[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you'll be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. ...around the world. If you've got your Bible, and you're open there to Romans, uh, Romans Matthew chapter 10, uh, we're gonna finish the message from this morning.
[0:14] I know I'm breaking the rule. You're supposed to be in Exodus tonight, but I'd rather have, I'd rather do the last half of the message from this morning and finish it, and then I, then, uh, than I would to, uh, wait till next Sunday.
[0:25] So, we're gonna look at, tonight, some things about the Apostles. It's also maybe even more appropriate for tonight, but let's read, if you would, Matthew chapter 10, verse 5, uh, just down to verse 8, and then we will go back and work our way through it.
[0:43] These twelve Jesus sent forth and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
[0:56] And as you go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That's what we got covered this morning. Basically, we got down to there, and, uh, I tried to help you understand why he sent them to Gentiles, and to only, not to Gentiles, and only to Israel, and we looked at that.
[1:13] But in verse 8, you come across a verse. I don't know how much you face this, where you live. I don't know how much you face this at your workplace or, or anything.
[1:24] I know that as I grew up, it was a big deal. Charismatics and all the things that go with charismatics, and healing pastors, and, uh, pastors who cast out devils, and all the wonderful things that they can do.
[1:37] And so they would come to a passage like this, and you might go away feeling a little bit less than, uh, others. You'd say, in my church, man, we ain't healed nobody yet. And, uh, our pastor's not raised any dead people, and our church doesn't do any of that, and maybe I should get in one of those churches.
[1:54] So let me just help you understand. So read with me, if you would, verse 8. The Bible says, Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils, freely you have received, freely give.
[2:08] So we're going to talk now about the signs of an apostle. And if you have your Bible open, and you write in your Bible, why don't you write beside verse 8, signs of an apostle.
[2:19] That's what they are. I'll show you that in the Bible. You can write other verses to go with it. Father, I pray that you'd help me handle well a delicate subject, and help our people not to be ever smarter like you about it, but to really understand what your word says about these signs of an apostle.
[2:37] And I pray that your name would be glorified as you work in our church, and help us to understand that we no longer have these sign gifts, but we have the very word of God.
[2:48] And I pray you'd work tonight, and I'll give you praise. In Jesus' name, amen. Turn in your Bible, if you would, or mark it there in the verse, to 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 12. And we've seen all this before, but it comes up in the Bible again, so we're going to review it every time so we get it well.
[3:04] If God wanted it repeated so much, it must have been something important to learn. In 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 12, he said, Truly, Paul's talking about his ministry, and Paul uses a term that I want you to mark down in your Bible.
[3:18] Truly, the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. So in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul says, I'm an apostle.
[3:30] He's argued that all through the Scripture in the book of Galatians. It's one of his more famous times in the book of Galatians. He said, I am an apostle of God, of Jesus, and not of man.
[3:41] And just to let you know, I haven't even seen a bunch of those men. I didn't go to Jerusalem. I didn't see them. I'm God's man. I wasn't handpicked by the crowd that's back in Jerusalem. In 2 Corinthians, he said, I did work the signs of an apostle.
[3:55] Look in the verse and underline. He says there, he said, and patience. It was a continual thing. It went on for a long period of time. I did signs. I did wonders, miracles.
[4:05] I did mighty deeds. So what happens, and I'll show you some more verses in just a second, but what happened was God gave the disciples, the apostles, some signs, some abilities that he would use them to show these are the apostles.
[4:21] They're the guys that God's used to start the church. We've been through this before, but every time God starts a new and miraculous thing, there's this period of miracles. He did that back in the Old Testament with Moses.
[4:32] He did that with Elijah and Elisha, and there's really not a whole lot of miracles in the Bible, which is shocking if you keep up with TBN. You'd think everybody's supposed to be seeing miracles every day of their life, but in the Bible, you go whole books, and little or nothing is ever mentioned about some unusual sign.
[4:51] But if you'd write down signs of an apostle next to verse 8, 2 Corinthians 12, 12 said the signs of an apostle. Matthew chapter 11 and verse 4, John the Baptist is kind of discouraged, and he sends his disciples, and they ask questions, and here's how Jesus says, yes, I am who I said I was, and yes, what's happening.
[5:11] I'll show you the miracles. Look at Matthew 11, 4. The Bible said, Jesus answered and said unto them, the apostles of the disciples of John, go and show John again these things, those things which you do see or hear and see.
[5:25] The blind receive their sight. The lame walk. The lepers are cleansed. The deaf hear. The dead are raised. The poor have the gospel preached to them.
[5:36] So those were signs of an apostle. They were signs of an apostle. They were signs given to these 12 special men that God used to get the church started, and others associated with them sometimes worked miracles.
[5:50] They're special signs to confirm them. Today God confirms things to you, but it's not by his signs. It's by his word. You're going to know what God's will is because you're going to be a student of the word of God.
[6:05] He blesses your ministry by allowing you to see some fruit. Others can see it, but you need to know that God's going to show you truth, not by signs, not by miracles.
[6:17] Now, when I was a young kid, when I was a young kid, I wanted to know if I was called a preacher or not. I told you I wanted to preach. I really wanted to preach. I mean, it was like the hunger of my heart. I wanted to do something for God, but I couldn't get any of those signs.
[6:29] And I grew up among country preachers, and they were really in love with Jesus, but they weren't that great on studying their Bibles. And they used to have an old saying, you don't study to preach. You just get up and let the Holy Spirit fill it.
[6:41] Open your mouth, and God will fill it. And I learned later that's with hot air. And that's what ended up happening when they opened their mouth. And so they said a lot of stuff, and it didn't have a lot of mouth. So I didn't feel like I was called a preacher.
[6:52] I didn't know if I'd been called a preacher. And so I was on the campus of Shorter College in Rome, Georgia. I was a ripe old age of 18, and I was fasting and praying and begging God to show me.
[7:03] Am I called or am I not called? Am I a preacher? Am I not a preacher? I don't want to tell people I'm a preacher if you're not going to make me a preacher. If you're not going to help me do something, I don't want to do it. So I need a sign. So I knew about old Gideon and his fleece.
[7:17] I knew how Gideon put out the fleece and all that. And I said, well, that would work. And so I prayed, and I thought about it, and I said, God, if you want me to preach, I want it to rain with the sun shining. That would be a good fleece.
[7:28] So I want it to rain with the sun shining. So the next day, the sun was shining. And later on, it sprinkled. I mean, the slightest sprinkle.
[7:39] And I said, hmm, now is that rain? Or is that sprinkle? Is that him saying yes, or is that him saying, yeah? I had no idea. That's not how you find out what God wants you to do.
[7:52] You don't have the signs of an apostle. You're not going to have that miraculous relationship. You're going to know this by what the word of God says. And we went over some of that this morning.
[8:03] By the way, when you're doing the work of God, you need to get a hold of something. You're not an apostle. And so, like, you go to church, and you do the ministry of God, and it gets old. I mean, it's not like, you know, you read the Bible.
[8:16] You can read all of Moses' life in one setting if you're a good reader. You can read all of Elijah's life in just a few chapters. You're like, man, that's the most exciting life. But if you never notice, sometimes it says stuff like this, and 30 years later.
[8:30] Well, you know, you kind of run over that. But if you're going to serve God, you need to know that the apostle Paul had one other sign I'm going to show you that does work for you. If you're going to be in the ministry, if you're going to go forth and do what God's told you to do, here's a wild verse for you.
[8:45] I hope you write it down, and I hope you mark it down. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 15. Paul said, I will very gladly spend and be spent for you.
[8:56] For the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. Now look at that verse, 2 Corinthians 12, verse 15. Look at the verse.
[9:06] If you would notice what it said. I am going to spend and be spent. I am going to spend and be spent. Look at this. Wait a second. You're keeping the nursery. Nobody says thank you.
[9:19] You say, I don't get it. I give and I give and I give and nobody says thank you. You're teaching a Sunday school class and no one says thank you. You're giving an offering. You're singing specials.
[9:29] You know, you've got these people that come up here every day. You're a Christian sitting over here playing the piano. She's been playing the piano for eight years. And she's played the piano and maybe nobody ever notices. Maybe you're one of the guys playing a guitar over here or an instrument over here.
[9:42] Nobody ever says thank you. And you say, I just don't know. Maybe God's not in it because nobody seems to appreciate what I do. Well, here's a good verse for you. You're not going to get the signs of an apostle. Sorry, you're not one. But here's one thing you get just like the apostle.
[9:54] Notice what he said. I spend and I keep getting spent. That means I give and I give and I give and I run out. I spend my money and I spend my time. I spend my life. And then he said, and I love and I love and I love and nobody loves me back.
[10:08] So welcome to the ministry. Can you say amen right there? You say, I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about you. Because it's easy for you to get discouraged. It's easy to sit back in the nerd boat and work all the controls and do all the things.
[10:21] And the only time we notice them is when a microphone doesn't work. It's the only time we notice them is when the verse didn't change as quick as you wanted it to. You were like, what's wrong with people back here? Change the verse. You think it's a miracle that it changes.
[10:33] And all of a sudden, no miracles are working back there. But here's the reality about serving God. Here's the reality about serving God. The charismatics kind of brought into our lives this idea of, man, goosey, goosey, juicy feelings all over your body.
[10:47] I serve Jesus. Woo! I get the heebie-jeebies. I serve Jesus. It's exciting and it's emotional. I'll give you a hint. It's just not the way it is. A lot of serving Jesus says, get up and do what you're supposed to do.
[10:57] Can I get you to say amen right there? It's get up and do it. You say, I don't feel like going to church today. Who cares? Just do what you're supposed to do. I don't feel much like reading my Bible. Well, good. Just read your Bible.
[11:08] You say, I don't really feel like I ought to give him. I just don't think anybody appreciates my financial sacrifice that I give to make a difference in the church. Good.
[11:19] Read the verse to me. Could you read it out loud with me before I go on? Because I'm going to give you three or four major things tonight. But this is one out of Matthew. Read that with me. Would you ready? I will very gladly spend and be spent for you.
[11:32] Though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. There are two superlatives in the verse, I think. Gladly, abundantly. How did he spend for the people?
[11:45] How did he spend for the people? Would you help me talk out loud? Gladly. He said, you know what? I give. I give. I give. I serve. I clean. Somebody's cleaning bathrooms around here. Somebody's cleaning up the floor.
[11:56] Somebody's doing a ton of work around here. And you're like, nobody ever notices. I know. Welcome to ministry. Nobody ever notices. That's why it's called ministry. You know, ministry is a fancy word for service.
[12:09] And service is a fancy word for work. And service, work is a fancy word for nobody cares when I do all my work. I mean, it's just the way it is. It's how your wife feels. It's how your mama feels. That's how everybody feels.
[12:20] And so when we serve God, we just got to make up our minds. I'm not in this for the emotional roller coaster that comes with the signs of an apostle. Even Paul said, the more I spend, and I'm spent.
[12:32] You know what he did? He said, I spend my money, and I spend my life. And I love, and nobody loves me back. So be careful and know that we do not have the signs of an apostle.
[12:44] Like you go with me now, if you would, to Matthew chapter 10 and verse 9. Do not let Matthew 10, 8 scare you. He said to them, go out and preach. He said, go out. And he said to them in chapter 10 and verse 5, he said, excuse me, chapter 10 and verse 8, he said, heal, cleanse, raise, cast out.
[13:02] Boy, that's really wild. You could easily say, that's not going on anymore. It's just very different. The second thing I want you to look at is chapter 10 and verse 9. And you can really, I think, I guess I better get you to look at verse 8, the last part.
[13:17] Freely, you have received. Freely give. How did we get saved? Tell me how you got saved. You got saved by grace. It didn't cost you anything.
[13:29] Fact is, you didn't go looking for him. He came looking for you. Fact is, you didn't love him first, and then him start loving you. You didn't change you for him to start working in your life. He came to you when he was a dirty, rotten, sticky, scumbag sinner.
[13:41] And he saved you. And he says to the apostles, I've given you everything. Now go out and give it, and don't expect anything in return. Freely you have received. Freely give.
[13:52] But then there's some instruction to us in Matthew 10, 9. Provide, he tells the workers. He's telling his 12 guys as they go leave. As he tells the apostles, provide neither gold nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor script for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet stays.
[14:09] For the workman is worthy of his meat. Now that is a wild verse. But underline, the workman is worthy of his meat. First thing I'd say to you, most of us probably don't think of missionaries and preachers as workmen.
[14:24] But you ought to put a circle around there. In that verse, he's talking about those 12 guys that are going to go out and preach, and teach, and heal, and cast out demons, and all that. He says the workman, the laborer, the man who does the ministry, is worthy of food.
[14:38] He is worthy of being taken care of, and that's what he was telling them. As God's men traveled, they were not to provide for themselves. God's people would do that. Jesus knew, the Jews knew to take care of the men of God.
[14:50] It was part of their culture. The men of God were to go not charging anything. Not charging anything. But they were to provide for them. Now I want you to read with me. Go back to verse 9.
[15:02] I want you to imagine me pulling in the missionaries here. And let me imagine it being your son, or let it be you, and I'm talking to you, and you're an adult. I'll call Ty over here, and I'll say, Ty, we want you to go and preach the gospel somewhere.
[15:14] And I know you've always had a job. I know people have always provided for you. But you don't get to take an extra suitcase, buddy. You don't need a second pair of shoes. You don't need to take a lunchbox with you. You don't need anything with you.
[15:25] Just go. God's going to take care of you. That would be like the wildest instruction you could possibly give a missionary. I always sit them down and say, I'm going to tell you how to raise the money so you'll be well taken care of.
[15:36] That's not what's going on here. Because the Lord was teaching his church a big lesson. We take care of the men of God. And you do a good job of it here, but that's the lesson that's here.
[15:48] Notice that everything is mentioned. He says in these verses, don't worry about your food. Don't worry about your clothes. Don't worry about money for traveling and expenses. Don't even worry about money for new walking sticks when they wear out.
[15:59] Don't take a second walking stick with you when you go. So what's a church supposed to do? Look with me, if you would, at 1 Timothy 5 and verse 17. You can mark these down in the margin of your Bible so you know.
[16:11] For our church and for other churches just like us, 1 Timothy 5, 17. Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.
[16:24] For the scripture says, thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn, and the laborer is worthy of his reward. There's that phrase again. Underline it.
[16:35] The laborer is worthy of his reward. The workman is worthy of his meat. Verse 17, you've got the word elders. Circle the word elders. And notice this.
[16:45] Here's what the word elder referred to. It referred to a bishop, a pastor, or an elder. Those are three fairly synonymous words in the Bible. An elder was a spiritually mature person who led the church.
[17:01] A pastor is not mentioned very many times in our King James Bible. The word pastor is not mentioned in the New Testament. More commonly used was the word elder. And that's who he was. And then there was also the bishop.
[17:12] 1 Timothy 3, verse 1, where it says, he that desires the office of a bishop desires a work, desires a good work. I'm a bishop. That means I'm an overseer of a church.
[17:23] That's what that word means. I'm an elder because I'm like not just older physically, but I've been around in the ministry a while. And the Lord let me have some spiritual insight to help lead my brothers. I'm a pastor.
[17:34] And that's what's happening. So look what he says in the verse. He said, the elders that rule well. Here's how you know it's a synonym, by the way, with a bishop. Because elders really don't rule. Bishops rule.
[17:45] But bishops rule and elders rule. So now they're both ruling. So they must be the same guy. Bishops and elders that rule well, that lead well, that guide well, that direct the church. Church will should be counted worthy of double honor.
[17:57] Double honor. Who should be counted of double honor? Those that labor, works. It's hard work to do a good job of it. In the word and in doctrine. In the word and in doctrine. Then he says, don't you know the Old Testament says, you don't put a muzzle on the ox that treads out the grain.
[18:15] I know you've probably never seen that. But I grew up on a farm watching a mule go around, around in a circle, squeezing out molasses. How many of you have ever eaten molasses?
[18:26] Hold your hand up. Is that just something y'all never even heard of? Sagram. You know? We would cut the stuff down and we would take it over there. And that poor mule would walk around and around. And they always fix it where he couldn't eat. Because if he ate, he didn't want to work too much.
[18:39] He got fat, you know? And when he stopped to grab a stalk, sometimes they'd whop him on the rear end. But he ate and he went around and around in circles. And we didn't have machines, you know?
[18:49] So we just fed the stuff in and it got squeezed out the juice on the other. That's the idea here. While he's working, treading out the grain, let him eat. Let him get something to eat. He said that's where we're talking about what happens with the pastor.
[19:02] That's where we're talking about what happens with the missionary. That's what we want to have happen. 1 Corinthians 9.14. You need to mark that verse down. 1 Corinthians 9.14.
[19:13] I think sometimes you might ask yourself, why do we give so much money to missionaries? Why do we take care of them? Because they go and serve as elders. They go and serve as pastors, as bishops, as leaders, as evangelists, carrying the gospel.
[19:28] And the laborer is worthy of his hire. And they go to places where they're not getting paid by the people they're working with. They're getting paid by us. Which is what Paul did. Paul even told the Corinthians, I robbed other churches and I took nothing from you.
[19:43] I robbed other churches. That's what our missionaries do. They regularly come here and rob us. They've robbed us of about a million dollars so far. They come, we give them offerings and they go out and they do the ministry.
[19:54] We've given over a million dollars. They've robbed us. It's the kind of robbing Paul did. It's good robbing is there such thing. Don't tell the police that. But look at 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 14. The Bible says, Even so has the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.
[20:11] Now read the verse with me, would you? Here's what it says. The Lord has ordained that they which preach the gospel should get another job and pay their bill with it. It's interesting. The word ordained is a very strong word.
[20:23] Calvinists love that word. It means God ordered it. That's how God wants it. And by the way, that verse comes as the conclusion of 13 other verses in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 or 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 1 down to 13 where he's saying to them, The man of God is supposed to get paid.
[20:41] The man of God is supposed to get paid. He says, Does a soldier go out to fight and pay for his own bullets? Does a farmer not get to eat of the fruit of what he's doing? They preach the gospel should live of the gospel.
[20:53] That's really what's going on in the passage. That's why I don't need a raise but be well cared for. But the point is we ought to understand. I think it'll help you understand faith promise. I think it'll help you understand why we give to the general fund our faith promise or our missionaries can get some money so they get paid.
[21:08] Because those that preach the gospel should live of what? Tell me what they should live of. Say it. They should live of the? They should live of the gospel. Those that preach the gospel should live of the gospel.
[21:19] That ought to be understood by all of us. Let me give you one more verse about that before I take you to the next part. Look at Galatians chapter 6 and verse 6. Galatians chapter 6 and verse 6.
[21:32] Those who receive teaching should take care of the teacher. Galatians 6.6. Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
[21:46] Let him that is taught in the word. Let the guy who's getting some teaching, that's getting some training, let him communicate. That's a word for giving. Let him give back to the guy who's doing the teaching all good things.
[22:00] So if you're in this room and you're being taught the word of God right now, would you hold your hand up? If you're in the room and you're being taught the word of God. Okay, I think that probably refers to you. So it says, you know what you're to do? You're to give him all good things.
[22:11] You're to give the teacher all good things. When I teach the Peruvians this, I'd say to them, because the Peruvians really had a problem with it. I mean, it was hard for them to understand on their limited income how they ought to take care of pastors.
[22:23] It's hard for them to understand. And it's hard for churches in America to understand today why we ought to take care of missionaries. And sometimes it might be hard for you. But it's a biblical principle.
[22:34] When they go out, the laborer is worthy of his meat. The laborer is worthy of his reward. We're going to take care of them. That's not just talking about your pastor. It's talking about other people.
[22:45] So he that's taught in the word. So I used to tell the Peruvians, I said, look, if he's teaching you, you ought to give him good things. And then I asked him, I said, what are good things? And they just sit there like this, duh. And I said, well, how many of y'all think it's good to have shoes?
[22:56] Say amen. They all hold their hands up. I said, oh, good. Give him some shoes. How many of you think it'd be nice if you had a suit? Hold your hand. They all, yeah, that'd be good. I said, that's a good thing to take care of. How many of y'all want some chicken and rice for lunch?
[23:08] Say amen. They said, amen. I said, good. That's what we give. Give him good things. So here's a big lesson. Here's a big lesson. We're not apostles, and that's not written about us, but clearly throughout the Bible, this other part is taught that the worker is worthy of his reward.
[23:25] The worker is worthy of his pay. So as we head towards missions conference, we just happen to be in Matthew chapter 10. Let me just explain to you. Our church needs to understand every one of those missionaries need to be taken care of.
[23:36] We need to take care of them. That's why we give faith promise. That's why you're doing what you're doing to help get the gospel around the world. By the way, no true man of God would ever serve God for what he gets out of it.
[23:48] He serves to give, not get. He serves to give, and he serves to love. And I'd like to take you, before I go on to the next verse and read to you about the next verse, starting in verse 11, I would like for you to go back with me to verse 8, and I'd like you to read the last part of verse 8.
[24:04] It's a two-sided thing. In Matthew chapter 10, in verse 8, it's a two-sided thing. In verse 8, he said, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils.
[24:15] But look what he said, freely you have received, freely give. Freely give. Because I want to help you with missionaries. Before I go to this last point in a summary, let me just tell you, it really looks bad when an American shows up, unless maybe it's in Europe.
[24:33] But when an American shows up, when Betty and I arrived in Peru, the minimum wage in Arequipa was about $20 a month. $20 a month.
[24:43] We hired Juana to work for us. She was an LPN graduate and with her certificate. And we hired her and we paid her $25, and that was more than she could get anywhere.
[24:58] We were paying, everybody told us, you're paying her way too much. $25 a month to work for us. And it would have looked really strange had I walked into those churches and said, I'm here to give you all the gospel.
[25:12] It's good news. And I got it free, but I need you all to pay me. I even had people say to me in our churches, in fact, as they did it while I was there, I kind of got in trouble with the Peruvians.
[25:23] I've been gone quite a while. And one of the Peruvian leaders who was actually a very good friend of mine, I trained him, and he should know better, but he actually had the church. When I went down, they paid my way down.
[25:35] First time they've ever done anything like that after all these years, 25 years. It's 26 years. It was on the 25th anniversary of organizing the church. They gave me $1,000 for my flight down. They raised it.
[25:45] And I got down there and found out they set a quota. They went around to everybody and they said, it's going to cost $1,000. We divided it up. You owe this much. And, man, if I'd have known they were doing it, I told him I didn't want them to.
[25:57] He said, we're just going to take an offer up. They didn't take an offer up. They charged them. You want Austin to come? You want Guillermo to come? $1,000 divided by $100. That's $10 a head.
[26:07] Let's pop it out. Let's go. Give me the money. And so they raised the money. Well, that's not what was supposed to go on. They used to set quotas. That's a very favorite Peruvian thing to do.
[26:17] Charge everybody a certain amount. But here was the lesson. Freely you have received. Freely give. That's what the apostles were doing. That's what the apostles were doing. So when our missionaries step off in Africa and they're standing in Burkina Fossil to stand up and preach.
[26:31] Jason Rich will soon be doing that. And Keith Shoemaker is doing that. He will stand and never once did they take an offering for them. Never once. Not because the people wouldn't give.
[26:42] But freely we got and we don't take from them. Years ago, Chris, our oldest son, he got diabetes. And the minimum wage was in the neighborhood of $20 a month still.
[26:54] Maybe $22 or $3 a month. It took a long time to get where it is now. And right now it's probably more like $400 a month. $350, $400 a month is a pretty decent wage.
[27:06] But we were in Betty and Chris came back to the States. And the Peruvians got together at our little church that we had. You got to understand, we had a dirt floor.
[27:18] We had a grass-met roof. We're the only white people around. And we're the only white people to go to church with them. And now Chris is in the United States and Betty's in the United States. And I'm living in a house that costs maybe, I can't remember what it costs, $250, $300 a month.
[27:34] Our church offerings probably totaled $50 a month for the whole church. And I probably put in $30 of that to get the offering up so we could get a good offering. Say, man, that's what preachers like to do. Get good offerings.
[27:45] So you give them, that way you can get them. And so they came to my house and they said, we've set up a feeding schedule. And people are going to bring food for you every day. And the Peruvians every day sent over a meal for me.
[27:58] They kind of afforded to buy it all alone. They wanted to give. But we go out just like the apostles and just like Paul, robbing churches to get the gospel out. I hope you understand when we take up those offers, it's not to make them rich.
[28:10] It's to help make other people rich. It's to give the missionaries the funds to go preach the gospel to everybody else. So he told them. So he told them, here's some signs I'll give you.
[28:20] Go out and preach. Second thing he said to them, you're not to worry about the money. The people will take care of you. Third thing, look if you would at verse 11. Matthew chapter 10 and verse 11. And to whatsoever city or town you shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and there abide till you go thence.
[28:38] And when you come into a house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when you depart out of that city, shake off the dust of your feet.
[28:53] Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah and the day of judgment than for that city. Boy, those are harsh words.
[29:04] Jesus, I'm sending you out. Go into a town. Find a house. Go find somebody you can stay with. They're going to go in the house. That's a pretty rough thing too. But it works differently in an Asian or really, I guess, a Middle Eastern culture.
[29:18] You know, if you listen to the guys that we have that are missionaries and they're in a Muslim context, if they go to a town, if Aaron Basher goes to a town in Morocco and he shows up in this town and he's out, even passed out Bibles, one of the families will say, hey, come spend the night with us.
[29:34] And they put him up and they feed him and they take care of him. It was kind of a normal thing. And so when this Jewish leader, this apostle would get to the town, some family would invite him over and they put him up.
[29:44] And he said, if they're a good family and they'll hear the gospel and they'll listen, that's great. Give your blessing to them. And if they don't, they're not worthy. You're going to shake the dust off your feet. Basically, you're going to put a curse on them.
[29:56] Here's some lessons, I think, for you that we can learn. Number one, find a place to do your job. Find a place to do your job. Look at verse 11 if you want to underline this.
[30:06] Abide till you go fence. And he's sending them out to do a work. And you and I are sent out to do a work. Now listen to what I'm fixing to tell you. I really wish you'd listen to this. This is for you as regular church members, as regular people.
[30:19] You're not missionaries. You should find a job you can do in this church and get in it and stay in it. Appreciated or unappreciated, you should just get a job and do the job.
[30:30] Paul said, I spend and I'm spent. And I love and I'm not loved. But, and he told those apostles, go there and stay there. Go in that place until you have to turn away and say, they just won't receive the gospel.
[30:43] That's when they were going to leave. Why don't you underline and abide till you go fence? We don't see fruit from our work immediately. It takes long, faithful work. It's like planting a crop or building a building.
[30:55] You've got to get a ministry, get in, stay in, work, and improve yourself and wait on God. Now, Chuck, Brother Chuck, Deacon Chuck, Chaplain Chuck, was at a funeral at his old church where he grew up and where he got saved.
[31:09] He was at a funeral Saturday. Yesterday he was at a funeral. And he saw a man there that was there when he was a boy. And the guy's still there. He said he was running around church, taking care of things, fixing things, doing stuff in the church.
[31:20] Guy's still doing his job. That's a stinking good testimony. Amen. Find a job. He's sending them out. He's sending them out to witness. He's sending them out to do the ministry. He is sending them out with signs that you don't have.
[31:32] He is sending them out without finances. But that's not even what will work with you. You're not really worried about that. You have a way to pay your bills for your job. But he's sending them out and he's telling them, go find a place to work and stay there till you get it done.
[31:44] Second thing I think I'd challenge you with is, find those that want to hear. Find those that want to hear. Look at verse 12. When you come into a house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come on it.
[31:55] There will be people that will look for your ministry. That's who you work with. Give them all you have and bless them. So find a job. Can I just tell you as a church member, you need to find something to do.
[32:09] What's one of our problems in ministry today is, we don't stick with it. We don't stick with it. You know, you guys have a brand new baby and everything you do is on Facebook.
[32:22] And every move, because it's so exciting. I mean, I've watched, I don't know how many babies go from peanut size to squash size. I mean, one of my friends is doing it right now. Everybody's doing that.
[32:33] But it's amazing. How come they don't put Luke's picture out there every day? Here's Luke. Added another pound. Check him out. Luke's got a new haircut. I mean, sooner or later, you kind of look at it and say, hey, time to stop it with all the pictures.
[32:45] Say amen. You might take pictures, but Luke would probably be like, if you put a picture of me and a squash on the webpage, I will kill you. And tonight, I will sneak up on you and it's over for you.
[32:55] The point is, you know what? Raising kids is very exciting at the beginning. But all the way through it, just to be honest, there's some work involved in it. It's like you put your hand in the plow and do it.
[33:06] You're in the ministry. Starting a church and doing the work for God and doing what God sent you out to do is work. It's work. Some of you are going to work in a missions conference. And some of you are going to end up saying, well, I was going to work in a missions conference but nobody's being thankful to me.
[33:21] And nobody's being real nice to me. And everybody's not treating me real good. And here's the basic lesson here. Hey, go into the town. Find somebody. And find somebody to listen. Do your job. But in verse 14, there comes a time to move on.
[33:34] If they won't listen, they won't hear your words, then you can leave. If they aren't interested, the apostle was to know that he was to move on. He was acknowledging that they would be judged by God.
[33:47] I hear so many people, I don't mean to be rude when I say this, but it's so true. I hear people acting like, I'm going to shake the dust off my feet. Don't ever say that unless you mean that. That's a really bad cuss.
[33:59] It's a really bad curse word. It's like you're saying, there's no hope for you. There was an old evangelist when I was a kid that had children's homes and tried to rescue people. And he was pretty famous and I heard about him all the time.
[34:11] And he used to say, they'd say to him, they'd say, preacher, is there any hope for my kid? He said, has he been dead four days yet? And they'd say, well, he ain't dead yet. He said, well, we know there's hope up to four days.
[34:23] After that, we're not sure. He said, but Lazarus has been dead four days and they raised him to dead. So if he ain't dead yet, I would not give up hope. Amen? Amen. So get in the work. Don't shake the dust off your feet.
[34:34] Don't get mad. Teenagers are a handful working with those children and they won't listen to you. And they're running around. You just don't know what's going to happen. Hang in there and keep working with them.
[34:44] It's not your ministry. But he is. He is the Lord of the harvest. Let me just sum it up with some questions for you. Do you know that God is still calling people out to do his work?
[34:55] Do you know that? Do you realize that this is something bigger than us? Too many people want spectator Christianity. They want to sit in their living room and watch church.
[35:06] They don't even want to go to church. And by the way, don't let anybody ever tell you go be the church. You can't go be the congregation. To be a congregation, you've got to be in the congregation. You've got to get together.
[35:17] So here's the deal. Decide to love God and serve him with all your heart. Find out where you can fit in and where you can make a difference. Everybody in this room ought to be saying, What are my gifts and what are my talents and how can I make a difference?
[35:29] If you can sing, you ought to be singing. You say, well, you know, nobody asked me. I feel like if they really liked me, they'd be asking me a whole lot more. Stop it. Grow up.
[35:40] Quit being a baby. Just do the job. Amen. Amen. You say, I mean, we were today in our sinful state. Betty didn't want to go back to her house.
[35:50] She escaped from her mom because we were staying there now. And so all afternoon we went to our house. It was like a vacation. And so we were at our house and she went by at Costco and signed up.
[36:02] You know, it was supposed to be cheap. And so it cost me a lot for her to get cheap. Amen. And so, but we go by Costco and there's a guy at Costco and he walks over and he said, They find out I'm a preacher.
[36:13] I don't know what Betty told me. My husband's a preacher. So he comes knocking on the window. I'm just sitting in the truck waiting for her to get through. He comes. He says, I'm a singer. Can I come by? Here's my CD. You'd like it. Listen to it. I'll be by. Might be there Thursday night.
[36:24] You going to let me sing, right? I'm just going. I'm like, I'm putting that on Eric. They come and ask me, can I sing? I'm going to say, I don't know. You have to ask Eric. Amen. What are your gifts and talents?
[36:38] Where do you fit in? Follow your heart to love Jesus. God gave you something. Say, you're really good with kids and help with the kids ministry. You're really good with teens. Help. Work where you are.
[36:50] Work among these people. Don't wait till God lets you go to the mission field. Do something for God. Serve him. Prove your work right now here in your family, in your church. Let teaching and preaching make a difference in your life.
[37:03] Work the corner you're in before you ask God to give you a larger room to work in. Can I just stop and tell you, man, I wish we had. I mean, I've always dreamed of preaching to stadium-sized auditoriums with all those people coming as a member of my church.
[37:18] Probably never going to happen. I mean, when we get to 150 sitting here in front of me, I'm like, glory to God. I'm Billy Graham. I just made the big time. 150 people here. Truth is, most of us are never going to do the big stuff.
[37:32] But do what God's given you to do where you are with everything in you. And get involved and do the work of God. Make sure he's your king. Do you love him and serve him?
[37:44] Is your heart's desire to see Jesus magnified in your life, in your family, in your children? Are you sharing what you know with others so that your life can make a difference? Can you see God blessing your efforts?
[37:55] Are you willing to trust God to take care of you as you serve him? I'll give you the last question. Are you working with people? Are you working with people?
[38:06] Maybe as I'm sure some of you think, what a waste on Saturday to go out and tag doors and invite people. But, you know, if somebody got saved, somebody's life got changed, they might think that whoever came by their house, that was a pretty important job.
[38:19] Amen. And somebody that received a gospel tract, somebody that got every job we do is something important. But you're not serving the church. You're not serving to get a title. You're not serving to get somebody to like you.
[38:30] You're serving Jesus. He's your king. So the passage of scripture was about him sending out his people to do the work. And if I had been alive in Jesus' day, I'd have been saying, can't I be one of the 12?
[38:42] Can't I be one of the special ones? Can't I be somebody you use? Can't my life count for more than just making money and raising a family? Can't I do something for you? That's what I'd have been saying.
[38:53] I'm still saying it. And I want God to use me. And I hope you do. And I think maybe you tried somewhere along the way and you kind of got burnt. I think you tried and people didn't love you like you wanted and they didn't treat you like you wanted.
[39:05] But hey, welcome to the club. That's the way it goes. You spend and be spent. You love and you're less loved. Who cares? You're loving Jesus. Amen. You're here to serve him.
[39:16] What are you doing with your life? What are you doing with your life? There's a hundred jobs possible for the missions conference. You should get one. There are a hundred jobs possible with our children's ministry and our teenage ministry.
[39:29] There's things that can be done in Sunday school. There's things that can be done with the mission. There's things that can be done with the music. The choir needs a ton of work. We could have more. There's just a thousand jobs you could do if you wanted.
[39:42] But if you're sitting around waiting on somebody to come ask you, then you're not showing the right kind of initiative. You ought to be more like Isaiah. Here am I, Lord. Send me.
[39:53] And when you get in, get in and stay in. Cost what it may. Receive whatever treatment. Just do something for God.
[40:03] Father in heaven, I love you and I praise you and I thank you for the chance to serve you. I thank you for your people. I thank you for the opportunity that I have to share these last parts of this passage.
[40:14] And I pray, God, it would make a difference in our lives. I pray your people would be hungry to serve you like they never have before. And I will give you praise. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia.
[40:24] For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.