and we're honored to get to be here. If you have your Bibles there in 3 John, we're gonna start reading in verse number one, and we're gonna read all the way through to verse number 14. Notice if you will, the elder, again, that's John. Unto the well-beloved guest, it said, to whom I love in the truth. He said, Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear my children walk in truth. Beloved, Thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers, which have borne witness of thy charity before the church, whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort thou shalt do well. Because that for his namesake they went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers. We want to underscore that fellow helpers. We're going to center our attention there tonight. Fellow helpers to the truth. I wrote unto the church, but diatrophies, who loveth to have preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, I come, if I come, I will remember his deeds, which he doeth, priding against us with malicious words, and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, casteth them out of the church. My glasses are messing up tonight. Verse number 11, He said, Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God. but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. Demetrius hath a good report of all men, and of the truth itself. Yea, and we also bear record, and you know that our record is true. I have many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write the right unto thee. But I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Greet the friends by name. Well, let's go to the Lord in prayer, and we'll look at just a few things this evening. Won't keep you long and somebody said there's two things helped by shortening one's biscuits and the others sermons so But I may have mentioned that last night. But anyhow, let's go with the Lord in prayer and we'll we'll Cover just a few things father. Thank you Lord for the privilege To get to be here, we thank you, Lord, for the presentation. We thank you for the good singing, the good meal, just the good fellowship with your people. We sure have enjoyed our stay, and we sure do appreciate this church, and thank you for them. Thank you for their pastor, pastor's wife. I pray that you'll just continue to meet the needs here, and, Lord, you'll meet the needs of these missionaries, and, Lord, also that you'll help us to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit of God, even tonight as we preach. And may we, again, just be in tune and in touch with you, and help us, we pray, and we'll praise you for all you do, in Jesus' name, amen. Now, I know that every one of us recognize the importance of missions, and so I don't, I guess I need to emphasize that. We put an exclamation point on the fact that, missions is the heartbeat of God, and it's something that every Christian ought to have a desire, want to be a part of. And I don't know about you, but man, I get excited when I hear there are missionaries coming to our church, and I really do. I'm not just saying that. I, by the way, I've been around people that call missionaries, moochinaries, and don't do that around me. You won't like the response. Amen. Cause I, they're my heroes and I'm thankful for each one of them. And you know, I believe that God would have us to be what John describes here. And as you know, he mentioned it in verse number eight, we therefore ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers to the truth. You know, too many times, unintentionally, perhaps, or intentionally, people get in the way of being a help to what God's trying to do, if you will. I know that you know Jesus is a picture of that truth. He said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. And so, no man cometh unto the Father, he said, but by me. And it is important and imperative that You and I encourage those that are promoting, preaching, if you will, doing the work of the Lord for the Lord, and not being a hindrance, but a help to that. And I know this church is missions-minded. I mean, you see the, we see all the mission boards there, and I'm kind of preaching to the choir, I guess, but boy, I'm just excited when I get around. those that not just love the ministries that they're involved in, but the ministries of like-minded and like-faith people that are trying to do something for God. There's nothing as exhorting to me as seeing somebody that loves Jesus as much or more than I do. And I'm afraid that there have been a lot of people that love him a lot more than I do. It ought not to be that way, but nonetheless, I'm thankful when I get around them, and I've been able to do that these couple of days, and so we sure appreciate, again, what the Lord has allowed us to be a part of. Now, there's several things, again, we want to draw to your attention, and I know you noticed in verse number eight. We'll just get right there. I would give you more surrounding of the little short book of 3 John. But he said there in verse number eight, we therefore ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers to the truth. You know, that ought to be the desire of every child of God. And I've told folks many times, listen, if I can't help you, I sure don't want to hurt you. But my intention is to help you. I'm not here to hurt this church. And if I can't help you, I sure don't want to hurt you. But we understand that God's given us an opportunity to be a blessing. Amen. Every day, I met some of you folks, talked in depth to some of you, and man, I tell you, it's just a blessing to hear folks' testimonies, their love for the Lord. And I know your pastor and his wife, and I've watched them since they were little, and before Brother Bobby was born. But anyway, and I'm thankful. Because people that love the Lord encourage me. Amen, and that ought to be your desire as well. You know, there's some things we ought to hide in our lives, but there's some things we ought to, if you will, exhort others with, and that is to be the kind of Christian that God could use as a testimony in our daily life. our appearance, our vocabulary, everything about us. Again, you ought to just do a checkup, not just from the neck up, but all the way, and see if what you see is something that would, if you will, be a help and not a hindrance to the cause of Christ. That ought to be our standard of living, amen? And I know we could preach on standards and all that kind of stuff, but if you just say, I know that a little saying went across the country years ago, but what would Jesus do? But you know, it ought to be something that you and I ask ourselves daily. What would Jesus do here? Whatever he would do is what he would have you to do. I know that again the Lord has surely raised up a great work here in this church and it's exciting to see and thankful for it, thankful for your pastor and again thankful for your mission mindedness and boy I tell you that's just encouraging because a lot of churches are getting away from what we ought to be drawn more to. But I want to talk to you just a few things. Now, he said, again, in verse number eight, that we might be fellow helpers to the truth. And I'll just skip a whole lot of introduction, and you see, I've already had a whole lot. But anyway, we'll just skip the rest of it, and we'll hit the most important parts, and I'll I add some shortening to this one, amen. Anyway, there are a lot of jobs that you and I can't do alone. This book is an encouragement to the church, I believe, to support missionaries, those that are doing the work of the Lord. And it revolves around three individuals, and I'm not gonna take a whole lot of time on a couple of them, but there's an exhorter named Gaius. And then there was an egotist in verse nine named Diotrephes. And then there was a good example named Demetrius in verse number 12. Now, again, I would like to spend more time on each one of them, but I want to hone in, if you will, on the The fact that all of us ought to have a desire to be a fellow helper, like Gaius and Demetrius. And John's writing about missions given, in essence, and faith promised. And given, by the way, requires commitment. It's giving money to your church's missionary program. As you well know, that's what this Faith Promise Conference is all about, is trusting God to not just provide for you, but to, I believe the Lord will bless it and give back as long as you and I are faithful of what He gives us and does for us. And I believe He'll continue to send it in. And you say, well, Preacher, I want to give more, but God just hasn't sent it in. Well, you're not accountable if you don't have it. Amen, but you and I are accountable for everything that the Lord provides us and we ought to be more than willing to use what he's provided for the cause of Christ. And so when we pray and ask God to lay an amount on our heart for offerings and especially for faith promise, then the offerings that you already are giving and realizing that and remembering. By the way, Leviticus in chapter 27 verse 30 said, and all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or the fruit of the tree is the Lord's. It is holy under the Lord. The tithe is the Lord's. By the way, we're not to meddle with God's tithe. Yeah, you're cursed with a curse, amen. And if you do, I believe every Christian, I believe everybody ought to tithe, but every Christian especially ought to tithe. And you know, an offering, a faith promise offering, or an offering for some other worthy cause, is something that you and I have a privilege to be a part of. It's not something that we ought to begrudge and say, well, I'm a preacher, just money hungry. Hey, this ain't for the preachers, amen? This is for the cause and the work of Christ. And so these missionaries are, don't call them, don't call missionaries, muchanaries around me because you won't like my response, amen? And they're not, as some people try to make them out to be, they're doing, they're going in our stead. Amen. I want to encourage that. I want to support that. I know this church does. And I know you don't consider them as being anything but a servant of God, that's faithful to God, and a hero in the faith. And I believe I would do it if the Lord called me to go to a foreign land. He hadn't called me. I don't know what I would do. If I knew for sure that he wanted me to go, I think I would. But nonetheless, I'm glad that some people are willing to go. And somebody said, well, I'll just skip that, but we'll look at just a few things. The product of God is faith. And so we're gonna look at what you and I ought to understand the importance of in faith promise giving. And so the whole Christian life is based on faith, not faith in faith, but faith in a promise. And that is not, by the way, the name it and claim it crowd, as some would tell us. It is not blab it and grab it, as others would say. It is faith. It is not believing God will do what I want, but believing that He will do what He says that He would do in His Word. And that is the kind of faith that requires a commitment, a commitment to know what God said for one thing, and a commitment to be willing to put God, in essence, to the test. And by the way, you don't have to test him, because I'll tell you, he'll come through true. Amen. And so, several things that God reveals in His Word concerning the importance of faith. Now, I know that you're familiar with Ephesians 2, 8, 9, 4. By grace are you saved through. Faith, and that not of yourselves, this a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And I'm glad it is that way, amen. And I will not stand before the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ and say, look what I did to get here. No, I'll kneel and bow and fall prostrate in the gold dust and look what Jesus did to get me here. And thanks to Calvary. Man, I don't know about you, but the more that I serve him, the sweeter he grows. And we cannot please God without faith. Again, Hebrews 11 and six, just so you get it. Without faith, it's impossible to please him. I've got a cross stick of the word faith, the letters. Forsaking all, I trust him. When there's a competition or, if you will, a clash between what God wants and what the flesh wants or what somebody else wants, which way do you go? I'm afraid I've gone the wrong way before. I've always regretted it. But whenever I operate in faith and out of faith and love for Him, I've never regretted it. There's a lot of times I've questioned, God, you sure you want me to do this? And in essence, taking a leap of faith. Notice several things, again, that it requires concerning faith. We can't be saved without it. And we can't please God without it. And you can't please God by just busying yourself even in ministry things. but to operate by faith. And then just singing in the choirs, not going to get it. And by the way, I'm all for all those things, and teaching Sunday school class, not going to get it. There must be faith also. Nothing wrong with those things. I recommend you do them, especially if the Lord's leading you to do them. I'm not bad-mouthing them. I'm just saying we need to be careful that what we do is by faith. And just tithing, by the way, there must be faith. You know what? I quit tithing a long time ago. But you can ask our ex-secretary. She made my check out. Miss Brandy. And she also counted offerings. I don't know if she paid attention to her offering, but I guarantee you. I'm just saying that it is important for you and I to be honest. Somebody said, if you'll steal from God, let me know. I'll hold my hand on my wallet when we go out. I am not trying to be ugly. I just want to understand the importance of being obedient to God. So, tithing, expected, and yet an offering. We know, Alki 310, every preacher knows it. We quote it off and on. Bring you all the tithes and offerings in the story. A mission's offering is above your tithe. And so we look again, God expects us to operate by faith. And then we can really live life, this life, in the will of God, but we cannot live this life in the will of God without faith. It's important. The just shall live by faith. We see it again in Hebrews 10, verse 38. Now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back or refuse to live by faith, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. And we are familiar, again, with that verse in Hebrews there. By the way, the devil does not make living easy for the Christian or the flesh. And there will be plenty of discouragements along the way, as you well know already, if you have been saved for any time. And we got to abide in Christ to trust God to deliver us. And faith promise plan teaches us the importance of trusting God for whatever He has laid on our heart to do. And so you say, where does that kind of faith come from? Well, so then faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God in Romans 10, 17 and Mark 11, 24. He said, therefore I say unto you, what things soever you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them. And John 15, seven, if you abide in me, my words abide in you. Shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. And so we understand that basically our doing what the Lord wants us to do is a test of our faith. And sometimes I have passed, Sometimes I have failed. And probably all of us here this morning or this evening would recognize the same. And so we not only see that, we see the promise of God. And we recognize the product is of God and the promise is of God. And God's promise is to give back that which was given. And he said concerning the tithe, Malachi 3.10, you know it, bring you all the tithes and into the storehouse. And by the way, tithing and faith promise must go together. A non-tither will not be involved in faith promise giving because the tithe is the Lord. That comes off the top. You preachers always preach no money. Listen, I do not want your money. I want God's blessings on your life. I am not the pastor here. Amen, it wouldn't, it's not gonna benefit me. I'm just saying that, and by the way, I believe that your pastor, I'm sure he has preached on it. And you ought to say amen the loudest when he does, amen. And even when it hurts, amen. And so, but Dr. Lee Robertson said once that he would not trust a Christian who wouldn't tithe. You say, well, who is he? He was just a great man of God and preached a very influential hand, soul and in church. And so, but anyway, then verse number nine, of course, deals with that and in Malachi chapter 10. But anyway, and then Luke chapter six, verse 38 said, give and it what? Shall be given unto you. Good measure, press down. And shaken together and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you meet with all, it shall be measured to you again." And just a valuable truth. He said, and again, by the way, you said, Preacher, what's to be given? Well, whatever's needed, amen, and whatever the Lord puts on your heart as far as an offering. And we know again, the tithe is the Lord's, but he gives us the option on the offering. And Philippians 4, 19, y'all probably quoted with me too, but God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory. And I'm glad that my supply does not come from man. Amen. There have been times where I thought, man, I don't know how we're going to pay this bill. You know, the Lord always comes through. And by the way, if we're responsible with what He gives us, let me add that, as I know a lot of irresponsible people have had to have the handout for somebody else. I'm not saying I've not needed somebody else's help before, but the truth is that we ought all understand that God will be debtor to no man. You're not going to stand before him one day and say, God, you owed me this, and you didn't do it. Now, he'll honor his word. But we need to honor his word as well by doing what he expects us to do. So I know that you weren't expecting this tonight, but that's OK. We're gonna live through it, amen. And we look at just a few key words there. And we know that the product of God is faith, the promise of God. Now the promise, God's promise is to give back that which is given. And again, Malachi chapter three, verse 10, and 638 Luke, and also Philippians 4, 19. I wanna be sure you get that before we move on. And then, You know, someone asked, would you accept $10 million and no more promises from God, from Him meeting your needs ever again? I wonder, would you? You could spend 10 times that amount you now spend and still only be spending the interest on $10 million. I don't know about you, but that's not appealing to me. I love the Lord. And I had rather live from hand to mouth than to live in the nicest home and plenty of food, money, and everything else. I'm thankful that my God supplies my needs. And they don't always supply my wants, but He supplies my needs. And so, anyway, I know, well, you know, God's kingdom is the souls of men, and we're talking about giving money, that souls may not only be saved, but not only here in this life, but also One of these days, we're going to get to meet them again. Our investment, that is. And I believe the Lord would have us to do this in all the world, not just in your area, though mighty important here. You gotta keep mama strong, amen, so the babies will be healthy. And I believe it's important to do that. And I believe you oughta, and obviously, the Lord has got some sacrificial giving folks here, and boy, it's a blessing just to get to see the healthiness. Brother Bob, you got a healthy church. And this is the Lord's church, but I'm just, it's a thrill to get to see. And mighty thankful for it. But look at the plan of God real quickly. does not intend for the lost to pay for hearing the gospel. And we have just read, Beloved, thou doest faithfully, in verse number five. And he said, thou doest to the brethren two strangers, which have borne witness of thy charity. He said, before the church, whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well. Because that for his namesake, they went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles. Well, how did they live? Well, obviously, they were taken care of. And so they were freed up from having to worry about being in a strange land and strange customs and strange people. And they were freed up to be able to devote their God-called attention on the ministry of reaching a people that, by the way, probably have never had a Gospel message or a Gospel presentation. But anyway, so we know that the plan of God does not intend for the lost to pay for the hearing of the Gospel. And those verses we just read, go back over them. I'm trying to hurry. Well, you reread it later, but the purpose of the plan, as you well know, is to win souls, to show love and concern to the brethren and to strangers, the lost in other words, and to bring forward on their journey there in verse number six, and to provide food and shelter and provision so they might fulfill their mission and without charge to those that they are sent to minister to. And to enter into partnership with the missionary to get the gospel out in verse number eight, we just read. Now 1 Corinthians in chapter three, he said, verse number seven, so then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together with God, and ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. And so, again, laboring to sin, and, or by going, Acts 1, 8, again, you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, you shall be witnesses unto me. And, hey, by the way, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and into the uttermost part of the earth. That includes all, every place on earth. And so we know that this enables us to keep the great commission. Jesus said, well, in Matthew chapter 28, brother, verse number 18, Jesus came and spake unto him saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. And what did he do? He gave what we call a great commission. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. And William Carey said that you cannot play leapfrog with the command and hug the promise. And boy, I don't know about you, but I've been guilty of that, claiming the promise, but not keeping the requisite, the prerequisite. And so, but we'll move on. How can we go into all the world? Well, you can't. And you certainly can't ignore the command. We oughta, might oughta stay here a while, but anyway, I'm gonna move on. We're commanded to go. Our number one command is to go. And what we're doing this evening, this week, is reminding us of the importance of missions. I'm thankful for churches that have missions conferences, amen, and revivals in all meetings. But, you know, the truth is, and I don't, The Lord helped me. I'm certainly not bragging, but the Lord has allowed me to help send a lot of other people, a lot of other men in my place to different places. I didn't say I sent them all alone, but I've helped send a whole lot of them. We had over 100 missionaries when we was in Livingston there, and mission projects. And Miss Brandy was in charge of the books and all that kind of stuff. And so if you have any questions about whether I'm telling you the truth, ask her. So she knows it all. I'm just kidding. She does not, when she's figuring, she tries not to remember anything that she's seen. But anyway, I'm thankful again that the Lord allows us to be able to serve Him and to do what He, you know, He didn't have to include us, but He chose to. Aren't you glad He loved us enough to allow His Son to come, take our place on Calvary? He who knew no sin became sin, that you and I might be made the righteousness of God in Him. I don't know what that means to you, but I know what it means to me. It means everything. And how could we ever deny He who gave His life for us? I don't believe there's any way possible we could ever give Him too much. But we ought to try. You know, you say, Preacher, how can we go into all the world? Well, we cannot ignore the command. And we are commanded to go. Our number one command is to go. And you have to ask yourself what you are doing about it. And we ought to either go or send someone else in our place. And I prefer the latter of the best. To be honest with you, I'm not interested in going to Spain, these other places, these missionaries. I've been to Israel, I've been to Romania, and where else have I been? on the border of Mexico. But anyway, I am just saying there is no place like home. I like America. Amen. I am glad God has called somebody in my place instead of me, and I am glad to help out where I can. So we either go or send somebody in. That is what Now, we consider what the missionary is doing, and when you do, it will not bother you to give so that he can go. I'll just say it. So I started giving $5 a week when we was back in Dermot. I started in Kilgore with Bob's dad on Faith Promise Missions, and it grew and grew. We went to Dermot, Arkansas, and it's the poorest town in the poorest county in the poorest state in the Union. And there wasn't a whole lot of finances there. The church paid us like $100 a week. And I worked a little bit on the side. But I made a commitment to the Lord. You know, I never missed giving my faith promise. I'm not bragging on me. I'm just saying the Lord provided it because He knew my heart. He let me do that. And so I believe this. We'll trust the Lord. He is worthy. Well, anyhow, I'm about halfway through. Let me jump down some. You know, the proof of the plan is this. God says we rob Him. ties and offerings in Malachi and we will move on but you know God gives an example that He expects an offering no matter how little we make. Jesus said over against the treasury and beheld you know where I am going and Matthew 12 and beheld how the people cast money in the treasure and all and many that were rich cast in much and there came a certain poor widow and she threw in two mites which made a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, This poor widow hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury. For all they did cast in of their abundance, but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. She had nothing left over, no grocery money, no rent money. By the way, I do not believe that the Lord was telling her to do that. She did that because obviously she trusted the Lord could do more with it than she could, and what good was it going to do her anyway? Well, you know, that's not the attitude that most of us take. Let me just conclude. I will jump to the end. We take care of God's business for His kingdom. And God takes care of our kingdom, our business, and you can rest assured. And don't expect the PTA to help you in this, or expect the Chamber of Commerce, or the Medical Association, or the Elk and the Masons, or the NRA, but the church must do its part, and by the way, We give not just money, but I'll just throw these in, we'll be done, but we give courtesy we receive. Courtesy, we give compassion, we give love. It's not just money, but we give, and it shall be given unto you. Amen. Faith promise, before I'm gonna leave off, has changed my life. I will tell you one more thing, and then I'll tell you one more thing and close again. William Carey said, I'll go if you'll hold the rope. Expect great things from God, but attempt great things for God. Jim Elliott said, He is no fool to give that which he cannot keep in order to gain that which he cannot lose. We fit one class or the other. You may ask us, will we go, give, or just gaze? Jesus said, why stand ye gazing on the angels? Why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus is taken from you, so come in like manner as you have seen him go. There are those that have decided, that did decide at one time that they were going to, Jesus was coming back on a certain day or whatever, and they were going to sit on the housetop and wait. Well, I got news for them. You can wait all you want to, but the Lord wants us to be busy when He comes. We don't have time. There's no time to stop. No time to slow down. Man, our time is short. put us on top of the house just waiting to put some pep in our step to do more. And we got opportunity to serve Him, do more for Him. I believe one of the things that the Lord wipes away all tears in heaven will be after we, after we have shed some tears of regret. I do not know about you, but I want to say when I stand before the Lord one day, Lord, I am glad I did. Instead of, I wish I had. Have you ever been to an awards banquet? I have. I remember And I had an opportunity to play on the basketball team, and I just—I wanted to—I was working at Piggly Wiggly. Some people call it Hoggly Woggly. It's not a—I don't think it's a chain anymore, but that's what I was working. And so I wanted to work. I mean, I wanted to play ball, but I'd had to give up my job. So I kept my job. But let's see, where was I going with this? Rewards. Amen. And you know, there's some things that you and I need to weigh out and say, John, I don't know about you, but I get it. There's nothing more important than you and I. Because one day we will stand before Him. I'm thankful we won't have to give an account for our soul, our sin, but we will give an account for our service, the judgment seat of Christ. You know, it was not until after the great white throne judgment that all tears are going to be wiped away. Somebody sang a song or wrote a song, No Tears in Heaven, It's not true. I believe there will be till after the great white throne. We'll be in heaven before then. So if they're all going to be wiped away, there must be going to be some. I don't know about you. I'd rather have tears of joy than tears of regret, sorrow, and sadness. I think I may have said it last night. I don't know if I didn't. I mean, I intended to. I'm very hard to get stirred up. I don't get angry easy, except in traffic. I'm just kidding. But I will say something to people that start bad-mouthing missionaries. Call them moochinaries. I ain't got time for that, John. You know, isn't it easy for us to criticize somebody who's doing more than we are? Say, preacher, I know some bad missionaries. Yeah, and I know some bad carpenters, and I know some bad whatever you are, maybe, whatever profession you have. I know some bad preachers, Brother Bobby and some others. I'm just kidding. Lord, you're good to us, amen. Let's love him and serve him and give our very best. We sing this song, give of our best to the master and he's worthy, amen. Well, I see everybody's yawning, I'm gonna let you go, amen. And well, if you will, let's bow our heads, I'm gonna pray and I'm gonna turn it over to the pastor and let him do whatever he thinks needs to be done from here. Father,