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Well, that was good, wasn't it? Brother Ben was testifying a
while ago, and he was talking about the Gospel. He said that
people have muddied it up. And that's true. The Gospel is
very simple. But I thought what he said, which
is also true, There's too many nowadays have moneyed it up. Amen. Amen. They've learned how
to make a good living, and they don't even preach a true gospel.
Amen. And I'm telling you, God help us. Amen. I'll be honest
with you, I really kind of intended tonight to preach out of the
book of Luke, chapter number 15. And you know that the majority
of that chapter is a parable that's got three divisions. One is the sheep, and then the
other one's the silver, and the other one's the sun. And I started
to preach about that woman and that one piece of silver. And
a few weeks ago, the Lord began to deal with my heart. I preached
a message out of that, and I preached on the night Mama tore the house
apart. And I compare that to that lost silver is that lost
sinner. And that woman is a seeking servant. And can I tell you something?
It amazes me the things that we get aggressive about. Amen. I mean, you can go into
a restaurant, and you say one thing about politics, and Lord,
I'm telling you, everybody's all fired up and wants to talk
and fight and tell their side and give their solution. It's
about like in our town, we've got a Hardee's there in town.
I don't care. I guess they open it at 4.30,
I think. By 5 o'clock, there'll be 10
and 12 men and women sitting over in the corner, gumming their
biscuits and gravy, chewing on their sausage and
biscuit, and solving the world's problems. And, I mean, really,
if you just listen to them, I mean, we could fix the world in just
a matter of moments, amen? Everybody's got a solution, amen?
But a lot of folks don't want to do it God's way. Amen. And I'll tell you something,
I've come to this understanding long enough in life to figure
this out. We're going to either do it God's way or we're going
to waste a whole lot of time. Amen. Amen. Take your Bibles,
if you would, tonight. Go to the book of 1 Chronicles,
chapter number 4. First Chronicles chapter 4, it's been a good week,
been good to be here and it's always good to be here at Pleasant
Valley Church. Thank you for your faithfulness
to the meeting and thank you for being in your place and your
sacrifice. And I hadn't said nothing all
week. Pastor told me I could, and I just hadn't taken the time
to do it. But I have got our CDs set up outside and our USBs. I've got USBs now for everything,
every one of our CD projects. And if you want any of those,
just see me after the service before I pack them up. All of
our CD and music sales, it all goes to help our Hands Across
the Nation work. We've got one more project that we're going
to do this year as soon as I can get back home. I'm supposed to
be home on, I think, the 11th, and I'm going to try to have
it done by that weekend. I've got gift boxes that we're
mailing out to 10 different missionary families. They're kids, not the
parents. I did this last year. We did
it for the kids. We send the kids a gift card,
and of course, I'm a granddaddy, and so there's a box of candy
that goes along with it, amen? Enough candy to rock Evertooth
out of their head, amen? And I don't even feel bad about
it. And so anyhow, so we'll try to finish that up, get those
mailed out so those families will all be able to receive those. I think this year, last year
it was close to 40. This year with the 10 families
that we're helping, I think we've got 34, 35 kids. And so that'll be our last Hands
Across the Nation project this year. And you have a part of
that. And as you mail those checks
out on a monthly basis and help us and support us. And so thank
you so much. And I will say this, I know you
have prayed and asked God to give us wisdom and direction
and we were able to get a newer vehicle that'll be able to pull
the trailers. and the things that we need to
do, and now that door is open, now that I can start carrying
and transporting Scripture. Brother Tim Gibson, up in... Thank you. It's like having my
wife here, amen? But you sure don't look as good
as her, amen? In Huntsville, Missouri. And
her beard's not as developed as yours is. But anyhow, he's
opened the door for us to be able to help them transport scripture.
And then they're close to home, the school where our grandkids
go, they have a printing industry there. And the man that's over
there, his name's Brother H.B. Carney. Brother Carney called
me the other day, and he said, I need 50 boxes of of Bibles
delivered to a church in Texas. Can you take them?" And I said,
I said, Preacher, I'm sorry, I can't. And I said, but if you'll
help me pray, I said, I will be able to. And so now I'm able
to start helping them as well as make these transportations
and help these churches to alleviate some of the expense and stuff
like that, and to help give it to them in a little bit more
of an expedited manner. And I want to chime in on what
Brother Jonathan said. Brother Jonathan made that statement.
And y'all know, Hands Across the Nation is based on Galatians
6, 10, as we therefore have opportunity. Let us do good unto all men,
especially unto them who are of the household of faith. There
are opportunities there. And I'm going to say this, because
it's kind of what I'm going to preach to you about tonight.
Don't look around and say, well, I think we're doing enough. Can
I tell you something? The death of a church is complacency. And I want to tell you something.
Like I said, I've not been in it long. I've only been preaching
34 years, but I can tell you this right now. Every church
that I have known through the years that have got content and
complacent on God, most of them are not even in existence now,
and if they are, they had to convert to some other non-biblical
entity to be able to survive. Oh, you might. And so, yeah,
so don't ever look, don't ever, don't ever set you a cap off
place and say we've reached our goal, now we're done, man. Because
it's a very dangerous thing, amen. And so it's good to be
here, and I appreciate you, appreciate your church, appreciate you loving
us, loving our family, and praying for us, and praying that God
helps us and does, and he's done good to us. I mean, he's been
very good to us, amen. Good to see a very long time
friend, Brother Seth Johnson. And I'm telling you, I really,
I'm really, really, really, really feeling old. I'm just going to
tell you. I knew Brother Seth's family
before there was Brother Seth. What year were you born? 96,
oh yes. Me and my wife had been married
six years. But I can remember him and the
youth meetings there at Victory Baptist Church. Mom and Daddy
loved God, still serving God, still faithful, still doing what
God called them to do all those years ago. I sure am thankful. Because sometimes you feel like
there's more horror stories than there are victory stories. But
him sitting on that pew right there is just a reminder that
there are still some that have given themselves to stay faithful
to the Lord. Amen. And I sure am. I was picking at him. I told
him a lot. I showed him Miss Danette. It was last week or
the week before. His wife had posted a picture
of the of them and the kids and all that kind of stuff. I said,
I said, I said, look at that right there. And she said, you
got to be kidding me. And I said, no. And I said, don't that make
you feel old? And she didn't talk to me for three days. I'm
kidding. I say that she didn't talk to
me for three days after she told me to shut up. So anyhow. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Maybe I'm kidding.
I might be kidding. I might not be kidding. Anyhow,
we're to the point now that we don't talk to each other. We
just accept it as normal because we can't hear good anymore. She
said something the other day. Used to, we'd say stuff like
this, I told you that. No, you didn't tell me that. And then
she'd say, I told you that. I'd say, no, you didn't tell
me that. But now we're at the point where maybe you did tell
me that, and I didn't hear it. Amen. That's kind of where we are.
Amen. Take your Bible and stand up with you, if you would, to
1 Chronicles chapter 4. And please pray for us tomorrow.
I've got to try to leave fairly early in the morning. I've got
about 9 or 10 hours of driving to do tomorrow to be in Georgia.
Lagrange, Georgia, and then I will be Monday through Wednesday. I'll be in Carrollton, Georgia,
and then I'm going home for the holidays. And so you pray for
us. It's a wonderful time to get
to be with my family and to get to celebrate and get to be in
my church some. But also in the same vein, it's
a hard time for an evangelist because whenever you're home,
everybody loves it. except your bank account, amen.
And so anyhow, so that's the reason why, that's the reason
why the support that we have and our personal support to our
family is very crucial during those winter months, amen. All
right, let's read these two verses and then I'm gonna preach to
you what the Lord's put on my heart tonight. Verses nine and 10, these will
be familiar verses. I wanna preach to you tonight
about a man that very little in the Bible is mentioned about
him. Matter of fact, only one other place will you find his
name mentioned and identified, and I think it's only maybe one
verse, and there's two verses here. But in these two verses,
we get a depiction of a man that we see two things about his life. Number one, we see his character,
but then number two, we see his conduct. And can I tell you something? The Bible said this, a good name
is rather to be chosen than great riches. And I know I've said
it already this week, that's the reason why I'm still old
school mentality and some people tell me I need to catch up. I'm
just not changing. Can I say something? If you are
a member of this church, Brother Jonathan, y'all understand this,
because you leave and you go travel, and everywhere I go,
I am in that church, I'm in this church this week to preach this
revival, but I am a representation of Lighthouse Baptist Church
in Wartburg, Tennessee. Amen, everything I do bears a
semblance upon my home church, amen. And just like you, as you
go about your day, as you do your duties in place to place.
The pastor and I have been out a few times this week and we've
been places and I stopped at a roadside vendor up there, was
getting some stuff. was walking away, and he hollered,
he said, come here, come here, come here. He said, here, and he handed
me a bag of pork skins. He said, here, give them, is
that Brother Andy over there? And I said, yeah. He said, well,
give them to him, and tell him, I said, have a good day. Amen. You know what that meant? There
are two things. Number one, that meant that that man knew him,
and that man liked him. Amen, amen. And I want to say
this, sometimes we have this depiction in our mind that it's
only important that the pastor have a good testimony. But can
I say this, that you and I, as members of the local assembly,
we ought to understand that we represent not only Christ when
we leave this place, but we represent this place. Amen. The Bible said
this, in verse number 9 and verse number 10, the Bible said, and
Jabez was more honorable than his brethren. And his mother
called him Jabez, saying, because I bear him in sorrow. And Jabez
called on the God of Israel, saying, O that thou wouldst bless
me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be
with me, and that thou wouldst keep me from evil, that it may
not grieve me. And look at this last statement
about Jabez's life. This is the clearest depiction
of his life we have. And God granted him that which
he requested. We've got a story of a man by
the name of Jabez and a very minimal picture of his life,
but yet a very clear picture of his life. And I want to make
a comparison to him and to you and I and to us as the body of
the church And I want to preach to you on this thought tonight,
and just let me build a few things and I'll give it to you. I want
to preach to you on this thought, on this. Are we going to go and
grow or are we going to stay and play? Are we going to go
and grow or are we going to stay and play? Father, I love you,
and Lord, I'm thankful to be in this place, and I'm honored,
God, this week to be able to stand in this pulpit. I do not
take it lightly that a man of God would entrust me from Sunday
morning until Friday night to stand in the place that you've
given him authority over and leadership in. And God, I'm thankful
for the people that have come and assembled, and I know some
have had to work, and things have providentially hindered
people from being here, but to the best of most people's ability,
they've been faithful, and Lord, I sure am thankful for it. Now,
God, I pray, as I prayed every night that you'd take this service
and you'd speak to our hearts, you'd help us, And I pray for
this church, God, that you would continue to strengthen them,
help them. God, grow them. And God, I've said it every night,
so here I am again. I want you to do just what Jabez
asked, enlarge their coast. And then God, whenever you do,
help them to be faithful over what you entrust them to. God,
I pray over the Ellis family. God, I know they're fighting
sickness, and God, they gotta pack up, they gotta get in that
van, they gotta leave for several weeks. Tomorrow, God, they need
your touch, they need your help. I pray whatever Breanna's fighting,
that you would touch her. Tonight, that fever would break,
it would dissipate, and she'd not have to deal with it anymore.
God, she'd be able to go and do what you've gifted and talented
her to do, and touch this family as they go and preach and sing.
God, I pray over Brother Andy, Miss Wendy, I pray you'd touch
them. God, touch their family. I pray a hedge of protection
right about them. And I pray you'd guard them, God. I pray
you'd set guard around them. God, bless these families of
this church, the visitors that have come and supported this
meeting. God, I pray you'd touch everyone.
And God, you help us tonight. Lord, we need you. We desperately
need you. God, I'm telling you, I'm telling
you, you're enough. You are enough. God, I pray sometimes
in our flesh we try to add to and we try to supplement, God,
but we don't have to. You are sufficient for the needs
of our life. Now, Father, you help us, I ask
it in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. You can be seated.
You'll find the Word of God. I've said that I've given you
a very clear picture, a very minimal picture. but a very clear
picture into the life of a man by the name of Jabez. Let me
say this just in a way of introduction. There's three things we'll identify.
Number one, we see his position. His position is this, that he
was more honorable than his brethren. Now that word honorable, if you
take a good old I mean, it's just hard to do it, but if you
take an old 1828 Noah Webster dictionary and look up the word
honorable, you'll find it means this. It means to be one of dignity. It means to be one of great character. But then if you'll read on in
that dictionary, it means this. It means to be, not only is that
you're standing, but in and of others, when you're honorable,
it means to be respected. It means to be honest. And here's
a good one. It means to be without hypocrisy. But then it means this, it means
to not be disgraced. So there's a lot about the word
honorable that we find, but the one factor that we find about
Jabez being written that God saw fit to allow to be recorded
is God wants us to understand he was a man of honor, he was
honorable. The number two, we see not only
his position, but then we gotta examine his past a little bit.
And it amazes me how quickly his past is identified, because
I believe this, I believe that, thank God, I'm glad that he did
not allow his past to overshadow his present, amen? And the Bible
said this, that, and his mother called his name Jabez, and the
word Jabez does mean sorrow, because she bare him with sorrow. And so we see not only his position,
but we see his past, and his name means sorrow. He was a place,
a point of sorrow in the wife and mother. But I want to say
this, there's not a person in this room breathing air that hasn't got
a past. Can I tell you something? I said it earlier this week,
if you knew me now, like God knows me, you probably wouldn't
want to have no fellowship with me. And the same thing if I knew
you like God knows you, I'd probably want to be cynical and critical.
Somebody say amen right there. Why? Because the fact of the
matter is this, we have a sin nature, we fail, we're frail,
we're weak, and we fall to temptation, and sometimes we allow Satan
to get the advantage, and he only gets the advantage because
we give place to the devil in our lives. But Jabez did not
let the fact that his entire beginning meant sorrowful. He
chose that he'd live a life where he could be identified, and I'll
say this, not by others, not by himself, but by others that
he was a man of honor and that it was honorable. But then we
see his priorities. Number three, we see this, not
only his position, he was more honorable than his brother in
his past. His name was Jabez because his mom bore him in sorrow,
but then we see his priorities, and the Bible said this, because
I bear him with sorrow, but in verse number 10, the first part,
and Jabez called on the God of Israel. Can I say something? Jabez obviously had a very clear
understanding that, brother Ben, that God's enough. Amen. because he didn't ask anybody
else. He did not ask anybody else.
Can I tell you something? It amazes me, and it took me
a few years when I began to first start in evangelism over where
Brother Sennett's from. I preached for his grandfather
and his father over there, but I preached before I ever went
on the road in full time. His granddaddy had me over there,
and I was just so young and so ignorant, and God was having
to teach me so many things. But it didn't take me long to
find out that if I put my confidence in men, I was going to be sorely
let down. Now, I'll tell you something,
you're looking at a problem. Listen, you all have never heard me ditch
on God's people. I believe God's people are the
best people, amen? The clothes on my back, the shoes
on my feet, everything I have is because of the kindness and
the graciousness of God's people. I filled my vehicle up today,
and it's only the second time I've had to fill that thing up,
and it took my breath just a little bit, amen? but I filled it up.
You know why I did, Brother Jonathan? Because of the goodness of God's
people. Amen? Do you know why I'll travel down
the road and I'll be able to do what God's called me to do?
Because of God's people. But this is the fact of the matter
is, there's nothing wrong with understanding that God's people
are good, but can I tell you something? If we ever find anybody,
whether they're good or bad, and put more confidence in them
than we put in God Himself, then we are setting ourself up for
failure. Amen. Bible said this over in 1st John
chapter 5, this is the confidence that we have in Him. That if
we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. And
if we know he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have
the petitions that we've desired of him. Can I tell you something?
There's nothing wrong with asking a buddy. I've got pastors, local
supporting pastors, and I've got a prayer team of people that
when I have a burdensome prayer request, I drop a text message
to them, and they've given themselves and committed themselves to pray
over situations in my life. But can I tell you something?
I don't talk to anybody. before I talk to God. Amen. And Jabez had his priorities
right. Jabez understood if he accomplished anything, he understood
that his honorable character didn't come from him, but it
come from a God that was good to him. There's four things he
identifies here in his prayer, and I want to look at those quickly.
Then I'll move on to the last little thought that I've got,
and then we'll be finished tonight. The Bible said this, and Jabez
called on the God of Israel, saying, I don't even know, really
and seriously, other than the Lord Jesus Christ, this is probably
the clearest picture that we have inside the personal prayer
life of another individual in the entire Bible. Now, in John
17, if you want to call something the Lord's Prayer, in John 17,
it's the Lord's Prayer. You know, not our Father which
art in heaven. That's his example of prayer.
But if you want to hear the Lord's Prayer of John 17, But other than Jesus Christ himself,
we've probably got just no more of a clear picture inside of
a man's personal prayer than right here, even with Paul on
the ship. The Bible said this after the
shipmaster and the owner didn't believe Paul and did what they
wanted to do. He just disappeared. He went to the prayer place.
We don't even know what he said. We know a little bit of what
he said. But all I know is this, whatever he said got the attention
of God. And I mean out of 276 men, not
a single one of them lost a hair off their head. Somebody say
amen right there. I was in church the other day
in a youth meeting down in Tennessee, in 10 Mile, Tennessee. I don't
know why they call it 10 Mile. It ain't even one mile wide,
amen? But 10 Mile, Tennessee, and it was so many people there.
Brother Brady Rochester and his family were there. They had to
sit in the choir, and I had to sit up behind the piano. And
anyhow, I was sitting there, and there's a man sitting next
to me, which I thought was kind of odd whenever the woman on
the piano, she had hair hanging off her back. And he reached
up, and while they're praying, and he moved, it caught my attention,
yes, I was looking, amen? And he grabbed that hair off
her back, and I thought, leave it alone. And he took it, and
he dropped it on the floor. They quit praying, I nudged him,
I said, do not drop any more of those on the floor, hand them
to me next time, amen? What's bad is he didn't get it
for about five minutes. And then all of a sudden, Brother
Brady and his family's up singing, and he goes, ha, ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha. And I looked over at him like
he had four heads. I said, freak, what are you doing over there,
amen? He said, I just got that hair thing. That's why I'm bald. I'm working with idiots, amen? J-Best said this. Four things
he asked for, and he called on the God of Israel. This is what
he said. He said, thou wouldst bless me indeed. Can I tell you
something? This is the fact of the matter.
You and I didn't understand. Jabez wasn't asking for deep
pockets and his cupboards to be full, his coffers to be full,
and his silos to be full. But Jabez was asking God to give
him what he needed to do what he wanted him to do. The Bible
said in Ephesians 1, 3, it said, "'Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, "'who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings "'in heavenly places in Christ.'" Can I tell you something? God is not against blessing his
people. Now, I want to tell you something. I am 135% against
this prosperity gospel that's being preached. And I want to
say this. I used to point the gun and shoot
that, and all I hit was the Charismatics. But now when I shoot that, I'm
hitting independent Baptists. Because, like I said a while
ago, they've moneyed the waters. Amen, amen. I was in a church
just the other day, and there was a fella told me, he said,
there was a man spoke to him, and he said, preacher, I love
coming here, and y'all are always, it's great to be here. He said,
but you're gonna have to start doing more for me if I come back. Amen. Independent fundamental. I'm
not talking about Rod Parsley and Benny Hinn and all that crowd
that we've been shooting at for years. If I call his name, some of y'all
know him well. But the fact of the matter is this, it's become
a money thing. It's not, hey, I need this, I
need this to help me to extend my gospel reach. No, I need this
for me. Jabez said it, and this is how
I dealt with this. He said, give me. He said, bless
me indeed. But the reason why he's asking
for these blessings is because that's the only way he's going
to be able to do what God's called him to do. He can't do it with
himself. He doesn't have the power to muster it up. And I
want to say this, I thank God for my support. Y'all are one
of my supporting churches, and I thank God for my supporting
churches. that I call this church by name because I feel like I'm
obligated, and I don't do it because I'm obligated. I do it
because of the commitment you've made to support us and to help
us, and so I've made a commitment to support you and help you,
but can I tell you something? You listen to me. I understand.
I'm thankful. I do what I do because of the
giving and the graciousness of God's people, but you mark it
down. I know where my resource is, and it's much higher than
a church or a congregation. Amen. He said, give me. Then number two, look what he
said. Verse number 10, he said this. He said that thou wouldst
bless me indeed. And look at these conjunctions.
You know what these conjunctions are. They're adding thoughts.
They're building a foundation and adding thoughts together.
And then he said this, and enlarge my coast. Number one, he said,
give me. He said, bless me indeed. But
then number two, he said, grow me. He said, enlarge my coast. I want to ask you a question.
Don't just jump up and holler, amen, because it fits right here. But when's the last time you
really asked God to give you more to do? Now, I'm going to
be honest with you. By nature, most of us are living
our lives trying to figure out what we can go through a day
and get by with not doing. If I can put it off till tomorrow,
amen, Somebody said, man, you go home, get you some rest. I
said, that's a pleasant thought. But when I go home, everything
that I've had to let go while I've been gone is still there
waiting on me. I have been earnestly seeking the Lord and asking God
to empower my wife to get all that Christmas trees put up before
I get home. I have prayed for a supernatural
touch from heaven, amen. I pray she gets up in the morning,
amen, and I mean, it's like the flash has just moved inside,
amen. You say, why? Because I'm telling
you, I'm dreading. I mean, if you just put one tree
up, it'd be okay. We put eight up last year. I
said, it's like a forest inside our house, amen. And so going home and resting
is a pleasant thought, but there's responsibilities there. But can
I tell you something? I don't want to let a day go
by that I'm not looking for, Brother Andy, another opportunity
to do more for God than what I'm doing right now. But Seth,
you've been doing this long enough to understand the road life is
wearisome, it's hard, the hours are long, and we don't do what
we do because it's free from any kind of obstacles or hindrances
or anything like that. There's the parts of that that
are taxing and wearisome. I mean, you get a vehicle going
and it'll tear back up. You get this fixed and it'll
tear back up. I mean, there's always something going on, but
the reality of it is sometimes the temptation comes whenever
the adversity's there that we start saying, I tell you what
we do, we just need to put her in neutral, amen? We just need
to put her in neutral, and we just coast along a little bit
till we sort of get caught up a little bit. Can I tell you
something? J. Best looked at what he was doing, and he thanked
God for it, and he was praising God for it. He asked God, he
told him, he said, God, I want you to give me. He said, I need
your blessings. I need provision to do what you
call me to do. And he said, then when you make
those provisions, give me more to do, and then I'm gonna have
to have some more blessings to get it done. Amen. I heard Brother Earl Hughes say
this years ago, and I've never forgot it. He said, Christians
are like water, always looking for the path of least resistance.
And that's so true. The Bible said this, Psalm 92,
12, he said, the righteous shall grow like a palm tree. And he
said, he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. You say, what's the
significance of that? Well, number one, the palm tree,
we find the palm tree is a picture and a type of strength. and the
cedars of Lebanon, they're a picture and type of stability. Can I
tell you something? If God grows you and gives you
more to do, he'll strengthen you and help you give you the
strength you need to be stable enough to fulfill it. Number
one, give me, bless me indeed. Number two, grow me, enlarge
my coast. But then number three, look what he said right here.
In verse number 10, he said, that thou would enlarge my coast,
he said, and that thine hand might be with me. Number one,
he said, give me, bless me indeed. Number two, he said, grow me,
enlarge my coast. Then number three, he said, guide
me. that thy hand might be with me. And we talked about this,
Brother Jonathan, we talked about this, me and you and Brother
B and Miss Missy last night. And Brother Seth, you've experienced
this, I'm sure. It amazed me when I stepped out,
when I wasn't out on the road full-time and living by faith
and all that kind of stuff, nobody cared, but then when I stepped
out and did it, everybody had advice. And can I tell you something?
I'm going to go back to what I said last night. Sometimes I think people
really had good intentions. But when it all comes down to
it, when it's all said and done, I've got to do what God tells
me to do. Amen. And I'm thankful I had a preacher,
and I'm going to say this again, because I think I had a preacher
that taught me that, listen, if somebody comes up, wants to
give you advice, just listen to them, be kind. And he said,
if you take one thing from what they say, you've bettered yourself.
He said, but if you can't say nothing they've said, he said,
tell them thank you and walk on. because when it all comes
down to it, I'm going to stand before God with how I've responded
to His voice. Amen. And I was very blessed
to have a pastor that said, I want to tell you something. He said,
Brother Stacey, you do what God tells you to do, even if I don't understand
it. That's what you call a pastor
over the heritage and not a Lord over the heritage. Amen. And I'll be honest with you.
I said it scared me to think about doing something that my pastor
didn't understand. But whenever he gave me that
liberty, because he said this, he said, God's going to speak
to you in a way you'll understand. You follow him. I said, yes,
sir. Can I make a statement right
here? How much trouble would we stay out of if we just yielded
to his leadership? Psalm said this in Psalm 31.
He said, for thou art my rock, my fortress. He said, therefore,
for thy name's sake, lead me and guide me. Can I tell you
something? I don't think the Lord fussed
at you. If you tell him, Lord, I don't want to give my ear to
anybody but you. Amen. I tell young couples that
are looking for a spouse, I tell them this all the time. I said,
you get the ear of God, and God will give you the heart of a
mate. And I said, then when God gives
you the heart of a mate, he's gonna also tell you, that's right
right there. Because he's got your ear, and
you've got his. Psalm 73 verse 24, he said this,
he said, And I'm not trying to be funny here when I say this,
but it amazes me what idiots people will listen to nowadays. I mean, and we've all took our
pot shots from the pulpit as preachers against Oprah and Dr. Field and all the, and I mean,
somebody can come out with a new, modern, fangled way and then,
boom, everybody's just like a catfish with a hook in their mouth, just
they bite it. But I want to say this. The Holy Ghost had to really
deal with my heart about this. In a lot of people's defense,
a lot of people are desperate. A lot of people just need some
relief and they need some help. I've shared it with you all week,
I've talked to you. We've got some desperate situations in
our life right now. If my wife and I, if we didn't
have the knowledge of the Word of God and have been taught through
the years like we have been, I could see how easy it would
be to want to gravitate to something that looks like a quick fix.
Amen. Maybe I'm getting a little soft
and tender in my old age. But then sometimes people are
just stupid. I mean, people try to give you solutions and not
even factor God inside of it. That's dumb. I think, Brother
Jonathan, by him what, all things what? Consist. He's going to
have to have his part in it for it to work and be right. Jabez,
He said, Lord, I want you to give me, I want you to grow me.
He said, I want you to guide me. And I want to say something
about guidance. And the thing with guidance is
it's not the fact that Christ doesn't want to guide us, but
it's the fact that we sometimes are not willing to submit ourselves
unto Him. I'm gonna do it again. I didn't convince myself I wasn't
gonna do it, but I'm gonna do it again. And we all use that word, and
I'm not telling you to rip it out of the songbook. I love that
song, I surrender all to Jesus. I surrender all to him, I freely
give. I love it. But you won't find in your King
James Bible where we've been called to surrender anything.
It's not there. Brother Seth, I made this statement
the other day, and as a generation of fundamental Bible-believing
Baptists, we learned how to force people to do things, and then when they didn't have
our domination to keep them accountable to that, they went another way.
But yet, if they had submitted themselves to God, it wouldn't
have been a force of men, it would have been a will of themselves.
And that's what the surrender is. Surrender is something that
I force you to do. I mean, in all seriousness, I was picking
at Trenton earlier this week. I said, man, you've grown a foot
since last year. And, you know, ain't no kid, little kids, they
all love to hear that, man, you're bigger, you're stronger, you
know, and all that kind of stuff. But in all seriousness, if I
was to pull Trenton up here, really, him compared to me, I
could make him do anything I wanted him to do. He's here, I'm here. I could force him. But this is the issue. No army
that's ever fought a battle that had to wave the white flag of
surrender wanted to. You know what the white flag
of surrender is in a military stance especially? It's a last-ditch
effort to save what life is remaining. That's all it is. to try to stop
them from killing them. Do you think there's ever been
an army that with pride and joy waved the white flag and said,
we give up? No. Really, in all seriousness, surrender
is not a pleasant thing on the military stance. It's not. That's why in His Word, He doesn't
tell us to surrender ourselves to God. He tells us to submit
ourselves to God. Surrender is an action that is
forced upon us by the domination of a greater. But you know what
submission is? Submission is an act of my will.
And when I go to the feet of the Savior and I say, Lord, here's
my life, because the fact of the matter is this, and I'm thankful
I had people in my life that taught me that, because that's
the reason why all those things that as God through the years
has whittled on my life, and He's taken the chisel, and He's
cut here, and He's filed here, and He's taken me to the potter's
wheel, and He's molded here, and He's taken this little edge
off, and He's taken that bump off, and you know the reason
why all those things are still in my life? because those were placed there
by the hands of my potter, not by the domination of some greater
power. I got a friend of mine, one of our supporting pastors
over in North Carolina that was very hard hit by the storm. Him and I were talking one day,
and his wife is a potter. She throws pottery. And he said,
whenever they're out, especially if they go over to Pigeon Forge
or something like that, and he said, they're walking through
them stores, and he said, he said, I watched Rachel, and he
said, she'll go grab those pottery pieces, and she'll pick them
up, and she'll look on the bottom of them, and he said, I got to
noticing, Brother Ben, he said, I got to noticing she'd run her
hand down in them. And finally, he said, one day,
he said, I couldn't take it, he said, why in the world are
you poking your hand down in there? She said, that's how I
can tell whether it's a real piece of pottery or not. He said,
what do you mean? She said, because on the inside
hidden part of that pottery is where you feel the potter's fingerprints. They smooth them out on the outside,
but they have to be on the inside because that's how the molding
is done. And she said, and if I feel fingerprints on the inside,
I know this is a real piece of pottery. And see, the reality
of it is this, yours and my submission to God is not something we just
do in an altar in front of everybody. It's a moment-by-moment, day-by-day,
situation-by-situation, hour-by-hour, month-by-month, year-by-year
thing. Amen. Amen. Because I'll be honest
with you, I can guarantee you, Brother Andy's not going to be
over knocking on my door at the cabin in the morning, saying,
now you need to get up, get on down there, get up, get up, now
get your truck packed, get on down there to LaGrange and his
place. But see, there are fingerprints
inside of me. that'll motivate me to get up
and go. Amen. Number one, he said, give me.
Number two, he said, grow me. Number three, he said, guide
me. But can I tell you something? That guidance only comes through
sincere submission. Then number four, I want to say
this, look what he said. He said this, and he said that,
thou wiltest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me. Number
four, I want to say this, he said, guard me. He said, God,
I need your help. And here I'm gonna go back to
what we started with earlier this week. He said, God, would you
put some protection around me? Can I tell you something? One of the most dangerous things
in a young person's life is when they get filled with pride and
think they can handle whatever comes their way. Amen. Amen. Because the reality of
it is this. The Bible said it, and you've
heard it for years, and we'll hear it again. Wherein you think you
stand, you got to take heed, because that'll be the place
that you fall. Amen. So you need to understand
something. This is just your first go-around
at life. Satan's been doing this a long time. And he's got tricks,
and he's got traps, and in all seriousness, what's really bad
about that is he hadn't changed his tactics a whole lot. Amen. It's just a new day, but it's
the same old devil. Amen. Amen. Hey, I'll be honest,
and I ain't being ugly, but I'm telling you, that's the reason
why when I'm out on the road by myself and my bride's not
with me, there's some safeguards I put in place that there's lines
I don't cross. Amen. Amen. I had a pastor one
time. I had a pastor one time. I was
staying in their house, and I wasn't opposed to that. It's awkward.
It's hard, but I did it. I get up at 3 o'clock in the
morning, go take my shower, do my thing so I'm not in nobody's
way. I come back, go back to bed. I got up about Whatever
time, got ready, got dressed for church. I come out, sat down
on the couch, waiting for the pastor. I was in their bedroom. They went to sleep in the basement.
And I'm sitting there, and all of a sudden, here comes his wife
up for church. Here comes his teenage daughter up for church.
And I said, Where's the preacher? She said, Oh, he left two hours
ago. I said, What? She said, Are you
ready? I said, Yeah, I'm ready, because
I think I'm fitting to kill that preacher when I get to church.
So anyhow, so then his daughter piles in the back seat, and she
said, Brother Stacey, you can ride up front with me. So here
I pull up into the church parking lot, the pastor's wife driving
me, sitting up in the front seat, King James. I got my Bible clutched
to my chest like this right here. You say, what are you saying,
Brother Stacy? I'm saying this. You don't give place to the devil.
Amen. You don't give place to the devil. Some of you are fighting battles
with things in your mind right now that the reason why you're
fighting those battles is because you gave place to the devil.
Amen. But if you won't ever give place
to him, he won't have that ground to gain on you. We got to the
church, and I said, Preacher, we need to talk. And I mean,
it's hard to chew the preacher out that you flew halfway across
the country to preach for, but I said, Preacher, don't ever
do me that way again. He said, I ain't thinking nothing
about it. I said, you probably don't. I said, but I can guarantee
you everybody in your church ain't like you. And I said, I've
given my life since I've been saved to build a testimony. And
all it would take is one statement to cause doubt and shadow. Amen. Can I tell you something? You
listen to me. That's the reason why our conduct, and I know everybody
just, you know, they want this, what I call this hippie Christianity,
just peace, love, joy, and flowers and buttercups and all that kind
of stuff, but can I tell you something? Our conduct as Christians,
that needs to be biblical. I'm not saying you got to be
harsh and mean and cruel and all that kind of stuff, but I'm
telling you what, I'm telling you, our conduct needs to represent
and be becoming of a Christian. Amen. He said, guard me. Can I say this? Church, I want
to ask you a question. This is the last night of revival
meetings, scheduled meetings. I hope and pray to God the revival
doesn't end. But I want to ask you a question. Do you want to
go and grow? Or do you wanna just stay where you're at? I
mean, I know Sunday, everybody roll in, we'll sing a few hymns.
Sunday school teachers will teach. You'll still go through the routine. I mean, I preach places all the
time, they just play in church. Amen? I mean, it's so scripted,
God don't even have a part till the end chapter. Earlier this week, there's something I've done,
I haven't done in a long time. But sometimes when I'm in a town,
I'll find out where City Hall is. And I'll just go up to City
Hall and pray for God to send revival to that town. I don't
know who, I don't even know if y'all have a mayor. Y'all have
a mayor? Ooh, y'all, Calico Rock got a
mayor? Ooh, thank God. And I don't know who your sheriff,
y'all got a sheriff? County, ugh. Well, there's somebody in jurisdiction or something like
that. Deputy, stuff like that. And have you ever thought about
this? Instead of criticizing your county
leaders, have you ever thought about praying for them? Say, I don't hit a vein.
I mean, some of y'all went to pray, and I didn't call for prayer. I mean, and I said this earlier
this week, I know this is a small community, small town, everybody
knows everybody's business, and everybody knows everybody's business,
and then everybody knows, and some people will make up business
about everybody. Welcome to small-town USA, amen? But I just went up
there last night and pulled after I left church, just went up there
and pulled, and if it hadn't have been 30-something degrees,
I'd have got outside and done it, but I sat in my truck and
prayed. I thought, God, this town needs revival. And what
could God do in a community if the mayor got born again? What could God do in a community
if the people who enforce law and order were born-again Christians? Amen. And I said, I don't know, I don't
know, you know, in our little county, we got a, you know, a
person who does this, a person who does that, and, you know,
election time, everybody's like, I don't vote for them, they sorry's
a day as long, their back's slid, and I mean, they're crooked as
they are. But I thought, man, we're so
quick to criticize. I wonder what would happen in
our county if we were just quick to pray. Amen. You say, Preacher, what are you
saying? I'm saying this. You gotta understand, if you want
there to be difference, then be part of the change. But can I tell you something?
A lot of people will choose to just stay and play. I wasn't gonna tell you, but
I am. We had a revival meeting one time. Went for five weeks
at our home church. And Sunday to Friday, Saturday
was a prayer day. We met at the church, prayed
on Saturdays. And I had meetings booked as
an evangelist, and I was grieved because I wasn't going to get
to be there. And I mean, in about a two-week time, Brother Jonathan,
every meeting I had canceled, those five weeks. And I thought,
God, help. I mean, I wanted to be at church,
But I'm just going to be transparent. I know if I'm home that there's
no financial income for my family. So I said, God, you're going
to have to do something, and He did. Five weeks we went. And one night,
I was in the altar praying. And I was asking God to work
in our county and turn things around. And anyhow, the Holy
Ghost spoke to my heart and said, That's a good idea. He said,
why don't you take a group of folks from the church and y'all
go up there to City Hall and pray. I was like, I just thought
I'd pray right here. Just, you know, I mean, you know,
you know. Cable lines run all the way to
here to there too, amen. And I said, in my heart, in my
heart, I didn't tell God no, but I just sort of thought, well,
that wasn't God. So I went ahead and tried to pray for my county,
my mayor, and all that kind of stuff. And I'll be honest with
you, if you really want to get committed to it, what about getting
their names and putting them on a prayer list? What about
that? And so, anyhow, we got up at
church, everybody's fellowshipping and all that kind of stuff, and
all of a sudden, my pastor was standing there talking, and I
started to leave. And the Holy Ghost said, You
going to go ask your pastor if you can do it? And I thought, Oh, he's
so busy talking to everybody and trying to do all this. I
said, What I was trying to do is I was trying to get myself
out of a hard place. And I even grabbed one of the
kids and headed to the door. And the Holy Ghost never said
a word, but he shamed me all at the same time. So anyhow,
I told Ned, I said, I'll be right back. Go ahead. And I went over
and I said, Preacher, I said, I really think, if it'd be all
right with you, that we ought to get some people together.
We ought to go up to City Hall, and we ought to get on the door
there and pray for God to do a work in our town. See, I'd been quick to criticize
everything I didn't like. But that day, God said, won't
you be part of a change instead of just being part of a complaint? And my preacher looked at me,
brother said, tears swelled up in his eyes. He said, dear God, brother
Stacy, that's a wonderful idea. And I didn't mean right then. Brother Wendell, you know brother
Doug, you and Miss Rose know brother Doug. He said, hey, we
fixin' to go to City Hall if any of y'all wanna go with us.
And everybody's like, City Hall? We're gonna go up to City Hall
and pray for revival in our county. I think it was all said and done,
about 15 of us went up there. I took the girls home and drove
up there, and we all gathered there, and it had a little old
walk-through thing, little glass windows and doors and all that
kind of stuff. And we all got up there, and I backed in there,
Brother Andy. I was just standing there and
keeping my eyes to see who might come down the road or see us
or something. Anyhow, brother Doug said, brother
Stacy, you got anything you want to say? And I said, no. I said, I just want to say I'm
sorry for being a complainer and not doing anything about
it. He said, won't you lead us in
prayer? Brother Andy, I started just to bow my head and pray.
The Holy Ghost said, no, you get down. And I laid out, when I did, several
other men did too, we laid out on our faces on the front porch
of City Hall. God sent revival to our church
five weeks. We saw God do some miraculous things. Things that
scarred my life, I'm still affected by them today. See, the fact
of the matter is this, we can stay and play, but it'd be a
whole lot better to grow and to go. Let me say three things
and I'm done. If we're going to do this, we're
going to have to do it this way. If we're going to go and we're going
to grow, three things have got to take place. Number one, this
is what's got to happen. There's going to have to be a
dismissal of the past. And I love you, church. You know
I do, and I'm not being hard when I say what I'm fixing to
say. Some of you will never be able to go on till you let go. And I don't want you to think
I'm trying to preach myself, be myself better. Can I tell
you something? Through the years of ministry,
there's been some hard things that's happened. But you know
what God taught me? If I don't let them go, I can't
go on. Amen. You young people, listen
to me. Sometimes when we preach like
this, we think that just the adults fight that, but no. I'll
be honest with you, if you just really want to know my heart,
my heart's really leaning more towards you young people than anybody.
You say, well, I've just had a short life. I know you have,
but there are things that can happen in a short life. And I'm
not going to go into detail and all that kind of stuff, because
everything's on social media and Facebook and all that other
stuff. And I wouldn't dare say anything
that would be detrimental or harmful. But can I tell you something?
I didn't get saved until I was 15. But in those 15 years, there
were some things in my life that happened that I didn't realize
until after I got saved. I had to forgive some people
for some things. Amen. I had to get to a place,
and some of the people I couldn't even talk to and ask for forgiveness
and ask them to forgive me, but I had to be willing to let some
things go. Are you listening to what I'm saying? I'm going
to be simple, I'm going to be quick, but the reality of it
is this right here. If you're tied to something that
you can't go on from, you will not grow. You will not go any
further. You will not grow until you deal with that thing. Amen. I don't know what it'd be. It
could be a hundred different things, but I know this. God knows your
heart, and you can't hide it from him. This is what Paul said to the
church at Philippi. He said, "'Brethren, I count
not myself to apprehend it, "'but this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, "'and reaching forth unto those
things which are before.'" You say, what did Paul have to forget
behind him? He had to forget the guilt. that
he had over killing the church. How would you like to go to bed
every night being saved, knowing your way to heaven, and knowing
the God that saved you, that you killed a multitude numbers
of his servants, that you did everything in your power and
authority to oppose the cause of Christ? He had to let it go. I'm not being cliche, and I sure
ain't pulling no frozen thing right there, but there's some
things you may have to, and I want to say this, you may have to
forgive yourself. That's what Paul had to do. I'm going to say it, I'm moving
on. If we're going to go and we're
going to grow, there's going to have to be a dismissal of the past.
Number two, I want to say this, if we're going to go and we're
going to grow, there's going to have to be a desire for the future. Can I say something? If you're
sitting here tonight and just waiting till the end of the service so
you can go home and thank God for you one day that you ain't
got to do nothing till you have to come back Sunday, I'd venture
out to say you probably don't have much desire for the future.
Amen. When God birthed in my heart
about doing our Hands Across the Nation work, I seriously
thought, and I even seriously told God, I don't see any way
I can do anything else other than what I'm doing. But guess
what? Here we are, 2014 to 2024, or 2017, 2024, and we've done
it, and it's grown every year. You say, why? Because I had to
make the things of God a priority and the things of me not a priority.
I'm going to go back to what Paul said to the church at Rome.
He said, brethren, my heart's desire, there it is, and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. He said, for
they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about
to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. What kind of desire you got? Amen? What kind of desire? I know it's hard for you to believe,
because we come here, and everybody's happy we're here, and everybody's
excited, but guess what? These times, Brother Jonathan
and them were standing on a platform somewhere and sang their heart
out, and everybody's not excited they're there. And I mean, stuff like this really happens.
I was in a church preaching, and I stand at the back by my
table, and there's a man come up, and he starts picking up
on my CDs and turning them over and looking at them, and he said,
he said, I tell you what, he said, I sure love your singing.
I said, thank you, I appreciate that. He said, I don't care if
you're preaching at all. I thought, did he just say what
I thought he said? And I said, well, he said, that's OK. I said,
because I don't like it either. And he just sort of chuckled
and went on. Somebody else heard it and went and told the pastor.
He was hot. I said, brother, it's okay. It's
all right. I said, I've listened to my preaching CDs. It's really
not that much right home about it. Everybody's not always excited,
but you got to understand, I'm not doing what I'm doing for
everybody. Amen. Hey, don't get me wrong. I mean,
we're flesh. We're flesh and blood. We like it when somebody
says, I appreciate it. They pat you on the back and
tell you that was the best message they ever heard. I mean, all
that stuff, it's complimentary, but you take it with a grain
of salt, because that's not what we're doing, what we're doing.
You don't do what you do as a member of a church to be recognized
in the bulletin. I'm serious. I've known of churches
that have church splits, because somebody's name was left out
of a bulletin. Amen. Because somebody didn't
get recognized. Their birthday wasn't put in
the bulletin. And I'm not being ugly. I'll be honest with you.
I told somebody, I said, one of the first things I did when
I started pastoring, I quit that birthday mess. I mean, we come
in, the choir's singing. I mean, they sing the rafters
down. We're worshiping God, and we're praising God. People already
in the altar praying for the preacher that never took place.
And then all of a sudden, now let's sing, all right, let's sing happy
birthday. Happy birthday to you. And then we got to try to turn
it around to an anniversary. Happy anniversary to, and God's
just like, I'm out of here. Amen. Nobody sung happy birthday
to me. I'm serious, brother. I've been
doing this long enough. I know of churches that have splits
over stuff like that. People set with contention in
their hearts. Where's your desire for the future?
What is your desire? What do you want to see God do
here? What do you want to see God accomplish here? How many
more missionaries do you want to take on this year? How much more coastline do you
want? I understand what Jabez was saying
when he said enlarge my coast. When he said enlarge my coast,
I know exactly what he was talking about. He's saying God grow me,
but you don't understand with growth comes more responsibility.
It comes more work. There's more labor. Not less, more. Last thing and
I'm finished. Not only do we gotta have a dismissal
of the past, we gotta have a desire for the future, but I'm gonna
say this right here, and there will have to be a dependence
on the Savior. Can I say this? You got a good
pastor. You got a good pastor that loves you, loves people.
Kind, gracious young man. Him, just like Brother Seth,
I've known him for years, and I've watched him and Miss Wendy
grow and mature, and God's hands on them, and God's using them.
But I won't say this, but it'll take more than a good pastor
to get a work done in Calico Rock. Amen. Because he does not have the
pure ability himself to get this work done. It'll take a congregational
effort to get this work done. And it's going to take a group
of people that's willing to work and labor together and get accomplished
what God wants accomplished. So I'm going to ask you one more
time, and I'm done. Are we going to grow and go? Or are we going
to stay and play? I mean, if you choose just to
play church, you wouldn't be the first one to get by with it. Amen. You wouldn't be the
first one that God just lets you go through the routine. But
it's more than a routine. It's more than a routine. I don't
know about you, but that young lady walking the aisle Sunday
morning getting born again, that just whet my appetite. I wanna
see somebody else get saved. Amen. I'm gonna go to that church
Sunday, and I'm gonna expect somebody else to get saved. Amen. I'll go to the church Monday
and Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm going to look for somebody else
to get saved. You say, why? Because God likes saving people.
It's lost. Amen. Amen. And I'll be honest with
you, church. There ought to always be an atmosphere in this place
that a sinner can get saved. Amen. Heads are bowed, eyes are
closed. Brother B and you come.
GO AND GROW OR STAY AND PLAY
Pastor: Andy Riley
Pleasant Valley Baptist Church
Calico Rock, AR
Old fashion singing and KJV preaching
| Sermon ID | 12724252495 |
| Duration | 1:04:11 |
| Date | |
| Category | Camp Meeting |
| Bible Text | 1 Chronicles 4:1 |
| Language | English |
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