The Diligent Workman

[00:00:00] Turn in your Bibles, if you would, to 2 Peter 3. And while you're doing that, this setting reminds me a little bit of another one, a little like it. Some of you have probably heard this, but there was a conference somewhat like this, and the cleanup batter pastor at the end was waiting to get up. And the psalm leader, the setting was not so different in that they had a large meal beforehand, And people took the opportunity to travel home. Whether it wasn't their favorite speaker or whether it had too many miles, we'll just speculate. But this pastor was waiting to get up and the song leader got up and led a song and introduced the speaker. There's no moderator. The song leader introduced the speaker. [00:00:47] And as he did so, the speaker got up, the song leader walked out and passed the leftover salad and into the landscape he left. As he got up and he turned around, he was appalled to see one lone gentleman sitting in that large auditorium. He's overwhelmed and yet he can't believe and he's rather in awe about the loyalty of at least this one gentleman. And he starts to profusely thank him And he's interrupted by this gentleman who says [00:01:18] Pastor, you could benefit both of us if you would make this short I was asked to stay and have the closing prayer Well, there's more of you left than just that night I'd like to take this opportunity from the pastors and our wives To thank the local churches They're not going to do so for us So they have just been so wonderful week, so hospitable, the benevolence has been overwhelming. I want to say thank you from all of us, Steve and Wilbur and the local churches and the food has been wonderful. [00:01:57] I'm a little biased in that the pretty young lady behind the registration is my daughter, so that helps too. He said, it has a cleanup batter, I don't know if I need a rake or a leaf blower. And I decided I need both, and I'm going to let you decide in the end which one I used first. But it's right, my notes kind of went out the window and I expected that somewhat. And I'm just praying God that he would somehow bring all of this together. [00:02:28] I resonated with a lot of what was happening before From the very beginning, the heart of the Father to the call of the Father Especially as it relates to us as pastors And then really touched this afternoon and this morning in the servant leader We are now at 2 Peter 3, let's read I ask you to stand if you could, we'll read verse 10 to 14 Again, 2 Peter 3, verse 10 to 14 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat, both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. [00:03:09] Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent, be found by him in peace, without spot and blameless. [00:03:42] Father God, we pray your anointment upon this word and on my lips and upon our hearts. Father, may you be here. This task is too great for me. Undertake for us in the name of Jesus. Amen. You may be seated. Knowing the certainty, knowing the certainty of God's judgment, how are we to live? Eternal life brings an eternal perspective. And we touched on that a bit this week as well. Allow me to read 2 Timothy 2.15. [00:04:12] It's the one we've been keying in on all weekend. Be diligent to present yourselves approved to God. A workman or a worker, a diligent worker, who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth See, God is not satisfied with my belief, he wants my obedience The diligent workman, Webster would suggest, diligent meaning what? Hardworking, industrious, assiduous or persistent, conscientious, thorough, painstakingly reliable [00:04:46] As I read those, even in our modesty, some of us suggest that that could be a resume for me. How hard is it to live up to that? I actually think that our culture somewhat has a deserved reputation of being down-to-earth, good, hard-working people. Because we are industrious, we are conscientious, we are reliable, yes? But diligence we speak of this evening is as it relates to our Jesus ministry, the kingdom work. [00:05:21] Question for you, was Jesus diligent while he walked on earth in human form? A resounding yes, of course he was. It's kind of an interesting view of how Jesus used his time here. Was Jesus rushing around from place to place to place to place? Yes and no. There are some things we do know about him. He took time out to pray. He took time to be by himself. He took time to enjoy friends as in going to a wedding. [00:05:57] He also addresses Martha and persuades Martha that spending time with God was more appropriate and more timely and more important than making sure all the decorations are in place as her sister Mary did to stop and to listen and to spend time I repeat, stop, listen and spend time We're going to be reviewing that for a little bit and I know what you're thinking [00:06:28] because I confess to you as a pastor that little phrase to take time and listen to spend time is for me I know I don't speak to the crowd it doesn't understand what I'm saying but I struggle with continued overload my own doings I know but I'm always in continued overload Sometimes it seems the only time I pray is on the run. [00:07:00] And I'm not talking about a business run, but pastoring run. We are all different, but many of us can relate to what I'm saying, I believe. Probably none are failing as miserably as I am, but maybe relating nonetheless. As you consider the diligent workman, what comes to mind? If I should ask you, are you a diligent workman? Now if I came to you and said, are you diligent? [00:07:30] It's kind of an in-your-face question, James. It's kind of an in-your-face question. Are you diligent? And you kind of put up your defenses. Why? Because of course you are. You're doing all you can in a 24-7 mode. But are you diligent? And you start thinking defensively of, yes I am, but I've got limitations. Limitations of what? Time. Limitations of resources. And then I just said, I need to spend time. Time out. [00:08:09] I know you relate to that. I think you do. Personally, I sometimes feel like a squeezed lemon. You think there's no more left to give You think there's nowhere else to go But out of obligation and out of passion or default responsibility You squeeze, they squeeze What is it? We all squeeze And we risk it being bitter [00:08:39] So pastors, I deduct that I need to spend more time out with the Father Time out, listening And as I feel to the full at the fountain and source of Holy Spirit power Would it be true that maybe, just maybe, I would feel more energized rather than squeezed And maybe I would be more passionate rather than obligatory Maybe I would be more empowered versus fatigued I'm going to address a pretty sensitive subject here as it pertains to diligent workmen. [00:09:18] Does our limitation of time equate to our practice of being tent-making pastors? Now I'm asking you visitors who aren't pastors to close your eyes so you can't hear me. But I want you to hear my heart on this, and don't shoot the messenger too quick. We have a wonderful, wonderful heritage, culture, and practice. To me, in my experience, the plural ministry is a great benefit and must. [00:09:56] Not the only way to do it, but I like it. And the plural ministry is meant to divide the work. We are, my pastors are all busy. But as the limitation of time, does it equate to us being tent-making pastors? Do you know what I'm asking? We're told, Paul, as you read scriptures, Paul chose to be a tent-making pastor. Well, my culture and my church chose that before I was ordained for me. [00:10:28] I would like to believe that I would have chosen the same given a choice. I want to believe I would have. Because I believe that. I like to sweat with my people. But think about the negative side of it. The negative situation that can evolve in our practice is an over-involvement in business pursuits. And now instead of dividing the work, we assume the associates are going to do it. They assume we're going to, and no one does it. [00:11:04] Raymond, my wonderful mentor senior, told me once that Lonnie, there is no comparable way to compare what I did in my ministry to what you are doing now. I don't know what that all means. But the culture they were in, what they used to do, they showed up on Sundays. That's not how I do pastoring. You've heard and I've heard it About tent making pastors They, speaking third person [00:11:34] They, meaning us pastors Are only ordained businessmen Who show up on Sunday mornings to preach You guys have a first aid kit We need band-aids, that hurts I hope we don't deserve that comment But maybe we need to hear it Admittedly, there's a danger in our tent-making method of pastoring. Just as the government needs to review the original Constitution to again gain their moorings, maybe we need to review our practice. [00:12:09] I understood Paul's tent-making to be a means to an end. I'm not necessarily promoting Paul's lifestyle circuit preaching as a pattern to follow Just like I don't necessarily promote Paul's choice of marriage And some of those things that he did I don't think Mark English in Arkansas is here, is he? Tell the brother to get his act together [00:12:39] But anyway, I do think that it would be wise, is it fair for us to consider our situations pertinent today? Unless you misunderstand my challenge here. We were told today that don't mess with people's wallets, right? You don't mess with the green. The love of money reaches every tax bracket and income level. Please hear me out. [00:13:11] And I frequently said that possibly and probably the day labor, blue collar, middle class, where I belong, may be more susceptible and guilty of lusting for money and more than the one who has by gift already attained. So please understand my statements. The challenge is, can I adjust? We heard just the seed of it today, and I'm not sure who it was. I think it was Brother Eli. The challenge is, can we adjust and consider preventive maintenance? [00:13:49] Not a good term to put here, but preventive maintenance, especially as it applies to church issues and specifically as it relates to human relationships. You know, most of us learn by default, crash course on spiritual CPR. We're ER pastors, aren't we? I'm constantly going around putting splints and band-aids on people. Some of that is not preventable. Some of that is going to happen. Would it not be better to reconsider preventive spiritual therapies that would keep people healthy? [00:14:26] Would it not be better to be engaged Monday through Saturday and not just on Sunday? This will mean less hours in the office, the barn, the auction, the job site. What were the early church leaders trying to say in their practice of tent making? I'm not one to be a good example. I did take the plunge because of my conviction about five years ago, and I went to a four-day week, Jessica, because of what I've told you. [00:15:04] I wanted to be with my people. And it had great benefit for me and for some of those that I surprised on their job sites, unannounced, show up. What do you think they wanted? I'm pleased to tell you they weren't scared to see me, but just a cup of coffee for no other reason than I care. It has great benefits. But you know what? With time, I got squeezed and squeezed and squeezed. [00:15:35] And I've lost my passion and some of my vision for where I began with those high ideals. I need to come back and begin again. There's our limitation of time of our own making. I stand guilty. I stand guilty. I justify that I have to. because of no choice on my own. I need to work. Number one is my finances. I must provide for my family, yes? [00:16:08] You know, we have mortgages. You know, we must keep that mortgage for the new truck and the new condo and the new car and the annual cruise and the four-star motels. And I'm exaggerating for effect, but you know my direction. Whose bar are we using? What's important here? Seek ye first, what? Seek ye first financial security. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. [00:16:42] And all of these things, and all of these things shall be added unto you. What am I saying? I'm going to leave you a lot of loose ends tonight. I know why. I'm supposed to bring this together. But in intent making pastoring, do not wait to serve God Monday through Saturday because you can't make your mortgage payment. Step out in faith. It's not the church's responsibility to give you the check so you can afford to do it. Just do it and see what God does. [00:17:15] I'm not asking for full time, but we're not doing something right. I don't think Paul was a businessman who showed up on Sunday mornings. The preach He was engaged Pastors, I resolve To be more diligent In the kingdom work for God Than my personal self First and foremost And sequentially trusting for my needs When Jesus showed up [00:17:47] Some 2,000 years ago In human form How did he find his church? Switching gears here just a little bit How did he find his church? His nation, the Jewish people. Did He find them diligent? Yes, I'd say we probably could say that. They were diligent in the what? Their rigorous religious drills. Everything was weighed and judged by how it applied to the commandments of men. And Jesus showed some very, very negative emotions about that. [00:18:19] Why? Because they had made for doctrine the commandments of men. they had made what they considered practical applications just like we have nothing wrong with that but they had made practical applications of the laws of Yahweh line upon line, precept upon precept addendum upon addendum upon addendum upon addendum they lost what it was all about yet it could be defined as diligence [00:18:53] but what? Diligence as it applied to externals Diligence as it applies to dead works. Diligence as it applies to the traditions of the forefathers. They actually tangled with Jesus concerning all of that and their direction. They said, we be of Abraham, we be of Isaac, we be of Jacob, New Testament, we be of Paul, we be of Apollos. Did this make the forefathers wrong? No. Absolutely no. This is about the nature of man. [00:19:25] who becomes comfortable and biased and prideful concerning the application of God's principles without the direct voice and promptings of the Spirit of God in a current way. They were religious, not faithful. They were hypocrites. There was a lot of hypocrisy, not authenticity. There was pride and not humility. They were frisking men rather than fishing for men. So how does this apply? to being a diligent workman. [00:19:57] How does that touch my life? I'm sorry, Steve, I couldn't use a glass of water. I sure want to bring me a glass of water, please. Thanks. Is it possible that we too live in danger of resting our experiences with the happenings of the past without our own current, personal, intimate experience? I am of Beachy, I am of Maranatha, I am of Berea, I am of Mennonite, I am of Does that make our identities wrong? Absolutely not. [00:20:32] But they are neither the total, secure, safe answer. You and I, this is my heart, you and I, pastors, you and I are pastoring youth who are more or possibly more academic and intelligent than we. I did not say more wise, but more academic and more intelligent than we. I, as a pastor, want to give them reliable, pertinent answers. [00:21:09] Current to their situation. Thank you for that. I say to you, I do not think a spiritually alive church is willing to walk in somebody else's chalk line. Is a spiritually alive church happy or willing to live out the directives and edicts that were only pertinent in the past generation? Every generation needs their own revival. [00:21:42] Every church needs the experience of the Holy Spirit working within their lives, in their time, within their walls, and among their ministries. Have our forefathers done something wrong? No. But we need it for ourselves today. Present, current, contemporary. As a diligent pastor, workman, my first and foremost purpose is to know the Father as my forefathers knew the Father. [00:22:23] They surely had their own experience of revival and lived and walked accordingly. We still today reap benefits of our faithful forefathers. Diligent forefathers. Of course, with all due respect to our forefathers, they were human, as are we. I'm not one who enjoys criticizing the past, and I'm not going to do so. [00:22:54] Please hear my heart. Our forefathers critiqued their own forefathers, and they made changes as they thought deemed necessary for their day. Of course, every time the word change comes up, there's a war. You know that, pastors. But they made change. We called them good. And in my short history, I've watched this continual adaptation take place as it works underneath the auspice of the Lord Jesus Christ and the work as it applies to us in 2010. [00:23:34] We can do it. He has answers for us today, and they may just be applied slightly different than they were in our forefathers' day. I guess the question I leave with you Are we happy and satisfied with the results that we have? We have some history Most of you are older than I am I'm older than quite a few of you here But I have some history [00:24:05] You've got greater history Are we happy with the results of what has happened? I'm not finding fault But if we continue to do things the same way, we get the same results. Are we happy with the results? Well, maybe you ask, as it relates to what? Well, what about the church mandate for reaching the world for Christ? Have we met our goals? Actually, what are our goals? Actually, do we have any goals? I embellish just to keep you engaged, okay? [00:24:37] Understand that. I'm not being harsh. I just want to keep you engaged too. Reaching the family, the community, the world for Christ is a mandate of every believer. And has our focus, has our focus and diligence maybe been misguided or selfish? Possibly? Our need, and this is not meant to be offensive, our need for a very private school, our exclusive activities, [00:25:09] Have we worked so diligently at an external separation and a dent of it, we now wake up to find that we have formed an exclusive religious club, not so different than the Pharisees when Jesus showed up. A most wonderful say for the family Religious club Again, all overstatements [00:25:40] Just to keep you engaged Am I being diligent for the work of the kingdom? Am I serving? Am I discipling? Am I being a fisher of men? Or am I aimlessly following what may have worked for a past generation and been pertinent for a past generation. They didn't get it all right. We're not going to get it all right. But let's diligently, passionately seek God for what works for our generation. [00:26:20] How can we be more effective in pastoring our own as it applies to equipping them to reach the community? At large, and I'll leave you to answer that, we all want to do this. I know that. It's the heart of all of us pastors. But sometimes we need a checkpoint in the road. Let me change directions a bit to cover some of the things they've asked me to cover. Shannon Faulkner made headlines a few years ago as she crusaded to become the first female cadet at the Citadel, the all-male military academy. [00:26:54] Some of you may remember after a prolonged court battle, she finally won the right to enroll and then she did and then she couldn't endure the rigors of the exercise program required by all cadets. So a few days later she drops out and nothing's been heard from her since. That was a dull illustration, wasn't it? You were expecting some punchline. I'm sorry I don't have one. Quitters don't have much of an inspiration for me either [00:27:25] That's what she was A quitter Pastors Paul said, I have kept the faith I have finished the course Therefore there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness And not for me only But There's the room for us, isn't it? Finishing the race is critically important Finishing the race is critically important. You know, I am inspired. [00:27:58] My father is one of my greatest inspirations. And lots of those have gone on before. And I shared something with Daniel Lab. I was a kid when he was coming to my house. And here he is, seven turns in the mission field. And he said it was short. But I see guys here from Ubald Heads and beyond who have been a great inspiration to us. You've set the marks for us. But we can't lay our laurels down and say We're all satisfied right there You would ask us to pick it up And make it pertinent today [00:28:29] We have to finish the race Somebody's watching us just as we were watching you I'm not a marathon runner But runners tell us that there are two critical times in the race The first one's in the beginning You feel so good that you risk overexpending yourself. And at the end, you don't have enough left. Any applications for us, pastors? Yours truly. We start out with great promise and having a great difficult time finishing the race. [00:29:05] The second critical time is the halfway point. That's where I'm at. You suddenly realize you're on halfway. You've got another far to go as you've spent. and you're tired. You're tired. Runners call it hitting the wall. You've come to the end of your endurance and you don't know if you can put another foot in front of the other one. I've seen it happen in marriage. I've seen it happen in the Christian life. So have you pastors, the people we counsel. [00:29:37] We've seen it all over. I have seen it to extraordinary, diligent pastors. Have you experienced burnout? We're told to run with perseverance the race set before us, but you know what? We've got to do a gut check sometimes. Are we experiencing burnout? Pastors so passionate, so entrenched in the work, so sold out, so spent. [00:30:11] and then some small, seemingly insignificant situation comes up and your whole ministry is teetering on the brink. Many of you have experienced having it all disintegrate in a heap of scandal and ungratefulness and misunderstanding. I suspect many of you are not so different than me. Somewhat like me, maybe, and I apologize. Allow me to qualify that. I don't mean to insult you. But I'm a pusher, a mover. I have more drive than sense. I love being a pastor. Am I allowed to say that? I love being a pastor. I feel called of God. I feel that urgency of God. I feel called to make a difference in people's lives. [00:30:58] I resonate with Tim Yoder yesterday morning because he's my friend, but I didn't have quite the same experience as he did. I love to serve. I truly do. It's not a duty to me. It's a passion. I had great mentors, but I have limitations. Imagine that. I'm told a person is supposed to sleep. Some new study they're doing right now. I have a family, children, a bride. I'm told I should spend time with them. [00:31:35] I'm aging folks, aching, fainting, seemingly diminishing Burnout Galatians 6.9 Be not weary in well-doing, be diligent, but some of us are weary of overdoing Burnout seems to have become an expected and accepted role of pastors Is that right? If we're going to be spent, let's be spent for Christ, yes. [00:32:10] But he's also asking us to be good stewards of our bodies. I think so. Limitations are probably with us. Thanks Adam and Eve. The limitations are with us. We'll deal with it. Much as the chagrin of those who... Eli, you were just being Amway. Much as the chagrin of those who are doing all these miracle juices. No offense intended. My wife is probably guilty of extortion, getting it into me all the time. But you know what? We have limitations. I'm going to pose a question. [00:32:45] Actually, I've been encouraged to do so. If and when is a sabbatical necessary or appropriate? Is there some biblical precedence? They didn't give me a lot of time for this. And I was, to be honest with you, when he first told me about this, this was an afterthought on my subject, he told me I have an option. I don't know what God's doing to me, but in the last six, when he first told me, I gave no thought to it. But in the last six weeks, I've hit the wall. [00:33:18] I'm having symptoms of emotional meltdown. Not because there's problems. I'm just a pastor who thinks he can do everything, all the time. 24-7 and I don't want to change but I don't want to lose my passion and I'm losing my passion would it be wise for us to consider at least opening the door to the idea of sabbatical [00:33:50] I don't know if there's a precedence Jesus did immediately after baptism I wish I could say He took 40 day hiatus to the wilderness. And you say, yeah, that must have been tempted by the devil. Don't finish the verse. Tempted by the devil, comma, angels came and ministered to him. How many of you men have taken 40 days off just to be with God? I've not. I've made a request in the last week. I don't know what will happen to that request or whether I'll even go through with it. [00:34:37] Some points for us to consider. Delegate. The gift of the plural ministry. I think I'm a delegator. My pastors are busy, I tell you what. I've got the best team out there. We're all busy. We're not just spiritual comrades, my team. We are best friends. We're gifted differently, uniquely. I need them as in capital N-E-D-D, N-E-E-D. I need them. But whether they, don't talk about delegation here, whether they or, let me allow, church laity members. [00:35:14] I believe it would do well for us to engage them more than we maybe do. A busy church membership is a healthy church usually. More than that, can we bend our culture, please hear me, can we bend our culture just a bit and consider the power of affirmation. As a pastor, the power of affirmation, affirming our associates, our church members, has an amazing effect on them and their faith. [00:35:59] Eli said today, the little ones, the lambs, I do the same thing every Sunday morning. I know every child by name, shake them all by hand. What about the adults? They have the same need as the children do. We need to engage them. We need to affirm them. I know it's somewhat counterculture for us to praise and to encourage and to command and to honor a job well done. [00:36:32] But it seems to me our culture maybe gave us a bit of a myth That somehow we are enablers to pride as we do what Jesus did And that was affirm people Let's be diligent And delegate and just play the role of pastor coach And affirming and encouraging them in their ministries I think you'll be amazed at what people will do when you believe in them When you tell them they can do it Diligence [00:37:06] As an ending comment on that part of the subject Let me ask you Would our marriages survive If we treated our brides with the same Arms length attitude I'll see you next Sunday Hello Or That length of attitude You will do this How did you dare do that without My involvement I'm the bishop I'm the deacon, I'm the pastor, I'm the mission board. How dare you make that decision? [00:37:38] When God ordained me as a shepherd of Haven Fellowship, He didn't make me the sound guy, or the worship leader, or the Sunday school teacher, or the trustee. They're just as important roles as ours. We can't be them. Engage them in their gift of ministries. They're better at it than you are. Sorry. Philippians 3 Brethren, I count on myself to have apprehended for this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before I what? [00:38:11] I press, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high quality of God in Christ Jesus. Jesus was opposed, he was persecuted, yet he went on and paid the price, and ran the race. He's asking us, when we get weary, when we get weary, we are to fix our eyes on Jesus. He is the author, the finisher, the perfecter of our faith. Fix your eyes on Him when you get to where I'm at. Every pastor needs to hear this. [00:38:41] It's so easy to give up. It's so easy to quit. It's so easy to say, I don't have to do that anymore. If you take the tour in Williamsburg, Virginia, I'll explain to you why to this day that when you go to a court of law and they go in there and they have what they call swearing you in and you have to hold up your right hand and say, I affirm or I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God. [00:39:13] You know the history to that? The story goes back all the way back to medieval times when somebody was tried for a crime and evidence was totally overwhelmingly against them. There was only one way out. And that was you could claim or plead the benefit of clergy as a forerunner to the lie detector test. Seriously. And the benefit of clergy meant that when a convict or the accused, that was the only way out, he would say, I plead the benefit of clergy, a clergy was called, he would bring in, he would bring the Bible in, turn to Psalms 51, and if that accused could read that without stammering or stuttering, he was set free. [00:40:03] He was only ever allowed once in his lifetime to claim it and they did that because if he was set free they would take and brand the cross in his right hand stood there forever that's why you raise your right hand to see if he's got the brand because he's ever only claimed it once in his life One of these days we too, pastors are going to stand before the judge of all the earth guilty as can be we can do that [00:40:36] plead the benefit of the cross that's our hope our only hope I don't know where you guys are pastors I bore my heart I need rejuvenated I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with this I want to always want to be the passionate servant leader Eli spoke about today Let's touch with her. A little illustration. [00:41:11] I hope this isn't cruel, but my bride's used to this. But last Wednesday, my bride needed to go see. She went to a specific place, and it was a new place, and she didn't know how to get there. And we had this little GPS that was gifted to us. And she has learned the basics. She's not techie. So, she's learned the basics of it, but I chose to, I went and put the address in for her, and turned it on, put it on the dash, and said, this will get you there. She needed to go from point A to point B, she knew how to get there, but point B to point C, she knew how to get from point A to C, but she didn't know how to get from point B to C. [00:41:48] And so, it took her to her second place. Work just like it's meant to work. Well, fast forward. Time to come home. She gets in the car, straps in, and this thing's still set for the address it's at And you know what happens This thing starts spewing out cyber profanity U-turns and turnarounds and recalculations and all kinds of things She's driving and this thing is sat on loud because her husband is a lot harder hearing And this thing is barking at her All kinds of edicts and directives and she's upset [00:42:21] And she hits the power button But the power button, you don't have to hold the power button It doesn't go off. She hits it. It doesn't go off. She hits it again. It doesn't go off. She hits it again. There's nothing happens. This thing just continues to spew out this little feminine piece of handiwork. I'm talking about a GPS now. Spews out this all kinds of edicts, directives, and inner frustrations. It goes up and peels that thing off the dash and throws it underneath the driver's seat. Guess what? Out of sight, but not silent. Still barking out edicts. [00:42:56] She turns up the CD. And she overrides the noise with better noise. Oh, I laugh so hard. So many illustrations from that, and you can take it where you want. But you know that little GPS? rightly applied works rightly applied it works it is not silent it speaks directions, directives, instructions [00:43:27] we've got to rightly apply it it will take us where we need to go pastors we need direction he said it, we're under authority I so need direction Be diligent and run the race with patience. Don't lose heart. Don't become discouraged. Don't quit. Keep on running the race that's set before us. One more. Many of you know some of the difficulty that our congregation went through in the last four years. [00:44:08] and that I buried a, not just a church man, but a wonderful, wonderful, close friend of mine about seven weeks ago. He left four sons behind for the mark. And I'm engaging with his oldest son. His oldest son likes animals and we're engaging together a lot. And he was in my barn last Wednesday night. And out of the blue, and he speaks, he's healing healthily. He's grieving healthily, and he said, Lonnie, he said, you know, sometimes I call my own phone. [00:44:44] He inherited his father's cell phone. He says, I call my own phone. Because I want to hear my dad's strong voice on the answering machine. How desperate am I? to hear the voice of God, that strong voice. Pastors, that's where I'm at. [00:45:17] I need the hands of God on my life so that I can lead these most wonderful people God has put in our church. I can't do it on my own. You can't do it on your own. I need an infusion of God, an empowerment of Him. and I need his voice, his GPS and the patience of the whole congregation. I'd like to tonight just covenant my life in a new way to that very thing. [00:45:52] That together with my spouse we rejuvenate, we serve again with the passion we once knew. And tonight maybe you feel the same. I feel like I need assistance even now. Maybe I'll call somebody out to come pray. And if you want to stand as a commitment to that with your spouses, that's your call. [00:46:24] But this is a commitment to God that we want to zero in on. Hymn number one. and that we want to pastor and take there are some abuses of being pastors this is how it is but if you truly love truly love does it matter? Moses Moses how often was he guilty? he struck the rock [00:46:55] I wish I could claim one ailment one sin Only How often did he say God Spare your children Take me out of it I call that the Moses move Sometimes pastors we have to take the hit For the big group Spare them Be humble Don't kick your youth out too early They are just Trying to find their wings [00:47:25] And they need significance They need to know they matter They need to know that people care and we cut them off because they didn't quite fit in the box we had made for them. Let's run the race with patience. We have to finish the race faithfully.