and likewise in those situations. I remember one situation that perhaps is related to you that helped you to understand, and perhaps are closest, some time in your life, visiting a pastor in Porterville, and I am at his office, and someone abruptly is pounding on the floor. He wasn't praying, but he had his ears on the floor. And in fact, you know, all of us have had those times in our lives where it just seemed like there was nothing that you could do. And so this was the situation. The story in such a situation is to humor them. And so I got down on the floor, and I put my ears to the floor, and I looked him right in the eyes. We spent about a quarter of an hour like that. He says, you know, it's been that way all day long. Now, if I was going to do it, I'd say it, and that's the truth. I'd say it. Honestly and in sheer That's the only thing that we do that makes me nervous. When we invite someone like Brother Wayne to make the introduction, I ought to just answer that introduction simply this way. One time they were having an altercation. A fellow from down in the South, a field man that had much to do with the election. And he came out to do much about the city ways and sophisticated ways of the political world and the community. And so they set out to eat, and the first thing they did, they hatched him, and dredged him, and finally cooked a sweet cake, just boiling hot right off the stove. And the first thing they put in his mouth, and immediately he rolled that thing around his mouth and spit it out on the plate. And he said, I bet you expected me to swallow that thing. I hope that you were the same way about Brother Wayne at the introduction. You know, Brother McKellen was scheduled to preach, and most of you know he's a part-time. He's wondering why, but I know. The Lord knew I wanted to preach. I pray for Brother McKellar. I'm hoping that he'll be with us tomorrow in some of the service. It's time to. But next time that you elect me as an alderman, and one of you preachers ahead of us, watch out. Watch out. Those of you who have your Bibles turned with me to the first chapter of the Book of Colossians. I told the moderator, and some of them earlier, that it's been four or five years since I was privileged to preach at the Association, probably four or five years more, and so I had to make up for ten years. Galatians chapter 1, verse 18. He is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence. That passage of Scripture includes not only the creation previously mentioned, but also the Church, the resurrection, that in all things Christ may have the preeminence. That means to be first. Tonight I'd like to draw your attention to this thought, establishing some priorities. We need to establish some priorities, brethren. Our churches need to set some things first in order. And tonight I would like to challenge you to establish some priorities. You'll say, well, preacher, I have priorities, but are they biblical priorities? And I came to the thought for this message while thinking about a thing that happened in my own life. You know, for years, and I was born and raised in the Missionary Baptist range. And if there's anything about the Missionary Baptist that should be known, I know it. Let me tell you something. I have pastored for years. with a deficiency that was a constant conviction of mine. And after studying and reading the Bible, I got tired of making excuses for failure of God's people to accomplish what God has for them to do. I became convicted that God did not intend for me to blame my shortcomings and the church in which I was a pastor upon the times, or upon the workmen. My Bible teaches me that God can do all things, that with God all things are possible. It teaches us that we can do all things through him that strengthen us. And so there simply is no excuse for our deficiency in the service of God. The problem is we need to set some priorities. We need to set some first things first. Those are the things that I want to look at tonight. You know, when a person fails to plan, he plans to fail. That goes for churches. If we ran business the way we run our churches, we'd just be just as bankrupt as most churches, the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to make plans. We need to set some priorities. The Bible tells us that we need and must set some goals for everyone. That includes the Church as well as the members, and I believe that will hold justice true for our associated work. We need to set some goals. In Philippians 3, verses 13 through 15, says, "'Brethren, I count on myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forbidding those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before.' I've pressed toward the mark. Note the word mark to be gold. I've pressed toward the goal for the prize of the high calling or the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus. That's what Paul said, I do. I forget those things behind. I've set and pressed toward the goal. Of gold you mean that you should set goals in your Christian life, Paul said, I do, and I strive toward that with the thought of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus. Yes, we ought to have goals. What do you, as a child of God, wish to accomplish in the service of God? You ought to make that decision now. Too often we ascend and we denounce the fact that we absolutely do not believe in the fatalism of partialism, but we practice it. Amen. Yes, we practice it. We go on, and without purpose of life and without goal, we say, That's fatalism. That's fatalism. And again, to fail to plan, plan to fail. We need to set some goals. We need to realize what we are intent to do and accomplish. Paul said that he pressed toward that goal of upholding God. And when he got ready to die, he said, I have finished my course. Paul said, "'Brethren, I am confident in what the Lord intends for me to do.'" How many of us will be able to do that? We need to establish, then, some priorities. In order to have priority, we must first of all have a goal. You cannot set priorities unless you have some definite intentions as far as your life and the work of the Lord is concerned. I believe churches ought to set goals. I believe churches ought to set and determine what they can do for the Lord. Too much of the time we step back and say, well, it can't be done. But I believe that we do not or have not tapped the resources of God until we've attempted the impossible. And we simply take and practice fatalism in the work of the churches, and we wonder why that we're not able to accomplish what the Lord intended for His churches to accomplish. Brethren, we're still living in the Book of Acts. Hey, listen, Hebrews 12, 1 and 2 tells of this, "...wherefore, seeing we also are compassionate about the so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despised the shame, and is set down on the right hand of the wrong author." The reason why that we do not set goals is because that it's simply unobtainable when we look at the wrong thing. These goals and the work of the Lord are obtainable if we continually are looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our plans. We need to set some goals. We need to put our eyes on God and then set out to do what the Lord can do through us. You know, it's been said that the world has never seen what can be accomplished with a man totally dedicated to the Lord. I believe that's a challenge to us, folks. I believe that's a challenge to us as individuals, a challenge to the work as churches and associated work. We're going to, and it's necessary also that we establish some checkpoints in life. I believe that when you establish a goal, it's ought to be from a checkpoint to the major prominence. I believe you ought to stop every once in a while and see how you're doing. You know, when I was in the business world, we did that through a thing we called the quarterly profit and loss scheme. You know, when that thing come out of that machine and told me the whole story, and I couldn't lie about accomplishments. We need to make some checkpoints in life. Look around you. I believe that the fruit of the Christian is Christian. Examine your fruit. Examine your accomplishments. Examine how much that you have accomplished for the Lord. And I'll say another thing that I'd like to bring to an end, if possible, and that is the philosophy that I was raised under, and some of these rather know the circumstances and were raised in the same circumstances that I was, that the philosophy for serving God was simply to try and try and try. You know, I know Brother Friedl didn't mean it, but if I could sing like him, I wouldn't even introduce other singers. But he said, I'm going to try to sing. You know, that's the philosophy I was raised under. The Lord doesn't want that. God requires expectancy. Only the best is suited to God, and we are not suited to God. The fact is that we have been giving the Lord just a trial and error. But the Bible tells us, in Philippians 1-10, that you may approve things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense to the day of pride, pride won't get you. So we need to set some goals. We need to establish some checkpoints. We need to realize that God is only pleased with the maids. Nothing short of it, brethren, is pleasing to God. You see, when we fail in ecstasy of service, we've inferred the life, or the physical, or the carnal, and made it inferior. And God is not pleased were that the flesh and the spirit are mixed together in service. Too often we excuse ourselves when we technically say we have been spirited with it, but the flesh is weak. You know, the Lord said that all right, but He didn't make for us to practice it. But that's not true here. God is looking for better people, not better facilities. Not better methods, but better people. That's the introduction. Now let's get down to the sermon. Let's look at some biblical priorities. Brethren, I believe the first priority that we need to establish is God first. God Christ first. You say, well, now, preacher, you mean the church is not first? I'll get to that in a minute. I've got a good edge there. God must be first. You know, the Bible, a fellow came to me, or in fact sent word to me some time ago, and he said, Preacher, I don't understand sin. I want you to come and have this. I'd like to discuss the Bible under those circumstances. He said, Tell me how you state this being explained sin, this fellow was unsaved. And I said, But he didn't understand sin. He said, I'm a good man. I'm a good fellow. I don't understand it if you keep telling me that I'm hell bound, I'm a sinner. And he said, I'm a good husband, I'm good to the neighbor. And I said, what do you think is the worst sin? And he said, well, I would say murder, adultery. And I said, is that what you consider to be the worst sin? Well, the Bible tells us that it's the breaking of the greatest commandment. Do you know what the greatest commandment is? Matthew 22, 36 and 37 says, "...and the Master," which is the great commandment in the law, "...Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." The greatest sin in the world is not to love God with all of your personality. That's the greatest sin in the world. Now, all these other things are just revelations. That's the greatest sin. We need to love God. Brethren, how many of you have got tired over the years of trying to back your head against the wall, trying to take the Word of God from the pulpit, and training church members to be useful, acceptable, servants of God, and year after year you end up with the same result. Brethren, I believe that we waste a lot of God's time trying to make good church members out of unsaved people that don't love God. The first priority we need is God, and in order for Him to be that, we must love God. But then the Bible says that we can't love Him on our own, can we? That love must be imparted to us through Jesus Christ in personal faith. Let us make sure that the number one priority in our lives is God and that He is through love. And you can't love God unless you're a child of God. There's no way that it can be done. And we may ask you this question this evening, how do you treat God? Are you in love with God? Is he number one love in your life? Then you have some failings and priorities. God must be first. I'm going to tell you about some things that will happen when these priorities are met. I could tell you a lot of things that won't happen, but some things that will happen when these things are met. God should be number one. Christ should be the number one in our lives. We must love God, we must love Christ, and then the second thing in our life should be the Church. Brethren, it's impossible to please God in the Church unless you're in love with God first. The problem is that you just create the problem I was talking about, unsaved, unconverted, Baptist Church members that put preachers in an early grave. We need to love God first and the Church second. I'll tell you, I can remember as a young man that the height of joy, and I thought the ultimate, the zenith of a Christian life was to be able to be in the position to stand up and defend the Church. Belonging. Church does that job well because God intended for her to be the defender of herself. Preachers are not self-appointed defenders of the Church, neither are deacons. And I'll tell you that we must love God. And I'll tell you, Betty, if we love God and we love Christ, and they're number one in our lives, we'll love the Church, thank you. There won't be any problems there with it, and this love is ours if we are his children. In the book of the Epistles of John, there's one passage of Scripture that I'd like for you to know in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 20 where it says this, If a man say, I love God and hate his brother, he is a liar, for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen. How can he love God whom he hath not seen? Doesn't that explain a lot of church problems? My Bible tells me that if I love God first, I'll love the brethren, and there won't be no problems. We come back to the same point. We have the church first with unsaved, unconverted, Baptist church members that don't love God and therefore can't love a brother if they wanted to. That's called God as first. And if we love God, then the church will be a love of God. I'm amused at people that say, I love God, but I forget about the Church. I'll leave it alone. Brother, that's a misnomer. They don't do it. I believe that if we love God, we love the Church. Now, let's get down to number three. I really haven't got into this thing yet, and they keep looking at me, and they're watching me, rattling them all ready. And that's the third priority, is service for Christ. You mean preacher service is number three? You'd be surprised at how many people a day are replacing church with service to Christ. Can you tell? Service is number three. Brethren, if you're not in love with God, you're not in love with the Church, service is a waste of time. You'll end up an empty pole when you stand before God. But the service is number three. The Bible said of the empty glory, in the Church. Brethren, I believe that everything we do ought to be Church-centered. There are a lot of ministries that can be done through the church, but I would not believe that it ought to be church-centered. Any service outside of the church that is not motivated by our love toward God is just empty silence, and the world knows it. We wonder why that they don't flock in to hear the Word of God. The reason is, is because the world is the first. to perceive inconsistency in our priorities. Then I believe that the fourth thing in order is home and family. Ooh, that puts it way down the list. My Bible tells me that unless I hate my wife, family, children, those things, I can't even be a disciple of the Lord. That means to love less, brother. You know, a lot of people say, well, you know, preacher, I'd like to be I'd like to do this, but, you know, I owe this to my family, and I owe that to my family, and I owe it." Rather, we serve God in those towns to correct that prior mistake. Now, number five, employ. Now, this really gets down to where we work in Christ. Brothers, we wonder why that we lack the effectiveness that we should have in the service of God. when we have failed to place priority on what is important. Brother, I believe that you're a child of God. Listen to me. I believe that you're in love with God and you're certain of God. I believe that God gives you a place of employment. Let me tell you something. I don't believe that God ever gave the child of God employment that interfered with his service to God in any way. We wonder why that we're ineffective when the first thing the world sees in us is the fact that a job stands between us and God. Do you want to tell them that Christ is the most important and greatest love of your life, when they already know that your job is this? You need to establish some power. Churches need to do that, too. Churches need to do that. Have you ever heard of changing a worship service or a time of service simply to correlate with something that's going on in the community, rather than if you want me to get really caught under the collar? just suggests that the church should bend to the times, kids, and the community, and you've got to be doing it. We need to establish some priorities. I believe we ought to teach our children their first thing first. That includes school and whatever it might be. These things need to be corrected. We wonder again why there's a lack of effectiveness in Lord's service. We don't have the practice. The Bible says you cannot love man and the world, or God and the world, or man. You can't love them at the same time. Now, let's see some results. You know, people get tired of telling, appearing what they can't do. You know, all my life I was told, Don't do this, don't do that, don't do this, don't do that. But nobody ever told me what to do with my time while I wasn't doing that. Right? Amen. What are the results when we set priorities in our lives? I'll take the priority personally. One of the results of setting priorities is that we'll be useful to God. I like to call it availability. You know, there are a lot of people that's not even available for God's service. They say, "'Preacher, the point is that God doesn't use me.'" First step, you're not available. The world is in the way. Life is in the way. Employment is in the way. Brother, when God is first in your life, when church is second, service is third, and employment and those other things are down on the bottom, no obstacles. You're useful to God. You're available. Then you're not a living contradiction to what you're trying to preach. Another result, personally, is that you have fruit. And I say the fruit of a Christian is not a Christian. Look around and see what kind of fruit you bear. If you don't produce what God does have, you just bear it. Then another result is that there is life in our prayers. Prayer becomes a living thing. not a presentation of a presupposed speech that would be pleasing to the ears of those of you who, prior, would have watched him. I mean that you will actually be aware of the fact that you're actually speaking to God Himself. When we put first things first, it's a choice that's up to God. I'll tell you what we generally do, whether we realize it or not. We know that our lives are not what they ought to be, and so when we pray, we put together a good speech so that nobody will know that we're not actually on talking terms with God. Isn't that true? I'll tell you, when we put the priorities and establish these priorities, we're going to have results in that our prayers will have life in them. You ever talk to someone on the phone? They hadn't said three words, you tell whether they were smiling or whether they were frowning. You ever notice that? Pick up the phone. Good morning. Did you know that sometimes God gets tired of prayers without life, without the smile and joy that comes to the heart? It's this. Prayer will become an occasion. And how will I think? And then you don't say, well, I'm going to have to pray again. I'm going to have to pray again. You look forward to the next opportunity to simply speak to God. It becomes an occasion. The study of the Bible will become a thrilling thing because you actually read what God has to say to you when the priorities are established. Then witnessing will be a joy. I don't mean when I refer to witnessing, I don't mean that grabbing the fellow by the collar and pulling him up, saying, now, wait a minute, I want to talk to you a minute, and you're going to listen to me, and if I have to hold you by force. I don't mean that. I mean the kind of witness that you walk up to an individual, Have you ever wondered what we can do with the Comforter when they can do that without Him? Quiet will be lifted up. I believe that when the Spirit is in command, I believe quiet will be lifted up. The Bible teaches that. I believe also resolve, when we put priority first, I believe preachers will preach. You say, well, what are they doing? I've wondered about that sometime in my time. I believe that when we establish a priority, preachers will preach. I'll tell you in just a minute what we do and what we have done that have prevented the kind of preaching the Bible said has the power of the salvation of all. I'll tell you, when we put priority first thing first, preachers will preach. They don't have time to build buildings and cuddle dissenting saints that ought to be buried. They don't have time to do that. Why? Because the Bible said, Paul said, he said, preach the Word. Brethren, when we put priority first, that's all the preacher has time to do. The Bible, in the Book of Acts, ordains from a sister pastor to prevent or give him time that he might give himself to the ministration of the Word and to prayer. And when we put priorities first, preachers will preach the Word. And deacons will deacon. I love deacons. You've got to love them. Most of you couldn't tolerate them yet and had a lot of love. That's not true. I love deacons. But I'll tell you, brethren, and I hope you remember this. You know, I was raised up, again, with some of those philosophies. I'm sure trying my best to help God get rid of them. But I was raised up believing that deacons were a whore. And they were devils in disguise. And so when I began my ministry, I followed the example of most other pastors, and did until I was convicted of wrong, that to prevent those devils from ever getting a hand, I was going to do all their work for them. Did I help them? No, sir. You know what the Bible says about idle hands and idle people? They just got into more trouble. I'll tell you the best way to have a deacon's art is to pastor, brethren. If you want to have a good deacon, let him do his work. Don't try to do it for him. We spent too long trying to do His work, the Sunday school superintendent's work, the teachers' work, and everything else, praying somebody would make a mistake that would bring personal satisfaction to us. You must say, Amen. That's why we haven't had time to preach the Word. I asked my class, one of my classes not long ago, whose Bible responsibility, New Testament responsibility was it to visit the sick? And they said, Pastor and everybody, you know whose it is? You read your Bible, that's a deacon's responsibility. The office of deacon was placed in order that they might be able to take care of those physical Spiritually, it's been believed, by the way, of the members of the flock. Why? That the preacher might give himself to the ministry of the Word and to the prayer. Don't call a pastor a visitation. Use your deacons. You've got some gun teeth. Don't call them much. God ordained them that way, brother. Let them deacons. When we put priorities first, deacons, we're deacons. I'll tell you men, you have to run around. How many things to do? Because they've got so excited about what they're already allowed to do. I haven't heard an amen from Deacon in a long time. Except I got one with his shoe off. I have thought for a minute in terms of we're over in here. Deacons will deac. We don't allow them to do what God intended for them to do. My Bible tells me they have a responsibility to ministering the Word to. Brother, we ought to let them preach. Woo! Deacons preach? You bitches, they ought to preach. They're the assistant pastors of the churches. We need to establish some priorities. When God is first, church is second, service is third, and so forth, woo, watch out. Just see what those deacons can do. You know why you don't love them? couldn't get tired of doing their work. And I never was really sold on anybody that I didn't do their work. Let them do their work. Let them do it with joy. We wronged them. The Bible said they gave to themselves a high platform of standing. I'll tell you, it's a privilege, a blessing to be a chosen of the church, to be a deacon. They have an exalted place, brethren, Let us fulfill that work. Let deacons speak, if that's what you want to call it. Then leaders will lead. Sunday school superintendents will be head of the educational division of our churches. And they'll do the job. You know why they don't do it? We won't let them. First of all, we haven't told them what to do. We give them the job to say, Go at it! You don't know which direction to go. And I'll tell you, when we establish the priorities, lift and lean, these things will be taken care of. Teachers will teach in mobile lines. You know, teachers is a full-time job. I know the term. Get word of me. A Sunday school teacher is a full-time job. It's not a thing that you spend and try to feel 45 minutes on Sunday morning or Sunday night. It's a full-time job if you do the job right. And when priorities are established in the lives of individuals, Sunday school teachers will be full-time servants of God. And I'll tell you, when you see a Sunday school teacher that takes their Bible and they go into the home of their pupil and correct by teaching the Word, you'll see lives molded that are useful in the service of God. They'll do that when priorities are established. Then let me tell you something else. The people of God will give, and God will pay the bills. I'm like the preacher that said many years ago, I'm looking to God for the finances, not to you. It's God's business how he gets it out of you. But I'll tell you, when we establish some priorities, God's people will appear and the build will be saved, souls will be saved. Brother, I pray again, along with this other thing, that we refuse the life of salvation of souls by the same deficiency that we have everything else. I believe that God is just as strong and just as willing and able to pay souls to pay as He was in the page of the New Testament. What's the difference? It's the preaching and the witnessing and the contacting of the people with the Word. We step back, we open our doors on Sunday morning and Sunday night and went tonight And we say, folks, here we are, we have the truth, and we're going to do our dead-level best to see that we keep it. If you want any of it, you better come and get it. No. When we put priorities first, souls will be saved. Brethren, I believe that. Lives will be craved for God's service. by a balance between preaching and Christian education. I am an individual who believes that the Sunday school is necessary. I believe that it's the greatest tool that God has given us to perform His work in this age. Now let's get to the mission feeding. Somebody sit on the coat of the missionary and try and quit. The mission feeding. When we put priorities first, On the mission field, missionaries will be able, with the courage of God, to accomplish the impossible. When things are done first, souls will be saved, churches will be established. But I'll tell you something else will happen. Missionaries will be hunting someplace that's been all the run, that God has given, when priorities are put first. You know, the Bible tells us that He'll supply all of our needs. All of our needs. Did you know that there's no place in the Bible that we should pray for funds? How many times, how much time have we spent as an associated church, praying that God will supply the finances to pay our missionaries? Isn't that pathetic? You know why we do that? We lack priorities. Brethren, I believe that when we establish priorities in the mission field, we will be praying for all workers and not selfish. Remember the Bible tells us to pray for workers? You know, I have told the church in which they allow me to pastor that my heart's desire for this Associated Meeting was that we would have two in Washington, D.C., because I've been praying for missionaries, workers for the people. Prabhupāda, I believe if we establish these priorities, we'll pay all of them that God will give us to work in the field. I believe that if the Lord had that much money, I believe it had to be re-established in private, but not a purse. But not a purse. We won't have to be hunting for money. We'll be hunting for it because we hope we can give it to Him. Wouldn't that be nice? Oh, it'd be a joy to be a treasurer in England. Let's establish some priorities that we might have to each other. In our associated work, the churches will all be pleading for our workers instead of searching for salaries or money to pay the bills. I believe also that when we put priorities first, I believe that churches will establish and maintain local mission points. For us, I find it impossible to make a missionary light shine in a distant field that doesn't shine at home. And the reason why that we do not pay missionaries And because our churches are not mission-minded, and the reason we can't get that mission light to shine in other places is because it doesn't shine at home. When it shines at home, souls will be saved, lives will be changed, and we'll be praying for the service of God. And those souls will be looking for some place to find work. And pastors will say, I don't have anything for you, dude. Get out and find something. Go over there to the next town. It'll happen. Read the Book of Acts. Don't believe it. When we establish priorities, let's put God first. God first. Then the church. Then service. Then our homes. Then our employment. God will bless. Brethren, I don't believe we have a bucket big enough to hold what God can shower upon us. Thank you, Brother Kevin, for that good message. Don't go. Come back. You may be seated. The reason I chose Brother Ernie, he's right there in the panel where he lives. You can find out where this message will be put in the practice. According to our last year's minutes and the minutes that we have before, we do have just a little business that we need to take care of tonight, and that is appointing committees. So I have tried to use every one, I think every pastor that we have, other than the ones in Pope Paul's, therefore every pastor in our association. The Obituary Committee, Brother Cullum, Brother McKellum, and Brother Bill Roberts. Brother Bill Roberts is going to be here, not going to be here tomorrow. Brother Cullum, are you here? The Interstate Reform Mission, Brother Ernie Benning, Brother Russell A. Sell, Brother Harold Lloyd. Christian education, Brother Clifford Creagle, Kenneth Bean, Earl Burns.