and then while you're finding Jeremiah chapter number 9 also look for Judges chapter 17. We'll be first of all in Jeremiah chapter 9 and then we're going to be in Judges chapter 17. Again, if I could, I will ask the men of the church to come forward to pray and to spend a few minutes asking God to bless our service tonight, asking God to speak to our hearts, ladies, as well. If you'll stay in your pew, but if you'll be in prayer, and we're going to ask God just that simple. God bless my life, bless the life of our church. If you cannot come, I understand. If you don't believe the Lord wants you to come, I understand. Just pray. And then in a few minutes, I'll close. If you need to stay and pray, you can stay all service long and pray. God's speaking to your heart. Let's pray. Sincerity, humbly confessing our guilt as a sinner, and Lord asking for the mercies of God upon our life, And then, Lord, again, as every week we come before you as a needy people, asking you for your mercy and for your grace. And God, to prepare our hearts, to prepare our ears to receive the word of God. And then, Lord, the power from God from on high just to put in practice what we know to be right. May we be a holy nation, a holy people. sanctified, set apart for the Master's use is our prayer and our ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you, men. Thank you, ladies. Let me read to you Jeremiah 9 and our verses here in Jeremiah, and then we'll go back to the book of Judges. And I thank you for being back tonight. I pray that God will give you what you need for your week this evening. Jeremiah 9. verse number one jeremiah the prophet says oh that my head were waters mine eyes a fountain of tears that i might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people oh that i had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men that i might leave my people and go from them For they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies. And this is a phrase I want to catch. But they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the Lord. But they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth. I wanna challenge you tonight through a passage that we're going to pick up in Judges chapter number 17, to be valiant for the truth. I first came to visit and came to know of Cazado Baptist Temple in 1976, I believe it was. We were in the next building. I met Doug Wilson in my sixth grade, no, seventh grade year, I believe it was, going to Milford Christian Academy down in downtown Milford. We became great friends. I thank God for Doug and I thank God for his family and that friendship through the years. But I met him and I guess I was invited to come to church with Doug and his family, and we came to that building. And Sunday school, we all, us seventh grade boys, I don't know who else was in the class, went to that side of the auditorium, into that room, and Richard Hiles taught our Sunday school class. That was my introduction to Cazadio Baptist Temple. I went back to Africa. and was in Africa for a couple more years, and then was able to come back to the States through circumstances in our family, through my sister. The doctor said that she would die before we ever got back to the States. And so my folks came back, and we came back from Africa, and we were here for a year and a half while she was recovering from her illness. And I had the opportunity again to go to Milford Christian Academy. And I was going to a church in Blanchester, First Baptist Church in Blanchester, Ohio. It's a GRBC church, or General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, that my mom and dad attended. And my youth pastor was a man by the name of Chip Hackney. We used to go to Sunday school class, and Wednesday night they had a teen class. And at that time, he would come into class, and he would say to us as teenagers, he would say, we have a topic tonight. And I can remember specifically the topic one night was rock music. And he taught on rock music. And of course, I didn't even know what rock music was, music you bang rocks together or something. And he began to explain it. And the synopsis of the class was, well, it's your decision. And he'd teach on something else. And the synopsis of the class was, it's your decision. And he always would say to our class, he would say, you know, this is a gray area in the scriptures. Rock music is a gray area. Premarital activities are a gray area. These are all gray areas. And I had enough one time. And it's just hard every once in a while, you know. You've got to say something. And I raised my hand. He says, yes, Steven. And I said, Chip, can I come show you something in my Bible? And he's like, sure. And I had a red letter edition of the Bible. And I took my Bible up to Chip. And I said, Chip, I said, you know, I said, my Bible is written on white paper. OK. I said, it's got black writing. Okay, I said unless you go over to Matthew Mark Luke and John and I said sometimes it's got red letters I Said because that's what Jesus said He goes yeah, you know he's waiting for my point And I said chip. I'm just saying that the only way I can get gray out of this is if I can't see very well He got really mad He told me where the door was And he told me to use it. I walked out the door. And of course, I had to walk into the adult Wednesday night class, Sunday service. And I walked in the back door through the middle of service. And of course, everybody looks when somebody walks in the back door, and especially right in the middle of services. And I walked in the back door, and my parents looked. And I walked up and sat down next to them, and they knew something was up. And I could see my dad steaming the whole way through pastor's message. And of course, he leaned over and said, what are you doing? I said, I got thrown out of class. It's pretty bad when you get thrown out of a youth class, isn't it? So he was a little warm until he found out afterwards, why'd you get thrown out of class? And I told him, because Chip keeps saying this, and I don't agree. And you've taught me the Bible's the word of God. And that truth is truth. And we can take a stand, and we should take a stand. And he keeps telling us it's a gray area. Everything's a gray area. You've got to decide for yourself. Everything's a gray area. And I said, I disagreed. Now, I probably didn't express it, but boy, he understood what I said when I expressed it the way I did. And that's when I was raised with the US side of churches in Africa course my dad was my Preacher if you will and that always stood for the Word of God I said that and I've said what I've said before that about meeting Doug and back in 1976 and then this was in 79 and 80 and 81 and So I was at Milford, and I was still my mom and dad was still here, so I was going to The church up at Blanchester and and in the adults at the class. And I kept hearing at school about Kazandil. And everything I heard about Kazandil was usually a negative perspective from kids who didn't want to live by the rules. Well, I knew that they didn't want to live by the rules. And every time they'd say something about Gazadiel in their negative way, to me it was a positive. And I would say in my mind, someday I want to belong to a church like that. Someday I want to go to a church that believes something. I want to go to a church that is valiant for the truth. And I don't think that would ever be a possibility. I did have an opportunity one time with Doug. We went to a youth camp. And boy, the preacher was preaching. And at that youth camp, it was involved, I think we were over at Mainville at the time. And Doug was. And I was just visiting. And I went with him. And the preacher preached. And the preacher made a statement in his message. He said, I knew God had called me to preach, and I knew that God was working my life that way, but boy, I just wasn't sure how that was all working and how it was all going to work out. And I was doubting whether or not God could use someone like me. And I'm an introvert by nature, and I just as soon not deal with people and not have anything to give me a farm or a ranch or just a cabin in the woods, and I'm happy. And so the preacher was preaching. I knew God had called me to preach. And he said this, he said, God can take a cricket stick and draw a straight line. You know, and that just makes good sense to me. And I thought, and I went up and I talked to the preacher and I said, you know, this is my circumstances and I'm, and this is, this is what I, this is what I desire. I want to be in places that preach the word of God like this, that stand strong for the word of God like this, that, that have a zeal according to knowledge like this. And I said, but this is my situation. My parents go to this DRBC church and they don't believe anything. They just flop around and sing kumbaya and stuff like that. And the preacher said to me, he said, listen, while you're under your parents' roof, you are obligated to children obey your parents. He says, you obey your parents and you go and you find what God has for you in the middle of all that. And you just purpose that the opportunity God gives you to get out from underneath that trash, that you're going to get out from underneath that trash and you're going to do what's right. I said, OK. And my parents ended up going back to Africa and they decided to leave my older brother. Joel is a year older than I and myself here in the States and and You know, and so, okay, I've been in dormitories all my life since third grade. So, you know, that was no big deal, no big situation to me. And so they're getting ready to leave us. And we had a family that invited us to live with them, the Whetstone family. and they were friends of Joel and so they invited him and so mom and dad explained to us that we were going to go live with the Whetstone family and okay and that's good and everything like that and then so we were going to be going to their church and I said okay and I thought anything's got to be better than what I'm going to and then I found out it was a conservative Baptist church and I thought conservative meant that. And I thought, well, praise the Lord. Amen. Somebody will finally believe something. And I found out that no, it was just kind of like what I just left. And I landed in another briar patch. And I thought, man. And it was kind of the same, a little bit better, but kind of the same. And so I just thought, again, I'm where God put me because I have no choice in this matter. And my youth group and my youth director, believe it or not, encouraged me to date a Catholic girl. What gives? I said, there's no way. But she likes you. I said, I don't care. Number one, she's not a born-again child of God. Yeah, but maybe you'll make a difference in her life. I thought, man, you know, did they ever even touch first base? And so then things happened and The family I was living with, they ended up moving. Joel graduated, my older brother, and then the family had to move for a job. And the situation as it was, I was kind of out there in limbo. And Larry Wilson heard about it. I was over at the house, was building the garage, I think, that time. And Bill Webb came over one time. He says, what's Stephen doing over here, Bill Webb? And my dad, we're good friends. And Dad Wilson says, well, he's helping us build the garage. Doug wasn't even there. And I was just helping out. And I remember Bill Webb saying, well, if you had teenage daughters, I could understand why he was here. But I don't know why he's here. I've driven my bike. I didn't have transportation. I'd ride my bike all the way from Mount Ripos over there and just work. And Dad Wilson came to me and he says, I hear the whetstones are moving and that you're not invited to move with them. I said, yeah. He goes, well, what are they going to do? And he says, I said, well, what I hear is they're going to rent me an apartment. I couldn't even cook, but that was the least of the problems. And Dad Wilson says, well, what would you think about living with us? And in my heart, I don't remember what I said, but in my heart I said, I didn't think you'd ever ask. I did tell Dad Wilson, I said, I'm worried about one thing. I said, you know, my brother and Marty Whetstone were best of friends when we moved in, and they kind of parted as good enemies. And I said, man, I don't want that to happen. And Dad Wilson said, that'll never happen with you and Doug. Just trust me. I said, OK. And God blessed and we moved in and we were going to Mainville at the time and Brother Stinnett was my pastor and Rick Graham was our youth pastor. And I thank God they never had that, you know, it's your decision idea or mentality and all of that. But God worked in such a way and we ended up, as the Wilson family, we ended up coming back to Gazaddale and my prayers were answered. And I found a church. that was valiant for the truth. And I want to challenge you tonight, church, to keep being valiant for the truth. I wasn't looking for a church that had everything. I wasn't looking for a church that was big. I was just looking for a church that believed the Bible, was the Word of God, and it didn't need human intervention. As God worked in my life, I went to Bible college because I didn't Have a clue otherwise as to what you're supposed to do prepare for the ministry and and I went and I was already set before you know, I became I came here and and I went and then I realized that I ended up in a place that was just kind of like the Church's I'd left and what in the world am I doing here? And I came home and I asked brother Woody. I said, you know, why am I why am I going down there for it? He goes. Well, you didn't ask me I Thought okay. So if I ask you what should I do? I And Doug Hammett came through, and he was representing the Fellowship Baptist College at the time. And it was two weeks before we were supposed to go back. And he preached. And I didn't know he was going to be here. And he preached. And he was the professor of theology. And I thought, a professor of theology can preach like that? I think I'm in the wrong place. And so I kind of picked up his stuff and I came to Pastor Woody afterwards and I said, now, Pastor Woody, I said, what am I doing down there? He goes, I don't know. I said, well, don't you think I ought to be over here? And he goes, yes. And I said, then I'm going over there. Just that easy. My pastor said so. I trusted my pastor. The church was valiant for the truth. And bless God, so was that preacher. I lost all of my prepaid stuff down there in Chattanooga and headed to pure Illinois, valiant for the truth. My dad, as some of you may know, of course, being with the GRBC Church, was part of Baptist mid-missions, and I didn't really know there was anything different, and I began to learn why the Bible was the Word of God, and I began to learn the doctrine of the local church, and I began to learn all these things that my heart was craving as a born-again child of God, but just never had been taught, never understood, and God began to open doors, and Pastor Woody came up for graduation that year, which was Fred Stewart, if you know him, was graduating, and I was sitting there at Fred Stewart's graduation, I was talking to Pastor Woody, and Jerry Henline was there, and Jerry Henline says to me, he says, what are you going to do? He was a member here at the time, and treasurer, and he says, what are you going to do after you graduate? I'm going back to Africa as a missionary. It's what God called me to do And he says how you gonna do that I said well, I guess I'm gonna go through Baptist mid-missions There's no other he says why don't you go through CBT? I said what CBT? He says your church And God clicked another light on I thought oh God began to work and Of course, you know the story. If you're familiar somewhat with the story, God never did send me back to the Central African Republic where I was born and raised. And God turned our path. And in November of 1985, Dad and I went back out to the Central African Republic to do a three-month tour out there. We were there December, January, and February, and a little bit of March. And Pastor Woody says to me, I had been battling that God was going to I never had any doubt that I was going back to the Central African Republic, never. Now last year at Bible College, God began to just remove that piece and stir the nest. I was in touch with pastor all the time and saying pastor this and pastor that. He had us come home after I graduated in May, and we were here. And he gave me the unpaid position of associate pastor. And I was in hog heaven. I was working up at the shop and spent as much time as I could here. And Pastor Woody would have odd jobs and would be hanging drywall. And he'd invite me, and I'd go hang drywall with him after I got done with the shop. And he'd give me a Mountain Dew with peanuts in it. And I just thought I was paid extremely well. Just learning. He'd tell me to count the offering and I'd have my eyes opened as to who tithed and who didn't tithe. He had a purpose for it. He said, I want you to know, some of those people that act like they're somebody, and you may think are somebody, they ain't nobody's. They don't give to God or anything. And boy, you know, I started learning that, you know, I had to keep a smile on my face and act like I didn't know a thing when I knew everything. He'd start, you know, telling me about different problems in the church and this and that, and he was just preparing me for the ministry. They didn't teach me that in Bible college. And so we'd deal all the time, daily. Pastor and I, we'd go make visits. We'd go, we went everywhere. And I said, Pastor, I said, I just always thought that God was going to call me to the Central African Republican. And I said, I don't know how to explain this, but I don't know anymore. I can't say no. I can't say yes. I just don't know. He said, well, you need to pray about it. And I said, well, I'm praying about it. My dad's expecting me to take over the work. It's like, you know, he's built a business and now he's ready for his son to take over. And his son says, no, no, thank you. But that wasn't my attitude. My attitude was I wanted to be there. I wanted to take over. I went back there in Africa in 86. And the chiefs of our village came to meet my dad. There was eight of them. And I thought, OK. And I made myself scarce, but where I could hear but could not be heard, you know, in case dad needed me. And they were in there hollering, talking to dad and demanding. And they said to my dad, you can't let him not come back. He has got to come back. And dad said, well, that's between him and the Lord. And I kind of jump ahead of myself. But we went there and on the plane ride into into the Central African Republic. Boy, I just I was just fighting that. And before I'd went, pastor said, well, you need to find out where you're going to go. And he says, because when you get back in March, we're going to have our missions conference and our church is now going to ordain and commission you as missionary. We need to know where. And I thought, boy, I need to know, too. So we're taking that flight over there to Africa, and I'm just spending the time praying and thinking, this is nothing of my message, and if that's what God wants, then that's great. And I said, praying and praying and praying and long flight and flights, and I finally just knew God's not going to let me come back to Africa, and now I've got to tell my dad. And we were just coming into the Central African Republic, I turned to dad and I said, dad, I said, I'm sorry, but God's just not going to let me come back to the Central African Republic. And dad looked at me, he said, son, I know that. I thought, then why in the world didn't you tell me? I've been fighting this thing. He says, you had to make the decision. We had a blessed time, three months in the Central African Republic. And I telegraphed pastor when I landed in Bangui. It's the only way to get communication back. And I telegraphed Pastor and said, not coming to Africa. Before I'd left, he says, well, where would you go if you didn't go to the Central African Republic? Where would you go? And I said, I've never even thought about going anywhere else. Central Africa has been my life, my dream, my vision. Everything's prepared to go to Central Africa. I wouldn't date a young lady in high school unless she was willing to be a missionary's wife to Africa, and it cut it down. Peggy and I went on our first date I I got here, and I saw Peggy walk across the foyer the first service We were here, and I turned to Doug and I said who's that? He told me and I said oh Then we had a youth activity and and so I thought well I'm gonna invite her to the youth activity and So I went to our associate pastor Rory Keiter, and I said brother Keiter. I said I want to ask you about Peggy Well, what about her? I said is she saved I? Brother Kider said, she's the best young lady in our youth group. I said, that's what the answer I wanted after he said she was saved. I thought, I'm looking for the right material. And we went there, and I told Peggy, I said, listen, I'd like to take you out on some dates and stuff like that, but I got to know something. God's called me to be a missionary in Africa, and if you're not willing to be a missionary wife to Africa, Teneo Way, as we say in Africa, talks over. And she says, no, I'll be whatever God wants me to be. I thought, well, that's music to my ears. I remember one time I took one of my dates to an activity up at the school, and I purposely had to borrow this shop steak truck to haul hay. She didn't like that very much. It's what we drive in Africa. I'm sorry, if you don't like it, then you don't like my truck, you don't like me. You know, just sort them out, figure it out. And God blessed me with a church that was valiant for the truth. When church ordained and commissioned me in March of 1986, being a local church missionary was pretty much unheard of. because i do that this temple was surely unheard of i couldn't go out and say well i'm from kazadda about this temple and somebody would say i heard of them it was like i've never heard of them who's your passion i'd say ted what i've never heard of him where you at kazadda never heard of that well goshen never heard of that one either and then you know it wasn't Towards the end I guess of our deputation that it became popular to be a Church missionary and yet all these people now becoming part of church missionaries, but the thing was is they always left some little church and went down there to the big church and to become a missionary out of the big church, because the big church had Dr. So-and-so pastoring it, and it had this ministry and that ministry, and everybody knew about it. And I thought, that's odd, because my Bible says there was in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers, etc., and God called them out of that church. And I was just looking for a church that didn't have a name, didn't have some big thing, it just was valiant for the troops. church that would stand up and say this is right this is wrong this is what we believe because the Bible teaches it in church tonight if I can just take the book of Judges and challenge us to stand fast and be valiant for the truth Jeremiah says all that my eyes are My head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for this lane of the daughter of my people, and all that I had in the wilderness, a lodging place of wayfaring men, that I might leave my people and go from them. Why? Because they are not valiant for the truth. I want to challenge us tonight to be valiant for the truth. Look with me, if you will, in Judges chapter number 17. We're going to read the verses here in Judges 17. The chapter continues on in chapter 18, but I'll just let you know how that works out. And there was a man, chapter 17, verse 1, of Mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah, and he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursest, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me. I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the Lord my son. and when he had restored the 1100 shekels of silver to his mother his mother said i had wholly dedicated the silver unto the lord from my hand for my son to make a graven image in a molten image now therefore i will restore it unto thee now it's as odd as you can possibly get that she had dedicated 1100 shekels of silver and we're going to see 10 shekels is a good payment good wage in the day 1100 shekels of silver that she's dedicated to the lord to make a golden image thou shalt not have any graven image before me it's just like how in the world does that even fit i look around the day and i say how in the world do they think that even fits drove by a church yesterday and said something about, you know, something about God's people being holy and out there in the yard, they want no holy people in that yard. And I thought, what in the world is going on here? Somebody has done invaded because there ain't no holiness here. And when he had restored the 1,100 shekels of silver, we read that verse 4, yet he restored the money unto his mother, and his mother took 200 shekels of silver and gave them to the founder, who made therefore thereof a graven image and a molten image, and they were in the house of Micah. And the man Micah had a house of gods, little g, and made an ephod, that pertains unto God, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. there was a young man out of Bethlehem Judah the family of Judah who was a Levite and he sojourned there and the man departed out of the city from Bethlehem Judah to sojourn where you could find a place and he came to Mount Ephraim to the house of Micah as he sojourned And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem, Judah, and I go to sojourn, where I may find a place. And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in. And the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and the young man was unto him as one of his sons. And Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. Then said Micah, Now know I that the Lord will do good to me, or do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest. Now, valiant for the truth. I'm going to ask you this evening, are you sold out or did you sell out? Are you sold out or did you sell out? Because I, Dale, don't sell out. Be sold out. Everyone around you sells out. Don't do it. Be sold out. God has allowed our church to pass through various problems and issues and me as a missionary out of this church to pass through different and definite circumstances and God worked in every one of them, and I thank God he has. I had a young man that is looking, considering going into the mission, going, trying to become a missionary, becoming a missionary, and he said to me, he says, Brother Harris, he says, he says, you know, I know where you stand, I know what you preach, I know what you believe on the local church and all of this and all that, and he says, I just don't know if I can trust my local church. And I said, you can't. Boy, he was shocked when I said that. I said, but you can trust God. And I thank God that He hasn't let me down with my home church. I want us to look at this passage of Scripture, and let's look at some points. And God bless the reading and the preaching of His Word to you tonight. And again, may I say to you tonight, unequivocally... How do you say that? That's it. Say that again? Unequivocally, I'm preaching to you. You make sure I'm preaching to you. I'm making it personal. And I'm going to say to my son Ezra, I'm preaching to you. I'll say to my daughter, Abigail, I'm preaching to you. I'll say to my daughter-in-law, Hannah, hi, I'm preaching to you. My daughter, Anna, all the way on the back. Why are you way back there for? I'm preaching to you. Valiant for the truth. you sold out Ezra Abigail Anna Hannah are you willing to sell out let's be sold out we look at this passage description I don't want to deal with Mike as much as I want to deal with this man that's a Levite that came along we find first of all his position in verse number 7 there there there this young man out of Bethlehem Judah verse 7 of the family of Judah who was a Levite his position was That he was chosen of God now in Numbers chapter 1 verse 49 and 50 numbers chapter 3 in fact you can go all the way through the book of Numbers and you can find out that the Levites were bought by God and God said that you to redeem every firstborn cattle you were to sacrifice and anything that was unclean he was to pay a price and he says and then of the people of God of the 12 tribes of Israel he says there's a redemption for them and the redemption are the Levites The Levites are mine. The Levites are the men of God, if you will. They're going to be the lineage of the priests of God. They'll take care of the things of God. And so we find this man's position. He was of that part that was supposedly bought by God. And may I remind you what? Know ye not that you're the temple of the Holy Spirit of God? You've been bought with the price. You're not your own. Therefore glorify God in your body, your spirit, and your soul with your God. You are bought with the price. we have that same position of the Levite and his position here was he was of the Levites and then in chapter 17 and verse number 8 we find his path and the Bible says the man departed out of the city from Bethlehem Judah to sojourn where he could find a place And so we find, first of all, if you will, in his path, we find where he left. He left Bethlehem, Judah. And the word Bethlehem, Judah, it means a house of bread in Judah. And he was in the house of bread in Judah, and that's where he left. But then we find not only the path of where he left but we find the path of where he lighted or where he came to and the Bible says he came to Mount Ephraim to the house of Micah as he journeyed so we find his path and what I want you to understand about his path was that his path was just you know let's go over here or maybe we'll go over here or maybe we'll go over here And by the grace of God, I have never said, you know what, maybe I'm going to New Zealand for a little bit. Or maybe I'm going to go to Berlin City for a little bit. Hey, in my last 20 years, if that's been my path, you can look at me and say, you are something wrong with you. Because I haven't chosen very well. My dad said, son, I don't think any of the world's picked any harder places to go than you have. I said, dad, I didn't pick them. But we find this path was just kind of path of a wanderer. Then we find not only his position and his path, but look at verse number nine of chapter 17, we find his pursuit. And Micah said unto him, he got over there to Micah's house, and Micah said, whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem, Judah, and I go to Sirgon where I may find a place. We find his pursuit. I'm just kind of finding a place in life. I'm just kind of seeing what's out there. I'm just kind of seeing where I may fit. I'm just kind of finding my place in life, is what he literally said. And too many of us in the Christian life, even though we've been bought with the price and God put us in a good place to start with, we've left it, and then we're just kind of out there saying, well, I'm just kind of finding my way in life. Listen, don't find your way in life. Let God find your way in life. And young people, don't plan your life. Let God plan your life. God made you. God knows everything about you. God knows what makes you tick. God knows what makes you happy. God knows what your life was designed for. he says I'm just kind of finding my place in life we find his path we find his pursuit in chapter 17 look at verse number 10 and 11 and Micah said unto him dwell with me and be unto me a father and a priest and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year and a suit of apparel and thy victuals so the Levite went in There's a word for that, it's called pragmatism. What we find is pragmatism. Pragmatism defined as an assessment of the truth of meaning of theories or beliefs in terms of the success of their practical application. That's called pragmatism. Pragmatism is that belief that Light, if you will, false light in life that says it's true if the outcome is satisfactory. That's pragmatism. Pragmatism says, you know what? It had to be true because it worked. Pragmatism is, what's that guy's name? He's probably not around anymore. I've been gone for 15 years, but a bald-headed guy that's on TV, he's a doctor of psychology, and he says, and how's that worked for you? That's pragmatism. What's that guy's name? Phil, Dr. Phil, there you go. And how's that worked for you? And I kind of like that idea, you know, how's that been working for you? And work has it. But the idea that if it works, it's right, is pragmatism. There's a lot of things that God promises that I'm telling you right now won't work. for the first part until God proves you out, and it's called persistence, it's called being honest with God and just working through things and letting God work you out. And God says, you just wait. It's true. It may not be working right now, but it's true. And I just believe God, I'm just going to stay on and I'm just going to be patient with God. You have need of patience. After that, you have suffered a while. You may receive, the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11. in verse 6 i believe it is now 11 6 where's that at somewhere in there but his pragmatism this this young man the levi says micah comes to him says hey i'll give you a good salary 10 shekels of silver not like he didn't have anything he just stole 1100 from his mom a suit of apparel i'll give you good food every day and he sold out He was supposed to represent God. He just sold off for a salary. Peg and I, when we first went to New Zealand, before we went, I called Pastor Woody and said, God's going to send us to New Zealand. And that's a whole nother story. I didn't go into that part, but God made it reeled to us and showed us and I didn't know anything about New Zealand. Everything I knew about New Zealand was the opposite of what I wanted to know. I mean, I was going to go over there in Africa and deal with my own people. You know, they live in huts and they couldn't read and write and that was all fine with me and God's sending me over here to this country called New Zealand and everybody earns a buku money and lives in a nice house and drives, you know, they're just all that kind of people. I thought, what in the world is God doing with me? I don't want to go over there. We got over to New Zealand, Pastor says, you know, I think you need to take a survey trip. And I was always of the opinion, I'm not taking no stinking survey trip. Number one, because it costs money. And number two, I had seen too many missionaries kind of take survey trips to find out if they like the weather, find out if they like the people, find out if the demographics were right. I thought, bless God, if God calls you, you just go. And I told Pastor Wood, I said, I'm not going on a survey trip. Why in the world would I go on a survey trip for? He kept telling me, you need to go on a survey trip. Here's my pastor. And I was listening, but I thought, no, this is a waste of money that I don't have. And if it's God's money, I don't want to waste it. And he finally said, no, I'm on. I'm telling you, you're going on a survey trip. I said, OK. And I said, why? I said, I'm not going to go find out if I like some place and I'm not going to find out where God wants me to go by go visiting. And I'm just going to pray about it. And God will tell me where he wants me to go. He's big enough to do that. And the pastor said, listen, Brother Harris, he says, you've been raised out of the country all your life. He says, your wife's hardly been out of the county. She won't have a clue how to live unless you go first. I said, OK, we'll blame it on Peggy. That's all right. We'll go for a survey trip. We went over to New Zealand, and we flew into the North Island. We met a few of the missionaries that there on the North Island. Howdy, duty. Nice to meet you. Yeah, right, right, right. Let's go on down the road. And so my whole desire was go to South Island. Nobody was on the South Island. I want to get down the South Island. So we did our formalities on the North Island. We got over there and went down, rented a car, went down to Wellington and jumped on the ferry. And we jumped from the ferry from Wellington over to Picton. And we rented a little motor home in Picton that we could use for I don't know how many long week we were there. And we went down the west coast of the South Island, went all the way down the bottom to the city of Invercargill. And I was going to make our way up to the city of Christchurch. But we had an inkling that maybe God would allow us to go to Christchurch. But I was willing, dear God, anyone on the South Island is fine with me. Nobody's here. I'll go anywhere. as long as nobody else was there because I got to give me that verse not to preach where other men labored and all that kind of stuff and we got down Denver Cargill and I was driving that little Mitsubishi minivan RV thing, and we was driving, and you know, we'd seen a lot of old Baptist churches that, you know, just looked like they'd been twice dead, plucked up by the roots and everything else, and didn't interest me at all. And we got down to Invercargill, and we came across this church, Central Baptist Church, and it had something going on. I said, look at that. They got something going on. I mean, nobody was there, but you could tell they had something going on. And so I stopped, and I got the pastor's name. His name was Brian Kinning. And I said, I've got to find out if this is a typical Baptist Union church. I don't think it is. Something's going on here. And I looked in the phone book. This was the day. Sam, if I'm preaching over your head, let me know, all right? Now, this is the day before mobile phones and internet and all that kind of stuff. And so you had to go to the phone book. That's a book they used to have with phone numbers in it and names. Went down the phone book they had they had phone booths on the corner And you can go in a phone booth and you can look at the phone book and you can find people in there and names and addresses And so I went in there and I looked up Central Baptist Church And I find the pastor's name was Brian Kenning and I looked under the reverend section in the yellow pages They had a white pages and they had a yellow pages. I I went to the Yellow Pages under reverence, and I found Brian Kinning, and I had his address, and so I got the other part of the phone book out, and they had a street directory in it, just like the Internet, except it's on paper. So I went and found the street directory, and I looked in the street directory and found out where he lived, and I said, I'm going to go by and meet this guy. So we took our little minivan, RV minivan thing, and what I didn't figure on was, you know, that those things are only five feet long, and I'm six foot three, and you don't fit when you're sleeping. But anyway, and so we took that little minivan and went down the street and found his address, and I turned in, and then I chickened out. But as I chickened out, I hit his trellis over his driveway and knocked the thing down. Now, I couldn't chicken out. So I backed the little minivan back up on the street, and he never heard it. I went up, I knocked on the door, and he answered the door, and I said, I'm looking for Brian Kinning. He says, that's me. And I said, you're the pastor of the Central Baptist Church? He says, yes, I am. And I said, well, my name is Stephen Harris. He said, I'm over from the States, like he couldn't figure that one out. And I said, I just wanted to meet you, because I saw your church down there. And by the way, I knocked over your trellis. He grabbed my hands and he said, thank you, sir. I've been looking for somebody to knock that over for years. My wife wouldn't let me, but I appreciate you doing the job. I thought, all right, we're going to get along all right. He says, I'm busy right now. He says, but I want to talk to you. Told him I was a missionary. He said, could you come back for tea or supper? He said, could you come back for supper? Supper in New Zealand, tea is when you eat and supper is when you just have a biscuit. spotty I said sure so we went and did some other things and we came back to his house and we sat down he said come on in come on in he says he says and so I was asking him questions and they were part of the Baptist Union and he says listen he says not only am I part of the Baptist Union he says but I am the president of home missions in New Zealand and I'm looking for you I thought well He says, now this is the deal. He says, you're going to have a hard time getting into New Zealand as a local church missionary. He says, I can get you in. No questions asked. This is 1986, right? He says, I'm authorized and I'm willing. to give you, on this spot, $47,000 a year salary, a brand new car, and a congregation of people to start. Just come along with us. Are you sold out? Or are you a sellout? I said, Mr. Kinning, I'm Sorry to say that, I can't take that offer. He says, why not? He says, I'm looking for you. You're looking to get in the country. We need each other. Brian Kenning, by the way, is now president of the Baptist Union in New Zealand. Peggy spoke up and she says, we had talked to him about his testimony. We talked to him about his calling. And Peggy said, Mr. Kenning, can I ask you a question? And he said, sure. And Peggy says, when you graduated from seminary, why did you take the pastorate of a Baptist church instead of an Anglican church? And he says, because that's the pulpit that was opened. I couldn't sell out. And you know, we went to New Zealand for the rest of our life, and two years later, got thrown out. The Prime Minister himself tried to get us back into New Zealand, and 10 months later called and says, Reverend Harris, he says, I don't know how to explain this. I've promised you to get back into the country, and I myself cannot get you into this country. And I said, Mr. Prime Minister, my Bible says God opens the door and no man shuts it. And he shuts the door and no man opens it. And he says to me, Reverend, he says that's the best explanation I've ever heard of anything. Our heart, we left our hearts in New Zealand. And I'm asking God to maybe let me go back because my God can do anything. But I will not sell out. But I am sold out. In pragmatism we find he said, well it's working good. It met my salary and he's given me arraignment and he's given me a place to live and he's given me all my victuals and so it must be. Don't sell out. look at verse number 10 his price the bible says man time passes quickly and micah said unto him dwell with me and be unto me a father and a priest and i will give thee 10 shekels of silver by the year in a suit of apparel my victuals so the lively the the levite went in his price And then we find his presumption in verse 13. Then Micah said, Micah, now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest. He presumed that just because he was of the Levites, he presumed just because God had bought him, he presumed that everything was going to go all right just because he was redeemed by the blood of the crucified one. But if I regard iniquity in my heart, God will not hear me. And then I want you to notice, let's go back to verse six. I jumped over this and let's go back. The Bible says in those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which is right in his own eyes. This is my last point, but it's probably, if you want to understand the rest of them, it's the first point and we find his policy. What was his policy? Well, it seems right to me. What's got to be right? I mean, look at this. I could be in some liberal church in New Zealand, enjoying the good life, having my salary, $47,000 in 86. What would I be making now? I mean, I could have climbed the ladder and everything. He's president. Me and him, we could have been like this, you know, if I'd just sold out instead of being sold out. And the policy in the day was every man did that which was right in his own eyes. chapter 18 i'm not going to take our time to read through that and everything i mean you're going to find out that this group of day knights come and they're going to go fight and as they're coming through they they they they stop at micah's house and they they recognize this levite and they say what are you doing here he says well it's a good deal at the time Man, the guy gave me 10 shekels for the year and he gave me a raiment of clothes and he's giving me all my victuals. This is really good. I mean, I left and I didn't have nothing. I was just kind of wandering around and boy, I kind of hit it good, don't you think? And they said, yeah, you sure did. And they go find out these people that are defenseless and they fight them and they take them because they don't have any defenses and so they're not going to lose. And you know, the Levites kind enough to give him his blessing and says, God's going to prosper you taking over those defenseless people. You're going to be OK. Duh. And they win, and they come back to Micah's house on their way home with 600 men. And they come by to visit the Levite in Micah's house, and the 600 men stand outside, and the five men that were the spies before go in, and they start raiding the house of Micah. And they take all of his little G-gods, and they take his ephods, and they take all those other graven images that he had. And we find out that the Levite is standing with the 600 men. And as they come out of the house of Micah's gods, he says, hey, what are you doing? And they said, we're taking Micah's gods, and we're taking Micah's, all his graven images, and we're taking his ephods, and by the way, we're taking you. And you're not going to be just a priest for a man's house, but you're gonna be a priest for a tribe. Doesn't that sound good to you? And he looks around the 600 armed warriors and he says, man, that sounds great. I think I'll do that. Micah comes out and says, hey, what you doing? They says, this is what we're doing. You better hush your mouth or we're going to run you through. And Micah says, OK, sounds like a deal to me. You know why? They were sellouts. There was no valiant for the truth. And things just kind of roll that way when you're a sellout. Pragmatism says, well, you know, it's a better deal anyway. What happened to being valiant for the truth? In Gazadiel, I have watched the churches around us sell out. And I've told my own kids, I said, if I didn't believe Gazadiel was the place you ought to be, I would have told you. And because I didn't tell you, I'm telling you now, Gazadiel is where you ought to be. There's no other church in this area that I'm going to recommend you go to. You stay put. Because because that deal has been valiant for the truth We may have to sacrifice and we may have to scrape by to get this and to get that and to do this and do That we may not be the well-known and that's alright Just as long as we're known for being valiant for the truth Don't dip the Baptist banner be valiant for the truth Don't dip the banner of the blessed Word of God. Be valiant for the truth. Don't dip the standard. Don't take the standard down and try to convert it and try to bring it down to the men. Bring the men up to the standard. Be valiant for the truth. Because I used to stand, and thank God she still does, that God's against this, and God's against that, and God's for this, and God's for that, and let's stand strong. And it's always been a fight of people saying, but they're not going to like that. They never have liked that. But there's somebody out there like me as a young child and as a teenager that's looking for somebody that's valiant for the truth. Let's just stand with the truth, and let's stay by it for the next 50 years. be valiant for the truth. I've told Brother Salih and I've told other people that the missionary is not the watchdog for the church. It should not be the watchdog for the church. The church is called to be the watchdog for the missionary. I'll not be the missionary that's saying, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, no, no, don't sell out. I've seen a lot of missionaries have to come home and deal with churches that were sellouts. They no longer stand on the blood of Christ. They no longer stand on the bride of Christ. They no longer stand on the blessed hope of the Lord Jesus Christ. They no longer stand on the Baptist doctrines of the faith. I've had to say, what do we do now? And I've seen a lot of missionaries sell out. I thank God for church. That's valiant.