Twenty-Five Years Your Pastor

I don't put a lot of stock in
special days commemorating anniversaries I'm
talking about in regard to organizations, but this is a very special day
for me and for you. Twenty-five years ago, that's
a quarter of a century, twenty-five years, I preached my first sermon
as your pastor. We were meeting at that time
in the Pollard Baptist Church. I was twenty-five years old.
I'm exactly double that now, and we're celebrating our twenty-fifth
anniversary as your pastor this month. And then 21 years ago
today, September 5, 1955, we left the Pollard Baptist Church
together and met in the Putnam Junior High School auditorium
and organized the 13th Street Baptist Church. There were 121 members that day. The Lord has called some away
to glory. Some have moved away, some of
our young people have grown up and gotten married and moved
away and now have families of their own. But most of us, most
of that number, along with many new, beloved, precious believers
in Christ, are still together, worshiping the Lord and in love
with one another. I want to read the names of the
people who were in that first meeting at Putnam Junior High
School Auditorium 21 years ago this very hour, 10 o'clock Sunday
morning, September the 5th. Mr. and Mrs. M. Adkins, Scotty
Adkins, Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Bush, Mr. and Mrs. Homer Craft, Mr. George Botts, Mrs. John Donna, Mrs. Violet Duvall. These are people who are still
in the service. I'm not reading those who have
passed away and those who have moved away. Mr. and Mrs. Van
Everman. Mr. and Mrs. Don Fitzer. Bertha Frydenmaker. Mr. and Mrs. Walter Fugate. Mrs. Fanny Gilley. Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Green. Mr. and Mrs. Carl
Griffith. Mr. and Mrs. Jack Holbrook. Mr.
and Mrs. Andy Johnson. Mr. and Mrs. Joe Kirk, Mr. and Mrs. Merle
Luther, Mr. and Mrs. Russell May, Mr. and
Mrs. Charles Miller, Mr. and Mrs. Edgelmore, Mr. and Mrs.
Cash Salyers, Mr. and Mrs. Roe Sparks, Mr. and Mrs. H.B. Thompson, Mr. and Mrs. Woody Thompson, Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Thornberry, Mr.
and Mrs. Paul Williams, Mr. and Mrs. Ronnie Lewis, Mrs. Ennis Pennington,
Myrtle Fairchild, Virginia Lowe, Mr. James Thompson, Ronnie Thompson,
Cecil Thornberry, Sharon Nybert, G.T. Williams, Ruby Williams,
and Lettie Williams. I want everybody whose name I
just read here this morning, I want you to stand. Would you?
I want you to stand right where you are. That's almost all up. 21 years. Thank you. Be seated. You know, I've heard preachers
complain about their church musicians, all of the spats and the quarrels
and the uncooperative ways and the disagreements and the differences. And I'm going to make some statements
this morning that will be difficult for you to believe unless you
believe in the grace and power and mercy of God. We have the
same pianist and the same organist and the same song leader that
we had 21 years ago today. And I've never worked with and
never been associated with a more precious, cooperative, faithful
group of people in this world. I hope they're still playing
when we have to lead them to the instruments, don't you? And Don, he'll have to get rid
of him, though his voice will break when he gets old. And we
won't put up with that, though. But that is unusual. And I can
say, and they can say, Martha and Carolee and these songleaders
that God has given us, Lloyd and Ronnie, to my knowledge there's
never been a disagreeable time in our entire fellowship. Just
as much in love with one another now as we were 21 years ago.
And you know, I hear preachers complain about their treasurers
and their finance committees. The treasurer is possessive and
tight and treats the money like it's his money, not the Lord's
money. And the finance committee is suspicious and overprotective. I hear them say these things.
That's not true here. I And I hear pastors complain about
how the church treats them financially. And I have nothing but praise
and gratitude to all of you for your treatment of me and my family
through these 21 years. If I had one need, and this is
unusual, if I needed a raise, I'd ask them for it, and they'd
give it to me. And that's unusual. If I needed an automobile, I'd
ask them for it, and they'd give it to me. That's the kind of
relationship which we've always had and which we have now, and
that's most unusual. And only God can do that. I hope
we all realize what we have, what God's given us. And then
I hear preachers complain about their deacons and their elders. They dread deacons' meetings.
It's a conflict, it's a strain, it's a time for ulcers and headaches,
and there was a Back in Chattanooga and back in other places where
I've pastored where I said the same thing, but not here. I look
forward to deacons' meetings. I don't have one deacon or one
elder I'd give up. I'd like to add more and lose
none. They're not perfect. I'm not saying they are. Their
pastor's not perfect. But that's one of the ties that
has bound us together through the years. We recognize our own
imperfections, our own infirmities. And we allow others to have theirs. But the meetings of the men of
this church are always the most pleasant and the most spiritual
meetings in this world. And I'm grateful for each one
of them. I give my gratitude to God in this hour. And then the generosity of this
church is something that has always overwhelmed me, and it's
becoming more amazing to me every Sunday. You have cared for your
pastor generously. You have helped other churches.
There are churches all over this country where you have contributed
to the building of those churches, and you are even now supplementing
salaries of pastors in other cities where their churches are
too small to support them. You maintain a radio and a TV
witness and have for 21 years. You support the orphans' home,
the rainy children's home for the past six years. Every drop
of milk that has been drunk in that children's home has been
paid for by you for over five years now. You're the major support
of three Mexican missionaries, the major support. Last year
you gave $26,000 to missionary salaries alone. It's not counting TV and radio
and orphanage work. No, that's missionary salaries
alone. You're the partial support of
four missionaries, a printed ministry, and now you're engaged
in enlarging this building and building an educational building
so that we might have Bible classes. And you've done that without
any pressure, without one pledge card ever being signed or one
sermon on tithing ever being preached. Never one sermon ever
been preached from this pulpit in 21 years requiring or requesting
or demanding that anybody give 10% of their income. You've given
because God has led you to give and God's touched your heart.
Something else that for which I'm grateful today during these
21 years, several men have been called out of this congregation
to preach the gospel. We have ordained several men
All of them are now pastors, Brother Bill Sasser, Brother
Ed Wallen, Brother R.T. Kendall, Brother Jim Willingham,
and from this Church, Brother John Thornberry. Perhaps God
will call out others. There is no pressure put on young
men to enter the ministry or to enter what they call full-time
service. But God raises them up. God touches
their heart. God burdens them. Perhaps God
will call out one of our sons. to preach the gospel. Maybe God
will raise one to take my place in the next few years. We have
every reason on this 21st anniversary, 25th anniversary of my ministry
among you, to say praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise him, all creatures here below. Praise him above, ye heavenly
hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, to God be the glory. With that foundation, I want
you to turn to Acts 20. This is my message for you as
we begin the second quarter century together. And the message will
be taken from Paul's words to the elders of the Church. when
he was about to leave them. I trust I'm not about to leave. I trust that I'll be permitted
to worship with you and fellowship with you for a long time. But
these words, I think, are fitting on this occasion. At least they're
the words that I cannot say because I don't have the vocabulary Paul
had or the spirituality Paul had or the inspiration Paul had,
so I'll just use his words to express how I feel. First of
all, in verse 18, and when they were come unto him, he said to
them, You know, you know, from the first day that I came into
Asia, the first day that I began my ministry among you, you know
what manner, or what manner of man I have been with you at all
seasons. That's the first point. Richard
Baxter sums up my feelings about myself I preach as one who may
never preach again. I preach as a dying man to dying
men. Whatever knowledge I have of
God's word, he gave me. The Lord gave, and the Lord is
able to take away. Whatever gifts that I have have
been given me by God's providence and God's purpose. whatever wisdom
I have in regard to spiritual values, God gave them. And these gifts and this wisdom,
such as it is, and this call to leadership and this ability
to preach, is in an earthen vessel. I know it, and I trust you know
it. First Corinthians chapter 4,
the Apostle Paul wrote this, verse 7, Who maketh these to
differ? If you have the gift of preaching,
if you have the gift of teaching, if you have the gift of praying.
And I was in a church not long ago, and I heard two pastors
talking. They didn't know I was listening.
One of them said, I want you to go to 13th Street Baptist
Church sometime and just worship. The other pastor said, why? And
this pastor, the first one, said, I want you to hear those men
pray. Now, that's a gift. You have
the gift of giving. Who maketh they to differ from
another? You read this, 1 Corinthians 4, 7. What hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Now, if you received it, why
do you glory as if you didn't receive it? Brethren, the Lord
has given us what we have. The clothes we wear, the food
we eat, the homes in which we live, the automobiles we drive,
the building in which we worship, this fellowship. When I say that
the organists of this church and the pianists and the song
leaders and the deacons and the elders and the treasurer and
these men all worship together and live together in harmony
and love, who made you to differ? Why are there not splinters and
divisions and quarrels and arguments by God's grace. That's the reason.
God made you to differ. God gave you the grace. So we
never boast as if he didn't. So I say this, that whatever
God has given me, it's in an earthen vessel. And I don't want
to forget it, and I don't want you to forget it. A dying man
preaching to dying men. The Lord gives us human leaders
that they might understand human needs. and sympathize with human
infirmities. Even our Lord, the scripture
said, took upon himself the flesh, and he was made in all points
like unto his brethren, that he might be unto them a sympathetic
and pitying high priest. I understand you because I know
myself. If I did not know myself, I could
not understand you. I could not enter into your trials
if I did not have them. I could not enter into your failure
if I did not fail. I could not enter into your trials
and temptations if I did not have them. I can walk with you
in conviction, I've been there. I can rejoice with you when God
reveals Christ to your heart, because I've been there. I can
pity you in anger and frustration, I've been angry. I can pray for
you in personal failure because more than I've succeeded, I've
failed. I can weep with you at the grave because I've been there.
I can mourn with you over your children and over the heartaches
that they bring you because I've been there. I understand poverty,
I understand plenty. I can sympathize with fleshly
warfare, but this I can boldly say. Though he slay me, I will trust him."
Whatever it means to you, look at verse 19. I can say this,
too. You know what manner of man I
have been with you, and verse 19, serving the Lord. As your pastor, and I trust that
these elders and deacons and Sunday school teachers and psalm
leaders and Those who sing special music and those who officiate
in any way, and all the people of this Church, I hope we can
say together, we are interested chiefly in the glory of God and
the gospel of his grace and serving him. I want to know and preach
the gospel. I don't want to just preach,
I want to preach the gospel. Paul said, woe is unto me if
I preach not the gospel. And I want to know it, and I
want to preach it, and I want the people who hear me to receive
it and to love it. I don't want this church bound
by rules and regulations and statutes and laws and Robert's
rules of orders and all these things. I want us to be bound
to Christ in love and bound to one another in love. I want it to be a place of heavenly
glory and Christian love. And I'll tell you this, if it
is a place of Christian love, it will be a place of heavenly
glory. By this shall all men know you
are my disciples, if you love one another." Then he goes on,
he said, "...serving the Lord with all humility of mind." Turn
with me to 1 Corinthians 3. I want us to look at this and
look very hard at it. 1 Corinthians 3. Paul is talking
about himself here, and this is not off base to be talking
about yourself. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3,
verse 6, I have planted, Apollos watered, God gave the increase. So then, neither is he that planteth
anything, neither is he that watereth anything. But he that
giveth the increase, he is something. Charlie Payne held forth here
Wednesday night while I was in the Bible conference in Virginia,
but Charlie, you're nothing, and Don, you're nothing, and
I'm nothing. None of us, none of us are anything, just masses
of flesh, earthen vessels, whom God hath given a wonderful gift,
the knowledge of his Son. That's what Paul's talking about
here. You know what manner of man I've been. I'm serving the
Lord, and I'm serving the Lord with a humility of mind. I'm
nothing. Christ is all, and in all. He's everything. To Him be the
glory and the praise. Read on. And with many tears,
we've shed some. And I promise you this, we're
going to shed some more. And many temptations, we've come
through trials and We're going to have some more. But I'll tell
you this, tears are always easier to shed when there's somebody
who loves you to shed them with you. And trials are always easier
to bear and easier to walk through if there's somebody there with
you to walk through it who understands you and loves you. Through many dangers, toils and
snares, John Newton said, I've already come. His grace hath
brought me safe thus far, and his grace will lead me home. Notice the next verse. This is
important here. Let us remind ourselves of this. Verse 20, he said, And I kept
back nothing. nothing that was profitable unto
you. Oh, how terrible, how unexplainably
terrible, how horrible, how fatal the condition. Ichabod must be
written on the door. when a pastor dares to hold back
and refrain from saying from the pulpit what God lays on his
heart to keep from offending somebody in the congregation.
That's a fatal condition, a fatal condition. How terrible it is,
how fatal the condition, how dead the Church, how lifeless
the pulpit, Our grieving to the Holy Spirit when a pastor has
to refrain from speaking from the pulpit that which God has
written in his word, that which is glorifying to the Lord Jesus
Christ, that which is humbling to the flesh, in order to keep
from losing a member. May our message never be trimmed
to suit either pastor or people. May it never be trimmed. May
this poor spirit be totally free to speak those things which are
written in God's word, that we may know him, whom to know is
life eternal. How fatal the condition. Paul
said, I kept back nothing profitable unto you. I don't willingly and
needlessly hurt you. I kept back nothing profitable
unto you. How fatal a condition when we
cannot rebuke one another privately without a person leaving the
fellowship. That's fatal. How terrible the
condition when a person cannot offer suggestions and speak his
mind honestly and freely without offense. How terrible when we
cannot disagree lovingly and in good humor, and how terrible
the condition of bigotry and prejudice and pride when we cannot
speak to and embrace and greet with a holy kiss all believers,
the weak and the strong, the young and the old, the offender
and the offended. The sum of the whole matter is
that last line in verse 20. Paul said, I kept back nothing
profitable unto you, that which was for your good and his glory. I didn't keep it back. But I
showed you, taught you, showed you publicly from house to house,
what's this now, testifying both to the Greeks and the Jews and
also to the Greeks, here's the key, repentance toward God. You don't ever repent toward
me, you repent toward God. That's true repentance. This
earthly sorrow that bringeth death is that sorrow of heart
which is caused when we are exposed or when we are corrected or when
we are judged. But that true godly repentance
and godly sorrow that leadeth to true repentance is that repentance
which is toward God. David said, O God, against thee
I have sinned, in thy sight done this evil. That's the true repentance. I'm not acting like a Christian
before God. That's repentance. I'm not behaving
as I ought to behave toward God. It doesn't matter about what
Don thinks of me, or Aidan thinks of me, or Charlie thinks. What's
my relationship with God Almighty? And if that's wrong, I'm wrong. That's true repentance and faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Is my life glorifying to him?
Is my attitude glorifying to him? Am I maintaining and am
I presenting the attitude of Christ? That's the foundation. Verse 24, Paul says, But none
of these things moved me. He knew. that he was going to
Jerusalem and there he'd be bound, wasn't it, Jerusalem, wherever
he was going, he was going to be bound and he'd never be back. They would kill him. And they
told him that. They said in verse 23, the Holy
Ghost told in every city that bonds, that is, fetters and chains
and imprisonment and affliction await me, abide and await me. But none of these things move
me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might
finish my course with joy, and two-thirds of the way. And so
are many of you. And the ministry which I have
received of the Lord Jesus Christ to testify of the gospel of the
grace of God, and two-thirds of the way I want to finish it
with joy. And the thing that's not important
is my life or my comfort or having my way. That's not important.
It's not important to have my way. What is important is the
glory of Christ and his gospel. This is not my ministry. This
is our ministry. This is not my message. This
is our message. This is not my commission, this
is our commission that we have received from the Lord Jesus
Christ. I have no ministry here without you, and you don't have
one without me. It is ours to share, it is ours
to support, and what I expect of you I am to give, and what
you expect of me you are to give. If you and I can lose ourselves
in the greater glory of Christ, if we can lose our personalities
and our wills and our desires into the greater glory of Christ, then we can be a part of his
victory. But if not, we can be replaced. with tears and with grief, but
we can be replaced. Christ is vital to me. I'm not
vital to him. This Church is vital to me. I'm
not vital to this Church. For our Lord said, The gates
of hell shall not prevail against my church, much less the removal
of a pastor. Isn't that right? I do pray this. Wouldn't it be
great? Wouldn't it be wonderful? Could
I not feel this deep in my soul if God Almighty were preparing
right here, one of these young men, to take this role for him?
Or maybe another pastor somewhere to take and be your teacher and
your leader. Could I hold up his arms as you've
held up mine? Could I pray for him as you prayed
for me? Could I encourage him as you've
encouraged me? If I can't, then I'm a selfish,
self-willed, self-righteous enemy of the cross of Christ. Perhaps
so. If I cannot lose myself in the
greater glory of Christ, in the greater good of his people, then
something's wrong with me. This Church is more important
than I am. The kingdom of Christ and the gospel of his grace is
more important than I am, and more important than you are.
And as I said before, if I cannot lose myself, and you cannot lose
yourself, and your personality, and your wills, and your desires,
and your way, Look not on your own things, but the things of
others. Think not of your own welfare, but the welfare of others.
Think not of your own good, but the good of others. And if you
can't think that way, what is it but selfishness? And God can't
bless that, can he? God can't bless that. And I can
be replaced, and so can you. And let me add this, with tears
and with grief. But God, when he put Moses in
the grave, he raised up Joshua. When he put Paul aside, he sent
forth Timothy. When he took Elijah home, he
clothed Elisha with power. And even our Lord said to his
disciples, greater works than these shall you do, because I
go to my Father. Then verse 22, I have not shunned
to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Notice this, Paul didn't say,
I have declared unto you the whole counsel of God. He didn't
say that. Because there is no man who knows
the whole counsel of God. I hear preachers say, I preach
the whole counsel. No, you don't either. No, you
don't. You don't even commence to begin
to get started to preach the whole counsel of God. No man
knows the whole counsel of God. No human mind or human heart
or human body contains the whole counsel of God. There was one
place where it was contained in him dwelt all the fullness
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Nowhere else, never has, never
will. That's the reason we need more
than one preacher. God gives each preacher his message. But
Paul is saying here, I have not shunned the declaring to you
the whole counsel of God. I don't go through the Bible
and pick out, well, our folks will take this, but boy, they
won't take that. And our folks will take this,
but they won't take this. And they're ready for this, but
they're not ready for that. The Holy Spirit will determine
whether a man is ready for something or not. One of my dear friends
here told me one time, said, Now, I'm going to bring a man
to church. I'll let you know when he's coming. I said, Don't
tell me when he's coming. Let God give me a message and
let God bring him in when he wants him to hear that particular
message. We say, Well, so and so is there today. I'll fix up
a special message for him. That ain't no way. God won't
bless that. But Paul said, I have not shunned
to declare unto you the whole counsel of God. Now, brethren,
I'm going to say some things here. This is God's word. From Genesis to Revelation, this
is the inerrant, unbroken, infallible, verbally inspired word of the
living God. We make no apologies here for
the creation of this world by the word of his power. We believe
every miracle young people That which is laughed at in your universities
and in your colleges and in your high schools and junior high
schools, without apology, we believe every word of this book.
It's God's word. God's word. We believe the story
of the great fish and Jonah. We believe the story of Joshua
and the sun hanging in the sky. We believe the story of the resurrection
of our Lord. We believe the creation of this
world. We believe God's word. It's our
foundation of failure. It's our rule of practice. We
will not surrender it. We believe man fell from the
image of God to total depravity and evil without apology. Men
without Christ are dead in trespasses and sin. They're without God.
They're without hope in their natural state. They must be born
again. It has to be given to the dead
sinner life. There has to be given to the
blind sinner eyes, there has to be given to the deaf sinner
ears, there has to be given to the sinner separated from God,
away to God, and that's Christ. Salvation is of the Lord, in
its planning, it's of the Lord in its execution. Please God,
to bruise him. It's of the Lord in its application. It's of the Lord in its sustaining
power. It's of the Lord in its ultimate
perfection. He is Alpha and Omega. He is
the beginning and the end. He's the author and finisher
of our faith. God in eternity past chose a people. He gave
them to Christ. Christ became their charity.
He calls them his sheep. He came into this world and died
on the cross that they might have life. He was buried. He
rose again. He is at the right hand of the
Father, interceding for them. He will come again someday to
receive them. And they will hear his voice
through the preaching of the gospel. Men have never been saved
and are not saved now and never will be saved but by the preaching
of the gospel. How shall they call on? Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how
shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how
shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And
how shall they hear without a preacher? And how are they going to preach
unless God sends them, gives them a message, anoints them,
sends them forth? You pray that the Lord of the
harvest will raise up laborers, put them in his field. The Holy
Spirit is calling out a people. They will persevere in faith. Now, this is what we say. I want
you to turn to Psalm 127, verse 1. Psalm 127, verse 1. I want you to look carefully
at this verse of scripture. Psalm 127, verse 1. And underscore
it and close every prayer during these days while we are enlarging
this building. While we're seeking to make Christ
known on the mission field, through the television, the radio, preaching
here, make this the closing words of every plan. Psalm 127, verse
1. Except the Lord build the house. They label in vain that building. Except the Lord build the house. It's all in vain. It's a grand
show of the flesh, it's a parade of flesh, it's the exaltation
of the flesh, it's the glory of the flesh, unless God builds
it. Wait on the Lord. And I want to read you my prayer
for you, and then I'll close this anniversary message. Philippians
1, beginning with verse 3. This is my prayer for you, and
I trust this is your prayer for me. Philippians 1, verse 3. May this be our prayer for one
another in sincerity. O God, deliver us from vain faith
and hypocritical prayers. Philippians 1, 3, I thank my
God upon every mention of you, every remembrance, always in
every prayer of mine, for you all making requests with joy,
for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.
being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun
a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Our Father in Heaven, by the
power of Thy Holy Spirit, touch these hearts of ours and break
them in sorrow over our sins and our failures and infirmities. Touch these hearts of ours by
the power of thy Spirit and shed abroad in them thy love, that
love which embraces Jesus Christ and loves him above all things. And that love which embraces
all believers, yea, Lord, and all men, black and white, old
and young, rich and poor, friend and enemy, and can say of a truth,
for Christ's sake, I love you, shed abroad that love in our
heart that is able to embrace and love thy word, yea, even
that part of thy word which convicts us, judges us, recruits us, corrects
us, humbles us and strips us, as well as those precious promises
which we have in Christ. Our Father, we praise Thee for
all Thou hast done and how we anticipate the days that are
ahead, the glory which we shall behold and the grace of which
we shall partake and the blessings that we shall
enjoy. We ask Thee, our Father, to bless
and strengthen every person in this building today. May the message which we have
brought and the message tonight be used to exalt and magnify
Christ and to put us in the dust where we belong, that Christ
may be glorified in all things. Speak to us through this day. We pray it in Christ's name for
his sake. Amen.

Twenty-Five Years Your Pastor

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Twenty-Five Years Your Pastor

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