WEBVTT 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:08.320 This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:13.279 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:25.679 Aaron, I chose as my text for your ordination, the 23rd chapter of Jeremiah, because I think it's indicative of the culture in which God's called you to do ministry, and I think it's indicative of your heart for ministry. 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:30.399 This is the word of the Lord from Jeremiah chapter 23, starting in verse 14. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:33.759 But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing. 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:36.320 They commit adultery and walk in lies. 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:41.119 They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his evil. 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:46.240 All of them have become like Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah. 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:54.560 Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets, behold, I will feed them with bitter food, and give them poison water to drink. 00:00:54.799 --> 00:00:59.759 For from the prophets of Jerusalem, ungodliness has gone out into all the land. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:07.120 Thus says the Lord of hosts, do not listen to the word of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:11.280 They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:16.400 They say continually to all those who despise the word of the Lord, it shall be well with you. 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:22.480 And everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, No disaster will come upon you. 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:33.120 For who among you has stood in the counsel of the Lord to see and to hear his word, or who has paid attention to his word and listened? 00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:35.840 Behold, the storm of the Lord. 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:41.760 Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest, it will burst upon the head of the wicked. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:48.400 The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart. 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:51.519 In the latter days you will understand it clearly. 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:54.319 I did not send the prophets, yet they ran. 00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:57.280 I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:08.960 But if you had stood in my counsel, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds. 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:13.919 Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far afar off? 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:19.520 Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him, declares the Lord? 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:22.960 Do I not feel heaven and earth, declares the Lord? 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:30.000 I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:46.319 How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal? 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:52.879 Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:56.560 What has straw in common with wheat, declares the Lord. 00:02:56.719 --> 00:03:02.800 Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:09.039 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another. 00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:26.800 Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, declares the Lord, thus saith the Lord, behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:34.639 When I did not send them or charge charge them, so they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord. 00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:43.759 Aaron, God is looking for men in ministry who are not in it for what they can get out of it, but they're in it to invest their lives and to profit God's people. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:48.560 These are the men who, verse 18 says, and God asked this question. 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:53.680 This question is going out over the over this country even now. 00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:55.280 And it's coming back. 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:56.960 There's an echo coming back, Aaron. 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:00.960 If you can hear it when you're at school and you look around, there's people that are there. 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:05.120 Just because they got to get a seminary degree to get a church, this echo is coming back. 00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:17.360 And here's the question that reverberates for who among them has stood in the council of the Lord to see and to hear his word, and who has paid attention to his word and listened? 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:27.040 And then God says, Behold, the storm of the Lord, wrath has gone forth, or whirling tempests, it will burst upon the head of the wicked. 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:33.519 The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart. 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:39.759 Here's why, Aaron, I charge you in the presence of God and your church to stand in the counsel of the Lord. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:51.839 It's because only by standing in the counsel of the Lord and not just hearing his word, but seeing his word, God's looking for men who he can confide in, the intent of his heart. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:56.000 Because a lot of preaching these days, Aaron, is not the intent of God's heart. 00:04:56.480 --> 00:05:01.759 It's this vapid kind of a moralistic therapeutic deism. 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:05.439 It's just this thin life management principles. 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:18.800 And so if you're gonna be a man who stands in the counsel of God's word, and his word is so tangible to you that you don't just hear it, you see it, you taste it, and you touch it, then there's some things I want to charge you with. 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:21.279 Basically, five things very quickly. 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:26.800 Number one, uh to accomplish this, Aaron, number one, you've got to live like a dead man. 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:28.560 You gotta live like a dead man. 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:34.399 Paul says in Galatians 2, I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:40.399 In the life I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:44.399 Here's the beauty, Aaron, of being dead is that there's no face to save. 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:47.360 There's no fear of being embarrassed or looking foolish. 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:54.079 You can finally be fully alive to what God created you for because you're dead to everything else. 00:05:54.240 --> 00:06:03.199 It doesn't have a hold on you, it doesn't interest you, and if you believe it or not, the Bible puts great value on dying. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:05.360 And so you gotta die. 00:06:05.519 --> 00:06:11.439 You just gotta, Jesus said in John 12, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:18.560 There's a lot of men that are going to ministry and they're gonna make a mortgage payment and die, and there's not gonna be anything to show for it. 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:19.519 Nothing. 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:25.519 Because they were selfish and small and competitive and driven and never called. 00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:30.319 But Jesus says, he says, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:34.879 But if it dies, it produces many seeds, many people. 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:42.399 People ought to come up to your kids when your kids are 19 and 20 and when they're adults and you're dead and say, hey, is your last name Cotton? 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:44.240 You wouldn't know a guy named Aaron Cotton, would you? 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:46.079 And they kind of smile and go, that's my dad. 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:50.879 And they go, hey, I heard your dad speak, and it turned my heart and changed my life. 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:52.959 Only dead men preach like that. 00:06:53.120 --> 00:07:00.000 All these living men out here that are just quoting Tim Keller and taking credit for it, they haven't died. 00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:03.600 They're still fully alive, living for themselves. 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:07.519 So, number one, Aaron, I want to charge you to live like a dead man. 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:10.079 Secondly, I want you to live like a called man. 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:16.319 That means like John the Revelator, God has put his hand on your shoulder and ruined you for everything else. 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:21.199 The Bible talks about in Acts 13, and in the church at Antioch, there were prophets and teachers. 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:23.600 Uh, and then it lists off these people. 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:29.439 Uh, there was Lucius of Cyrene and Menead, uh, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetarch and Saul. 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:39.519 And it says this, while they were worshiping the Lord in fasting, the Holy Spirit spoke and said, Set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I had called, I've called them to. 00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:41.680 And so we're here to set you apart. 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:44.480 God says, set these people apart for me. 00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:49.199 God takes the called man as his portion, Aaron. 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:55.279 And so when God takes a called man as his portion, you don't need a lot of affirmation from people. 00:07:55.439 --> 00:07:56.160 It's great. 00:07:56.319 --> 00:08:00.800 You probably got some this morning for the sermon that you preached, uh, but you don't need a lot. 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:01.759 You don't live for it. 00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:05.759 You don't do ministry, so so you get a little cookie at the end of the day. 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:14.319 Because you've been set apart, and God has taken hold of you, and you reciprocate that by taking hold of that for which God has taken hold of you. 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:19.600 So, Aaron, don't ever be ashamed to put words to what God's taken hold of you to do. 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:25.279 Otherwise, you're gonna live with this vague uncertainty, and no one's helped by that. 00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:28.720 God says, set apart for me. 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:36.799 And God takes the called man in his portion, and the called man is content to have God as his portion, which is why there's not that many called men. 00:08:36.960 --> 00:08:44.320 There's a lot of desirous men, there's a lot of boys with emotional wounds trying to heal, and they use ministry in the church and Jesus to do it. 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:47.120 But there's a shortage, Aaron, of called men. 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:52.240 Men who've been ruined for the ordinary, who burn hot at injustice. 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:54.720 You say, What do you mean burn hot at injustice? 00:08:54.879 --> 00:09:03.759 Who walk in a room at youth camp and some Yahoo sound guy is playing a bunch of pagan music, and kids are gyrating around, and your chest gets hot. 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:06.399 And everybody in the room is smiling, going, What's the big deal? 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:09.200 We're just dancing before we start a worship service. 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:13.679 And you are so angry that you gotta go outside. 00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:20.399 God's looking for men that feel about stupid nonsense the way he feels about stupid nonsense. 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:30.080 God's looking for called men who burn hot at injustice and burn long for God's glory, who didn't choose it, but it chose them. 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:33.200 These are the called men in whom God confides. 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:36.639 Thirdly, Aaron, I charge you to live like a compassionate man. 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:47.440 Matthew 9, uh, Jesus comes up and looks over the city, and the Bible says that he was moved with compassion because he looked at the people and they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:53.919 No one to lead them, no one to stand up and say, I've been with God and I got something burning so hot in me. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:56.320 If I don't get it out, it's gonna burn me to the ground. 00:09:56.480 --> 00:09:59.600 But here's the thing, Aaron, you don't burn them down with it. 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:03.440 It's hard, Aaron, to be right and not hurt people with it. 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:05.120 Let me say that again. 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:11.840 It's hard to be right, and sometimes God's gonna put things in you and you're gonna have to set with them until they can come out in a palpable way. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:15.279 Otherwise, it's like trying to drink from a fire hydrant. 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:17.840 No one's helped by that. 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:25.039 People move away from that man and they wait till the water pulls up down the block so they can drink it. 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:26.799 To be compassionate. 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:27.759 You say, What do you mean? 00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:29.679 That doesn't mean you're afraid to be right. 00:10:29.919 --> 00:10:31.759 It's hard to be right and hurt people with it. 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:33.360 Don't be afraid of being right. 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:40.559 In the world today, the greatest sin we can commit is to be right, to be certain, to be unmovable in what you know to be the truth. 00:10:40.799 --> 00:10:46.480 Nobody is helped by this bland vagueness of uncertain men who never really preach. 00:10:46.639 --> 00:10:55.200 Instead, they kind of just take people on this verbal joy ride on the bandwagon of their uncertainty, and when they're done, put a big bowl on it called community. 00:10:56.639 --> 00:11:04.639 Called men, compassionate men, dead men get more from God than they get from people, regardless of what you call it. 00:11:04.799 --> 00:11:08.159 If you go, we make an idol out of the word community. 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:10.399 God says, hey, what about me? 00:11:10.559 --> 00:11:12.000 Okay, I'm your portion. 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:14.480 Have some buddies, do biblical community. 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:15.679 We love community here. 00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:22.159 We got community groups, we got Bible community, we got community coffee in the lobby, we got community coming out of our ears here. 00:11:24.559 --> 00:11:28.159 But there's a difference, Aaron, between community and communing. 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:37.360 And you've come to be a man to say to God, I will candidate myself to commune with you. 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:43.039 That means you've got to wean yourself off of all of the affirmation of people. 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:46.000 Because affirmation is not a bad thing. 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:51.039 But affirmation, if you're not careful, it will turn preachers into politicians. 00:11:51.279 --> 00:11:55.200 That's why the Bible says a man is tested by the praise he receives. 00:11:55.679 --> 00:11:57.519 Be careful what you let in. 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:04.960 Living as a compassionate man in a culture of cowards, uh, in a culture of cowards, truth is uh is hate speech. 00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:09.759 So you've got to learn to be compassionate so that the truth of the gospel can be manifested. 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:12.799 Fourthly, Aaron, I charge you to live as a man of authority. 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:16.799 When Jesus first spoke, the people said he doesn't speak as a scribe or a Pharisee. 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:17.759 We've got enough. 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:22.720 Mama called, Daddy sent, grandma financed people in ministry. 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:27.840 When Jesus stood up and talked, he didn't need to do a GoFundMe account. 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:34.879 No, because he had something, and people said, I will inconvenience myself to hear that. 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:40.879 We got men that could go online and tell a sad story and get people to send them checks. 00:12:41.120 --> 00:12:44.639 You shouldn't need so much from people if you're getting stuff from God. 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:53.039 We got way too much, we got fundraisers, Aaron, and they're like thieves in my father's house. 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:57.840 And you got to know how they got in here, and you gotta know how to get them out. 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:01.440 Because when you say a man of authority, Jesus stood up. 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:06.159 He didn't he didn't sell people on his vision, he didn't have meetings to say, hey, this is what I'm doing. 00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:12.799 He stood up, and the people said he doesn't speak as a scribe or a Pharisee, he speaks as one who has authority. 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:18.559 Scribes and Pharisees are always quoting other people because they live in the shadow of another man's life. 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:25.440 Aaron, we don't need another millennial boy in skinny jeans and a cool haircut running around ripping off Tim Keller. 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:28.879 That's the last thing we need. 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:34.799 Reputation is about what people think you are, authority is about what God knows you to be. 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:40.559 And men of authority don't concern themselves with being somebody in the religious subculture in America. 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:44.639 No, men of authority are concerned about being known in hell. 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:47.919 And you can't have it both ways. 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:52.799 You can't have people writing about you in their blog or quoting you or whatever. 00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:56.159 Acts chapter 19 tells the story of seven sons of Skeva. 00:13:56.480 --> 00:14:01.120 These guys, they saw Paul, a man of authority, and they just thought, I'm gonna say what he says. 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:02.000 And so they did it. 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:06.799 And so Paul was casting out demons because authority recognizes authority. 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:11.919 And so they saw that and they thought, that looks fun, and so they thought they'd go do it. 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:17.279 And they said to this demon-possessed person, in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out. 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:22.000 And the Bible says, one day the evil spirit answered them. 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:26.559 You might want to understand authority when that day shows up. 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:32.399 And the evil spirit said, Jesus, we know, and we know about Paul, but who are you? 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:37.440 Because, see, the seven sons of Skeva, Aaron, were somebody in religious subculture. 00:14:38.960 --> 00:14:40.879 They lived in the shadow of their dad. 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:43.519 The Bible didn't even take the time to tell us their names. 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:45.840 They were that insignificant. 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:51.679 Jesus, we know, and we know about Paul. 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:54.879 And I just wonder if hell knows about Aaron Cotton. 00:14:55.279 --> 00:15:01.840 You better give your life to that end of being known, and not so much to this part of being known. 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:03.519 This will take care of itself. 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:06.799 That won't necessarily take care of itself. 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:10.240 You can get degrees, they can print you a degree a week. 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:12.799 You can get degrees to the day you die. 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:15.200 Man can't give you authority. 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:17.679 That comes from God. 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:22.480 And I charge you, be a man of authority. 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:23.919 Live as a man of authority. 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:26.879 Finally, Aaron, I charge you to live as an ordinary man. 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:31.519 Isaiah 53 says, of Jesus, he had no form of comeliness that men should desire him. 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:37.919 The bane of ministry today is men who let people say of them what should only be said about God. 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:39.360 Let me say that again. 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:46.480 The bane of ministry today is men who let people say of them what should only be said about God. 00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:57.679 And so if it hadn't gotten back to you yet, let me just let me let it get back to you right now, this morning, right outside that door, a well-meaning person in this church who heard you preach said to me, Oh man, did you hear Aaron? 00:15:57.759 --> 00:15:58.320 And I said, Yeah. 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:00.320 And they said, that was awesome. 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:02.799 And I said, No, it wasn't. 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:05.360 And she took that as a statement about you. 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:11.519 And it's not, it's just a statement about God because how many things can you say are awesome and then say to God, you're awesome? 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:17.440 Here's the bane uh uh of ministry nowadays. 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:26.159 The problem with this affirmation-driven world, Aaron, is that we quickly run out of words that can mean anything to God because we've used them all up on people. 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:31.759 So we're obligated to say to God what we say to people, and God's not really moved by that. 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:34.320 And so get you some words. 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:41.679 And so I've come to tell you, as a man who loves you, and I ain't gotta love you like everybody else loves you, I'm not interested in that. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:45.440 Matter of fact, the way some people love you bores me to death. 00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:52.720 I don't want to go eat lunch with the two you and some of the people that love you, with just, oh, Aaron, oh, oh. 00:16:54.559 --> 00:16:56.399 Make of me whatever you want. 00:16:57.039 --> 00:17:00.080 I tell you this though, you're not awesome. 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:02.559 You're not extraordinary. 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:05.759 There's greatness in being ordinary. 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:07.200 You say, What do you mean? 00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:09.839 I want to close by reading uh D.A. 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:16.240 Carson, one of the probably greatest minds, uh biblical thinkers alive today. 00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:18.319 His dad gave his life. 00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:18.960 D.A. 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:21.920 Carson wrote a book about his dad, Tom Carson. 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:24.799 It's entitled Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor. 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:29.839 And it's fallen apart, and I could take pages out of here, and you say, Why is it falling apart? 00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:32.799 Because I keep it and I pull it out and read it every once in a while. 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:36.960 Like last week, someone said to me, Oh, we had over a thousand people on Sunday. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:39.759 And your flesh is gonna want to rise up in that. 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:43.599 And you've got to find a way to crucify your flesh, and so I just pull this out. 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:46.880 This is the way ordinary people ordinary has got a bad rap. 00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:51.920 Everybody wants to be extraordinary and cutting-edge and different and authentic and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:52.960 Shut up. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:55.279 Be ordinary. 00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:57.039 This is ordinary. 00:17:57.200 --> 00:18:01.119 This is his journal from Sunday, March the 5th, 1964. 00:18:01.759 --> 00:18:03.440 Rose at 6:50 a.m. 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:12.160 Prayer and study, preached poorly from 2 Corinthians 2, 24 people present. 00:18:13.279 --> 00:18:15.440 Rested, studied. 00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:18.480 Evening 19 present. 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:21.519 Preached from Romans 1, 1 to 17. 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:22.799 Poorly. 00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:23.920 Saw Mr. 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:30.319 F to his home, went to mother's, watched TV with her until 11:30, and was not edified. 00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:31.039 Home. 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:32.799 Went to bed reading my Bible. 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:35.519 How much better that is for my soul. 00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:39.839 You okay with preaching to 24 people, Aaron? 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:43.200 Enough for you? 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:47.200 19 people on a Sunday night, enough for you? 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:52.799 See, there's power in ordinary, Aaron. 00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:59.519 Tuesday, January the 24th, 1964. 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:05.039 Quote, greatness is not a matter of lofty position and exercise of authority, but of service. 00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:08.240 Let me take this to heart. 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:15.359 Sunday, March 18th, 1973. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:18.480 Very distressed at the message this morning. 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:20.799 This is beautiful, Aaron. 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:26.000 He went and heard some other Yehu preach, and he didn't go up and just say, hey, brother, that was good. 00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:30.160 This cat would confront you if you misrepresented the text. 00:19:31.119 --> 00:19:33.279 Very distressed at the message this morning. 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:35.200 The text was 1 Peter 5. 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:40.000 The pastor was, quote, expounding, God resisteth the proud. 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:47.599 And he used Joseph as an illustration, picturing him as being very full of pride, such that it finally brought him to all the troubles of Egypt. 00:19:47.839 --> 00:19:54.640 I was so shocked, I said to him on the way out, you have slandered one of the saintliest characters in the Bible. 00:19:54.799 --> 00:20:00.720 We had a talk this evening, and I asked him if he considered that he was not called to the pastorate. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:06.000 I also mentioned other matters. 00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:11.680 I just wonder if you've got any friends in your life like that. 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:22.000 Sunday, March 25th, 1973. 00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:26.880 The pastor again preached from 1 Peter 5, this time about resisting the devil. 00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:31.039 His message was sober, good, but missed the text. 00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:41.920 He took establish to mean re-established and talked mainly of Peter's denial and later confession and said the Lord was willing to re-establish backside in Christians, as he said in this text. 00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:46.000 The message was true, but had nothing to do with the text. 00:20:49.599 --> 00:20:55.039 See, ordinary ordinary people, ordinary men, I don't care what everybody else thinks. 00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:56.720 They're just ordinary. 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:06.640 Sunday, February 22nd, 1984. 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:12.480 He's now late 60s. 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:17.599 I preached at Hull, 1 Kings 18, 41 to 46. 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:21.759 J, G and LB, he never writes names. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:26.000 J, G and L B came for the first time with M and R. 00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:30.079 I weep for them, caught as they are under the burden of their sin. 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:37.680 Oh God, may I truly learn that only your solutions to problems offer real peace and joy. 00:21:39.759 --> 00:21:47.039 And finally, this is October 26th, 1992. 00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:49.359 His son D.A. 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:51.119 Carson writes this. 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:55.519 One more small tragedy was about to unfold. 00:21:55.759 --> 00:21:59.759 On Dad's last day, the 26th of October 1992, Joyce had briefly. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:03.440 Left owing to other responsibilities and was about to return. 00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:08.319 For some time, Dad had been slipping in and out of consciousness, but that afternoon he was in a coma. 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:19.599 That Monday was a critical election day in Quebec, and Jim, ever his father's son, knew to put duty first and drove home to Montreal to vote, expecting to return the next day. 00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:22.000 Besides, I was there to hold vigil. 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:26.240 About 11:30 p.m., I checked with the nursing staff and they thought he was stable. 00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:33.839 I'd crossed too many time zones, so I decided to go to dad's house where I was staying, have a shower, get into some clean clothes, snooze. 00:22:33.920 --> 00:22:38.079 I've always been able to be refreshed from 15 minutes of sleep and come back. 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:42.000 I drove to dad's home less than five minutes away by car. 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:44.000 I walked in the door and the phone rang. 00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:45.519 It was the hospital. 00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:47.279 There has been a change. 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:51.359 I raced back to the hospital and dad was gone. 00:22:57.039 --> 00:22:58.880 And he had died alone. 00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:03.839 Tom Carson. 00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:20.160 Tom Carson never rose very far in denominational structures, but hundreds of people in the Ottawa are beyond testify, and beyond testify how much he loved them. 00:23:20.319 --> 00:23:23.200 He never wrote a book, but he loved the book. 00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:27.839 He was never wealthy or powerful, but he kept growing as a Christian. 00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:30.720 Yesterday's grace was never enough. 00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:35.279 He was not a far-sighted visionary, but he looked forward to eternity. 00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:37.440 He was not a gifted administrator. 00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:43.039 But there's no text that says, By this shall all men know that you're my disciples if you are good administrators. 00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:48.000 His journals have many, many entries bathed in tears of contrition. 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:50.960 But his children and grandchildren remember his laughter. 00:23:51.200 --> 00:23:59.279 Only rarely did he break through his pattern of reserve and speak deeply and intimately with his children, but he modeled Christian virtues to them. 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:03.519 He much preferred to avoid controversy than to stir things up. 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:11.279 But his own commitments to historic confessionalism were unyielding, and in ethics, he was a man of principle. 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:18.799 His own ecclesiastical circles were rather small and narrow, but his reading was correspondingly large and expansive. 00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:22.640 He was not very good at putting people down except on his prayer list. 00:24:23.440 --> 00:24:39.119 When he died, there were no crowds outside the hospital, no editorial comments in the papers, no announcements on television, no mention in parliament, no attention paid by the nation. 00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:43.920 In his hospital room, there was no one by his bedside. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:51.599 There was only the quiet hiss of oxygen vainly venting because he had stopped breathing and would never need it again. 00:24:55.599 --> 00:25:00.960 But on the other side, all the trumpets sounded. 00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:04.960 Dad won entrance into the only throne room that matters. 00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:07.599 Not because he was a good man or a great man. 00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:13.359 He was, after all, a most ordinary pastor, but because he was a forgiven man. 00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:21.920 And he heard the voice of him whom he longed to hear saying, Well done, good and faithful servant. 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:36.880 Enter into the joy of your Lord. 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:40.720 That enough for you, Aaron Cotton? 00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:43.759 Do you need people to know how hard this is? 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:49.119 You need people to know when you suffer or when you make a sacrifice? 00:25:49.279 --> 00:25:56.880 Or is it enough for you that your ministry ends with no fanfare, not even 30 people and some bad cake in the fellowship hall? 00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:01.920 But in a hospital room somewhere, all by yourself. 00:26:02.319 --> 00:26:06.559 No trumpets in this world, but plenty in the next. 00:26:08.160 --> 00:26:17.839 And is it enough for you on that day just for God to say, well done, well done. 00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:28.079 Because if you're doing this, for what you're going to get out of it, you're going to live and die an angry man, an entitled little boy. 00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:31.519 And we have enough of those. 00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:42.319 But if that's enough for you, just to hear him say, Well done, enter into the joy of your father. 00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:45.759 Then you're in the right place. 00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:51.920 And therefore, I charge you with these things. 00:26:55.920 --> 00:26:58.799 Aaron, I'm going to ask you to stand up, please. 00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:07.279 Do you affirm your faith in Jesus Christ and your loyalty to him as your Lord and Savior? 00:27:07.440 --> 00:27:11.599 And will you strive to show forth his spirit in all of your life and ministry? 00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:13.119 I do. 00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:19.599 Do you affirm your belief in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as containing the Word of God? 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:20.640 I do. 00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:24.079 Do you affirm your determination in your study of the Scriptures? 00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:36.400 Prayerful in your attitude toward God, gentle, patient, and faithful in your ministrations to the people, friendly in your relations with other Christians and in your feelings and actions towards all races. 00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:37.680 I do. 00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:46.240 Do you affirm your determination to give your life to the ministry of Jesus Christ, whatever difficulties may lie in your way? 00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:53.839 I want you to step forward, Aaron. 00:27:57.279 --> 00:27:59.680 I want you to turn around and face these people. 00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:04.160 I have a question for you all. 00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:09.759 Do you affirm your confidence in Aaron Cotton and promise your prayers for God's blessing upon his ministry? 00:28:09.920 --> 00:28:13.680 And if so, would you signify that by standing to your feet? 00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:26.880 Look around, Aaron. 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:32.319 These people have come here. 00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:40.240 They've inconvenienced themselves to come and add their yes to the yes God put on you a long time ago. 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:51.039 A lot of life is figuring out, a lot of life in ministry is figuring out what matters and who matters. 00:28:52.559 --> 00:28:54.559 Don't ever forget that, Aaron.