Now, we don't live as if we know we are going to die today, or we know Jesus is coming to die today, because if you have the conviction you are going to die today, or if you have the conviction this is the day Jesus is actually to come, that will skew your perspective and priorities also, won't you? You'll give away all your money, you will spend all day witnessing, you will neglect your family and friends, everything will, you'll be calling people up on the phone and screaming, repent, repent, Jesus is going to come any minute, this is your last chance, no. So, we live out our responsibilities in the light of eternity. We live out those responsibilities with the conviction that we could die today, Jesus could die today, but we still have responsibilities. 1 Timothy 5.8 says he does not care for his own family, especially those of his immediate household, is worse than an unbeliever. That's a responsibility. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul twice exhorts the church to work with your hands. Don't be lazy. Don't be a beggar. Colossians 3, 23 through 25, we do everything as for Christ, not for man. We work hard and we fulfill our responsibilities, but we do it in a balanced way. So, what are these personal responsibilities? Well, there is the universal priesthood of the believer. The priesthood has been done away with. Pastoring is a gift, but pastors, that position does not, that places them perhaps above other people in terms of responsibility, but not in terms of worth and value. Universal gifting is a responsibility. We all have gifts. My personal convention is we have many gifts. I've never taken a gift test, and I've never been concerned about gifts. I view that as God calls me to do something, he'll gift me to do things, and that I will naturally want to do things I'm gifted in, because those are the things that come easiest to me. But that doesn't mean if I'm not gifted in something that I still don't have to do it. I'm not gifted in administration, but I still have to balance my banking account. I'm not gifted in mercy, but I still have to be merciful. I'm not gifted in witnessing or evangelism, but I'm still responsible for that. So the things you are not gifted in, there are many of those things which you are still responsible for, they're just more difficult. But everybody has gifts which they can develop and therefore feel good about their ministry. There is a universal call to witness for Christ. That's one of our responsibilities. No, you don't get to pay other people to do that. In fact, I belong to a church. that had an evangelism revival twice a year and they just paid people who were supremely gifted in evangelism to come to town and lead a bunch of people. They baptized them and sought to build them up in the Lord. And I think that's great, but that doesn't free members from witnessing. Very few members of that church witnessed because they knew they could pay somebody to do it. But there are some things you can't pay people to do, and that's witness for it. I know fathers who think they can pay people to raise their kids, but you can't. You are responsible for it. There is a universal call to the disciple-making ministry. And a number of people have asked Eleanor and I to mentor them and I always turn it down. I don't view myself as spiritual enough to mentor. A mentor, I view that as like the head of a large corporation or it's extremely wealthy and successful businessman or salesman and you just follow him around and stuff just Fluffs off you know you shake him and more change falls out of his pocket than you make in a month and And you just mentor him, but no we are called to make disciples Disciple making has a beginning and an end to it it I think the navigator wheel illustration is a great diagram tool for disciple making. I meet with a man, I show him the wheel as if he was perfect, I have him draw his wheel as he's experiencing it, and then I say, okay, we can get this thing rolling in six months to a year and a half, depending on how often we meet together. And then I'm through, and he's a disciple. And then I exhort him to make disciples, and if he says, well, I'd like some more help learning how to do that, I'll do that with him. I'll help him be a disciple maker. Because in Matthew 28, 19 and 20, we're all called to do that. I made my first disciple in 1971, and every year of my life since then I sought to make disciples. A lady in our church asked Eleanor, would you mentor me? And Eleanor said, well, no, but I'll disciple you. So, people say, well, you can't use the word disciple. Only Jesus made disciples. Are you saying that you're Jesus? Are you saying you're making apostles? No. I'm not saying any of those things. But I never try to set my standards higher than Jesus. And I never tried to be more conscientious than Jesus. And if Jesus says I'm to make disciples, then I don't worry about that word, disciple, or making them, since Jesus Christ has signed off on that. And there is the universal response to the Word of God. We are all required to get into the Word of God and obey Him. Lastly, there is the universal response to earthly authority. We are all responsible to be good citizens. If you're married, you are responsible to be a faithful husband. And I will say here, a little plug for my marriage seminar, that the husband, as the spiritual leader, is proactive. visions five twenty five says that are wired twenty two to twenty five says our wives are peace to be submissive to us and that we are a lot of our wives as christ love the church that he might sanctify her so sanctify means to set apart so we are proactive i've heard many uh... counselors and pastors and ministers give men bad advice from 1st Peter 1, 1st Peter 3, 1 through 3, where a wife, without saying anything, wins her husband to the Lord by her conduct. Now, Ephesians 5, 22 through 25, is gender specific. Wives are not to nag, teach, instruct, or lead their husbands. That's the husband's job. 1 Peter 3, 1-3 is gender specific. Men are not free to be passive and just be nice guys and wait for their wives to come around. No. I was discipling a man. One of the ways I find men in the church is men who are sitting by themselves. Generally, a lot of times they have poor marriages, their wives aren't in church with them, or their family doesn't go to church and they're kind of at their wits end. and seeking the Lord, or they're widowers, whatever it is, they're sitting by themselves, and a lot of times they have free time to be discipled. So I met this guy named Hezekiah, he had married as a non-Christian, his wife was not interested in church, he had become, he was in kind of a mid-life crisis, and I said, I met with Hezekiah, I showed him the wheel illustration, I said, I can help you with this, Hezekiah. I also said I could help him with his marriage. So things began chugging along, but his wife just refused to come to church with him. But she had grown up in a liberal Methodist church with a woman pastor, and that woman did not believe in the inspiration of scripture or the bodily resurrection of Christ. But she said she would go to church if he would go to that church. Well, he went to talk to the elders of our church and they said, well, yeah, you can win your wife without nagging her, you without saying anything, just by living the Christian life with her. And so, yeah, at least you're going to church. Well, I said, no, Sheldon, no. Stay the course. The word of God will keep ministering to her, read the Bible to her, share the Bible with her, sanctify her, and God will work in her life. But he chose the elders' council, and sure enough, after Sheldon had been sitting in that liberal church around all those liberals, his heart grew cold, and he just drifted away. See? Delilah's advice is never good, right? Samson found that out, didn't he? 1 Corinthians 15.33, bad company corrupts good morals. So he's just drifted out of my life. Every once in a while, I'll send him a Christmas card, I'll call him, but no, John, I'm really happy and he'll show me these liberal Sunday school manuals he has. He said, you know, my what? My marriage has never been happier. And now I know that the Bible is not the word of God. And, you know, and it goes on. So husbands are the should be the spiritual leader. Parents, you cannot delegate that. Children are to obey. That's not optional. Fathers are to instruct their children. That's not optional. Employers. Now, when I was teaching high school, I made the goal to be the best high school teacher there for my witness. Well, after about two months, I realized that I was competing to be the best high school teacher with people who didn't have a life. They were living for teaching. They were divorced. They didn't have a church. They didn't have any hobbies. They were estranged from their children. That was their life. I can't compete with that. So instead, I shifted to Daniel 1. I said, Lord, I'm going to do the best I can with the slice of that you morally allow me for my job, and I pray that in doing that, that you would elevate me to a witness. So he did elevate me to a position of witness, but I was never able to compete in terms of the amount of time that I was willing to give to my career versus the people who had no life other than their career. And then that's contrasted. So with our employers, we have responsibility to them to have a good testimony. We have responsibility to our spiritual authority. And spiritual authority is earned. It is not simply a position. Your pastor can't come to you and say, I'm a man of God. This is how you should live. Nor your ministry leader. To me, the spiritual authority is that person who's God-given to minister to you primarily. That's where my money goes, and that's where my faithfulness goes. There may be other people who have secondary authority in my life, and that's okay. But there should be somebody to whom you're accountable. And we remember that all earthly authority is subject to word of God. Children, obey your parents in the Lord. So parents who want to get their children to be engaged in the occult or illegal activities don't have to do that. The government, it says, is the representative of God. If the government wants to slaughter Jews, that's not representative of God. You don't have to do that. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church. And Christ won't ask the church to sin. So wives are free if their husbands want to prostitute them or addict them to drugs. spiritual authority does not extend beyond the commands of the Word of God. So we can reject that. Employers who ask you to engage, we work hardly as for the Lord and not for men in Colossians 3.23. So if you have an employer that asks you to engage in an illegal activity, you don't have to do that. So I hope that's helpful to you. Can you see how Convictions concerning the imminent return of Christ as they pertain to the personal responsibility of the disciple are very important. They shape our perspective and help us set our priorities. May God bless the teaching of his holy word. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Amen. Thank you.