Assorted,: CMML Fall Conference-1993-04 ~ Panel Discussion

By way of introduction, on my extreme left is Mr. Bering McDowell, and I think we were all thrilled the way he told us of God's goodness through the years this morning. Then our beloved brother Randy Kamen on my immediate left, and uh, on the far right is Mr. John Jeffers, and uh, Mr. John Jeffers will answer any questions regarding CMML, uh, not doctrinal questions. The man for doctrine is on my immediate right, Dave Nicholson. Uh, before we begin with the questions, uh, Randy has been asked to give the scripture references that he was unable to give this morning. Uh, a good many came up and said, the points I didn't finish, would you give the scriptural references? So we'll be happy to do that. On your yellow outline sheets in your notebook, number five, number five was the ability to cope with rejection and persecution, and it's in the New Testament, second Thessalonians one, second Thessalonians one, verses seven through nine. For those troubled by affliction to rest when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed. Has to do with his revelation, not the rapture. And also Psalm seventy three. Psalm um seventy three, you're envious at the wicked, you enter into the sanctuary of the Lord and see their end. Don't take it into your own hands now. You'll deal with it at his revelation of his coming. Number six, and we've heard about that, is holiness in lifestyle. Uh, the chapter that was just read to you, second Peter three, as well as first John three. One through three. First John three one through three. Uh, because we'll be like him when we see him, we're to purify ourselves now. And then the seventh one, it gives you strength in dealing with death. And that is the context of First Thessalonians four sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen. Actually, more than that. Actually, verses twelve on. First Thessalonians four verses twelve to the end. Uh, death of loved ones, that is. It gives us a hope that we sorrow not as the same way the unsaved do, and a strength in dealing with death, because we'll see them again at his coming. So those are the scriptures. And just one quick announcement. If there's anyone here from the Allentown Assembly, I saw some of you. I have a big box of books somebody ordered, and I'd like you to take them back so you'll see me after, please. Now that you've started, uh, Randy, there's a first question is for you. Since two Corinthians five eleven speaks of the terror, and that word is underlined, of the Lord and persuading men, is there not a sense in which the judgment seat of Christ might also include some suggestions of the great white throne judgment. Yes. He who hesitates. I- i- if, uh, you mean by comparing it to the great white throne judgment of the sense of punishment taken from the word terror, uh, all I can say, uh, is that we're dealing not with the subject of punishment for sin. Thus, then we would touch the cross work of Christ. Uh, it is finished, he cried on the cross, the penalty, the wrath borne by him, he bore in his own body our sins on the tree. Now, there is a certain sense of when you give an account of yourself to the Lord and have to give an account not only of the good things you do, two Corinthians five says, verse ten, but of the bad. And there is will be first John two twenty eight puts it this way, it's possible to be ashamed at his coming. That's first John two twenty eight. Now, when I have to give an account, and I've had my parents walk in on me at times when I was young, and I was ashamed, not that I didn't want to see them, but I didn't want to see them then. And so, so the idea of terror is not so much with punishment. That's what, that's what the great white throne is. Now, I might be misunderstanding the question. So it's not a matter of punishment because the people at the great white throne are put into the lake of fire, but if we can get one correlation, and maybe this is what the questioner is after, uh, we are judged according to our works, and the unsaved are judged according to their works. Now, that is common. God is the God of justice. There'll be inequality in heaven, different rewards. And while all will be in hell, the lake of fire, and all will be forever, I don't understand the detail, but I believe the word of God teaches there will be different intensities, maybe that's lack of a, for lack of a better word, different intensities of judgment according to their works. We have several examples of that in scripture. So I would say from the question, as you correlate it to the great white throne, you couldn't correlate the word punishment, but in both places, works will be brought up. One, rewards and lots of rewards, other eternal punishment. That's the big difference. Is he anything to add to this, uh, on either side? If not, the next question we'll give to Dave Nicholson. What is the difference, if there is one, between, quote, the Book of Life in Revelation three five, thirteen eight, and seventeen eight, and twenty and twelve, and the Lamb's book of life in Revelation twenty one? Well, Revelation three five, uh, written to the church at Sardis, uh, written to the overcomer, I will not blot out his name out of the book of life. Uh, thirteen eighteen says, I'm sorry, thirteen eight, um, all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, plain from the foundation of the world, so that I would include that one in with the, the Lamb's book of life. Uh, 17:8. Um, they that on, uh, that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and so on. And, uh, 17:8, uh, pardon me, uh, twenty: twelve says, that's probably the best known, uh, the books were opened, another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those books, and then a little later on it says, uh, verse fifteen, whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Uh, there are some who suggest that the, that the book of life has to do simply with our natural life, uh, the setting of the bounds of our natural life, and while it's not possible generally to extend that time, it is possible to shorten it, to be taken home early, and that the Lamb's book of life is a record of our spiritual life. I'm not entirely sure that you can make that close a distinction from those verses, uh, in other words, the judgment that's given in Revelation chapter nine— uh, chapter twenty— twenty one, rather, um, the Lamb's book of life there, uh, and then it says, whosoever's name is not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Uh, so obviously, if a person has physical life, their name was in there, and if, if we make the book of life out to be simply physical life, then that verse is nonsensical. It means that anyone who is never born will be cast into the lake of fire. So I- I'm- I don't think that that's a fair statement. I- I do believe that God has records, and we read about the books, and no doubt he has a record of man's life, when he was born and- and when he will die. Uh, but obviously the Lamb's book of life that is referred to here has to do with, uh, our relationship with the Lord, the day when- when the covenant was signed, as it were, when the covenant came into effect between a sinner and a holy God, when we accepted God's terms and were brought into a relationship with him. The fear some people have in Sardis there, the overcomer will not have his name blotted out of the book of life. Um, I, I do believe that there God is speaking about, um, not taking us home early, and I, I do believe that, that a Christian is invested with a certain amount the minute we're saved, and um, if we're squandering that, he may take us home early. And of course, this was a warning that the, the apostle gave to the church at Corinth. But even that is done in grace, because everyone shall appraise of God, and if I'm squandering what I have, God will take me home early so there's at least a little bit left there. So I do believe that, that God has, um, on record my natural life, but the Lamb's book of life obviously is with reference to eternal life and my relationship to God through the Lamb. But I'm, I'm not sure that it's all quitely that closely defined. I think sometimes the book of life is actually referring to the Lamb's book of life, uh, whereas other places the book of life is simply referring to my earthly span that's been given to me here. But whatever the case, all of these, the talk about the books, of course, we're not thinking about an actual big scroll up there. Um, we're simply saying that God keeps records, and God knows what's going on, and God's in control, uh, of these situations. Any other comments? If not, we have one here that is not doctrinal, Mr. Jeffers. It's brethrenism. That's a phrase I just coined. What is a meeting of the church? Is there such a thing as an quote informal unquote and formal quote meeting of the church? If so, how does this affect the role of women? Simple. Very simple. Now I know why they have to. I'm sure I'll get fired next week. I'll cut his pay, that's what I'll do. To me, a meeting of the church is whenever two or three believers are together, whether it's two or forty two, and that's it. And there's a kind of cut the cold and dry. There's no such thing as an informal meeting of the church. To me, it's just an excuse to let women, uh, take off their hats and participate in discussion. I think it's very clear that when people are together in a public meeting, gathering like that, that's a meeting of the church, whether you're in one room of the building or another room, whether you're downstairs or upstairs, it's a meeting of the church. Am I right? You couldn't have said it better, John. I- I'd like to just add something to that. Um. Don't spoil it. No, I wouldn't. Uh. The elders are given responsibility for the assembly. Mm-hmm. They will someday give an account Mm-hmm. for our souls. Mm-hmm. Uh, there are four, four basic food groups in Acts two forty two, and they are obligated, they are responsible to provide the environment where God's people are able to exercise themselves in these four directions, in prayer and in the remembrance of the Lord and in fellowship together and in the teaching of the word. If I don't eat my veggies, uh, and I get sick, it's not entirely their fault, is it? If they're providing a, a balanced diet for the people of God. Any gathering whose purpose it is to fulfill the responsibility of the elders in providing that environment, that healthy environment for the people of God, is a meeting of the church. And what we've had, of course, is people saying, well, we'll take the midweek meeting, which is the meeting at which a prayer is, is provided, I mean, an opportunity to pray, corporate prayer, and perhaps teaching, perhaps the apostles' doctrine. They say, well, what we'll do is we'll split them up and going to homes, and so now it's, it's a home Bible study. Well, I do believe there is such a thing as a home Bible study that is not a meeting of the church, uh, where A, the elders have not taken the initiative, and B, where if something went wrong, the head of the home would be held accountable. God always wants somebody. But as an extension of our home ministry, it's possible to invite Christians in, and it's far better to talk about that than a lot of the other things that we talk about. So to invite Christians in to discuss the word of God, I think is, is a necessary thing, and, and we ought to be doing it more. Um, on the other hand, i- if that is the replacement for the meeting of the church, and the elders will give an account for it someday, then church order must be in effect. So I, I think that there's, again, people have said, well, it's a home, it's in the home. Well, no, it's not. It's in a house. See, the geography is not what makes it a meeting of the church. You can meet in a field or a barn or a forest, as many Christians do, and it's a meeting of the church. The building doesn't do it. You can have a, a really a meeting, uh, you can have a, an activity in the local church that is a, a, a home function, like a, a marriage, a wedding. Or you can have a world function, you can have a blood donor clinic or a, a Tiny Tots thing, you know? But that, that doesn't make a meeting of the church because it's in the building. Likewise, it doesn't make it a home function because it's in a house. Uh, the early church, they met entirely in houses. The question is, who's accountable? If it's a meeting of the church, in other words, if the elders will give an account for this, and if its purpose is to fulfill the mandate that the elders have been given relative to the Christians, then it, yeah, it's a meeting of the church. And this idea, well, we can, God's, God's fooled by real estate, like, where did they go, you know? Well, I mean, that doesn't make any difference to God where we are geographically. The question is order, and if the, if it's church order, if the elders are accountable, then church order has to be, I think, uh, seen there. Thank you. Mr. McDowell, there's one here that has to do with personal evangelism. It says, I am a twelfth grade student, that's senior in high school, in a small school. As far as I know, no one has accepted the Lord as their savior. Although the four years I spent there were not enjoyable, I still want to open their eyes to the truth. But how can I convince them that they live a life of sin and that they need Jesus Christ to obtain life in heaven? Well, by your life and by your words, the two have to go together. Um, by looking to the Lord, certainly the Lord will give a opportunity for a testimony if you're awake and alert to see, to find the opportunity, I think the Lord will give it. That's about as far as I can take that one. If that's what she's after, she wants them. Do you have suggestions, uh, beyond that to, uh, that you've gathered on the field. Well, it's a great thing is to be exercised about it, and if you're exercised about it, the Lord certainly is going to let you down, and they're... the Lord's more concerned about the loss than we are, and we commit ourselves into his hands, he can show us what to do and when to do it would be good, I think, for a young person to make sure that you have your testimony clear. Maybe write it out, think it through, not necessarily a little memorized by rote, but make sure that you've got it clear in your own mind, so that when, you know, this is your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel. Get ready beforehand. Learn maybe a half a dozen or a dozen real good gospel verses. Memorize them, write them out on cards and memorize them. Know where to find them. Uh, there are some good gospel tracts specifically addressed for young people. We print one called Teenager, Does Anybody Care? Um, you can have a few available. Um, there, there are things that you can do sort of to get ready, so when God does give you the opportunity, you know, you can, you're ready to speak for the Savior and don't sort of fumble around a bit. Um, don't be afraid of the loss. You know, sometimes we think, well, if what if they ask me a question I don't know the answer to? Well, first of all, I found that there are only about twenty questions that they ask wherever you go across the country. There aren't that many questions, and most people are abysmally ignorant of the Bible and don't even know the questions, let alone the answers. Uh, but also, if they do say something that you don't know the answer to, that's a great opportunity. Say, look, I don't know the answer right then, but I'll get back to you, and go and study it out and bring it back to them, and so then you don't just have one, you have two opportunities. Yes. Just one other word on that. Uh, just to take the pressure off you and put it in the right place, uh, without going into a sermon here. There are three or four— three things God does in salvation, and then three things we're asked to do, and you can never, you can never, never, never open a heart. You don't have to convince them, and you can't open their eyes. God opens eyes, he opens doors, he opens hearts. And so you can never do that, but your burden is good. What you can do, as you have heard, is to live it, to wait for an open door to speak it, and to pray. And when God gives you that, you might give the best sermon or the best track, he must open the heart, he must open the eyes, he must open the door. Uh, it's really in the other order, open the door, open the heart, and then open the eyes. And so, be faithful, look for open doors to give it out, but you can never, it's only God's part, you can never open their understanding. Only the Holy Spirit convinces of sin. So you do your part, and he'll do the miracle part. We had a very interesting experience a number of years ago. Uh, a young fellow who was in his final year of college and, uh, fast heading to become an alcoholic, and, uh, he saw this young man in the school every day, and he was a little bit fed up with his own life, and he noticed the serenity with which this chap went through life. And one day he went over during their lunch break and sat at the table with him. He said, do you mind if I talk to you? And the young man said no. He was a very shy individual. And he said, well, I noticed that you seem to enjoy life, and yet he said, you don't go in for all of the things that most of us feel is part of life. He said, I'd like to know what it is. And the young man had a glorious opportunity to tell him about the Lord, and it was only because of his godly life that the first young man spoke to him. So there is something to be said about living the life as well as witnessing verbally. Here's one for Randy Amos. I had once heard you speak about how the world perverts and twists things. Further, you spoke of one particular inversion regarding the saints. That is that we as believers tend to judge non-believers, which is for God to do, and we do not judge one another in love as we are instructed to do. Could you comment briefly on this in terms of the church preparing to be presented as the chosen bride of Christ at his return? Mm-hmm. Okay. I don't say this to be funny, but, uh, I go into this in the inside article on Chronos number three. So if you pick up a free, uh, copy of the, it's, it's like a maroon copy, the color is. If there's some on the table, we have Christian activism or pacifism, which? When do we judge? When do we, are we passive? It depends what arena you're in. And I'll just briefly say this, if I understood the question right, as we're presented to God. Uh, when it comes to the say, the Church of God, we are given specific instructions, such as First Corinthians five. Paul speaks of the without and within. The without is the world, the within is the Church of God, the assembly. And when there was a problem such as sin, he says, do you not judge them that are within? We as the church are called to purify ourselves, to judge sin in it for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom we will be presented. We are to be activists in that sense. It has to do with the authority you're in in the church and so on, but sin is to be dealt with in the church of God. We're not to say, oh, Christ is all love and we'll I understand it's nice to live in a community that has it, but we are told to live meekly in front of them, to suffer wrong, and to present Christ, which can change them. We are not told to judge them in the sense of con- condemning them and making them change. They can't live like a Christian till Christ is in them. And so it is the church that we're to carry out judgment. And see, he's going to present the church to himself, a glorious bride, and that's the part of sanctification we're involved in, a glorious church, Ephesians five twenty seven. And where our energy needs to be, first with ourselves, and then building up the church of God, and when there are problems in the position we're in, to deal with that problem and judge from within. So I think that's what you're after in the question, and it's an important thing today. Christianity is trying to change the world and letting the church go by. God says, build up the church, and I will judge the world, take to them the gospel of grace. Thank you. We'd like to direct the next one to James Nicholson, and uh, it has a little explanation after the question by the moderator. The question is, is there a sense in which believers can hasten the coming of the Lord? And I want to make it clear that I didn't put this in. Now, Mr. Nicholson. I've been kind of peeking over the shoulder here, and I saw that there were a few other questions relative to the imminent return of Christ, and I would simply say this, that when we speak about the imminent, imminent return of Christ, we do not mean that the Lord could come at any time. As far as we are concerned, we don't know the time, but God has a time, and the scripture speaks of the day and the hour, doesn't it? And the Lord Jesus said that the angels of heaven don't know the day nor the hour, and he, by his own choice, has determined not to know the day nor the hour, and that's not a mark of weakness, that's a mark of deity. You choose not to know about this pencil, for example. It's something that we can't do, but he has chosen to, and I have my own reason, at least my view, as to why he doesn't know that. I think it's because he has determined not to know, not to have anything to do with who's in the bride. Um, it's going to be an arranged marriage, and he's leaving that to the Father. And the, the time of the descent of the Holy Spirit and the time of the descent of the Lord Jesus at the rapture are the two parameters that determine who's in the bride. And so the Lord Jesus didn't say, I'll send the Spirit. He said, I'll ask the Father and he'll send the Spirit. You just wait, and at the right time he'll send the Spirit. And then he said, you just wait for me, and at the right time the Father will send me. And so, uh, to say that, that we hasten the coming of the Lord, uh, obviously there is work that needs to be done, and when the work is done, the father will say it's time to bring, bring, uh, the bride home. That's true. And so, in the sense that we get about the business and get the work done, uh, that seems to be what determines, in the mind of God, when he will send his, his son. However, God knew that from the beginning. God isn't waiting around and saying, you know what, if you can hurry up, we can speed up the process here. You know, God, God knows that right from the start, and he has set the time when he knows the work will be done. And, uh, we don't know the day nor the hour, but he does. And so the imminent return of Christ is as far as we're concerned, but as far as he's concerned, he, he knew that time from ages past, and, uh, that's when it's going to happen. Question on the resurrection for Randy Amos. What kind of bodies will believers be resurrected in? Will they be physical, flesh and bone, or spiritual? Jesus was raised in a physical body, was he not? There are several s- uh, scriptures that will give us an answer on that. The, the general description is in Philippians three twenty one, fashioned like unto his glorious body. That would go along with First John three two when it says, we shall be like him. And as you have correctly said in the, uh, question, uh, the Bible s- has him in a glorified body, one that's not subject to death and matter like we are here, and yet a body, a body that it speaks of flesh and bone, but does not speak of blood, and so we will be like him. And as you might know, and just in case you don't, if you quickly turn to First Corinthians fifteen, you get your most detailed description of the resurrected body in First Corinthians fifteen, It likens it to a seed that goes into a ground, and a seed that goes into a ground comes out far different than it goes in. Goes in that little seed and comes out a bright red tomato or whatever, comes out far different than it goes in, but it comes out of the same inherent property. It'll be of our inherent body, but he's, he's not going to ignore this body here. He's going to fashion it. He's going to use the elements of this body and glorify it. And just a few verses on this, uh, you see in verse forty two of first Corinthians fifteen, speaking of the resurrection of the body, it says, so also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It'll never decay, can't die again. Verse forty three, it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. So it's called a spiritual body, albeit it has flesh and blood, it, or excuse me, flesh and bone, it does not operate on blood, for blood, the life of the flesh is in the blood, so says Leviticus seventeen eleven. So it's not made, uh, operating on the blood principle, it's a spiritual life, and so it won't be subject to disease or losing your blood or anything like that. In that sense, it's a spiritual body. Uh, verse forty five of the Word of God, "And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul, and the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." And then if you'll go down to verse forty eight, "As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy, and as is the heavenly, such are also they that are heavenly. It'll be spiritual, it'll be heavenly, it'll be a body that's incorruptible, like our Lord's, with flesh, with bone, but yet they could walk through a wall, yet they could go through outer space without any rocket boosters, not subject to gravity and things like that, like Christ and eternal. Praise his name. Any other comments? If not, uh, there are certain things in the word of God in which the Spirit of God does not go into detail, and this is one of them. The question is, will we eat in heaven? Now, it it sounds like an amusing question, but the Lord ate. Well, follow that a bit further. If we eat in heaven, will we need kitchens and plumbing? You see, I I I think it's a good idea where God does not go into detail to leave it alone. Suffice for me at least that I will have a body like unto his body of glory. It's tremendous, it's tremendous. Mr. McDowell, will there be any regrets, number one, at the judgment seat, and number two, when we're in heaven. Be strange if there weren't any regrets. He's responsible for what we do and what we say, even uh, to the things we say. Certainly we ought to live in, in fear of what, um, that we can, can do the wrong thing, say the wrong thing. Um, that's as far as I like to go on this. All right. Mr. Jeffers, would you comment on those who would set dates for the Lord's return, such as the new book eighteen- nineteen ninety four? We don't sell that book. We don't even give it away. This book says it's not for us to know the time of the hour, and none of us do. Amen. Uh, Mr. Ramis, what is the day of God referred to in Second Peter three twelve? Uh, we can turn to two Peter three twelve. m I'll make a comment, and since Jade spoke on it, we'll turn it over to him. First of all, the term the day is an expression to show when one will have their way, whether in judgment or preeminence or however, in a visible way, that is. We speak of you'll get your day in court. We simply don't mean a twenty-four-hour time period. We meant you'll get your day to defend yourself or the day when you will be judged. Uh, the day of the Lord is an expression also found in First Thessalonians. I know that wasn't the question. It has to do with the judgment of the Lord Jesus, the great day of his wrath, to use, uh, Revelation six seventeen language. When, uh, the wrath of God is poured out on earth, climaxed by the return of the Lord Jesus Christ and the setting up of his righteous rule, in which he will judge the world in righteousness. So the day of the Lord has to do with wrath. The day of the God, God here is in connection with the heavens and earth passing away. And, and, uh, I like Brother Jade's comment, the Big Bang is at the end, not at the beginning, the great noise it passes away with. And it's when God destroys the old heaven or the old earth in heaven, and he creates a new heaven and earth. That's the context here of verse thirteen. We look for new heavens and a new earth, and according to Revelation, that follows the thousand-year kingdom of the earthly rule of our Lord Jesus Christ. And just to see one thing on that, if you go quickly to Revelation twenty-one. Revelation twenty one, The day of God. The day of the Lord, the Lord Jesus judges, he is enthroned, but the day of God has to do with the complete wiping out of the sin-stained heavens and earth. And then look at the Revelation twenty one and you'll see the New Jerusalem descending as a bride adorned for her husband. And in verse three of Revelation twenty one, I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and shall be their God. In eternity forever, with no death, no sorrow, God dwells with his people, no more testing, no more Satan, no more sin. God is all in all, as First Corinthians fifteen says, all things have been delivered to him. So the day of God is the manifestation of his eternal glory, and of course the judgment of, uh, that world system of that day. That would be my comments on it. Mm-hmm. Are you going to end? No, I was going to read the verse that, uh, brother, uh, Randy referred to in, uh, First Corinthians fifteen. um Um, uh, he hath put all things under his feet, but when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. I liken it to, um, uh, someone, uh, say the heir to a family business, and, um, the business, through no fault of the family, has gone bad. And so the son says, I- I'll go and set the thing right. And the father hands over to the son the accounts and the books and the, the charge cards and everything that's necessary to fix the company. And the son goes and accomplishes that and then comes back and presents then, uh, the books back to his father. Everything has been set right, and once again, things have been established on the order that the father had intended in the first place, and God is all. It's not so much that the Father is all, but that God is all. The Father, Son, and Spirit, having worked together to this end, have finally accomplished what they set out to do, and once again, God rests. At the beginning, God rested in the, in the creation. Everything was the way it was very good, and then sin came in and ruined it, and we follow through the story of God, as the Lord Jesus said, my Father works hitherto, and I work, and God went back to work and once again restored that which he took not away. When the work is all done, there's a new heavens and a new earth, and once again, as it, as it were, God says, uh, everything is very good, and God rests now in the new creation, in in the job that has been accomplished by the Father, Son, and Spirit working together to bring that about, and this is the dawning of the day of God when at last God, God's way is the way that everyone, everyone cooperates with God in his purposes. Brother McDowell, we have a question here addressed to you. Are there other needs for service on the mission field beside the primary work of preaching the gospel of Christ and making disciples? That is, physical labor and mechanical work. Where can someone find out about these needs? There never ceased to be a need for physical, see, that goes along with the spiritual. Sometimes I've, uh, in my own experience, I've, uh, escaped under the fact that I had to look after some of the physical things that the other fellows could do the spiritual work, but it's, uh, it's part of the program. It all works together. And, uh, where you could find out about these needs. Well, I, there are, uh, I don't know. I've heard that there are people who are looking out for these needs and trying to inform young people about them that are interested in knowing what they could do. Mr. Jeffers, can you help us? Well, I'll just go back to what Mr. McCalla said this morning about the great communication system we have with the Lord, if we're before the Lord in prayer, he'll guide, may even direct you to write to some missionary, and in the correspondence you'll find out that in addition to your ability to preach the gospel and witness, that you can be used to repair the pump or maybe even fix the computer these days, something like that. I think the big thing is prayer before the Lord for guidance. Mr. Nicholson, please discuss this. The judgment seat of Christ will we have to give an account for sins which we have not asked forgiveness? What scriptures say specifically that we go directly to heaven immediately after death? Knowing you as I do, I think this will be the last question. Come on now. Well, I personally believe that, uh, that our sins have been dealt with at the cross, and we'll never see them again. However, uh, there are the effects of sin. Obviously, uh, if I allow sin in my life and I, um, as a result of that, it can't be used by the Lord, and he has to put me on the shelf until the thing gets right, then that's dead time in my life, isn't it? It's lost, and I can never get that back. Um, if there are things that I do to damage the work of God, I may seek to restore them, but, you know, there are things that I do that have an effect on eternity. Uh, it was, uh, Thoreau who said, you can't kill time without injuring eternity. Mm. And so whatever I do down here has an effect on that. The sin itself, dealing with the sin, I believe personally that the Lord will set all the accounts right. Um, but, uh, I don't see the judgment seat of Christ as, um, a matter of dealing with sin. I think that there is therefore now no condemnation to, to those who are in Christ Jesus. So that the, the dealing with sin is dealt with. The dealing with the damage that sin does is the sanctification process, and God is working, uh, with my life, and there are things that I do that obviously, uh, were not right and shouldn't, shouldn't be done right, shouldn't be, shouldn't have been done. Uh, I think there's a... and I might go a bit soft on this even, I don't know, but I think that as we read through scripture, we see examples of, uh, for example, for instance, uh, Hebrews chapter eleven, where, quite frankly, some of those people, I wouldn't have put them in the list, and that, quite frankly, encourages me because people like Jethro and Gideon and Samson, you know, and and the wonderful truth is that in the New Testament, there's not one negative thing said about any of the Old Testament believers, uh, like Lot, for example. All you see is the, is the gold after the dross is removed. And so the whole thing is of grace, isn't it? Actually, I wrote an editorial on this, the, the next up book that you're probably receiving, where I talk about this, that, that yes, there will be things that will be burned, but I'll be glad to see them burn. They'll look so tacky, so bad, I, I, I won't be able to wait until they get in the fire. I'll wish I had done them for the Lord. I wish they'd been there for his glory, but anything done for self glory, anything done for self at all, I'll be just glad to see it go, and, and I'll, I'll be sorry that I didn't do it for him. Um, as far as scripture specifically saying we go directly to heaven, I don't know that there is any scripture that says that. Uh, obviously, when we die now, we have this statement, absent from the body, present with the Lord, which seems to be a fairly instantaneous sort of thing. But, uh, if you're thinking about the, the moment of rapture when the Lord returns, it may well be that, that the dead in Christ who rise and we who are alive and remain gather up together. And by the way, there's your immanency. Uh, if you want to know what immanency, people who argue against it, Paul said, we which are alive, they who are dead, we which are alive. So at that moment in time, he thought he was a, a potential, uh, uh, potentially included in the rapture. He, if the rapture occurred, then he'd be the we, not the they. So some people say, well, I have to wait until at least till Peter died, have to wait until, you know. Well, no, the Lord knows the time. But I know some of these dear brethren who are trying to promote what they call the pre-wrath rapture, which to me is just another hand grenade to blow the church apart. I think it's an utter shame, uh, that these sorts of things are introduced. But the, the pre-tribulation rapture, the imminent return of Christ, I think is clearly taught in the Word of God. And, uh, we have statements, uh, such an hour as you think not the Son of Man cometh, uh, be also ready. The call to the people of God to be ready in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the Lord is going to appear and take us home, and we ought to live. He that hath this hope in him purifies himself even as he's pure. So, whether the Lord will have some intermediary step, he comes with his reward, meets us in the air. It may be that in the very realm where we have done battle, in the heavenlies, that that's where the rewards will be presented, right in the sort of in sweet defiance of the enemy, and then from there he will present us to the Father. I don't know. Uh, we we're so time and space oriented, especially some of us time oriented, but, you know, we just can't imagine anything else. But but I do think that the that the Lord is going to settle all the accounts. We're going to step into heaven. There will be no tears there. Uh, we'll, we'll be so glad to be there. And, and as one star differs from another in glory, so will be the resurrection. We will all be as happy as we can be. We will all be as full as we can be. But now, I believe, is the time when the capacity is being increased, our capacity to know God, to love God, to enjoy him, to serve him. And if we don't allow the pressure, the inward hand of conscience and the outward hand of circumstance to work on us, to enlarge our capacity, and that's why some stars aren't as bright as the others. Stars are as bright as they can be, but some stars are bigger than others, and some stars are nearer than others. And during this time, this little life, God is preparing us, and if we are enlarged by the work of God in our lives, then we will have more capacity to enjoy him and love him. Some will be cups full, some will be barrels full. We'll all be full. We'll be be as happy as we can be, but some will have a greater capacity to enjoy God because we gave ourselves to that here in the day of the rejection of the Savior. Amen. The Lord Jesus said something very beautiful to a lady on one occasion, about a lady. He said, she hath done what she could. Be a wonderful thing to hear him say that Mm-hmm. at the judgment seat of Christ. Thank you, dear brethren, and thank you for the questions that came in.