And then moving quickly over to... How scary time to see the kind of growth that we've seen. So we need to bathe this in prayer. I appreciate what Dick said tonight and that song that we sang about all the time power. Because that's what it takes to build a church. And you can build a crowd without building a church. God has not called us here to build a crowd. If we want to build a crowd, we can bring in hamburgers next Sunday and probably even double our size.
But we're not particularly interested in doing that. God has called us here to be wise master builders and to establish a spiritual rook. It takes a great deal of wisdom in doing that. And we need a lot of prayer. I'm not just saying that. I'm not just glibly suggesting we should pray. I mean we need to truly pray. And to just penetrate every aspect of our ministry in prayer. From our children's work, our junior high and high school ministry, we're just filled with such potential.
And obviously the outreach to the college campuses throughout this area, we're in a strategic location for them. The career ministry to our single career people is just waiting to blossom and explode. It's all right there waiting to happen. And then in all of our adult areas, our young couples class began I think with about five couples. And now we have about 30 couples that are coming as a part of that.
And so there is so much that's taking place and how we need God's ministry during this time to us. We must not think that we are producing it or that we and ourselves can't even be good stewards of what's taking place. What is taking place is of God and I want it to remain that way. And the only way we can see that happen is for us to be marching in prayer on our knees. So I hope that you'll join me in that. As a result of next Saturday, I don't know what could happen.
In some of the things that have happened in the past with our church in Edina, we have seen a return of 18 percent. That is if 100 homes were visited, 18 families visited. And whether we'll see that kind of return and this massive of an outreach or not, only God knows. But obviously next Sunday, who knows what could show up here at church and who could show up here at church.
You know, it's possible, we had nearly 600 this morning, it's possible we could have 800 next week or two weeks from today. And that's what's scary. So let's just pray. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound, healthy mind. And it's that sound, healthy mind I want to maintain right now, I think. Obviously we're in need of another full-time staff member. And we're thinking right now primarily in the area of personal education.
We want to do a better job, especially with our children. We want that whole area to be fine-tuned so that we can minister to families. And we're asking the Lord right now for direction regarding that. But before it can happen, we have to have more commitment financially. Our financial commitment has grown unbelievably. When it began last March, the auditors indicated very clearly to me that they did not expect us to financially take care of ourselves this year.
And that if we were in the red as much as $25,000 or $30,000 by December, that they would not be the least bit concerned about that. But as it turns out, we are only behind, quote unquote, about $6,000 after these more now than seven months of ministry. With all of the expansion and the additional staff that we've seen, right now we're at that critical point. We need another staff member. Before that can happen, before that person can be on scene, we have to find them and get God's mind.
And that has to be the financial commitment on our part so that we will be able to underwrite the full-time ministry of that individual. So pray with us about these important matters. When you see Dave Sulak running around here with his tongue hanging out to his bar button, there's a reason for that. He's running in circles. And I thank God for him. He's a faithful Yolk fellow. It's a delight to have him on the staff.
He's been up on the roof and down in the basement and in his study and all over the place this week. And we need additional help. So you pray for our staff now and pray for the additional ones that God will bring here. Well, that's enough. Get your tongue in there. Now let's consider tonight what God would have for us. I'll hear about that tomorrow. What God would have for us tonight. I want to speak about a theme this evening that is, I suppose, often mentioned.
And that is too little understood by too many of us. It is the will of God. Does God have a specific will regarding my vocation? Does God have in mind the person that I should marry? How do I know if I should go to this college or to that school? Does God have a pleasure in mind for me in these things? Is there something that would please him? If so, then how can I know the will of God in these matters? These are practical questions.
And I suppose all of us have asked a few of them at some time or another. What is the will of God? What we know ultimately God's will is what is found in Romans 8, verses 28 and 29. Would you turn there with me? God has clearly told us in his will what his ultimate will for us is, his purpose. Now all of us nearly have memorized verse 28, I suppose. It says, We know that our things work together for God, to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose, his will.
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. God is so well pleased with his Son Jesus Christ that he wants a whole heaven full of people just like him. And that is exactly what his purpose is for you and for me who trusted the Lord. It is his purpose that we be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, both inwardly and outwardly.
God's purpose will be realized, there is absolutely no doubt about that. The work that God has started in us, he will finish. It is the day of Jesus Christ and we are caught up to be with our Lord in the rapture. At that moment we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. God's purpose ultimately will be accomplished in the life of every Christian. But, does God have any will that is taking place in me right now? And the answer to that is absolutely yes.
You see, in the Bible there are some things that are specifically said to be the will of God. Did you know that? I really have no right to ask what does God want regarding my vocation, or what does God want me to do regarding my education, until first I have gone to this book and have discovered what God has already specifically said is his will for me. I might first tonight consider a couple of these things, which God specifically has already stated is his will.
Would you turn please to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. We are all familiar with the last part of the chapter, which speaks about the rapture. I will not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them who are asleep, that you saw not even as others who have no hope, and so on. When was the last time you read the first part of the chapter? For in these verses we find one of the things that is said to be the will of God for us.
There is no question about it. You don't have to pray about it. You don't have to fast. You can know right now tonight this is the will of God. Verse 1, Furthermore then, we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye opt to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication, that ever none of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of sensuality, even as the Gentiles who know not God. That no man go beyond and deflod his brother in the matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you when testified. For God has not called us to uncleanness, but unto holiness.
He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who have also given unto us his Holy Spirit. Let's pray. Now, Father, I pray that you will speak to us through this word, and that we might come to an understanding tonight of the revealed will of God. And then by your grace that we may be able to put that into practice in our lives, in Jesus' name. What is the will of God for your life and for mine? Answer number one is separation from sin.
That is the will of God for you, separation from sin. In verse 3 it says, this is the will of God even your sanctification. And that's one of those ten bottle of theological words, sanctification. What does it mean? Well, in the English Bible there are a number of words that are all related to the same original word. Those are the words, saint, sanctify, sanctification, holy, holiness. They are all related to a word in the original language, which simply means to set apart.
They all mean basically that a saint is one who has been set apart. To sanctify something means to set it apart. To be holy means to be set apart. There is a negative and a positive aspect to it. When you set something apart, you set it apart from something to something else. God's will for us is that we be set apart from sin unto himself. That's what sanctification is all about. It is used in the Bible of things, material things.
For example, it is used of the vessels of the tabernacle and the temple of the Old Testament. The instruments that were used as a part of the sacrifices. They were to be sanctified, God said, by a ceremonial cleansing and the sprinkling of blood. Now there was no moral implication involved. It simply meant that these vessels, whatever they were made, were set apart from an ordinary use to a special use. To be used only in the service of God. Thus they were sanctified.
Another example is when Israel went into Jericho. You remember the mighty victory came through God's miraculous power. And God said, now when you go into the city, you are not to touch any of the things. You are to destroy everything except for the vessels that are made out of gold and silver and bronze and iron. Those you are to keep for they are holy unto the Lord. H-O-L-Y. What does that mean? God said those vessels are now to be set apart from whatever their use was before.
To be used in my service in the tabernacle. Those vessels became holy and so it is used of things. But the primary way we are thinking of it is when this idea of being set apart is used of people. That's the context of our text tonight. We who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ are said to have been sanctified. That is a position that we have because of our relationship to God through Christ. Come with me back to the book of Acts for a moment. Chapter 26. Let me see an example of this.
Paul as he speaks before Agrippa to defend himself gives his testimony. He explains what happened to him on the road to Damascus in verse 15. Paul says, and I said, Who art thou Lord? Acts 26.15. And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. And then he quotes the Lord as saying, but rise and stand upon thy feet for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose. To make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen and of those things in which I will appear unto thee.
Delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee. To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God. That they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them who are sanctified by faith that is in need. So Paul has given his commission to go primarily to the Gentiles but to the Jews as well.
To preach the Gospels that their eyes may be opened, that they may be turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God. That they may have a forgiveness of sins and receive an inheritance among those who are sanctified, who are set apart. At the moment that an individual trusts the Lord Jesus Christ, he is in the mind by the act of God sanctified. In the mind of God by the act of God sanctified or set apart from sin, from Satan unto righteousness and unto God.
The moment that you trusted Christ assuming that you have, what happened to you? You may not have felt it take place, indeed you did not. But it nonetheless occurred, you were sanctified. It makes no difference how rough your past may have been, how deep the stain of sin may have been in your life. If you trusted Jesus Christ, if you have trusted Christ, you have been sanctified. Let me remind you of what Paul says to some of the Corinthians.
Some of them were involved in thievery and covetousness, immorality of every kind, drunkenness, they were extortioners. And he says, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. What does he say to those people who are involved in these gross sins? He says, when you trusted Jesus Christ, you were sanctified. You were set apart to a holy use, to a special use.
And what sanctification is based upon your faith and upon Christ's work for you. So that is one aspect of our sanctification. It is a position that we have, that was given to us at the moment of salvation. But there's another important aspect, and that is our practice. The one is what we are, what I'm speaking of now in practice is how we live. Sanctification is a very practical doctrine because it has to do with the way that you and I live day after day.
Those of us who have been coming together on Wednesday night for Bible study and prayer have been looking into what the Bible says about the fear of the Lord. We have found that one of the results of the fear of the Lord is that we separate ourselves from a sinful lifestyle. And the key verse for that is 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 1. Verses, having therefore these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
The word holiness is the same basic word we're looking at now. He is saying, brothers, God has given to us a marvelous promise. He has said, if you will separate yourselves from the unclean things, separate yourselves from those things that are unrighteous, then you will be my sons and my daughters. And he says, we have these promises, therefore let us cleanse ourselves and perfect holiness in the fear of God. Sanctification on the one hand is the work of God. It is the work of the Holy Spirit.
But there is another aspect to it which we have to cooperate with God. We are responsible for working with God, and that's why Paul says we're to cleanse ourselves from every filthiness of the flesh, those bodily kinds of sins, and of the spirit, the mind, the world, the emotions, the inward kinds of sins. Of both aspects of sin, we are to cleanse ourselves by to perfect holiness. That is to allow God's work of sanctification to be brought to completion, to fulfillment in our lives.
Perfecting holiness in the fear of God. This is a very practical thing, dealing with my lifestyle, my conduct, and whether or not I'm living according to my calling. Let me try to illustrate it this way. I was born Dylan Clark on April 24th, back a few years ago, 1945. I was born into a family. By virtue of the fact I had a certain father and a certain mother, I was related to a family, and my last name is Clark. That is a position I have received in life. I didn't ask for it.
It's mine. It was given to me. It was a work beyond my power. I was born with that relationship. But now that I bear that name, Clark, I must live in such a way that I bring honor to my family name. I can remember growing up as a young person that I wanted to be careful that I did not do anything that would bring shame to our family. How many of you can identify with that? I wanted to be careful that in my actions, the way that I lived, I did not disgrace the Call family.
You see, on the one hand, I have a position as a member of the Call family. On the other hand, I have a lifestyle that I want to bring honor to that family name. I want to bring that across spiritually. I was born into God's family back in 1954. It was the act of God. I was given a position as a child, as a son of God. It was God's work of grace in my life. I was sanctified. I was set apart from the world unto God at that point.
Now my concern is that my lifestyle, my conduct, be not disgraceful to my spiritual family. You see, those are the two aspects of sanctification. On the one hand, it's a position I have. On the other hand, it's a practice. It's the way that I live. And that's what Paul is getting at, going back now to 1 Corinthians, 1 Thessalonians, excuse me, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. The pastor tells us here that there are three parts to this matter of my sanctification in my lifestyle, my conduct.
He says, this is the will of God, even your sanctification. And now he gives three specific phrases that explain what he means. And the one, that you should abstain from fornication. We know what fornication is. It is sexual immorality. It is any sexual relationship that is outside of the holy bonds of marriage for which God has created it. That is fornication. And God's will for me is my sanctification, which includes abstaining from sexual immorality.
Now this word abstain means to hold yourself away from it, to push it away, not to even brush up against it, but to keep yourself completely away from sexual immorality. He goes on to explain it further. He says that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of sensuality or in the flaming passion of lust. Every one of you should know how to possess his vessel.
There is a difference of interpretation of Galilee people as to what vessel means here. There are those who believe that when he speaks of the vessel, he's speaking about the wife. And he's saying that each man should know how to possess his wife, that is to conduct himself in his marriage relationship to keep himself pure. He should know how to possess his wife, his vessel, in sanctification and in honor. Marriage is honorable, the marriage bed is undefiled according to God's word.
And that's part of sanctification. He says here that you should abstain from fornication, that's kind of a negative for us, but in the positive sense that you should possess your vessel. He may mean your wife. Now frankly, I don't think that's the meaning of vessel here, it's a possibility. It seems to me that Paul is addressing more than just men here. I think he's speaking to women too. And I think he's speaking to more than just married men. He's speaking to all the believers.
And so I think that vessel in this sense has a broader meaning. It was used with the wife in 1 Peter chapter 3, but here I believe he's speaking about one's body. That too is called a vessel in the Bible. And it seems to me that that's what Paul has in mind. He's saying whether man or woman, married or unmarried, all of us should possess our bodies, acquire mastery over our bodies, here's the thought, in sanctification and honor.
Not allowing our bodies to get out of control with the lust of sensuality like those who do not know God. Now that does not need to be illustrated to any of us that live in 20th century America. As we work around this, we see it on the blue tube, we cannot escape the lust of sensuality, the flaming passions of the unsaved of our day. We can't escape being confronted with it, but we can escape participating in it. And that's part of sanctification. Now there's a third part here.
He says in verse 6, that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in the matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such. In other words, none of us transgress, that's what go beyond has to say there, and wrong his brother in this matter. The idea is that none of us should arouse in another person desires which cannot be righteously fulfilled. That's the thought. It involves young people who are dating, it involves office relationships, neighbor relationships.
He's saying the part of sanctification, and brother is this practical, is that we do not go beyond the bounds of propriety and cause arousal of feelings in another individual that cannot be fulfilled in the role of God. Do not go beyond and wrong your brother, he says, in this matter. Very specific, in the matter I'm talking about, he says. He says God is the avenger of those who are taken advantage of in that way. Then he says God has not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness.
And he says he who despises what I'm saying or rejects what I'm saying, is not rejecting me, but is rejecting God who has given to us his Holy Spirit. And so we're talking tonight about what is the role of God for me. The role of God is my separation from sin, and Paul specifically applies it to sexual purity.
Abstaining from every kind of sexual immorality, possessing my vessel, meaning acquiring mass over my body with sanctification and honor, and not allowing it to erupt in a flame of passion, and then not creating in someone else unrighteous desires. God has called us to purity, to holiness. And how is that realized? For all of us know the kind of pressures that we face, whether old or young.
There's not a lot of us here tonight who is not aware very keenly of the kind of temptations that are around us everywhere, and the kind of stress we're put under in the very area we're talking about. How can we know victory? Well, there are a couple of things that God has done for us. In the first place, he says here he has given us his Holy Spirit. What kind of a spirit? His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, and he is there with the resurrection power of Jesus Christ.
He is there to make real to us the victory that Christ accomplished for us through his death and resurrection. According to Romans chapter 6, we have died to sin, and we have been raised together with Christ that we might walk in newness of life. It is the Holy Spirit who is within us that makes that real. We don't have time to expound upon that, as I would like to, but just know that truth and study it for yourself that God has given us his Holy Spirit.
And we are not the hapless victims of temptation at all. We are by the grace of God victors over it. We need not yield to temptation. It is possible to know victory over temptation. Indeed, that is the will of God. And by the way, has God given us his Holy Spirit, but he has given us this book. You say, what good is that? Oh, you love it. Jesus said, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. You see, this book is one of the agents by which God sets us apart and gives us victory.
Right now, he is washing us by the water of the word. Therewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed according to thy word. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. It has been often said, I can remember it as a child. It is true today, it will be true forever. This book will keep me from sin, for sin will keep me from this book.
God has not only given us the Holy Spirit to live within us, to show us the victory that Christ has accomplished, but he has given us this book. And as you and I meditate on the words of this book, what does it do? It restores and refreshes our minds. Our minds are the battlefield. This is where the battle takes place with temptation, it's in the mind. And this book right here is where we find the victory. It cleanses the mind. It restores the mind. It sets us apart.
Sanctification is a very practical thing. How much time are you spending in the book? Are you consciously aware of the Holy Spirit's ministry throughout each day? As we become more aware of the Spirit's presence and his ministry in our lives, as we spend more time in the book, meditating upon the words of God, we have victory and we know what it means to be sanctified and set apart in this very practical area we've talked about. What is the will of God for me?
It is that I be separated from sin unto God and unto holiness. Let's pray. Father, we struggle with sin. Part of the problem may be that we are fighting for victory instead of fighting from victory. We thank you for the victory that you have given us through Jesus Christ. We thank you that we are not only raised with him, but we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. We can know his victory day by day over temptation.
We thank you that we, the work of the Spirit and the work of the world, are being set apart in our conduct and our lifestyle so that we don't bring disgrace to your name. This week, may we bear the name Child of God with dignity and honor and bestow on men to inquire after us as to how we're different and then give us the courage to tell them why and to share our faith. May we this week be a holier people than we have been in the past.
We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. I'd like for us to conclude by singing, and Dick, you can look up the number if you will. Take time to be holy. Speak oft with thy Lord. Holiness does not happen overnight. 422, thank you, is the number. These are great words that we're going to sing. I hope that you will note them. And allow us, my share together, this aspiration of holiness. Take time to be holy. Speak oft with thy Lord. Now, if you have a particular need to know, we encourage you to come.
We might pray with you and help you. Please feel free to slip out and meet us here at the front. Both of us sharing the singing and this invitation here is concluding here. Let's stand together.