you All right, good evening, everyone. Welcome to our Wednesday night service. We're going to begin with hymn 175. Hymn 175 in the Blue Hymnal. Standing on the promises of Christ my King through eternal ages, let his praises ring. And what a joy it is to be able to stand on the promises of God that will never fail. Let's stand, please, as we sing the first stanza of hymn 175. standing standing Amen. Okay. Well, we're glad that you're all here tonight. We're going to kind of brief shorten things up because Pastor Yoder is here and he's got a full sermon to preach. We got to let him. Brother Yoder, I just remembered something. Mrs. Raines, her maiden name was Wilson. Ask your son. Okay, let's have prayer. Mr. Narlock, lead us in prayer, please. Lord, we thank you for this time that we can gather together tonight to unite in prayer, unite in the word of God, and we pray for Pastor Yoder as he brings forth the word that you would have your hand upon him. And Lord, I pray you'd speak to each one of our hearts. And Lord, I just pray that you would bless this time in Jesus' name, amen. Finally, let's turn to hymn 272, My Hope is Built on Nothing Less Than Jesus' Blood and Righteousness. The Solid Rock, 272. O my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Okay. Well, we're going to have a brief time for some prayer requests, okay? So make them, summarize them real brief so we can get them. Prayer requests. Then we'll have about 30 seconds for, nope, okay, good. All right. Remember tomorrow, Parkview Middle School Bible Study, Friday, McConaughey High School Bible Study, and be praying for the other Bible studies. I heard that University Bible Study was a little bit down in attendance last night, and so we need to be praying about that. And I'll be praying for our missions conference and, of course, the international dinner on Monday night. That will be a great thing to be inviting people out to. We're looking forward to that. And, of course, Veterans Dinner is right around the corner. We need to be praying for that, pray for our missionaries, and pray for the work of God that they are doing. Okay, some prayer requests quickly. Okay, Kathy. And then whoever is next, make sure you're ready right away. Okay. A couple real quick. One, three of our kids are still without power down there and just pray for all like the linemen and all the people down there who are without power and A lady in the church down there at Westside, her sister and the fiance and another couple were swept away in some flooding in North Carolina. When the river came through, the mudslide, they found him and the other couple, but she is still missing. And they say there's like 600 and some people still missing. So just be praying for this. Are the ones they found, are they okay? They're in the hospital. Okay, okay, pray for all those folks down there, wow. Okay, Mikey. I thank you for all the prayers for the East Troy Bible Study. Today was definitely the best one yet. We had, Alex was there, as well as Juliet, and actually my neighbor, who I didn't know, knew about the Bible Study, came, showed up, and recognized me, so praise the Lord for that, as well as a boy I got to witness to at the end of the school year last year. I talked to him at Playmore Park in East Troy. And he came and got some cookies and recognized me. So pray for him. His name is Hunter. Pray that he'd be there next week. And as well as a lot of you guys know the Volkmans, pray for Aubrey. She also peeked in to get some treats. So pray for her and her friends that she would also be out next week. And one more prayer request. Pray for my grandpa. I got to witness to him. This is my grandpa on my dad's side. I got to give him the gospel for, I think, the third time now. Just pray for him that he would trust on Christ alone and not baptism as well, and that that would just, that he would just understand that, and pray for me as I continue to witness to him. Amen, praise the Lord. Okay, Paul? Pray for, I think I mentioned this last week, a customer named Bob. We've had some really good talks and I'm going to be meeting with him sometime later this week. So pray for Bob and then a lady named Christy as well that she would come to church. Okay. Good. Who's next? Yes, Tim back there. Okay. Mike. Monday night, Lydia and I took Joseph to a park right by University of Whitewater. I met a guy there. He had two little children. And as I was talking to him, I started witnessing to him, coming to find out he is one of the assistant coaches, wrestling coaches, at UW-Whitewater and knows Ben Peterson. and his name is Adam, not saved. And I challenged him, I gave him a track, and I said, you know, talk to Ben about this track I just gave you, about how to be saved, about salvation. And he was gonna be seeing Ben the next day, so that. Okay, do you know his name? Yeah. Okay, pray for Adam. A divine appointment there. Okay, Ian back there, anyone on this side for this microphone? Okay, Ian. Pray for Austin that he would come to Kids Club and that he would get saved. And for his mom and stepdad that they would also come to church and get saved, Lord. And pray also for Mr. Rick at the Ham Radio Outlet in Milwaukee. He's a veteran, so pray that he would come to the Veterans Banquet. Okay. And pray for your friends, Joseph and Michael, to be at Kids Club and growing. Tim. Pray for my dad. He has a medical procedure tomorrow, so if you could just lift him up in prayer. Okay. All right. Payton. Just pray for the little girl at Camp Timberleaf. She fell out of a two-story building through a window. I think that she just broke her back, but just pray that she would get better. OK, wow. All right, pray for Dennis Osborne. They did a scan on his brain. He has a couple of spots on his brain now, cancer. So he's battling cancer in his lung and liver and his brain. And so doctor said that the chemo pill that he's taking should be able to take care of those spots on his brain. Well, that's gonna be a miracle. But pray for Dennis. We need to definitely uphold him in prayer. Okay, is that Micah? If you could pray for Sam, he's a young man that's come a couple weeks to the Bible study at the university. He's very open, I don't know if he's saved or not, but he's very responsive to the word of God. Just pray that we'd be able to get together this next week and that he would just continue to have that tender heart to God. Amen, amen. Pray for Jay, for his growth. Praise the Lord. All those four boys were at church on Sunday. Pray for them, Jay and Ben, especially. Pray for their growth. And pray for our nation. Much to pray about in our country. And pray about what's going on in the Middle East, God's protection of the nation of Israel. Okay, let's have a stanza, we'll have the offering. Don't forget, Kids Club, you have anything special, a theme on Friday night for Kids Club? Store night, okay. Yeah, so we'll have a love offering for Pastor Yoder after he preaches, so this is just the building fund offering tonight, okay? So remember that, ushers and, okay. All right, let's turn to hymn 361. We'll stand, please. Let's sing 361, the second stanza of 361 on the second stanza. On the second, sweet aurora. ♪ In whose truth and faithfulness ♪ ♪ Then came a raging storm to us ♪ ♪ And since he bid me speak his ways ♪ ♪ He gave his word and said ♪ Okay, Tyler, pray for the building fund offering. Lord, we thank you that tonight we can gather in your house of prayer and see your work go forward. And we're praying tonight that we would see your hand, O Lord, at work in this church and this community and this offering. and seeing this building fund go forward. We're praying for miracles here in this last part of this year to see this need provided and to increase our faith. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. you Okay, well, it's great to have Pastor Glenn Yoder with us. And Brother Yoder was raised Amish, and he had an English driver witness to him over a period of two years. And praise God, he got saved. And now this is a This is the third time, well actually fourth time now, he's been able to be with us. Some of you already have him as your favorite preacher, but we're glad that he could be with us and we had a great time at family camp. You don't know what you missed, I tell you. I mean couples retreat. Yeah, it was a great time. And so, you won't ever want to miss another one. That was a great time. Amen? Amen. Okay. Brother Odom, praise the Lord. Thank you. Great to have you with us. Thank you so much. It is so good to be here. It was a wonderful time at campus, Pastor said. And for many years, we lived close to Palmyra, Missouri. I drove through it every day to go to Hannibal to where I'd drive the horse and wagon. And so we've been given a reason today to remember Palmyra, Wisconsin. We had a personal meeting with one of your peace officers there. that he gave us a piece of paper with his personal signature on it. How special is that? It'll help your economy a little bit in this part of the country. But hey, I didn't want to mess my record up, but it's been over 20 years since I got the last one, clip of paper like that. And so just want you to know, it's not a habitual thing. But we're just really happy to be here. And my, what a beautiful church and great people here. Here's, if I may say something from a modern version of the 23rd Psalm. My doctor is my shepherd. I shall not weigh more. He maketh me to lie down in green blankets. He orders me to do sit-ups. He specifies my goal. He sends me down jogging trails of endless length for my heart's sake. Yea, though I stroll by the door of the bake shop, I will not enter. My sweet rolls and crumb cakes I secretly buy elsewhere. I eat my cupcakes in the presence of no one. I feast on rich Twinkies and Ding-Dongs, my cups full of ice cream. Surely, huge hips and big thighs will haunt me all the days of my life. I will live in this body of cellulite forever. It's a matter of identification. We've been really looking forward to this for a number, since all the way last year when we scheduled this. And so if you are happy to have us here, thank your pastor, because he's the one that made it happen. So we're sure pleased about that. I want to ask you to open to Job chapter 39, is where our text will be tonight. Job chapter 39. In Job chapter 39. It's a wonderful thing to be at the right place, at the right time, with the right people, doing the right thing, in a right spirit. I think that's very important. But it speaks of being in the center of God's will. Now that I have crossed God's timeline of three score years and ten, I'm very conscious of how precious time really is. Here's a little jingle. with a sharp truth in it. In time, take time, for time doeth last, for no time is time once time is past. I marvel at the many times the Bible uses examples from nature to illustrate spiritual truth. Jesus said, consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, they spin not, yet Solomon, in all his glory, was not as arrayed as one of these. He said, behold the birds of the air. Behold means to give attention to it. They don't gather in their barns, they don't toil, they don't work, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. There are seven verses in the book of Job, chapter 39, that are used to teach us character That being our text tonight, the spotlight of the message will be on a horse. As in any parable or in any story, be careful not to miss the spiritual application. And remember, the illustration is always designed to clarify a deeper mystery of biblical truth. That's what we're really after. But before getting to my personal story in this, let's first see God's instruction to Job by way of the workhorses, or I could say warhorses. Let's read here in Job chapter 39, starting in verse 19. Job 39, in verse 19. Hast thou given the horse strength? Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? Canst thou make him afraid of a grasshopper? The glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley and rejoices in his strength. He goeth on to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear and is not affrighted, neither turns he back from the sword. These horses were trained to go into battle. Some of them, as their riders, would lose their life. But they were bold and brave. The quiver rattles against him and glittering spear and the shield. He swallows the ground with fierceness. and rage, neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. He saith among the trumpets, ha, ha, and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting, bold and daring horses. Lord, I pray that as we look at this, as we consider this, and Lord, that you would just help us to do to be edified, that we would go further for the Lord, do more to glorify your name, and be a blessing to the people around us. I ask in Jesus' name, amen. Perhaps I do have a greater affinity for this particular scripture because over 60 of my 74 years was lived around and with horses. I made my living with horses much of that time. For 45 years, that is, I made my living with working with horses. For 25 years, I owned and operated the Mark Twain Clopper. That was horse and buggy rides in Hannibal, and drove through Palmyra to get there every day. I was going to preach a message on Mrs. George Wilson tonight, and so I have to mention her, but that's all you're going to hear about that right now. So when we came out of the Amish, I was a school teacher for 14 years and so I came out and of course I couldn't teach down at school anymore because we broke away. And I was limited. Many ex-Armys, they go right out there and they do well because they go into construction business and such as that. But I was handicapped on that, couldn't do that. So what am I going to do? And the Lord worked it out that there was going to be the 150th year celebration for Mark Twain's birth. And they expected a million tourists in Hannibal. And so we thought, what could we do, what could I do that we could make some income. And I drove that horse and wagon, and it lasted for 25 years. And yeah, it was very interesting how God used that to provide for us. So yes, it was hard enough to harness and hitch the horse because of having polio. I had to take the harness, I put it on parts instead of putting on all at once. But when I dropped into the driver's seat, let's just say, He did my walking for me, and I did the horse's talking for him. In fact, I told my horse, if he ever talks, I'll do some walking. Oh, I really enjoyed that job. It was something I could do. But my objectivity tonight is threefold. I want to stir you up for the things of God. It reminds me of what Peter said in his last epistles. He said, brethren, I write this epistle, brethren, to stir you up, to stir up your pure mind and bring you to remembrance. He was not preaching anything new. He just stirred them up for the things of God. And then secondly, to encourage you to stay in the harness. That is the title of the message tonight, stay in the harness. And thirdly, to see decisions and commitments and rededications made, yes. even now. The Bible says in Deuteronomy chapter 30, God speaking to the children of Israel, he said, I have set before thee life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life that you and your seed may live. And so, so many choices that we make in life determine where our life is going to end up and what we do and how effective we are in our witness. Being a tour guide, driving a wagon This wagon we had painted up beautiful, put the red fringe on around the top of it, and allowed me to haul 10 or 15 people at one time. I gave a 20 minute tour, a narrated tour, telling folks these people were from, many were from out of this country. Telling them historical facts of the Mark Twain boyhood home, Mark Twain stomping grounds when he was growing up. This was pointing things out, buildings, sites, the boyhood home, and along the banks of the Mississippi River. So I had a couple of jokes along the way. I'm sure you wouldn't mind hearing those as well. We'd be driving along Main Street, preacher, and I would say, look at these buildings. They're only three or four. The highest one was four stories high. I said, you know, can you think of a reason why they didn't build these any higher? And they would come up with reasons. Somebody said, well, they didn't have ladders taller than that back then. I said, come on. The big cities had skyscrapers by then already. And so finally, I said, you know, they said, well, tell us the answer. I said, if they'd have built them any taller, that would have been another story. We'd be going along the way, and I said, folks, look at my horse here. I want you to take a good look and tell me which side of the horse has got more hair. He said, well, it's the same. I said, oh, no. There's definitely a difference. And they would look, and they would come up with logical answers. You climb up the horse from the left side, and so maybe that will scrape some hair off so the other side's got more. Anyhow, I told him, I said, now, if you get it right, you get a prize at the end of the tour. And so most of the times they didn't get it. And I would say, don't you think the outside has got more than the inside? And in case some smart aleck would get the answer right, I'd say, and you get to kiss the horse when we get back. My goal was for everybody To have a good time for 20 minutes of fun, of entertainment, and giving them useful information to make them feel they got more than their money's worth. Here's a golden nugget of truth. People may not remember much of what you said, but people will always remember how you made them feel when they were with you. In the 25 years that I was doing this, I had six or seven different horses, some whose names I don't even remember. But tonight, I want to talk about my favorite horse. His name was King. He was a Belgian. So Belgian horses are big, and he was big. But he stood head and tail taller than the other horses I had used, not in stature, but because of his likability, because of his behavior, because of his obedience and his faithfulness. Faithfulness goes a long way in any person's life. I dare say that Job's horses, war horses, were faithful horses. They were trained well. And they went, even as we read, into the face of the battle, right into the middle of the heat of the battle, not taking count for the fact that it's a dangerous place. But these are characteristics that God wants to see in his people. Paul said, moreover, it is required of servants that a man be found faithful. All of us have areas that we know what we should do, what we can do, and God wants us to be faithful in that area. So the Bible says, a faithful man shall abound with blessings. That's a promise. That's more than just a fact. It's a promise. A faithful man shall abound with blessings. So King, my horse, you could say he had a happy life. Why? Well, all day long, kids would come. They just loved to pet the horse. Horses love to be petted. They would reach up as far as they could to give him a hug. And he'd have treats. You see, we had a little apple orchard. And I picked up the little apples, bite-sized apples for the horse. And we'd take those along. And I'd stick them on the end of a little stick. And the kids would feed the horse so they wouldn't had their fingers bitten. And they had so much fun. I'd stop at the grocery store behind the grocery store with the day-old food they threw away. And I would get it and take it along. The horse would love the sweet rolls. And one day, there was a bunch of bread thrown out. It was Weight Watchers bread. And so one of the ladies said, look at that. This horse has to be on Weight Watchers. Yeah. Well, he was big. And sometimes, the kids, I would allow the parents to set the kids on top of the horse for pictures. And many times, they'd take group pictures. And guess what? The horse was always in the center of the picture. He was on many, many pictures. So King was a special horse. He had strength. And I mean lots of it. Imagine 1,800 pounds. Mostly muscle. And with that kind of strength, this horse could have absolutely wreaked havoc. Done a lot of damage. King could have ended his happy career by abusing his own strength. But here's the, here was the key. You see, he yielded all his strength under my authority. If King was to fulfill his purpose in life, he had to submit himself, he had to subject himself to a higher authority, to a higher wisdom, to a superior wisdom than his own. And that's exactly what he did. And folks, that's exactly what you and I need to do to yield ourselves to a higher authority than ourselves, to a higher wisdom. We know not what we ought to do many times, but the Bible says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart, lean not unto thine own understanding and all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. In James chapter 4, he says, Submit yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due season. In Romans 12, you're familiar with this, when Paul said, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Folks, it's only reasonable that we do that, that we submit ourselves to God. And isn't it a nice thing that God never is unreasonable in what he asks of us to do? In fact, to the worst kind of sinners, he said, come now, let us reason together. Though your sins be like crimson, they shall be made white as snow. We serve a reasonable God. In Galatians chapter two, Paul said, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life, I now live in the flesh. I live in the face of God, by the power of God, who paid for my sins. That's not the way it ends up, but something like that. Who gave his life for me. Life, what I'm saying, folks, let's get it settled. Life is not about me. It's not about you. It's all about the Lord Jesus Christ. But the fact that he would use us, the fact that he would empower us, what an awesome thought. And so because I had polio, I had Everything I did physically, it took a lot of extra effort. So how am I going to get a bridle on this horse who could have put his head up so I couldn't even reach his nose? He was tall. I tell you how I put his bridle on. King would stand there, and he'd put his head down, all the way down, like this. And I put the bridle on, put the bit in his mouth, so now for the rest of the day, I was in complete control. But he did that. Another picture of a beautiful submission. Submission is all about a relationship of love and respect with the one you are submitted to. This horse respected his master. Now, out of the 25 years that I did that, here's one day that I will never, never forget. King and I were literally parked waiting for our next passengers. Sometimes we'd wait just a couple minutes, and sometimes maybe half an hour or so, depending. If nobody got on, we didn't move. And while we were sitting there, a little girl came running top speed down an incline there. And we were at the bottom of that incline. And it was a cobblestone where only pedestrians were allowed there. And so she came, and by the way, some of these youngsters had never seen a horse before. Can you imagine the excitement of some of these kids as they seen a horse for the first time besides in a picture or on a screen? Well, one day, this teenage girl came and she stood there looking at the horse. And the horse was probably taking a nap. Did you know that horses can sleep standing up? And she looked at it for a while, and then she turned to me. She said, is this a real horse, or is it a mechanical horse? I wanted to say, step a little closer and smell the horse. But this little girl came running. Never slowing down, she ran smack dab in King's right front leg. bump against the leg. Or you can just tap on the leg. It makes a horse raise his leg. And then the one who wants to look at the foot of the horse, he'll catch the foot and he'll look at it. But so he raised it up. And as he raised up his foot, this little girl slid. Her legs slid right underneath where the foot would come back on the cement. Her bare legs. Leg. And she was probably three or four years old. That was a scary thing. But this is what King did. And I didn't even understand this, but a horse doesn't like to step on something soft. And so when he put his foot on that soft leg, he raised it back up the second time. And when you lifted it up, by that time the mom was there, and she scooped up that little girl. And the little girl was crying because she was scared. But it just left barely a pink little mark on her. It didn't hurt her not at all. And so we were just, ah, I mean, this could have ended so much, so much different. I offered them a free ride, and they petted the horse, but the family was fine. They went on their merry way. But I believe I was still white with fright as I sat on that seat, and I gave thanks to God that this ended this well. Because I realized, you know, I could have ended up, this could have ended up a big lawsuit. Worse than that, the little girl having her leg crushed. The horse's front feet have much more weight on them than the back feet. But also, it made me very thankful and appreciative for my horse, King. I think, I don't remember for sure, I think he got a double portion of sweet mix that night. I was reminded of this scripture. The angel of the Lord encampeth around about them that fear him and delivereth them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men, Psalms 107. I think 107 must have been a hymn, a song that they sang, because that verse comes four times in that one chapter. So that must have been the chorus. On that day, I was so very pleased with my horse. It could have been so tragically different. Now, King and I had this communication that was rather unusual. And it was a secret we had between us. And it happened about once a day. I would turn around and tell my people that at this time, we shall go off course. And we'll go away from the pedestrians, because there was always a lot of people walking up and down the streets there. And I said, we'll go off course, and King will go potty. So we did, and he did. So there was, this was most astonishing to horse owners. Because other people say, oh, you train them like a dog. But horses don't train for that. And their common response was, how in the world did you train him for this? And I would usually say, come back next year, and I'll tell you. It was a way of plugging my business for the next year. But this happened because one time I took him off course. and stopped in front of a restaurant, and he did it. I found out that when you take him off the route about between 2 and 3 o'clock, that's when it happens. So I took him off where I wanted it to happen, and then after he got used to it, it became a regular thing. So I told you the secret. I say treat all your animals well. Take good care of your lifestyle. The Bible says, a righteous man regardeth the life of his beast. And so take good care of your animals. Be nice to them. Now, that does not include house cats. But I've noticed when we visit people with hot scat, those cats got attitudes. And I'm not talking about a good attitude either. So while I'm not for this thing called animal rights, I'm all for animal welfare. Animal welfare. King actually was a lot more famous than he ever knew. One day, I was touring a charter bus of third graders all the way from Colorado. Big busload, much bigger than a school bus. And while on one of the many tours it took me for all of them to take a ride, one of the boys said, hey driver, we got a picture of this horse and buggy in our social study book. Well, I thought, yeah, yeah. I thought to myself, they got a picture, but it's a horse and buggy and somebody else's horse and buggy. But when the tour ended, the teacher came. One of the teachers said, sir, indeed, we do have this picture in our social study book. I said, wow. Could I have a picture of that? Could you send me a picture of that? She did better than that. She sent me the book. I still have the book, and I show it off to folks of my horse and buggy. Because of all the pictures in Hannibal, rig was one of three pictures, the riverboat, the statue of Tom and Hook, and then it was my horse and buggy. And so another time, my insurance agent called me, and he said, Mr. Yoder, I sent you a calendar from our company this year. I want you to look at the picture for September. And of course, there it was, my horse. I don't know who took the picture or when they took it, but there it was. And I loved that because it was free advertisement. So yes, King was special, and I dreaded the thought of ever having to replace him. I suppose it was an earlier generation of horses, just like my king, that gave rise to the phrase, it was just good horse sense that made me do it. It was good horse sense that told me what to do at the right time. And folks, even today, horses in general have more sense than the average Democrat, I mean the average politician. Strike that from the record. On June the 3rd in 2003, it was a beautiful day. The temperature was perfect. It was cool. And King never broke a sweat all that day. King started out with his usual self. full of equine energy, shall we say. So this would be an important day, because on this day, I had a group of 40 Girl Scouts that were scheduled to ride. And this was by appointment at 1 o'clock, they were to come. And sure enough, a few minutes before that, I saw way down the street a group of girls. And they were running. The teachers could barely keep up with them. When they saw the horse, they got highly excited. So as they started piling on, I said, wait, wait, girls. We can make two trips out of this. 40? 40, girl? I said, we might do. They said, no, no, please. We all want to go together. We all want to go together. I said, OK. We'll see if you can all get on. The last adult, there was three adults with them. And the last lady, being rather portly, squeezed on, and they all got on. And so we started off, and there was girls hanging out on both sides of the wagon. They were laughing and cheering, and they indeed were turning heads of many pedestrians as we drove clip-clopped down Old Main Street of Hannibal. It added to the merriment of both them and people looking on that they were singing the official Girl Scout song as we drove along. We hit several blocks on Broadway. We swung around right on the banks of the Mississippi. And I didn't have to do much talking. They were having such a blast. They didn't want to hear the narration. Why did they care about what happened 150 years ago? They were having a blast that day. And King picked up speed. We always, especially with kids on it, we drove real fast through a dip in the street. We call it the roller coaster. And mind you, these girls, they screamed like ever so many Comanche Indians. And what a blast they had. Now arriving back, the teachers had a hard time getting the girls to leave the horse, because for the next attraction, they wanted to feed the horse, and they took pictures, and they kept petting the horse, and just loving my animal, this huge horse. I bet to this day, they still cherish vivid memories of that year, 21 years ago. I myself was relishing the goodness of the day as we headed back toward King's Stable. The stable was about a half a mile up the river, up along the Mississippi. Now King always stepped higher. and faster as he clipped along, knowing there's going to be a generous portion of sweet mix awaiting him at the end of each day. That was every day. As we were driving along suddenly, looking ever so scared, King raised his head high as if he was seeing a ghost. He slowed down to his stop. He was shaking and trembling all over. His legs wobbled and buckled as he fell to his right side. And the shafts on the right side crack broke in two. I heard myself say, oh, no, King. I said, King, get back up, please, please. What is it? What's the deal? What's going on? And with great effort, he struggled hard to rise up again, only to fall back down on the left side, breaking the shafts on the other side. As he was getting up, I said, yes, you can do it, King. You can do it. Get on up. But only to see him fall back again. As I jumped off the wagon, I saw his head dropped to the street, the best horse I ever owned was dead. I knelt in front of him as he was laying there in the middle of the street. I put my hands on his warm nose. As I looked in his still open eyes, his lifeless eyes, as you can guess, I wept. With my wagon and my dead horse in the middle of the street, it was a good thing it was an off street. Not many people went up that street, but they did some. And I was so thankful that if this had to happen, that it didn't happen a few hours sooner with all those girls gone. Can you imagine the trauma, how it would have traumatized them to see this? Not only that. It would have gotten everybody else's attention. I'm sure the fire department would have been called, and it would have been just awful. It would have created a terrible street scene, to be sure. But it struck me to the heart as I was looking there at my horse. King was still in the harness. He was fully harnessed. Not only that, he was still hitched to the wagon. It was the first time in my life that I took a bridle off of a dead horse, that I unhitched a dead horse. And so, yes, he was still hitched to the wagon. He had still had four shoes on his feet. That means King was faithful to the very end. Folks, can we draw a lesson from that? I want to stay in the harness. until the very end. Speaking of the end, God says, oh, that my people would be wise, that they would consider their latter end. Here's my question for you tonight. How will you end up? The Bible says there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death. And we're so sad when we see young people making choices that will lead to spiritual death and many times physical death. When my grandchildren get their driver's license, they usually get a little lecture from grandpa. And I'll say, listen, you have got a death machine. And it is good for people that drive too fast to get a ticket every once in a while. Where'd that come from? Because it just could save a life later on. And by the way, if your kids get in trouble because of doing foolish things on the road and they get thrown in jail overnight, don't you go bail them out. It could save their life later on. Now, speaking of the end, how will you end? I want God to burn it, this lesson deep into my heart. Give me a holy desire, dear God, a divine passion, a relentless perseverance to end strong. I am not strong. I am a weak man, but I can end strong, don't you think? To stay in the harness until I take my very last step. To have my feet shod with the gospel of peace, as Romans 10 speaks about. But I wonder if somebody here now may be under tremendous pressure. You, you carry a heavy responsibility in your life. You have such a workload that it is, it's tempting for you to just get out of the harness. It would feel so good to get out of the harness. The truth be known, we all experience discouragement. I'm looking at you tonight, and I don't know you, but I'll guarantee you something has happened that has discouraged you. You may be in the depths of discouragement right now. And if you're not, it could happen in the future. I'm so glad that we have a Bible that tells us how to deal with it. how to deal with it when we're overwhelmed. Yes, David said, fearfulness and trembling have come upon me. Terror has overwhelmed me. Not very often that you find in the Bible the word overwhelmed. But David, a man of God, after God's own heart, said that he was overwhelmed. So folks, don't give up when you are overwhelmed. Don't quit when you are overwhelmed. Just know you're not the only one that feels overwhelmed. David went on to say, oh, that I have wings of a dove, for then would I fly away and be at rest. This was the king of Israel. King wouldn't be. He said, Lord, I would wander far off and remain in the wilderness. Neither King David nor you would be happy in the wilderness. But sometimes we just like to have wings and fly away from the pressure that we're under in this life. The temptation, therefore, is to get out of the harness. And my challenge tonight is, stay in the harness. Stay in the harness. Our temptation is to get out of the harness, for the horse would be to go out to pasture. You see, the pasture speaks of comfort. The pasture speaks of leisure, of shade trees, of a, a resting place, rustling leaves, and rippling brooks, where you have to do nothing but lay down and rest. But folks, in the pasture, you won't make a difference. The only way you will impact the generation for Christ is to stay in the harness. Keep on going. And stay hitched to a cause that is bigger than your life. King didn't understand what he was doing. He could have said, you know, enough is enough. Today I'm staying in this table. And I couldn't have forced him out of there. Even though he didn't understand the extent of the cause, he is faithful to the cause because he was doing what he was born to do. Incidentally, can I tell you this? Nothing ever great comes from the comfort zone. Hit me on that. There are people that come to church, but they are pew warmers. And I'd rather you do that than not come at all. But let's know that the comfort zone is not where things happen. Stay in the harness. The last breath that King took, he was still in the harness. The last steps that King took, he was still pulling the wagon. The last command. that was given to King, he was still dutifully and willingly obeying. Let's you and I purpose to stay in the harness, to stay true and faithful to our calling. Because each one of us, if you're saved, if you're born again, you've got a special call upon your life. And though we are tired, we must not quit. Paul admonished the Galatians, let us not be weary in well-doing. But in due season, we shall reap if we faint not. You say, but that's where your narrative breaks down, where your parable breaks down. King didn't go to heaven. Well, how about that? Didn't Revelation talk about something about the red horse coming? King was a red horse. Just a thought, just a thought. Paul admonished us not to get tired, not to give up. In Hebrews chapter 6, the Hebrews writer, Maybe it was Paul. If it wasn't Paul, maybe it was Charles Spurgeon. I don't know for sure who wrote Hebrews. But he said, God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which you have showed toward his name in that you have labored and ministered to the saints. And you do minister. That means you keep on. That means you stay in the harness. Yes, God is not unrighteous to forget that. In 1 Corinthians 15, the Bible says, but thanks be to God who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And because of that, the thought goes on. Therefore, when the Bible says therefore, you always want to look what it says before that. Therefore, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know, your labor, is not in vain in the Lord. That's a promise and an admonition. And so, yes, let's thank God for his unspeakable gift, the Lord Jesus Christ, and let's take that gift and use it for the glory of God. Now, tonight, I plead with you. I urge you. I charge you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ Keep going forward. Keep going onward. Press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Never, ever yield. Never give up. Never quit. There's a prize to be won at the end. Jesus made a promise to his disciples who were discouraged because of him going back to heaven. He said, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go, I will come again to receive you into myself, that where I am, there you may be also. He's coming back, folks. I know, because he went. He said, if I go, I will come again. He went. He's coming back. As a cripple, I take these promises Very personal when he says, for we know when our earthly house, that's our body, when our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. One day, I'll walk without a limp. One day, I'll raise my hands to praise God. By the way, we're Baptists, but we won't be critical with you if you raise your hand during the service. Don't speak in tongues. You have just heard a Baptist preacher speak in tongues. Do you know what it was? It was John 3.16. You know, preacher doesn't mean anything to me when somebody speaks in a language that I don't hear, that I don't understand. Sometimes missionaries come and they say, you want us to sing a song in Spanish? I said, no, thank you. Because I don't understand Spanish. I want to understand the words. And so I'm saying, when the Bible speaks about speaking in tongues, it's talking about a different language. Obviously, you don't have any German-speaking people here to do you tonight. I made a promise one day to my folks to say, if you fill our church up so that we have to put chairs, if we ever have to come to that time, we have to put chairs in the aisle, I'll speak in tongues. And sure enough, they pulled it off one day, and there was chairs in there. Preacher, they reminded me they wanted to be spoken of in tongues, so I did. And I quoted the same verse. So afterwards, the people were shaking hands, and a little old lady, she was a guest that day, I didn't know her, but she said, I know what you were saying. You were quoting John 3, 16, and she could speak German. It's a real language. It's not gibberish. Never yield. Never give up to your calling. Do not quit. And remember, stay in the harness. Let's pray. Lord, we're living in troublesome times. We're living in a time when even our generation is scared of what could come to pass and what could happen. Yes, America was always a safe haven. America was always the land of the brave and the free. But even now, our country is threatened with the enemy from within. But Lord, help us to keep confidently going forward, doing what you call us to do, and leave the rest to our God. And I pray tonight, for anyone that may be discouraged, that they would purpose to keep on going. Because there's somebody is watching them. Somebody's success, somebody's life, perhaps somebody's salvation depends on their testimony of keeping ongoing for the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Preacher. You know, as time goes on in life, you ask yourself, What are you going to do? Is time going up? Well, that was the answer. Amen. Keep in the harness. And maybe the Lord is speaking to your heart tonight, that way before time, you're trying to get out of the harness. That's not the right plan, is it? Maybe you're getting a little bit of gray hair and you're wondering if maybe you should start taking it easy. Well, the Bible says stay in the harness. But maybe you're here tonight and you're a young person and you heard the message that the most important thing that you can do is submit yourself to God. Let him have your life, and it'll count. Amen? If you fight against God, your life won't count. You submit your life to God, your life will count. Amen? Just like King. So I think we'll have a stanza of invitation, and maybe there in that pew, you should do some business with God, maybe God wants you to come forward. So let's just play a stanza, let's stand, and we'll have an invitation. Okay, men, you come now. We'll have prayer. I want you to give generously. And maybe you could have a piece of paper with cover that other piece of paper. All right, Tyler, lead us in prayer. Lord, we thank you for the great message from the word of God tonight. And we need your grace and strength in our lives to be faithful, to follow you. And Lord, I pray that you would help any that are struggling tonight, Lord, to be strengthened. And Lord, we thank you for brother Yoder. We pray that we be a blessing to him through this offering now. In Jesus' name, amen. so Prayer meeting night, we got a lot of praying to do. Remember, we're praying for five families. And remember Leah, pray for her. Pray for Aaron and her children. Pray for new families. Remember, pray for Tony. God's working his heart. Thank God he came back. So pray for that next soul to be saved, and pray for Sarah's father. She needs to be saved, and God's working in his heart. So let's go to prayer, and do business with God, amen? Without faith, it's impossible to plead the Lord.