Overcoming Evil With Good 4

well I pointed out last week that when
God's people refuse to be overcome by
evil but instead choose to overcome evil
with
good they can expect three things to
happen number one we can expect that our
opponents sometimes our enemies may be
one
over Romans 12:20 if your enemy is
hungry feed him if he is thirsty give
him something to drink in doing this you
will Heap burning coals on his head
burning coals there is you
might help him to see to his Shame of
the wickedness of his actions one of the
most moving stories in that regard that
I've ever heard was quite a number of
decades ago a young man a young boy in
communist Romania at the time his mother
had been imprisoned for the faith and it
was his custom Every Mother's day or
every uh birthday I believe uh to give
her a special bouquet of flowers to
express his appreciation to his mother
well obviously he couldn't do that and
so because his mother had told him to
turn the other cheek and to love his
enemies he gathered those flowers and he
went to the police police
station and he gave them to the police
chief who had arrested his mother and he
said to him it's my custom and my
mother's birthday to give her these
flowers but I cannot reach her
now and so I have chosen to give them to
you story goes on to relate the man was
powerfully moved by that to the point
where that started the process of
changing his own life sometimes our
enemies are one over when we show good
in the face of evil secondly what we can
expect to happen is we can expect God to
bless us in our obedience if your enemy
is hungry give him food to eat if he is
thirsty give him water to drink in doing
this you will he burden coals on his
head and then this phrase in Proverbs
that Paul leaves out in Romans chapter
12 and the Lord will reward you as I
pointed out last week Peter mentions the
same thing 1 Peter 39 very clear do not
repay evil with evil or insult with
insult but with blessing because to this
you were called why so that you may
inherit a blessing God promises a
blessing to you and to me if by faith in
Jesus we we walk
obediently and turn the other cheek that
brings us this morning then to a third
thing that we can expect to happen when
we try to overcome evil with good I
introduced this in passing last week
going to look at it in much more detail
with you this morning and that is this
it
destroys the
power of evil and as we're going to see
it destroys the power of evil in way
that you and I might not anticipate but
listen again to the words of our text
this morning Romans chapter 16 19 and 20
Paul says everyone has heard about your
obedience remember these were Pagan
converts living in Pagan role he says
everyone has heard about your obedience
not just your faith but your obedian so
I am full of joy over you but I want you
to be wise about what is good and
innocent about what is evil and then
verse 20 the God of Peace will soon
Crush
Satan under your feet I believe there's
a linkage there there's a linkage
between your
obedience
and your innocence towards evil and your
commitment towards right
and God's commitment to crushing Satan
under our feet I want to talk about that
with you a bit this morning because it
is huge
implications for how Christians stand
and fight in the face of encroaching
evil that we live in a world where there
is a great deal of evil should come as
no surprise to any one of us at this
point in time we know biblically it goes
back all the way to the opening chapters
of scripture Genesis chapter 3 where
Adam and Eve sin against
God they enter into an alliance with the
evil one and God pronounces judgment and
from that day to this there has been a
conflict in the world between the forces
of good and the forces of evil God first
talks about that very clearly in Genesis
3:15 and what is known as the Proto
evangelium the first introduction of the
Gospel I will put
enmity between you and the woman between
your Offspring and hers he will crush
your head and you will strike his heal I
will put enmity that is hatred battle
conflict
tension and from that day to this this
battle this conflict this tension has
played out I believe biblically on three
different levels the first level is the
level between God and Satan God wants to
build a kingdom where everything is
structured according to his
values Satan hates God and wants people
to be under his author Authority that is
the conflict that is the backdrop to all
of history but there's a second level to
that conflict and that is between Satan
and
humans the serpent hates
Humanity the devil hates people he
especially just for the record hates
Womanhood because Womanhood gives birth
to the Next Generation and the earlier
the devil can get at that the more his
chances are of uh creating a human race
so filled with turmoil and conflict that
the doors are wide open to his evil
influence but there's a third level and
that level is this the
followers of Satan and the followers of
God throughout
scripture and throughout Biblical
history you have this conflict of the
ages that
rages almost always with rare exceptions
the forces of evil are stronger than the
forces of God but the promise of the
scriptures fulfilled in Christ is that
the seed of the
woman will one day overcome the seed of
The Serpent and so Genesis chapter 4
already you have that conflict between
Cain and Abel the seed of the woman and
the seed of the serpent you see that
conflict biblically between Israel and
Egypt and Israel and the other nations
Babylonia particularly in Assyria in the
New Testament you see that conflict
between Jesus and the powers of Satan
and the powers of the religious
communities of his day and then in the
history of the early church you see that
conflict raging powerfully uh between
the church and Pagan Rome and an egyp
instance the power of evil appears to be
greater than the power of good and the
question and the challenge always is how
can good overcome evil when evil is so
powerful and so all
pervasive in our own day and age I
cannot think of one instance where this
battle rages more
clearly then in the conflict uh between
the Western powers and is
the Islamic State two entirely different
values two mutually exclusive values two
claims to the kingdom just this past
week uh Isis despite all the forces that
are being brought to bear against them
the air campaign and whatever else
overan the city of
radi chased everybody out of there
killed hundreds and hundreds of people
as they go from door to door dragging
people out in the street and shooting
them in the head or cutting off their
heads not only that but then they
captured
Palmyra Palmyra is a Biblical City it's
called the city of Palms it has some of
the greatest architectural runs in the
world and if you have followed the
history of Isis then you know that they
have this thing about destroying ancient
ruins
and here we stand what do we do see
there is a battle raging between
different values that historically comes
to expression in many different
ways in our own day and age and in our
own culture I dare say some of that
battle rages in terms of gender identity
issues certainly rages in the areas of
same-sex
marriage if you follow the news Ireland
is I think the first nation in the world
to overwhelmingly endorse uh same-sex
marriage by popular
vote and uh an Irish
Baker fined uh because he didn't want to
make a cake it's always about the cakes
isn't that interesting it's always about
the cakes but in his situation he was
supposed to make a
cake that uh had Burt an Ernie on it
that wasn't so
bad but the slogan said support gay
marriage and he said I don't want to do
that well he was just found guilty in
the United States the Supreme Court of
the US right this very
month is holding hearings to try to
decide whether same-sex marriage ought
to be declared a constitutional right in
all the states of the United States of
America that judgment it's up in the air
time will tell it is expected to swing
in favor of that if it
does then every Pastor or everybody who
officiates in that kind of setting will
be criminally
liable if they refuse to
participate in a same-sex
marriage now that may or may not be an
issue that stir your crank fact of the
matter
is that in the Western World there is a
rapid
rejection of historic biblical
values things that not very many decades
ago were considered seen are now
considered normal you and I we stand in
the middle of all of that and then the
big question is what do we
do how do you fight the
encroach of evil because you see
eventually it's going to come home to
roost we'll talk about that in a moment
well historically there are three
approaches that God's people have taken
as to how to respond to encroaching evil
in the time that remains this morning
I'm going to give you two then two weeks
hence Lord willing we'll pick up on the
third but as you listen to this look at
your own life and ask yourself the
question which one of these three things
that we're going to be talking about do
I feel most comfortable with in my own
life and what is the Holy Spirit who
indwells me saying I need to do about
where I find myself can
we kind of make that deal so that I'm
not just talking into the
air because the word of God is sharp and
living and active it is meant to
transform us from the inside out well
the first approach to encroaching
evil is guess what do
nothing Live and Let Live in economic
terms L say fair leave the economy alone
government be's Private Business knows
best what ought to be
done and do
nothing is a remarkably attractive
option for people particularly when the
bad things are happening that are
happening are happening far
away or if they do not impact me
personally
do nothing was the
philosophy uh of the United States in
World War II until Japan bombed Pearl
Harbor and they had to get
involved do nothing is the philosophy of
many Canadians in view of what Isis is
doing out in Syria and Iraq who cares
what they're doing let's not get
ourselves and mashed in battles that we
cannot win and do
nothing is how a lot of Christians feel
about the culture war in North America
let's just throw our arms up in the air
and uh you know the world's going to
hell in a hand basket anyway and let's
just wait for Jesus to come back and and
and why bother with the mess that exists
and this may surprise you but there is a
place for doing
nothing because sometimes when you step
into battles that aren't
yours all you do is get bit and you
accomplish nothing I love the way the
Book of Proverbs puts it Proverbs 26
verse 17 like one who seizes a dog by
the ears is a passer by who meddles in a
quarrel not his
own graphic picture isn't it can you
imagine picking up a dog by the ear what
do you think's going to happen well you
better have some good gloves on because
you've got a fight in your hand and
there are times we ought not to get
involved in other people's battles
because at the end of the day they'll
just both turn on you and you'll not
have accomplished anything that said
there are three things I want us to
understand about
non-engagement number one biblically
speaking we are our brothers
keeper and that is especially
true in a day of global
connectivity where almost
instantaneously we get the messages and
the images of the atrocities that are
happening elsewhere in the world
Proverbs
32728 again filled with biblical wisdom
do not withhold good from those who
deserve it when it is in your power to
act do not say to your neighbor come
back later I'll give it tomorrow when
you have it with you
now and this applies not only to
Neighbors in a general sense it
especially applies the Bible says to the
household of faith the Bible says do
good to everybody but especially to
those of the household of faith and I
don't know about you but when I hear the
stories of Christians under Isis rule
being hounded and persecuted and
murdered my heart goes out to them and I
don't know what I can do about it most
of the time but can I remain calloused
and say well that's none of my business
because that's way out over there who
cares what happens to these people
doesn't the Bible say if one member of
the body suffers we all
suffer did you know that every five
minutes around the world a Christian is
being killed for his faith today you
know how many of that is in the course
of a year that's a
100,000 Martyrs for the cause of Christ
and yes they will get their reward but
you can imagine the horror and the
pain of going through that
experientially so biblically
speaking we are contrary to what Cen
said back in Genesis 4 yes we are our
Brother's Keeper number two closely con
connected to that is God will hold us
accountable for what we have known and
how we have acted Again The Book of
Proverbs is just filled with biblical
wisdom rescue those being led away to
death hold back those staggering towards
Slaughter if you say but we knew nothing
about this does not he who weighs the
heart perceive
it does not he who guards your life know
it will he not repay each
person according to what he has done
rescue those being led away to death if
you're familiar with the pro-life
movement you'll know that that is one of
the key verses that has motivated many
Christians around the world to become
involved in the cause of pro lifee
and it's easy to say well those things
are happening behind closed doors those
those things don't happen to affect me
but God says or historically the church
has talked not only about the sin of
commission but also the sin of
omission and if the sin of commission is
the stuff we do that's bad that we all
not to be doing then the sin of omission
is the opposite of that it's not doing
what we ought to be doing when we could
be doing something and you know me well
enough to know that I'm not simplistic
but this is why Christians formed
Pregnancy Crisis centers for example
over the years so that we're not only
speaking words of censure about
activities that we believe are
unbiblical or anti-biblical but that
we're in fact sticking out our hands and
doing something
positive about the disaster that
surrounds us and that's only one of many
things of course there are a lot of
causes that Christians uh get involved
in so biblically speaking we are our
neighbors brother biblically speaking
when we stand before the Lord he's going
to say did you know this and what have
you done about it and that can load us
down with guilt and that's not my
purpose in laying this on us this
morning but we do need to look at life
and the world from God's perspective and
later on we're going to talk then for at
least a few moments in closing what does
that mean for you or for me what is the
holy spirit stirring
us when we listen to the news headlines
and when we hear of the things that are
happening a lot of young people today
getting involved in dealing with the sex
trade which is a horrific curse on women
around the world including in our own
culture god holds us accountable for
what we know and then of course
here's a third factor to take into
consideration when we think it's not my
business and why should I get involved
and that is this
inactivity allows
evil to
flourish
inactivity allows
evil to flourish I suspect we've all
heard this quote from Edmund Burke the
Irish statan of several centuries ago
the only thing necessary for the Triumph
of evil is for good
men or
women to do
nothing Martin neimer was a Lutheran
Pastor in Nazi
Germany who originally supported Hitler
in his rise to power over against the
Communists and then when he began to
understand what Hitler's agenda
was and how he was trying to control the
church he together with people like Bon
Hoffer and a few others formed what they
call the confessional Church a church
that stood on its biblical confession
and that opposed the Nazi
regime for that he got imprisoned in
1937 in one of the worst of the
concentration camps almost died didn't
get released until the Allies released
him in
1945 but you may well remember this
saying for which he is probably most
remembered today and what it says is
this first they came for the
Socialists and I did not speak
out because I was not a
socialist then they came for the trade
unionists and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade
unionist then they came for the
Jews and I did not speak
out because I was not a
Jew then they came for
me and there was no one left to
speak for
me
sobering
words and if there's one thing that we
can say ought to be true for God 's
people we cannot
just allow ourselves to go to
sleep and say whatever happens to other
people as long as I'm comfortable and it
doesn't change my lifestyle I don't want
to get involved I love the way Peter
puts it very clearly one Peter 5'8 he
says be self-controlled and alert your
enemy the devil prows around like a
roaring lion seeking for someone
to devour Paul writing to the Ephesians
talks about Christians
awake and Christ has come to give us
light and so if you're a Christian far
from just passively sitting back and
saying well you know it's not my
business we ought to ask the holy spirit
for grace and strength to Bear what is
out there and then say what if anything
do you want me to do about what is
happening happening
nonparticipation passivity is not an
option for God's people we can't just
low ourselves to sleep because while
we're
sleeping evil is progressing at an
incredible rate and it's progressing at
an incredible rate in my judgment in
North America today and there are
agendas at work that most of us don't
even dream of
because one of the one of the agendas
let me just say this about it one of the
agendas at work on the periphery of
today's society is nothing short of the
destruction and the restructuring of the
family the way that you and I have
understood it historically for thousands
and thousands of
years and it's being pushed on
us and a lot of Christians are saying
well it's not me doesn't affect me I
love my wife I love my
kids it's going to
impact the rest of Life all
right that's only the
beginning there's a second
opposing
tactic that God's people address because
not everybody's
passive and that is this the opposite
reaction is to take up
arms and fight
back and we've all heard the
pundits we've all heard the criticism
we've all heard the causes that were
asked to sign up for and some of us
participate in that gladly and
cheerfully as well we should but
understand this
historically fighting back for
Christians has been a bit of a
conundrum a bit of a challenge because
there are those and the Amish would be
included in that there men cousins would
be included in that who would be
considered
pacifists and the argument would be
Christians ought never to fight back and
Christians ought never to take up the
sword and of course that's rooted in an
attempt at being obedient to the
teachings of Jesus in the gospels
particularly in the sermon of the mount
listen to these words of Jesus in
Matthew 5 39 and 40 he says I tell you
do not resist an evil person if someone
strikes you on the right cheek turn to
him the other also and if someone wants
to sue you and take your tunic let him
have your cloak as well and there are
many who believe that following Jesus
means taking that very
literally and allowing yourself if need
be to be harmed or killed without
fighting back because that is the spirit
of Jesus now I said this is
controversial because we're not all
pacifists I'm not a pacifist chances are
you aren't either and those of us who
are not pacifists that is people who
refuse to ever fight back or take up the
sword will argue that that those
injunctions deal with the inner attitude
of the heart and are not prescriptive
for every
situation because Jesus himself says to
his disciples at one point uh this is in
Luke
22:36 if you have a Pur take it also a
bag if you don't have a sword sell your
cloak and buy one that's hardly pacifist
language similarly uh folks point out
that when Jesus sees the money changers
in the temple what does he do it's his
only recorded act of violence but boy he
makes one heck of a
scene and turns those table upside down
likewise when he comes back at the end
of History he comes back riding on a
white horse with all the armies of
Heaven array behind him and at the end
of History it's not going to be a picnic
it's going to be
violent when good ultimately triumphs
over
evil and David of course back in the Old
Testament Psalm 144 praise be to the
Lord my rock who
trains my hands for war and my fingers
for battle the Apostle Paul talks about
putting on the armor of God he calls his
fellow workers soldiers when he dies he
says I have run the race I have fought
the good
fight and so yes there are very
differing opinions in Christian
communities over the years as to what
this all looks like in fact s Augustine
many years ago uh was one of the first
church fathers to formulate what is
known as the just War
Theory and he listed a number of
criteria that had to be present before a
nation that professed to be uh
structured after Christian values could
actually go to war in a way that was
justifiable these were modified then
later uh by Thomas aquinus but they
include things like War must be a last
resort it must be conducted by
legitimate Authority it has to be for a
just cause it must have a probability of
success it must have the right intention
that is it must want to establish peace
it must follow the rule of
proportionality you can't use more Force
than what is necessary and civilian
casualties of course they ought to be
limited very practical question
for Christians in war zones do we you
know it may be sort
of academic for us
right but Iraqi Christians who are being
murdered by the
hundreds have had asked that question
and they have now begun to organize
Christian
militias to take up arms to fight off
Isis Christians in Nigeria fighting the
scorge
of
baharam a number of them have begun to
take up Swords Kathy venlet when she was
here was sharing with us the tension and
the difficulty how do Nigerian
Christians response in the face of
overwhelming
Eva difficult
questions particularly if you want to be
a serious follower of Jesus no time
remains let me again give you three
principles that I believe
biblically ought to
govern our
response in the face of evil number one
and we talked about this extensively uh
the last couple of weeks so I can be
brief about
it when it comes to personal
injury or personal
Injustice we must trust God to vindicate
us we must trust the authorities that he
has established to do do
justice and if they fail we must trust
in him under no circumstances ought we
to take matters into our own hands
because we will only start a cycle of
violence that will quickly get out of
hand Paul in the context of
Christians launching lawsuits against
one another says why not rather be
wronged God keeps his eye on what
happens to you and to me and the desire
to get even the desire to get back the
desire for Vindication is the desire
that needs to be surrendered to God
because if we are his and he is our
father he is perfectly capable of
keeping his eye on everything and nobody
who puts their trust in God will
ultimately be left hanging or be ashamed
and Jesus I've pointed out before is the
best example of that try practicing that
and you will know that you need the holy
spirit because I'll tell you I don't
care how mild-mannered you are when it
gets close to home everything inside you
starts
screaming with
pain and for the and and the desire to
be Vindicated so
personally we must trust God to work out
the process we must resist the
temptation to return evil for evil Tit
for Tat I believe that's what Jesus
means when he talks about turning the
other cheek he wants to change that deep
attitude in our hearts that says I want
my Justice and I want it now and if
nobody else is going to provide it for
me I'm going to do it for
myself second principle to
remember we need to exercise
Our God given Authority we've talked
about that
too
God not only rules creation
directly he also rules creation
indirectly through authority figures
governments parents teachers
policemen when God puts us in that kind
of
position we have a
responsibility to to exercise our
office and to Steward those who are
under us because God has entrusted them
to us we cannot expect God to do what he
has challenged us to do and given us
authority to do and I love the way uh
one of our denominational confessions
puts at the heidleberg catechism in its
exposition of the Ten Commandments asks
this question about Lord's day five
which is the commandment to honor your
father and your mother and the question
is what is God's will for you in the
fifth commandment in the answer that I
honor love and be loyal to my father and
mother and all those in authority over
me that I submit myself with proper
obedience to all their good teaching and
discipline and also that I be patient
with their failings for through them God
chooses is to rule
that as being under the authority which
indeed is what that refers
to but we're not only under
Authority we also have authority parents
have authority over their
children if you are boss in a business
you have some measure of authority over
your employees if you're a teacher you
have author it over your students to
some degree if you're a member of
society a member of some organization
most of us have some measure of
authority in that place of
authority it is your
responsibility to exercise The Authority
that God has put you in and so if some
bad dude were to come in my house and
try to attack my children would I stand
there passively and say well go ahead
and do what no I would want I might not
win the battle it might cost me my life
but I have a responsibility to my
children and so do
you and if you were a teacher in a
school and somebody came in and wanted
to harm your students are you just going
to stand by and say Well it must be
God's will see historically it's easy to
fall into those kind of patterns as an
excuse for R coward is no you have a job
to do and it was going to cost you your
life you just better do it
because that's the call on you same
thing in your job any position that you
exercise you cannot just passively stand
back and say well quas s whatever will
be will be I no you must do what God has
called you to do and you better not make
any excuses for it and you better pray
for a lot of wisdom to know what to do
and how to do it and how to do it wisely
because that's another whole picture you
with
me we have
stewardship over what God has entrusted
to us and one day we'll be
judged as to how we exercise that
stewardship did we bury our treasure was
it all about us and keeping our own skin
safe and comfortable or was it about the
responsibility that God had entrusted to
us in our particular
situation well one more principle and
then we'll be done in a few moments and
a very important
one we must
always
fight
fair Peter puts it this way 1 Peter 3:15
and 16 always be prepared to give an
answer to everyone who asks you for the
to give the reason for the hope that you
have but do this with
gentleness and respect keeping a clear
conscience so that those who speak
maliciously against your good behavior
in Christ may be
slander do this with
gentleness and
respect and do it with a
clear
conscience we must always fight fear
what does that mean you don't demonize
your
opponent you don't attack
personality when you need to deal with
issues you don't talk about your
opponent behind his back you don't
slander you don't misrepresent the truth
you face the issues head on with the
desire to bring about restoration and
Reconciliation and to stand for truth in
a way that honors God and that does not
kingdom and if half the Christian church
is too
passive in the face of encroaching evil
then the other
aggressive and minimizes the impact of
their
message by their inappropriate
fighting that bogg down into a courtyard
scrap or a schoolyard
scrap between two
children how many of you here know
Michael
Corin anybody Michael Corin is a uh
fairly well-known personality in the
media he's written a significant number
of books he's uh run a number of his own
television shows and and he's just
recently migrated from the Roman
Catholic Church to the Anglican
church and the issue the reason he says
is because his position on same-sex
marriage has changed from being against
it to being in favor of it and because
the Anglican Church is much more uh
congenial to that in most of its man
stations than the Roman Catholic Church
is he feels that he can no longer in
good conscience be a Roman Catholic now
let the issue rest whether you agree or
disagree uh most of his invitations to
speak at Catholic institutions of course
could withdrawn almost immediately and I
think that's that's fair
enough but what he says bothered him the
most is the vitriol the poison the
aggressiveness of the attack acts that
were directed towards him that became
personal and
antagonistic and and just very very
destructive and whenever I hear that and
I hear that a
lot and even if you make allowances for
the fact that you know people have been
stirred and are particularly tender and
sensitive about it does diage to the
cause of Christ Peter says do it with a
clear
conscience and with gentleness and with
respect uh Paul writing to Timothy puts
it this way he says don't have anything
to do with foolish and stupid arguments
because they produce
quarrels and the Lord's servant was not
quarrel instead he must be kind to
everyone able to teach not resentful and
those who oppose him he must gently
instruct in the hope that God will grant
them repentance
so here's where I want to leave it this
morning number one as you
look at what is happening in the world
today and it's coming at us from all
sides what's your
response there are some of us here we're
naturally given towards
passivity don't bother me don't engage
me I am just interested in my own own
comfort and in my own
life some of us we swing the other way
we're naturally aggressive and given
half a chance we'll take out a stick and
we'll clobber somebody and that may not
always be done in the spirit of the Lord
I see you recognize yourself or each
other in those two descriptions some
people are passive some people are
aggressive and a lot of people are
passive aggressive they just let it go
let it go let it go till they can let it
go no longer and then they blow up and
you get a big mess on your a
hands now here's the
question identifying who you are and
what your natural inclination
is what is the holy spirit saying to you
this
morning where is the holy spirit
stirring in some of
you to get engaged in the issues of life
that are threatening not only Western
Civilization but especially the church
what is your job you say well I don't
know don't worry about that start
praying about God stirring in your heart
and asking what you're stirring in my
heart what do you want me to do about
it because if the willingness is there
to be engaged trust me God will open
doors you will find other people whose
Hearts resonate with your heart then the
next question is what am I going to do
about it maybe you can't do anything
about it but you can pray or you can
give or you can sign a petition or you
can bester your mind and body and
spirit and say there's evil
here and how can I be part of the
solution and if you're on the other end
of the
spectrum and you're just ready to put
your foot in your mouth
and clobber the nearest
opponent then ask yourself the
question what does the Holy Spirit want
to
temper in me because you can see you you
can have the strength of a
horse and he can be filled with energy
and filled with
passion but a horse that has not been
bridled and that can't run as part of a
team
wastes his energy and becomes dangerous
because it is not focused and it's not
purposeful see the purpose of the Holy
Spirit on the day of
Pentecost wasn't just to make us feel
good wasn't just to allow us to share in
the blessings of Heaven through faith in
Christ of course it is that and a whole
lot
more but Jesus did say when the Holy
Spirit comes upon you you're going to be
my
Witnesses the word is Marty just for the
record record he's going to inspire in
his children the passion to engage in
his work of ministry so again I ask you
the question given where you find
yourself giving who given who you are
given what you know about the world
around you given what stirs in you would
you rise to the
what is your Holy
Spirit directing
me to
do for your
cause and For Your Glory may only be to
pray may only be to link with other
Christians it may only be to be here
every Sunday and make a faithful
contribution to the work I don't know
what it will be but I can guarantee you
that if you're walking with the Lord
something somewhere will stir your heart
it will get your attention
and then you've got to make the decision
do I follow up on it or
not and the degree to which you and I
do to that degree God opens up the
door and makes us participant with him
in the bringing about of his kingdom
people died Generations ago that you and
I could sit here today and name the name