Thank you for the opportunity to be here today and be able to speak at this event that the church is having. And I know these preachers well. I know the ones that have preached well. And I do know this, that David Collier lost his mind a long time ago, but he just can't remember it. But I've known Brother Gordon a long time. How long? More than 20 years. I knew you 39 years ago. And I ran out of things to say about you 30 years ago. So. So that tells you a lot right there. More on the serious side, I guess, you know, it is sad. And I'm not in any way belittling this event, but, you know, the Bible says give to man, man's due honor, give him honor. But it's sad that A man has to be in the ministry. How long brother Gordon? 50 years. 56 years and. And just now getting on or he do. That's sad part about it. It really is. It's a sad part about it. You know we. We're in a. I guess you could say we're we're in a area where. You know, There's not a whole lot of honor. But. I know there's nothing. There's nothing that will compare to. The honor that the Lord is going to lay upon his anointing. Someday. I can't. I can't describe it. I don't know about it, but I do know that it's. God has great things in store. for his men who have been faithful to him in the ministry. I'm going to preach on a subject today that most preachers would rather stay away from because people don't, you know, when I say I'm going to preach on, I magnify my office. I want you to understand that Neither the Apostle Paul, who said this in Romans 11 verse 13, neither the Apostle Paul, nor do I, even try to magnify ourselves. Because God put me in the epitome of basement a long time ago. You know, he humbled me down a long time ago. And I have absolutely nothing to magnify of myself. I was nothing when God called me, and I'm still nothing. And certainly, I want you to understand that. I'm not preaching here in any way, but there are men who are coming along and I wish there were more of them, men who are coming along who will see the magnitude of this office. They'll understand it. They'll understand what it means to magnify this office and to lift this office up. The Apostle Paul said in Romans 11 verse 13, he says, For I speak to you Gentiles, and as much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office." Now, there's a lot to the office of a bishop, a preacher, and any capacity in which we are in in the ministry. There is something to that office. There's something about that office that is mysterious. I noticed at our church, we've got several kids at our church, and they can't wait to get up here behind this pulpit. They love it. They really do. And I was watching them a couple Sundays ago. Two little boys was playing there between the services. Sunday at lunch and. I watched both of them. They they came up here and. They stood up here and they looked. They looked at the podium and. And one of them looked at the other one and one of them stepped up on it. And he looked around and he looked around He walked up here to this thing, and he told that other one, he says, I'm the preacher now. There's something about it. Amen. And you know, I know of men in the past who didn't allow anybody else in this plot spot. Didn't allow singers. I didn't allow people to come up here to say anything that wasn't up here because of the office that God has called a man to do up here. That's how important this office is. You take Ephesians 6, I'm going to read a few scriptures here and then I'll begin to preach. Ephesians 6, and I want to read some things to you here, a couple of verses. Ephesians 6, 19 and 20. He says, and for as for me, or and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that wherein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. Now what other prisoner would say something like that? What about a man that's sitting in a dungeon in chains? Why would he talk about wanting to magnify this office, being in bonds, and talk about the mysteries of God? I don't care where you are. I don't care how low you are on the human scale. I want to tell you, God calls His men to bring forth these mysteries that God has prepared for them. And I want to tell you folks, God will give you things, God gives His men things that people just can't, they can't begin to comprehend it. I've had it said to me many times over the years, well how do you know? I don't know how I know. I just know. I mean, how do you understand those things? You know, it's amazing to me that somebody will say something and you'll say, well, that's not what that's talking about. They say, well, that's what I think it's talking about, but that's not what it's talking about. Well, how do you know it's not what it's talking about? I just know. You know, understand the Word of God. is something that God gives to His men. When you magnify this office, you're talking about something that is greater and bigger than all of us. There's theology in this office that's bigger than every one of us. That we can't even begin to, even with the finite people that we are, we can't begin to magnify this office as it should be magnified. You can't do it. Hebrews 13, 7. And I'll get into things that some of you may. You know, probably a lot of preachers never got into in their life, into ministry. But Hebrews 13, 7 says, Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follows, considering the end of their conversation or their conduct. And then down in the 17th verse, He says, Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable to you. What other office is there that I have to go into my study and give an account because somebody wasn't a church? Why weren't they there? The Lord says, why weren't they there? You know, that's a hard thing to do. Have to give an account. And it's a great joy. It's a great joy after a service to go in to your study or go home, whatever you do. Go into your study and go home and get down on your knees and thank the Lord that you had a crowd. You know, it's a joy. It's a great joy to do that. It's a joy, Lord, that, you know, I have a habit of seeing some people will ask me, will say, how you church doing? I said it was doing fine when I left the last service. I don't know how it's going to be doing tomorrow. I can't tell you how our church is going to be doing tomorrow. But I do know one thing that's a wonderful thing. to be able to go home and report to the Lord that everything went wonderful. Everything was great. You know, that's part of the office. That's part of the office. You'll say, well, Lord knows how things went. But for some reason, He says that we must give an account. He knows how things go. And then you go over to 1 Timothy 5, And he says there in 1 Timothy 5 in verse 17, he says, Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they which labor in the word and doctrine. For the Scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And the laborer is worthy of his reward. Now, let's magnify my office. You know, I tell our church, you know, I believe that every church, and brethren may not agree with me here, but I believe every church gives their pastor double honor. You'll say, well, they don't. Some churches, the first church I pastored gave me $15 a week. But that was all I was worth. In fact, I was worth $7.50 a week. Now wait just a minute. I know y'all laughing at that. But then after I got $15 a week for five years, they raised me to $50 a week. My honor was worth $25. But they raised me to $15, $50. They gave me double honor. And I'm telling all you other preachers here, whatever your church is paying you, they're giving you double honor. Because you're probably not worth it. Huh? That's what I'm saying. See, compared the office, when you compare the office to the man, we're nothing. We're not worth a dime. When you compare the office to the man, we're not worth a dime. And certainly it's a It's something else. Now Paul here made this statement he made all because there were some jealous Jews. They could not understand why God would call one of their own to preach to these stupid Gentiles. That's why old Jonah wouldn't go to Nineveh. Jonah was a bigot Jew. Jonah says, I will not go and I will not preach to those Gentiles over there in Nineveh, and so I'm going to buy me a ticket to Tarsus. I'm going to go the other way. And when that boat started rocking, that boat started tilting, And those sailors, those old rough sailors, you know, somebody said, well, what's wrong with us? Somebody said, well, that Jew's asleep down there. You know, that's what's wrong with us. So y'all go wake him up and let's, we throw him overboard, we'll get rid of our troubles. Well, that's what they were trying to do to Paul. And Paul, when Paul was magnifying his office. Sometimes, sometimes, you know, I listen to Dr. Field some, though I don't agree with most of his analyses. But I listen to Dr. Phil, son. Dr. Phil will tell somebody, he'll look over somebody and they'll say, well, I don't, I really doubt what you're saying. Do you know how long I've been doing this? I've been doing this for 35 years. Just like it made him the all authority. I've been doing this for 35 years. No, Paul didn't say, I've been preaching this long, I've been preaching that long. What Paul said was, let me magnify the office that God has called me into. That's what makes me important. That's what makes me an important person, because I'm going to magnify that office. When Paul told these Jews concerning his call by God to be a sent message to the Gentiles, the Bible says, and they gave him audience unto the word, that is the word that was sent to the Gentiles, and then lifted up their voices and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live. But Paul said, I magnify mine office because I'm not of the world anymore. I'm just a man. I'm just a man like all of you preachers are just men. But let me magnify my office for just a little while. Just for a few minutes. There's a verse of scripture that is very pertinent at this time. Turn with me to Matthew 13. And I want to read verse 57 in Matthew 13. I'll read it to you. Matthew 13 and verse 57, He says over there, He says, And they were offended in Him, but Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country and in his own house. Let me tell you folks, God honors His men. It doesn't make any difference who doesn't honor him. God honors him. Y'all could have left Gordon alone, and he'd still been honored. I mean, you could have just left him alone. You know, learn to do like a lot of people do, just leave him alone. God will honor him. God will honor him in his time. He'll honor him when the time comes. You know, this word magnify and office are used by the apostle. Magnify means to render or to esteem glorious, to glorify, to be full of glory and honor. Office means attendant, servant, aide, preacher, pastor, teacher, or reliever. That's what the office is. The office is exactly what we do, and the fact is that we're just an attendant. We are charged with the keeping of the gospel. We're charged with the keeping of the truth. We are men who have to give an account for how we handle the Word of God and how we handle the Lord that saved us. And I've said many times before, I have no sympathy for any preacher that goes out there and doesn't preach the Word of God. I have no sympathy for any preacher that goes out there and tries to magnify himself. You know, you have these preachers supposedly like Al Sharpton who does nothing but magnify themselves. You have these Joel Osteen's that do nothing but magnify themselves. You know, Joel Osteen is saying every time that television program comes on, look at this crowd that I've got. Just look at this crowd that I've got. And it's impressive. It even impresses me. How can a man like that gather that many people? I mean, what is it? As I was saying sometime back, there was a lady there in Vidalia. She told me, she said, have you ever listened to Joel Osteen? I said, no. I said, I know who you're talking about. She said, well, me and my husband made a trip down there to, I believe it's Houston, Texas. So we made a trip down there and we went to his church. And she said, it was awesome. I said, what was awesome about it? I said, what did he preach on? I don't know, but I said, we walked in there, and we sat down, and we looked at that crowd of people, and said, it's awesome, and said, we're going to make a trip at least once a year down there. You know, what does somebody like Isaiah have to brag about? A man preached for 65 years, when the soul listened to him. Same way with Jeremiah. Only thing about Jeremiah, he cried about it. I mean, sometimes I feel like crying. But I try to keep from it. Now let me just for a second act the foolish judge concerning this office. As far as the world is concerned, you know, let me act a foolish judge for just a minute or two. What right does the Apostle Paul have to make such a statement as to magnify his office? Does he not know that there are minds of the average man? The minds of average men are great. Wonderful? Of offices out there in the world that dwarfs the office he holds? Does he not know that there are those who go to school for years to become doctors, lawyers, and experts in every field known to mankind, and by virtue of their status in the world, they demand to be held in high esteem? Does he not know that? Does Paul not know that? I mean what right does Paul talk about being a preacher? What right do I have to talk about being a preacher? I have none. I have no right to talk about that. What right does Paul have to say it is? Does he not know that there are those? I've already said it. Does he not understand that his office is an esteem very highly by the vast majority of the world? Does he not know that? Why would a man put himself out there like that? When he knows that most of the people, especially the people there at that Corinthian church, And Roman church, does he not know that those people there don't thank very much of him? What right does he have to say, I magnify my office? After all, he is just a humble servant of the Lord who must, if smitten, turn the other cheek. or turn over his cloak if one takes his coat, or go two miles with people if they compel him to go just one mile, or give to those who ask, and lend to those who would borrow, that he must love his enemies, bless them that curse him, do good to them that hate him, instruct those with all the love he has who oppose themselves, so as to snatch them out of the jaws of Satan, pray earnestly that it will bleed, I'm sorry, pray earnestly for those who would despitefully use and persecute him, must bite his tongue so hard that it will bleed to keep from saying what is necessary to be said at the moment to keep the peace, and that he must go to his prayer closet and pray and cry out to God for help, and that he must always be godly as his heavenly Father in heaven is holy. I mean, what else is it? What does that make me? It's like a man told me one time, he said, what if I just hit you upside the head, what would you do? I said, well, you hit me once, but I said, but watch out if you hit me twice. But I mean, you know, what right do we have to magnify an office? How many of God's men have been terribly humiliated and rejected because they have done what the almighty God of heaven has called them to do? I've heard people highly esteem those of the world who have little or nothing to say about the man of God. Among those of his day, Christ was a subject of ridicule constantly. Constantly from the minute he was born until he died. That's all it was. You'll say, well, what about his office? Well, that was one of those big offices, wasn't it? That he had. A Savior. Saved mankind. What about his office? As Dr. C.D. Cole said in one of his writings, Christ was never featured as a man of the year in the Jerusalem Times. And I doubt if Paul was either. And I very doubt if this Paul will ever be. What right do we have to magnify this office? Yes, to the Apostle Paul, it would be a step down, become the Emperor Rome, or to have any other profession in the world. And to the surprise of many, it would be this pastor also. It'd be a step down for me to do anything else. I don't care what it is. I don't care what it is. They haven't come to me and asked me to run for president, but it would be a step down for me to do it. There's only one thing I want to look at this time. The office of a God-called minister is to be magnified, for they are ambassadors for Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God, and for their work's sake are to be highly esteemed in love and honor. The Apostle Paul's office came under scrutiny while at Coleraine, but believe it or not, by those in the church, You know, Paul talks about that all through the book of Corinthians. We know that. Paul vindicates the office of an apostle against those who sought to bring his office down. All you got to do is read 2 Corinthians 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 5, and you'll find it. That's all they did. All they did was try to bring his office down. You know, while you say you're an apostle, you're not an apostle. That's like Brother Kendall and I was visiting one time in the nursing home and we saw this old gentleman there and we walked up to him and we shook hands with him and the old gentleman sitting in the wheelchair beside him, he said, he said, well, who are they? The old man that we shook hands with, he said, they think they're preachers. Is that what he said? Well, Brother Kendall wasn't a preacher then, but I knew he was talking about me. In chapter 2, Paul teaches the ministry as being always triumphant. People don't like that. In chapter 3, he sees the ministry as being accredited by those who have benefited from it. In chapter 3, he holds the ministry up as being spiritual and glorious. In chapter 4, he describes the ministry as honest. And that's suffering. In chapter 5, he ends the honoring of the office with a reason a minister does the things he does. God's men are not in love with the office because of the dignity and the power of it, but because of the duty and the work of it. We're not in love with the office because of the dignity and the power of it. You know, again, I'm telling you, I'm standing before you here today, I'm nothing. I'm nothing. I was nothing when David Collier met me, and I'm still nothing. It was a long time ago, wasn't it? We were two big nothings. Still two big nothings. As for myself, I love being a pastor. I love the duty and work the office demands. I have wanted to quit a few times when the going got tough, but God so far has not let me do it. I'll be in the ministry 49 years this coming March, this coming May, and I'll be pastoring 48 years consistently this coming December. And I love every bit of it. And I just wait. I'm just waiting for God to honor me. He's going to someday. He's going to honor me someday. I know He is. I know He is. In conclusion to all this, God's men do what they do because God gives them a love for the work He calls them to do. The task at times seems to be very easy. Other times, very difficult. I don't know of a pastor who wants the Lord over the flock, but I do know many who would be much happier If they had the total backing, the love and respect in the Lord, they deserve. They sure would. They'd be a lot happier if they did. But anyway, that's all I got to say.