Sermon

The Power of Four: A Lesson in Ministry Teamwork

Heritage Baptist Church Haslet

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  1. Amen.

  2. It's good to have brother Glenn Farron with us tonight.

  3. Brother Glenn is pastor of the Five Forks Baptist Church in Five

  4. Forks, North Carolina.

  5. Five Forks, Hillsboro.

  6. I was told it was Five Forks.

  7. I won't tell you who told me that.

  8. It was a family member.

  9. All right.

  10. And you know what?

  11. It's even more important that Vianney is here and Clarissa and

  12. Oliver, that that's who I really wanted to see and not Glenn.

  13. I'm just kidding.

  14. Glenn was on our staff for several years now.

  15. Been pastor in there how long now?

  16. Three years.

  17. You were on staff here three years?

  18. Three years.

  19. All right, Brother Glenn, come on, preach to us after we've.

  20. Not very dignified, am I?

  21. You know what?

  22. I'm glad Glenn's here.

  23. Come on, make this thing clean up the.

  24. Yeah, help us out.

  25. I appreciate that, Pastor, and I always appreciate the opportunity

  26. to come back here and preach.

  27. And preaching is a passion of mine, and I enjoy it.

  28. And I'll be honest with you, the more that I preach, the more

  29. work I end up having to put into preaching.

  30. If when you first start out preaching, this is just kind of my

  31. experience, I kind of would go to all the passages I was familiar

  32. with, and then I would exhaust those passages.

  33. And now I'm like, I don't know what to preach, but I've had to really

  34. put in a lot of work into it.

  35. And right now, on Sunday mornings, we're going through the

  36. book of Luke.

  37. We're in Luke, chapter 17.

    Luke 17 chapter mention

  38. We've been going through that for two years at this point.

  39. And on Sunday nights, we're in the book of Hebrews.

  40. And right now, we're in the midst of Hebrews, chapter 11.

    Hebrews 11 chapter mention

  41. And we've been in there for about a year and a half or so, and

  42. both of those books have been a huge help, and I really enjoy it.

  43. I really enjoy studying the word of God and all of that.

  44. And by the way, every Christian should enjoy studying the

  45. word of God.

  46. I really believe that.

  47. And if you don't, I think something's wrong.

  48. And that's maybe my personal opinion, but I think pastor would

  49. agree with that.

  50. And so anyway, I won't say too much fluff here before the message

  51. tonight.

  52. Turn, if you would, with me to Mark, chapter number two.

  53. Mark chapter number two this evening.

  54. And I just want to be a help to you tonight if I could, for just

  55. a few moments.

  56. I'm thankful to be back.

  57. And again, I'm thankful that you have graciously allowed me to

  58. preach tonight.

  59. And I want to Be a help and a blessing to you as a church this

  60. evening.

  61. This is not a time to serve myself.

  62. I want to serve the Lord and to serve you by means of preaching

  63. the word of God.

  64. And so I hope that what's said here tonight that you'll take it

  65. to heart.

  66. And I want to pull out just a small portion of this passage here

  67. tonight.

  68. And if you would stand with me for the reading of the word of God.

  69. Mark chapter number two.

  70. Verse number one is where we're going to begin.

  71. We'll read down through verse number 12.

  72. The Bible says, and again he entered.

  73. Into Capernaum after some days.

  74. And it was noised that he was in the house.

  75. And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that

  76. there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the

  77. door.

  78. And he preached the word unto them.

  79. And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which

  80. was born of four.

  81. And when they could not come nigh unto him, for the press, they

  82. uncovered the roof where he was.

  83. And when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein

  84. the sick of the palsy lay.

  85. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the

  86. palsy, son, thy sins be forgiven thee.

  87. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning

  88. in their hearts, why doth this man speak?

  89. Blasphemies.

  90. Who can forgive sins but God only?

  91. And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they

  92. reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, why reason ye these

  93. things in your heart?

  94. Whether it is easier to say, the sick of the palsy, thy sins be

  95. forgiven thee?

  96. Or to say, arise and take up thy bed and walk.

  97. But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to

  98. forgive sins.

  99. He saith to the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, arise and

  100. take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.

  101. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before

  102. them all, insomuch that they were all amazed and glorified.

  103. God saying, we never saw it on this fashion.

  104. Tonight I want to preach to you this message entitled simply

  105. teamwork in the ministry.

  106. And we see this man who comes to Christ, and his life is forever

  107. changed.

  108. And God gets all the glory because.

  109. Of the work of four men working together to bring this man

  110. to Christ.

  111. Let's pray this evening.

  112. Lord, thank you for allowing us to join together around the word

  113. of God.

  114. And I pray that you would change our minds tonight.

  115. Lord, I know that there is something in this passage for me

  116. tonight.

  117. And for all of us that are present, Lord, something that needs

  118. to be awakened in our mind, whether it be.

  119. Something that we currently believe we ought.

  120. Not to or something that we haven't even considered yet in the

  121. Christian life.

  122. Somewhere where we fall short, Lord, I pray that you'd show us those

  123. things.

  124. And, Lord, may we be conformed to the image of your son.

  125. I pray, Lord, that any decision that.

  126. Is made here tonight to be more like Christ would not be because

  127. Pastor Farrind said so or because Pastor Crawford said so,

  128. but would it be rooted in the word of God, that our faith may not

  129. stand in the wisdom of men, but as it is in truth, the word of

  130. God.

  131. And so, Lord, I pray tonight that you would help me to be a blessing.

  132. Empty me of myself, fill me with your spirit, and use me in the

  133. way that you see fit.

  134. In Jesus name I pray.

  135. Amen.

  136. Thank you so much for standing.

  137. You may be seated tonight.

  138. Now, tonight, I want us to quickly, by way of introduction,

  139. consider the matter of teamwork in the local church.

  140. Now, the goal of the team in the local church is what we see here

  141. in this passage closer to the end.

  142. It's found in two different verses.

  143. If you would, tonight, I want you.

  144. To notice in verse number 1010, where Jesus says, but that

  145. ye may know that the son of man hath power on earth to forgive

  146. sins.

  147. And then I want you to notice the response of this miracle.

  148. In verse number 12 at the end, it says, insomuch that they were

  149. all amazed and glorified God, saying, we never saw it on this fashion.

  150. Understand tonight that at the root of all of this ministry here

  151. at Heritage Baptist Church is the sole purpose of glorifying God.

  152. It is the sole purpose of bringing those within the church

  153. and those in the community surrounding the church into a greater

  154. understanding of who God is.

  155. This ministry exists not for the sake of building the name of

  156. Heritage Baptist Church, or so that Pastor Crawford could become

  157. more well known in the community, but for the purpose of

  158. helping God become more well known within this community.

  159. That is the purpose of the existence of this church.

  160. That is tonight.

  161. The goal of Heritage Baptist Church is to bring glory to God.

  162. Now, we do that in many different ways.

  163. We do that through the preaching of the Word of God, and

  164. we do that through the giving that you do in the offering plate

  165. so that the Word of God can go forward into all the world.

  166. We do that through the Sunday school classrooms and through all

  167. of the ministry efforts.

  168. All of that is fine and well.

  169. And.

  170. And the Bible commands us to do many of the things that Heritage

  171. Baptist Church is engaged in on a weekly basis, but all of that

  172. so that the glory of God could be known.

  173. And so that is the goal of the team tonight.

  174. And the reality is that Heritage Baptist Church must operate

  175. as a team in order for that goal to be met.

  176. Now you can glorify God as an individual.

  177. Absolutely.

  178. But in order for Heritage Baptist Church to properly and to

  179. most effectively fulfill its purpose, every single member of this

  180. church must work together with one another.

  181. In order to accomplish that goal.

  182. I know some Christians that have the mentality, well, God didn't

  183. call me into the ministry and so I really don't have to do anything.

  184. You're there, Pastor Crawford, to serve me.

  185. And Ms.

  186. Tanya, you're there to serve me.

  187. And Brother Stone, he's being paid by my tithe dollars so that

  188. he can serve me.

  189. Some Christians have that mentality.

  190. Some Christians have the mentality, well, you know what?

  191. Soul winning is really for those in full time Christian ministry.

  192. Some people that will take a familiar passage like Matthew chapter

    Matthew 28 chapter mention

  193. 28 and say, well, Jesus gave that to his disciples, to the apostles,

  194. and those guys were full time Christian ministry.

  195. And so that calling is just for those in full time Christian

  196. ministry.

  197. And they kind of twist the word.

  198. Of God that way.

  199. I preached a message a few months.

  200. Ago and something that I had prayed about for a while on the matter

  201. of soul winning, that when somebody's life has been touched

  202. by the gospel of Jesus Christ, they don't need a commission.

  203. They have a passion burning within their hearts to go and share

  204. that news with somebody else.

  205. The disciples in Acts chapter number four said, hey, look, we can't

  206. but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

  207. We don't need a commission, we don't need a command.

  208. We have something burning within our hearts.

  209. We've got to go share it with someone else.

  210. I would imagine that somebody that has the mentality, well, soul

  211. winning is for the staff member probably doesn't have much

  212. of a passion for souls or much.

  213. Of a heart for God.

  214. Soul winning is not just for the staff members.

  215. It's for every born again believer who knows what God has done

  216. for them and that if God could do it for them, he could do it for

  217. someone else too.

  218. Think about the Christmas story, the shepherds.

  219. Long before Jesus ever gave the great commission, the shepherds

  220. were soul winners.

  221. After they had visited the manger scene, what about the woman

  222. at the well?

  223. She said, hey, come and see a man.

  224. Which told me all the things that I've ever Done.

  225. She didn't have a commission.

  226. Even people that Jesus said, don't tell anyone.

  227. They said, I've got to go tell somebody.

  228. I wonder if God's going to judge them for disobedience on that

  229. one.

  230. I don't know.

  231. That's a good.

  232. Interesting question.

  233. Teamwork is.

  234. It's a team.

  235. I've learned, pastoring a small church, a church much smaller

  236. than this one, that I play a role in the church, but I play a

  237. much lesser role than I thought a pastor actually played

  238. in the church.

  239. I'm one person.

  240. I get up and preach the word of God.

  241. I guess you could say I'm perhaps maybe the most prominent

  242. member of the church as far as what people see and who they interact

  243. with on a weekly basis.

  244. But there are so many people in our church that they do so many

  245. things behind the scenes that I could never do, that I'm not skilled

  246. at, that I don't have a passion for.

  247. But they keep that church functioning on a weekly basis.

  248. And I imagine here at Heritage Baptist Church, that's exacerbated

  249. times 10.

  250. Here, Pastor Crawford, he stands up behind the pulpit and preaches,

  251. and Brother Stone's on staff.

  252. And many people that stand up and you see them on a weekly basis,

  253. they're more proud, prominent in your sight.

  254. But there are way many more people that keep this church operating

  255. on a weekly basis.

  256. Hey, listen, by the way, this is in my notes tonight.

  257. This is absolutely free.

  258. If you say, you know, I can't.

  259. Do much, but I can at least.

  260. Pray at home, you're doing perhaps the.

  261. Most important thing you can do in the local church.

  262. You're praying for your pastor.

  263. You're praying for your staff members.

  264. You're praying for your church members.

  265. You're praying for a community, for souls to be saved.

  266. Hey, don't diminish the significance of that.

  267. That is a very important thing to do.

  268. What I'm saying here tonight is that it requires all of us working

  269. together, striving together for the faith of the gospel.

  270. But in some churches, and the reason I believe that some churches

  271. do not work as a team, or some people within the church are not

  272. engaged with the team, I believe, is because they fit a few

  273. descriptions tonight.

  274. First of all, I think some Christians have a competitive mentality.

  275. What do I mean by that?

  276. They're trying to up one another.

  277. They're trying to be better than the other person.

  278. They're comparing themselves with themselves, which the Bible

  279. says is not wise.

  280. And they say, well, I would do it differently than that.

  281. And I, I wouldn't do it that way.

  282. And I think the way they did it was wrong.

  283. And they're constantly comparing and competing with one

  284. another.

  285. And listen, a team that's competing against one another cannot

  286. ever win the game.

  287. The competitive mentality.

  288. Paul even experienced this in Philippians 1:15.

    Philippians 1:15

  289. He said, Some indeed preach Christ, even of envy and strife,

  290. and some also of goodwill.

  291. The one preached Christ of contention, not sin, sincerely supposing

  292. to add afflictions to my bonds.

  293. I pray there's not someone here tonight that is trying to compete

  294. against your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, but is trying

  295. to strive together to accomplish the goal of bringing glory

  296. to God.

  297. Often with the competitive mentality, we're trying to bring

  298. glory to ourselves.

  299. And sometimes when we try to bring glory to ourselves, we end

  300. up on purpose or sometimes haphazardly stepping on others and

  301. hurting them.

  302. We'll tear them down in the process in order to build ourselves

  303. up if we have that competitive mentality.

  304. Some Christians have a carnal mentality.

  305. I think of the Corinthian Church.

  306. They were known for their carnal mentality.

  307. And what was the evidence of that carnal, that immature mentality

  308. where.

  309. Well, they also had this comparative type of spirit.

  310. But it was a divisiveness within the church based on different

  311. camps and groups they fit in.

  312. But one said, well, I'm of Paul and I'm of Apollos, and you

  313. have the ultra spiritual, well, I'm of Christ.

  314. They were all comparing with each other and they were all divided

  315. based on who had baptized them or who had led them to Christ or

  316. whatever it may be.

  317. And Paul says, listen, I'm nothing.

  318. Apollos is nothing.

  319. But we're just men who watered, we're men who planted.

  320. God is the one who gave the increase.

  321. God is the one that saved your soul.

  322. God is the one that drew you by his Holy Spirit.

  323. God is the one that sanctifies you.

  324. We're just simply laborers together in the harvest with God.

  325. But a carnal mentality, one who's always concerning himself with

  326. the frivolous, with the vain, is not going to work together with

  327. the team.

  328. Hey, listen, if you walk into Heritage.

  329. Baptist Church and your first thought is, I can't believe they

  330. took the projectors down and put up the screens.

  331. That's a carnal mentality.

  332. Whether we have projectors, whether we have screens, whether

  333. we have carpet, tile or whether we have hardwood flooring,

  334. whether the pulpit is a light color wood or a dark color wood,

  335. whether the parking lot was designed the way we wanted, whether

  336. the new building that's going up is exactly what we thought it

  337. was going to be.

  338. Hey, listen, all of that doesn't matter very much in light

  339. of eternity.

  340. It's all a vessel that God uses to bring glory to him.

  341. But a carnal Christian can't get past those things and can't work

  342. together with.

  343. His team to accomplish the task.

  344. Some Christians have a careless mentality.

  345. They just simply don't care.

  346. They're content to come to church whenever they feel like it.

  347. They're content to kind of feed off of the pastor and feed off

  348. of what the church can do for them, but really what they can pour

  349. into the church and how they can serve in the church and how they

  350. can lead souls to Christ.

  351. They really don't care.

  352. Kind of sad, really.

  353. Somebody cared for them.

  354. Somebody came to their door and invited them to church.

  355. Somebody led them to Christ.

  356. Somebody gave their tithe dollars so that the gospel could

  357. reach.

  358. But when it comes to them getting active and participating

  359. to see others come to Christ, they don't really have any interest

  360. in that.

  361. Maybe they're too busy caring about other things.

  362. By the way, I've never met a person who's totally careless about

  363. everything.

  364. You care about something.

  365. You care about yourself.

  366. You care about your job.

  367. You care about making money.

  368. You care about your friends.

  369. You care about your.

  370. Your favorite sports team.

  371. You care about this and that.

  372. God give us some Christians who care about souls.

  373. God give us some Christians who care.

  374. About God himself, who love God, who aren't careless about the

  375. local church, but are passionate about seeing it move forward

  376. for the glory of God.

  377. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life

  378. for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

  379. You ought to care about one another here tonight.

  380. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have

  381. love one to another.

  382. But a careless mentality will never accomplish the work of the

  383. team.

  384. Some Christians have a corrosive mentality.

  385. They want to see things fall apart.

  386. It brings them pleasure.

  387. It brings them joy.

  388. To cause division and to cause strife.

  389. We learn of those in second Timothy.

  390. Chapter two, where Paul says, shun profane and vain babblings,

  391. for they will increase unto more ungodliness.

  392. Let me ask you this.

  393. Are you the type of person who is promoting godliness or ungodliness

  394. at Heritage Baptist Church?

  395. You're doing one or the other.

  396. Some people have the idea I can.

  397. Just kind of come and kind of.

  398. Sneak in the back and nobody's going to know my Name.

  399. Nobody's going to know that I'm here and I'm just going to kind

  400. of do my thing and then move on.

  401. You will promote godliness at Heritage Baptist Church or you will

  402. promote ungodliness.

  403. And here were those in the church that were promoting ungodliness.

  404. They will increase unto more ungodliness.

  405. Their word will eat as doth a canker, of whom is Hymenaeus and

  406. Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the

  407. resurrection is past already and overthrow the faith of some.

  408. Be very careful in this church that God has built over the last

  409. 25 years, 24 years.

  410. Be very careful that you don't come into this church and start tearing

  411. down everything that God has built.

  412. Start tearing down everything that Pastor Crawford has built the

  413. through the grace of God.

  414. Start tearing down that staff members and church members and those

  415. that were here especially in the early days have instilled in

  416. other people's lives.

  417. Hey, listen, be very careful you don't come into church and start

  418. to overthrow the faith of some.

  419. It can be very easy if we come in with a careless mentality.

  420. Let's just say that somebody has been faithful that week to go

  421. out soul winning.

  422. And they finally, they.

  423. They've got their first guest that's coming to church ever.

  424. They finally got a guest.

  425. By the way, in my experience, it takes hundreds and thousands of

  426. invitations for me to bring one person to church.

  427. It takes a lot of work.

  428. And you finally bring your first soul to Christ.

  429. And they come in the back door of the church and you're so excited

  430. and they see brother Gentry and Brother Gentry is like, oh, they

  431. stink.

  432. Now I'm being silly tonight and I'm picking on Brother Gentry

  433. because I don't think he'd get mad at me, but maybe Mrs.

  434. Gentry would.

  435. So I don't.

  436. Now that's a silly illustration.

  437. But that visitor over here is Brother Gentry.

  438. Say that.

  439. And now Brother Gentry has overthrown the work of that one soul

  440. winner.

  441. Now, I'm not saying Brother Gentry would do that, I don't think.

  442. But listen, it can be very easy with a bad attitude to begin

  443. to tear down something that has been built.

  444. Up in someone's life.

  445. We ought to be very intentional when.

  446. We come into church.

  447. We ought to be very intentional with the words that we

  448. say.

  449. We ought to be very intentional in.

  450. All of those things.

  451. And so I've got to hurry tonight.

  452. So some have a corrosive mentality.

  453. Some Christians have a cowardly mentality.

  454. They're just not going to get involved.

  455. It scares them.

  456. The times that we live in, they're just a little bit nervous

  457. about it.

  458. Hey, listen.

  459. God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and

  460. of love and of a sound mind.

  461. Hey, listen, when we have the authority of Christ behind us and

  462. the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, there's no reason to

  463. be scared.

  464. Scared.

  465. There's every reason to move forward with boldness, preaching

  466. the word of God.

  467. One of the prayers we find in Acts, chapter 4.

    Acts 4 chapter mention

  468. After the apostles had stood before the council and had been commanded

  469. not to preach any more of the gospel, there was a prayer by the

  470. church that God would give them boldness in their witness.

  471. We all need boldness.

  472. And so that's, by the way, that's.

  473. My introduction and it's already 6:40.

  474. So if you'll give me just 10 minutes of your time to get through

  475. these notes tonight and we'll be on our way.

  476. But let's be reminded, the Bible says we are to strive together

  477. for the faith of the gospel.

  478. This is a team effort.

  479. And we see here in Mark, chapter number two, some teamwork

  480. to get this man to Christ.

  481. This man who could not, by the way, get himself there.

  482. It required four men bringing him there.

  483. So notice if you would, four descriptions tonight of an effective

  484. church team.

  485. An effective church that's going to work together to accomplish

  486. the mission of bringing glory to God.

  487. Number one.

  488. It requires a team with compassion.

  489. It requires a team with compassion.

  490. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm not going to carry a man

  491. who is sick of the palsy.

  492. I'm not going to carry him as far as these men would have carried

  493. him and do all the work that they would have done unless I loved

  494. that man, unless I cared for his soul, unless I wanted to see

  495. him healed of his infirmity.

  496. Here are four men who looked on a man that had a disease, who.

  497. Who looked on a man that had an ailment, who looked on a man that

  498. was crippled from his birth and said, I love you enough to bring

  499. you to Christ Jesus.

  500. He looked out on the fields.

  501. He saw that they were white already to harvest.

  502. He's looking out amongst all of the multitude.

  503. And the Bible says he was moved with compassion on them because

  504. he saw them as sheep having no shepherd.

  505. They were faded and scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd.

  506. Hey, listen, I know sometimes it's easy to get angry at what goes

  507. on in Washington, D.C.

  508. and sometimes it's easy to get angry at that person that cut you

  509. off in traffic.

  510. Hey, but listen, we don't know what these people go through behind

  511. closed doors.

  512. We don't know what they're crying about at night.

  513. We don't know the burdens of their hearts.

  514. We don't know who's hurt them, who's broken their heart.

  515. We don't know all of the problems that are going on in their

  516. life.

  517. And instead of them getting another angry response at what they

  518. did, they maybe what we need to do is reach out with some compassion

  519. and love those.

  520. People.

  521. That cashier at Walmart who's just unkind.

  522. Hey, maybe instead of leaving a nasty.

  523. Google review, if you still do that.

  524. I don't know if that's still a thing I do.

  525. I leave Google reviews.

  526. I've got 4,000 views on my Google reviews.

  527. Maybe instead of leaving that nasty Google review.

  528. Hey, can I invite you to Heritage Baptist Church?

  529. It seems like you're having a rough day.

  530. And you can come here to this.

  531. Church this Sunday and I promise you you'll receive a blessing.

  532. Hey, can I tell you what God did for you?

  533. He loved you.

  534. He loved you so much he sent his only son to die for you.

  535. And I just feel like you need to hear that today.

  536. Maybe reach out with some compassion.

  537. Here were some men who had compassion.

  538. Secondly, an effective church team is a team not only with compassion,

  539. but a team with confidence.

  540. A team with confidence.

  541. Now this wasn't a self confidence, but this was a God confidence.

  542. Notice if you would with me in verse number five where the Bible

  543. says when Jesus saw their faith.

  544. Now the word confidence can be synonymous with the word faith.

  545. It is knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is who he says

  546. he is.

  547. And that is God is going to work his will.

  548. He has the power to do so.

  549. The Bible says, for without faith it is impossible to please

  550. him.

  551. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is

  552. a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

  553. And listen, tonight we have a powerful God and we have a loving

  554. God who wants the best for each and every one of us.

  555. And it's about time that some members of Heritage Baptist Church

  556. who have not gotten in with the team start getting in with the

  557. team, believing that God can use them to do something great for

  558. his glory.

  559. Those cowardly we talked about just a little bit ago.

  560. Hey, listen, you need to have some confidence in God tonight knowing

  561. that it's not you who's trying, it's not you who has to produce

  562. the results, it's God who doesn't I plant?

  563. I've planted plants before and I've watered plants before and I've

  564. killed every one of them.

  565. I'm so glad that it is not up to me to make the plant grow.

  566. On a more serious note tonight, I'm.

  567. So glad it's not up to me.

  568. To make the church grow.

  569. God is the one who blesses our efforts of planting and watering

  570. if we are faithful just to step out in.

  571. Confidence, knowing that he can.

  572. Thirdly, tonight, a team with confidence, a team with cooperation.

  573. Now, this is kind of the point of the message tonight, but a team

  574. that is cooperating together, a team that is working together.

  575. First Corinthians, chapter three, verse number nine.

  576. We are laborers together with God.

  577. Some people labor in the church separately from one another.

  578. But my friend, that is not a biblical concept.

  579. We are to labor together.

  580. When you go out soul winning.

  581. Listen, it's a good thing to share the gospel wherever you go,

  582. even if you're by yourself.

  583. But can I encourage you not to go knock doors by yourself, but to

  584. bring a partner with you?

  585. There's a lot of wisdom in that.

  586. That we won't get into tonight.

  587. But there's also, there's a cooperation that's going on.

  588. When I go out door knocking with somebody, actually draw closer

  589. with them in the process.

  590. I get to talk with them and I get to learn about them and I get

  591. to train them or they get to train me.

  592. Those of you who don't know how to win a soul to Christ, why

  593. don't you ask somebody who does?

  594. Can I go with you?

  595. Can you teach me?

  596. Can you show me how to do this thing called soul winning?

  597. I don't even know what that means, but can you take me and show

  598. me what you do?

  599. Cooperate together?

  600. And by the way, let us not have an arrogant mentality where

  601. we are too good to go with someone lesser and help them.

  602. I tend towards that.

  603. I want to always go with someone who's going to make me stronger,

  604. not someone who I perceive is going to drag me down.

  605. And that's a sinful mentality.

  606. To have those that are stronger in the faith, we ought to

  607. help encourage their faith.

  608. Those that are weaker, we ought to help grow them.

  609. We ought to help nurture them.

  610. We ought to bring them along with us, help disciple them.

  611. Listen, it may be a little awkward to hear them present the

  612. gospel for the first time, but there's some great excitement in

  613. that they're presenting the gospel for the first time.

  614. Cooperation sometimes.

  615. I remember playing on sports teams in.

  616. High school and maybe I wasn't as good as the older person of the

  617. older people on the team.

  618. And I was often the one who would get neglected to have the ball.

  619. Passed to me because, well, I wasn't as good as someone else.

  620. And then when I got old enough to be a starter on the team.

  621. Then I would do the same thing.

  622. I wouldn't pass to that guy.

  623. He's gonna.

  624. I'm going to kick him the ball.

  625. And he's just going to dribble it right out of bounds.

  626. But listen, that's kind of a silly illustration because that's

  627. high school sports.

  628. But in the work of the ministry, if we don't pass the ball

  629. to.

  630. Them and give them an opportunity, give them a chance,

  631. train them, how are.

  632. They ever going to do it?

  633. How are they ever going to be a soul winner?

  634. How are they ever going to be a good Bible teacher?

  635. How are they ever going to know how to study the Bible for themselves

  636. if we don't exert the effort and come alongside of them and maybe

  637. be willing to risk some embarrassment with them so that they

  638. can eventually become the soul winner that God wants them to be?

  639. A team with cooperation.

  640. We are laborers together with God.

  641. And then lastly tonight, a team with commitment.

  642. A team with commitment.

  643. Here we find four men.

  644. They had compassion on this man, so they brought him to Christ.

  645. They were confident, and so they brought him to the only one

  646. who could.

  647. Do something about it.

  648. They cooperated together.

  649. Each man on each corner of the bed, bringing him to where the Lord

  650. was.

  651. And then we see a team with commitment.

  652. Now notice what the Bible says in our passage tonight as we close

  653. in verse number four.

  654. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they

  655. uncovered the roof where he was.

  656. And when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein

  657. the sick of the palsy lay.

  658. And Jesus saw their faith and said, unto the sick of the palsy,

  659. son, thy sins be forgiven thee.

  660. Some teams give up.

  661. I often wonder why you would ever be a Bears fan this year.

  662. And then I look at my college team that I support, the NC State

  663. Wolf Pack, and our slogan is this.

  664. Well, next year's our year.

  665. That's our slogan.

  666. Next year.

  667. We got this next year.

  668. And always disappoints me.

  669. But you know what?

  670. I'm committed to my team.

  671. And you're committed to your team.

  672. Rain or shine, you're committed.

  673. It's about time in the local church.

  674. That we get committed to the work of the ministry.

  675. And here's what I mean by that.

  676. Not that we're going to dabble in everything until something works,

  677. but that we're going to stick with something.

  678. I know God's called me to do this.

  679. I know God wants me to be involved in this way.

  680. I've asked Pastor, I've gone through the spiritual gifts test.

  681. I know this is where I need to be planted.

  682. And we give it two months, and nobody's been saved and our class

  683. hasn't grown, and I don't see any fruit from my ministry.

  684. So you know what?

  685. I'm just going to kind of give up and maybe I'll try something else

  686. later on.

  687. These men, when they got to the crowd, they didn't say, well,

  688. all right.

  689. Drop them on the ground and just walk away.

  690. That's it.

  691. We can't get to them.

  692. I'm sorry, buddy.

  693. We're going to have to try again next year.

  694. Next time he comes into town, maybe.

  695. No, no, no.

  696. They made a way where there was no way they were committed to

  697. getting this man to Christ.

  698. Hey, hey, listen.

  699. You may have not 55, 50,000 doors and not one person has come

  700. to Christ.

  701. Can I encourage you to knock 50,001 doors.

  702. 50,002 doors.

  703. 50,003 doors.

  704. I've taught my Sunday school class for four years, and I've only

  705. seen one new person come into my class.

  706. Hey, can I encourage you to teach that next year and that next

  707. year and pray and labor over those souls and continue to study

  708. and continue to go at the work, working together as a team.

  709. A team that is effective for the glory of God is a team that is

  710. committed to the cause of Christ.

  711. No matter whether the results come.

  712. The Bible says, let us not be.

  713. Weary in well doing, for in due.

  714. Season we shall reap if we faint.

  715. Not too many people faint.

  716. I believe, right when God wants to.

  717. Give the increase, let us not faint.

  718. In the work of the ministry.

  719. These four men, they work together as.

  720. A team to bring this man to Christ.

  721. As a church tonight, you have a.

  722. Great calling, and that is to bring glory to God.

  723. And you do so through a variety of means.

  724. And it's incumbent upon Heritage Baptist Church to strive

  725. together, together as a team for the faith of the gospel.

  726. Let us pray tonight.