Lessons from Asa part 2
Date: June 7, 2024
Savior of mankind and my Savior myself, and I want to give everything I have to him. Whatever happened to that, young people? I hope that maybe God will create a little fire in our young people. I’m talking about 30 down to spend your life serving God. One of my prayers is being, “Lord, would you give us more young couples in our church? We need that.”
Pretty much every pastor I’ve talked to—we need more young couples. And friend, it’s high time that young people say, “Hey, I want to serve God with my life.” Praise God for people like Asa when he was a young man. He said, “I’m just going to step up for God. I’m going to do what’s right even if my family doesn’t do right.” What Asa did is a great need of our country.
Young people, I’m not mad if I want to challenge you. Hey, would you sell out for the Lord? I don’t understand they’re saying, “I want to do my own thing,” and I’m running from God. I’m far—I’m not trying to act like I have it all. I’m far from where I ought to be. But I never fully understood that my thing was, “I don’t know if God, you can use me or not, but what little bit I am, here am I. Would you use me, Lord?”
Oh, young people, you’ll never regret saying, “God, I give you everything I have.” You’ll never regret that.
Praise the Lord for the young people in our church that serve God. Can I challenge our teenagers? Can I challenge you whether you ride a bus to church? If you ride a bus to church, don’t just sit there and be part of the problem. Get on that bus. You help Brother Richard or Brother Anthony or Brother Josh or Brother Gregor. You be involved. You say, “I want to help on this bus. I’m not just riding this bus; I want to do something for God on this bus.”
In the teen department, Brother Jacob and Ms. Chloe, they welcome a teenager in there, and that’s wonderful. But they expect the teacher of that class, but one teenager goes out of his way to greet another teenager and say, “Hey, I’m glad you’re in church.” It means something to them. Young people, I’m saying, “Hey, just don’t get all the time. Give out to others.” I want my life to count for the Lord Jesus Christ. I’ll be a heartbeat.
Don’t get in the spirit and the attitude of getting, getting. Hey, give out for the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s so good to me. He spoke to my heart when I was a young person. I strayed here and there, but I had the privilege of really riding a bus from day one. Mom and Dad were always on there. They’d send me to the back of the bus and say, “Make those kids behave on the back of the bus.” And I said, “How can I? They’re bigger than me, you know.”
When I was 15, the people that was the bus captain of a bus went to a larger church—10, 12 bus routes. I don’t know how many, something like that. But the people that had worked for the Lord for years, they said at a different stage, “We’re giving up that bus route.” I’m not sure if I went to him or he came to me, but our bus director was all the buses. He said, “Paul, if you be the bus captain, I’ll drive you around.” He’d drive me around the bus route on Saturdays in his car.
He’d sit in the car, and I’d get out and go to all visits. Now, I get on that bus and try to make those kids behave; they didn’t listen to me. And I’m not saying I had it all together. And I’m saying as a 15-year-old boy, I said, “I want to give out.” Whatever happened to that young people saying, “Hey, I want to serve God with my life”? Too many serving themselves and all that they want.
Oh, young people, I’m just saying you won’t regret it. I’m trying to challenge you. So I want to spend my life serving God. Who’s going to take John Fontaine’s place in our church and people? That generation passes away. What’s moving up in America?
Oh, many young people that say, “I’m going to serve God.” You might not be a bus captain; I’m not saying you got to do all that. You may not be a preacher; that’s all right. Hey, but whatever happened to a young lady saying, “I have a vision and dream in my eye, like a godly man, I’ll raise my kids in a good, godly church, and I would have raised my kids to serve the Lord Jesus Christ”? Whatever happened to that?
God was so good to us. I was a young man as a youth director. Didn’t know what in the world I was doing, but the Lord blessed our simplicity. And a young man came into the youth department named Mark Oliver. He came with his girlfriend, and his parents didn’t go to church. He just drove in. I’m not even sure how he knew about the church, but he drove in. Brought his girlfriend. Played in the band. God got a hold of that young man’s heart, and he got saved.
And he sold out for the Lord Jesus Christ—him and Jacqueline. We had a little teen class before Sunday night church. We did it on music one time. And Mark Oliver, he played in the band, and he gave up his music. I made a challenge: “Hey, for every tape you’d give me of rock and roll music—all that the devil’s music—I’ll give you some good music.” Cassette tapes—I’m dating myself, amen, I’m old. It wasn’t eight-track, amen.
He brought in 70 tapes. I never dreamed 70 tapes. I didn’t have 70 tapes to give back to him. Man, I think until the time I left, I still was giving him tapes. I ran out of music and said, “Would you take preaching?” He said, “I’ll take preaching.” But Mark Oliver sold out. And go to public school, he’d bring visitors. Often reminds me of Aaron’s in some Bible calls you used to bring and fill up this row with just visitors from the public school. Aaron’s often Bible calls you now.
Mark Oliver, he—remember one time in his speech class they had to give a speech, and he was going to give a speech about how to go to heaven. The teacher said, “No, you can’t do that in a public school.” And he came and told me about it. I don’t know if we ever did call the Christian Law Association or not, but we threatened to. Said, “You can do that. You’re allowed to do that.” And he did do that, in fact. He has a good testimony. He had a boy in his school named Sean, if I remember right, and Sean was a very intelligent young man, but at the beginning he was an agnostic, I think, deist, somewhere along with there, one of those, and didn’t want a thing to do with it. But Mark was such a good, sold-out testimony. Mark eventually got Sean to come to church, and Sean, now he used to just deny God, he got saved.
Now, Dothan High School, Dothan, Alabama—it’s in L.A., lower Alabama, you know. It’s the biggest town around. It was kind of the hub of all the… So Dothan High School, man, it was a high school, you know, it was a place. The graduation had run out the big old Civic Center in Dothan. And the salutatorian and valedictorian that give their speech—Sean was, I think, the valedictorian. Sean got up, literally thousands of people there, and I mean that. And lower Alabama, that’s a lot of people, you know.
And they got up and talked about God all through his speech. And all those people heard about God because Mark Oliver’s young man sold out and brought that boy to church. God changed his life. Got a Christmas card from Mark and Jack when this is Christmas. And we’re still in church. I’m married now. Got about four or five kids. He got enough kids to be missionaries. They have five kids, amen, in church serving God.
Friend, I’m saying young people, you’ll never regret selling out to serve God. Asa did. As a young man, Asa just said, “I won’t give them all to God.” Can I encourage you? Can I challenge you, young people? You won’t regret it. You’ll never regret it. For all eternity, you won’t regret serving God.
Thank you, young people, for listening so very, very much. Now you can go to sleep because we’re going to talk to the older people now. Please don’t take me serious on the sleeping part. Older people, middle-aged and up, that’s us. Now you’ve got to wake up, all right? Young people, if you see an older person sleeping beside you, when you poke them in the eyeballs and wake them up. Please don’t do it.
Let’s change gears for just a moment here. I have studied and tried to find out what happened to Asa. I’ve read and I’ve studied, and maybe one year, one day God will reveal to me more. I’m not sure exactly what happened to Asa. But can I say this, middle age and up, us 30 and up? Now listen to me, and I mean this: just because you start off serving God doesn’t mean you’re finished like that.
Asa for years and years and years had served the Lord. I’m not sure what clicked in his brain, in his mind, but something happened in his older life when he faced a battle. He chose not to trust in God. And it’s such a sad ending to such a godly life. He could have had such a greater victory, but in his middle age and older life, he said, “I’m going to do my own thing.” And he missed out on maybe the greatest blessing he could have had. I’m not sure what happened to him. Maybe he just got tired of fighting.
Can I just be honest with you, y’all out there you tune in? If you serve God, it’s going to be a fight. There’s going to be a battle. You’re not going to be popular with everybody. There’s going to be some people that don’t like you. There’s going to be some opposition. The Bible says, “Yea, and all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” There’s going to be a fight. Paul said, “I fought a good fight.” I don’t know. Maybe he just got tired of the fight.
Can I say this? I don’t know what category I’m in. I’m 51, you know. I’ll call that middle age, amen. Sounds better than the other things, amen. I understand a little bit of getting tired. I understand that somewhat. We all get there, and that’s all right. But would you remember what God said? “Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.” Please don’t faint.
It may be God’s about to bring a better, greater victory, but sometimes we just say, “I’m tired of fighting,” and you lower the standards, and you lower the service, and you bow out, and you say, “I’ll let the younger crowd do it.” And the victories don’t happen. And the things that God would like to do don’t happen. And the end is not quite equal to the beginning.
Oh, you get tired, I understand, but don’t quit. Don’t say, “Well, I’ve read my Bible so long, I don’t have to read it anymore.” Shame on you! Yes, you do. Last week’s food won’t do for today. You said, “I’ve been praying for so-and-so to get saved for 30 years.” It may be the 31st year when they’re going to get saved if you keep praying. “I’m going to quit.” We’ll all get tired; I understand that. But Asa, he just said, “No, I’m not going to go God’s way anymore. I’m going to go the man route,” and it was a shame. I don’t know what happened to him. Maybe he thought he was just too old. “I’ll let the younger crowd do it.”
Friend, as long as you’re breathing, God wants to use you. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a nursing home somewhere, in some corner somewhere. God, if he’s leaving life in you, he still wants to use you. Sometimes it’s amazing—I’m not referring to John Fontaine—but sometimes it’s amazing in the last month or two of someone’s life how God will use that individual to bring healing to a family. God wants to use people to the last second they’re breathing. No, never get it in your mind, “I’m too old to serve God.” When you’re too old to serve God, you’ll be facing Jesus.
I’m not sure what happened to him. Moses was 80 when God began to use him in a great way, the last leg of his journey—80 years old. Caleb was 85. I think Caleb had an ego, all right? He doesn’t have much time. But he’s 85, and he said, “Man, I’m as strong as I was when I was 40.” Come on, Caleb. I’m sure there’s younger people around those 40s like, “Okay, Caleb, I don’t know about that one. That’s a little stretch right there.”
Hey, but he took the mountain. He took the mountain. Oh, he said, “Man, I’d rather go strong as ever was.” I don’t know about all that, but God used him, and he took that mountain.
I think about Anna, that great prophetess over there, Luke 2, and baby Jesus. Joseph and Mary bringing him into the temple. The Bible says she was of a great age. I think she’s well over 100. She had gotten married as a young lady, and I think she had a wonderful marriage, but her husband, seven years into the marriage, died. Eighty-four years she was a widow. Can you imagine that? I don’t know how old she was when she got married; maybe young. They often got married young in the Bible times. Seven years marriage, and now 84 years as a widow. I’m sure she was 102, 3—I don’t know. I don’t know, maybe older.
You know what the Bible says about Anna? I don’t know. The Bible doesn’t tell us this part, but I think Anna held baby Jesus in her arms. The Bible does tell us she lifted up by the temple. Hey, hey, here’s the Messiah. This old lady—that’s what the Bible says about her—she departed not from the temple, but served God with fasting and prayers night and day. One hundred five years old, I’m not sure. And the Bible says she wouldn’t leave the temple, and she served God with fastings and prayers night and day. Maybe the greatest thing you can do for this church or someone else is to pray for them. This dear old lady, she spent her last years of her life just fasting and praying for people. Victory doesn’t happen in the kingdom of God unless someone’s spending their time on their knees, praying.
Oh, can I say, don’t say, “Nothing I could do, I’m too old.” Maybe the greatest thing you can do is pray. I’m not sure what happened to him. He was such a good king when he was young. I don’t know. Something just clicked, and he faced this battle as an old man, and he said, “I’m tired of this God’s way. I’m going to do my way.” Maybe he just got used to the luxuries of life. He had been king for 36 years at this point.
I mean, let me just talk to us, middle-aged or older. Typically, if you’ve been wiser of your finances, and I’m not trying to pick on anybody, but typically if you’ve been wiser of finances, typically you get middle-aged and older, you’re starting to get a little bit established financially. You can get a little better car. You don’t have to have the car we had when we were young married. You had to go out there and take the screwdriver, you know what I’m talking about, down there by this Illinois, and cross it over, and the sparks are flying, and crank it up, you know? My wife has actually done it before. She said, “What do I have to do?” Babe, every once in a while, when I’m not there, you got to do it, you know. You get older, you can get a regular one that you put a key in and turn, not crank, amen, you know. You get a house, a car, you know, and praise the Lord for that. You can go out to eat. Well, we do too much of that anymore, you know. You can go out to eat when you want to. Come on now, y’all know you are there too, you know. You get a little bit more financially stable.
And I’m preaching myself right here. The kids, they’re gone. And Friday night, when you’re watching the movie, you don’t have to worry about little eyes watching. A lot of motives for life for the Lord Jesus Christ, one of them, because you want to be a great testimony for your kids, but your kids are grown. Wednesday night, you’re deciding whether they go to church or not. Kids are grown. You don’t have that motive.
And I’m just saying luxuries of life, and you feel tempted just to take it easy and enjoy the luxuries. And friend, if we’re not careful, we get so wrapped up in the luxuries that God gets demoted and luxuries get promoted, and we’re not serving God at the end of our life. It’s a sad thing. Nothing wrong with the luxuries, and God gives them to us to enjoy. He wants you to enjoy. But make sure they don’t own you; you own them. And make sure God’s first. Nothing wrong with money. It’s not money that’s the root of all evil; it’s the love of money. Oh, friend, I’m not sure, but Asa, he missed out.
It may have been, it may have been the victory in the Bible that everybody relished. Wow. Asa beat Israel and Syria at one time. I’m not sure, but he missed out. And he died diseased in his feet—a sick old man, sad ending.
I thought about John Fontaine. I’m so glad. He served God to the end. I did not realize this. I was speaking with his family here recently. If you know John Fontaine, you know he loves to fish, amen? I mean, that was the thing. But his family told me—I didn’t know this—he said, “Grandpa, Dad, he let everybody know he don’t go fishing on Saturday and Sunday, the weekends, for the Lord.” Sunday’s church, and Saturday he’s working somewhere at the church serving God, trying to win souls. Everybody said he established that. Everybody knew: weekend, no fishing.
For years, he semi-retired. He’d worked in a guard shack as a guard. And we were told—we were friends, prayer partners for years—and Brother Fontaine, for years, and he worked that guard shack Friday night before Saturday’s soul winning. He’d spend 30 minutes and more just praying, “Lord, let people get saved tomorrow.” And he wasn’t trying to brag, but a time or two he had just shared with me. He said, “God was so good to me. He said, ‘Man, just seemed like that guard shack was glowing.’” I had kind of become our thing. “Hey, was it glowing?” Man, he’d come in from those Friday—now he worked second shift—and Saturday morning just seemed like God had his hand on him in such a great way. God used him because he spent so much time Friday night just praying.
So I retired. He got to the point—many of you know it—he got to the point where he couldn’t walk a long distance, his back and go down his sciatic nerve. Him and Brother Warren, they came up with a plan. “Well, we can’t go just through a neighborhood telling people about Jesus. We can’t walk that far. How about we set up like in front of some place, a park or something? We’ll have a little booth and we’ll pray for people.”
So we got a little booth. We called it “Prayer Station.” They had set up in front of Dollar Generals and places, and people come in and out and say, “Okay, we’ll pray for you.” And their goal was they’d pray for them and then they’d tell them about Jesus Christ their answer. They saw people saved that way. I’ve already mentioned this story, but I don’t want to waste such a godly life. But even his last day in the hospital over here at Stonecrest Hospital, ate up with cancer—the night shift nurse came in. She wasn’t having a good night. Brother Fontaine, he was dying of cancer, just ate up with cancer, and he started telling her about Jesus Christ. I went and visited him like the next day in the hospital. He was so happy, so excited—he got to lead a nurse to the Lord. He went out serving God.
Wouldn’t it have been so good if Asa would have just went out serving God? I don’t know what clicked, but the last five or so years of his life, he wouldn’t even seek the Lord to heal his feet. He just kept trusting in man.
Original File: Lesson’s from Asa- Part-2 - Pastor Paul Chisgar Sunday AM 6621