Dr. Bob Kelly, pastor of the Grace Baptist Church, West Columbia, South Carolina. He was saved as a college football player down in Chattanooga, Tennessee, at the Highland Park Baptist Church. And I know he doesn't look that young, but he's been, I mean, that old, I should say, but he's been preaching 39 years. My brain's that young. But he's been faithful to God and he's doing a good work. The church is doing a good work. It's a soul winning work, a growing work. And something that's very important to me, he's got three daughters all serving God. And God's just blessing his ministry, and he's always a blessing as he preaches. I'm sure he will be tonight. Someone said cold churches are like cold butter, they just don't spread very well. But I'm going to tell you one thing, this is not a cold church. It's a live wire ministry. I'm always excited about coming to Fairhaven, and I mean that. I really do. I was on the plane this afternoon, and I was thinking as I was coming up here, why do I like this place so much? And the Lord gave me, I'm a preacher now, you understand, a three-point outline. All of them alliterative, you understand. Three M's. Minister. That's him. Right over there. He's excited. He's get up and go ahead and got up and gone. Amen? He is excited about the Lord. He's going to make it to heaven if he doesn't run past it. You know what I mean? Thank God for Roger Voegelin. I praise the Lord for his ministry. He's touched my life. Let me give you my second M. Music. Music. I love this music here. It's my kind of music. Will you say amen? It's the kind of music we're going to have in heaven. Ain't going to have that other kind. Now you say, Brother Kelly, how do you know? You haven't been there. No, but I just know this. Lust-filled music that moves the feet before it moves the heart is not going to be in heaven. Excuse me. Third M, men. I come here. I like to be around the men of this place. They look like men. They talk like men. They walk like men. They sing like men. They are men. Amen? And I praise the Lord for the men of this church and the men of this school. We need a thousand, thousand, thousand, thousand of you all over this place. We've got too many shims. How do you know what a shim is? We've got too many shims today. We need some strong hymns. And I appreciate every man of God in this place, and I just like to be around here. Now, I'm going to make you a promise tonight, and I want you to make me a promise. Old Uncle Bud Robinson used to say, the reason we've got so many icebergs in the pew is because we've got so many polar bears in the pulpit. Now, I'm not going to be a polar bear if you won't be an iceberg. Now, when I look out there at you, smile at me. And let me say something else. Don't be looking around. I mean that. Be interested in the Word of God. And all God's people said, Amen. Let's don't be looking around. Let's see what God wants us to have tonight. Brother Rodney, God bless your heart. I appreciated that message, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. You're exactly right. That's what we need. We need to be full of the Holy Ghost of God. Amen? And I appreciate that. Someone said soft soaping in the pulpit produces dirty Christians in the pew. Well, you listen to me. That wasn't soft soap. That was 20 mule team Borax. How many of you know what 20 mule team Borax is? That was preaching, folks, and we need a whole lot of that in America. It's by the foolishness of preaching we're going to see the power of God upon our lives and our ministry. 2 Kings chapter 4, if you'll turn there tonight, the book of 2 Kings chapter 4. Someone said a Bible in the hand is worth two on the shelf. Everybody ought to have a Bible in their hand tonight. It's the best book in all the world. It can't be improved on. It's given by God the Holy Spirit. And I want to read any book that's given by God the Holy Spirit. How about you? 2 Kings 4. It's a very unlikely passage, but one the Lord laid on my heart. It's a little rare, a little different. But I believe it's what we need tonight. It's what a lot of these preachers that are here need. And I pray the Lord's going to write it on our hearts. Look at verse 8, 2 Kings 4. We're going to start there. The Bible says, And it fell on a day that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman. And she constrained him to eat bread, and so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. Verse 9, And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall, and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick. And it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither." Notice the words in verse 9, "'Behold, I perceive that this is a holy man of God. Let's bow in prayer, can we? Father, I pray tonight that I might be filled with the Spirit of God. I pray I might say everything You want me to say. I pray I might be free to say it. I pray, dear Lord, I will not be shackled by the devil. I plead the blood of Jesus upon Him. And I pray, dear Father, tonight through the preaching of Thy Word, that You will get glory and honor and praise to Thyself. Now, have your will and way at every heart. Use the Bible tonight. In Jesus' name, Amen. There are certain reputations and names and handles that I do not want for my life. In fact, I've figured out there are some things that cannot be said of me. There are some reputations that I can't have and be an effective preacher of the Word of God. I like what the Bible says over in 3 John and verse 12. The Bible says of Demetrius, he was a man of good rapport. If I know my heart tonight, I want that for my life. I want it for my family. I want it for my church. I want it for my ministry. I want to be a man of good rapport. John Wesley said this, he said, if a man is a preacher of the gospel, even his dog ought to see a difference in his life. And I say, Amen. When there is no difference, we don't make a difference. Can I say that again? When there is no difference, we do not make a difference. And tonight I ask you, is there a difference in your life? And if not, I pray before the service is over, God will make that difference. Let me share with you some reputations in the Bible that I do not want. Number one, I do not want the reputation of a diatrophist. The Bible says in 3 John verse 9 that he loved the preeminence. You say, interpret that for us, preacher. I believe it means he was a glory hound. I believe he was an egomaniac. I believe he was big dog and would accept nothing more than that. The Bible says he plotted against the apostles and caused division. Now, my friends, hear me and hear me well. That's an ugly reputation. It really is. I love the reputation of John the Baptist. Thank God he must increase and I must decrease. Now, if you're in this life and in this ministry, in this church, and you are a Diotrephes, God bless your heart, get right with the Lord. There can be no blessing on your life as long as you are seeking your own glory and your own praise. I say tonight, I do not want the reputation of a Diotrephes. Then again, I certainly don't want the calling card of a Demas. The Bible says that Demas forsook Paul, having loved this present world, and was departed. Hear me and hear me well. I don't want to be known as a deserter. I don't want to be known as a quizling. I do not want to be known as a betrayer. I do not want to be known as a turncoat. I want to be someone who stands by the stuff. And I mean remains by the stuff until I'm a dead man and somebody preaches my funeral. I do not want to betray the Word of God and the work of Jesus Christ. Now you excuse me. I see people betraying the Lord all the time. I see men that used to have standards, they don't have them anymore. They've gotten so to the place where they're worried about having their crowd and having a big church where literally they're compromising the clear teachings of the Word of God. I don't want to betray my standards. Folks, there have been young people called out of my ministry for years and years and years, almost 40 years of preaching now, and I don't want them to say, what's happened to Brother Kelly? I do not want them to say, he's not preaching like he used to preach. He doesn't believe what he used to believe. I see a whole lot of folks that are betraying the work of the Lord. By the way, there were men that used to stand for the King James Version, and now they're for any version that comes down the pike. Excuse me, I just do not want to be a deserter. I don't want to be a quiz league. I don't want to be somebody that turns around and goes in a different direction. One time, by the way too, let me say this, and I mean it with all my heart, I want to stand for the right kind of music. I've seen a whole lot of folk changing in the music field. I really have. There's some men that have had this kind of music all their ministry by the vote, and now for some reason they've gotten so desperate that they're not going to win the young people. God bless your heart. that they've turned all the way around in their music, and now it's nothing but gospel jive. Now excuse me, I don't want that kind of reputation. I don't want the reputation of a Demas. I do not want the reputation of a Diocrates. But there is one reputation I want. I want the reputation of Elisha. Here the Bible says, now watch this, the woman of Shuman said to her husband, I want you to know what she said, I perceive. By the way, this word perceive is a very strong word in the Hebrew. It comes from the word yada. And it simply means, I have observed by deep scrutiny. I have checked this man out. I have watched him. I have observed him. And I perceive, I discern, that he is a holy man of God. Now, if I could choose anything to be said about me, I would want somebody to say, he is a holy man of God. Charles Spurgeon said this, he said, Beware of men who preach cream and live skim milk. Amen. Someone else put it this way, where the ministry of the life does not match the ministry of the lips, the latter usually goes unheeded. I want to be a holy man of God. And I'm wrong, but I'm going to show you how I want to be holy. I was reading a story of D.L. Moody, one of the strangest things I've ever read in my life. He was up preaching one night. The power of God was upon him. And all of a sudden, in the middle of his sermon, he stopped, walked down from the podium of the aisle. There was a man sitting on the end of the pew. He looked at that man and listened to me in front of all the people. He said, I love you. I have hurt you. Now listen to this, I have heard you. He embraced the man. Someone asked him after the service, why in the world would you do that in the middle of a sermon? And he said this, he said, I want a conscious void of offense. And I believe he's exactly right. My friend, you hear me and hear me well, we need some men of God, holy men of God, in our purpose today that would even stop their sermon to be right with God while they're preaching. Now, let me give you a couple of things before we get into the text that I want you to see just as sort of a platform, a foundation. Number one, men of God can and ought to expect scrutiny. Can I say that again? We ought to expect scrutiny. This woman was watching Elisha. Folks, people are watching you. Hear me. We are the epistles known and read of all men. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9. My answer to them that do examine me is this. My friend, if you do not want the heat, don't get in the kitchen. If God Almighty has called you to preach, expect it. You're going to live in a glass house. You're going to live in a fishbowl. And people are going to want to see what you're made of. And we ought to expect it. Sure, the Bible says, I perceive that this is a holy man of God. I want to be holy in my tongue. You know, some preacher has the biggest gossips in all the world. Some of the biggest gossips in all the world. No wonder their church is filled with gossips and critics. It bothers me to get around some preacher's meetings. And I'm sorry, I am embarrassed by some of them. They always want to tell you about this man's failure or that man's failure, or this problem in that man's life. Excuse me, I don't want that. Again, I want to make dead sure. I want to make dead sure that in every way I possibly can, when men look at me, they don't find any pegs to hang things on. Amen? Sure. I remember when I was in seminary years ago. That's a long time ago, Brother Voegelin. I'm 62 now. But I remember when I was in seminary, I had an unusual job. I worked for the O.W. Giorgis Carpet Mills. And I was hired for two reasons. They called me personnel director, but that wasn't my job. My job was to win every worker that Mr. Giorgis had to Jesus Christ. I promise you, he hired me to win souls. Can you imagine that? Going to seminary, hired to win people to Jesus, get paid for it while you're still in school. I remember every day when I'd walk into the meal. This is true, folks. This is true. Every day there was an old boy that worked on the first creel. He would prepare the looms and so forth to get ready for the carpet and so forth. But here he was, he was right over here, right as I walked in the door, and every day, just like clockwork, he would say, Here comes that money-grabbing, chicken-eating preacher! You know, laugh a little bit. That's what the world thinks about a lot of us. Right? Come on. First of all, we ought to expect scrutiny. The woman was watching him. Right? She perceived he was a holy man of God. Number two, there's another thing I want you to see before we get into the message. Before you put on a man's mantle, make sure it's a mantle of holiness. Now remember, Elijah had just gone up in a whirlwind, chair to fire. The Bible says somehow his cloak came off. The Bible says Elisha picked it up and notice what he cried. He said, where is the Lord God of Elijah? He did not want Elijah as much as he wanted the God of Elijah. And there is a difference. A lot of young preachers today are picking up the mantles of preachers, excuse me, and the mantle does not have the power of God in it. Watch whose mantle you pick up. Make sure it's the mantle of a man with character and integrity and honor and power and blessing upon his life. I remember one day, and by the way, I had the joy when I was first called to preach. I had a lot of good men around me. Thank God if you've got some good folk around you. Watch those men. Stay close to them. Get everything you can from them. By the way, just stay close to them all the time. And thank God when the blessing of God comes on them, you'll get some of it. But I remember I was around good people. I love my pastor, Dr. Lee Roberson, and I am not timid when I say it. I'm saved because of him and saved because of the Highland Park Baptist Church, Chattanooga, Tennessee. I rejoice in Dr. Roberson. So many things he taught me. By the way, he can no longer travel, and that hurts me for him. But Dr. Robertson, I remember one time the Bill Rice Ranch asked our church to do something. I was pastor in Murfreesboro for about 18 and a half years. But they asked us to do something for Dr. Robertson. They said, will you decorate one of our preacher's rooms? Will you pay for it? And would you like to choose what room you'd like to decorate? I said, I'd like to decorate Dr. Robertson's room. He loves red. Man, we put red everywhere. We put red everywhere. But anyway, I asked Bill III, I said then, I said, say, would you mind if we put some kind of little plaque or something outside the room? Because we're going to dedicate it to Dr. Robertson. And he said, oh, that'll be fine. Well, we had a beautiful plaque made. It was a beautiful thing. We listed all the things, Tennessee Temple University, Tennessee Temple Seminary, Gospel Dynamite. Cam Joy, all the things that this man had accomplished. We had them all right on there. And I remember, I looked at Dr. Robertson and I said, now Dr. Robertson, you realize our church decorated that room for you. Can I show you a plaque we put out in front of your room? You know what he said? This is the way he does it too. No, Bob. I don't want to see it. Honest truth. I don't want to see it. I really don't. Ms. Robertson spoke up and said, I do! If that was Dr. Robertson, he was dead to self. Dead to self. I thank God that the mantle I picked up was a mantle of a man with character. Are you understanding me now? Okay, so the woman has called him a holy man of God. Let me give you three reasons, and you've got to turn back to chapter 3 to see the three reasons I feel the woman called him a holy man of God. Certainly, she had to decide some things about him and come to some conclusions about him and find out why. Why would she just say, I perceive this is a holy man of God? I think there are three reasons. I'd write them down if I were you. Number one, Elisha was holy. in his motives and motivations, he was holy in his inner self. Get that. He was holy in his inner self. Have you ever heard someone say, well, we shouldn't judge a person's motives? You can't keep from judging a person's motives. You say, why, Brother Kenneth? Well, it's real easy. Actions come from motives. Am I right on that? We say, Judge, not the kidney, not Judge. It's impossible not to judge. Now wait a minute. Motives are the reasons for actions. She looked way down deep inside and realized His actions came from a right, biblical, holy Something different about him. And she saw it. When the stream is bad, it's because the fountain is bad. And when the tree is sick, it's because the root is sick. Am I right? Now watch me. When the living is bad, it's because the thinking and the motivating and the syllogizing and the reasoning is bad. When things are wrong in a life, it's because motives are wrong. And desires are wrong. And longings are wrong. And the things you're coveting are wrong. The things you're wanting more than the blessing and power of God and purity and holiness, there's something wrong in there. She perceived as a holy man of God. You know, it scares me today that we're producing celebrities rather than servants. Look at verse 11. The Bible says, But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord by him? Let me give you the background. Here are three kings. King number one, Jehoshaphat. Good fella. Loved the Lord. Still had some weaknesses. Studied his life. The second was Jehoram. They're forming a coalition now. And then there was also the king of Edom. These three kings decided that they were going to fight the king who had rebelled against Jehoram. His name was Mesha. Just read the story after the sermon tonight. Here they are, all three of them now. Watch them. And I want you to notice that they're in trouble. They're in the wilderness. Their cattle has no water. They were on a seven-day journey. The cattle had run out of water. What are we going to do? Let's see what happens. Look, if you will, at verse But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord by him, and one of the kings of Israel? Remember now, the king of Israel, the northern kingdom, is Jehoram. Jehoshaphat, king of the southern kingdom. The king of Israel's servants answered and said, Here is Elisha, the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah. Let me give you something. It was a custom in those days that after the people had eaten, that the servant of the house would come and bring a wet towel to wash their hands. And he would actually perform it. But I want you to notice, when Elijah was around and Elisha was with him, he washed Elijah's hands. Nobody else. He did it for ten years, folks. I could say he spit-shined Elijah's shoes for ten years. Remember who Elisha was. Elisha was the son of a very wealthy man. Read the biography. A very wealthy man. This young man had not lived as a servant. He had lived as a prince. And now he stoops all the way down. to being a servant for ten long years, you say, why Brother Kelly? Because he had a right motive. And his right motive was, now watch me, he wanted what Elijah had. He wanted a double portion of what he had. And bless God, because his motives were right. Listen to me. He got the double portion. If you'll check me out, count all the miracles that were wrought. He wrought twice as many miracles as Elijah. Motives were right. God blesses Christians who will play second fiddle. He blesses Christians that do not have to have the top rung on the ladder. He blesses Christians that do not need applause for their work. He blesses Christians that do not need a new car or a trip to Hawaii for the souls they win. He blesses Christians that serve out of obedience and out of duty, and out of commandment, and out of love for the Son of God. Now, if those motives are not right, first of all, any believer here tonight is wrong, and for sure, any preacher is wrong. You say, Brother, what is your motive for the ministry? My motive for the ministry is that I might glorify the Son of God. That I might exalt Him in words and deeds and actions. that I might be true to Him, that He might look at me at the judgment seat of Christ and say, Bob, God bless you! I'm glad I can say, well done, thou good and faithful servant, well done! I live for that! I might be closer to it than you'll ever know. I've had three stints put in my heart in the last couple of years, plus my open-heart surgery. And I'm going to tell you something, folks. Listen to me. There's certain stimuli That will get you right with God. Amen. Tell another one about D.L. Moody. D.L. Moody. D.L. Moody invited four special speakers to his, I think it was called Northeastern, Northwest, I don't know what it's called. But anyway, he had a preaching grounds, a camp grounds up in New England. He invited four preachers. The next morning when they got up, all four of them had shined shoes. And all of them just took for granted that some of the folks that worked there for Dr. Moody had shined their shoes. No, D.L. Moody had shined his shoes himself. Amen. High Pockets, are you listening to me, High Pockets? You need some shoeshine. Amen. Amen. We need it. Up, peacocks feathers! Who do you think you are? One day a young man came in to another preacher and said, you know, preacher, I've got a whole lot. I've got a whole lot of pride in me. The preacher looked at him and said, what you got to be proud of, son? You know, the truth is, when you look at most of us physically, we ain't got nothing to be proud of. Huh? Right. And a lot of us, when we talk, God knows we don't have anything to be proud of. Everybody knows we're ignorant. You know, don't you hate to get around somebody that thinks they're smart? Huh? Really. They're a nuisance. They really are. You get around and you think that they were Superman! Huh? I had to learn a long time ago I wasn't Superman. And you better learn that. Wash Elisha's hands. Care for him for ten years. He was a holy man of God in his inward self. His motives and motivations, his feelings down deep inside were right. Amen. He was also holy another way. He was not only holy in his motives and motivations, but he was also holy in his mixing. Watch the word I'm going to use. I used to watch my mama. I used to love to see her make a cake or make cornbread. I like cake and cornbread. It's evident. Right? I like them both. Boy, she'd get this great big old bowl. She'd have all of her ingredients out there, you know? And she'd pour a little bit of this in, a little bit of that in, a little bit of this in, a little bit of that in. And boy, I'd say, I'd watch her take those little hands and then knead it, you know? And it'd run through her fingers and she'd get it just right and then she'd roll it out just the way she wanted. And you know, it always tastes the same. The very same. Never varied. Never varied. Always the same. It was good. Now, in your mixing, you better watch your ingredients if you want it to taste good. Elisha watched his mixings. I want to show you what I mean by that. Look, if you will, at the next verse, verse 12. And Jehoshaphat said, now remember Jehoshaphat is the three-fourths good king. He had some weaknesses. He had an Achilles heel. I'm not going to go into that. Jehoshaphat said the word of the Lord is with him. Now he's bragging on a line shop. He knew Elisha. So the king of Israel, Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom, this is the ecumenical council here, you know, they went down to Elisha, and Elisha said unto the king of Israel, notice, he didn't say one word to Jehoshaphat, and he knew Jehoshaphat very well. Didn't brag on him at all. He looked right at the king of Israel. You say, Brother Kelly, who was the king of Israel? Jehoram? You say, what was Jehoram? He's the son of Ahab and the son of old Jezebel. And he was just like them. The Bible says when he died, they made no burning for him. He was one of those fellows, when he left, everybody was glad. Jehoram, if you look right at him, notice what he does. You want to see some guts? Everybody like to see courage? Here it is in the raw. Elijah said unto the king of Israel, Jehoram, what have I to do with thee? What do you mean, coming to me? I'll add something, you're not supposed to add to the word of God, but maybe he said, why are you coming to me, you devil? What have I to do with it? Get thee to the prophets. And boy, you talk about a rebuke. You get thee to the prophets of thy father. Here it is now. And thy mother. Remember who daddy worshipped and who mama worshipped. Baal. And you've been just like them. Just as filthy and just as dirty. I don't want to have anything to do with you. Verse 13 And the king of Israel said unto him, Nay, for the Lord hath called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab. He said, We are scared to death. And Elisha said, Now watch this. He is still speaking to Jehoram. And Elisha said, As the Lord of hosts liveth before whom I stand surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat. If Jehoshaphat was not in this room, and by the way, Jehoshaphat had a pretty good testimony if you know anything about him. If it was not for the presence of Jehoshaphat and I regarded his presence, I would not even look toward thee, nor see thee. I wouldn't even look at you, buddy. You see, there were some principles there. Elisha was the prophet of Almighty God, the holy man of God. Jehor was an idolater. Come on. He was pretty tough, won't you say? Now, what does that mean, preacher? Well, you ought not, come on now, lay down with dogs because you'll come up with fleas. Am I right? You ought to watch who you make your friends. You've got to be very selective. See, bad friends dishonor your heavenly Father. That's what Elisha knew. Now, I know this is the day of let's get together. You study the Word of God and there are a lot of times you can't get together on a lot of issues and a whole lot of things. You know, we hear words all the time now, and they've been around secondary separation and militant fundamentalism and pseudo-fundamentalism and ultra-fundamentalism and all that. Why don't we just all get back to one word? Biblical separation. You say, Brother Kelly, what determines your separation? This book and that Holy Spirit that Brother Rodney preached about will tell you who and what you ought to separate from. By the way, this proves that we're not only just to separate from things, but people. The Holy Spirit will tell you who to separate from. Just ask Him. He'll show you what to separate from. Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord. Do you know what that means? The picture here in the original is, watch. It's like a lady taking a piece, a piece of garment, cloth, and she puts down her, you know, her, her, whatever you call it. I know, it's that great big old piece of wood that looks like a huge yardstick, you know. She lays that thing down and then she takes her scissors and very carefully she goes, and then she pulls it away. That's what separation means. There's some things you've got to pull away from, and some people you have to pull away from. They leave you no choice if you're going to be a holy man of God. You have no choice. There's some you just don't mix with. I remember when I was first saved. I'd been saved, oh, what, just a few weeks. And a group of my buddies pulled up in front of our house. I wasn't married then. I lived with my mother and daddy in Chattanooga. And all of a sudden, I heard someone say, Hey, Hoss! Hey, Hoss! Come out, Hoss! That was some of my buddies. My nickname was Hoss. All of us had a nickname. You had to have a nickname. Everybody did. Mine was Hoss. But anyway, they said, Come on out here. In that car that night, there were about five boys. One of the boys in there still holds the record for the longest field goal in the University of Tennessee history. One of those boys played quarterback at the University of Chattanooga. One of them was one of my friends who played with me at my college. And another one was another boy who played first string halfback at Vanderbilt University. I got in the car and you talk about man letting me have it. I just can't say, remember, Kelly, you've ruined your life. You're through. You're not going to have any fun anymore from the rest of your life. It'll be restrictions. It'll be demands. It'll be, can't go here, can't go there. You went over there at Harlem Park Baptist Church and you ruined your life. And one of those old boys, I'll never forget it. One of my good friends. I don't give their names when I tell this. One of my good friends. He said, Aus, he said, I'll give you three months. And you'll be right back with us. Thank God it's been 43 years. You say, why? Because there were some good Godly people in my early years who discipled me and mentored me and stayed close to me and taught me, Bob, you can't love the world without, watch me now, without danger. So I learned early that I had to stop mixing. Stop some mixing. So thank God I just cut out my scissors. And I'm not bragging. I'm just telling you what works, folks. Number three, he was also, now watch, a holy man of God, not only in his motives, motivations, his heart feelings. He was a holy man of God in his mixing. But he was a holy and thankful preacher. This is in here. He was a holy man in his music. Oh, now preacher, that's not in the passage. Yes, it is. Read on. Look, if you will, down in verse 14. Elisha said, As the Lord of hosts liveth before whom I stand, surely were it not I regarded the presence of Jehoshaphat, I would him look at you, boy, but now bring me a minstrel. He did not say, bring me Sandy Patty. He did not say, bring me Amy Grant. And she's pretty well out of it now. And by the way, I don't know all the other people's names that I could say, but I know a lot of you know them. Right? So you know all their names because you keep up with it. I don't know their names. Holy is music. You know, the other day I did something. I hope this will bless you because it blessed me. I have a Timothy Club. I've had it now since 1979. I meet every Thursday morning with every young person in our Christian school who will admit two things to me. Number one, I will go to a Christian Bible college for my training. Number two, I am open to the will of God for my life, whether it's missionary, preacher, they can't be in the club without that. I've been doing it now for 24 years. I've seen a lot of kids make commitments to the Lord. And two things I deal with them right now, I believe about as much as any other things I deal with. I will tell you number one, friendships. More young people lose their testimony lives over friendships. Hear me. Choose, select your friends very carefully. Very carefully, you become like them. And today, the second thing is their music. So what I did the other day, I sat down and I wrote down some of the things that have been first things in my life that I have established that are very important to me. And I want to just share some of it. Number one, I've learned that your best sermon is your family. your own personal life. I don't care how eloquent you are, sir. You may be a super elocutionist. You might be able to master these. You're not going to move people unless they see your message in you. Not going to do it. Another basic. Love people. Love them like you find them. Love them with their rough edges. Love them with their sins. Love people. There are a lot of people in this world that can get by without loving people. Lawyers get by with it. People, preachers, I'm sorry, policemen get by with it. But I don't know any preachers that can get by without loving people. Unless you're in a church full of tares. Number three, guard your tongue. Guard your tongue. Don't say anything today that you don't want to eat tomorrow. Number four, you don't get what you expect, you get what you are. All of us want certain things and we all set certain goals, but we don't reach them unless we are the embodiment of our goals. You'll never have what you want and all you want unless you measure up to what you want in your own life. Never tell somebody to jump a foot, preacher, unless you jump too. I write these down. Number five, learn what to make an issue. I remember before I was saved, I'd fight a circle saw. That's the honest truth. Lost almost every fight I ever got in, lost. Got the tar hooked out of me. I was unsaved, but I'd just go on in there, you know, and I'd even pick fights. Now, as a preacher, learn that a bulldog can whip a skunk, but it's not always worth it. Choose your fights. Choose them well. And when you should be in it, fight with all your heart. But don't be like the fellow who passes by and meddles with strife not belonging to him. It's like taking a dog by the ear. That dog will bite you. Die to self. Rise early in the morning. There's gold in the morning. Get along with God. You settle the first hour of the day and the other 23 will take care of themselves. Make good friends. They'll stick with you for a lifetime if they really are a friend. Say thank you. Always say thank you. Don't be a bum. Really, don't be ungrateful, unappreciative. That's heathen. Am I right? Record God's blessings. Write them down. Boy, if I'm finding out anything now at my age, and I'm not really old yet. I'm really not. He's not either. Don't you think we're old? No, sir. But I will say this. Here it is. A sharp pencil is better than a long memory. Record your blessing. Build you an Ebenezer book. And brother, when you want answers to prayer, you start reading back what God's done for you, and you'll get all excited and you'll realize He can still answer prayer. But I've got to put another one down. Be right in your music. Stay right in your music. You know why I put that one down? Because I've seen so many of my preacher brethren fall. Now, I can speak from experience in the field of music. I'm not an expert, but I can speak by experience. Ms. Kelly, you've heard of Ms. Kelly. I've told you about her. She has MS now. She can no longer sing or play the piano. But when I married her, she had a beautiful voice. She got her degree in music. Boys, I was, believe it or not, a minor in music. Aha! You didn't know that, did you, Brother Mike? A minor in music. But let me tell you why I'm more of an a little bit, have a little expertise in it, because before I got saved, ain't nobody danced around Chattanooga like I did. I'm not kidding you. I can still tell you all the singers. Naturally, Elvis, and by the way, he wasn't the king of anything. Right? That's Domino, you remember him? The Platters, remember them? Bo Diddley! Bill Haley in the Comets! Little Richard. Now let me tell you something though that will prove to you, you've got to be writing your music. Now listen to me real closely and I mean don't miss this. The next morning I awakened after my salvation and Psalm 40 became a reality in my life. He put a new song in my heart. Folks, let me tell you something. Listen to me. I'm amazed when I get up in the morning at the different songs that I'm singing. I'll probably be singing one of these in the morning. I heard it tonight. In my heart, I'll be singing a song. It's a miracle. I really mean that. He said, bring me a minstrel. That's someone who... Am I right? Now some of you aren't laughing and some of you are grinning. For sure, most of the music I hear from the so-called gospel rock, I can't tell what they're saying. The instruments are just blaring so loud. But I'll tell you what I know for a fact. It's sensuous. It's the same beat that I had before I was saved. And God has shown me something, preachers. You ought not have tavern music in your church. Am I right? Because I danced to all that with all the six-packs and everything else. Come on, I danced to all of that. And I'll tell you what I could do. I promise you, I could take some of that gospel rock, so-called gospel rock, and I could still move my feet and dance around. That shouldn't Christian music ought not motivate you like that. Christian music ought to motivate us too. Glory to God. Thank you, Lord. I'll give you a checklist for music and I'll be through. Number one, God created music. How do I know? I know because of the Word of God. The first mention of it, the book of Genesis. The first mention of it is Job. The morning star sang together. He taught him how to sing. Number two, God created man. He created music. He created man. Both music and man was a reflection of Himself. Therefore, both man and music must glorify Him and exalt Him. Show me a man's music and I'll show you the man. The Shunammite woman said, I perceive this is a holy man of God. One of the most unusual stories I've ever heard of a preacher, I will not give the name. One of the most unusual stories I've ever heard is the one I'm going to tell you, closing with this. He was on a trip, much like the one I made to come up here. He was in an airport. He went into the restaurant in the airport. She was a very well-known preacher. A very, very well-known preacher, still alive. And the waitress, I know she didn't mean this, and it wasn't deliberate. Brother Volklin, she sat a glass of beer on his table in front of him. Accidentally, I don't know. But she sat a glass of beer. He didn't see it at first, and when he looked down, he saw it. Now think this through. He wasn't being evil or unkind when he took his hand, just like that, and knocked it off the table. You say, now why, Brother Kennedy? Well, what if some good godly folks that knew him had been there? He had not had time to stand up in front of everybody and say, this lady accidentally put this down in front of me. No, he was so conscious of his testimony that he felt he did what he had to do. Anybody who might be looking had to know that that wasn't his. I believe that anybody who had seen that would say, with the shoe to my woman, I perceive that this man who has passed by is a holy man of God. Amen. Let's bow in prayer.