[Darris McNeely] I have a question for you this morning as we begin, a very simple question. You can write down the answer on your page, or just keep a mental note, or you can just ignore the question. But I don't want you to ignore the question, please engage, participate, nod, stand up, walk out, whatever signals your involvement here. Here's the question. Are you in the true Church of God? Are you in the true Church of God?

I know we got out of our cars here his morning, we turned and came down to this side of the parking lot. Rather than to all the other music was going, and to the other… our congregation having their service here this morning. We know where we are to go. We know where we are to assemble. We know why we are here. But as we are here, are you in the true church of God? Yes, no, or I guess I'll give you a third option, you don't know. You could put that one down as well.

Why would you say yes? Why would you say no? The why behind your answer is as important as the answer you may have formulated already in your mind. We'll come back to that question. But let's talk about the day of Pentecost for a moment. This is a festival of God as I said. It kind of falls right in the center of everything. We've had two Holy Days before. We will have four more after this. But it's kind of in the center in one sense. It looks back where this festival begins, actually, the count towards it begins during the Days of Unleavened Bread. And as my son was bringing out his message yesterday, we really can't get here without going through the Days of Unleavened Bread.

Then we point then toward the greater fall harvest of the Holy Days as they are pictured by Trumpets, Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, and the Eighth Day. In Leviticus 23, we find where all of the Holy Days were mentioned, and we find the reference to this particular day, which gives us even the symbolism that is important. Let's just read this one. Verse 15, it begins, "You shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed."

This is the Sabbath that falls within the Days of Unleavened Bread, and the count begins from the morning after that Sabbath and we count seven weeks, 49 days. And then we count the 50th day which is today after the seventh Sabbath, the seventh complete week. And then we are to “offer a new grain offering to the Lord. You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves and two-tenths of an ephah. And they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord."

Two loaves of bread that are called firstfruits as an offering that was to have been made under the system of the priesthood, and the tabernacle as they came to this day. It came as it was designed at the end of an early harvest that began with that wave sheaf offering, nothing technically could be harvested until that wave sheaf offering was made before God.

And then there's a small early harvest which comes to completion about this time with the day of Pentecost. And the grain from that harvest makes up these two loaves that are important in their symbolism for the nation of Israel, and then for the New Testament church. And so we've come to this point as we are gathered here. It gives us, as I said, the name or the symbolism of firstfruits here within this. Firstfruits are very, very important. There's a lot that is mentioned throughout Scripture, the Old Testament especially, and the New Testament regarding the firstfruits.

We can look at several scriptures just to quickly be reminded of just how important this was. First of all, under the Old Testament system that God gave to Israel, He said that the firstfruits of the harvest of everything belonged to Him. They were the firstfruits of the land. In Exodus 23:19, it says, "The first of the firstfruits of your land you will bring to the house of the Lord your God." And these would be the firstfruits of grain, of wine, and of the oil: the basic commodities of the life of that time and still quite important to us today. We've become a foodie generation.

And as we know if we go to Jungle Jim's or Trader Joes, or some other type of, you know, upscale market, all kinds of oils, and wines, and grains, and foods that are touted to be the finest are available for us to buy. Should we choose to put out the extra money to make us feel good and whatever it might be, and it may not be any better than Aldi’s. But we feel good about ourselves if we do that, right?

But it's the basic stuff of life, and God says “The first of that comes to Me. The first of the firstfruits comes to Me." So they belong to God, number one. Number two, they were to be the best. They were to be the best. And the firstfruits, again, would be the best. Again, going back, if you know anything about olive oil, they say the first pressing of the olive oil is what is the finest. And if you can afford that, you want to buy a bottle of first press. It's better than anything else that comes. And that makes sense. As the harvest of fruit or grain or other fruits come in, the first is going to be the finest of the season. But God says the firstfruits were the best of the best. And he said, "You bring that best to Me."

In Numbers 18:12, we're very close by, we can read that, Numbers 18:12. He said, "All the best of the oil, all the best of the new wine and the grain, their firstfruits which they offer to the Lord, I have given them to you." I may have turned a little bit quicker than some of you got there. I'm not like Mr. Britt. I didn't cheat by having it open there. But the best, the firstfruits were the best of these matters.

Now within this system, God said of His nation Israel, they are a firstfruit. In Jeremiah 2, God calls it the nation that he called, and chose, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And He had called out of Egypt to make a nation of His own, a special and holy people. He makes a statement about them in Jeremiah 2, beginning in verse 1. He says to the Prophet, verse 2. "Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the Lord: I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal, when you went after Me in the wilderness in a land not sown. Israel’” verse 3, “'was holiness to the Lord, the firstfruits of His increase. All that devour him will offend; disaster will come upon them,' says the Lord."

In the midst of this prophecy about their idolatries, God reminded them of really who they were and the essence of their life. They were the firstfruits, and so the firstfruits belonged to God. They were to be the best. They were given to the priesthood and the Levite's for their use. But there was a spiritual meaning behind that and as God applied it to the nation, they were the firstfruits. They had a very, very special place in His plan, and in His purpose above all the nations for that moment and that time.

And we don't need to, you know, get into all the details, Israel, by their D.N.A. was not any better than any other nation or people, that wasn't it. It was only because of their being chosen by God, and that they couldn't even take credit for. That was done because their father, Abraham, had proven himself faithful to God and the promises there. And God shows Abram, for His reason above any others in Mesopotamia at that moment, and Abram went, it said, and he obeyed. And because of the faithfulness and the promises, then it passed on to the generations, and Israel was chosen for a unique role.

Again, not because they were special, they were not to get puffed up by it, but they were firstfruits. Now that is what this part of it tells us. As we come into our time and our place in the story of God's plan, we come to the Church and we know that, and can understand, that we, in the Church, are firstfruits as well. That firstfruit designation that was upon Israel has passed to the Church. In Romans 8, Mr. Creech was, in part, earlier part of the chapter. Let's read another section of it here in Romans 8.

As Paul understood very well what Israel was to God historically and in that part of the plan, he brings that now into his description of those who are led by the Spirit and are part of the Church in verse 23. Not only that, he says, "but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body." And so as he speaks to the Church and gives us spiritual instruction, we find that the Church, those who have the Spirit of God. Those who are led by that Spirit are then designated as firstfruits.

And in James 1:18, this is given as well. James 1:18 where he says, "Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of God… by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures." And so, here in two spots, two places, we find God, how he describes those who are his, just as Israel was his for a time and a place, so are those who are led by the Spirit of God are firstfruits as well.

The Spirit connection is very important. In Acts 2, we know that it was on the day of Pentecost that the Church was gathered as Christ had instructed them to wait in Jerusalem. "Be there on the day of Pentecost you will be imbued with powers," as he said. "And as they were gathered together," Acts 2 tells us, all of the signs of fire and wind, and the tongues and the exuberance came upon them, they spoke in languages and the church began. This group of people then met their calling and their destiny at that moment on the day of Pentecost, and the story then begins.

And so when we look at firstfruits, when we look at this connection to the day of Pentecost, when we look at its connection to Israel, and to the body of God's people, the elect, we see something. We see that there is a group of firstfruits that God has always been working with. And those firstfruits are his. Firstfruits are special. They are best not because of their inherent abilities, D.N.A. or whatever, but because of their designation and their purpose to which God has called them. And he was working with Israel, and he is working with a group of people today.

And so the question comes down to us, are we a part of that group? Are you a part of that group? Are you a part of the firstfruit? Are we a firstfruit? The question to consider today. Another question is, what exactly is God doing? What is God doing? So we go about our lives and, again, I was just struck as I turned off of 275 and came North here this morning, of how many different church buildings we passed by. I saw people pulling in, some pulling in to one… more pulling into one I noticed and another one that was on my left-hand side, it's parking lot was almost empty. I don't know why but just differences there.

And then we pulled into our parking lot and we got… as we have been here before we know that there's another congregation, a group of people with our facility here. And then we come into ours and we wonder what is being done? What is God doing? Why are we here? And who are we? God is preparing something. He is actually preparing to restore His rule to this earth. And the fullness of His Kingdom will be brought to this earth through the appearance of Jesus Christ. We're told that in Acts 3, well-known verse to us. Acts, the third chapter, as Peter give us his second sermon that is at least recorded here in the book of Acts, very similar to the one he gives in chapter 2.

But he comes down in verse 21 of chapter 3 as he speaks of Jesus Christ who had been among them, and known by his works, it was preached to them. In verse 21, he says, "whom heaven must receive until the times of the restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all of His prophets since the world began.” God is in the business of preparing to restore to this earth His rule, His presence, the fullness of His Kingdom. And through every age of mankind, God has been preparing a people to work His will on this earth. That's what He has been doing. That is what Scripture tells us.

A beautiful passage is found back in Ephesians 1. Ephesians, the first chapter, I guess if I had one chapter that somebody asked, "What's your favorite part of the Bible?" if you can have that, or whatever, I've gravitated toward Ephesians, the first chapter, through the years, for a number of reasons. But if we look at verse 9, as it begins to extol the work of the Father and of Jesus Christ, as Paul brings it out here. He says in verse 9, "having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth  — in Him."

If I can just summarize what is around these two verses in greater detail, but seemed to be compacted in some of the most informative two verses of all in the Bible. There is a mystery of God's will that Paul is bringing out to the people. And that God has purposed in Himself to, in the fullness of times, gather together in one all things in Christ, all things in heaven and our own earth, in Christ. It is being gathered together. There's an ingathering if you want to use that term. There's a bringing together for a purpose. God is doing something. He has always been doing something from the very beginning.

Human life, the very planet on which this life exists, and all of the universe to best of our astronomical knowledge, even to this day, is the only spot in the universe, at least the observable universe for us humans, where the conditions for life as we know it can exist. Forget all the other questions and the what ifs and this and that, yes, I know. But for our intents and purposes and who we are, and what we understand and what the Bible tells us, this is it. This is the place where life has been planted.

And that has been put here for a purpose. And the Scriptures tell us what that purpose is. And we have faith, and we believe that, that God is bringing together all things in Christ in heaven and earth. And He has been working at that from the time that Adam and Eve took the first breath of life as sentient human beings on this planet, and that is being done. And here we are, and we ask ourselves, "Are we part of the Church of God?” We ask ourselves, "Why are we here?" And we think about that. God has always been preparing a people.

In Hebrews 11, the faith chapter, Paul takes us back to the time of Noah in verse 7, Hebrews 11:7. And he says of Noah that “By faith Noah… prepared an ark for the saving of his household,” we’re told later that 8 people. Noah prepared the ark because God told him to. So through Noah, God prepared that ark at that point in the story. There was an ark that was prepared. Something was done to prepare to save a people.

Also in Hebrews 11, it says that “He has prepared a city for them." Speaking of a heavenly Jerusalem. He has prepared a city. He prepared of an ark through Noah. He has prepared a place, a city, for them. In Hebrews 11:39-40, he said, "God has provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.” Speaking of all of the people who were enumerated in chapter 11. That they will not be made perfect, they will not achieve their salvation, their glory, apart from us.

And in a sense, that's true because we'll all get there at that same point in time, in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sounding of the last trump. We'll be there when Abraham's there, and will rise together as Thessalonians tells us. But the point is, God has provided again. He provided something. He has always provided. He has always been preparing.

In Luke 1:17, and speaking of John the Baptist and his ministry before Christ's ministry, Luke 1:17. It says God was in the process of making “ready a people prepared for the Lord.” John the Baptist prepared for Christ. Christ came and did His work. But in the process of it all, Luke 1:17 tells us that a people were being made ready, prepared for the Lord. God has always been preparing something for a particular phase of His work.

And ultimately as again back in Ephesians 1 tells us to bring all things together in Him, in Christ through that work of Christ gathering all things. And again, keep that in mind as we think about the firstfruits and the plan of God. In John 14… John the 14th chapter as Jesus kept the Passover with His disciples the evening before His death… John 14, He said, "In My Father's house," in verse 2, "are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." Even as He left them physically, through His death, resurrection, then, ultimately, His final ascension, He said, "I'm going to prepare a place for you."

Through Noah God prepared an ark, He's prepared a city, He prepared for the ministry of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ to prepare a people. He's preparing for that people today that work of preparation has been going on throughout the whole plan of God. This is what the Scripture tells us. And that's very important today. As He has been doing from the beginning, He's preparing a people as the firstfruits of His salvation. That's what He's doing. Which means as we look at the scriptures on this, we've just touched the surface on it in an overview, what it means is this. There's a group. There is a group of people at any given point in time as God begun His work from the beginning to this very moment in 2018. There's been always a people, a group, an elect, a bride, if you will, in preparation. There has always been a group of firstfruits set apart and given to God for a special purpose, the best through God's design and through God's purpose.

There has always been, from Acts 2 when the Church began, there has always been a church, always. So many scriptures point to this, this foundational truth that is pictured by this festival, this Feast of Firstfruits. In Matthew 13, Jesus made one of the most enigmatic statements that He could make, that we really can never forget, the parable of the sower in the seed in Matthew 13, which tells us so much about what God is doing in terms of the calling and why some hear and others don't, why some respond and others don't.

And He says in Matthew 13, and He gave a parable, the disciples said to Him, "Why are you speaking in such vague language? Didn't you take speech 101? Didn't you go through spokesman's club?" Be crystal clear, we're taught there. And He said in verse 11, "To some, it is given the opportunity to know the things of the kingdom of God. To some, and to others not. That's why I spoke in parables. " And to understand it is very, very important. Christ did not intend that all would understand his teaching. And we know there were just a very few that were there when the day of Pentecost came and the church started.

The church began to multiply in that period of time, but it never became large. And it became persecuted, and it then began to decline in terms of numbers and after we… you know, at certain points it just kind of nearly disappears from at least the written records that we have. Christ promised that He would always be with the Church, has always stood true and has never faded. There's always been that group of people.

In 1 Timothy 3:15, the apostle Paul describes that church as the pillar and the ground of the truth, the pillar and the ground of the truth. That is so important. That is so vital. And so the firstfruits, the people that God has been calling… You know, I've been in the ministry 45 years and I have known a lot of people in the service of the ministry, and it has been a blessing.

I was thinking about that as I prepared this message. I have to say that I've known a lot of firstfruits, I have been able to minister to and serve and get to know a lot of firstfruits through the years. And it's a remarkable, remarkable thing as I was thinking about this and looking back over them. My mind conjured up an individual, a man that came into the Church before I ever left my home in Missouri and went off to Ambassador College. He was the brother of one of our next-door neighbors. And in those years were just so tickled to death to, you know, not only get a new person out of my hometown where I grew up, we were the only ones and here was another one coming into the Church and it was the brother of our next-door neighbor.

He came over because she knew that we were part of this church, and they came over and we met him, got to talking, came to church. He got baptized, and a few weeks after he got baptized, he got cancer and within a year he died. And I've always wondered about this gentleman. You know, why? Just came in the Church, got cancer and then he died. Through the years, I always kind of thought about him. I think that man found the pearl of great price. He became a firstfruit. As God was working with him at that time, he came to a point where he was fully ripe, spiritually, in a very short period of time. I know that because God doesn't make mistakes on those matters.

My early years in the ministry in North Carolina, we had a visit request from a lady and we found her in an old mill town. In North Carolina, they had old mill towns. In West Virginia, they were called mining towns, towns owned by the company, or by the mine company. This lady was living in a rundown mill town type house, barely had running water in there. And she was a widow, and she could barely see but she'd seen enough to read and to want to be a part of the Church. We found her, and one of the first things we did was to get her out of that wretched place she was living in.

No family, nobody else taking care of her. We got her into a nice government subsidized type apartment. And that woman expressed so much gratitude for what the Church and the members did for her to lift her standard of living when she had no family. It was a perfect illustration of the Scripture that God places us all in families. And I'd moved out of the area and lost track of her. She's long since died. I'm sure she died in the faith. But I know that that woman learned gratitude, and that may have been maybe the one singular feature of her life that God in His working with her wanted her to come to and to learn. And she was very, very thankful for some of the basic things, as well as for the truth of God.

I read the Scripture that the pillar in the ground of the truth. That's what the Church is, the Church of the living God, it says. Where is it? Who is it, if I can put it that way? And as I asked you at the beginning, are you a part of the one true Church? So what was your answer? Yes, no, don't know. To the question, are you in the true Church of God? You know, we used to have a pretty simple answer for that, the church I grew up in. “Yes, and it's this church!” Or what we were saying was, “It's this organization is the true Church of God and I'm in it, and it's the one and only original, not to be duplicated Church of God.”

Then it got complicated. I remember when it dawned on me I was pastoring, and a situation arose with an individual and I had to ask the person to stay home for a while. There was cause. After a few weeks, I called the individual because I was concerned and wanted to restore him and hope that he had, you know, come to himself. And I met with him and I said, "How are you doing?" And he said, "I'm doing fine. I've been going across town to this other group, this other church over here, part of the Church of God." And that's when I realized it's not your Father's Church anymore. Things had changed. Things had changed with all the different organizations there.

And I should have known it by that time because, at that point in time, I'd already been disfellowshipped from the church that I grew up in thinking that I was a part of the one original, bona fide, true original, never to be forgotten Church of God. And they disfellowshipped me because I was just teaching the Sabbath, and the Holy Days and wanted to be here on the day of Pentecost like you. But that's when I realized that things were a little bit different.

Let me tell you another story. I was pastoring and I had a couple in my congregation. At that particular point in time, they were in their fourth different Church of God organization. Knowing them as I did then and do now, they felt that they, I'm sure, that as they were in each one of these groups that they were in the one true Church. Because they were in the Church, therefore, the Church they was in was the one true Church, if you can follow the logic. Have you ever had that logic yourself? "Well, the one I'm in, that's the one true Church," right? "And because I'm in it, it's the one true Church."

And today they're in their fifth different organization and they're happy and they're content and that's fine. But they'd only left one of those organizations over doctrine. The other three times that they had left an organization was over issues of personality or family or just confusion. But that's the way things are today in some cases. How does this fit in with the question that I ask you? I said that we used to have a simple answer. It really is still very simple. The answer is still very simple today.

There is one Church. There is only one true Church of God. The one true Church of God is a spiritual organism. The Church defined in Scripture is that body of believers who are led by the Holy Spirit. This is what we say. This is what we have said for 23 years as we defined our fundamental beliefs. The true Church of God is a spiritual organism. It's a spiritual body. It's a body of believers that are being led by the Holy Spirit. And that's pretty simple scripturally. It can be a bit challenging or difficult at times as we human beings get in the way, right? But it's true.

And in Revelation 19:7, we are told something profound that every time we read it, we should kind of pause and ask ourselves a question. Revelation 19:7, it says, "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready… the marriage of the Lamb has come, and the wife has made herself ready." We had a big wedding yesterday over in England.

All right, unless you had your head in the sand, you have known that was going on. And it was beautiful and pageant and only as the British monarchy can do it, did they do it. But there's a bigger one coming and right now it says here the Bride has made herself ready which means that it's being done today. That's what that verse tells me every time I read it, is yes, there will be a marriage as defined here and there's a lot of details we just don't know about it. I know I've talked to some people who think they've got every detail of the marriage supper worked out, and I'm sorry, but let's find out when we get there, okay? And then we'll know.

What this verse tells me is that the Bride is being put together right now. The Church is being prepared as a bride for the marriage supper. Then that leads always… and I say, “Darris, there's one question for you to ask yourself is this. Are you a part of that preparation? Or are you not?” It's kind of these binary questions, yes or no, on or off, either you are or you're not. Either you're a part of the Bride that is being prepared for this event or you're not.

Now all the scriptures that I've read, gleaned through, and that you have as well, told us that the firstfruits are those people who are being prepared. Just as God has been preparing all along through the ages through an ark, through a ministry of John the Baptist and Christ, a city in the future, God has always been preparing to bring everything together, all things in heaven and earth together in Him, in Christ. We're either part of it or we're not. That's the question.

And as we sit here today, on the Feast of Pentecost, God the Father and Jesus Christ is making this happen. That is a surety that we can hang our hats on and take it to the bank. The Scripture is true. There is a Church, the spiritual Body of Jesus Christ. That Church is not divided by schism, sectarian strife, or doctrinal confusion. That Church has Jesus Christ as the living head. And the living Jesus Christ stands in the midst of that Body, directing it, molding it, and shaping it to His image. Christ is the head of that Church. Christ is preparing the people.

And Christ knows His works. He knows exactly what He's doing. And He's searching the minds and the hearts. And Christ is knocking on the door of those who seek to keep Him out of their life, saying that "If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him and he with Me." And all of this is being done by the resurrected Jesus Christ by the good pleasure of the will of the Father, who is gathering all things in heaven and earth in Christ. That's being done. This is what the Scriptures tell us.

Again, the question is, are we part of what God is preparing today? Yes or no? Are you? Are you a part of that? And what God is doing? It's very simple. As I've said, it's still a very simple question with a very direct answer from Scripture for us to understand. So how do we conduct ourselves then in that Church? Well, 1 Corinthians 2 makes a statement as Paul wrote to the church there. 1 Corinthians 1, I'm sorry. If you go to chapter 2, you're not too far from chapter 1. 1 Corinthians 1:26, Paul says, "For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called." Not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble are called.

I know every time I look at that and apply it to myself, he got that right. In my case, he got that right. So we can't take credit for anything that we have and not know about the plan of God, our calling, and the wonderful gift of His Spirit, and the beauty of the Holy Days, and the plan of God that they tell us. We can't take credit for having ferreted that out, fished it out of the Scriptures by our own wisdom, intellect and ability to read Greek or Hebrew or understand the ancient scrolls or some secret texts that, you know, nobody else can understand.

It's purely by God's grace. And he goes on to tell us that God's chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the mighty. And that describes the firstfruits. It describes whether it was Israel of the Old Testament or the Church in the New Testament. They were foolish back then and the Church from time to time can be foolish as well. We can miss the mark here and there and we need the grace of God to forgive us. But it is a calling as a firstfruit, holy to God by His grace. A group of people who are to be called, who are called, who have been chosen by God's grace and mercy, not because of, again, their abilities, but then we are to be faithful.

And God has a group in Scripture called firstfruits and they are His. And if we have the Spirit of God, then we are part of that group. And the beauty of God's plan is that He knows exactly why He has called each one of us now. He knows why He's called you, and you, and you, and you, every one of us. And everyone that we have known in our past, He knows exactly, because God has called from every age of man, people whom He called and chose by His will and purpose because He knew what He was putting together.

And He's called people from every age who can relate to every part of what has been the human experience on this earth: people who have lived with pain, with loss, with joy, people who've lived with hope, people who died young, people who died old after a full life, people who died in peace in their sleep, and people who died in pain, people who ultimately came to know the essence of life, the purpose of life, and who died in faith.

As I was preparing this I thought… you know, I've got a file in my file cabinet folder that is a record as best I've been able to keep it through 45 years of almost every funeral that I've done. I've kept either the notes of the person that I spoke the words over their grave or the little record that you get, you know, when you go into a funeral home to pay your respects there's always a little record there. But many of them will provide a more detailed record. They call it a clergy record. And I always took those and just tucked them inside my Bible and brought them home and put them into a file. And that file has gotten big through the years.

And I pulled it out last night to look at it because those people represent firstfruits, people that I've worked with and knew in many, many cases. And I started pulling out some of them and found one here from a gentleman, one of the finest men I ever knew in my life, lived in Indianapolis, Indiana, big family. He knew who he was, and the faith that he was called to live. And one of the things that he did before he died, he was a collector of things. That's a fancy word for hoarder. But he collected a lot of things. One of the things he collected was… he had a collection of every Alley Oop cartoon that had ever appeared in the Indianapolis paper. Alley Oop was a cartoon figure for those of us that are fully mature and aged, back in years. Some of you know who I'm talking about.

And he just loved Alley Oop and he kept them all. And he realized a few weeks before he died that there was one missing. So he had his oldest son taking downtown to the Indianapolis Star Newspaper, so that he could go through the microfiche. That's what we had even then 22 years ago. And he printed a copy of the one that he knew was missing, brought it back home and put it into his album. So that he completed that. I remember speaking at his funeral, and I said, Gordon finished his race and he wanted everything complete, even to the last Alley Oop cartoon.

I think God knows exactly the moment when it is right for us to go to sleep, and to be ready for that next moment of glory. He knows exactly. When we don't, and when we may not even think we are or our loved one or whatever, but God knows. I found another obituary of a gentleman, an elder, one of the finest elder's I've ever served with.

As I thought about him, I thought he knew what Israel should do in their time. He was counted as one of the founding elders of the United Church of God 23 years ago. Outside of my father and my father-in-law, my wife's dad, a handful of people whose esteem I highly, highly valued in life. You know, there's some people that you don't want to disappoint them. This was one elder who's esteem meant more… as much as only a handful of people to me in my life.

He knew what to do when Israel needed to move, the Israel of God, the Church. And when he died, I was able to do his funeral and talk about his life, another firstfruit sealed and ready for that time. I pulled out any number of them here. There was one that I found that I had… I remember it in my earliest years in the ministry. I was still a neophyte, in many ways. And we had a young man who was wanting to go to Ambassador College, and he'd been working to save his money to go to Ambassador College that was his big dream, and his big goal. And he was working one day, and I won't go into all the details, but he got shot. He got killed instantly because of a family quarrel that he kind of stepped into as a land surveyor and property rights.

A deranged man stepped out from behind a bush. He was the last one in the line of surveyors and he got the bullet. And it just rocked our congregation 18, 19 years old, his whole lifetime ahead of him. And I still have the handwritten notes from comments that I made at his funeral. He was baptized. He sleeps until that time. God knows why he's called each one of us from the ages of human experience. And what he's doing with us, and what qualities that he knows that are ours to perfect, if you will, through His Spirit, to be placed in that place that Christ said He's preparing for each one of us.

And He's preparing people from every age. And as I said, people will be able to understand as they come up in resurrection, that period of the Great White Throne and all of these firstfruits that have been called from every age who have lived through different experiences, and those who died in pain will be able to identify with others who died in pain. Those who died young will be able to identify with the young as well. And those who died by tragedy in a shooting, like our young man did, will be able to identify in his age with an 18 or 19-year-old high school kid who today or next week, unfortunately, or next year will lose their life and not graduate because of evil that might walk into their school or someplace where they just happen to be.

God has prepared for every conceivable need to comfort, to console, to provide someone who will be there when those people come up in the resurrection. There will be someone who has gone through something similar and has perfected in their own life, those particular qualities by the Spirit of God as a firstfruit. And they will be able to take that person by the hand and say, "This is the way. Let's walk in it. Let's walk in this way. Let me show you. I understand. My life was cut short too.” “We lost our child," or "We died in this particular way in war," and they will know because God and His perfect plan, has provided for that.

And so as we read the Scripture, do you see your calling? We have a calling to fulfill. Every morning brings an opportunity for each one of us to take that calling deeper into our life. And we need to be sure and ask God for the ability to use the time of our life for these things, the Kingdom today. It is a moment of time that God has placed us in.

Last year, I encouraged you to tend to the relationships that we have. I was able to speak again on the Feast of Pentecost last year. I mentioned that we needed to tend to our relationships with those that we love, those that we know. That thought is still in my mind today, a year later, and I hope that it is in yours. I wanted to bring it back to our attention because I realize even more so after the past 12 months, just how deeply God is working. God is building a fellowship of the heart. He's building a fellowship of the heart.

Sometimes I think that that may be the hallmark feature for us all to come up to in faith at this time, maybe a unique role as firstfruits. Christ did say that "By this, all men shall know you are My disciples if you have loved one for another." I know that love only can begin in the heart and manifest itself, but we do need to tend to our relationships and learn to understand and to love one another.

A few months ago, Debbie and I decided that we needed to tend to our relationships that we've had through the years. As I say, we've had a number of them, and each one of these still represents people who are still in the faith, still in the Church and others that are going about their way, perhaps not a part of the Church but having been touched by the Church and by the life of their parents. And I say again today, God’s not done with us. He has placed us in each other's lives, and we have to continue to work in that way.

We decided that we needed to tend to the relationships. And so we've decided to make the opportunity and not pass an opportunity to contact someone and drive out of our way if we're heading somewhere and have lunch with somebody that we may have known from 35, 40 years ago, or to make a phone call. And do what we can to sit down and say, "How are you doing?" because we don't know if we'll ever get that opportunity again.

And no matter where we are in age, or in our life, don't take for granted those opportunities to tell your best friend that you love them, to tell your mate, your children, to give them that hug. Don't lose any opportunities to make contact, make the time, go out of your way, spend the money to make it happen. Spend the time of your life and don't say, "Well, we'll do it next time," or, "We'll do it on the next trip," or, "I'll get to that later." No, do it now.

Go have a meal, make an extra trip. Don't worry about the money, and don't worry about the time. The time is the most important thing. Tend to those relationships. God is creating a fellowship of the heart and that is an important matter for the firstfruits and the calling that we've all been given. We are part of the true Church of God if we are led by God's Spirit and if that Spirit is creating that love, and that care, and that concern, and those tightly knit bonds of fellowship within our lives.

Live like you believe you're a part of the true Church of God. And let that understanding transform your life. And let it be the reason that you get out of bed every morning. And seize that opportunity, and let the power of Christ's life in you cause you to live a life of faith and a life of confidence as a firstfruit.

[Randy Urwiller] I'd like to begin the sermon today reading two of my favorite scriptures. It conveys the metaphor of the two ways of life and I find myself referring to them often. And it's in Matthew 7:13-14. And I'll read it for you but please jot it down in your notes. And it's in Matthew 7:13-14, that we find Jesus' description of two roads, two ways of life. One road is broad and heavily traveled and the other, narrow and difficult. And Jesus tells His disciples, He says, verse 13, Matthew 7, "Enter by the narrow road; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it because narrow is the gate and difficult is a way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."

In today's sermon, we will consider our walk in this narrow and difficult way as it's translated here but we'll also refer to it by another name, the process of conversion. Now most of us here have traveled far on the road or way of conversion. Some have been on this way for many years and some really not long or not so long. And still for others, for many of our younger people especially here, it's really the only way you've ever walked in, which is pretty amazing if you think about that. And no doubt, at its destination, we all intend to achieve eternal life, salvation in the Kingdom of God.

Now the word conversion broadly means to change from one belief, view, or party to another or it also means to change from one form or function to another, Merriam Webster dictionary online. And so through processes of conversion, we can convert fractions into decimals. I used to love not so much doing that in school years ago, converting fractions into decimals. And, of course, we're very grateful that we can convert oil into electricity. And what man isn't pleased to convert his messy garage into a real man cave?

So there are various conversions that we are aware of. And, of course, conversion can apply to religion as well. Conversion, religiously speaking, means to adopt new opinions or beliefs such as converting from Catholicism to Buddhism. But in the Bible, according to God's Word, God refers to that conversion we yearn for most and that conversion is not something we can achieve on our own. It requires God's direct involvement. And the ultimate conclusion of God's process, conversion is the transformation of our physical mortal bodies into a spiritual immortal existence, a moment Paul describes as, "the twinkling of an eye, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on in mortality." And, of course, that is 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15:52-53. Very important scriptures and I know we think on that and turn to that often.

So how might we grasp in overview? How might we grasp, in overview, this miraculous process of conversion, this narrow way of travel that leads to life into our glorious transformation? How might we understand this in overview?

Well, back in Revelation 17:14, if you’d turn there briefly with me, Revelation 17:14 gives us a clue. Here we read about the war that the beast and his armies will wage in the future against Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, at His return. And in Revelation 17:14, I'd like for us to read this but to also notice who is with Christ. Revelation 17:14, together, they go to war against the Lamb, speaking of these enemy armies, “they go to war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will defeat them, because He is Lord of all lords and King of all kings.” And here's the part, “and His called and chosen and faithful ones will be with Him.”

Who are these called and chosen and faithful ones? Well, they are those called to repent, surrender and receive God's Holy Spirit. And since they commit themselves to believe and obey God and to yield to His Holy Spirit, they are set apart and chosen for salvation. And they are those who remain faithfully loyal to God through all trials and all sufferings for as long as they live. In other words, the called, chosen, and faithful are the ones who keep on to the narrow way and they complete the process of conversion. They are those who comprise the Body of Christ, the Church of God and we are among them there and then at Christ’s return if, there's always a big if. If we continue in God's way of life.

In fact, the phrase "called, chosen, and faithful" works as a framework, this overview framework, for understanding how God helps us develop His righteous character and become like Him. I've entitled the sermon today, “The Way of the Called, Chosen and Faithful.” “The Way of the Called, Chosen and Faithful." And so let's begin understanding this conversion process. The process of conversion begins with God, the Father calling or inviting an individual to repent, surrender to Him, and receive His Holy Spirit. And over in John 6:44, you may have it memorized, it should be quite familiar to us but let's look there, John 6:44. We have a scripture that is very clear, who begins the process of the calling.

In John 6:44, Jesus stated, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day." And we can also read a few more verses down, verse 65. Jesus also said, "Therefore I've said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father." God, the Father begins the process of calling. He calls us to understand His Word and way of life to know Christ. Now let's also be turning to 2 Thessalonians 2. Back in 2 Thessalonians 2, and in verses 13-14, we know then that the Father only can call us and open our minds to understand His plan of salvation.

And what we see is that calling hinges upon Christ gospel of the Kingdom of God. That's what we're called upon to understand. Let's notice Paul's statement here in verses 13-14 of 2 Thessalonians. Paul states, "But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." The gospel they preached, Paul preached and all the apostles in the early church, of course, that is the gospel, the gospel of the Kingdom.

In fact, if you think about it, we know this, we've been taught this, the entire Bible comes down to being about the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth and of humanity finally becoming spirit-born children of God. Now, let's also turn to Romans 8:7. In Romans 8:7, we should consider this calling by… Excuse me. We should consider our calling by a Father a true miracle. And it's a miracle because, without His intervention, we cannot comprehend His truth, we could not see the light of His truth in the darkness that we would otherwise know.

And we would not otherwise, frankly, we wouldn't want to comprehend God's truth. We wouldn't really care about it. Because of what we read here, Romans 8:7, Paul states, "The carnal mind,” mind cut off from God, “is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be." By itself, we can never understand nor submit to God. When the Father calls us, He offers us a miraculous blessing. He opens our minds to be more receptive to understanding Christ's gospel. Sometimes, we may think that we discovered God's truth on our own.

Early on in my calling, and I would say things like that. "Oh, I discovered this truth." Well, that's not right. That's not the way it works. It's correct to say, more correct to say that God opened our minds to believe and understand His truth. He begins the process. Without God's calling, we could never see or believe what only God can reveal. And think of it, of the billions of people God could have called, do you think about this, do you realize that God the Father called you and me out of all these billions of people that have lived before us and live now?

We need to think about that and what that means. And so for these reasons, we ought to be most humbly grateful to God, our Father every day. We should never run out of something to thank God for. And, of course, I admit that other people have many, for centuries, have read and studied the Bible. People have garnered much wisdom and instruction and inspiration from its pages. It's there. We have intelligence. We can gain it. But without the aid of God's Holy Spirit, people remain unenlightened and unable to grasp the significance, the more profound significance, of God's plan of salvation to the Kingdom of God.

So, if we've ever thought that God is never done a miracle for us, please think again because we're wrong. Our calling is a miracle. Now, we do know that God wants every human being to understand His Word. God wants every person to receive salvation. That's what we're told in 1 Timothy 2:3-4 and you can turn there with me if you'd like. 1 Timothy 2:3-4. 1 Timothy 2:3-4. I lost my place. 1 Timothy 2:3-4. Yeah. It helps to be in the right book. Excuse me. All right. 1 Timothy 2:3-4. Here, Paul writes, "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

We shouldn't get puffed up. We should not become full of human pride and vanity thinking, "Well, I'm special. God called me." We are special but we had nothing to do with it. And to realize, we're just the first ones. God wants all to know what we know and to live what we know. Yet even as John 6:44 suggests, then God is not now calling every human being to salvation and I think we understand that. God's Holy Days, I cannot elaborate upon those in this sermon but God's Holy Days revealed that the vast majority of humanity will not receive their opportunity for salvation until after Christ's return.

Meanwhile, the Father decides who to call and when. And yet, not everyone He calls chooses to welcome His precious calling. He calls but not everybody welcomes His calling. And in that fact, there's certainly a warning for us. Let's return in Matthew 13:3-8. Please turn to Matthew 13:3-8. And there, we'll see an example of the parable, Jesus' description of how people respond to God's truth and that is in the parable of the sower and the seed. So let's read parts of this. Matthew 13:3-8. And we read here, "Then He, Jesus, spoke many things to them in parables, He said, saying: ‘Behold, a sower went out to sow.’" Here's the story. "And he sowed, and some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns and the thorns, sprang up and choked them." But verse 8, "But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty."

Now, let's skip down to verse 19 because here is where Jesus begins to explain the meaning of the parable and this is what we need to focus on. Verse 19 now, chapter 13. And it explains it this way. “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom,” notice he's referring to the gospel, "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what he has sown in his heart. This is he who received the seed by the wayside.” In reference to the parable. And so the response described here, again, shows that unless God calls a person and makes his mind receptive to the gospel, that person will not notice or value its full significant importance.

And when you think about this, I suspect some just may understand the truth of this fact probably because our own failed efforts at times to convert our family and friends. God opened our minds to understand His truth, we're fired up about it and we wanted everyone else to know what we know, what would had been revealed to us but it didn't work. It doesn't work. We really shouldn't try to convert our family, friends, and others. It doesn't mean we don't answer questions, we don't talk about why we believe what we believe. I'm talking about trying to force conversion here. That doesn't really work.

Because again, without the father's calling, our efforts are more likely going to end with annoying our family and friends and alienating others away from us. They'll just walk away when we walk in the room and that is not something we would like. And then Jesus explains three different outcomes for those who did respond to God's word. Let's continue on in verse 20-21 here. And so this would be the first person. "And he who received the seed on stony places," Jesus explains, "is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of word, immediately he stumbles."

Well, this first-person then heard God's Word and he rejoiced in its truth, that is until troubles from others arose. I don't know. Perhaps he didn't or couldn't bear being ridiculed for his unusual ways. He wasn't normal like everyone else. Maybe he couldn't cope with the condemnation of family or the bullying of friends because he is so enthusiastic about God's truth. For whatever reason, though, he felt oppressed and the heat was on, troubles began, and he forsook God's call.

Now, the second person also heard God's Word, verse 22. Here, Jesus says, "Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful." This person then held longer on to the word and it seems he produced some spiritual fruit but he became unfruitful. Over time, he became preoccupied with other things. It seems then that pride or wealth, power, perhaps fame, it turned his attention from God's calling. He likely found it easier to do what normal people do rather than to believe and obey God.

The third person, however, the third person held, he heard the word and he held tightly onto it, verse 23. "But he who receives seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." This person believed God and he rightly cherished His word. He put it into practice and the fruit of his faithful effort was bountiful we see. This man must have persevered through tribulations the other man felt. He must have persevered through the worldliness and the pulls that the other man felt. This man then is the type of person God would have you and me to be. We know, and when you think about this parable, we would be wise to judge our own spiritual state in light of this parable. We need to double-check where are we.

And we might also remember something else Jesus said. He said, and you can jot this down in your notes, in Matthew 22:14, Jesus said, Matthew 22:14, He said, "Many are called but few chosen." And I think the parable of the sower and the seed helps us to understand why few are chosen. They turn away, they don't stick. But now, exactly what makes one chosen? Let's then think of that. We've heard about the called, now the chosen. Well, if we turn again back to 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 and I'm going to read it again with looking at something else it says in the same verse.

Again, 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14, "but we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you. He chose you for salvation through sanctification," which means setting apart “by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel for obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." We see here that the chosen are those who welcome God's calling and believe the gospel of the Kingdom. And because they believe the truth, they do repent of sin and they do turn to God. And then God chooses them for salvation by sanctifying them setting them apart through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit.

This movement or progression from called to chosen requires baptism. Baptism must be preceded by faith and repentance. Repentance from sin or lawlessness, this turning towards God and obedience will rightly come, of course, with feelings of regret. We will feel guilty about our sins now that we understand what they are. And no doubt, we should feel sorrowful, sorry for what we have done. But genuine repentance born of our conviction and commitment to obey God must be more than just feelings. And that's part of what we think about and contemplate as we make that choice when the time is right for our baptism, for our commitment.

Let's turn to Acts 2, now, verses 36-41. And I'd like for us to recall what genuine repentance looks like lest we forget. Acts 2:36-41. And of course, this takes us back to the time when Peter was filled with God's Holy Spirit and he was concluding this really powerful sermon before a group of rather astound audience of Jews on the morning of Pentecost. And here's his final words. That's all we're going to read here. We're going to read his final words and how his final words here pierced their guilt-ridden hearts and minds. And here's what he said, Acts 2:36. He says, "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."

“Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ And then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promises to you and your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.’ And many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation.’ And then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.”

Do you and I, do we still recall the moment when we were cut to the heart knowing that we also are responsible for the death of Jesus Christ because of our sins? Weren't we so eager to do whatever it takes to have our sins forgiven? And we believe the words of Christ. You can jot this down Mark 16:16, Jesus said, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." God helped us because He's calling us and He opened our minds. He helped us understand the magnitude of those words in Mark 16:16. And surely, they motivated our faith and our action. Quoting from our fundamental beliefs booklet, it reads, "Repentance that leads to baptism is characterized by a change of heart in action and is based on personal faith in a total commitment to Jesus Christ and God the Father." Total commitment. What does total commitment to God mean?

Well, in Luke 14:25-26. Luke 14:25-26. And here we get an idea of commitments. There are many places we could turn to in Scripture. We're often told to count the cost. And I think what Christ told the people here in Luke 14:25-26 gives us a rather distinct description of what this sort of commitment means. Jesus said we read now, "Great multitudes went with Jesus. And He turned and said to them, 'If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also he cannot be My disciple.’" You know, you've got to put God first. And so in short, brief, total commitment to God means that no one or no thing, not even our own selves, can be more important than God. Not anymore. Not once we commit ourselves to God.

God must always come first in our lives. So no matter how good or how difficult life may be, we must do whatever God requires of us, even to the forsaking of all we have for all that we are. And that includes our will and our time and our very lives because we learn in Scripture those things aren't really ours. They belong to God. And we do this willingly and as an expression of our faith and of our love and our commitment to God. Baptism demonstrates our faith and in total commitment to God the Father and Jesus Christ. And baptism also reminds us of several vital truths. Through baptism, we outwardly show our faith that the shed blood of Jesus Christ removes from us sins penalty of death. Baptism also pictures the death of our old former life in a watery grave.

Let's turn to Romans 6:3-6. Something we studied prior to our own baptisms and we need to refer back to. Romans 6:3-6. Paul explains much of the symbolic importance of baptism as well. Romans 6:3, Paul states, "Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin." And so our rising up from this watery grave of baptism, as we're going to see later today, well, that represents Jesus Christ resurrection as a spiritual being and our resurrection to a new Spirit-led life, free from sins, penalty of death.

And once we are baptized and our sins are forgiven, God regards us as slaves of righteousness. We are no longer slaves to sin and death. Let's look down here in verses 16-18, same chapter, Romans 6. Paul again says, "Do you not know that to whom you present yourself slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you will obey from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having that set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." Our whole approach to life must change.

Let's also look in 1 Peter 1 regarding the significance of our baptism. 1 Peter 1:18-19. You know, baptism is very much a joyous occasion. It's hard to hold back tears sometimes. It's a very wonderful occasion. And though joyous and the most important event in our life, baptism should also sober us with its reminder that our freedom from sin and death comes at a great price. Peter specifies this price in verses 18-19, 1 Peter 1. Jumping into the side he says, "Knowing that you are not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver and gold, or from your aimless conduct received by traditions of your fathers,” the ways we knew without God's help, “but you've been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot." Christ perfect sacrifice.

So upon baptism, we now belong to God and we must no longer practice a lifestyle of sin. Notice we no longer practice a lifestyle of sin. It doesn't mean we suddenly stop sinning. If that's what you believe you're going to be disappointed. We do keep sinning. But now we know what to do about and God helps us do the right thing. We belong to God on baptism and all we do should be done with faithful obedience and humble service to God so that we might glorify Him. You might jot down your notes here, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. All that we do should glorify God. And as I said, we will still be fighting our old, rebellious, carnal nature. We still have to contend with what Paul calls the old man even after baptism and receiving God's Spirit, Holy Spirit.

And that's why we should be grateful, though, because God so desires our success and becoming like Him that He gives us, indeed, He gives us a precious gift, the help of His Holy Spirit. And that's what happens immediately after baptism. Immediately after baptism, and through the laying on of hands by one or more of God's faithful ministers, God imparts to us His Holy Spirit. Let's be turning back to Acts. Now this time Acts 8:14-17. Acts 8:14-17. What we do at this time, do today is what the apostles also did. Acts 8:14, we read, "Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet the Spirit yet had fallen on none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit."

We believe that the laying on of hands by God's ministers signifies the moment the baptized person receives the Holy Spirit and becomes sanctified, set apart and chosen of God. What does it mean to have God's Holy Spirit in us? It means miraculous blessings. When I look at this list and I try to combine this and summarize it, it wasn't easy. And when you think of what we're going to look at here, what it means to have God's Spirit in us it's truly a miraculous blessings. And I hope this will help us think about these things and what it is God has given us. Let's turn to John 14:16-18. John 14:16-18. Because here we learned that through the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ lives His life in us. Jesus lives His life in us. John 14:16 where we'll begin to read.

Jesus is praying to the Father. "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you…" I'm looking to see. Okay, He's not praying. He's going to pray, excuse me. Jesus said, "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, and He [or It] may abide with you forever— the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you." And we might also jot down reference to Galatians 2:20, which states, "I've been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." And so if Christ living in us, we have access to His strength, His will.

His strength and His will help us fight the poles of our carnal nature. Overcome sin. Build godly character and bear the fruit of God's Spirit. Beautiful fruit. “Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” It's Galatians 5:22-23. On our own by our own will, we're just too weak. That's why we need the strength and will of Christ in us to help us. It is also by the Holy Spirit that God incorporates us into the Body of Christ. We can read that in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13. 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, we read, "For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we are all baptized in one body— whether Jews or Greek, slaves or free— and have all been made to drink into one Spirit."

Now let's turn to Romans 8:14-17. Romans 8:14-17. Through God's Spirit in us, we are also the children of God, members of His eternal family. Romans 8:14-17. Again, Paul writes, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you do not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption," or as Dr. Ward told us and explained to us many times, “the Spirit of sonship,” how it can also be translated by whom, or “by which we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs— heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” With God's Spirit in us, we can expect our ultimate conversion upon Christ's return, when this mortal must put off immortality.

The magnitude of God's gift of His Holy Spirit is much more than our limited mind, certainly much more than my limited mind can comprehend. It's absolutely astounding and wonderful. But we must not doubt that what Scripture says is so. That His spirit is in us and at work according to God's will and plan. Don't doubt it. And after baptism and receiving God's Spirit, well, we might think that the process of conversion is complete. We've been dumped underwater and a nice prayer and hands laid on us, we might think we've arrived. Have we arrived? If you're here and I'm looking at you, you haven't arrived yet. We are arriving is what we are doing.

We might think the process of conversion is complete, but we'd be wrong. You see, baptism marks the beginning of our new life, our only way to live from now on until we die. God requires that we remain faithful and ever-loyal in believing and obeying Him. This is what He means by total commitment. God gives us all we need. He gives us all we need to remain faithful to Him. Everything we need. However, it's up to us to yield to Him to make use of His Spirit to make wise choices. And absolutely to always repent of sin. It's critical. Let's turn to 2 Timothy 2, please. 2 Timothy 2:11-13. Here Paul makes very clear, I believe, he makes very clear our responsibility in remaining faithful to Him.

2 Timothy 2:11. In fact, Paul says, "This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, with Christ," of course I would refer to the baptism, "If we died with Him, we shall also live with Him." Both now Christ living in us with us now and absolutely in the Kingdom is through the resurrection. Verse 12, "If we endure, we persevere, we shall also reign with Him. But if we deny Him, He will also deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” From this, we should understand that our salvation depends upon our remaining faithful to the commitment we make to God at baptism.

And again, don't let this fixed causes fear or be discouraged. He gives us everything we need to remain faithful. He really does. Now let's turn to 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1 and chapters [verses] 2-11. I'm going to read a number of scriptures here. In 2 Peter 1:2-11, we find Peter's admonition to remain faithful and to become ever more like God. Being faithful doesn't mean we just sit around on our spiritual posteriors. We have to be busy. We have to be developing His holy character. We have to be loving our neighbor. We have to be loving God. It never ends. No matter how good or how bad we may feel that day, we have to keep doing it. So let's read here 2 Peter 1:2, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you and the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which has been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."

I'll pause here. Peter reminds us… He's reminding us of where we began. Where did we begin this process? Reminds us of where we began and where we would still be had the Father Himself not cost to salvation and to escape the corruption of sin and death. We would have been without hope. We would have been hopeless. There must be nothing more important to us than to remain faithful to God and that calling He's given us. Verses 5-11, continuing on here, Peter exhorts us to be diligent, to be ever-growing, ever-maturing, ever becoming more like God. And so fulfill God's purpose for calling us to salvation. He did not call us to failure. Verse 5, Peter states, "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, and to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love."

Get a sense, it's just these are things we have to keep working on. "For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful," reminds us what we read in the parable, "you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even the blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.” It suggests that some we might forget about the commitment we make, made at baptism. Verse 10, "Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure,” the election or setting apart or being chosen, making sure. “Where if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

You know, if we go back and think on these when we go home today or later this week, think about what he's saying. The point Paul and Peter are making is essentially the same. Remain committed, remain faithful to God, build godly character, allow nothing to hinder our walk with God. We need to understand then that we hold the keys to our own salvation. We hold the keys to our own salvation because we must remain faithful. We must be moving forward. What must we be doing then? Post-baptism, post-receiving God's Spirit, what must we be doing on the way to salvation? In light of these two admonitions, it seems to me that we might do this. Kind of boil it down. If we are being faithful to God, then we must continue to do all that we can to stay faithful to God. If we are being faithful to God, then we must continue to do all that we can to stay faithful to God.

But if we feel we are not being faithful to God, if we feel we're not being faithful to God, then we must remember our commitment at baptism. We better repent immediately. Immediately repent, seek God's forgiveness, and get back to where we need to be with God. That's in our hands to control. God holds each of us accountable for what we do or fail to do. But He has called us to be faithful until the end. And so will we be among the called chosen and faithful with Christ when He returns as King of kings? Well, I pray that we will all be there. I sincerely do.

And we should be. We should be there. Because God has provided us everything we need to keep to the narrow way. I almost said narrow road, same thing. To keep to the narrow way that leads to eternal life. He's given us everything we need to complete the process of conversion in the twinkling of an eye. So let us not grow weary. Let us not give up. But please let us all move ever forward to the Kingdom of God.

[Steve Myers] How is your hearing? It's pretty good? I heard the story about an older man was getting concerned about his wife. He was worried she was kind of losing her hearing a little bit, so he thought, "I'm going to do an experiment." So one night, he came up to the kitchen and she was getting dinner ready. And so, he stood at the door, she didn't notice he was there and he said to her, "What's for dinner?" No response. So he came up a little bit closer behind her, and she didn't know he was there, so he said a little bit louder, he said, "What's for dinner?" No response. So he came up right behind her and he said, "What's for dinner?" And she said, for the third time, "Spaghetti."

So how is your hearing? Hearing is such an important attribute, to listen when we're spoken to. Now you won't find it in 1 Corinthians 12. Our A.B.C. students know 1 Corinthians 12 is what chapter? The spiritual gifts chapter. It's not a spiritual gift. Listening is something that we've all been given, something we all can do. It's kind of an ability or a skill that God has given everyone and yet, one, that we have to improve. And one you might not think of as being particularly spiritual but the connections to spirituality are undeniable.

Now when I was very young, I learned for the first time when my mother was our den mother, back in Cub Scouts. She used to do this thing that, you know how boys can be pretty rowdy when they're seven, eight years old, to get our attention. You know what she would do? In fact, if you've ever been to camp, the tradition continues. Leader would put up their hand and then everybody would start putting up their hand when they noticed the leader has their hand up. And why did they do? That they do that at camp, right? Shake your head. Yes, they do, they do. Well, why aren't your hands up? Okay, everybody's quiet now. Because it means listen up. Listen up, something important is coming. And so, the hand goes up, the mouth goes shut, and you pay attention.

And there's many times throughout Scripture that God does that very thing. In fact, He in a way, metaphorically, puts up His hand and says, "Listen up," in fact, I think He adds to it, He says, "Listen up and live." Listen up and live. We heard about the parables a little bit earlier, and it's interesting if you looked through those parables, whether you look in Matthew, Mark or Luke as well, it's interesting how many times a parable begins with, "Hear the story of," or concludes with the words, "He who has an ear, let him hear." I have to take some time maybe later today on the Sabbath to notice how many times Christ actually says that. In fact, if you see that connection to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3, guess what is also said to those churches, to us by extension as well, it says, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." Same type of thing. In a way, God raises His hand and says, "Listen up and live," because listening is something that is critical for all of us as God's people. He wants us to hear and listen.

And if we don't, how can we do the things that God wants us to do? I mean, is it fair to say, I can't be an encourager if I don't listen? How can I support someone if I really don't hear them out? Can I grow if I'm not willing to listen? What kind of husband am I, or what kind of wife are you if you're a lousy listener? Kind of make things pretty challenging if that's the case, that we're not a good listener. In fact, when it comes to being a disciple, can I truly be a disciple of Jesus Christ without the ability to listen? You see, I think it is such a critical thing. In order to fulfill the calling that God has given us, there is an intricate connection between listening and being a disciple, between listening and the Kingdom of God. Listening and, I think you can say, salvation. It is critical to all of these things. Even though it may not seem like it's that big a deal, the connection is undeniable.

And so, I thought it might be helpful to take some time this afternoon to recognize that connection between listening and truly being the kind of a disciple that God really wants us to be. And think about it for a moment. Can you break a connection between listening and, first of all, spiritual growth? Is there any connection between those two things? If I'm going to grow spiritually, if I'm going to bear fruit, do I have to be a good listener? You already guess the answer? The answer is yes. Yes, you do. In fact, one of the parables focuses on this. Maybe we haven't really read it before, it's a very familiar parable, we heard about the “Parable of the Sower.” If you'll turn, not to Matthew but turn over to Luke this time, Luke 8:4, discusses a very familiar parable. It's about the farmer who sows the seed, the one who is throwing out the seed to grow, we're familiar with this.

But what I'd like you to notice is something that may have escaped us a little bit when it came to this particular lesson that Christ was teaching. So if you go over to Luke 8, notice verse 4. Luke 8:4, Christ begins teaching this parable about the sower and we're familiar with it. Verse 5, he goes out to sow, to plant the seed and we know it went on all kinds of various places. So verse 6, "some fell on the rock but it withered away." "Some fell on thorns," verse 7, "and it sprang up in the weeds, the thorns choked it." Verse 8, "Some fell on good ground." And what happened to the stuff on the good ground? That seed? Well, it grew and it “yielded a crop” it says, "a hundredfold."

And then, what does Christ say? The end of verse 8, He says, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Now I don't know if the sower was planting corn and Christ was using a little pun about ears to hear or not, probably not. Probably not. But it's interesting to see this connection because what's the difference between these? We might say, "Well, the difference is you got weeds and thorns and you got good soil and bad soil. Well, that's the obvious difference.” Well, if we fast-forward just a little bit to Christ's explanation, look at verse 15 when He talks about the ones on the good ground. He says, "But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience." So what we begin to see here, a direct connection between spiritual growth, bearing fruit and listening to God, hearing His Word, hearing it sometimes with patience, as He said here, and then putting it into practice.

In fact, it's kind of interesting when you compare the record of the different parables in the different Gospels, if we see the same parable over in the gospel of Luke, let's go now to Matthew. Go over to Matthew, we compare these two versions because Matthew has a little bit of information that Luke doesn't include for some reason. So if we go over to Matthew 13, notice something interesting that is recorded here that isn't over there in the book of Luke. So if we look at Matthew 13, notice verse 9. Matthew 13:9, here we have the parable begin and, as we see the story, He says, "He who has an ear to hear, let him hear!” The disciples are wondering, "Well, why do you speak in parables?" Christ begins to explain that. Not the point of the sermon today, but it's interesting, in that explanation, He says, in verse 13, Matthew 13:13, "I speak in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand." And then, to add to this, He quotes the book of Isaiah. He quotes Isaiah 6:9, where He says… verse 14, "Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. And their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they've closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them."

And so we can't help but ask the question, "Are my eyes really open? Are my ears really hearing? Not just to perceive sounds but so that I can understand." I mean, Christ says to His followers, "Blessed are your eyes, they see, and your ears, they hear." And so, He begins to draw this connection, in this parable and the lesson, that it's not just about hearing because there's a vast difference between hearing and understanding. Or hearing and, sometimes the way the Word is used for listening, listening. Now it's kind of interesting when you see this word for hearing, some hear and they hear and others hear and they don't hear. It's referring to the understanding, but the same Greek word is used here but definitely different meanings. The meaning is different because when you hear, what kind of effort does it take to hear? Well you just do. You just do, it just happens, right? Hearing just simply happens.

So you might be around the house and you can hear the vacuum going or you can hear the dishwasher running. But if the television is on, that may take a little bit more. It takes a little bit more effort to listen or hear the T.V., especially if I'm going to grasp what's going on. You see what you do different in those things? Well, some might just listen, it's just there. When it comes to the hearing that Christ related to understanding, that's something you consciously have to decide to do. You consciously make a decision, I'm choosing to hear and understand and listen to those words. So what does it take? It takes concentration, it takes effort, it takes attention to do those very things, so that your brain then, instead of just saying, "Oh yeah that's the vacuum," it processes the meaning of the words and the sentences. And so we begin to understand and we see the intent of these things.

And so Christ once again, after quoting Isaiah, says a similar thing recorded here in Matthew. If you look down to verse 23, "He who receives seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it,” they put their brain in gear, allow God to work in them and through them and they get it, they understand and it goes to work in their lives. And so, what happens, it says, "it indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." And so, Christ draws this tremendous difference between just hearing something and then having a depth of understanding. And that understanding is critical. If we're going to grow spiritually, if we're going to produce, it's not good enough just, "Oh, yeah, I know that passage," but if it doesn't speak to you, we hear the voice of truth that speaks to us, if it doesn't impact our thinking, if our brain isn't engaged to say, "You know, that's something I have to do. I need to change. I can't keep doing that. I have to have that perception and attention to what the words and what the story is really all about, so that it impacts my life and I change and I change and I grow.” And fruit, spiritual fruit, is born from the perception and the understanding of what God gives us through His Word. And so God says, "Listen up and see how that word should impact your life," because it is intricately connected to spiritual growth.

All too often, we hear it but we may fall into the category of some of those that weren’t listening to Christ. Yeah, they hear it but they're not really getting it. They're not really getting it. In fact, I was reminded of a story, I read it in a commentary on the book of James by Vernon McGee. And he tells the story about the famous Greek philosopher Socrates and how so many people wanted to learn from this great philosopher. And so, he tells the story in this commentary about a young man who came to Socrates and he wanted him to be his teacher, he wanted to be a student. And so, this young man came to Socrates and just was going on and on about how great Socrates was and what a great teacher he would be and how much he wanted to be his student. And he kept talking and talking and talking and going on, so Socrates couldn't even get a word in edgewise. Until finally Socrates put his hand over his mouth to make him be quiet and he said, "I'll be your teacher but it's going to cost you twice as much."

The young man went, "Well, what do you mean it's going to cost me twice as much as everybody else?" He said, "Why would that be?" Socrates said, "Because I've got at least two things to teach you." He said, "First, you need to learn how to hold your tongue and listen. Then you need to learn to use your tongue correctly." And the point being, yeah, the Greeks loved eloquent speech. They used to love to hear the debates, they loved to hear the latest, they loved the speakers, the teachings and all those. But the point was you can't teach until you can listen, until you learn to listen you really don't have much to say. He was just going on and on and on and on and not saying a word. You ever find yourself maybe doing that? Sometimes we talk, we talk, talk, talk and chirp, chirp, chirp. Was that from The Music Man I think? But not much to say. And so, God certainly wants us to see this connection from listening to spiritual growth. And so, in a way, yes, God raises His hand and says, "Listen up and live."

It's also interesting to see this connection to understanding. Not only growth and bearing fruit but spiritual understanding is intricately connected to listening to God, listening to His Word and applying it in our lives. There's an interesting passage over in Colossians 1, that speaks to this second aspect of why we need to listen so intently to what God has for us in our life. Colossians 1:5, here Paul is speaking to God's people in Colossae. And it's interesting as he points out something that is so important as he speaks the truth of God's Word, speaking the gospel and the hope for mankind, God's plan, and how he connects it for the people to really give them a visual of the importance of spiritual understanding. Notice Colossians 1:5, we'll kind of jump in the middle of the thought here. He says, "because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you."

So, okay, yeah, I've heard the gospel, I know what the plan is, I know what God's purpose is. I know these things. But he also says this message “has gone out in all the world," and as a result, he says, in verse 6, "it is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth." Because what is he pointing out here? What he's saying, "Colossians, there was a time you recognized the fact you didn't understand God, you didn't know His way, you had little depth of spiritual understanding. But since you have heard, God has opened your mind to the truth, you let it impact your thinking, you basically admitted you didn't know anything." I mean, he really is saying listening starts this process of us admitting we don't know everything we should know. And, in fact, maybe taking you a step farther, it also admits there's a lot we don't know that we don't know. Does that make sense? There's a lot we don't know and we don't even know that we don't know it.

And he's telling the Colossians here, this is such a critical thing, Hearing the Word of truth and allowing it to work in your life through God's Holy Spirit, we can gain a depth of understanding. But the understanding alone isn't the purpose, just to have understanding. Yes, it's something that vital, something that is absolutely necessary, something that we need to ask God for that spiritual understanding. So we should do that even before we read the Bible. Can we ask God and petition Him, "God, help me as I'm studying Your Word, help me to grasp what You're telling me. Let me hear Your voice, speak to me so I can understand more effectively." And hopefully, you did that before you came to church today, that you prayed for understanding before services so that God's Word can impact your life, something that King David often prayed about, that God's Word would impact his thinking, that he could listen in a way that something he hadn't noticed before, something he hadn't thought about that applied to his life would jump out at him and impact his thinking, so he would change.

In fact, in the longest psalm in the Bible, Psalm 119, it's recorded for us that very thought. If you want to turn over to Psalm 119, let's notice verse 34. Notice this connection between listening and spiritual understanding, praying to God and asking for Him to impact our thinking through His voice, through His Word, through His plan. Psalm 119, somewhere right there near the very middle of your Bible. We noticed verse 34, notice the connection here, Psalm 119:34, it says, "Give me understanding," so we can see praying for that understanding. And as a result, "I shall keep your law. Yes, I shall observe it with my whole heart." And I think it's important. “Well, does that mean I pray to God and ask for understanding and now I see it, I figured this out, I know now?" See, what's a little off with those statements? Is it that I now have this great perception that I understand these things and I can grasp it? Now I know... No.

You see, what we recognize here when we asked God for understanding and we pray about that, like Psalm 119 here, "Give me understanding," we're recognizing something so important, that God is the source of understanding. We're praying and asking Him to remove the wrong ideas out of our minds, to get ourselves out of the way. It's not that I know, it's not that anyone else can grant us spiritual understanding. So it's not my Sabbath school teacher, if you had your lessons today, it's not a deacon or an elder or even the pastor or the ministry. No. God certainly can use them to help us understand but we got to go to the source. We've got to go to the source. The ability to understand God's Word and His way and His will is something that God grants to us. God opens our mind to His truth. And so, we can pray and ask God to help us with the understanding that we need to recognize so we do get it, so that we do see, so we have those eyes to see and ears to hear. Because if we think we already know, we're not really getting it.

And I think those of us who have been parents, you understand this, right? I mean you've got kids or you've had kids, maybe they're grown up now. Has this ever happened to you? "All right, this is what I want you to do," and you just start telling them and they start running off to do it. It's like, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Listen to all the instructions first before you run off and try to do the wrong thing." Because that's what happens. And I think, in a way, God wants us to recognize we're His kids, we're His children, we're God's children, we shouldn't want to miss out. If we think we already know, "Oh, I know that, I know, I know, I know, I know," and then we go and we do the wrong thing. And we're like our little kids that they thought they got it, they thought they listened well enough but then they missed the point. You see, and I think if we see ourselves as God's children, we're going to be looking to God, we're going to be understanding we need His direction, we need His insight, we need God's spiritual understanding given to us, so that we can draw the right concepts from His word, so we can understand these things then and see how they fit in our life.

In fact, He kind of builds on that a little bit later in this psalm, if you turn over a page or so to verse 144. Psalm 119:144. We see the impact of truly listening as a child of God. He says, "The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting; give me understanding, and I will live." Give me understanding. He couldn't work it up on his own. No, that wasn't going to happen. Through God's will, through His testimonies and He opens our mind, we can live. We can live, we can understand. And so, God does say then, "Little children, listen up. Listen up, this is critical, this is important. This is important." Because what it begins to open up, I think, is a third aspect that is so critical as well. When we recognize this, how can I live? How can I have eternal life? How can I be a part of God's family? I have to have a relationship with Him, I have to know Him. God has to be my Father, Christ has to be my elder Brother. I have to know them intimately. And listening develops relationships.

Listening develops relationship. How do you get to know anybody? How do you get to know anybody? I mean, through listening, conversation, we gain an understanding. We understand each other. And so, we learn information about them, we hear their experiences, we know, you know, how old they are, what their family is like. We understand about each other. And the challenge is, especially for us in this world that we live in, oftentimes, we don't do this. We don't really develop the relationships that we should. And it's a detriment in the congregation of God, it's detriment to all of us when we don't really know each other. We don't take the time because we live in this Facebook world, this Twitter limited number of characters kind of a world, or a soundbite kind of world, that's how we live. And so, "Give it to me in a nutshell and that's good enough. Let's go on."

But that's not what God wants. God isn't into this Facebook kind of world in that sense. Right? In fact, I read an interesting article that Facebook is destroying the world. And it was basically pointing that very fact out, that it's a bigger detriment to relationships than anything else. Because we think we can summarize a life in a picture, "Look at my beautiful picture." "Boy, they must have everything together. Look at how beautiful they are, they're happy, they're smiling." And yet, underlying is all these problems and difficulties. But I can put a pretty face on it and stamp it with the smiley face and everything's great. But that's not the case and God doesn't want us to just put a smiley face on things.

And the challenge then is how do we develop relationships in this world that we live in where true listening is really declining? Because when you listen, you're supposed to concentrate, you're supposed to focus, you're not supposed to be thinking of other things or looking at my phone and flipping through the next notification. Not thinking about “What's happening at volleyball tonight and who's our first team that we play and what's going on with that?” And, "Wow, what's on my to-do list? And after Sabbath, I got to get this done." No, we can't do that. God doesn't want… how are we going to develop a relationship with God and focus on what His Word says and speaks to us if that's where we're at? Not going to happen. It's not going to happen.

Or sometimes we may fall into another problem. How many of us have selective hearing? Yeah, we have selective hearing. Yeah, I've been accused of that, my wife complains that I never listen to her or something like that she says. I'm not exactly sure. Or she insists that I have this selective hearing. It's kind of a running joke in the house, if she really wants to get my attention, she starts with something about, "Well, the Green Bay Packers did this," it's like, "What did you say? What was that?" And I begin to start paying more attention to that if she wants a reply out of me. Or sometimes it's like, "Didn't you hear anything that I've said?" And I'll think, "That's a strange way to start a conversation. Why would you begin that way?"

Now the challenge is, are we that way when it comes to our spiritual relationship with God? It's like, "God, why are you starting there for? What was that all about?" You know, I think it reflects that we have this deep need that we need to be heard. And when we recognize the fact that we need to hear God, we can begin to recognize, "Boy, when somebody's not listening to us," you're trying to have a conversation with someone and they're like, "Well, I don't know. Let's see, is there anybody else I can talk to?" How do you feel when that happens?
Oh, I feel loved. I feel like they really care about me when they're looking at their watch and can't wait to get on to the next story.” No, you don't feel people care. And it's interesting when you consider it, "All right, developing relationships that sounds kind of mm-hmm. Guys especially sounds more feminine. I don't know if I'm into that kind of thing." But wait a second. When you really get down to it, being listened to is really a lot like being loved because it's showing somebody cares about you. When you listen and you show that concern, you show that compassion, you show that care, you're showing love. You're showing love.

And, of course, the fact is God always listens to us. God is always ready and willing and able to show us love and care and concern. And there are so many passages we could turn to to show that God is reaching out, striving to develop that relationship with us and sometimes we're like, "Yeah, I know, God, but, you know, I'm kind of in a hurry and I got this going and it’s so busy. You know how life is," and we end up in that frame of mind. And sometimes you just feel like nobody's listening. Is God really listening? Absolutely. Absolutely.

I was reminded of this, I was reading an interesting story, it was in a book called 40 Days of Encouragement. It was written by an author named Terry Slachter. And he was writing about Franklin Roosevelt, F.D.R., and all these welcoming parties, all these banquets that he would have to have and go through, all these various lines of meeting, dignitaries and people and senators and all this sort of thing. And I'm not sure if the story is true or not but he tells the story as though it's a true thing, that F.D.R. basically got to the point, he felt nobody in those lines have paid a bit of attention to what he said because they were always telling him how great he was and what he was doing and all those kinds of things.

And so, one day after going through this feeling like nobody really cared, he decided to have a little experiment. So there was this big welcoming line that everybody wanted to meet him at the White House and so he decided he'd try something totally different. So, as he was introduced to someone, the very first person, he decided, "I'm going to say the same thing to everybody and see what happens." So he met the first person and he mentioned kind of quietly, "I murdered my grandmother this morning." They said, "Well, it's good to meet you. I'm really glad. I've looked forward to the time that I could come and see you." And then, he said it to the next person, "I murdered my grandmother this morning." "Marvelous. Keep up the good work. We're so proud of what you're doing." "I murdered my grandmother this morning." "Bless you, sir. You are such an honor to meet and it's so wonderful I finally got this… I've always wanted to meet…" And this went on and on and on and on till he finally gets to the end of the line and supposedly there was the ambassador from Bolivia. And he says to him, "I murdered my grandmother this morning." And the Bolivian ambassador kind of looked at him kind of funny and said, "I'll bet she deserved it."

Now it sounds kind of like a phony story but he tells it as though it's true. And I think, if nothing else, it certainly tells us when we feel somebody's just, you know, patting us on the head and say, "Oh, it's nice to see you. I hope things are great. You know, how are things?" "They're terrible." "Well, good. I'm glad it's going well." You know, it does reflect whether we care or not about people. And so, when we recognize that, listening means we're paying attention to that person. And it's building trust, it builds trust. Listening develops relationships by building trust. Now can we trust God? I mean, does God give us full attention or not? You see, I think it's no different that when we focus on someone, you know, if I'm going to have a conversation with my wife, I better shut my laptop, I better turn off the TV, put down the phone face down and focus. Right? And focus because it shows I'm not interjecting, "Oh, well, wait." No, it's not the time for my opinions or my judgment or my advice. It's time to… I can't finish her sentences, I'm not supposed to do that. No, that's not good. I'm showing I care and that I trust, she can trust me. She's got a confidence that I have her best interests at heart. And that's exactly what God does. We can trust God no matter what. No matter what.

In fact, there's an amazing example as Paul wrote to Timothy, and you think about that relationship, that's kind of an interesting one. We have the elder statesman, the elder apostle Paul and this young minister Timothy, a young man that he met when he was just a little teenager. Paul kind of took him under his wing and they built this amazing relationship. And over in 2 Timothy 1, this relationship that they have is even built on I think a stronger foundation, in a sense, as Paul is relating to Timothy some of the challenges that he's had. And even though you look at the situation that Paul was going through and the difficulties, he's explaining to Timothy that there's such a foundation of trust between God and Paul, that Paul wasn't worried about it. It didn't impact Paul to lose his faith. And so, he's telling Timothy about this, I think, to help build up Timothy as well.

So in 2 Timothy 1, notice verse 12. I'm going to read this out of the New Living, it might be just a little different than your version, but New Living, 2 Timothy 1:12, Paul says, "For this reason, I also suffer these things," because being imprisoned that was a terrible thing. And yet, Paul says, "I'm not ashamed." Why? He says, "For I know whom I have believed." In other words, “I'm not just acquainted with God,” it's not just like, "Yeah, I kind of know Him sort of. I mean He's a Facebook friend but He's not really that close.” “No, it's not that I'm just acquainted, I know Him. I know whom I believe and I'm convinced, there's no doubt, there's no concern in my mind, there is no doubt, I am convinced that He's able to guard what I've entrusted to Him until that day." And, of course, Paul entrusted his whole life, his whole being, not only his ministry but everything, everything about him he trusted God. He entrusted himself to God. So he had that absolute confidence, it was unshakable confidence and trust that he had in God.

And he's telling Timothy that the relationship between God and Paul was built on trust. Not so much that God could trust Paul, but it was undoubted that Paul could trust God. And kind of reminiscent of Psalm 25:3, where we're told, "No one that hopes in You God will ever be put to shame." You see, we have a great God who is on our side, who we can trust. And, of course, when you think of the word trust, maybe a more spiritual word comes to mind. When you think of confidence and having an assurance, what we can count on. Is there a word that maybe comes to mind? You know, maybe the word faith. Because I think God raises His hand, in a way, and says, "Listen up. Live, build your faith, increase your faith." And listening builds faith. It increases confidence, it can increase and I think expound commitment and dedication as well.

When you think about faith, maybe there's a chapter in the Bible that comes to mind. Well, before we go there, let's go a couple of pages before that, in Hebrews 2. Hebrews 2, right at the very beginning of that section of Hebrews, notice this connection between growing in faith and truly listening to God, truly listening. Hebrews 2:1, says, "Therefore we must give the more earnest heed” what is earnest heed? I've really got to pay attention to this, give the earnest, really listen up. Therefore, "give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard lest we drift away." If we're going to listen up and live, we better really focus, really recognize, or we could end up somewhere else. Verse 2, he says, "For if the word spoken through angels prove steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience receives a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?"

So there's an undeniable connection between listening, paying the earnest heed, hearing the word that's spoken and whether or not we're going to neglect our salvation, whether we're going to drift away from the truth, whether we're going to do the things that aren't appropriate for us as disciples of Christ. He says, "These things were first spoken by the Lord, that was confirmed to us by those who heard him." And so, we see this connection between listening and hearing and understanding and application as well. And so it starts with that, "Can I count on who spoke these things? Can I have confidence in that? Is this something that I can certainly, absolutely, undeniably reflect on and have this confidence and faith that it's true?" Who backs it up? Well, God does. And it's, yes, absolutely. If you go over to Hebrews 11 then, we're reminded of this faith and this connection to listening and where that faith is really founded in that sense.

So when we see what Hebrews reminds us of in Hebrews 11, right at the very beginning of that chapter, it says, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” And it goes on and discusses these things. “By faith we understand” well, when we recognize these things, we have a confidence. We have an absolute conviction they're true, that it is going to happen, so we have substance, we have evidence. And where is that based? Not that I work this up, not that it's dependent only on me, I recognize if God said it, God promised it, God's going to bring. I have faith and confidence in Him. I believe Him. He spoke this Word, it's recorded for me and I give the earnest heed to that Word and I can trust God. And He can increase my faith because, first and foremost, God is faithful. God is faithful. And so, because God is faithful, I can have faith in Him. Because God is faithful, I can have confidence in the things I can't see. "I can't see it. But you know, God, I trust You and I know You. And You promised this. And even though I can't see it, I know it's real. I know it's real. And so, I can have the trust in You. I can have that trust in You."

Because I think it's just a page or two later here in chapter 13. Chapter 13, verse 5, he points out something, I think, that becomes critical then. What can I have faith in? Well, at the end of verse 5, it says, "He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you or forsake you.' So we may boldly say.” in faith, in confidence, in assurance, in commitment, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear." What can my boss do to me? “What can man do to me?” What can anyone do to me? Because I trust, I have faith, I have a relationship with God and He can increase my confidence in Him because He's not going anywhere. He’s telling me, "I'm not going to let you down. I'm never going to walk off and leave you. Not going to happen. I'll always be there." I think if you look that up in The Message, He actually says something like that, "I'll never let you down and I'm not going anywhere. Not walking off and leaving you."

And so, we can have an increase of faith recognizing we have a faithful God who is there, who speaks to us, and speaks words of life in this dead world. He speaks life to us. In fact, God does speak. We sing that song, don't we? “God speaks to us.” Are we listening? Are we listening? Because it should have an impact more than just the hearing. Certainly, Paul said the similar thing to the Romans, Romans 10. Romans 10 reminds us of where it begins, Romans 10, let's see where should we begin. How about verse 14? Romans 10:14, a familiar passage, as we're reminded, "How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?" Well, if you don't believe it, you don't believe it. It says, "How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach unless they're sent?" So we see this connection with listening, with listening. Verse 16, "No, not everyone obeys the gospel," and a quote from Isaiah again, "Lord, who has believed our report?" But what's the factor that really makes all the difference? Well, verse 17, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

And so, it's not just the audible sounds, not just reading the Word but it's what effect that Word has on us so that we have true understanding so that it builds our faith, it builds that dedication that we have for God. Yes, it says, "Have they not heard? Yes, indeed: ‘Their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.’" The gospel is going out, yes, but, all too often, people hear but they're not hearing. But for us, it should have that impact in our life that it changes who we are and we increase our faith. Because God does, in a way, raise up His hand and say, "Listen up. Listen up and live," because this should motivate us to action. Listening should impact us to godly action and that's really the goal that God has in mind for us. It's not just the fact that we understand or we know things, it's not just the fact that we have great faith. But that faith has to be put into action. We have to act on that faith, we have to live that faith. Because when you consider those types of things, we better do the Word. Right? We have to be doers. We have to be doers.

You might see why I was reading James' commentary. James 1 talks about that, doesn't it? James 1, look at verse 19. If we allow God to work in our life and we're really hearing to understand, listening leads to godly action. Listening leads to godly action, James certainly bears that point out. James 1:19, right at the very beginning of this general letter that James writes, he says, "My beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath." You see, when we're ready to listen, the result is godly actually. If we're not ready to listen, likelihood of something going wrong after that is going to definitely increase. He says, "If we're not, we might be quick to wrath," and what does he say? "The wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God." And so, listening to the Word of God, and the application of that Word of God says we will have the help we need, verse 21, "to lay aside filthiness, the overflow of wickedness."

And that Word then by listening and seeking to understand how it applies to us, it says, it's implanted, “receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” And this connection to eternal life that it impacts our life not just that we know, not just that we understand, but that we begin to live that way. And so he says, verse 22, "Be doers of the word, and not hearers only," because, otherwise, we're deceived. “If you're a hearer of the word and not a doer,” well, you're like this guy that looks in the mirror, sees his face, “goes away and forgets what kind of man he was. But” verse 25, "he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it," yeah, that ongoing action, godly actions that are ongoing, "continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer" not a selective hearer. Not that they say, "Well, that doesn't apply to me. Boy, that was an interesting sermon but I hope they got it." They're not that kind of hearer “but a doer of the work,” it says, "this one will be blessed in what he does.” So it needs to turn into action in our lives where we're looking into these things. That's what we're to be doing, be doers of the Word.

"Look perfectly," it says, "look into the perfect law of liberty." And that's kind of a listening kind of thing as well. If you look up the Greek word here, I was reminded of my grandfather. Grandfather was hard of hearing and so you know what he would do when he wanted to hear something? He leaned over and say, What?" You put your hand to your ear like grandpa used to do. Well, "Looks into," really carries that kind of a meaning, "I'm bending over trying to understand." Which points to us. Is that the kind of hearer that we are? That we are so intent on what God has in mind for us in our life that we're bending over and we want to get every word, we want to understand it, we want to apply it in our life. That's the kind of hearer we're supposed to be, one that's looking into God's Word, and then continuing in and not forgetting about it, not taking it lightly but looking intently into that Word, examining that Word to see the intent for me. Because if I'm just have a casual listener, "It doesn't matter that much, I guess that applies to somebody else," you know, we see that instead of seeing how it applies to us.

And so, certainly, we can't be that way. And maybe that's what we need to do. We need to stoop over, just a little bit and look at our own life, "Is there evidence of the fact that I am a forgetful hearer in my life?" And that can show itself in so many different ways. It can show itself in attitudes. It can show in ourselves, "What just came to my mind? What am I thinking? Have I really put that Word in an implanted way? Is that Word truly implanted in my mind, in my heart, so that's what comes out of me? Are the relationships in my life built on that kind of hearing and listening?" You see, those are the types of questions that I think we really need to ask ourselves. Because I think what James is telling us here, there's this intricate connection between listening and truly choosing to listen and then acting upon what we've heard. Or maybe to say it a little bit differently, listening is a choice that requires action. Listening is a choice that requires action.

It's nice to come here today and feel good about life and “I heard the Word.” But if we don't do anything, it doesn't impact us in that way, well, what's happened? Well, nothing, nothing's happened. And so, we certainly have to make sure that we're choosing to listen and that we're then having the required action. So what do we have to do? Well, we've got to… well, it's like shutting down the computer, turning off the T.V., turning over the phone. I have to intentionally turn away from every distraction that would cause me to slip up or trip, and I've got to turn toward God and His Word and His way and show Him that I am choosing to pay attention to Him. God has got His hand up for me and He's saying, "Listen up, listen up, because if you want to grow spiritually, you've got to hear Me out. You want deeper spiritual understanding? Listen to understand. If we're going to grow in our relationship, I'm reaching out to you but you're turning your back on Me, you're not listening. I want a relationship with you.” That's what God wants. But what is our reaction? Do we have the Facebook, Twitter response to God? He says, "No, don't do that. I want to build your faith, you need to increase your faith. I'm a faithful God who is reaching out to you."

And, of course, when we respond, it turns into action in our life. And so perhaps, as we think about these things this week, something we can certainly pray about. We can certainly pray and ask God, "Open my ears, open my spiritual… not just these ears, but my spiritual ears to help me to really listen to You. Help me to hear Your voice. Help me to hear Your voice as You speak to me through Your Word, help me hear Your voice as I talk with others, as I recognize You and Your guidance from other people. Help me with Your insights, help me with Your strengths, let me see Your values in my life. Help me to see the words that You speak with an understanding that I've never had before, so that, ultimately, it helps me to do, it helps me put those things into action."

Because God... Well, doesn't Christ stand at the door and knock? Are we going to open and truly listen? Well, if we're going to, we've got to get that door open and listen with our hearts and our minds and then allow that to be put into action. Maybe thinking about it just a little bit differently as we conclude. John 14:15 says, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." "If you love Me, keep My commandments." And maybe if we put that into other words, in a way, it's saying, "Listen to what I say and prove that you heard it by doing what I requested." Isn't that really what Christ is saying here? "If you love Me, keep My… Listen to what I say and prove that you actually heard it and understood it by doing what I ask." Or maybe just a little bit differently, "Listen up and live."