Part ThreeIt is clear that there is no excuse for choosing to be less fruitful for the Lord. Choosing to not do everything within your power to spread the Gospel, and to do the work of the everlasting priesthood is choosing to not live in the love of God. Our reasonable service is to offer up our lives as a living sacrifice. We have a promise from God that His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. Working for the Lord is our number one priority, because that’s what repentance founded in love is. If you’re not concerned about what more you can do for the Lord, then you have not loved in purity and truth.
No matter, because it is likely in the past that you did not know all of this. We have had this same message since Jesus brought us the new way of life through the gift of the Holy Spirit. This means that every one of us is required to be accountable for this exceeding great gift. To whom much is given, much is required. We have never been given more than we have today, and we are all held accountable for what can be known, and what we can all seek to know if we don’t know it yet. If we choose to reject such a great gift, then remember that God did not say in vain that to whom much is given, much is required. If you are required something of God, please don’t test Him to see what He will do if you reject the clear truth in these last days. This work for God in the everlasting priesthood is a great and unfathomable gift. We can always be growing more and more in the wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of God. If we don’t consider this a priority, then we don’t consider the one needful thing a priority, which is the Word of God, Jesus.
It is written in Revelation (Jesus speaking about a certain group of people in the priesthood), “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”
What are these first works? Let us look at the very first example of the unity of the body of Christ, the unity of the priesthood, and the works which they did for God. You will see through scripture that they all spoke the same thing, which is only what they know, not what they believe. You will see the example of how great the love of God truly is, and what He is capable of accomplishing through those that choose to work for Him in this priesthood. It is written in Acts, “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.”
This is one of the very first examples of the united priesthood of God that we have been given. These first works were simply a group of people working for God with the love of God abiding in them without corruption. God will take care of the rest through His priesthood who is continually working for Him in spreading the Gospel, helping those in need, and edifying the body of Christ. Giving money or goods is indeed a form of edifying the body of Christ and helping others, but giving money and goods takes very little time. Working for this world in a career that limits your fruitfulness for God, just so you can give more money to the priesthood, this is not working for God unless you’re giving invitations to everyone you possibly can at your workplace. But how long does that take? If you’ve already invited everyone you work with to the message of the true Gospel, or have told them yourself, why would you not move on to so many innumerable others who have not received an invitation in these last days to hear the true message? Why do the people who go to church a few, or a couple, times a week not seek as many people as they can to give invitations to every day. And why is a message not given by someone every day? Why do we speak and teach what we do no know? These are reasons for the lack of unity and power in those that claim Christianity. Many of those who claim Christianity preach tithe as a New Testament commandment. How can the priesthood tithe to itself? If we tithe to a church, we are ignorantly professing that we are not of the eternal priesthood and family of God. But we have all been guilty of being deceived; we have all been led down a path that ended up being the wrong one. There is no respect of persons with God, for we are all sinners. The question isn’t whether or not we have been deceived and sinned, for we all have, but rather, are we going to listen to the truth and give all of our time to the work of the Lord? That is repentance, the final step after believing in Jesus, and confessing that you’re a sinner. When we repent, we are a part of the everlasting priesthood of God, and we will all be given the seal of the Holy Spirit. For it is written in the book of Luke (the words and promises of Jesus) “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
This message that you have received is known, and it is the written and spoken true message of the Word of God. All you have to do now if you don’t know that these words are true is, simply, truly, and with all trust, believe that Jesus died for your sins and rose again from the grave; confess that you’re a sinner in need of the love of God and His salvation; and last of all repent from the dead works of the world, and work for God. If you have not been baptized in the name of the Father, the Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit for the remission of sins and unto repentance, then it is something that you need to do as a public confession of your faith. When you are baptized, it is a public statement that you believe that your sins are washed by the blood of Jesus, and that you will live in newness of life, working in the everlasting priesthood for the rest of your days. There are many ways in which we can work in the everlasting priesthood of God. Many of these ways can actually produce financial support at the same time, but we can never choose to make more money over spreading the Gospel to more and more of the innumerable amount of people who have not been given this true message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One thing must be clear in regards to the spreading of the Gospel, edification, and helping those in need; never can we charge or ask money for something meant to edify, help, or spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have been warned about this in the written Word of God, for it is written in the book of 2 Peter, “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.”
To those who are guilty of this; you are no different than any single person on the face of the earth, for we have all sinned, and we have all been deceived. If you have taught something wrong your whole life, remember that the past matters not, and all of us are equal. To whom much is given, much is required. Now you have been given more to be accountable of, and make no mistake, God will hold you accountable for it.
There is a standard that God has given concerning what worldly job a member of the everlasting priesthood can hold. These standards can be summed up in two commandments; Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. But I will now list these requirements for you, in an attempt to clearly communicate that God must always be the first priority. I can never tell you exactly what God wants you to do in working for Him, but it’s clear through the written Word of God what we cannot do. Many of you will not even need to work for wages while spreading the Gospel, but many will, and it is acceptable and approved in the eyes of the Lord.
1. At any second of any day you must be able to stop working for any length of time the Lord may decide, and still maintain your job without offense to others.
2. You must be able to by personal interaction invite as many people as possible to the salvation message every day while working that job.
3. You must be able, if you have the knowledge, to at any time spend as much time as needed leading someone to the Truth, and still maintain your job without offense to others.
4. You must be mobile for the Lord. This means that if you’ve given an invitation to everyone, you must be able to find more that day, while still maintaining your job without offense to others.
5. Your job cannot limit how many people you can invite to the salvation message daily, only God will be in control of that number of people through how he directs your life each and every day.
Working for the Lord in this everlasting priesthood is an occupation, and there is absolutely no requirement to work a worldly job for money or goods, unless God has told you to directly. The ways in which we can spread the Gospel, help others, and edify the body of Christ are very many. God will direct you into what you ought to be doing, but it will be one of two things. Working for God in truth, while making worldly wages, or working for God in truth while being supported by the unity of the body of Christ.
These are requirements given by God through his Word that outline what job a member of the unity of the body of Christ and the priesthood of God can have . Now listen to what God has given us in terms of a job. For God has given most people a job that they can do right now.
This is where the information gets practical. First I will outline the requirements for the invitations. These invitations must be for a message given that day, at a certain time, at a certain place in the local community, and with a baptismal to follow if at all possible. If a baptismal cannot follow the message, it needs to be available as soon as possible for those who want to publicly confess their faith in God. The invitations should be handed out with every interaction with people possible, both verbally, and if possible with a written invitation. If they want to know about the message being delivered, tell them only what you know, nothing else. If you feel uncomfortable telling someone about the Truth because you feel you need more time to study to show yourself approved, it’s fine, because you’re still inviting them into the family of God by telling them only what you absolutely know.
Now I will outline the only message that can be preached and taught in the body of Christ, but of course God has outlined that long ago. It is simple, you can only preach, teach, or exhort what you know. If you know what you teach, preach, or exhort, then it is the Word of God coming out of you, because God knew it before you did. Jesus said it, and we must obey, “Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen.” If little is known by the local body of Christ at the time, then this sermon, message, and truth that is known, and which was known by God before it was known by me, can be read as the message. Truth is what is known. If something is not known by someone, somewhere, and at any given time, then it is not Truth. But we know that God knows all things, so all things are known, making Jesus the Truth which is also what is known. So there will always be an approved message by God, and this message is approved by God because it is known to be the Truth of the message of the Gospel of Jesus. Following each message should be a baptismal if possible. Anyone desiring to be baptized will be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. This baptism is a public confession that you at minimum believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, and that he rose from the dead and now sits on the right hand of the Father interceding for all of us. That you confess that you’re a sinner in need of the salvation which comes from the washing of our sins by the blood of Christ. That you repent and will live a new life after baptism, trusting and conforming to all things that Jesus has commanded, and working for him as much as possible in the priesthood and unity of the body of Christ. For the message will not be in the wisdom of the words of men, but in the power of God. God will testify through his power and through us stretching out the hand of Jesus that this message is the one true message we have been given long ago.
Now that the proper way to invite and the proper message and baptism has been clearly defined, I will now move on to the job that most people can have while working for the Lord. Of course we’ve been given the list of standards outlined previously, but there is always one job that most people can do, and many people are doing it already. This is not the only job anyone can do. Any job meeting the list of the standards previously defined is acceptable as a job we can work while working first for the Lord, and giving Him our time first. We have all neglected to love one another at some point in time, but let us boldly shake off the cares and riches of this world, and love with the love of God.
The job that will always be an acceptable job to have while working for the Lord is being a mobile food vendor. This is already being done by so many in this world, and in small and large scale businesses. The simplest of these, and a way to start at least, is a small food cart. If you don’t feel that you need to work at all making worldly wages, but devote all of your time trusting in God and spreading the Gospel, God will take care of you and direct you into what you need to be doing if your heart is right. For others who feel that this is a good way to start out, it is acceptable with God.
Find a way to build a food cart or a way to sell some food or merchandise item at locations where there are multitudes of people. The main thing is that you need to do it lawfully, and by all local food codes and laws. The body of Christ will help you to either share cart time with an existing cart, or to obtain one for yourself. If someone needs a job, let them use your cart for half the day, a few times a week, even if they don’t believe in Jesus. They will still be handing out the invitations and edifying the body of Christ. Go and make a living while inviting people always into the family of God if that is the direction God has given you. God has given everyone a job that they can do in working for Him in this priesthood, but it is a continual, lifetime job. God approves getting away for a bit to be alone with Him or take a much needed break; but be careful to not look for excuses to be less fruitful for God. In your time off simply live for God and cooperate with the body of Christ in any way that you can to edify and invite more and more into the family of God.
Think for a moment if your local privately owned fast food chain owner was obedient to the Gospel of Jesus Christ? How many invitations could be given each day? What about all the food vendors that travel to main events? The possibilities are endless, but one thing is known, that God is calling us into the harvest fields urgently and giving us no excuse whatsoever to refuse Him. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. Value the one needful thing in order to grow and be who it is that God wants you to be. The one needful thing is the Word of God, which is known, and all we have to do is diligently seek to know Him also.