Alright, go with me to Matthew chapter 23 now. Matthew 23. And I'm quite sure you remember
in chapter 22 how the Herodians and the Sadducees and then the
Pharisees and a lawyer and others began to question the Lord asked
various hypothetical and foolish questions, and how our Lord put
them to silence with the question of his own. And I'm sure you
remember that. Well, after dealing with those
fellows, here in chapter 23, it says in
verse 1, And I believe perhaps most of
those fellows left like they did when the Lord stooped down,
you know, and wrote in the sand about that adulterous woman. But some stayed around. And it
says, Then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples. His disciples were always with
him. That's why we have this account.
They wrote down everything, well, all that he told them to write.
But there was always a mixed multitude when the Lord spake,
then and now. The Lord is still speaking. This
is still his word, is it not? And if the Holy Spirit is present,
he's speaking. It never returns void. Isn't
that what the Lord said? My Word will never return void. So this is His Word, the living
Word, the Word of life. And there's always a mixed multitude
when the Lord's Word goes forth, then and now. Even our group
here tonight is a mixed multitude. Always has been, always will
be, wheat and tares. sheep and goats, faithful, and
those who do not abide faithful but lead. And the fact of the
matter is, he that is of God, heareth God's word. They will
hear, they will receive, they will believe, and they will act
upon it. That's a fact. Now, the Lord first warns the
people and His disciples. of these religious hypocrites
called scribes and pharisees. It was very necessary back then
because there were a lot of them. There were a lot of scribes and
pharisees who weren't hypocrites. Every time he mentions them he
says hypocrites. John called them vipers. They would bite you, sneak up
and bite you. Well, I know for a fact that
there are more now than there were then. So it's doubly important
to be warned, is it not? And our Lord warns of these hypocrites
called scribes and Pharisees. He denounces their evil practices,
as the apostles did always, and the apostles and their epistles. Then he instructs his disciples,
which were his preachers, his apostles, but you are a disciple
too. And he instructs them what not
to call these people, these fellows. And he instructs them what titles
not to be called themselves, not to take these titles. And
then the Lord focuses on what they are really. that they're
really not something great and something special, but they're
servants like him. Like him. All right, let's look
at it. Verse 2, he says the scribes.
Now, first he warns. He says the scribes and the Pharisees
sit in Moses' seat. They sit in the place of authority.
They sit in the place of leadership. There were priests. There was
a high priest then. It was still That was still God-ordained,
was it not? The high priest. Though religion
had so corrupted, I don't think they were sacrificing lambs at
all at this time. I don't think so. But until our Lord made that
great sacrifice on Calvary, there was supposed to be a high priest,
right? And then when he did that, he took away the first and took
away all that. There's no more need for that
sacrifice. But anyway, there were these men who sat in the
place of leadership and prominence and someone has to, don't they? Doesn't someone have to leave?
Yeah. most of the time, the one who
is the most qualified, well, actually, and what the Lord says
here, the one most qualified is certainly the most humble, and most of the time, he is the
one who is the most reluctant, like Moses. Moses was arguably
the greatest man used of God in the Old Testament, and I believe
it was the Apostle Paul in the New. Because Moses did not want the
job. He did not apply for it. He didn't
want it. And he was reluctant when called to do it. He said,
please call anybody but me. He said, I can't speak, never
have been able to speak. He said, I've been watching sheep
for 40 years. That's a pretty good way to,
that's pretty good training isn't it? To be a pastor in that pretty
good training. Anyway. These fellas sat in that position,
and they coveted that. They wanted it. They thought
they were worthy of it, and they let everybody know it. You don't
want somebody, whatever happens to me, folks, you don't want
somebody that's just real anxious to take this job. You understand
that? And something may happen to me. It could, tomorrow. And I wish
you would ask me who I would recommend right now before I'm
gone. I could give you some hearty recommendations. Men after my
own heart and men who would have you in their heart. Ask me. Ask me. Anyway, because it could happen.
All right? Brother Jack Shanks just resigned
as pastor down there. Folks need a pastor. Well, anyway,
these fellows sat in Moses' seat, and they thought they belonged
there. And our Lord said in verse 3,
All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe
and do. They sat in Moses' seat. They
read the Law of Moses, didn't they? They practiced to some degree,
I guess, the laws and rituals and ceremonies and so forth.
that were handed down in God's Word to some degree. At least
they read the Word, I believe. And he said, whatever they bid
you observe, that observe and do. It's God's Word, isn't it?
Whatever is written in God's Word, no matter who reads it,
it's God's Word. I believe the Lord makes all
men accountable everywhere for what they're hearing from God's
Word. I don't believe the Lord. Well, I know he doesn't use false
prophets in any way. But the word sometimes goes out
from a false prophet, not to the salvation of the people that
hear it, but to their condemnation. So, no matter what the man is
or who the man is, it's God's word and people are accountable.
Paul said this one time, he said, we can do nothing against the
truth. No matter what the man does or what his error will fall
or whatever, David fall, whoever, it's still the truth, isn't it?
You can't change the truth. Truth doesn't change though a
man is a sinner. Infallible, right? It's God's
infallible Word. Are you with me? So, you know, does the Word of
God depend on me? I hope. No. Does your faith depend
on me? It better not or you'll be greatly
disappointed. So, you know, we got that old saying, I believe,
do as they say, but don't do as they do. That's what the Lord
said. We got that from him, right here.
It says in verse 3, he said, do not ye after their works,
do what they say, if it's from God's Word, but don't do what
they do. Do they say, and do not. The Lord says this often about
hypocrites, and that pretty much sums up the hypocrite. He's all
talk and no walk. Big talk. Smooth talk. Smooth
words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. Don't
let it deceive you. Words, words, words. Don't do
it. Don't be deceived by that. Our
Lord said, They say, and they don't do. Our Lord said it, and
He did it. He truly practiced what he prayed
to do. All right, verse 4. He said,
They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born, and lay them on men's
shoulders. Bind heavy burdens. Oh, my. How many people throughout
this world are under heavy burdens laid upon them by religious leaders? Huh? In our little community.
You look around you and you see people that are literally bound,
literally, physically bound by traditions handed down by these
false elders and these corrupt men who glory in their flesh,
Paul said to the Galatians, who just love to hand down rules. Our Lord pitied the people. Our
Lord pitied the people, but he blamed and denounced the leaders,
didn't he? The religious leader. And so
should we. With the mind of Christ, we should
pity the people, the blind followers, but not the blind leader. Not the blind leader. My, my. And we are to denounce their
evil ways and call their hand. Verse 4, he says that they themselves
will not move them with one of their fingers. Verse 5, and all their works
they do for to be seen of men. Now folks, our Lord said all
their works. That's a broad statement, isn't
it? That's what he said. Our Lord was never given to giving
figures of speech. All their works. Behind it, a
hypocrite, everything he does behind it is to be seen. Go to
Matthew 6 with me. Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter
6. Do you remember this? We studied
this some time back, but it's well known to you. Our Lord tells
His disciples, and here's another instance when He preached to
a vast multitude. The Sermon on the Mount. Yet
this was directed to His disciples. His disciples. Because He kept
calling, Your Father which is in heaven. Your Father. Now that's
the people of God. Children of God. But all heard
it, so all were accountable. But who benefited from it? Who
learned it? Who heard it? Who believed it?
His disciples. The Lord knows. The Lord knows. Verse 1, He says, When you take
heed, that means sit up, pay attention, be careful. It means
be careful, that is, do what you need to do, that you do not
your alms before men to be seen of them. Now, why does our Lord say that?
Because pride is our most besetting sin, isn't
it? Flesh, pride of life. Lust of
the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Pride. Man is a proud creature. We've
still got a lot of it in us. And this whole thing, this whole
thing of discipleship and salvation is about bringing us down, humbling
us, because he that is humbled will be exalted. And he said,
James said, humble yourself before God. And our Lord says the same
thing. But pride is so rooted in us. And everything our Lord does
to us, everything in this life is to this end, Barbara, to humble
us. And it doesn't always feel good.
It's not always the way we want it, but it's good. Because all
the humble will be exalted, but the proud will be abased. The
pride of man will be brought down, and the Lord alone will
be exalted in that day. That's what worship is all about. All flesh being brought down
into the dust, and the Lord alone being glorified for A-double-L
all things. All things. He gets all the glory. So he
says, you take heed that you do not all be seen of men, because
that's what hypocrites do. Go back to our text. That's what
they do, to be seen, to be seen. And whatever you see religious
people doing publicly, that's why they're doing it. That's why we will never, ever
take part in these things. We give to charity, don't we
Dan? We give to causes. And you can
look on our financial report and see some various causes that
we give to. I'm not going to say because
it will go out over the airwaves. But you know, we know, it's private
matter. But we don't publish it. But
you look in the paper and see, they do it all the time. Such
and such a place gave so much money to whatever, to be saint,
that's why. Read on, verse 5, he says, They
make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their
garments. Phylacteries were scripture verses worn on their person.
Our Lord never told them to do this. Our Lord says, let these things
be the Word of God be as a front look to your eyes and on your
hands. What He meant was in your mind, let it be imprinted on
your mind and put it to action in your works. He never meant
for them to wear these things so everybody could see that they
believed God's Word. They literally did. They literally
did that. Scripture verses rolled up in
leather pouches and strapped them to their head. And if you
knew a lot of Scripture, you made your phylactery even bigger.
Honestly, if you'll see some Jews, Orthodox Jews today, you'll
see them with this funny looking thing on their head, it's a phylactery.
Right here, big box on their wrist, it's a phylactery. According
to how pious you are and how big your phylactery is. Our Lord never did that. He is
the Word. And God's people have the Word
hidden in their heart, don't they? And our Lord said to these fellows
who had these big old phylacteries on their heads, He said, You
do err in not knowing the Scriptures. Where does it say that? Know
the power of God. And it says they made broad the
borders of their garments. They kept lengthening these hems
on their garments. Religious clothing to distinguish
them from common folk. And the like today, the like
we see today would be things like a clerical collar, you know.
Just a common old priest. Oh man, these dudes. Isaiah warned about dogs, didn't
he? Over in Isaiah 50, verse 6, he
said, did I write it down? Yeah. Isaiah 56, 10, he talks
about these fellows that are supposed to be God's preachers,
prophets, but they're dumb dogs. D.D. And I hope this does go
out over the internet. D.D. You see those initials? And Paul warned in Philippians
3, he said, you beware of dogs. If you see one coming with a
collar on him, the ones with collars are the worst kind. That's
why they wear them. So you'll know they're a man
of God. And they put it on the back of their car so they can
have a free parking space at the hospital. Honestly, look
at me. Aren't I something? You're the
lowest of the low in God's sight. A stench in his nostrils. That's
what he said. Clerical collars. Religious robes. Hats. Fish hats. Or for that
matter, fish signs on your car. Right beside Dale Earnhardt's
name. Isn't that the height of hypocrisy?
Here's a fish. I love Jesus. And over here,
I love Dale Earnhardt. I love them both the same. Right? You see it all the time. These things deserve to be made
fun of, don't they? Our Lord did. Jewelry. You see rock stars with crosses
around their neck. So on and so forth. Pendants.
All to be seen. Right? Is there ever a time when this
is okay? No. No. Do we take the Lord's Word,
do we take Him for what He said or not? Is it right, Peter said,
ought we to obey God or men? Huh? When he says make no graven
images, what does that mean? It means a statue of anything.
A picture of anything. None. Make no graven image. Who
should we obey? God or men? Our Lord said don't make anything
of anything in heaven. Who's that? Jesus Christ. Or
on earth. fish, a cross, or whatever. Don't
do it. The only reason people do that is to be seen. Who do we want to see us? God. That's it. And far from being
a testimony, some people use the lame excuse, well, this is
a testimony. How will people know you're a
Christian What are you talking about? How will people know you're
a Christian? Act like one. So the Lord is telling us, beware
of them. Don't you wear anything, don't you do anything, don't
you say, talk any way or whatever to make you appear to be religious.
That's important. What about Sunday dress? There is a difference, is there
not, between respectful clothing and clothing to be seen. Religious
clothing to be seen. Now in verse 6 he says, they
loved the uppermost rooms at the feast and chief seats in
the synagogues. They loved the places of prominence. Places of prominence. You'll notice here that I have
to ask men to come up here and sit with me if they're going
to read the scripture. They ought to know by now that if they're
going to, but every time they run to their seat, I don't know,
I guess they think I forgot about it or something. No, I'm serious. I'm being serious. I'm showing
you, I'm giving you an illustration here of truly humble people.
They don't want to, I don't want to be up here. I don't want to
stand up here all the time. And, you know, you see my pastor,
when he comes here, he doesn't run up here. I have to ask him
to come up here, or any visiting group, right? Can you not tell the difference
between the true and the false? These
are ways that you know our Lord is telling us to. Watch, watch. They loved these seats of prominence.
Verse 7, And they loved greetings in the market, and to be called
of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. Greetings in the market, Rabbi.
Turn with me to Psalm 111, real quick. Psalm 111. Nobody today
is called Rabbi except these Jewish hucksters. But a lot of fellows here, and
fellows and felines, or whatever, women. call themselves by Reverend,
don't they? Oh, how that's used and abused
and misused. When is it good to use that? Never. I'll show you why. Psalm 111, verse 9. He sent, who? God. Christ sent redemption unto his
people. Christ is the Redeemer. that
God sent unto his people. He hath commanded his covenant
forever. Holy and reverend is his name. Now I take that quite literally. But one reverend in his name
is Jesus Christ. Revere means to revere in the
sense of awe. Oh, we're not to fear any man
in that way, or be in awe of any man, huh? No. Revere, oh, no. Respect, yes. Honor, yes, but not in the sense
of reverence. Holy and reverent is His name. His name. Go back to the text. You see, we do what we do and
say what we say according to God's Word, Irene, according
to God's Word. I want to be just as narrow as
God is, don't you? I want to be right. Well, Gabe was telling me about
a man that came into his music store and introduced himself
as Reverend So-and-So. And Gabe said, well, Mr. So-and-So,
nice to meet you. He said, no, no. Didn't he correct
you? He said, my name is Reverend So-and-So. And he kept correcting. My name is Reverend." He kept
insisting. It's not funny at all. It's a
game. And you know, there's a man here
in town who runs a filming station up here on Main Street. I've
been doing business with him ever since I came here. Everybody
knows him. And he likes me. I like him.
And he's called me Reverend from day... And I told him, I said,
I said, don't call me that. Just call me Paul. But he can't. He won't. I guess he's been brought
up that way and he means it. He doesn't mean it. I've been
called Reverend by a neighbor before and he really didn't mean
it nicely at all. He was in a derogatory sense.
But he means it in respect. He's just going to keep calling
me that. So, but, you know, I'm ignorant
about that, but boy, what if I insisted upon it? Verse 8, the Lord said, Be not
ye called rabbi, one is your master, even Christ, all ye. Now, he's talking to his disciples,
isn't he? You're all brethren. You read that, or Peter said,
our beloved brother Paul wrote something. He didn't call him
Reverend Pauly. One is your master, the great
teacher, above all, over all, before all, Christ himself. And
so what does this say? Look, we'll go on down. And call
no man your father upon the earth. Does that mean I'm not supposed
to call my earthly father, father? Take it in context here, okay?
The Lord calls men fathers throughout the scriptures, doesn't he? They
were buried with their fathers. Abraham was a father and so forth.
You know he's not saying that. He's talking about religious
leaders here, okay? Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites,
religious leaders. Don't call any religious fellow
father. Now who would take such a title?
But an imposter. Huh? Father so-and-so. Padre
so-and-so. Friar so-and-so. That man's a
liar and a hypocrite, a pharisee. Right? Doesn't know God's Word. He errs, not knowing God's Word
or the power of God and the wrath of God. Call no man rabbi. Call no man your father. One
is your father. We've got a holy father, all
right. He's not in Rome. He's in heaven. All men someday are going to
find out just how unholy that dude is in Rome. He's of the
spirit of Antichrist. All of them have been. But we have a Holy Father, all
right. And that's who we call Father,
isn't it? Neither be ye called Masters. What man would take
this degree of Master of Divinity? What man could possibly? Stan,
would you tell me? And I wish somebody would hear
this, who has one of these pieces of paper behind his name. What
man could possibly take that title to himself and call himself
a man of God? Huh, Sam? Who? In their right
mind. In their mind of Christ, he hadn't
read what Christ said here in Matthew 23. You mean to tell me Mr. You're
a master of divinity. Didn't our Lord say that to Nicodemus?
Huh? Didn't he say that to Nicodemus
in John chapter 3? So you mean you're a master in Israel? And
you don't even know the first thing about salvation? You've
got to be born from above? You're a master of divinity and
you still think man has a free will? You need to learn all over
again. You need to sit as a pupil. You ain't no master. Masters of divinity. Got God
mastered This stuff deserves to be exposed,
doesn't it? That's what our Lord's doing,
and that's what I'm doing to you. You know these things. Some of you may not. Some of
you may not. I'm sure there's some that don't.
I've never seen this before. One is your Master, Christ. What about Doctor of Divinity?
That's worse. I ran into one of those creatures the other day at Sheets. Doctor. I came real close to
him. You should have said, What's
up, Doctor? Doctor of Divinity. Now, I have known, I have books
by men that I respect in my library who have that designation. But
they were still wrong. Though we are an angel from heaven. Say it. It's right. Right? No matter who it was. No matter who we respect, he
has that designation behind his name. He's wrong. He's taken
some glory so that men will know he has some credentials. Paul
wrote to the Corinthians. He said, do we need letters of
commendation as some men need? Remember that? He said, do we
need credentials? He said, here's our epistle written on the heart. Oh, but it will open doors. It
will open doors. You don't want a door open that
it opens. You want doors open that God
opens. None of the apostles had any
of these credentials. Zero. This treasure is in very common
earthen vessels. Why? That the excellency of the
power may be of God and not of man. You see, we've got one great
physician, one who can heal souls. No man is a doctor of souls.
Jesus Christ is. He's the great physician. You
know, here's all the truth. to the Thessalonians. He said
what preachers really are, are practical nurses. Not registered,
mind you. Practical nurses. Practical nurses
are the ones in empty bedpans and stuff, right? Clean up and
stuff. Servants. Practical nurses. That's what
Paul said. He said, as a nurse is gentle, nourishing. Gentlemen,
we were gentlemen. Not a doctor. Every letter Paul
wrote, he signed it, Paul. Not Father, Reverend, Doctor.
Paul. Paul. God's true preachers are just
practical nurses. Verse 9, it says, Call no man
your father. One is your father, neither be
called master. One is your master. But, now,
here it is. He that is greatest among you shall be your servant. He that is greatest among you
shall be your servant. Now I'm going to close with this. Go with me quickly to Philippians
2, and I'll quit with this. Well, we'll go back to the last
verse and I'll quit. But Philippians 2, our Lord says, do not call men rabbi,
reverend, teacher, doctor, father, and so forth, but one person
who deserves all titles and all recognition, and that's him.
That's him. He's our father, he's our rabbi,
master, teacher, lord, reverend. What about pastor? Well, he, in the scriptures, it says,
gave some apostles, some, or some prophets, some apostles,
some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. It didn't expressly
forbid that here. Although, any man that insists
on being called that. And I never will go comfortable
with it. I never will be comfortable with
that. I hear people talk about their pastor, and every time
they say that, I cringe. I really do. And our Lord really is the great
bishop, pastor, bishop, means a shepherd, under-shepherd, and
it's a biblical term, but our Lord really is the great pastor,
shepherd of our children. He doesn't expressly forbid it.
And some do it out of respect, but I don't know, I might rather
prefer you just call me Brother Paul. We're His servants. He's the
one who gets all the preeminence. That's why. Or Elihu said, don't
give me flattering titles. Remember that over in Job 32?
Don't give me flattering titles. I take away from my Lord's glory.
Oh no. Philippians 2, here's the one
who deserves the names and titles and recognition above every other.
Because why? Look at that, Galatians, Ephesians,
Philippians. I hadn't found it yet. Okay,
Philippians 2. He says, verse 3, let nothing
be done through strife or vain glory. That is, for your own
vain glory. If it's for yourself, your glory,
it's vain. But in lowliness of mind, let
each esteem other better than himself. Look not every man on
his own thing, but every man also on the things of others.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who,
Christ Jesus, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, took
upon him the form of a servant. That time, you know, when the
Lord Took out that basin of water and that towel and started washing
their feet. He didn't do that for show, did
he? Those fellows wore sandals walking through the hot, they
needed their feet washed. And he did it. But, and he could
do what he did as an illustration without it being, you know, vainglory. We can't. But he did. But the disciples, Peter especially,
said, Lord, don't wash my feet. Remember that? Oh, Peter thought
the Lord had so degraded himself. Peter hadn't seen anything yet. Scripture says in Hebrews 12,
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross
and despised the shame. He went lower than washing feet.
He went up to Calvary and stripped stark naked before the eyes of
a jeering, taunting multitude of the people and thought nothing
of it. Why? He's our servant, serving
our salvation, serving God's will and purpose, serving his
people. If he didn't become the lowest
of the low, we can't be brought high. If he didn't come down
upon this dunghill, we can't be raised to sit among princes. If he doesn't wash our feet,
we have no part in him. He is a servant, a suffering
servant. They said, if I, your Lord and
Master, do this, what is beneath you? So he says in our text,
he said, he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
Think back to the men who truly have been the greatest, in our
estimation anyway, and certainly in God's, they are the ones who
were the greatest servants of all, like Moses, like the Apostle
Paul. Right? The Apostle Paul. And our Lord says in verse 12,
Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased. He that shall
humble himself shall be exalted. This thing of service, our Lord
taught this over and over again. True happiness, listen very carefully.
I'm going to close on that. True happiness is in serving
others. Our Lord says for the joy set
before it. It was a joy for him to do that. To serve God in whatever capacity,
the lowest, most horrible death, and to save His people. Please
the Lord to make you His people. To go through that, it was nothing.
It was nothing. And true happiness is in serving
others. If you live for yourself, that
makes you selfish, doesn't it? And self is impossible to make
happy. If you live for yourself, you
will try to make yourself happy, and you're not going to do it. God's not going to let you. You're
going to be a miserable person. If you live for yourself, you
probably will die by yourself. And you'll be miserable. Our Lord said he is more blessed,
that means happy, to give than to receive. Isn't it? That's
the great blessing he said, to give than to receive. Let this
mind be in you. And there are some in here, several,
who have, I believe, learned this blessed truth. Not that
you don't need to learn more, but there are some who have learned
this. Do you know who they are? I'm
going to call names. I'm going to call some names. God has blessed these
people, I believe, spiritually and materially. He said he would. And Paul in Romans 16 called
a lot of names, didn't he? Read it for yourself. He said,
Salute Phoebus, Salute so-and-so, Salute, Salute, Salute. The Pops. Nobody in here wants me to mention
their name. The Pops have just been reached
out so much so hospitable, so charitable, astonishing. Andersons, Fannins, Davises fed many a saint. Irene fed many
a saint. The Barrys are always willing
to house any guest that comes in and fight over them. And there are others. I don't mean to slight anybody,
but those are some particular examples of folks who have, like
the House of Stephanas, addicted themselves to serving, to giving. And I wish all were like that,
because they're the blessed ones and the greatest in the kingdom. And what we have, what we own,
we have received it. The Lord gave it to us. He said,
freely you have received, freely give. What has been given to
us is not for us. It's to you. That's why He gave
it to us. That's what our homes are for.
That's what we're for. Do you think Lydia kept Paul
and Timothy and Silas every time they came around? Let me ask
you who was most blessed. I'm just quite sure Lydia cooked
about like Irene did. I'm just quite sure of it. Paul and Timothy and Titus and
Silas, they just really looked forward to going to Lydia's house. John and Irene, can you come
over for Sunday? Can I come over? I'll be there
early. I know what a spread it's going to be. And other places. But Paul and Silas, they were
blessed, weren't they, being in that house by that blessed
woman, Lydia. Who do you reckon was the most blessed? Sitting
there listening to Apostle Paul and Silas and Timothy. Or what
about Peter's wife, keeping the Lord Himself? Who's blessed? And you're not going to out-give
the Lord. You're not going to be without. You're not going
to be without. No, sir. No, sir. Freely giving you houses and
lands and this and that food and all of that, now distribute
it. Distribute it. You run out of that, I'll give
you more. I'll fill your sack up. Overflowing. Count on it. It's more blessed to give. Servant. Servant. That's what this is
all about. That's what it's all about. I would tell, and soon,
Lord willing, soon I'm bound and determined, for what that's
worth, to do a study on child raising. for the sake of our
young parents and parents-to-be. And I've been talking about this,
thinking about it, praying about it. One of the first lessons
I believe we're going to have to look at is that our homes
in this world don't exist to serve children and make them
happy. The whole world doesn't revolve
around me. My dad and mom don't live for
me. There's a lot of other people
involved. And God's created us For His glory and the service
of His kingdom. That's why He saves us. That's
why we're in it. Serve. Members of the body. All
these members serve the body, don't they? Ultimately, the head.
That's why they're there. Why they're there. So He's the
greatest, but you serve Him. Okay, stand with me. Our Lord, thank You for Your
Word. It is truly Your Word, and we see the wisdom of it.
We feel the power of it. We're convicted by it. We're
convinced of it. Lord, we're blessed by it. We're approved, rebuked, instructed,
corrected. All these things that You said
Your Word would do, we feel it. Not as we would like, no. Lord,
So again, we ask that you would not let the fowls of the air
take it away or the thorns choke it out. Lord, let it take root
and make us your servants, we pray. And how we serve you is
to serve your body. Thou art in heaven. If we could
do nothing for thee, you need nothing from us. We serve thy
body. So Lord, make us servants as
you did us. Let us learn from thee, our great,
not only our great substitute, but our great example. We want
to be Christ-like in every way. The mind of Christ in us. And
make us servants, we pray. It's in Christ's name we are
met here tonight. Amen.