All the way to the last minute. I told my wife I like for it to
stay fresh. Amen.
Take your Bibles turn to just
anywhere. We'll be there in a minute.
Ecclesiastes 12. Ecclesiastes 12.
So glad to be back. So glad to be back.
Love coming down here. A lot of lot of new faces.
Praise the Lord. Churches growing new faces and
some old faces. And Speaking of faces, October
the 10th I woke up with Bell's palsy, whole left side of my
face completely drooping and left eye wouldn't work and my
mouth paralyzed. And that was October the 10th.
And I've always been a exceptionally handsome man.
That wasn't a joke but y'all guess y'all thought it was.
I looked in the mirror and my face is just grotesque.
I'm like Lord. I look like Andy Almanza.
What in the? World love you brother no, but I
I just trying to preach and and and and do the work of God with
hacker face not working. It's a it's been across to bear,
but I appreciate all the prayers.
I'm I'm getting there slowly. I was getting back to normal but
no I am. Thrilled to be here.
And glad to have my wife and Zane with me and we are excited
about next couple of days see what God has for us.
Tremendous message preacher. Lot's wife.
So, so powerful. I leaned over to my wife as you
were finishing up. I said if Lot's wife had been in
that cave, his two daughters would not have done what they
did. Horrible, horrible ending to A
to a story. So much truth there.
Amen. Ecclesiastes 12, stand with me
please if you would and we will try our best to mind the Lord.
I preached this this morning as a this is the version of it.
This is a reworking of what I preached this morning at our
church. And I feel like this has been
burning on my heart and I feel like that's what God had for us,
my wife said. Do you remember what you
preached last time you were? Here I said I don't need to
write it down because it's all new stuff, so I don't have to
worry about preaching something I've preached before.
Amen. Ecclesiastes 12 verse #9 And
moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the
people knowledge. Yeah, he gave good heed and
sought out and said an order, many proverbs.
And the preacher sought to find out acceptable words.
That which was written was upright, even words of truth.
The words of the wise are as goats and as nails, fastened by
the masters of assemblies which are given from 1 shepherd.
Lord, I pray that you'd bless the Word of God tonight, speak
to hearts, minister to our souls.
We've already been fed from the Word of God, been challenged,
and Lord, I pray that we would. Lord, tonight the Word of God
would continue to do that in Jesus.
Name Amen. You can be seated.
Thank you for standing. The thought that I want to focus
on this evening is that statement in verse #9 If you're
looking for a title, we could title the message.
Because the preacher was wise. Because the preacher was wise.
How many even believe this is probably the easiest question
that you're going to be asked this week?
I mean to. Believe God is wise?
Raise your hand. Most of you raised your hand on
that. Some of you.
Maybe the jury's still out on that.
But God is all wise, Amen. How many of you believe God
loves this church? Raise your hand.
How many of you believe God has a plan and a purpose for this
church? Raise your hand.
Well, I believe that we know that God's wise and God loves
this church, and God has a plan and a purpose for this church.
It would stand the reason that God would put a man that lead
this church and pastor this church with some wisdom, Amen.
And I'll say this as a pastor, None of us are perfect.
The best of men are men at best.
I told them the day I said I put my britches on just like you do,
one leg at the time, hopping around in my bedroom, hoping I
don't fall and break my neck. Amen.
The best of men are men at best. And nobody's perfect 100% of the
time. But I know this.
If I was a church member, I believe I would be hesitant to
disagree with the man of God because I'd read a verse two or
three times. He'd been studying it for years.
I'd probably give him a little bit of breathing room.
Amen. But I want tonight, if I can
just take that statement, because the preacher was wise.
Obviously Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, wisest man that
ever lived. But he gives some some some some
things and some statements after this that gave us an indication
of why the preacher was wise. And as I read these verses, I
meant telling these verses this past week.
In fact, Zane and I flew down to Georgia on Thursday and at the
reach of the men's meeting, and that's when God gave me this
original outline was we was at 36,000 feet, riding right on top
of the clouds. And the plane was doing this.
We were at 38,000 feet. But apparently there were some
other planes up there because he told us it's on the speaker.
I know that because he. And then I had looked at the
person and said, what did he say?
He said we were, yeah. So we were at 38,000 feet.
We came down to 36,000 feet, but right on top of the clouds.
And I was aggravated because I didn't get my cranberry juice.
We're cancelling service for this flight.
Please. I want the flight attendant to
sit down. But while the plane was bouncing
across the top of those clouds going down to Atlanta, God gave
me this thought out of these verses.
And I was just typing on my phone.
Zane fell asleep beside me, had his head on my shoulder.
And man, these verses just came alive.
As I began to meditate on these verses and read them and look up
the words on my phone, I was thinking to myself, man, I can't
wait to preach this. And and the preacher was wise.
And then because he was wise, the Bible gives us a list of
things. I'm only going to give you 3
points tonight because I want to just focus on the last one in
just a moment when we get to it. But if you want to take notes,
write this down #1 because the preacher was wise.
He was persistent in his work. He was persistent in his work.
It says in verse 9. Moreover, because the preacher
was wise, he still taught the people knowledge.
And I just want tonight maybe come alongside the man of God
here and encourage and help him. By the way, he's not sitting
down with me and said, man, while you're here, I really want
you to deal with this and this and this.
And I don't want you to tell him this and I don't you to tell him
that he don't have to. I'm a pastor and I've been a
Baptist. I've been a Baptist my whole
life, all right? I've done about a lot of things.
Baptist Church members is not one of them.
All right? This year I'll be saved 50
years. I was born in 1972 and I've been
in Baptist churches since nine months before I was born.
Hey, man. And I know how church members
can be. I know how they think.
I know how they respond. I know how they they process
information. I know how they've received
things because I have been where you're at on a church view.
I've had a number of tremendous pastors in my life and where I'm
at today, thank God because of the input and the influence of
men of God in my life. But I'm saying that to say this,
the pastor didn't sit down and I have no idea if there's any
problems that don't look like there's any.
Y'all look perfect. I don't even know why I'm here.
Y'all look absolutely. I mean, I mean, your Halos are
glowing and everything, but because the preacher was wise,
he still taught the people knowledge.
And I want to just for just a second remind the church the
pastor's primary responsibility is to teach and preach the word
of God. Well, there's a lot of church
members. They think the pastor's number
one job is to visit them in the hospital.
If you read James Chapman, number one says pure religion
under 5 before God the Father resists to visit the fathers and
the widows and their affliction and to keep himself on his body
from the world. I believe I could say it's
everybody's job to visit the sick people in the hospital.
It's everybody's job to love one another, bear one another
burden. That's not the pastors primary
job. Hey man, and and, and, and, and
Jeremiah chapter 3 and verse #15 he says, I will give you pastors
according to mine heart, which shall feed you peanuts while
you're laying in the hospital. Is that what it says?
Heard about this preacher sitting in a nursing home and he
was sitting there talking to this senior citizen and beside
her bed there was a a little bowl of peanuts.
And while he was talking to me, just reach over and grab one and
he was eating peanuts. And next thing you know, he
turns around, he's eat the whole bowl and look to her sister.
I'm so sorry, he said. I have eaten this whole bowl of
peanuts. She said.
That's OK, Fraser. Ever since I got my teeth
pulled, all I can do is suck the chocolate off of them.
I don't eat peanuts at the hospital, all right?
Ever since I heard that joke, I don't touch them.
But it says, and I will give you pastors, according to my heart,
watch this which shall feed you with knowledge and
understanding. God gave the church a pastor to
teach and to preach the word of God.
That's the primary concern. That's the primary job of the
man of God in Acts chapter 20 verse #28 Take heed therefore
unto yourselves, and all the flock over which the Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers to feed the Church of God.
First, Peter 52, feed the flock of God, which is among you.
He's not talking about dinner on the grounds.
He's not talking about potlucks. He's not talking about
casseroles. He's talking about taking the
word of God and opening up the scriptures and teaching and
preaching the word of God to the people of God.
And I just want to say because the preacher was wise.
He was persistent in his work. You say where do you get that
from? Well, it says in our text he
still taught the people knowledge that word.
Still, I got it circled. I've got that word steel circle.
Why would the preacher still teach the people knowledge?
I'm gonna give you 3 little sub points right here on why I
believe it has that word steel in there.
It's because first of all, because there's a little,
there's very little interest many times in what the preachers
got to say. It's amazing at the people.
They believe the preachers job is to visit them in the
hospital. His primary job is to marry
their kids and bury their dead and and pat them on the shoulder
when they got an ingrown toenail.
But the truth of the matter is his job is to teach and preach
the people. And a lot of people are all
about the pastor as long as he's doing all those other things,
but they're not at all interested.
And what goes on behind the sacred desk, Thank God for a
preacher in this church is going to preach the truth.
Amen. I wouldn't be here and I
wouldn't rub shoulders with this preacher if he didn't.
I know what you what kind of preacher you got here, But
there's a it says he still taught the people knowledge.
He still taught in spite of little interest.
He'd still taught in spite of the labor involved.
The Bible says he gave good heed and sought out and sent in order
many proverbs. The preacher sought to find out
acceptable words, that which was written was upright, even words
of truth. So we see the labor that is
involved, that organizing and the studying and the setting in
order and, and, and the studying and the praying and the seeking
the face of God and finding a passage of Scripture and
understanding that passage of Scripture.
Looking at the context and cross referencing and and and and
breaking down the sentence and looking at the words and the
word structure and looking at the meanings of the words and
the Greek lexicon and the Websters 1828 dictionary.
All of that just so they can get up here and lay some truth out
in front of you for you to put your hands on and incorporate
into your life. Still taught the people
knowledge, it's about a little interest.
It's about a labor involved in spite of lengthy investment
verse #12 Bible says my son be admonished of making many books.
There is no end in much study is awareness of the flesh.
Reason why a lot of people don't study their Bibles because it's
not appealing to the flesh. It's time consuming and if the
flesh doesn't like study. By the way, the pastor shouldn't
be the only one in the in the church studying.
I'm almost positive somewhere in there it said study to show
thyself approved unto God, a Workman that needs not to be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
If the only Bible you get to church, you're starving to
death. If the only Bible that you that
you, that you dissect is a, is food that's already been chewed
up and processed and fed to you on a, on a, on a baby spoon,
you're in trouble. You need to be studying and and
working at home. But the flesh doesn't like that.
I just thought it was interesting.
That said, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the
people knowledge. It's not as fun sometimes as it
looks. Oh I sure will love to be a
pastor one day. Get ride around in a nice car
and eat out all the time. Somebody asked me the day I was
with Brother Joel Haynes and one of his Bible college students
picked us up at the Bible at the airport as we're going down the
road. He said, would you please tell
me if you don't mind, tell me what is the easiest part of the
ministry and what's the hardest part of the ministry?
I said the easiest part of the ministry is lunch.
I said the hardest part of the ministry is the ministry.
I think you dropped out of Bible college after that.
I don't know. See, because the preacher was
wise, he was persistent in his work.
But then secondly, because the preacher was wise, he was
perceptive in his wisdom. The Bible is cleared, the
preacher was wise. And then it gives us some
indications as to why he was wise.
And several times it makes reference to his observation, to
his perception. It says in verse 9, he still
taught the people knowledge. A He gave good heed and sought
out and set an automated proverbs in verse #10 The
preacher sought to find out acceptable words, appropriate
words, words that were fitting to the occasion, words that were
applicable to the needs into the situation, words that were
acceptable and that which was written was upright, even words
of truth. So we see that because the
preacher was wise, he was perceptive in his wisdom.
There's a huge responsibility guilty on every man of God to
have his eyes and ears open and know what's going on in the
church. There's a lot of pastors today
got their hands over their eyes, They got blinders only have no
idea what's going on in the church or so it seems.
By listening to them preach, they they act like they have no
sin in the church, act like nobody in the church is
struggling with the flesh and nobody's fighting carnality and
nobody is living in any kind of sin.
Listening to them preach, you just assume they all just want
to run their aisles and shout all the time.
But the fact the matter is the shepherd and the and the man of
God is supposed to have his eyes open.
He's supposed to be perceptive. Proverbs chapter 27 and verse 23
says be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks and look
well to thy herds and and and and I just read Acts chapter #20
but Paul told the Ephesian elders.
He said he said feed the flock of God.
Watch this over at which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers. We see the perception, we see
the observation, we see the attention that is required for
the man of God, for him to be the man that God would have him
to be. He's got to know what's going
on. I say it like this.
He's got to have his finger on the pulse of that church.
He's got to know what's going on.
He's got to know the spiritual state of the youth group.
He's got to know the spiritual state of the marriages.
He's got to know the spiritual state of his men.
I think I'm doing like three men's conferences this month.
We're going to be at Brother Almonza's in just a few weeks.
And, and I love preaching the men.
Men are the backbone of the church.
And when the men in the church are unified and they're behind
their pastor and they understand his heart and they understand
his vision for that church and they leave their families.
Man, a church can explode. I tell my people all the time.
I say, if you men will pass to your family, I won't have to
lead your wife, lead your children, be responsible for the
spiritual state of your family because as goes the home, so
goes the church. The church is made-up of homes
and families. And so the pastor has to have
perception as to give heed. Man, there's a lot in the Bible
about giving heed. And I don't want to keep
laboring that point, but I'll say that the because the
preacher was wise. He's perceptive in his wisdom.
He's he knows what's going on. And there's a lot of people in a
church, they'll say, I wonder why he's preaching on that.
I wonder why he's talking about that all the time, because he
knows something you don't know. He's heard something you hadn't
heard. He's seen something you hadn't
seen. We got, I think we've got a
tremendous youth group at our church, but I mean, they're
young people, so they're not perfect.
We were all young people one time and we got a group of young
people that I believe they love the Lord.
But we also got a group of young people who knows how to look
like they love the Lord. Everybody OK, don't get nervous
down here. Don't bow your heads any time to
pray. We got young people that know
how to look like they're on fire.
They know how to give off that that vibe.
And they know how to they know how to dress and know how to
carry their Bible and know how to take notes.
And they know how to go to the altar and they know how to sing
and they know they know all the stuff that they're supposed to
do. But that doesn't mean, like you
said just a minute ago, this is just because you're they're
singing on the platform doesn't mean your heart is where it
ought to be. Sometimes you hear the preacher
preach. You're like, man, he sure is
hard on the youth group this week.
He might know something about him you don't know.
Well, he sure is down on the marriages.
He sure is. Boy, he's beating us over the
head about having a godly home and a Christian home.
He might have spent hours doing marriage counseling this week
and he might know something you don't know.
That's part of being that watchman on the wall you can see
a little bit further than everybody else.
That's a hey, because the preacher's wise, he will give
heed. He'll give good heed.
That's a sign of a good wise pastor that knows what's going
on. But thirdly, this is where I
want to get this message. We see not only is he persistent
in his work, perceptive in his wisdom, but because the preacher
was wise, he was pointed in his words.
And verse number lives where I was wanting to get this is the
part of the message right here that I was meditating on flying
on the plane. The words of the wise.
There it is again. The words of the wise are as
goods are as goods and it's I don't like preaching some time.
It sure makes me uncomfortable. It's supposed to.
It's designed to Amen. I've seen church members sit
there and wear out a perfectly good, perfectly good pair of
pants on the on the chair, just squirming, squirming while the
preachers preach. They just go, oh, I wish you'd
man, I wish you'd get done. Goodness gracious.
What time is it? How long?
How long is he? Going to preach.
He's not preaching long, he's just using a lot of pointed
words. Amen.
Words of the wise, come on. It's on purpose, by the way.
We work really hard at saying things to make church members
uncomfortable. Our job is to comfort the
afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
Those get goad in verse #11 that was back in the old days.
They'd take a long stick and they'd just sharpen it on the
end, make it real sharp. And they'd use that thing to
they'd use that thing to prick in the Pope with those moving
cows or goats or whatever it is moving.
They'd use that, that, that, that, that, that prod that goat.
And, and that's exactly what the words of the wise are.
They are as goats, by the way, the Bible.
Was. Written to be that way.
And it says in Hebrews 412 the word of God's quick and powerful
and sharper than any 2 edged sword, even to the piercing,
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the
joints and marrow, and as a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart. A lot of times it's not just
what the preacher saying that's goading, it's the Word of God
that's goading. In fact, in Acts chapter 2 and
verse #37 while Peter's preaching, he's quoting
Scripture from all over the Old Testament and the Bible says in
verse 37 of Acts 2. Now when they heard this, they
were pricked in their hearts. That was the Word of God doing
that. Peter didn't learn to do that.
Fishing and drawing Nets. The Word of God was what was
doing that. In Acts chapter 5 and verse 33,
it says when they heard that they were cut to the heart and
took counsel to slay them. In Acts Chapter 7 and verse 54,
Stephen's preaching and the Bible says when they heard these
things, they were cut to the heart.
The Word of God was designed to poke and prick 4 subpoints.
I want to give you quickly and we'll be done.
I want you to write this down. This, this pointed in his words.
You look at verse #11 and he gives us three different
occupations. You got some kind of herdsmen of
some kind of herder of animals of some kind.
And then you got a Carpenter, and then you got a shepherd.
All three of these occupations in one verse.
And all of them are compared to a preacher that is wise.
So let's, let's see what the Holy Spirit of God put this in
there for, because he's painting a picture.
And it fascinates me because it's a, it's a picture.
And the verse is about words and he's using words to to make a
point. So the first, first thing I want
you to notice about the the he's pointed in his words is they are
goading words. They're goading words.
That literally is a shark stick. Now today they have cattle
prods. They put batteries in them and
they can run between 3006 thousand volts.
And you, you, you, you use that. That's the modern way of doing
it. I think maybe you know, your
parents stick their head in the door and say hey, it's time to
get up, time to go to church. You just keep laying to bed,
keep laying to bed and he won't get up.
I think that cattle prod will probably get the job done, don't
you think? Imagine if they snuck in there
and popped you on the behind with that cattle prod.
If it you wouldn't leap to your feet, leaping and praising God
into. The House of God, boy, it's good
to be in charge. The the words of the wise are
goading words. It's that's, that's designed to
do that. It's designed to to shock you.
It is designed to stir you. It is designed to spur you.
That's what the word of God does.
And the man of God that is wise, the preacher that is wise, will
study and prepare messages and figure out how to say it in the
most effective way to optimize what God is trying to do in your
heart. They are goading words.
Secondly, they are guiding words.
Write that down. They're guiding words.
The words of the wise are as goats and you don't, you don't
go to a cow or a sheep or whatever.
You're trying to goat. You're trying to, you're trying
to, you don't just go to them for the fun of it.
That'd be sadistic. I know there are some people
that think, well, our preacher just loves making me
uncomfortable. Actually we don't love making
you uncomfortable. But what we do love is we love
to see you moving in the right direction.
And if we have to use sharp words and, and, and freaking
words and prodding words to do that, then so be it.
Nobody knows how to get comfortable more than Christians
and Baptists sitting in churches.
I got to where I just quit telling people in my church.
I quit tell them not to sleep. I just said please don't snore
and drool all over everybody. I can't believe there are people
that would sleep in church comfortable.
Heard about 1 Deacon died. He asked his wife.
He said just bury me in my view. He says I've never slept and
rested so well as I did in my church.
Guiding words. Guiding words.
I looked it up on I looked it up on the Internet and I just asked
a real dumb question. Why do people use cattle prods?
I just wanted to see the answer. And the answer cracked me up.
It gave me 3 three reasons. Number one, people use cattle
prods. They're designed to cause an
animal to go in a desired direction.
Yeah, we're going that way. The cow or the goat or the sheep
or whatever wants to go over here and drift over here and
gets distracted and gets all gets all turned around and, and
and the shepherd says hey, hey, this way, this way.
Finally, he just hates that little pointed stick over there
and pokes them. Hey, that way.
We're going that way. Sometimes a pastor has to use
pointed words to get the people in the church to go in the right
direction. You ever seen those synchronized
rollers and all those those? The Moors are going at the same
time, and what that boat is just skimming right across the top of
the water. And is that how they do it?
You can tell by looking at me. I don't do a lot of rowing, but
it's synchronized. It's together.
That's what the church is supposed to look like.
But there's always that one idiot in the back of the boat
that's got their paddle in the water and they're just dragging
it. And everybody's busting the gut.
I mean, everybody's trying to move forward.
Board of pastors presented the vision for the year.
And then and we're trying to, we're trying to get people to
church and we're trying to be faithful and we're giving and
we're tithing and we're supporting missionaries and
we're going soul winning and we're, we're fasting and we're
praying. It's like, man, what is the
problem? It's that one guy in the back.
I don't like what we're doing. I don't like the direction we're
going in. And the and the preacher has to
get up, take the cattle prod back there and say, hey, we're
going that way, we ain't going that way.
We're not going that way, we're going that way.
Get with the program. We're trying to establish a
direction. It's amazing how many people in
the church so out of step with what God's trying to do Amazing
Have a business meeting at our church.
If it's depend on what it is. We have a secret ballot.
We don't vote on everything. We don't vote on whether or not
we use one ply or two ply toilet paper.
We don't vote on that. We just, but if we're going to
spend a lot of money, do something big, we'll have a
business meeting and we'll, we'll have a secret ballot.
And it'd be amazing. It'd be like almost 100%
unanimous. And it'd be like one person was
against it. And I wanted to just stand up
and say I don't know which one of you cats voted no, but just
so you can go home and not and know that you're completely out
of step with the entire church. You're out of step with the
church, you're out of step with everybody in the church.
You're out of step with the man of God.
You're out of escape. You're going in the.
Opposite direction. Just want you to do that.
I've always wanted to do that. Praise God.
The last 4567 meetings we've had has been unanimous because I
told the church, I said if I could ever say this what God
wants us to do. And we prayed about it and we've
got some counsel. I said everybody's to get on.
Board, what we're doing. But sometimes there's always
that one that's all that one. And you got a poke and you got a
prod. We're trying.
We're trying to get people to follow Jesus.
We're trying to get people to follow God.
And boy, sometimes, as a songwriter says, prone to
wonder. Lord, I feel it prone to leave
the God I love and you start dabbling around in carnality and
the world and you're over here like the preacher just preached
about pitching your tent towards Sodom and you read that verse
where it talked about him pitching his tent towards Sodom.
He said he looked over the plane, said it looked it looked
like Egypt. Satan verse says it looked like
the garden of God. You know, if you look at Egypt
long enough, it looks like it's from God, but nothing of Egypt
ever looks like anything of God. Egypt.
And God's in opposite directions.
Sometimes we get distracted and we get, we get involved in
things and the preacher has to get up here and he has to take
the word of God. That's quick and powerful and
sharp, and he has to use pointed words to get us back in the
right direction. And I would not be where I'm at
right now, Brother Boots, if God hadn't put me in my life all the
years ago that got him preaching pointed messages to me.
I'm glad they didn't tiptoe through the tulips when I was a
little kid. They got up and told me what
thus saith the Lord. And this is what you need to do.
This is what you want to do. And they didn't, they didn't,
they didn't make any sound like it was optional.
This is what God wants you to do and where I'm at because I'm
pointed. Preaching, Amen.
Not only is it goading words and guiding words, but thirdly, it's
growing words. Growing words.
Or we could say it. We could, we could say it like
this, we could say it like this. We could say it was graduating
words. And that's the statement in the
phrase in the middle, verse 11, the words of the wise are as
goads. He's continuing this thought and
the words of the wise are as nails fastened by the masters of
assemblies. It's graduating words.
There's there's an assembly being done.
There's a building, there's a growing, there is a putting
together piece by piece by piece by piece until you get a
finished product. Now, I'm a Carpenter.
I'm not the best, but I make the best.
Very nervous. This pulpit right here used to
be in a lumberyard. This, all the stuff that makes
this up. This used to be in a lumberyard.
Somebody took lumber and they made a pulpit out of it.
That piano, Can you believe that?
This piano, there was a bunch of boards at one time laying on a
rack at a lumberyard, but somebody that knew what they
were doing. And that's why it says Masters
of assembly, not everybody can do it.
Not everybody can do it because there's a trick to it.
You got to learn. You got to learn how to do it
from somebody that knows how to do it.
And you got to sit under them and watch them and they teach
you and you learn how to do it. OK, are you all getting this?
The words of the wise are as nails fastened by the masters of
assembly. It's very, very strategic.
You don't just grab a nail gun and start slapping nails.
I learned to frame. I started framing houses when I
was 19. You 16 pinion nails.
You used to go down that there's a big old 50 LB box of nails.
Grab a big old double handful, roll them up, stick them in your
in your tool pouch, line up on top of the house and start hand
driving nails. We built everything hand drive
back in that before they had nail guns.
You've done it framing walls, raise them up, put your ceiling
joy stone, put your rafters on all of them by hand, every bit
of them by hand. But you don't use 16 penny nails
in a framing hammer. When you're putting together
this thing right here. There's a different tools,
different nails, very strategic. It's very precise.
It's very systematic. We're trying to build something.
The man of God gets him in the pulpit and he begins to preach
and he might be sitting back going, what are we doing?
He's building. Paul said.
He says I'm a wise master builder.
That's what Paul said. Is that not what he's saying?
I believe it's what he said. I think it's Chapter 3.
He says I'm a wise master builder.
He was talking about himself by the way.
Well, I I beat with having a construction background and and
being fascinated by intrigued by the whole idea.
Yeah, that's what he said. I knew that's what it is what he
said. First Corinthians 3 and verse
number and 10 according to the grace of God, which is given to
me as a wise master builder. I've laid the foundation another
buildeth their own. Let every man take heed how he
buildeth their own and God laid it on Pastor Boots heart.
Take this church and move it in a direction.
It's got to be done strategically and systematically
and it's very intentional. I wonder why he's preaching on
this. I wonder why he's preaching on
this series. I wonder why he's preaching
through this book. It's it's on purpose.
It's all on purpose. And the whole idea, the whole
idea is to try to build you as a Christian, put things in your
hands that you can go forward and, and you think about a nail,
You think about a nail. That nail, when you drive that
nail, it stays the same. Pulpit was here last year, I
believe. It's amazing.
Through all the preaching, it didn't come apart.
Whoever put it together, they did it right because it's still
here. Do you realize that when the
preacher gets up and preaches the Word of God, he's trying to
drive home a biblical principle or truth or concept, and he
wants you to get it nailed down in your mind, nailed down in
your heart, so that you're not still battling with that,
struggling with that. Three years from now, five
years, 10 years from now, The hope and prayer, you young
people, listen to me. The hope and prayer is that at
an early age, you get some things nailed down in your life
now and you won't ever have to deal with it again.
Been to the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC Any of you has
ever been to Biltmore House? Absolutely fascinating from a
builder's perspective because you won't see a single nail.
I don't know how in the world they did it.
I don't know how they did it. This is before this is before
modern tools. I don't know how they it's
unbelievable that that that stained grade wood, the way it's
cut and it's assembled. You don't see nail holes, You
don't see putty, you don't see Bondo, you don't see called.
But it's, it's unreal. Master Craftsman 100 and 5200
years ago, that house was built whenever it was by the
Vanderbilt. Still there, still there.
Can I tell you something? The pastor's job and pastor's
responsibility is to give you the truth, teach you the word of
God. You get it nailed down in your
life. And listen to me.
Sometimes it hurts. You can't nail two boards
together without putting a hole in it.
There's going to be some piercing, there's going to be
some penetration, but that's got to happen.
That thing to stay there, you got to die to sell, you got to
surrender. You got to yield to the voice of
God, Say Lord, that's your word, that's your Bible, that's your
truth. I'm going to submit to it.
Let God just go ahead and get it nailed down in your life.
Get it nailed down in your life. Just go ahead and nail it down
that you're going to be at church every time, Doors wrote.
If you ever have the option, if the option's ever on the table
to miss church, you will miss church.
Go ahead and get it nailed down that you're going to be faithful
to soul winning. If it ever becomes optional,
they'll come a day you'll quit going tithing.
Given the missions, supporting the work of God, getting
involved in the ministry, all those things ought to be nailed
down in your life. Some people, I don't think they
nailed it. I think they, I think they, I
think they just duct taped it and it's getting loose.
But not only do we see the goading words and the guiding
words and the graduating words, but we see lastly the guarding
words. They're guarding words.
He's pointed in his words and he closed out verse 11 words of the
wise words goads and his nails fastened by the masses of
assembly which are given from 1 Shepherd Shepherd.
Those pointed messages, those messages that make you
uncomfortable, those messages that convict you that make your
hand sweaty. Those, those messages and those
statements from the pulpit that that goes against your flesh.
That is a that is a under shepherd up here in this pulpit
that's trying to protect you from the wolves.
You know what thinking about just thinking about the whole
uncomfortable aspect of the of the goading.
Do you know what the ancient shepherd used to use for sheep?
Voles, branches and thorns. They would pile them up in a big
old They can make them. They can make one temporary.
If they wanted to. They'd cut down those thorn
trees and make a big circle. I'd keep those sheep in there,
keep them away from the fence, trying to get climb under to try
to knock it over. It was very uncomfortable for
them to try to get out of where they were supposed to be.
And then the shepherd himself would lay down in the door.
He used to sit down in the door. He'd lay down in that door, keep
the sheep in, keep the wolves out, being vigilant.
He went to hire and he was a real shepherd.
But all that's the guard. I wouldn't go to a church where
the preaching never made me uncomfortable.
Amen. There's something wrong.
One of my young preacher boys in
our Bible college, he came to me this morning.
He just started. The next year.
We're going to get into the preaching class, but he just
started. So he's catching the end of the
third year and now we're going to start our first year in the
fall. So we're wrapping up our first
three years of our Bible college.
He came to me, he said, preacher, I taught Sunday school
this morning, but I really got, I believe God wants me to take
that same passage and preach it tonight in the rescue mission
after the service. And then he says to me, what
love he said, He said, how do I take something that I taught and
how do I preach it? How do I, what's the difference
in teaching and preaching? I said we're going to do a whole
semester class on that. There is a difference.
That's right. Teaching is information.
Teaching is educational. Teaching is challenging.
Preaching forces you to make a decision about the message.
That's right. Preaching by nature is very
confrontational. The difference, if you want, in
a nutshell, preaching forces it backs you up in the corner to
where you're forced to make a decision.
What am I gonna do with this message?
That's why people are leaving. They're leaving churches with
sound doctrine and heaping to themselves teachers.
Having itching ears because it's not confrontational, it's not
pushing them out of their comfort zone.
They're not having to change anything.
They're not having to adapt anything.
They're not having to stop doing anything or start doing
anything. But the fact of the matter is,
hey, hey, hey, the words of the wise race goats.
And it sounds painful and it sounds uncomfortable and
they're, but they're they're they're like nails fastened by
the masters of assembly, which you're given from 1 shepherd.
I love you. I want you to stay in the fold.
I don't want you. I don't want you to become a
casualty. I don't want the wolves to get
you. I don't want the bears and the
lions to get you. I want you to stay right up in
here where you're supposed to be, where God can work and move
in your life. There's a whole lot more in
these verses, but I feel like God want me to finish here
because the preacher was wise. He was persistent in his work.
Thank God for a preacher that don't get discouraged and quit
and change his message because he's worried about somebody
saying I don't like that. I told my people, I said I'll, I
will sit at your table. I will hunt and your deer stand
and I will fish out of your bass boat.
But when I get up in this pulpit, I'm not your friend.
I'm the man of God with a message from God and I don't
care who likes it and who don't like it.
I ain't changing it for nobody. And that's what a preacher is
supposed to say. Amen.
Persistent in his work, perceptive in his wisdom.
Thirdly, pointed in his words, the words of the wise are as
goads. They will prick you, they will
prod you, they will be sharp, they'll be unsettling.
They will cause you to. 2nd. Guess where you're at and what
you're doing and the decisions that you're about to make.
That's what they're designed to do, to cause you and I to go in
the right direction because God loves you.
Hey, man, and God loves you and you know how much He loves you.
He gave you a wise preacher. And listen to me.
I can't, brother-in-law. I can't preach this everywhere.
I could, I couldn't preach this message in just any church, but
I'll be like, I say that about this one.
You're a blessed group of people.
You've got a preacher that's going to tell you the truth.
Listen, this church, he could have been running five times
this, you know it and I know it. He could have been running five
times as many people if he just quit preaching pointed messages,
leave out some of those goading words, and praise the Lord.
It's got to be right if it's got to be.
If it's if God's going to bless it, it's got to be done God's
way. Amen, Preacher, you come.