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[0:00] When I was asked a few weeks ago to take and give a charge to the Church, the Levite must be saved this, that this word came with power from the Lord.

[0:12] And it has remained with me as a positive, abiding word. My desire this afternoon, as the word of the Lord came with power to my heart, I have come with power to your heart.

[0:29] For our lesson we read together Hebrews 13. There are two particular verses that I want to link together. You'll find in Hebrews 13 and verse 7 and verse 17.

[0:47] Read these words. Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.

[1:02] Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for yourselves. They must give an account.

[1:14] They may do it with joy, not with grief. For that is unprofitable for you. I'm only allocated this afternoon a few moments to speak before you, so if it seems a little bit disjointed, I'd normally like to make a reference to each statement, but it's not possible this afternoon.

[1:38] I've taken the word of remember, and I've broken it down into seven remembrances for the church here at Spring Meadow. I've not always given a wonderful opportunity like we are this afternoon to speak to a chapel for, and I've realised, and I look upon this congregation this afternoon, that our pastors and servants have gone.

[2:00] So it is my fervent burning desire this afternoon, whilst primarily it is the charge to Spring Meadow, nevertheless I hope it will be profitable for those of you who should have a pastor this afternoon.

[2:15] Well then, we read in Hebrews, Remember them which have the rule over you. Now item one, I have said this, Remember, he is God's servant.

[2:28] Now the word remember comes up several hundred times in the Old Testament and the New. The cardinal sin of God's ancient people was what?

[2:41] They forgot. And that's the great problem we tend to forget. My brothers and sisters in Christ this afternoon, you ought to remember, He is God's servant.

[2:56] He's not the whipping boy, not the laggy, not the one that looks at the toilets and does all that is so like in the chapel. He is God's servant.

[3:09] There is no higher calling in this world, my friends, than one of God's servants. Now I think in the day in which we live, they do not have their rightful place in the church.

[3:23] And when we think of the word this afternoon, rule, everywhere we look, it's chaos and division. Why? Because there is no rule.

[3:34] Now if you will simply remember two words that I say to you this afternoon, I shall be more than happy. And it is this, Without discipline, there is no freedom.

[3:46] A paradox it is, but without discipline, there is no freedom. Now then, remember then, he is God's servant.

[4:00] Give him his just reward and view. He is God's servant. And being God's servant, he preaches God's word.

[4:12] Remember, he preaches God's word. Whether you will hear, or whether you will forget, he must preach God's word.

[4:26] A pastor, a minister of the gospel, is not a freelance. He cannot do his own thing. But he is bound by God to preach the word of God.

[4:40] Instant in season, and out of season. As Winston remarked this afternoon, I well remember the time when he phoned me up.

[4:51] What a great time we had together in the law. If you'll find, if you'll read Acts 19, serving the Lord, Lord, humility of mind. You will find that when Paul has given the charge to the elders, and he's about to leave them, he says, for the space of three years, he did not cease to warn the church night and day.

[5:20] And what did he cease to warn the Lamb? Repentance, and faith. Now remember, my beloved friends of the church, the church of Jesus Christ here today, when God's servants preach the word, they are to exalt and preach repentance.

[5:41] Why? We are to exalt the ungodly. Whether he can repent or not is immaterial. It is God's word. But, when a person is born again of the Holy Spirit, and when they've been convicted of sin, and they repent, and then they go on in life's journey, and the Christian experience, the time of the first love goes, what usually happens in the church.

[6:10] First on the list, the pastor. His ministry is what it used to be, and so on and so forth. But it is a fault that we fall into as churches.

[6:21] Your pastor needs to exalt you, every Lord's day, to repent. That's your problem, Christian. Nothing or anyone else.

[6:33] It is repentance. John says, if we say we have sin, rather if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. So you will need to repent as a church continually.

[6:48] What will you need more in this life than anything else? As a believer of Jesus Christ. How does the apostle Paul tell us to live? Are Christians to live different in 1980 than they did in 1880?

[7:02] Of course they are not. The Christian is under a command. The life that I now live, I live by faith upon the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

[7:19] Tell him the just should live by faith. Remember then, he is to preach God's word. And sometimes when he comes with God's word, it will be sword of the Spirit.

[7:33] There will be times when the word will hurt you, will wound you, will rebuke you. But remember, it's not the pastor having a go.

[7:45] It's not the pastor getting into his own spirit. By the way, if anyone can all explain that to me after the service, I would be very grateful. I've been waiting for years and years for a right explanation what people really mean when they thought about the pastor getting his own spirit.

[8:03] It's impossible. If he preaches the word of God. He's bound to preach the word of God. Now remember my friend, he is God's servant.

[8:14] And he preaches the word of God. The other thing that I want you to remember is this. He is your pastor and he is your teacher.

[8:28] Ephesians 4, you'll find in that pastoral letter there, and they were given for the teaching and the edipine and the building of the church.

[8:39] Now remember, he is a pastor and a teacher. We hear an awful lot today about teaching. I want to make a comparison.

[8:50] Most people tend to run down the headmaster and the school teachers generally today. They say, well of course you see the schools aren't like they used to be.

[9:01] Well you take the children to school, there's no discipline at school and so on and so forth. And a hundred percent responsibility is put upon the school.

[9:12] My friends, aren't we missing the mixing link? Responsibility and discipline begin where? In the home.

[9:23] If we've got unruly children, it's impossible for the greatest teacher in the world to teach them. It begins in the home. Now the charge to you, my friends at Spring Meadow, and all of you here this afternoon, is this.

[9:39] The Lord has given you pastors, He has given you teachers, but remember this. Are you teachable? That's the point, isn't it?

[9:50] Are we a teachable? This is why Christ Himself took a little child. He put him in the mist, and the Lord said, Now look at that.

[10:01] Except ye become converted, and become as little children, ye can in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. So my friends, remember then, and all of you remember today, that they are pastors, and they are teachers.

[10:20] I want to say one more point on that, and we'll press on to the next point. The difficult today in preaching in modern times is this.

[10:31] We have people that know it. Look at a simple, yet effective illustration. You take someone who can play the piano by ear, and he can play well.

[10:43] You send that person to have lessons, and he will soon get cut up. He will not be taught that the teacher will say, Now look, you have got to learn the scales, and so on.

[10:54] No, no, no, I want to do it my way. And it's very difficult when someone has got a limited knowledge. The Italian person has no knowledge whatsoever of music.

[11:05] You say, put your hands there, read the music, thus and thus, and he does. Now my beloved friends, you must remember this afternoon that when your pastor comes, it's to teach you.

[11:18] It's to teach you the ABC of the gospel. So then do remember that he's a pastor, and that he is also a teacher.

[11:29] The other thing that I want to remember is this. Spurgeon, on one occasion, they said to him, what did he contribute to his wonderful success in the ministry?

[11:42] He didn't say it was his wonderful mind, although he had that. He didn't say it was his wonderful gifts of oratory, although he had that. But he said he had a trained teacher.

[11:54] He said, he said, brethren, pray for us. Remember your pastor in prayer, night and day.

[12:08] Oh my friends, do remember him continually. pray. Not a few seconds beforehand, and a simple bearing of the head, like the Lord. bers handy in the eyes, thing to hold for us is gifts of where the Lord might get a Enfin.

[12:19] So then I'm Daddy, the freetful heart is a says thank God. That I must help because we went through to a wife, Lord, that was with the fountain in prayer. and he Aufenton Center. And I read all these days.

[12:30] So he said, that's what he came through to the Chanburyub avoids. And like when we eaties, our friends, we're walking through to bless my family, God will eat all these days, everybody, and we are wearing our parents how to invite them, and we're escapes with the Lord.

[12:41] bearing of the head like a puppet, but remember him the night before. Yea, you remember him all night in prayer. The first church meeting, or prayer meeting in the New Testament, shut the building.

[12:58] We sometimes sing that in. Satan trembles when he sees, what, the devil trembling? When he sees the weak soul in prayer.

[13:09] Satan trembles when he sees, the weak soul upon his knees. You're only looking at the word of God to see the wonderful, glorious victories by prayer.

[13:20] So brethren, do remember your pastor in prayer. Why? Remember also that your pastor is a man. Isn't this always continually overlooked?

[13:34] Look, the pastor is not some super human being. Remember, my friends, this afternoon, that your pastor, believe it or not, will get tired.

[13:49] Amazing, isn't it? Well, they say, the Lord helps them. He does, but not 24 hours a day. Remember that. When I say to the Sabbath, do not make no apology for, I want you to be simple, effective, that you remember it.

[14:04] And if the church here in Spring Meadow, in fact, remember these very seven simple lessons, the only thing you can look forward to in your church is what? Success. Remember that he is a man.

[14:18] And also on the word of a man, I want you to remember this, that your pastor will be the target of whatever. If you are tried and tempted, as of the servant of God, we read these wonderful words concerning ministers.

[14:37] They must, not whether they will be or not, but they must be first by partaker of the fruits. Our brother Sam, when he came on Christmas morning, he spoke about the shepherds.

[14:52] There is reference in the word of God that God's people are sheep. Now, if he is to be a good shepherd, and I believe he will, then if one of the sheep is in trouble a mile, our dear brother will have to go a mile and a half.

[15:10] If our people are trying and tempted in the congregation, as there will be, then he will be a great target for trials and temptations. So remember then, my friends, he is a man.

[15:26] And also what I want you to remember, and our dear brother, Mr. Craig, and all the day have been prayed, it is this, I want you to remember what he preaches. If I give out any advice, we leave this to Mr.

[15:40] Laver and I, but I will give you one simple word of advice, my beloved brother, and it is this, never be afraid to take the same text week after week after week after week.

[15:53] Many pastors get cast down because of this, but why should they? Because, you know, what did the pastor take last cycle, or the cycle before? They forget. So often, it is forget.

[16:06] We hear a lot today about believing and rejoicing in the Lord. It is true. But the gospel is not only to believe, it is to be obeying.

[16:19] It's obeying. The old people used to phrase it like this. They used to talk about walking it out. Perhaps some of you young people haven't heard of that saying.

[16:30] They used to, what they call, walk it out. Yes. They used to walk it out. So remember this, that his ministry will be ineffective if he preaches and he teaches and that you do not obey them and have to rule over you.

[16:46] What he preaches, you are to put effectively into practice in your life. Otherwise, our dear brother, there can be no real fruit. So do remember then, that what he preaches, you are to walk out.

[17:02] Last, but by no means least, least, I want you to remember as a church that he has a wife. Then he said that people should get the OBE and the FC and the Victoria Cross its pastor's wives without, in my estimation, they are the salt of the earth.

[17:25] They really are the salt of the earth. And those who have been here for many years will bless and praise and magnify God for a true health need.

[17:40] Why do I say then, you are to remember his wife? Well, although he is a servant of God and she realises that, her husband is her husband.

[17:54] And if he gets cast down, so will she. Now, remember then, that when you say things to other people or to other parties that it may be, you will affect her.

[18:09] that she is human. Now, it is vital that his wife is maintained naturally and spiritually. Why? I want you to remember this this happened to my beloved friend.

[18:23] Only his wife will see him as he really is. No one else will see him as he is. that she will see him in the bedroom weeping over so.

[18:38] Remember then his wife. And she will see him when he is depressed and when he is cast down and when he feels he cannot take another step forward.

[18:48] Remember then his wife. Oh, my dear, you need to remember the whines of pastors. My time has gone but can I just go to you and remind you this afternoon remember.

[19:04] Remember he is God's servant. Remember he reaches God's word. Remember he is your pastor and he is your teacher.

[19:21] Remember him in prayer. Remember also he is a man. and remember what he preaches you are to practice and you are to walk out.

[19:38] Remember also his wife. Now it has been a remarkable occasion for me as a pastor he passed looking back over her own chair sister just for one brief moment this afternoon.

[19:52] the Lord has done great things for us whereof we are glad. But only did the Lord cause people brought together who were formed into a church and in the goodness and the power of God I was sent forth to preach.

[20:07] I think in the space of 12 months I was called to be the pastor where I be for six years. Now that's a momentous thing for a church in these days for God to singly that is the sovereignty of God.

[20:19] God and yet the word didn't stop. The word went on. Now dear brother was called into the ministry. Likewise he has been called here this afternoon.

[20:33] Now I see a lot of Christians here this afternoon. I hope you will remember the things that I have said and also remember the words of the Lord Jesus. The harvest is great but the labourers are few.

[20:47] Pray ye therefore that the Lord of the harvest will send forth labourers. Amen. Great is thy faithfulness O God my Father there is no shadow of turning with thee.

[21:09] firm on her day we are our die save and comeкая answer thank you herness O God my my father, there is no shadow of turning within.

[21:47] Thou take this thought, thy compassion may fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever will be.

[22:04] Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness, for in my glory few verses I see.

[22:23] All I have needed, I have found through my head. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, I know me.

[22:42] come and come and win the hell, spring thine and hollies, some who have shot in their course with love.

[23:02] joy joy with all victory, man in all goodness, to thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

[23:20] Great is great is my faithfulness, great is my faithfulness, for in my morning, pure mercy I see.

[23:39] for all I have needed, I have provided, great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

[23:59] me. Father, for sin, and the peace that endureth, thy own dear presence to cheer and to cry, strength for to live and right fall to our hope, rest in your mind with depth and design.

[24:41] Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness, glory by glory unto me.

[24:57] me. me. me. O I am near thy hand and love from my end.

[25:11] Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. to me.

[25:23]  to me. to me. to me.