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Amen. 1 Chronicles chapter number 26. We're in the section of 1 Chronicles where the Bible is documenting the various offices within David's kingdom. David represented the kingdom of Israel at its heyday, right? He brought it to its heyday, and then Solomon's kingdom kind of enjoyed that peak of the United Kingdom of Israel. And so, David's kingdom was very well ordered. I mean, he had a well-oiled machine, and he had it very organized, and so we've gone through different parts of the organization, and we've talked about people like the Levites and the priests and different military divisions throughout the book of 1 Chronicles, but here we have the divisions of the porters. That's what this chapter is about. Now, what does it mean to be a porter? Well, porter comes from the word for a door or a gate or an opening. We would use the word portal today. Those of you who speak Spanish know the word puerta, which means door, and so the porter is the doorman or the gatekeeper, as it were. He's the guy who guards the door, watches the door, sort of like a security guard. You could look at it that way, but he is the doorman. Now, the modern word porter, if we were to say that today, has taken on a meaning of sort of like a bellboy. You know, you go to a hotel or you go to an airport or something, and there's a guy there to help you with your luggage, and that guy could be called the porter, but that's not what the Bible's talking about here. You see why the word evolved into that, because that guy stands at the door to get your bag and take it to your room, so that's why over the last few centuries he has come to be known as the porter. But when the Bible says porter, that's not what it's talking about. The Bible is talking about a gatekeeper or a doorman or a guard. That's what the Bible means here. So he says concerning the divisions of the porters. Now, let's look at some other scripture on what it means to be a porter, and then we're going to come back to this. But if you would go to John chapter 10 in the New Testament. John chapter number 10, and I'm just going to kind of give you some scripture to help you understand this concept of what it means to be a porter. Now, this is not a small job, because as we study this chapter, you're going to see that there are actually thousands of porters. A couple chapters ago, he said there were 4,000 porters. So this isn't just a few guys. This must be a pretty important job if you're going to assign 4,000 guys to do this job. Now, while you're turning to John chapter 10, I'm going to read for you from 2 Samuel 18. The Bible says in verse 24, And David sat between the two gates, and the watchman went up to the roof, over the gate, under the wall, and lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man running alone. And the watchman cried and told the king. And the king said, If he be alone, there is tidings in his mouth. And he came apace and drew near, and the watchman saw another man running, and the watchman called unto the porter and said, Behold, another man running alone. And the king said, He also bringeth tidings. So what we have there pictured is there's a wall, and the watchman is up on the wall, looking out very far away, and letting the people in the city know, letting the people in the fortress know who's coming. Is it an enemy? Is it a messenger? What's going on out there? And the watchman calls down to the porter because the porter is the guy who's actually going to open the door or shut the door. The watchman tells the porter, Open the door. Okay? Look at John chapter 10, verse 1. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that enterth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber. But he that enterth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. Watch this. To him the porter openeth. And the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. So the porter is the guy who decides who goes in and who goes out. He guards the door. He watches the door. Go to Mark chapter 13. Mark chapter number 13 is, of course, the famous passage that's often called the Olivet Discourse. But it's that famous passage that describes the end of the world, the second coming of Christ. Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 are the three parallel passages of the Olivet Discourse. Well, in Mark chapter 13, verse number 32, it says, But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, know not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. So the Bible's pretty clear there that no man knows the day nor the hour of the second coming of Jesus Christ. So whatever the prediction is, it's false. It doesn't matter what it's based on. It doesn't matter if it's based on astronomy. It doesn't matter if it's based on the Bible. Because I guarantee you, Jesus knew the Bible better than anybody, and he said he didn't even know. It says not even the Son of God knows, but the Father only. So anybody who tries to tell you that they can pinpoint the day of the second coming of Christ, I guarantee you this, if there are any predictions out there, just mark the calendar with a big X. Not going to happen on that day. I can guarantee you it won't happen on that day if some preacher comes out and predicts it. Just take that to the bank, okay? So no one knows the day or the hour of Christ's coming. Now, a lot of people have taken this verse and twisted it to mean he can come at any moment. That's not what this verse says. This verse does not say he can come at any moment. It says we don't know the day or the hour. Now you say, well, if we don't know the day or the hour, couldn't it be today? Well, no, because remember we're putting X's on other days on the calendar, too. Every time somebody makes a prediction, we can put a big X on it. So, therefore, we can know what day he's not coming, but we don't know the day or the hour that he is coming. Okay? Now, I'll prove it to you. All you have to do is just back up a little bit earlier. Verse 24 says, but in those days after that tribulation. Now, the chapter up to this point has spent a little bit of time describing the tribulation. And then it says, after the tribulation, in verse 24, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light. And the stars of heaven shall fall and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. So the Bible right there says that first there's going to be great tribulation, right? Then the sun and moon are going to be darkened. Then Christ is going to come in the clouds. And then he's going to gather up the elect from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. So that can't happen at any moment because the tribulation has to happen first. Because the sun and moon have to be darkened first. Then Christ appears in the clouds. But of that day and hour knoweth no man. It would be sort of like if I told you I'm going to come visit you at your house sometime after the new year. But you don't know when I'm coming. I'm not going to warn you. I'm not going to tell you when I'm coming. I'm just going to show up on your doorstep. And don't worry, I'm not really going to do this to you. I'm just going to show up on your doorstep sometime after the new year and I just want you to be ready. I mean, when I show up there better be food and drink and you better be ready to entertain me. Because you don't know when I'm coming. So you just have to be ready all the time for Pastor Anderson to just show up unannounced. But it's going to happen sometime after the new year. Now, wouldn't it be silly to say in November, maybe he'll come today. Wouldn't it be silly in December to say, it might be today, it could be today. It wouldn't make any sense, would it? No. Because I already told you it's going to be after the new year. Well, Jesus said it's going to be after the tribulation that he's coming. So you can't sit there and say he might come today. He's not coming today. He's not coming tomorrow either. He's not even coming in 2019. He's not even coming in 2020. He's not even coming in 2021. Why? Because the events that lead up to his coming are going to take over three and a half years and they haven't started yet. So therefore, you can go ahead and buy those green bananas because Jesus is not coming for at least over three and a half years from now. Even if the tribulation started tomorrow, okay? But that's not what the sermon's about. That was just kind of a little commercial break for the post-tribulation pre-wrath rapture. But the Bible says here in verse 32, but of that day and hour knoweth no man, know not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son but the Father. Explain that, modalist. Don't get me off on that, though. I need to stay on the sermon. All right. Verse 33, take ye heed, watch and pray, for you know not when the time is. For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house and gave authority to his servants and to every man his work. Now watch this. And he commanded the porter to watch. Now what are we learning about tonight? What's the sermon about? It's about porters, isn't it? Jesus going up to heaven and saying that he's going to return someday is like unto a man who takes a far journey, leaves the house, gives authority to the servants, to every man his work. Watch this. And he commanded who to watch? Commanded the porter to watch. That's important. Let's come back to that. Verse 35, watch ye therefore. So what does that mean? If he says he commanded the porter to watch and then he says watch ye therefore, who are you? You're the porter. All right. So if he's telling you to watch and he said the porters commanded to watch, that means you're a porter. So now all of a sudden, 1 Chronicles 26 has suddenly become relevant to your life. You're like, why do I care about some porter from thousands of years ago? You're that porter. Thou art the porter. All right. So the Bible says here, watch ye therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even or at midnight or at the cock crowing or in the morning, lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And when I say unto you, I say unto all, watch. So he's telling all of us to watch because we are all like unto porters. Now here's what I love about being a New Testament Christian. I should go back to 1 Chronicles 26. You know what I love about being a New Testament Christian? Is that I basically get to be everything all rolled into one. See, we're priests. We're kings. We're porters. We're servants. We're everything. We're the spiritual Israel. We're Gentiles. You name it, we're everything. I mean, think about it. The people in the Old Testament, even if they were the high priest, but they weren't the king. And then even the kings of the Old Testament. Do you remember when King Uzziah tried to do the work of a priest and he went into the temple and he tried to offer incense? And God smote him with leprosy because he was told, look, you're not the priest. You're the king. Okay. So even the kings of the Old Testament were not as blessed as we are. You know, here we are. We're kings. We're priests. We're porters. We're servants. We're everything. So, I mean, we can take any of these Old Testament scriptures and find a way to apply them to our lives spiritually because we're spiritual porters today. Now, what does it mean to be a porter? Well, we are the gatekeeper. We are the doorkeeper. Now, as men in our homes, let's talk for a moment about being a husband or a father. We should be the spiritual porter of our home deciding that certain things should not come into our home, right? We shouldn't allow alcohol to come into our home. We shouldn't be allowing fornication to come into our home. We shouldn't be allowing drugs and pornography and filth to come into our home, right? We shouldn't allow the wrong clothing to come into our home. We shouldn't allow our daughters to be scantily clad or our sons to be wearing skinny jeans or looking girly or effeminate or anything like that. You know, we should be a spiritual porter, a guard, a gatekeeper guarding our home from the wrong things. Also, we should be guarding our home from the wrong people. We shouldn't just allow anybody to come into our home. You know, specifically, the Bible tells us that if someone comes to us preaching a false gospel or another Jesus, we shouldn't allow that person into our home. Neither should we bid them Godspeed, for he that bideth him Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds. So if someone comes to us not bringing the doctrine of Christ, bringing some other doctrine, we should be a porter that says, not in my house, you're not welcome, you're not coming in. Also in the church, we need some porters in the church, don't we? You know, pretty much every church has ushers or men that serve as greeters or maybe men who take up the offering or men who just stand at the door or men who are a security guard. You know, all of these things could be encompassed in the word porter, the guy who's dealing with the offering, the guy who is standing at the door. So we might call it an usher, but the Bible would actually call it a porter, all right? And so we need to have some men and women who would spiritually be a porter, meaning that they're on guard, they're on alert. I mean, what is it that we would look for in a porter? Well, we want him to be sober and we want him to be vigilant because his adversary, the devil, walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And we don't want the porter to be asleep at the job and just allowing the enemy to waltz right in, allowing the wrong people to come in. We want him to watch and be sober, but the Bible tells us all to watch and be sober. In 1 Thessalonians 5, therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. You know what it means to watch? It means to be awake. That's why he said, therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch. What's the opposite of sleeping? Watching. Now, we think of watch as you're looking at something and staring at it, okay, like watching a ball game or watching someone work. But actually, the word watch in the Bible in this context means to be awake. That's why a lot of times the Bible will talk about the second watch of the night, the third watch, or the fourth watch. Because in those days, they would trade up shifts of a guard every three hours. So basically, a watch is three hours. So the four watches of the night are the 12 hours of the night. You got a first shift, second shift, third watch, fourth watch, okay. It means that you're awake. So it says we need to watch and be sober. Watch and pray. Remember when the disciples were falling asleep? What did he tell them? Watch. He's saying stay up. He wasn't saying like, hey guys, watch me go over here and pray right now. Watch this. No, no, no. He's saying watch and pray. He's saying stay awake and pray, okay. Now a lot of people today use this term about being awake. And they'll usually use it in regard to the truth movement or some kind of a truth movement of saying, you know, these people are not awake or these people are awake. Who's familiar with that terminology? Yeah, a lot of people. Hands all over the building. But the truth of the matter is knowing your Bible is the way to be awake. Knowing Christ as your savior is step one to being awake. So these people who claim to be awake, they're not even saved. They're not even a Bible believing Christian. They're not awake. Okay. And those who are saved and are Christians are more awake than the unsaved even if they're not hip to every conspiracy theory that's out there. You know, by knowing the word of God and knowing Christ, that's how you're the most awake. Okay. You know, and obviously it is good to know both. Amen. But anyway. The point is that we need to be awake. We need to not be asleep and just allowing things to happen and we're not paying attention and we're just allowing anything to come in. Now look, when it comes to the church, our independent Baptist brethren for the most part have an attitude that everyone is allowed in the church. That's the most common doctrine that's out there. I mean, if we were to go around and talk to the 6,000 independent Baptist churches in America that are King James only, which is about how many there are, King James Bible preaching independent Baptist churches. If we were to go around to those 6,000 churches and ask them, is anybody welcome to attend your services? I mean, can anybody come? They'd say, well, of course. But that doesn't make it biblical. You know, the Bible is pretty clear that there are certain people that are not allowed to attend. Now, of course, unsaved people are allowed to attend. Of course, we allow visitors to come in. Of course, backslidden Christians are allowed to come. But there is a certain place where the Bible draws a line where it says, look, if somebody is called a brother and they're a fornicator or a railer or an idolater, if they're an extortioner, if they're a drunk, if they're a reviler, you know, if they do these heinous, grievous sins like extortion, he says, look, do not eat with these people and put away from among yourselves that wicked person. I mean, the Bible could not be any clearer in 1 Corinthians 5 that these people are to be cast out of the church in 1 Corinthians 5. Now, you say, well, we're all sinners. Yeah, but we're not all fornicators. We're not all drunk. We're not all using extortion, right? We're not all bowing down to little statues and idols, are we? No, we're not. So, no, we are not all guilty of these things. And another group of people that we should not allow into the church are reprobates, okay? We should not allow sodomites to come into the church. I mean, if the Bible doesn't even allow people practicing fornication, if they're a Christian practicing fornication, if they're supposed to be put out of fellowship, how much more are the sodomite? You have to be insane to think that God wants sodomites in here. Especially because the Bible says that the sodomites are haters of God. What business does a hater of God have doing in our church? They're not here for any good reason, okay? They're here only to destroy, to corrupt. And, you know, the Bible says that the thief is going to come in through the back door and he wants to destroy, he wants to corrupt, he wants to steal, he wants to murder and do all these things. And so we need to have a porter that says, hey, you cannot come in this church. You cannot attend Faith Forward Baptist Church. This is not open to anyone. Now, look, it's very broad who the church is open to. Ninety-some percent of people are totally welcome in our church. But we do have to draw the line somewhere. Now, it preaches a lot better and sounds so wonderful to just say, everybody's welcome, anybody. It's like, oh, that's so great. Yeah, but is it biblical? No. So, you know, if you get up and say anyone can attend the church no matter what, that's a false doctrine. Now, what people often say to that is, well, church is a spiritual hospital. Who's heard this illustration? You know, it's not a museum, man. It's a hospital. And so, you know, is the doctor going to turn the sick away? Here's the thing. Okay, let's say the church is a hospital, right, for those that are sick. Well, let me ask you this, though. Should we just bring dead bodies in to a hospital? I mean, think about it. What if I just bring a truckload of dead bodies and pull up to the hospital and say, well, you guys are a hospital, right? I mean, come on, man. There's a hospital, right? Okay, well, guess what? That's what the sodomites are. That's what a reprobate is. They're twice dead. Why would we bring them into the spiritual hospital? They're already dead. And if you want to go preach at some sodomite pride parade, that's like going to the cemetery to practice medicine. That's like a paramedic going to the cemetery and just getting a shovel and digging up bodies and putting the paddles on and trying to bring them back and do CPR. Do it mouth to mouth. It's not working. I can't save them. It's stupid. And then our fellow Christians, well, here we are. We're like a spiritual paramedic unit, right? We're going out and we're getting people saved, right? We're like a spiritual paramedic. Then our bleeding heart independent Baptist brethren who do soul winning once a month, whether they need it or not, they look at us and say, well, why aren't you guys reaching homos? It'd be like saying to a paramedic, well, you know, if you really cared about people, you'd be out of the cemetery and bring back some of those dead bodies. You know, you're asking us to do that, which is impossible. Right? You know what? Think about this. What if there was a mass catastrophe, some kind of a bomb went off or, you know, some kind of a building collapsed or something and you just have all kinds of bodies everywhere. People are injured. They're losing limbs. They're sick. They're dying. You do what's called triage and you're going to figure out, okay, these are the people we can save or this is our priority. These people need the most help, right? And then some people, you might look at it and just say, it's too late. You know, I can't spend time with this guy. I can't save him. He's done. Whereas this guy I can still save, that's where I'm going to go and prioritize. And I've never worked in that kind of an industry, so I don't know much about being a first responder or paramedic from experience. But, you know, this is a little bit of common sense, isn't it? And I'm sure that triage works something like that in a situation. Who's worked in a situation where there is a mass casualties or mass tragedy? And that's what you do, right? I mean, did you learn about that in the military? Yeah, they teach you in the military, you know, how to prioritize who gets the care or whatever, okay? So, therefore, we need to understand that, okay, it's a spiritual hospital, but what about the guy who refuses treatment? We can't do anything for him, right? He comes in and he just says, well, here, I want to take this bed in the hospital. I want to go ahead and take a room, take a bed. I want nurses to take care of me, but I'm refusing treatment. How long is that guy going to stay in the hospital? No, no, no, wait, we need to treat you. No, don't want the treatment. I want to stay sick. I want to stay sick, but I like it here. And I want you to serve me. I like the food. I like having somebody come check on me and talk to me and, you know. Well, guess what? The person who's living in fornication is like the person who's just refusing treatment at that point. Okay, so, you know, your little hospital illustration, we can turn that around on you, too, buddy. But it doesn't matter. You can come up with all the cute illustrations you want. At the end of the day, 1 Corinthians 5 is 1 Corinthians 5. Case closed. I mean, that's what the Bible says. And there are also other scriptures and other reasons to throw people out of the church. That's a whole sermon in and of itself that shall be preached at another time. So 1 Chronicles 26 gives us the divisions of the porters. Let's see some of the attributes of the porters. Let's see some things that we can learn more about being a porter from this chapter itself. Concerning the divisions of the porters, and then he lists a bunch of names. Jump down to verse 5. Amule the sixth, Isaacar the seventh, Peuthai the eighth, for God blessed him. So, by the way, having eight sons, that's a blessing. Verse 6. Also unto Shemaiah his sons were sons born that ruled throughout the house of their father, for they were, watch this phrase, mighty men of valor. Verse number 7. The sons of Shemaiah, Othni and Raphael and Obed Elzabad, whose brethren were strong men. Notice that. Look at verse 8. All these are the sons of Obed Edom. They and their sons and their brethren. Able men for strength for the service. So in verse 6, they were mighty men of valor. In verse 7, they were strong men. Verse 8, they were able men for strength for the service. Now look at verse 9. And Meshelemiah had sons and brethren, strong men. So let me ask you this. What is one of the key attributes of being the porter or the gatekeeper or the doorman? You've got to be what? Strong. Okay, are you going to put the skinniest, wimpiest guy at the door? Is that what bars do? Is that what nightclubs do? I mean, look, if a bar or a nightclub has a doorman, that is what the Bible is calling here a porter. So in King James English, that's the porter. What's he like? Is he small? Is he skinny? Is he weak? Is he a pushover? Do people just tell him, get out of the way and just waltz in? No. He's a big, burly guy. He's someone who's strong. He knows how to fight. He's not playing games. And he's paying attention. He's not just kind of, you know, everybody's just walking by. Everybody's just showing him fake IDs. Come on in. Come on in. Come on in. Fake IDs. Come on in. You know, bring in the knives and chains and guns and, you know. No, he's paying attention, right? He's watchful. He's vigilant. I'm not trying to glorify guys who work at bars and nightclubs. But I'm saying, you know, even the world knows that a porter is a strong man. He's paying attention. He's vigilant. And he's ready to fight if necessary, right? This is what it means to be a porter. Now our battle is a spiritual battle. It's not a physical battle. Although we do sometimes have to actually physically expel someone from the building. That happens quite rarely. But sometimes that does happen where we actually physically grab somebody and drag them out and throw them out. But that's not typically what we're doing day in and day out. And typically in our house we're not dragging people and throwing them out of our front doors. You know, that doesn't happen very often either, right? I can't remember ever doing that. In fact, I've done it here at church. I don't think I've ever done that at my house. I've never had to drag someone out that I can recall. So we're spiritual porters as well. It's not just a physical job. I mean, we're spiritual porters or doorkeepers or gatekeepers. So we need to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. And we need to be valiant men as well. He said they were mighty men of valor, meaning that we have the courage to say what? What does the doorman have to say? No. Some people are just afraid to say no. My wife had a book that was called, what was it called? When I Say No I Feel Guilty. Is that what it's called? Did you read it, son? I think Isaac, you read it, didn't you? Yeah. Some of my kids read it. It was called I Feel Guilty When I Say No or something like that. And I guess it's just about teaching you how to stand up for yourself and say no. Is that what the book was about? Yeah. Because a lot of people struggle in this area, right? So they get bullied and pushed into doing things that they don't want to do. And especially as a pastor, the ability to say no is crucial to being a pastor because people could try to bring in the wrong Bible version, try to bring in the wrong music, try to bring in the wrong doctrine. And if you're kind of just this nice guy who wants to get along with everybody and doesn't say no to anybody, you're not going to make a very good doorman, right? You're not going to make a very good porter if you don't have the valor, if you're not valiant enough to stand up and say, nope, not going to happen. We're not letting this in. You guys aren't coming in and say no. And then you also have to have the strength to back that up, to stand your ground, and not to just say no and then like, okay, yeah, all right. You have to be able to stay with that no, okay? Let's keep going through the passage. It says in verse number 12, among these were the divisions of the porters, even among the chief men, having wards one against another to minister in the house of the Lord. Look at verse 14. And the lot eastward fell to Shelemiah. Then for Zechariah his son, a wise counselor, they cast lots and his lot came out northward. So we see another important attribute for a porter. It's not just courage, it's not just strength, but it's also wisdom, right? Because he has to make decisions about who comes in and who doesn't, right? He has to make a decision about what he allows into his house, what he doesn't allow into his house. That's going to require some wisdom as well. Not just brawn, it's going to also take some brains, right? Jump down if you would to verse number 19. These are the divisions of the porters among the sons of Cori and among the sons of Merari, verse 20, and of the Levites Ahijah was over the treasures of the house of God and over the treasures of the dedicated things. Now as we go through this passage, we see that the porters are not only the guys who control the door and guard the door, but the porters also guard the money, okay? They also guard the treasures of the house of God. It said in verse number 20 that they were over the treasures of the house of God and over the treasures of the dedicated things. If you jump down to verse 22, at the end of the verse it says, which were over the treasures of the house of the Lord. Look at verse 24, and Shebuel, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, was ruler of the treasures. Look at verse 26, which Shalomith and his brethren were over all the treasures of the dedicated things. And then in verse 27 and 28 it talks about the spoils that were won in battle, that they dedicated them to maintain the house of the Lord. And it talks about how Samuel and Saul and Abner and Joab and all these people, you know, whenever they dedicated anything, look at the end of verse 28, it was under the hand of Shalomith and of his brethren. Now this makes perfect sense that the same type of guy guarding the door would be the same type of guy doing what? Guarding the treasure. Because a guy who's a big, strong, watchful, vigilant guard is the same type of guy who's going to pull up to the bank in an armored truck, right, and pick up the money. He's going to need to have some of those same attributes as the doorman at some other establishment, right? Because he is a target when he brings that bag of money or that lockbox or whatever out of the bank or out of the grocery store or whatever into the armored car, he's a target for somebody to steal. So he better be paying attention, he better be watching out, he better have some wisdom, and he better be strong enough that if somebody tries to overpower him, he's going to be able to hang on to the money and do his job. And so we see that it's the same guy, the porters. It's the same division in this chapter. The porters are over the treasures. The Bible says in verse 30, and of the Hebrew Knights, Hashebaiah and his brethren, men of valor. Again, talking about their courage. Valor is just another way of saying that they're brave or courageous, valiant, that's what that means. A thousand and seven hundred, that's a lot of people. Were officers among them of Israel on this side, Jordan westward, in all the business of the Lord and in the service of the king. By the way, that's where the song and the hymnal, in the service of the king, comes from this verse. That's the only place that that quote is found. And on and on, verse 31 talks about how they were men of valor. Verse 32, men of valor, and so on and so forth. So we see that they are also in charge of the money. Now another word that the Bible uses for the guy who's in charge of the money is the steward, right? And again, being the porters that we are, we are also stewards. What does that mean to be a steward? It means that God has trusted us with something. Okay, not only are we guarding the door of our house, not only are we guarding our families, not only are we guarding our children, not only are we guarding our church, not only are we guarding our mind and guarding our eyes and guarding our ears, all these different things that we both physically and spiritually guard as New Testament Christian porters that we are, not only are we awake, not only are we strong in the Lord to the power's might, not only are we valiant, not only are we wise and so forth, but we've also been entrusted with some certain things that we are supposed to be good stewards of, okay? Just as when the warriors would go out and fight the Lord's battles, and they'd bring back the spoils, and they'd say, all right, we're dedicating this stuff to the Lord. Well, you want to make sure that stuff is managed properly, right? I mean, you'd hate to go out and fight all these battles, bring back all these wonderful treasures, and dedicate it to the Lord, and then it doesn't go to the Lord's work. And then it goes to something stupid. And you know what? You would call that as poor stewardship. And a lot of churches will preach on that subject, right? Have you heard like a stewardship conference or a sermon on stewardship? It's a pretty common theme. You'll hear that a lot. Stewardship means that you're not squandering resources. You're not wasting things. You're not allowing them to go down the tube, but you're actually using them for what they're intended to be used for. So let me give you some scriptures on being a good steward. You don't have to turn there, but Luke 12, 42. And the Lord said, who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? So the good steward, you know, he takes the money and the food. He makes sure everybody gets fed. He makes sure that breakfast is there, lunch is there, dinner is there. The bad steward goes, drinks up all the money, and he's like, all right, guys, payday's tomorrow. It's Thursday. I don't get paid till tomorrow. So it's ramen for breakfast, ramen for lunch, and ramen for dinner, right? He's not being a good steward of the paycheck, right? Because he went out and blew it on lotto tickets, beer, cigarettes, gambling, whatever. And then he doesn't give the meat in the due season to the members of his household. Bad stewardship, amen? 1 Corinthians 4, 1 says, let a man so account of us as the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. So not only are we stewards of physical things like money, food, houses, whatever, we're also stewards of the mysteries of God. You know, God has given us this treasure right here of the Bible. And specifically, in the English language, we have the King James Bible, which is this wonderful tool to use, this wonderful sword of the Spirit. And it's this treasure that we've been given. Now, what are we going to do with this treasure? Are we going to go bury it in the earth because we're afraid? Or are we going to take this and use it to create great increase for the kingdom of God and win people to Christ and teach people the Bible and teach people how to live for God and all the things that Christ commanded us? So we need to be good stewards of the Bible. We need to be a good steward of our church. I mean, we've been given a great church. We've been given great friends. We've been given a great group of people here. We've been given great fellowship. We've been given great freedom in the United States of America. We've been given the Bible. We have our health. We have our friends, our family. Boy, we have so much. What are we doing with it? What are we doing with it? Or are we just squandering it and wasting it? Or are we actually being a good steward of it? So part of this idea of being a porter is good stewardship as well. We're also managing our resources properly. If God gives us a bunch of money, we shouldn't spend it on something stupid, right? We should spend it to take care of our family and to do good work for the Lord and not just blow it on dumb things, right? And if we're given a great church, we ought to take advantage. You know, you have a great church and then you barely show up. You know, you have a great church and you're not plugged in and taking advantage of times that you could go soul winning. You know, going soul winning by yourself is pretty hard. It's very difficult. It's hard to get out there by yourself soul winning, especially, you know, if you haven't been soul winning for a long time. I remember when I started out soul winning, I started out as a silent partner. And then I started going with other people. And I went with other people for over a year. And then one time I decided, you know what? I'm going to go out and go soul winning by myself because I just want to see what it's like to go by myself because someday I'm going to start a church. And when I start a church, I'm probably going to have to go by myself because I was planning on starting a church from scratch. So if it's just going to be me, then I guess I'm going to have to start. So I thought I better get used to it now or at least get some experience. And I remember it was hard. I went out soul winning by myself and I did not like it at all. I still don't like going by myself. Now I have all my kids and whoever. I can always grab somebody to go soul winning with. But you know what? Isn't it great to go to a church where you never have to worry about not having a soul winning partner? I mean, seven days a week, there's somebody who will go soul winning with you. I mean, look at all these times in the bulletin. How many times are listed in the bulletin? How many times are listed in the bulletin? Like eleven. But I think you said we're adding three more soul winning times. You know, we're running out of space in the bulletin is the problem. Okay. Because literally we're adding like three more soul winning times. You know, just because people are coming to us and saying, you know, hey, this time works for me. This is when I go soul winning. Can we make this an official time? Yeah, let's make it official. Great. You know, just all these opportunities. You know what? That's a blessing because other people across the country and in other countries of this world are like, man, I wish I could go soul winning, but I just can't get myself out there by myself. I just can't drag myself out there by myself. It's too hard to go by myself. I need somebody to encourage me. I need a companion. You know, I need somebody to go with me. Hey, we have that. Let's use it. Let's enjoy that fellowship. Let's motivate each other and get out there and do it and not let it go by and squander this resource of a great church, preaching three times a week, fellowship three times a week, fellowship other times, church activities, soul winning times. I mean, there's just a lot of great resources to take advantage of. We've got the Bible. We've got the internet. I mean, we have a lot of prosperity and blessings. We ought to be a good steward of it. So being a porter is a pretty interesting concept from the Bible. And it's all of us. We're all porters. We're all kings. We're all soldiers in the Lord's army. We're all priests. We're all porters. You know, and you may be of small stature physically, but you could be a great bouncer spiritually, you know. And of course, I would never want to see anyone who goes to our church ever actually become a bouncer at some establishment of ill repute, you know, at some bar or whatever. But you know what? Spiritually though, we ought to be porters. We ought to be strong and we ought to have that bouncer doorman mentality, you know, that says, hey, I'm paying attention. I'm watching and nobody's getting in here that doesn't belong. Right? I mean, you know, and I know how to say no. All right. We ought to do that spiritually. And we ought to do that in our own life. And we ought to do that in our own family and in our own house and in the house of God. And we need to be vigilant and strong and all the things that a porter represents. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word and thank you so much for the privilege of being a New Testament Christian and just all these jobs that you've given us, just being an evangelist and a soul winner and a porter and a warrior and a soldier and a king and a priest and just all of these wonderful blessings. We're ambassadors. Lord, thank you so much for making us so important in your kingdom, Lord. And we just pray that you would help us to be good porters and good stewards of the mysteries of your word and good stewards of the physical and material resources we've been given. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.