Bob Lloyd - Class 5: Service is Not an Option

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1. 0:00

   So we arrived at our final and fifth study together on the general theme of the way of life, which has been very uplifting. I’m sure you agree. Our fifth study is entitled, service is not an option. And we thank your brother Bob for delivering that now. Well, good afternoon, my beloved brothers and sisters, young people and Friends. After a meal is easy to go to sleep, is it? I didn’t think you’d go so quickly, I think you’re feeling like a sister that I met in New Jersey about 20 or 30 years ago, I was invited to New Jersey for us study weekend like this, except it was a heavier schedule than this. I spoke Friday night, and then I spoke five times on Saturday and three times on Sunday.

2. 0:51

   And I arrived on the Friday and we went to the hall and they had a basement and he served a supper in the basement and I just gotten my food and I was looking for a place to sit down to eat and its sister companies. Are you brother Lloyd? And we never seen each other before.

3. 1:09

   I said yes she said I’m sick and tired of listening to you. So I think you would agree with her now and then she starts Laughing. Now what had happened is that she lived in Florida and the study weekend was in New Jersey and she was driving up for it that’s like driving maybe from Melbourne to Brisbane and it’s up the east coast of From The Bottom Of America up towards the top and her brother in the flesh. And brother, and Truth to had given her a bunch of used cassettes.

4. 1:46

   And we didn’t have these discs and stuff, but he had given her a Stack of my tapes, I didn’t never met the sister and she listened to me. She said all the way from Florida to New Jersey, but time she got there. She was sick and tired of listening to me. So I think you can sympathize and relate to Earth because you’ve been listening to me all weekend.

5. 2:10

   I want to thank you for your patience and enduring. They talk about suffering the word of exhortation. I know sometimes it is suffering. Well, this is our last time together. For this for this weekend, be seeing some of you again, because I’ll be in town for another week for other things. But for most of us, and a lot of you have to do some traveling today. Could have bear brand is not around the corner. So the others of you going, quite great distances, perhaps this afternoon.

6. 2:38

   So this is our last subject. It will consider on the way of life. And there are a lot of people and some of them are christadelphians. And they are not winners. They are winners wwhen, ners. And this is how it goes, if they’re young person, they say, when I graduate, then I’ll do something for the Lord.

7. 3:11

   And then I said, well, when, when I get a job, I’ll begin to do something for the lord. Well when I get a car, when I get a car that will run When I get married. When we have children. when the children are a little older, when the children are grown a when I retire, And they’ve gone through their whole life, do not going to do great things for the Lord. When not, now, when something happens and what do those old people say?

8. 3:57

   After they retired, remember the good old days when and some people never live in the moment, they’re always going to do something. When something happens, the only moment you have to live is now right now. You can’t live tomorrow and you can Live yesterday and so let’s stop being winners and begin being doers.

9. 4:23

   And so we’re going to talk about doing and service is not an option and you have got to get to work. Rather than sisters. Young people. The time has now come for our classes to go to be over, and we’ve got to get to work. And what does that mean? That means you’ve got to find a work to do and you need to do it. So, what talents do you have now? There’s many answers to that question. As there are people, God has never made another this kind of blows me away.

10. 4:53

    But God has never made of another person ever. Not since Adam and Eve. So right now just like you now we didn’t know about DNA when I was a boy. But we also knew then it. No two people are alike but now there’s no two. Fingerprints are like, there’s no to DNA is alike. You are unique.

11. 5:10

    You are special. And you are God called. And so you have a talent or talents and you’ve got to use them for him. It’s this is not an option. This is not a choice. Do you know that? God did not give Moses the 10 suggestions?

12. 5:31

    Those were commands and we are commanded to go out and work for the Lord and don’t say it. Well, I can’t do nothing. There’s no such thing as a no-talent christadelphians, God’s called you and it means you’ve got something to do and you’ve got to find it and start doing it. And so, we just read in Romans chapter 12.

13. 5:52

    In an NIV, it says verse 6, we have different gifts. According to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying that. Use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve. If it is teaching. They didn’t teach if it’s encouraging. Let him encourage if it’s contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously.

14. 6:11

    If his leadership. Let him govern different diligently. If it’s showing Mercy, let him do it. Cheerfully So you have a work to do and this afternoon, we’re going to try to figure out what it is and when you go out those doors, you’re going to resolve. I hope God willing you’re going to get busy doing it.

15. 6:28

    Whatever it is. You decided to do for God. Now there’s an old saying which has got a new modern twist and you’ve all heard the old saying many times I’m going to give you the new modern twist and this is the way the new saying goes anything worth doing. Is worth doing poorly until you can learn to do it better. Now, that’s not the saying that you’ve heard all your life but this is the one we’re going to talk about this afternoon for are too many people hold back doing nothing because they want to do it perfect when they do it and since they will never do it perfect.

16. 7:06

    Hey, have a good excuse for not doing it at all. Now just imagine if you wanted to learn to swim and you had never swam and you went to a swimming pool or the ocean and you hired a swimming instructor. Assume it’s a swimming pool because then you can stand on the edge and jump in.

17. 7:22

    And you painted the teacher, you’ve paid the money. And yeah, he’s going to teach you to swim music. I’m not going to get in that water until I swim perfectly.

18. 7:31

    You ain’t never gonna learn to swim. You have to jump in the water. You have to thrash around a little bit. You have to learn how to put your head under and eventually you learn to swim poorly. And if you keep practicing slimming poorly eventually you will swim expertly but you start off doing it poorly.

19. 7:55

    So don’t stop. Don’t give yourself the excuse of of not starting to do something because well I can’t do that. Well you can always find somebody that can do whatever you could do better than you can do it. None of my talk was someone mentioned yesterday. Remember my D and for bees and it fits doing, your best is better than being the best.

20. 8:13

    No matter what you’re asked to do for the Lord. There’s Body can do it better than you. And so we’ll get them to do instead of me, that’s a cop-out. If you’re asked to do something, do it? Well somebody else can do it better. I’m not arguing that we’ve had many people playing the piano this week. They all did their very best doing. Your best is better than being the best. Not one of the pianos sisters.

21. 8:40

    Our brothers that played this weekend could play like maybe Liberace, can you don’t pay very good at all now, he’s dead. But but there are professional photographer. A bit pianist that can play better than anyone in this room can play. I mean, they are experts. So don’t you try it? You wait two years good as they are. You ain’t never going to do it.

22. 9:03

    So if you’re asked to do something you say, yes, and you practice and you do it the best you can do and doing your best is better than being the best. You’ll never be the best there is, but God doesn’t ask you, you’re not in competition with anybody in the world. God is only asking you to do your best for him. And so Peter has something to say on this and first, Peter 4 verse 10, each one should use whatever gift. He has received to serve others Faithfully administering God’s grace in all its various forms.

23. 9:36

    If anyone speaks, he should do it as one Speaking, the very words of God, if anyone serves you should do it with the strength, God provides. So that in all things, God may be praised through. Jesus Christ. So as we journey through our life on the way of life towards the kingdom, you have to find something to do and do it and the fact that you don’t do it well is no excuse not to do it, do it poorly until you get better at it.

24. 10:05

    So what are you going to do? That’s what we’re going to talk about this afternoon you and I have got to find something to do and then we have to get in the building jump in the water so to speak. And get busy doing it so experiment, a little bit, ask yourself questions.

25. 10:22

    What can I do? Look, look for a need and try to fill it all around us. There are others who need our help. And we’ll all we have to do is we talked this morning about a cup of cold water. So brother, Simon and I are going to act out a little thing here about a little story, which teaches a lesson.

26. 10:38

    How you better explain this before we get him up to do it? Because I’ve done this before but I did. I used to do it years ago but before I had what’s called neuropathy Neuropathy is when you can’t feel your feet. And first my feet went dead and then my legs. And then my rear, and now my right hand.

27. 10:55

    So I can’t even feel them on. You can’t hurt my feelings. I don’t have anymore but when I go to the hierapolis in your neurologist, he always make me take off my shoes and you walk like this and I cannot do it. I absolutely cannot do that. And if I’ve ever pulled over by a police officer and given the sobriety I’ll flunk the sobriety test cold sober because I cannot do that. So Simon did we realize he’s got a bigger job on his hand. This afternoon then I used to have, but the story we’re going to act out, is this we’re all a bunch of just imagine, you’re all a bunch of young kids, see you just go back a few years for this money and we’re out playing in a field and we want to cross at abandoned railroad track in this field, it was a Spur that went there.

28. 11:45

    One time, it’s not being, it’s all covered with weeds. Yes. And so as kids do all this America and we all start walking the rail. But because none of us are Highway Highwire, experts, we would walk a few steps and fall off, but Simon and I, we are smart kids. I’ll tell you that and we get together and we whisper in each other’s ear.

29. 12:09

    And then we announce to all of you, we can walk the entire length of this railroad track, and not fall off. And you being typical young kids, you say, oh yeah, prove it so Simon’s. Going to get on one real, and I’m going to get on the other and this the it’s imagine his railroad tracks here. See now you’re going to hear and I have to really help me. So we walk the rail together.

30. 12:38

    Now, the question is, did I pick Simon up? And I carry him? No I ain’t too big. I can’t carry you. So, what’s happening? We are Reaching Across The Rail and holding hands together so that together, each of us can do what neither one of us can do without the other. And did we carry each other?

31. 13:00

    No, we just held hands. We just extended her hand to help somebody study study them when they would have fallen and I would have fallen flat on my face again, thank you very much.

32. 13:17

    The lesson is worth remembering. There are some certain things that none of us can do alone. But two can someone says two are better than one? We need to team up. Even the Lord Jesus when he sent his 12 Apostles out. He sent them out by twos. He instead him out by 112 directions, he sent them out by twos and six directions.

33. 13:44

    And so we can help each other but you have to be conscious of the others and you have to be willing to reach your hand out and hold. There’s in order to steady them as they steady week, help the other one. Now in Romans chapter 12 verse 4, we have we read. Each of us have just one body but your body has many members, you know these, you heard read this many time now, in Christ, you see, we’re all different not to what?

34. 14:12

    No, no, two of us are alike. But we’re all one body. This is a body of the christadelphians and it takes all of us to make one body. And Paul says, we have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, them used in proportion to his faith. If it’s serving, let him serve if it is teaching, let him teach encouraging.

35. 14:33

    Let him encourage. See there’s all kinds of things you can do, but there is something you can do and we have to find it and then we have to begin to do it. This is contributing to Needs of others. Let him give it generously leadership. Let him govern diligently showing Mercy. Let him do it. Cheerfully, sometimes we do something. But we spoil it.

36. 14:53

    By not being cheerful about. I got to go see old sister Jones and arrest him for. I hate to go there. Well how are you today anyway? I got to go. I’m glad I got to see you. Sometimes we can leave people worse off than we found him. If we don’t do it cheerfully.

37. 15:11

    So if you have something to do decide that you’re going to do it with Vigor, you’re going to do it cheerfully. You’re going to care about people, and you’re going to throw yourself into the work. Now, I’m blessed to have owned a little company. And I people ask me if I’m retired and I see, no, I’m just semi-retired.

38. 15:35

    I go to work three days a week, but I don’t do anything. And they think it’s a joke, but it’s pretty true. I have no duties at work. I have an office but I hardly ever sit in it because I have no nothing to do when I get there, except what I do. We have 32 employees and 10 of them are christadelphians. So, we’re almost a third of our company, our christadelphians. But I go around to each desks and talk to the people that work for me and just encourage them.

39. 16:13

    I asked their supervisors each, we have a number of departments and each department has a supervisor runs that department. I asked. How is Jane doing? How’s Betty doing? I was Sandra doing and they tell me and then I go to San dresses. Good. The boss just said you’re doing a fantastic job. I don’t want to thank you for that.

40. 16:30

    Really did he? I don’t know why. People don’t tell people when they because I tell him you tell him but they don’t. So I go and find out how good they’re doing and then I go and tell them what the boss said. And there are so thrilled that some it’s a, that’s one of the things. When 2012 said to do, if it’s encouraging and encourage, you know, it doesn’t cost anything.

41. 16:55

    Thing to pass somebody on the back. I mean, they I walk away from their desks and they feel better for it. In fact, when I’m away on a trip like this, I, when I come back, they may be saying because I’m the boss, but they all say, well, we missed you. In fact, sometimes the girls say, who is this strange man?

42. 17:12

    That just walked in because I’m gone so much as sometimes they pretend they don’t know who I was, but but we have a great little company and a wonderful group of Christian delphine’s, work there and Job is just encouraging them. I don’t do any of their work, I don’t even know how to do.

43. 17:32

    I started off this company 53 years ago by myself, just a one-person company. And now we have 32 employees. And I am totally worthless in my own company. I have a computer on my desk but I don’t know how to turn it on.

44. 17:51

    And what happens sometimes I go in there and it’s missing because what happens with that many employees. Sometimes the computer goes down or we’ll get Bob’s, he doesn’t use it anyway. And so my computer will be gone for a few days and then I come back. And what’s back again? They’ve got another thing.

45. 18:08

    So they realize that I have no Contribution to make except to encourage. But you cannot minimize how important that is to people and so this is the body of Christ and you need to be encouraging each other. Say think of something nice and say it call them up and say it write him a note and say it send them an email and say it but you should be telling somebody least one a day.

46. 18:45

    Something encouraging. I heard a nice thing about As you now, I just talked to my wife this morning. It’s Saturday over there. So we’re so far ahead of her, but I’m going to go back in time. And when I get home, I will be on the same schedule again shed. You’ll excuse me. But it’s a Saturday there, and I got up early to call her, because she was going to a wedding. We have a big wedding in our Hall, this afternoon, and the people that are getting married, are people that I’m very fond of and I’ve gone to their wedding showers and the brides Father father grandfather was my best man in my wedding and so I know all these people really well and actually the groom is related to me to marriage.

47. 19:29

    You know, we could see, I was getting ready to everybody here and I would like to have been there. In fact, I had planned to come and then I said to the bride and groom one Sunny guess what? I’m on my way to Australia at the time of your wedding because the wedding is Saturday, go little Saturdays. Yes, we’re the head of but it’s Saturday over there right now and the wedding is going on right now. but we give them as much encouragement as we could, and I even kiss the bride before I left, you know, I got a, I got a preview but there is something Is now is lots of things.

48. 20:11

    Each of us can do and thing is we don’t get as busy doing what we ought to be doing. And so that that that that’s what this class is all about our last class and service is not an option. So you’ve got to figure out what to do, and then if you do it poorly, that’s okay.

49. 20:29

    Just keep on doing it poorly. Until you get better at it. And if you practice it practice makes perfect and you will do it better. Paul said to the Galatians, make it Explore exploration of Who You Are. Explore yourself and the work that you have been given. And then sink yourself into that.

50. 20:50

    And that’s a modern translation but it’s a lot of find out what you can do and then start doing it. That’s what Paul says. So we need a little self-examination. This afternoon. What do you enjoy doing most, when do you feel most Fully Alive? What are you doing? When you completely lose track of yourself and lose track of time? Do you like routine or do you like variety? Do we prefer to serve others or serve ourselves? Well, you know the right answer that one. Are we more introverted or extroverted Agency on some of these?

51. 21:25

    There’s no right and wrong answer. I just got a letter from a sister in Arctic because I’m trying to get them to all to send a card or a letter or two ever remember once a week you said wonders another member and so this sister writes me an email. Well bomb is she says we’re not all like you and you could tell she was glad of that and she says I’m an ex I’m an introvert, she’s I just do not deal with well with people and I just Think it’s crazy. She used word crazy to send a card to somebody and they’ll know that I did it because they don’t my list. I’m getting cards from people.

52. 22:10

    I know I’m on their list, but I’m so thrilled to see are from him, gee, she’s justifying doing nothing because she’s an introvert. Well, I don’t deny, she’s an introvert and that’s not a sin. I do deny that being an introvert means you don’t do anything. It may be hard for her to talk to people in person, she could write a know, she can do something, and I keep saying to these people doing nothing can never be right.

53. 22:39

    So I’m saying that to you this afternoon, find out what it is, you can do and then begin to do it. Our goal is to stay within the boundaries of God’s plan for us at Paul to the Corinthians, the word boundaries refers to the fact that God, assigns each of us a field or sphere of servants. If the service is a service where best cut out to perform and we’re to run with patience the race that God has set before us.

54. 23:05

    Not everybody had could run the same race on a track team. You have the marathon. Owners. You have the intermediate Runners on. You have the dashes, you have people do the pole. Vault people do the broad jump. They’re all have different talents, but they’re all on the same team and they’re all contributing to the success of the team.

55. 23:22

    So let every man learned to assess property the value of his own work. This is Paul. Now, see, I’m this is not my ideas. I am sharing to you inspired words ideas coming, right? From the God’s word. Let every man learn to assess property. The value of his homework and he can then be glad Glad when he is done, something worth doing, without depending on the approval of others.

56. 23:44

    Now, you should never compare yourself to someone else. Reason is nobody else ever been just like you so you will not be like anybody else and so it’s important that we do not compare ours because there’s two reasons, why not to compare yourself to other people. You can always find somebody and you say I could never do what they do.

57. 24:06

    That’s going back to the dean for bees. I could never play the piano like that and I couldn’t you’re right about that and I cannot sing like some of you can sing and I admired that you when I know this. That I cannot do but just something I can do. But so, but if you compare yourself to someone else, you’ll say, well, I could never do as well as they do.

58. 24:28

    So, therefore, I won’t accept the position. The all the ones that play the piano today could have said there is somebody in this world plays the piano better than me, get them. And then he didn’t mean any christadelphians, your been asked to play it, get the hymns and my wife plays, the organ for our closure.

59. 24:49

    If I tell you that you won’t tell on me, will you? She’s not the greatest orientation player in the world. She works very hard at it. She gets very nervous. She asks the presiding brother a week in advance for the hims if you want to really throw my wife, just come to our meeting and exhort on a sunny. She’s going to play the organ and tell the presiding brother when you get up there.

60. 25:13

    Oh, I’d like to change the hymns. You throw my wife in a real tizzy, but she does the best she can. With what she has right, where she is. And that’s all any of us can do. So, she practices those hymns and then she plays them and afterwards. She’ll say, oh, I made a mistake. Did you hear that mistake?

61. 25:35

    I made and I said, no, I didn’t hear it. It’s not that musically. No, I said you did fine. Oh no, I meant well, Life Will Go On the Grill. Keep spinning around. Even if he did make a mistake, it’s okay to make mistakes and not that you plan on making him, but it’s better to do something and make it.

62. 25:52

    Mistake than to do nothing. And the people who do nothing they want, I never made a mistake. Well, that’s right because I never did and the biggest mistake you can make is a mistake of not doing anything. So find something to do and start doing it. If you don’t do it right? We didn’t do it poorly and you keep on doing it poorly. Can you get better at it?

63. 26:08

    So Paul says, we do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves, when they measure themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves. They are not why. So two reasons not to compare yourself. Number one, you can find somebody to do better than you. So therefore, you won’t try because they do better.

64. 26:26

    And then the other reason you shouldn’t compare yourself and do a lot better, hire him. And then you get puffed, up home. I don’t make too many mistakes that she made. And both of those attitudes are wrong. You see if we’re all doing the best we can do. Even though we’re doing it poorly, we could work at trying to get better.

65. 26:46

    I don’t, I’m not saying that doing a poor job is is the best thing to do but I’m saying it’s better to do a poor job that do do no job and so whatever it is you’re asked to do, try it. Do it, practice it. If you’re asked to exhort him over in our way, when we have a new person baptized in our Ecclesia, they are assigned a mentor for one year and every week for an entire year, the mentor meets with the newly baptized person. They read a book together there, pick a book of the Bible and they both were reading, them discuss chapters. I was a mentor of not too long ago with a young brother who Very shy and brother and I figured he needed to be encouraged to learn how to exhort. So every week I would give him a little subject and I said this week prepare me a five-minute exhortation on love joy. Peace.

66. 27:49

    Long-suffering Whatever and that week, he would work on that talk. And the next week, when we got together, he would give me his five-minute exhortation on it. I was trying to break the ice for him to get into so when he gave his first exhortation, I praised him for it because he’d he’d made a big effort, he was doing it poorly, but he was doing the best he could at the time.

67. 28:13

    He and I told him how much I appreciated his efforts. He’s well, you’ve heard all that before, because things have little things, I practiced on you, but the point is, you need to have this caring attitude for each other and encourage each other in the work. I don’t know. You have that roll over here or not, but you know, we made the mistake in the early days of work, going to someone’s home every week to help them get Bad Touch.

68. 28:40

    I always used to go to a home of a man and a woman. They’re both dead now. Long dead. They were old enough to be my parents, and I was just a young young fellow with three little children, but every week, I went to their house and talked about first principles for the preparing them for baptism. And finally, they were not quick learners. They were very nice people but they were definitely not quick Learners.

69. 29:06

    And after two years they were ready to be baptized and we baptize them and I said And the next week I didn’t go and I stopped going and they come in this is Bob we miss your visits. Oh well, you’re baptized now. Yeah. Mission accomplished, you know, get on with it and I didn’t say that but but you see we learn from most kind of mistakes that a person wants her baptized they’re not they’re still a babe in the truth. What happens when you have a baby? Born in your household.

70. 29:47

    You want how often do you feed it? Every 4 hours night and day, 4 o’clock, feeding. I mean, father and mother want to sleep or that babies. Crying 4:00 in the morning. Go back to sleep. No, it’s you got to get up and feed that baby because it needs nourishment often because it’s a baby and when we baptize somebody, they are a babe in Christ and they need to be fed maybe not a 4:00 In the morning, but don’t abandon your newly.

71. 30:19

    Baptized people say, well now you’re baptized. I’ll go on to somebody else. That’s all right, to go onto somebody else, but don’t neglect the new ones in your Ecclesia that they, they need you, and they need your for a very long time. So, we don’t compare ourselves to each other. and, We try to help those who need a little word of encouragement. Now whenever you do anything, there’s always going to be somebody that’s going to criticize. You is lots of people who sit back. They don’t do anything but they sure criticize what everybody else is doing.

72. 31:00

    So if John Bunyan’s, that something was interesting. He says, if my life is fruitless, it does not matter who praises me and if my life is fruitful, it does not matter who criticizes me. So you sort of sometimes in the christadelphians body have to develop what I call a thick skin. You have to do the best you can.

73. 31:24

    And if somebody comes up and computer, I mean if you want to know how to raise kids, just as somebody who doesn’t have any, you know, they can always tell people who have kids how to do it till they get one their own and wow, it’s a different story. Is he we all seem to know how to do things we’ve never done before. Over our, we have a saying, hire a teenager while they’re still a teenager know everything.

74. 31:51

    Because overall way, we have this feeling, I’m sure it’s not true that people in Australia, but they like that young cat named the story this morning, went to cat college, and thought they knew everything. And as you get older, you can’t you keep realizing how little you do know, Mark Twain ran away from home when he was about 15 or 16?

75. 32:13

    He thought his daddy was the stupidest guy you’d ever met. He came back at 25 and he couldn’t realize couldn’t get over how much his father had learned in that short time.

76. 32:25

    Then what happened is Mark, Twain had grown up in the meantime and so that remember that first of all card you got, please be patient with me. God is not finished with me yet. We need to use those all the time because young people need to ask older people be patient with me.

77. 32:42

    I’m God’s not finished with me yet. And the, you know, people need to say to young people, you know, be patient with me and I don’t get around like I used to but God’s not finished with me yet because you see, you’re all are either. Dean and growing. Or you’re ripe and rotting, I mean what fruit finally gets ripe begins to rot and if you just sit back and say, well I’ve been baptized now, I don’t have to do anything.

78. 33:10

    You begin to rot. So no matter how old you are, we all need to keep this attitude that we’re green and we’re growing. And God is not finished with us yet and we’re trying to do better. so Jesus told us stories along these lines, he talked about giving people talents He gave 1/10 Oz, 1511. Nobody got the same amount of times. They were all different, so you see, that’s why you don’t compare yourself to somebody else. Either their talent is not the same as yours and and what Simon could have done without my help very much was walk that rail. I could not have possibly done it without his help but you see I didn’t help him and maybe I, he helped me. I maybe I helped them a little bit but you see we need to look around the room.

79. 34:02

    That people who need our help and they can’t walk a rail, like, you can. But you can sit down with him and they can, you can tell them a problem, you’re having at school. And if they can remember back that far, he might be able to give you some advice on how to cope with problems that you’re having in school.

80. 34:22

    We do people think the young people just don’t realize how easy they have it and the old young people don’t realize how lucky off the are. But if you were a young Young person. You wouldn’t think it was so easy. You got tons of homework. You got this. That you have peer pressure.

81. 34:37

    You got problem. See, so each age Each stage of our life is different. Brother and sisters with little children, have a different kind of life in brothers and sisters with teenagers. And those who teenagers are now grown and are married and they have different different problems again. What I want you to do is this afternoon, think, for yourself, what you can do that?

82. 35:10

    You haven’t been doing for God. I hope you can think of something, if you can’t. It’s going to tell you right there. You got a problem. If you can’t think of something you could be doing that, you’re not doing. Then you thinking, right? So we ought to get a sheet of paper out.

83. 35:29

    We’re not asking you to do this now, but when you get home and what can I do for? God service is not, what? How can I serve and figure out what you can do and then start doing it and do it poorly until you’re able to do it better, don’t not do it at all because Can’t do it, perfect.

84. 35:47

    Do your best. As Paul to Timothy. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved. A Workman that does not need to be ashamed. Who correctly? Handles the word of God. So find something you can do and then begin to do it, do what you can with what you have, right? Where you are.

85. 36:12

    Now not when I get out of school, not when I get a better job. Not when the children are not, you right now. Today you go out this afternoon. This is a Sunday afternoon and most of you don’t have to be at work until Monday morning this afternoon. You do something for God. By doing something for somebody else that you hadn’t thought of until this class when you get home. Or if you’re on the road, you me all the time, you’re driving home, you can think about what is it we can do. When you get home, you have some ideas, you might call up. Somebody says, oh sorry, you couldn’t go to the weekend. We had a good time and let me tell you what happened and maybe you can remember something that happened that you can share with somebody who wasn’t able to come. You see, God works with weak people and that’s us. We’re all week.

86. 37:02

    We’re a bundle of flies and God knows every flaw you have. So you can’t hide it from his know you saying, well, you know, he knows but he wants you to overcome that was a point of the hurdles. You have hurdles to jump and you need to jump them So Paul says to the Corinthians and second Corinthians 4:7, but we have this treasure in Jars of Clay to show that all this. All surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, not crushed perplexed, but not in despair.

87. 37:38

    Persecuted, not abandoned struck down but not destroyed. So God here is Telling us to Paul that you’re going to be pressed on every side, you’re going to be perplexed. You’re going to be in despair, you’re going to be persecuted, you’re going to be sure, but you got to keep getting up. So I’m talking about a man who falls out of six time, but he gets up every time to seventh. Don’t just lie down to Old Wars, be, I got knocked down. Get up and get going again.

88. 38:09

    Paul knew what it was to be discouraged. But what did he do when he was discouraged? He tried to encourage others. He had a thorn in his flesh and he didn’t like it, he asked God to remove and God said no. So he says, I take pleasure, then in my infirmities you see God can work around your infirmities.

89. 38:28

    I don’t race people. Like I did Stephen egerton anymore. I realize that I’ve outgrown that but because I can’t race Steve anymore. Does that mean I can’t do anything anymore? No, there’s something I can do whatever it is. Get busy doing it. And when you love people you you’ve tried to think what can I do for that?

90. 38:51

    But you see sometimes this backfires this is a this is a case of a sister who had young children and down the street, there was an old sister Jones. And and so, one day the mother thought we should find out how she is. So she said to the children, would you go down the street and see how old sister Jones is today?

91. 39:14

    So the kitties ran off and came back and he made a few minutes ago, she said, it’s none of your business. How old she is today? Now, you see, she said, go see how old sister Jones is? He meant she was describing her, not asking for her age. So so what happens when this backfires you could I’m never going to ask her again.

92. 39:39

    You see, you have to be patient with people. Her little children, misunderstood the mother and the, and the certainly, the old sister, misunderstood the kids. And so she and need to go down there and patch things up. And see I didn’t really ask my children. How old you were? I want to know how you are.

93. 39:59

    And all the trouble would go away but sometimes when we try to do something nice for somebody, it doesn’t backfire as well. That’s the last time I heard anything for you. And that’s not the attitude either. You do things for people who don’t even say thank you. They don’t show any appreciation for what you and you keep on doing it.

94. 40:18

    And you keep on keeping on because you’re doing it not just for them, it’s your service to the Lord. So you need to keep pressing on for the mark, for the prize of the high calling in Christ. Jesus we need to just keep on but if you don’t have a plan and you don’t work your plan, then nothing will happen. I’ve come a long ways to spend some time with you, and I’m thankful that you invited me and I’m glad I came. But I want to tell you this right now. If you leave this place, And you go out and go back to where you came from.

95. 40:59

    And everything is going to be the same as it was before you came here. I should have stayed home. I wasted my time. I wish that your time I should never have bothered you. Because the whole purpose of these classes on the way of life is to help all of us change and do something better than we were doing it.

96. 41:25

    And so I pray that that will be true and I won’t know it, it’s none of my business. I know I’m not prying But I do pray. The thoughts which were not mine. They were God’s thoughts. He used me as his tool. I hope that they find fertile ground in your heart and bring forth glory and honor to your heavenly father. Why did God?

97. 41:57

    Cause Jesus to go through everything that he endured. For us, he was tempted in all points. Just like we are yet without sin. And that’s such a beautiful thought and the doctrine of the Trinity, destroy you, because you have a God who can’t sin being tempted. It was meaningless, but you see, you are having problems. Literally, God is helping solve other people’s problems. By giving you yours, you think about Job. Why did you all have all his problems? He was trying to convert three friends, his suffering was for their benefit.

98. 42:42

    Sometimes your suffering is not for you, it’s for their benefit, Paul suffered all kinds of things. The Lord Jesus learned obedience by the things, which he suffered, because he suffered these things, he understands what you’re going through. And when you go to your heavenly father in prayer and pray through Jesus lead us not into temptation, but Deliver Us from Evil.

99. 43:02

    He says, I know. I’ve been there. I’ve done that. So if you are a former alcoholic alcoholic sir told never to use the word, former, I am an alcoholic, they may not have had a drink for 20 or 30 years. There’s still an alcoholic. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to an AA meeting in your life, but I have been the one.

100. 43:22

     I was working with a young brother. Here we are, man, he was not a brother. You studying the truth. He was actually a doctor, he was a medical doctor. He had been a naval doctor. Did you know, they specialize that for He had been a doctor in the Navy. And he used to come to my house once a week to study and when he started, he couldn’t spell Bible. I mean, he could have been mean, he knew nothing about the Bible so we started really Ground Zero but after a few many sessions he said to me one day, Bob, he believed that he needed to keep going to AA, meetings to keep himself dry. He’s Bob, would you go to a meeting with me? Well, I didn’t really want to go to an AA meeting. But I said, if you want me to his, yes, I want you to call us and we’ll go.

101. 44:15

     Now, they have a big book, like you have an ALS diary. Well, they have a book of all the AA meetings in the world and they haven’t by sections because, you know, and he had one for our area. Now, he went to an AA meeting because he lived across the Town West, Los Angeles used to drive a long ways to my house every week.

102. 44:36

     I assume that this week, I would go, I was willing to drive to his area to go to his AA meeting with me. Oh no, he’s so thoughtful of me. He looked up in his book. He found an AA meeting about eight blocks from my house. I’ve lived in my home for 43 years, hadn’t lived, there that long, then about 30 Maybe. And our kids had gone through all the schools I had been a coach of a little league team.

103. 45:06

     I mean I knew a lot of people I didn’t want to go to an AA meeting eight blocks from my house. You know I’m going to walk over Bob what are you doing here? You know but he wanted me to and so I did. And we walked in and I didn’t know. So there I was so relieved. But I was quite impressed.

104. 45:31

     By the quality, none of my Christie Devon’s except he and I and they never had a Christian before and I probably never on sins. But the reason I’m telling you this story is that brother is now active in Southern California, helping people who are trying to break the drink habit. He knows the problems are going through because he went through himself.

105. 45:57

     He is far more qualified to I sympathize with an alcoholic. Then me I’m not bragging but I never been one. Can’t really understand what it’s like because I never was why he understands he can help you take a person who used to smoke and there’s a person trying to stop smoking. That person who was a smoker is more able to help the person.

106. 46:26

     Kick the habit. Then I am what you never did smoke. So you see, even the problems, even the addictions, even the the things that you’ve done, which were wrong in the past, well, our fitting you to help somebody today, who is facing the problem that you have conquered. A mother with a colicky baby cries all night. She said her wits in another mother with teenaged kids who remembers when they were ecology is able to help that sister for more than I can.

107. 47:06

     A cancer survivor. Who’s gone through chemo and radiation and they’re now in remission. And they just find out that one of the sisters in the meeting was told yesterday she has cancer. Now I can go see her but I don’t if the size the same as that person who’s gone through it can so you see even the things that have happened in your life, which could have been bad things and you have conquered them now, God has prepared you to look around and find somebody else who’s facing the same kind of problem and you can step in and help them.

108. 47:51

     So everything that’s happening in our life is preparing us for the kingdom. Even the bad things is so use the experience that you’ve had to help someone who is not yet conquered. The thing that you have been able to overcome and so, Service is not an option. It’s not a suggestion. It’s a command.

109. 48:18

     So I want you this afternoon, God willing, I can’t make you do this, you know. It’d be wrong if I could make you be wrong too. But I’m pleading with you to decide this afternoon for a piece of paper, some things that you can do for God by helping others. That you may not have been doing.

110. 48:42

     Every one of us could preach just know, you don’t have to know, all the answers. I will, I don’t tell you about have a Christian because I don’t know how to answer the questions on the devil and The Trinity Immortal Soul or they just say you’re a Christian delphian. We had a man who came into the truth from the radio program, we had radio program has it and he had no nothing. He was so alive for the truth.

111. 49:04

     He never ever exhorted his entire life. He was so full of the truth. He used to say, I don’t talk good. But he used to have a big Tipper quarters, those great, big things will reel to reels and he would take that carry that big thing over to somebody’s house with a tape on it by christadelphians who he said talk good and he say, I want to play you something.

112. 49:27

     And then they’d ask a question. I don’t know, but he said, I’ll get an Alkali find out. He was always coming back to our, the rest of us saying, how do you answer this question, honey? But you saw, so he started off doing something poorly but doing it and he got better at it.

113. 49:43

     He never is. Oh my ever got good. He’s in the hospital in a double, in a room with two beds and the guy in the other bed is a Marine. And he started talking to him about the truth. Make a long story short, the Marine got baptized and quit the Marines. But this man didn’t do it alone.

114. 50:04

     He says, I don’t talk to it. He couldn’t, he couldn’t, he couldn’t explain away the devil or the Trinity really difficult subject. My father’s house are many mansions. You know, I go to prayer. He will, you know, how to answer that. But verily, I say to you today, you shall be with me in Paradise, he did not answer that.

115. 50:19

     He knew that you didn’t go to paradise that day. He knew that heaven was not a reward of the righteous, but he’s not, I’ll get some answers for you. He came to me, you something to read. Let me pay you this tape. You see each one of you, one of these. You all have do is become a preacher because God has nobody else in this world to do it except you We can’t hire the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

116. 50:40

     Do it. They put us to shame in the world and the way that they got knocking on doors and we don’t do that very much and they get converts from him. They can rely to projections, but they get converts, we’re finding in the mission field. If you just dissed plant seeds, when you get home this weekend, till people, hope you can say this, I had a great weekend. What’d you do?

117. 51:05

     Oh, I went through some Bible talks about what church of christadelphians crispy oven over our way. Nobody’s ever heard of Chris, I got a little story about christadelphians. I do this with everybody. I meet you’re playing, were because most people have never heard of the word Christian America. We got we’re not that good at preaching we should be in Australia. It’s better but it’s not perfect here either and I’ve been talking to some people were not Christian friends and I mention I’m coming to a Christian thing and they never heard of you either.

118. 51:34

     So it isn’t universally known like Catholics are the Presbyterians or something? But I say it’s where the word Christ and Adelphia in Adelphia is a Greek word. It simply means brother. Have you think Philadelphia is a funny word? I always ask. If you ask people questions they have to answer you. If you start preaching and talking and talking, they just turn you off their eyes glaze over.

119. 51:58

     And you know you’re not getting through. But if you ask him a question, do you think Philadelphia is a funny name? No, I say Philadelphia. You don’t start laughing. Well, Philadelphia is actually two Greek words. It’s the word phileo. And that’s the Greek words. That means love and Adelphia is a Greek word. Which means brother, when you say phileo, Adelphia, you’re saying love brother.

120. 52:22

     Now, we are Christ’s Adelphia the word Christ. That’s not a funny word, everybody’s heard Christ and the word, Adelphia nests or name. And I go through this everybody I meet So I had talked to truth to a man about thirty years before and he had moved away and he was came back to Pasadena as a manager of a new bank and we were going to buy a piece of property for an office building and I we needed to borrow some money and I thought, well, you remember me.

121. 52:55

     He was a manager of a bank in Pasadena and he moved to Texas and he’s back again. So I walked into his new bank and he’s sitting there and he’s big corner office with all glass around. He is on the telephone and I talked to his secretary outside as I’d like to see mr.

122. 53:10

     Gaston, when he gets off the phone, she sure, I’ll tell me you’re here. So I stand outside. She goes in and she says, there’s a man here to see you. His name is Bob Lloyd. So, I walk into the office and yoga is Joe Gaslight. You’ll just goes to show, how are you Joe? And he says, hi Bob, are you still a Philadelphian? So, you know, he remembered something, even he kind of botched it up a little bit, but the point is all of us. One of the things you can do, is you go out and tell other people you are cuz delphian, and if they don’t want to listen, it’s not your problem. but Ezekiel says, if you don’t tell them, It’s your problem.

123. 54:00

     If you tell them and they won’t listen, it’s their problem. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out, it’s better to be their problem than yours. So one of the things we want to do when you leave here today is decide you’re going to be more Persistent and sharing your hope with others. You don’t have to do it.

124. 54:20

     Well do it poorly till you get better at it but believe me the more you preach, the better you’ll get at. And so there’s a lots lots of homework for us to do when we leave here because this was a workshop. This was this was not just to entertain, this was to say, this is a life-changing weekend and we’re going to leave this place and try to be more faithful in serving God, we’re Thank God for our hurdles were going to stop complaining when we have problems, we’re going to realize life is a test were being tested and we life is Services is not an option.

125. 54:58

     We, you got things to do and so yesterday you got around to it. Now. You know, it was around to it because it said it was a to it. If I think since it’s a to it it’s a to it. Now, I happen to be round, so it was around to it. And people say, I’ll do something when I get around to it, you can’t use this in any other countries except I’m English-speaking, doesn’t work.

126. 55:21

     Good guy said, he’s a, you know it’s a play on words. Now today you’re going to get a new one. It says it’s a to it. So it’s a two. It says he isn’t it, but the little piece of wood now, will you call little pieces of wood sticks? So this is a stick to it. And you are now to get around to it and seek first, the kingdom of God, and now you are to stick to it and be steadfast immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. So each of you now is we’re going to pass these out in just a moment and take them home.

127. 56:03

     As reminders of what we talked about, you do have to get around to it and seeking first God’s kingdom, you want to be in the Kingdom, more than your house. All the world. I know that. And now you have to keep on keeping on keeping on. And so I want to thank you for the patience that you’ve given to me and these classes over the last two days and I’m going to borrow some words from Paul.

128. 56:29

     He said your bike to people, he would never see it again. They lived in Ephesus. It where did FSA travel down to see Paul but when they got there, he says, you will never see my face again. And so they walked to the boat and he said goodbye. And they felt sad and his words to them are by words to you. I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance, among all them that are sanctified.