Ministers Conference 1-25-2006 Bro LD Savage "Ministry Helps"

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
First Peter Chapter Five.

(00:31):
Praise God.
The elders which are among you Iexhort, who am also an elder,
and a witness of the sufferingsof Christ, and also a partaker
of the glory that shall berevealed, feed the flock of God
which is among you, taking theoversight thereof, not by

(00:55):
constraint, but willingly, notfor filthy lucre, but of a ready
mine, neither as being lordsover God's heritage, but being
in samples to the flock.
And when the chief shepherdshall appear, ye shall receive a
crown of glory that fadeth notaway.

(01:16):
Likewise, ye younger, submityourselves unto the elder.
Yea, all of you be subject oneto another, and be clothed with
humility, for God resisteth theproud and giveth grace to the
humble.
Humble yourselves therefore untothe mighty hand of God, that he
may exalt you in due time,casting all your care upon him,

(01:40):
for he careth for you.
Be sober, be vigilant, becauseyour adversary the devil, as a
roaring lion, walketh aboutseeking whom he may devour, whom
resist steadfast in the faith,knowing that the time knowing
that the same affliction areaccomplished in your brethren

(02:03):
that are in the world, but theGod of all grace, who hath
called us unto his eternal gloryby Christ Jesus, after that ye
have suffered a while, make youperfect, establish and
strengthen, settle you.
To him be glory and dominionforever and ever.

(02:24):
Amen.
Thou Sylvanus, a faithfulbrother unto you, as I suppose I
have written briefly, exhortingand testifying that this is the
true grace of God wherein yestand.
The church that is at Babylon,elected together with you,
salute you, and so doth Marcus,my son, greet one another with a

(02:48):
kiss of charity.
Peace be with you all that arein Christ Jesus.
Amen.
I probably won't do a lot ofpreaching this morning.
Brother, didn't Brother Barnettjust preach outstanding?
I mean, that was tremendous.

(03:11):
Not a better man in thewholeness movement than Brother
Barnett.
Amen.
Peter writing this first epistleto exhort believers to stand
true in all kinds of sufferingand set forth the grace of God.

(03:36):
Suffering is mentioned sixteentimes in five chapters.
We have a generation in Americaright now that does not
understand what it means tosuffer.
We really don't.

(03:57):
I asked the Lord to help me thismorning.
I trust that He will.
Amen.
Right across this little poem Ijust like to share with you this

(04:19):
morning.
And I'd rather see a sermon thanhear one any day.
I'd rather one should walk withme than merely show the way.
For the eyes are better pupiland more willing than the ear.
Good counsel is confusing, butexamples always clear.

(04:44):
And best of all, the preachersare the men who live their
creeds, for to see good put inaction is what everybody needs.
I can soon learn how to do it ifyou let me see it done.
I can watch your hands inaction, but your tongue too fast

(05:05):
may run.
And the lectures you deliver maybe very fine and true, but I'd
rather get my lesson byobserving what you do.
For I may misunderstand you andthe high advice you give, but
there's no misunderstanding howyou act and how you live.

(05:33):
Amen.
How we live our life every dayis vitally important in the
ministry.
I just uh for a little whilehere this morning, uh I'd like
to just give you some tidbitsand pieces and helps and little

(05:58):
advice for the ministry.
And uh that's really what I feellike that this time is for to
help the ministry.
Uh if we don't help each other,come on here.
We don't help each other, we'rewasting a lot of time.

(06:19):
There's some things that I'velearned through the years that
uh might possibly, just possiblybe a help to somebody else.
Some things, uh when we're gone,when we're gone, we'll carry to
the grave some things in ourlife that would have been very

(06:40):
helpful to people if we'd haveshared them when we were yet
living.
Hello.
I uh I just recently bought abook by Senator Zell Miller.
I don't know whether any of youhave read that book or not, it's
an awesome book, uh, on the uhdeficit of decency and uh

(07:05):
tremendous.
And Zell Miller said in aclosing statement in uh one of
his speeches in Congress, hesaid, so as the sand empties
through my hourglass at warpspeed, and with my time running
out on this earth, I feelcompelled to speak out.

(07:28):
For I truly believe that attimes like this, silence is not
golden, but is yellow.
And uh that's powerful.
That is powerful, and uh I uh Ifeel like I'm not and I I'm not

(07:48):
an old man, but I'm older.
And I realize that my time willsoon be gone.
There will come a day thatsomebody else is gonna fill my
pulpit.
And somebody else will fillyours.

(08:08):
And I think it's vitallyimportant that we leave some
nuggets of some sort that thefollowing generation can pick up
and be a help to them.
Amen.
Edmund Burke said, I appreciatethis kind of a meeting.
Uh I just wish such a meetinghad been started 20 years ago.

(08:31):
Uh Edmund Burke said in the1700s, when bad men combine, the
good must associate.
Or else they will fall one byone.
You understand what that'ssaying?
Amen.

(08:51):
When bad men combine, and we areexperiencing that in American
culture right now, bad men arecombining.
I've never seen, I have neverseen in the history of this
country, in all my years ofpreaching and my years before
preaching, I raised in aparsonage, my father being a

(09:13):
wholeness preacher.
I've never seen the time wherethere is such an animosity and a
hatred against Christianity inAmerica.
There's a high tolerance formost any kind of religion except
Christianity.
And when bad men combine, goodmen has got to come together.

(09:38):
That doesn't mean that we don'thave some differences among us.
Even some doctrinal things thatwe differ on.
But I want to tell you, we'regonna need each other.
And the more that bad mencombine, the more we're gonna
need each other because we havemore in common than what the

(10:00):
devil would like for us to thinkwe do.
Somebody say amen.
So, amen.
In meetings like this, uh, wedraw strength from each other,
and we will leave here.
In these kinds of meetings, wewill leave here better men.

(10:23):
Kind of preaching that you heardlast night will make us better
men.
And I don't want to go to ameeting.
The Lord help me.
Come on, come on here, come on.
I don't want to go to a meeting,uh, a camp meeting or a
convention or a homecoming.
I don't want to go to a meetingand go away, feel like I'm not

(10:46):
any better, and then get anyhelp.
Preachers need help too.
Now I want to say uh each of ushas the ability in the ministry
to be a leader.
And you are a leader of sorts.

(11:06):
Whether you uh think you are ornot, you are.
By virtue of the fact thatyou're in the ministry, you are
a leader.
You may not be leading as manypeople as others may be, but you
are a leader.
And you're leading some peoplethat you don't even know you're
leading.
Amen.

(11:26):
Uh and to be a leader simplymeans that there's someone that
has finally figured out thatthey're not satisfied with the
status quo.
Amen.
Ask yourself how you can changewhat needs to be changed without
compromising your convictions.

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Come on here.
Strengthening your convictionsin a way that sets you apart,
and yet without alienatingyourself into an elitist club.
Come on here.
Amen.
That's very dangerous, it's avery fine line.
You can do that.

(12:10):
Amen.
You can you can reach a pointwhere you feel like you're way
up above others.
Amen.
But uh uh uh Peter said here,humbling yourselves.
We are one of another, we arethe same body, so we don't want
to join into an elitist club,amen.

(12:31):
But we must be able to relate topeople without becoming too
familiar with them, and at thesame time lead them into a
deeper walk with God than theyhave ever experienced before.
Amen.
Help me here.
We uh uh we've got to strengthenour convictions.

(12:53):
You don't have to be nasty andugly and harsh or brash, amen,
to have convictions.
Man, man, did Brother Joey Hydehelp us last night?
Amen.
He did.
But I want to tell you, amen.
We uh uh we have a challenge onour hands right now in the

(13:18):
American church.
We have a challenge.
We need to change some things inAmerica and in the American
wholeness movement, and if we'renot careful, help me here, if
we're not careful, we will driftin the same direction that the
organizational churches startedyears ago.

(13:44):
Come on here.
If you got any spirituality atall, and I think most of us do
here, amen, any foresight, youcan look back on the history of
those great organizations, andsome of them at some point in
time in my life I was a memberof.
And I, amen, are y'all stay withme?

(14:05):
Uh some of those that I was amember of were holiness
movements at the time.
And I remember, I'm not so old,but I'm older.
I remember when they starteddrifting.
Come on here, come on here.
They started drifting.

(14:26):
Now, Peter, amen, admonishes usto feed the flock of God, which
the Lord has made us overseerof.
And when when when we have thisword, the instructions that
Peter leaves us in this onechapter alone is enough, amen,
to help us to see the need ofour day and our challenge right

(14:49):
now that is before us.
Amen.
We must get a hold of somethingthat will change the direction
and the drifting from goingtoward worldliness and toward
pleasures.
We are the most pleasure-mindedgeneration that has ever existed

(15:10):
in the wholeness movement.
We want to have fun.
We are a fun, crazy society.
We are, as I said, we are weanedon convenience and selfishness.
Amen.
And we just have one objective.
Amen.
This generation wants to havefun everywhere they go.

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They want to have fun on thejob.
When they got work to do, theywant to have fun.
Come on here.
Come on here.
When they go to church, theywant to have fun.
They want to be entertained.
They want to be tickled.
Amen.
Come on now.
Y'all stay with me.
But the house of God is not aplayhouse or a recreation room.

(15:56):
This is where we receive fromGod leadership and the power of
the Holy Ghost to give usdirection for our lives in
eternity.
Somebody say amen now.
Hallelujah.
So uh uh some of these thingsthat that uh uh I've learned

(16:19):
through the years on on my own,I trust that the Lord will help
us to share some of them with usthis morning.
Uh the Jews years ago, I don'tknow about now, but I read some
articles many years ago, theJews uh or the Israelites had an
old saying that in everygeneration there are 36

(16:43):
righteous people.
36 righteous leaders.
That's what they said.
Amen.
When Rabbi Levin, the rabbi ofthe undergirl underground
prisoners during the Britishmandate, was asked whether he
was among the legendary 36righteous people of every

(17:03):
generation, he answered, I hopeI am sometimes.
I hope I am sometimes.
I think that could probably betransferred right over into the
ministry.
Amen.
We need to be leaders at leastsometime.

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I wish I could say, I wish Icould say, I've always made
every decision and every choiceand every act exactly perfect.
I can't.
I wish I could, but I can't.
Amen.

(17:49):
I'd say that there's a lot ofthe rest of us that would like
to say the same thing if wecould, but we can't.
Amen.
I hope that you're not in theministry just because it's a
vocation or a means of making aliving.
Amen.
If there's not a divine call onyour life, y'all still hear.

(18:12):
If there's not a divine call onyour life, amen, that's the only
thing that makes the differencebetween the anointing and
charisma.
A lot of people can sway acongregation of people with
charisma and nothing else.
But it's that unction and it'sthat anointing that makes the

(18:35):
difference in our lives today.
Amen.
And I let me say this uhholiness, I believe in
wholeness.
Everybody here believes inholiness, raise your hand.
Praise God, we pray for the restof you.
Amen.
Holiness without prayerdegenerates into legalism or

(18:58):
just merely standards, which bythemselves will divide us into
factions, indivisions.
Come on here.
I said by themselves.
You hear me?
By themselves.
Amen.
Oh God, help me.

(19:18):
The only true life of holinesscomes as a result or
consequences of personal prayerin the spirit before God.
Asking God even to search ourown heart, our own life, how we
can get help from God.
Now, I want to tell you, we'regonna have to get help before we

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can help anybody else.
And if we don't get some helpfrom God, amen, our churches are
not gonna get any help from us.
Amen.
I said amen.
Hallelujah.
That uh uh that prayer life,amen, uh will uh elevate you
into holiness without thedivisions when you pray, you

(20:08):
begin to conduct your life witha goal in mind, and this is the
only goal that will beworthwhile, and that is to
glorify God.
Anything else is secondary oralmost useless.
Amen.
Come on here.
Much of our praying is givingGod advice.

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Woo! Glory to God.
But when we expose ourselves tothe Holy Ghost and to the power
of the Spirit, amen, in ourpersonal prayer life, come on
here, amen.
We come to the realization thereis only one purpose of us being
here, and that is to glorifyGod.

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For any other reason, it'suseless and wasted.
We are to glorify God withoutthat prayer, amen, without that
prayer life, you become morecarnal, pleasure-minded,
selfish.

(21:18):
You're looking for a way toadvance your own empire, or
enlarge your own borders, amen.
Not seeking God for directionand leadership, come on here.
Amen.
And at the same time, amen, theworldly pleasures begins to look

(21:42):
more appealing and desirous.
Somebody say amen.
Now, if by chance, if by chance,that God places you into what we
might call at some point in timein your life a worldly church.

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And there's some out there too.
I could get her probably a lotof uh rebuttals on this, but
they didn't get in the conditionlike they're in overnight.

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And you are not gonna changethem in 24 hours.
Now, if God sent you there, comeon here, and if you are God's
man for that place and thattime, God wants you to lead them
out of that worldly trend intothe ways of righteousness and

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holiness, come on here, withoutdriving them or pushing your own
issues.
Woo! Come on here, but leadpatiently, feed the flock of
God.

(23:15):
I could I could branch outthere, but the clocks are
ticking.
Be careful and try not to beatyourself into depression and
discouragement because eitheryou made a bad decision or

(23:36):
people are not responding asquickly as you think they should
be.
I wonder sometimes if that's oneof the reasons why uh preachers
go to churches and wind upresigning in six months or a
year.

(24:00):
Just let that sink there aminute.
God didn't call you to come onhere.
Come on here.
If God called you to pastor, hecalled you to pastor.
I've been where I am 30 years.

(24:20):
Same church.
Uh we've changed congregations afew times.
Same church.
Uh but Brother Ralph, I stillhave some of the old saints that
was with me from the beginning.
And they are so valuable.
I have buried, I buriedsomewhere between 35 and 40 of

(24:46):
my old saints through the yearsthat I've been there.
And uh, Amen.
Man, do I miss them old people?
I mean, if the church doors wasopen, they was there.
It didn't matter what was goingon in their personal life, if
church was uh doors was open,they was there.
Come on, come on here.

(25:07):
Amen.
But I'm trying to tell yousomething this uh afternoon now.
Amen.
If perhaps you made a baddecision, and I have.
I have made some bad decision.
If by chance you have made a baddecision, amen.
Don't quit.

(25:30):
You pick up the pieces of thepuzzle that's been scattered,
and you put them back on thetable, and you start all over
again putting the piecestogether.
It ain't gonna hurt you to sayto yourself, I could have
handled that a little better.

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There are some people that'llcome to you from other churches.
Um good churches.
People that come to you don'talways come from bad churches.
Sometimes they come from goodchurches for various reasons.

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But in the back of your mindback here, always remember this.
That if they left the otherchurch, you remember it's a good
possibility they're gonna leaveyou.
That's just a little tidbit.
Amen.

(26:39):
You just keep don't put a wholelot of stock in them unless
they've been with you for a longperiod of time.
I lost you there.
Praise God.
And then if somebody does leaveyou in your church, and they

(27:05):
will, you'll have them leaveyou.
Amen.
You're the best buddy now,you're the greatest preacher
that ever walked.
Until you have to correct theirchild.

(27:25):
There's two things that'stouching about people, and
that's their money and theirchildren.
Glory to God.
That's just another piece.
Amen.
But it's true.
Amen.
If some leave you and they willgrieve over the loss, I've had

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some good people leave me.
I've had some that left, and Iwas almost glad.
Become the thorn in the fleshand somebody else's side.
I lost you right there.

(28:08):
But sometimes people do leavefor various reasons.
And sometimes just simplemisunderstandings.
And you try to correct it, andyou try to make amends, and you
try to help them.
But they're bent on leaving.
And grieve over that loss.
Come on here.

(28:30):
I said grieve over that loss,but don't build a camp meeting
around that loss.
Because you've got other sheepin that flock that's got to be
fed.
And if you grieve yourself toolong and too much over the loss
that you have suffered, you willbe count, you will be worthless

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to them other sheep that you'retrying that is there under your
care.
Somebody say amen.
You've got to feed the flock ofGod, which the Lord has made you
overseer of.
Amen.
You still have sheep, lambs,that needs attention, that needs

(29:16):
help, that needs strength.
Amen.
Come on here.
And if every service you get upin and you talk about, amen,
so-and-so is gone.
Amen.
Them other sheep are sittingthere.
You got me to feed from this?

(29:38):
You can groan and moan.
And you can shigh, you cangrieve over a loss, a good loss
sometimes.
But there's time to quitgrieving.
You grieve too long.

(30:00):
And too much, you and yourministry will suffer, and you'll
not be able to get anything outof this book, and everything you
read in this Bible, you read itwith your eyes, but you're
thinking about that loss, andyou never reap the benefit of
what that scripture's saying.

(30:21):
And in the process of that, youcome to the house of God on
empty and have nothing to givebecause you have grieved too
long and too much.
Come on here.
Not too long ago, I lost somefolks out of my church, and it

(30:42):
bothered me.
Brother Alvin, it reallybothered me.
I mean, it did bother me.
And they went to anotherneighboring church.
And the pastor came to me justuh not too long ago.
And he said, What uh should Ido?
I said, feed them.
Help them any way you can.

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Come on, come on here.
Stay with me as long as you can.
Amen.
Feed them.
Try to help them.
Amen.
I said, Amen.
Churches that are any distanceclose to each other are gonna
have trade outs.

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I lost some of you there.
Don't get bitter over thosetrade outs.
And I said to this pastor, amen.
I said, the main thing we needto do is you and I stay on the
same page and in fellowshiptogether.
Amen.
And let's get these sheep toheaven.

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Woo! Glory to God.
Amen.
Somebody say amen.
Hallelujah.
In Luke chapter 5, I'm trying towatch the clock, Brother Ingram.
In Luke chapter 5, verses 18through 26.
You know the story about the manwith a palsy that they brought

(32:15):
him to Jesus born a four, andthey couldn't get to Jesus
because of the crowd.
And so they went around the backand they tore the roof off and
let the man down in the presenceof Jesus.
I thought about that.
Amen.

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I'm of the opinion, and this issavage commentary, I'm of the
opinion that the four that borehim, Amen, and tore the roof
off, got down to where Jesus wastoo.
Amen.
Praise God.
But there what I want to sharewith you is what was their

(32:59):
hindrance to begin with ofgetting to Jesus?
It was people.
People.
People.
Now people can be your hindrancewhen you need to get to God.
Hey, man, you got these peoplethat are problems.

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And before you can get in thepresence of the master, you've
got to get past mentally.
Mentally, you've got to get pastthese people.
You've got to get past thesehindrances, amen, to get to
where Jesus is.
Now I'm going to tell you, heyman, the preacher, the minister,

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the godly man is alwaysvulnerable.
I don't care who you are, you'revulnerable.
Amen.
But we cannot afford the luxuryof hurt feelings.
Other people get their feelingshurt, but you cannot afford to

(34:04):
let anybody know your feelingsare hurt.
Well now.
Amen.
Come on here.
Endeavor your best to keep yourhurt feelings out of your
preaching.

(34:28):
Some more tidbits, yeah.
Make, yeah, I know this iscontrary to some people's ideas
and opinion, but this is savagecommentary.
Make yourself preach on anothersubject or doctrine that don't
have any relationship with whatthat situation was.

(34:52):
Make yourself do it.
I said, make yourself do it.
Until you have time to get thathurt prayed through.
Hallelujah.
And then that unction andanointing of the Spirit, hey,
man, will flow freely again.

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But I want to tell you, as longas that hurt is there, you will
just be there.
I'm on here.
You'll just be saying words.
And you're up there because it'syour duty to be there.
And it's still right to bethere.
Even if you're there when it'syour duty to be there.

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Praise God.
But when you can get along withGod and pray that hurt feeling
through, amen.
And committed to the Lord Jesus,that flow of the Spirit will
return.
In a flowing river.
Praise God.

(35:58):
Everybody here remember uhNelson Mandela?
He was the president of SouthAfrica for several years, but
before he became president inthe apartheid problems in South
Africa, he was in prison.
He was a political prisoner.

(36:19):
I'm trying to think, and I'vegot the article, and probably
should have brought it with me,but it didn't.
I believe he was in prison for26 years.
Amen.
I think it was 26.
I could be wrong, but I think itwas 26 years.
Bad conditions.
Pitiful conditions.

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Hungry, weary, and at times evenbeaten.
And as far as convenience isconcerned, the only thing he had
was a five-gallon bucket for therestroom.
I mean, it was a deplorablecondition.
And after 20, if I rememberother things, 26 years, amen, he

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got out of prison.
Are y'all still with me?
Amen.
And he um uh he began to elevatehimself by the goodness of God.
And he said, I was so bitter atthe way I was treated.
I was so bitter.
He said I was eat up withbitterness.
I read his article.

(37:26):
He said bitterness had eaten mealive, and I decided I was going
to get even.
Come on here.
Amen.
He decided he was going to geteven.
And he said, I come to therealization, I wasn't helping
nobody.

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I was not helping my people, mycountry, my nation, my own
family was still suffering.
And he said, I decided I wasgonna conquer that bitter hurt
feeling.
And he did.
And he said these words, and Iwrote it down because I didn't

(38:08):
want to forget it.
He said, bitterness and hurt islike drinking poison yourself
and waiting for it to kill yourenemy.
Woo! Glory to God.
Now I want to tell you, ifyou've been in the ministry any
length of time, you are going toget hurt.

(38:33):
You're going to get hurt bypeople.
But you've got to get over that.
You've got to get past thatcrowd.
You've got to get past peopleand get in the presence of the
Lord.
And whatever it takes to get inhis presence, you have got to do

(38:54):
if you're going to survive.
Somebody say amen.
Amen.
All right.
The people sometimes that you'vedone the most for and spent the

(39:15):
most time with will hurt you themost and leave you first.
But don't quit helping people.

(39:40):
Even when you know you are inall possibility going to get
hurt, that separates theshepherds from the hirelings.
Well, I'm just going to helpsomebody else.
Because you're not doing it forthem.
You're doing it as unto theLord.

(40:03):
And if you ever lose the sightof the fact that this is for
God, and my life is his, and myname to minister to this people
for him.
And what I do and where I go andhow I'm act and how I respond.
Amen.
It's all for Jesus.

(40:25):
Amen.
Hallelujah.
I want to say something herethat some might could take issue
with.
Be careful not to cater too muchto the wealthy.

(40:52):
Now I know, I know some wealthy,wealthy people, millionaires.
Some of them my friends.
Amen.
Are you still here?
And they're good people.
And they're precious people.
And some of them are godlypeople.
But by they are an exception tothe rule.

(41:15):
But by and large, help me here.
By and large, amen.
Many that you cater to that aremoney people at some point in
time will try to dominate andcontrol.

unknown (41:32):
Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 (41:38):
Really, it's the everyday blue-collar,
hardworking man.
The poor and the women.
Amen.
I mean just every day from onepaycheck to the next paycheck

(41:58):
that is built churches.
I feel like that this nextpoint, I'm gonna try to wind
this thing down about 10-15minutes here.
I think is one of the most vitalthings that I could pass on to

(42:23):
the next generation.
Be careful not to get caught upin squabbles and situations that
is really none of your business.

(42:48):
Really?
Really?
There are some things you can'tdo nothing about.
I mean, that is really none ofyour concern.
And you get involved in thatsituation.
Come on here.
And I'm talking about even sometime between preachers.
The preachers that arecrossways.

(43:10):
And you're the third party outthere.
Amen.
And this morning you take sideswith them, this morning you take
sides with them, and you getinvolved in that squabble, amen.
First thing you know, your ownministry is going to suffer.
And you're going to be, oh Godhelp me, you're going to be
branded as a meddler in othermen's affairs.

(43:42):
Now.
Two German dogs, two Germanshepherd dogs are in a dog
fight.
I mean, they are scrapping,growling, biting.
Amen.
One's got a hold of the otherone's leg, and that one's got a
hold of the other one's back,and they're into it.
And here comes a little beagledog down the street.

(44:07):
Man.
We had a beagle dog.
I know how they are.
They're good.
They're wonderful.
To run rabbits.
But they like to get in themiddle of a squabble, too.
And that beagle dog hears allthat growling, that excitement.
Amen.
And the adrenaline begins toflow inside of him.
And the first thing you know,amen, he's right in there

(44:28):
amongst them two German policedogs.
Amen.
Guess who comes out hurt?
It's easier to get in a dogfight than it is to get out of
one.

(44:57):
Help me, Lord.
I'm just giving you sometidbits.
Popularity does not alwaysequate to leadership.
Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
Sometimes it works and sometimesit doesn't, but not always.
It depends on the quality ofyour control over other people.

(45:20):
Man, man, man.
If the one that is popular isencouraging some others to rebel
against authority or holiness, Iwouldn't call him and her or her
a leader.
They are a rebel.

(45:43):
Now if you think for one minute,if you think for one minute that
there's not politics in inchurches, man, have you got a
fooling coming?
Woo! Glory to God.
And if you think for one minutethere's not politicking among
preachers, have you got afooling coming?

(46:15):
Shouldn't be.
It should not be.
But it is.
The ideal is no.
But the real world is, it is.
Come on here.
Amen.
You see, it depends upon thecontrol, the quality of the

(46:37):
control, and how you want tolead.
Amen.
If help me here.
If if if brother Vance is myfriend, I think he is.
Amen.
He's always been.
Amen.
But you see, because he's myfriend.

(47:02):
And Brother Alvin over here.
He's my friend, but we're goingto use him for an example this
morning.
He needs that.
Brother Alvin and myself has hadwords now, okay?
Amen.

(47:23):
Who in the world?
But nevertheless, you see,Brother Vince comes to me and
says, What about this, BrotherSavage?
I said, now if you're gonna bemy friend, you can't be his
friend.

unknown (47:43):
Make a choice.

SPEAKER_01 (47:52):
You see, it's the values that count.
Character.
Deep-rooted, heartfelt, walkwith God.
Get in his presence.
Get over top of them people.
To get over top of the people,you gotta get higher than they
are.
They may stop your progress,amen, for a while, but you gotta

(48:14):
get over it.
You gotta come higher.
Amen.
Somebody say amen.
It's easy to say he's ahypocrite.
But he's your hindrance.
And if you want to get whereJesus is, you gotta get over top

(48:36):
of him.
Some of you kind of lookingfunny.
Didn't Hitler have followers?
But you see, his command andinfluence was evil.

(48:58):
He it was out of demand andcommand.
His command was driven by onething, power, control.
And it he had no value of life.
If you were in his way, he'dkill you.

(49:20):
And never bat an eye at it.
Wouldn't bother him in theleast.
Come on here.
Now, I've got a gotta hurry.
I got I got eight more minutes.
Don't be fooled by the resulttest.
That's a catchword for thisgeneration.

(49:42):
They must be right.
Look at the crowd.
Mega churches fall a lot oftimes in that category.
Amen.
Morally unsound,anti-scriptural.

(50:04):
No convictions, no restraints,no doctrine, nothing that is
offensive to anybody.
Do anything, say anything, inorder to keep them coming.

(50:25):
Proverbs 29, 18, without avision, without a vision, the
people perish.
Now we use that verse a lot oftimes, many times for missionary
work, and I don't fault that.
I'm not even, don't want to evenfault that at all, because thank

(50:45):
God for our missions work.
My wife loves missions.
But the literal translation ofthat verse of scripture, if
you'll search it back, you'llfind out the literal
translation.
Without a vision, the peopleperish.
Where there is no restraint, thepeople go wild.

(51:13):
Abraham Lincoln said, I'm notalways bound to win.
But I am bound to be true.
I'm not always bound to succeed.
But I am bound to live up towhat light I have.
Amen.

(51:35):
Amen.
By all means, live what youpreach.
At all times, everywhere.
One fellow said, what you dospeak so loud I can't hear what
you say.
Now let me s let me just, I'mprobably gonna be a little

(51:59):
controversial here, but don'tmatter.
There are a lot of our holinesspreachers that will preach hard
to their home church people.
Don't watch TV, don't rentmovies.
Thank God.
Right.
Come on here.

(52:20):
Right.
There's nothing wrong with that.
But when they go on a trip andstay in a motel at night, they
turn the TV on.
Come on here.

(52:42):
Live what you preach.
Lincoln said it right.
He said, hey man, I'm not boundto succeed.
But I am bound to be true towhat light I have.
Live by what you preach.
And if you can't live by whatyou preach, don't preach it.
Don't say it.

(53:03):
Don't take a stand because youwind up being a hypocrite.
Somebody say amen.
You see that we've got to havesome leadership.
Amen.
Achieving success is not alwaysleadership.
Successful and victorious arenot synonymous.

(53:27):
They're not interchangeablewords.
Amen.
Are y'all still with me?
Success is a common term,natural term, worldly term.
Victorious is a spiritual,biblical term.
And they're not alwayssynonymous.
Amen.
But integrity is the mostimportant quality in a leader.

(53:51):
To be true, to be right, to holdon.
Amen.
Trust God.
Ah, somebody say amen.
Now I'll assure you thismorning, well, this afternoon,
as long as there's somebody toserve, there's somebody else
that will complain about youserving.

(54:21):
Not everything that's importantcan be measured by sight only.
The way things appear at firstglance or are told at first
report may not be accurate.
Be careful about making quickjudgments.

(54:41):
Check all the details.
I'd say most pastors, and I havetoo, have had people in my
church come to me and say, soand so was seen over yonder.
Come on here.
And and and this person didthat.

(55:02):
And I heard that so-and-so saidso-and-so.
And what they're doing, they'retrying to goad you into taking a
text and preaching.
Hey man, where's that man withthe sword?
Hey man.
Preaching against them peoplebecause they've got an axe to

(55:23):
grind.
Oh, ain't that good?
Think it through.
Check all the details.
Let me give you this.
Just got a couple more littlestories here.
Someone in a church congregationsent a note to the pulpit for

(55:47):
the pastor to read.
The note said this, Bill Joneshaving gone to sea, that is, out
on the ocean, his wife desiresthe prayers of the congregation
for his safety.
Isn't that wonderful?
But the pastor was somewhatnearsighted, and he didn't

(56:13):
deserve uh observe thepunctuations properly, and he
read the notice, but he read itlike this.
Bill Jones, having gone to seehis wife, desires the prayers of
the congregation for his safety.
So things are not always as theyfirst appear to be.

(56:38):
Be sure you got the facts beforeyou take action.
And then when you got the facts,amen.
Ask God for help.
Ask God for direction.
Ask God for leadership to showyou how to deal with the problem
that has arisen.
Amen.
Another little illustration.

(56:59):
Amen.
You can see a car crash into atree.
And you can say, boy, I'mtelling you, that's a result of
bad driving.
Amen.
But if the driver crashed intothe tree because he swerved in
order to avoid hitting a babystroller with two precious

(57:21):
babies in it, pushed by otherchildren, then you could say
that your judgment was allwrong.
Your first impulse needs to bere-examined.
In the ministry, the sameprinciples applies.

(57:45):
You can't determine what wasbehind the results without
knowing all the facts.
Huh?
Now, don't fall out with me.
I'm gonna give you thisillustration about myself and my
church.
And if you if you do thingsotherwise, that's fine.

(58:06):
Between you and God and yourchurch, I don't have anything to
do with it.
I don't have sinners on myplatform.
Playing music, singing.
If you do, that's fine.
That's that's up to you and yourchurch and your God.
Come on here.
But there are exceptions.

(58:32):
Such as Christmas programs andplays.
Come on here.
Carolings, in which childrenfrom the Sunday school
department participates in thoseChristmas plays, programs, come

(58:52):
on here, recitals.
And many of them are not evenChristians.
And they come from homes thatare not Christians.
Am I doing all right so far?
Amen.
But you see, that's anexception.

unknown (59:10):
Amen.

SPEAKER_01 (59:12):
Now, I had this to happen just recently, this past
Christmas.
Amen.
And somebody that was not savedhad a part in the Christmas
play.
And it got rumored around.
You know the rumor mill?

(59:33):
Got rumored around.
Brother Savage is compromised.
He loved unsaved people on hisplatform.
But they didn't tell it was aChristmas play.

(59:57):
Sometimes people and evenpreachers haven't.
And they tell slanded news thatare half truths.
And Paul the Apostle in the Bookof Ephesians, chapter four,
said, Let us walk worthy of thevocation wherewith we are

(01:00:19):
called.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:45):
Heard great preaching today, haven't we?
And I recommend getting the uhCDs.