THE PREACHER WANTS A RAISE The Bible says in Hebrews 6:1&9 “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection: not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, . . .but, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you. . .”.  For several months now brother Mickey has been preaching lessons that would encourage us and challenge us to do better.  Since this is the first of the year, and usually the time that the elders give the preacher a raise, I thought it would be good to put some of brother Mickey’s thoughts into a lesson called “The Preacher Wants A Raise”. Raise simply means an increase.  Mickey as well as the elders, would like to see a raise in a few things at Saint Andrews Road.  Let me first suggest that we like to have a raise in our attendance.  It would be wonderful to see every seat filled with people hungering and thirsting to hear the Word of God.  But, we must face it, we need to work a little harder in this area.  Maybe we have not emphasized as strongly as we should the necessity of faithful attendance.  We must convince Christian people of the importance of attending all the services.  Even those in authority such as elders, teachers, deacons, those serving publicly are sometimes unfaithful in their attendance.   This causes the world to consider lightly the Lord’s church.  We are commanded to not forsake the assembly (Heb. 10:25).It is estimated that 90% of the people in the church take the Lord’s Supper on the Lord’s day, while only about 56% attend Bible classes.  Is it because we have emphasized the importance of breaking of bread, each Lord’ s Day, but have failed to stress the importance of learning God’s Word. (2 Tim. 2:15).  Yes,we would like to see a raise in attendance. In the second place, we would like to see a raise in personal visitation.  Perhaps this is one of the most neglected areas of the church.  We have been commanded to “go” and “teach” the word.   Many today, give excuses as in the case in Lk. 14:15-24. “I’m too busy”, “I don’t know enough about the Bible”, “I work too much”, as was the case in Luke 14:15-24  men are still giving excuses for their failure to do the Lord’s bidding.  We would like to see a raise in this area but we must all do our part.  Why not contact Robert Moore or Scott Jackson and see what YOU can do? The world will not be taught unless we are willing to go.  Many people will never be saved unless we approach them personally, because they will not come to the building.  Jesus is the great example of a personal worker.  Frequently he engaged in conversation in one on one to teach them.  The early Christians were good personal workers.  In Acts 5:42 we learn that they taught  “house to house”.   In the third place brother Mickey has encouraged us and would like to see a raise in our mission work.  The primary mission of the church is to spread the gospel of Christ.  We have been commissioned to “go into the whole world”.   In recent years there has been rekindled interest in mission work.  At the present time we are supporting brother Terry, in Siapan.  At the end of WW II there were known churches of Christ in 15 countries.  Today, there are over 1500 in over 75 countries.  200 of those are in Europe.  Probably the most fruitful field has been Nigeria, where over 60,000 persons have known to be baptized.  Yet ,we have barely touched the hem of the garment.  Let’s work to raise this area of our work in the future. In the fourth place the preacher would like a raise in our giving.  The importance of this subject is highlighted by a question asked many centuries ago by the prophet Malachi: “Will a man rob God?”  To fail to give as we have been prospered is to rob the Almighty God.  Often brethren are sensitive about this subject.  Yet it is estimated that one verse out of six in the New Testament has to do with man’s relation to money.  Jesus said more about stewardship than any other subject. (2 Cor. 9; Acts 4:34-35; 1 Cor. 16; Rom. 10:14). The more we raise in this area the more work we can do in other areas. Last of all, we need a raise in personal dedication.  Christianity is intensely personal.  The emphasis is not on “they” but on “I”.  We are warned “Every one of us shall give an account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12).  The apostle Paul realized that in spite of his triumphant efforts in the vineyard of Christ, he could be loss unless he personally was consecrated in body and mind.  “I keep under my body, and bring in unto subjection:  lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1Cor. 9:27). Christianity is first, foremost, and forever a way of life.  It is not ,lip worship, nor dead sacrifice that avails in the sight of God.  Jesus condemned the Pharisees because, “This people draweth night unto me with their mouths and honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Matt. 15:8). It is possible to be concerned about the work of the church, to be vitally interested in mission work and benevolent efforts, without ever consecrating our lives to Christ.  Yet, even though we “bestow all our good to feed the poor, and give our body to be burned” without personal dedication it would profit us nothing. We are often so busy searching for the mote in the other fellow’s eye, that we have little time to work on the beam in our own eye.  As did the apostles on one occasion, we need to ask, “Lord Is It I?”.  Take a spiritual inventory.  What would be your answer to the following questions? 1.        Do I pray without ceasing? 2.        Do I miss the assembly of the saints for trivial reasons. 3.        Do I seek the salvation of those around me everyday? 4.        Do I make a serious effort to walk in the footsteps of Jesus? 5.        Do I have an optimistic, joyful spirit or do I present Christianity as sad and pessimistic? 6.        Do I search the Scriptures daily or am I content to let the preacher do it? 7.        Do I search for and grasp opportunities to serve the unfortunate and those in need? 8.        Do I give liberally and cheerfully for my money and time? 9.        What am I doing to promote peace and unity in this congregation? 10.        What about my brotherly love? 11.        Am I doing all I can that is humanly possible to promote the Kingdom of God, here on this earth  and in             this  community, and especially at Saint.Andrews Road? 12.        Do I pray for the elders and the preacher? 13.        Have I ask to teach a Bible class? 14.        What about my daily Bible Study? 15.        Do I bring my Bible to every service? 16.        When ask to do something by the elders, what’s my response? Bill Young