SPEAKER_02: Romans chapter 11 and 1 Timothy chapter 1.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm going to uh give you, if you would, a brief introduction, and then bear it out just a little bit, and then uh close it with some thoughts that'll make some sense.
SPEAKER_02: So follow with me.
SPEAKER_02: We'll be out of here in good order tonight.
SPEAKER_02: 1 Timothy chapter 1 and Romans chapter 11.
SPEAKER_02: 1 Timothy chapter 1.
SPEAKER_02: Look, if you would at verse 15, brethren, verse 15.
SPEAKER_02: This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save who?
SPEAKER_02: Sinners.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to focus on the next five words.
SPEAKER_02: He says this of whom I am what?
SPEAKER_02: Chief.
SPEAKER_02: Who's speaking here?
SPEAKER_02: Paul.
SPEAKER_02: And he says, I just want everybody to know that I'm a chief sinner.
SPEAKER_02: That means I'm not just a sinner, but I'm one of the leaders, if you would.
SPEAKER_02: Notice what he says about himself in verse 12.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 12.
SPEAKER_02: And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.
SPEAKER_02: He was put there, who was before a blasphemer.
SPEAKER_02: Who's he talking about?
SPEAKER_02: Himself.
SPEAKER_02: And a persecutor and injurus.
SPEAKER_02: Remember, he killed Christians.
SPEAKER_02: But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
SPEAKER_02: You know it's interesting that God put him in the ministry, appointed him a ministry, even though he had done all those things before.
SPEAKER_02: God's grace is sufficient.
SPEAKER_02: But he says, who I am chief.
SPEAKER_02: Now with that in mind, look at Romans chapter 11.
SPEAKER_02: Romans chapter 11.
SPEAKER_02: Watch this statement now.
SPEAKER_02: Even though Paul knew that he was a chief sinner, even though he knew that he used to kill Christians and was injure us, look what he says in Romans chapter 11.
SPEAKER_02: And notice what he says in verse 13.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 13.
SPEAKER_02: For I speak to you who?
SPEAKER_02: Talk to me.
SPEAKER_02: Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_02: The next four words.
SPEAKER_02: I magnify mine.
SPEAKER_02: He didn't say I magnify myself.
SPEAKER_02: He said, I magnify my what?
SPEAKER_02: Office.
SPEAKER_02: What office was he given?
SPEAKER_02: The office of being the apostle to the Gentiles, appointed by God.
SPEAKER_02: If you remember in the book of Acts, he was called a chosen vessel.
SPEAKER_02: And my point in this is simply to say this.
SPEAKER_02: Paul didn't say I magnify myself.
SPEAKER_02: He said, you know what I'm doing?
SPEAKER_02: I magnify my office.
SPEAKER_02: If you look at me, I'm a chief sinner, he said.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what I did before.
SPEAKER_02: But God put me, God placed me in this ministry, and I'm going to magnify the office that He's given me.
SPEAKER_02: Office.
SPEAKER_02: Look it up sometimes in Webster's 1828.
SPEAKER_02: It'll say this in one of the different definitions: a duty or charge of trust of a sacred nature conferred by God Himself.
SPEAKER_02: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_02: A duty or charge or trust.
SPEAKER_02: God entrusted Paul with this office of the put him in that office as the apostle to the Gentiles, and it's conferred by God Himself.
SPEAKER_02: Now, statement.
SPEAKER_02: Husband is an office.
SPEAKER_02: Is that right?
SPEAKER_02: Wife is an office.
SPEAKER_02: It's a position, it's a duty, it's a charge that God Himself appoints.
SPEAKER_02: Father is an office.
SPEAKER_02: Mother is an office.
SPEAKER_02: Amen?
SPEAKER_02: Hey, you know there's a lot in here about, for example, husbands, if we don't honor our wife in her office, 1 Peter says our prayers are hindered.
unknown: Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_02: Come on, say amen, guys.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says if we don't honor that office and the person in that office, that it could hinder our prayer life.
SPEAKER_02: The wife is supposed to reverence the husband.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, I read in there that the children are supposed to honor father and mother, and it'll affect the days that they're living.
SPEAKER_02: Is that right?
SPEAKER_02: Now, I don't know about you, but I'm still a child to my mother.
SPEAKER_02: Now, my dad's already passed away, but my mother's still alive.
SPEAKER_02: It's important for me to still honor that office.
SPEAKER_02: Amen?
SPEAKER_02: I don't care if you're 50 and your mom and dad's still living, there's still an office to honor.
SPEAKER_02: Amen?
SPEAKER_02: Come on.
SPEAKER_02: You say, but there's mitigating circumstances.
SPEAKER_02: Stay with me and I'll address that.
SPEAKER_02: Look at 2 Chronicles 26 and 1 Samuel 13.
SPEAKER_02: 2 Chronicles 26 and 1 Samuel 13.
SPEAKER_02: An office, a duty or charge or trust that's conferred by God Himself.
SPEAKER_02: When we talk about these offices that he sets up and ordains.
SPEAKER_02: Let me show you something now and give you an important aspect to this idea of office.
SPEAKER_02: 2 Chronicles 26.
SPEAKER_02: And notice if you would, in verse number 16.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 16.
SPEAKER_02: And with this idea of office, look at verse 16.
SPEAKER_02: But when he, this is Uzziah, when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction.
SPEAKER_02: He transgressed against the Lord and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense.
SPEAKER_02: Now, mark it down there.
SPEAKER_02: Uzziah was the king, but he wasn't a priest.
SPEAKER_02: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_02: He was the king, but he wasn't the high priest.
SPEAKER_02: His office was that of a king, but he had no right to invade the office of the priest there and burn incense.
SPEAKER_02: Amen?
SPEAKER_02: What are you saying?
SPEAKER_02: I'm saying that Uzziah was not appointed by God to be a priest.
SPEAKER_02: He was appointed to be king, but not priest.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 17, and Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord that were valiant men.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, they're valiant men.
SPEAKER_02: All the priests at that time weren't wimps, amen.
SPEAKER_02: Says they were valiant men, and they withstood Uzziah the king.
SPEAKER_02: What do you mean they withstood Uzziah?
SPEAKER_02: Because Uzziah was entering into an office that wasn't his.
SPEAKER_02: He didn't have that charge, he didn't have that duty, and they went in after him, amen.
SPEAKER_02: And said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to the priest, the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense.
SPEAKER_02: Go out of the sanctuary.
SPEAKER_02: You know what they're saying?
SPEAKER_02: King, get out of here.
SPEAKER_02: You're not supposed to be here.
SPEAKER_02: This is not your office.
SPEAKER_02: For thou hast trespassed.
SPEAKER_02: You know what that means?
SPEAKER_02: You're sinning, buddy.
SPEAKER_02: Neither shall it be for thine honor from the Lord God.
SPEAKER_02: Then Uzziah was what?
SPEAKER_02: Say it.
SPEAKER_02: Wrath.
SPEAKER_02: He was angry, had a censor in his hand to burn incense.
SPEAKER_02: And while he was wroth with the priest, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead.
SPEAKER_02: You mark it down, that's God's judgment right there.
SPEAKER_02: Before the priest of the house of the Lord from beside the incense altar.
SPEAKER_02: What happened?
SPEAKER_02: They looked upon him.
SPEAKER_02: When they saw he was leprous, they threw him out.
SPEAKER_02: Now, statement.
SPEAKER_02: It was because he was not appointed to that office, and he tried to enter in of his own will.
SPEAKER_02: Come on, talk to me.
SPEAKER_02: He tried to enter in of his own will.
SPEAKER_02: God didn't honor it.
SPEAKER_02: Look if you would at 1 Samuel 13.
SPEAKER_02: 1 Samuel 13, are you thinking?
SPEAKER_02: Come on.
SPEAKER_02: 1 Samuel say, I don't know how this will apply to me.
SPEAKER_02: Stay with me.
SPEAKER_02: 1 Samuel 13.
SPEAKER_02: Look if you would at verse 8.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 8.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, 1 Samuel 13.
SPEAKER_02: Saul was told by Samuel to tarry in Gilgal and wait for him.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 8.
SPEAKER_02: And he that saw tarried seven days according to the set time that Samuel had appointed.
SPEAKER_02: But Samuel came not to Gilgal, and the people were scattered from him, and Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me and peace offerings.
SPEAKER_02: And he that saw offered the burnt offering.
SPEAKER_02: Mark it down, he entered into the priest's office.
SPEAKER_02: He wasn't supposed to do that.
SPEAKER_02: He wasn't ordained to do that.
SPEAKER_02: He wasn't appointed to do that.
SPEAKER_02: He was out of office.
SPEAKER_02: And it came to pass that as soon as he had made an end of the offering, the burnt offering, Samuel came.
SPEAKER_02: You say, Well, nothing happened to him.
SPEAKER_02: Samuel says to him later, What did you do?
SPEAKER_02: He says, I forced myself.
SPEAKER_02: And look at verse 13.
SPEAKER_02: And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done what?
SPEAKER_02: Say it.
SPEAKER_02: Foolishly.
SPEAKER_02: Thou hast not kept the command of the Lord thy God that he commanded to be thee, for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever, and he goes on to pronounce the judgment.
SPEAKER_02: The idea is this, brethren.
SPEAKER_02: These offices that God set up, these positions, these appointments, if you would, that God sets and appoints people to different places.
SPEAKER_02: We need not take those things lightly.
SPEAKER_02: We need to not take the office of wife lightly.
SPEAKER_02: We need not to take the office of husband lightly.
SPEAKER_02: As unto the husband, or if you are a husband.
SPEAKER_02: Father, mother, ministry leader.
SPEAKER_02: We ought to not take these offices lightly, and we ought to not take lightly those that are in those offices.
SPEAKER_02: And Anijah set himself up to be king, and he got Joab together, and he got Abiathar, and he got a few together, and they gathered around, they blew the trumpet.
SPEAKER_02: Blow the trumpet all you want, gather as many as you want.
SPEAKER_02: God didn't appoint him to be successor to David.
SPEAKER_02: He tried to set himself up as king.
SPEAKER_02: Is that right?
SPEAKER_02: Yes or no?
SPEAKER_02: If he would have got everybody, he still wasn't anointed of God to do it.
SPEAKER_02: He ended up in great trouble with God and also Solomon.
SPEAKER_02: We um we really sometimes need to look upon each other's offices and respect it.
SPEAKER_02: For example, I as a pastor need to totally respect the office of whoever it is that's the head of your home.
SPEAKER_02: If it's a man, a husband, then I need to totally respect his office and not intrude thereupon unless invited.
SPEAKER_02: Say amen.
SPEAKER_02: You see, I have influence, but I have no control.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want control.
SPEAKER_02: I only want as much influence as is necessary.
SPEAKER_02: But you know, if you're a man, you're the head of your home, and you ought to act accordingly in your office.
SPEAKER_02: And I respect that office as pastor.
SPEAKER_02: Amen?
SPEAKER_02: Now, if there's a single parent off you in a situation where the mother or the wife, the the the female is the head of the home, then I respect her appropriately so also.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, I ought to respect, you know, when there's children involved, if there's a father and a mother, I ought to respect that office of father and mother.
SPEAKER_02: Now, if some kids come running by and bumps into me and, you know, is arrogant, and I might correct the child.
SPEAKER_02: But I need to be careful about respecting the office of mother and father.
SPEAKER_02: Amen?
SPEAKER_02: You say, why are you saying all this?
SPEAKER_02: Well, there's a couple reasons.
SPEAKER_02: School's coming.
SPEAKER_02: And there needs to be mutual respect for the office of father and mother and teacher.
SPEAKER_02: There ought to be mutual respect.
SPEAKER_02: We're all in this together, and the children ought to not be in the middle.
SPEAKER_02: Nothing worse than two offices fighting each other.
SPEAKER_02: Nothing worse than an office of a father and an office of a mother at each other and the children in the middle.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Look at number 16.
SPEAKER_02: Stay with me.
SPEAKER_02: Number 16.
SPEAKER_02: And I speak to myself tonight also, brethren.
SPEAKER_02: Numbers 16.
SPEAKER_02: Notice this situation here, which you already know, but in this idea of the offices that people hold, appointed by God, charged by God.
SPEAKER_02: Numbers 16, look at verse 3.
SPEAKER_02: You've read it, but maybe not in a while.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 3.
SPEAKER_02: And they gathered themselves together against who?
SPEAKER_02: Moses and against who?
SPEAKER_02: Say it.
SPEAKER_02: Aaron.
SPEAKER_02: Who?
SPEAKER_02: It was Korah and Datham and Biram.
SPEAKER_02: And they gathered a bunch of people together, and they came at Moses and Aaron.
SPEAKER_02: And they said, You know what?
SPEAKER_02: Y'all take too much upon you.
SPEAKER_02: Seeing all the congregation is holy, every one of them.
SPEAKER_02: And the Lord is among them.
SPEAKER_02: Wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: They said, Hey, Moses and Aaron, you're just like us.
SPEAKER_02: Why are you taking this upon yourself?
SPEAKER_02: And why are you making yourself to be what you are?
SPEAKER_02: Everybody's the same here.
SPEAKER_02: That's a pretty strong indictment.
SPEAKER_02: They said, You're doing this yourself, Moses.
SPEAKER_02: God didn't appoint you, and you're just like the rest of us.
SPEAKER_02: Now, hold your place in Numbers 16 and look at Numbers 12.
SPEAKER_02: Same thing really that Miriam and Aaron said about Moses.
SPEAKER_02: Aaron's getting a taste of his own medicine later, amen.
SPEAKER_02: Numbers chapter 12, look at verse 2.
SPEAKER_02: Miriam and Aaron.
SPEAKER_02: And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses?
SPEAKER_02: Hath he not spoken also by us?
SPEAKER_02: That's brother and sister, renowned in the congregation.
SPEAKER_02: Aaron's the high priest, and they're saying, What are you doing, Moses?
SPEAKER_02: Why do you think you're some?
SPEAKER_02: Oh, by the way, verse 2, and the Lord heard it.
SPEAKER_02: You know, brethren, the Lord does hear everything we say about other people in offices.
SPEAKER_02: Husband, the Lord hears everything you say about your wife.
SPEAKER_02: Wife?
SPEAKER_02: God hears everything you say about your husband.
SPEAKER_02: Now you know God wasn't happy with that.
SPEAKER_02: And Miriam ended up with leprosy.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody said, why didn't Aaron end up with it?
SPEAKER_02: Because Aaron was the high priest.
SPEAKER_02: If he would have had leprosy, they didn't have a high priest.
SPEAKER_02: He was done.
SPEAKER_02: I think it hurt Aaron more to see his sister get it.
SPEAKER_02: But here's old Aaron.
SPEAKER_02: Now focus on Aaron just for a moment.
SPEAKER_02: Here's old Aaron chiding against Moses, saying, Who has the God just spoken by you?
SPEAKER_02: And then here he is four chapters later in number 16, and now he's the victim.
SPEAKER_02: Now they're saying about Moses and Aaron, y'all take too much on yourself.
SPEAKER_02: Look at Numbers 16, look at verse 12, brethren.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 12.
SPEAKER_02: Are you with me tonight?
unknown: Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_02: You see, brethren, we want God's favor on what we're doing in our church.
SPEAKER_02: We want God's favor on what we're doing in our home.
SPEAKER_02: Please look up here.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not talking about anybody lifted up tonight on a pedestal.
SPEAKER_02: Come on.
SPEAKER_02: I'm talking about us as Christians down here as a local New Testament church honoring each other rightfully so in the offices that God's given us, so God's pleased.
SPEAKER_02: We want God's favor.
SPEAKER_02: We want God's blessing.
SPEAKER_02: We want God's power.
SPEAKER_02: And our children are listening to what we're saying.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 12, and Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, which said.
SPEAKER_02: Who said?
SPEAKER_02: Well, Dathan and Abiram, we will not come up.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 13.
SPEAKER_02: Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of the land that floweth with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness?
SPEAKER_02: Oh man, there's a great attitude going on here.
SPEAKER_02: There's a very positive attitude there, O Dathan Obari.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we know you just brought us out here to kill us.
SPEAKER_02: What do you mean to kill you?
SPEAKER_02: Didn't you see the manna?
SPEAKER_02: Didn't you see the quail?
SPEAKER_01: Didn't you see the Red Sea part?
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean I come out here to kill you?
SPEAKER_01: Man, you don't you I had it pretty good back in Egypt, boys.
SPEAKER_02: You think I decided to do all this?
SPEAKER_02: Just because I chose to do it?
SPEAKER_02: You think I willed this?
SPEAKER_02: You think I willed the water to come out of the rock?
SPEAKER_02: Except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us.
SPEAKER_02: They're saying, You've made yourself, Moses.
SPEAKER_02: You talk about twisted.
SPEAKER_02: And God heard the whole thing.
SPEAKER_02: God calls them out later and says, Alright.
SPEAKER_02: Go ahead, Moses.
SPEAKER_02: Set it up.
SPEAKER_02: Tell them if they die the natural death that I'm not in it, but if I do something they've never seen before and open up the ground, just go ahead.
SPEAKER_02: As soon as you say that, Moses, the ground's coming open.
SPEAKER_02: So Moses gets up and pronounces judgment, and while he was yet speaking, the words are just spoken, the earth shakes, the ground cleaves asunder, and down they go.
SPEAKER_02: Depends on which side you're on, amen.
SPEAKER_02: As a leader, I say, the will of the Lord be done.
SPEAKER_02: Thank God for grace, though.
SPEAKER_02: Because either side you stand on, you read the Old Testament, it's good to be living in the New Testament, amen.
SPEAKER_02: But he doesn't stop there because he's only now taken care of vindicating Moses.
SPEAKER_02: Remember, the attack wasn't just on Moses, but it was also against Aaron.
SPEAKER_02: So in number 17, he vindicates Aaron.
SPEAKER_02: And he gets out the situation with the rods, and he said, Everybody bring the rods in verse 3.
SPEAKER_02: And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi.
SPEAKER_02: And he takes them all on Aaron.
SPEAKER_02: And brethren, please look up Aaron.
SPEAKER_02: These are dead branches.
SPEAKER_02: These are rods, these are cut-off ends and everything.
SPEAKER_02: And you know what happens?
SPEAKER_02: God vindicates it in verse 8.
SPEAKER_02: And it came to pass that on the morrow Moses went to the tabernacle of witness, and behold, the rod of Aaron from the house of Levi was what?
SPEAKER_02: Budded.
SPEAKER_02: Life sprang forth from that rod.
SPEAKER_02: Bloomed blossoms and yielded almonds.
SPEAKER_02: Wasn't that something?
SPEAKER_02: So God authorized and vindicated whom he had chosen.
SPEAKER_02: I want to make a statement, I want you to listen.
SPEAKER_02: I realize this.
SPEAKER_02: Wife, husband, father, mother, whatever the office.
SPEAKER_02: Pastor.
SPEAKER_02: Not always does the person do right.
SPEAKER_02: Not always does the person of that office do right.
SPEAKER_02: But what we have to decide is this.
SPEAKER_02: Even though the person may come up short or have some problems, do we still honor the office and the person that God appointed to?
SPEAKER_02: Let me show you.
SPEAKER_02: Look at 1 Samuel 24.
SPEAKER_02: Stay with me.
SPEAKER_02: 1 Samuel 24.
SPEAKER_02: This has nothing to do with anything that I want personally, other than God's blessing on our church.
SPEAKER_02: 1 Samuel 24, illustrations.
SPEAKER_02: 1 Samuel 24, you know, David and Saul.
SPEAKER_02: David has the opportunity as he's hiding in a cave, Saul comes in.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 5.
SPEAKER_02: And it came to pass afterwards, after what?
SPEAKER_02: Verse 4.
SPEAKER_02: And the man of David said unto him, Behold, the day of which the Lord set Unto thee, behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good in thee.
SPEAKER_02: Then David arose and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily.
SPEAKER_02: And it came to pass afterward that David's heart smote him.
SPEAKER_02: Because he had cut off Saul's skirt.
SPEAKER_02: Please look up here.
SPEAKER_02: I think David had lost some respect for Saul.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Hey, Saul had appointed him as a leader in the armies, and then because Saul got jealous of him, he demoted him.
SPEAKER_02: He jerked David around a little bit with the situation with who was going to get the daughter, and he just was continually at David through a javelin at him, did all kinds of things.
SPEAKER_02: I really think David's respect for Saul was somewhat diminished.
SPEAKER_02: But when he cut off his skirt, David's heart smote him because Saul was still in an office that God had appointed.
SPEAKER_02: And that's why he says, next, verse 9, and he said to his men, the Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed.
SPEAKER_02: To stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: You know what he's saying?
SPEAKER_02: You know what, my heart smote me because God chose him?
SPEAKER_02: Let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_02: Look up here, please.
SPEAKER_02: Did God choose your wife?
SPEAKER_02: Or you say you don't want to know what she's done.
SPEAKER_02: Did God choose your wife?
SPEAKER_02: Honor her office.
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
SPEAKER_02: And in doing so, you honor her.
SPEAKER_02: God choose your husband.
SPEAKER_02: You say, this is totally confusing.
SPEAKER_02: Stay with me.
SPEAKER_02: I'll clear it up.
SPEAKER_02: There ought to be a certain respect for the office.
SPEAKER_02: Well, do you know what he did?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: But I know what Saul did too.
SPEAKER_02: And David was a man after God's own heart.
SPEAKER_02: Now the thoughts come running through.
SPEAKER_02: Well, you know, what if he puts a gun to your head and I understand all that.
SPEAKER_02: Look at 1 Samuel 25, go over one.
SPEAKER_02: And let me just show you, ladies, so you understand.
SPEAKER_02: Abigail is the wife of Nabal.
SPEAKER_02: Nabal had hired out David's men and refused to pay.
SPEAKER_02: David came to get payment, and the men go back and say he's not going to pay.
SPEAKER_02: When Abigail hears it, he makes haste in verse 18, and she takes all that David needs and goes to him.
SPEAKER_02: Now, one of the things you need to know about her husband is verse 17.
SPEAKER_02: Now, therefore, know and consider what thou wilt do, for evil's determined against our master, that's Nabel, and against all his household, that's all of them.
SPEAKER_02: For he is such a man of belile.
SPEAKER_02: Look at it, that a man cannot speak to him.
SPEAKER_02: You know what that says right there?
SPEAKER_02: Mark it down?
SPEAKER_02: Nab won't take correction.
SPEAKER_02: He won't listen to anybody's correction.
SPEAKER_02: Do you hear me?
SPEAKER_02: Nobody can tell him what to do.
SPEAKER_02: So Abigail goes down to David, and look what she says in verse 25.
SPEAKER_02: Let not my Lord, she's talking to David here, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal.
SPEAKER_02: For as his name is, so is he.
SPEAKER_02: Now, mark it down, Abigail does not have a whole lot of respect for Nabal.
SPEAKER_02: You say, how do you know that?
SPEAKER_02: Read the statement.
SPEAKER_02: For as his name is, so is he.
SPEAKER_02: Nabal is his name, and folly is with him.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's a hard thing.
SPEAKER_02: When you're in a situation that you know you're supposed to honor the office, but you lose respect for the person in it.
SPEAKER_02: After uh going into my thirteenth year here and pastoring, you run into a few things.
SPEAKER_02: I remember a w uh a a woman years ago came to our church and was here for some time.
SPEAKER_02: She'd been here a couple of years and she made an appointment with me, and she came in and sat down and she said, uh I've had a hard time here.
SPEAKER_02: And I said, uh, well, I I've noticed.
SPEAKER_02: She said, uh, well, let me tell you why.
SPEAKER_02: And she said, I I know that you you really feel like I've probably been distant from you and avoiding you.
SPEAKER_02: And I said, Well, you know, I don't try to avoid a in invade a woman's space.
SPEAKER_02: And she said, Well, let me tell you why.
SPEAKER_02: She said, uh as a teenage girl, late teens, growing up in a church, my pastor, whom I respected, made a pass at me.
SPEAKER_02: And while I was in his office, he pushed me into a corner and started groping at me.
SPEAKER_02: She said I was able to break his hold and ran out the door.
SPEAKER_02: She said, to my knowledge, nothing was ever done.
SPEAKER_02: But I just had recurring memories over and over and over of what my pastor did to me or tried to do to me.
SPEAKER_02: She said, Well, then I grew up and I got married, and we joined a church, was there for a couple of years, and that pastor was involved in immorality with a woman in the church.
SPEAKER_02: She said that brought up all these memories.
SPEAKER_02: She said, Then we came here and I've been in the church here for two years.
SPEAKER_02: She said, Do you understand why it's hard for me to trust you as a pastor?
SPEAKER_02: I said, Yes, ma'am, I do.
SPEAKER_02: But not not totally do I understand, but I I do understand.
SPEAKER_02: And I looked across the desk at her.
SPEAKER_02: And I said, Well, let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_02: With what you've been through.
SPEAKER_02: Why are you here?
SPEAKER_02: She looked up and said, I'm trying to trust the office of pastor again.
SPEAKER_02: She doesn't know when she left, man.
SPEAKER_02: I just cried, cried, cried.
SPEAKER_02: And said, God, let these hands never touch a woman wrong.
SPEAKER_02: Let me never violate the office of pastor.
SPEAKER_02: Well, you don't know after you counsel hundreds of I'll use ladies again.
SPEAKER_02: Guys, I don't know if you realize how tough it is for a lady who has been abused by a dad, father, hurt by a husband.
SPEAKER_02: And she's supposed to have a man as her head.
SPEAKER_02: I've worked with a lot of ladies who, as abused as a girl by their daddy, they're confused as a woman.
SPEAKER_02: Say what's the confusion?
SPEAKER_02: Abused as a girl by their daddy.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm not talking about just verbal.
SPEAKER_02: I'm talking about immorality.
SPEAKER_02: As a woman, one of the hardest things for them is he's my daddy.
SPEAKER_02: But he won't come to me and get it right about what he did to me.
SPEAKER_02: See, they want to honor the father, but they don't trust the man.
SPEAKER_02: And it's hard to honor someone you don't trust.
SPEAKER_02: May God help us to look at our offices.
SPEAKER_02: And realize that yes, it will impact others.
SPEAKER_02: Look at Leviticus ten.
SPEAKER_02: Are you with me?
SPEAKER_02: Leviticus ten.
SPEAKER_02: Stay with me just a little longer.
SPEAKER_02: Leviticus ten.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for turning there.
SPEAKER_02: You may know the story, but maybe not in this light.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 1, Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron.
SPEAKER_02: Watch it now.
SPEAKER_02: You say, I already know this.
SPEAKER_02: Follow with me, learn something.
SPEAKER_02: Took either of them his censor and put what, say it, fire therein.
SPEAKER_02: And put incense thereon and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not.
SPEAKER_02: And they went out fire from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Now, you analyze those two verses.
SPEAKER_02: Make them and abhew were if you would in the office of a priest.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, they were with their censors supposed to at times take fire and burn incense on that fire as unto the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: The problem is not the censor.
SPEAKER_02: The problem is not that they're a priest, they are.
SPEAKER_02: The problem is not that the incense is it, right?
SPEAKER_02: It's okay.
SPEAKER_02: And the problem is not that it's fire.
SPEAKER_02: The problem is it's strange fire.
SPEAKER_02: Look at it.
SPEAKER_02: And offered strange fire.
SPEAKER_02: You say, Now, what in the world is strange fire?
SPEAKER_02: The only fire that they were supposed to use was from the altar of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: I'm talking about the burning altar of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: They were supposed to take those ambers from which God said, This is my altar, this is my fire, this is my ambers, and take that fire and put it in the censor, and then take God's incense, put it on the incense, and smoke came out, if you would, offering unto the Lord, and only the priest could do that.
SPEAKER_02: The problem is they took strange fire.
SPEAKER_02: It didn't come from the altar.
SPEAKER_02: Really, what had happened here, God hadn't even got the whole thing set up yet.
SPEAKER_02: They just, in their own self-will, decided they were going to do this.
SPEAKER_02: You say what happened?
SPEAKER_02: Nadab and Abiah, who had the censor right, had the way it was supposed to work right, they just didn't do it exactly the way God commanded.
SPEAKER_02: And God killed him.
SPEAKER_02: And then you know, if you read the story, Moses goes to Aaron, the dad, and says, Don't, don't, you're not going to have a funeral for these boys.
SPEAKER_02: You're not leaving the priest's office because he wasn't around or get, he wasn't allowed to get around dead bodies lest he defile himself.
SPEAKER_02: He said, You continue on the priest's office.
SPEAKER_02: You say, Well, I don't understand what you're trying to get at.
SPEAKER_02: Brethren, please look up here.
SPEAKER_02: We're supposed to study and find out who and what we're supposed to be in the office that God has given us.
SPEAKER_02: And then we're supposed to do our best to obey.
SPEAKER_01: I don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: If I'm a husband, I'm supposed to study what I'm supposed to do as a husband, and then do my best to obey that.
SPEAKER_01: A wife, a father, a mother.
SPEAKER_01: A pastor.
SPEAKER_02: I want to say a couple things and don't take this wrong.
SPEAKER_02: First of all, I'll just say this.
SPEAKER_02: The pastor's office is not the position of Pope.
SPEAKER_02: Say amen.
SPEAKER_02: They've lifted the office up way too high.
SPEAKER_02: Peter said, I think it was Peter, maybe it was Paul.
SPEAKER_02: I myself am a man.
SPEAKER_02: Looks like it was the first Pope.
SPEAKER_02: I mean Peter to me.
SPEAKER_02: And he wasn't the first Pope.
SPEAKER_02: You can magnify an office way too high.
SPEAKER_02: We're not careful.
SPEAKER_02: Or please look up here, we cannot even recognize the office at all.
SPEAKER_02: And that's wrong, too.
SPEAKER_02: Amen?
SPEAKER_02: We can magnify the person in the office.
SPEAKER_02: Please look up here.
SPEAKER_02: Too high.
SPEAKER_02: Or we could not treat them right.
SPEAKER_02: As a pastor, I realize something.
SPEAKER_02: I've got a lot to give an account of.
SPEAKER_02: You start thinking about putting yourself in the position of a pastor, what you have to give an account of.
SPEAKER_02: And let me just say this best way to do it is just quit.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, Brother Pharaoh.
SPEAKER_02: Good to see you tonight, Pastor.
SPEAKER_02: You're the only one laughing.
SPEAKER_02: Nobody else is.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, that that'd be the safest way, amen, preacher.
SPEAKER_02: Look, look at the look at the thing from the from the reaching out to the community of souls out there and the soul living to the to the training and discipling of the people there, to the handling of finance and to the ministries, and the best thing to do is just quit.
SPEAKER_02: But if you do, you get out of God's will, then you're in big trouble.
SPEAKER_02: Because you know, anybody, if you look at your office close enough, whatever it is, we fall way short, don't we?
SPEAKER_02: I mean, just just all I have to do is look at husband, and I go, oh man, oh boy.
SPEAKER_02: I gotta face the judgment on that, man.
SPEAKER_02: Father?
SPEAKER_02: Pastor?
SPEAKER_02: When I come up before the judgment, who did that?
SPEAKER_02: Ah when I come up before the judgment, just turn away.
SPEAKER_02: Because I'm gonna I'm going up and plead in mercy.
SPEAKER_02: Let me say whether you don't think you're doing a very good job.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, you know what?
SPEAKER_02: We are our our own worst critics, aren't we?
SPEAKER_02: Probably the only one of the only things I got going for me is I'm not quite nable yet.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not quite a man of Belial where you can't talk to him and he's not correctable.
SPEAKER_02: I think we all get defensive, but I'll tell you what, I'm open for suggestion.
SPEAKER_02: You know, upcoming uh school starts and end of the year, we finished our fiscal year in uh June, and we'll be giving you that report in a few weeks and business meetings and decisions for the next year and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_02: You know, that can be a time in the church where people look and say, What are you thinking?
SPEAKER_02: What are you thinking?
SPEAKER_02: What do you think?
SPEAKER_02: And school and teachers and please look up here.
SPEAKER_02: If I was Prince of Powers and Powers, I'd just look forward to this time of year to get this whole thing just all messed up.
SPEAKER_02: But please look up here.
SPEAKER_02: You know what our potential saving grace is?
SPEAKER_02: To have the character to honor the offices that which God has appointed to people.
SPEAKER_02: Brethren, I myself am a man.
SPEAKER_01: Sister Woman.
SPEAKER_02: May I just suggest to you as a congregation with each other in the offices that are held here in so many different capacities that we with I'll use the word fear of God.
SPEAKER_02: Be careful how and what we say.
SPEAKER_02: Because he is listening.
SPEAKER_02: May I just say to you this and I can say this to you publicly, and I'll use myself as an example.
SPEAKER_02: If you have something against the office of pastor and me in it, have the character to come to me personally and see me about it.
SPEAKER_02: Take this right.
SPEAKER_02: Please don't get in trouble with God.
SPEAKER_02: Now I'm not saying, you know, you say something to your wife about, boy, you know, this or that.
SPEAKER_02: That's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_02: But I mean if it's a habitual thing and you really got something against me personally, my judgments, and what I'm doing, you ought to bring it to me and me alone.
SPEAKER_02: Now husbands talk to wives and wives talk to husbands.
SPEAKER_02: I understand.
SPEAKER_02: But it'd be scriptural to set up an appointment with me and come to see me before God comes to see you.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's a threat.
SPEAKER_02: You just think you're somebody.
SPEAKER_02: Please look up here.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not talking about Doug Fisher.
SPEAKER_02: I magnify mine office.
SPEAKER_02: And I don't feel like I'm a dictator.
SPEAKER_02: A dictator is one who can't be corrected.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, there's some areas I'm still trying to get corrected on.
SPEAKER_02: You say, why are you speaking about yourself?
SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to give you an illustration, an example, and we ought to look the same as ourselves amongst.
SPEAKER_02: Each other and esteem each other highly.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: For the work's sake.
SPEAKER_02: Now.
SPEAKER_02: We've all been guilty of not malicious slander, but some slander towards each other.
SPEAKER_02: Right, campers?
SPEAKER_02: We've all said something about someone, haven't we?
SPEAKER_02: Haven't we?
SPEAKER_02: Haven't we all, all those in here who have at one point and another in the last three months said something about someone else that you say, well, alright, you know, maybe I should, you know, uh fess up.
SPEAKER_02: I'm a little concerned about maybe you don't very much.
SPEAKER_02: Good.
SPEAKER_02: Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: But it happens.
SPEAKER_02: This message is simply to say, let's not grieve the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Bless me and you.
SPEAKER_02: I don't have a problem, really, with someone coming to me and questioning me about a judgment call or something I'm doing, or something that your church is doing, or something like that.
SPEAKER_02: A lot of times it's very edifying.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes I'm a little defensive, but I don't say.
SPEAKER_00: You are no light with me, I probably could use some help.
SPEAKER_02: And maybe so could you.
SPEAKER_02: I probably could use a little faithful wounds of a friend.
SPEAKER_02: Some open rebuke or correction.
SPEAKER_02: Because I am accountable to God and to this congregation.
SPEAKER_02: But rather than just look at the office of pastor, please look up here.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe what we ought to do is look on this way.
SPEAKER_02: What office do I hold?
SPEAKER_02: And what am I doing with it?
SPEAKER_02: Look up here, please.
SPEAKER_02: What office do I hold?
SPEAKER_02: And what am I doing with it as in the God?
SPEAKER_02: And then, how do I treat others in their office?
SPEAKER_02: Preacher, I mean, you man, we were all excited about singing in here, and now it's just like a you know what?
SPEAKER_02: People are thinking.
SPEAKER_02: And we want God's power, and we want God's blessing, and we want his approval.
SPEAKER_02: And if little attitude adjustments will help all that to where the Holy Spirit is at grieve, then let's get our attitudes adjusted.
SPEAKER_02: Let's go on and do something for God.
SPEAKER_02: Please look up here.
SPEAKER_02: There are hundreds of children on this property tonight that are influenced by our attitude.
SPEAKER_02: By what goes on in our cars, in our tables, in our homes.
SPEAKER_02: Hundreds of children tonight affected by our attitudes.
SPEAKER_02: We need to be careful what we say, how we say it, who we say it about, and who we say it to.
SPEAKER_02: And what we say in front of them.
SPEAKER_02: Let me look up and down the road so everybody knows I'm looking at you.
SPEAKER_02: And me.
SPEAKER_02: You say, well, that's kind of one of those messages, you know, dictatorial.
SPEAKER_02: This is not dictatorial, this is edifying.
SPEAKER_02: We're coming up to a very, it's a tremendous time of year for a lot to happen.
SPEAKER_02: Good, but it's also a tremendous time of the year for principalities and powers to get in.
SPEAKER_02: Anytime there's movement, there can be friction.
SPEAKER_02: I need to respect your offices more.
SPEAKER_02: And I need to do better than the offices that God's given me.
SPEAKER_02: Please look up here.
SPEAKER_02: My mindset is not to say I'm worried about how you're treating my office.
SPEAKER_02: That's between you and God.
SPEAKER_02: Please look up here.
SPEAKER_02: I should be more concerned with what I am doing in my office and how am I treating those in others' office and not really worry about how you're treating my office.
SPEAKER_02: God will take care of that.
SPEAKER_02: Does that make sense?
unknown: Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_02: I just deserve more respect.
SPEAKER_02: Don't worry about that.
SPEAKER_02: Don't get your mind on what others think about you.
SPEAKER_02: Put your mind on what is God looking, and how is God doing with the way I'm treating my office, and how am I doing with the way I'm treating others' offices, and God will take care of the rest.
SPEAKER_02: It works out better that way.
SPEAKER_02: You know what?
SPEAKER_02: Paul said, I'm a chief sinner.
SPEAKER_02: I was injurious to Christians.
SPEAKER_02: I was a blasphemer.
SPEAKER_02: But God, please look up here.
SPEAKER_02: I finished.
SPEAKER_02: God put me in the ministry.
SPEAKER_02: He placed him there.
SPEAKER_02: And so Paul said, I magnified my office.
SPEAKER_02: That's a good balance.
SPEAKER_02: That's all stand.
SPEAKER_02: Preacher, I'm a little confused.
SPEAKER_02: What do I do about if I've lost trust and respect for a person in an office?
SPEAKER_02: Well, maybe you ought to study David's life.
SPEAKER_02: And God put David in there for a reason.
SPEAKER_02: David's relationship with Saul, please, was proper.
SPEAKER_02: I think Ahithophel got twisted at David.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, I don't think I know he did.
SPEAKER_02: David committed immorality with Bathsheba, whose father was Eliam, who was the son of Ahithophel.
SPEAKER_02: And no doubt Ahithophel was extremely angry to bitterness against David for what he did to his granddaughter.
SPEAKER_02: But Ahithophel's way of handling those was to wait for ten years and then split it up with Absalom, so he had a right to go out and try to kill David.
SPEAKER_02: Or David, when Saul tried to kill him, his heart smote him when he dishonored him.
SPEAKER_02: Cut off his skirt.
SPEAKER_02: If you know the story, Ahithophel went out and hanged himself after he failed in his attempt to be the avenger of blood for what he David did to Uriah the Hittite.
SPEAKER_02: You say, huh?
SPEAKER_02: Read your book.
SPEAKER_02: We better be careful, brethren, how we treat each other.
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, I say this in closing.
SPEAKER_02: This message is not because I feel like I have a bunch of enemies.
SPEAKER_02: You've been anything but an enemy to me and my family.
SPEAKER_02: You've done more for us than we deserve, and we appreciate it.
SPEAKER_02: You've tolerated me for years, some of you.
SPEAKER_02: My failures and shortcomings.
SPEAKER_02: We've grown a little bit, and God's added to us.
SPEAKER_02: We don't know each other yet, some of us.
SPEAKER_02: It would be good for us to honor the offices until we do find out what's behind the heart motive of people in those offices.
SPEAKER_02: With your heads bowed and your eyes closed tonight, brethren, we, I include myself, need to look at our own office of that which we hold to say, well, I don't have a.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you better be careful.
SPEAKER_02: Find out what it is.
SPEAKER_02: God's appointed.
SPEAKER_02: And then we need to be careful how we treat others in their offices.
SPEAKER_02: If you've never received Christ as Savior tonight, there's one Savior who occupies the office of Savior.
SPEAKER_02: One mediator between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Through receiving him as Savior, you honor his office.
SPEAKER_02: Through rejection, you dishonor the office of Savior.
SPEAKER_02: There's only two choices to receive or to reject.
SPEAKER_02: I highly recommend you receive him tonight.
SPEAKER_02: We could show you how.