Keep Ichabod Away 4-21-96 PM

4-21-96 PM

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Leviticus chapter 24, Exodus chapter 25, and 1 Samuel chapter 2. By the way, that group that just sang to you are somewhere in those ages of 12, 13, 14. Go to the mall and find out what the world's children are doing at 12, 13, and 14. And if you don't know, many of them, not all of them, many of them already know about things that are evil that a lot of these have not heard of yet. And I'm not saying they're uh they're, you say, well, you don't know so-and-so. I'm not saying they're pure and perfect, but we're trying to shield them from the things of this world. Now, the message tonight kind of goes along with this, I guess, that in that 12, 13, and 14 age rank, by the way, they're not up here singing. It just didn't happen by accident. It's taking a lot of work to keep them in, amen. And what we hope is as they get older, they remember some things along the way that if they ever do stray just a little bit, they'll remember that Jesus does love them. Amen. Leviticus chapter 24. Now you have to get this all balanced out, guys, if you would. Leviticus chapter 24. Once I go up, I don't want to come down, all right? Got it? Right where you want it? And then I'll move it accordingly. Thanks. Leviticus chapter 24. And I want you to see something in Leviticus 24. Look at verse number one. Verse number one. Turn it up just a little bit, if you would. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel that they bring unto thee pure oil, olive, beaten for the light, to cause the, what, say it, lamps, to burn how often? Continually these lamps were supposed to be burning, without the veil of the testimony. In the tabernacle of the congregation shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning, before the Lord, how often? Continually. It shall be a statute, how often? And how long? Forever. In your generations. He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlesticks before the Lord what? Continually. As you read that, you get this obvious understanding that these lamps, once they're lit, they're supposed to stay lit. They're supposed to burn continually. And Aaron has the charge of making sure that that happens. Look at Exodus chapter 25. Exodus chapter 25, and one verse of scripture here. And notice, if you would, verse 37. Verse 37. This is the golden candlestick, if you would. And by the way, remember, this is a shadow of something that's already happening in heaven. You can read in the book of Revelations that there are the candlesticks and the light, if you would, and likened to the churches. And if you would, when you read over there in the book of Revelations, he talks about lest thy light go out. The idea is the power and the presence of God on those churches. In verse 37, would you look? And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof. And they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may do what? Give light over against it. So the idea behind these lamps, these seven lamps, is they're supposed to be lit. They're supposed to be lit continually. And the idea is they give the light in the tabernacle. They, if you would, make sure that no darkness comes in the tabernacle. So anytime the priest goes in there, it's lit, and you can see what's going on in there. Now look at 1 Samuel chapter 2. And most of you all know what happens there. 1 Samuel chapter 2. Would you look with me in 1 Samuel chapter 2? And you'll notice that some things are going on here that shouldn't be going on. Look at verse 12. Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial. They what? Knew not the Lord. And the priest's customs was with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priestservants came while the flesh was in the seething, with a flesh hook of three teeth in a hand. And what goes on here, if you look at it, they steal and take something they're not supposed to take. And also, if you would in verse 15, and before they burnt the fat, the priest servants came and said to the man that sacrificed, give flesh to Rose for the priest. The idea was the fat was always to be before the Lord, and the Lord was always supposed to get the fat. So not only were they stealing before the people, they were stealing what was God's. Are you listening to me? And these leadership, these leaders here, the sons of Eli, says they knew not the Lord. And if you would, this leadership didn't give the people what was rightfully theirs, and didn't do the procedural matters the right way, and they took of the Lord. And verse 18, and if any man said to him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as thy soul desires, then he would answer him, Nay, but thou shalt give it me now. If not, I will take it by force. That's not the only thing they took by force. If you look over it uh and you read it sometimes in verse 22, what happens? They do some other things that they shouldn't be doing by force. In verse 23, and he said unto them, Why do ye such things? For I hear of your evil dealings by all this people. Hey, these are supposed to be the leaders here. Nay, my sons, for it is no good report that I hear. You make the Lord's people to do what? Transgress. So the idea of what's going on at this period of time in Israel is the leadership is falling into sin, and they're doing things that are causing the people to sin, and then they're forcing themselves and forcing the people and leading the people to transgress. Well, God sends a man to warn Eli. Look at verse 27. And there came a man of God unto Eli and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, did I what? Plainly appear to unto the house of thy father when they were in Egypt, in Pharaoh's house? And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me, and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire for the children of Israel? Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifices, at mine offering, which I commanded in my habitation, and look at it, and honorest thy sons above me, to make yourselves what? Fad. With the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel, my people. Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thou, thy house, and the house of thy father should walk before me forever. But now the Lord said, Be it far from me, for them that honor me, I will what? And they that despise despise me shall be what? Lightly esteemed. And he goes on to pronounce judgment of what's going to happen. Now I want you to look in chapter 3 of 1 Samuel. Verse 1. And the child Samuel ministered in the Lord before Eli. The word of the Lord was precious in those days. There was no open vision. It came to pass at the time when Eli was laid down to his place, and his eyes began to wax dim that he could not see. Verse 3. And there, the lamp of God, what happened? It went out in the temple of the Lord. I've often wondered, I wonder why the lamp went out. I wonder if it was because the priests didn't do their work and they didn't keep it in order and keep things decent the way it should be in the actual filling of the lamps, if you would, or keeping them lit, or whatever it's supposed to do. But I'll tell you something. Not only did the lamp of God go out, not only was that significant, but there were other things that happened just after that. There was a war that happened, and Haphnai and Phineas were taken and killed. But probably even more important than that was this: that the Philistines took the ark of God out of the camp of the Israelites. In verse 18 of chapter 4, 1 Samuel chapter 4. Stay with me. 1 Samuel chapter 4, verse 18. And it came to pass when he made mention of the ark of God. This is Eli, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck broke, and he died. For he was an old man and heavy. He made himself fat with the wrong offerings. And he had judged Israel forty years, stay with me, and his daughter-in-law, Phineas' wife, was with child, near to be delivered. When she heard that the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed, for her pains came upon her. And about the time of her death, the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not, for thou hast borne a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it. And look at verse 21. Stay with me. And she named the child what? Say it again. Say it one more time. And what does it mean? Saying, The glory is departed from Israel, because the ark of God was taken, because her father-in-law and her husband. What happened here was Israel was labeled, if you would, at this time, in this typology, if you would, is Ichabod, because the glory of God, if you would, the lamp of God which was supposed to light the tabernacle. If you think about that, when the lamps of God went out in that tabernacle, the tabernacle was dark. There wasn't anything going on in there. It was cold and dry and I think probably eerie. I mean, the lamp of God's going out. And all the things that are supposed to be in there are still in there. The showbread, the table, and the veil and the arcs behind it. But the lamp of God went out. May I say this to you? If you study this out and understand this, and I'll give you some other scriptures to back this up. What happened was this. The leadership in Israel this time began to falter and began to fail. And as they went off into sin, the people went off into sin. And the people followed them off into sin. And things that God had ordained stopped being the way they should. And at that time the lamp of God goes out, and the tabernacle is that night darkened. If you would, not much later, these two leaders, if you would, they die. And then the worst thing that could happen, the ark of God is taken by the world. And if you would, then this child is named Ichabide. Why? Because God's glory and God's presence was gone. Twenty-five years ago in San Diego, this church was one of the most thriving, independent, fundamental Baptist church going in San Diego. Over the years, I've run into probably 10, 12, maybe 15 families that used to be in that church. And when I visit them or visited them or something like that, they'd say, Oh yes, I used to be a part of this church when this was going on and when that was going on, and boy, you don't know, it was so great, and everything like that. It was interesting. The day I arrived in San Diego as a Christian, that Sunday morning, the guy I was with, we looked in the phone book and we were looking for a church. And we looked in the phone book and it said Independent Fundamental Baptist Church, and it said the name of the church, and we thought that's what we want. And we went to church that Sunday morning. At that church. When we got there, we went to Sunday school. At Sunday school, probably three-quarters of the time was dealt with that morning, and I'm not trying to condemn or criticize because I'm not going to tell you the name of the church, but three-quarters of that uh 45 minutes that we had was spent with coffee and donuts and marriages and birthdays and uh singing all the happy birthday to you, and and uh, you know, we want to recognize this marriage, and now we want to tell you about this social activity, and we got 10 minutes of a fluffy message. Ten minutes of a little fluffy message that morning. We kind of looked at each other. We said, well, you know, Sunday school, church will be better. We walked into church and pretty big auditorium. You say you're judging. We walked into church that Sunday morning and we sat in there, and you know, you noticed something right away, and don't take this wrong, as we looked around, I thought, where are the young adults? I'm not against those. You've been around for a while, and you senior saints and you uh Star Wars of the faith. We need you. But I looked around and I looked in the congregation and I thought, where are the young married people? Where are the young couples? Where are the young men? And it was noticeable right away. And they had their song service and the whole bit and everything and the preaching. And we walked out, we looked at each other, and I said, Well, what do you think? Uh and I didn't want to say what I thought, and he said, We'll be looking for another church tonight. I said, Good. I was only a year old in the Lord, a year and a half old in the Lord, no, about a year old in the Lord. But I knew what church was, and that wasn't a powerful church. You say, Oh, you just didn't know anything. That night on Sunday night, we walked into that little auditorium on the Amherst property, and we heard the choir sing, and I said, Yeah, this is us. This is a little bit better. And uh there's a little amen and going on and everything, and the preacher got up to preach, and I mean he had a tremendous message that night, and we looked at each other and he said, This is where we'll fellowship while we're here. You know what we were looking for? We were looking for a church that had some life and had some power and something was happening in that church. Are you listening to me? Now, again, I've run into 10, 12, maybe 15 families through the years, being here 13, 14 years, and they talk about what it used to be like and what it used to be like. But you know the tragedy of that thing? A lot of those families are not in church tonight. You see, what happened here was the leadership rotted. The leadership went sour. Are you listening to me? The leadership got involved with sin, the leadership got involved in trespassing, and then it led it. The leadership led the people, and the lamp of God goes out, and then all of a sudden the ark of God is taken, and the next thing that happens, the Ichabod child is born. Look, if you would with me and stay with me, and look at Joshua chapter 7. Stay with me. Joshua chapter 7. You say, Preacher, why are you preaching this tonight? And you just read off the names of the people that got saved this morning, and he just said about the people that came and the different ministries and everything like that. Don't take it for granted, brethren. Stay with me, Joshua chapter 7. In Joshua chapter 6, let's go there first. Joshua chapter 6. This is where they're going to, if you would, take the city of Jericho. And there's a commandment given in verse 18 of Joshua chapter 6. And ye, verse chapter 6, verse 18, and ye in any wise keep yourselves from the what? Accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed. When ye take of the accursed thing and make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble it. He says, You know what? Keep your hands off the accursed thing. You know what he said to do? Go in and burn everything down and go in and let it all be destroyed, the silver and the gold and the brass and the iron, that's the Lord, but everything else, leave it alone. Don't touch it. And you know what happens in chapter 7, verse 1. But the children of Israel committed a trespass, sin, in the accursed thing. For Achan, you know what he did. He took of the accursed thing and he kindled against the children. And they go up to Ai. And look what happens in verse 10. Verse 10. Just after the battle of Ai and they lost, and the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up. Wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? And look how blunt he is. He says this to Joshua Israel hath what? Say it. Sin. He didn't he didn't beat around the bush, he just said, Hey, Joshua, get up. There's sin in Israel. He goes on, and he says, This. And they have also transgressed my covenant. That's the agreement which I command them. For they even have even taken of the accursed thing and have also stolen and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Therefore, the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turn their backs before their enemies. Why? Because they were what? Accursed. He says, This, neither will I be with you anymore, except you destroy the accursed from among you. The idea here is sin comes in, and God says, You know what? I don't want to have a part of that as long as that sin is dwelling and remaining there. Get that thing cleaned up. Now you say, I thought you were talking about a church. It can happen in a family. The leadership of the family, the husband or the wife or the two combined can let things come into the home and begin to creep in. And where there used to be power in that family, and power in the family devotions, and power in their soul winning, and people invited to church and they came, and fruit remained. All of a sudden you look at each other and you say, What happened? What happened in our family? It starts with leadership. If you wouldn't stay with me and look at Numbers chapter 14. Numbers chapter 14. And would you also pick up Psalms 106? Numbers 14 and Psalms 106. Now tonight I'm not trying to judge anybody, but it's a self-reflective type of message. We ought to look at ourselves and not judge someone else. Numbers chapter 14, stay with me. And Psalms 106. In Numbers chapter 14, this is just after the leadership, the spies came back and give the evil report of the land, and all the people get discouraged and they don't want to go up anymore. Stay with me. Numbers 14 and Psalms 106. Numbers 14. And if you remember what happens here, all the leadership get to the place where they have caused the people now to err. And if you remember, God sends a plague on that leadership and he won't let it just go by the wayside. And if you would uh look what he says, uh verse 28. Verse 28 of Numbers 14, say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you. Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. You know what he said? I'm done with you. And all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me. He goes on to say that Caleb and Joshua come in the land. He says, but verse 32, as for you, your carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness. He's talking to that rebellious generation. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years and bear your what? Say it. Whoredoms. Say it again, your what? Whoredoms. Until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness. He says, after the number of days in which you searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, ye shall bear your what? Iniquities. You see, brethren, the problem was sin. Let me say it again. The problem was what? Sin. And if you remember when we looked in Leviticus, the air of the lamp had gone out in 1 Samuel, it's because those leaders had begun to sin, and the people had begun to sin, if you would, and the standards were dropped, and the ark was taken, and Ichabod was written. And when we read in Joshua, it was sin in the camp that caused the problem. And here it was it was sin, it was trespasses. Look what, if you would, in verse 36. And the men which Moses sent to search the land who returned made all the congregation to do what? Murmur against him and bring up a slander upon the land. And those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land died by the plague before the Lord. Now look at verse 39. And Moses told these sayings to all the children of Israel, Stay with me, and the people mourned greatly. They rose up early in the morning and gat them up in the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here. You know what they're saying? We're ready, let's go. And we will go up into the place where the Lord hath promised. For we have sinned. And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the Lord? But it shall not prosper. Look what Moses says, Go not up. For the Lord is not what? For the Lord is not among you, that ye be not smitten before your enemies. The Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword. Verse 44. But they say it. They presumed to go up into the hilltop. Nevertheless, the ark of the covenant of the Lord and Moses departed not out of the camp. You see, they went up, brethren, but please look up here. Went through the motion, but God wasn't in it. Well, I tell you what, this afternoon, I got alone a little bit, and I rejoiced that this morning God was in our services. They say, Oh, what's the big deal about that? You stand up here and you preach year after year after year after year. It's good when God continually shows up and something happens. And you know it wasn't you, you know it was God and His presence and the prayers of the people, and people came, and you watch people kneeling here receiving Christ and ladies over here, people getting baptized, and you just happen that God's still working in the church. It wouldn't matter if I'm a preacher, a pastor, or not. I'm glad if I was a member of a church that something's going on in that church and people are still getting saved. We never ought to presume about God's presence in our personal life. We never ought to presume about God's presence in our family. We never ought to presume about God's presence because if we do, we get complacent in church and we don't listen to the preaching as intently. Look at Psalms 106, please. Psalms 106. You say, are you scolding us? Absolutely not. It's a warning, brethren. It's a warning. I'm not scolding anybody here tonight. That's not the purpose of the plan. The purpose in the plan, it's almost like maintenance to make sure it doesn't happen here. At least not in my watch. Amen. Psalms 106. Look, if you would at verse 13. They soon did what? Forgot his works. You see, they they saw the Red Sea dried up, and they they saw his glory on the mountaintop, if you would, but they soon forgot his works and they waited not for his counsel. But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted God in the desert. And look at verse 15. And he gave them their what? What they request. They said, Oh, would we would to God we'd go back to Egypt? Weren't there graves there for us? Oh, if we could just go back there. He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their what? So forty years they wandered around out there. Forty years. Please look up here. Forty years. And it wasn't like they had the initial power of God that they had when they crossed the Red Sea. If you would, God has taken care of them, but God had drawn back from them with his power and his presence, but it was still there waiting for the next generation to come up to get it again. You see, brethren, please look up here. God decides how close is he going to get to us. Let me say it again. God decides how close he's going to get to us. We don't control that. Oh, do we have an influence? Absolutely. We draw nigh to God, and the Bible says he will what? Draw nigh to us. Is that right? But who draws us to himself? God draws me to him, and therefore, out of obedience, I draw nigh to him, and he draws nigh to me. He wants to draw nigh to us, he wants to be close to us, he wants to fellowship with us, he wants to bless our personal devotions, he wants to bless our family devotions, he wants to bless our church services, he wants to do all that. But brethren, if we get to the place where we're complacent about sin in our lives, he won't. Say amen. It's true. If we're not careful, we'll be like one of those that he sends leading us to the soil. I was talking to one of our teens on Friday evening, and the teen was relating to me when they went back east and they went up to the Moody Bible church up there. And they talked to some of the students up there, and one of the teens asked and said, uh, you know, do you uh do you uh believe in uh personal evangelism? It was like it was a foreign question to the student. Do you believe in soul winning? It was like a foreign question to the students. Do you give out tracks? You see, Moody Bible churches where they used to run the wagons out and bring the Sunday school teacher children in, and the teachers would teach, and the Moody Bible church at one time read history, it exploded, and people were getting saved. But over the years something happened and it stagnated and it got stale, and God sent leaness to their soul. I'm probably talking to some families in here tonight. Nobody knows. But the spiritual temperature of your home used to be hotter. Nobody knows. And by the way, it's not my business, unless you make it my business. I'm not gonna barge in. I'm not gonna be the Holy Spirit. But you're here tonight, and while you're here, I'm gonna challenge you. As well as challenge myself. I may be talking to some people here tonight, and it's just your own personal life, and maybe you live by yourself, or you spend a lot of time by yourself. Maybe you're not married. I don't know your situation. But if the truth were to be known, there were times when you were walking closer to God. And if we're not careful, brother, we'd be too complacent about you say, I'm a child of God. I'm born again, the Holy Spirit's inside of me. And I believe that too. I'm a born-again child of God, but I'm not careful. God will send leanness to my souls, he'll take his presence from me, he'll take his power from me. I can't go out and do what I want and sin and get drunk and try to hide it. He'll deal with me. Stay with me. Look at Judges 2. Judges 2. Stay with me. Say, preacher, when are we gonna laugh? I don't think we'll laugh tonight. We already laughed, amen. You say, I didn't get a chance to laugh. Okay, do it now. Judges chapter 2 and 2 Kings 17, last two scriptures. Judges 2 and 2 Kings 17. You see, all over the Bible in the Old Testament, we're given these warnings. Stay with me. Judges 2 and 2 Kings 17. And I don't want you to go down out of here feeling down about anything, but stay with me. Judges chapter 2. In Judges chapter 2, the Bible says in verse 7. And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua. But you see, there was a problem later on. Verse 10. And also all the generations were gathered under their fathers, all those that had served in the days of Joshua and after. And verse 10, and there arose another generation after them, which what? Knew not the Lord. Nor yet the what? The works which he had done for Israel. The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. Do you see the pattern that goes on time after time? Brethren, this Bible is written, and we ought to not take it for granted, because they go in and they go out and they go in and they go out. Verse 12, and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods of the gods of the people that were round about them and bowed themselves unto them and provoked the Lord to anger. They forsook the Lord and served Baal and Ashtaroth. And say, I'm not serving a sun god tonight, and I'm not serving, stay with me. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them in the hands of the spoilers. Why? He took his presence from him. In verse 16, look what happens. Never Lord, the nevertheless the Lord raised up who? Come on, raised up who? Judges. That was leaders, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And yet they would not hearken unto the judges, but they went ahooring after other gods and bowed themselves unto them and turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked. You see, when there was a judge and a leader that got things going again, like Gideon, after he died off and the people died off, off they went again back into sin. And brethren, please look up here. If there's anything we want in our church and we want in our homes and we want in our families, we want to keep the temperature burner turned up. We want to keep it hot spiritually. We want to keep the prayer life and the Bible reading. We want to keep the works, if you would, for God, workmanship created into Christ Jesus. And above all else, we want God's presence in our life. We want it. We don't want to just come and go through the motions and shout out. Hey, listen, don't shout if you don't have God's presence. I mean, just to have a loud church, we go, man, it wasn't that great. We can turn this thing into pep belly and God's nowhere near. Look, if you would stay with me and look at 2 Kings 17. 2 Kings 17. Stay with me. 2 Kings 17. And if you would look at verse 7, and it says it again, I want you to see it, please. For so it was. The children of Israel had what? Sin. Verse 7 of 2 Kings 17. Against the Lord their God, which he brought them out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, and walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel. It goes on down to verse 9, and the children of Israel did what? Secretly. Did how? Secretly. Those things that were not right against the Lord their God. They built their high places in all their cities. It goes on to say how they provoked the Lord and they burnt incense to the same little g gods of the heathens, and they served idols, and later on God testifies and says, Turn from your evil way. Verse 14. Notwithstanding, they would not hear but harden their necks. Like to the neck of their what? Fathers. Hey, please look up here. Don't tell me when somebody who's known the Lord and got saved and turned their back on God, don't tell me it doesn't affect the children. It certainly does. Well, when the children get older, they can do what they want. I'll tell you what, you get out of church, you get out of your devotions, you let TV and all regular movies come in, and I'll guarantee you they will follow our example. Well, they can do what they want. They're going to do what they see. Yeah, they followed after their fathers. That's why we're having these fatherhood meetings. Amen? And that did not believe in the Lord their God. They rejected the statutes. They're going on down that says they did like the heathen. Verse 17. They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, used divination enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke them there. Therefore, the Lord was very angry with Israel. And I want you to see it. And did what? Removed them out of his sight. You know what? He took his presence from them. There was none left. But the tribe of Judah only. And it goes on down to say how he delivered. Now please look up here. The lamp of God goes out. The ark is taken. Ichabod. In the book of Joshua, they presumed to go up the hill and God wasn't there. The presence of the Lord just wasn't there. When they oh, I'm sorry, uh, in the book of Numbers, the presence of the Lord wasn't there. They go into the book of Judges, the book of Kings, and it goes on and on and on. Brethren, please look up here and listen. I say all that to say this. Everybody goes into slumps once in a while. Everybody here. Haven't you ever had a Christian slump? Come on, you ever slump a little bit? You ever get to the place where you open your Bible up and you say, Man, I wish there were some pictures? Come on, you been there? Admit it, have you? I mean, your prayer life is like you get down to pray and you say, Lord, honestly, I don't know why I'm doing this, my heart's not into it, I'm just going through the motion. Feels like your prayers get about as high as your top of your head. Bounce off your wall. Your cranium. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Church service, you come in, and the preacher stands up to preach, and everybody around you is kind of, you know, and yeah, amen, that's right. Glory to God, that's right. And they're singing, and you're kind of going, I wish they could shut up. You sing, and the guy next to you, he's just singing away, and you're kind of you're kind of going, man, this is the same old song, same old stuff. Wonder how long this is gonna be tonight. Somebody gets something, gives a testimony, and you know how we do. We sit there and go, oh man, how long is this gonna take? I've heard this before. Oh yeah, he's gonna yell tonight. Oh man, here we go again. Come on, you ever been there? Somebody's there tonight. And somebody was there last week, and somebody will be there next week. And it may be one of us, and it may be me. Well, please look up here. As a Christian trying to do something for God, you don't stay in the slump. You know what, uh, and I won't relate it, and it's not probably a good illustration, but uh, I guess probably when you think of slump, if you know anything about baseball, a good hitter can get in the slump. I mean, gets up there and I mean every ball's a strike, you know, and every foul ball's caught. You know what I'm talking about. And when you hit the ball and it looks like, I mean, it's gonna go through, the guy just happens to be standing there and holds up his glove and goes right into it. And he hits the ball in the outfield, I mean he tags the ball, and the guy just stands there and catches it right where he's supposed to be. That's a slump. But you know things about good batters, they keep swinging. They keep going to the plate. They keep doing what they're supposed to do. And they don't stop, and they keep working on it, they don't get discouraged, and they don't they don't quit. You say, if I was paid that much money, I wouldn't quit either. You can put me more than that! You can put me much more than that. You fucking walk a bummy pop-by-pit-papity, fuck the fucking mommy, hell for a minute. He does forsake and setting a minute, shouldn't we get up and keep swinging something? Even if I don't feel like I'm gonna get the book, even if I don't feel like I'm going to church, even if I don't feel like I'm gonna swing! I tell you something, once in a while you can just kind of see as the church begins to fold up. Let me give you some of the warning signs. Uh a ministry, maybe, or a family, or an individual. One of the things you can always tell when things are starting to go, and maybe the presence of God and ichabod's coming later on, uh, people stop stepping out by faith. Oh yeah. When someone's hot for God, somebody says, Okay, we're gonna do this. And I mean when you're hot, we're gonna, all right, let's do it! And somebody in the back says, I don't like that. And we say, All right, now we're gonna we're gonna step out by faith and do that. And amen, let's do it. And the same person in the back goes, I don't like that. Now everybody doesn't like it once in a while. But if you get too many, I don't like that. And you don't want to do anything by faith, you don't want to move forward by faith, and you don't want to conquer anything else. Because you see in this Bible they were always out conquering something and wanting to do something more by faith for God. When they get to the place, and when we get to a place where we don't want to conquer anything or more, be careful. Be careful. Some things begin to happen just about that time. There's no new fruit. Let me ask you a question. Don't take this offensively. When's the last time you gave a gospel presentation to someone? I didn't say they came forward and they were what they were wondering to Christ and baptized. I said, when's the last time you gave a gospel presentation to someone? Let me ask that again. When's the last time? You say, well, you know, I'll guarantee you this: if we're walking close to God, we'll be walking by people, and God'll say, Go ahead, give them a track. Go ahead, stop and talk to them about the Lord. Go ahead, witness to me, witness about me over there. I'll guarantee you, if we're near the presence of God, he's going to cause us to be his ambassador. Come on. Or you say you're just judging people. I'm not judging anybody but myself because I know this. When I backslide a little bit, I walk by those opportunities. When I'm close to God, I don't. You know what I find sometimes when I get out of the weekly habit? If I do, which I don't, if I get out of the weekly habit of going to personal evangelism or soul winning or doing something with the gospel, I'll guarantee I don't think about it the rest of the week like I should. That's why it's good to get in the habit. Let me say it again, that's why it's good to get in the habit. Let me say it again, that's why it's good to get our families in the habit. Hey, you know, last week I was thinking uh somebody our family was out soul winning Tuesday morning and Tuesday night, and somebody was out uh Wednesday, uh Thursday morning and Thursday night, and somebody was out Saturday. You see, not our family goes at once because we're diversified in different ages now, but all of us go. You say, don't they ever feel not like not going? Sure. Sure. Absolutely. Or you say, well, you should go with the right heart. Please look up here. If you don't have the right heart, go anyways. Our heart will follow later. See, if we're not careful, what happens is there's no new fruit. You look at a church, I mean, after a while, there's no new fruit, there's no new people, there's no new excitement. And please look up here. After a while, old fruit begins to rot. I mean, somebody got saved three years ago. After a while, I mean, that's not fresh. And it's good to have freshness coming in and seeing people saved and seeing people baptized. That's good. Now we don't do that just for show and just for numbers. We want fruit that remains. But after a while, church's not doing that. It's like, you know, you look around and say, What are we doing? Why are we giving money? What's happening? We're paying the light bills. Why doesn't someone get saved? Why doesn't somebody join the church or get called to preach or something? Why doesn't somebody stand up with a testimony anymore? Look up here, Ichabod. If we're not careful. Seems like after there's fruit that begins to just the old ones looked at, then the next thing that happens is the world's method are tried and try all kinds of gimmicks to get people in. I don't mind a little promotion once in a while. Please look up here though. We're not gonna have any ministry in this church that gears itself to the only promotions and giveaways and things like that, and that's the only reason people were coming in. Please look up here. I'll tell you why people came in this morning. There was no giveaways, there was nothing. Some people got on their knees and prayed this week and said, God draws some people in, and God brings some people in, and someone came to the services before me in the service and said, Hey, Pastor, I got two of my friends here and they don't know Christ. I said, Good, I got a salvation message. I was thinking that, and I know people were praying and everything. That's God doing it. We didn't give them grandfather clocks, we didn't give them vacations, we didn't give them a trip, we didn't give them the gospel. I'm not against a little promotion, I'm not against a little this, and I'm not against a little that, but we're not gonna build a church on the world's gimmicks. We build people and watch God add unto the church. Say it again, we build people, we do the Great Commission and watch God add unto it. You say, man, I'm not liking that. Maybe there's a slump coming. I'll tell you what happens if you watch it, standards begin to drop. Are you saying a church or even in the home? You say, where do they usually show up first? Teenagers. Absolutely. Teenagers. Did you hear me? Every once in a while, one of my children come out and they're dressed a certain way, and I don't like it, I tell them to change. And there have been many times I've asked for the garment. I don't, and I'm not gonna, you know, it's like this. I wouldn't tell one of my children, listen, that beer you're drinking, stop drinking that. And then they go up down and put it on their shelf. If there's something that looks like it's not according to what I think it should be, I'm gonna tell them to take it off and I'm gonna ask for the garment. Then we're gonna get rid of it. I'll do that with my children. Come on, if you love them. By the way, often when I take one, I'll replace it with something else if I can. Or I'll say, God, would you help me now to replace that with something else and give them something in return for that? Why? Because standards begin to drop. By the way, you say, What's this all about? Standards begin to drop in the camp of Israel. Hafni and Phineas begin to do things that shouldn't have been done. I didn't do enough about it! You said, Don't you know what you're doing is wrong? But the Bible struck the gun, showing it up, it's like you're straight your stuff, Eli. You can affect the leadership like you should have Eli. And I'm not fucking the camp. And I'm done with you, Eli, and I'm done with you. And the life of the God with it. And look at the bottom. And it was over in the presence of God was gone. Happens in churches, it happens in families. Happens with individuals. Don't take this wrong. But if devotion time is being replaced by TV time, something's going wrong. If we know more about the TV guide than this Bible, we got a problem. If we're more excited to get up and say, I wonder what's on TV tonight! Oh, what's the big sporting event of the weekend? We've got a problem. Especially if it's more than we're interested in this word. I'm not against sporting events, but brother, I'll tell you what, if they excite us more than this does, then we're starting to be careful. I can't believe this church. Hey, you know what? If we set our affectionate on things above. Yes, sir. I can't say this is terrible. I'm I'm I've just had it with this church. Be careful. Be careful. Someone will visit you in ten years from now. And we used to wind souls, and we used to it, and we used to it, and we used to it, and we used to. It's old fruit and it's rotten. We used to. You don't know how many marriages I've seen bust up. Because they used to go to church. And they used to have personal devotions, and they used to pray for each other. And they used to talk and communicate. And they used to go to the altar together. Used to. We're not careful. What happens then? Please look up here when they stop to conquer. They begin arguing with each other. Oh yeah. Oh man. I preached at some of those churches. Stale. A little dry. And the main event was who was arguing with each other that week. They say, now, preacher, do we have any arguments? Maybe we do. Maybe there was something happening today. I don't know. But if we get our focus off of doing what God's doing and off of his work, please look up here, and he takes his presence from us, so goes his forbearance. And all of a sudden, argument and infighting. You look at a home that's starting to have some problems, and the arguments are increasing, and the children are seeing it and listening to it. I'll guarantee you, it's because the presence of God that used to be there isn't there anymore. Oh, is it still there? Yeah, but be careful, it's it's leaking out, it's slipping away. Hey, a church where there's a lot of arguments and infighting. And I mean, oh, everybody's going, oh no, it's the business meeting. Oh no, it's the business meeting. Oh, I don't want to go, it's the business meeting. Oh, they're gonna get at each other. Oh, there's gonna be this. Hey, in our business meetings, we don't have that. You know why? Because we win souls and we see people saved, we see people baptized, we see our children going up, and they're doing the great commission. That's why we don't have fights at our business meetings. Don't take this wrong. Please don't get offended. I got it in my notes. I've prayed about it. I prayed about these two statements three or four times. I said, Lord. But I've seen it, I've watched it, I've seen it in churches. When the leadership starts slipping and the sin starts coming in and the presence of God, I tell you a telltale sign. Please look up here and listen. The ladies' voices become louder than the men's voices. Let me say it again, and ladies, don't you be offended. The ladies' voices become louder than the men's voices. There's a couple reasons for that. Men stopped coming to church. Man, I'm glad when I look around. I don't know what the percentages are tonight, but we got a lot of men here. You say, wait a minute, don't you like the ladies? Yes, I like the ladies here. But listen, the men are the back bone of the church. Somebody says, I don't like that. That's chauvinisty. That's Bible. That's Bible. Get up and couples a man. Get up and couples a man. Get up and cut off the man. And when the man woman doing colours of woman. And when it gets to the place where the men shut up and the ladies are louder than the men, we've got problems. Should only be mad for a night. When men used to have roles and positions and be in leadership roles and being the and by the way, we have ladies here who are leaders. We have ladies leading in the ministries of the nursery and ladies leading the ministries of the beginners. We have ladies in the instruments and all the amount of use ladies being in leadership in different places. But men still need to take the leadership roles in the churches as far as preaching and teaching. God help us up and teach us up. Well, I don't believe it ought to be that way, and your daughter's watching you, ma'am. I don't have any problem with ladies in our church rising and aspiring. I'm glad they do, and I pray for ladies in our church that are in businesses and different things, and ladies in our church that are leading and everything like that. But the men need to be men. We don't believe in our wives being doormats. We believe in our wives rising up with us and going with us and walking into the garden with us and ministering the garden with us and praying with us. We want them to have glory, too. We're not going to treat them like doormats and some second-class citizens and say, you know, you just stick in the background and put that feed sack on and keep your mouth shut. Let them be feminine. Let them have an influence. I'm glad our ladies are going out soaring. I'm glad our ladies are ministering to other ladies. We need that. But the men better be men too. That's when a church starts going Ichabod.

SPEAKER_01 51:45

Come on.

SPEAKER_00 51:51

Yeah, yeah, preach, preach. I'm not trying to hurt anybody tonight. I've just seen. I've watched. I've observed. Ichabod comes when the music changes. And uh uh, believe me, I listen to our music. I listen to what's going on. We are not going to ever have shebop shibab wap. Christian singers. Because you give them a little, and off it goes. I hope now that you're saying amen, I'd like to go out and check what your radio's set to. Make sure we don't have to that country rock on. Or that easy listening rock. Amen. Say amen. Why do we want God's presence? Hey, our Sunday evening services are never going to turn into sing spirations. Somebody said a hood and had a cantamata. Yeah, the cantonada was preaching, baby, preaching. And it was good. Man, that softened the hearts of Sunday morning and Sunday night. Now, if we would have just had a cantamata and said, alright, everybody kumbaya, shake hands and go home. I'm concerned. It's going to be preaching. The word of God is going to be open, it's going to be broken. And by the way, on Super Bowl night, we're not going to can Sunday night service. You know, sometimes Wednesday night they start losing the crowd, and well, more people are working and everything like that. Well, we're praying that you change your work schedule. Our Wednesday night is growing and it's exciting, and missionaries coming in and preaching and teaching going on. Our Wednesday nights are bigger than they've ever been. I realize some of you need to work, but get the tapes and get listening to those Wednesday night messages, too. Wednesday night is one of the heartbeats of the church. Wednesday night ought to not just be full of women. Now, if you work, sir, praise the Lord, glory to God, work your schedule. You have to work. Make that tent, provide for your family. But if you're laying at home watching TV, get in church on Wednesday night. See, that sounds dictatorial. I'm provoking you to love and good works. Lest we go by the wayside and he seems sends leanness to our souls. I'm not trying to push anybody out. I'm trying to push us closer. Don't take this wrong. Soul winning and personal evangelism are not replaced by fellowship. I'm all for fellowship. I was fellowshipping Friday night with one of the groups. I'm all for fellowshipping. But brother, we need to get out there and get the gospel out, too. And you say, well, I only got so many nights in the week, and this night I'm fellowship, so I'm not going soul winning that night. Be careful. It'll be a point in time you won't go soul winning at all. But I tell you, please look up here. When we start to leave off the Great Commission, part of our heart goes too. We're not giving that gospel out. We're not involved with that. Part of our heart goes. See, I don't know if I believe that. I could introduce you to some people that I know could tell you. You know what happens? Oh, I don't like that. You know what? I don't like it either. But we do it. We do it. You say, what if you're not good at it? You do it anyways. Step up to the plate. Swing the bat. Looks like to me that when God started with those twelve, they weren't all good at it. They just kept doing it. That'd be like the first time I ever preached. If it was a matter of not being good at it, I would have quit. The second time, I would have quit. The third time, stunk. I remember the first time I spoke in a church. I stood up and it was somewhere in Indiana. I was coming back. We were getting ready to go to the mission field, and the pastor said, uh, tonight we have two missionaries with us, and uh we're gonna let the younger one preach. Oh man, I was a novice lifted up with pride. Oh, I stood up, and I don't know what I did or said, and I don't know the context, I don't know what I was trying to get at. I still to this day don't know. I had a friend out there after I was finished. I mean, everybody just sit there, nobody said a word, and I can't blame him. There wasn't much to say on anything. I mean, it was a mess. And after words, he came up to me and he said, uh, good, and he stopped. And he said, uh, that was good uh, and he stopped again. And he said, uh, nice talk. He shook my hand. Nice talk. His conscience couldn't let him say good preaching because I wasn't preaching. So he said, nice talk, Doug. I never forgot that. Nice talk. That was a nice talk. Yeah. Boy, you talk about wanting to crawl up in a hole and just dig down about 12 feet and cover the dirt on top of you and say, I'll come out in about 10 years? You ever feel that way? Nice talk. That was the best words I got that night. I would have quit a long time ago. You learn by on-the-job training and keeping going and staying at it. Brother, I'm just saying to you tonight. Our church and our homes and our family, I don't think I need to say much more. If we're not careful, the lamp goes out. Nicobod. We presume that God's with us. And we continue on going through the motion. And if we're not careful, God says I'm grieved. I talk to you about it, I preach to you about it, I dealt with you. Now listen. Take care. Get back to where you need to be. Please look up here. It can affect our bus ministry, our Spanish ministry, our deaf ministry, our convalescent center ministry, our prison ministry, the military ministry. Name the ministry. Name the family. Name the Lighthouse Baptist Church. Please look up here. If it starts to go bad from within, it will affect what we have going on here. You know who will be responsible? We won't look to anybody else. We won't look to the world. We won't look to another crowd. We won't look to another movement. You know who we need to look at? The person we see in the mirror every morning. And we need to take responsibility. And I say, first of all, we men need to take responsibility. I say again, we men need to take responsibility. Let me say it again, we men need to take responsibilities. We said before, boy, you men, me, me spiritual, and take the lead. We need to take responsibility. Take the responsibility for what's going on inside our homes and inside our families, inside our church, inside our ministries. We take the responsibility, and we shouldn't expect our women to be hot for the Lord if we're not. We should not expect our women to be hot for the Lord if we're not. And then expect our teenage boys and our teenage girls and our young children to want to come to church when they see Daddy sitting like this, falling asleep. Hear daddy and mommy talking on the way home about, well, I didn't like this, and you say this, and you hear what he said to this, they're listening to that stuff. Maybe it wasn't just the way you would do it. Maybe it wasn't just the message you would preach. But if you didn't like it, let me give you a hint. Wait to talk about it when you're in your bedroom and the children are asleep and the door's shut. Then talk, but be careful you don't poison each other. I've seen families poison each other. Seen husbands and wives. Remember a young couple? Come out here, grew up in church, grew up in an AC school, got married, come out here, coming to our church for about a year and a half, and by the way, I can repeat this story ten times over. They were coming to church and everything was going great, and then we didn't see them for a while, and they got involved in this and got involved in that, and I went out and we'll be back preaching and all that, and you know how it all goes? Six months later. They're not in church anymore, and you call and they don't want to talk to you. And if I've if I know 10, I know 15 that just before they left, they would say, uh, they would call me and they'd say, uh, Pastor Fisher, do you remember me? Yeah, yeah, I think I remember you, yeah, yeah. How are you doing? Well, uh uh I we got some problems going on here. I'm going back home and and uh we're getting a divorce, and uh, you know, I just uh I just wanted to uh say asked you if you'd pray for us and and everything that's going on. If I heard that once, I've heard it 15 times. And they didn't come that way. You know what happened? Come on. The lamp right now. So you know everything's pretty good. Fruit, barren, some of that. Please look up here and I finish. Don't take it for granted. I said before, these juniors up here, these junior high, it's no accident they're there. Don't take it for granted. It takes work, it takes diligence, it takes staying at it. You know what? Please look up here. We start laying that Bible down a little bit and laying that prayer time down a little bit and stop getting convicted about not passing out tracts, and we come to church and we don't really get it, and we go away, and we're in a slump, but we don't want to come out of the slump. Don't let those little things get bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. Because for long, you'll be saying illustration, and by the way, so could I. I won't mention any names. You won't know the names. A period of time ago, less than six months, I got a call. Early in the morning, a man that I know in the ministry called me. And he said, uh, not from this church. And he said, uh, I just wanted to talk to somebody. And for some reason your name came up, Brother Doug, and I want to talk to you. I said, okay. He said, this morning I got some news that part of me rejoices and part of me is just torn up inside. He said, uh a man that I have known for years and years and years and years in the ministry, a pastor. And by the way, if I said the name, many of you would know, and it doesn't matter. He said, uh I just got news this morning about him. He said, uh He said, let me give you the background first so you understand. He said, I just gotta talk to somebody about it. I don't know who to talk to. He said, This man and I grew in our ministries together, and he was pastoring, I was pastoring. Both our churches grew, and both of them pastored churches over well over 2,000 people. Please look up here. And he said, uh he said, I knew him, and we were good friends, and you know, later on in life, he said, both of us had our problems. He said, Doug, you already know the problems I had, and I'll just let you know that he had similar problems. He said, Both of these problems, I guess. Could have been such that God could have been done with either one of us. He said, This morning. I just got to thinking about it. Here I am. Pastoring a church, and we're having a big day. He said, We just had a big day, and he said, I got news this morning that that friend well he didn't get back right again. He went out and got away from church and got involved in things that he shouldn't have. And he said, Now, and he gave me the age, both of them about the same in their fifties, and he said this morning. I just got word that that man committed suicide. He said, You know what's tearing me up? He said, He's my friend. He said, You know what the difference was? He said, Here's that man, and he didn't get back in. And didn't get back going again. And now today he's dead. And here I am, just coming off one of the biggest days of our church. He said, both of us were in the same category. He said, You know what the difference was, Brother Doug? I said, No. And I'm just listening. By this time, he big paws and he's weeping and crying. Did you ever hear a grown man cry when they really break down? I mean, hey, you could just hear him cry. He said, What's so bittersweet about this thing? He said, I just cared about him so much. He said, On the other side, I'm rejoicing about God's grace. He said, You know the difference? I said, No, sir, I don't. He said, This. The difference is that man had no friends to help him back up again. And God gave me some friends that helped me back up again. And he said, The reason I'm calling you, Brother Doug, is you were one of them that helped me back up. He says, I'm calling three men this morning, and you're one of them. I said, I just, he said, I just want to thank you. And I'm not giving myself any glory. He says, I just want to thank you. I could have been that man laying in that casket, but today I'm going to the pulpit to preach. You know what makes a difference? Faithful are the wounds of a friend. Tonight, don't think I'm saying this not as a friend. Faithful is the pastor and the preacher and the man that stands up and preaches the word of God and says, Let's be careful. By the grace of God, go one of us, or go our family, or go our church into the Ichabod trail. Let's not take it for granted. What God's given us here. It's prayer, it's fasting, it's Bible study, it's fellowship, it's abiding, it's doing the works of God. It's still fun. I say it again, it's still fun. I don't know what's going on in your household, but I know this. If you get backslidden away from God, you won't laugh as much as you used to. You won't sport as much as you used to. Because it's a pedimont and each other, and I'll tell you what, though, when there's soul winning going on and the ministries are being fruitful, and the devotions are going on, and the TV's not the center of the entertainment in the home. I'll tell you what, there's laughter and there's sporting going on and there's games going on, and there's there's fun. I've seen it, I've watched it. You say, where does it start? At an altar. Just saying, Lord, I want you to keep me straight. Keep us on the right path. And if he is, at an altar saying, Lord, thank you. Thank you. That work's still going on for thee. Let's all stand. With your heads bowed. Don't leave. Don't walk out the other way yet, please, out of courtesy, with your heads bowed. If you want to use an old-fashioned alternate to get around and say, Lord, I just want to thank you. Either yourself personally, your family, your wife, your wife, your husband, or you're here. Maybe you're head of the home. Maybe you have a ministry here, a Sunday school class, uh something you're involved in. Maybe you're just new here and you're wanting to get in, whatever. Tonight, brethren, please. Let's not take for granted. Take not thy presence from me. Except thy presence go with me, we're not going up. We want God's presence and we want God's power. We ought to not take the little things for granted. They're signs to us about staying on track for God. Please, men, men, ladies, leaders. Leadership. Those of you who have the hoary head, we younger looking to you for examples, please, we need you to stay on track. If you want to use an old-fashioned altar, you come. If you want to make an altar out of your pew, do that. If you want to just sit down there and have some prayer, do that. But if you're struggling inside your heart and you're saying, man, I don't like this, I don't like what he said, and I don't like it, just read the scriptures. Read the scriptures. And the struggle is between you, that new nature, and you maybe that old nature. I didn't try to say anything tonight purposely to offend or to put myself up in any way, shape, or form. Ladies, please don't be offended because I said something to you about letting the men be men, and then said something to men about being men. Ladies, we need you in this church. We have numbers of numbers of items and things, and we couldn't be what we are without you. And please, don't be offended because I asked you tonight to let the men be the men. And men, I'm asking you to stay on track. But ladies, without your prayers, without your faithfulness and your work, and God set it up, we couldn't do it. As the instruments play tonight, please. If you need salvation, you come, we can help you. If your need is to do some business with God, please, let's do that tonight before we dismiss.