05-01-2019 – Terry Joe Kee – Gospel Meeting (PM Sermon)

And it’s hard to believe that at this point, we are now ready for the final service of this gospel meeting. It seems that time passes so quickly and especially when you’re enjoying and having, I guess, a good time. And I certainly have enjoyed my time here with you. And I appreciate the opportunity of being able to be here. We are with you.

We’ve been talking about the church And we spent the last two nights talking about the church. We’ve talked about The fact that you cannot have Jesus without the kingdom. It’s impossible to take one without the other though. Some would seem to want to do that. And we also talked about the fact that The church is here for a purpose and that there are,

Are those blessings that we received by being members of the church. And there is indeed the blessing of salvation and the fellowship that we have with one another. The edification that we receive from being members of the body of Christ and our time together, as we labor together in the cause of Christ, Nothing On earth that God has ever brought into existence. He brought into existence without a purpose.

Everything has a purpose. Everything has a reason for being here, even at those things that I may not really understand why And may Not understand why it is that those things are here. I can promise You. There’s some reason why Things are where they are and like they are, you know, and growing up. And I don’t know, maybe people have gotten a better idea now,

but in growing up, I remember that there were those that were saying That the appendix, nobody knew why you ever had to have an appendix. And I’ll tell you, I don’t know why I had one or why I’m still, I’ve still got one. I don’t know why I’ve got it, but I’ll tell you this. I believe it has a purpose.

If it didn’t have a purpose, it wouldn’t be there. God didn’t give anything presence on earth without a purpose. When he created, man, he created him with a purpose. And when he created the woman, he created her with a purpose and everything that God created. He created for a reason. There’s an old saying That says nothing walks about on aimless feet.

Everything has a purpose. And the church does. Okay. What I’m afraid is that we in the churches of Christ are getting to the point that we’ve forgotten what we’re hearing For. That. We become confused as to why we’re here or what our purpose is or what our responsibilities obligations are or why it is that God has seen fit to send his son to die and to purchase the church and why we’re here.

And I know that You can talk about that in a lot of different ways in different terms, but I simply want to basically look at one thing tonight. But the first thing before I get into that is I want to talk about some reasons you not here For the Robert Taylor was And has been a good friend of mine. Brother Taylor encouraged me to start preaching Back years ago.

And He gave me books and brother Taylor always had this thing that he said Told me. He said, if you’re going to talk about what something is, it’s always good to talk about what it’s not before you talk about what it is. And so I found that helpful in my preaching. So yeah, Maybe one of the things that we ought to do tonight to start with is talk about Not The first thing that I would tell you tonight,

that the church is not, is we’re not a social society. We’re not just a social gathering place. Now, there are a Number of social things that we do, Oh, we gathered together and there’s a lot of social contact. And there are a lot of things socially that we do together that help us and encourage us. We eat a meal together.

That’s a social gathering. That’s a social time. We gather together with others and we may play cards like we’ve done, or we may engage in other activities. And we do that. And it’s a matter of a social active, but that’s not why the church is here. God didn’t place us here for those social things. We come together and I never am around people that seem to be any more happy and full of life than braver in that are together in a foyer.

And I think that’s why we build for years that you don’t just have the door that goes on outside. We need a four year. And the reason you need that is so we can pick on and cut up with one another. And we enjoy that time together. We enjoy that relationship that we have together. And those social times I wouldn’t minimize. They’re important.

They’re precious, But that’s not what we’re here for. That’s not what the church is. It’s not just a social gathering place and it’s not just a good place to meet people and to meet people that have the same ideas as you might have. That’s not what the church is here for and that’s not our purpose. And that’s, that’s not what it’s ours to be going about doing and what we’re supposed to be going about seeking to do.

Let me tell you a second thing. The church is not, The church is not a financial lending institution. I don’t know how things are at mountain Grove and maybe you’ve never had this experience, but we’re having an experience at home where constantly we’re having people to want to borrow money. Now, I don’t know why they think we’ve got any to begin with,

But there’ve been several times. We’ve had people that have come wanting to borrow money. We’ve had brethren come wanting to borrow money. Well, I mean, if there’s a benevolent need, we’ll do what we can to help a benevolent need. But the church is not in the business of loaning money and that’s not what the church is for. And yet some people seem to have this idea that the church is supposed to help and supposed to give money out.

Two people, 40 miles away from where I live, a man called me back some years ago, He called and he said, I need $200. And in my mind, I’m thinking I need 2000, But he said, I need $200. And I said, okay. Oh, okay. I said, what, what you know, why, why did you call here?

And he said, that’s what churches are for. And I said, what do you mean? That’s what churches are for? He said, churches are there to give money to people like me. Any honestly, believe it. He got a little upset when I said, well, that’s not what the church is here for. And he said, I want $200.

And I said, and I started asking him questions. I said, where do you live? And he told me, and I said, You’re 40 miles from Jonesborough. Why are you calling here? He said, I’ve called everywhere else. He’s just continuing to call churches because he expected somebody to be there. Just to hand out money. I’m gonna tell you something.

Y’all, won’t fill this building up. Just put a sign out there in the front saying giving away money while folks are flocking here like this, if that’s what you’re here for, but that’s not what the church has for birth. And I don’t understand that the first century church had a responsibility to help one another. And the idea of benevolence is indeed a part of our work as the body of Christ.

But the church is not here to be loaning. Money is not here just to be handing out money. That’s not what the purpose of the church is. And that’s not the reason that a contribution is taken a boat, a boat taken up on the first day of the week. It’s just not, that’s not what the Searchie isn’t, that’s not what we’re about.

That’s that’s not what we’re here for. That’s not the primary Fern of why we’re here. I’ll also tell you that church is not here to entertain you. I’ll tell you a lot of people seem to have this idea that churches ought to be entertaining and they’re looking for someone to entertain them. And so We were looking for someone who can give us some kind of entertainment And listen,

there are many people I dare say in this community or other communities, roundabout, that the way they draw crowds week after week is have some kind of entertainment. And they’ll tell you who they got coming to saying, or who they’ve got coming to play or who they’ve got coming to do, whatever it is they’re going to Do. One Of the largest denominations in Jonesborough just recently had a well-known comedian that they advertised on their big billboard out front,

that he was coming. He was coming, he was coming in when he was going to be there. And it was only going to cost you $10 after we finished our survey, that was going to be on a Sunday morning, by the way. So after we’d finished our services, Martin, I said, I should we’ll drive by and just see how many people were there.

Do you know, their parking lot was covered. You want to, what I came to be entertained. They wanted to be entertained, Cannot find in this book where God ever gave instructions for us to be entertaining. That’s not what we’re here for. God. Didn’t send his son to down Calvary to establish an institution like the church, which is the church and do that for the purpose of providing entertainment to people.

That’s not what we’re here for. If, if that’s what you come for is to be entertained, then we’d gathered for the wrong purpose. And we’re not here for the right purpose rather than this idea of having all kinds of festivals. Again, in my part of the country where I grew up, yeah, Different religions have all their Greek festivals and there are tagging festivals and all these different festivals that they have,

where they sell all these things during a weekend, all kinds of people come, all kinds of people come and are there, Bring the church. He isn’t in the business of engaging itself in special causes, Which includes political causes. Really. And I have ever since I turned 18 and that was in 19 six. And from that time until the us,

I have voted in every major election. I may have missed a local election once or twice, but I’ve voted in every election since then. And I intend as long as I can to continue to Devote. But Britain, Pulpits are not the place to try to promote political agendas. Do you know that a lot of people spend their time And they think The church is the place.

And often it is To go In to build up support for their political costs, whatever that is, right. And that’s not the work of the church. It’s just not, I believe as Christians, we have a responsibility to civil government and I believe we have responsibility to use our influence to the best of our abilities. But I do not believe that it is the work of the church to be promoting political agendas.

Now, do you preach against abortion? And do you preach against homosexuality? Yes. We’ll use it Those times. Maybe even point out those who are supporting such things You may, but bread and wig condemned the sin. You don’t try to promote a political agenda. And I think sometimes if we’re not careful that we may get caught up in some of that,

you know, I lived in a community one time where we saw the mayor every two years, you know why every two years was election year he’d come to the church. He’d be there, he’d come in In his suit and he’d come in. And he just walked in. I forgot to say you folks, he just shake every hand in there. He just taken him Now cards while he’s doing it.

And I always had bread and they’d come over and say, yo, you see who’s here, mayor’s here. And I would say so because I honestly felt that way. So I mean, I felt like when James is talking about that rich man and gay clothing, good clothing, and the beggar that comes in, and I feel like sometimes we in the church,

we do that. If some, some important someone in town, so Important politician comes into our service, always say, come on up here. And, But if some poor beggar comes in that doesn’t have two mites, we tell him to sit back over there, you know, out of the way, that’s the way sometimes we do when it comes to so-called important people that come into our assemblies and we do it as if it were that we’re in the churches,

not in the fundraising business, any weekend that I want to in Jonesborough, I can find some church that is having a carwash or a bake sale to raise money for something they’ll Be standing on street corners, raising money For different projects, different things in the name of the church, whatever church it is that they are affiliated with whatever religious institution they’re affiliated with churches,

not in the fundraising business. It’s not what we’re here for. We’re all Also not here for building elaborate beautiful structures. You know, you brilliant have wonderful building here. I believe we have a nice and very adequate building and home. I’ve been to funerals in buildings where folks have spent money on buildings that are so elaborate. So ordinate that you just wonder what they’re spending money on,

what they think is important enough to spend that kind of money on. And they seem to think that that’s what is important is building these beautiful buildings. I know y’all, didn’t hear anything about him and don’t know anything about it, but over in Paris, France, they had this place called Notre Dom that burned. Y’all didn’t hear about that. I’m sure.

Cause news probably didn’t get here. So I’m just trying to tell you about it. Just so you get brought up to date on it. Do you know what they can Saying over and over and over and over again, they talked about all these wonderful treasures that were there and all these wonderful paintings and all of this architecture and all of this beauty And some people think that’s what’s important.

And then have you seen where there’s been rioting since then? Because so many people have given millions and billions of dollars to see to it, to this rebuilt and people are rioting because they have the poor that are going about the streets and don’t have sufficient to Leo, but we got, have that orange heat building. And some people think that’s what we need to be about.

You build bigger buildings, build more elaborate buildings That somehow some way that’s going to affect people. Brittany, if you build an elaborate ornate building, thinking that that’s going to draw people in, it’ll draw people in until the next fellow along the line decides he’s going to build a bigger building. That’s a little more ornate because if they come for that, that’s what keep them.

And that’s not what the work of the church he is breathing a good meeting place. Yes, but that’s not the work of the church to build buildings and to build all kinds of such places. The, the very idea that it’s the work of the church to do that is just foreign to what I read in the Bible. As far as what our work is,

our work, our purpose, our reason for existing, I believe is singular. I believe it’s all about evangelism. I realized that the church Ought to be involved in edification and benevolence. And often We talk about the work of the church as being Benevolence, edification and Angela awesome Breath. And I believe that evangelism and benevolent It’s our Means of helping to reach lost souls.

It’s interesting to me that when Jesus was feeding them all the huge with the loaves and fishes, What he did immediately after he was fed them with the loaves and fishes, He taught them, he taught them. It wasn’t Just a matter of seeing to it, that they had sufficient food for their Bailey’s. His primary concern was to see to it that they had the spiritual food that they needed to survive spiritually.

And so he teaches them what they need to hear. Now, often they didn’t want to hear it And more Commonly, they walked away and didn’t want to hear any more of it. But Brandon, the primary purpose for helping those that are in need is to use that, to open up a door, to help in matters of evangelism and trying to reach loss Souls.

And I believe that if you’ll study Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you’ll find that when Jesus is feeding, he’s teaching and he’s yeah. Using those occasions when there were those that had a legitimate need, You might note that when he fed those, the loaves efficient, it was because he saw that they had been with him a long time and they were Hungry.

And so Jesus saw there was a need that needed to be fulfilled. But also he used that as an opportunity to open up a door, to be able to teach them Because Britain that’s primarily what we’re about Of event of edification, the idea of edifying and building up and strengthening one of them. Other brilliant. We do that when we come together an occasion like this as an opportunity for us to be edified,

Bible classes are an occasion for us to be edified us, spending time together and studying together. Those are all occasions to help us to be edified and built up and strengthen. And that’s good for us, every one of us, But Britain that’s for the purpose of helping us in the world of evangelism, trying to keep those who have been saved safe.

And I believe if you want to talk about the one focus that the church has above all else, It’s evangelism, it’s slaving, lost souls, Our primary focus. It’s our primary work. It’s the primary thing we’re supposed to be about. It’s the primary work that God has given us to do. And it’s a work that he gave to no other Institution on earth.

It’s not the work of civil government. It’s not Even given as the work of the home though. The home helped in nurturing and admonishing, But it Is primarily the role of the church to save soul and to engage our sales in those things use to reach out, to lost souls. That’s our primary focus. That’s what we’re supposed to be about. I’m firmly convinced in my own mind,

One of the reasons the church isn’t growing today is because the fact that we’ve gotten ourselves off folks, we’ve forgotten what we’re here for. We’ve got forgotten what we’re about, Right? And we have The responsibility of holding up the truth And sharing it, teaching it to a lost world who else is going to do that? Anybody else, who else is going to teach the truth?

Proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. If it’s not the church Timothy in first Timothy three 15. But if I Terry along the Dell, may us know how the oddest of behaved ourself in the house of God, which is the church of living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. He speaks of the church there as being the pillar and ground of the truth.

When do you know that there is no other place in mountain Grove, Missouri, Where a person can come and hear the truth and find the truth except here, Oh, I know He can find it in this book if he’ll search it out. And I believe that he can, if you’ll do that. Okay. But I will tell you that the church is supposed to be the pillar and ground of the truth.

That’s who we are. We are supposed to be that support the encouragement, The truth. So then when you find those that are good and honest, people they’re brought to the truth. They’re brought to Christ. They’re brought to the salvation that is found in Christ. We’re in the truth. Searchie is responsible for teaching and preaching and proclaiming the truth. We,

as the Spiritual body of Jesus Christ have responsibility to do what was he as to do Brilliant In Luke 1910, Jesus said, the son of man has come to seek and save that, which is lost. If that his purpose, His work, His purpose in coming was to seek and save the loss Mm. Doing that. He died to purchase the church and we are supposed to be walking in his steps.

There’s no what Peter In first, Peter two 21 through 24. And so if this is what our work is, if this is what our responsibility or our, if is, if this is what we’re supposed to be about. If we’re supposed to be walking in his steps, are we not doing everything we can to reach Britain? It’s the most important work on earth.

It’s more important than any other work you’ll ever do. More important than anything else you’ll ever be called upon to Do. And the Reason the church in the first century was growing like they were growing was because their focus was on evangelists, Right? And when they were scattered abroad and asked the eighth chapter, they went everywhere, doing what, Preaching the word,

right? And when we scattered from this building, after an assembly, what do we go out and doing? What’s our focus. What’s our purpose. We come, I mean, we gathered together and we worship God and we praise and magnify his name. And then we leave this place and what’s our focus. What’s our purpose. What are we here for?

What are we to be about? Brandon’s the only light in this community is you the only light year though, Light of the world, a city settling heal cannot be. He admitted him in a light, a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick that gives like all that other house, let your light so shine before me that they may see your good work Works and glorify your father,

which is going to have him Matthew five, 14 to 16. Can you tell me where Else in this community From, From whom in this community, can anyone who’s in darkness Find a light except in us, except in the church. Where, where is it possible to find that Back up one verse in Matthew five, he said, you’re the salt of the earth.

But now if the salt has its savor since Forth good for nothing, but it passed out and TRIBE, none of the foot of men, He said, you’re the salt of the earth rather than water. Other folks Course in this world has the seasoning effect or should have the seasoning effect that the church has that we had. And if we’re not doing that,

who will Brilliant if we’re not teaching it and we’re not preaching it and we’re not promoting it, we’re not spreading it. We’re not doing everything we can to reach the lost. Who’s going to second Corinthians three in verse two, Paul says Yirara pistol written in our hearts, known and read of all men. If We aren’t living the life of Christ day by day to where people can see Christ living in us,

Who he is, who will heal, what Hope does this community have? If he can’t be found in us when it’s our responsibility, it’s our obligation. When it’s what we’re supposed to be about with that being true, then, then who else in the world is going to do it? If it’s not us, We’re in there ought to be clear distinctions that can be seen between the church and the world.

And when I speak of the world, I’m talking about not just those people that are out there and they’re the most vile and wicked among us. I’m talking about every false religion. There is in the world. I’m saying the church ought to be distinctive. And the church ought to be such that people can see it and see something unique about it. It’s not like every other Because we’re not.

And because our focus is different because Our goals are different. Our intentions and, and, and The way we’re seeking to Lille are different. Our lives are not the same. As what you find in the world. Christians are unique. People, they’re distinct people, and there should be a clear difference. They can be seen in a Christian and in the world.

And we all not to be ashamed of who we are. We all not to be ashamed of being Christians. And we all not to be shamed of letting people know who we believe in what we believe. We shouldn’t be trying to hide ourselves somewhere where we can be found. We can’t do that and fulfill our purpose. We have a reason for being here.

The church at this place has a reason for existing. And the reason this church has for existing is because of every lost soul in this community. You want to save them all. I’d be very surprised if you do, but Beth and I, our responsibility and our obligation is to sow the seed. That’s my responsibility. So the seed, I can’t make you grow,

but I have a responsibility to sow it. You know, in the old Testament, in Isaiah 55 in verse 11, God said, my word will not return to me. Void. God said he will accomplish my purpose. Now there may be times and occasions where our work may not accomplish a higher purpose, but he’d accomplished as he is. And in the day of judgment,

the people in this community need to know that someone was out there trying to save him. Someone cared about someone has an interest in them, and that it should be us. And if it’s not, no one else is going out there to reach them. No one else is going out there to save them. It’s up to us. It’s up to us rather than our mission.

Our purpose for existing and for continuing to exist is to reach lost souls, to save the lost wherever they may be found in Britain. They’re still good and honest people in this world, don’t allow yourself to allow Satan to convince you that nobody wants to hear it anymore. No, one’s interested anymore that there aren’t any more people out there that want to know the truth,

because they’ve always been good and honest people that’ll listen. You just have to find them. And they’re not always easy to find, but there are those who can be found. And when you sow the seed in an honest and good heart, it’ll produce fruit to God. And that’s what we’re about. That’s who we are. And if we don’t do it,

no one else is going to, we’ve got to do what we can do to save the lost. If you’re here tonight, you’re not a Christian. You’re one of the ones I’m talking about because without Christ, without becoming members of his body, you can’t be reconciled to God. You can’t enjoy the forgiveness of your sins. You can’t Enjoy the salvation that’s found in him.

And so the need is there for you to come home while you have time and opportunity. And by listening The, what God says, believing it with all of your heart repenting of the Sans, transgressions, and iniquities in your heart, in your life, Confessing, That Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and being buried with your Lord in baptism for the mission of your sins,

you can be raised to walk in newness of life and become a new creature in Jesus Christ. And you have an opportunity tonight to do that. And by the same token, if you want them, God’s children, but you hadn’t been living like you all. You’ve gotten yourself out of step. You need to come home. You need to repent of sin.

Whatever that saying is confess it. Let brothers and sisters in Christ pray for you in wheat. There are numbers of people here that long to see you come home and rejoice to see you come home. So if you need to respond to his invitation tonight, we beg you to, while together we stand in sync.