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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Good evening, everyone. I want to thank the Lord and God the Spirit. Great to see you all here for our Sunday evening service. May all of you please have a seat, grab a handle, and open up that handle to song number 110. We begin this evening's service by singing song number 110, all the way in my Savior's name. Song number 110. Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light As she drugged the lovely morning Through the freedom joy I see on the right Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Amen. Thank you, brother. Let's turn our hymns to song number 372. Song number 372, Let the Lower Lights Be Burned. Let the Lower Lights Be Burned. Let the Lower Lights Be Burned. Let the Lower Lights Be Burned. Let the Lower Lights Be Burned. Let the Lower Lights Be Burned. Let the Lower Lights Be Burned. Let the Lower Lights Be Burned. Let the Lower Lights Be Burned. Let the Lower Lights Be Burned. O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? And then, it's time to go into the announcements and immediately following, we will be doing a song of intros. song schedule happy Father's Day to all the fathers and of course we had popcorn and floats afterwards it's been requested that we do it again tonight so it's certainly available I will pop some popcorn and we certainly have plenty left over so if anyone would like to have more there's nothing that you're welcome to it nothing says happy Father's Day more like just assaulting your pancreas with large amounts of sugar so we can do that again tonight then we got the mega conference below that keep in mind rides will be available leaving at five a couple of the small town soul winning trips including the one to st. Lucia in September if you can make it if you want to go if you want more details just come speak with me let's go ahead and count up the soul winning very quickly just going back to see Friday the 16th is that right yeah Friday if there's anything from Friday or Saturday or today all right we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we go to the preaching tonight 147 a 147 we were already doing that as the last song so let's pick it over because you can hear it yeah all right all right let's go with our emergency song 66 Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Hebrews chapter 6 Oh Oh there's a promise might have strong constellations which hope we have an anchor of the soul sure all right amen Hebrews chapter 6 beginning of verse 1 the Bible reads therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ let us go on to perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and a faith toward God of the doctrines of baptisms and I get my title for the sermon tonight right here and of laying on of hands that's the title the laying on of hands and the resurrection from the dead and of eternal judgment and this we will do will we do if God permit and I just want to preach on this very briefly tonight and maybe make some application here at the end but just cover this topic on laying on of hands it's a phrase that you see throughout Scripture in different places and really it means different things throughout Scripture and it's important to understand what it means today because there's people out there that don't even understand this basic principle doctrine and as a result they dupe other people and they set themselves up and they you know make themselves out to be something that they're that they're not because one of the definitions of laying on of hands that we see in Scripture is that it's used in ordaining elders it's used when we lay on hands on somebody when we ordain them into the ministry you know that's something that's done as a congregation and today you have people who don't even understand that and it's and and set themselves up they self-ordain so this is an important doctrine to understand because you will come across this I've come across this several times and in fact there's still people out there today who have self-ordained that are still calling themselves pastors it's been many years and the problem with that is is you know what the reason why it's important is because when somebody doesn't understand this but this isn't clearly taught and people don't understand this basic doctrine and are able to just set themselves up you know even if they get called out at the time eventually you know people move on and everyone that was kind of pointing out that this person is illegitimate and unqualified you know those people kind of move on and then that person remains and then a new batch of people come along and they just oh well he's a pastor you know he's pastor so-and-so of such-and-such a church must be legit and they don't of course that pastor is not going to tell them oh yeah I self-ordained okay and I'll get into reasons why I think some people would do this but it's important understand first of all what this term even means laying on of hands and you say it's a simple doctrine of course it is and that's kind of what Paul is saying here he's saying let's let's not lay again these the foundation of these things let's not go over these foundational truths the doctrine of baptisms baptism is not a complicated and difficult doctrine to understand okay neither is laying on of hands or even the resurrection of the dead or eternal judgment obviously you know resurrection eternal judgment those are very profound doctrines there is probably a lot of depth but you know on a surface level it's not that hard to understand what the Bible teaches about it okay so the Bible's you know doesn't have it's not a laying on hands not some complicated deep doctrine that we have to dive into and pick apart it's very simple to understand what it is so let's just look at a few verses and get an idea of what this term even means this laying on of hands because it means several different things okay and you always have to learn to look at the context of Scripture when you're trying to form a doctrine you can't just isolate you know one phrase or one verse and then try to build a whole doctrine off of it you have to always look at in the context of the immediate passage the surrounding chapters the book and yay the entirety of Scripture okay so you're you can move away from Hebrews chapter 6 and go over to 1st Timothy chapter 4 1st Timothy chapter 4 bookmark 1st Timothy we're gonna look at several different verses there tonight but the first definition for laying on of hands is when you would physically accost somebody you know when you would say hey I'm gonna lay hands on you what you would be saying is I'm gonna get violent I'm gonna get physical okay now some of you might have already known that definition you know might have been the first one that came to mind right maybe that was something you'd said before I'm gonna lay hands probably not right but that's the first definition laying on hands when it's about to get real right when it's throwing down okay that would be you know that would let me bring it in the modern vernacular you know you're gonna get into a fight you're gonna throw down that's basically what laying on of hands talks about physically accosting somebody okay and we saw examples of this going through the book of Acts in the last few weeks I'll just read to you from Acts 4 and verse 3 it says and they speaking about the priests laid hands on them Peter and John and put them in the hold in the next day for it was now even tied so that laying of hands there that's not they weren't slapping him on the back and saying attaboy they were grabbing them and they were laying him in the hold and the next day they were arresting them they were physically accosting them so that's what it means to lay hands on somebody all right that's one definition okay it's not every definition you know doesn't that some doesn't mean every time the Bible says laying on hands that's what it means but if the context makes it very clear it's not that hard to understand you know they're great another great passage I didn't write down but thought of later was in Nehemiah I believe it's chapter 13 where you have the merchants coming and selling things at the gate on the when it's going when the sun's going down in the Sabbath they were selling things and Nehemiah sees it and he goes to the gate and he threatens them tells them to get out of here he says and if I see it again I'm gonna lay hands on you he's talking about he's I'm gonna go down there and get physically rough with you that's what he's talking about and he thought I was a mean preacher that guy was literally physically threatening people all right so that's the first you know easiest you know most basic definition right there to lay hands on somebody literally means you're just gonna get physical with them now the one that we would probably be more familiar with or the one that we're actually gonna see put into practice in our own lives hopefully hopefully no one's going around laying hands on people in the first sense that I just gave but the one that probably would you know see in our own lives is when we are or dating somebody when we're conferring or granting upon somebody a title or a degree or some kind of a benefit or authority right that's how we ordain people into the ministry you know as we literally there's a literal laying on of hands you know when I was ordained as deacon you know there was of course a charge given but also there was the physical laying on of hands and that's something the Bible teaches that we ought to do it's the biblical example okay you know and there's several you know good reasons for that you might see what you might think yourself you know why is that detail why is it so important that we physically lay hands on somebody we ordain them into the ministry it's not some kind of hocus pocus thing it's not some mystical thing where we're you know we're transferring the power of the Holy Ghost obviously we do see that in Acts where they you know the Apostles would lay hands and others they would receive the Holy Ghost and we just read about that but you know that's not what's taking place when we're dating somebody in the ministry you know when I had hands laid on me to be ordained it wasn't like you know I was all of a sudden you know I was just had some charismatic experience okay it's very symbolic okay it's a very symbolic thing to do but the reason why I think that detail is important why we should do that things it the way the way why we should do things that way is because of the fact that in order to be ordained in the ministry if you have to have somebody physically to have another elder in the church you have to have another pastor physically lay hands on you it means you have to be a part of the church you actually have to be there you actually have to attend that church you can't just listen online you can't just you know tune in on the internet and then say well I want to be a pastor now you know and just kind of you know go get some drive-thru you know ordination or just you know worse yet you know lay hands on yourself I guess I don't know how that works you're just self-ordained you don't even get the laying on of hands you know just you just declare yourself a pastor well who laid hands on you Oh nobody well then you're not legit because the Bible says there's a laying on of hands that's the biblical example that we see the physical laying on of hands of somebody putting their hand on someone else and praying for them and giving them a charge on the side of the people and ordaining them in the ministry so you can start to see why that's an important doctrine why that little detail is given to keep the frauds and the phonies out you know to keep people who want it who are in it for the wrong reasons for being able to just you know ordain themselves in the ministry and dupe other people we see in acts 6 I'll just read you in verse 5 if you remember this when they were ordaining the seven they found men that were full of faith and Holy Ghost right that gives the names of the people whom they set before the Apostles right so it's like a church service they bring these essentially the deacons to the church service before the Apostles in the church and when they had prayed and laid their hands on them so that's how they became the seven what you say what officially made them you know those ministers what made them the deacons at what point did they become a servant in the church was that point where the Apostles laid their hands on them and prayed for them that's what got them in wasn't when they got some Bible College degree it wasn't when you know they downloaded some you know certificate off the internet someone they went to seminary you know it wasn't when they just decided to call themselves pastor wasn't when they started a YouTube channel it was when men of God laid their hands on them and prayed for them that's what we see when people are being ordained into the ministry that's what this laying on of hands means in this context who are it's used to ordain others in the ministry look at 1st Timothy chapter 4 and we have several examples of this in verse 12 it says for some before 12 let no man despise thy youth but be thou an example of the believers and word and conversation and charity and spirit and faith and purity till I come give attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by prophecy which is like preaching right so you kind of see how that ties in with acts 6 where they're praying for them where there's a prophesying giving where there's preaching you know a lot sometimes even in these ordination services I've seen pastors preach to the person being ordained to preach a specific sermon just for them okay so that's that prophecy this gift was given me by prophecy you know and you can actually kind of take that maybe a couple different ways you know if you're there for the prophesying the Word of God that's a gift to you you know there's things are gonna benefit you you're gonna glean things from that by being present for preaching but specifically here when it comes to being ordained into the ministry you see that's part that's one element of this there's preaching there's a prophesying with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery you know the congregation a group of people that were there you know and it kind of makes sense that it would use that you know that term the presbytery you know talking about how it was kind of a congregational thing that was done because often when somebody gets ordained in the ministry you know the the pastor the one doing the ordaining will you know he's doing it with the approval of the church obviously he has the ultimate veto power he has the final say in it but you know a wise minister considers you know the reputation that that person has right they consider the qualifications of 1st Timothy 3 like they consider those qualifications and they ask around so you can see how it's the church approves right and the pastor approves and he lays hands on the individual right with the prophesying so that's the other definition now if you would go to 1st Timothy chapter number 5 1st Timothy chapter number 5 you know an Old Testament example of this would be when Moses ordained Joshua right it says in Deuteronomy 31 Moses therefore wrote this song the same day and he taught it to the children of Israel and he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge okay now doesn't mean he like rubbed his feet on the carpet and then touched him and gave him a charge like static electricity like shocked him it's not what's talking about don't get confused about that you know the charge there it was this wasn't talking about his iPhone or something like hey I need a charge right he wasn't give him a cord what he was talking about was that he charged him with something or he said hey this is the way it's gonna be this is the way you have to do things okay so again you see how that out that element is there again you have the praying you have the prophesying you have the charge being given this is something that's being done in an assembly with a group of people with a man of God this isn't something that people can just go off and do on their own this is something that involves a congregation he gave Joshua the son of none a charge and said be strong and of good courage and thou shalt bring the children of Israel into land which I swear unto them and I will be with thee you jump ahead of Deuteronomy 34 and Joshua the son of none was full the spirit of wisdom for Moses had laid his hands upon him okay now I know before I said that there isn't this you know charismatic supernatural thing where just by virtue of laying hands on somebody somehow powers transferred to that individual however what we do see from Deuteronomy chapter 34 it says that Joshua was full of the spirit of wisdom for Moses had laid his hands upon him and again I don't think that's because it's some kind of mystical hocus-pocus taking place but what I believe the Bible is showing us is that God honors this process you know God is gonna give wisdom and knowledge and understanding to the individual who does things the right way okay much like Solomon you know when the Lord first appeared to him and he asked him you know he said he'd given whatever he wanted he asked for what you know knowledge wisdom understanding to lead his people all right now was granted to him so in the same way you know when a man does things the right way you know and think consider how Joshua did things you know Joshua was known before this as the servant of Moses he was just Moses his right-hand man we see him you know tearing in the tabernacle at one point he had his own walk with God he served the Lord he served the man of God and eventually he was exalted and brought to this place of leadership and God honored it because of the fact that he did things the right way okay that's why a lot of times you'll see these guys who self-ordain they just preach nonsense they preach some of the most unbiblical and foolish things you'll ever hear they don't have because they don't have the spirit of wisdom they might know some things about the Bible they might have some doctrines figured out they might be able to get up and preach some things but they'll also preach a lot of error a lot of things that are wrong okay because they don't have the spirit of wisdom God's not honoring that God isn't gonna honor somebody who self ordains okay God honors the one who had his hands had hands laid upon him by the man of God who did things right you see another example of this in Acts 13 when they when the Holy Spirit separated Paul and Barnabas it says that they fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them and sent them away to go do that missionary work okay so again it's twofold right you have of course God working the Holy Ghost calling them into the ministry but then it's being approved by the church it's something they're doing in conjunction with the Lord so you can see how this is important because this disqualifies those that would self ordain anybody that has not gone through that process anybody that does not have that is not qualified they're illegitimate I don't care how nice a pulpit they have I don't care if they get a building I don't care how big their YouTube channel is if they have not served and come up in a local church and been ordained by a man of God they haven't done the done it the biblical way okay and it's again it's not that hard to understand it's a very simple doctrine and yet they trip over it you know being put into the ministry is not something that is done lightly okay if you look there in 1st Timothy chapter number 5 verse 21 it says I charged thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that thou observed these things without preferring one before another doing nothing by partiality so just like Moses gave Joshua charge Paul here is giving Timothy a charge and it's a charge that he's giving before God and that's something that if you're gonna go into ministry if you're gonna be somebody who has hands laid on you to be ordained to the ministry you have to understand ultimately that's who you're accountable to is God the Lord Jesus Christ and it's being done in the sight of the elect angels okay and you have to observe these things look at verse 22 lay hands suddenly on no man okay so that's part of the charge that he's giving Timothy don't lay hands suddenly and no man now people could debate here and say well what's he talking about when he says laying hands suddenly right because you know a pastor is not to be a striker you know he's not to be a brawler okay we're not to get into physical altercations with people right as much as it lieth in us you know we to live peaceably with all men okay but you know is this talking about you so you wonder well maybe that that's probably not talking about the physical altercation but you know some people would say that it is some people would say hey there's a time and place again as much as it lieth in you live peaceably with all men meaning if it doesn't lie in you if it's not possible and you have to get physical it's gonna happen right it says not a striker what about grappling okay laying hands on somebody you know people try to find these loopholes okay but here's the thing you know that could mean that right it could mean the physical altercation meaning don't do it suddenly if you have to then do it if you have to defend yourself defend yourself you know Jesus wasn't a pacifist folks you know I hear people say oh Jesus was a pacifist well I mean I'll grant you he didn't get into physical altercations when he was here on this earth but I don't know if you've read the rest of the Bible he gets pretty physical at the end I mean he's killing people with the sword of his mouth he's casting people into hell he's raining down wrath from heaven I mean it's it's pretty physical right I wouldn't call that pacifism all right however I don't think also that's you know gonna of course gives us a pass here so again that laying hands suddenly a no man does that mean the physical altercation some people would say that I personally I don't believe that's what referring to I believe it's talking about don't ordain people suddenly into the ministry because it's not something you do lightly we don't want to just be in a rush to send people in the ministry okay it's something that should be done thoughtfully prayerfully carefully it's something that people have to prove themselves worthy of over a course of years okay and obviously you know I'm not going to go into all of it you know we have a set of standards here at faithful word what it takes to be ordained in the ministry you know that's something I could talk about privately but the point I'm trying to make here tonight is that you know it's not something to be taken lightly and Timothy is charging or Paul's charging Timothy here not to do this suddenly you know to do this thoughtfully and yet you have these guys out there not only they're not you know they're not even willing to go to a church and be ordained they'll lay hands suddenly not on another man but even on the themselves I mean I don't know if they how they do it if it's like a thing where they kind of cross their arms and they pray to themselves and or charge themselves I don't know how it's done or if they just declare themselves pastors so these are a few of the of the definitions of laying on of hands okay the first one that you see is of course the physical altercation physically accosting somebody putting them to prison we saw examples of that the other one would be or dating somebody into the ministry now I want to look at a few Old Testament passages in Leviticus that give us another sense of this word of laying on of hands those first two are probably the ones were both most familiar with okay but I want to look at this other one and just make a quick application here at the end of the sermon okay if you would go over to Leviticus chapter number eight Leviticus chapter number eight we're gonna lead read a little bit while you're going there I'm gonna mention a few other passages in Leviticus such as chapter 24 where the Bible reads bring him forth of course this is talking about the individual that had blasphemed the Lord right remember they took him they didn't know what to do at first they kept him overnight in a hold and they went to Moses Moses prayed you know he'd blast him God's names and this is what God said to do bring him forth that a curse without the camp and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head and let all the congregation stone him right so that's not the kind of laying on of hands any of us want all right we don't want to have that taking place okay but this was the punishment back then for blaspheming God's name you were to be stoned to death okay but notice again those that had heard him had to lay their hands on the individual and say I heard this guy blaspheme God's name you know each one of them had to go do it and be a witness right it was kind of like a it was a very it was a very swift trial you know they said hey he did it right yeah these witnesses so what they're doing here is simply they're just acknowledging something you know laying on of hands can just be symbolic of acknowledging something of just of condoning of something in this instance but you'll also see in Leviticus it's kind of an acknowledging of what's taking place in the context Bible says in Leviticus for the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the Bullock before the Lord and the Bullock shall be killed before the Lord so there's all these different sacrifices I'm not gonna take the time to go all through all this but they'd have different sacrifices that would be brought before the congregation and certain individuals such as the elders would have to lay their hands and confess the sins of Israel in some instances over this Bullock over this lamb whatever was being sacrificed and then have it slain okay and what were they doing where they can you know where they conferring wisdom and power and were they ordaining the cattle into the ministry of course not you know they're not adorning these animals into that what they're doing is they're just simply acknowledging it that's the way of laying on of hands this way they just kind of acknowledge what's taking place where things are okay Leviticus 16 Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions and in all their sins putting them upon the head of the goat and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness of course this is the doctrine about the scapegoat right where the scapegoat was set free and the goat shall be bare upon and the goat shall bear upon him all the iniquities unto a land not inhabited and he shall go and shall let the goat let go the goat into the wilderness okay but before that go was let go what do we see we see Aaron laying his hands upon the goat and confessing all the iniquities and sins of the children of Israel okay so this is just another way that term is used laying on of hands and there you know why that have to take place you know why did that laying on of hands have to take place there well obviously it's symbolic and there's probably more than one meaning sure other people can derive other meanings from this but the application I want to make tonight here at the end is that you know sometimes in the Christian life if you're gonna you know part of having a walk with God is acknowledging you know where you are you know where you are if you walk with God that's kind of what you see here well they're bringing these different animals and laying their hands upon them when they're confessing that the sky blasting there you know they're acknowledging that something has taken place that's sometimes what we have to do in the Christian life you know sometimes we need to you know get a grip in a sense get a hold of where we're really at in the Christian life and just be honest about maybe where we need to improve where we need to work on and get real okay that's what I kind of get out of that you know why is he having to lay hands on this thing you know why wife why the actual physical laying on of hands okay you know it's it's it's visceral it's real you know it comes home when you're when you're when he's grabbing hold of it you know sometimes we just get so far we're just aloof and we don't really let things sink in sometimes and I think this laying on of hands it's kind of like getting a hold of things right look at Leviticus 8 verse 13 another way that you could you know interpret this laying on of hands in the Old Testament when it comes to these sacrifices I'm gonna read a little bit here okay it says in verse 13 and Moses brought Aaron sons and put coats upon them and gird them with girdles and put bonnets upon them as the Lord commanded Moses and he brought the bullock for the sin offering Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock of the sin offering so this is them being ordained into the priesthood right this is them being sanctified and put in the priesthood and they're laying their hands upon the bullock of the offering now really think about you know put yourself in this situation you make out like your Aaron and his sons this is happening to you think about this okay and he slew it so you're putting your hands in this animal and then you're watching Moses slay it and took the blood and put it upon the horns of the altar round about with his finger and purify the altar and poured the bottom the blood at the bottom of the altar and sanctify it to make reconciliation upon it and he took all the fat that was upon the inwards and the call about the liver two kidneys and their fat and Moses burned it upon the altar but the bullock and his hide and his flesh and his dung he burnt with fire without the camp as the Lord commanded Moses and he brought the ram for the burnt offering and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram so here's another animal okay and he killed it and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar on about and he cut the ram in pieces the Moses burnt the head and the pieces and the pieces and the fat and he washed the inwards and the legs with in water and Moses burnt the whole ram upon the altar and it was a burnt sacrifice for a sweet saver and an offering made by fire unto the Lord as the Lord commanded Moses and he brought the other ram the ram of consecration and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram and he slew it and Moses took the blood of it and put it upon the tip of Aaron's right ear and upon the thumb of his right hand and upon the great toe of his right foot so now not only are they laying hands on it watching this animal be slaughtered for a third time in a row but now Moses isn't just wiping blood on the furniture now he's coming around he's actually putting it on them right he's putting on the right ear right thumb and the right toe of course I've preached about that I think that's you know there's probably a lot of symbolism you can get out of that I think it shows the dual nature of our you know of us as Christians right we are half of us is the new man we've been sanctified by the blood of the offering of Christ but we still have that other half the old man that we still have to contend with I've already preached about that but I'm just trying to you know get the picture you know you're Aaron you're his sons and now Moses is wiping blood on you you've just laid hands on this animal you know it's a little bit more real for you okay and he took the fat in the rump and all the fat that was upon their inward and the call about the liver and the two kidneys and their fat in the right shoulder and out of the basket of the unleavened bread that was before the Lord he took one unleavened cake and a cake of oiled bread and one wafer and put them on the fat and upon the right shoulder and he put all upon Aaron's hands and upon his hand and upon his son's hands and waved them for a wave offering before the Lord so now he's taking all this meat and his bread and this offering and he's going from Aaron and I don't know if he did all of them got a little bit or if he just went by one by one and then waved it before the Lord I don't know but he's getting them involved in the sacrifice you know they're getting blood on them they're putting their hands on this animal they're they're participating in this ministry and now he's coming and he's putting you know these different sacrifices in their hands and Moses it says in verse 28 and took it from off their hands and birthed them on the altar and upon the burnt offering and they were consecrations for a sweet Savior it is an offering made by fire unto the Lord and the application I want to make here is that you know they're being put in the ministry right and this isn't you know anyone who's ever slaughtered an animal knows how messy this is you ever pulled a hide off of a deer or gutted an animal you know it's it's not it's not a clean process it's very dirty okay and this is you know this you know we're so far removed from that you know we can't really understand maybe what's going on some of us probably a lot of us city slickers right but that's what's going on and there's blood going everywhere there's animals are being gutted there's a smell they're touching it they're involved it's visceral okay and what I want us to understand is that being a part of a ministry whether as the minister the leaner the preacher or someone who's going to serve in the ministry you have to be somebody if you're gonna really get involved who's willing to get their hands dirty that's ministry ministry is dirty work okay you know it involves a lot of blood sweat and tears it involves sacrifice it involves you know having to put yourself out there real ministers have to get their hands dirty that's what I see from this he's saying hey Aaron your son and you and your sons you better get used to this because this is your life sacrifices offerings you know meat burning things ashes wood you know it's it's getting involved it's gonna be dirty work it's gonna be hard work you know if we're gonna be ministers we can't just sit back and expect everything to just build up around us or just expect other people to do all the work for us real ministers have to be people are willing to get involved and get dirty get some sweat in the game okay I was writing this it actually reminded me of a story okay when I was you know my parents they had divorced when I was younger before I was even the fifth grade and I remember at earlier on in the divorce my dad we lived in South Dakota at the time he went and lived in Wyoming he had lived in Wyoming for a couple years before he eventually moved down to the Caribbean and when he was living there he was living in Jackson Hole Wyoming I don't know if anyone here in the room has heard that but that's a very nice part of Wyoming some parts of Wyoming yeah not so beautiful Jackson Hole Wyoming is beautiful gorgeous it's where the Grand Tetons are which is the highest point of the Rockies in North America I believe so as a young you know I would go visit there in the summer and we would go visit there in the winter a couple times and go skiing there and very beautiful place and my dad was living there and I remember I was there one summer and you know you kind of you kind of figure things out when you get older at the time you're told one thing you know your dad and your parents tell you one thing and then you know they're trying to maybe kind of keep something from you so you don't really really realize what's going on but then you get older you go wait a minute you know that's what this is what was really going on I remember living there with him and you know we we were staying in a house and then shortly after we got there all of a sudden my dad's just packing everything up and putting into storage and then we went and lived on a like a campsite like a well there was like RV hookups it wasn't like we were out in the woods with a bunch of grizzly bears or anything you know there was facilities and it was but it was a campsite we were in a tent for about two weeks and we were camping okay and then after that we moved into another house and then I dawned on me later we were camping we were really homeless but man it was summer in Wyoming I'm not saying it was like a bad move I was a great memory okay we had a lot of fun I mean we're living in a tent eating cold KFC out of a cooler and until it started to smell funny you know but we're living on this this campground right my dad would go to work and I was there with my older sister my younger sister and I remember I actually saw a friend from Rapid City like I didn't know they were gonna be there I just bumped in and they just happened to be at the same campground in Jackson Hole it's crazy but on this you say what does this got to do with the sermon I'm getting there okay on this campsite they had a pond and you could go fishing okay and of course you know I start fishing and I'm catching fish I'm thinking man I'm such a great fisherman and because I'm just catching I'm just catching trout rainbow trout I think it was I don't know I'm just catching these trout you know and I was I was putting them back you know just because I just wanted to catch them and I'm thinking man it's like every time I cast I catch a fish like every time practically okay you know I don't know how many people in the room have been fishing but he typically doesn't work like that you know sometimes you have to fish for a long time before you actually get a nibble and even then you're not guaranteed to land one but this was just like yeah you just pulling them out right they were practically jumping onto the shore it seemed like well the second day you know I see this big truck with the big tank back up to the pond and this big plastic tube comes out and they just start pouring fish right into the thing so it was a stock pond so I'm like well that kind of you know at the time it's like oh cool but now I'm looking back well that's why you were catching so many it's because they're just had this stock pond now you say why would a campground stock a pond why would they just funnel fish into there and just put an abundance of fish it would make it easy to catch him well here's the thing I didn't know it at the time I learned this later but they would charge you per inch say oh you caught a fish okay that's gonna be so much per inch of fish you had to pay for the fish you caught I didn't know that I found that out my dad told me afterwards and he wasn't happy about it I was like well you left me in a campground with fishing pole and nothing better to do you know what did you think what did you think you know eight nine-year-old boys gonna end up doing you know when he knows there's a pond full of trout that he can just pull fish out of all day so after they you know pumped a bunch of fish in there I actually started keeping a few of the fish I think I had like three or four I know I had I had enough to where it was like my dad was had you know I don't I know it's Father's Day you know I'm telling a Father's Day story I don't want to cast shade on my dad but we snuck the fish out we didn't pay a time my dad's like I'm not paying for those you know and he just put him in a cooler and I remember we drove up into the mountains you know and it was like stepping into a painting we're up above the Snake River up high up in the mountains there's bald eagles flying everywhere and we're gonna cook up these fish at his friend's house but you know as I'm having so much fun just catching these fish but my dad he's the one that's cleaning them and he's a little upset he's like you should be cleaning these fish you're the one that caught him he's trying to teach me a lesson I've never cleaned a fish I mean I know how to catch fish and you know I don't know how to operate the fillet knife and I don't know where to cut him or anything like that he's like I'm gonna I'm gonna fit he said I'm gonna clean these he said but you're gonna hold the guts till I'm done you know I kind of that's what the story kind of reminded me of so and you know and I'll admit you know I was a little upset by this you know you know but my dad's cleaning these fish and he would take the guts he just put him right in my hand and then he cleaned the next one he put him right in my hand and I'd have to sit there holding these cold fish guts while he's doing it right and you say boy child abuse right no he's what he's trying to do is he's trying to get me involved and understand that you know there's more to fishing than just putting a little worm on a hook and casting into a you know a serene lake and pulling out a beautiful fish there's the dirty ugly work of having to skin it pull its guts out you know look it in the face say I'm sorry you know and and and then cook it right that's what he was trying to teach me you know and when I'm reading the story I'm kind of thinking that why is he taking the time I mean he's already put blood on their ear and the right thumb and the right toe he's already you know sprinkled blood on this and sprinkled on that he's already wiped around the horns of the altar why is he taking the time to take all these parts of the animal and these different breads and put them in the hand of Aaron and Moses sons I think it's a picture of the fact that we have to get involved the ministry we have to be willing to get our hands dirty if we're gonna get something done for God that's what I think it's a picture of that real ministers have to get their hands dirty just like real fishermen had to get guts on their hands you know I'm glad he did that because later I went bluegill fishing with the buddy and I was not afraid of fish guts now here's the the application I make and I'll wrap this up is that you know if we're going to do something for God we have to have a real spirituality you know people aren't gonna get their hands dirty if they don't have a real walk with God if you have a real spirituality if you have a real walk with God you'll be willing to get your hands dirty you'll want to get your hands dirty you'll want to get involved you'll want to jump in you'll you'll want to do it but if you don't have if you haven't gotten a hold of things if you haven't it hasn't gotten real with you if you haven't really grabbed hold of this thing that's called the Christian life you're not gonna serve God the way you ought to because it's hard work it's sacrifice you know you know gutting a trout's one thing butchering a ram and a goat and a heifer that's a whole that's a whole lot more work isn't it and it's the work of the ministry that we're involved in and dealing with people and working with people it's not always going to be pleasant you know but that's what we're here to do as ministers especially if we're one that desires to be a pastor someday to actually go into full-time ministry serving the local church it's not all gonna be you know preaching sermons and just reading your Bible and going soul-winning there's gonna be you know people have problems people have struggles people have difficulties and we as ministers whether we're behind the pulpit or not ought to have a desire to get our hands dirty in that way okay and I mean that in a good sense I mean that the best way possible you know people have problems people have struggles and you know I don't find myself going oh great you know that's reality that's just the way life is you know I have problems I have struggles you know and I appreciate when people are there for me where people have helped me through things you know when I find out people have problems or struggling with something I don't I don't go oh man you know I'm just here for the soul-winning I say how can I help you know and if I'm in a position where I can't help I feel bad you know sometimes I wish I could do more for people I wish I had more counsel more knowledge more wisdom more understanding to be able to offer help people navigate through the difficulties of life why because that's what real ministers are here to do we're here to get our hands dirty you know it's not all gonna be weddings it's not all gonna be you know birth announcements and weddings you know what you're gonna have to go preach the funeral too you know you're gonna have to help the widow you're gonna have to help the orphan you're gonna have to help the father that's you're gonna have to do the dirty heartbreaking work as well that's the ministry and I think that's a really good picture that we see here in the in Leviticus with these sacrifices he's getting them involved they're getting blood on their garments they're getting involved with the real work okay they're getting their hands dirty go to 1st Timothy back I should have to keep you there but go back to 1st Timothy 6 we'll close there you know if you want to get involved the ministry you're gonna have to get a hold of something if you want to get you know if you're gonna want to get a you know if you want to lay hands on the sacrifice if you want to get involved you want to get your hands dirty you're gonna have to lay hold on some things you're gonna have to get a hold of your spirituality that's what it's gonna take I'll just read to you from Philippians 3 a very familiar passage I'm sure we all know verse 12 not as though I had already tamed either were already perfect but I follow after that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus he's saying I want to follow after and apprehend that which but that of which I've already been apprehended now we should you know you probably understand apprehend you know to be apprehended is to be caught to be grabbed hold of it's to be someone have lay hands on you basically and Paul saying you know we've already been apprehended of Christ Jesus look God has already got a hold of us doesn't he we know we are in our father's hand and no man can pluck us out of our out of our father's hand we've been apprehended by God we've been saved you know the Christian life now is about trying to apprehend that but trying to reach back to God and get a real walk with God have a real relationship with God and to be apprehended to apprehend that what you have been apprehended of you know get a hold of God is what he's saying that's what Paul is trying to do and I'm saying this that if you want to get your hands dirty you're gonna have to get a handful of God you want to be a minister the way you ought to be you got to have to have a hold of the Lord you're gonna have to have a spirituality he goes on and says brethren I count on myself to have apprehended he's saying I'm striving for this but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth again the apprehension the reaching forth it's reaching out it's trying to get a hold of God and grab a hold of God to apprehend God to lay hold on God to get a hold of him to lay hands on him just as he's already laid his hands on us that's what it takes if you're gonna get your hands dirty he said I press toward the mark for the high prize for the prize the high calling of God in Christ Jesus look at 1st Timothy chapter 6 verse 11 but thou O man of God flee these things and follow after righteousness godliness faith love patience meekness those are the things that we follow after these are attributes that we try to cultivate in our lives it's something that has to be pursued at the expense of other things we have to flee these things so that we may pursue these things that sounds like getting at that sounds to me like having some spirituality about you about not getting caught up with everything that's going on in the world not just thinking about all the things that we could have and all the fun we can do and look I'm not a say you can never have fun I'm not saying you can never enjoy things in this world but I'm saying that's not what you know that's not what we're here to do if we're gonna cultivate these things if we're gonna lay hold on these things the the righteousness the godliness the faith the love the patience the meekness that's something you're gonna have to strive for that's something you have to reach after it's something you have to pursue in your Christian life and I'm saying this that's what you need to lay hold of if you're actually gonna get your hands dirty if you're gonna get involved deeply in the work of God he says fight the good fight of faith verse 12 lay hold on eternal life lay hold on eternal life you know what's he mean by that what's he mean by to lay hold on eternal life like salvation is something we have to grab on to and not let go or we can lose it that's not what he's saying we know that's not true what I believe he's saying there is that we need to lay hold on eternal life you need to get heavenly minded you need to lay hold on the fact that you are heaven bound you need to lay hold on the fact that you will see Christ that you will be rewarded for your efforts that you will be in heaven you have to lay hold on eternal life wrap your head around eternity and look this is I'm saying that to kind of help us to understand that's what it needs that's what is needed in order to be a minister as we ought to be but you know if people would do this they'd also benefit from the fact that you know it might make life struggles and life's problems a little bit more easier to bear when we think that this life is all there is we can get pretty miserable I mean isn't that what the world does all the time they ask them they say what's the point what's the point of it all well you know honestly there isn't any point to it all from the world's perspective then any of vanities yeah you know all is vanity all of it it's all vain it's all fleeting it's all gonna burn it's none of it's gonna last none of it's gonna fulfill so what we should be doing is laying hold on eternal life laying hold on that which is eternal laying up treasures in heaven lay hold on eternal life that's what I think he's trying to get across there what he says to lay hold on eternal life where unto thou art also called you're already going you've already been apprehended you've already been called you're already saved you're gonna end up in heaven no matter what you couldn't go to hell if you wanted to it's too late if you're saved it's done you know the earnest of our redemption has already been paid we're sealed until the day of our redemption so we might as well you know given understanding that and having that knowledge we might as well just reach back and just lay hold on eternal life and and get a hold of God get a real spirituality not worry about what anybody else is doing worry about our own walk worry about cultivating our own you know faith our own love our own patience our own meekness and laying hold on eternal life and get our hands dirty look at verse 17 charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded nor trust in certain riches but a living God who richly give us all things to enjoy that they do good that they be rich and good works ready to distribute willing to communicate laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life you know being rich isn't a sin it's what you do with it right but he's saying even then they should live their lives in a way to where they're gonna lay hold on eternal life laying up in store for themselves I get a good foundation against the time to come having that heavenly mind thinking about what's coming lay hold on eternal life apprehend that which you have already been apprehended of you know we need to grab hold of God you know the problem you know why people don't do it though is they got a handful of the world they've already got both hands full you know you've only got so many hands two if you're lucky right that's all you get and if both hands are just grabbing on to this world grabbing on to the cares and the pleasures of this life just fretting and worrying and just holding on to everything else you know what how are you gonna apprehend God how are you gonna lay hold on eternal life sometimes you know we need to learn just let go some of the things in this world not get so preoccupied with things that don't matter and just let go so that we can have our hands free so we can lay hold on eternal life so we got the heavenly mind and that so that we can get our hands dirty in the work of God serving God laying up that good foundation for ourselves you know these are a few definitions of laying on of hands you know there's some real basic ones aren't there but the application you know we need to lay our hands on eternal life we know we need to apprehend these things it's gonna be a whole lot easier to do if you could just free up some room and let go of some of the things in this world let's go ahead and close in order prayer dear Lord again thank you for the salvation that we have in Christ Lord that we've been bought with the price Lord and we are not our own Lord I prayed help us to come to terms with that fact Lord that we would live in that reality Lord that our minds would would be caught hold of that or that we would understand what it means to be saved that we would understand what it means to be a child of God and Lord help us to be a people that are unafraid to to get our hands dirty Lord and to and to do the work that we're called to do we're asked we ask these things in Christ's name amen all right we'll go ahead sing one more song before we go Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh You