FAITHFUL CHRISTIAN LIVING

2-21-86

Episode Transcript

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Talk tonight on the theme of faithfulor successful Christian living. Maybe there could
be a better title. I justhadn't been able to think of one.
But the thesis of what I'm sayingis that I believe our greatest challenge in
the Christian life is not just tobelieve, but to go on believing and

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believing and believing. And I thinkthat's what God expects of us. Far
from the moment we're saved and becomea part of the body of the Christ,
and again from the moment that weare baptized in the Holy Spirit and
empowered by God. God has aninvestment in us. He has deposited his

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spirit within us in a very specialway, and he expects a return on
his deposit. I want to readthis parable now in Matthew chapter twenty five,
which will to which we will makesome application in a moment. Twenty

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five chapter begins with Jesus speaking parables, and he starts saying, in the
Kingdom of what the Kingdom of Heavenis like, And the first one parable
area is the parable of ten virgins, And down in verse fourteen he says
again it will be like that.It refers, of course, to the
Kingdom of God, or the Kingdomof Heaven. Again it the kingdom of

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Heaven will be like a man goingon a journey who called his servants and
entrusted his property to them. Andto one he gave five talents of money,
to another two talents, and toanother one talent. A talent.
They didn't have coins and talents inthose days. Of talent refers to a

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weight of money about seventy five pounds. If we hit thinking about silver,
that's about nine hundred or if we'rethinking about gold, that's about nine hundred
troy ounces of gold, and goldat at three hundred and fifty dollars an
ounce would be somewhere around thirty thousanddollars equivalent today one talent of money,

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So it's no little sum that thelord is entrusting to his servants. He
gave one five, he gave onetwo, and he gave one one each
according to his ability. Then hewent on his journey. And the man
who had received the five talents wentat once and put his money to work
and gained five more. So alsothe one with the two talents gained two

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more. But the man who hadreceived the one talent went off and dug
a hole in the ground and hidhis master's money. Now, after a
long time, the master of thoseservants returned and settled accounts with them.
The man who had received the fivetalents brought the other five. Master.
He said, you entrusted me withfive talents. See I have gained five

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more. And his master replied,well done, good and faithful servants,
you've been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of
many things. Come and share yourmaster's happiness. The man with the two
talents came and said, Master,you've entrusted me with two talents, and
see I have gained two more.His master replied, well done, good

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and faithful servant, you have beenfaithful with a few things. I will
put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness.
And then the man who had receivedthe one talent came. Master. He
said, knew that you were ahard man, harvesting where you have not
sown, and gathering where you've notscattered seed. So I was afraid and

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went out and hid your in theground. See here is what belongs to
you. His master replied, youwicked, lazy servant. So you knew
that I harvest where I'm not sown, and gathered where scattered seed. Well,
then you should have put my moneyon deposit with the bankers, so
that when I returned, I wouldhave received it back with interest. Take

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the talent from him and give itto the one who has the ten talents,
for everyone who has will be givenmore, and he will have an
abundance, and whoever does not haveeven what he has will be taken from
him. Well, it's obvious fromthis parable what the Lord is saying is

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that he has a right to expecta return, an interest earned on the
deposit that he's placed within us.It's interesting to notice that the unfaithful steward
didn't lose anything. He protected whathe had been given by his master.
He dug a hole in the groundand buried it. But he didn't earn

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anything either. He didn't lose anything, but he didn't earn anything. He
just held on to what had beenentrusted to him and didn't do anything with
it. We could say that hemaintained the status quo, and yet God
called him wicked. Have you everstopped to think that maintaining the status quo

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is a sin? That I thinkswhat God is saying to us that he
expects a return on the deposit ofhis Holy Spirit as it's been deposited in
us, that we are to spenda lifetime earning interest for the one who
has invested in us. In otherwords, his spirit is working in us.

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Is meant to produce a harvest.It's meant to produce fruit. It's
meant to produce a return, eithertwofold or fivefold or whatever, depending on
what talent we had given to usor what amount was given to us.
But God expects a return throughout ourlifetime and translating that over into our Christian

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living and responding in faith to theSpirit of God within us. I want
to suggest tonight that there are threekinds of return that the Lord is looking
for. Our three kinds of faithfulnessthat God goes on looking for throughout our
lifetimes once we have been apprehended byhim. The first kind, or the
first aspect of faithfulness, is thathe looks for an increase or return on

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is our faithfulness in trusting God forprovision, or we could call that miracles
his provision. The second is ourfaithfulness in trusting God for profession, that
is our calling, our job,our career. The first is provision,
the second is profession, and thefirst is provision, are miracles, the

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second is profession, our ministry,are calling. And then the third.
God looks for a return on ourfaithfulness as regards trusting him for progress,
trusting him for provision, trusting himfor profession, trusting him for progress,

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trusting him for miracles, trusting himfor ministry, trusting him for maturity.
I'm giving you a literacy phrases hereto help make the point. Another way
to state it is that God expectsus to not just believe, but to

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go on believing in these three things. What God wants to do for us,
that's in terms of his provision.What God wants to do with us,
that's in terms of our calling orour job or our career, are
our ministry. And thirdly, whatGod wants to do in us in terms

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of bringing us into the fullness ofthe likeness in the stature of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Provision, profession,progress, our miracles, ministry, our
maturity. What God wants to dofor us and with us and in us

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now. For many years I believedin the first two I had, we'd
become open alice, and I hadto the to the miraculous realm. Right
after we were first married, afriend of ours was miraculously healed a woman
who'd been in our weddings as abride'smaid, and her husband had been an

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usher. They were close friends membersof our church, which wasn't the church
that believed in miracles, but anyway, she had a miraculous healing, and
that opened us up to the wholereality of the miracle around. So for
many years I'd believed in the miracles. I'd believed in the calling because out
of that I was led into theministry and the realization that God was alive

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and could perform miracles. But Ididn't have any concept about maturity. And
I want to say something about that, and then we're going to go back
and look at all three of these. I didn't really see the concept of
maturity until I was in the ministryfor quite a while. I was about
twenty years ago now, and Iwas preaching an adult Bible class, teaching
an adult Bible class in the churchI was pastoring in Sharon, Pennsylvania,

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Denominational Church Disciples of Christ or Christianchurch was a matter of fact that congregation
was a federated congregation American Baptist andChristian church. But anyway, I was
teaching this adult Bible class, andI was teaching on Moses leading the children
of Israel, teaching on the exodusfrom Egypt to the Promised Land, teaching

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on the life of Moses. Iwas teaching out in Numbers chapter We'll turn
with me to Numbers chapter twenty.I'll put it that I was teaching on
the life of Moses, and Ifound out not this particular verse, but
this introduced me to it the factthat while God was using Moses to lead
the children of Israel, God wasalso working out his purpose in Moses,

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that he was wanting to bring Mosesto a point of maturity. Because God
was using Moses to lead what willamount to about two and a half million
people. Scripture says there were sixhundred thousand men plus women and children in
the Exodus, So if you'd havewives and allow two children to for family,
that runs about close to two anda half million people right there,

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which was no mean feat for himto lead those folks. But anyway,
I saw that God was also dealingwith Moses. And then in this Numbers,
chapter twenty, I read this accountwhere Moses fell short. Now this
is where he he's got the peoplethat the childrens or were murmurs. They
were always complaining, and they're outthere and out this particular point, and

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they're they're in a desert, andthey're running out of water. And so
it is in the first month,this is chapter twenty of Numbers. The
first month, the whole of Israelitecommunity arrived at the desert of Zin and
they stayed at Kadish. Their Miriamdied and was buried, and now there
was no water for the community.And the people gathered in opposition to Moses
and Aaron, and they quarreled withMoses and said, if only we'd died

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with our brothers, when our brothersfell dead before the Lord, Why did
you bring the Lord's community into thisdesert? We in our lives stock that
we should die here. Why didyou bring us out of Egypt to this
terrible place. It has no grainor figs, or grape vines or palmgranates,
and there's no water to drink.Moses and Aaron went from the assembly
to the entrance to the ten ofmeeting fell face down, and the glory

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of the Lord appeared to them.And the Lord said to Moses, takes
a staff, you and your brotherAaron, and you and your brother Aaron,
gather the assembly together and speak tothat rock before their eyes, and
it will bring forth water. Youwill bring water out of the rock for
the community, so that they andtheir live stock can drink. So Moses

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took the staff from the Lord's presence, just as he had commanded him,
and he and Aaron gathered the assemblytogether in front of the rock. And
Moses said to them, listen,you rebels, must we bring you water
out of this rock. And thenMoses raised his arm and struck the rock
twice with his staff. Water gushedout, and the community and their live

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stock drank. But the Lord saidto Moses and to Aaron, because you
did not trust in me enough tohonor me as holly in the side of
the Israelites, you will not bringthis community into the land that I give
them. And you know what happened. Because of his disobedience. Moses was
allowed to bring the children over toJordan, but not across to Jordan.

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He was allowed to look over andsee the promised land, but he couldn't
enter because of his disobedience. Andyou need to understand the nature of his
disobedience. Out of this passage.The staff that Moses carried from the beginning
of the time that God began todeal with him, that staff represented the
anointing, are the authority of God. Moses had told instructed. God had

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instructed Moses that he was to takethat staff and with it was to liberate
the children of Israel. He wasto hold that staff and plagues would come
forth. He was to throw itdown and would become a snake. And
it was a symbol of God's authority, in God's miraculous power. And here
in this verse eighty'd say God's system. Moses, take the staff, take
the anointing, Take the authority,my anointing, my authority. You and

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your brother gathered the assembly together andholding the staff, speak to the rock.
He wasn't to strike the rock.He was to speak to the rock,
and the rock would pour out itswater. But Moses was fed up
with those grumbling Israelites, and helost his temper, and instead of speaking
to it, he railed at therock. He railed at the Israelites.
Calling them rebels, and then said, must we bring you water out of

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this rock, taking credit for himself, and then taking the rod that symbolized
God's authority in anointing, the staffstruck the rock in anger and struck it
twice. Now God was faithful,and the water came out of the rock.
Incidentally, were told over in inFirst Corinthians, chapter ten, verse

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four, that that rock was Christthat provided the water. So in a
sense, it's like Moses in hisanger struck the very person of God in
anger, misused as it were,his authority and the anointing, and struck
the rock and anger. And nowthe rock provided water anyway, and the
people were blessed and their needs weremet. But Moses failed to test in

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personal maturity. Moses knew the miraclesof God, he knew the provision of
God. Moses knew his ministry,his calling. But where he failed was
in the question of maturity and childishimmature. Angered, he railed at those

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children of Israel, and with thatanger, misused the authority in the anointing
of and struck the rock and anger. Now God's miraculous provision was there anyway.
I was telling some of the folkslast night and mentioned it to Ray
that I've just finished a book whichis off to the publishers, will be

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out the end of July, andit has to do. It's a rewrite
of a book I did many yearsago called True and False Prophets, and
it's coming out in a new formcalled Lead Us Not into Temptation. But
part of it deals with how Christianleaders, especially are able to abuse our
misused the authority and the power ofGod, but as they themselves can fall
into sin and immorality and heresy anddo all kinds of things out of a

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right motive. But the miracles arestill real. God's commitment to us to
have our needs met is so greatthat he will allow even a misuse of
his authority and of his power andhis anointing in order that people's needs may
be met. And this is whathappened here. He was interested in meeting
the needs of the Israelite community,and so water came out of that rock,

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even though the way Moses did itwas in rebellion to the plan and
purpose of God. He struck therock in anger. Wasn't supposed to strike
it at all, was supposed merelyto speak to it. So Moses knew
the miracles and the ministry, buthe failed the maturity tests. I don't
say this to complain about Moses.He was a great man of God.
All I'm saying is that all threethings are important. Ministry is important.

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I mean, miracles are important.Ministry is important. But I believe and
the thing I'm want to share tonightis that I believe that maturity is the
most important, because that's the thingGod is basically after, is to have
us grow up in Jesus Christ.When Minister who spoke of this very problem,
he talked about the eternal childhood ofthe believer, there's a sense in

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which that's where lots of Christians are. We remain there are We get involved
with the things of God, andwe come to appreciate his provision, his
miracles, and we get involved inministry and helping other people with that way,
but we never really grow up.And there are too many immature believers,
too many immature leaders in the bodyof Christ today. It's one of
the reasons why the Kingdom doesn't comemore quickly and why God's purposes in the

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earth are not more quickly accomplished.Okay, now we want to take some
time just to look at each oneof these three with a real emphasis.
Well, there's an emphasis on thesecond and the third. I'm going to
be sharing some things with you.On the second that I about our calling,
which I believe may serve as akind of liberating word for some of

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you. First, what is itthat God wants to do for us?
What God wants to do for usis to understand this provision. He wants
to do the miracles these are.This is God's grace at work in us.
I gree with brother and Harold Bredeson, who was a man who prayed
for Alice and me many years agowhen we got the baptism and the only
spirit way back in nineteen fifty two. That makes us pre charismatics because the

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charismatic renewal didn't start till nineteen sixty, so we were pre Pentecostal charismatics or
something. But anyway, Harold saidGod showed him one time in a vision
or spoke to him in a timeof prayer, said that God revealed it
what God. What grieves God mostis not the sins of the sinners,

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but the satisfiedness of the saints.We are satisfied with so little of Him,
so satisfied with so little of whatGod makes available to us. Our
vision is so small, our comprehensionof God's grace is so limited. We
settle for so little. So manyChristians, so called Christians in the body

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Christ, don't even believe that Godmoves in behalf of people to day beyond
saving souls. I mean, youcan make a confession of faith, and
if there is anything to the Christianlife, then that'll give you a life
insurance policy to get you in heavenwhen you die. I gwent to a
Bible college in seminary. It waslike that denomination of Bible college in seminary.
I had a professor of sociology,was a brilliant man, graduate of

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Yale University, had been a Nationvie chaplain in World War Two, came
back teaching sociology, and I couldtell I was had a class with him,
and I could tell by the wayhe's talking that he didn't have much
understanding or believe, you know,in the power of God. And I
was young, zealous preacher who alreadybelieved in the gifts and healing so forth
life that and I was sort ofa square pegging around whole all the time
I was in Bible College, becauseI was always arguing with my professors.

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But anyway, this professor was makingsome kind of sarcastic remarks one day about
certain things in the scriptures. SoI went up to him afterwards the class
was over, and I said,prof can I take it from what you're
saying about the scriptures and the promisesof God and so forth, that you
really don't believe that God. Youdon't seem to believe that God. Here's
her answers prayer today. He says, you're absolutely right, And I said,

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well why not? I was reallyupset. And he said, I
don't believe in miracles of because nothinghas ever happened in my life or in
the life of any other believer thatI know, that would indicate that God
ever intervenes in this human life.Boy, I was hot. I said,
well, it's a good thing you'reteaching and not preaching them. And
then I realized it was probably worsethat he was teaching, because he was

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teaching young ministers and infecting with thatkind of skepticism, so many people,
so satisfied with so little. Ican understand how it grieves the heart of
God. How parents' hearts would begrieved if their children didn't expect anything more
from them than just the barest ofessentials in order to stay alive. Never

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any love, Never any lavish gifts, never any extra boons or benefits to
come out of their love for thechildren. The children just expect the parents,
Well, if you'll just give mea crust of bread to eat and
a roof over my head, Iknow that's all I can expect from being
a member of the family. Buthow many children of God are like that?

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Are there just in our church andsome other In the church I was
first ordained in. Now there someof the ministers just deliberately determined to keep
their people from believing in the miraculous. I don't have time to want to
take time tonight to going to detailthat I'd get to letting off too much
steam if I did it. Anyway, I've been out of that rat race

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for about twenty years, and Istill warm up when I think about because
I realize that in my denomination,the Christian Church of Disciples of Christ,
I was ordained in about two millionpeople around the world, and that denomination
there used to be million and ahalf denied by their own leadership any provision

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from God other than the minimum forgivenessof sins and a promise to eternal life.
Of course, that's the most important, and that's the initial thing.
They believe that miracles happened way backtheir New Testament time, and if they
believe in the coming of Christ,they believe that when the Kingdom comes,
there'll be miracles again, miracles wayback then, miracles wire in the future.

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But today forget it. Well,no wonder. The heart of God
is greed. I was six yearsin Bible college and seminary, and no
one ever told me that in thescriptures that the word for salvation in the
Greek, which is the Greek wordsozo, the word for salvation in the

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Greek literally means wholeness. It's theword Jesus said to the blind men,
be thou made hold. He said, be thou saved, literally in the
Greek. So the very word salvationindicates is derek princess. The term salvation
indicates all that was wrought for usby Jesus Christ on the cross, like

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in Philippians four nineteen, My God, she'll supply every need of yours according
to His riches in grace by ChristJesus. That means not only the saving
our souls. It means healing,It means provision, it means deliverance,
means everything in the terms of thenatural and the supernatural that God has promised
in his word which would give usthe abundant life. Salvation includes all that

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Jesus Christ wrought for us on theCross. And I could keep you here
all night talking about our own experience, as family's experiences, personal experience of
how God, how God miraculously repeatedlyin our lives, has made miraculous provision
and has done it with such timingthat he makes it absolutely certain that we
will understand that it's Him and thatit's just not coincidence. And I thank

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God we're beginning to see again aresurgence of the miraculous within our own ranks.
First thing God looks for a returnupon the deposit that He has made
in us is that we will notjust believe, that we will go on
believing and experiencing his miraculous provision.Secondly, we talked about what God wants

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to do with us, what Godwants to do for us is the miracles.
What God wants to do with ushas to do with ministry, our
calling, our profession. Now,most of us begin our Christian experience out
of a preoccupation with blessings. That'sbecause we come to the Lord out of
our need. We come out ofa sense of conviction that there's something missing,

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or we hear of the most ofus do not. Everybody has a
dramatic conversion, and I don't.I think ideally, maybe our children ought
to grow up not ever remembering atime when they didn't know the Lord Jesus
Christ. They might know a timebefore they made a professional commitment to that
effect. But I believe essentially ourfive children grew up pretty well knowing that

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they grew up in the grace ofGod in our family. There came a
time when they would make a publicprofession, but I don't believe they ever
knew a time when they felt thatthey were outside the family of God.
I think that's the way it oughtto be. But anyway, most of
us will come in some way outof some sense of need, or we'll
come in out of a preoccupation withblessings. And many many a person has

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come out of sickness or out ofsome sort of crisis in his life,
or becomes awareness aware even children thatthey were sinners. I had to say
I gained this awareness as a childsitting in the Baptist church where my parents
were members, and the day camewhen listening to the preaching of the Word
of God, I came under convictionand knew that even though my family was

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a Christian family, that I neededa personal relationship to Christ. But anyway,
we're talking about this second thing thatGod wants us to know what it
is that he wants to do withus in terms of ministry. So the
time has to come when we getbeyond our preoccupation with what He does for
us in order to begin to understandwhat He wants to do with us,

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and that God not only saves usfrom something, but he saves us for
something. And that means that He'scalled all us for a purpose. He
wants to do more than just tobless us for blessing sakes. He wants
to bless us in order that wecan bless others. Now, God will

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run over Brother Rufus Moseley. Hewas such a great old saint and a
good friend of ours had a tremendousinfluence on our lives when we were first
in the things of God. Rufusused to say, if you bring God
a thimble, he'll feel that.God'll feel up whatever kind of vessel you
offer him. If you bring acup, he'll feel that. If you
bring a bucket, he'll feel that. If you bring a barrel, he'll

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feel that. But there's something betterthan just getting your bucketful. There's something
God wants more than that. Hewants you to kick the bottom out of
the bucket, and then the bucketbecomes a channel or a pipe. And
a bucket will only hold so muchof liquid or whatever flows through it.
You can only feel a bucket sofull. But if you kick the bottom
out of it, you had enoughtime you could pour the whole Atlantic Ocean
through it. And that's the kindof provision God. Because so God wants

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us not only to be people withbuckets to receive his blessing, but he
wants us to become channels are instrumentsof his blessing to the rest of the
world. God uses people to helppeople, and there's never a person yet
that's responded to the Gospel of JesusChrist, who didn't have to hear it
from somebody else who had responded tothe Gospel. But I want to say

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something about I want to try topresent something about the concept of ministry to
night that may help some of you. I think we have been guilty of
a stereotyped understanding of what ministry isquote that means preaching the Word are quote
winning souls are being a preacher ora missionary or a Bible teacher. So

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we're now I thank God for mycalling. I'm glad I'm a teacher in
the body of Christ. I believethe scripture says those who labor in the
Word are worthy of double honor.I know God puts a high priority on
the preaching of the Word, butI think we need, the whole body
of Christ needs to come to anunderstanding that every calling, every job,
every profession is sacred in God's sideif it is formed to the glory of

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God. Not everybody can become aBible teacher, not everybody can become a
missionary. Not everybody can become apulpit man, or an art or,
or even a church administrator involved inwhat we call quote full time unquote ministry.
And I think the Kingdom of Godand the Body of Christ has suffered
because we have regulated are made somany other honorable professions as second rate because

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they don't put quote professional ministry first. I want to tell you that every
calling, every job is sacred ifit's performed to God's glory. The Bible
makes this clear that not everybody's calledto be a full time religious professional.
In the Old Testament, only oneof them. It was only the tribe
of Levi that was called to theattention and the duties of the temple and

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taking care of the sacred things andinterpreting God's law the priesthood. The Lamitical
tribe was the only one that wascalled to do that, and they were
supported by the ties and offerings inthe provision of all the other eleven tribes
whose people were engaged in all kindsof professions. Let me tell you ask
you this question. If everybody whowas a professional preacher or Bible teacher,

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who's going to earn the money topay the ties to support the ministry money.
God doesn't have money grow on trees. God, God provides for ministry.
God provides in the world for peoplewho work many of them work with
their hands or work with their mindsor their brains. I want to tell
you the Kingdom of God does notmerely consists of religious professionals. God needs

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taxi drivers and musicians and housewives andfarmers and airline pilots and carpenters and executives
and computer programmers and politicians and publicservants and teachers and plumbers and engineers and
electricians and garbage collectors and TV repairmentand waitresses and cooks, and every one
of them can perform their job ortheir profession to the glory of God.

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And they can all pray and witnessout of the environment in which they're in.
They can be full time Christians inwhat they're doing, and yet earn
their living with their hands or theirbrains. Paul wasn't out of the will
of God when he took time outand made tents along with Priscilla and Aquilla.
They were tent makers for a while. He wasn't any less a godly

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man because at a while he providedfor himself with it, made money for
himself with his hands. And therewere times when he told people that he
was writing to his letters. Hesaid so the time he said, I
deliberately worked with my hands so Iwouldn't take anything from you. You see,
God created a balanced world and society, and society is built upon us
serving one another. I got tothinking one day I was in the Chicago

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airport some years ago, waiting tocatch a plane. That was such a
busy place and so much going on, I additioned to just the people who
were flying. But I stopped andI was sitting there in a chair waiting
catch my flight at one of thegates, and I begin to think of
all of the people that were involvedin making it possible for me to get
on the airplane and go somewhere toteach or preach the word to go.
Not just the pilots are the crewor the stewardesses, and the mechanics and

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the copile and so forth, butall of the people that were involved in
services that made that possible for me. The people that built the airplane,
the people that service the airplane,the people who sell the tickets, the
people who print the tickets, thepeople who built the terminal, the people
who keep the terminal cleaned, thepeople who serve the restaurants and clean the
restrooms, and sweep the floors,hundreds of thousands of people involved in their

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own jobs, making their own limits. But it made it possible for me.
Are you to get on an airplaneand go someplace? For me to
get on a plane and go somewhereand share the gospel? And what they're
doing, if it's done to theglory of God, is just as sacred
in God's side. It's what I'mdoing. They helped make that possible.
People say, well, does Godreally need politicians and you know, public

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servants, elected service government. Sim sure he does. We talk about
the Kingdom of God. The termkingdom implies government. God needs people in
government. God needs politicians. Godneeds Christians to run for office and get
elected. And sir, good Godknows this government needs Christians. Some of
us were Bob and Charles and Iwere up at Charles Simpson, Derrek Princeton,

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I were, I mean, BobMumford, Charles Simpson and myself were
at the National Religious Broadcasters in Washington, DC. Recently. We had a
booth for our new Wine magazine thereand it happened to coincide with the We
were there at the time of theday that the President gave it the State
of Union message, and it hadbeen delayed a week because of the shuttle

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disaster. Well, the night thatthe State of the unionion message was to
be delivered, Charles and Bob andI were having dinner together with Congressman Mark
sil Gender from who was a charismaticChristian congressman from Michigan and personal friend who
was in one of our covenant churchesthere, out of one of our covenant
churches, and he took us overand we had dinner together in the House

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of Representatives dining room in the CapitolBuilding, and then walked out in the
Capitol Building and we're standing in therotunda, the big Capitol rotunda under the
dome, as the Congressman and sentatorsothers begin to get come by there,
and then the smaller rotunda over toone side. They'd already put up all
of the TV cameras and had everythingalready for the Congressman and the senators who

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were going to be interviewed and makecomments on the president's speech after. But
we were standing there in the rotundajust as everything was getting ready for that
big event, and there were guardsand policemen by the hundreds all over the
place. But Mark hill Jenner wastelling us a little bit about his own
ministry there and the capital. Hesaid, when I first came here three
terms ago, he said, therewere six of us. I found six
other congressmen who would pray with mefor the Kingdom of God to come to

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this city and that God's will tobe done. He said my second term,
there were twelve. Now there's seventeenof us congressman who get together and
pray and fast regularly. That God'swill we've done, and we come against
the satanic forces that are interfering withthe work of congressman is there. And
he said, if I keep ongetting elected, we're looking part of the
time, we'll have at least sixtyChristian congressman who'll be doing this. And

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we were standing there in the rotundant. He was talking about how they when
they would come and pray in thatrotunda, just sit around on the benches
at times, not saying anything,but would come and pray together. And
they also have an office they goand pray with once or twice a week.
Early in the morning. They gettogether. He said, we bind
the demonic forces over this city.And he said, sometimes when we're sitting
in this rotunda. It's like wecan see the demons flitting around in the

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capital dome. He said, We'reaware of the tremendous principalities and powers that
are here, and it's a realchallenge to serve God in this way.
Do we need politicians and elected officialsthat are Christian in government? You better
believe it. We need And ifGod has his way, someday we're going
to have a We're going to havea Christian Congress in this nation, and

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that'll be a part of the triumphof the Kingdom of God on earth.
That's not going to come because that'snot going to come about as a result
of people training for the ministry.Quote unquote, I think God marks Hilgender
never went to a seminary. Goddidn't call him from that. But God
has called him to a high andholy calling as a congressman in the United
States government, and God's calling alot of other men. And that's a

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sacred profession in the eyes of God. And it's not just men who are
in high places like that that areserving God. People of the lowest professions
serve God. The guy who pushesthe broom across the airport terminal is the
janitor who cleans his church as aservant of the Most High God. Our
problem is that in our teaching andpreaching, so often we tend not to

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put those professions down or those jobsdown, but we just don't consider them
as significant in the Kingdom of God. But in the Kingdom of God,
it takes everybody. Nobody is secondrate. The unfortunate thing is many of
us think we're second rate because we'renot preaching or teaching. And sometimes ministers,
in the words that they say andthey preach, people get the idea

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that somehow that what they're doing housewife, mother, bus driver, secretary,
clerk, janitor, that somehow they'renot serving God, or at least that
kind of job doesn't really glorify God. That's the lack of vision. It's

(36:29):
a lack of understanding of the naturethe Kingdom of God. It's a lack
of understanding what he is to serveGod. There are in the Kingdom of
God. There are no quote secularprofessions. Everything is done. Paul says,
that's whatever you do, do allto the glory of God. Remember
years ago hearing the story about SirChristopher Wren, who is a great English
architect built some of the great cathedrals. Very They went out to a building

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site one day and was just walkingaround unknown while the working came to these
guys digging a ditch, and hestopped and was watching. They looked up
and he said, what are youdoing. One of'em says, I'm
shoveling dirt, went on shoveling.The other one said, he said,
no, what are you doing?He says, I'm digging a hole.
And he asked a third one,He says, what are you doing.

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The guy looked up with a beaming, smiling face. He said, I'm
helping Sir Christopher Wren build a greatcathedral. That he had a vision for
what he was doing, even thoughall he was doing was moving dirt.
Well, every one of us oughtto be able to take pride in what
we're doing and say I'm helping bringthe Kingdom of God to earth. One
time, some years ago, Aliceand I were returning back down to Florida

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and driving across Florida returning from ministrysomewhere, and we pulled off of the
Interstate I seventy five. I guessit is goes down the let's say we
lived in South Florida at that timeand Fort Lauderdale, and we turned got
off the turn off of the turnpikessays at Sunshine Parkway or Interstate, and
drove in this little town to getsupper. It was getting late on the
afternoon. I remember them, thetown, everything else. All I remember.

(37:59):
We got off the turnpike just orthe parkway just a mile or two
and we came on this little dinerat the edge of town and we just
pulled in there to get a bite, he to get a hamburger or something.
And I believe God brought us inthere, because we pulled up and
got out and went in setting thisdiner just a little place literally like a
diner used to make from a traincar, that sort of thing. And
there's just some stools at the counterand a few boots down one side,

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and the thing was open so thatyou could see the owner and the chef
who was behind the you know,back there in the kitchen with his where
he fried his hamburger and everything.All that was open and you could see
him and he was If we eversaw a man who was doing what God
had called him to do, itwas that fry cook in that diner.

(38:42):
He was also the owner, butit was also open so that you could
actually see when he was trying tohamburgers and so and I tell you to
watch him was to what he hadsuch grace on him as he worked there
in the kitchen. That would belike a great symphony conductor. The way
he would slap the the meet pattieson the fire and flatten them with a
spatul and wade, flip him andturn them the wade, spread the buns

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and put on the pickles and themustard and everything else, caring and carrying
on a happy conversation with people inthe diner all the time. It was
literally like watching a symphony conductor conducta symphony. To see it was like
poetry in motion. To watch him. He never missed the trick. And
he knew people enjoyed watching him dowhat he was doing. And he was
that little guy was frying hamburgers tothe glory of God. And he knew

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that he was blessing people and whathe was doing, and people enjoyed not
only watching him fix them, weenjoyed eating them because they were good hamburgers.
It was really almost a worship experienceto sit there in a booth and
watch that man do what he did, and Alison I left. I came
out of that Hamburger joint thinking howmany people I knew that I wish could

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come and see that man do whathe was doing, People who are dissatisfied
and blue and disgruntled because they thinkwhat they're doing doesn't count anyth For the
Kingdom of God, every task,if it's done to the glory of God,

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is sacred. Some of you mayhave read the classic little devotion booklet
written way back hundreds of years ago, called the Practice of the Presence of
God by medium a monk called BrotherLawrence, And the book has become a
classic in literature. Just a littlebooklet, but it's it's lived on for
hundreds and hundreds of years. AndBrother Lawrence was a monk and a Catholic

(40:34):
Roman Catholic monastery who would not havebeen remembered to history had he not written
this little classic which has come downthrough the centuries and blessed generation after generation
of Christians. And he tells aboutthat how he developed this devotion to God.
Of course, in those months inthose monasteries are in a cloistered life.
They were supposed to spend their timejust staying in the presence of God

(40:55):
and praying and worship and writing manuscriptsand this, copying manuscripts and this or
but they had to take their turnsdoing kp that is the kitchen duty and
washing the pots and pans. Andthat's the one thing that brother Lawrence hated
more annything else. He hated kitchenduty. He hated those Greeks the kitchen
sink. And he did as theyears went on, and he would worship

(41:17):
and praise God. He said hefound more of the glory in the presence
of God, washing the pots andpans, and in anything else he did
in his Christian life. He said, the time came when it was an
interruption of my worship to leave thekitchen sink and go to Mass to hear
the mask a man who found Godin the most menial of tasks and who

(41:40):
could do it to the glory ofGod. I think that's what God's longing
to discover in us, a returnon the deposit he makes in us in
terms of our ministry or our calling. Thank God for every religious professional,
Thank God, I thank God formy call. But I thank God for
the thousands of people who are involvedin things that bless my life and make

(42:02):
my life easier, and they doit to the glory of God. All
right, What God wants to dofor us? What God wants to do
with us? The third one,in some ways the most important, maybe
what God wants to do in us, which is to bring us to maturity.
Sometimes, in order to accomplish this, God has to change some other

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things he's doing. Time comes whenif we become too preoccupied with His blessings
and too preoccupied with a successful ministry. God may shut those things down for
a while, But if they standin the way of maturity, he may
put us into situations that are verydifficult for a while in order to work
something in us that cannot be workedif everything is going well. I used

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to think some years ago, whenpeople say what do you believe? What
do you believe it is to bemature in Christ? And I thought for
a while, I thought, well, to beat mature in Christ would mean
that I would finally have enough faiththat I could meet every situation with a
miracle. I could pray with enoughfaith in God and answer so well.
That was a very there's nothing wrongwith that except as just immature. It's

(43:19):
a very nice idea, but doesn'twork because there's some things God cannot accomplish
in us with a miracle. There'ssome things that will never be accomplished in
us if we can always get amiracle. Sometimes miracles would prevent what God
wants to accomplish in us, becausewhat God wants to our growing up in
Christ and becoming christ Like is somethingmore than just blessing and calling. I'm

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indebted to Charles Simpson for this definitionof maturity. There are many definitions that
would be adequate, but I likethis one. Charles is. To be
mature is to be able to actredemptively in every situation. To be maturer
is to be able to act redemptivelyin every situation. I like that,

(44:09):
and that means if you take thathonestly, God's going to seek to it
that you're in a lot of situationswhere you're going to have the opportunity to
act redemptively. To be maturer courseis to become christ Like, to grow
up in Jesus Christ, and thatmeans that we're going to have to go

(44:30):
through some of the same sort ofthings that he went through. It's so
much easier to believe that as God'swill for us to have good things happen,
than it is God's will for usto have to endure things that aren't
good and unpleasant. But to becomechrist Like, to be mature, is
that we're going to have to besubject to the discipline that God, with
which God disciplines his sons and daughters. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter twelve,

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the fourth through the eleventh verses.You're not gonna like this, but
I'm going to read it anyway.Hebrews Chapter twelve, beginning with verse four.
We're talking about becoming mature and becomingchrist Like. In your struggle against
sin. You have not yet resistedto the point of shedding your blood.

(45:15):
And have you forgotten that word ofencouragement that addresses you as sons? My
son, do not make light ofthe Lord's discipline, and do not lose
heart when he rebukes you, becausethe Lord disciplines those he loves and punishes
every one he accepts as a son. Or we could add a course as
a daughter endure hardship as discipline.God is treating you as sons for what

(45:39):
son is not disciplined by his father. If you are not disciplined, and
everyone undergoes discipline, then you areillegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover,
we have all had human fathers whodisciplined us, and we respected them
for it. How much more shouldwe submit to the father of our spirits
and live. Our fathers disciplined usfor a little while as they thought best.

(46:02):
But God disciplines us for our goodthat we may share in His holiness.
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful later on. However,
it produces a harvest of righteousness andpeace for those who have been trained

(46:22):
by it. To be mature orto grow up in Jesus Christ means that
we have to endure certain things.Certain things have to be worked in us
that can only be worked through hardship, or through stress, or through crisis.
We love the spiritual mountain peaks wherewonderful things happened. But let me

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tell you something, brothers and sisters, we don't grow on spiritual mountain peaks.
Growth comes in the valleys between themountain peaks, and you can't have
mountain peaks without valleys in between.Now, one of the reasons why we
don't like to talk about maturity orits sometimes even difficult seems difficulty teach about

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is because there is nothing dramatic aboutmaturity. There's nothing spectacular about maturity.
Maturity can't be achieved over night orover the week end, or over a
month, or over a semester,or over six months or over a year.
Maturity comes through a lifetime of believingand believing and going on believing and

(47:29):
going on being obedient. Maturity meansChrist's character being formed in us. When
the blessings and the miracles and thegifts of God come, they represent God's
supernatural intervention to our lives. Theyreflect God's miraculous nature. But Christ's character
being formed in us it means thefruit of the spirit which is being developed
in our lives. And fruit takestime to produce. Gifts can and blessings

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can appear instantly and miraculously, butyou can't make fruit appear instant. Fruit
is something that comes when Christ's characterbegins to be formed in us. And
we've got so many immature Christians whocan talk to talk, but who can't
walk the wall that he can talkabout maturity and talk about the things of

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God. They're they're like the peopleJesus talked about in the parable of the
sore of the seed. How someseed fall on the path and the birds
eat it. Some seed falls onthorny, on the rocky ground, rocky
soil, and it springs up ameat and grows. But then it withers
and parishes for lack of root,that is, it can't put down roots

(48:36):
in the rocky song. And soit looks good for a little while.
But when the heat comes and thedraft comes, then it'll wither because it
hasn't taken any root. They're Christianslike that, who look good immediately.
They're charismatic Christians come in and getblessed by God and begin to do all
kinds of wonderful things. But thenit's amazes me and disturbs and concerns me.
How a few years later, somany people that you used to hear

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so much about suddenly have disappeared.They didn't have the root, they didn't
have the stamina, they didn't havewhat it took to become mature. Maturity
doesn't come in an instant. Wecan't be prayed into it, we can't
be delivered into it. We can'tbe blessed into it. It takes faithful,
day by day sewing and living andtrusting God. You can't produce,

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you know, a family overnight,or you can give birth to kids in
an instant, but that's not thehard part. The hardest part in rearing
a family is not growing them,is not giving birth to them. It's
growing them up. Some of youmay have heard this TV tape of Bill
Cosby's when he talks about his familyand have trouble with his kids, and

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he tells his wife one day hesaid, he said, I didn't win
for us to have to go allthis. He said, well, I
just want to have kids and didn'thave him grow up and go to college.
Well, it'd be nice if youcould skip all of that's in between,
you see, But you can becauseGod has made us responsible to bring
our kids up to maturity, toadultero. And that takes time, but
it's a wonderful thing when you seeit work. I was teaching in a

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conference out in Saint Louis one time. I used to teach a lot on
the family, as your own pastorand others have done. I was teaching
in this conference on summer Alice andI were there with Glenn and Lisa and
Laura, three youngest children's for anyof them were married. And the conference
ground was in a in a placethat was about as hot as I've ever
been. It was a real hotJuly anyway, and this conference to grown

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was kind of down in a bowlwith hills ringed around where no real air
could get in there. Fortunately theyhad given us be being the teacher,
they had given us a room andin a home that was air that was
air conditioned. But the conference peopledidn't have facilities life. They were sleeping
in little cabins, dormitories didn't havethat. In the meeting place where you
met was in an outdoor tabernacle,and it was hot even in the morning

(50:49):
when you'd teach, or the afternoonevening, and the and the dining room
there wasn't any air conditioning. You'dget your meal through this cafeteria line and
you'd sit out on these under kindof a roof that was in but there
wasn't any air condition It was atime that it tried a lot of these
Christian families, a lot of themcome a long ways for that conference.
But just the heat and the frustrationof not being able to get away from
that with you know, you'd hearparents yell at their kids and kids squealing,

(51:14):
all that kind of stuff. Well, I was teaching on the family
and the guy came up to meone day and said, uh, A,
very frank, it's kind of thingthat you need to hear once in
a while. He said, youknow, uh, I wasn't too impressed.
I've been too impressed on your teachingabout the family, he said.
I kept saying him and said,yeah, he's got kids, but what
are they really like? You know, Well, he'd seen our three of

(51:36):
our kids there, Glenn and LEAsand Lauren, and one particular meal they'd
gone to lunch when Alice and Ididn't go. But he said, the
thing that this fell I'd seen andthis is what impressed him. He says,
I wasn't too impressed with your teachinguntil they said, I saw your
kids while you and your wife weren'taround, And he said the other day
they were sitting in the came intothe lunch room, the three of'em,
and got their lunch together, andthey were sitting at the table and

(51:57):
he said, I thought to myself, Yeah, how are they going to
act when their parents it's aught around. And he said, the thing that
was amazing, He said, Ilisten to your son say something like I've
got to go. I want togo get another glass of water. He
said, both your daughters jumped upand said, let me get it for
you, and they even kind ofargued between one another about which one would
go get your son and glass ofwater. And he said, the way
the respect they had for each other, the respect your daughters had for your

(52:21):
son, said more to me aboutyour teaching on family than anything particularly that
you taught. I thought, God, thank God he didn't see him like
they act sometimes. But I thinkyou see the point I'm making. We

(52:42):
have already been blessed with our family. We were in five beautiful children.
They're all married, say baptizing spirit, all married Christian spouses or baptizing spirit.
We have eleven grandchildren, two moreon the way. Feel more like
Abraham every day. But we areextreme even be grateful to God. But
you know, people say, howdid you work then? How did you

(53:04):
manage for all your kids turn outthat way? Well, we really didn't.
All we did was live it outa day at a time and tried
to put into our kids what webelieved, what we felt was important.
Tried to demonstrate our love for eachother and our love for them, and
to teach them the love of God. And we did it just on a
day by day basis, and wewent through certain crises, we went through

(53:27):
certain difficult times. Our kids werenot perfect. We're not perfect. But
the amazing thing was, suddenly theday came when they were grown and we
saw in the recent years we haveseen the fruit of what God deposited in
us years ago. So God wantsus, as I said in the beginning,

(53:53):
God, when we were saved andbaptized with the spirit, deposited something
in us. He deposited spirit withinus, and he yearns far, looks
for, watches, far, waitsfor a return on what he deposited.

(54:13):
He wants it returned with interest.He wants to us to be faithful,
to trust him for miracles, whathe can do for us. He wants
us to go all through life faithful, to trust him for ministry, what
he can do with us. Butmost of all, he wants us to
go all the way through life beingfaithful, to trust him for maturity,

(54:37):
what he can do in us inorder that we may all grow up into
the fullness on the stature of ourLord Jesus Christ. Final scripture Paul tells
us how first Thessalonians five verses twentythree and twenty four, may God himself,
the God of Peace, sanctify youthrough and through, and may your

(54:59):
whole spirit, soul and body bekept blameless at the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And then the lastsentence tells us how it's possible. The
one who calls you is faithful andhe will do it. Amen. Amen,