Be Found Faithful
Key Passage: Luke 1:5-7
Date: June 7, 2024
Turn your mind to Luke chapter number one. Luke number one. A little girl had her toys and was putting together a little scenery. Dad came out and said, “Hattie, what are you doing?” She said, “I’m making a little village, a little town.”
She had all the little places marked and everything, and her little toys set. Then Dad said, “Well, what kind of village is that?” And she said, “Oh, Dad, it’s a Christian village.” He said, “Well, that’s interesting. Let’s give her a little lesson. He said, ‘Well, how about this? Let’s make it a heathen village. Let’s take Christ out of it.’” And she said, “All right, Daddy.” And she said, “No church.”
He said, “Yeah, yeah. You had a hospital over there where Christ really told us to take care of the sick, the wounded, the Good Samaritan, whatnot. So let’s take that out of there.” She had a little orphanage. He said, “Oh, Christ is the one that really teaches us to take care of, you know, ‘If your father and your mother forsake thee, then the Lord will take thee up,’ and so we’ll take the orphanage out of there. And you got a home over here that takes care of the elderly, kind of like an assisted nursing home type thing. Well, the Lord told us to do that, to honor thy father and thy mother. We’ll take that out of there.”
They just kept going down. “Well, if Christ isn’t there, he lights the heart of every man,” John 1:9 says, “so we’ll have to add in a whole lot of bad places—a whole lot more jails and prisons and bars and sinful, just awful places.” And little Hattie said, “Dad, well, there’s nothing good left in the town.” Can you imagine if Christ wouldn’t have come? There’d be nothing left good in the town. Christ changed the world, and praise the Lord for the light that Christ brought when he came. It’s a great time of the year just to celebrate Christ. Sometimes we’ll say—and I’m getting off subject here—but…
Sometimes we’ll say—now, I’m not trying to take away from the sinfulness and the Adamic nature that we got from Adam, the sin nature we have—but sometimes we’ll say, “I think everybody’s got a little good in the heart,” and I believe there’s some truth to that. John 1:9 does say Jesus came to the world, and he lights the heart of every man. If they reject that, that’s their choice, and it gets very, very dark then.
Just imagine if Christ had not have come—what I’m trying to get at—it would be an awful, awful, hateful world, just a dark world. I’m just trying to get us to say, “Hey, praise the Lord Jesus came!” I’m going to heaven because of that, and I have hope because of that. The joy in this world is all because of Christ coming at Christmas. We’re going to look just very briefly this morning at this subject: Be Found Faithful. That’s been a theme this year: Be Found Faithful, 2019. It’s the second to last Sunday of the year, so I thought it would be fitting for us just to be found faithful. We’re going to look at a couple, a young couple, who really started off the Christmas story in the Bible, and it was a faithful couple. We’ll just kind of go back with me to that time, really before Gabriel ever came to Mary or Joseph. It’s really at the very beginning of it, and we’re going to find a faithful couple. We’re going to read some Bible verses, preach for a little while, read another Bible verse, preach for a while, and we’ll be done. I say, oh, 1:32, I’m sure we’ll be done by then.
We’re in Luke 1. We’re going to start verse number 5. Luke 1, verse number 5. Would you please stand, if you would please, just out of respect to the Word of God, if you’re able to? We’re in Luke 1. Really, before what we often hear of the Christmas—really the beginning of that season, if you will, Christ’s birth—is here. Luke 1, verse number 5: “And there was in the days of Herod the king of Judea a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia; and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had no child, because that Elizabeth was barren; and they both were now well stricken in years.”
Let’s just take some time. Would you ask the Lord to speak to your heart? It’s easy for us to get preoccupied at Christmastime. Let’s just ask the Lord to speak to our hearts this morning about this matter of being found faithful. Would you pray and ask the Lord to speak to your heart about that as I ask us saying, “Father Lord, we come. Lord, I ask for your wisdom, Lord, to… really the thought, the truth you put in my heart, even this morning, how you just really kind of guided across to me very, very clearly. Lord, not just to my head, but to my heart. Lord, would you give me the words and the wisdom? And would you work through to give us that same truth in our head and in our heart, Lord? Father, I cannot do that effectively. Would you send your Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, just making this thing real to us? Father, encourage these people. Give them what they need, Lord, please. We’ll thank you, Lord, for what you do. We’re asking in the name of Jesus for this. Amen.”
There were what we often call 400 silent years. There were 400 years that God did not speak to mankind. Before that, he was speaking through prophets and through the Spirit of God and sometimes through visions and different things. But there were 400 silent years. God did not in any specific way really speak that we know of to mankind. Then God broke the silence with this couple right here. God sent an angel Gabriel down to speak to this couple. Now let’s just look for a second at this couple. Who was it that God said, “Look, when I break my silence, it’s going to be through that couple”? Or I shouldn’t say young; they were well stricken in age. I don’t know what that meant in that day and time; I’m not sure. But this older couple—who was this couple? Let’s just go back and look at these verses. We’re in verse number five. Let’s look at it again. Verse number five, Luke 1, verse number five: “And there was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia; and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron.”
When I read that first time, if you listened, you heard Brother Anthony say, “Amen,” because that’s his last name, Aaron. But that’s not what the Bible is speaking of there. I can’t blame him for saying, “Amen.” But what does that mean? It means, all right, the man, Zacharias, was a priest. He was of the family of Aaron. And they were supposed to marry—for those priests and that family—they were supposed to marry inside that… when I say family, I’m not talking about incest; I’m talking about the broader descendants of Aaron. Okay? And he did. Elizabeth, his wife, she was from that family also. Okay. So the first thing we learned about this family: they married according to God’s will. They did not just go out there and find the fastest one, the quickest one, somebody who would say yes, you know. They waited for God’s will. By the way, I say this often, but can I say it again? Young people, young people, hey, it’s better not to be married than to be married to the wrong one. Adults who have been married for a while, would you say amen to that? The greatest decision you’ll ever make apart from you getting saved is who you marry. I would so much rather you never get married than to get married to the wrong one. Oh, the regrets and the tears and the hurt and the pain. If you do not marry… because once you do get married, all of a sudden it becomes God’s will because two wrongs don’t make it right. And once you’re married, God’s not for divorce. So I understand the importance of this thing here. And praise the Lord, when God said, “I’m looking for a couple to speak to again and speak through again,” he found a couple that married in God’s will.
Now let me just go back here a little bit and say something for someone whose mind might be thinking, “Well, Pastor, I got married before I was saved. I did not marry in God’s will.” Let me reiterate again: it’s God’s will now. And God can still work. We serve a God that’s very gracious. I think of a couple right now that are in church. They live in another state, a relative of mine, and they did not marry when they were living for the Lord. In fact, the man—I’m not saying they were very backslidden at that time—they got married, and years later, God worked in their family. They’re in church serving God today. God’s a miracle-working God.
Now, I say that for some of us already married, but for you young folks, I go back again and say, “Hey, you follow; you wait for God’s will.” You won’t regret that. This couple had waited for another godly spouse to get married to. What a fitting day, Lucas and Jesus. We’re going to celebrate their marriage a little bit tonight, and praise the Lord, they waited for the right one. I’m so thankful for that. Praise God for it. So this couple had done well. But let’s keep going. Verse number six, verse number six, Luke 1, verse number six: “And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless.”
Let me just quickly—I’m trying not to speak too long—quickly say they were living for God. Let me put it in our time: They went to church faithfully. They were in the Bible. They were praying. They were trying to tell other folks about Jesus Christ. They were living for the Lord. This is a couple who married in the will of God and were trying to serve God, but they had reproach. By the way, praise the Lord for people over the years that have served God. America owes them a debt of gratitude. Hey, the answer for America is good, godly Christians in America. That’s the hope for America right there. How about this couple? Were they perfect? No, only one perfect one, Jesus Christ. But they were sincerely seeking to live for the Lord as a couple.
Now let’s look at verse number seven, something about them that’s going to change course just to touch here. Verse number five: they were married in the will of God. Verse number six: they were living for God. Verse number seven: “And they had no child, because that Elizabeth was barren; and they both were now well stricken in years.” Friend, it’s hard today, but in that day and time, much more so. If you didn’t have a child, oh, such a heartbreak.
I don’t know how many nights this couple lay in bed just burdened. I don’t know how many times they woke up and really didn’t want to get the day going because they just had depression. They were just fighting depression. I don’t know how many times they would try to encourage one another because they couldn’t have children. It was a disgrace in that day and time. People looked down on you at that day and time. In fact, if you would, look down to verse number—let me see if I can find the verse number—25, verse number 25 in that same chapter: “Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men.” They’d walk by and people said, “Zacharias is a priest. He must be a hypocrite because the Lord’s surely not blessing them; they can’t even have any children.” That’s somebody saying that they’re going to be over at the church property, and when we put up the church sign, they’re going to give a million dollars to it. Amen for that right there, yes, sir. But it was a reproach. I wonder how many times Elizabeth would be sitting maybe at a fellowship or something, and she’d see some ladies over in the corner somewhere, and she was trying—not being judgmental, but she heard them sometimes: “She can’t even have a baby. They sure don’t have God’s blessing on them. Wonder what’s wrong with them, but can’t have any children.” I don’t know everything about it, but it was a reproach.
Here’s what I’m getting to: You can be living for God and still have heavy burdens. You can still wake up in the morning and say, “I don’t want to get up.” You battle it. You can still drive down the road and say, “I don’t know why I’m just crying all the time when nobody’s around.” You can be there where your heart just hurts. I swear they were. I don’t know how many years, year after year. It was to the point that she was past the age when ladies would give birth. She had a child, and still…
Let’s read a little bit more about this couple. Let’s find out something else about them. Let’s keep reading here. We just read verse number seven, the burden of verse number seven. Look at verse number eight: “And it came to pass that, while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course.” You said, “Preacher, what does that mean?” This is what it means. Blaine, would you help me out? Blaine, would you wake up the guy behind you there? Yeah, Ezekiel there. Good morning, Ezekiel. Yeah, good morning there. And there we go. Good sunshine, as they say, you know.
Here’s what that means. Here’s what that means. Can I just kind of bring it down to our level? They had a burden. They were hurting, but they kept following God according to the course. Well, Sunday morning is coming around, and I’m hurting. I’m feeling down; I don’t want to go to church. My heart’s not in it like I wish it was, but they went. So on Sunday nights, I know I need to be in there, but I’m kind of hurting; I’m burdened. I wish… I wish God would answer my prayer, but they went to church. Wednesday, and I… they had a rough week, and people had been talking about it; it was their reproach, but they went to church. They got up in the morning, and they said, “I’ve been trying to study and read the Bible, but I have a burden,” but they read it anyway. They said, “My heart is broken, and I’m going to tell somebody about Jesus anyway.” I wish God would answer my prayers like I want. I don’t understand everything about it, but I’m just going to keep praying. That’s what it means. They kept serving God. When God said, “I look down and I’m going to break my silence; I’m going to look for a couple,” he found a couple that he found faithful, even in the middle of heartbreak. And they just stayed after it.
Let’s keep reading here about this couple. Who was it that God said, “I’ll break my silence with those people right there”? Verse number nine: “And as he went in to burn incense in the temple of the Lord, and the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.” Now, he was of the family of Abia, and if I remember right, and I haven’t looked at it much, I think he was one of 25 families, and it was the eighth family. They had a certain time they were coming there to do their temple service. He went in there, and his job was to offer incense on the altar of incense.
Here recently on Wednesday night, we studied about gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We studied that Wednesday night. Frankincense on the altar of incense—I believe that has so much to do with praise. Now, here’s the thing: his time came up. I’m supposed to go over to where? To Jerusalem was, and I’m to go into the temple. I’m supposed to do my job, and he was there faithfully doing it and had to offer praise.
Oh, praise God for those Christians! They’re heartbroken. They’ve got burdens. Their grandson, their daughter, their sons are wayward; they’re not living for God, and they’re brokenhearted over it. Such a heartbreak. But they still say, “Lord, the best I can, I’m going to praise you.” Praise God for people that say, “I’m hurting. I have health problems.” Or maybe I look out and see someone who lost her son to death temporarily, and man, what a great burden. But in the midst of it, I’m not going to turn my back on God. The best I can, I’m going to praise God in the midst of my trials. That’s what it represents right there.
He still went in there in the temple, and he was offering up this incense on the altar of incense, and he was trying to praise God, and he was trying to keep his heart right in the midst of burdens. Praise the Lord for all these years of those Christians out at Rutherford County Bible Church. I’ve watched them many times. I visit them in the hospital, and they’re in the hospital bed; they’re still praising God. It’s amazing. My hat’s off to you. In Sunday school, one of our ladies said, “My husband planned a birthday party for me from the hospital bed.” Yeah, praise the Lord for Christians that even though they have heartaches or some problems and trials, “I’m going to keep serving God and loving my wife and being faithful to my husband and raising my kids. I hurt, but I’m going to try to do what God wants me to do.” That’s this couple here. And God said, “I’m looking for a couple found faithful.” Now I’ll break my silence with them.
Praise God for those folks that say, “I’m hurting, but it’s God’s will for me to get up and go to work, and I’m just going to do it. I want to be a good testimony and pay my bills like good Christians do.” And I’m hurting, but I’m going to get up and go to work, and I’m going to do what God wants me to do to the best of my ability. Praise God for those people. That’s this couple right here. I mean, they still… he was in his place of service when it came time. He was in a spot to be found faithful.
Oh, praise God over the years for the Christians. They’ll never be in the newspaper. They’ll never win the Nobel Peace Prize. Nobody will ever know about them as far as the world is concerned. They won’t receive the world’s accolades, but I hope God Almighty sees those faithful Christians. One day he says, “Hey, many of the last will be first.” God sees it all. And God sees this Christian couple in their corner of the world doing what they can, shining for the Lord Jesus Christ wherever they can, being faithful. And God said, “I’m going to break my silence with that couple right there.” That’s what’s going on.
Let’s keep reading. Let’s keep reading. What’s the next verse? Where are we at here? We’re down to verse number 10. We’ll just get there. “And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense,” probably the Sabbath day. “And there appeared”—here it is—“and there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord.” Later on, we’ll understand who this is: Gabriel, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. Amazing! God said, “Gabriel wants to talk to him when he’s over there trying to praise me.” “And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled; and fear fell upon him.”
Now, here’s my point: God looks down. By the way, the people that God uses the most aren’t the most talented; it’s those that are faithful. At the end of the day, at the end of the day, if you’re saved and you stand before the Lord, and if you stayed just faithfully serving him, he doesn’t say, “Well done, thou good and intelligent servant.” No, he says, “Well done, thou good and faithful.” Well, all of a sudden, this angel Gabriel shows up right there by the altar. Zacharias says, “Whoa, watch this.” And Gabriel says, “They have a message from the Lord for you. He’s found you faithful.”
Yeah, and by the way, I like it. He said it—we preached about last week—he said, “Fear not.” We didn’t get it in that message, but he said, “Fear not.” Oh, the “fear nots” of the Christmas story are wonderful. And it says, “You have something to tell you; God’s heard all those prayers you’ve been praying.” Let’s keep reading. Let’s go back over here. Verse number 13: “But the angel said unto him, ‘Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife, Elizabeth, shall bear thee a son.’” Oh, you’re going to have a child, a son! “And thou shalt call his name John.”
Two things about that verse right there real quickly. First of all, he had been praying. Oh, listen, I don’t know about you, but sometimes the devil comes along—I was with one of my relatives last night, unsaved—and boy, I’m burdened. I’d love to see her get saved, and I mean that. But sometimes the devil says, “Paul, your prayers don’t matter. You’ve been praying, and it doesn’t seem like anything’s happening.” And, “Paul, why do you pray for her to get saved?” Did you hear that? That’s the devil that says that. Sometimes when the devil comes and says, “Hey, what are you doing? I’m praying for that coworker to get saved. They’re filthy-mouthed; they go out and do drugs and they drink, and they’re not listening to you. They make fun of you. What are you doing praying for that neighbor over there to get saved?” Hey, that’s the devil talking. Praise the Lord! Old Zacharias, though he had a heart that was burdened, he was… Lord, we have reproach. We don’t have a testimony that’s A-plus class. People are talking about us. By the way, people don’t know. Matthew 6 says, “Your Father which seeth in secret”—twice it says that. Three times it says, “Our Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” You honor God in private; that’s the key, friend. God will take care of that in the open.
No, Zacharias had been praying. Hey, can I say this: when your heart’s breaking, don’t quit praying. Keep praying. Don’t say, “Well, this thing doesn’t work; I’m hurting.” Keep praying. Don’t do that. That’s exactly what Satan wants you to do. Zacharias—old Gabriel said, “Hey, the Lord has heard those prayers.” I wonder how many years he had been praying? Three, five, ten, twenty, thirty years praying? Well-stricken in years. Now, I don’t know how well-stricken in years, but that sounds pretty old to me. Hey, friend, don’t listen to the devil when he says those prayers don’t matter. Satan would love to stop you from praying. We stand up and say, “Hey, devil, come on, let’s go at it,” and Satan laughs. You get on your knees, and Satan trembles. No wonder he’s telling you not to pray. No wonder he’s telling you it doesn’t matter if you pray or not. Prayers of God’s people… Zacharias had been praying. Then he said, “Hey, hey, you’re going to be the dad.” That’s basically, if you put it in Tennessee Hillbilly terms, “Hey, dad, how you doing over there? Meet dad. Yeah, you’re done. You’re going to have a boy.” You know, that’s what they say in Tennessee: “You got a boy coming,” you know, “Junior’s coming,” you know. And he said, “You’re going to call him John.” John means gracious. Many of the Hebrews trace back to Hebrew, “Yahweh is gracious.” The Lord has been gracious to you, friend.
Those Christians over the years, they’ve got heartaches, they’ve got burdens, they’ve got financial pressures. And sometimes at Christmastime, that’s such a hard time to go through financial crisis. You look around and say, “Everybody’s giving gifts, and we say we can’t give any gifts; we’ve got no money to give gifts.” Well, those Christians just stay faithful year after year, just serving God and praying to God in the midst of the heartache. And God looks down and he says, “I’m going to be gracious to that couple right there. God, let me break my silence, and that’s the kind of people I want to break my silence with—that couple right there that’s just stayed faithful in the midst of reproach.” By the way, the Bible does say, “Yea, and all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Part of it for it. But all they stayed faithful; the Lord says you’re going to have a son.
Now, we won’t be able to get all of it, but let’s just briefly—let’s briefly get one thing, verse number 18. We’re going to jump down, verse number 18. Verse 18: “And Zacharias said unto the angel, ‘Whereby shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well stricken in years.’” He said, “You, me, be dad? My wife’s going to be mom? Come on now,” that’s what he said there. “And the angel answering said unto him, ‘I am Gabriel, that am sent to speak unto thee and to show thee these glad tidings. Behold, thou shalt be dumb’”—that doesn’t mean his IQ was low, vocally, okay?—“and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.'”
Can I just say this about it? We’re going to close it out pretty soon here. Just because God blesses you doesn’t mean there won’t be trials, troubles. Oh, friend, God said, “I’m going to come down there and I’m going to put my hand on you, and I’m going to bless you just because you’re doing right, serving God.” And just because God’s blessing you doesn’t mean there’s not going to be trials; it’s going to be part of it. Hey, hey, Zechariah, you’re going to have a boy. Yes, your wife is well-stricken in age. Yes, you’re going to have one; you’re going to have a son. You’re going to name him John. God has been gracious to you. And it’s been so great. Hey, still problems. He still doubted. God gave him a general rebuke; he couldn’t talk for nine months. Friend, friend, hang on! Just because there are problems doesn’t mean God’s not working. When you mess up one time, you maybe fall a little bit, Satan’s going to come along and say, “Oh, it’s all over. See there? God’s chasing you. It’s all over. God can’t use you anymore.” He’s a preacher, friend. God still was going to bring that boy, John, but Dad couldn’t talk for a while. And you’re still going to have some problems and some trials. And you may temporarily fall. Zacharias doubted. But hey, here’s the key: when you fall, you get back up. Satan would love for you to wallow in the mud and stay down and stay down on yourself and say, “Well, I can’t.” He would love for you to live your life like that right there. Or he could say, “Well, Zacharias, he had a little fall there and had some trouble. God said, you can’t speak for a while.” Still got the boy, though. Stayed faithful.
Let’s just jump down to verse number 57. Let’s get the conclusion of the matter. Verse number 57 there, if you would. Verse number 57: “Now Elizabeth his wife brought forth a son.” That’s Zacharias’s wife, Elizabeth, the mom. “Now Elizabeth his wife brought forth a son.” Can you see her now going to the ladies’ fellowship? Yeah, I bet the first time she brought that baby to church, she pitched it so it would cry real loud so everybody would know. She’d probably hold that baby up here, carrying her everywhere around like that. Look at that baby! Jesus said about that baby, “That’s the greatest man born among women,” filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb. Jesus said he had prophesied about it in the Old Testament: there’s going to be someone that comes along before Jesus, and he’s going to kind of make a path. He’s going to go in there and cut some trees down and make a trail. He’s going to blaze a trail because the Messiah is going to come and land on that trail right there. And John the Baptist, this John, was the forerunner of Jesus Christ. And God found a faithful couple. They’re the ones that really started the whole Christmas story off—a faithful couple.
They had burdens, health problems, financial problems, relationships. “Pastor, it’s such a sad thing at Christmastime. Me and my spouse are fighting all the time. The burden of the weight of that family and relatives, some of the weight of all that.” And yet this couple, they had a burden, but they stayed faithful. And God said, “I’m going to let you give birth to the one.” Jesus said, “There he is right there, the greatest man born among women.” Jesus said that about him. Be found faithful. Our theme this year, Be Found Faithful, 2019. Will the Lord find me faithful loving my wife like God? Will the Lord find me faithful to be the dad of my son and my daughter? My daughter and my daughter will I call? Will the Lord find me faithful in the prayer closet? Will the Lord find me faithful to maybe love those that are unlovely, those that are faithful? The ones God so often says, “I’ll use them.” In fact, he says, “If I can really trust them with my riches, I’m requiring it to be found.” It’s a requirement, he says.
Can I just real quickly share it? God used in my life greatly—it’s a couple named Bob and Janet Steele. I was about twelve years old. We went to a little church, Lake City Baptist Temple, Lake City, Florida. It wasn’t a big church, smaller than this. And there’s a couple. He worked at the GE factory plant, drove just an old, old—oh, I don’t know if it was a Datsun. Some of you know what I’m talking about, Datsun, yeah, Nissan nowadays, whatever—just a little beat-up truck. They lived out in the country, Live Oak, Florida, had a little farm. They had some sheep. That’s when I learned: don’t turn your back on those rams. Don’t you turn your back on those sheep; they’ll butt you, you’ll end up on the ground. You don’t do that. And Bob and Janet Steele, he was a youth director at that church; he was a song leader at that church—faithful people. Nobody who ever really knew about them much, but they served God in their corner of the world.
Mrs. Steele, Janet Steele was her name. They had a little Christian school there. Honestly, I think we had about 20 people, 20 kids in the school, maybe 25 on a good day. The pastor was over the school, but he didn’t have time to run the school. Mrs. Steele ran the school. I don’t know if she got paid anything. Brother Steele worked and paid bills, and maybe she got paid a little; I don’t know. But she was there; she’s the one that kept that Christian school going. And Mrs. Steele… Brother Steele would take a whole week off work and take us as teenagers to youth conference. I am just faithful. They impacted my life. Never forget it. They took us to youth conference. We had a little bus. And Brother Steele, he didn’t have any hair, you know. He was of that high society—all right, we’ll leave it that way, you know. But he was there, and he was backing the bus back here, sleeping a little, trying to get a little sleep. I can’t remember who was driving, and maybe Mrs. Steele, I don’t know. But one of them just spit out the window, and he was back here sleeping, and, you know, the wind’s going. Miss Steele was driving, so it was probably going 100 miles an hour, I don’t know. But the wind took that, and he’s back there sleeping, and the spit landed right on his glow—you know, pung—right on the glow, you know. Yeah. Okay, the influence was good and sometimes bad. But anyway, they made an impact on my life.
Mrs. Steele is the one—I was 12. I was quiet. I never dreamed about being a preacher; it never came across my mind. Mrs. Steele one day in that little Christian school, she said, “Paul, you’d be a good preacher one day.” I never even thought about it. I’d walk home, walk through the woods going home, and those words confirmed in my heart, and I was 12 years old. Yep, she’s right. You’re going to be a preacher one day. I had not a doubt in my mind. I was going to be a preacher; I knew it all those years. God used that couple in my life greatly. They’re both in heaven now. Nobody ever knew about them as far as this old boy is concerned. God used them greatly. I’ve called them, sent them letters. A little before Mr. Steele passed, I left a voicemail for him, and his daughter would say, in his closing days of his life, he’d say, “Hey, Paul called. Did you hear Paul called me?” Great couple. Just faithful at a little church, serving God. God used them greatly in my life. Oh, praise God for all those down the years that have been faithful. It’s been faithful. God uses the faithful.
Man, you think about the Christmas story—I think it all started when God broke that silence of 400 years to a faithful couple. Faithfulness. Be found faithful.
Our heads are bowed and eyes are closed. You say, “Preacher, I’d like to be found faithful. God’s worked at my heart. I’d like God to be able to look down and say, ‘I can find the faith.’ Not perfect, no, but faithful.” God spoke to my heart. I’d like to be a part of that tribe right there. I’d like to be found faithful. God spoke to my heart about that right there. If that’s you this morning, just lift your hand up and pray to him. “I’d like to be there.” Oh, me too, me too, me too. Anybody else? “Preacher, I’d like to be a part of that tribe right there. I’d like to be faithful.” Anybody else? God bless you. God bless you. That’s good. That’s good. That’s key. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. Oh, God bless you. God bless you. Oh, it’s wonderful. God bless you. At the end of the day, God’s good and faithful.
Maybe God spoke to your heart, maybe as a young person, “I’m going to be found faithful.” A young person, God spoke to my heart, “I’m going to be found faithful.” I’m going to be found faithful. God bless you. God bless you. That’s wonderful. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you so much. You can put your hands down.
Maybe you hear this morning you say, “Preacher, I’ll be praying.” I’m going to be praying. It’ll be like Zacharias; he was praying. I’m going to include two things in this one. “Preacher, I’m going to be praising the best I can.” He was offering up incense on the altar of incense, praise. I’m going to be praying, or I’m going to praise him. God’s spoken about it. That’s you, just let me know. God bless you. God bless you. Oh, those are key. Those are key. I think sometimes God hears prayers even more so during those times because we’re praying out of faith. Oh, it’s crucial. Would there be any of them? “Praying or praise.” God spoke to my heart about that. Anybody else just lift your hand? Anybody else? God bless you. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you so much. And put your hands down.
I did not preach a salvation message, but maybe you’re here this morning, you say, “Preacher, I’m not saved. I’m not a child of God. I’m not on the way to heaven. Oh, I’m burdened. I’m concerned. I don’t want to die and go to hell. I don’t know that I’m a child of God. I don’t know that I have that gift Jesus earned for me. I’m not saved.” Would you pray for me? I’m not saying you’ve got to come forward if you raise your hand, but if you raise your hand, I’d love to pray for it. “I’m not saved. I’m burdened about this thing. I’m not sure heaven’s my home. I’m not sure I’m safe.” Would you lift your hand? Anybody like that? Anybody like that? “Preacher, I don’t know that I’m going to heaven.” Just lift it up. Just lift it up. “I don’t know. I don’t know. Heaven’s my home. I’m not on the way to heaven. Not safe, preacher.” God bless you.
It was a good day when a pastor friend told me, he said, “Paul, God doesn’t answer your prayers because of how you feel.” I like it when the feelings are in the prayer closet; I’m into it. I like that. But God doesn’t answer your prayers because of that. He answers your prayers because of his Word, his promises. By the way, one of his promises is faith. God responds to faith. It may be when you’re hurting, you don’t feel like praying, but you pray anyway. God might hear your prayers more than any other time. Be found faithful. Be found faithful. Just let him know. We’re going to sing one more verse soon. If nobody comes out, would you just let him know? “I’m going to be found faithful.” Would you let him know that? Come to the altar wherever. We’d let him know that.
One last thought, I’ll quit preaching. Hey, praise the Lord, we get to be faithful to the Most Faithful. And praise the Lord for that. Hey, it’s going to be exciting to put that church sign up there, “Future Home of Rutherford County Baptist Church.” I think most of you know, maybe someone doesn’t. You head out on Seminary Road down to the light, and you take a left on Poplarwood, another left on Ammaville Road—Ammaville Road, however you want to say it. And you’ll pass the back—or the back entrance, we’ll just say the first entrance you come to—the huge warehouses. Actually, you can turn in there in the parking lot there, kind of adjacent beside the property. Or if you want to just kind of pull over on the side of the road there, there are two four-by-four posts, black, they’ve been painted black. That’s where the sign’s going to be. They’re already there. We won’t be long, but we’ll go put those signs up. If you want to get out, walk out there with us, you’re more than welcome, excuse me, to do that. Or just stay in your car. I’m excited about putting that sign up. That’s a good day. The Lord’s been good to us, and we want to celebrate his victory. He lets us have them here. Praise the Lord for it. It’s a good, good day. So we’ll pray, we’ll head right there, and just… I won’t be at the back door at all. We’ll just go ahead right there because somebody’s got some chicken somewhere. We’ve got to be there to eat it. Amen, you know. So that’d be a good thing. Amen. Brother Warren, would you dismiss us in order to prayer and thank the Lord for the victory that he has brought in? Would you please, sir?
Original File: Be Found Faithful - Pastor Paul Chisgar 122219