The Inheritors
Membership Banquet 2007
Pastor Don Jones
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20
Introduction
How many of you know the name, Edward Kimball? All I can tell you is that he was a very soft spoken man. He was also very timid when it came to people. He volunteered at his church for what needed to be done. He also taught a Sunday school class, the youth class. We will get back to Edward Kimball in a minute.
Challenge or Comfort
Who would leave their comfortable church to start a mission work? The individuals who built this church left their established ministries to carry out the work of the Lord. There wasn’t a one of them that was an expert, but they did know that God was working in their hearts and that they needed to be sharing Christ in this nieghborhood. We are the inheritors of their hard work. We also inherited their purpose. Here is our purpose statement,
"Together, Building the Kingdom, one life at a time"
They chose the challenge instead of the comfort. Our challenge is not to build a physical building but the body of Christ. We are to be Kingdom builders. But let me take a minute to get back to the story.
I’m wondering who in their right mind asked a man that was timid and soft spoken to teach a Sunday school room full of youth. And I’m also wondering what Edward Kimball thought when he was asked. I bet he thought, "No way."
When you are asked to serve do you think to yourself, "If they really knew me they wouldn’t even ask me to do it?" Do you feel totally inadequate to do the things of God?
When I look around I see a room full of people who are inadequate to reach this community. We don’t speak the language of many, we do not have adequate monies to really do all encompassing ministry, and you have two pastors that are disabled. Most of all, we will never have enough. There is a reason for that. In our weaknesses He is glorified. He wants us in situatins and ministries that reveal Him not us.
"Together, Building the Kingdom, one life at a time"
Together with our Lord, empowered by His Spirit, in unity with each other we build and further His kingdom. "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done". We do not do anything alone. With God all things are possible. Let’s check in on Edward Kimball.
Edward Kimball accepted the call to serve as Sunday school teacher to a group of teens, all boys. He must have had a special brand of wisdom or patience or maybe he was just plain crazy. He got teen boys who knew nothing about church and had to teach them about Jesus. You might imagine the kind of boys he got, they don’t want to be in church, they sleep through the service, generally don’t pay attention to what’s going on. You might’ve known of few or even been one. Amazingly he did it anyway.
We do His will not in our own power but His. He requires me to show up and be willing to yield ourself to Him. He is the One who takes care of the rest. "Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit", says the Lord.
"All things are possible with God" and "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me" are true but you really wouldn’t want me to do brain surgery on you and if you did you might need brain surgery. When the Lord puts a task before us we are able to accomplish it through Him. He is the enabler in all we do in life.
Edward Kimball, Sunday school teacher, was not one of the ordinary type. Mere literal instruction on Sunday did not satisfy his ideal of the teacher’s duty. He knew his boys, and, if he knew them, it was because be studied them, because he became acquainted with their occupations and aims, visiting them during the week. It was his custom, moreover, to find opportunity to give to his boys an opportunity to use his experience in seeking the better things of the Spirit. The day came when he resolved to speak to the young man about Christ.
I started down town to Holton’s shoe store," says Mr. Kimball. ’When I was nearly there, I began to wonder whether I ought to go just then, during business hours. And I thought maybe my mission might embarrass the boy, that when I went away the other clerks might ask who I was, and when they learned might taunt him and ask if I was trying to make a good boy out of him. While I was pondering over it all, I passed the store without noticing it. Then when I found I had gone by the door, I determined to make a dash for it and have it over at once. I found him in the back part of the store wrapping up shoes in paper and putting them on shelves. I went up to him and put my hand on his shoulder, and as I leaned over I placed my foot upon a shoe box. Then I made my plea, and I feel that it was really a very weak one. I don’t know just what words I used, nor could he tell. I simply told him of Christ’s love for him and the love Christ wanted in return. That was all there was of it. I think he said afterward that there were tears in my eyes. It seemed that the young man was just ready for the light that then broke upon him, for there at once in the back of that shoe store in Boston the future great evangelist gave himself and his life to Christ."
Edward Kimball had just witnessed to Dwight L. Moody. Now, let me give you a progression of the witness of Edward Kimball. John W. Chapman attended a revival of Moody’s and accepted Christ. During one of Chapman’s revivals Billy Sunday came forward after accepting Christ at one of his Bible Study groups. Billy Sunday preached a revival at which Mordecai Ham was present. He came forward during the invitation to profess in public what he too had experience in a Bible study. Mordecai Ham preached a revival at which Billy Graham was present and he too professed Christ publicly.
I am sure the Edward Kimball thought so when he accepted the task. One Sunday morning Dr. Kirk, the pastor of Mount Vernon Church brought another teenage boy to his class. Mr. Kimball says, "I handed him a closed Bible and told him the lesson was in John. The boy took the book and began running over the leaves with his finger away at the first of the volume looking for John. Out of the corners of their eyes the boys saw what he was doing and, detecting his ignorance glanced slyly and knowingly at one another, but not rudely. I gave the boys just one hasty glance of reproof. That was enough - their equanimity was restored immediately. I quietly handed him my own book, open at the right place, and I took his.
Did you notice the first word of our purpose statement and our mission statement? Together, we accomplish these great tasks as a church, the body of Christ in our community. We are here to claim back the lives that have been stolen by Satan. We need to "set up a way station at the gates of hell."
Edward Kimball, Sunday school teacher, was not one of the ordinary type. Mere literal instruction on Sunday did not satisfy his ideal of the teacher’s duty. He knew his boys, and, if he knew them, it was because be studied them, because he became acquainted with their occupations and aims, visiting them during the week. It was his custom, moreover, to find opportunity to give to his boys an opportunity to use his experience in seeking the better things of the Spirit. The day came when he resolved to speak to the young man about Christ.
I started down town to Holton’s shoe store," says Mr. Kimball. ’When I was nearly there, I began to wonder whether I ought to go just then, during business hours. And I thought maybe my mission might embarrass the boy, that when I went away the other clerks might ask who I was, and when they learned might taunt him and ask if I was trying to make a good boy out of him. While I was pondering over it all, I passed the store without noticing it. Then when I found I had gone by the door, I determined to make a dash for it and have it over at once. I found him in the back part of the store wrapping up shoes in paper and putting them on shelves. I went up to him and put my hand on his shoulder, and as I leaned over I placed my foot upon a shoe box. Then I made my plea, and I feel that it was really a very weak one. I don’t know just what words I used, nor could he tell. I simply told him of Christ’s love for him and the love Christ wanted in return. That was all there was of it. I think he said afterward that there were tears in my eyes. It seemed that the young man was just ready for the light that then broke upon him, for there at once in the back of that shoe store in Boston the future great evangelist gave himself and his life to Christ."
Edward Kimball had just witnessed to Dwight L. Moody. Now, let me give you a progression of the witness of Edward Kimball. John W. Chapman attended a revival of Moody’s and accepted Christ. During one of Chapman’s revivals Billy Sunday came forward after accepting Christ at one of his Bible Study groups. Billy Sunday preached a revival at which Mordecai Ham was present. He came forward during the invitation to profess in public what he too had experience in a Bible study. Mordecai Ham preached a revival at which Billy Graham was present and he too professed Christ publicly.
Now would you recognize Edward Kimball’s name. He was an ordinary man who God used for an extraordinary task to further the Kingdom. "With God all things are possible".
John MacArthur, Twelve Ordinary Men, Nashville, Tenn.: Word Publishing Group, 2002, pp. 69–70.
