These are the words that I cling to and hold to and read probably more than any other passage of Scripture. But when I think about preaching and the opportunity that I've been afforded here even this afternoon, preaching is a privilege. Preaching is a privilege. Very few men get to do what we do. Those of you that are sitting in this room and you have been given the opportunity to break forth the Word of Life, You have been allowed to stand behind a pulpit of wood and declare the Word of God, thus saith the Lord." What a privilege. I got to thinking about how many independent Baptist churches are in Canada. Where's Pastor Stone? He would know this offhand, wouldn't he? I was going to say 300. In my notes it says 300 plus, so approximately 300. How many young guys would be in Bible schools that would be training for the ministry, looking at becoming pastors and things of that nature? Maybe you could find a couple of hundred. In Canada, there's a couple of schools where young men are going out and so you take 300 plus a 200 and you get to 500 and if that's not the same number you come up with, when you get the opportunity to preach, you can have your number. Amen. But I look at it and I say we have about 500, maybe a thousand. Even if you went a thousand preachers in Canada, Think about this for a little while. The number of doctors in Canada is 69,267. 69,000, almost 70,000 doctors. That's a noble profession. And some would even say that's a calling. And I could understand that. There's some Christian doctors that are amazing and God has called them into that ministry. And I look at it and I, wow, but there are almost 70,000 doctors in Canada as compared to 500 preachers. Very few men get to do what we do. The number of lawyers in Canada, there's thousands of them. The number of superior court judges, 841. The number of aerospace engineers, and for those of us that had to look that up, those are rocket scientists, amen? Aerospace engineers in Canada, 2,146. Over 2,000 aerospace engineers, rocket scientists, 500 preachers. Very few men get to do what we do. The number of politicians in Canada? Way, way too many. Way too many. If you have been afforded this kind of privilege, it's amazing. There's nothing like it. Nothing. Men go out seeking thrills and adventure and all of those things in life, and I go, try preaching. Try preaching. You can't beat it. You can't. So Josh, should God, per adventure, give you an opportunity, and I venture to say He has a few times already, but to give you a pulpit and allow you to break forth, His Word is a great privilege. Never forget that. Never. We are in great company. I look into the Old Testament and I see men like Noah, who according to 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 5, was a preacher of righteousness. I look into the scriptures and I see men, the prophets. You have Samuel and Nathan. You have Elijah and Isaiah and Jeremiah. You have Ezekiel, as we referenced even this morning in one of the messages. You have Ezekiel and what a life this preacher led. Amazing to study his messages and the living sermons that he had to declare and live out before the nation of Israel. We're in that company. If you are a preacher of righteousness or you are a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ, you stand in the company of these great men. We read about them in the scriptures and we go, that's amazing to see what they did with their lives, but understand, we too are called to be preachers. And that's a privilege. I take a look at the apostles, and you see Peter and James and Paul and Timothy and Apollos and Stephen. Consider Acts chapter 7, and here's a man who is filled with the Holy Ghost, standing and delivering a message to the Jews, and he was recompensed by being stoned to death for that message. But I think, what a man of God, as we heard even this morning, that he would deliver that message. You read those sermons, whether they be in Acts chapter 2 or Acts chapter 7, or any of the other sermons that we see in the book of Ezekiel or Isaiah, and I think, we stand in great company. Men? We have great preachers in the past, we see them in the scriptures, but there's so few. There's so few. We admire them, and I look up to those men, and I use them as my mentors. We also have great preachers today. Josh, we have great preachers today. In Canada, we have great preachers. Great men of God. We've heard some this morning. We need more. We need more. Young people that are sitting here, I look out and I see young men. We need more. 500 in Canada? We have 70,000 doctors and 500 preachers? We need many more. There's a world that needs to be reached. And how shall they hear without a preacher? We stand in great company from those days that we look at in the scriptures, days gone by. We read about men from the past who have gone and preached the gospel around the world, great men that we call them, great Apostle Paul, great preachers from days gone by, and we appreciate all of the things that we can read about them, but we need them today. And Josh, you're being called into that ministry. We have a great calling. 2 Timothy 1, verse 9, the Bible says, "...who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling." not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. You know, God calls preachers. 1 Samuel chapter 3, you remember the account of God calling Samuel. He was just a young boy and I think about him laying in bed and God calls to him and he runs to Eli and he says, Eli, you called me. He said, no, I didn't call you, you go back to sleep. And you know the account how that he was called three times and finally Eli figures out that it's God calling this young man. And then we see him being called by God, this young boy, that's an encouragement to all of you young men, that God is calling preachers. And I think about Samuel and the responsibility that God told him exactly what he was going to do, even with Eli. Think about this young man Samuel for a little while and realize that God called him and he showed him exactly what he was going to do even with Eli and his house. And the very next morning, here's the first challenge for this young preacher. Eli comes to him and he says, what did God tell you? The Bible doesn't tell us exactly how old Samuel was, but do you ever consider this young man and how God tells him, this is what I'm going to do to the house of Eli? And Samuel has to tell Eli what's going to happen? Talk about standing upon the truth! And being willing to do what God asked him to do? Same thing holds for you, Josh. God's going to call you into the ministry, and He's going to give you a message. And it won't always be popular, and it won't always be politically correct, and it won't be all of that and then some. And you're going to have to deliver it. Just like Samuel did. Because God calls preachers. In Exodus chapter 3, God called Moses and he was there standing before the burning bush. And of course we know the debate that Moses had with God when he said, I want you to go to my people Israel and I want you to go to Pharaoh and tell him to let my people go. And Moses says, well, I stammer when I speak and I don't think I'll be, what am I going to say if they say, well, we're not going to follow you? And God said, who made your mouth? Who made your mouth? Moses had to admit that it was God. Praise the Lord, he did. You can too. And he sent him forth to do his bidding, Moses, this great servant of God. In Matthew chapter 4 and verse 18 through 22, we see that Jesus called Peter and Andrew and James and John, walking by the Sea of Galilee as Jesus walked along there. And he saw these fishermen and he knew who they were and he knew how he was going to use them. And he said, I want you to follow me, Josh. Christ comes by and he says, Josh, I want you to follow me. You need to say, yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. And remember that. Remember it. God calls preachers. In 2004, God called me. Pastor Ken Rempel was a godly man who led me to the Lord when I was 25 years old. God used him in a great way in my life. He went down to Mexico to minister to the people that he had come from. And he went down there and six months later, God took him home. You say, wow. He raised his support, went down to Mexico, and six months later, God called him home. With his home-going service, we had our Missions Conference. I'd been saved for a number of years, and I'd already felt God working in my heart, but I didn't realize what he was going to do. Dr. Gene Burge preached our Missions Conference. And with the home-going service and the Missions Conference sandwiched together, And my pastor, preaching the home-going service of Pastor Ken Rempel, who was the assistant at Pima Valley Baptist Church when he led me to the Lord, and there was this call that came across from the pulpit saying, one of God's servants has gone home to be in glory, who will stand in the hedge? A week later, we have our missions conference, and Dr. Gene Burge calls out and says, one of God's choicest servants has gone home to be in glory. Who will take his place? And it was like God was speaking to me. God does speak to hearts, Brother McClain. And God was saying, you know what, John? I didn't save you just to sit here. I didn't save you just to take up space here. I saved you for a purpose. And one of God's servants has gone home to be in glory. Will you take his place? I said, God, I don't know what this all means, but if you need me, I'm there. I'm there. I didn't recognize at that point, Josh, that I was being called into the ministry. I just knew my heart was broken. And I needed God. And I wanted to do whatever He wanted me to do. Didn't matter. Didn't matter. And from that point on, God led me into Bible school, and you know what? I remember sitting in class in Bible school, and you know, class after class after class, and you ask God, and you seek His will, and you say, God, what's the purpose behind all of these things? What do you have for me in my life? And there was one particular night, and I remember the instructor, I don't even remember the class, but he was going off on the different callings in life and things like that, and he said, there's some of you here that are called, you know, the overseas ministry Africa and this that or the other and he said this phrase he said why don't some of you consider Canada like okay I can do that God and I said God if you allow me I will preach your word in Canada if you want me somewhere else I'll go somewhere else but if you would allow me Lord I'd love to preach in Canada I'm like Pastor Stone I love this country I love this land and I want to see the gospel preached in our country. But God calls preachers. What a wonder that God would tap any of us and say, I want you to preach. I was telling some of the men over lunch, if you had told me, and I'll give you a little bit of background on myself, I am married and have five children, but if you had told me 15 years ago that I would be saved, married, and have five children, and preaching in Simcoe, Ontario, oh-ho-ho-ho. No. No. You didn't understand. No. But God has His ways. And He calls men. He works in their lives, brings them to a point, and they can say yes or no. Five hundred in Canada? We're a privileged people, aren't we? To be able to do what we do? Never take it for granted, Josh. The moment you think, oh, I deserve to preach? Disqualified. It is a privilege. It is also a position. a position of responsibility to God first, as you've already heard. Pastor McClain, I commend you on delivering that message and saying you need to answer to God. He is the one in your audience. You must be constantly aware that He is the one that you answer to. There will be many people that will cry after your ear, and they will be trying to turn your ear, and you need to get to know God in such a way that you can hear His voice and shut out all the rest. You are responsible to Him and you are responsible to preach His Word. 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 2. Preach the Word. The Word of God has the power to convict sinners, to separate saints, and it is the Word of God that has the authority. I have no authority to stand before you here this morning except the authority that I find in the Word of God. And that's it. Of my own self, I can do nothing. Nothing. But as I stand behind this pulpit and I stare into the pages of the Word of God and I read forth those words, I can say, Josh, I charge thee. Because it's the Word of God. And all of us who preach are responsible to that Word. We have so many today that are compromising on the Word. The Word. And yet I see so clearly in scripture, preach the word. Philosophies come and go, preach the word. Josh, in a day of compromising Bibles and messages and ministries, don't you forget the charge, preach the word. Preaching is a position. responsibility it's also a position of servitude in John chapter 13 verses 4 through 17 and you can take your Bibles and go to the gospel of John and we're gonna read just a couple of verses of scripture, but I want you to see that preaching sometimes is used as a springboard for so many different things, but it is a position of servitude in John chapter 13 and you know the account about Jesus washing the disciples feet and And the passage runs from verse 4 down to 17, but I just want to read verses 14 through 17. The Bible says, If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye. are ye if ye do them. Here you have Jesus Christ who has girded the towel about himself and he asks this question in verse 12 of our text passage. Jesus asks the questions of the disciples. Do you understand? Do you get what I have just done to you? And I thank the Lord that the Bible has the answer because there's many times that I read the scriptures and I go, God, what does that mean? And I thank the Lord that as I continue to read, the answer rolls forth. The Bible says in verse 15, Jesus Christ was trying to teach His disciples, and I wonder sometimes how I miss out on the lessons that the Savior wants to teach to me. But I think about that. And He says, I have given you an example. Remember that for all the days you are in ministry. You are a servant. You are to serve those that are under your care. As you've heard, love those that God allows you to minister to and serve. Christ was the perfect servant. In John chapter 8, verse 29, Jesus said, I do always those things that please Him. Preachers, can we say that? I do always those things that please Him. That's a profitable servant. That's a good servant. Josh, be a good servant. Christ sacrificed for His disciples in teaching them. He sacrificed for the lost in dying for them. And every last preacher in here ought to say, Lord, I am your servant. We preach messages on servitude to the people that are under our care. And sometimes I ask myself, Lord, what kind of servant am I? Be a good servant. You will have to do it in God's strength. And though you have a position of authority, it is a position that allows you to serve more people. Preaching is a privilege and a position and a process. of being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter 8 verse 29, we are told that God is going to do that work in us to make us like Christ. And I look at the ministry as a tool in God's hand to make me like Jesus Christ. A lot of times we can lose sight of God and we have busy schedules and we have difficult situations dealing with people. There are demands and expectations, there's administration, there's counseling, there's the pulpit ministry, etc., etc., etc. But Josh, never lose sight that God is trying to conform you into the image of Jesus Christ. And the ministry is just an avenue that God is trying to use to do that in your life. You may get consumed with a lot of people, but I would encourage you to get consumed with what God is doing in your life. You get consumed with God, and the ministry will take care of itself. You get consumed with knowing God, and knowing His will, and allowing Him to mold you into the image of Jesus Christ. That's what he's after. Whether you're a preacher, whether you're a layman, whether you're a faithful church member, it's the same goal in God's eyes. Sometimes I think we preachers forget that. God wants you, Josh. You've heard this morning already, he could raise up anybody. It was Brother Mark Alcock. If he could raise up a donkey, he could. If God could raise up stones to cry out, He doesn't need you. He wants you. It's an awesome thought. God desires us more than what we think we can do for God. He wants to mold you and make you into the image of Jesus Christ. He wants to walk with you on a daily basis, fellowship with you, and commune with you in an intimate way. And he's going to use the ministry to do that. Please don't lose sight of that. I've only been in the ministry for three years, but I wonder how many times in those three years I think I've lost sight of that. That God is using that tool in my life to make me like Christ. Not always an easy thing, but what a blessed thing to think that my God would look down on me and say, I want you, John. I want you, Josh. Ministry is just another avenue for me to develop my walk with God. And it's a process. Oh, my soul, is it a process. But what a blessed process. Preaching is amazing. Absolutely amazing. And I trust that you'll recognize it as the privilege and position and process that it is. And that God will bless you in your efforts, that God will heap upon you His grace, and do a great work through you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for your blessed word, and I pray, Lord, that something that was said this morning will have been a help to Josh and also to others that may be sitting here. Father, we commit this time into your hands and we ask that you would work in our hearts, Father, that we would make decisions that will render us more useful in your hands, that will draw us closer to Jesus Christ, that will make us more effective in the work, and will remind us of your great love for us. I pray you'd bless us as we continue. In Jesus' name.