Now, everybody can't build a big church, but everybody can die trying.
Everybody can't preach a great revival, but everybody can die trying.
Everybody can't be a whopping success in this under-school class, but everybody can die trying.
Everybody can't build a huge bus route, but everybody can die trying.
I say to die trying is greater success than to succeed.
For if you keep on going and not succeeding, and yet you succeed in continuing to try until you die,
I contend that that is the greatest success of all.
Jeremiah was told he would not succeed when he started.
God called Jeremiah and said, you're going to be a flop.
He said, you're going to meet with violent opposition.
Kings will oppose you.
Priests will oppose you.
Family will oppose you.
Country will oppose you.
Your race will oppose you.
And you're not going to be successful as the world counts success.
Jeremiah went to prison.
His hometown, Anatoth, threatened to kill him.
He was not even allowed for a season in the house of God.
He was not even allowed to come to the house of God for a season.
He was lonely, misunderstood.
He lived no great revival.
He built no great church.
Forty-one years he preached.
Never had a great revival.
Never had fire fall on Mount Carmel.
Never built a great church.
He preached under the reign of six different kings for forty-one years.
But, ladies and gentlemen, the only success that he had was he died trying.
Anybody can die trying.
Everybody can't meet the success of a Frank Norris or a G.P. Vick.
Everybody can't do that.
But, bless God, anybody in the world can do what God has called them to do and die trying.
And God said to Ezekiel, Ezekiel, you're going to flop.
As men count success, you're going to flop.
Ezekiel preached for twenty-two years.
He was told that he would never succeed as a preacher.
He married a beautiful woman.
The Bible says she was called the desire of his eyes.
Had a lovely child.
The baby died.
But Ezekiel kept trying.
Stand up and preach.
Get right with God.
Judgment's going to come.
Get right with God.
Judgment's going to come.
And, praise God, I'm proud of these preachers across the country
that don't pastor in these big cities, that don't have these giant churches
or little towns of a few hundred people or out in the country somewhere.
To keep on going.
They're pictures never in the sword of the Lord.
Revival fires.
But to keep on going.
And though they're not counted success on earth,
God counts anybody a success who dies trying.
Next morning Ezekiel would get up, go down to the same place on the street corner,
preach the gospel.
The nation was in captivity in Babylon.
And he was a captivity preacher.
He'd preach the gospel.
And stones would pelt his face.
And blood would roll down his back.
And blood would come off his brow.
But he kept on preaching.
Get right with God.
You give me that preacher, won't quit.
You give me that preacher, keeps on going.
Deacons don't like him.
He keeps on going.
Ministerial Association doesn't like him.
He keeps on going.
Denomination doesn't like him.
He keeps on going.
And you give me that child of God that does the same thing.
The battles come, you keep on going.
Heartaches come, you keep on going.
Wipe them off, brush them off.
Burdens come, you keep on going.
Ezekiel kept on preaching and kept on preaching.
He'd come home at night.
He knew one thing.
There's a beautiful woman there who loved him with all her heart.
She'd get that wet, moist, warm towel,
wipe the blood off his face and the blood off his back,
and she'd hug him and give him a big kiss.
Nice warm meal on the table.
One night Ezekiel came home.
His back was caked with blood,
dried blood in his face with blood from the stones that had hit him.
His memory was echoing those dirty words he'd heard while he was preaching.
He comes home and he says,
Thank God there'll be that light in the window,
but there was no light in the window.
Ezekiel wondered why the light wasn't in the window,
and he came to the house and some neighbors were there.
They walked out and Ezekiel said, What's wrong?
And the neighbors said, You haven't heard?
Ezekiel said, No, what's wrong?
They said, Your wife had a stroke today.
She's unconscious. She's at the point of death.
Ezekiel goes in, that faithful man of God goes in
and sees those lips that his had touched so often,
sees that body that he had embraced so often,
sees those hands that had wiped his brow,
and sees those feet that had rushed to meet him at the door,
and there they're lifeless and she ebbs away.
And finally during the night sometime his wife dies.
The next morning comes, Ezekiel turns and gets his Bible
and takes off downtown to preach on the street
just like he did yesterday.
And the neighbors say, Ezekiel, what are you doing?
He said, I'm going to preach.
And they said, But your wife's lying in state.
He said, I've been called of God to be a watchman of the world.
I'm going to preach.
But Ezekiel, do you know what the custom is?
The custom is to have some days of mourning,
never to cover your face with the tower of mourning
and eat the bread of mourning.
And the neighbors come and you stay here for several days
and they sympathize with you.
You know what the custom is? Days of mourning.
Ezekiel said, I can't mourn.
He said, He said, God's called me
and I may not be a success, but I'll die trying.
Next day Ezekiel's out on the street corner saying,
Get right with God. Tears rolling down his cheeks.
His dear wife lying in state.
Let me tell you something, ladies and gentlemen,
you may not can succeed,
but you don't have to be a turncoat and turn back.
You can keep on trying.
And if you get knocked down, get up and try.
If you get knocked down, get up and try.
I've been knocked down a few times in my life,
but know how it is to get up.
And by the way, next time you hear I got knocked down,
you just keep the phone on the hook
because I'm going to be calling you
and I'm going to be telling you I got back up again.
That statement that he made when he got up the next morning,
went to preach, rings in my ears that even my wife died
and I did in the morning as I was commanded.
Don't forget that statement that even my wife died
and I did in the morning as I was commanded.
Don't forget that statement that even my wife died.
I did in the morning as I was commanded,
and even my wife died.
I did in the morning as I was commanded,
and even I got fired from a job,
but did in the morning as I was commanded,
and even my baby died,
but I did in the morning as I was commanded,
and even my baby was stricken with a disease of leukemia,
but I did in the morning as I was commanded,
and even my husband left me for somebody else,
but I did in the morning as I was commanded,
and even I found out I had cancer,
but I did in the morning as I was commanded.
Thank God for those people that keep on trying
and keep on trying,
and though they never have their picture in the paper
of successful great men,
they were successful because they died crying.
What did Ezekiel do that was successful?
Where is the big church he built?
Where is the great campaign he held?
Where is the great school he founded?
What did he do? What success did he have?
What success did he have?
He had the greatest success known to mankind!
He died trying!
Isaiah, by the way, I want to say this.
It's easier to be faithful and succeed
than it is to be faithful trying to succeed.
Isaiah, he was called and told he would never succeed.
He was warned that the people would not hear his message.
For sixty years, I've been pastoring forty-six years,
for sixty years he preached under four different kings,
never had an increase in attendance,
never was the largest church in the nation,
never led the association in baptisms.
After sixty years, the only success he had
was the greatest success you can have,
and that is by the fact that he died trying.
You folks that don't try, you're not going to amount to much.
But you say, well, I've tried, and I've tried, and I've tried,
and I've tried, and I've tried, I'm going to give up.
No, sir! If you give up, you know you didn't succeed in what you tried to do,
but you didn't succeed in keeping on trying.
John Bunyan in jail, twelve years.
There's no Bunyan Memorial Chapel in England.
There's no Bunyan Tabernacle.
John Bunyan in jail, twelve years.
His little blind daughter came one day and said,
Daddy, I've got some good news for you.
You can get out of jail as he fellowshiped with the rats
and cockroaches in the jail cell.
And he said, Daddy, I've got some news for you.
You know you're in prison because you've been preaching on the streets.
I've got some news.
The judge says that if you never preach on the streets again,
you can get out of jail and come home to Mommy and me.
And John Bunyan looked at his little blind daughter,
and he said, Honey, I want to leave jail.
I want to be with Mommy and you, but if I get out of jail today,
I'll preach on the streets tomorrow.
I said, when God called me to preach,
and I was the least likely prospect to be a preacher in our church or my school.
I said, when God called me to preach, I may never preach a sermon.
I may never pastor a church.
I may never perform a wedding.
I may never conduct a funeral.
But God called me to preach, and if I never do one of those things,
I am going to die today.
Give me some people who are, not people who are success oriented,
but faithful oriented.
I said, when I went to Arlington, Texas,
at the Texas University in Arlington,
the dean told me I'd never make a preacher.
He said the best thing you'd do is be a plumber or electrician.
You'll never be able to preach.
You can't talk.
You can't make a speech.
You're too shy.
I said I may never stand.
I told the dean this.
I may never stand behind a pulpit.
I may never preach a revival.
I may never conduct a wedding.
I may never conduct a funeral.
I may never deliver a sermon.
I may never teach a Bible study,
but I will die trying.
I said when I preached my first sermon at Cedar Temple Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas on Wednesday night,
I stood up and couldn't think of a thing to say,
and after three minutes I sat down in failure,
crying tears all down my cheeks,
and one fellow walked by and said to me,
how you ought to give up on this preaching business.
You'll never amount to anything.
You'll never be a preacher.
I went back to my room and got on my knees beside my bed,
and I said, dear God, I may not ever be a preacher,
and every sermon I preach may be like I did tonight.
I may fail in futility,
but I'll tell you one thing, God, you've got yourself a fellow
who's going to try to be a preacher,
whether you ever get to become a preacher or not.
We came to Hammond 35 years ago this month.
I said I may never build a church in the north.
I may never have a convert in the north.
I'm a southern boy, Texas boy.
I do not know how it's going to be,
but brother, 35 years ago this month,
there's one thing I did know when our car pulled in over there at 8232 Greenwood,
where we've lived for 35 years.
I knew one thing.
I knew that I'd build a church up here,
or you would bury me in front of this church,
and I'd be trying to the last breath I breathed.
You may never reach your goal.
Goals, I think, are highly exaggerated.
You may never fulfill your dreams,
and sometimes I think we dream too much and work too little.
You may never see your plans materialized.
You may never accomplish your desires.
You may die without any great success being attached to your name,
but you can die trying,
and that, ladies and gentlemen,
is the greatest of all successes.
.