R882 The Soul of the New Testament Church, Pt.2

Is there such thing as absolute truth?

Dr. Don Wilton would tell you absolutely. Let's study God's Word together. In just a few moments, we'll be wrapping up a wonderful four-part series on the soul of the New Testament church, and Dr. Don's going to be talking today about absolute truth and how tragically today some people believe it's irrelevant or non-existent, but we'll go to God's Word together to discover the biblical truth on that in just a moment. But Dr. Don also wants you to know that we're here for you. We'd love to pray with you and for you both online at tewonline.org. That's tewonline.org. Great place to sign up for the daily encouraging word email, or you can call us as well at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673.

And now, Dr. Don Wilton. There are three critical issues in the church that have a direct bearing on the Word of God distinctive. Number one, the issue of absolute truth. We're living in a world today where absolute truth is becoming increasingly non-existent.

It's irrelevant. The world is declaring absolute truth to be irrelevant. Absolute truth is the Word of God. Everything about God. Genesis 1, 1 is absolute truth. In the beginning, God.

People ask me about marriage between a man and woman. That's absolute truth. It's non-negotiable because God determined that. Jesus Christ is absolute truth. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man can come to the Father but by me. He didn't say through your riches or your poverty or through your service or your mission mindedness or your church membership or your ability to preach. He said through me. That's absolute truth.

That's the narrow way. That's absolute truth. And in so far as we're able to do so, as a congregation of believers, we give one another permission never to compromise when it comes to absolute truth. The second critical issue is the matter of personal conviction. Personal conviction. Boy, that's a good thing to talk about.

I love it. I think we should be people of personal conviction. I think that should be our business and personal conviction should come out of absolute truth.

But in so far as we're able to do so, we do not give anybody permission in this church to impose their personal convictions on this church as absolute truth. Are you listening? Well, the third most critical issue is the issue of personal preference. By the way, do you know what we cook for Thanksgiving? Leg of lamb, ham and chicken. We had chicken, ham and lamb.

It all kind of goes together. Some people say lamb for Thanksgiving. Oh, I couldn't. That's my personal preference. OK, I like lamb. I grew up on lamb. Now, somebody might have turkey. Some might have roast duck. Someone might have just had good old peanut butter and toast. Some people might have had chicken, lamb or anything else in between. It didn't affect Thanksgiving. We all did Thanksgiving.

We all had a wonderful time. We all got personal preferences, folks. Some people say one of these days that pastor is going to stand still long enough that I can actually see him all at the same time. Some people say, man, I love the pastor when he walks around. Some people want me to be loud.

Some people say, boy, I wish he'd just tone down a little bit. Some people like to sing choruses. Some people only want hymns. Some people love the orchestra. Some people love the people who play in the orchestra, but they don't like the orchestra.

Some people like, you know, trombones and other people like guitars. That's personal preference, folks. Watch me. Watch me.

Watch me. We do not give one another permission in this church ever to impose our personal preferences on this congregation as absolute truth. Listen, my dear friends, there are churches all over America today that are being built on personal preference, not on absolute truth. And we are losing America.

We are losing America. Well, number eight, there's the unity distinctive. The Bible says in verse 32, they were one in heart and mind. One in heart and mind.

What does it mean to be one? Our church has been so united, two things. It means they were one in their love for the Lord Jesus Christ. And it means that they were one in their purpose for the Lord.

That's what a purpose driven church is, folks. When we are one in heart and mind, it means that we lay aside our own personal preferences and convictions and we stand upon the absolutes of God's Word. And we are here to serve Him. Number nine, the giving distinctive. The giving distinctive.

It's amazing, you know, from verse 32 and following, something happens. The people began to give in a unified fashion. Big subject. I'm going to submit to you that in this passage, folks, that it addresses four elements of giving that are so important. Number one, the method of giving.

They gave together, unitedly. Number two, the manner of giving. They gave according to the needs of the people, distributing according to the needs of the people. Number three, the mission of giving.

Who was the focus? The needy. Those who needed it. Number four, the motive of giving. Why do we give? Because God has given to us. They gave unselfishly. That word there in the Greek text literally means they turned loose of their own hold on what they had in recognition of all that God is.

They gave with an open and with a free heart. You see, my friends, I'm believing that God is calling us to an entirely new level of giving. God is calling us to do things that nobody else wants to do.

And I'm talking about across the board. I believe God is calling this congregation to a distinctive that you and I cannot even begin to imagine. You say, Pastor, how will He do that in one itty bitty little congregation? Well, He'll do it with one itty bitty little congregation, one drop in a bucket, one person.

All He needs is one person to give all that He has and Jesus will take the fish and loaves and feed as many people as need to be fed. I believe there's a new initiative coming in this congregation. You see, folks, when our people go to work, as they're starting to already, in February and March of next year, the team organization will bring together the unified budget of this church and present it to the finance team. The finance team will present that to the deacons and the deacons will present it here to this congregation for body approval. All of us, all people who have worked on this, bringing it together, saying, Lord, we can do it, but with one difference.

I'm asking our church to do it God's way. Do you know that we consulted with Spartanburg County? Do you know what the average per capita income is in Spartanburg County? The average income, $48,000. Now if you were to microcosm that here in our congregation, that means in this congregation, if the average income is $48,000, that means there are hundreds of people in this congregation who earn far less than $48,000 a year. And there are hundreds of people who earn far more. That's the average income in Spartanburg County.

Now watch this, folks. Some of our accountants have done this work, this homework. I'm giving you accurate figures. It means that if every one of our family units, we have about 2,600 family units in this church. On paper we have 6,700 members at First Baptist Church. If every one of the family units in our church just tithed, that's $48,000 a year. There are hundreds of people who would give far more than that. There are hundreds of people who would give far less than that because that's the average. But if every one of our family units were to tithe according to God's instructions, we would receive anywhere between $3 to $5 million more than we will receive in receipts this year.

$3 to $5 million. Say, pastor, what are we going to do if we receive all that money? I'll tell you what we'd do, folks. Number one, our people come together, present a unified budget. I can tell you right now, we had an extra $4 million and our church decided we'd spend every single bit of it on ministries at this church.

God has put in our hearts. Folks, we've got trucks standing in our parking lots that are idling. We've got trucks standing in our parking lots that can't go anywhere because they have no fuel. And we've got trucks that are travelling all over the world.

If you had any idea the number of ministries that we are not able to do right now, it would probably shock you. Are we cutting our coat according to our cloth? Of course we are. Because we operate according to functional principle, line item. We never spend one dime more than we have.

We never drive the trucks anywhere when we don't have the fuel to get there. We don't do it. Forgive the interruption as Dr. Don's talking about specific elements of our own church and your church as well. This concept of making sure we live within our means is something that applies to all of us, not just our organizations, but individually. Could it be that God's bringing you to light with a fresh new perspective on your own finances even? Whatever is going on in your life, whatever God's stirring in your heart, you need to know you have friends at The Encouraging Word who would love to pray with you and for you about anything. I pray you jotted this number down, but if not, take a moment, write it down, or store it in your cell. Let us be one of your contacts.

It's 866-899-WORD, that's 866-899-9673. And anytime, day or night, as Dr. Don would say, we'd be thrilled to be one of your 2 a.m. friends. We'd love to pray with you and for you and encourage you. We'll also meet you online, keyboard to keyboard, on our website, TEWOnline.org, that's TEWOnline.org.

Many, many resources, including the new series on Daniel, A Man of Courage, that's all there at TEWOnline.org. Now let's dive back into today's message, the conclusion of the soul of the New Testament church with Dr. Don Wilkin. We will never put this church into a crisis. Our finance team managed this thing down to the micromanagement. We get audited for three months every year, an outside audit of the church to make sure that the stewardship finances of this church are impeccable. And every year we get a clean audit report.

Every year it happens because the management is there. But folks, we've got a responsibility as a congregation. You say, pastor now, what would we do with the excess money? Well, I'm asking the finance team, ultimately the deacons, to form a team. We've got ministries in Spartanburg. Let me name some of them for you. Carolina Pregnancy Center, Mobile Meals, Child Evangelism Fellowship, Miracle Hill Ministries, Habitat for Humanity. You can all shout out a hundred more.

What are the most wonderful ministries you've ever seen, folks, run by godly people, many of whom are in our church? Here's what happens every year. Every year all these ministries need money. Of course they do.

They're doing incredible work. So who do they go to? They come to church people in Spartanburg because we're the ones who understand that. They say we're going to have a banquet. So they have a banquet and they invite all the people from all the churches and you sit around tables.

They do a presentation. Then you get out a piece of paper and you make a pledge to give $25 a month for the year. And all our Christian people from all our churches make all their contributions and everybody gives, including myself. And at the end of the year, they run out of money again. Why?

Lots of reasons why. But the overriding reason is because the church is not doing what the church is supposed to do. Here's what I'm proposing. I'm proposing that our church receive applications from these organizations. That a team of people in our church consider those on an annual yearly basis, not a lifetime basis. And every year they meet and they determine that the following five, six organizations for whatever reason would receive money from us. That our people are unified in giving. That we approach, there's an organization in Spartanburg that is doing a phenomenal job of giving away money to charities.

That's what they do. Let's let a group like that help us to give that money away, get involved in the distribution business. We need to be the ones who give.

We need to add to the pot. And let's just say, for example, this next year that instead of giving each one of these organizations $500 a year or $1,000 or $2,000 a year, which is wonderful, but it's a drop in the bucket. Could we not give away this next year $100,000 or $200,000 distributed according to need, according to the Scriptures, the way God intends it to do? Well, what happens, folks, under the giving distinctive, if First Baptist Spartanburg started to give away money like that, and then first prayers says, what's going on? And then the Anglican church says, what's going on? And St. John's church says, what's going on? I couldn't think of a better way to spend some of my time than going to meet with the presbyters and the elders and the deacons and the ministers, saying to them, guys, let me show you how it works. Would you join with us?

Is it possible that there is a county in the United States of America where the Christian church starts to do what God tells us to do? When people come to me and say to me, would you support this? Would you support that? I can look them in the eye and say, I am supporting you. I'm giving it to my church and my church last year gave away $500,000 to this organization and it was put into the pot with all the other churches. And now you understand why last year this organization had $3 million to give to organizations right here in our own backyard, right here in our backyard. In Spartanburg, beloved friends, are you listening?

Are you listening? Not to what a pastor has to say. This is what the Bible says. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything that they had.

There were no needy persons among them. They put it at the apostles' feet. It was distributed to anyone as he had need. It's time, my beloved friends in America, to put the Christian community back where the Christian community needs to be, where we need to lead and do it God's way and fly the flag and set the example. And folks, God has given us a unity, an ability to be able to do anything we allow God to do in and through us, to even step across the line of the impossibilities, to pray for miracles. And I'm going to close with the final distinctive, the witnessing distinctive.

It's right there in verse 33, with great power, the apostles continued to testify. Watch this, watch this, the witnessing distinctive. I'm going to close with this. Nobody leave, just listen. This is too important.

Listen carefully. We have 6700 members that are members of this church. Last year we averaged 2500 people in Sunday school. I saw in our bulletin last week, I think we had 2600 and something in Sunday school. So what if just 2000 people from our church were to come together in this congregation under my leadership with me leading the way and we were to gather in this church in early January sometime and only 2000 of our people were to make a commitment that by God's grace, we 2000 people were going to witness, to share our faith with one person a month for 12 months.

Let me run that by again. 2000 people make a commitment in this sanctuary in God's house that 2000 of us were going to witness to just one person a month for 12 months. And we make that commitment. And we ask God for a miracle.

Okay, you're ready. What if in one month, all 2000 people that we witness to give their hearts and lives to Jesus Christ. If 2000 people in the month of January gave their hearts to Jesus through this church, is there anybody here who would say Amen?

Is that all you can say? Let me run that by again. If 2000 people in the month of January gave their hearts to Jesus in this church, this coming January, is there anybody here who would say Amen?

Okay. All right, now watch this folks because we're missing something here because you and I know better than that. We know that God is incapable of having 2000 people in one month give their heart to Jesus.

You and I know that. He's too busy. God can't do that. That is the most ridiculous, far-fetched, out of line thing you've ever said, Pastor. You're just ministerial exaggeration. There is no way that God can save 2000 people in this community in one month.

Can't do it, right? All right, so let's just go with our best feelings on this. Let's just say that out of 2000 people we witness to, only half of them, only 1000, actually give their hearts to Jesus.

The other 1000 say, no way, I'm not interested. Is there anybody here who would say Amen if 1000 people a month gave their hearts to Jesus? Amen?

I like it. But folks, hey, I got a PhD and I know God can't do that. Be stupid, man. I mean, God can't even keep up with our day and age. He's old fashioned. He's not kind of current. God's not cutting edge, you see. God's kind of slipped a little bit and He's probably old too.

He's been around a long time. No way that He can save 1000 people, right? So what if 2000 of us go out in one month and only 100 people of those 2000 say yes to Jesus?

1900 say I'm not interested. Is there anybody in this group here today who would say 100 gave their hearts to Jesus? Man, they're going to heaven, they're forgiven. Amen.

Let me ask you a question. If out of 2000 of us who went out, only one gave their heart to Jesus, is there anybody here who would say Amen? Amen. That's the reason why I'm here. That is why we exist, my beloved friends.

If you're not interested per se of the thousands and thousands, God has called us because there's one more person out there who's going to a devil's hell if we don't introduce them to Jesus Christ. That's the reason why my wife and I tie our annual income to the church. That's the reason why I said, Lord, I'd serve you. That's the reason I'm willing to drive a bus to rock a baby in the nursery. That's the reason I'm willing to play in the orchestra and to sing in the choir. That's the reason I'm willing to sit in church when it goes into overdrive.

That's the reason we built a hanger for our young people. That's the reason we have a vacation Bible school. That's the reason we're a church because this Jesus, who is the Son of God, came and died on a cross for a wretched sinner like me.

That is the soul of the New Testament church. The search is over. You can stop the mad scramble. Your identity is being revealed and your mission is made plain for everybody to see. Jesus put it like this. Therefore, go into all the world, preaching, teaching, baptizing. Lord, I am with you always, even until the end of the year. Such clarity when God's Word is brought to life. Dr. Don Wilson has been sharing not only with us as a corporate group of churches all across the globe as we share this broadcast together, but he's also talking to you and the invitation for you to be a part of the body of Christ. It starts with your personal decision to follow Jesus.

Are you ready to make that choice? I hope you would open your heart to what Dr. Don is about to share next on The Encouraging Word. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today, I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. And I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. Welcome to the family of God. I'm confident some of you have given your life to Jesus.

You prayed with Dr. Don or you've rededicated your life to Jesus. We have wonderful resources absolutely free you want to put in your hands. Dr. Don has prepared them for you. You just need to call and ask. 866-899-9673 is our phone number. That's 866-899-9673 or meet us online at www.tewonline.org. So many folks are getting this wonderful resource about Daniel, a man of courage.

Here's Liz with the details on that specific resource. Our nation is in crisis. The devil is working overtime. How do we counteract the evil all around us? How do we overcome? We must learn to be quiet, to be still and listen for the voice of God. With that, we must listen and obey. With your gift of support to the Encouraging Word this month, you will receive Dr. Wilton's timely messages on the teachings of Daniel. Messages include hearing God's voice in the crowd, the power of obedience and the story of conviction. These messages on CD or DVD will be sent to you for a gift of $20 or more in support of the Encouraging Word. Call us at 866-899-WORD to request Dr. Wilton's teachings on Daniel, a man of courage, conviction and immovable faith. The Encouraging Word is a viewer and listener supported ministry. Thank you for listening today.

It's been a great week at the Encouraging Word. I hope you'll join us over the weekend, maybe catch some of the video presentations of Dr. Wilton. All the details are online at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org.