And you're all familiar with the suggestion that to try to remember something, you tie a piece of string around your finger. Of course, with my kind of mind, you forget that you tied the string around your finger. You know, that's the kind of person I am. And then there's expression that I don't know where it came from that I've known all my life. Some mothers never let their children grow up, and so they're called tied-to-mothers apron strings. And for this person, they need to be untied so they can live a life of their own. Then there's one further saying regarding things being tied or untied that I want to use, and that is, I'm so absent-minded that if my head wasn't tied on to me, I'd lose it. Now, that's an expression that I use a lot because I know how true it is. I would forget my own head if it wasn't attached. Now, that is what I refer to when I say a string that is not to be untied. That is, don't untie your head and detach it from your body. It's what Jesus is saying, and that brings us down now to the symbol of Christ the head. For the Scripture references, look in your Bibles now to Colossians, the first chapter. Colossians, the first chapter, and the eighteenth verse, in the very first part of verse eighteen. If you have your Bible, read with me. If not, well, then you'll just have to listen. And he, Jesus, is the head of the body, the Church. Now, Ephesians, back up a little bit, to one twenty-two. I guess it's not back up. Ephesians 1, 22 and 23, and read with me if you have your Bibles. Ephesians 1, 22 and 23, and Christ has put all things under his feet, or God has put all things under Christ's feet, and hath given Christ to be the head over all things to the Church. The Church is His body, representing the fullness of Him, that is, all of Jesus is for all the Church, that filleth all in all, that is, He fills all of His body, all of His Church, all of His people, with the fullness which dwells within Him. But He is called the Head of the Church. Now the fourth chapter and the fifteenth and the sixteenth verses. But speaking the truth in love, grow up into all things, which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supply according to the effectual working and the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body under the edifying of itself in love." All three texts point out that Christ is the head and that the body is the church. Now, we're not talking about the church building. We're talking about each individual member or part of that body. which is the body of Jesus Christ, the Christian body, the Christian group of believers. And every one of us is a part of the Christian body over which resides the head, which is Jesus Christ. And Paul uses the body to illustrate Christ's position and our position in the Christian world. to illustrate the relationship we have with each other and the relationship that we have with Christ our head. Jesus is never called the foot to be walked upon. He's never called the shin to be bruised, though we try to walk upon him and we try to bruise him, and he's never called the knee for us to bend, and he's never called the hand for us to squeeze, and he's never called the finger for us to manipulate, and he's never called the neck for us to turn. But he's called the head. Now, the head, as you well know, since you went to school and you read the science books, the head is the seat or the location of all authority within the body. Every decision, every action is determined, first of all, by the head. And thanks to science this morning, we even know more about the relationship of the parts of the body than even Paul did, because we now have more medical knowledge. But the body responds to the mind, with no exception. The body tells—or the mind tells the body that the stove is hot and that the finger on the stove that is hot is burning. And the finger is not going to be moved until the brain says, the stove is hot, move your finger. Now, that's the way the body works. Of course, it takes place so fast that you touch the stove and you react. But the body has to tell that finger, that stove is hot. Or you wouldn't know it was hot. The body tells you, or the mind tells you, the stove is hot, pick up your finger, you're getting burned. Now, it's all that quick, but the body controls that action. And if you sever the nerve between the body and the finger, you'll sit there and burn your finger off, because you'll no longer feel it. The brain tells the body every step, every action, every move that is to make. And the body responds according to what the brain says, or the mind says, or the head And the body realizes its dependence upon the head. And it'll make no desire whatsoever to separate itself from the head, because the head is the source of its life. It's the source of its guidance. The head is the part that watches out after the body. Why get rid of the greatest defender you've got, you see? It's the head that is the most influential part of your entire body, so the body really is concerned about the head. Now, the Christians should be the same way about Jesus Christ. A Christian who attempts to operate in this life detached from his head, detached from Christ, of course, is trying the impossible. He's running around like a chicken with his head cut off, if I may put it in those illustrations. He's going in the wrong direction, doing the wrong things, and he's getting hurt because he is detached from his spiritual head. And why should we even try to separate ourselves from the spiritual head who is Jesus Christ? Why should we try to even leave the head behind? Why try to ignore the head of Jesus Christ? Because with this arrangement, then Christ is responsible for all of the functions that my body has to make. He is responsible for taking care of me completely as long as I keep the arrangement where He is head. If I must love, then it is the head that's going to have to figure out what part of me is going to have to love. It's the head that's going to have to figure out getting the message to that part. It's the head that's going to have to figure out what kind of ability I'm going to have to have. It's the head that's going to have to control my love. It's the head that's going to have to manipulate the whole affair. It's the head that's going to have to enable me to love. Now, it's the head that manipulates your ability to kiss your wife. It maneuvers that whole thing. And without the brain, you could never fuck her. You couldn't even carry out an affair of love unless the brain cooperated. So a Christian comes up, and Jesus said, I would love, and I'm going to go ahead and do it. You can't do it without the head. And a lot of Christians are going around trying to keep the commandments of Jesus separated from the head. And they're failing. No wonder. The head is required to enable the body to carry out the functions that the head wants carried out. Let him have the responsibility. Let him send the messages. Let him manipulate and control me, and then I'm able to do whatever he says. My brain says, arm move, so my arm moves. And so if the Lord says, Billy, I want you to move, that the Lord is going to have to make that possible. He is going to have to do it himself. And that is the position of the head in relationship to the body. I'd hate to think that the Christian walk and my Christian life and my Christian survival and my Christian obedience rested on the ability of my head, really. When the Lord passed out brains, he sort of missed on me, you know. And I'd hate to know that my Christian survival and whether I went to heaven or hell, depending on my brain, I'd be in a mess. I never make it. I know this. I don't have any doubt about it. It's just not in me to be able to carry out the commands of Jesus. I do not have the ability. And I would hate to think that I had to depend on your head, too. You may be a lot smarter than me, but I'd hate to think that I had to depend on you to get me to heaven. And I hate to know that I couldn't make one decision without you telling me right and And you enable me then to make the right decision. You know, a lot of wives want to be the husband's head. A lot of husbands want to be the wife's head. And he says, Honey, I don't like the way you cook. And she's doing the best she can, you know. And there's no way in the world he can make her cook better. Probably if you put her head on her shoulders, it would be no better off. Not a bit better, you know. But we have the idea sometimes that we, by just telling a guy he's got a problem in the body, talking about just the parts, the actions of our life, by telling somebody that you're doing something bad, just by telling you, that's going to make it come out all right. We can't control the body. It takes the head to do that, and we don't have that kind of control over our bodies. But Christ does. And that's the role Christ takes. as the head. How would you like for the eyes to run the show of your life? Now, I think a lot of people let their eyes run the show. Oh, we can try that out, you know, and boy, did she get in trouble. She was going to let the eyes be the head, and they weren't made to be the head. But I tell you, if you let the eyes be your head, I'll guarantee you, you're going to eat more than you need, and you're going to make your body suffer for it. Your eyes will do that to you. I look at that fruit over there, man, and all of a sudden, not just eat one apple, but just keep right on eating the whole thing. You know, one of you ate any other thing. That's all mine. The eyes are that way, greedy. You put a dish on the table, and everybody's eyes, the biggest piece of meat, you know. If you let your eyes be the guide, you'll be as big as a barn. Really now, your eyes don't care how fat you get. All they're concerned about is just what they see. And if you let your eyes be the head, then they're going to make you spend money you can't afford to spend. And I keep telling people, your garage and my garage is full of proof of this. The eyes see something. Boy, I've got to have that. Got to have that. You don't got to have that. You know you don't have to have it. You never have had a jet. But the eyes, if they're the head, make us do things that we wish we had never done. That's what keeps the people in the classified ed section in the papers busy all the time, because people are listening to eyes, and not to Christ said. And then if you listen to your eyes and make it your head, you're going to be imitating what everybody else does. And a lot of the things that you imitate is going to bring harm to you. Now, it's good that Christ is willing to be the head of the Christian. It really is. Because, you see, our head is too easily influenced by our eyes, and by our nose, and by our ears, and by our mouth, and that of everybody else, too. And we just don't have enough sense to truly come in out of the rain, really don't. And people can see some of the dumbest things you've ever heard of in your life. We just can't be trusting, you know. Our heads are too easily turned in the wrong direction. Now, when God converts us, makes us his children, there is a radical improvement within the Christian. I'll agree with this. But there is no radical improvement within the head of the Christian. in the mind of the Christian and in the brain of the Christian. Your IQ does not go up and your ability to make decisions does not go up. And even though you are a converted child of God, the ability of your head to lead you spiritually and making the right decisions cannot be trusted. You're no better off than you ever were. Christ and salvation does not provide for a competition between him as head and your converted head as the head. Christ says, I will handle the problem of decision-making, and I will not give you a new born-again brain whereby you can make the decisions. I will myself make decisions, both for the individual and for the whole church combined. And it's the head, then, you see, that gives the Christian purpose for living. Why do I live? Why does your body live? Your body lives to serve the dictates of your brain. That's its whole purpose. It just sits sort of in the bleachers waiting for your brain to make a command. Your body has one purpose in life, and that is to do whatever the brain tells it to do. Now, the Christian similar has a one goal, one purpose in life, and that's to do nothing but whatever the head says, being Jesus Christ. How good it would be if it worked, that's what it really was. And Jesus said, I give the Christian a new life, but I give him a new purpose too. He has a whole new goal for living. What is it? Just to do whatever the head says. Now that may not appeal, but that is exactly the picture Christ wants us to have when he calls himself the head of the body. The body is just as necessary as the head is. If there was no body, then Christ would not have to be the head. This means by his own decision, Christ limits himself to a people. And he says that each individual person within his body is necessary for him to have a body. I'm talking about a people now, not his own personal resurrection body, but a people to call his own. And there cannot be a people to call his own unless that people has a head. So Christ has arranged it where there is an incompleteness either in the Christian or in himself if he has no head or if there is no body. Both are essential. And all the gifts that God has given his son Jesus Christ, including all of his power and all of his plans and all of his labors, all these things have to have an outlet. The brain has to have hands and arms and feet and legs and all this. It has to happen if it's going to have an outlet. And so does Jesus. And the wishes of Jesus would be vain if he had no body. The thoughts of the head would be no good if there was nothing to carry out the thoughts. And that's where the body comes in. And so Christ depends upon the body just like the body depends upon Christ. Sometimes we think, well, he can get along without us. Yes, he really could, but not have a body called believers he couldn't. Christ works through his body, the Church, to carry out his will upon earth. He doesn't have to have an earth, and he doesn't have to have anybody saved. That's true. But he has chosen to have this, and this is the way he's going to get it. And so we are essential to him, but he is essential to us, and you can't separate one from the other. Now, there are several things that I want to say about the head in closing. Number one, the head directs. Now, you know this. There's nothing new about this. As I understand it, all the nerves within our body come together, go up the spinal column, come into our brain, and every one of our nerves are registered. No spot on the end of your finger can be touched if you're normal without feeling it. I don't care where you touch yourself. You can touch your hair. Every one of the nerves in your body, and I guess there are millions of them, they're all hooked to your brain, all hooked to the head. And we find here that the head directs. And the only way that you and I know how our body is to move is because of what the head tells of nerve endings and how to react. We don't have knowledge to get our finger off the stove unless the head through the nerve says, get it off that stove. That's the way it works. And if we lack wisdom in this world, where do you get it? From your mother and your daddy? Not necessarily. unless Mother and Daddy have gotten it straight from the head, and that's Christ. But the place that we get our information, the place that we get our directions is straight from Christ. It's important to know what maybe your friends think as Christians, but the ultimate decisive factor is still Christ himself. He is the one that directs. You know, sometimes even your own mind is a little slow to tell you what to do. Well, it's not slow about getting your finger off the fire. But, I mean, there are a lot of decisions where you want directions. Like, a girl might say, well, should I marry this year, or should I marry next year, or should I marry John, or should I marry Jim? Well, now, the head doesn't think or say, there it is. Sometimes it takes a lot of time for the head to direct the person in the direction that that head thinks he ought to go. So they just have to sit there and wait. And sometimes the head Christ makes us wait to direct us and direct our body. And we want to know, well, Lord, should I be a preacher or should I be a missionary or should I get married or should I go to school? And the Lord just doesn't talk the answer down to us. He's got the knowledge, it's in the head, but he doesn't give it to us quite as fast as we'd like to have it. And that's where in the Bible it says, wait upon the Lord and he shall direct your path. Wait, wait. And sometimes your own mind makes you wait as to what you're going to do. You ever drive a car, you sometimes come to your light and you can't make up your mind where you're going to stop or go. And you keep trying to figure out what I'm going to do, what am I going to do, you know? And if a cop's nearby, you stop. You know, that sort of helps your mind work real quick. But if there's not one, you say, well, maybe I can beat the red light. And all these seconds, you see, the mind hasn't told you yet what to do. And you push the gas pedal, you want to get on the brake, and you don't know what to do with it. And the brain doesn't. But now, if a child ran out there, the brain would say, stop. Just that quick. And you hit that brake where you knew it. But you see, sometimes in directing us, Christ, our head just doesn't pop the answer down to us, and we've got to wait. And I flipped on the gas, and I flipped on the brake, and we don't know what to do. And the Lord leaves us sometimes, and then I don't know what to do state. But that doesn't mean he doesn't know what to do. And it doesn't mean he won't make a decision in the time that is necessary to make it. He will. But he is the one that makes all the directions. He should be. And I think one of the greatest downfalls of all of us is that we don't look upon him as a director of our lives. I would be safe in saying that most of the decisions that you and I make are made by our own fleshly brain. Here is what I think. Without any regard, what does God think? And that is the biggest mistake God's people can ever make, is try to act without directions from the head. Really. The second thing about the head is it nourishes. It nourishes. I understand that you cut a nerve everything below that nerve or beyond that nerve becomes numb. You might say it becomes lifeless. It becomes paralyzed. So any time that we allow our hands and our eyes and our ears and our mouth and any other part of our body, so to speak, to get separated from Christ, then that part of us becomes paralyzed. It's either worthless or useless to God. Well, it's no longer any good to Him. An eye that is paralyzed, a hand that is paralyzed, God can't use it. Can't use it. And so many times in our lives, we use our hands for things that they shouldn't be used for, and they become paralyzed. become paralyzed. To the Lord, you see. They're not really paralyzed, but they become paralyzed to Him, and they become useless to Him. Because, you see, they have been separated from the Head, and they're doing their own thing. They're not doing His thing. And so Christ has, down through the years, been hindered in many of His plans for His Church and for His people, because His people have become afflicted, and His people have become enfeebled. and they no longer respond to the head. Christ tells the eye, turn away, don't look at that, that's lust. But you see, the eye doesn't turn because now it's no longer responsive and it's spiritually, I guess you might say, enfeebled or spiritually paralyzed and the person doesn't turn their eye. And Christ has the problem. Just like if your eye didn't work and didn't turn left and right, you'd have a problem. He's got a problem, and the problem is in his body, and it bothers him. And he can't nourish the part because, you see, he has become paralyzed, and he has to operate on it and work on it. And sometimes these operations are painful. We don't like them, but the Lord is concerned, just like you are when some part of your body gets hurt and upset. You get very concerned up here, boy, about it. Very concerned. Thirdly, the head unites. The head unites. Now, the hand and the wrist are next-door neighbors, but they'd never get together and never work together if the head didn't get together and make them work together. They wouldn't work together. And although they are as close as they really are, it's only because the head's action upon these two that they get along and they cooperate with each other. And today I think the Church is just the opposite of what Christ's body ought to be. It's the most disorganized. It's the most, I don't know how you'd put it, it's the most divided, infighting, outfighting organization almost on the face of the globe. There is little to any cooperation whatsoever between the parts of the body within an individual church, and the parts of the body within an individual believer, and the parts of the body within the entire whole worldwide church. And Christ is having a horrible time trying to unite and make one his body. The eyes want to go one way, the hand wants to go another way, the feet want to go another way, the heart wants to go another way, and he's having problems. And it's sad as much bickering and fighting and division. You can't all turn around and hear, well, now that church is split, you know. That means that the wrist couldn't get along with the hands, so the hands that I'm taking off, it just took them. And the wrist said, well, good, go ahead, I'm glad to see you go. You know, this is sad. The body gets to the point where it just won't work. The finger says, well, I could work, but I'm not going to work because I don't like the thumb, and I'm not going to move because the thumb's over there. This is sad. And this is the way the Church is, denominational-wise, Christian-wise, doctrinal-wise. Man, we've got over 275 denominations. We get four or five new ones every year. All it is is the parts of the body just can't stand the other parts. What if your kidney said, I'm not going to function because I don't like to live? That's the way Christians are. I'm not going to go to church without my little so-and-so down there. And you're not going to find a church anywhere where everybody is united. If you do, it won't be that way long, because somebody is going to come in and bust the whole thing up. Now, the head unites. Let's say the head tries to. It tries to. And I think the Lord spends a lot of His time doing this. And a lot of folks major on certain parts of the body and neglect other parts of the body. In other words, somebody says, well, I just paint the fingernails, I just ought to major on the fingernails. And you know what? I'm not saying women shouldn't paint their fingernails, but I mean, they might neglect the whole body and all they do is just work on their fingernails. Week after week, got to get them fingernails the right length, and neglect the rest of their intimacy. The teeth are about to fall out, you know, but they got the prettiest fingernails in town. Now, Christians are like this, they'll harp on one thing, one thing, and just neglect the rest of their entire spiritual life, and just harp on one thing. You can just pick anything you want to, because somebody will be harping on it, you know. This is the way we are. We pick out one little pet peeve, and that's all we're going to major on. And we forget about everything else all of a sudden. We say, you go your way, I'm going to go my way. But Christ wants to make the body one. Brother, one. And the reason we're not one is that we're not really looking to the head. I believe Christ can get His children together. I really do. But they're so busy looking at the parts, they haven't got time to look at the head. Now, 4th Ahead specializes. I think it has to. Because the whole body is made up of specialized parts. It has to specialize. And the foot can't do the job of it. When we look pretty, walk around on our feet. On our hands, I mean. You look all right on your feet. On your hand, you know. That's why you see kids doing this. But you wouldn't like to do that for a day in and day out. Walk around on your hands and try to type with your feet. That'd be silly. There are special parts of the body that are supposed to do special things in the Lord's work. Sometimes, you know, we get jealous, but I don't want to. I want to do their part. There's more glory and there's more applause and everything else than what they're doing. I don't want to do this. I want to do what they're doing. And then the other person says, well, you ought to be doing it. Everybody ought to do what I'm doing. Well, that can't be. The hearts say everybody ought to be a heart. Well, that won't work. Not if we're going to have a body. You know, if you want to be a head and a toe, that's all that's necessary. But, I mean, if you want anything in between, there's going to have to be other parts of the body. And Christ says, I specialize. Now, I didn't ask to be a preacher. I didn't ask. He just told me, I'm the head, and that's what you're going to be. And I didn't choose it. And I tried to get out of it. I tried to quit it. Now, that's not my choice." And he said, you see, in material, the head doesn't care whether the finger wants to be a finger or not, you know. You've never seen one of your body parts exchange places with something else. You've never seen your tongue say, I want to swap with the finger. And a lot of Christians say, I want to swap places. Well, let me tell you, the best thing I know of for this thing to be right here is a finger. And if it ever ceased to be a finger, it would be out of place. And it would be unhappy, and it would not be equipped to do the job it has been made for. And God puts within His body people who are equipped for what He wants them to do within that body. And when they try to get out of that body and do something else, they just foul up the whole body. And they make themselves miserable, because that's not where they ought to be. Now, look at 1 Corinthians, the twelfth chapter, and I don't have time to read the whole thing. The Christian church was having this problem, and so everybody was vying for one certain part of the body, and Paul tried to straighten them out on this. First Corinthians, the twelfth chapter, I want to read you what he says, and a fourth verse to begin with. He says, now there are all kinds of gifts, all kinds of gifts. That is, there are all sorts of things that the Lord has given his children in the body to do, all sorts of abilities, all sorts of works. Now, all these things come from the same Holy Spirit. Verse 11, now you can redress them when you get home. Now, all of these parts, all these gifts, they all work by the same self, same spirit. And he, now notice, I say while I go, the head specializes, and he divides to every man as he wants them to have. In my sense, he said, you're going to be a preacher. Now, with you it may not be that at all. It may be something else, but let me say this. It says he divides and underlines to every man. Every one of us has our part in the body. Every one has his place in the body. Every little red carpuscle has its place. Let's jump, if you will, to verse 28, and I'll cease reading this. And God, and I just want to use one here, and God has set some, not everybody, everybody can't be a tongue, everybody can't be a hand, everybody can't be a foot, and he talks about this up here. Father Owen, and in a fair time we'll get to it. Anyway, he says, there are some who put their apostles, and then I'll put some of their prophets, and then I'll put some of the churches of teachers, and then I'll put some of the churches that can work miracles, and then I'll put some of the churches that have the gift of healings. And I want to stop on this next one, and that's the one I'm going to deal with. And I'll put some of the churches for help. For help. And I think I can lump everybody into that one. Some kind of help is your position in the Bible. Every part has its worth, but every worth is a healthy worth. And I'd like to just call all of you this morning, if you don't feel like I have any special place, I'll call you the helpers, the helpers. And your health and your growth is the result of millions of little helpers doing their job in your body. Every white corpuscle, every red corpuscle, every cell, everything that is in your body are all of the helpers. You may never see them, but brother, when they stop being a helper, you'll know about it. And not one part of the body is idle. Not a part of you is sitting there just twitting his fingers doing nothing. Every part is idle. You'd be amazed how much help goes in to keeping blood in your fingers. Man, that is a major choke. You'd be surprised how much effort it takes for the body to keep those nerves sensitive and keep your hand with the right moisture and the right temperature. You'd be amazed! All little helpers. And those little old arteries you never see and the bones that keep them nourished. Don't seem important to you like the eye, but I'll guarantee you they do to the bone. And you let them start working, and you'll see your eye get all upset. And when you begin to see God's helpers, and I don't call them little helpers, brother, your white corporeal is just as important as your eye is. You do without them and you're dead. And I believe any time any of God's helpers lay down on the job, it hurts the body. It hurts me, it hurts you, it hurts everybody when one of us ceases to carry out the job that God has given us. You and I don't have any spare parts. Sometimes we have to get along without some things in our physical body, but I tell you, it's not good when you do. My daddy lost two fingers. One, he was on a wagon one time in a double-barrel shotgun with a hammer on it. I believe it was a double barrel. It may have been a single barrel. Anyway, it fell off the wagon. It was loaded, and my daddy reached for the gun, and when he hit the ground, the trigger by the impact went back and came back forward, and the shot shot his thumb off. Years later, he dropped a bit. He worked for an auto company on the next finger over here. He got gangrene. He thought he was going to lose his arm, but all he does is he's lost his finger. He had three fingers on his hand, and I watched my dad try to hold a nail. That's real hard to hold a nail like this. Now, sometimes Christ has to get along with a crippled body, but it's not good, and it costs, and it can't be as effective as it ought to be. John Newton said this in one of his sermons, that if two angels came down to heaven, one was to sweep. and the other was to rule the empire, neither one of them would want to change jobs, because one was sent to rule and one was sent to sweep. And if all you feel like you can do is sweep, brethren, that's your part in the kingdom. And thank God somebody is sweeping. Boy, this church would be in a mess and clutter 16 feet high if somebody didn't sweep. You see? I don't get to sing. Well, who wants to sing through a pile of rubbish, you know? And that's exhibited sitting right in the middle of papers fifteen years high. Who even see it, you know? And you ain't have to stand in stuff up here knee-deep. Who wants to sing like that? Every little bit is a part of the body. The same as in the home, you see? All you can do is wash your dishes and make a bed. But just think, if you didn't do it, how many dirty dishes would be around the house? Pretty soon, nobody could eat. All you do is walk over dishes, you know. And the house would just be stuffed, rolled out the windows, and you'd sleep outside, you know. Little things, you call them. They're not little. That's like a little red car puzzle. It's got its job. And somebody has to do the whole thing, you see. I have my part, you've got your part. I can't change with you, because I'm not the head. And the Lord has a job for all of us. And then lastly, the head sympathizes. The head sympathizes. You know the first part of your body to feel discomfort? The head. The first part of your body that knows your finger's getting burned is the head, and that's the first one that sympathizes. And for a stretch cycle, it's because it's all about the rest of the body, and it rushes over out of that finger. Because that's the only one that needs emergency sympathy right then. Now, the head is set aside. And I don't know if you know this, that when you get a sore finger, the whole body's attention is called to it. The whole body. You can't sleep, you can't rest if all you do is have a hangnail. It bothers you, and listen, you can get some way to cut it. It bothers you. Now, the Lord suffers when His children suffer. Now, I believe this. And no one feels the suffering like the head does. And Christ is our head when we have trials and suffering and infirmities and difficulties and pain. No one knows it more than he does, and no one feels it more than he does. I've often asked, well, Lord, if you feel the pain that I feel, I get a shot, why don't you just eliminate the shots, you know? If you really feel hurt like I feel hurt, man, why don't you just ignore the whole thing and wipe it out?" And he never answers me then. And that's what puzzles me about the head, you know. I don't understand that boy. I believe he feels it. I believe he's sympathetic. I mean, he knows the suffering I go through because I really believe he suffers with me. I don't understand why he wants to suffer. He had nothing on the cross. You know, why any more does he want? He's not a bystander, brethren. He is a part of the suffering. I don't understand this. But I will give you one maybe insight into what he's doing because he's the head, you know. 2 Corinthians 4, 17. Maybe this is why he doesn't stop the suffering whenever he wants to stop. I don't know. I think this is the right verse, it may not be. Anyway, it says, for our light affliction, verse 17, our light affliction, and you say, brother, it may be light, but it's not light to me. And the Lord would say, that's true, that's true. But compared to his crucifixion and his suffering, any affliction you have is light. OK. For our light affliction, compared to his, and ours is but for a moment, now it may seem like years, but compared to eternity, Our suffering can be but for a moment. For I like a fiction which is but for a moment. There's something for us. What does it do? It works in us or for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Now, I don't mind saying I don't really understand all he means by this. But there seems to be something that the bodily part that is suffering gets out of this. that is worth more, both to the head and to that part of the body, than immediate health or immediate relief of the anxiety or the problem of the suffering. There seems to be a glory that is beyond the glory of relief. I do not know what that glory is. Maybe there is a reward that the Lord just wants you to have, and that's the only way you can get it. I don't know. Maybe there's a reward for suffering. I don't know. I don't know, but anyway, knowing that the head is there, and that the head suffers, then all you can do is feel like he will sympathize, and he will do what is necessary. Now, the main goal, and I'll close with this, the main goal of the head is always the health and the beauty and the happiness of the body. For unless the body has that, then the head can't be happy. Therefore, the main goal of the head is purity. That is the beauty of the Christian in God's eyes—purity and usefulness. That's the beauty that the Lord as the head wants in his body. Number one, to be pure He wants a clean body. And number two, a useful body. Paul talks about a glorious church without spot or wrinkle. Spiritual health, then, you see. And spiritual soundness is the first concern that Christ has to hear. Father, we give you thanks again this morning for the privilege to know that we are not just left to our own. May we think about the various aspects and operations that the head performs and compare that to you. We do ask, Paul, that the benefits that are ours might be given to us. And we do ask this day that each of us, as a part of the body, might truly consider our part just as vital as the other part. And let us not be like the hand and the wrist that just don't want to get together. or maybe there's jealousy. God helped each of us to do our part. It's just as big as the other part, because we're so dependent upon each other, and then we're so dependent upon you. Father, we give thee thanks for the willingness to be our head. We know you get completely upset sometimes with the way things are going, but we do ask you to keep on working at it, because we do need the head, and we know you need the body. In Jesus' name we ask thee. Amen.