to know how to work all manner of work,
for the service of the sanctuary,
according to all that the Lord had commanded.
Now, in the Old Testament,
we're reading about them building a physical structure,
a physical building called the tabernacle.
And in the book of Exodus,
there have been a lot of chapters
dealing with the fact that the Lord had commanded them
to do the work of the sanctuary.
Now, in the Old Testament,
we're reading about them building a physical structure,
a physical building called the tabernacle.
Now, in the Old Testament,
we're reading about them building a physical structure,
how the tabernacle itself would be built,
the furniture of the tabernacle,
the garments of the priests.
And obviously, in the New Testament,
we do not have such a physical structure.
In the New Testament, the Bible says that the church
or the congregation is the house of God,
the pillar and ground of the truth.
Our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.
So all of this to us today is symbolic of something.
And this is not literal.
We don't have to be building this building
or worshiping in this building.
And so when it talks about doing the service
of the sanctuary or building the tabernacle
or building the house of God,
we would relate that to building the church,
doing the service within the church, working in the church.
And the Bible talks about how there were certain people
that God put wisdom and understanding in them
to know how to work all manner of work.
So in this case, that had to do with working with metal
or sewing fabrics or carving wood and things like that.
But obviously, in the New Testament church,
there's a different set of skills that we would have
to serve in the local church today.
But still, the principle applies
where God gives wisdom to the wise, the Bible says.
And God gives different people different abilities
in order to do the work that God has called them to do.
Now, God in, I believe, chapter 31 said
that he had called by name, Bezalel and Aholiab.
He's picked these guys, he called them by name,
he has a job for them to do.
And then we see here that God equipped them to do that job.
So just like the apostle Paul said,
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me,
for that he counted me faithful,
putting me into the ministry.
So when God puts you into the ministry,
he also enables you to do the ministry.
He counts you faithful, he finds you faithful.
What does it mean to be faithful?
Reliable.
Or he finds you to be someone that's trustworthy.
Faithful either means that you have faith
or you're the type of person that we can put faith in,
that we can trust or rely upon.
So the word faithful goes either way.
In this case, when it says he found me faithful,
putting me in the ministry is basically saying
he entrusted him with the ministry.
So he's gonna rely on him to do the ministry.
And the Bible says that we are stewards
of the mysteries of God.
And then it says, moreover is required in stewards
that a man be found faithful.
So one of the most important attributes
that you would have in a steward is that he's faithful.
And what is a steward?
A steward would be like today's version
would be like an accountant
or someone who's handling your business affairs.
You'd wanna trust that person, right?
You wouldn't wanna just have your money
or your property or your business put in the hands
of somebody who's unreliable, unstable.
So we are stewards of the mysteries of God as Christians,
as preachers, as soul winners.
And so the requirement is that we be found faithful, right?
That we be reliable, that we be trustworthy.
And so God found the apostle Paul to be faithful,
someone that's gonna do a good job.
And so he put him into the ministry
and now that he put him into the ministry,
he enabled him to do the ministry.
So the apostle Paul wasn't just so filled with skill
and talent of his own accord
that he's able to be greatly used by God.
God provides the skill.
God provides the talent in those whom he calls.
Those whom he calls, he also enables to do the job.
Just like he calls a Holy Ab and Bezalel,
he gives them the ability to do the job.
So there are a couple of different ways of looking at this.
You often hear this kind of preaching
in independent Baptist church about how,
you know, God, when he calls you,
he's gonna give you the ability, he's gonna enable you.
But I would also flip that over
and say if God hasn't given you the ability,
he's not calling you.
Now, I've never heard that preached,
but that's just as true, you know.
I mean, it is true because some people will take this like,
well, if God calls, God enables,
and then they're just like, cool, you know,
and then they just, well, I think I'm called,
but they have no aptitude.
You know, the Bible has requirements for the pastor
and for the deacon.
One of the requirements for the pastor
is that he's apt to teach.
He has to have the aptitude.
I mean, if you can't preach your way out of a wet paper bag,
you're not qualified to preach.
It doesn't matter what you felt or you think you felt.
So we wanna flip that over.
If you don't have the ability, then you're not called,
because when God calls, God enables, okay.
So we don't want people,
I mean, what if some guy just showed up
in the time of Moses and said, hey, you know,
I believe God's calling me to work with metal.
Well, have you ever worked with metal before?
No.
You know, do you have any artistic ability?
Not really, but you know, I'm willing to learn.
You know, you might not have the motor skills, buddy.
You know, look, I don't have the motor skills.
I'm not one, I can't fashion and engrave things.
That's just not something that I'm good at, all right.
I'm not an artist in that way, okay.
I'm a word artist, I'm a lyric artist.
No, I'm just kidding.
But anyway, but the point is that, you know,
God enables whom he calls, but he gives a requirement
that if you're gonna preach, you have to be apt to teach.
You have to have the ability to teach.
You have to have the ability to preach.
Not everybody has that ability, okay.
But other people have abilities that preachers don't have.
And the truth of the matter is,
we all have abilities that God can use.
Every single one of us have talents and abilities
that God has given us, and so we need to do the work
that God has enabled us to do.
Now, there are all different methods and manners of service
in the house of God where our abilities could come in handy.
For example, you know, some people are skilled with music,
and there's a place for them in the house of God
to exercise their musical talent and musical ability
to be a blessing to the church, to edify the church.
Some people are skilled with foreign language ability,
and so they're greatly used to win people to Christ
of other languages.
You know, they can go out and they can knock
those Spanish doors and get the people saved.
You know, they can record that Hindi plan of salvation
that we recorded this afternoon,
and they can be used to speak in other tongues
and preach the gospel to people of other nationalities.
You know, obviously, I believe that all of us
are called to be a soul winner,
but you know, some people are just really good
at soul winning too, and God has just really
given them great skill.
I remember my grandpa, God blessed my grandpa.
He was a deacon in an Independent Fundamental Baptist Church
but he was known for winning people to Christ
that were the hard cases.
And after he passed away, people would come to me
and say, boy, your grandpa, he really won souls.
And they would say how he would be the one
that you'd go to with the hard cases.
You know, that unsaved spouse or that unsaved loved one,
this, you know, you wanted Andy to go witness to him, okay,
because he is likely to get him saved
because he was just a good soul winner.
So, you know, that's a skill right there,
preaching obviously.
And then there are other gifts of just administration
and organization.
There are gifts of just being someone
who's good at comforting the grieving,
being able to encourage people,
being able to motivate people,
being able to organize things.
I mean, there are all kinds of spiritual gifts
that we exercise in the service of the sanctuary,
in the service of the house of God.
And you know what?
God is the one who gives us the ability to do those things.
Now go if you would to Romans chapter 12.
You know, the Bible talks about this
and it refers to this as spiritual gifts, okay?
In the New Testament, we have a couple chapters on this.
Romans 12 is one of them.
And in Romans chapter 12,
if you start reading in verse number four,
it says, for as many as, excuse me,
for as we have many members in one body
and all members have not the same office.
So we being many are one body in Christ
and everyone members one of another.
So our church right here is one body,
one assembly, one congregation right here.
And all the members of this body
don't have the same office.
Everybody's not a pastor, everybody's not a deacon,
everybody's not on staff,
but everybody's not the music director,
everybody's not a song leader,
but everybody does have a part to play
and a function in the body.
And the Bible uses this illustration of a body,
how it's one body, it all works together,
or at least it should work together.
And how when one member suffers, the whole body suffers.
And when one member is glorified, the whole body's glorified
and how sometimes we might look at certain parts of the body
and think that they're not as important,
but actually they play a very important role.
And the Bible says, we can't all be the nose,
otherwise there'd be no hearing.
We can't all be the ear or there'd be no smelling.
We can't be all the hand because we need the foot.
We can't all be the foot because we need the hand.
So we can't say to one part of the body,
well, because you're not the hand, I have no need of you.
Because every part of the body is important.
So every saved child of God who's a part of the church
has a role to play.
Now, if you're not doing God's will for your life,
then something's gonna be lacking in the body, right?
There's gonna be a deficiency there.
But if you're in your place, loving the Lord,
doing God's will for your life,
that's when the body's gonna function at its full ability.
Now look, all of us have problems with our physical body,
unless you're young and you have no problems yet,
but just wait, when you get older,
you're gonna be a physical wreck, all right?
But that's what you have to look forward to
as you get older, just everything breaking down.
And here's the thing, you get injuries in your life
that just never quite heal 100%.
It's like you wreck a car and it's fixed,
but it's just kind of never the same again.
So most of us are like a salvage title at this point.
So we all have these kind of just irreparable damages
to our body, and that's why we gotta get a new body someday
because this body, you just rack up damage.
So that's why you wonder why old people
have so many problems when they're in their 70s or 80s.
It's because they've just had 70 or 80 years
to get in little fender benders with their body, as it were,
and do permanent damage.
And then obviously our genes also cause us to age
and our bodies deteriorate, our health deteriorates.
We got all these injuries and all these problems.
So look, nobody's body is really running at 100%, right?
I mean, there are human beings
that are going out and running marathons,
and then there are other human beings
that can barely even walk around the block
without getting winded.
Obviously that person's not operating at 100%, are they?
And then you've got other people
that are doing a bunch of calculus
and doing a bunch of physics
and all these really high level math,
and then other people are struggling
to get through algebra one, all right?
So obviously that guy who's struggling
to get through algebra one,
he's not working to his full potential.
He's probably spending a lot of time looking out the window
and doodling in his math book, okay?
So the bottom line is none of us is operating at 100%.
No church is operating at 100%, why?
Because the church is filled with imperfect people.
It's filled with human beings.
Just like our bodies have all these cells in them
that are just doing the wrong thing right now.
Brain cells doing the wrong thing,
cells in our body that are just doing the wrong thing, okay?
So it's the same thing with the church,
but we want to make sure that everybody knows
that they have a place in the local church.
If they're saved and they love the Lord,
there's a place for you.
You say, well, I can't preach,
but there's still a place for you.
Some of you will never preach and that's okay.
God doesn't even want you to preach
because that's not the spiritual gift
or calling that he has given you.
Now, there are many people that are here in this auditorium
that maybe they've never preached before,
but someday they will be a preacher.
You know, someday they will have opportunities to preach
and someday they will be called and enabled
and they will be able to preach great sermons,
maybe even pastor a church, do missions, preach in a school.
Who knows what doors God will open,
but you know what?
Some people in here are just never gonna preach.
That does not make them a second-class Christian.
It's not that, well, the guy that preaches
is on a higher level than the guy who doesn't preach.
That is false.
That's like saying, well, I mean, come on,
we all know that the ear is on a higher level
than the nose.
I mean, you know, we all know that there's a hand
and it's way beyond the foot.
That's ridiculous because we need all of these things.
They're all essential, they're all important,
and they're all gonna be important at different times.
You say, well, come on, smelling's not that important.
Well, you know, there are some times
when smelling can save your life,
where if you didn't have a sense of smell,
you literally die.
You know, you smell gas leaks or you smell, you know,
some kind of a poisonous thing,
or maybe you go to eat something and you smell it.
You realize you're about to eat something that's rotten.
You know, that could cause you a lot of problems
to not be able to have a sense of smell.
Hearing could save your life.
I mean, sight, all, you can't really say
what's more important than the other.
Now, we might look at it and say,
well, I think this is more important,
but at the end of the day, though, you know,
there's a place for every part of our body.
Nobody wants to walk around with no nose.
Even just cosmetically, that's gonna look bad, okay?
So we, you know, we all want to have everything
in our body functioning.
We're not willing to give up any body parts.
We want to keep everything.
Well, that's the way it is in the local church.
So don't get this attitude,
well, because I'm not up on the platform,
because I'm not up leading a song,
because I'm not up there preaching, you know,
I'm just kind of not important here.
Well, you know what?
Not in God's sight,
because God looks at you behind the scenes,
whether it's cleaning a toilet,
whether it's knocking a door and winning a soul to Christ,
whether it's encouraging somebody or, you know,
what about the people who are involved
with the postpartum pals, you know,
where they're sitting there and helping out
with women who've had a baby?
You know, maybe that's not front and center
on everybody's mind when they think about
the local church and its ministry, but you know what?
That's really blessing someone and helping someone.
They're fulfilling a role of comforting and encouraging
and consoling, and so all of these things matter.
Everything that God has told us to do matters.
So obviously there are certain things
that get more attention than others,
but you know what?
There's great reward for laboring behind the scenes.
God sees in secret and He rewards you openly.
So don't feel like, well,
I'm not really front and center in what I do.
Well, good, that's just more rewards for you,
because you're not front and center.
You're gonna get more rewards.
And you know what?
The Bible says, many that are first shall be last,
and the last shall be first.
So maybe the people that we think
are gonna get all the rewards,
maybe it's gonna be someone that we don't even realize
that's gonna get the rewards, because God sees everything.
And He knows who is really working hard for Him
and loves Him, and He knows who are doing things
for the right reason and so forth.
So we have many members in one body.
Members just means body parts.
We have many members in one body,
and all members have not the same office.
Look at verse number five of chapter 12.
So we, being many, are one body in Christ,
and everyone members one of another,
having then gifts differing according to the grace
that is given to us, whether prophecy,
let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith.
And remember, most of the time,
the word prophecy in the Bible just simply means preaching.
It's not necessarily foretelling something.
It's often forthtelling.
The pro in prophecy is telling it forth.
And there's many examples of that
that you could prove in the Bible,
where the Bible calls things prophecy
that are not foretelling anything.
Proverbs 31, the words of King Lemuel,
the prophecy that his mother taught him.
His mom is teaching him to abstain from alcohol
and to abstain from the wrong kind of women
and fornication and how to find the right wife
and everything like that.
That's called prophecy.
Why?
Because she's preaching to her son.
She's preaching to him, hey, stay away from the booze,
stay away from the loose women, et cetera.
And so that's prophecy.
So the gift of prophecy, the gift of getting up
and proclaiming, preaching forth God's word,
that is a gift that some people have and some people don't.
Verse seven, or ministry.
Ministry just simply means service, serving, helping out.
Ministry, let us wait on our ministering.
You know, when we think of a waiter at a restaurant,
the waiter is there to serve us, right?
He's refilling the water, he's bringing bread,
he's coming and presenting the menu.
So he's doing a very humble job where he's serving you.
He's acting as your servant or minister.
So the Bible says, you know, that's a gift
to be a great helper, to be a great assistant,
to be a great servant.
You know, there are many men that will never be
the pastor of the church, but they're an ideal second man.
And they could be greatly used by God as a second man
or a third man, someone who's providing valuable support
and assistance and help.
There's all kinds of opportunity for that.
So there's ministry, let's wait on our ministering, right?
And that wait there, it doesn't mean like,
hey, let's wait for something to happen.
It's wait as in a waiter.
Let's wait on ministering, right?
Be a waiter, as it were, be a servant,
be a minister, be a helper.
Ministry simply means helping or service
or minister means servant.
It says in verse number eight,
or he that exhorteth on exhortation.
You know, exhortation is basically going to someone
and getting them fired up, motivating them,
telling them what they should do, you know,
it's getting them out, you know,
if you had the gift of exhortation,
you can get somebody to go out soul winning maybe
and get people stirred up, get people motivated.
And you know, that's why when the Bible talks
about preaching, you know, reprove, rebuke,
and exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
So the reprove and rebuke is about telling people
what they're doing wrong.
And then exhorting is getting you to do something right.
Provoking you to love and good works is exhortation.
That's why the Bible says, not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is,
but exhorting one another, and so much the more,
as you see the day approaching.
So if we go to Hebrews 10, 24, and 25,
we see that exhorting one another
is parallel with provoking to love and good works.
So that kind of defines it for us.
And the reason I'm explaining that is because exhort
isn't really a word that we use every day in 2020, is it?
It's not in our modern vernacular.
Anybody who doesn't go to church probably
is never going to use the word exhort,
and has not really heard the word exhort.
So the best way to remember this is it's provoking someone
to love and good works.
It's getting someone motivated to do the right thing.
Reproof and rebuke is getting them
to stop doing the wrong thing, OK?
So it says here, exhortation.
He that exhorteth on exhortation.
He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity.
Some people might have an abundance,
and so they're very generous.
God has blessed them with wealth or money or resources,
and so they're giving those things.
They're giving alms, maybe they're giving to the church,
they're giving to the poor, whatever.
Whatever kind of giving, he says,
let him do it with simplicity, right?
So I believe that what he's getting after there
with giving, with simplicity, when
you think of someone who's a simple person,
I think in this context, it's someone
who's not putting on airs.
You know what I mean by putting on airs?
Basically trying to show off, be fancy,
be someone who practices conspicuous consumption,
all right?
Just all the brand labels, and everything's fancy,
and look how cool I am.
And I walk in, and I'm expensively dressed,
and I want to make sure that if I donate,
I want to make sure that my name is engraved on the plaque
at the side of the church, so I get full credit for that.
So giving should be done with simplicity,
meaning humbly, without putting on airs, without thinking,
you know, I'm so important because I'm
financing the work of God here.
I gave such a huge sum to this church
that look at what would have been possible,
because I gave.
I gave, and now look at what's happening.
He's saying, look, there are people
who have this gift of giving.
There are people who are blessed with abundance,
and God moves in their heart to want to give
an offering to the church.
And we've had, over the years, big offerings come in,
and they've allowed us to do things
that we wouldn't have been able to do and take them
to the next level.
But you know what?
Those offerings have been given with simplicity.
I'm thinking back to huge offerings
that have come in over the years.
There was a guy who sent a check to our church for $75,000
one time.
This is like back in 2012.
He sent us a check for $75,000.
And I mean, he didn't ask for anything.
There was no letter with it.
There was no explanation.
I sent him a thank you letter and just never even
heard from him.
I mean, it was just something that he did.
He didn't make a big deal out of it.
He just gave.
Other people have done the same thing where they've given.
That enabled us, back in 2012, to do a whole bunch of things
that we wouldn't have been able to do.
We were able to get our first church van for soul winning,
which we didn't have that before.
We were able to move into this building,
because we were grown out of our old building.
We were able to move into this building and get in here
and get the building set up.
We were able to get our first decent camera so
that we didn't have to have the really bad and the sound.
Remember the old sound?
Remember those sermons?
Some people want to bring back the old sound,
because they get so used to something
that even when it's bad, they're just so used to it,
they don't want to change to something better.
Isn't that human nature?
You just say, oh, I'm just used to this.
Where's the old sound?
I remember when we first got the new sound.
It freaked me out, because it sounded so real.
It sounded like I was actually in the room.
And my wife would be like, I thought
you were home, because I heard your voice preaching.
It was just like, you were right there.
You didn't used to think that in 2006
when you heard those.
You didn't think I was there.
It was pretty muffled, right?
So, you know, we got the new sound.
We got the video camera that actually records well.
We got all kinds of stuff.
And that was a major blessing, really helped us out.
And you know what?
The guy who did it, he did it with simplicity.
He gave with simplicity.
He that ruleth with diligence.
Someone has to administer and be the one who organizes things.
And the ruler has to be diligent to organize,
whether it's the soul winning campaign,
whether it's the Indian reservation trip,
whether it's the mega marathon, or whatever,
whether it's the music program.
The person who has authority in these different areas
and runs this, or how about the soul winning time?
The guy who runs his soul winning time,
he needs to be diligent and make sure
that that thing runs properly.
So he's got to rule with diligence.
Because ruling can be hard work.
Being the manager of something, being a supervisor,
being a leader, that's hard work.
A lot of people sit back and think, oh, man,
it must be nice to be the one in charge.
Must be nice to be the pastor.
Must be nice to be a leader.
And you know what?
Obviously, whenever you're doing what God called you to do,
it's nice.
Whenever we're in our proper place, it's nice.
So do I like being the pastor?
Yeah, I like being the pastor.
Why?
Because that's what God's called me to do.
I'm in my spot.
And so when I'm in my lane, when I'm
doing what God wants me to do, I'm going to be happy.
But you know what?
Other people are happy not being the pastor.
And if they were the pastor, they'd be miserable.
And you see people who are put in the position of pastor
and they don't belong there, and they hate it.
And they get burned out and they quit,
because they're just not cut out for the job.
So you're always going to be happy and enjoy
being in your proper place.
But that doesn't mean that it's easy.
Being the leader can be a major blessing,
but it can also be a major strain.
It could be a major burden.
It could be a stress.
So you have to be cut out for it.
And you have to rely on the Lord to help you.
So he that ruleth, let him do it with diligence.
He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness.
So this is the person who is helping other people.
They're showing mercy.
People are, what does it mean to show mercy or be merciful?
I mean, people are going through something bad,
and you're basically stepping in and being merciful unto them
and helping them out.
And maybe that's with encouraging words.
Maybe that's financially.
Maybe that's with just helping them get something done
or helping do something for them.
You do that with cheerfulness.
Why?
Because God loves a cheerful giver.
And you don't want to be this downer like, oh, man,
I had to help out these people, and I had to do this.
And it was costing me all this money.
And I cooked this meal for these people.
And I slaved over a hot stove all day.
I hope they even like it.
If you have that attitude, it's just like,
then just don't even help.
Just forget it.
You're not showing mercy.
We need mercy from you.
We need God to be merciful and deliver us from your attitude.
God, have mercy upon us for having to put up with you.
So he that showeth mercy, let him do it with cheerfulness.
And then it's kind of funny how that just kind of rolls
into the next thought.
Let love be without dissimulation.
Have real love, not simulated love, not fake love.
Abhor that which is evil.
Cleave that which is good.
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love
in honor, preferring one another,
putting other people first.
Why?
Because in order for the body to function,
the hand can't just steal the show.
The mouth can't steal.
Everything's got to work together.
Everything's in a symbiotic relationship.
And our church here ought to be in a symbiotic relationship
where we're helping each other out.
We're edifying one another.
Iron is sharpening iron.
We're blessing and helping each other.
And there are always going to be those parts of our body that
are not cooperating.
And so those can cause what the Bible calls a schism
in the body.
The Bible talks about in 1 Corinthians 12,
which is kind of the other spiritual gift passage,
that there be no schism in the body where there's basically
a split or where one part of the body
just wants to do its own thing.
I mean, can you imagine if one part of our body
just wanted to just start acting independently and just
doing its own thing?
And it's just going to go on its own.
And it's just like, you know.
It's the stuff that nightmares are made of.
So we want the whole body to be functioning.
Now, the head, the pastor is not the head.
The head is Christ.
The ultimate authority, the boss, is Jesus Christ.
And then the pastor is the under shepherd.
He's what's called the chief shepherd.
So he's the chief.
I'm the Indian.
So basically, he's the chief shepherd.
I'm accountable to him.
I have to obey him.
I'm not above this book.
I'm not above the word of God and being
judged by the word of God.
So I have authority that's delegated to me.
I'm basically the assistant manager.
He's the manager.
And I'm delegated authority from him.
But at the end of the day, he is the final boss.
He's the final authority.
And you say, well, he's not here.
Well, he's right here.
Amen.
You know, he's right.
We have the mind of Christ.
We know what he wants.
We've got the manual that he wrote here.
And so at the end of the day, we're all subject to this,
every single one of us.
So if you would go back to Exodus chapter 36,
I'm going to spend exactly as much time on every verse
in this chapter as I did on verse 1.
So we're going to be here.
We're going to be here until about halfway through tomorrow.
So if you need to get up and go to the bathroom, I understand.
But we've locked all the doors, and no one's
leaving until we're finished, all right?
But anyway, the reason I spend so much time
on this at the beginning is because of the fact
that most of this chapter is a catalog of everything
that they're building.
So the way the book of Exodus works
is you're reading through the book of Exodus.
And first, he tells them, OK, this
is what you're going to build.
You're going to build the tabernacle.
Here's how you're going to make the curtains.
Here's how you're going to make the boards.
And you've got the couplings and the tatches.
You've got the tenons going into the sockets
and explaining all this.
And then you get through it, and you're kind of like, all right,
I got through that.
And it kind of feels good, like, all right, I got through it.
And now I'm into the story again, the fun story.
And then it's like we get to chapter 36,
and it's like, OK, now we've already talked about what
they're supposed to build.
Now let's talk about how they actually build it.
So it kind of ends up being a repeat,
because he goes through everything, this
is how you're going to build it.
And then chapters 36 and on is like, so they built it.
And then it explains everything they built.
But if you're paying attention, there
are little subtle differences and little interesting things.
It's not like God is just trying to make
this book a little longer.
He's just trying to fill up space.
Everything in the Bible matters.
Everything is significant.
And if you go through chapters 36, 37, 38, and 39
and read them very carefully and study them very carefully,
you will find differences in the way things are worded
and different details that are given the second time through
that weren't given the first time through.
And so all of it is profitable.
I don't want you to get the wrong idea
that it's unprofitable.
It is all profitable for doctrine.
It all is important.
And as you study it and read it, different things
jump out at you.
And in fact, I found some really cool things
that are coming up in some of the subsequent chapters that
are little nuggets that God puts in.
It's sort of like when you're reading 1 Chronicles 1
through 9, and it's just all these lists of names.
But there's always that little nugget in there,
that little prayer of Jabez or something,
tucked in there so that you stay engaged.
But you have to be willing to plow through all the names
to get those little precious kernels of truth.
There's no shortcut.
You say, well, yeah, I could just go to the Christian bookstore
and buy the prayer of Jabez.
Yeah, it's all based on the NIV.
So you're getting total junk.
You're going to get a lot of the wrong teachings.
You've got to do it the hard way, friend.
I guarantee you that there are probably
millions of people who read that book, The Prayer of Jabez,
that have never read the book of 1 Chronicles.
But they've read that book.
Well, you know what?
I'll stick with 1 Chronicles, thank you very much.
And I guarantee you that me and the Holy Spirit in 1 Chronicles
are going to do better than getting some NIV-based book
from the Balaamite bookstore, some pop book,
some pop theology book, or whatever,
written by some watered-down liberal.
You say, how do you know he's a watered-down liberal?
Because guess what?
If you're not a watered-down liberal,
your stuff's not going to be on sale at the Christian bookstore.
You say, you're just mad because your stuff's not there.
Here's the thing.
Not only is my stuff not there, no preacher
that I want to listen to stuff is there either.
I have all kinds of preachers that I like, past and present,
and none of them are for sale at the Balaamite bookstore.
It's only the compromisers of this world
that are put on that program.
But you know what?
God's punishing them all because they're all closing down
because of the internet.
So burn, baby, burn, all right?
Because all those Christian bookstores,
they're all shutting down.
And it's all going to Amazon.
And you know what?
I can put my stuff on Amazon.
And nobody can stop me, all right?
So that's better.
Because otherwise, people are wandering
into these bookstores.
And it's just all the junk that basically
the big corporate Zondervan, Rupert Murdoch-owned media
engine has decided, oh, this is what you're going to read.
Here's what you're going to be reading, Francis Chan.
Here's what you're going to be reading, whoever.
I don't even know the names, but all the junk.
Here, you're going to read this book about how
the King James is not, you got to get on the new versions
or whatever.
So I think it's great that these Christian bookstores are
failing because the internet is a little bit more
of an equal opportunity space for anybody
to put out their stuff.
And so Bible-believing Christians and fire-breathing,
leather-lung-type preachers, their stuff's
right there competing right next to the liberal junk.
And I think that's a good thing, just like it's
the same reason why YouTube is superior to the television,
right?
Because YouTube is us-tube.
It's IFB-tube when we get on there
because we put all of our fire-breathing preaching
on there.
And we can get thousands of views.
We can get millions of viewers.
Instead of the TV where you got some executive somewhere,
some Jew somewhere, whoops, did I just say that?
And who's basically controlling all the programming.
At least this way, everybody can put out their stuff.
And you can actually get the true story somewhere.
You can actually get some good.
Now, obviously, there's a bunch of trash on YouTube as well.
But there's also good stuff on YouTube.
So lots of preaching that I like to hear on YouTube.
Nothing that I want to hear on TBN or the Christian TV
station.
I don't want to hear any.
I don't want to hear Joel Osteen.
I don't want to hear T.D. Jakes.
I'm not interested in hearing John Hagee.
But I'll listen to Independent Fundamental Baptists
on YouTube.
And let me tell you something, by the way,
that I'm for you listening to preaching online.
When I hear about people in our church
listening to other preachers, hey, I'm for it.
Because to me, I'm preaching to you Sunday morning, Sunday
night, Wednesday night.
But you know what?
I want you to get as much growth and edification and education
as you can.
So if you're supplementing with other preaching,
I think that's a great thing.
But I will say this, though.
You should use discernment with who you listen to.
And here's what I mean by that.
Every guy in a basement with a camera
is not telling you the truth.
What did Jesus say?
You know, the tree is known by its fruit.
You know, I would listen to, you know what?
I would make the criteria for who I listen to?
The fruit.
So you know, if you've got an actual bona fide pastor,
somebody who's a pastor in real life,
he doesn't just play one on TV.
That's who I would listen to, someone who's
actually a qualified preacher who's proven himself
and actually has a real life church.
Like people actually show up, not the cloud church.
Like the cloud, like upload things
to the cloud, the cloud church.
You know what?
I'm not interested in listening to anything
from the cloud church, from Mr. Chipmunk, who
has no real church.
He's preaching to his own family or the wall or whatever.
He doesn't have an actual church, the cloud church,
online church.
And look, everything's this and that ministries,
rightly dividing ministries, whole armor ministries.
Look, what is that?
Did Christ die for ministries?
Are ministries the pillar and ground of the truth?
Or did he die for the church?
And the church is the pillar and ground of the truth.
So beware of the internet only preacher.
He's usually going to be a total bozo.
Why isn't he plugged into a local church?
Why is he not operating through the local church?
Well, you just can't find any church.
It's like, well, you know, maybe he's the problem.
Now I realize there are people in, look,
I always get contacted by the Europeans complaining
when I preach like that.
I get it that in Europe, sometimes there really
are no churches.
I get that.
Because a lot of places in Europe are really dark
spiritually, and there truly is nothing.
But if you're in the United States of America,
you can find a decent church to go to.
And hey, you're like, yeah, but it's not Faithful Word.
Well, then get your butt to Faithful Word.
If it's that important to you to be at Faithful Word,
then be at Faithful Word.
Well, there's no new IFP.
Then move.
Then go somewhere.
But you know what?
What if I told you that there are churches
where God is working, where Christ is being uplifted,
and where souls are being saved that aren't new IFP churches?
You know, I mean, there are other churches out there
that are preaching a King James Bible, that are preaching
salvation by faith.
Say, well, they're wrong on the end times.
OK, you're wrong on stuff, you big MGTOW or whatever, you know?
I mean, look, there are all kinds of people who complain.
And you know, every woman's bad.
Every church is bad.
Everything, you know, every preacher.
It's just like, shut up.
You know, find a church to go to where the pastor is saved,
where the King James is the Bible, and where you can grow.
And it's not perfect, but you can grow.
And you know what, you might even learn something.
Well, they're wrong on this.
Yeah, but they might be right about something
that you're wrong about.
They might be right about something that I'm wrong about.
Because I'm not God either, OK?
So the point is that there are so many people out there,
everybody just gets a YouTube channel and preaches.
But are they even a real preacher?
Do they even have a real church?
Do they even attend church?
Are they a pastor?
Are they qualified?
Do they know the word of God?
Have they done the study?
You don't know.
Or how do we know if they're a Judas Iscariot?
You know, one of the big things is no fruit or bad fruit.
How do you know?
You can't really check the fruit.
You know, my fruit's on display, friend.
You can check my fruit anytime you want.
Now, you could come to Faith Forward Baptist Church
and do a fruit inspection.
Or you can go to the events that we
hold all over the country, the soul-winding events.
And you know what?
There are tons of people there that
are converts of yours truly.
So to sit there and listen to some bozo, some flat earther,
some reject who's thrown out of his local church,
or every church is bad, all he does
is just talk smack about men of God online.
And you're going to listen to that guy?
You know what?
You're dumb.
Because Jesus told you that you'll know them by their fruits.
Are you following that?
Is that what you go by?
You go by the fruits?
Do you actually go by what you see in real life,
or just an image?
And everybody talks about how fake people are on Facebook.
Oh, Facebook's so fake.
Well, you know what?
Couldn't YouTube be just as fake?
I mean, is Facebook the only place
where people polish the apple?
Or do you think that maybe some people on YouTube
are polishing the apple a little bit too?
And they're actually wicked people.
They're actually people that are in it
for all the wrong reasons.
They're just glorifying themselves,
wanting to tear everybody down.
And they don't want to get you in God's institution,
the local church, and lead you to greater service for God,
and greater soul winning, and greater personal development
for the glory of God spiritually.
No, they just want you to be their disciple.
They just want to draw away disciples
after them for their own ego.
So be careful of just listening to every bozo online.
I'm for you going online and supplementing
with Bible preaching, but let it be for men of God.
Not just whatever bozo du jour.
OK, get it from real men of God.
I don't know what that has to do with Exodus 36.
I don't care, because you know what?
It's biblical, and I quoted scripture,
and it needed to be said.
So I mean, Exodus 36, you guys ready for verse 2?
You guys ready to do this?
Let's move forward.
And Moses called Bezalel and Aholiab,
and every wise hearted man, and whose heart
the Lord had put wisdom, even everyone
whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it.
So notice how these are the same person.
The guy whose heart stirs him up,
the guy whom God put wisdom into his heart,
every wise hearted man, right?
So how did the wise hearted man get wise?
God gave him the wisdom.
God gave him the ability.
Then there's also a desire there.
So these are the two elements for serving God.
And I'll close on this thought.
This is a good thought.
Two elements for serving God, the desire to do it
and the ability to do it, right?
The desire to do it and the ability to do it.
There are people who have the ability to pastor.
There are people who have the ability to lead music.
There are people who have the ability to go soloing,
but they don't have any desire to do it.
They're just like, eh, they're not really desiring it.
The Bible says if any man desire the office of a bishop,
he desireth a good work.
So part of being a pastor is you have to want to be a pastor.
And I've made the mistake over the years
of kind of pushing certain people to be a pastor.
Because I just saw the need for a pastor.
And I'm just thinking, man, the harvest truly is plenty,
but the laborers are few.
And there's such a need for pastors.
And people are constantly just begging
to send people to start churches and send us a leader.
We need a leadership here and we need a pastor here.
So I've made the mistake over the years
of identifying talent in someone
and being like, wow, this guy has the ability to pastor
and then trying to just like exhort that guy to pastor,
exhort him to pastor.
But you know what I've found?
The people that I pushed to be a pastor
when they didn't really have the desire,
then they ended up quitting.
They ended up not really,
because they probably weren't really cut out for it
because they have to have aptitude, yes,
but you also have to have a desire.
Now, if you don't have a desire,
it doesn't make you a bad person.
Now, if you have no desire to go soul winning,
you're kind of a bad person, okay?
But I'm saying like, if you have no desire to pastor,
that's okay because pastoring is not for everybody.
But I do believe that witnessing for Christ
is for everybody.
If you have no desire for church, yeah, you're lame
because church is for everybody.
You have no desire to read the Bible or pray,
you have a problem.
But when it comes to pastoring, it's not for everybody.
So you got to make sure that we don't just have
all the qualifications met,
like I'm checking off the qualifications,
you've met the qualifications, what's wrong with you?
You got to be pastoring, okay, I guess.
But then you know what?
You end up getting in the ministry
and if you don't have the desire,
you know, if your spirit hasn't made you willing
or stirred you up to come and do the work,
well, then you know what?
You're not gonna make it in the long run.
Here's what I've found.
Everything in my life that I've stuck with
was stuff that I liked.
We typically don't stick with things that we don't like.
You know, you find an exercise program that really works.
Only problem is you don't like it.
Do you stick with it?
I mean, I've found some pretty effective training routines
that I didn't like at all.
They were like torture, it's too much pain.
I didn't stick with those things.
You know, I find an exercise I like,
man, I'm gonna stick with that.
You find diet that you like, you stick with it.
Well, guess what?
The only way to stick with the Christian life,
you got to love the Lord.
You got to love the Lord with all your heart and mind.
Then you're gonna stick with the Lord.
Okay, you got a desire to be a pastor
or you're not gonna stick with being a pastor.
You got a desire to run that soul winning time
or whatever, you know,
stepping up to the plate for bigger jobs and things.
You got to have the desire where you want to do it
and not allow yourself to be pushed into things
that you don't want to do.
Now, look, I'm not saying, hey, yes,
be pushed into reading your Bible,
be pushed into praying, be pushed into going soul winning.
By the way, somebody accused us recently,
I heard this like fourth hand or something
that somebody was saying that we force people
to go soul winning here.
Folks, I've been here for 15 years.
Nobody's ever been forced to go soul winning here.
Has anybody been forced to go soul winning?
I mean, have I ever come up to you and said,
why aren't you soul winning?
Have I ever done that to anyone?
So I've noticed that you haven't been soul winning.
I've never done that ever.
I mean, all I do is get up and preach.
Like, yay, yay for soul winning, rah, rah, soul winning.
But I don't force any,
no one forces anyone to go soul winning here.
And there's no pressure to go soul winning that I know of,
unless somebody's doing this behind my back.
Like, I'd hate for anything to happen to you
if you don't go soul winning.
You know?
I'm just saying that if you don't go soul winning,
bad things might happen.
Not saying I'm going to do it.
But, you know, it's crazy.
But look, yeah, obviously we want to provoke
unto love and to good works.
But when it comes to taking on positions of responsibility
and things, you know, those are,
you have to have aptitude and you have to have desire.
Now, if you're all desire and no aptitude,
you're just like, here am I, send me.
We're like, no, we're not going to send you.
You know, I'm glad you're so zealous.
I like your attitude.
But you got to have both, right?
You got to have the desire and the aptitude.
But here's the good news.
God's got a job for everybody.
God's got a job.
And look, just because your job's not glamorous,
God can use you, okay?
Every single person in this church has a function.
Whatever it is, we all, and you know what?
We all have different backgrounds.
We all have different personalities, talents, abilities.
And God has given us all abilities that we can use
where we could do stuff that someone else can't do.
And if we're missing, something's missing.
Well, I'm not as good of a Christian as someone.
Well, we're not in competition here.
So-and-so's got their gift and you got your gift.
And you know, we're working in tandem here.
And it's not about who's better because you know what?
Whosoever's the greatest among you,
let him be your servant.
And it's the parts of the body that are the least comely
that sometimes we bestow more honor upon them.
And so don't ever think to yourself, I'm expendable.
I don't matter.
Why am I even here?
I might as well just quit.
Look, if you actually show up and participate,
you know what?
You matter.
You're important.
And we want you to show up and participate.
If you're saved, there's a place for you in the local church
to get right and do what God wants you to do.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord,
and thank you for equipping us to do the work, Lord.
You didn't just equip a holy ab and bezalil, Lord,
and then just stop equipping people.
We know that you equip us today.
And you're equipping people with spiritual gifts right now
in the local church, and you're using people.
And Lord, I just pray that everyone would take their talents
and abilities and use them for you,
not go out and use them for ungodliness,
not go out and use them just to succeed in the world
and not profit the local church, Lord.
Help every single one of us to take our gifts
and our talents and abilities and to use them
for what matters the most, the kingdom of God.
And Lord, we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.