I appreciate Greg reading my
text this morning. And if you want to turn back
over there to 1 Peter chapter 5, that's where we're at this
morning, 1 Peter chapter 5. Let me read again the first four
verses. That's what we'll be looking
at. 1 Peter chapter 5 and the first four verses. If you have
a few Bibles, it's on page 1323. 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 1,
The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder,
and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker
of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is
among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but
willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. neither
as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock.
And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown
of glory that fadeth not away." Encouragement to the pastors. That's what an elder is. He's
a pastor. And Peter was writing here to
instruct them, but more than anything, I think, to encourage
them. It's a blessed thing and a wonderful
thing when one pastor can encourage other pastors. And it's a wonderful
thing when they're not only willing to do that, but it's a wonderful
thing when those pastors will receive encouragement and are
willing to receive instructions from another pastor. Paul did
this to the Ephesian elders. You remember this very well.
When he was encouraged in the Ephesian elders, he was about
to leave them, never to see them again. And he did more than just
encourage them. Boy, he added a much stronger
word than Peter did. He said, take heed to yourselves
and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers. There was a much more present
danger in the church at Ephesus than seemingly there was to the
church that Peter was writing to. So where Peter writes to
encourage, Paul tells them to take heed to themselves. But
both these apostles had the same message for these elders. Feed
the flock. Feed the flock of God. Peter
said, feed the flock of God, and Paul said, feed the church
of God. Feed it. And you know, this was
the promise of God a thousand years or so before they wrote
this down concerning pastors. The promise of God was that He
was going to give His church pastors. Listen to what He says
in Jeremiah 3.15. I will give you pastors according
to My own heart. What a gift of God, is it not,
for a church to have a pastor? May not be the best pastor in
the world, but what a blessing for God to give a group of people
a pastor. You know what that does? It shows
the love of God for a people, doesn't it? When the Lord raised
King David up and set him king over Israel, the heathen says
how the Lord must love his people. And when Jesus Christ was our
king, The King of glory is our King, then we can only conclude
that how God must love us to set over us such a King. And
when we have a pastor, we must conclude how God must love us
to give us a pastor according and after His own heart. And
then He went on to say, which shall feed them with knowledge
and with understanding. That's the way a pastor feeds. the congregation with knowledge
and with understanding. And what Jeremiah calls knowledge
and understanding, Peter calls the sincere milk of the Word.
And Paul calls it meat, doesn't he? Strong meat. Isn't it amazing
how the Word of God meets all the needs of God's people? You
can sit under the preaching of the gospel by the pastor or the
teachers And in the same Word, there is milk for the newborn
babies. You know, that's lambs, isn't
it? That's lambs. Lambs can't eat strong food. They've got to have milk. And
then there's meat for the sheep. So the same Word has milk and
it has meat. And that's why they were to feed. What is it that the preacher
is to feed the congregation with? It's the Word, isn't it? It's
the Word. Because there's nothing else
that will feed the souls of men but the Word of God. And it's
sufficient. It's sufficient. It's milk and
it's meat. And you know what? We care sometimes
so much for the body as we should. We should take care of our bodies.
We should eat better. We should exercise better and
seek to have healthy bodies. These bodies, if we belong to
the Lord, they're temples of the Holy Ghost, aren't they?
And we should care for these temples. But I tell you something
more critical than the body, and that's our souls. Our souls
need to be fed. Feed the flock of God which is
among you. Feed them and what do we feed? The Word. The Word feeds our
spirit. It feeds our soul. I love what
the Lord Jesus said, ìMan shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.î This
is life for us, isnít it? The words I speak unto you are
life. Itís health. Itís strength for our hearts.
Peter heard the risen Savior give him this instruction. He
said, Peter, do you love me? He said, Lord, you know I love
you. Then he said, feed my sheep. Feed my sheep the meat of the
Word. And feed my lambs the milk of
the Word. Feed my sheep. And those who
don't rightly divide and preach the Word of truth, they don't
feed the flock at all. Those who've got a bunch of old
wives' fables and those who talk about mommy dying and aunt sick
and just going to heaven, They don't feed the flock, do they?
We feed the flock with the Word, preach the Word. And those who
won't listen to the message, those who won't hear the preaching,
they just don't care for their souls. So the pastor is to feed
the flock with the Word, and the flock is to listen. Listen. Peter says some amazing things
in his two epistles about the Word, that were to preach, and
I think this is what encourages the pastors to preach it. And I hope it encourages you
to listen. Listen to some of the things
he says about the Word. In 2 Peter 1, verse 19, listen
to this. He calls it a light that shines
in a dark place. We have also a more sure word
of prophecy, whereunto you do well to take heed as unto a light
that shines into a dark place. What is the Word of God? It's
a light that shines. And isn't this a dark world we
live in? Haven't you found that to be so? Sin has made it a dark
world, hasn't it? It's a deceptive world. We went
on to read you about Satan as a roaring lion. He is darkness
himself. His kingdom is a kingdom of darkness.
What would you and I do, brothers and sisters, if we didn't have
the Word of God to shine on our pathway to give us light? You
talk about a massive confusion. Look how confused the world is.
They're just confused about everything, aren't they? But you're not confused,
are you? And here's the reason why. This
light of God's Word has shined into your heart. You see, don't
you? You see. Everywhere in the Bible
the Word is spoken of as being a light, shining. David said,
ìItís a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my pathway.î Why
does he say that like that? Because sometimes all we can
see is just around our feet. Itís just like having a light
shining on our feet and thatís all we can see. Take one little
step at a time. But the Word gives us light around
our feet, doesnít it? And other times it's a lamp that
shines a way out there on our pathway. Oh, we can see a long
way ahead of us even out into eternity with the Word. The Word
shines into our heart. That's why I must preach the
Word. And that's why you must listen to the Word and be encouraged
by it because Peter says it's a light that shines more and
more until the perfect day. And then in that same verse I
just read to you, he says this about the Word. We have also
a more sure word of prophecy. A sure word of prophecy. And Peter was talking there about,
you remember the context of that, a sure word of prophecy? He was
talking about being in the mountain when the Lord Jesus was transfigured.
You remember that occasion? And him and James and John was
up there with the Lord and this cloud came over their head and
a voice spake out of that cloud. God spake and said, ìThis is
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him.î And
Peter said, ìWe saw with our eyes as His skin began to glow,
and His clothes became as white as the noonday sun.î And then
he makes this statement. But we have also a more sure
word of prophecy. And what Peter's saying is, I
trust the Word more than I trust my eyes. And I trust the Word
more than I trust what I've heard with my ears. I know God spake
out of that cloud, but I've got a more sure word. I saw the glory
of Christ, but I have a more sure word of prophecy. That's
a wonderful thing to have something certain that you can depend upon.
I was listening to the radio traveling not long ago, and I
heard this preacher on radio, and he was talking about prophecy,
the end of time, and what's coming and everything. And he said,
you know, we just don't have enough information in the Word.
And he sent out an invitation to his listeners, and he says,
if you've had any dreams, And you've heard some voices
speaking to you, or you've had visions. He said, I want you
to call in and tell me and give me some information that we may
be better learned about this. And I thought, man, a lie. You're
going to put more trust in somebody's dreams than you do the Word?
You know, I know, and I imagine you know, We know that God could
give a person a dream. You may have a dream tonight
from God. And it may truly be. I'm not
lame at it. God is saying you couldn't dream a dream and He'd
give you a dream. But how do you know it's from
Him? You know, Solomon said, Out of the multitude of business
comes dream. I've been awful busy about things
and went to bed and dreamed about it. Ain't you? And most of my
dreams, I tell you what, you wouldn't want to trust them.
You'd usually have to repent of them. And a voice? I'm not
saying God couldn't speak to us today in an audible voice.
But there's some people hearing voices that they have to get
on medication for too, isn't there? We have one infallible
rule, one sure rule. And I tell you, you don't have
to trust your feelings. You don't have to trust some
voice you've heard or some dream you have. You can put your trust
in the Word. That's why we're to preach it
and that's why we're to hear it. A more sure word of prophecy. You can take one precious promise
of God and lay hold upon that promise by faith and you know
what will happen? That promise will be fulfilled.
You get a hold of one promise from God's Word and I tell you
God will step off of His throne and vacate it before He will
let that promise go unfulfilled. Isn't it a wonderful thing when
you read the Bible and it says something like this? If we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
Isn't that a wonderful promise? And you know if you confess your
sins, your sins will be forgiven? That's what the Bible says. This
is a promise. He that believeth in the Son
of God hath eternal life. Isn't that a good promise? He
that hath the Son hath life. what a precious promise these
are. And you know something? Peter says they're sure. They're
sure. I'd love to get ahold of a promise
and live in the assurance of it, but you know I can't always
do that. I read these precious promises and some days I just
can't live in the assurance of it. But you know something? I live in the comfort of them.
And I tell you why, because I know they're sure. They are sure. And you may not be rejoicing
because you're overwhelmed with the assurance of the promise,
but you can be comforted because you know the promise is sure. We have also a more sure word. Feed upon the Word of God, brothers
and sisters. It's health for your soul. It's
sure. And then in I Peter chapter 1,
around 19 and 20 in that area, he says this about the Word.
Listen to this. This is amazing. being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of the incorruptible by the Word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever." The Word that I am
preaching to you this morning is incorruptible. That means
it cannot decay, it can never change. You say, now Bruce, if
you throw this Bible in the fire, it will burn. It will. It will. But that won't change what's
already been written on these pages. Thy Word, O Lord, is forever
settled in heaven. You could destroy every Bible
in the world that you and I would have no more Bibles to read.
And what has already been written will never decay. It will never
be corrupted. We have men that twist the Bible,
put wrong meanings to it, but the Word of God itself cannot
be twisted and it cannot be corrupted. It abideth forever. And you know something, Peter
says, you're born of this incorruptible seed. Now when you were born
the first time, you were born of corruptible seed. And that's
our whole problem, isn't it? That's why we're sinners and
that's why we're dying. We're born of corruptible seed.
But listen, there's a new creature within every child of God that
is incorruptible. because he is born of the incorruptible
seed. And you know what he should feed
upon? The incorruptible Word. This Word answers and witnesses
to that new creature when he reads it. Feed, brothers and
sisters, upon the blessed Word of God. Feed the flock of God. This is all I've got to feed
you. It's all I've got to feed you. is the Word of God. That's
all you've got to eat and that's all that will nourish your soul.
Look over here in 1 Peter 1. Look at this. I want you to see
this one. This is sort of amazing here. And look in verse 9. Here's
a good reason for me to feed you with the Word and a good
reason for you to be fed with the Word. Look, 1 Peter 1 and
look in verse 9. Receiving the end of your faith,
even the salvation of your souls, of which salvation the prophets
have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that
should come unto you, searching water what manner of time the
Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified
beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should
follow. unto whom it was revealed that
not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things,
which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the
gospel unto you." Look at this, "...with the Holy Ghost sent
down from heaven, which things the angels desired to look into."
Look what a blessed privilege it is to preach the gospel and
for you to hear the gospel. Peter tells us, and the Lord
tells us too, those old prophets and righteous men of old, they
longed to hear the things that you hear in, and they never heard
them. And the Lord Jesus said they
longed to see the things which you see, and they never seen
them. In a great sense of the word,
you and I are greatly blessed more than the saints in the Old
Testament. Those prophets predicted that
Christ was coming and the glory that should follow, but they
never got to see it. But you and I have seen it, haven't
we? We look back upon the cross. They were looking to the cross
and waiting for Him to accomplish their redemption. You and I are
looking back and saying, He's come, He's did it, and He's in
heaven as our mediator between us and God. We can preach the
accomplishment of those promises and predictions and types and
shadows that they just wrote about and talked about. How blessed! How blessed! Blessed are your
eyes for they see and blessed are your ears for they hear. There was something that happened
in the death and resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.
There was something that took place that never had took place
before and this is what it was. The Holy Spirit came. He came. He's working now in
the world like He never had worked before. In the Old Testament,
He was confined mainly, almost solely, to the Jewish nation. But when He came on the day of
Pentecost, now He's went into all the world, hasn't He? And
here's what He's doing. Here's what he's doing this morning.
This is the most amazing thing. He's preaching the gospel to
us. Now you say, Bruce, you're preaching
the gospel to us. I see you up there. You're the
one that's stammering around. Yes, but he is preaching. Is
he not? They preach the gospel with the
Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. When Jesus Christ was here, He
preached the gospel. He ascended back to heaven and
He sent the third person of the blessed Trinity and now He's
preaching the gospel. That's an amazing thing, isn't
it? And I think about that sometimes when I preach, that He's preaching. There's been times where I've
been so aware of that, probably I could count them on, I know
I could count them on one hand, that I've been aware. There's
three or four occasions that I've been aware as I was preaching
that it wasn't me preaching. It was almost like I was in the
audience listening. My thoughts sometimes were even
somewhere else and I was amazed that I just kept preaching and
these thoughts were coming to me. You could tell it was affecting
people. What was that? It's the Spirit
preaching through me or with me the Gospel. God is chosen
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. He's
put value upon the preaching, so much so that He sent His Holy
Spirit to do the preaching through the poor men that are reading. And He comes and He does the
interpreting. It's amazing how the Holy Spirit
is working in the hearts of the people while the poor preacher
is trying to preach. We sat here last week and Randy
was up last Sunday evening preaching. And he quoted a verse of Scripture. And it may have done nothing
for you, but I needed that passage of Scripture so much. And it
went home to my heart. And who was it that took that
home to my heart? It was the Holy Spirit. He knew
exactly what I needed. And I received instructions and
comfort from that passage to wait upon the Lord. Have you
ever had that to happen to you? The preacher will just be going
along and suddenly, there it is! The answer to your prayer. There it is, instruction. Just
what you need. But it's come to you especially. And it's come in a measure of
power. It's given you the assurance, the instruction, the reproof.
That's not me. That's the Holy Spirit. I am
preaching the gospel with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven.
You say, Bruce, that's an awful arrogant statement. It would
be. if it wasn't true and if it didn't say. I love how Mark
talks about when they led the Lord Jesus out and He descended
back up to heaven and sat on the right hand of God. And then
Mark makes this wonderful statement. He said they went everywhere
preaching the gospel and the Lord working with them. That's amazing, isn't it? I think there's two things. the
angels are amazed at. One is the incarnation of the
Son of God, and all that that entails, they're amazed at that.
But they're amazed at something else, and Peter mentions it here,
the thing they desire to look into, and that's the preaching
of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit comes down and
He preaches the Gospel through these men, and these angels see
that, and they're amazed at it. They're amazed at it. But this
shows the value that God has put upon His Word, the preaching
of His Word, that the Holy Spirit comes to them and preaches the
gospel through them. This is the reason why we're
to feed the flock. Feed them with the gospel, feed
them with the Word, because that's what the Spirit uses. Let's go back over now to our
text and look at this. Look at this second thing right
quickly. Feed the flock of God in verse 2. Feed them with the
Word. Preach the Word. Feed them with that. All the
encouragement of the world and the world to feed them with that.
It's a light. It's a sure Word. It's an incorruptible Word. The
Holy Ghost uses it. He preaches through it. Feed
the flock of God which is among you. Now look at this. Taking
the oversight thereof. Taking the oversight thereof.
There's only two places in the whole Bible, the whole New Testament,
that this word is used. Here and in Hebrews chapter 12
verse 15. And there it says looking diligently. This taking the oversight means
to look diligently. Be very careful. Be on the lookout. Keep your eyes open. This is
taken from that Old Testament Scripture where they used to
set watchmen upon the walls of those cities. And they looked
out and they watched for enemies. And they had to stay awake. And
when they saw someone coming that was a threat, they would
cry down, Shut the gates! Shut the gates! Mount your positions
on the wall. Have your weapons ready. Enemy
is coming. He watched. He watched. And you know something? He had
sort of a threat to him, too, that if you don't cry out when
you see the enemy coming and he gets in the gate and he kills
somebody, you're going to be in trouble. Because you are the
watchman. Being a watchman, I tell you,
was a tiresome job, wasn't it? And you know it's that way with
being an overseer? It's a watchman. You watch, watch,
watch. When Paul was saying goodbye
to those Ephesian elders, he said, after I leave, wolves are
going to enter in among you, not sparing the flock. And even
men of your own self are going to rise. Speaking perverse things. You wouldn't do it, he said,
while I was here. Because you were afraid to. But when I'm
gone, you're going to rise up speaking all these perverse things
to lead away disciples after yourselves. Then he said, take
heed and watch. Watch and remember. Well, what an easy thing was
it to be a watchman in the early... Oh, Peter said, Peter said, taking
the oversight, and that's what he did, and that's what Paul
did, and that's what pastors do. But boy, back in that day,
I tell you, being an overseer, it could get you whipped. It
could get you put in prison. It could get you killed. Peter
suffered all of those things finally, didn't he? And so did
the Apostle Paul. It's a tough thing being an overseer. Being a watchman is a tough job. It caused poor Charles Spurgeon
to have a nervous breakdown. There were times Martin Luther
said, I couldn't even get out of bed for old age together.
It's tough being a watchman, isn't it? But there's something
else about being an overseer. And Isaiah tells us about this. And this is a wonderful thing
about these pastors. He says this in Isaiah 62, I
have set watchman upon your walls. That is what a pastor is. He
is a watchman. I have set him there, O Jerusalem, and they
shall never hold their peace, day nor night. This is what God
puts in the heart of His pastor. He puts a fire there. And they
cannot hold their peace. They cannot quit preaching. Jeremiah
said, I am not going to speak in His name anymore. And he said,
I can't stay. He said, there's a fire burning
in my bones, didn't he? I think about Brother Don Porter
often. A few years ago, they tried their best to get him to
slow down. I even spoke to him. I said, Don, would you slow down?
He can't slow down. He can't keep silent. There's
a fire burning in his heart. He's a watchman. And that is
what the Lord said, I have set watchmen upon thy walls, and
they shall never hold their peace. They are not. They are not going
to quit preaching. And it went on to say this, Ye that make
mention of the Lord, ye that make mention to the Lord, keep
not silence, and give him no rest till he establish, till
he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. You know something. You know, sometimes a revival,
we want a revival, don't we? We want to see the Lord send
people. We want to see the Lord save people. You know where that
usually begins? In the heart of the pastor. Everybody
should be praying, Lord, save Your people in this place. Lord,
add to us, add to this little local church that we, not just
for numbers, but we may have people here worshiping the Lord.
They see His people saved in this place. We all should be
praying for that end. But how much more the pastor?
It must begin seemingly in the pastor's heart. Oh Lord, save
your people in this place. Give him no rest. Give him no
rest. Isn't it something? We don't
like for somebody to disturb us, do we? Would you just leave
me alone? But you know what God says? Give
me no rest. until I pour out my blessings
and save people. Keep crying out to me, Lord,
save your people. Lord, save your people. That's
what Watchman does. That's his duty. That's his blessing. Isaiah, bless his heart, he is
complaining. He said, Lord, who has believed
our report? And to whom is the armor the Lord revealed? And
you know what he turned right around and did? This is how he
prayed. He said, Lord, I've been preaching
just like you told me to do. But, Lord, nobody believes what
I'm saying. They're not believing me. And here's what he prayed. Oh, that thou wouldst rend the
heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains may
flow down at your presence, as when the melting fire burneth,
the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name to be
known. that the nations may tremble
at thy presence, when thou didst terrible things which we look
not for. Thou comest down, and melted
the mountains, and they float at thy presence." Here's what
he's saying, Lord, men's hearts are so hard. They're like these
old rocky mountains. Lord, come down and melt those
mountains. Melt them with your presence. Save your people. Oh, Lord, do
it. That was a watchman's job. That
was a part of his duty. Taking the oversight thereof.
That's what it includes. Watching, watching, watching,
watching. And then seeking the Lord. Oh
Lord, come and save your people. Taking the oversight, Peter said,
but look at this, not by constraint, I wonder why he said that if
being an overseer wasn't somewhat difficult. It must have been
difficult because he said don't make it compulsory. You've got
to be forced to do it. One thing you learn from the
book of John is he had to be forced to do everything he did.
He's a good example of what the preacher shouldn't be like. The
Lord just kept having to force him. He made him do everything.
It's almost like he did everything against his will. Think of the Apostle Paul. Listen
to what he said. I kept my life not dear unto
myself, that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry
which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel
of the grace of God. Don't be forced. Don't even make
God have to force you. Do it with joy. Do it willingly,
he went on to say, didn't he? If there be first a will in mind.
Think of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look what He had to suffer. Boy,
He was a watchman, wasn't He? He was a shepherd. And what did
He say? Lo, I come. In the volume of
the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will. Oh my God! If I ever come here
and give you the impression that I want you to feel sorry for
me because I got the worst job in the world, I'm sorry that
I ever gave you that impression. I have got the best job in the
world. Even you that are retired, I've got a better job than you
have. I can sit in the study Readed my Bible. Have all these
wonderful books around me. I don't have to be harassed by
the public. Don't have to hear all the cursing
and bad language and the bad deeds. And come here and tell
you about the Son of God who gives life eternal to poor sinners. That's the best job in the world,
isn't it? I ought to do that willingly and gladly. It shouldn't
be compulsory. God shouldn't have to make me. I tell you, there is a good motive,
and Peter had it given to him by the Lord Jesus Himself. Peter,
He said, Do you love me? You've just denied me, but do
you love me? Lord, you know I love you. Then feed my sheep. Peter, do you love me? Lord,
you know I love you. Then feed my sheep. Peter, do you love
me? Lord, you know everything. You
know I love you. Then feed my lambs. If you love
me, feed my sheep. Boy, that's the motive for preaching,
isn't it? I love you. Lord, I love you. I love your gospel. I love your
ways. I love your people. Feed my sheep. Do it willingly. Your seems to be a paradox, doesn't
it? Do it willingly and yet it's
a tough job and Jonah didn't want to do it. A preacher is
a paradox, is he not? He is a paradox. Ben Melvin. Paul said this. Listen to what a paradox this
is. I was with you in weakness and fear and trembling. Man, he said, I was in an awful
shape when I came to preach for you. Thinking about getting up
and preaching the Word to you just made my soul tremble. And
then he turns right around that I might finish my course with
joy. I do it with joy. Which is it? Trembling or with
joy? It's both. He's like a paradox. Isaiah said,
with a measure of enthusiasm, Here am I, Lord, send me. He
turns right back around and says, Lord, how long? How long? They're
both true ones. And not for filthy lucre, Peter
tells us here, not for filthy lucre, no kind of dishonest gain,
but of a ready mind. And then quickly in verse 3,
he says this, neither as being lords over God's heritage, but
as being examples to the flock. One man said this, being a pastor
is not an exercise in authority. You don't come here to try to
lord it over anybody. He's not a dictator, is he? He's
not a dictator. But he rules by influence of
reason. He rules by persuasion by the
Word of God, and he rules by an example in his life. If I can't come here and reason
with you in a loving way, I don't need to be a pastor. If I'm trying
to force something and force something and, boy, you don't
believe it, so you're going to believe it by the time I get
through because I ain't going to let up. That's not preaching the
gospel, is it? That's being a dictator. Reason. And if I can't come here and
if I'm not able and not know enough of the Scripture to reason
with you and convince you and persuade you according to the
Scripture, then I don't need to be a pastor. Because that's
how you persuade people, from the Scriptures. And then, if I don't live it
out in my daily life myself, you're going to see that. You're
going to see my dishonesty, you're going to see my insincerity,
and I'm just a hypocrite, and you're going to see it. And boy,
the harm, the harm that a pastor can do. I, and you too, are utterly dependent
upon God. to hold us up, aren't we not?
We're utterly dependent upon Him to hold us up. None of us
can go. You can't hear and I can't preach,
and none of us can live out our Christian life without Him holding
us up in it. I was talking with a young preacher
the other day, bless his heart, and I knew what was going to
happen to him. He was a little bit arrogant.
He took a pastor job, and I seen him the other day. He's been
pastoring now for about a year. I could see so much difference in that
young man. He said, man, I'm having a terrible time. And I
told him, I said, I knew you was going to have a terrible
time. You need some, you know, to up it in. But I told him this. I said, dear brother, listen.
The Lord has called you to preach. And through all of your trials
and disappointments, He gave you this gift. And not only will
He never take that gift back, He'll uphold that gift in you. And all the disappointments that
you experience will make no difference in that. The gifts and callings
of God are without repentance. He'll never take it back, will
He? He don't give you eternal life and turn around and take
it back. and you don't call a man to preach, then turn around and
take that gift back because the man is feeling his other weakness
and helplessness. He'll hold that gift up in you. That's one of the most encouraging
things I've ever had in my soul concerning ministry. The Lord
will uphold His gift. And then He said, when the chief
shepherd shall appear, the Lord is coming, isn't He? He's going
to appear. Then what's going to happen? you shall receive
a crown of glory that fadeth not away." A crown of glory. What Paul calls a crown of rejoicing,
Peter calls a crown of glory. You know everybody that goes
to heaven is going to glory, aren't they? They are going to
have a crown of glory. They are going to glory. But
you know there is something about a pastor that is going to be
a little bit different in some aspect of the He is going to
have a crown of glory and He is going to rejoice because the
people He preaches to are there in heaven. Paul said, What is
my joy? What is my crown of rejoicing?
Are not even you in the presence of the Lord Jesus? Everybody,
every saint is going to be glorying, but I tell you the pastors are
going to be glorying in a different aspect because they say, I preach
to you. I preach Christ to you. And here
we are now in heaven. And they are going to rejoice,
aren't they? A crown. There is a crown laid up. Dear
brothers and sisters this morning, there is a crown laid up for
you. Paul said, I have finished my course. I have kept the faith.
And there is a crown of righteousness laid up for me and not to me
only, but everyone who loves His appearance. And when He appears,
we are going to rejoice together. We are going to rejoice together. around His blessed throne. Let's pray.