I'm open to the book of Matthew chapter number 14, excuse me, Matthew chapter 25. Matthew chapter 25, find your place, and we'll be right into the message pretty quick here. Boy, it's good to see you, good to see all the preachers, good to see the young people, and we're glad that you're here. Pastor was picking on me again about my age, said those pens were 100 years old and I was around when they were made. It's not quite that bad. But anyway, my wife, 13 years ago, my wife married a 65-year-old man, and both of our spouses had died, and we met each other and married. So anyway, but she was a little younger than me. I knew she was the will of God for me for two major reasons. Number one, she had her permit to carry. Number two, she was allergic to cats. I knew that was it right there. That was the will of God. You know you found the will of God. You got to watch those little old ladies. They're packing, buddy. Somebody said an officer pulled a little old lady on the side of the road, and she's looking over the dash, real fixie, all dressed up in her necklace and earrings and everything. He said, ma'am, you were running just a little over. Don't think I'll give you a ticket, but could I see your driver's license? Sure, sonny boy. She handed him her driver's license. but she accidentally handed him her permit to carry with her driver's license. And he looked at the driver's license, looked at the permit to carry. Everything looked like it was in order. He said, with a grin, he said, ma'am, do you have your gun with you? Oh, yes, sir. I got a .44 Magnum right here in the glove compartment. It's loaded and ready to go. He said, hmm. He said, do you have any other guns in the car? Yeah, I got a .357 Magnum right here in the console, and it's loaded and ready to go, too. He said, whoa. He said, do you have any other guns in the car? Yeah, I got a 38 Bulldog revolver in my purse. I carry it all the time. It's right here in my purse. He said, lady, what are you afraid of? He said, not one thing, sonny boy, not one thing. And she wasn't afraid of nothing. You got to watch those little old ladies, you know. Somebody was telling me about a lady looking for a parking place in a mall, and she's driving around, driving her Mercedes, rich little old lady, you know. And she saw a parking place, and she started toward it, and some little hippie character driving a Corvette shot in and took that parking place. Oh, it boiled her. She rolled her window down. She said, young man, you can't do that. He said, sorry, granny. That's the way it is when you're young and fast. Boy, she boiled. He got nearly to the mall, and he heard the awfulest crash you ever heard in your life. I mean, bang! He turned around. She had run that Mercedes into the back of his Corvette and tore it all. I mean, there was fiberglass laying all over that section of the parking lot. He said, lady, you can't do that! She said, sorry, sonny boy. That's the way it is when you're old and rich. And so anyway. Matthew 25, Matthew 25 in your hymn books. My wife knows that I have had a struggle about what to preach this morning, and I was hung between two sermons. Do you know what's worse than being hung between two sermons? Being hung between nothing and nothing, and I've been there too. But anyway, great, great message this morning, thank you. Is it Brother Swartz, is that the way you say it? Swope, I'm sorry. Brother Swope brought a good message. My wife took all the notes down on it, and I'll be preaching that someday. It was a pastor that I knew in Georgia, and he said, visited his church one morning and said, Pastor, that was a wonderful message. But the most amazing thing, two Sundays ago, my pastor preached a message almost identical to that. He said, yeah, you lived a couple of generations ago, you could have heard Charles Adams Spurgeon preach it too. Well, Brother Moore down in Georgia said a lady spoke to him after service and said, Oh, it's a wonderful message. Are any of your sermons in print? He said, Lady, they're all in print somewhere. But anyway, here we go. My favorite verse is, what hast thou that thou dost not receive? Matthew 25, please, let me share with you something here. This is preacher food, and I almost changed the message because of all the young people, but I will get you before it's over with, all right? Here we go, Matthew 25, and a simple little truth I'd like to share with you this morning. Matthew 25, verse number 14. Everybody stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross. Lift high his royal banner, it must not suffer loss. Matthew 25, verse 14. For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a foreign country who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, and to every man according to his several ability, and straightway took his journey. All my life I heard this scripture misinterpreted. I heard that it was talents, like God gives you a talent to sing or a talent to preach, and you're to do something with that talent. That has absolutely nothing in this world to do with what God is saying here. The talent here is not a natural-born talent to do anything. It's a denomination of money. As you read on down in the parable, you'll notice in verse number 27, Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, that at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. I'm playing the stock market. I gave that to you to invest, and I want a return on that. Aren't you glad God is a capitalist and not a socialist? Aren't you glad our forefathers saw this principle in several places in the Bible? and built into our founding documents the foundations of a capitalistic society. God does everything in the world he does by the principle of investment and return. And so he says here he gave to one five talents, to another two, to another one, and these investments were made based on past performance. He knew who to give five talents to, he knew who to give two talents to, and he knew who to only give one talent to. Then he that received the five talents went and traded with the same and made them other five talents. And likewise, he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received the one went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money. After a long time, the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them. Now skip down to verse number 24. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where thou hast not strown. I was afraid. It was because of fear that I didn't do anything with what you invested in me. I was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth. If you wanted this out there in the field, I buried it right out there. And I was afraid. And the Lord answered him in verse number 26. And the Lord says, Thou wicked and slothful servant, Your problem is not fear. Your problem is that you didn't know how to do it. Your problem is you're lazy and you're wicked and it's wrong not to do something with what God has given you something to do with. And here's what he said then in verse number 27. Thou oughtest, therefore, to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury, or with interest, or with return. God plays the stock market. Verse number 28, Take, therefore, the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. I'm wanting to invest my money in the place I'll get the most return from it. I've never played the stock market because of obvious reasons, but I've been told if you were advised to invest in the stock market, you would be advised to invest a large portion of whatever you were going to invest in old, proven-to-be productive businesses. Then you would be advised to invest a small portion of your money in new, exciting, upstart businesses and say, look, don't invest in AT&T and other businesses. Man, this new company, while we'll give you 18%, they won't give you half that and invest. You're advised to invest just a little bit money in those companies, but not much. They may go belly up, you know. And then you're advised to come back an hour, a year later, and take a look at your investment. And if, in fact, that little company did what they said they were going to do, don't go hog wild and pull everything off the big company and put it on the little company, because it could still go belly up in another year, but take just a little bit off. And as they produce and as they do what they promised they would do, keep investing a little more and a little more and a little more. Now, if you study this parable, you'll find out that's exactly what our Lord Jesus Christ did, with one exception. You're advised to invest absolutely nothing in old, proven-to-be unproductive businesses. If they're not doing anything, they're probably not going to do anything. And so you're advised to invest absolutely nothing in them. And that's exactly what we have here in this parable with one exception. The Lord was merciful. And the Lord said, I'm going to try you. You know, you've never done anything. You've been wicked. You've been... Do you think this character became lazy just because the Lord gave him one talent? You think that's the day he became lazy? Do you think that's the day he became slothful? Do you think that is the day that he became wickedly neglectful on the good treasures of God that God gives us to work? No. No, not at all. But he was merciful to him. He thought, maybe he will. Maybe he will wake up. Maybe he'll do just a little bit. I got another sermon called, Would You Please Do Just a Little Bit. and I don't have time to preach it here. You get my age, and sermons go through your brain like coveys of birds. You know, they just fly everywhere. You have to watch that, or you keep the people too long. But anyway, so Matthew here, this is exactly what happened here in the investment, with that exception that God was merciful to the one poor, slowful, lazy guy, and he invested in him. God is an investor, and God invests on the principle of investment and return. And whenever God invests, He wants a return. If He gets a return, He'll invest more. If He don't get a return, then He'll begin to take a little bit off of where He's invested and put it over on somebody that is giving Him a return. But God is an investor, and God invests in churches. Upon this rock, I will build my church, God says. Everything God does, He does through the ministry of the local church. Everything He does. Everything He does. I would not invest my life. You know, the YMCA at one time was a soul-saving station reaching after people. D.L. Moody invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in the YMCA, but you'd be hard put to find a YMCA preaching the gospel today. I'd invest my life and my money and my time and my family in an independent, fundamental, premillennial, Jesus-loving, devil-hating, heaven-exalting, hell-dethroning, I mean Baptist church, that's what I would do. Make sure it's independent and make sure it uses a KJV and not a RSV or a HIV or a DDT or a MICKEYMOUSE. I'd make sure they used a King James Bible and that's where I would invest because that's where God invests his work. And Acts 2 47 said, And the Lord added unto the church. God is the one that builds a church. I cannot build a church. You cannot build a church. I tried to build a church and I was a flop. But God built a church for me and I'll tell you why he built a church for me in this message as I bring you a message entitled, God is an Investor. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Holy Spirit of God, what a wonderful thing to be under the spout where the glory comes out. What a wonderful thing, Lord, to feel the presence of God. These good preachers I've fellowshiped with, met some of them. They're good and godly men. I'm not worthy to be in their presence, some of them. Their longevity and their faithfulness and their kindness and their Christ-likeness and their steadfastness, I wanna thank you for them. I wanna thank you for all these children that are here and young people that are here. I pray, Lord, before I get done with this message, I will say something that will be a help to them, and Lord, we'll thank you and praise you for it. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated, please. God is an investor. And first of all, as this parable aptly shows us, God invests money in churches. 51 years ago, I left the South. Mistake number one. I left the South, and I came to the Midwest. And I tell you, I knew I was going to another state, but I didn't know I was going to a foreign country. I had no idea. I mean, it was as cold in Iowa that first January. It was as cold as a mother-in-law's kiss. I'm telling you, that's getting down pretty chilly right there. You gotta say, that's getting pretty cool, boys. And I mean, let me tell you something, friend. It was cold, and I came from down south where they raised their hand in service when they didn't have a question to ask, you know, where you'd get a roar of amens. And I'm telling you, we tried to start a church. There was no church there. I had four men and their wives, and we started a church. And good night, I mean, little podunk town of Washington, Iowa, I mentioned yesterday. 6,500 in my town, 13,000 in my entire county, 1,250 horse and buggy Amish within 20 minutes from front door of the church. and there was no big town there. The nearest town was Iowa City, about 35 miles away. Then it was Cedar Rapids, 60 miles away. And then, of course, you had some other towns. Tumwa was 60 miles away, and Des Moines was 130 miles away, and the Quad Cities was about 80 to 90 miles away. But there was nothing out there in the cornfields of Iowa but us. And there I was, still in my 20s, had never pastored a church before, dumb as a box of rocks. I made some crazy decisions and did some terrible things, but I wanted to see God build a church. And I wanted to see a church built, and I wanted great things to happen. And the first year that I was there, within about six months, The first thing we did, and we said, please don't do this. Craziest thing. I would never advise anybody to do this. But we started church with four men and their wives, and we took our cars and brought in a few children there, maybe 15 children. But I led our people to buy two old buses where the fenders just flopped up and down. And we went... Nobody in that part of the Midwest ever heard of a bus ministry, 51 years ago. And so we went down, took those buses, and we went down through the country, little bergs here in Yonder, and we filled them up. And about six months later, we had about 100 people with about 30 drive-in. And then later, we had... There was a time we had about 50 drive-in, about nearly 200 people. That's suicide. In the first place, you can't afford it. In the second place, it's more like a circus than a church. It's more like a zoo. We didn't have workers to have a children's church. We didn't have anything. I was nuts. But the one thing I did have on my mind was lost souls and getting people saved. That's the one thing I did have on my mind. And, man, they got saved. We got at least half of those kids saved. Well, about a year later, God was on his way to, let's say, Hammond, Indiana. God was on his way up to Hammond, Indiana. And he had invested millions of dollars in the First Baptist Church of Hammond. Dr. Howells was just getting rolling up there by that time. And he was on his way to Hammond, and Gabe was driving, and the Lord says, hold up, Gabe, slow down, stop, look, what is that down there? And God looked down, and a little bald-headed, I mean, well, I wasn't bald-headed at that time, I had hair, you know. You pastor a church as long as I have, you won't have any hair either. Listen, I've got jokes that'll knock the hair right off of your head, but I can tell some of you have heard them already like me, and I won't go into that. But, you know, there I was, a little skinny, weighed 137 pounds, and I was just preaching like a wild man in an old Presbyterian building built during the Civil War, bought the thing for 40-some thousand dollars. And I was preaching, and he said, would you listen to him? And I said, God is going to do great things in this place, and God is going to save souls. We're going to see this building full. And I had a peppering of people sitting out there, and they were looking like, who's he talking to? I mean, who is he preaching to? But all these kids were piled in there. We didn't have a children's church or anything. And the Lord says, hey, Gabe, wait a minute. Look. They took those two old buses. I gave them $20,000 last year. They took those two old buses. And by the way, I had no support. I started church, no support. Those four men gave me $100 a week. I paid my rent out of it, $80 a month, and drove my old car. It had been a total loss, total wreck, totaled out. And a fellow fixed it for me. Some people drive a year for a car and never have a wreck. I drove a wreck for years and never had a car. But anyway. And so, you know, and no support. Even my home church didn't support me. My pastor didn't believe in it. He just believed in going out and getting a job and starting a church in your house. That's the way he believed. And I didn't, I should have, I guess, but I didn't go out and get a job. I just went to work knocking on doors and winning people to the Lord. And these four men gave me $100 a month, me and my wife, $100 a month, and just took off. So the Lord looked down and he said, hey, I dropped them down 20,000 last year and they took that $20,000. And I don't know how they paid the heat bill, but look here. They've taken that $20,000, bought two old buses, and now they brought in 100 kids and got half of them saved. Drop them down $50,000 this year. And the next year they came back, and we had increased that, and we had gotten a bunch more saved. And God says, hey, Gabe, let's drop them down $75,000 this year. And everything that has happened in Washington, Iowa happened through the principle of investment and return. We never did build a church. We never did. We tried to. We never did build a church, but God built one for us. I remember, I'm getting ahead of myself here. God invested in our church. There's no way. I remember we had a visitor that came. We had the old Presbyterian building. It was a big oval-type auditorium. We've remodeled through the years, and we've built multimillion-dollar additions, and we just put in a big gymnasium and a bus room to house the bus ministry and so forth, and bought another building for our Spanish ministry and so forth. But if you've been there, we're still in the old original Presbyterian building. We had to install a baptistry first thing. And I mean, it was just amazing, the ornateness of that thing. But anyway, we had a visitor show up. We had an old rinky-dink upright piano to the left. He said, you need a good piano in here. And I said, yeah. He said, would you care if I bought you one? Do I care if a visitor buys us a piano? Are you kidding? And I thought he'd buy just a better upright. And he bought a check. He handed me a check for a brand new nine foot grand ball. Nine foot. That piano today would be $80,000. I couldn't believe it. Went to Des Moines, delivered the check. They delivered the piano to our church. It's still there. It's still in a wonderful, wonderful condition. I couldn't believe it. He also gave $100,000 to the church. Another man gave $100,000 to widen our choir. We took up one offering, $650,000. I preached a message one Sunday night on My Vision, and I said, there's a lot down here on the corner. We could buy it, but I'd love to see a big sign up there advertising our church and a changeable message sign so we could put the gospel on the sign And there was a guy there heard that message and he walked up and he said, let's buy it. I said, but you don't know how, you know, today it'd be, that sounded worth $100,000 at least. And, but I said, we got to buy the lot. He said, buy it. I said, would you have no idea why? He said, it don't matter how much money it is, buy it. Now you don't argue with a man like that. You don't give him any lip. You just do what he says. And I bought it. And it's there. We refurbished the sign since then. I could go on and on and on. We had a couple out in the country. Poor couple. He wore his overalls. They'd come to church. Lived in a house with uneven floors. Still cooked on a wood stove. She still washed her clothes on a regular washing machine, and she died. And I sent a deacon out to see if he had any food in the house, and he came back and said, yeah, he said he's all right. And it wasn't long after that, he died, and they left the church $100,000. They left me $100,000. They left somebody else in my church $100,000. And they gave money to everybody. He had a million. She had $900,000. And they gave money to our library. They gave money to everybody. And you wouldn't have thought they had anything. And it's amazing what we saw God do. I took the $100,000. The church had purchased a parsonage and entered into a contract with me to buy it back over a period of 30 years. And so that meant if I stayed 30 years, I would have that house. So in technicality, it was a part of my salary package. And so we had just made a few months payments on it when we bought it, and this couple gave us the $100,000. And my wife and I sat down. We were stunned and shocked. We didn't know. We'd never had money before and have never had anything like that happen since to us. But we decided, what are we going to do? We could put it in a fund and save it for our children's education. We could do this with it. We could do that with it. But I told her, I said, this house, they paid $127,000 for it. But at 30 years at the rate of interest we're paying, it'll be more than double that. if the church pays it off, how could we give $150,000 to God above our tithes and offerings any better than to just pay this house off? And not only will it be paid off, and we'll be, in essence, giving the church that much more money, but if I die, you'll have a place to raise the children here paid off. You won't have to jump and run. And so that's what we did with it. And God bless. But the point that I'm trying to make here is, We never did build a church, but we interested God in building a church for us. And you know what? We finally got around to building some newer buildings and doing some bigger things, but God did not die on the cross to build us a fellowship hall. And I'm for fellowship halls. Matter of fact, we've got one now, but we use it mostly for church services, but a separate building there on our property. But I'm just trying to say, God is in the investment business. God invests money in churches. Here's another thing. God invests sinners in churches. God invests sinners in churches. Now, we never were able to reach people. But we tried. We loaded up buses. We had five visitations a week. We loaded up a bus five times a week, one with the young people and so on, and we would go 60 miles to Ottumwa and get out and knock on doors. And I mean, Two by two, we'd haul 20 or 30 ladies to a town and knock on doors. And we went to Williamsburg, 60 miles away, on visitation. We went to Ottumwa, 60 miles away. We went to Burlington, Iowa, 65 miles away. And Iowa City, 37 miles away. And Cedar Rapids and all the little towns between there and there. Every week, faithful, knocking on doors. I can't count that many people. Now, we got a lot of people saved. We had a lot of professions of faith, had a lot of people saved. I really believe they got saved. We replenished churches all over that part of Iowa. We got a lot of people saved, but I doubt, right now, I couldn't count three families that we reached in all of that effort that came to our church. But the more we went out, the more we'd show up at church, and we'd say, who invited all these people? Where did they come from? Who invited you? Well, we were riding by the church. Chancey Nelson, while I was there, he gave thousands and thousands to the church. I said, well, who invited you? Oh, we were just coming through town. I happened to see a sign up here, Mary Nelson. And he said, I said to my wife, That old Presbyterian building had been sitting there for years. Somebody moved in there. I think it got a church last stop, and they stopped and stayed for years and years. It was a blessing to us. Every time we would show up at church, there were people just showing up from everywhere and everywhere, and we never did build a church, and we never were successful, and I was a flop, and I'm still a flop. But I'm just trying to interest God in investing in me. And God invests lost people in your church. And I've spoken to preachers that were depressed and discouraged and despondent because they were trying to build a church. If you build a church, I wouldn't want to be a member of it. Jesus Christ said, upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail. We did everything we could to draw people. I had a live animal Christmas play. I mean, inside the church, took a chainsaw, cut the choir railing off, and I did some crazy stuff, folks. Honest, I did. These four men, most of them old enough to be my daddy, but they gave me a chance. And by the way, young people, you grow up and get in a church, give your pastor a chance. Give him a chance. And I did some of the great, look, I had a 1,200-pound cow standing up here in the manger scene. I had Mary riding a mule right down the aisle. I had sheep in the shepherd's scene running everywhere. One of them jumped over the piano and about killed our pianist, you know. Three of them got loose, and the shepherds in their shepherd's outfits was chasing them around the square in our little town. The thing tried to go in the Methodist church. I was hoping he'd have gone in, to be honest with you. I really were. And, man, we had a circus. Hey, we got a ceiling about as high as this. Pastor, you've been in our church, hadn't you? Where did you land? He's back here somewhere. Anyway, okay. Well, is he here? He's here somewhere. If he don't come to service, he's gonna make a good illustration for my sermon tonight. But anyway, I'm just kidding about that. How many of you ever been in our church? Raise your hand. You know this is what we're looking at here. And I just went up and cut a hole in that ceiling. And I brought a live angel on a cable right through the ceiling with spotlight, and she was flying as she came down. Somebody said there was a couple sitting there. And as she came down, the man turned to his wife, said, Aunt Gertrude, I'm having another one. But anyway, and right down through that hole he came. And man alive, people were excited and they came. And that first year, I did that a year and a half after we started the church. And about 150 showed up. No, it was nearly 500 showed up first year. And we had right at 100 saved. And we did everything in the world we could. And the horn of plenty, 21 foot long, 9 foot tall at the front, cornucopia, and the tip running way back to choir like right. I got pictures. I'll show you. Anybody want to show that? I'll show you after service, and I'll tell you how you can do one in your church just as easy. Now, all of that at the time we did it. We never got people to come much, but you know what? We flopped. But God didn't flop, and he built a church for us. I will build my church. Now, I remember time and again we broke 1,000 people this past Christmas for that same play. Been running now 51 years. This past Christmas, we had right at 5,000 there, right at 400 saved, and 10 showings. Every year the thing grows. People come, the millionaire, the welfare, and beyond there, they all come to serve the Lord. Let me tell you something. You cannot build a church, but if you could catch this concept that God is an investor, and if you can... Look, I never built a church, but I invested God. I said, hey, God, I can't do it. I've tried. I'm a failure. I'm a flop. I can have professions of faith, but I can't get them to come 60 miles through the country to a little town to a church. I can't do it, God. You know I can't do it. God said, well, I can. You can't, but I can. And God built a church. My good friend, closest friend I had for years, Jerry Whiteheart. Jerry Whiteheart married Bobby Robertson's oldest daughter. Bobby Robertson, I was his assistant for seven and a half years before I went to Iowa. Jerry Whiteheart took a church near Culpeper, Virginia. And it was way out in the country. I mean, out in the... I'm talking about bear and deer country. way out in the middle of nowhere, little old cracker box building. The former pastor had run off with a woman, and that's bad news for any church, any place, especially so far out in the country. Everybody knows everybody's social security number and everything else. You know, that's always bad news. But he took this church. There was nine people there. The first Sunday he was there, nine people, one man. That's all it was. And four ladies and the rest of them children. And he took that church. and he started knocking on doors. He got him a plat book and he went by the plat book and he took his knuckles, it took him 12 months, he knocked on every door within a 20 minute drive of his church. He didn't miss any. He knew he didn't, because he checked them off, went by the plat book. At the end of the year, he called his father-in-law, Bobby Roberson, Gospel Light Baptist Church, Walkertown, North Carolina. He called his father-in-law and said, Bob, I have knocked on every door within 20-minute car drive of my church. I have not missed any of them. I got them all. And he said, to my knock, with my own knuckles. I didn't have somebody else do it, and nobody helped me. I did it by myself, because I was the only one to do the visiting. And he said, to my knowledge, I do not have one person going to my church that was not going when I started here. Would you tell me, give me advice, what would you do now? Bobby Robertson told Jerry Whiteheart, Jerry, just keep on sewing. Just keep on sewing. It's got to come up. It's got to come up. So what did he do? Took a deep breath, started back again. Took him another year. Same 20-minute drive of his church, knocked on every single door, bar none, didn't miss any, and did it again. I went there and preached for Jerry Whiteheart when he was averaging 310. He had a high day of 498. He had gone through building programs. He had 70 in a Christian school, and the entire population of the county was 6,000 people, and he never succeeded. Jerry said, I was never able to reach them. He said they were superstitious. They were setting their ways. I couldn't reach them. They'd been turned off by everything in the world, but I just knocked on doors. I put in the time. I gave it what I had, and God sent them from everywhere. He said they came from everywhere. Now, I tell you what's the honest truth. Wouldn't it be something, fellas? Somebody go out here and start a church. Wouldn't it be something if you spent 20 hours every week just knocking on doors? You say, 20 hours? Wouldn't that be a horrible thing when your average member spends more than 40 hours a week on the job? Wouldn't that be a terrible thing? I'd get more amens right now if they were able to say amen, you know, but wouldn't that be a terrible thing? If you had to spend 20 hours a week knocking on doors to interest God in building a church for you, you say, well, we went out there and nothing happened. Hey, just keep going. We couldn't get them. And you can't get them. It's impossible for you to get them. unless you call the rock and roll crowd in and get to swinging and swaying and take the flesh and draw them in. But then that's what you got, you know. You can't get them. You can't reach them. It's impossible. You can't build a church. You just can't. You just can't. And I never built a church. And Jerry Whiteheart never built a church. Let me ask you a question. If you had $100,000 to invest in a church near Lawrence, Kansas, where would you invest it? Well, strange you would say that, because there's a church down here in another town, and they've been there for 50 years, and they're running 25. And man, they need $100,000. By the way, who said that, anyway? Good. Yeah, you're in good light, you're doing okay, you haven't done nothing wrong, just relax, okay? And I'm telling you, he's going to invest $100,000 here when there's a church down here in another town been there 50 years and wanting to do something, but they've never done anything. But they've been there and they can use a hundred, their budget here is far more than $100,000 a year. But you're gonna invest in that other, in this church instead of the church that needs it more? Yeah, money. Yeah, makes sense. Why would you invest here instead of down there? Because. because you have a desire to see souls saved with the money you invest and you wanna put it where you can get an investment. When you stand before God, you wanna put it where you can get an investment, a return on your investment when you stand before God. Do you think God don't have as much sense as he's got? Stop and think about it. God is an investor, and He's looking for a place to put money. God is an investor, and He's looking for a place to put lost people. If you had a brother that made $180,000 a year, and he moved to this area, and you were going to recommend a church for him, what church would you recommend? This church. And I'll tell you why you would recommend this church. You would recommend this church simply because that you knew if he got in here, he'd get fired up. They've got a bus for him to work on. They've got a class for him to teach. In other words, he'd get from the pulpit what he needed to grow in grace. And listen, I'm telling you something, God invests sinners in churches, God invests money in churches, God is an investor. I had a missionary that went to a field and he knocked on 30,000 doors and was discouraged. And I can understand that. But you ought to see what God has done for him. You ought to see what God has built for him there on the mission field. God invests sinners in churches. God invests saints in churches. We were running 250 with about 50 or 60 drive-in. That's insanity. I mean, I'm up preaching on the second coming of Christ. And the kids are like, yeah, yeah, go, go! I'm quieting down, quieting down. I thought, Lord, how in the world can I get anybody from the community with any sanity to want to join a church that's this wild and crazy? but God began to send us help. The Lord looked down and he said, you know, they're getting people saved. They need some workers. So God sent Dean and Letha McCulley, 37 miles one way. Farmer, been there for years to help us. He became our head usher. There was so much help to us. And then Dean and Letha McCulley, and then Dixie and Terry Decker, 40 miles. sent them 40 miles. They were in a church that didn't preach the gospel, didn't do anything for God. The Lord sent them 40 miles and he became a bus captain and she became a teacher. And then Bob and Sue Jones from Williamsburg, no kin to the Greenville bunch, Bob and Sue Jones. And Bob came 60 miles, was a bus captain. Russ and Penny Porter, 80 miles. And he teaches our Jolly 60s class, and she's worked like crazy there down through the years. And I guess they've been coming 25 years or so. And they're still driving 80 miles one way there Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. 80 miles, they stay over in the afternoon. People come from Missouri, people come from Quad Cities, people come from everywhere. We got members that live in the Quad Cities, 80 miles away, and they've got a camper, they pull in and they just stay over on Sunday afternoon for the night service. They can't get home and get back in time. And other members who do that. And it's amazing, it's crazy. It's absolutely crazy. Dave Evans, 85 miles, had a wonderful job at Pella Windows in Pella, Iowa, and discovered our church and sold out. quit a job making big money, sold out, sold his house, moved to our town to go to our church. Pete and Terry Schaefer, 80 miles, 81 miles, and finally moved to our town. Jeff and Brenda Hamas, 40 miles, and now they bought a house closer so they can be closer, and coming from everywhere. And listen, we couldn't reach those people. We didn't reach any of them. We didn't go after any of them. We had no idea they were there. We don't know how some of them even found our church. But they just came, and God sent them in because they were needed, and we were reaching people and getting people saved. The bus ministry has been our lunch ticket all through these years. Rescuing the perishing, caring for the dying, little boys and girls. Man, I could tell you story after story after story. I mean, that would put tears in your eyes. It's amazing. It's amazing what God can do. And God invests saints in churches, and God wants to invest in our churches. And I meet preachers. They're running 25. Well, I need an assistant. No, you don't need an assistant. You just need to have something that you can use an assistant for before God sends you one. And God will send us what we need. If we are worthy, He will build a church for us. He will build a church for us. Now, everything God does, he does through the principle of investment and return. Everything. Everything. You know what? Did you know God invests babies in families? And he invests choice babies in choice families. My wife and I, well I'll get to that in here in just a little bit. Zechariah and Elizabeth walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless and the Lord says I need a place to put a John the Baptist. I need a place to put John the Baptist so he can grow up and be that thunder in the wilderness. Hey, Zechariah and Elizabeth, been 400 years since there was a prophet. And here's Zechariah still over Elizabeth walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. When religion had degraded to the point it was an utter joke, and yet, there they are, still serving God. Hey, and if I'd have been an angel, I'd say, Lord, have you checked their age? Do you know? He said, I can take care of that. And he places John to bed. And then there was Samuel, that great prophet priest. God wanted a place to put Samuel. And God looked down and he said, well, there's a woman, Hannah. She's praying. And she's praying until the priest in the temple thinks she's drunk. She's so out of it, she's begging God and crying and praying. And did you hear what she said? She said if the Lord gave her a baby, he would be lent to the Lord as long as he lives. I think that would be a good place for Samuel. And God placed a baby there. If you owned babies, if you owned babies, if somebody gave you 25 newborns, amen? I don't know much about this young lady that the former preacher just has sitting beside of him here. I know she's about 18 years of age. She looks the part. She's a sweet, attractive, sweet young lady from all I can tell. I imagine she is. Is she a preacher? Okay. Well, if she's not, say no, I'll preach to her, okay? But anyway, she is, yeah. Did you know the Lord, did you know she's adopted? What was it, 18 months you got her? He told me this story with her before, I wouldn't have said it out loud. And she was 18 months, he got her. Did you know I believe the Lord looked down and he said, here's a special child. God had some design for her. She wasn't just a run of the mill, God had some design for her. So where can I put her that I can get the most out of her since I've got a plan for her? Before I formed thee, I knew thee, the Lord said. And I made thee a polished shaft unto the nation before ye was ever born. So whose womb will he put a baby like that in? By adoption, whose home is he going to put a young lady like that in? Somebody that don't half go to church? Somebody that's a hypocrite? Somebody that talks a big line but don't live anything? No. I tell young couples, if you want to raise good children, give birth to good children. Well, how are we gonna give birth to good children? By being a good investment. It's gotta start before they're conceived. God wants to invest babies in families, and he's got certain babies, just like he did in the New Testament, his John the Baptist, his Samuels, and other polished shafts, other prophets. God, out of the run-of-the-mill people, has people that he wants to use, and in his foreknowledge, he knows all about that, eons before they're even born. I'm not a hyper-Calvinist, but I believe that Jesus Christ rules in the affairs of men. I believe that with all my heart. I'm a whosoever will man, but I'm gonna tell you as I look back down over my life, I believe that there is an unseen hand to me that leads in ways I cannot see. And I look back on my life, I know God directed my life. Oh, yes, God directed my life. I could get off and pedal around there a little while, but I don't have time. But let me tell you, God invests babies. I tell these young couples, you want to raise some good children, why don't you become a good investment for them? You become an investment, dedicated, serving the Lord, loving the Lord, winning souls, get your marriage together, fall in love with each other, and be kind to each other, and have the kind of home and be a good nutrient ground for the right kind of a baby, and God will invest. that baby in your family. Let me just say this. I could preach a whole message on any of this, but let me just say this. God only invests babies in families. God invests young people in choice young people. Yeah. God invests young people in choice young people. My wife and I, humanly, are matchmakers. We've got several preachers, Godly people that we've matched up. I'm in Tottenham Shindack, got Kite River Baptist Camp, the Camp Keith Gomez started up there. Todd directed the Cedar River Baptist Camp. I said, honey, Todd needs somebody. Called a preacher in Marion Isle. I said, if you'll come over and bring your family, sit around the table, I'll invite Todd. Todd was nearly 30 years old. I said, I'll invite Todd, let him sit around the table, told him all about Todd. He said, sure. He did. They'd been married, how many years, Rhonda? And then there was Jason Minkowski. Jason Minkowski was Terry Angel's assistant pastor and then went and took a church in Quincy, Illinois. And Jason Minkowski was young and his wife was young. Was she out of her 20s when she died, honey? In her 30s. They had five children. The oldest was 14. She died. Beautiful lady, died. And there was Jason alone. I'm sitting in my kitchen. I said, honey, you know, we need to find somebody for Jason. He needs a wife. He's got those five children. Well, how are you going to find anyone who wants to buy into that, you know? And so we're in the kitchen. And I'm there at the breakfast table. She's bringing the rest to the table. I said, we need to find somebody for Jason. She said, what about Anna Doherty? The singing Doherty family. How many ever heard of the singing Doherty family? Raise your hand. Your hand's going up everywhere. I'm sitting at the table, I said, yeah, how about Anna Doherty? So I called Jason. I said, Jason, you ever hear of the Doherty family? Well, yeah, I got their music right here. I said, have you ever met any of them? No, never met them. I said, well, there's one of them. He said, which one? I said, pick your music up. He looked at it. I said, the one on the left standing right there. He said, oh, yeah, her. Well, she's pretty. I said, hey, if I, Anna, I don't even know if she's ever dated anybody. The woman, how old was she then, Rhonda? 41 years old, never been married, never courted, really, beautiful lady, star singer in the Doherty family, you know. And I said, if I call her and ask her if she'd be willing to receive a call or a text from you, would you at least go that far with it? Yeah, I don't care. So I called Anna. She said, Brother Brown, they'd follow me around different places where I'd preach. She said, if you think that's smart for me to receive a text from him or a call, I will. They've been married now how long, Rhonda? Six years, seven years. The oldest child's graduated from high school and in Bible college and they're just doing well. Loving the Lord, still pastor in the same church. Out of the same family, got taught at Shindex. Wife, there was a young lady there we introduced to Kirby Campbell. You ever hear of Kirby Campbell? All right, his son, Isaac. We introduced her to Isaac. And they've been married several years. How many children do they have now, three or so? My wife and I match up. But we're only looking for certain kind of people for certain places. We've got young men, and there's not many of you young ladies old enough to get married, but some of you are. We've got young men we wouldn't recommend to you. Because you wouldn't be a good investment for some of these young men. Because see, we can find this many young ladies. We'd been glad for one of our sons to marry before we can find one young man. Something has happened to the leadership of godly men in this country. I said, we can find this many young ladies. We would have been glad for one of our sons to marry before we can find one young man. Now, young ladies, that's bad news. But the good news is, you only need one. OK? So you only need one. But anyway, but there's other young ladies here, I'm sure. See, what we do, we did some inventory recently. And we thought we had a catch for a jewel of a young person. And we did a little inventory and decided, uh-uh, we're not going to recommend them there. They'd be great for somebody, but not this one, because this one is somewhere we'd want to invest. Now, here's a question. Ultimately, God does the investing. And you say, well, I want a good... Young ladies, I want Prince Charming. I want that guy that loves God and does well and provides for me, and I'm gonna pray about it. Well, that's okay, and I believe you should pray about it and start now. Heidi Krisner grew up in my church, a little girl before she ever thought about boys, and she never was boy crazy. And she prayed, she'd drop a note, please pray for me, God, give me a right husband someday. And God gave her Brad Cranston, he represents the state of Iowa legally. How many children, she's got eight children now, don't she? Yeah, and, but she prayed as a little girl that God, and it's not wrong. I don't think you ought to get boys on your mind at 14 and 15. I think you ought to get education and just having a good time and living your life while you're young. Enjoy it. You get about 10 and a half months long with a baby, you ain't going to be enjoying anything. And so enjoy your life while you can. But you know what? Hey, it's okay to pray about it, but that's not how you get them. You get them by being a good investment. And you're not going to get what you want, young ladies. You're going to get what you are. God's going to see to it. No, no, he's better than me. He's Prince Charming. Yeah, but you haven't lived with him yet. And young men, oh, you want that beautiful something, you know, it just knocks your eye teeth right out of your head, you know. And you want somebody that loves God and will stay true and faithful and be sweet-spirited, you know, never has any moods, never has any... By the way, no such animal has ever been created in the woods. Did you know that? But here's the thing. That's what you want. You're not going to get that. You're going to get what you are. Now you, and I tell you what, I throw a living fit if I see some wolf going after one of our good girls. God have mercy. You have no right to show an interest in a good girl unless you're living the life. You say, well, how do I get a good wife? Become a good young man. Become a good investment. Give your life to God. Serve the Lord. God is an investor, as you can tell. I could just preach all day on this. He didn't even tell me what time to get done, but it's 11.45. I'll quit. Let's bow our heads in prayer.