There are certain subjects that
preachers are always hesitant to deal with. Preachers are always
hesitant or I shouldn't say always are. Fellows I associate with
are hesitant to deal with the matter of giving because they
don't want to appear as the highlands of this world seeking things
for themselves. But the word of God gives clear
instruction concerning giving, and faithful pastors give instruction
where God gives instruction. I can't think of anything personally
I am more hesitant to try to talk to you about or to anyone
else than about the business of pastoring, preaching, doing
the work of a gospel preacher. I recognize I have no qualification
for such except that which is revealed in the scriptures. And
we've come to a passage tonight, Hebrews chapter 13, verses 7
and 17, that give very clear instruction with regard to them
which have the rule over you. That's our subject. Them which
have the rule over you. It's not talking about President
Bush. It's not talking about senators, the congressman, governor,
or the police. It's talking about those who
rule over the house of God, faithful gospel pastors, them which have
the rule over you. I can't think of a greater privilege
or a weightier responsibility in all the world than the privilege
and responsibility of preaching the gospel. I am constantly overwhelmed that
unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this
grace given, that I should preach to you the unsearchable riches
of Christ. of all people, me. But to me, it's given. So as
Paul said to the Romans, I'm ready. I'm ready and willing
to preach the gospel, and I'm not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ. Because I know that the gospel
that I preach, the gospel of God, is the power of God unto
salvation. It is by this means that God
Almighty sticks His omnipotent hand of grace in the hearts of
sinners and gives them life and faith in Christ. It's the power of God to salvation
to everyone who believes. You believe on the Son of God
because God has caused the gospel to explode with life in your
soul. To everyone that believes, the
Jew first and also to the Greek, For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. Now, this is not talking about
the righteousness of God's character. That's revealed in your heart
by nature. That's the reason you're scared to death to meet
him. This is talking about the righteousness of God established
by Jesus Christ, the sinner's substitute, by his obedience
unto death as our representative, fulfilling all righteousness
for us and satisfying the justice of God so that now God is just
and the justifier of all who believe. But if there is any
privilege that is equally great, any responsibility that is equally
heavy, it is the privilege and responsibility of hearing the
gospel preached in the power of God. I keep praying. I keep praying. I pray this continually. You
see me sitting up here looking over things, writing things down
and praying. As I stand to speak to you in God's name, that He
will give me power from heaven to speak to you. And if He does, you're not going
to leave here the same. Ever. Ever. What a privilege to hear
the gospel preached. and the power of God. Paul said
to the Thessalonians, our gospel came not to you in word only,
but in power and in much assurance, in demonstration of the Holy
Ghost, giving you life and faith. Turn over to Isaiah 52. Isaiah 52. This is a passage
quoted in Romans 10, where Paul deals with this matter of gospel
preaching. And this ought to be the attitude. This ought to
be the attitude of every man, woman, and child who has the
privilege of hearing the gospel of God's grace. And if ever you
find yourself shut up as a prisoner under the curse of God's holy
law, terrified by your sin and terrified by his justice, I promise
you it'll be your attitude. It will be. You'll never look
at the matter of preaching the gospel half-heartedly again.
You'll never look at the matter of hearing the gospel preached
as something, well, I can have it or leave it. Look here in
Isaiah 52 verse 7. How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings. Try to get a picture. Here's Israel, shut up in bondage,
held in captivity. After long years of bondage and
captivity, they hear deliverance coming. They hear one coming
who leads an army about to bring them out of bondage. And as they
hear the feet walking across the mountains, they say, oh,
beautiful feet of deliverance. He's talking now not about that
physical deliverer, but he's talking about the preaching of
the gospel. Paul makes that clear in Romans 10. These men who come by the power and grace of God
with His Word bring good tidings, good news, because they publish
peace. They publish peace accomplished.
They publish reconciliation done through Christ the Lord. They
bring good tidings of good things. They've got nothing but good
to say to all who believe God. For they publish salvation, salvation
done. Deliverance proclaimed is the
preaching of the gospel. And they say to Zion continually,
thy God reigneth. All God's preachers do, every
one of them. They come with the same message.
They are all of one mind. They all see eye to eye in these
things. They come with the good tidings
of peace through the blood of Christ, with good tidings of
good, good news of redemption and pardon through Christ, publishing
salvation by Christ Jesus, declaring to God's people, God rules. God
rules everywhere, all the time. God rules. Thy God reigneth. Now turn over to 2 Corinthians.
That's the blessed privilege. Look at the responsibility. 2
Corinthians 2. I may seem to be going about
my task this evening a little haphazardly, but I've got a purpose
in this, and I hope it's of God. 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14. Now thanks be unto God. which
always causeth us to triumph in Christ. Paul's talking about
gospel preachers now. And maketh manifest the savor,
the sweet fragrance of his knowledge, the knowledge of Christ. by us
in every place. Wherever we go, we're like that
woman who brought the alabaster box of ointment in and broke
it open and the fragrance filled the room. The sweet savor of
Christ is proclaimed as we break open the box of Scripture which
contains that savor. For we are unto God. We are unto
God. If I didn't read this right here,
Larry, I wouldn't dare presume to say it. As we stand here and
preach the gospel of God's grace. Lindsay stands here Sunday morning
after Sunday morning preaching the gospel of God's grace. We
are unto God a sweet saver of Christ. In everybody who hears
us. In everybody who hears us. In
them that are saved, the word is them that are being saved.
And in them that are perishing. To the one The savor of death
unto death. God sends His Word like He sends
the sunshine to melt the wax and harden the clay. He sends
His Word to melt one heart and harden another. To the other,
a savor of life unto life. He sends His Word and gives you
life. and life just continues more abundantly as you hear it,
or He sends His Word and brings death, and you're more hardened
in death as you hear it. Man goes to hell having heard
the gospel of His grace. Goes to hell pushing God out
of his way. Goes to hell sticking his fingers
in his ears saying, shut up God, I won't hear you. It'd be better
for him had he never been born. To the one, we are a saver of
death unto death. To the other, a saver of life
unto life. And who's sufficient for these things? Not me. For we are not as of many which
corrupt the word of God. Brother Henry Mahan said years
ago there are just two kinds of preachers. Those who use and
those who are used. Those who take and those who
give. Just two kinds. The one corrupts
the Word of God, handles it deceitfully for his own gain. But if I am
God's, if I am God's, if I'm not, you're in trouble and me
too. But if I am God's, I stand here to preach to you as of sincerity,
as of God, in the sight of God about His Son. What an awesome responsibility. One day last week I had a call. A friend of mine, I've known
him for 10 or 12 years. He's about my age. I wanted to know
if he could come over and visit with me yesterday. I wanted to
talk to him about some things that were bothering him. So we
made an appointment. And yesterday about noon, he
met me here in the office. And he had two questions. He said, Brother Don, how does
a man know if he's called to preach the gospel? And how does
God put a man into the ministry? I had a call this morning from
another pastor in another state wanting to know similar things.
And my friend, the fellow who called this morning, neither
one of them had any idea what I was preparing to preach tonight.
But the questions asked were precisely the things that had
been going through my heart for the past week. I gave up the
notion a long time ago of trying to tell other people what God's
will is for them. of what God would have them to
do. I just don't do it. You can't put me under enough
pressure, push me in a box small enough, make me tell you what
God's will is for you in a given area, unless God himself has
spoken plainly in his word about it. I'm aware of the fact that
the scriptures do not give precise, clear answers to these questions.
I can't speak with absolute authority because the scriptures don't
speak with clear authority concerning these things. In the Old Testament,
things were different. A prophet was made a prophet
by the direct revelation of God. It was crystal clear, unmistakable.
When God appeared to Elijah, Elijah knew God appeared to him.
When God appeared to Jeremiah and said, I sanctified you from
the womb, said, I knew you and your mother's belly, and I made
you and ordained you a prophet to the people, Jeremiah knew
God called him. When God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush,
that man with a stammering tongue knew that God had spoke to him,
and he got to go bring his message to Israel. When God came to Elijah
and called him, or Isaiah rather, and called him, he spoke so clearly
to him, plain revelation, no question about it. In the New
Testament, our Lord Jesus Christ personally chose his apostles
and sent them out. The first 70 preachers of the
gospel were chosen and sent out by the direct verbal command
of the Son of God. The apostles, during the apostolic
times, went from city to city, ordaining elders in every city,
specifically choosing men who were obviously called and gifted
of God. Today, we labor at a little bit
of a disadvantage, because we don't have that privilege. We
don't have those advantages. The scriptures tell us the kind
of man a preacher must be. The scriptures tell us exactly
what a preacher's work and responsibilities are. But the scriptures do not
tell us exactly how it is that God puts a man in the ministry.
The scriptures do not tell us exactly how a man knows that
he's called of God to the work. So when I try to answer those
questions, I said to my friend yesterday, and I say to you now,
as Paul did to the Corinthians concerning certain things about
marriage, he said, concerning these things, speak I, not the
Lord. So you can take it with a grain
of salt. But what I've got to say arises from experience and
arises from what I know of the word of God. So take it with
a pretty good grain of salt. I know this. If God puts a man
into the ministry, he first puts grace in his heart. No man's
called of God to preach the gospel who doesn't know it. And before
God puts a man in the work of the ministry, now, when I use
that term, please understand me, if we are gods, we are his
servants. If we are gods, we are in the
ministry. We are his witnesses, his missionaries,
his evangelists, his servants in all things. We just serve
in various capacities, and it doesn't really matter where we
serve. I told the men here, when you first contacted me about
the possibility of coming here as your pastor, I realized I was God's servant
before I started preaching. I was God's servant when I was
selling shoes in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and just doing
what other folks do, just like you do, trying to make a living
for my family, trying to honor God. And if I preach the gospel,
if I serve as a pastor, I'm going to serve him in exactly the same
way for his glory, for his honor. And it doesn't really matter
to me which I do. It doesn't really matter to me
which I do. I've been at this long enough
that the glamour of standing up here faded away a long time
ago. It's gone. I'll just as soon
serve him. laboring in that cabinet shop
where you do or selling insurance like you do. I'd just as soon
serve me the place. But if I'm going to serve him
in this capacity, I want to try to serve him honorably as I would
in the other capacity. But before God puts a man into
the ministry and entrusts him with the treasure of his word
and the gospel of his grace, he proves that man faithful in
his church among his people. Some time ago, this has been
years ago, I was preaching in a Bible conference, and a young
self-proclaimed would-be preacher came up and was apologizing,
making excuses for not being in the church services earlier. And it wasn't much of an excuse.
I said to him, where would you have been if you'd been pastor?
Well, I guess I'd have had to have been here. Well, that ought
to tell you something about you. God's servants are first proved
faithful. Paul said not to lay hands on
a man suddenly. Don't ordain a novice to this
thing, a man who is not proven. Men who have not proved themselves
faithful in the capacity that you are in cannot possibly minister
to you in that capacity. A man who can't be faithful laboring
and laboring with his hands and laboring with all the knocks
and bruises you men and women labor with day by day in your
various responsibilities and be faithful in the cause of Christ
in those things. Can't be faithful here. Can't
be. And then if the Lord puts a man
in the ministry, you can bank on it, that man's got his message.
I hear folks sometimes talk about You know, they preached and then
they learned the gospel. No, you just play games and then
you learn the gospel. God calls a man to preach, he
knows the gospel. Isaiah 40 tells plainly what
God says. The prophet says, what shall
I preach? He said, go tell the people,
all flesh is grass, behold your God. That sums it up pretty good.
Salvation is of the Lord. If God puts a man into the ministry,
it gives him all the gifts necessary for the work which he would have
him to do. The Lord God has set before you
and before me, though we have no idea what it is, before ever
we came into this world, the work for which he put us in this
world. If we're his. If we're His, He
put us here, Bobby Estes, to do a specific thing. A specific thing. It may involve
a million other things, but He put us here to do a specific
thing, a specific work. And God Almighty gifts His servants
for that work He would have them to do, whatever it is. And if
God calls a man to preach the gospel, he gives him all the
gifts necessary. That is to say, he makes him
apt to teach, as Paul put it in 1 Timothy. He gives him knowledge. He said, I'll give you pastors
after my own heart who shall feed you with knowledge and with
understanding. So that he gives his servants
knowledge of the book, the whole book. I think Brother Bob Duff
said to me, some time ago, so I don't see how on earth you
got that out of that passage. And I spoke a little bit facetiously. I apologize. I shouldn't have.
I said, well, that's what you paid me for. But the knowledge
is not the result of study. And the knowledge is not the
result of brilliance. And the knowledge is not the
result of anything in me. God gives his servants a comprehensive
knowledge of his revelation. so that God's servants know what
this book is all about. They understand it. They understand
the message of the book is Christ crucified and it gives them understanding. Understanding of his will and
of his ways, understanding of the hearts and nature of men,
understanding of the circumstances in which men live so that they
feed you not just with knowledge but with understanding arising
from experience. I know what you said. I've been
where you are. I know what goes through your
heart. I know what goes on in your life.
I've been there. And God's servants feed you with
knowledge and understanding. And they're given the ability
to preach the gospel. I have a dear friend. You don't know him. You don't
need to. You don't need to know who he is anyway. Dear friend,
known as his college. He's wanted to be a preacher
ever since I met him. He's determined to be a preacher.
Likeable, he'd sit down and talk to you, and you could listen
to him talk all day long. Friendly, delightful to talk
to, understands the scriptures, got the doctrine right. But somehow
when he stands up, when he stands up behind the lectern, behind
the pulpit, when he stands on the street corner trying to preach
to somebody, he can't possibly put two and two together and
come out with four to save his life. You don't have any idea
where he started, where he went, or how he got there. And you
sure hope he ends soon, because he just can't preach. Bless his
heart, he just can't preach. Kind of like Barney Fife, he
can't sing. He just can't do it. God's servants can preach. They can preach. They're given
gifts that make room for them. And if God puts a man in the
ministry, it gives him a place to preach. I told this friend yesterday,
don't ever presume God's called you to preach unless you do it. Don't ever presume God's called
you to be a pastor, a missionary, evangelist, elder, unless he's
put you into work. We do a horrid disservice to
men, to the cause of Christ, and to the church of God when
we persuade men to I think that somehow a desire to preach, a
desire to pastor, a desire to stand up and talk to men about
things of God is the same thing as a call of God to the ministry.
When God calls a man to the ministry, if God's pleased to take that
young man right there, plant his grace in his heart, and call
him to the preaching of the gospel, he'll put him in a place just
like this, preaching the gospel. And you won't have to look for
it. You won't have to make a way for yourself. A man's gifts will
make room for him. He doesn't open doors for himself.
He waits, and God opens them. My pastor, when I was a young
man, put it this way. He said, God never made a possum.
He didn't make a persimmon tree. And he never made a preacher.
He didn't make a pulpit. And that's a pretty good way to put
it. And if God puts a man in the ministry, he'll give him
a hearing. Turn over to Acts chapter 10
for a minute. Acts chapter 10. I get letters more often than I ever share
with anyone from preachers who are looking for a place to preach. God's preachers don't have to
do that. They just don't. They don't have to and they don't.
They just don't. When a man sent of God, he sent
to a people prepared of God to hear him. Look here in Acts 10
verse 33. Peter is gathered now with Cornelius'
household in his house, and this is what Cornelius said. Now,
therefore, are we all here present before God to hear all things
that are commanded thee of God. What an audience. What an audience. We've come
here specifically to hear what God has to say to us through
your lips. So tell us what God said. Tell
us what God said. The man's called of God to the
work of the ministry. It's God's work and God's alone. That man has a direct commission
and call from Jesus Christ. This friend asked, well, how
do you know? That's kind of like asking me, how do you know that
you believe? Now, I know that believers know
they believe. I know that, but I can't begin to put into words
how you know that you know that you believe. I can't begin to.
I know that God's servants know when they're called of Him, but
I can't begin to tell you how you know, but I do know this.
That man who is called of God, be it to faith in Christ, be
it to the service of the gospel ministry, that man who is called
of God knows, unmistakably knows, that God has called him. and
is not mistaken as to who did it or what it was for. Any man
who is called of God then takes his work seriously. He seeks
a message from Christ as he stands to speak in the name of Christ. There's nothing in the world
more serious. Nothing more serious. Many of you have heard me say
this before. I stand up here and sweat breaks out on my brow. I think I'm hot as I can be. That's
not it at all. I've got to speak to eternally
bound men and women in the name of God Almighty, knowing that
what I've got to say, if God speaks by me, is going to make
a difference. It's serious business. God called men to preach with
urgency because they know that they preach to eternity bound
men and women in God's name. And they know the consequences
of the message. I was talking to someone the
other day, I don't remember the circumstances. God give me grace to do so. I'm
not going to come up here, rush in here, been over visiting with
the family, grandbabies, playing with them all day and not prepared.
I've been out hunting or fishing or playing golf all day. Not
going to happen. It's too serious. It's too serious. I'm not going
to come in here half-heartedly, and you ought not to either.
Now, let's turn to Hebrews 13, and I'll wrap this up by showing
you some things. Hebrews 13. Paul says, Remember them which
have the rule over you, verse 7, who have spoken to you the
word of God, whose faith follow. Considering the end of their
conversation, Jesus Christ is saying yesterday, today, and
forever. Verse 17. Obey them that have
the rule over you, and submit yourselves. For they watch for
your souls as they that must give account, that they may do
it with joy and not with grief, for that's unprofitable for you.
Now, I've shown you many times what the scriptures teach concerning
the responsibilities of pastors and elders, missionaries, and
so forth. In this passage, the Holy Spirit
speaks specifically of four things for which every gospel preacher
is responsible. The pastor is responsible to
rule the house of God. That doesn't mean he has his
way and he's a bully and pushes everybody around. But a pastor
rules the Church of God just as a man is responsible to rule
his own house as a husband in the household. That means that
he's responsible to provide for the house. It's my responsibility
to provide for my wife and children. It's my responsibility. Not theirs,
not hers, not theirs and mine. My responsibility. It's my responsibility
to provide for them. And it's my responsibility to
provide for you. food for your soul. It's the
responsibility of the man who rules the house to give direction
to the house. I'm married to a woman a lot
smarter than I am. She has good sense about things. And I often seek her counsel
and her advice about things. I do it about most everything.
But the rule of the house, the direction of the house, God didn't
put it on her shoulders. He put it on mine. And that means
I can't dare relinquish it. And the pastor's responsibility,
like a husband's, is to protect the house. Anybody who knows me slightly? knows that to the best of my
ability, if it costs me life or limb, I'm going to protect
my family. I'm going to protect them, regardless
of what the consequences are. And anybody who knows me, even
slightly, as a pastor, knows I'm going to protect this family
from the corruptions of false doctrine in the religion of this
age, no matter the cost, no matter the consequence, no matter who
gets upset. The way God's servants rule this
church is this, who has spoken to you the word of God. I don't come to you and try to
convince you to believe what the Baptists have always believed.
I don't give two cents what the Baptists have always believed.
I don't care a bit more what Baptists have always believed
than I do what Catholics have always believed. It just don't
matter. What matters is what God says right here. That's all.
Who has spoken to you the word of God, what you read just a
little bit ago, and I shun to declare to you all the counsel
of God, which is Jesus Christ and Him crucified, the whole
revelation of God concerning His Son. The Lord said to the
prophet Jeremiah, the prophet that has a dream, let him tell
a dream. I don't get too upset with Benny
Hinn and his kind. I kindly laugh at them. I just
kind of laugh at them. I wouldn't care if they dropped
dead, but I just kind of laugh at them. It's silly. It's just
silly. He's just talking a dream. And
folks who live on dreams follow folks who talk about dreams.
But he that hath my word, let him speak it faithfully. But
we have to defend. We have to protect. What is the
chaff to the wheat? What's that going to do to the
truth of God? To preach the word of God is
to instruct eternity-bound men and women in the way of faith,
whose faith follows. I have this hour instructed you
in the way of life and faith. It is Christ alone. That's all. I have endeavored to instruct
you by word and by example of what faith and faithfulness is. And I call you to follow whose
faith follow. These things God's servants are
responsible to do. Now watch this, as watchmen. Look at that. Who watch for your
souls. Who watch for your souls. Sometimes I have folks tell me,
I've had preachers tell me, you take this too seriously. Just
reckon how that could be done. Let's just suppose, Buddy Darty,
that you are responsible for this whole town. Enemy is surrounding
the town. And they're about to come in
and annihilate everybody, man, woman, and child. And you are
responsible to alert the town when the enemy comes. If they find you sleeping, they
rightfully put you to death. That's how serious it is. That's
how serious it is. As they that must give account.
And the Lord says concerning the prophet who is a watchman
set by God over the walls of Jerusalem, You warned them. And if they don't hear you, that's
their fault. But if you don't warn them and
they perish, that's your fault. And their blood will not require
your hands. But Paul's primary purpose in
these two verses is to show us what the responsibility of God's
people are with regard to his servants, their pastors, When
I say this, it should go without saying, but let me say it anyway.
I'm not talking about just you and me. I realize there are just
three preachers here tonight, myself, Brother Larry, Brother
Lindsey. But what I'm saying applies to our relationship and
our attitude toward God's servants wherever they are found, wherever
they are found. Our missionaries, our brethren,
I try to get you to be acquainted with every faithful gospel preacher
I know. I want you to know them. I want
you to be acquainted with them. I want you to be friends with
them. And I want you to show them the kind of respect and
care that they ought to be shown for their work's sake. Let me
show you just a few things. Turn back to another passage.
Let me give you this first. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. There are many, many things in
the scriptures But the Lord teaches us we ought to do with regard
to God's servants. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 12. I'm just going to scratch the
surface. You can jot down the references
and look at them later. They'll preach themselves pretty
good. We beseech you, brethren, to know them. Know them. Know them. Know them which labor
among you. This business of preaching the
gospel of God's grace involves labor. Labor in the word and
in doctrine. And they're over you by divine
appointment and admonish you, instruct you, urge you to follow
Christ. Know them. Number two, verse
13, same chapter. And to esteem them very highly. Entertain the highest possible
opinions of God's servants. Speak honorably of them. Speak
honorably of them and respectfully to them. How come? Because you love them
for their work's sake, for their work's sake. Now then, back in
our text, Hebrews 13 verse 7, Paul says, remember them which
are over you. Keep them close to your heart. Remember them at the throne of
grace. And remember what they preach
to you. Make an effort to remember what God speaks to your heart
by them. Because these are given the rule
of the church, and they speak to you the word of God. Look
at it again. Follow them whose faith follow. Your pastor, if he is truly God's
servant, is a man resolved determined and devoted
to Christ, His gospel, and your souls. Now either that's so,
or I've got no business standing here, and you won't ever listen
to me, if he's God sent. They are men separated to the
gospel. Brother Rod and I were talking
about this coming back from down in Rome Mountain last week. It
is a lifelong, continual struggle. And Larry, it gets harder every
day to separate myself exclusively to the gospel. Such a man you follow, not a
matter of blind allegiance, as a matter of obedience to Christ.
Verse 17, obey him. Obey him. Well, I'm not going
to obey any man. Okay. Go to hell if you want
to. Obey Him. Obey Him. Wives, obey your husbands. I'm not going to obey a man.
Okay. Have it your way. You can. God will let you have
it your way. Go to hell if you want to. Obey Him. How can that
be? Because He speaks as God's representative
to you. His Word. Obey His doctrine. Obey His message. Obey His direction. Obey His leadership. Submit yourselves
for 17 again submit yourselves This is an admonition to submit
ourselves to spirit-led Faithful men as they care for our souls Several years ago. I was dying
with cancer and I Had some surgeons, some doctors,
hematologists, a family physician, lots of folks caring for me.
And they required of me that I allow them to take poison in
massive doses and inject it in my veins every week. In massive
doses. Poison, just a little too much
will kill you. Poison. It required of me that
I allow them to put me under a big cobalt machine and inject
my body with cobalt rays that would be very likely, just the
slightest miscalculation, to leave me a quadriplegic or kill
me. And you know what I did? I said, have at it. I submitted myself to men that
I didn't even know. Didn't even know them. All I
had was their record and reputation. I didn't know them at all. All
I had was the confidence that they knew what they were doing.
And I didn't understand things about what they were doing. Still
don't. Still don't. But I knew the alternative was
death. You know what I did? I submitted
myself. I submitted myself. Then down in verse 18, Paul said,
pray for us. Pray for us. Let me show you
three passages, and I'll quit. Turn over to Ephesians 6. Ephesians
6. Verse 19. Paul says, pray for
me that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth
boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. I ask you, my
brothers and sisters, pray for me. Pray for me. That I may open
my mouth confidently. and make known to men in this
generation the mystery of the gospel. Colossians chapter 4,
verse 3. With all praying also for us
that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery
of Christ. I believe, I want us to be used
for the glory of God, Bobby. Pray that God will open a door, a door of utterance to make known
the mystery of Christ. 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 1. Before we had computers and email,
I used to leave Lindsay a note on my desk every time I'd leave
town. And this is what I'd say. Brethren,
pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course
and be glorified even as it is with you. Pray for us.