Be Not Weary!
Introduction:
A. Galatians 6:9.
1. Context = we need to live for spiritual things, not physical things.
2. Do not grow weary in doing so, for in time you shall receive the
reward of your sowing = eternal life.
B. It has often been applied in a little different way.
1. Do not give up on doing the Lord's work, for you shall reap the
rewards of your efforts if you faint not.
2. Maybe not the context, but it still is true. We cannot grow weary
in doing the Lord's work, for we shall reap if we faint not.
C. We may sometimes grow weary, for it may seem like we sow, and
sow, and sow, and don't see any fruits in our labor.
I would like for us to consider how there are fruits of the labor we
have doing here in Peculiar.
I. Some of the fruit has been a result of the jail ministry.
A. The Lord has told us...
1. Go ye therefore and teach all nations - Mt. 28:18-20.
2. Preach the gospel to every creature - Mark 16:16.
3. He died for all men (John 3:16).
4. Those in the jail:
a. Need to obey the gospel.
b. But, how are they going to obey unless they hear,
and how are they going to hear, unless someone
teaches them, and how are they going to teach,
unless they are sent?
B. There has been fruit as a result of this work.
1. Tim Taylor obeyed the gospel. Tim may:
a. Be a babe in Christ.
b. Weak, and struggling.
c. Have a long way to go.
d. But, Tim is a brother in Christ.
e. We need to continue to teach him (Matthew 28:20).
2. John is seeking.
a. John may not have heard the gospel if it was not for
the jail ministry.
b. He has been coming regularly for several months,
and he has heard the truth.
c. He knows what he needs to do, and hopefully he will
do it, but even if he does not...he has heard the gospel,
and that is what the Lord told us to do is teach (Mark 16:16).
3. Other fruit.
a. There is a prisoner who asked me about - I Timothy 2:12.
b. There is a woman who preaches on T.V., and he watches
her every day, but in his Bible studying he evidently found
this verse, and wanted to know what it meant.
c. I think he already knew what it meant, but after we discussed
it, he didn't argue, or try to justify what the woman did. He
accepted it.
d. Because of the jail ministry this man has been studying his
Bible, and he has come a long way in his studying.
e. You might compare it to the scribe who asked Jesus, "which
is the first commandment"...the scribe accepted what Jesus
said, and He said to him..."thou art not far from the kingdom"
(Mark 12:34).
II. There is fruit as the result of other works.
A. Newspaper.
1. Recent article.
a. 2-calls thanking us for refuting the false article run in the
paper that denied eternal punishment.
b. How many others read the article, and did not call?
2. Other articles.
a. We have had other calls where people have been mad
about what we said in articles.
b. Not everyone liked what Jesus had to say either - John 6:66.
c. But, how many others also read those articles?
B. Tracts.
1. Door to door.
a. Most of them go in the trash (.03 ea).
b. A few of them are read.
1) Most of them will just reject or forget about what is said,
but, they are being reached as Jesus said.
2) Some may even think about what is said, and it may lay
the ground work for future study.
c. But, if those tracts were not handed out this fruit would not
exist.
2. On car windshields.
a. My grand-daughter helped me do this. It taught her the
importance of doing evangelism.
b. It put the truth in the hands of some who may never hear it
(for most of the cars were members of the Methodists).
c. We received 1-irrate letter, but how many others read it,
and did not write.
d. And, who knows...maybe those tracts might cause them to
question what they are being taught.
e. When Paul went to Berea, what he was teaching was
different than what they were being taught, and it caused
them to "search the scriptures daily" (Acts 17:11).
C. Fruit from our Website.
1. A week ago the congregation had a message on our answering
machine.
a. It was a woman wanting to know about the church.
b. This woman was from Texas, and was checking out the
churches of Christ in this area, for they evidently are planning
on moving in to the area from Texas.
c. I told her about our congregation, and about the "sound"
congregations in the area.
2. How is this fruit from the website?
a. How else did she get our phone #?
b. It is not in "where the saints meet," and if it was I don't think
she would have calle us, for she was looking for a big
congregation.
c. I do not believe that someone told her about us, or she would
probably have mentioned their name.
d. The most probable place for her to have gotten our phone #
is from the website.
e. She was a member of the church, but how many non-members
have also accessed that website?
f. The early church preached the gospel to every creature
(Col.1:23), but they had to physically go to each country, and
every city. Our website can be accessed by people all over the
world.
g. There may be fruit, as the result of the website, that we are not
even aware of.
III. There has been fruit just because we are here as a congregation.
A. Because we are here, there have been visitors in our assemblies.
1. In the school. We started out meeting in the school.
a. Janitors.
b. Others who had not obeyed the gospel.
2. In our home. For a while we met in our home.
a. There was one visitor who attended with us several times
(who had not obeyed the gospel, and never did).
b. But, she heard the gospel...that is doing what the Lord said.
3. Here.
a. We have had members from other congregations visit with
us. Our being here may have provoked them (Heb.10:24).
b. We have had non-christians visit with us, but if we were not
here, would they have heard?
B. If we were not here....
1. Where would the people in this city go to worship?
a. Local Denonimations (for people like things to be convenient).
1) I Kings 12:28 Jeroboam told the people it was to much for
them to go up to Jerusalem to worship, so he made the
golden calves to worship in Dan, and Bethel.
2) And, that is what the people did.
b. There will be a few that will find the truth, and travel to
another city to worship, but not many.
c. Because we are here, and because we are doing the work we
are doing, there will be those who will be added to the church
(Acts 2:47) as a result of our being here.
2. Who would be working in this area?
a. We will spend thousands of $ to send people overseas, but
very seldom will we actively work in a near by city.
b. There are 4,000 people in Peculiar, and it is going to grow all
the more.
c. If we were not here, it is very likely that no one would be:
1) Handing out tracts.
2) Holding gospel meetings.
3) Actually working in Peculiar itself, and these people need
to hear the gospel.
Conclusion:
A. Therefore, brethren, we cannot grow weary in well doing.
1. The Thessalonians were able to sound out the word of the Lord
not only in Macedonia, and Achai, but in every place (I Thess.1:8).
2. But, they were only able to do so because they did not grow weary.
B. We shall reap, if we faint not.
1. There has been fruit as a result of our labors.
a. Jail.
b. Newspaper.
c. Tracts.
d. Website.
e. Visitors.
2. And, there will be more.