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  HEALTHY HOMES AS MINISTRY CENTERS
  by Merle Weaver
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of pouring out and
serving others, focusing on the need to empower the next generation and
create healthy homes as ministry centers. It challenges listeners to
avoid complacency and embrace sacrificial living, highlighting the
impact of genuine relationships and hospitality. The speaker shares
stories of transformation through selfless acts and encourages a
lifestyle of continuous growth and service.

Topics: "Empowering the Next Generation", "Sacrificial Living"
Scripture References: Isaiah 4:5, Isaiah 58:6, Psalms 127:3, Malachi 2:13, Malachi 4:6, 1 Peter 3:6, Matthew 11:28, Mark 9:24, John 14:1

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of pouring out and serving others,
focusing on the need to empower the next generation and create healthy
homes as ministry centers. It challenges listeners to avoid complacency
and embrace sacrificial living, highlighting the impact of genuine
relationships and hospitality. The speaker shares stories of
transformation through selfless acts and encourages a lifestyle of
continuous growth and service.

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CONTENT
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Greetings in Jesus' name this morning. What I have on my heart to share,
there's I think only one other message in my life that I've struggled
more with than this one. That was an internal struggle, this was more
external.

Started with after the meetings were scheduled and I agreed to speak,
finding that I had actually double booked my schedule yesterday with my
son. And because of the subject, period I would have been here, but
because of the subject all the more, and so I went to him and I said,
you know, do you want to push it? He said, well it's your decision. I
said, no it's not, it's yours.

I made a commitment to you. Do you want to push this off or do you want
to keep our original schedule? And I told him, why don't you sleep on it
overnight and we'll talk in the morning. And the following morning he
said, let's keep our original schedule.

So I was not able to be here yesterday, but I trust that I was actually
preparing for this message and I would rather preach for 30 some minutes
with a clear conscience than an hour and a half trying to crank
something out that I wasn't living. And by God's grace, that's how I
come to you this morning. And I praise God because He says that the
trying of our faith is much more precious than gold that perishes.

That trying of the faith is what happens at the street level. That's
what happens in shoe leather. That's not just a legal position, that's
something we walk in.

And there's the experiential reality that we need in our lives and we
want to talk about that. What I'm talking about today is just amazing
how God's put things together. There probably or possibly could not have
been a better foundation laid of preparation than what was already
preached this morning of dealing with things, clearing off the slate,
because what I want to talk about this morning is a lot about building.

And this morning I would love to teach on this subject. Maybe sometime,
we've had requests to do this, maybe sometime we'll actually go ahead
and rent a fire hall for a weekend and spend a whole weekend on this
subject. I'd love to do it.

But that's not the aim this morning. My aim this morning is to actually,
can I say, sell you, convince you. And I think I have enough time to do
that, to convince you that this is God's heart, because there is a
signing on the line that needs to happen to experientially purchase what
I am going to lay out this morning.

The title, and the Lord just changed this title this morning, it's
interesting in line with what Jesse shared, Healthy Homes as Ministry
Centers. And what I want you to do this morning, whether you're a single
person, a husband and wife, married couple, or grandparents, either, if
you have a piece of paper, and you want to do this, and this is
meaningful to you, you can do it on a piece of paper, or if you just
want to do it in your heart, in your mind. But I'd like you, that line
there is a signature line.

And sometimes we talk about signing a blank sheet of paper and giving it
to the Lord, and that's a very good thing to do. This morning, I trust
many of you have done that to the Lord, but I would like for you not to
sign it, until you hear what you're signing for this morning. Because
the Scriptures say that it's better to count the cost of what you're
signing for.

If you're a young person this morning, I would like to put something in
your heart, if God would call you to have a home with a spouse, to
embrace the vision that's laid out this morning. And if He calls you to
remain single, to still look for ways, because single people have
actually freedoms and things they can do while still using their homes
in a way that even married people can't. And even if you're living
somewhere else, you can have a vision that if God would give it to you,
you would get an apartment, you would get a house, and apply this vision
in a way that God would have you do it.

And if you're a grandparent, you have the biggest job of all, because
now you need to take this premise and empower your children and your
grandchildren. And of course, first you need to embrace it yourself. So,
I would like to this morning break the mindset that ministry is
something we do rather than something we are, that it's our very life.

Now, I know serving ministry is something we do, but it comes out of the
essence of who we are. And as our choices make us, we make our choices,
and our choices make us. And so this morning I'm asking you to make
choices, either as a young person, as a married couple, as a
grandparent, that will make you, that will change who you are in five
years from now, in ten years from now.

And I believe that there is tremendous room for improvement in this
area, in our people, and especially in each of our individual lives. And
it is a very hard and difficult thing in some ways, certainly not to
Jesus, but it's going to cost you your life to do it. I would like to
lay Jesus' claims home on us and disturb our nice, tidy, neat little
lives and copy the many saints and leaders that have gone before, those
that have suffered, those that have died.

Never is the saying, no pain and no gain, more true than the subject I
want to talk about this morning. How much pain have you endured or are
you enduring to live the antitype of what many would see as the American
dream? And you might say, what are you saying there? Well, the American
dream can be a lot of different things, people describe it different
ways, but many times it's this idea, I work hard, I do my thing, and I
carve out this nice little place, however big or small it might be in
our minds, and I have my nice little family, and I live happily ever
after. And that is an enemy to grace.

Okay? Now, the army that I would like you to volunteer experientially in
this morning is way more fun than the American dream. This is not all
sail home to glory with a bunch of lemons and persimmons. No, you will
never regret the sacrifice.

You will never regret doing this. The joy is way outweighs the
sacrifice. And I believe in it, that's why I want to sell it to you.

Unlike somebody who on YouTube or some video somewhere is trying to sell
you something, so they get something out of it, buy this book, and I'm
not against selling books, of course, buy this product, buy this, buy
this, do this, do this, and it sounds so good, but when you start
thinking, you say, yeah, but at the end, this is to benefit you, you
know. I am here as a salesman on behalf of another. And I may get a
little personal joy seeing others walk in this, but mostly it's to
benefit the kingdom that the lamb that was slain might receive the
reward of that which he suffered.

And how we live is going to definitely affect how he gets a reward. Big
time. Okay? Not just, yes, this is the foundation, but not just cleaning
up, not just clearing the slate, but pouring out as he is, so are we in
the world.

And I would like to start this morning, if you want to turn with me,
because the time constraints are going to be moving rather rapidly, you
can just listen if you want. Isaiah 4, 5-6, and Jehovah will create over
every dwelling place of Mount Zion, this is a prophecy of, I believe,
our time, and over its convocations or meetings, a cloud by day, and a
smoke, and the brightness of a flame of fire by night, for over all the
glory shall be a covering. And there shall be a tabernacle for shade by
day from the heat, and for a shelter, and for a cover from storm and
from rain.

God telling of another day that's coming. I'd like to turn now to Isaiah
58, one of my favorite chapters of the Bible. It's one of my life
chapters.

And he's talking to the nation of Israel, and they were saying, you
know, why aren't you hearing us? And this is another reason, and it ties
in with the agreement principle that Jesse was talking about, but it's
another reason why God doesn't hear people. Or, can we turn it upside
down and say, why He does hear people is when they walk this way. He
says, isn't this the path that I've chosen? To loose the bands of
wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, and to set forth free the
crushed, and that you break every yoke.

Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, that you bring to your house
needy wanderers, and when you see the naked, that you cover him, and you
hide not yourself from your own flesh. Let me ask you, is there a
personal cost in following this verse? Is it going to cost you something
to bring somebody to your house? Is it going to cost you something to go
give people food, and to cover them, whether spiritually, physically, or
both? I think the answer is yes. And you buy something.

You buy a very valuable treasure. It says, then your life's going to
break forth as the dawn, your health, we want to be healthy, and I'm all
for divine healing, for breaking off those things, living right, good
dietary principles, all good, but this is number one. This is number one
health principle.

When you believe in Jesus, and you pour out, he that waters will himself
be watered. I wish I had a sprinkling can up here, but we'll use this
because it's the closest thing I have. Watered there is how we use
watering a flower bed.

You go like this, and you pour out, and you pour out, and you pour out.
It could apply to giving a drink of water to somebody, but it's meaning
watering like you water flowers. And you go like this, and you go like
this, and sun splashes on your feet, and somehow this all grows up, and
there's overtaking rains come over, and you get watered.

But, we sing, open the windows and pour out a blessing, and yet how many
of us are willing to go out and be that window and that blessing to
others? And especially, I'm talking here this morning about our homes.
Bringing people to our homes. Taking our families, our lives, our
personal lives out, but ministering to others.

I'm going to continue reading all the way to verse 14, and I want us to
think about this in the concept of our homes, even our houses, our
families. Then shall your light break forth as the dawn, your house
shall spring forth speedily, your righteousness shall go before you, and
the glory of Jehovah shall be your rear guard. You will call, and
Jehovah will answer.

You will cry, and He will say, Here I am. I'm asking you, what more did
you want in life than that? Did I miss something that you could have
that's better than that? Where you say, Lord, I need something. He says,
Yes, sir, what do you need? You will call, answered.

Speedy help, bright, shining light, and your children will speak with
the enemies in the gates. They that will be of you, I'm going all across
country here, will build up the old waste places. Those that come from
you will be called the repairer of the bricks.

They will write history about you. That's what it's saying. But you've
got to pay the price.

If you proffer your soul to the hungry, you satisfy the afflicted soul,
then your light shall rise in the darkness, and your obscurity shall be
as the midday. And this is not just for a leader, per se. Somebody that
stands up front.

Because we can all be these type of leaders right where we are, and
what's going to make the difference of whether we're leaders or not is
how we walk. And when we walk like this, people will follow, because
people want drinks. People want water.

People want life. People want light. And it says your light will rise
out of obscurity.

It's going to be like in the middle of the night, it'll be like noonday.
Jehovah will guide you continually. And I've heard a lot of teaching,
good teaching, on how to hear the voice of God, and how to walk with
Him, and I praise God for that teaching.

But this is how to hear the voice of God. One of the ways. Pour out.

Go to the down and outers. Go to those places. And Jehovah will do it
continually, and He will satisfy your soul when the going gets tough,
and everybody else is dry.

He will satisfy your soul in drought. He will strengthen your bones.
You'll be like a well-watered garden, and a spring whose waters deceive
not or fail not.

And then the things I've said, you'll be the restorer of the breach, the
restorer of frequented paths, and you will raise up the foundation. One
translation says many generations, and the other one is the foundations
that have remained from generation to generation, the old good paths.
You will raise them up, polish them off, and I like to apply that,
especially to some of our people groups here today.

Whatever people group you are from, God has put something in you of His
character and person that you are supposed to regard. That's why I have
such a problem when people react against their culture and heritage. I
don't care if you come from the ghetto, you shouldn't be doing that.

You should figure out what of God's character is in there that was
entrusted to you, that you're to preserve, and that you're to exemplify
and take forward to the world, and so much more if you're Amish or
Mennonite or anything else. You will raise up the foundations that have
remained from generation to generation and will be called Repairer of
the Breach, the Restorer of Frequented Paths. I'm going to stop reading
there for now.

My heart this morning is this is available. Isaiah 58 is available and
prophesied about you. Start looking at whether you're going to sign on
this line for you.

It's available to every one of you, but you're going to have to do the
time. Recently, I was at a fire company function. There was a person
there.

I had just recently gotten certified to run a piece of equipment under
emergencies, and this person was saying, hey, couldn't we do this and
so? He wanted to drive the equipment. Could I go out for a drive and do
this or that? And I don't know why it came to me like it did, but I
thought about it this morning and was preparing for this message, and I
said to him, if you want the privilege, you've got to do the time. It
just kind of came out of my mouth, and a little while later that
evening, somehow this thing came up, and I heard another person,
somebody else from the fire department talking to me.

He said, like Merle said, if you want the privilege, you've got to do
the time. And I was like, wow, I guess I did say that. And I thought
about it this morning.

If you want this privilege, you've got to do the time. Now I'm not
talking about working up, you know, getting into some frenzy of trying
to earn our salvation or something like that. I'm talking about cross-
embracing that lays down your life when you could be sleeping in bed and
you could be doing this or that, and you do what Jesus did and you walk
as He walks so you can purchase something of great surpassing worth.

Now, I would like to switch gears just a little bit and talk about the
three pillars of a healthy home. The way I package these apply primarily
to families, but if you do not find yourself in that exact scenario, I
think the Spirit will give you ways to apply them to yourself. The first
one, the scriptures say a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

The first one is quiet time, a relationship with God. You need to have a
place in your home, in your house, wherever it is, a closet. I'm all for
praying as you go to work.

I'm all for listening to messages. I'm all for praying, you know, this
morning I wanted to be here for the prayer meeting. Last minute change
of plans happened and I had somebody go pick up.

And so I'm praying on the road. But that should not be normal. That is a
sacrifice.

And you need to have that quiet, alone time to hear from God. Same thing
Jesse Reddy shared well. A relationship with her spouse is another
pillar.

Pulling together. Malachi 2, 13-15, he says that because of the way they
were walking, he was not listening to them anymore. Same thing as the
verse that was quoted in 1 Peter 3, 6 and 7. Wives being respectful and
submitted and husbands being caring and treasuring.

That should be normal, godly homes. That should be what happens when
Jesus lives in a home. If it's not, Jesus is not living there like He
wants to.

I don't care how many times you've been saved, filled with the Holy
Ghost and all these other things and glory to God. If it's not
happening, Jesus is not reigning somewhere in your life and He wants to.
He wants to do what He said.

Come in and the Shekinah glory rest and abide in your home where there's
a presence of God. You can have I don't care how many training manuals
you want and 10 step programs and do this and do that and all that. And
if the presence of almighty God doesn't rest in your home and your
children are not familiar with it, the odds that they're all going to
turn out for Jesus are pretty low.

And if it does and dad cares for mom and there's peace and there's love
in the home, they can mess up all over the place and they still follow
after Jesus. I'm not advising messing up. We all mess up, but let's
strive for perfection.

The other one that is really on my heart this morning is the next
generation. And this could be our children, it could be people we're
mentoring, but empowering and having quotes not doting relationships
with our children. Malachi 4, 6 says one of the ministries that he was
going to do through the ministry of Elijah and through the spirit that
would come is to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the
children to the fathers.

You need both. You need the fathers first many times because a child's
heart needs to open up and a father's job is with that child to sow life
into that child. And I have a little problem this morning and if I step
on toes, it was not intentional, but I'm kind of glad it happened anyhow
if you needed it.

Because here we go. We have a mindset, some of us from our background,
others not so much, that glorifies ignorance and glorifies just getting
by. Just barely getting by.

And how many of you know about the court case between Joseph Yoder, I
believe it was, and the state of Wisconsin in the 1960s or 70s? It was
about education. I see a couple of schools. Yes.

The Supreme Court ruled at that time that a state's interest in a child
should not supersede that of the parents. And there was one Supreme
Court justice, I believe he voted for it or else abstained, but he wrote
a clarifying opinion. And his clarifying opinion was incredibly
insightful.

For every mile rode, there's two miles of ditches. And his clarifying
opinion said while he agrees with this decision, it raises questions
this decision does not answer. And these are questions that this morning
we need to answer.

That Supreme Court justice's challenge is still coming down to us today.
He said if one of his children wants to become an astronaut, I don't
know how that's possible. Okay, there's some professions, there's some
places, you know it says walk not in the counsel of the ungodly, go not
in the way of sinners.

There's right ways to walk this, there's wrong ways to walk this, and
there's places that are very difficult to be a Christian in. I
understand that. I'm not in any way minimizing that.

But we have turned from being careful who we learn from to being careful
about learning, period. And we have glorified ignorance and I'm against
it. It says get wisdom, get understanding.

With all you're getting, get it. And people that are formed in the image
of God, anytime you have Satan, he's ruling a people, he's into
repression, bringing it down. And even if you have him, institutes of
higher learning and things, there's vanity and pride in it.

But at the end of the day, there's not the encouragement of open minds
when Satan gets his way. Go to places where he had his rule for hundreds
of years and see how it looks like. It doesn't look very good.

But we are made in the image of God and when people come to God, it
elevates the value of the individual. I'm not talking about arrogant
individualism. But I am talking about elevating the value of the
individual.

As husbands, as fathers, as mentors, if you're a single person mentoring
somebody, your goal should be to see how far you can see that person fly
to the heavens. And it's going to take training. It's going to take
equipment, spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, all of it.

There's not some divide that we just get it all here Sunday morning. You
might have to go to college for some stuff. You might have to do this.

You might have to go to this course. You might have to do this. Because
God has a calling.

The goal should be you find out what God's calling is for your life and
go for the stars. And when families do not do that, even if they don't
consciously oppress, they are missing a blessing and they are not going
to get as much of this heritage that's written here. Because the
Scriptures say in Psalms 127.5 that when we are godly in our homes, it's
a very popular, famous word about children being an heritage from the
Lord.

And the next verse says they will speak with the enemy in the courts
system. Now, I know it says city gates. You can apply that many
different ways.

But when you need a defense attorney, I'm talking about earthly, the
best possible defense attorney, whether in the courts or on social media
or wherever else, is your children. When you're up for examination, what
your children say is probably the most valuable witness you can have.
And I'm applying that also to the people you mentor.

And I know that's harder because they come with a whole boatload of
issues that you didn't create. But that's just reason for you to be
better. Praise God.

And more effective. And more powerful. He says if this doesn't happen,
this coming together of fathers and children and this empowering, I'm
going to smite the earth with a curse.

Now, we can look at that as a thing God just orders and does. This is
God, not Satan. We got that? God says, but I'm going to look at it a
little different way, a little bit like cause and effect.

It is cause and effect. There will be a curse in the land when children
are not empowered because God sent all the answers to the world's
problems to the earth in the form of undeveloped ore and natural
resources in people. And I firmly believe, I don't know what you know
about nuclear energy and all that, but there's a little side trail, but
just for instance, because it's over my pay grade, like they say, when
they split the atom, like Satan, he's a divider, you know all the time,
it created an incredible amount of energy, but rather destructive to say
the least.

When they join in what's called fusion, I just believe because of God's
principles, as this is perfected, it will create even more energy, but
it will be useful and harnessable. So I expect in my lifetime if
somebody takes this principle and walks it out and raises up a child
like this, God's going to raise up some engineer or some chemist or some
physicist or all of them together, figuring this out, and they're going
to do this, and they're going to have the answer to the next couple
centuries of energy. That's why we don't need to be living in fear.

Oh, what if we run out? No, we don't need to be living in fear. The good
Lord's going to give way more wisdom than that. World changers,
engineers, lawyers, non-profit sector leaders, church planners, pastors,
etc., will all be unleashed, but if this doesn't happen, there will be a
curse and there will be a dearth of these people in every sector.

The question is not about out there. Have you noticed I'm not talking
about what does the community out there do? I'm not talking about what
does the Christian community over here do or those that call themselves
Christians and aren't really. I'm talking about us right here.

Just yesterday, praise God, just yesterday, one of my, and this is
really what fired me up, so it was sermon preparation yesterday, one of
the things my son requested was to go to an IMAX film. And the title of
the one in the afternoon was Dream Big. Dream Big 3D.

And it took a number of scenarios of people coming out of very poor
situations. This is the one, her mother was just struggling to keep them
clothed and have enough to eat. But there was a high school teacher in
that school down somewhere in southern United States and he started
taking these children and empowering them.

Somehow there was some principle of life in him and somehow they decided
as a high school to enter into some, I don't know how they did this, but
competition for underwater robotics. But they were up against things
like MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology is like the leader in
the industry. They had won the first prize.

So their mindset was, maybe it was a little low, but hey, praise God,
you understand where they're coming from. Hey, if we can at least get in
the competition, we can go there and learn and see what the big boys are
doing. And so that was their thing.

And they didn't have any money. I think their whole thing, their whole
project altogether cost $700 with all them working together, gluing PVC
pipe together and they had so much smell of glue, they were so tired of
it, they nicknamed the robot Stinky. And they took this thing out to
this competition and all these big players and they decided, they were
not ashamed, they were not afraid, they decided to get this thing in the
water ahead of time and do a little test and they developed a problem
enough that was going to finish them.

But their teacher had taught them to pull together as brothers, if I can
use that term, and problem solve and say, what do you see? And let's
ask, let's don't rack our brains foolishly, but let's ask constructive
questions. And out of that, they came up with a very novel answer, fixed
the problem, went on, was the only one that totally finished the course
because there was one very difficult thing, but they figured out how to
do it. And they were at the awards banquet.

So glad they made it inside the door. And they, in this particular
banquet, went up from the bottom to the top, you know, third prize,
second prize, and second prize was Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. And it got really tense in the room because they were
expected to be first, and who's going to be first? And so they, all the
awards were handed out, and now the first prize is, and it was this
little high school band that for $700 made this robot and completed the
course.

And of course, it was interesting because they had it on film. These
poor high school students didn't know what hit them. They were up there,
and I can still see the one guy up on stage blinking and kind of staring
out over the crowd trying to figure out what he's going to do with this.

The beautiful thing is one of those, she wasn't even able to make,
unfortunately, because she had to work because she was trying to keep
bread on the table. One of those high school students that helped with
that project was one of the leaders maybe, couldn't go along to the
competition. But it fueled her, and she went on to become an engineer,
and she still goes back.

That same high school teacher still there teaching those students these
years later, and she goes back and helps him because she remembers what
it did for her. Do we get the vision? You see what we can do with our
homes. Okay, I want to just wrap up with a few more thoughts yet.

I want to say this. There are two things we must avoid at all costs if
we're going to purchase this. Complacency, and what I call the ostrich
syndrome.

Or turtle shell. Turtle shell might be a better one. We really get the
turtle shell.

Pull in, clamp down. Ooh, it's dangerous out there. It hurts.

Do I do turtle shell sometimes? Yes. And I believe there's a place to go
into a desert place and rest a while and do a little short-term turtle
shell, if you will. But don't go into long-term turtle shell because
your children will never be these people, at least not because of you,
if you go into turtle shell mode.

I do believe we need to be careful whose feet they sit at, and I believe
it's our job to guide them. Not just shove them off the end of the dock
and hope they can swim. It's a long way to the other side of the bay or
channel.

We guide them. We train them. We go with them to the train, to the
class, to whatever.

We say, did you see this? Did you notice this? And they might have
noticed it, but they didn't know what to do with it. Oh yeah, they did.
You see this equals that, and if they do this to that, oh yeah, thanks
for explaining that to me, Papa.

And after a while, like those little eagles, they start getting their
wings going, and after a while they can fly on their own. Complacency
and denial. I believe more is caught than taught, and that's the whole
burden of what I have this morning, that we would become the solution we
hope to see.

That if our children are going to, and those we mentor, are going to go
for the stars, because it will be because of how we've walked and what
has rubbed off from us, we can't teach something we're not, not very
effectively anyhow. And more is caught than taught. And my goal today is
to throw out that you as families would be a pouring out family, and
yes, we need to protect our sanctuary and places of quiet time and
things, personally, husband and wife, relationship time, time together
as a family.

Absolutely. But we should also, that's on one hand. The other hand,
given the hospitality, in fact, it's one of the requirements if you want
to be a leader and an overseer in the assembly.

Given the hospitality, it says in 1 Timothy 3. The house of Stephanas
was addicted to ministry, and Paul tells us to submit to such people.
Yeah, but they might not have whatever, whatever, whatever
qualifications. Submit to such people.

You need the cat-shot thing. You need to walk there. And I heard one
time a pastor, somebody came from his congregation and she was so
struggling with depression, and he was a wise pastor, and he said, I
have just the recipe for you.

And the recipe was to bake a cake. And this might seem so low, but he
said, go home and bake a cake and go deliver that thing and come back
and talk to me. What do you think happened to that lady's depression at
least momentarily? And if you live a life of pouring out, yes, if
there's things that need dealt with, deal with that first.

I even recommend if you don't have it all dealt with, start pouring out,
and you're going to find out what's not right. Because all of a sudden,
the enemy's fire is going to get trained on you, and you're going to
have all these bullets blasting, and you're like, oh, there's a crack
here. Yeah.

Who wants to walk around with cracks in their armor? Who wants to walk
around limping? Go ahead, sign up, deal with it. The younger the better.
Get it done so you can fly.

Meals, visiting sick. Do our children, do those we mentor, see us give
until it hurts, and then give some more. I want to say this yet in
closing before you decide whether you sign on the line.

And this is a little like where Paul says, and the rest say I, not the
Lord, but my own judgment. And yet, I think I have the spirit of the
Lord, Paul said, and I feel the same way. I believe whether it's small
groups, whether it's what you call a home church, Bible study, I really
don't care what label you call it, get groups of believers together in
your little apartment or house or whatever it is.

It is not enough. You know, many of you here today meet in homes, and we
can, God help us, we can go around saying we have the correct mode of
meeting. And because we have the correct mode and go through the correct
motions, we think we're there, and we're missing this whole thing
because we took our turn one time every two months or something.

That should be an extra. I'm all for the extras. In between, we have
regular Bible studies.

Praise God, support them, but find extra ways. Mornings before work, a
huddle of three. Come over to my house.

I know somebody who works in a very ungodly place, a very ungodly
environment, and his goal is to get these tattooed and convicted felons
and stuff over to his house. Let's cook out. Let's build a little fire
ring in the backyard.

Because there's something that happens in that atmosphere, whether it's
before work, especially in your house, that can't happen anywhere else
because they get to see the real you with no facade. I want to close
with this story. A thousand miles back in the Congo of Africa, a family
struggling to take the gospel to the natives there.

The mother contracts a very deadly disease and dies. Tremendous pain in
this family. And they all gather around a shallow grave and lower Mama's
body, wrapped in banana leaves, into that shallow grave.

And Papa preaches the funeral service while the little children watch
on. And they wonder, what can this mean? And I'm not saying whether it
was God's perfect will for her to die, but it's what happened. They were
seeking Jesus.

What can this mean? And why did this happen, Jesus? And why did you let
this happen? And the next morning, bright and early, there's a knock on
the door. And they said, please tell us about this, Jesus. Please lead
us to Christ.

And they said, why did you come now? They said, we knew he was good for
living, but we didn't know yet if he was good for dying. And out of
that, God raised up a mighty mission movement in that area. Whether it's
Congo, whether it's Lancaster County, wherever you're at, if you will
bring the poor that are cast out to your house, to your own life, and
suffer the inconvenience, if you will let that anointing, that Shekinah
that was prophesied, if you will seek that at all costs first, I'm here
to say what seems like very slow at first, it may take you a decade of
work at times to seemingly gain much ground, will explode in exponential
growth in the long haul.

And the one thing I can be very sure, regardless of the numbers, is that
the lamb that was slain will receive the reward of that which he
suffered for.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/EcyEsh8ZflA.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/merle-weaver/healthy-homes-as-ministry-centers/
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