INTRO.- What the preacher thinks. I know. That’s a scary thought!
ILL.- One preacher said to another, "I think a preacher needs to study a lot for his Sunday morning sermon."
The second preacher said, "I disagree with you. Many times I have no idea what I am going to preach about until I go into the pulpit. I get up there and preach and think nothing of it."
The first preacher replied, "You are right in thinking nothing of it. YOUR DEACONS HAVE TOLD ME THEY FEEL THE SAME WAY ABOUT YOUR PREACHING! They think nothing of it!"
Brethren, I realize that some sermons are good and some may stink! And I’ve probably preached a few stinkers in my time too. But I try hard not to do that.
I try very hard to do the best I can for two reasons: 1- The Lord 2- You. The Lord deserves the very best and you do too! I love you and I love the Lord. And I need to love you even more. Love is a growing thing. And I pray that ours will grow.
Have you ever wondered why I preach what I preach? Perhaps we can think of it in this way.
ILL.- In his sermon, the new preacher at a church in Tennessee preached against gambling at horseraces. One of the deacons pulled him aside and said, "Folks didn’t appreciate that sermon. You see, a lot of race horses are raised in this part of the country."
The next Sunday the new preacher preached about the evils of smoking. That same deacon came to him and said, "There are many people around here who grow tobacco. You can’t preach about that."
The third Sunday the new preacher preached about the evils of drinking booze only to be told that there was a large still less than a mile from the church house where some of the church members worked.
The new, frustrated preacher said, "Well, what in the world can I preach about?" The deacon replied, "PREACH AGAINST THEM HEATHEN WITCHDOCTORS. THERE AIN’T ONE OF THEM WITHIN A THOUSAND MILES OF US."
Brethren, I know that’s the way some people would like for their preacher to preach. In other words, don’t preach anything about our sins or anything negative or anything that might happen to hit home with somebody in the church. We wouldn’t want anybody to get offended.
I hope you realize that I would never purposely preach something just to step on toes. I don’t do that! Of course, I am reminded of the old saying, "If the shoe fits, then wear it."
I have had many people say to me, "You hit me every Sunday." Or "You sure stepped on my toes." Or "I think you’re preaching at me every Sunday."
I never single out anybody to preach to......er uh! Most of the time, I don’t!
ILL.- Old preacher Vance Havner once said, "Preaching...ought to get under the skin..." Meaning, it ought to be strong enough to get to people’s hearts!
Brother Havner said a lot of good things. Here are some of his quotes.
"I don’t stand on the outside of the church and knock it. I try to stand on the inside and exhort it." (or encourage it) That’s what we all should want to do.
Paul said, "Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction."
Basically, preaching is presenting what God says in His Word and it is also what the preacher thinks about things: about what God says and what is going on in the world.
PROP.- Today I want to tell you what I think about some things in life.
1- Gouging
2- Giving
3- Gathering
4- Going
I. GOUGING
ILL.- A doctor said to the shoe repairman: Please look these shoes over and see if they are worth repairing.
The repairman: No, they’re not worth repairing.
Doctor: Thank you.
Repairman: That will be 2 bucks!
Doctor: For what? You haven’t done anything to my shoes.
Repairman: Neither did you last week when you examined me and charged me $75 after telling me you found nothing wrong with me.
Brethren, do we have any doctors in the house? Many people feel like they get gouged at the doctor’s office and probably even more so, when they get their bill from the hospital. They feel like they get an inflated bill.
And most of us feel like we are getting gouged every time we pull into the service station to get gas!
ILL.- I noticed that our prices in Mattoon went up nearly $.30 a gallon in two weeks time. I CALL THAT GOUGING! We have paid as high as $1.89 per gallon for regular unleaded gas. Of course, the people in Chicago have paid probably as high as $2.50. If we had to pay that much for gas we’d really be steaming!
ILL.- Someone said, "Gasoline prices are so high that a man drove into a service station and asked for a dollar’s worth of gas. The station attendant dabbed a few drops behind his ears."
We get gouged financially in life in many ways. Here are some good quotes:
ILL.- And someone said, "If you think your car is expensive to operate, try a shopping cart."
And - "To market, to market....my groceries to buy....home again, home again....to sit down and cry."
ILL.- And in regard to our government, someone said, "Isn’t it sneaky the way they call it a ’tax return,’ as if your money was going to make a round trip."
ILL.- Or "A slight tax increase costs you $300, while a substantial tax cut lowers your tax by $30."
Most of us probably feel like we get gouged by Uncle Sam when it comes to our taxes.
ILL.- Someone said, "Anyone with normal blood pressure these days just isn’t paying attention to what’s going on in the world."
Brethren, it seems like we’re always getting gouged by someone at some time in life.
ILL.- Some years ago there was an article in the Christian Standard entitled "Will Life Get Better?" The author wrote, "A cloud of pessimism has been hanging over the U.S. for some time. Economic problems, military concerns, and personal difficulties have combined to remove the blind of optimism of previous decades.
"Whether justified or not, people believe the near future will be grimmer. The nation’s standard of living is simply under attack from all sides. Many Americans believe the past was a better time than the present, and they anticipate that the present, however bad, is likely to be better than the future."
Brethren, is this true? Is the future going to be worse than the present? In some ways, yes!
II Tim. 3:1 "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days..."
V. 13-14 "Evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of...."
DID YOU HEAR THOSE WORDS? "Continue in what you have learned...."
In other words, continue in the truth of Christ! That’s our only hope right now and in the future!
The writer of that article, "Will Life Get Better?" also said, "Inflation, recession, bankruptcy. These words do not spell defeat for the Christian. His hope does not depend on the Dow-Jones average nor the prime interest rate. HE TRUSTS IN GOD."
No matter how much we think we are getting gouged in life, financially or otherwise, we must continue to believe, to trust and walk by faith in our living, all-powerful God!
Habakkuk 3:17-18 "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are not sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, YET I WILL REJOICE IN THE LORD, I WILL BE JOYFUL IN GOD MY SAVIOR."
Come what may, we must look up to our great God, rejoice in Him and walk by faith Him! BECAUSE HE IS ABLE! He is able to take care of us!
1- Gouging
II. GIVING
ILL.- A man told his preacher, "I need a $100 desperately to pay a bill that is way past due. Iâll be in real trouble if I don’t get the money. I keep praying to God for help but He doesn’t seem to help me."
The preacher said, "Don’t lose faith. Just keep on praying."
Well, the preacher thought about the man’s situation and decided he would help him out, so he decided to give him $50 of his own money.
He met the man a few days later and said, "Here, God sent this to you."
When the man got home, he prayed, "Thank you, Lord, for the money. But the next time you send money, please don’t send it through the preacher because he kept half of it."
The moral of that story is: Don’t ask me for help!
Brethren, when it comes to money and particularly giving money, people don’t get very excited! Including Christians.
ILL.- A noted Doctor in a certain church sent this note to his preacher, "Sorry, I haven’t tithed for three months, but, you know, there’s a lot of that going around." AS IF IT WERE SOME KIND OF DISEASE!
ILL.- Another church member was somewhat delinquent in his giving to the church and the preacher told, "Now you’re a good man. And I know that you pay your debts to everyone else. So why not pay your debt to the Lord?"
The man replied, "Well, to tell the truth, Preacher, the Lord just doesn’t push as hard as some of the other people I owe."
Brethren, the truth is, the Lord doesn’t push us at all to give money back to Him! He doesn’t push, he doesn’t prod and he doesnât put the arm twist on anybody. AND NEITHER DO I!
I don’t want that done to me and I’m not going to do it to you.
ILL.- Some years ago I was attending the Annual Preaching & Teaching Convention at my Alma Mater, Ozark Christian College in Joplin, MO. At each of the main worship sessions they would take up an offering for the college and to help defray the expenses of the convention. I started to get my checkbook out and write a check, when the professor who gave the offering meditation, said, "Now we want everybody here tonight to give $100 per person, per head. The college needs it badly and you need to give it."
And basically, that’s what he said. AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT I DID? I put my checkbook back in my coat pocket! It wasn’t that I didn’t love the Lord and love OCC. I did, but I did not appreciate being pushed into giving.
And I wouldn’t do that to you either! But would you please open your billfold and turn to page 20!! Just kidding!
Brethren, let me tell you what I think about giving back to God.
First, we must realize that everything we have or own really belongs to God!
ILL.- Al, did you know that the Lord drives a 1998 Ford Taurus with 56,000 miles on it? He does. No, I drive that car but it is really the Lord’s car. And I live in the Lord’s house at 2647 Brian Drive. And I sleep in the Lord’s bed. And I eat out of the Lord’s frig. In fact, I eat the Lord’s food. BECAUSE HE IS THE ONE WHO GIVES IT TO ME!
Elaine generally writes out the check for the food and cooks it, BUT THE LORD IS THE ONE WHO HAS GIVEN IT ALL TO US! And to you too!
James 1:16-17 "Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father...."
Brethren, all our good material blessings such as: job, money, car, house, food, clothing, fun times, pleasure times, vacations, etc. come from God!
God loans these things to us and expects us to use them wisely and graciously. HE GIVES TO US SO THAT WE CAN GIVE TO OTHERS OR HELP OTHERS! Whether that be to reach people with the gospel or help them with material needs. And I think and believe that we should give back to God or to His work a portion of these material blessings.
Giving back to God seems so reasonable and sensible to me. He gives us so much and we give Him so little!
Did you ever stop to think how much you spend on yourself in comparison to what you give back to God? Think of all the good things we have or experience with the money God gives to us: houses, cars, clothing, sports, entertainment, food, etc.
And we spend far more on these things than we do in giving to the church or missions! In fact, it’s almost embarrassing how much we get to keep for ourselves in comparison to what we give back to God!
Prov. 3:9-10 "Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing...."
Personally speaking, I don’t care much about having my barns filled with anything, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A LITTLE MORE MONEY IN MY CHECKBOOK! Hey! This is exactly what God is talking about! When we remember Him and honor Him, HE WILL REMEMBER US! He’ll take care of us!
Mal. 3:8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, How do we rob you? In tithes and offerings."
V. 10 "Bring the whole tithe (10%) into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."
God says, "Test me. Give and just watch me give back to you!" If we give back to God in good faith, He will give back to us. I think the whole point is giving is this: Do we trust God to take care of us?
ILL.- I like the way Brother Seth Wilson of OCC put it. He said, "How can you believe God will take care of you in the next world if you don’t believe He’ll take care of you financially in this world? If we cannot believe His promises here and now, how can we trust Him there and then?" Makes good sense to me.
Brethren, your giving is between you and God. God knows everything about you. He knows whether you trust Him or not. And I really hope you will put your trust in Him! God can do things that you wouldn’t believe! Why not try Him out? TEST HIM AND SEE WHAT HE WILL DO FOR YOU!
1- Gouging
2- Giving
III. GATHERING
ILL.- A preacher ran into one of his deacons on Sunday evening and said, "I was told that you went to a ball game instead of coming to church this morning." The deacon replied, "That’s not a true at all. And here’s the fish to prove it."
Brethren, I want to talk briefly about going to church.
Acts 2:41-42 "Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about 3000 were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."
These early Christians (about 3000) went to church! They were the church! But they came together to study, pray and worship the Lord. SHOULD WE DO LESS THAN WHAT THEY DID?
Acts 20:7 "On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people..."
Again, the early Christians came together every first day of the week to partake of the Lord’s Supper....to remember and honor the Lord in His Supper. SHOULD WE DO LESS THAN WHAT THEY DID?
Last Sunday, Father’s Day, we only had 113 people in church. And on any given Sunday lately, we will have around 50 to 80 absentees.
Brethren, I have preached for nearly 35 years and I know how the ball game works. I know what goes on in churches. I know that in the summer time most folks go on vacation. I generally go on vacation too, BUT NO ONE SHOULD TAKE A VACATION FROM GOD AND HIS CHURCH!
Even when you go on vacation you should find a church and honor and worship the Lord!
In other words, the Lord’s Day worship should always....always be a priority in our lives! After all, do we expect to go to heaven when we die? I hope so. Matthew 6:33 Seek first...
Then don’t you think we need to express our love to the Lord through worship? Makes sense to me.
Brethren, all I am saying is this: Don’t get so caught up in going and coming, playing or whatever so that you don’t have time or take time to go to church to honor the Lord!
We owe the Lord everything! And He has given us everything good! And especially, the promise of life after death. We need to express and demonstrate our thanks to Him!
ILL.- My mama is 82 years old. She has Parkinson’s disease and that’s the big thing that’s pulling her down physically. She gave birth to me some 55 years ago and she has helped to bear many of my burdens throughout my life. It would be an utter disgrace for me to forget her now and not go see her whenever I can! And not do things for her, etc.
Brethren, the Lord gave birth to us spiritually and He has bore many of our burdens in life and it is a disgrace when we don’t take the time to remember and honor Him!
Please be as faithful to the Lord in worship as you possibly can be! He’s done so much for us! We owe Him everything...and all the worship and praise that is within us! We will never worship Him too much or give thanks to Him too much.
1- Gouging
2- Giving
3- Gathering
IV. GOING
ILL.- A man said to his friend, "I caught a 250 lb. marlin fish recently."
His friend replied, "Well, that’s nothing. I was fishing and hooked a lamp from an old Spanish ship. In fact, the light was still lit!"
The first man replied, "If you will blow out that light, I’ll take 200 lbs. off my marlin!"
Are all fishermen liars? Or all liars fishermen?
ILL.- A year ago last April I went fishing at a pond at Anna, IL. It was just before the largemouth bass had spawned and were they ever hungry! I caught 70 bass in 5 hours and the majority of them weighed between 2 and 3 lbs.
This Memorial Day Elaine and I were down in Southern IL and we stayed the night before with her son Brad and his family. I got up about 4 a.m. on Monday, Memorial Day morning and went back to that pond. This time I caught 43 bass and they weighed anywhere from a pound up to 4 1/2 lbs. And probably 20 of those 43 weighed between 3 and 4 lbs. NO BRAG, JUST FACT. And no lie!
I caught most of those 3 and 4 lb. bass on what is called a topwater buzz bait. TALK ABOUT A BLAST! Those bass would come up and bust that lure and it was like an explosion! I HAD A BALL! It was exciting! Fun!
AND EVERYBODY OUGHT TO DO IT! You should do that! You should go fishing! If you don’t fish, there’s something wrong with you!
Brethren, what I am really saying is this: IF YOU ARE SOLD ON THE PRODUCT, YOU WILL SELL IT TO OTHERS!
Haven’t you ever been so excited about something in life, to the point that you couldn’t stop telling others about it? Bet you have. It may have been fishing, or hunting, or playing ball, or playing golf, or going shopping, or gardening.....
All of us have had things that interested us and excited us to the point that we just couldn’t keep quiet about them. WE JUST HAD TO TELL OTHERS!
What I want to know is this: ARE YOU SOLD ON JESUS? If so, why aren’t you selling Him to others?
Do you really believe with all your heart that Jesus can save you from your sins and give you a home in heaven thatwill last forever? DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE THIS? If so, why aren’t you selling this message to others?
Matt. 28:18-19 Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them....."
We’ve been commanded to go and sell the goods to people! Sell the good message of the gospel, that Jesus saves and gives us a home in heaven!
Are you sharing that message with others? With anybody? I don’t believe that God expects us to be preachers to people, but He does expect us to witness for Him and His Son Jesus.
We need to be in the business of gathering people into the church! Bringing people to Christ and to the church! Our business is the gathering business!
ILL.- Roy Weece is the Campus Minister at the University of MO in Columbia, MO. Roy told about being in a restaurant one time and overheard four nurses talking. Apparently one of them had visited a fortune teller or a palm reader who told her whether she was going to get married or not and for only $5.
Roy told them he had overheard their conversation. He said, "I can understand why you are interested in the future, since we all are going to spend the rest of our lives there." Then Roy offered to tell them the future and said, "it won’t cost you a penny."
Another time a man stopped in front of Roy’s house and knocked on his door. He said he was lost and Roy said, "It’s possible to be lost in two ways." Then he went on to tell the man how he’d found his way in Jesus.
Brethren, I realize that not everyone is bold enough to witness for Christ in situations like these. BUT WE ALL CAN DO SOMETHING TO GATHER PEOPLE INTO THE CHURCH! Please do what you can, whenever you can!
Invite everyone to come to church! I mean, everyone you come in contact with! At work, at the ballpark, at Wal-Mart, in the bank, at family reunions... And whenever you are given the opportunity to speak a good word for Jesus, please do it. You’ll not regret it. IN FACT, You’ll BE BLESSED FOR IT!
CONCLUSION-------------------------------------------
ILL.- The story is told that a captain of a ship looked into the dark night and saw faint lights in the distance. Immediately he told his signalman to send a message, "After your course 10 degrees south." Almost immediately he got a message saying, "You alter your course 10 degrees north."
The captain was angered and sent another message saying, "Alter your course 10 degrees south. I am the captain." Again, another was received back, saying, "Alter your course 10 degrees north. I am seaman third class Jones."
Immediately, the captain sent another message saying, "Alter your course 10 degrees south. I am a battleship." An immediate reply came saying, "ALTER YOUR COURSE 10 DEGREES NORTH. I AM A LIGHTHOUSE."
What the preacher thinks. Brethren, in the end it won’t matter what I think nor what you think about: Being gouged in life, or giving money or going to church or gathering the lost into the church.
In the end, all that will matter is what the Lord thinks. BUT WHAT HE THINKS AND SAYS SHOULD MATTER TO US ALL RIGHT NOW.
Surrender your life to the lighthouse and you’ll be safe.
