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come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they have not ceased to be offered, because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering, thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then I said, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. Above me when he said, Sacrifice and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin, thou wouldest not, neither hast pleasure therein, which are offered by the law. Then he said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second, which by will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, for henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us. For after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them, that after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these are, there is no more offering for sin, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh. And having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having a heart sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised. Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaken the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and of fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. Ye that despised Moses' law, died without mercy under two or three witnesses, of how much more sore punishment suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace. For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belong unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord, and again the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, but call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions. Partly wilt ye were made a gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly wilt ye became companions of them that were so used. For ye had compassion of me and my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourself that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye had done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. We are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for everyone here, and just bless this service, and fill Pastor with your Holy Spirit as he preaches your word, and give the congregation here ears to hear, and bless the rest of the service, and the fellowship to follow. And it's all in your name we pray, amen. Amen. All right. We're in Hebrews chapter number 10, look down at your Bibles at verse 23. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 23, is this on? My mic seems a little loud, doesn't it? There it goes. I might be losing my voice a little bit, so please forgive me if I crack, okay? Please don't make fun of me. No, I'm just kidding. If I start preaching and then, you know, I get to that point where it just cracks, just ignore it, okay? I don't know, I might be losing my voice for some reason. Look at Hebrews chapter 10 verse 23, it says, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promise, and let us consider one another to provoke and to love and to good works, 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. And on Sunday evenings we've been going on, we've been teaching on a series on spiritual gifts in the Bible, and we're using Romans chapter 12, we're examining the spiritual gifts that are found in Romans chapter 12 and explaining what each of those mean. Now this evening we're going to cover the spiritual gift of the exhorter, okay? The person who has the gift of exhortation. And let me just start off by saying that obviously, as I mentioned before, all of us Christians should seek to develop all these attributes, right? And every single one of us, we're already strong in one aspect of these seven spiritual gifts, something that basically comes natural to us, but we should strive to develop the other gifts as well. If you're a prophet, you should obviously work on developing some mercy, because that's probably an area that you lack in, okay? If you are a servant, you should work on being a teacher. If you are a giver, you should work on being a ruler, et cetera. So there's other areas that we need to work on. One specific gift that we are known for or we're naturally inclined to do, but the others we need to develop. Now, especially as a pastor, okay? As a pastor, I'm constantly having to work on being balanced in all these areas, but we as pastors, and if you're planning to be a pastor one day, you can't just say, well, I'm only a prophet, that's all that I'm good at, I'm not going to seek to develop any of the other areas in my life because of the fact that this is what I'm just naturally inclined to do. No, we as pastors need to develop a strength in every single one of these categories to a certain extent and develop them as much as possible. Now, I mentioned in the last couple of weeks, why teach on spiritual gifts? Well, it's important for us to know what we're naturally inclined to do, but it's also good to know what other people are naturally inclined to do as well. It's good to know what your spouse is, good to know what your friends are, good to know what the church members are, because it kind of helps you to understand why they are wired the way they are, okay? Why they behave the way they behave, why they respond to certain situations the way they respond. And a lot of times, frustrations within relationships happen because of the fact of a lack of understanding of these spiritual gifts, okay? And a spiritual gift is simply an ability, talent that God gives the members of the body of Christ. And the reason God gave us these spiritual gifts, number one, is to profit the church. Every single one of these has its place in the local New Testament church. The Bible tells us that the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all. But not only that, as I mentioned before, it helps us to appreciate the strengths and the weaknesses of others knowing full well that we have strengths and we have weaknesses as well, okay? And when you have a strength and you have a weakness, you run into a person who is strong in your area of weakness, that should motivate you to develop a good relationship with that person, learn from them, learn, you know, to develop those same attributes and basically in a sense, you know, allow them to teach you to be a better Christian in that specific category. Now, the spiritual gifts that we covered the last couple of weeks is, number one, the gift of prophecy. And this is the prophet, obviously, and the person with the gift of prophecy possesses the ability to speak in God's stead with accuracy, authority, and power. The second gift was the gift of a servant or the gift of ministry. And the person who possesses this gift has the ability to see a need and to fulfill it, right? They often like to just do the minuscule tasks of a church, they don't really like the limelight, but they like to serve. The gift of teaching is the person with the gift of teaching possesses the desire to prove all things and hold fast that which is good. They have a lot of information stored up in their mind and that's how they operate and that's why they profit the church because of the fact that they don't just take things at face value, they make sure they investigate, they study to show themselves and prove them to God, et cetera. Now this evening, as I mentioned, we're going to go over the Exhorter and the person with the gift of exhortation possesses the ability to persuade, inspire, and provoke others to love and to good works. Okay. Now, if I were to put it in layman's terms and just kind of say, what does the Exhorter do? The Exhorter is just a really good encourager, okay? And we're going to go over their strengths in just a bit, but one of the things they're just really good at is encouraging you in whatever matter may arise. If you're going through a tough time, they are really good at helping you see the end of the matter and giving you hope that, you know what, everything's going to be okay. This is a person who builds you up, okay, to exhort, to build up, et cetera. Romans 12, verse six, let me read to you here from verse six of Romans chapter 12, it says, having then gifts deferring according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophesy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith, and says, or ministry, let us wait on our ministering, or he that teacheth on teaching, or he that exhorteth on exhortation. So the commandment starts in verse seven where he says, hey, the people who have the gift of ministry, let them wait on their ministry. And then the person who has the gift of teaching, let them wait on their teaching. And the one who has the gift of exhortation, let them wait on exhortation. What does that mean? Be ready. Amen. Okay. So the person who has the gift of ministry needs to be ready to serve, amen. The person who has the gift of teaching needs to be ready to disperse knowledge and information. The person who has the gift of exhortation needs to be ready to exhort, to provoke, to cause others to be inspired, okay? Now look at Hebrews, or you're in Hebrews chapter 10, let me read to you from Hebrews chapter three, verse 13, it says, but exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Now we often think of the word exhort. We think of, well, they're just really good at encouraging, building up, but really aside from that, exhorters are just good at challenging you, okay? They provoke you. They don't just say, hey, you know, just go sowing, you know, just do it. They say, come on brother, let's go sow, let's go win people to Christ. Let's go see people saved. Why? Because we have the truth. And so they through, you know, a word fitly spoken in due season are able to inspire and mobilize people because of the fact that they're able to cast vision, okay? They're able to persuade people into buying into the vision. The Bible says in Proverbs 25 verse 11, a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. And so the exhorter just has a natural ability to do that. They have a tendency to just be able to cast vision, inspire people, motivate them to serve God, to get sin out of their lives, to live for the Lord, to serve God, to go sowing, to disciple people, to just kind of get involved and participate, okay? And this is an important job. Now here's the thing, you may say to yourself, well, I'm not that kind of person. Yeah, but you need to learn that attribute though. And it's always good to learn all of these, but tonight I'm specifically talking about the exhorter. Why? Because we need to be able to inspire others to serve the Lord. That's why. If we're going to win people to Christ and disciple them, as you disciple people and train them, you need to inspire them to kind of be like you, okay? Inspire people to serve God, inspire your wife, inspire your children to serve God. Not just command them to, although our family should obey us as men, right? As a husband, as a father, but even above that, we should inspire them to serve, right? We should inspire them to obey. We obviously want obedience from our families, but more than anything, we want our wives to be inspired by our example. We want our children to look at us and say, I want to be like dad. I want to follow his example, not just because he wants me to, but because I'm inspired to do so. And in like manner, we should be able to inspire others in the church. People should look at your example as a Christian, as a discipler, as a soul winner, as a leader, and say, man, I want to be like brother so-and-so or sister so-and-so because they inspire me to greater spiritual heights, you understand? So this is the gift of the exhorted. Now let's go over some of the characteristics of the exhorters here. Number one, as I mentioned, they have the ability to inspire and rally the troops to a cause. Why? Because they can see the bigger picture. Now a lot of times Christians can't see past lunch, right? They don't really see past lunch. They don't see past this one soul. They don't see past just the immediate task that's at hand, whereas the exhorter views that one soul as one of a thousand, one of a million. They view the task as one task out of the entire project. They can see the bigger picture, okay? So what the exhorter does, because they're able to see the big picture, they are visionaries. To them it's just like, well, let's reach the world, but we got to start here. Let's reach Anaheim. Let's reach Santa Ana. Let's reach Fullerton. Let's reach Los Angeles. Let's reach Compton. Why? Because that's part of the rest of the world, you understand? And so because they have vision, they're able to see the bigger picture, they don't really get discouraged very easily. Now the prophet gets discouraged. The prophet can become very discouraged very easily, whereas the exhorter, you kind of have to like work at discouraging the exhorter. Why? Because they always see the bigger picture. And typically, let me just say this, is that exhorters often, well, let me back up. The prophet emotionally can be all the way up here because he's just on fire, she's on fire. They're just going full throttle. But then they can have low lows too. Whereas the exhorter is just always right here. He's not too high, not too low, he just kind of stays pretty level pretty much all the time. And this is a strength. Because we should be able to be level headed people. When something goes well, we want to rejoice, but at the same time when something goes bad, we don't want to just get down to the dumps. We want to just be level headed, recognizing that when things go bad, we want to encourage ourselves in the Lord and look at the bigger picture. When something goes well, we don't want to just hang our hopes on that one task that we accomplish or that we achieve. We want to look at the bigger picture, you understand? And the exhorter is able to do that. He's able to, or she is able to, see the bigger picture and because of it, able to explain in words why people should buy into that vision, thereby inspiring them to fulfill that vision, you understand? Inspire and rally the troops to a specific cause. Now look at Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24, it says, let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Not command, provoke. Now we often think of someone who's being provoked as like a fighter or something. Oh, you're trying to provoke me. You're trying to get me to get mad and swing at you or something like that. That's often how that word provoke is used. But here, provoke simply means this is that you basically move them, right? You move them, you inspire them, you motivate them to love and to good works. You see, you can see how powerful this ability really can be, right? And look in a church setting, this is very important because in a church setting, you only work with volunteers. No one's being paid to do all this, right? You have to like inspire them and motivate them to serve the Lord, to go sowing, to use their time, their resources, their money, their cars, everything that they have, their possessions to serve God. And look, you can't do that by beating them over the head, commanding them to do that. Well, you need to do it because you love God and if you know you're not right with God, well, you know, there's a time and place for that. But what's more effective is inspiring them to do it. Because people will do things because it's commanded for a short period of time, but for the long haul, they'll do it because they're inspired or motivated to do it. You understand? And so we want to provoke unto love and to good works and this is what, these are one of the strengths of the exhortus is 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 today approaching. Let me read to you from First Thessalonians chapter four, verse number one, it says, Furthermore, then we beseech you brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as he have received of us, how ye ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more. You see, Paul, in my opinion, was an exhorter, constantly encouraging, challenging them to walk as Jesus walked or walked as he walked and says, for you know what commandment we gave you by the Lord Jesus, for this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication. So exhorters are not only good at inspiring others to buy into the vision, they're actually good at inspiring others to get sin out of their lives. Now why are they good at that? Because they tell you the cause and effect of sin. They say, look, if you get involved in this, this is going to happen to you. You don't want this to happen to you. If you don't want God's blessing to be removed from your life, if you don't want God's judgment to be upon your life, you should abstain from fornication. You should abstain from this specific sin. You should abstain from these actions and these things that you're doing in order to be blessed of the Lord. Second Thessalonians 3, 12 says, Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they work and eat their own bread. People are motivated by consequences, but more often than not, they're motivated and inspired when people will just encourage them to do something. But we need both. So I'm not saying, hey, we shouldn't tell them if you don't work, you're a lazy bum. Obviously we should tell them that and some people need to hear that more often than not. But at the same time, people need to be exhorted to work and tell them, hey, there's a reward for you if you work, not just to pay the bills or to provide food and pay your rent and do all those things, but how about this, just working for the Lord, right? There's a reward in it for you when you work for God, et cetera. And even when Paul is instructing Timothy, he tells him, hey, in order for you to have a balanced ministry, you need to give attendance to reading, to exhortation, and to doctrine. And he says, preach the word, be in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. So we got to rebuke people, we got to reprove them, we got to correct them, but in that mix we also have to exhort them, challenge them, okay? And let me just say this, people like to be challenged. People want to be challenged. Can you do it? Are you able, art thou able to bear this burden? Are you able to fulfill this task? People like to be challenged because there is, you know, there's a sense of achievement or there's a sense of, you know, well, let me see if I can do it. Let me see if I can endure adversity. Let me see if I can endure hardship. Let me see if I can accomplish this task. Now go with me if you would to Jeremiah chapter 28, if you would, Jeremiah chapter 28. So this is great, you know, when you have an exhorter, if you're lacking vision in your life, go talk to an exhorter because an exhorter will see vision in your life. They'll basically see for what you can be, they'll see what you can accomplish, they see the potential in every situation. Now there's a weakness to that, okay? Now what's the weakness? Well, the weakness is that as fast as they can get inspired about a cause, they can become bored with it as well. So they just like inspire a group of people for a specific task or a project, and then the person who's inspiring the exhorter just moves on to something else. He's like, I'm bored of this, and they just move on. And then everyone's left with like, I thought you were like gung ho about this. But the thing is the exhorter is just like, well yeah, I was gung ho about it for like the moment until you started getting involved, and then I just move on to something else. And look, I've had exhorters in my life, and this is exactly how they operate, okay? I'm thinking of one particular exhorter right now, I'm not gonna say his name, okay? But I love the man, all right? And man, he has inspired me to get involved in projects, but I've noticed that as soon as I give my heart to the project, he just leaves, he goes to do something else. That's great, it's okay, okay? Because I do that sometimes too. Someone told me they were just like, hey, aren't you an exhorter, because you inspired a bunch of people to go to Belize, and now you just moved on to something else. So you can see how this is a strength, because they're able to rally the troops together, get them inspired to do something great, but then you see it as a weakness as well, because then they just get bored with it and move on to something else. And then the people who are inspired are like, well, is this not important then? You see what I'm saying? You can see how this can become a weakness. They get overly excited over the initial beginning of a venture and not as excited over the process. And everyone likes the beginning of a thing, right? We all like when something starts, it's just like, oh, this is great. But when it becomes mundane or when it becomes arduous is during the process of it, okay? And what we need to recognize is that it's okay to get excited over the beginning of a project or a task or a thing, but we need to recognize that we need to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. And even when the work of the Lord may seem mundane, we should rejoice over those things and enjoy the process as much as the beginning of something, and even the end, okay? But not only that, they can often become unrealistic and thereby give false hope sometimes, okay? So, they often say that like, exhorters kind of have their head in the clouds sometimes. They're dreamers. They dream big. You know, they just like, they see a possibility in everything. They're just like, man, I can just see, I see it now, right? And that's great to dream that way, but sometimes if you go too high up in the clouds, you actually become unrealistic, and then you don't meet those goals, then sometimes you can defraud people, okay? You can give them a false hope. You can become unrealistic. You're shooting for the stars, and you hit the moon, and you're just kind of disappointed because you didn't hit the stars kind of thing, okay? And the Bible says, hope deferred, make the heart sick. But when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. So the exhorter needs to work on, you know, not just having vision, but being realistic about that vision, okay? Like you see a vision, you see a goal, you see a project, you see an area that you want to hit, and you're just like, man, I'm going to train like 15 pastors in my group. I'm going to train like 10 people, and they're going to be bonafide soldiers. That's a great vision, but let's be realistic about it, okay? Now look at Jeremiah 28. Somewhat of an example of this is found in verse number one, it says, and it came to pass the same year in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the fourth year in the fifth month, that Hananiah, the son of Azor, the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priests and of all the people saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of the Lord's house that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took away from this place and carried them to Babylon. And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah that went into Babylon, saith the Lord, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. So he's casting his vision. Now unfortunately it's a vision of his own heart. And here's the thing, it's somewhat true. Because one day God was going to bring back the children of Israel. He was going to bring them back from captivity. But the difference is this, it was 70 years, not two. Right? 70 years, not two, and he's like, he's going to break the yoke. It's going to be great. God's going to deliver you. Look at verse five. Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah, in the presence of the priests and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the Lord, even the prophet Jeremiah said, amen, the Lord do so, the Lord performed thy words, which thou has prophesied. He's like, I like that vision. He's like, amen, that sounds great. You know what? When the exhort speaks, it's like, amen, that would be great. You know, that, that would be awesome to bring again the vessels of the Lord's house and all that is carried away captive from Babylon into this place. Now here's the thing with this prophet is that he was wrong. He was a little overly ambitious, right? And because he was a little overly ambitious in his vision and who knows, maybe he had the desire to appease, you know, to appeal to the people, uh, and, and to basically, you know, gain the favor of those who were listening to him. He preached a sermon out of his own heart and he was wrong. Okay. Well, you know, the exhort could do basically the same thing where they want to cast vision. They want to tell people, Hey, this is what you could achieve, but they're not being realistic about it. Okay. And when we do the work of the Lord, we need to be realistic. Yeah. Let's reach the world. Okay. Let's be realistic. We're not going to reach the entire world. Right. Yup. Well, man, we can do, uh, you know, we can reach many countries. Well, I'm not saying we can't, but let's be realistic. We probably could reach a few countries and we can do a good job in those few countries. Okay. Well, I want to raise like 10 pastors from my group. Well, let's be realistic. Not everyone's going to be a pastor. Right. Okay. So it's important that the exhorter recognizes their strength of being able to cast vision, but then their weakness of being unrealistic in that vision as well. Okay. Go with me. If you would to, uh, go to Galatians chapter number six, Galatians chapter number six. And we need people with vision. Okay. Where there is no vision, the people perish. You understand? Whenever you want to be a part of a church where there is no vision to reach souls for Christ, I'd rather have someone who's overly ambitious and has a big vision than no vision at all. Right. I'd rather be around people that are just really unrealistic in their vision and they're just like, we're going to knock every single door in the state of California and then every single state in the United States, we're just going to see thousands upon thousands saved, you know, this week and just have this unrealistic goal than to have someone to say, not going to be done ever, never going to do anything. You know, we're, we're just a small church. We're not gonna be able to accomplish anything. You know, maybe we'll be able to knock a couple of doors. Forget that. Right. I want the guy who with unrealistic goals, because at least that person will shoot for the stars, even though he will probably only make it to the moon. Okay. Now what's another strength of the Exhorter? Well, another one is that they often view life through cause and effect. Okay. And again, like I mentioned, most people see the immediate. They see the immediate action, the immediate consequence, and that's it. Whereas the Exhorter likes the cause and they like to examine the effect. They like to see why did this happen and why did it end the way that it did? Okay. Let me explain what I mean. They like to, they speak of the end, or let me, let me word this differently. When I talk about the fact that they view life through cause and effect, they often speak like an expert. Okay. And will often give you full assurance of that end. Okay. Because they know the cause and effect of things. Let me give you an example. The Bible says in Proverbs 22 verse 6, train up a child in the way he should go and when he was old, he would not depart from it. Well, the Exhorter, when he sees commandments like that in black and white, he can give you the full assurance that that's exactly how it's going to turn out. Okay. Let me give you another example. Galatians 6 verse 7 says, be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Okay. So they understand the cause and effect of everything and because they understand it, they speak with assurance that that's exactly how it's going to turn out. And that's great. But here's the weakness. They often rule out the exception to the rule, right? So they see the cause and effect, but sometimes they even rule, even to the point where they rule out the exception to the rule. Now we love speaking to Exhorters regarding things that are just black and white because they speak with assurance, they speak with confidence, they know what's going to happen. But sometimes if they're not careful, can often speak with such assurance that they don't take into account that there's an exception to the rule. Let me give you an example of this. Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it. This is true folks. If you train a child, you teach them the Bible, you raise them in church, you raise them the way God tells you to raise them, you know, when they grow old, they will not depart from the ways of the Lord. But hold on a section, hold on a section, hold on a second. The exception to the rule is this, the child who obviously has a free will and chooses not to serve the Lord. Right? And I'm sure there's parents out there who, you know, they believe this verse, but maybe they've had a child who went astray who's, they're wondering like, well, what about me? Well, you're the exception to the rule because sometimes children, even though they're trained in the way they should go, can often go astray. Okay? That happens sometimes. And we want to take in the cause and effect of situations, but not rule out the exception to the rule. Well, often exhorters can speak with such assurance that they give hope to a person saying, hey, this is going to happen. But then when it doesn't, the person who's being given that assurance can be deferred. Their hope can be deferred. Their heart becomes sick because they're given a false hope. You understand? The balance view is this, hey, yeah, there's a cause and effect to everything, but there's also an exception to the rule. And yes, if you train up a child in the way they should go, they will not depart from it. But just know this, there is an exception to that rule because everyone has a free will. That's a balanced view of things, you understand? But it's good to understand cause and effects. Hey, you sow to the flesh, you will reap corruption. You sow to the Spirit, you will reap life everlasting. You will reap blessing. You sow to your flesh, you're going to get a curse. But you know what? There are exceptions to that rule sometimes, okay? And so it's good to understand that there are steps to take into being successful in the Christian life. There are steps to take to become cursed of God or have God's punishment on your life. God's wrath comes upon you because you're just being disobedient to God. But here's the thing, you have to understand that there's an exception to those rules. And when we speak with assurance, we always want to give that disclaimer. There's an exception to this rule though. And it may not always turn out this way, okay? Go with me if you went to Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9. Let me give you my favorite characteristic of the Exhorter. By far, I really like the fact that they're able to cast vision, but this right here, what I'm about to tell you, is my favorite of the Exhorter. What is it? They have a strong sense of belief in people, okay? They have faith in people. Now you may say, well, that sounds a little secular. What do you mean faith? I have faith in God, brother. I have faith in the Bible. Yeah, but you know, it's not bad to have faith in people too though. It's not bad to believe in people, right? It's called giving people the benefit of the doubt. It's called seeing the potential in people. Obviously we believe in God, Mr. Spiritual. Obviously we believe in the Bible. Obviously we believe that the Holy Spirit works. We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that He can provide for us. But when it comes to the human element of just people, we need to believe in them too. And you know what, the Exhorter believes the best in everyone. They see a clump of clay, and when they look at a clump of clay, they can see a masterpiece from that. And this is what's great about the Exhorter, okay? We see some guy coming in here, and he's just worldly as the day is long, piercings and tattoos all over. You know, he just looks like worldly, like, oh yeah, this guy has a long way to go. The Exhorter is like, man, this is the next pastor. Now obviously, you know, that's a little too high of a standard there, but what I'm saying is that the Exhorter sees what that person can become. And this is great, because here's the thing folks, that's how God views all of us. God views us for what we could become. You know, he's the one who came to Gideon and called him valiant, that mighty man of valor, even though he's, you know, just kind of like, not really expressing those attributes or those qualities. Why? Because God saw Gideon for what he could become, which is mighty and valiant and a man of valor. You understand? You know, he looked at Abraham and spoke to him for what the things that he could become, a father of many nations. Even though he had a relapse in faith, he fell short, you know, he disobeyed at times, God saw him for what he could become. And this is a wonderful attribute for us to learn as well, okay? And not just kind of pick everyone apart and say, well, this person is done with, God's done with this person. He's a branch who's been broken off and withered, gather him, cast him into the fire and burn him because they're done. He's like, Saul, just throw him out and look, I'll just be honest with you, I can have a tendency to think that way sometimes because I'm a prophet. For me, it's just like black or white, you're either blessed or you're doomed. It's like, you're doomed, okay? But here's the thing is that that's not true. The truth is if you're still alive, there's, excuse me, you have hope. And not just hope to just, you know, live a normal life, you can do still great things for God. And the exhorter always sees that, okay? They give people the benefit of the doubt. They're always willing to go out on the limb and risk believing in someone because they see the potential in them. Now, when I think of exhorters in the Bible, you think of Paul, but when I think of this particular attribute, I think of Barnabas, okay? Look at Acts chapter nine, verse 26, and when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he is saved to join himself to the disciples, but they were afraid of him and believe not that he was a disciple. Oh, I wonder why? So he's just like, hey guys, I'm saved, and they're like, whoa, I know you. You know, you're Saul of Tarsus, who, you know, you're arresting people, you're dragging them in, you're asking for letters. So the disciples are a little leery of Paul. They're afraid of Paul, okay? Like, I don't know, man, you're not very convincing. I've seen what you've done. You held the coats of the people who stoned Stephen, right? You're a blasphemer, you're injurious, you're a persecutor. You persecuted the church of God, and he's like, no, I'm saved now, though. Look at verse 27, but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus, and he was with them coming in and going out of Jerusalem, and he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Grecians, but they went about to slay him. So what do you see? Barnabas, even though the other disciples are like, I don't know, man, there's leery of him, Barnabas is like, no, he's legit. This guy's going to do great things. He's going to preach the word of God boldly. He's going to convince people boldly. He saw the potential of Paul, what he could become, and you know what, Paul was a godly, mighty man, right? I mean, he's one of the greatest Christians of the New Testament. Did some amazing exploits for the Lord, right? Saw a ton of people saved, started a bunch of churches, just did great and mighty works, but you know what? In the beginning of his ministry, or should I say the beginning of his Christian walk, he had an exhorter who believed in him. When everyone else was like, Barnabas is like, hey guys, if you say he's saved, you know, he's probably saved, guys, you know? I think he's a mighty man. He's probably going to do great works. And so Paul had someone believing in him, even in the very beginning, and you know what? Every single new person that comes to our church, we should have a vision for that person just like that, and see them for what they could become. See every young man that comes through those doors as a bona fide soul winner one day, maybe a missionary, maybe a pastor, a godly individual. See every young lady that comes through those doors as a godly mother one day, as a godly wife, as a godly servant of the Lord. See them for what they could become, like, I don't know, man, they look a little rough around the edges. Yeah, but it's okay, God can smooth out those edges. And we have to learn how to think that way. Exhorters have a tendency to just already be in that mindset, okay? Look at Acts 15. We all need a Barnabas to step in and view us for what we could be, and especially for those people who get saved later on in life, right? They didn't grow up in a Christian home, or they didn't grow up in church or anything like that. You know, people like that need a Barnabas to help them to believe in them, or help them to see for what they could become. And I've known exhorters in my life, and you know what? These people are believers in people. In fact, my father-in-law was an exhorter, in my opinion. And I remember he told me this specifically. And I remember in what context it was we were talking about, maybe one of the best kids or something like that. And he specifically told me, he said, Bruce, I believe in God, but I believe in people too. And I believe that this individual can do great things for God, invest in that person, help that person along. And he said, it's not bad to believe in people. You know? And I'm thinking to myself, well, what if that person doesn't turn out? But you know what? The exhorter never really thinks that. They never really think, well, what if they don't turn out? They just expect they're going to turn out, okay? So Barnabas believed in Paul, but look at verse 35 of Acts chapter 15. Paul also in Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord with many others also. And some other days after Paul said it to Barnabas, let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do. And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark, but Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia and went now with them to the work. And the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus and Paul chose Silas and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches. So what do we see here? Paul is kind of behaving like a prophet. He's like, I don't want Mark, that dude's lazy, a little scared, a little sissy. He took off when we're in Cyprus, all scared because of that sorcerer, uh-uh. He went back home, mama, I don't want him on this missions trip. But you know the Exhorter? The Exhorter is probably thinking, well, do you remember Paul? People didn't believe in you. But this is Barnabas' natural disposition is just to believe in people and he probably saw something in Mark. And what do we see later on? Eventually, Paul believed in Mark too. To the point where he said, hey, bring Mark for he's profitable unto me for the ministry. But here's the thing is that Barnabas has always believed in Mark because Barnabas has always just believed in people. He's seen them for what they could be. So often the Exhorter can overlook certain weaknesses of a person because he believes in them. And this is, I'm telling you, it's a great attribute and this shows that the Exhorter has a tendency to be very merciful and show a lot of grace and that's great. Now what is the weakness of this? Well they can often give the benefit of the doubt to the wrong people. So it's good to give the benefit of the doubt to certain people but some people do not deserve the benefit of the doubt. Let me just be honest. And this is why a lot of old IFB churches are filled with a lot of people who are involved in sins that should not be allowed in church. Fornication, drunkenness, you know this guy can be coming in, you know, still hungover and the Exhorter is like, well, you know, he could become a pastor one day though. It's like, can we get this guy, you know, sober first though? I mean before we put him behind the pulpit, can we get him to like clean up his life first? And unfortunately if the Exhorter is not careful, he can overlook weaknesses even to the point where he wants to overlook sins and tolerate them and allow that person to be in church. Now it's good to give people the benefit of the doubt but not at the expense of church discipline and things that God has clearly said we need to execute. And so they often can give benefit of the doubt to the wrong people and I'm thinking of a ton of examples right now. But I remember being like in Bible college for example, okay, and you know I was a young prophet at that time and so now I didn't really have a filter and you know I just opinionated a lot and I'd be frustrated with a lot of people and you know when I was in Bible college I was there in my opinion for the right reasons. You know I was there because I wanted to serve God. My mama wasn't forcing me to go to Bible college or go to church. My daddy wasn't sending me to go do that. I was there under my own volition because I wanted to serve God. I wanted to learn how to be a pastor, to be a preacher, to learn the ministry, but I was surrounded by a bunch of people who were not that way. But Marcos, except for Marcos, he's going like this, you know. I saw the potential in Marcos, what he could be. You know it just frustrated me because there's a lot of worldly people there, people who were sent by their mom or by their dad and they just had to be there because they graduated from the Christian school and the thing that you do after Christian school is you go to Bible college and they had just had a bad attitude, they were worldly, and it's just like man why are these people here? And I almost felt like walking up to every single one of them and be like why don't you just leave if you're not trying to serve God 100%. You know, why don't you go get a haircut or something and stop looking so worldly and like why are you here? It just frustrated me. As the prophet it frustrated me, okay. It would just vex my righteous soul to be around these effeminate little queer sissies. It just made me mad. But the exhorters who are in charge of the college, they're just like, they believed in them, you know. And there's times that I was wrong, okay. There's times that I was wrong and you know what, I probably should have shown a little more grace to some of the individuals that were there because they were sincere. They just, you know, they didn't have someone to teach them. But I will say this, there were times when I was right. And some of those people were just flat out wicked, okay. I mean there's people in that college that literally just denied the Bible. They just said I don't believe in the Bible and they're living in the dorms. They're living in the dorms. You know, just living in the dorms, not believing the Bible, you know, just borderline just saying just atheistic terms and phrases and I'm just like, why is this person allowed to be here? They're just like, well, we need to just work with him and he could be something one day. I'm like, let him be that person somewhere else. I'm like, why are we tolerating this, right? And I'm thinking of one particular person who, all right, let me just tell you the story. Because I was a dorm soup at this time, okay. And by the way, let me just say this is that that church, I'm, the pastor and I are, we have reconciled, okay, and I wouldn't say we're best friends or anything like that, but you know, we're reconciled, we're not enemies and I don't have anything against the church. And you know what? I can have opinions about Bible colleges and churches if I want to, okay. And this does not reflect on them right now. This is something that took place in the past that I just don't agree with, okay. And you know what? I can talk about things that I don't agree with in my church, behind my pulpit, without having any hard feelings towards those people at the present time. So let me just make that disclaimer. So you know, one day, it's late at night and I'm sleeping in my room and I get a knock at the door and at that time there's this like this Chinese guy who used to be in our Bible college, he's from China, he's just gotten saved, he's in our college and he's knocking on the door and I'm like, what do you want? And he's just like, he said, let's just call him Bill, okay. He's like, Bill needs an ambulance. I'm like, what? He's like, he needs an ambulance. And I'm like, what are you talking about? I go into the main dormitory and this guy, there's vomit all over the floor. And I'm like, what's happening? He's like, he got drunk. And I'm infuriated. I'm like, what? Make a long story short, he was in the kitchen of the church and he was doing laundry or something like that. And he went in, he's just looking for juice or something to drink inside the church and there's fermented juice there that they would use for communion. But it had just been left there for like a long time because they hadn't done communion in a long time. So it fermented and he drank that thing. He pounded the entire thing. And he got really sick and he ended up throwing up and all these things. And I'm just thinking to myself, we shouldn't let this person be in the college. I didn't even believe in church discipline in those days because that wasn't really like a thing to us. But I didn't know this, this person should probably not be in the college though. And they still wanted to give him more chances. And I remember, I literally brought this verse to the leadership and I said, let me show you why that person should not be in the college. I said, Isaiah 26 verse 10 says this, let favor be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. And I said, I get what you're trying to do, you're trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, you're trying to be gracious with this person, but I'm just telling you, he's in the land of uprightness and he's always just going to deal unjustly like this. And they just let him stay. And so, the strength of the ex-order is that they believe in people, the weakness is that sometimes they give the benefit of the doubt to the wrong people. And that's not the way to roll folks. We need to have the discernment to say, hey, we should invest in this person because this person is not a heroin addict. They're not involved in these psychedelic drugs, which there was someone in the college who was involved in psychedelic drugs, right? I'm like, this person, he's drugged up, why is he here? And so, it's good to see the potential in people, and look, that person has potential, we understand that, but can we work with him outside of this? Can we discipline him in some certain way and not just let him just be a delinquent? And so, hey, see the potential in people, but don't overdo it. Recognize when they've crossed a certain line, now obviously, that person shouldn't even be in church, right? People who are drunkards, if they're into psychedelics and doing drugs and all those things, they should even be in church, okay? So anyways, it's great when exhortives believe in people, but they just need to temper that thing and recognize not to violate scripture at the expense of you believing in people. What's the last thing? Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Let me say this, people who have been excommunicated from our church because of those particular sins in 1 Corinthians 5, I still see potential in them, but here's the thing, the potential should be this, there's a possibility they can come back and get right with God. Not let him stay in church and potentially they'll repent of that sin while they're in church. The vision that we should have for those people is maybe one day, they will repent of that sin and be reinstated to the flock of God into church, they can live a normal life, they can sing the songs with us, they can listen to preaching, partake of the fellowship, become a soul winner, and just serve God for the rest of their lives and do away with those wicked things or whatever. That should be the vision that we have for people, oh no, but let's have a vision to become a pastor. Not everyone should be a pastor, folks, but everyone should be a servant of God and we should not have this thing where, and that's another thing that exhortives do, is that they literally view people as, well man, every single Tom, Dick, and Harry that comes to our church can become a pastor one day. Let's be realistic though, no, they can't. That's mean, that's not mean. I'm not saying they can't serve God because everyone can serve God. You know what the great thing about soul winning is? Everyone can do it. You know what the great thing about soul winning is? Anybody can become great at it. You know what the great thing about soul winning is? Is that you don't have to be qualified to be a soul winner, you just got to be saved. Learn the word of God, learn how to preach the gospel, and you can be a great servant for the Lord just being a soul winner for the rest of your life. Well you know, but we're talking about those lofty positions. Well that's the problem with that way of thinking. As though a pastor is a lofty position. It's an honorable position, but not necessarily a lofty one. Because a pastor is supposed to be a servant. I can go on and on about that, it frustrates me. It does, because sometimes exhorters in times past have placed these positions and therefore discourages others from getting involved in ministry because they think, well the only thing I can do in ministry is become a pastor or a missionary according to this exhort or according to this pastor or this leader and everything else is, you know, whatever. Whereas the biblical way of viewing things is this, everyone can become a soul winner. Folks, who's one of the greatest people in the New Testament? Paul! Paul was not a pastor. He was a soul winner, he was an evangelist, he was a missionary. And yet he did some of the greatest works in the New Testament. And look, I'm not saying that if you are a man that, you know, has the desire to become a pastor, you have not disqualified yourself, yeah, why not strive to be a pastor, right? Strive to be a pastor if you have the desire to do so, get your family in order, learn the word of God, be faithful, and do that if you can. I took that opportunity, you know, I wanted to be a pastor, I had the desire to do so, I love to preach the word of God, I love to lead people. I love my job, okay? But you know what, this is not the only thing that people can do. They can still serve God at different capacities and still be great in the eyes of God, okay? And so you're not a second-class citizen if you're not a pastor or a missionary in our church, you understand? You know, there are no second-class citizens here. Only second-class citizen Christian is the one who's not here serving the Lord, who's backslid and worldly, yeah, well you put yourself in that second class. But at any time you can get right with God, come into church, learn how to be a preacher of the gospel, learn how to be a soul winner, and be in that first class, amen? Be great in the eyes of the Lord. So the last one is this, I went off on a tangent there, but it's necessary. The last strength of the exhort is this, is they're very patient in tribulation, okay? They see the silver lining in everything, they thrive in those things, and they're willing to learn from the end of a matter, they rejoice always, okay? Exhorters always suffer well, prophets, they're just like, man, I only am left and there's no one standing beside me, I'm just alone, and even though there's 7,000 out there, exhorters is like, this is great. You know that meme where there's like a little dog and he's like in all the fire and he says, this is fine? That's the exhort. He's like, this is fine. This is great. They just rejoice in tribulation. They thrive in tribulation, okay? Let me give you an example of this, look at 2 Corinthians 4 verse 8. Here's a perfect description of an exhorter being patient in tribulation. Verse 8, we are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken. Passed down, but not destroyed, always bearing about in the body of the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh, so that death worketh in us, but life in you. So you know what this tells us is that Paul recognized, yeah, I might be persecuted, but I'm not forsaken, not destroyed. They recognize there's an end to these things. I'm going to learn from this. This is going to benefit me in the long run, okay? And this is needed in every Christian's life, to be patient in tribulation. How can you be patient recognizing that there's an end to the tribulation, but also that there's a reward if you just stick it out into the end? Now what is the weakness of this particular characteristic here? The weakness is this, they expect everyone to be patient in tribulation. They expect you to respond exactly how they respond. And really this is a weakness for everyone. We expect people to act and behave the way we act and behave. We expect others to respond to situations the way we would respond to them. But that is unrealistic, it's not correct, because everyone comes from a different walk of life, everyone has a different spiritual gift. But in specifically the Exhorter, because he's patient in tribulation, she's patient in tribulation, she or he expects others to be the same exact way. And this is when the Exhorter needs to learn grace and patience with people when they're going through tribulation, okay? And recognize that people deal with tribulation in different ways. Some people cry their eyes out throughout the entire tribulation, but they don't give up. Some people, you know, they fall away unfortunately because they're not strong enough. Others, you know, they endure it, but they endure it sometimes with a bad attitude, okay? And so the Exhorter needs to learn that people are just different, okay? And can't expect everyone to respond exactly the same. Now go to 2 Corinthians, or you're in chapter 4, go to verse 15. But this is a strong attribute of the Exhorter, okay? Because we must do much tribulation entering into the kingdom of God. So the Exhorters are not the only ones going through tribulation, we're all going to go through tribulation. So it would do us well to look at that person's example and seek to respond that way. So if you're a person who's given over to just being emotional throughout tribulation, it'll do you well to look to the Exhorter and learn from them. Because you know, he's pleasant in tribulation. He enjoys tribulation. He is excited, he sees the silver lining, oh man, the church got bombed, great, I hated that building. That means we're probably going to get something better, right? Oh man, I'm going to die, great, I get to be with Christ. That's how he sees it. Oh man, I got a disease, oh great, I get to pray more. That God would heal me, okay? Pastor Anderson is an Exhorter, and I say this because it's like, oh I'm being persecuted, great, more media coverage, it's like he sees the end. The potential, the silver lining in every situation, which is great, okay? Whereas maybe other spiritual gifts have a tendency to kind of focus on the negative a lot. The negative of the church being blown up, the building getting blown up, the negative of persecution, the negativities of a disease or afflictions in their life, and that can often cause them to be downtrodden and kind of have a dark perspective of things. Whereas the Exhorter just always sees the silver lining in them. And here in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 15, it sums up the attitude of the Exhorter. Look what it says, for all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of God. He knows that his tribulation shall work for their salvation. For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day, for light affliction. Keep in mind, this is the guy who's been through a lot, he's like, it's a light affliction. Whereas if someone else were to go through that affliction, they're like, this is not light, this is heavy, I'm depressed. He says, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, talk about decades, right? Worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. This is a great attitude to have. And I personally know people who have this attitude, and I'm always encouraged when I talk to them. Because they see it, they're like, it's a light affliction, it's but for a moment. And it'll work for you, just a far more exceeding, eternal weight of glory. And I remember when before the bombing and all these things, we were doing a landmarks episode with Pastor Anderson, and it's when the persecution was getting hot. And I'm like, you know, they put my address and all these things, and this is his response, ah, this is gonna be great, it's gonna be great. You're gonna get so much media coverage, church is gonna grow, everything's gonna grow, it's gonna be great, you're gonna love it. Just gonna love it. So I got another idea for an episode, he just like moves on to something else. But you know what, that little conversation, I was just like, you know what, he's right. This is gonna be great. And you know what, here we are two months later, and he's right, I did love it. Ba da ba ba ba. I'm loving it. He's right though. But literally that little conversation where he was just so nauseous, it's gonna be great, you're gonna love it. You know, he's just kinda like, church is gonna grow, everything's gonna grow, you're gonna love it, it's gonna be great. So I got another idea, and he just moves on to something else. Because the exhortor gets bored with that conversation and wants to move on to something else. And whatever he said afterwards, I just kinda like missed out on it, because I'm just thinking, wow, he's right. It is gonna be great. Exhorters are needed in our lives. And again, the church would be horrible if it was all prophets, it would be horrible if it was all mercies, it would be horrible if it was all servants, we need a mixture of everything. And look, it would be bad if it was all exhorters too. We need a healthy mix of everything. And the exhortor is needed to help us to see light at the end of the tunnel. Even when there's like, no light there. You're like, there's no light though, and you're like, it's there. It's there, you just got bad vision. It's there though. And they speak with such confidence and assurance, it's like, you just like, make yourself see it. You're like, oh yeah, I guess it is, yeah, maybe that is it right there. You're like, everything is gonna be okay. That's needed, folks. And you know what, if you're a Christian, you're saved, it is gonna be okay. Everything's gonna turn out fine. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for the exhorters in our church, Lord. I'm thankful for the exhortors in my life, whether in the past or even in the present, and all that they've done, Lord, and the hope that they gave me. I'm thankful that there is an exhortor who saw potential in me. And Lord, I got saved, you know, when I was 21, and I'm thankful there was someone there who encouraged me and saw the potential of what I could become, even though maybe I didn't see it in myself. And Lord, that's important for us to do to others, that when we look upon them, we see them for what you could make out of them, Lord, what you can do in their lives, not for their failures or their mistakes or their shortcomings today. Help us all to have a little bit of exhort within us. And I pray that the exhortors in our church would capitalize on their strengths and work and temper their weaknesses, Lord. I pray, God, that you would be with us throughout this evening as we fellowship, and as everyone goes home, keep them safe. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.