[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Look, if you would, at Exodus chapter 36 and verse 1, and that's all we'll read right here.
[0:11] The Bible says, Then wrought Bezalel and Aholiab and every wise-hearted man in whom the Lord put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary to all that the Lord had commanded.
[0:28] Father, I pray now that you would help these verses come alive and that you would apply them to us and that you would help us to learn how if we obey you every day, it's going to lead to our receiving your great blessings.
[0:42] Lord, I pray your work in our lives, and I give you praise in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, if you've got your Bible open in chapter 36 and verse 1, here are two guys' names that you did not know.
[0:53] Probably you did not pay much attention to them if you did know their names. And yet these are two guys that the last several chapters have been about, and these next four or five chapters are all about that from 36 to 40 are about them, and they've been about them for several other chapters.
[1:08] And I want you to notice that there were other wise-hearted men. You've got your Bible open in verse 1. Look at it. Every wise-hearted man. And see, and the Lord put wisdom and understanding.
[1:18] He showed them how to do the work that he had commanded. And so we're looking at tonight how daily obedience leads to great blessings.
[1:31] I think sometimes we tend to, I think maybe a charismatic confusion in us, we want God to do something really big that gets everything fixed, all bam, bam, it's done, and we're there.
[1:44] But it's really about just obeying God every day. And here's some guys that are building the tabernacle and being used of God. He wanted that tabernacle built. They were going to build it based on plans on a model he showed Moses, and God's going to do a work.
[2:00] It's God who wanted that done. God, number one thing, if you write stuff down, is God had a plan, or God has a plan for everyone. In the verse, you've got every wise-hearted man.
[2:14] God has a plan. God had given the people all that they would need to build the temple or the tabernacle. He gave them gold and silver, wood, and skins. He gave them gifted people.
[2:24] He gave the gifted people exactly the gifts they needed to get the job done. Can you imagine, as it was time to build that thing, there was a guy who was just really good at working with silver. There was another guy who was just really good at doing woodwork.
[2:37] And there was another guy who knew exactly how to take the skins and make all that God wanted. God gave all the gifts and all the gifted people. God even gave his people a desire.
[2:48] The fact that they wanted to do something was God worked in their heart. Look at chapter 36 and verse 2. Moses called Bessaliel and Aholiab and every wise-hearted man, and whose heart the Lord had put wisdom.
[3:01] Even everyone whose heart stirred him up to come into the work to do it. So all of a sudden they had a desire to do something, but God is one who stirred them up. It's God's work. God has a plan for everybody.
[3:12] God gives everybody the abilities and the gifts, and God even gives the desire. You can understand from this passage of Scripture that God has a work for you to do. You are important in his plan.
[3:24] He has given everybody in this room time, treasure, and talents to be used for his glory. He has given you a desire to serve him, or you wouldn't be here on this weekend, and you wouldn't be here tonight.
[3:35] The only thing lacking is your decision to stand up and be used of God. The only thing lacking is your desire to stand up and be used of God. So I'm going to give you some real quick ideas about things you can be doing.
[3:48] Some of you might easily say, I don't know what I can do. I'm not a singer. I don't play the piano. I don't really want to be in the choir. I feel funny being in the choir. I'm not a Sunday school teacher. I don't have all these abilities.
[3:59] What are some things that I might can do? So I just went down and thought through some things I'd like to challenge you with. Number one, you know, you can care about people and their needs and pray.
[4:11] You can start looking around our church and looking around everybody, and it's amazing. In my Sunday school class at least, there are always prayer requests. There are always prayer requests.
[4:21] And every one of us could easily take things like that to the Lord. You can serve by cooking, cleaning, and doing many tasks that remain unseen but are very important. Whenever people ask Betty about her ministry, and we've been in the ministry over 41 years now, and whenever people ask Betty about her ministry, and they all want to know, is she a speaker?
[4:41] Is she a preacher? Is she a big teacher? Her ministry has been taking care of the big guy. I mean, she's been taking care of me. And the cooking and the cleaning and the Martha responsibilities, they have to be taken care of, and you can make a big difference there.
[4:57] You can sing in the choir. You could get involved in helping our children have a choir. You could help the teen choir. You could help in the choir. You could be a welcomer. Remember, this morning in Sunday school class, Chuck, Littlefield has always, for a long time at least, has been the guy who runs to the door and shakes everybody's hand.
[5:19] And so while he was gone this morning, he was supposed to take prayer requests in our class, and he was AWOL. And so I said, well, I'll take him until he gets here. And then Lisa said, you know why he's so big on that? The first time they came to vision, we were in the other building, and they walked in and stood in the lobby looking around trying to figure out what to do and where to go, and finally they stuck their head in the auditorium and saw somebody and figured it out.
[5:38] But that's a big job. You may not think that's a big job. But coming into a strange place and not having your hands shook and not being welcomed, not being told what to do, you could probably be a greeter and welcome people into the church.
[5:50] You could work in the children's ministry. That's a big deal. That's a big deal. You can easily think that children's ministry is not important. But let me just ask this question. How many of you were saved before the age of 18?
[6:02] Or let's do this first. Before the age of 12, if you got saved, hold your hand up. If you got saved before 12, look around. Pretty important job. Say amen. How many of you got saved after 12 and before 18?
[6:13] Hold your hand up. Pretty big deal. Pretty big deal. That's an important ministry. Every one of us ought to be saying, hey, I can do that. Maybe I can't be the teacher of the old people because they're all too hard-headed.
[6:24] But you could probably help a child and teach them how to know about Jesus. You could work in the nursery. Might seem like a pretty low-class job to you. But taking care of babies is the big deal.
[6:36] I know this. I can't handle it. I mean, they scare me to death. But, man, when they start screaming, I'm like, here, somebody take this kid. I do not know what to do. I didn't know what to do when they were my kids.
[6:46] I certainly don't know what to do when it's your kid. Do you know if a lady who holds a baby in a nursery and prays for that kid, you ever think that some of the times you could take those children and really say, well, I want this kid to do something for God.
[6:58] I'm going to pray for this kid. I'm going to pray for this kid by name. I'm going to love this kid and may grow up someday to do something for God. You could work in the media ministry. Unknown. Don't see them. There's a guy sitting behind a camera right now.
[7:10] There are people operating. The slides behind our heads that you can see. There are people making sure microphones are working. There are tons of ministries going on. You can do that. You can be a giver. You can be a giver.
[7:22] The facts are I try to do a lot of these different things. I want to be a giver. I want to be one of the people in this church that really feels a responsibility, not just because I'm the pastor, but to be a giver.
[7:34] And I have. You could be a nursing home visitor. You could be a nursing home visitor. You could go to the nursing home or visit sick people or shut-ins. You could go to the hospital. You could make a difference in people's lives.
[7:46] One of the biggest days in my mother's life is when anybody visits her. The other day I walked in and I took four young men with me. Mama doesn't remember now. If you've been there five minutes, you can visit her twice.
[7:57] If you're there ten, you can get about four visits in in one visit because she doesn't really remember you've been there. And so he walked in and I introduced all the guys. And she said, well, now I'm your mamaw. Y'all give me a hug.
[8:08] So I'll give her a hug. And they were sitting there. She goes, now, who are you? And so we reintroduced them all. She said, well, now I'm your mamaw. And so not that hard a deal to just go, yes, I, yeah, you're my mamaw.
[8:19] Here's another hug. Probably means a lot more to her and other people like that. We have several that have been, I think, still go there. You can remember every birthday. If my daughter Joy were in this church, if she was a member of this church, she would know every one of your birthdays.
[8:33] If you call Joy right now, people she knew ten years ago, she has her birthday written down. And, buddy, before Facebook ever reminded you of birthdays, Joy always reminded you of birthdays.
[8:44] Birthday's a pretty big deal. Most people want them to remember. You can see needs I would never think of, and you can meet them. You can work out in the parking lot and help people park and welcome them.
[8:54] You can get involved in discipleship and foundations. See, God gave everybody talents in this room that you could really help somebody. Because discipleship is really not about a deep Bible lesson.
[9:06] Though you are going to teach Bible lessons, but it's really about loving people. And it's about being a friend. It's about listening to them when they're hurting. It's about praying with them. It's about crying with them.
[9:16] It's about rejoicing with them. It's about drinking a cup of coffee with them. So you could make a difference if you got involved in that. And you say, I don't know how to do it. We teach how to do all of it. You can get involved in outreach.
[9:27] Cannon does a great job getting all of us out and sending us out to knock on doors and invite people. Just yesterday, I met a group leader at North Point.
[9:38] I met a Catholic lady. And I walked up the door. And a guy came with his hat on. I knew he was an imam. He's like the pastor of the Muslims. And he came to the door. And I handed him my car. And I said, hey, my name is Austin Gardner.
[9:50] I'm a pastor of Vision Baptist Church. I want to invite you to our church. He said, great. Good to meet you. He said, you know, we're not in competition. And then he started giving me all of his spiel and talking to me. And you just meet people.
[10:01] And just be friendly. And just go out and invite people to come to church. And people come just because you're invited. Oh, and that brings to mind just something I don't have written down here. But a lady in my Sunday school class this morning said, well, the sweetest things about vision is that she can have a need.
[10:17] She's a single mom. And she can have a need. And somebody will help her put a headlight in her car. Somebody help meet a need. It's a tremendous thing. You can do little things. You can show the love of Christ.
[10:28] You could be a yoke fellow to our missionaries. You could be a yoke fellow to our missionaries. If you're a Facebook person, get on the Vision Baptist part of the thing. And you'll see an interview that Trent does with Mark Tolson and Ty Pepperdine.
[10:41] And you can understand that. To be blunt and honest with you, Jacob and Heather Elsie are some of the greatest. It wasn't long ago that I think within the last week or two, Cal Shreve has a blowout on his car.
[10:56] And almost immediately, $100 is on its way. From a family that says, I'm going to care about somebody else and show that care. And the $100 wasn't as big a deal. I mean, the $100 wasn't the big deal.
[11:07] It's good to get the $100. Say amen there. That's a big deal. But you know what was even bigger? I know. I know. I heard. I care. I'm in touch. That meant a lot. I got a call immediately.
[11:19] And he said, you know, you need to know who my yoke fellows are. And I said, I already know. Thank you. But anyway, you can help with decoration. I've already heard. I'm glad to hear about it, by the way. You can help with the decoration of the church.
[11:30] You can help reach out to our public servants and police and fire and teachers with an act of kindness. We used to do that. Kind of fell by the wayside. We were taking cookies on a weekly basis. Just go over to the fire station and say, hey, man, people of Vision Baptist Church are thinking about you.
[11:43] You can contact people when they're absent. You can use social media. You can work in encouraging everyone of your brothers and sisters in Christ. One of the wonderful things about church, I just preached Thursday night to the Spanish church, and I preached on the one another's.
[11:57] And, you know, that's the beautiful thing about a church is we need one another. And we pray for one another, and we love one another, and we forgive one another, and we exhort one another. And the Bible's full of all these one another's that you can do.
[12:09] And when you come to church, you can just bless people. So the first thing I wanted to get across to you, and I'm going to have to rush like crazy, but the first thing is God's got a job for every one of you. Everybody in this room, you're important.
[12:20] Everybody in this room, you can make a difference. Everybody in this room's got something they can do. The second thing I want you to look at, go with me to 36.6. Exodus 36.6. They were restrained from giving.
[12:32] That's the wildest time in the Bible. They were restrained from giving. In chapter 36 and verse 6, Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary.
[12:46] Hey, nobody else. I don't need another rug. I don't need another skin. I don't need any more wood carved. Don't anybody be bringing any diamonds in here anymore. We finished. So the people were restrained from bringing.
[12:59] Verse 7 is one of my favorite verses. I've been pastoring over 41 years, and I am waiting for this day. For the stuff they had was sufficient. I would be excited about that one.
[13:09] Amen? Can you just imagine sufficient? But it didn't say that. It says, For all the work to make it, and too much. In the Greek, that means they had a bunch. They had way too much.
[13:21] Can you imagine that? They were given, and they were restrained. The people gave because they wanted to give. The people gave because they wanted to give. In verse 3, they were free will offerings.
[13:32] The people gave more than was needed. There was enough. There was sufficient. There was too much. What causes people to do that? What caused those people to do that? So I just read a second. We'll talk to you about your giving.
[13:43] You know what causes it? Number one, they know that it's what God wants. In chapter 36, in verse 5, it says, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which the Lord commanded to make.
[13:56] When you realize world evangelism is what the Lord commanded, we're probably going to have more faith promise. When you realize teaching and preaching the gospel and doing the work we do is what the Lord commanded, we're probably going to see that happen.
[14:06] They realize what they had came from God. They realize that it was God that gave it to them for His purposes. Do you understand that every one of us have because God gave it to us?
[14:18] Do you understand that every one of us have not for our purposes but for His purpose? And it was God who stirred their hearts. They wanted to be a part of something bigger than themselves.
[14:28] Now what might hinder your individual giving that you don't see the big picture of God? Maybe you don't realize. Maybe you really don't realize what a difference is being made in China by having a guy named Mark Tolson go to China, learn Chinese, live among those people, but you are making a difference.
[14:48] Maybe you don't understand what's happening when Jeremy Hall, in that picture, is supported by this church and is loving a people that have been oppressed by apartheid and a lot of other wicked stuff that happened there, but they're hearing the gospel message of Jesus Christ.
[15:03] Maybe it doesn't dawn on your heart that in Thailand there's a guy learning Thai to work with people that are pure idolaters. And they've never heard the truth, but they're going to be taught about that.
[15:14] So you're part of something bigger. And if you understand that, if you understand that God wants the world evangelized, that He's using His people in and through His church, what hinders our giving?
[15:26] Maybe we don't give because we want the credit. And if we gave through the church or we didn't get our name put up, so so many churches all across the world, everything's labeled with somebody's name.
[15:39] You ever been in one of those churches? You ever been a part of that? My granddaddy's church was that way. And my granddaddy's name was everywhere. I mean, the offering plate came, and in the bottom of it said, donated by A.B. Pennington Sr.
[15:52] You sat in the pew, and you look over and it said, donated by A.B. Pennington Sr. You got up to preach, donated by it. I was like, I wonder if I'm donated by A.B. Pennington Sr. And so maybe that's part of the problem.
[16:03] You've got to realize you're doing something far bigger than that. Maybe we only want to give God what's left over after we spend on ourselves. Can I just stop here and say something to you? No one has money left over.
[16:17] If you make $100, you're going to spend $100. And if you get a raise to $200, you might have a little money left over the first week or two, but you'll figure out a way to spend it. When I got out of surgery and they took my kidney out, I had this horrible sensation, this horrible problem.
[16:34] You see, over there on this side right here, they'd taken out a major chunk of me, and they'd taken it all out. And so I would lay in the bed at night, and when I would roll, I would feel my intestines shift and fall into that spot.
[16:48] And I'd be like, ooh! And I mean, it's horrible. And you get tired of laying in a certain way, and you move, and you go, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. So we go to the doctor. I said, man, something bad wrong. I said, my insides are just moving all around.
[16:59] He said, oh, don't worry about it. He said, it's like a closet at the house. It might be empty now, but it'll figure out a way to fill itself up. And it did. I've gained a lot of weight. Amen. But anyway, that didn't fill that part up.
[17:10] Your body just suggests that's what's going to happen with your money if you're not careful. See, people that give, give because they want to give, but they've got a plan to give. You've got to stop and say, can I just say, you know, Betty and I try to give way more than 10%.
[17:24] That's all I'll say about it. We try to give way more than 10%. But I'll tell you this. We have to do that on purpose. We have to do that before we spend the money because there's always more month than there is money.
[17:34] And you can say, well, I only make $2,000 a month, and there's a lot of month. If you made $200,000 a month, you'll figure out a way to spend it. I mean, you're going to need an airplane. You're going to need a boat.
[17:44] You're going to need something. You know how it is. The more you get, the more you need, unless you're very careful. So maybe we ought to give before we spend. We've not yet understood that our money is not ours, but his.
[17:57] We fail to understand that we're part of his greater plan, and we ignore God working in our hearts. In our hearts, even, we've felt it. Man, I ought to be giving. I ought to be honoring God. You've been dealt with, but you said, no, I don't want to.
[18:09] So the first thing I want you to see is you have a job to do. The second thing is you can be a part of giving. The third thing is everyone in the whole story is just being obedient. That's the wildest thing in all this story from 36 to 40.
[18:23] Look at chapter 38 and verse 21, if you would. This is the sum of the tabernacle, even of the tabernacle of testimony, as it was counted, according to the commandment of Moses for the service of the Levites by the hand of Ithamar, son to Aaron the priest.
[18:39] And Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord commanded Moses. It's amazing. This whole chapter, this whole part of the Bible is about we just did what God told us.
[18:52] We just did what God told us. We just did what God told us. It was not Moses telling them what to do. It was them knowing that Moses was telling them what God said he wanted.
[19:03] Moses commanded the people. Moses told the people what God wanted. The people obeyed. They were all obeying God. Look at chapter 39 and verse 1. And of the blue and purple and scarlet, they made cloths of service to do service in the holy place and made the holy garments for Aaron as the Lord commanded Moses.
[19:22] I wish, if you have your Bible open, you'd underline, as the Lord commanded Moses. And you will find that phrase about 15 times in the next verses. Here's what they're going to say over and over.
[19:33] And I don't have time to go through with you, but they're going to say, we did this, this, as the Lord commanded. We did this, as the Lord commanded. We did this, as the Lord. 15 times. They were just being obedient. It was the work of God.
[19:44] Moses was following instructions. Everyone else was following instructions. All of us are under authority. We're to surrender our lives to the will of God. We're to find God's will in his word, and we are to have a supreme desire to please God.
[20:00] Everybody in this room ought to be eating up with this. Man, I want to do right. I want to serve God. I want to please God. I want to use my money for God. I want to use my time for God. I want to use my life for God. He's my Savior. He's my Lord.
[20:11] You should go to God and ask how he would have you spend your time. Your treasure and your talent. You should acknowledge that he is Lord over you and all that you have. Acknowledge that you're not your own, but a person under orders from above.
[20:26] Determined to find out his will for you and then do it. When was the last time you seriously and literally went to God and said, God, what do you want me to do with my life? God, here's my checkbook.
[20:38] What do you want me to do with it? God, here's my talents. What do you want me to do with it? I'm afraid that we come to church and we go through the motions, but rarely do we say, here it is, God. Blank check.
[20:49] Fill in the blanks. I told you the story of Luther Rice who decided that he wanted God's will for his life and he took out a blank sheet of paper and signed the bottom and said, God, fill in the rest.
[21:00] I'll just do whatever you write in there for me. I want my life to count for you. When did you last examine your life to see how much of it's being lived in obedience? Our desire to be in control, to run our own lives, to get the honor and glory for what we're doing leads us out of a surrendered life to a selfish life.
[21:19] We're led out of a surrendered life to a selfish life because I want to be in control and I want to do it. Chapter 39 and verse 32. The fourth thing. Obeying God on a daily basis brought completion to the work.
[21:33] Luke 39, 32, the Bible says, Thus was all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation finished. And the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses.
[21:44] That's what they did. So did they. Accomplishing the will of God is based on daily obedience. If I could get anything across to you, if I could say anything to the younger guys, if I could say anything to the missionaries, it is if you do what God wants you to do today and you do what God wants you to do tomorrow and you keep doing that, eventually the work will be finished.
[22:06] It is you're surrendering your will today. It's not glorious and it's not showy. Something about church somewhere, we got the idea, if I serve God and I do right, I'll hear angels speaking and I'll have a halo and everything will just be like wonderful.
[22:21] No, that's just not how it works. Just get up and go mold some gold around a piece of wood. Just go cut the piece of wood. Just go cut the cloths. Just go make the incense.
[22:31] Do what God wants done. Not a lot of show to it. Not a lot of glory to it. It's just obeying God. It's simply doing what God would have you to do one day after the next.
[22:44] Here comes a wild statement for you. It's hard for me to accept this. Very hard for me to accept this. I started my first church when I was 23. I'd already worked in churches before that.
[22:54] I wanted the exciting stuff. That's what I dreamed about. But are you ready for this? There will be very few extremely exciting days in the church services. There's going to be very few.
[23:08] There are going to be very few days that you feel like you're on cloud nine as you serve God. Brother Lawrence wrote and said, If you can't praise God while you're washing the dishes, you can't praise God.
[23:22] You've got to be excited about Him, not what's happening in your life. We do not live by emotions, but by obedience. Can I get you to hear that?
[23:33] We do not live by emotions, but by obedience. By the way, marriage works the same way. If you think it's all going to be like Hollywood, you'll probably be disappointed. That's why their marriages don't make it.
[23:46] I mean, they paint you a picture of what marriage is like and theirs don't make it. But real marriage is going to be, I get up every day and I'm the best husband I can be for the glory of God. So it's daily obedience leads to great blessing.
[24:01] Live every day loving Jesus, enjoying Him, honoring Him as you do His will. Each day in little things, the big stuff will take care of itself.
[24:11] Obey God in the small stuff, and that will take care of the big stuff. Moses saw the work that the people had done, and he blessed them. Chapter 39 and verse 43.
[24:23] And Moses did look upon all the work, and behold, they had done it as the Lord had commanded. Even so had they done it, and Moses blessed them.
[24:34] And Moses blessed them. Before I leave this point, I would like to reiterate something to you. Serving God is daily obedience.
[24:47] It is, what am I supposed to be doing? When I first got in the ministry, I wanted a charismatic kind of experience. I wanted what you'd see on 700 Club, the PTL Club, or TBN.
[25:01] I wanted everything to be just so exciting. I thought we'd all come to church, and then you'd all be just shouting and dancing and just excited. I'd come up here to preach, and you'd be dancing in the aisle. Man, Austin's about to preach.
[25:13] Y'all ain't done that yet. I heard about a preacher one time that when he got through preaching a message, it's in Orange Park, Florida. And this is what they said. When he would finish preaching, the men would stand up and say, We want another one!
[25:25] I've been preaching 41 years. And I think the most that I've ever heard was, We'd have took half of that if you'd have given it. So just realize, it's daily obedience.
[25:38] It's just daily obedience. Not extremely showy, not flashy, not big stuff, not great emotion. It's just do what you're supposed to do.
[25:48] Well, you're probably like, I don't like that. I don't either. I mean, I really wish we had one of them pew running, chandelier swinging services every now and then, but we ain't got no chandeliers.
[26:00] Don't have pews either. Don't be hard. Number five. God was pleased with their work. Chapter 40, verse 33. And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle. Last part of the verse.
[26:11] So Moses finished the work. Guess what happened when Moses finished the work? In chapter 40 and verse 34, God moved his glory into the tabernacle.
[26:23] Can you imagine? They get through building this tent. Chapter 40, verse 34. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses couldn't even get in there because the cloud abode there, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
[26:39] Remember, it was God that wanted them to dwell with them. You remember that? They didn't build this tabernacle so they could get to God. God said, you build the tabernacle, I'm coming to you. What a great God we serve. It was God who had come to them in his love and his mercy, and they recognized and obeyed God, so he blessed them.
[26:55] God directed and guided them by his glory. Chapter 40, verse 36, down through verse 38. You know how they're going to know when to move? God moved into the tabernacle. And so whenever the cloud got up above the cloud and took off going that way, they'd say, oh, he's leaving.
[27:09] Let's follow. During the night, the fire, during the day, the cloud. What a tremendous way to live. When he wanted them to stay, the cloud stayed over the tabernacle.
[27:20] When he wanted them to move, he moved the cloud. We should seek God's direction for our ministry. It will be determined not by visible outward manifestations, but by simple obedience to the written word of God.
[27:35] If I could say anything to you tonight, I would say this. Daily obedience leads to great blessings. I'll give you one story.
[27:47] It's late. I'm going to let you go, but let me just tell you this. I spent the first three years of my time in Peru, and God just blessed so big. We had five churches going within three years that we worked in.
[27:58] I only started three of those churches, but two other churches were going. We had hundreds of people attending. It was the wildest time of my life. I preached every Sunday six times.
[28:09] I would get up, and I was so excited. Don't feel sorry for me. I mean, I got up on Sunday morning. At 8 o'clock, I preached at one church, and by 9 o'clock, another one of the young guys I was training was opening the second church.
[28:21] I would run out of the church at about 8.58 and drive like a wild man. I would make a 30-minute, 40-minute bus ride only because the bus stops at every corner. I would make it there, and I would arrive at about 9.10, 9.15.
[28:34] I would walk in the door, and the songwriter would say, the preacher's here, so now we'll have preaching. So I'd run back in. I'd preach. At 10 o'clock, I'd leave that church. The next service started at 11. I didn't make it until it started at 11, and I'd make it by 11.
[28:46] I didn't make it for Sunday school, and then at night, I went 4 o'clock and 6 o'clock and 7.30. I did that every Sunday. We'd go out to eat on Sunday afternoon, but Monday morning, I could hardly walk. I mean, it was like crazy, but God blessed.
[28:59] I came back to America, and that's the year. I only stayed gone six months. I went back, and I came back again. When I got back, everything had fallen apart. The preachers had messed up.
[29:12] Things weren't good. When I got back, I had to ask all the pastors but one to resign. Five pastors, I had to ask all but one to resign, and I had to start over. And men today love me very much.
[29:24] Brother Miguel Ocampo sat in the back of the service and told everybody, he doesn't understand that young men will be young men, and he's got to let them sow their wild oats. And people had meetings behind my back to say I was wrong.
[29:37] And, I mean, I was alone, buddy. It was nobody but Betty and I working together and my kids. But for the next four years, every day I got up, and I just did what I had to do.
[29:52] I would come in at night and fall into my bed literally exhausted beyond what I could do. We started a Christian school. We started a Bible college. And I was trying to get these churches going.
[30:03] And by the end of the next four or five years, we got eight or ten churches going. And things are flying again. And so people came to see me and they'd be like, man, everything's just perfect here. Because if you just come fly in, you're going to think it really looks good.
[30:16] It must have happened overnight. But it was daily obedience. Someday we'll be in a nice, beautiful church building. And someday people will come in and they're going to be like, well, if we had a building like Vision is, we'd be pretty happy ourselves.
[30:31] And you're going to be like, well, we had eight years of daily moving chairs from one side of the room to the other. We had eight years of just trying to take care of a big old shed that we lived in.
[30:41] And you're going to remember that because it's daily obedience that leads to great blessings. God's just not going to drop a building out of the sky for us. I hate to say that.
[30:52] I mean, I want us to pray and just boom. We walk over on our property and there's this big, beautiful building. And we'd all be like, man, can you believe this? We should have prayed earlier. But it's not going to happen that way. It's going to be daily obedience leads to great blessings.
[31:08] By the end of the story, God moves his glory into the little tabernacle. It's big for them, but it's awful little for God. But he moved his glory and God was there. But we've been 40 chapters, guys.
[31:22] We've been 40 chapters. We've been a long time. There's a whole long more time to go. But daily obedience. So let me just ask, how are you obeying on a daily basis?
[31:35] How's your walk with God? How are you handling your money? How are you handling the ministry God's given us? I wish that everything was as perfect as I want it to be for you. As pastor of this church, I so desperately want to give you this big, beautiful, spacious auditorium.
[31:49] And I want to give you this big, beautiful fellowship hall. And I want to give you all these sports fields. And I'd love to do all these great things. But it's not going to happen very easy. It's going to be this.
[32:00] Daily obedience brings great blessings. Father, I love you. I pray you'd bless your people. And I pray you'd help us to grow and learn more and more about how to be like you want us to be. And I'll give you praise for all you do.
[32:11] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.