WEBVTT

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Question: Some of the 
people that follow

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your ministry on the Internet,

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they get kind of frustrated

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with their own local pastor,

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and they have this desire 
for their local pastor

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who's shepherding the same flock,

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he preaches in the 
same pulpit every Sunday,

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he's going expositorily through a book,

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and they want their 
pastor's pulpit ministry

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to look like your itinerant ministry

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with the passion and the 
zeal that you preach,

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and they want their pastor

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to basically be a copy of Paul Washer.

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What advice would you give a young man

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that's feeling that way?

NOTE Paragraph

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Paul: They know not what they ask for.

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Listen, sometimes I'll 
walk out of a church

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or I'm standing there with the pastor

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and shaking people's hands 
and they're walking by -

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I have heard people come up to me

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and say, "I've never 
heard anything like that.

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That was more truth than 
I've heard in five years.

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And man, I wish we could hear 
preaching like that in this church."

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And that's just the devil.

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That is so wicked to say that to that man.

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Or, they'll say, "we've never 
heard these truths before."

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Well, just let me share with you

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something from when 
I was a pastor in Peru.

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When I was a pastor,

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I learned that men did not learn things

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because they heard it once.

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If I was going to teach on a 
certain doctrine or certain thing,

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I would teach on it for months at a time.

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And when I would finish teaching on it,

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exhausting everything that I know,

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I would teach on it,

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I would invite godly Peruvian pastors

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and godly missionaries

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who I felt would be a great 
blessing to the church -

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I would have them come and 
teach on the same subject.

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And when the members would be walking

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out of my church

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and we'd be shaking their hands,

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they'd look at that missionary and say,

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"We've never heard anything 
like that before in our life."

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And that just goes to show you,

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that's part of the itinerant ministry.

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What I like to do in most 
churches that I go to honestly,

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when I go in,

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I'm preaching almost the exact same thing

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most of their preachers are preaching.

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Now maybe in a different way,

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but it more confirms their 
ministry than anything else.

NOTE Paragraph

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Another thing.

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I was asked to preach for about 3 months

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in a little tiny church

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last year in Alabama.

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And oh, I loved it. I loved it.

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I kind of was their interim 
pastor for 3 months.

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And a bunch of the young 
guys who heard me preach,

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they came there.

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Well, after about two weeks,

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they went up to one of the 
leaders in the church

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and they said, "I have a question.

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The leader said, "what?"

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And the leader happens to be 
a very good friend of mine.

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They said, "Has Brother 
Paul changed his ministry?

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Has he compromised?

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Is something going on in his life?"

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And the man said, "Why?"

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He goes, "Well, his 
preaching is so different."

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You see, that's because he's gone

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from this itinerant preacher mode

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to pastor mode -

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to feeding sheep on a long term basis.

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But I want to warn the pastors,

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expository preaching - 
preaching through a book -

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if it's boring, you're not doing it right.

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I mean, how can you preach

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through the book of 
Ephesians without zeal?

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How can you do this without it 
having an impact on people?

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So, I want to look at it from both sides

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because there are a lot 
of pastors out there,

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they're not feeding their sheep.

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You know, here's the thing 
I'd like to recommend.

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Several years ago - many years ago -

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Warren Wiersbe wrote a book,

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"Walking With the Giants."

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And in there, he's got all these

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short one page, 
page-and-a-half testimonies

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of men and women of God

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that have been used down through the ages.

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And you know, I kept that book 
by my study for so long.

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You want to know why?

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Pastor, listen to me.

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When I would get where 
I didn't want to pray -

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I just wasn't motivated to pray -

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I'd open up that "Walking With the Giants"

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and I'd read about, I don't know,

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Praying Hyde of India

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or David Brainerd or something,

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and it would jar me to want to pray.

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Or, I'd sit there and it was Monday

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and I wasn't ready to 
take up the next sermon

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for next week and I was 
just kind of lethargic,

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I would open up that book

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and I'd read about Alexander MacLaren

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who would spend sixty hours on one sermon.

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And it would motivate me

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to get back in that study.

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A lot of people are saying 
this because they're wrong,

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but in a lot of ways 
people are saying this

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because it's right.

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Pastors are not staying in 
the study long enough

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to come out and give their 
people a word from God.

NOTE Paragraph

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Question: There seems to be

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a mentality today

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that if you as a pastor

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are not invited to be one 
of the main speakers

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or a keynote speaker

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at one of these big conferences

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where all the big names 
are getting together,

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then you're almost nothing.

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What damage do you 
think has been done today

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to the lack of appreciation and respect

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that should be given to the faithful,

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even though unpopular local pastor?

NOTE Paragraph

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Paul: We have grown up as a culture

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that honors heroes, celebrities,

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whether they're worthy or not,

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we've got to make them 
heroes or celebrities

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because we just feel like we need them.

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One of the things that's terrifying me

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is there in reformed circles everywhere,

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there is this circle of celebrities.

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And in every big conference,

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it's going to be those men.

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Now, those men, I could name them,

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I'm not worthy to carry their sandals.

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They are honorable men.

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And it's not the men themselves,

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it's just that the reformed community

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and a lot of young people,

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they're looking to men now.

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And many times, they're looking over here

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to the person who writes the books

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and the person who 
preaches in the conference,

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and they're not honoring the very man

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who feeds them, prays for them,

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intercedes for them, 
visits them in the hospital.

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You see, what we need to realize is this.

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We just need to wait 
till Jesus comes back.

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And when He does,

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we are going to be greatly surprised.

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Greatly surprised.

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You know, it's not tough to 
preach in a conference.

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Well, sometimes it is when 
everybody's mad at you,

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but it's not really tough to 
preach in a conference.

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Why? You're asked to 
come to this conference.

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Everybody wants to see you.

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That's not difficult.

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That doesn't demonstrate godliness.

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What demonstrates godliness is the man

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who ministers to God's people

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and is hidden and is not recognized.

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But when the Great Shepherd comes back,

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he will be recognized.