[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word.
[0:13] For those that don't know, that's your missionary to Thailand, and he was the guy who started our music program at our church. Take your Bibles, if you would, and turn them to 1 Timothy 1. And honestly, don't preach at our ordinations very much because the time you get two or three preachers and all that we do, it takes a lot of time, but I think Bo has one of the hardest jobs of any of the young guys we'll send out.
[0:38] I cannot explain to you the pressure of working in America compared to overseas. Overseas, they don't have any expectations. When I showed up in Idaquipa, they had no idea what a church was.
[0:50] And so when I said, this is how you sing, they said, okay. When I said, this is how we do services, they said, okay. Anyway, in America, you say it, and everybody's like, we don't warn you, buddy. And it's a lot different.
[1:01] It's a lot different even for me. And so I love you, Bo, and I'm going to speak to you just a little bit tonight from 1 Timothy 1. Also, if you'd have gone to the ministry, we'd have had more money for you, and you'd have been better supported because I'd have tried to teach you that.
[1:16] But you're pastoring a church, and they're doing all they can do, and other people are helping you. But tonight, I want to talk to you like the Apostle Paul would to Timothy. 1 Timothy 1, 18. The Bible says, This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou might by them mightest war a good warfare.
[1:39] Number one, Bo, you are in a war, and you have got to learn to fight. You're in a war, and you have got to learn to fight. I think about you because you're so young.
[1:52] I think about it because I was 19 when I started, and I had a baby face, and I didn't even have glasses. I had a dentist come by to see me, and I started a church.
[2:02] I was running six bus routes all over the town. I bought the piano. The church wouldn't buy it, so I took my credit, and I went and bought the thing, and I told them somebody donated it, and I paid for it every month.
[2:13] So I made monthly payments on it because the guys in the church didn't want a piano. And I said, we've got to have a piano. Didn't have a guitar player. Back then, you didn't believe in them anyway, you know. And I was so young, and the dentist came over, and he used to tell me, I like the way you work all these poor people.
[2:28] You bring in people we wouldn't want at our church, you know, because he was at the Fuss Bobbis Church. And so he told me he'd give me $1,000 at a time back then to do whatever I needed to do, and he said, I need you to gray your hair and get you some glasses.
[2:41] I did all that now, and it seems to be working. I didn't do it back then. But I think about you, and I think about Jeremiah, and I know that he's an Old Testament prophet, but here's something about this for you.
[2:58] He told Jeremiah in chapter 1 and verse 5, I made you, I sanctified you, and I picked you, and I ordained you. And he said, don't you say, I cannot speak for I'm a child.
[3:10] Don't say that. You go out and say what I tell you to say. In verse 8, he said, don't be afraid of their faces. I'll put my words in your mouth. You're not an Old Testament prophet. You're not going to be yelling at a country.
[3:21] You're not going to be yelling at kings. But he did give you a word to preach, and Jeremiah didn't have near this. I got all of it, and I got the Holy Spirit of God. I know what it's like to be a young preacher.
[3:33] I know the fears and insecurities, and I often feel them now at 61. I really do. Sometimes I think I still brought my 19-year-old insecurities up here.
[3:45] But you need to realize that through God, though God said these words are a prophet in the Old Testament, they are true for you today. I'm going to show you passages in 1 and 2 Timothy that I want you to look at.
[3:57] I just want you to realize God made you just like you are. I want you to know he chose you, and he's the one that's really ordaining you. Tonight, Vision Baptist Church isn't ordaining you. God already did.
[4:09] This church may fail. This church may go by the wayside. The church that ordained me has closed her doors, and the pastor who was in charge, laid hands on me, has committed at least 30-something adulteries, and he's a gone guy.
[4:23] He died now. I hope he went to heaven. I'm not even sure about that. But God's one did the ordaining, not the church. Go where he wants you to go and do what he has for you, and don't be afraid of their faces.
[4:36] Don't be afraid of lost people's faces. Don't be afraid of rich and powerful people's. Don't be afraid of the poor people. Don't be afraid of your members. Don't be afraid of faces that could hinder your ministry.
[4:46] You're God's man. You'll have to stand up. It's going to be hard. But you're in a war, and it's a spiritual war, and the devil will play with your mind. So bring all your thoughts into captivity to the Lord Jesus.
[5:00] In 1 Timothy 3 and verse 15, he said, I want to teach you how to behave in the house of God. He said, and by the way, Timothy, most people think Timothy was about 40 when Paul talked to him about being such a young man.
[5:12] 1 Timothy 3, 15, I tarry, if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself. Don't follow traditions. Don't do the independent Baptist thing.
[5:24] Find the Bible thing and do God's thing. Memorize Timothy just about and do what that says. Don't let your youth hinder you. 1 Timothy 4 and verse 12, Let no man despise thy youth.
[5:39] Don't let the fact that you're young hinder you. Don't let your youth hinder you. Not in your heart. Not in your mind. And not by giving others a reason to use it as an excuse. I was very big on the young men I worked with in Peru wearing a tie and a coat.
[5:53] Do you think I could get on them? They used to say, why are you so big on ties? I'd say, because you're so young. You've got to do something. We've got to do something to make you look a little older. If you was older, we wouldn't care. But you look like a kid.
[6:04] Well, that's just the way it is. You know, that's the way it is. I mean, I still think I look young. You know, because I heard it so long now. No, I don't. But I like to think it anyway. Be an example.
[6:15] Be an example, Bo. You're the man. God's put you there. That's what Paul told Timothy. He said, be an example in the Word. Be an example in the way you live. Be an example in the way you love.
[6:27] Be an example in your spirit. Be an example in believing God. Be an example of purity. And then he told him in verse 13, he said, read my book a lot. He said, give attendance to reading.
[6:38] Read it to the church. Read it to yourself. Be an encourager. Be a teaching Bible doctrine. And God's put something in you, so stir it up.
[6:50] Don't neglect the gift, verse 14, that he has put in you. Meditate on these things. Think about all God's done. Think about all these men told you this afternoon.
[7:01] And give yourself wholly to them. Just get a hold of this and say, look, I ain't much and I ain't nobody. I'm just a Tennessee hillbilly. And I can't do much, but I can give all I got. I can be all I can be.
[7:11] I'm all in. I ain't holding nothing back. I ain't giving up. I'm giving it myself completely. And people will notice your profiting, it says. And take care of yourself.
[7:23] Here's the hard thing. Most preachers get a hold of the idea they're supposed to take care of everybody else. Because truth is, the biggest problem you've got is the guy you're going to look at when you shave. The biggest. Don't worry, I didn't shave until I was 25.
[7:40] When you comb your hair. Oh, you don't do that either. Lauren hates me. That was funny.
[7:54] I hate to. I feel like David right now. Excuse me. 16. Take heed to yourself. That's the guy you got to worry about. The biggest mess I've ever had in all my ministry of all 42 years of ministry is me.
[8:09] It really is. I thought it was some men sometime. I've gotten frustrated and aggravated. Mad at church members. And mad at the strong men in my church. But if you want the honest truth, I have always been the problem.
[8:22] It's been me more than it has been anybody. I know me. I'm a stinking devil. So I don't know how I could blame anybody else. Be careful about your doctrine. They're going to try to get you down every doctrinal trail they can.
[8:34] Be careful. And take care of yourself. The next thing you told him is 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 7. He said, don't be afraid. Sounds like Jeremiah. God didn't give you a spirit of fear.
[8:46] And to be bold means that you can know this. You're God's man. And can I just tell you this honest truth, and Betty's the witness to it.
[8:57] We've watched God work miracles you would not ever believe. For two years, my family had no income. She didn't have a job. I didn't have a job. And the church didn't pay me.
[9:07] And I prayed money in, and God met our needs. The church people would give money. I told them he couldn't even write me a check. And God met our needs. I had miracle after miracle happen. You're his man.
[9:18] He'll take care of you. You can trust him. You can trust him when everybody else fails. You can trust him when the whole world's falling apart. He's a great God. He is a great God.
[9:29] You can trust him. He didn't give you a spirit of fear. But he gave you a spirit of power. Power. I can trust God. I can walk on water if I need to. I'll do whatever I want. I've seen, you know, I've done some of those foolish things thinking he was real.
[9:44] I mean, really. And he turned out to be real. I mean, but I did some stuff. You know, and honestly, if you said, Austin, do you think that was wise? If you ask me now, I'd say, no, I don't. But I saw him do great stuff.
[9:56] I was preaching in Adiquipo one time, and I had a whole bunch of lost people in the room. And we probably had 75 lost people. And I was giving it the gospel. And I had all these other guys giving it the gospel.
[10:07] And the lights went out. Whenever the lights go out, everybody starts to run out of the building. And the guys turned on the cameras and they turned on the candles. They were telling the guys to hang on. And I walked out the back door, and I said, God, I need the lights back on.
[10:17] And now, you turn them off in 30 minutes. Please give me the light. The light went boom, turned right back on. I walked in. 30 minutes later, we finished the service. The lights went off. I said, well, thank you. You say, you really believe it?
[10:28] It happened. Would I do it again? Nah. I was young and stupid. But, you know, you've got a God of power. Just believe that. He does answer prayer. You don't have to be a charismatic to believe God answers prayer.
[10:40] He gives you the ability to love people. That's what it says in 2 Timothy 1.7. He gives you a sound mind. That means you can discipline yourself, and you can think straight, and you can bring your thoughts under captivity to Christ.
[10:53] Don't ever be embarrassed of Jesus, verse 8. 2 Timothy 2 and verse 1. Be strong. That's what he said. Be strong. Verse 3, he said, endure hardness.
[11:05] You are to be strong in grace, not in you. That's another thing. You've got to get a hold of something. You are never going to be a very strong guy. There are times Betty can tell you I'm the scaredest guy.
[11:18] I'm worried. I'm nervous. I'm hiding. I don't want to go see people. I don't want to preach. I can be somewhere. They've invited me to preach at some big meeting, and anybody who's ever traveled with me knows I'm like, I get plum stupid.
[11:29] I'm like, I don't want to be here. Let me get out of here. Help me sneak out of here, and I'll do it. Because I'm a coward. And that bold stuff Robert's preaching, I said, man, I wish I had a little more of that.
[11:41] And swag. I ain't figured that one out yet. I got to try to get me some of that, amen? But you're strong in his grace.
[11:53] In his grace. Strong in his grace, not you. You're going to find it hard. It isn't easy. You're going to be tempted not to do it. The preachers are going to mistreat you.
[12:04] Church people are going to mistreat you. Everything is going to mistreat you, but you're a servant, so deal with it. He told Timothy, he said, buddy, it's just toughen up. So somebody talked bad about you.
[12:15] Toughen up. So somebody was ugly to your wife. Toughen up. Another pastor was mean to your wife. So what? Toughen up. Endure her heart. That's what he said. 2 Timothy 3.14.
[12:28] Keep doing what you've been taught. Continue in what you've learned and be assured of it because in verse 15, it came from the holy scriptures. And then last, know it's worth it.
[12:40] 2 Timothy 4.5, he said, watch. Endure afflictions. Do the work of an evangelist. Prove your ministry. Tonight, we're all saying we believe in you, but we ain't seen it yet.
[12:54] We'll check with you in 50 years. That's how you prove it. You keep on keeping on keeping on keeping on keeping on keeping on and you're going to get hurt and things are going to go wrong, but in nothing like what our Savior went through.
[13:06] But this is what he said. He said, I fought a good fight. I've finished my course. I have kept the faith, but there's a crown laid up for me in heaven, a crown of righteousness, which is for all of those who trust him.
[13:18] And that's what the Lord has for you. I just want you to know, I love you and I believe in you and I'm excited for you. And it won't be long till you'll be standing behind a pulpit.
[13:29] It really won't. You think it will. It'll feel like 40 years sitting there where you are. When you're sitting where I'm sitting, you're like, it wasn't 40. It really didn't. It just didn't take as long as it seems like it did. And you'll be talking to some young guy and you'll know this.
[13:40] He's a good God. God's people are good people. And working in a church is like the sweetest, most wonderful thing you've ever done in your life. And to watch people get saved and to watch lives change and to watch God raise your kids, it is the most wonderful thing.
[13:58] I wouldn't trade it for the world. I wouldn't go back. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I made a lot of mistakes. I'd fix them if I could. But for the rest of it, God is good. I just challenge you to trust him.
[14:08] He's worth it. There are several older preachers, but me and Brother Jim will do. We're the older ones in the room. And I'll just tell you, if you ask either one of us in private, we'll tell you, he's a good God.
[14:19] He's been good. He's been faithful. And he's going to keep on being good. He's going to keep on being faithful until the day we die. He's been faithful.