The Pulpit Podcast | Rev. Scott Graham, "With A Price" | Pulpit Conference 2024 - Urshan University

Intro We had some other things to do, but I think we're going to take advantage of what God is doing here right now and bring another great preacher needs no introduction. General secretary, former general youth president, former district youth president right here, pastor of this very church and my friend brother Scott Graham. Let's make him feel welcome as he comes. Speaker 2 I will ask your kind indulgence to forgive my skipping over normal protocols that are exercised in these moments. I am very delighted to be here, and certainly I'm grateful for all those who have a part in this. But if you'll allow me just to directly go to the word of the Lord tonight. First Corinthians chapter 6 and verse #19, First Corinthians 619 and verse 20. Scott Graham The writer uses a unique communication tactic at the start of this verse. You can almost hear the incredulous nature in his voice or in his pen when he starts with what I can't imagine. You don't know this, what know you? Not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God. Speaker 1 And you're not shown. Speaker 2 Where you are bought with a price, therefore on the basis of that purchase price. Speaker 1 Glorify God in your body. Speaker 2 And in your spirit, which don't even belong to you, which are gods. And we'll preach tonight with the help of the Lord on the subject, with a price, With a price. And you can be seated. I know my audience this evening. I understand that I'm surrounded tonight by those, most of whom have made a life commitment to declare the gospel, to preach the word of God. Speaker 1 And I know that. Speaker 2 You agree with me that this book is a Timeless. Speaker 1 1 Written over centuries. Speaker 2 And surviving for many more. Speaker 1 It yet stands as the unerring, unchanging, immutable word of God. Heaven and earth will pass away. That's a. Speaker 2 Given and. Speaker 1 Yet we are given the sweet assurance that His word will. Speaker 2 Never pass away. Speaker 1 The psalmist declared with unwavering certainty forever. O Lord, thy word is. Speaker 2 Settled in heaven, the voice of the. Speaker 1 Prophet agrees when Isaiah said clearly in 40 and eight the grass withereth, and yes, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever. This book is an unshakable foundation in our lives when everything around us is shaking. If I hear His word and do His word, then the rain can descend and the flood can come, and the wind can blow, and it can beat on that house, but it will not fall, for it's built on a rock of unshakable truth. Speaker 2 Jesus himself, our High Priest, made it clear. Speaker 1 In John 17 thy. Speaker 2 Word is truth. Speaker 1 But we have to be. Speaker 2 Honest enough tonight to recognize that while his. Speaker 1 Word never changes. The culture from which we read it has changed dramatically. I was the youth Pooh. Speaker 2 Bah, at one point. Speaker 1 I got off an plane one time and. Speaker 2 Came down an escalator and the district youth president's son was holding a sign up that said. Speaker 1 The youth Pope. I can't. Speaker 2 Even speak your language anymore. Speaker 1 Uh, he said. Speaker 2 That and I went. And then you use some phrase. I didn't even understand it. When you say I don't, I don't. I'm sorry, I'm old. OK, I get it. I understand. But I'm only. Speaker 1 For. Speaker 2 Decades older than you, but. Speaker 1 Millennia have. Speaker 2 Passed since Jesus spoke words and if I can't understand what he says to you. Speaker 1 It just might be that some things we read in here. Speaker 2 Challenge us a little bit to comprehend what they. Speaker 1 Mean there are a multitude of inventions and developments that we accept as everyday that we're so far beyond the wildest. Speaker 2 Imaginations of the men alive, then? Speaker 1 There are some practices which, while common in the day of Scripture, was drafted, they have since passed away. The Slavery of the Old and New Testaments They are completely foreign to us and consequently cause us some difficulty. Not an understanding, perhaps certain passages, but in fully appreciating or relating to them. I'm guessing none of you on Sunday have gotten an ox out of a ditch. Probably nobody has a. Speaker 2 Mustard seed in your room. It's a college dorm room. It would be sprouting. Speaker 1 The idea of servanthood in a Biblical. Speaker 2 Sense is one of those concepts. Speaker 1 This is true because we have no first hand knowledge of slavery or I know we talk about servanthood, but there's just a chance that what we mean by servant and the biblical understanding of that term might be at odds in terms of scope and connotation. And it is only when we begin to understand this idea of being his servant from the mind of a man living, then that maybe we can grasp. Speaker 2 What it means in terms of a calling to serve him. Speaker 1 This is a concept that's very difficult for us to understand. To us, the whole idea. Speaker 2 Of a man owning another person is reprehensible. Speaker 1 To our moral code, I, like you, I'm sure, are repulsed that our nation has that scar in its historic fabric. It is the most regrettable chapter of our national story because it directly contradicted the foundational principle of this country, that all men are created equal and certainly without debate. The right and proper thing was done when the presidential proclamations and the constitutional amendments were adopted that abolished this horrible practice. But we've got to be honest enough to admit that at the time of the writing of the book, this practice of owning someone else was. Speaker 2 Common in that day. Speaker 1 You see, a man in that day could be a slave one of three ways. Men were slaves because they owed a. Speaker 2 Debt they could not pay. Speaker 1 From the Old Testament, the lady that came to the Prophet and said my husband passed away, They're going to take the boys and make them servants because I can't pay the debt if you had a debt. Speaker 2 You couldn't pay. You could be a slave. Speaker 1 You could be a slave if you were born. Speaker 2 Into a family of slaves if your mom and. Speaker 1 Daddy were slaves, and you were born. You belong to that master. Speaker 2 To that owner, you became his possession. You could be a. Speaker 1 Slave by military conquest, the nation conquered another land that would take those people captive back and make them slaves in their household. It was the norm. It was common. Everyone who heard Jesus speak either knew a servant, owned a servant, or knew someone who was owned as a. Speaker 2 Servant. But that is hard for us to comprehend. Speaker 1 Because if we think in terms of employees, that comparison isn't. Speaker 2 Valid because an employee. Speaker 1 Deserves a certain level of courtesy. He's going to get payment. Speaker 2 Someday or he going to quit, There's an opportunity to quit. Speaker 1 Without penalty, just give you 2 weeks. Speaker 2 Like that guy said, he walked in and said I'm quit and they said you got to give us two weeks notice. He said OK, in about two weeks you're going to notice I ain't been here in two weeks, just quit. Doesn't matter. I don't know if I can. Speaker 1 Make you stay? They tried to say no, you got to come back and she went, You don't own me. If we think in terms of a volunteer, that comparison is insufficient. There's certainly gratitude, which is offered to A to a volunteer. There's a choice made by the volunteer as to his level of participation. There's private and public recognition. But a servant, on the other hand, is in an entirely different position. He is owned by someone else. Can I remind you tonight of a simple and yet profound truth? You are not your own. You, Sir, are bought with a price. I do not own my life. I don't own my future. I don't own my design. No, no. I have been purchased by the shed blood of Calvary and he owns me because I have to come to grips with the fact that I was a slave all three ways. I was born to parents who were sinners. I was a sin saved by birth. I owed a debt that I could not possibly pay. I was a slave by debt and I was conquered by the hand of the enemy and he held me captive in his Kingdom. But I've got good news for you. One day Jesus stepped in and bought me. Jesus went to Calvary and laid down a price that was unreasonable, far beyond what I was worth, and redeemed me unto himself. And as he led me away from my previous owner, he said, Always remember, you are not your own. You are not your own. You are not your own. You're bought with a price semi. Speaker 2 Besides, me ever talk to the radio? Speaker 1 Am I among friends? I I I have a. Speaker 2 Propensity to talk back to the radio like that. Dude can hear me. We were driving one night late. Kids were young. I've been preaching someplace, driving home. Everybody in the car is asleep. Except. Speaker 1 Me and I have. Speaker 2 The radio on. I'm scrolling through the radio and I find some Jasper preaching. Well, hear what he has to say. Speaker 1 He was doing. Speaker 2 OK, for a while and then I woke up everybody in the car. When he said it, he. Speaker 1 Said. I'm so glad one day God stole me out of the. Speaker 2 Devil's hands. Speaker 1 He did not. Speaker 2 That'll wake up the whole. Speaker 1 Car my wife said who he did. Who didn't do what? How I said that lying prophet just called my daddy a thief. My daddy is not a thief and a robber. He didn't steal me out of the devil's hand. He bought me out of the I am not stolen goods. I am a purchased possession. I have been bought by the blood of Calvary, and I belong to Jesus. Oh, come on now. The full price of redemption has been paid. I'm not on some poster somewhere having been stolen from hell. Hell laid out a price. Jesus paid the price and now I belong to him. However, when he bought me, he took possession of the title. Speaker 2 The deed. Oh, I know we sing it. He set me free. Yes, he set me free. Well, you don't sing that. We sing that. You sing. You sing. Freedom. Freedom. Speaker 1 And I know what we mean. But I have to confront you with a hard truth tonight. He didn't just take the chains of sin off of us and turn us loose to do as we please, Romans 617 says. But God be thanked that you were the servants of sin, but you've obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you. Being then made free from sin, you've become the servants of righteousness. Did you hear that? He didn't just let you go and say now go have a good life. Do what you want, spend it how you want, be what you want. He said you were his servants and now you're my servants. It's not that there's no chains. They just tie me to a different master. I believe it to be why the Word of God says if the Son. Speaker 2 Therefore shall make you free. Speaker 1 Then you're free. Indeed not freedom. Somebody takes the chains off and leaves you to your own self rule. That's not freedom. Freedom is saying God. You take the chains. You lead me where you want me to go. You tell me what I've got to do. You dictate how I live. He did not take the shackles of sin. Speaker 2 From my wrists, only to deliver me to the lust of my flesh and its tyranny. Speaker 1 I'm not left to the guidance of fleshly wisdom that James called sensual and devilish. I'm not abandoned to the pressure of temporal ambitions. No, I'm not just free. I'm free, indeed, because I traded service to sin to service to righteousness. But I'm still a servant. He didn't find me on the auction block and buy me and say see ya, he bought me. Speaker 2 So he can't use me. Speaker 1 Thank God we've changed masters. Speaker 2 But we're still slaves. We're still not on our own. Speaker 1 The master looks at us and. Speaker 2 Says you don't hold sway over your life anymore. You can't dictate what comes or what goes. Speaker 1 I can't complain about anything? He asks. Speaker 2 Of me. You're not even allowed to choose your own way. Speaker 1 In fact your very steps. Speaker 2 Will be ordered of me if I want. Speaker 1 You at 3:00 in the morning. Speaker 2 To intercede for a. Speaker 1 Missionary in Africa. I'm not going to. Speaker 2 Check with what time you got to get up. I won't ask you if you're tired, I'll just wake you up. Speaker 1 If I want your health. Speaker 2 I won't gain clearance first. Speaker 1 Just ask Job if I know there, if I know there's a nurse. Speaker 2 In the cancer ward. Speaker 1 And the only way to get the gospel to her is to let you. Speaker 2 Go through illness. Speaker 1 I won't. Speaker 2 Check with you to see if that's OK because I own you if. Speaker 1 I need to damage your reputation to build mine. I won't check with you because I'm your master. Speaker 2 I'll demand control of your emotions. I'll expect first call on your. Speaker 1 Time. If I want your money, I will remind you that. Speaker 2 I gave you all you have anyway, and without me you can do nothing. Speaker 1 Unless you feel I'm being unfair, I would hearken back to the price Jesus says I paid for you in the 1st place. Look at the cross and tell me I have no right to control your life. Look at the cross and tell me I'm unfair. Make a trip to Calvary, handle three bloody nails and a dripping whip, and tell me that you have other plans today. Speaker 2 You're my servant. Oh, I. Speaker 1 I know, I know there'll be. Speaker 2 Times the Lord would say that we'll relate his father and son, father and daughter. Speaker 1 We'll enjoy that close bond like family, and I'll be a. Speaker 2 Source of wise counseling provision. Speaker 1 For you. And they'll be times that I'll be like your best friend. And when there's no one else seems available, I'll listen and I'll understand. And there'll be times when I'll be like a shepherd. And you're my sheep. And I'll guide you and protect you from enemies that would consume you. But don't you ever forget that underneath it all. The Lord Can Demand Anything I can demand whatever I. Speaker 1 Choose. I can order you to do what I wish. I can dictate every facet of your life because I am first and foremost your Lord. Speaker 2 And master? Well, I might own some dreams, and I might own some ambitions, and I might own some ideas, but He owns me. To help us grasp this concept, Jesus relates an account to us in Luke that is so difficult for us to grasp. Speaking to their common experience in Luke 17, Seven the Lord says this, but which of you having a what's that next word? Having a servant plowing or feeding cattle will say unto him by and by when he's come in from the field. Go. Speaker 1 Sit down to meet. Speaker 2 And will not rather say to him, make ready, and bring me wherewith I may Sup, and gird thyself, and serve me till I have eaten and drunken, and afterwards thou shalt see we have. That's hard, he said. You just imagine there's a guy out there working. He's been plowing all day. He's been dealing with a stench of animals. His back hurts. He he's he's sweaty and sunburned and tired. Speaker 1 And and and everything he's been doing all day. He doesn't get anything for it. It only builds your wealth. Speaker 2 As the master. Speaker 1 I mean, he's out there labouring all day and gets nothing. And he finally comes struggling up the sidewalk, Weary, bent over, hunched over, tired, comes in the door. Speaker 2 And says I finished, he says. Which one of you would say to him, Hey, thanks Beau. Go get something to eat, open the fridge, have anything you want and would not rather. Speaker 1 Say hey, don't, don't, don't, don't sit. Speaker 2 Out. Go make me something to eat, I said. We have a word for that. If we did that jerk, you come over to my house and work in my yard all day and I can give you my address if anybody's interested. Speaker 1 And. Speaker 2 After all day you cutting grass and weeding and cleaning up, you come walking in the front door. Just start sitting, I go. Speaker 1 Whoa, whoa, whoa. Speaker 2 Don't sit down, fix me dinner. I've been sitting all day in my easy chair in my Winnie the Pooh pajamas, and that's a visual that's going to haunt you for years right there. Speaker 1 Man, I've been doing nothing all day except sipping pink lemonade and eating frozen grapes and. Speaker 2 You've been out working in the yard all day, and you? Speaker 1 Finally coming. It's not even your yard. I'll get the compliments if he looks nice. Speaker 2 You understand? Speaker 1 It's not even your church. He gets the glory if you do a good job. And when it's all done, he says no, no, no, no. Speaker 2 You serve me, feed me first. Wait on me first, and then after you've looked after me, then maybe they'll be time for what you want. Then and only then, do your desires come into play. And as shocking as that might seem to our inclination toward hospitality, we're not talking about a. Speaker 1 Guest We're not talking about a volunteer. Speaker 2 We're talking about a servant. So when you've worked in God's Kingdom and you've been misunderstood and people are talking about you and you've done everything only to be betrayed and hurt and you've given everything, you've. Speaker 1 Got and you come. Speaker 2 Struggling into a. Speaker 1 Church on a Thursday. Speaker 2 Evening saying God, I really. Speaker 1 Need something and I God says we'll get around to that. But worship me first. I've been working all day for you. Speaker 2 I know that's what servants do. And you think that's tough? Catch the next verse, verse nine, he says. Speaker 1 Does he thank that servant because he did the things? Speaker 2 That were suggested. Oh, Oh no, commanded him. I tro not. I'm guessing there's nobody in this house that used that word today. It just means I think not. Here's how you'd have said it if you'd have written it. Does he say thanks? Speaker 1 Not. Speaker 2 I'll help you I I speak that much that's spans a little bigger length of time than Uggs. Speaker 1 He said that when the man has worked all day and he comes in and even had all his weirdness, he goes in and fixes you dinner and walks it across the room and places it in your hands, he said. Come on, guys, Would anybody here tell him? Thank you and I know. Speaker 2 You're going to? I would. My Mama taught me good. That's only because you've never owned a slave. How tight it is right now. Because we want a plaque when we do good. We want a banquet. We want somebody to pat us on the back. Speaker 1 And tell us how good we did. We go out and teach for Bible studies. We want somebody to announce it in church the next time. And God says servants don't get thank yous. Servants just obey commandments. I'm preaching the second-half of what Pastor Bachelor preached tonight. You got to make a decision that says this isn't about me and it's not about my comfort and it's not about my reputation and it's not about my name and it's not about my trophies and it's not about my accolades and it's not about getting crowns. He bought me with a price. Speaker 2 You say, but surely? Speaker 1 Someone who's done so much. Speaker 2 Deserves at least to thank. Speaker 1 You I think what Jesus is saying. Speaker 2 Is. If the thank you comes, that's. Speaker 1 Fine, but if not a. Speaker 2 Servant can't complain. Speaker 1 All he can do is. Speaker 2 Get a little rest. Speaker 1 So he can go back. Speaker 2 Out in the masters fields tomorrow. Speaker 1 And say I'm not doing it so you can thank me. I'm doing it for his glory and I'm doing it for his honor. I roll out of bed in the morning and pray not so you'll give me a trophy, but so I'll please my master, get in the book and study. Not so I can come up with a clever sermon and everybody will pat me on the back, but because I want to please my. Speaker 2 Master, that's not bad enough. We get the next. The Unprofitable Servant Verse I didn't get to. Speaker 2 Edit the Bible. This one wouldn't be in there, so likewise. Speaker 1 Ye when you have done all. Speaker 2 Those things that are commanded, you say we're unprofitable servants because we've done that, which was our duty to do. When you come in from the field and your heart is heavy and your spirit is wounded and people's criticisms of hurt and you've plowed through so much. Speaker 1 And you? Speaker 2 Think you ought to just get to sit down for a little while and you hear the voice of your master say, no, no, no. I want you to pray a little bit first. I want a little. Worship first. I want a little dedication first. I want a little. Speaker 1 Sacrifice first every now. Speaker 2 And then our flesh feels put upon. But I want to. Speaker 1 Remind you tonight you were. Speaker 2 Bought. Speaker 1 Bought. Not rented. Not least bought. Speaker 2 With a prize and when. Speaker 1 I have done everything he. Speaker 2 Oh, turn the other cheek. Forgive 70 * 7 times compelled to go mile and I went too. Love my enemies, blessed souls that cursed me. You mean to tell me I don't deserve a medal? No. Speaker 1 Recognition. No Pats on the back. Spite of all that, I'm supposed to go to church on a Thursday and open up with a sacrifice of praise. Who does he think? He. Speaker 2 Is my Lord. You see, I mean, young ladies hear me as you're as you're entering into this season of life where you're pursuing a call and listen to me well, there is a vast difference between serving and being a servant. I can show you in scripture, in a 24 hour period, two men used a basin and a towel. Jesus and Pilate. Jesus used it to serve others. Pilate used it to serve himself. They both served, but only one was a servant. Two men can preach and only one be a servant. Two people can knock doors and only one be a servant. Speaker 1 Two people can. Speaker 2 Fast and only one be a servant. 2 people can do. Speaker 1 All the stuff we're supposed. Speaker 2 To do and only one be a servant. Speaker 1 Because you got to ask yourself the question. Am I doing this for me, or am I doing this for him? Am I doing this because I hope to get a job when I get out of Bible school? Or am I doing this because my master paid such a price for me that I owe him everything? It's not about serving, It's about being a serve it. It's not about what you do, it's about who you are. Speaker 2 Dying on an altar, giving your all, surrendering your rights, being intimately familiar with suffering and sacrifice. Those things are not easy. I want to tell you. They protect your calling. There's a fascinating little passage. And First Samuel 16. Watch this and the Lord First Samuel 16. One. And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long will thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill thine horn with oil. Go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I provided me a king among his sons. And Samuel said, that's not a real good idea. God saul's kind of murderous he pretty jealous. He chucking Spears at the sweet Psalmist of Israel chasing him through caves trying to kill him. He said if he hears that I'm going down there to anoint a successor. Verse two Samuel said, how can I go? If Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, take an effort with thee and say I am come to sacrifice to the Lord and call Jesse to the sacrifice and. Speaker 1 I will show thee. Speaker 2 And my computer just totally blanked out. That's not a good thing. Speaker 1 I will show thee. Speaker 2 Which one of those boys to anoint? That's fascinating to me. Speaker 1 I'm doing leading the cow. Speaker 2 That's my undercover. I mean, OK, tell him I came to. Speaker 1 Sacrifice. But what if he? Speaker 2 Comes, God said. You don't have to worry. Saul won't go anywhere near sacrifice. He started in sacrifice. His calling came at Gilgal in a place of sacrifice, but over the years he's gotten so entitled. Speaker 1 That if you think. Speaker 2 There's sacrifice involved. Speaker 1 He won't be anywhere around. I want you to know how to protect your calling. Just be somebody that knows your way to the altar. Just be somebody that knows what it means to sacrifice. And all those negative influences that would try to kill your calling and kill your future. You won't have to worry about them. They won't get anywhere near it. When Saul heard he was sacrificed, he said I ain't going anywhere near that. I appreciate it that those that would try to make you carnal won't bother you at an altar. You don't have to worry about getting connected with the wrong girl and the wrong guy if you just stay near sacrifice because those people will not get near that. You live your life with a stench of burnt offerings on your clothing and I promise you, you won't have to worry about getting connected to the wrong people. Those people run from that smell. Speaker 2 Regrettably, sometimes they feel our pulpits, but they don't last long. They flame out and burn up. That guy that knows what Sacrifice a young man and young lady that knows what it is to go up to the Chapel when nobody else is there and crawl underneath the chairs and seek God while your buddies are all out playing basketball. That guy. He understands that he's a servant. When your perspective is right, what others hate becomes just the norm of Kingdom. Speaker 1 Life because I must. Speaker 2 Tell you tonight that sacrifice is a solitary effort. Crosses are very personal. Take up his cross. Speaker 1 It belongs to him. And follow me. Oh, there will be some. Speaker 2 Simon of Cyrene's along the way to help you when you get weary, but ultimately when you get to that place of death, it will be your prayers of not my will but thine be done. Speaker 1 That will carry the day you will either submit. Speaker 2 To your masters plan, or you will not, and I'm not even sure it's. Speaker 1 Fair to call it sacrifice. Speaker 2 If he commands it, it's merely obedience, not sacrifice. When? Because his commandments are not grievous sacrifice, David Livingstone, the iconic missionary to Africa, said. I never made a sacrifice. We ought not talk of sacrifice, said he, when we remember the great sacrifice which he made, who left his throne on high to give himself for us. When you look back at the can you every now and then you know what you need to do. You need to run your hand down the sleeve of the garments of salvation, down the sleeve of that robe of righteousness, and find that tag that's on the bottom. Turn it over and take another look at that cross that he carried and the nails that he took and the. Speaker 1 Hammer that. Speaker 2 Rang out and say, God, whatever you tell me to. Speaker 1 Do. It's not a sacrifice. I am your servant. Speaker 2 Because clearly, within the human realm, one person owning another is morally abhorrent. But he gave all, so he has perfect right to demand all. Would you stand with me tonight? It's one of my favorite stories. The Fire Truck Story I've known of it for years. It may be merely legend. The story is told of a bygone little village back years ago, back in the day, before there were any cars or vehicles with engines. And in fact in that time, next give me that image. That's what a fire truck looked like. And on this end is the yoke. You pull it with the animals. I don't know if you can see it very well, but on either side of it, there's handles. You get guys on either side of that thing, they pump it up and down. If they work real hard, they can squirt water from here to that Speaker stories recorded that in a particular little town, and that was their fire department, they were suffering a severe drought. There was no water to be spared. Everyone knew if an old frame building like that one in the distance, made out of old dried wood, ever started up in flames, there'd be no stopping it. Sure enough, one night we hours in the morning, the dreaded klaxon began to ring. People came out of their houses to look down the street and the glow in the night sky because one of the buildings was on fire. They ran down there as quickly as they could. They knew the home was occupied by mother and father and small child house was engulfed in flames. Mom and dad had perished inside an upstairs window, little boy hanging his head out, calling for help. They tried to fight their way through the flames, but the heat was so intense they couldn't get to him. Frantically wailing, weeping, fearful, watching the horrid thing. As this boy ducked back inside the smoke, a man from the back of the crowd ran forward, unknown to the townspeople, nobody knows where he came from or who he was. He ran, and he grabbed hold of the steel pipe that served as the guttering down. That house wasn't flimsy little stuff like we've got now. It actually had metal in it. He began to pull himself side of that house, and as the crowd stood there and wrapped attention, he disappeared through the window into the smoke, but only for a moment. He came back out with that child in his arms, draped the boy over his back and began back down the pipe, turned him over to the other folks. Boy survived so long before there was any social safety net. There's no welfare, there's no plans, no foster cares. Before all that, he has no other family who's going to care for this child. So the local magistrate, the local judge, had a hearing to decide who would own the child. One by one they stood up to make their cases. The school teacher stood and said I'm the most educated man in town. I can teach him things that you don't even know. I can introduce him to the classics of literature. I can discuss with him the finer points of science and education. Give him to me. The boy will be well taught. The banker stood up and said I'm wealthier than anybody in town given to me. He'll lack for nothing. He'll have the finest of everything I can give him all the advantages that my wealth will provide an actor from towns to give him to me. I'll take him to see the bright lights of big cities. He'll enjoy fame and notoriety like he'll never find in this little place. The farmer stood up and said I can't give him those things, but I can give him an honest trade and fresh air and hard work and inheritance when I'm gone. One after another, they all stood up to make their claims. The judge finally said, Is there anyone else? And from the back of the room, unnoticed, unknown, stepped a man. He looks quite different than he did that night by the fire. In the darkness, the panic. He walked to the front of the room. The judge said, I don't even know who you are. What's your claim on the child? The man said nothing. He merely held up his hands, and they're on his hands were the scars of the burns that he endured climbing up to rescue that child. When the judge saw the scars that saved the boy, Case dismissed. He belongs to you. There are going to be a lot of voices to try to distract you from your calling. Standing silently to the side, there is one who marches through the centuries to make his claim. He doesn't shout with the force of Hollywood, and he doesn't allure with a call of wealth, and he doesn't offer you the tantalizing array of pleasures that this world puts out. And he doesn't propose fame or popularity or recognition. In fact, he won't even give you a crown here. He only gives you that one day when you know what to do with it, because in that day you'll take it off and throw it at his feet. He calls you by one simple gesture and if you can look at the scars in his hands and say you ask too much of me and you go ahead and go pursue what the banker can offer you go chase what the actor can give you. You go find what education can provide. But if deep down in your heart, there's something that looks at those scars and says for A. Speaker 1 Price he. Speaker 2 Bought me for a price. That's what he paid for me. There is nothing that is too much for him to. Speaker 1 Ask I'm his son and I'm glad I've been adopted. I'm a sheep of his pasture and I'm glad I'm protected. I'm his friend and I'm glad he talks with me, but I am his servant. Speaker 2 We will separate the men from the boys tonight, I promise you. Pastor Bachelor already started down the road and I'm looking for somebody that says I was going to make big money but God called me to preach. I was going to be famous, but God called me to. Speaker 1 Preach. I was going to pursue a career. Speaker 2 But God called me to. Speaker 1 Preach. I was only going to Urschit for a year or two before I went and made my first million. But God, my master is saying, I've got something different for you to do, he. Speaker 2 Bought me with a price. I encourage you to the degree you can. Everybody cannot. I know. But if you can't humble yourself on your knees in the presence of your master, if you can be broken tonight by humbling yourself and not caring what anybody says or thinks. And I'm not in any big hurry to get out of here because my master is talking to me. Speaker 1 I've had all kinds of things I think I want. Speaker 2 To do, but God's calling me to the foreign. Speaker 1 Field Brother Poitras, God's calling me to go on an AIM assignment. I don't know how I'm going to do it, but God, if that's what you're saying. Speaker 2 I am your servant. Speaker 1 God, I don't care what people say about. Speaker 2 Me. I am Your servant. Speaker 1 I don't care if I'm hand to mouth all my life. I'm going to walk on gold someday. I am your servant. I don't care if I get to preach a youth Congress. It doesn't matter to me. Give me a little youth group that I can influence. I am your servant.