Meeting Transcripts

“Such as I Have, I Give”

“Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?” (Matthew 19:27)

Introduction

I will read a couple of verses from Matthew that have to do with Peter. Then I would like to consider today, how the Lord changed Peter’s attitude from his question of “What shall I have?” to his statement later of, “Such as I have, I give.”

Matthew 19:16-22 gives the account of a young man came to the Lord and asked, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” Jesus told him to “keep the commandments,” and he said he had done so from the time of his youth up. Then Jesus told him to go and sell all that he had and give it to the poor. When the man heard this, he went away sorrowful. In verses 25-27, we read, “When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?” The Lord told them, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” That is when Peter asked, “Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?”

Peter’s Perspective Changed

Imagine Peter observing the young man and his dialogue with Jesus. His thinking could have been that the man went away sorrowful because he didn’t give up what he had, but the disciples had given up what they had, so what would they get for it? The issue concerning the young man, of course, was security. Would he be taken care of? Would he be adequately compensated? He had hoped to retain as much wealth as he possibly could, and yet gain eternal life. Perhaps, he was looking for the Lord to give him an equation; if he gave up half, he could have eternal life. The Lord did not do that. Instead, He asked him to give it all to follow Him. The young man obviously felt that to give up so much was unreasonable. That is when Peter asked what he would get in exchange for what he had given up.

This incident took place before the Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Pentecost. When we look at Peter after Pentecost, we find him addressing the impotent man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, telling him, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6). Peter was no longer concerned about how he could benefit. He had begun to give of himself. This change started at the seashore where he had been fishing and Jesus asked, in John 21:15, “Lovest thou me more than these?” His commitment began there and was cemented at Pentecost where his attitude was no longer, “What do I get,” but, “What I have, I give.”

At some level, all of us have been through the transformation that Peter went through. That is why we are here in this room. That is why God called us to do what we do. We started out being willing to do whatever we were asked to do. Our spouses were helpful and that is the criteria given in the Bible, so we ended up carrying on. Most of us did not aspire to take on more, but more came. So we did it and here we are. The Lord answered Peter’s question in Matthew 19:29, saying, “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.” In Mark, the words “with persecutions” are inserted. We all like the part about everlasting life, but perhaps we were hoping for something a little more concrete in this life. However, if we are here, the Lord did transform us from “What do we get?” to “What can I give?”

You Are Appreciated

My motive today is simple; it is to somehow express appreciation to all of you for your giving to the Lord. From the outset, I appreciated the people of the Apostolic Faith Church. When I was a new convert, I wrote to Portland and asked that they put some unsaved family members on the church mailing list to receive the Light of Hope magazine. They did that. We had a tract rack in Roseburg, where I lived at that time, but I knew that there were other tracts available. I wanted to see them all, so I wrote to Portland again. I had no idea that my request would go to Brother Loyce Carver’s desk. He must have wondered who this guy was. He gave the request to his secretary, Sister Ella Green, Sister Cheryl Paulsen’s mother, who called me and told me that they did not ordinarily send a full set of tracts to non-ministers, but that they would send me a set. I appreciated it.

That first year in the Gospel, I just observed how things operated. I noted who sang, taught, and preached. I also noted the texts that they read. What stood out to me was how everyone willingly gave of themselves. It was a marvel to me, and it still is. When we consider what our faithful saints of God do to see that the Gospel goes forth, not just here in Portland but in all our branch, it is a marvel. There are some who work long hours, commute long distances (if they live in a big city), get home late from work, and then grab a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and head to church to help conduct a Gospel meeting. It is a beautiful thing. People give and we appreciate it. It starts with the pastor and his wife. Really it does. It falls on you to give first, and we thank God that you do. The Lord honors you for it. I have fond memories of every one of my pastors and their spouses. The Lord has blessed me to have served under some quality people. This morning, I am appreciative of all of you. I appreciate your support for me and for Debbie.

Not Always Easy

Wives worry. They do. During times when we have traveled by plane, especially at first, Debbie has just about cut off the circulation in my hand during takeoff. Then while in the air, she would ask, “What is that?” referring to a noise that she heard. I would tell her, “They are just warming up our dinner; it is the microwave.” If I felt ornery, I would tell her that the pilot was experimenting, that this was his first flight. She also worried that if we took a trip, our dog would die. I told her that our dog was not going to die. Guess what? We took a trip and our dog died! The dog was healthy when we left, but he got sick and died while we were gone. Alicia was watching him at the time and would call and say, “I don’t think the dog feels well.” One morning she called and said, “Dad, the dog is laying with its legs stretched out,” so I told Debbie, “I think the dog is in trouble.” The dog died and I had Alicia in tears on the phone and Debbie in tears while having lunch with Brother Robert Moore and Sister Beverly. We felt bad because Sister Beverly’s mother had just died and this was just a dog. Sister Barbara Sletmoe was generous and gave Debbie her dog of the same breed, so Debbie has another dog. Sometimes worries do pan out.

It falls on us to give of ourselves, and giving does not come with guarantees that life will go well. This reminds me of the marriage vows. When I meet with a couple who are about to get married, I go over the vows and point out to them that they are entering into a covenant to give of themselves to their spouse. There is nothing in the marriage covenant that says they will get something in return. This is true of our service to the Lord also. We would like to think that if we give, we will be assured of our definition of houses and lands, but that is not so. However, God will honor us as we give. I appreciate the fact that each of you do give. We are all in this together. None of us applied for the job that we have. It fell upon us in every case; we just realized that somebody had to do it, and we have done it. Certainly, the blessings have far outweighed any sense of sacrifice on our part. We have been called of God to do what we do—and we do it joyfully. As we serve, people look on. During camp meeting, your congregation members come to Portland and they note your countenance and your involvement in camp meeting. They will take a lot home from that without your even speaking a word to them. 

Support Each Other

We are one organization, though we live in different places. We are not in competition with one another. We are one. You live one place one year, but you may live another place another year. This is one work. We are one body. When one suffers, we all suffer. When one has a burden, we all help carry it. When one wins a victory, we all rejoice. There are many benefits to being able to say to the Lord, “Lord I am so thankful; I give my little amount, but I know that You return so much more. Though it may be intangible, it is there.” So God bless you for coming to camp meeting. Thank you for what you do all year long. Thank you for how you carry the camp meeting. Thank you for testifying. Thank you for praying around the altars as you can. Thank you for helping in the restaurant or with the watchmen and janitorial duties. Without you for the next two weeks, there would be no camp meeting. You carry it. You inspire the people from your location, and at the end of the two weeks, we will be tired, but we will all look back, if the Lord tarries, and we will be able to say, “It has been a good camp meeting; it has been good to get together; it has been a blessing.” We thank the Lord for you and for the blessing that you are to this work.

Closing Remarks

Prayer and Bookmarks

As I thought about today, I thought about the fact that we all need prayer. We need prayer, in part, because we encounter unique situations. We serve people, and people are unique, including ourselves. Recently, I read a very brief sentence or two about a woman who went to see a psychiatrist. When she entered his office, she had a strip of bacon on each ear and a fried egg on her head. The psychiatrist said to her, “Ma’am, how can I be of assistance to you?” Her reply was, “I am here to talk to you about my brother.” I would like to leave each of you with a bookmark. I have two kinds, one for the men and one for the women. The bookmark for the men says, “It’s about my brother.” The bookmark for the ladies says, “It’s about my sister.” The name of each person here is on the back of a bookmark. I hope that you will use these in your Bible for the next year, because if you do, every time you open your Bible, you will remember to pray for the person whose name is on the back of it. We want to pray one for another. We rely upon one another’s prayers. It is a privilege to pray one for another. You pray for the people in your congregation. We in Portland pray for the people in ours. We do it thankfully and appreciatively. Paul said in Philippians 1:3, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.” He had a deep love for the saints of God and I believe that you do as well. The Lord will honor you for having come to this camp meeting. We have come with high expectations and look to the Lord to give us a great time. We will stand now for prayer. 

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