Participants: Jim Gilley
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000895
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01:00 It's good to be with you.
01:01 I was talking to Herman Harp today. 01:03 Herman Harp is a good friend of mine. 01:05 Ponder and Harp, and Jennings, 01:06 one of my favorite music groups. 01:09 And Herman, he was talking about 01:13 some of the difficulties of being a gospel singer 01:17 on the road, in the church, 01:20 it's not easy. 01:23 And he said, people come up to me and say, 01:26 "How do you stay humble?" 01:29 And he says, I just start laughing. 01:32 How do you stay humble, 01:34 when you can barely get enough money to eat, 01:36 he said, "How do you stay humble? 01:39 How do you stay humble? 01:42 Well, let me tell you, 01:44 how do you stay humble in ministry? 01:46 You fellows know. 01:49 The Lord keeps us humble. 01:52 If it's not one thing, it's twenty. 01:54 I... 01:56 tonight somebody asked me, they said, 02:00 "Do you have on your suspenders?" 02:03 one of our team members. 02:05 See, they'd heard the story. 02:08 Back in '99, I was ill, very ill, lost a lot of weight. 02:14 And so I had decided to fly to workers meeting 02:17 instead of drive. 02:19 It wasn't any faster, 02:21 but it was a little easier on the body. 02:24 And so I flew from Shreveport, 02:27 where I was a conference president 02:29 over to Dallas. 02:31 And I was changing planes, and I needed a shine. 02:35 Got up on the shoeshine stand, and my legs have been so weak, 02:39 that I had walked only with the cane. 02:42 And my body was just so weak, 02:44 I could hardly get up on that stand. 02:47 But I finally got up there. 02:49 Men shine my shoes. 02:52 When I came off the stand, I fell, 02:55 and he helped me up. 02:58 And I reached to my pocket, and I asked him, 03:02 if he had change, and he didn't. 03:06 And I... 03:07 he said, he didn't anyway, you know, 03:08 that's how those guys get those bigger tips 03:11 when they don't have the change. 03:14 But he didn't know me, 03:16 and didn't know my Scottish heritage and so. 03:21 I said, "Well, I'll be right back." 03:24 So I walked over to where there was a stand, 03:29 they were selling these like slurpy things, 03:32 you know, I mean they are fruit drink, 03:34 but healthy. 03:36 And when you've been sick, you're thinking health, 03:38 you're not thinking of anything else. 03:41 So I ordered a couple of them, 03:44 got them in my hand, 03:46 I went back over there, 03:48 and while I was standing there 03:50 with these two $3 drinks in my hand, 03:54 my pants fell down to my ankles. 04:00 Well, that's what everybody else did, 04:02 they just laughed at me. 04:04 I'm standing there, 04:05 at the Dallas Fort Worth airport 04:08 with my pants down around my ankles. 04:11 My wife... 04:13 Now my wife, you could tell her the funniest joke in the world, 04:18 and she would just smile and say, "Uh-huh, 04:20 that was nice, yeah." 04:22 But you let somebody's pants fall off, 04:26 and she sees that as humor say, 04:29 and she was bent over laughing. 04:32 And I was trying to look for somebody 04:34 to grab one of those things, 04:35 so I could put my pants back up. 04:39 And finally I got a little help. 04:42 And I gave the man a dollar for the tip, 04:45 which I thought was reasonable, he charged by $5 for shine, 04:49 and I thought a dollar was reasonable. 04:52 And he looked at me, and he said, "You mean, 04:54 you went through all of that just for giving me a dollar. 05:02 And I almost said, let me have it back, you know. 05:05 Well, I want you to know tonight, 05:07 I've got on suspenders and a belt, 05:11 I'm not taking any chances tonight, all right. 05:15 And it does, 05:18 those are the kind of things that keep you humble, 05:20 I guarantee you. 05:22 And there are lot more, 05:24 I've had several phone calls today, 05:26 that have kept me very humble. 05:28 And so, you don't have to worry about that. 05:30 Dwight Nelson came down one time, 05:32 Dwight Nelson, one of my best friends, 05:35 one of the best preachers around. 05:36 I love this guy tremendously, I was conference president, 05:40 I said, "Dwight, come down and speak to my workers. 05:43 He tried to back out on me, the last night day, 05:46 he had some kind of a problem, I just appealed to him, 05:49 please come, 05:52 and he came down, and he preached on humility. 05:57 And I said to him, "Dwight, 06:02 these guys haven't been on some net 98. 06:06 These guys haven't been on net 95 or 96. 06:09 Go preach that to Mark and go preach that to Doug 06:12 and preach it to yourself, 06:13 my poor preachers are trying to get up enough courage 06:16 to get up next week, and preach it again. 06:19 You know, there's humility is not the battle 06:21 for most of our Adventist preachers. 06:24 He's trying to have enough courage to get up 06:29 and go at it again. 06:32 But I will say to you tonight, 06:35 God keeps us humble, doesn't he? 06:37 He knows how. 06:39 This is my fourth time I believe to preach here 06:43 in the last 20 some odd years. 06:46 It's an honor to be with you. 06:49 This... 06:50 when I was vice president of the division, 06:53 one of my jobs, 06:57 in addition to training young presidents, 06:59 which was really very enjoyable thing 07:03 to share with these men. 07:06 Tell them some of the mistakes that some of us had made, 07:09 and Elder Kibble and I envisioned this, 07:13 and Don Schneider says, 07:15 "All right, you're in charge of it, 07:17 and he put us in charge of training new presidents 07:22 that have come in. 07:24 And so many of them have told us, 07:26 and he and I both knew that 07:28 it would have helped us a lot 07:30 to have had that kind of training 07:31 when we became president of a conference, 07:33 and we've had a lot of these fellows get back and say, 07:39 some of these things you've taught us 07:41 really have paid off. 07:43 And that's good. 07:44 But the other, there are so many joyful things 07:47 about serving at the division level. 07:50 And Elder Bradford knows this, 07:52 because he served at that level for so many years, 07:56 and was the president of that division, 08:00 the North American division. 08:03 And we loved Elder Bradford, we still love him, 08:06 and Elder Cleveland, 08:08 these men have meant a lot to me personally 08:11 through the years, 08:12 I've know them for many, many years. 08:14 T. Marshall Kelly, first time I met him, 08:17 he won't remember meeting me, 08:19 but I will never forget meeting him. 08:21 It was in Dayton, Ohio I believe with Don Jacobson, 08:26 and you were holding a crusade there. 08:29 That was the first time I've ever heard you sing, 08:33 and I've fell in love with your voice. 08:36 And you get better every year, you really do, that's right. 08:40 God knows that that's true. 08:43 And Elder Bradford, 08:45 the first time I heard Elder Bradford preach, 08:48 I was a student in Andrews University. 08:51 And I remember some of the things, 08:53 he talked about that night. 08:57 One of them tipped me off on something. 09:01 I knew when I heard this, 09:04 that I had a fellow baseball fan, 09:08 because he told us, "If you've got the fast ball, 09:12 we can teach you the curve." 09:15 You don't remember saying that, do you? 09:18 Yes, I do. All right. 09:19 And when I saw Elder Bradford, 09:22 he reminded me of Roy Campanella, 09:24 the great catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers. 09:28 So I came down and introduced myself to him, 09:30 and I said, "Sir, has anyone ever told you, 09:33 that you resemble Roy Campanella, 09:37 and he said, "Many times and in many places." 09:40 I think he probably even signed a few autographs, 09:42 just to get people off his back. 09:45 You know, people do that, 09:47 I was with Dom DeLuise one time, 09:49 just met him in airport out there in Phoenix, Arizona. 09:53 You know Dom DeLuise, 09:55 don't act like you don't know, who he is. 09:57 He is a comedian, 09:59 and he wears one of these hats, you know, 10:02 kind of a golf hat, white one. 10:04 And he looks so much like Paul Prudhomme, 10:09 who is the chef out of New Orleans, 10:12 that writes all these cookbooks. 10:15 And so he was sitting there, we were talking, 10:17 and somebody came up to Dom DeLuise, 10:20 and they said to him, 10:22 "I've bought all of your cookbooks, 10:24 and so he signed the autograph Paul Prudhomme, 10:28 and the lady walked away. 10:31 And I said, now you're Dom DeLuise, 10:34 "Oh, yeah, well, yeah." 10:35 And he was. 10:36 I said, "But you just signed Paul Prudhomme," 10:39 he said, "He does the same thing for me," 10:41 when people come up to him, and they think... 10:44 so we don't bother to correct them, 10:46 we just sign whatever they think we are. 10:48 And it takes care of them. 10:52 Elder Bradford impressed me so much 10:54 that night as a preacher. 10:57 I knew, I could never preach like he did. 11:03 I could never use the language, 11:06 the English language so beautifully, 11:09 and use the vocabulary that he had, 11:14 it was magnificent. 11:15 Andrews University, I was a student, 11:18 undergrad student, 11:20 not at the seminary at that time. 11:22 But we became friends. 11:25 And every time I would see him, I would go up and speak to him, 11:28 I was just a young student. 11:30 And then later on, 11:32 we got to know each other a whole lot better. 11:35 And then, when he retired, 11:37 I was pastoring the Arlington Texas Church, 11:39 and he had been chairman of the board 11:41 of Adventist Health Systems US, 11:43 and I thought that's good enough, any reason. 11:45 And we gave a banquet for Elder and Mrs. Bradford, 11:50 and we charged bunch of money for people to come, 11:53 cost a bunch of money, a plate to get in. 11:56 It was a nice banquet, and we had a gift for him. 12:00 And we put him up in the nice hotel. 12:02 Gave him a nice hotel suites, and we took care of Elder... 12:06 We offered to give him a limousine, 12:08 but he said, "No, he would rather rent his own car. 12:11 So we didn't force the limousine on him. 12:15 We wanted to let him know, 12:18 how much we appreciated 12:20 his leadership in this division. 12:23 Elder, we do appreciate you. 12:29 Elder Cleveland, 12:31 I wish he were here, he's just given out, 12:34 he's heard all the good sermons he could hear. 12:36 And he said, "I don't think, 12:38 I'm gonna get one on this next one. 12:39 So he stayed home, but, you know... 12:44 you know, you win some and you loose some. 12:49 But that man, what a preacher, and I'm pointing here, 12:52 'cause this is where he usually sits. 12:57 I remember when I was a student at Andrews, 12:59 I had gone back there one summer, 13:01 Camille was had our oldest son, 13:03 and she was staying down with her parents in Collegedale 13:07 where he was a pastor, Elder Thurman 13:09 and I heard that Elder Cleveland 13:13 was at the Wisconsin camp meeting. 13:16 And Friday afternoon, 13:18 I jumped in my whatever I was driving in those days. 13:23 And headed over there, and when I got there. 13:27 I slept in the car and then I got up and I listened. 13:31 Well, I heard him Friday night. 13:33 Then I heard him Sabbath morning 13:35 and then I heard him Saturday night. 13:38 And then somebody was supposed to take him the next morning 13:41 back to the airport and I said, "Could I take you. 13:45 I'm going that way," and somebody else, 13:48 it would just be a complete round trip. 13:51 And the person that was to take him 13:53 was very happy to let me do so. 13:55 And on that drive from Wisconsin 13:58 down to the airport, 14:00 we became friends. 14:03 And I listened to him and he taught me a lot. 14:08 The first thing he taught me was when he got in the car, 14:12 I put on the seatbelt 14:15 and he said, "When I'm riding with a man 14:17 who puts on the seatbelt, I do to. 14:19 And he put on the seatbelt. 14:21 He said if you don't trust your driving, I don't either. 14:27 And people didn't have seatbelts 14:29 back in those days that often. 14:31 But I had them and he put them on. 14:35 And so we became friends, 14:37 and by the way I heard somebody talk about 14:39 emulating these men. 14:41 I have emulated all of them. 14:43 I could give you the Cleveland cadence, 14:47 I could do it, 14:49 well, I won't do it tonight, but I... 14:52 You know when you're young 14:54 you're looking for your own style, 14:56 you know that. 14:57 Man, sometimes people say, I thought they would, 14:59 Billy Graham was here tonight. 15:01 Well, I was thinking Billy Graham, 15:04 when I was preaching that sermon then, 15:06 it was probably Billy Graham sermon 15:08 with a little Adventist twist to it, you know. 15:12 And sometimes I'd be preaching out of Cleveland's sermon, 15:14 and sometimes I'd be preaching out of Bradford's sermon 15:17 and sometimes I'd be preaching Detamore sermon. 15:20 And sometimes you would find yourself in the sermon, 15:26 preaching it like they preach it. 15:28 Elder Walter, good friend of mine. 15:31 One night he was preaching George Vandeman's sermon. 15:35 And he had taken the printed sermon 15:38 and hadn't even worked it over yet. 15:42 And he was going along and he said, 15:45 "And you may say to me Brother Vandeman." 15:54 He did. 16:02 And everybody was thinking 16:03 how is he going to get out of this one, 16:04 he said, "You know, I have a very good friend 16:07 by the name of George Vandeman, 16:09 and he was just really on my mind right about now. 16:15 And he was on his mind. 16:18 Because he was using his sermon, 16:21 but you know that's how some of us grow 16:23 and go and then later on somehow we find our own style, 16:29 it may be inferior, very inferior, but it's us. 16:34 And we go with what we've got. 16:37 Apostle Paul, what a style he had. 16:41 If you really look at the Apostle Paul. 16:43 He probably was very abrasive, 16:48 he would probably not have won a Dale Carnegie contest 16:54 for getting along with people. 16:58 You see he would talk to people directly. 17:01 He was willing to talk to Peter and tell Peter 17:05 exactly what he thought about what Peter was doing, 17:09 and he was ready to talk to anybody else that way. 17:14 Apostle Paul called dramatically by God 17:19 to be a preacher. 17:21 Can you imagine this man, he's going down the road, 17:24 he doesn't even believe in Jesus Christ. 17:28 And he is dramatically called by Jesus Christ 17:32 to preach the gospel. 17:35 That's amazing, isn't it? 17:38 Now you would think that if God calls a man like this 17:43 and cause him so directly, 17:44 he would completely build a bubble around him 17:47 and protect him. 17:50 But he didn't do it. 17:53 Our text tonight he says "from the Jews, 17:57 five times I received forty stripes minus one. 18:01 You see that was forty, 18:03 was supposed to be the lethal dose. 18:07 So they would stop one short 18:10 of what was supposed to kill you. 18:13 You know, we read that we passed right on, 18:15 listen, those whips were sharp, 18:19 they had sharp objects at the end, 18:21 they would cut the back as they came across... 18:25 They would extend fully and then jerk it as they hit 18:29 and it would cut the back 18:31 and the back would look like road kill 18:36 and five times that happened to Paul. 18:38 Don't you imagine that Paul 18:39 somewhere along the lines said Lord, What is this, 18:42 I was going down the road 18:44 minding my own business persecuting 18:50 and you called me to this? 18:54 Where is the protection? 18:58 But there he was. 19:00 Then he said, "Three times I was beaten with rods," 19:05 three times, you remember that, 19:07 boy over to Singapore, number of years ago, 19:09 that was beaten. 19:11 They called it caning, 19:13 and he was to be beaten for something that he did. 19:16 Paul did this three times, never even made the news. 19:20 Nobody complained about it, 19:23 nobody says that 19:24 his civil rights were being violated 19:26 or anything else. 19:28 Three times, 19:31 one side was stoned that's usually enough, 19:35 because stoning is until death and can you just see Paul, 19:40 he's lying there on the ground 19:42 and here the stones are coming at him, 19:44 he had to lose consciousness somewhere along the line. 19:47 He's lying there being beaten and pelted by the stones 19:51 and they think he's dead. 19:56 And then as some of his friends began to pull the stones away. 20:01 He begins to shake a little bit. 20:05 And he realizes that he's not dead. 20:11 Perhaps he wished he were, 20:15 but he wasn't. 20:18 Then he says, three times I was shipwrecked 20:21 a night in a day I have been in the deep. 20:24 Camille and I, we get in the car, 20:27 we start to go somewhere, we have a word of prayer, 20:29 we ask for God's protection. 20:32 We get down that road. 20:34 Sometimes, you know, I remember a few years ago, 20:37 we were driving along 20:39 and all of a sudden we had a flat tire. 20:42 I had to get down on the side of the road, 20:44 I could not get those... 20:49 they put those lug nuts on with the power thing 20:54 and they give you a deal about the size of your finger 20:58 to try to get it off with. 21:00 A little old thing, not one of those big ones, 21:02 you had some leverage, you could do it. 21:06 I had nothing to stick on there. 21:08 Finally three hours, 21:11 I've called for help, no help is coming. 21:13 I'm standing out there on the road, 21:15 finally help comes 21:18 but it's just the guy going down the road. 21:21 And I said, "Man, I need some help here. 21:23 If you've got a pipe?" 21:25 "Yup, I've got a pipe, got everything you need." 21:28 "How much do you want?" 21:31 "Hey, give me fifty bucks, 21:32 I'll help you get the tire off." 21:35 There you are, somebody's mercy, 21:40 but then you know, you start to think about it, 21:43 that's nothing. 21:46 Paul was shipwrecked three times. 21:48 One night he spent a night and a day in the water 21:53 holding on to wreckage. 21:55 He says in journey often imperils of water, 21:58 imperils of robbers, imperils of my own countrymen, 22:02 imperils of the gentiles, imperils of the city, 22:05 imperils of the world innocent, imperils of the sea, 22:08 imperils among false brethren, brother in. 22:15 And he says, "They are treacherous to me." 22:20 HMS Richards Senior was a great man. 22:25 Yeah, you know one of the great thing. 22:28 One of the great things about living 22:31 through this period of time 22:32 that we have lived Elder Bradford 22:35 is that we have come across 22:37 and been able to know some of these people 22:41 and that's been a real blessing. 22:43 Now I knew him, I was a very young man, 22:46 but I'll tell you something, 22:48 just spending a little time with that man was something. 22:50 I was able to go over to his library one day 22:53 and what you see go through his library. 22:55 And having talked to me 22:57 and you know he was talking about the brothering. 23:02 He said, "You would not believe how many times 23:06 they were brothering on this committee 23:08 or that committee that opposed the voice of prophecy. 23:13 Well, you and I would sit back and say, 23:15 who would ever oppose the voice of prophecy, 23:20 who would ever oppose Elder HMS Richards. 23:24 He had opposition all the time. 23:28 And he said, "I used to think that these were false brethren, 23:32 but he said, "I finally came to understand, 23:36 they were just brethren 23:39 who had a different opinion than I had. 23:44 They were not false. 23:46 They were good people. 23:48 But they saw the proclamation of the gospel 23:52 in a different way he said than I saw it. 23:57 And it took me a long time to realize that. 24:00 Now there are also false brethren, and Paul says, 24:03 he ran into some of those, he says, 24:04 "We are innocent toil in sleeplessness often, 24:07 in hunger and thirst and fasting, 24:10 often in cold and nakedness. 24:12 Besides these other things, what comes upon me daily, 24:18 my deep concern for all the churches. 24:23 Stress, stress, 24:29 you know, Danny Shelton's had some health problems lately. 24:34 In last week we had 24:36 Dr. James Marcum at 3ABN. 24:42 And as he visited with Danny and with several others, 24:47 but as he visited particular with Danny, he told him, 24:50 he said stress is the number one thing 24:55 that causes serious heart problems. 25:01 And you've got to remove yourself from as much stress 25:04 as you possibly can. 25:08 Now you try doing that being a pastor. 25:11 See I was in administration, 25:13 conference president seven years, 25:15 five years at the division. 25:16 And then I kept telling the workers, 25:18 at workers meetings like this. 25:19 The last thing I'm gonna do before I hang 'em up, 25:24 is I'm gonna pastor a church. 25:28 And those preachers will look at me, 25:30 like you're looking at me right now. 25:33 Mmm, yeah, I bet. 25:37 And finally, the call came to go to Dallas. 25:42 And Camille and I went. 25:44 I'm gonna tell you something. 25:47 Pastoring is so much different that it used to be. 25:52 I'm telling you pastors, I know, 25:55 I pastored back then, 25:58 and I've pastored now, two years, 26:02 felt like twenty, but it was only two. 26:06 But I want to tell you, 26:07 that the problems that we face today... 26:12 so different, multiplied problems 26:18 that we never faced in times passed. 26:22 And my heart goes out to pastors. 26:26 Now see technically, I'm still pastoring, 26:28 even though September 6th, I took this position. 26:32 I continue to go back to Dallas every other Sabbath and preach, 26:36 sometimes more often, sometimes a little less 26:39 according to the schedule with 3ABN. 26:41 I'll be there this Sabbath. 26:43 I preach Sabbath morning, 26:44 and then this weekend I had the memorial service 26:47 for a very good friend of mine. 26:50 But pastoral work 26:53 is God's call to most of you. 26:59 He's called you to do it. 27:02 He equips you to do it. 27:05 And I know that it's not easy, 27:07 but neither was the work that Apostle Paul did easy. 27:13 You see, when God called us, 27:15 He wasn't gonna build a bubble around us. 27:17 He called Jeremiah from the womb. 27:21 But Jeremiah did not have a bubble around him. 27:24 He called John the Baptist. 27:27 He prepared him for a special work, 27:31 John the Baptist, 27:33 Jesus said of those born of women, 27:36 there was never one greater than John the Baptist. 27:41 And John became discouraged, he's there in the jail, 27:44 and he's discouraged, and he sends a note to Jesus, 27:47 "Are you the one, 27:49 'cause I'm sick and tired of sitting here in this jail. 27:52 Are you the one 27:54 or is there another?" 27:58 He was discouraged. 28:01 And Jesus who said, "I was in prison, 28:07 and you visited me not. 28:11 Didn't go see him that we know of. 28:16 But I've got a feeling that he slipped in there 28:21 in the middle of the night, 28:24 and spend some time with John, 28:26 sometime before the end. 28:29 I believe it, because that's my Jesus. 28:33 He didn't just stay over there, and send back a message. 28:38 Either he went or an angel went, 28:43 or the presence of the spirit was there, 28:46 but John did not die alone, 28:49 but he did have moments of discouragement. 28:55 I want to talk to you. 28:57 My subject is how to work for the church, 29:02 and still be saved, 29:06 because I want to tell you, 29:08 it's the most dangerous thing in the world, 29:11 working for the church. 29:13 Dangerous, but it's productive, 29:17 it's rewarding, 29:20 God will do things for you that you never dreamed of. 29:25 But there will be times, you would be like Paul, 29:28 and feel like that he's left you. 29:31 There will be times, you'll be like Jeremiah, 29:33 and feel like, you're all alone. 29:35 There are times, 29:37 that you'll be like John, the Baptist, 29:38 and you'll be looking for your head 29:40 on the platter somewhere, 29:43 knowing that it's not gonna be easy. 29:49 But number one, 29:51 I'm gonna give you 10 quick rules 29:54 of being a Seventh-day Adventist worker, 29:59 and surviving. 30:01 Number one, remember this. 30:04 All human organization is imperfect. 30:10 It is not perfect. 30:12 I believe that a Seventh-day Adventist, 30:14 we have doctrines that are as nearly perfect 30:17 as doctrines can be from scripture. 30:20 I believe that our teachings are so good, and so clear, 30:24 and so wonderful, I really believe in them. 30:28 But I want to tell you something, 30:30 because we are human beings, organization, 30:35 human organization always will fall short. 30:42 You see, God's started out with frail human beings. 30:48 When Jesus formed the church, 30:50 He did it with frail human beings 30:52 even after Pentecost 30:54 and the falling of the Holy Spirit. 30:56 These were frail human beings, they made mistakes, 31:03 and I will tell you 31:06 that God loves His church, 31:10 but He knows that it's not perfect. 31:14 Now by the way, remember this, 31:18 sin got started in heaven. 31:21 Heaven was a perfect place, but sin got started there. 31:26 If you think for a minute 31:28 that the devil is going to leave the church alone, 31:31 you've got another thing coming. 31:33 I remember Lawrence Scales, who was the preacher, 31:37 the pastor of the King Church 31:39 when I was a student in college there. 31:41 Later became a college president 31:43 and then he went out to Pacific Union College 31:46 and was the pastor before he died tragically 31:50 and young of cancer, only in his forties. 31:55 But this man, 31:57 one Sabbath morning the speaker didn't show up. 32:01 He was already at church, 32:02 he couldn't even go home and get a sermon 32:05 and so he stood up, 32:07 and he preached one of the best sermons 32:10 I've ever heard 32:13 and it was entitled "If I were the devil," 32:19 Hey, that will preach by the way. 32:22 If I were the devil, 32:24 and he started listing all the things 32:26 that he would do if he were the devil 32:30 and he talked about some of these things. 32:33 First of all he said he wouldn't waste time at bars. 32:37 He already has those people. 32:39 Devil doesn't have to worry about them at all. 32:41 He said, "I would spend a lot of time in church. 32:44 I would never miss a church meeting 32:47 if I was the devil. 32:49 And I would get in that church 32:50 and I would cause trouble in that church, 32:54 because that is what the devil really does. 33:01 And he says, "I would do something else, 33:03 I would discourage good people 33:06 and I would get them out of the church 33:09 and I would get the hard, mean, 33:12 cold people to stay in the church. 33:16 So they could run a few more out. 33:20 Have you ever seen 33:21 what somebody like that can do the church? 33:24 A pastor of the church one time where I went into that church 33:27 and there were three or four individuals 33:30 who would consistently run 33:33 one, two, three people each year out of the church. 33:39 Consistently do it. 33:44 Control freaks, 33:47 who would want to be in complete control 33:52 and they would one by one get rid of anybody 33:57 who was a challenge to them. 34:00 Fordyce Detamore, who was a fantastic evangelist 34:03 and the man who saved evangelism. 34:07 Some of our churches, some of our people, 34:10 because in our conferences, they had quit doing evangelism, 34:14 and Detamore came back 34:15 and started the three week program, 34:18 came back from over the Philippines 34:20 and he got things going 34:22 and it saved evangelism and in the Anglo Conferences. 34:28 But he said that as he went out, 34:29 he was always looking for former members 34:34 and he said not a single one, 34:37 he had never found a single one that had left 34:40 because of doctrine. 34:41 Now I have found a few since then but Detamore hadn't. 34:45 Rapture wasn't that bigger deal then I'm saying. 34:49 But he said, everyone 34:50 that I have ever found left the church 34:53 because somebody hurt them. 34:56 Somebody hurt their feelings. 34:59 So you see, if I were the devil, 35:02 that's exactly what I would want to do. 35:06 And we want to remember 35:08 in order to keep ourselves from being hurt, 35:10 that all human organization is imperfect. 35:17 I remember, when I was a student at Andrews University 35:19 as a undergraduate student, 35:21 there was a big battle that went on 35:23 between Floyd Rittenhouse, 35:27 who was the president of the college and a gentleman 35:31 that you and I've mentioned his name, 35:33 one of the great German leaders of our church 35:38 and we've had some great German leaders, 35:41 but this man was very strong and very determined. 35:46 And he and Rittenhouse, they came nose to nose 35:49 and I remember that session and Rittenhouse was put out 35:54 and not reelected as president of the college. 35:57 And I remember he came back and we'd love this man. 36:00 I mean we actually, the students loved this man 36:04 and we all met in the auditorium, 36:08 and he reassured us of his loyalty to the church. 36:15 He reassured us not to get upset over this. 36:20 What a man. 36:22 And when he got through, 36:24 he did make one statement where he took a little shot. 36:28 You know, you've got to take a little shot 36:29 now and then, right? 36:31 You could forgive him if he takes a little shot. 36:36 He said this, 36:38 "I have no reservations at all about this message." 36:45 He said, "I have not lost faith in the message, 36:50 just some of the messengers, 36:54 just some of the messengers. 36:56 And you got to remember that the messengers are human. 37:02 You're a messenger. 37:04 I'm a messenger. 37:05 Let's make sure that we do the best we can 37:10 not to be a stumbling block to somebody else, 37:16 but remember all number one, 37:19 all human organization is imperfect. 37:22 Number two, 37:23 maintain a reasonable distrust of your own opinions, 37:27 your ideas and your programs. 37:32 Years ago, I was really young 37:36 and I came up with a plan Elder. 37:40 Now, this was actually before you were president of N.A.D. 37:43 I came up with a plan 37:44 to reorganize the North American division. 37:50 It was a very logical plan, 37:54 I felt like it was a very good plan. 37:58 I took it to church leaders. 38:02 They just shook their heads when they looked at it. 38:06 They said no, it won't work. 38:09 And you know something I thought, 38:10 they just protected their jobs, this is a good plan. 38:16 When I became a conference president, 38:21 I looked at my plan again 38:24 and I said, you know what, they were right. 38:28 My plan wasn't any good. 38:32 Every once in a while I see my plan 38:34 crop up in a different form here or there. 38:37 Somebody will pull it out because it had some circulation 38:42 and somebody will pull it out and they'll redo it. 38:45 Not long ago a young man pulled it out, 38:48 and he went a little beyond what I was planning on doing 38:52 and he did some other things to that plan 38:54 and he got so sold on that planning. 38:56 I began to look at it, and I began to wonder, 39:00 is this... 39:02 and I recognize my old plan changed a little bit, 39:06 different face on it, but my old plan, 39:10 and then I remember who that man was 39:12 and I remembered who he often consulted with 39:16 and I knew I had given a copy to the man 39:18 he often consulted with. 39:20 I put it all back together 39:22 and I want to tell you something, 39:24 I hung my head in shame. 39:27 I wished I had never come out with that plan, 39:32 but at the time I thought it was such a good thing. 39:35 But you see sometimes if you wait, 39:37 you see that there may be wisdom 39:41 in not doing something that you think there's wisdom in. 39:45 2 Corinthians 1:9 says, 39:47 that we should not trust in ourselves, 39:49 but trust in God and you see God wants us to do that. 39:56 Romans 8:28 all things work together for good. 39:58 As we work together and as we plan together 40:01 and as we trust God in His leading and His church 40:06 and I have seen over and over again, 40:09 God working through committees. 40:12 I've seen it, my friend. 40:14 As I have gone and worked at the different levels, 40:17 my faith has not been shaken, 40:19 my faith has been secured 40:23 by seeing how God has led in this organization, 40:27 but maintain a distrust. 40:31 I remember one time in a conference committee, 40:33 there was a man that kept pushing as he said, 40:36 you are being... 40:37 you know, I was a conference president, 40:39 he said, "You're being audited 40:40 by the General Conference auditing service." 40:43 He said, "You need an independent auditor." 40:47 I said, "There ain't anybody more independent 40:49 than that bunch, I guarantee you." 40:51 If you're conference president, you've been audited, 40:53 you know how independent they are. 40:57 And he said, "No, 40:59 you need somebody like Arthur Anderson, independent." 41:04 Well, that was before 41:06 Arthur Anderson got mixed up with Enron. 41:09 And before Arthur Anderson 41:11 got mixed up with this other nonprofit organization 41:14 out there in Arizona. 41:17 And I remember asking my friend, 41:22 say I notice that, you know, 41:25 you have a little fun with this every once in a while, 41:28 just happen to notice that Arthur Anderson... 41:32 Yeah, yeah he says, I know, I saw that. 41:35 But you see, God has a plan in his church 41:41 and if we can just maintain a reasonable distrust 41:45 of our own ideas. 41:47 And then number three, 41:49 you see you don't really work for the church, 41:51 you work for God. 41:53 But you're employed by the church. 41:56 There's a balance in that. 41:59 God has called you. 42:01 But we... 42:02 there's nothing wrong with our putting ourselves 42:06 in to the authority of the church 42:08 and allowing the church to have the authority over us, 42:12 committees, 42:14 your church board even if you're a pastor. 42:17 As a pastor I will have certain areas 42:20 of church leadership 42:21 that I say to my board. 42:23 You are the ones that make these decisions 42:27 and I will go with you on the decision that you make. 42:31 Now they don't make 42:32 all the spiritual decisions for me 42:34 and they don't make all the decisions 42:36 that I am involved with. 42:37 So many I'm involved with the conference, 42:39 but when it comes down to those individual things 42:42 that affect them, 42:44 things they are going to be paying for, 42:46 things they've got to live with after I'm gone. 42:50 Then I want to have them be in charge. 42:55 And then number four, you need to totally, 42:58 listen by the way is the most important thing 43:01 I think I'm going to say tonight, 43:03 trying to get these ladies to stay. 43:07 You need to totally separate 43:10 your spiritual experience 43:13 from your position with the church. 43:16 You've got to separate that. 43:19 You work for the church, yes, 43:21 but your spiritual experience has to be separate. 43:25 I remember one of our institutions 43:27 they had to do a layoff, 43:29 one of them in there got so angry 43:31 because he was chosen to be laid off. 43:34 This man had great talent, 43:35 he could have gone to another place 43:37 and been picked up, but he became so angry, 43:39 he left the church, his wife left the church, 43:42 his daughter left the church, his son-in-law left the church, 43:45 his grandchildren left the church, 43:47 and it has gone all to none 43:50 affected by the anger of one man, 43:56 he was not able to separate his spiritual experience. 43:59 Let me tell you quickly another man. 44:02 This man, I was at a camp meeting 44:03 about a year ago and he came to me, 44:05 and he said, "You ever heard my story?" 44:06 And I said, "No." 44:09 He said, "Years ago, 44:10 I was a Seventh-day Adventist worker." 44:12 He said, "I had worked my way up, 44:13 I was now in the conference office." 44:15 And then he said, "My wife suddenly left me 44:19 and ran off with another man." 44:23 And he said, "Three weeks after that, 44:27 there was a church business meeting 44:30 and they disfellowshipped my wife, 44:33 and while they were at it, they disfellowshipped me. 44:37 And he said, 44:39 "I was trying to hold all with our three children 44:42 and trying to raise them." 44:44 And you see there is no job for you my friend 44:46 if you're not a member of the church. 44:50 Then so now he was out. 44:51 His wife went off into the distance took off, 44:55 left the church, went out into the world, 44:58 was living a very ungodly life. 45:00 He found a job five hundred miles away. 45:05 Well, first of all the next week 45:07 after they disfellowshipped him, 45:08 he was at church with his children right there 45:11 where they had disfellowshipped him. 45:14 And they said, "What are you doing here?" 45:18 He said, "You can take my name off the books, 45:22 but my children are still members 45:25 and I'm bringing my children to church 45:28 and you can't take my name off the records in heaven. 45:34 They got a job five hundred miles away, 45:36 he went over there. 45:37 They didn't know that he was not a member of the church, 45:40 he was very active in helping his children 45:42 move their membership 45:44 and then word finally came, 45:47 that he was not a member of the church. 45:51 But the conference president in that area 45:54 was a man with some wisdom 45:57 and he worked it out very quietly 46:00 for that man's membership to be restored, 46:04 and for him to go without any further embarrassment. 46:08 He married again. 46:10 Forty years went by, raised those children, 46:15 they were all at the church 46:17 and then one day he and his second wife 46:20 found out that his first wife 46:22 was only living a few miles away from them. 46:25 Living in sin, 46:27 divorced several times since then, lost. 46:34 And they went to see her, 46:37 and they said, why don't you come to church with us. 46:40 And they brought her back to church. 46:44 And she has been re-baptized. 46:48 And every Sabbath, she sits on the same row with them 46:51 at church in Joshua, Texas. 46:55 Now let me tell you my friend, 46:58 that's what God does when someone doesn't give up, 47:03 when someone doesn't separate 47:05 their spiritual life from their employment. 47:07 By the way, God continue to bless him, 47:09 he became a very wealthy man, 47:12 a very wealthy man. 47:15 It was a big company. 47:17 And God blessed him, 47:20 because he did not blame the church, 47:25 even though they were those in the church, 47:28 that caused him a lot of grief, and a lot of heartache. 47:33 Hey, I am thinking about somebody else 47:36 that could have been very bitter. 47:39 Let me tell you no matter where you stand 47:40 on that situation guilty, 47:42 innocent whatever, you look at Bob Falkenberg, 47:47 highest position in this church. 47:49 I have head elders 47:51 come up to me at camp meetings and crying, 47:54 and say "I've been the head elders for 17 years 47:57 and they just didn't reelect me 47:58 and I'm never going back to church again. 48:02 I said, ''Brother, they made the right decision, 48:04 didn't they?" 48:07 They probably should have done it sooner 48:10 if that's your attitude. 48:13 But when Bob... 48:14 Now look, Bob had some time of struggle, 48:18 let's face it. 48:20 There are a lot of things he could have done. 48:22 He could have gone off somewhere and started trouble. 48:25 He could have got on the Internet 48:26 and started to save the Seventh-day Adventists 48:29 through some kind of a website, see. 48:32 And he could have begin to knock people 48:35 and hurt people, and sly about people, 48:37 and do all kinds of things like that. 48:39 He could have done that. 48:41 Another thing he could have done 48:44 is by their constitution and as I understand it, 48:47 he could have just gone and sat in an office 48:49 with the G.C., 48:50 because there are to give the former president an office. 48:55 And he could've just gone and sat there. 48:57 Gone into committees 49:00 and sat in the seat of the scornful 49:04 or wherever he wanted to sit, see. 49:07 But what did he do? 49:08 He started doing soul winning. 49:11 He started doing evangelism. 49:13 Not any single man in the history 49:16 of the Seventh-day Adventist church 49:18 has organized more evangelistic crusades, 49:21 and has seen more baptisms than Bob Falkenberg has seen.. 49:25 You know, you see what I'm saying 49:27 when something happens, don't fall out with the church. 49:30 One of the things that concerns me 49:32 when I'm in a meeting like this 49:34 is that some of you will not be here next year, 49:37 because some of you will not be in the ministry next year, 49:40 because some of you will give up. 49:44 And I don't want you to give up. 49:48 I want you to hold on 49:51 and to trust. 49:53 Number five, learn tolerance. 49:56 Learn how to disagree without becoming disagreeable. 50:02 I could preach a whole sermon on this. 50:05 I've seen some individuals in our church 50:08 who could do this. 50:10 They could smile and disagree with each other, 50:15 and I have seen some that could not disagree 50:18 without getting into trouble 50:19 and getting upset with each other. 50:23 You see, we've got to learn to do that. 50:28 Number six, learn to take a punch. 50:35 Sometimes you have to take a punch. 50:38 Somebody wrote a poem, takes a little courage, 50:40 a little self-control and some grim determination 50:43 if you want to reach that goal, 50:44 takes a deal or striving a firm and stern-setchin. 50:48 No matter what the battle if you really want to win. 50:50 There's no easy path to glory. 50:53 There's no rosy road to fame. 50:55 In life, however you may view it, 50:57 is no simple parlor game. 50:59 But its prizes call for fighting, 51:02 for endurance and for grit in a rugged disposition 51:06 and they don't know when to quit." 51:08 You must take a blow or give one. 51:09 You must risk and you may lose 51:11 and they expect that in the struggle 51:12 that you'll suffer from a bruise. 51:14 But you mustn't wince or falter if a fight you once begin, 51:17 be courageous, face the battle, 51:20 that's the only way to win. 51:25 And you see, my friend, 51:27 God wants you to win. 51:29 And He wants you to be able to take a punch 51:32 if you need to. 51:33 Number seven, do not complain or discuss the faults of others 51:36 to your family. 51:39 Don't do it. 51:41 Preachers come along wondering 51:42 why their wives have lost their faith, 51:46 wondering why they can't get their children to go to church. 51:51 When you've come home 51:52 and talked about how sorry the head elder is, 51:55 how mean the head deacon is, how controlling this one is, 51:59 and how ridiculous the others are. 52:02 And then you try to get your kids 52:03 to go to church. 52:06 They don't want to go to that church. 52:08 They don't want anything to do with those people. 52:12 Whatever you do, 52:14 do not talk about it... 52:16 don't do it with your wife either. 52:18 Find a friend... 52:19 if you got to... 52:21 best friend is Jesus. 52:23 Get out there and dump it to Jesus. 52:27 If you can't find a friend, 52:29 hire a psychiatrist or psychologist to talk to, 52:33 that's cheaper my friend 52:34 than trying to save your kids later on. 52:38 But whatever you do, 52:40 don't go home and dump all that stuff. 52:43 You feel better, 52:45 but then you will not feel better. 52:51 Number eight, have a positive faith in God 52:54 because that is always rewarded. 52:57 You remember the Jacob, 52:58 Joseph said to his brothers, 53:02 you meant it for evil but God meant it for good. 53:05 If you have faith, Romans 8:28, all things work together. 53:10 You see number nine, it really comes down to forgiveness. 53:13 David, Saul, he forgave him, 53:18 he forgave Absalom. 53:20 These men would have killed him, both of them, 53:22 his own son would've killed him, 53:24 but he cried out in forgiveness to him. 53:28 Number ten, 53:30 continue to commit your service to Jesus Christ, 53:35 because my friend you can trust Him, 53:38 He is unparalleled and He's unprecedented. 53:42 He's the centerpiece of civilization. 53:44 He's a superlative of all excellence. 53:47 He's the sum of human greatness. 53:50 He's the source of divine grace 53:53 and His name is the only one able to save. 53:56 His blood is the only power able to cleanse. 54:01 His ear is open to the sinner's call, 54:04 and His hand is quick to lift the fallen soul. 54:08 He's the eternal lover of us all, everyone. 54:12 And my friend you can trust Him. 54:15 He supplies mercy for the struggling soul. 54:18 And He sustains the tempted and the tried. 54:20 He sympathizes with the wounded and the broken. 54:23 He strengthens, strengthens the weak and the weary. 54:28 He guards and guides the wanderer, 54:30 and he heals the sick and cleanses the leper. 54:33 He delivers the captives and defends the helpless. 54:37 He binds up the broken hearted. 54:41 He is the all sufficient King. 54:44 He's the King of righteousness, 54:47 the King of ages, the King of heaven, 54:49 the King of glory, the King of kings, 54:52 and the Lord of Lords. 54:54 You see the Pharisees could not stop Him. 54:57 Then the Pilate could not condemn Him. 55:02 And Herod couldn't kill Him. 55:06 Death couldn't conquer Him. 55:09 And the grave could not hold Him. 55:13 He's the alpha and the omega. 55:17 The first and the last. 55:20 He's the God of the future, and He's the God of the past. 55:26 And you, my friend, can trust Him. 55:31 Father I thank You tonight 55:33 that we know that we can trust You. 55:36 I thank You Lord, that You are the one 55:41 who has given to us life eternal 55:45 and that through You, 55:47 we will and are being saved. 55:54 And Father, I pray 55:55 that you will bless each one who is here. 56:00 I pray Lord, that You will touch their hearts. 56:03 I pray that You will give them courage 56:07 that they will never ever leave You. 56:12 They will never forsake You, 56:15 because they know 56:16 that You will never forsake them in Jesus name. 56:21 Amen. 56:22 Amen. |
Revised 2016-05-26