As I told you before, we do pray
for you. Our folks in Danville continually
pray for you. The men would meet before every
service in my office and discuss things, read scripture, try to
pray. They will be asking me about
you when I get home tomorrow night. And I am so thankful for
what God's done in this place. And I'm keenly interested in
the days that lie before you. And I ask you to pray for us
as we labor together in the cause of our Redeemer. Now in that
regard, I believe I have a message for you. Turn to the book of
Zechariah chapter four. Turn to Malachi, turn to Matthew,
and then back to Malachi, and then back to Zechariah. Those
minor prophets are hard to find sometimes. Zechariah chapter
four. And let me give you a little
background. The children of Israel, because
of their sin and rebellion and idolatry, had been taken captive
by the Babylonians 70 years earlier. Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed
the temple, taken all the temple goods into Babylon, all the gold
and silver connected with the worship of our God, and they
used the vessels of the Lord's house Drunken parties and celebrations
and the children of Israel remained in Babylon for 70 long years
They were not really Oppressed in Babylon like they were in
Egypt most of the time but it was still held captive and were
not allowed to leave and then after 70 years God raised up
a man who sent a decree a king in Babylon that the children
of Israel should go back to to Jerusalem, and build again the
city, and build again the house of God." And so they went back
in various groups. They went back to Babylon and
started building the temple. You can imagine what things looked
like when they got to the temple site. It had been 70 years going
over with debris, trash, everything useless. And they Having the
decree from the king of Babylon hurriedly, God's given us the
means, the opportunity, now let's build a temple. They cleaned
things up and they started laying foundations, all the foundations
laid, and they laid a few blocks in the walls. And then they quit. They just quit. The Lord had
sent a man by the name of Zerubbabel. He was chosen of God to rebuild
the temple at Jerusalem. And this man, Zerubbabel, was
a tremendous picture and type of our Lord Jesus in so many
ways, who is the builder of his church and his temple. But shortly
after the foundation was laid and the work begun, many began
to despise it. They looked upon the work they
were doing as really insignificant because, after all, some of these
old men had lived in Jerusalem before the captivity. And they
remembered what the temple used to look like. They remembered
how things used to be. And they knew that this temple
they were now building again as they saw the walls begin to
be erected. Wait a minute, this is going
to be a lot smaller than it was before. This is not going to
be the same temple we had in Solomon's day. Why is this? And
they began to despise the work. They looked upon this temple
they were building as a despicable thing. Israel's enemies despised
them and despised the work they were doing. Even Joshua the High
Priest and Zerubbabel, at least for a while, seemed to have just
given up the work altogether. After all, we're so few in number,
we don't have any money, We've been captives in Babylon all
these years. We have no ability in ourselves
to do any of this work. This is just too monumental for
us. And if we get it all done, it's
still not going to compare with the way things used to be. The
people of God trembled and gave up and their enemies jeered. And then God raised up two prophets,
Haggai and Zechariah. I would urge you, while the message
is fresh on your mind, to read the book of Haggai and then turn
around and read the 14 chapters of Zechariah as well. These two
prophets were sent of God to stir up the people, to encourage
their faith, to strengthen their hands and their feeble knees.
And these two prophets sounded as voices of thunder and lightning,
rebuking the unbelief of God's people and rebuking their indolence
and at the same time comforting and encouraging them in the work
of the Lord as they called them to repentance. Haggai's prophecy,
you read those brief chapters of Haggai, his prophecy is scorching
to read. I mean scorching. You can imagine
what it'd be like sitting in a congregation like this, listening
to it. They heard Haggai tell them,
you folks consider nothing too costly, nothing too demanding
when you build your own houses and the house of God's laying
in ruins. And they said, well, the time
has not come to build the Lord's house. And Haggai said, you think
time's not come to build God's house, but time's come to build
yours? And yet, scorching as his words were, Haggai was sent
to comfort and assure God's people. And he gave this word to Israel
in chapter 2. God said, I smote you with blasting,
and with mildew, and with hail. From this day will I bless thee. Yes, I turned my heavy hand on
you. From this day will I bless thee. And he assured God's servant
Zerubbabel that God had chosen him as the prince of Israel to
build this house and to build again the worship of God in his
city. To Zerubbabel and Joshua and
to all the people of God, Haggai's word was this, be strong for
I am with you. According to the word that I
covenanted with you my spirit remaineth among you fear ye not
Now did you hear what God said? This is God's word to you and
to me be strong For I am with you According to the word that
I covenanted with you my spirit remains among you fear ye not I spoke to you briefly the other
night about meekness. A meek man never has any reason
for fear. Not a meek man. Bold men have
reason for fear because they'll run across somebody bolder than
them and stronger than them. Meek men and women never have
any reason to fear anything. Meek men and women know that
they are nothing And they know they belong to God Almighty,
the omnipotent creator who is everything. Meek folks have nothing
to fear. I am with them. Zechariah came
behind Haggai. Just briefly following, just
a few years behind Haggai, he was sent to Israel. And Zechariah's
prophecy in chapters 1 through 14 of the book of Zechariah,
Zechariah said amen Haggai's been telling you truth That's
what I get what the book of Zechariah is all about brother Haggai has
given you the very Word of God and his message Was a message
calling Israel and us to repentance Assuring Israel and us of God's
unfailing faithfulness and that he which has begun his work will
perform his work unto completion to the praise of the glory of
his grace and The whole building of his house is his work. It is his work. In Psalm 127,
the psalmist sings about households. And he sings and says, except
the Lord build a house, they labor in vain that built it.
And he's not talking about our physical families. The psalm
is talking about the church of the living God. Those who labor
to build God's church by their own strength labor in vain. But
because the Lord builds his house, he gives us rest. And he said,
children are an heritage of the Lord. The fruit of the womb is
his reward. Blessed is the man who has his quiver full of them.
Now, I've had lots of folks tell me that I needed to have more
than one child, because God said, blessed man has his quiver full
of them. And I'm quick to respond, my quiver is not as big as yours.
I don't need any more. Thank you. But it's not talking
about me. It's talking about the Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus Christ. His quiver is full. Always full. And he will build his house.
Let's turn now to Zechariah chapter 4. And let's read what he says
here about the building of this house. Remember all of this is
a picture of God's work of grace for us in us and with us Zechariah
4 verse 6 Then he answered and spake unto me saying This is
the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel Zerubbabel the prince God appointed
as a type of Christ to build the temple saying not by might
nor by power but by my spirit saith the Lord of hosts Who art
thou, O great mountain? Who art thou, O great mountain? A mountain standing in your way,
what's that? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt
become a plain. And he shall bring forth the
headstone thereof with shoutings crying grace, grace unto it. Moreover the word of the Lord
came unto me saying the hands is a rubble have laid the foundation
of this house His hands shall also finish it and thou shalt
know That the Lord of hosts has sent me unto you Now I want us
this morning to focus on verse 10 For who hath despised the
day of small things for they shall rejoice and shall see the
plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven they are the
eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole earth
the day of small things without question this prophecy has reference
to the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem that second temple
but its message is altogether spiritual The message is all
together for you and me. Be sure you understand that when
you read the Old Testament Scriptures and the New Testament as well.
Somebody said, well, you got to know who the books, who the
thing was addressed to. It was addressed to you. That's
who it was addressed to. It is addressed to you and I
who are God's Israel and God's people in this present day. The
work of God our Savior in building his temple. Saving his elect
by his almighty grace often appears small But it is never to be despised
Everything great began small in Middle late August you have
fields full of corn all around here, don't you? You remember
how started this tiny little seeds on in the ground The great
bountiful harvest of vegetables and fruits in the fall of the
year began as little sprigs, just little shoots popping up
out of the ground in the early spring, or buds budding out on
the tree in the early spring. The oak tree began just a little
acre. Everything great begins small. The Protestant Reformation, we
hear much about it. All the history books talk about
it. You know how it began? There was a man, a Roman Catholic
monk, whom God was pleased to save by his grace, who was convinced
of certain evils in the church at Rome, and he wrote out 99
statements of personal conviction. He just wrote out 99 sentences
of personal conviction, things that he was taught by God from
his word, and he walked out and nailed them up on his church
door. And that's how it began. As I began, you hear about the
Great Awakening. It began with some college boys
over in Oxford, England, just getting together, praying as
I began. The modern missionary movement
began with one man, William Carey, who was a shoemaker by trade. And he was determined that God
Almighty had called him to preach the gospel to the barbarians
in India, and he made it his determination to go and do so. With great opposition, even from
his own wife, he finally went to India and established himself
in that place, preaching the gospel of God's grace, and there
began what's called the modern missionary movement. How often,
how often? We kindly disdain insignificant
small things. God forgive me. It ought never
be. I travel and preach a lot and
I often preach to six or eight people, meeting in a living room
somewhere, realizing that God Almighty raises up his people
and where two or three are gathered together in his name, there he
is in the midst of them. I've been going for 25 or 26
years. Six to eight times, I'm sorry,
every six to eight weeks out in Wichita Falls, Texas. Drive
out there every six to eight weeks. Been doing it for 25 years.
Preach to a handful of folks in their home. Keep praying God
might raise up a preacher. He hasn't done so yet. But don't
you think it's time you quit? Not as long as there's somebody
bound for eternity out there wanting to hear the gospel. Oh
no, no, no. One Sunday morning, In January,
cold winter day, snow was blowing. The 16-year-old boy in London,
and he was making his way down the street trying to get to church
and couldn't get to where he was going. He'd been raised in
a preacher's house. His father and grandfather both
were preachers. And he just made his way into a side alley and
saw some folks with the door open at a primitive Methodist
church. Went in and sat down. Preacher couldn't get there.
Most folks weren't there, just a few people there. And an old
man got up who could hardly read or write. And he preached in
the book of Isaiah 45, 22, look unto me and be you saved all
the ends of the earth. That old man looked at, young
fellow said, young man looks to me like you need to look.
And that young man named C.H. Spurgeon, he said, I looked and
I've never quit looking. Don't despise the day of small
things. Don't ever despise the day of
small things. It's usually God's way to begin his great works
in this world very small. He could have created the whole
human race at one time. Do you know that? Well, he did. With one man. Just one man. He brought the nation of Israel,
that nation that has been known longer, that has stood longer,
that has been the object of more controversy and more study than
any nation that ever existed. He brought that nation into existence.
by one old man and one old woman. Too old to have any children.
When our Lord Jesus came into this world and began to preach
the gospel, his church consisted of 12 men whom he called by his
grace. And one of them was the devil. In a little while, it was 120.
And one day, he added 3,000 to it. But it began with just 12 ordinary
fishing men. God has chosen to give birth
to great things by insignificant things so that no flesh glory
in his presence. If God does something here in
Kingsport, Tennessee, it won't be because of you or Tom Harding
or the man God's pleased to send as your pastor. It'll be because
God did it. And that's all. He uses such
things as are described in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Not many mighty, not
many noble, not many great things are called. How many preachers
do you know, Brother Gary, who are really, really smart? Who are really great? Who really
have power and influence? Who are really great possessors
of things? Oh, looks to me like if you wanted
to do something great, you'd find a great man to do it. You
would if you were an insignificant man. But the great God doesn't
need great men. He uses such things as we are,
nothings and nobodies, to bring to naught things that are, that
no flesh should glory in his presence. And my purpose in preaching
this message, I want to encourage you and encourage myself to encourage
you in whose hearts God, I hope, has
begun a work of his grace, and you who labor with me in the
cause of Christ as God's servants in this generation. Let us never
despise the day of small things. Never. Yes, I acknowledge to
all appearance Ours is a day of small things. Right down the
hall here are some folks meeting who are absolute heretics, and
they just came to borrow some chairs. The place is packed down.
They're small things. They're small things. So it appears.
So it appears. Never been a day of darkness
like this top side of the earth that I can tell. Never been such
a day. But I wouldn't choose any other
day for anything in this world. This is the day God made for
us. and the day for which God made
us. Did you hear that? This is the day God made for
us and the day for which God made us. And this is the day
which he created us in which we are to serve him. All right,
let me address just a few things here. In all God's works of grace,
everything God performs, He declares is not by might nor by power
But by my spirit saith the Lord everything you remember our Lord's
parable in Mark chapter 4. He said Wherein to shall we like
in the kingdom of God? Or with what comparison shall
we compare it it it is like a grain of mustard seed Which when it
is sown in the earth is less than all the seeds that be in
the earth. I But when it is sown, it groweth
up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great
branches, so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow
of it." All right, here's my first thing. That work of grace
that we call conversion might be called a day of small things.
Our Savior brings us out of night In today, he translates us who
groped about in darkness into the kingdom of his dear son and
makes us children of light. And thank God for that day, though
it may appear to be small, for in that day, the day spring on
from on high has visited the center. It is called the day
of salvation, the day of his power. It is called the day of
Christ's spouses. It is the day Christ comes and
makes his bride to be wed to him. It is called the day of
the gladness of his heart. And yet, it is the day of small
things. I'll tell you how it begins.
It begins with such little faith that you can't even begin to
think it really is faith. It begins with such little knowledge
that you think it is absolutely It begins with such little repentance
that you think I have no repentance at all. It begins with such little
strength that you think I have absolutely no strength. It begins
with such small hope that you think this is not the hope of
a believer. You see, God's people rarely get everything at once
in their experience. Oh, we get everything at once
in Christ. It's all ours, but it comes to us as a grain of
mustard seed and it's planting in our soul. Let me illustrate
it for you. Our Lord in Mark chapter 8 healed
a blind man of his blindness. Now the folks brought him, brought
the man to the Lord, said, Lord, command that he be made to see.
You don't tell God how to do things. Our Lord Jesus took him
by the hand and led him out in private and he Made some spit,
put it on his eyes. And he said, do you see anything?
Do you remember what he said? He said, I see men as trees walking.
He said, well, that ain't much. It is if you never saw any trees
walking. He saw a little, and then he
saw all men clearly. That blind man, our Lord healed
in John chapter 9, the Lord Jesus came and asked him, I'm sorry,
the religious leaders asked him about the one who healed him.
They wanted a word against the master. And they said, don't
you know this man's a sinner? He said, I'll tell you what,
I don't know much, but I know this. I was blind and now I see. I know that much. That's what
I've experienced by God's grace. And yet, that's the way it continues. all our life as believers. The
more we grow in grace, the more we walk with the master, the
more we know, the more we realize that our faith is just unbelief. Our love for Christ can't be
called love. Our confidence can't be called
confidence. Our knowledge is sheer ignorance.
That's the way it is till we leave this world. And yet this
day is not to be despised. God the Father doesn't despise
the day of small things. He hears the cries and groans
of his children. And you may think your cries
and groans are nothing. You may think they're insignificant,
but they're the cries of his babies. And he hears them with
tender care. God the Son doesn't despise this
day of small things. He receives every child of his
grace and regards the beginnings of grace as buds in the vine
in his vineyard, needing his constant special attention and
care. He carries his lambs, the little
ones in his flocks. He gathers them and carries them
in his arms right up next to his heart. He takes the bruised
reed. and says the bruised reed he'll
not break. The smoking flax, he'll not quench. The thirsty
soul, he will refresh. The hungry soul, he will fill.
The mourning soul, he will comfort. The broken hearted, he will heal. And God the Spirit, our blessed
comforter, doesn't despise this day of small things in the beginnings
of grace in his people. No, he helps our infirmities. He helps our infirmities. That's the reason he's given.
He makes intercession for us with groans that can't be spoken. He helps our infirmities. So let us not despise the day
of small things, particularly with regard to others. Every
believer is the temple of God. And the temple always begins
as a day of small things. Even the most mature believer in this world is in a very low
condition. Philippians chapter 3, Paul said,
I don't pretend I've apprehended, I haven't. I just keep pressing
toward the mark. In the seventh chapter of Romans,
he describes his horrible, evil self, all that he is by nature. In Psalm 73, the psalmist David,
this man after God's own heart, this faithful man, this man who
was loved of God and loved God, this man to whom God gave such
faith as his Rarely seen among men He looked out one day and
he saw in his mind's eye his neighbor a Pagan man had no regard for
God and it's Thanksgiving Day and the man's wife Children and
grandchildren are all home sitting on the table their eyes bug out
with fatness He raised 25 children and never had a trouble one of
them Got 50 grandchildren never had any trouble with one of them.
Every one of them honor their daddy. Everything's just great.
Just great. And David looked at that man.
And he looked at his house. And this is what he said. It's
a foolish thing to serve God. Read the 73rd Psalm. He said,
I worship God for nothing. I've washed my hands of innocence.
It's advanced me nothing. to serve my God. This is the
same man who lay on his deathbed and said, the Lord has made with
me an everlasting covenant. Lord, in all things ensure this
is all my salvation and all my desire, though he make it not
to go. The same man, the very same man. And that's what he said in his
own mind when he thought about his neighbor. And he said, I
would have said this But I dare not offend against the generation
of your children. I dare not speak what I'm thinking. But
this is what I thought until I went into the house of God. And I saw their end. God's left
that old boy alone. He's fattening him up like a
stalled ox for the slaughter. What ox would envy the ox that's
been stalled up? No one is being fed grain corn
every day just to fatten him for the slaughter God set that
man in slippery places to cast him down or I on the other hand
Had been the object of his unceasing care The object of his fatherly
chastisement And he fell down before God and said oh god I
was as a beast before him I thought like a beast, I acted like a
beast, forgive me. Whom have I in heaven but thee?
There is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. The fact is God's people, God's
people in this world often behave as people who don't know God
or his grace at all. Now, it may come as a shocker
to you, but let it shock. It's because you don't know yourself
yet. When I was a young man, I heard Rolf Barner one time,
and I heard the man say some things that just shocked me.
I mean, they just, they just shocked me. I thought I, you
know, I was a young man. I thought I knew everything,
but they just shocked me. I heard Rolf Barner say one time,
said, he said, an ungodly man can live just as good a life
as you can, probably better. Although they can't. I beg to
differ with you. I know they can't. I've seen
many. I've seen many. Well, I know a man's Christian
by the way he behaves. Read Psalm 73 and tell me you
would have known David was one. Read it. Oh, no. No, no. I make
no excuse for our unbelief. I make no excuse for the slightest
deviation from faithfulness to our God. But I don't pretend
it doesn't exist. No. Well, what do you do when
one of God's people falls? Man, let's gang up and beat him
to death. That's what religion does. That's what reformed folks
do. That's what legalists do. Let's
gang up and kick him. Let everybody know we're going
to be good folks. We're going to worship and honor
God. We're going to have pure church. Folks, I don't hear this
kind of nonsense anymore. Folks know better to talk to
me like this. But every now and then somebody says, well, we
want to have pure church. Every time I hear every time
I hear such thing. I said why don't you leave? That'll
help a lot We're gonna have pure church No What is what does our
Lord tell us? Brethren if a man be overtaken
with a thought Bend over backwards and pick him up Bend over backwards
pick him up you which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit
of meekness and Remembering that you're just like him. Considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted, bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill
the law of Christ. This I know. Those who despise
Christ's little ones will be despised by Christ himself. Don't despise the small things
in yourself either. If you trust Christ Cherish his
gift of faith and his grace in you Turn to Isaiah 42. Let me show you a couple of passages
Isaiah 42 Verse 3 a bruised reed Shall
he not break? A bruised reed. Now you can take
a bundle of reeds and tie enough of them together and you can
make a strong pillar. But you get one that's wet and
bruised, you can't even fish with it. I mean, it's just useless. It's utterly useless. But a bruised
reed, he won't break. And the smoking flax stinks. Man, it stinks. The smoking flax,
however, smokes because there's been fire there. It can't give
off any light. It just stinks. Fills the room
with bad odor. That's all it can do. Smoking
flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged.
Till he has set judgment in the earth and the isles, the Gentiles
shall wait for his law. Our Lord Jesus takes brother
smoking flax, who gives off no light, who can't send forth any
flame, who has no useful qualities about him whatsoever. All he
does is emit smoke. But it's smoke that ascends up
to glory. And in his nostrils is a sweet-smelling
savor, because this is his own. Look at Isaiah 50. Isaiah 50. Verse 10. Who is among you that feareth
the Lord, and obeyeth the voice of his servant, and walketh in
darkness, and hath no light? Does that seem strange to you?
Fears the Lord, obeys the voice of His servant. You worship God. You fall before Him. You trust
Christ the Lord. You look nowhere else but to
Him. You've heard the gospel and you
look away to Christ. But you walk in darkness and
don't have an ounce of light. Don't have an ounce of light.
No darkness for me. I often walk in darkness. Or
I walk in the light of His revelation. Walk in the light of His grace.
Walk in the light of the Lord. Walk in the light of Him who
is light. But inside me there ain't nothing but darkness. Just
darkness. What do you do? Look what it
says. Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his
God. Thomas said, except I put my
finger in the hole, I won't believe he's raised from the dead. Except
I shove my hand in his side, you won't convince me he raised
from the dead. The Lord Jesus appeared one day,
and there's Thomas. Thomas, give me your hand. Aren't you glad he doesn't deal
with us like we deal with each other? Thomas, give me a hand. Are you satisfied? Our Lord told Peter, before the rooster crows tomorrow
morning twice, you're going to deny me three times. Reckon why
he had that rooster crow twice rather than once. Reckon why. Could just as well have been,
Peter before the rooster crows in the morning, you're going
to deny me three times. But the rooster was one of his messengers. And Peter standing there, he
said, not me. Oh Lord, you got this thing wrong.
No, not me. Maybe James and John, but not
me. Not me. No, didn't you see me take out
my pocket knife and attack that soldier in the garden to defend
you? Not me. Before the rooster crows twice. You'll deny me three times."
And Peter denied the master that very evening. And he didn't hear
anything. And I suspect he didn't think
anything. Oh, that's not serious. No. And then he cussed and denied
the master again. And as soon as he said, I don't
know that man, As soon as he said, I don't know him, the rooster
crowed. I can imagine how he must have
trembled. I can imagine how fearful he must have been. The Lord warned me, I've got
to get out of here. The Lord warned me what would
happen. But the fact is, Chris, you and I are nothing but sin.
And if God leaves you or Don Fortner to yourselves for a half
a second, There's nothing we won't do and invent ways to do
it and justify ourselves in it. Even when we know what we're
doing is dead wrong, we have no ability to resist the evil
that's in us. And down Peter goes right down
that downward spiral until at last he denies the very Godhead
of the Savior. So I just believe that some things
a Christian won't do. Would you tell me what it is? How about
you tell me what it is? Peter said, I don't know him.
I don't know the man. And then he cussed and said,
I don't know that man. This man who just a little while
before said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And
we heard that rooster crow. His heart broke, not in repentance,
but in bitterness. He said, I'm a lost man. Fellas next time you see me you'll
see me down at Galilee Doing what I was doing when first I
started following him and thought I knew him I'm going back to
fishing Now do you know do you remember
what the Lord's next word was to Peter? His very next word
when he said this night before the rooster crows twice you deny
me three times This was his next word Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. That's his next word. It is not faith to trust Christ
when you think you're something and you think you're saintly
and you think you're godly and you think you've got something
to offer God and something to offer men. It is faith to trust
Christ when you walk in darkness and have no light and trust Him
in the teeth of your nothingness and in the teeth of your sin. Let us never despise the day
of small things, but rather trust the Lord, looking
away from ourselves. As you therefore have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, So walk ye in Him. How was it you first received
Him? Just exactly what was it you brought to Him? Oh, Brother
Don, I came to Christ as an empty-handed, empty-pocketed, naked, helpless,
bankrupt, doomed, damned sinner. I didn't have anything but Him.
Oh, I hope you never grow beyond that, Roland. And I pray I'll
never grow beyond that. That's how you walk with Him.
Every day. Every day. And if you outgrow it, you've
outgrown Christ. What about His cause? Don't despise
the dead small things. Don't do that. We measure greatness
and success by smallness, I mean by numbers, impressive buildings,
Dollars in faith. We look at something that's small
and say, well, poor folks have tried. Bless his heart, he's
doing the best he can. Throughout this book, those who
were ignorant of God, ignorant of Christ, ignorant of redemption,
measured all things differently from the world. Read 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. We preach Christ crucified. To the Jews, a stumbling block.
To the Greeks, foolishness. Don't ever imagine that Paul
didn't have the same kind of stuff we have today. You think sometimes, well, Paul didn't
have to contend with these Arminian, these super churches and all
that stuff. Man, these super churches in America don't compare
with the great temple of Diana in Ephesus. No. They had to contend
with the same thing. They had plays and skits and
all that stuff, just like the folks do today. But Paul preached
the gospel of God's grace wherever he went, and nothing else. Nothing else. When Sanballat
heard that Nehemiah was building the walls of Jerusalem, He mocked
the Jews, mocked Nehemiah. And you know what Nehemiah did? You remember what he did? Just
went right on, mixing mortar and laying bricks. He didn't
even get down off the wall. When David came out to the Valley
of Elah, his brother Eliab denounced him. He said, David, you're just
a proud, runny-nosed boy. You got no business out here.
What are you trying to do? And David said to his brother,
is there not a cause? And it took a rock and killed
the giant. And the Son of God began to manifest himself to
Israel. They denounced him as the carpenter's son, the glutton,
a winebibber, the friend of sinners, the Nazarene. But he just stayed right with
his work. Aren't you glad he finished what he came here to
do? He said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O my God. And then
he cried, It's finished. When Paul came to Mars Hill,
he was ridiculed as a babbler, a dreamer, a sower of sedition. But before he left, he turned
the world upside down with his doctrine. I realized that in the eyes of
the world, especially in the eyes of the religious world around
here, Just as we are in Danville, you're looked at as a insignificant,
ragtag band of fools. The folks you have down here
to preach for you don't have any credentials. You're few in
number. You don't have any religious
organization to back you. There's nothing about you that
in any way will impress anybody, to be frank with you. I'll be honest with you. They're
just not anything here to impress anybody. Myself included, you
too. If you were standing outside
and you saw this band of folks meeting here, nah, ain't interested
in that. Nothing here to impress anybody,
nothing. But our God has established you in this place and he's given
you a work to do. Don't be discouraged. Put your
shoulder to the work, God's trusted to your hands. and do it for
the glory of God. Just do it. Well, I don't see
any results. That's not my business. That's
not my business. 28 years ago, folks in Danville
called me to be their pastor, meeting in a rented hall downtown. Do just what you do, load up
our books and hymn books and carry them to meeting every time,
set things up, carry it down. Go home, read it, go back next
time. They called me as pastor and wanted to try to take care
of me. They said they'd try to give me $200 a week, and that
was $100 more than they'd taken in any time before that. But God was in it, and we've
been meeting together for 28 years, worshiping God. He allows
us most blessed fellowship in this world. Most blessed fellowship
in this world. I wouldn't take anything on this
earth for it. Somebody asked me, would you be interested in
going over here to pastor? I ain't interested in going anywhere
to pastor. My next move is going to be up. I'm not going anywhere. No. Are you sure of that? I'm
sure I'm in the place where God had me to be. I'm sure I'm in
the place God had me to be. What do you see that's encouraging?
Not much. Not much. outside this book,
and God's will, and God's people. Oh, is that all? The Lord is
my shepherd. He's all I want. And that's all
I need to know. That's it. Nothing else matters. Oh, but, you know, people won't
remember you. I'm afraid they will. Nobody's impressed by you. I'm
afraid they are. I'm afraid they are. Somebody
was telling me just the other night, Brother Darwin Pruitt's
wife, Kathy, said, somebody, where she works, asked her, said,
where do you go to church? She said, I go out to Grace Baptist Church.
Said, who's your pastor? Don Fortner. Oh. Eternity will tell what God has
done in us and with us and for us. when folks ridiculed Paul and
Corinth, they said, well, he's not really a preacher. Who recognizes
him? He's not really an apostle. Who
recognizes him? He said, with me, it is a very
small thing that I be judged of you. Do you really think I
care what you think about me, whether or not I'm a preacher?
I'm God's servant and I'll wait for that day when God will make
all things light. That's all. That's all. We just
serve Him. And God in His marvelous grace
takes such things as we are and makes us instruments of usefulness
in His kingdom for the saving of His people. the establishing
of his word, and makes his church, in every day of small things,
the pillar and ground of the truth. So the next generation
comes along. Here stands the same truth, the
same gospel, the same message, generation after generation,
until Christ comes again, by which he gathers his jewels unto
himself. Who hath despised the day of
small things? When Christ comes again, our
might is irremovable. We'll lay the headstone on the
corner and he'll drop the plummet line. I'm not a builder, don't pretend
to be, but I know what a plummet line is. You put a weight on
that thing and drop it down, he'll drop the plummet line and
say, that's just what I intended. He'll take it over here Yep,
that's just the way I intended it. And he'll get over here.
That's just the way I intended it. And he'll get over here.
That's just the way I intended it. And he'll see the foundation
stone, which is he himself laid with the seven eyes. The seven
spirits of our God, the infinite wisdom of God, all gazing upon
it. And he will say, this is that
in which I am glorified. Let all hail stand in wonder. Amen. Amen. All right, let's
sing a hymn.