[Frank Dunkle] Now, turning to the sermon, I've got, not hiding, something to show you… I'm wondering, you might be familiar with this type of thing. I know this can bring back memories. It certainly does for me. A ball like this makes me think of playing Foursquare on the playground. When I was a kid, we used these for dodgeball. Now I know nowadays they have these foam balls, but it seems when we were tough, you know, the idea was when you get hit, it's supposed to hurt a little. And one of the most pleasant memories I have of playing kickball, and that's what this one was bought for, it even says kickball on it… I don't know if you can see it, but we played kickball sometimes in gym class.

Now if I set that here, I'm sure it's going to hit the floor or not, you know. And also on the playground during recess. But playing on the playground at recess also brings another memory. Okay, I'm going to have to put it away. That's the bad thing. You bring up a toy, you want to play with it. But I think of that memory of choosing teams, line everybody up, get two captains and then they start choosing, "I want him. I want her." And you're like “Ugh.” If you’re like me, you have that experience of, "How far down the line am I going to be? Am I going to be last again?" You know, there's always some who are the bigger, more athletic kids, they're used to going first. But I'll bet most of us relate to those ones that you're sitting there going, "Oh, please choose me. I don't want to be last." And even if you grew up to be stronger or more athletic, at one time we were all younger and smaller. And so, we can relate to that.

You know, and it's funny because I've been involved in playing sports as I was older and going to summer camp. It seems like that stuck with me, you know. And I've sometimes found ways to try to avoid the publicly choosing sides because of what it does to people. Now, you might not think it… You know, I tend to be fairly athletic, I'm still kind of fit, but I have to confess, you know, there are some things I'm not good at. I used to play basketball a lot, but I've got kind of poor eye-hand coordination. You know, I love to play basketball but can't shoot very well or dribble very well, or pass. The one thing I focused on was playing defense because I learned all you have to do is get in people's way. And I do have a skill at getting in the way and disrupting things.

Now, you might wonder, "This is the Sabbath, not summer camp.” What's my point of this for God's Church? And the point I'm getting at is, We were all chosen by God. We're on God's team. And we were chosen by Him for a reason. And, you know, sometimes we might look and say, "Okay, yeah, when I'm on the team, I want to…" You know, I wanted to play basketball and shoot baskets but, again, I had to settle for getting in people's way. Many of us sometimes being called into the Church, you know, we want to serve, we want to get out there and help preach the gospel. Sometimes we feel like the ones who were chosen last and we're looking saying, "Well, how can I serve? When do I get to? You know, I want to serve or I want to help do the work in a powerful way.” But, you know, am I getting to the way I should or the way I envision in my head? And that's the thing, I don’t…

What I want to do today is focus on the fact that there are many different ways we need to serve that we're all part of this team. We were all chosen. And I want to start by a story from King David's life. I've always been fascinated with King David's life to help us see that there are varying roles that are all important, all needed. Now, before he became king, as you know, David was on the run for several years. Samuel was led to him by God and anointed him as king. "You're going to be Captain over My people." But it didn't happen right away, even after he slew Goliath, and he was made that leader of a regiment.

You know, he was popular but he got on Saul's bad side, the current king. And for many years, rather than reigning over Israel, David was running and hiding, constantly having to duck from Saul and his troops. Twice. Of course, we know David had Saul in his power. I'm not going to go through all of this because I want to get to a specific episode, but it's interesting to note that they David could have killed Saul and some of his top men where they'd think, "He's there. God has put them into your hands. Let me take him out and you'll be king." David didn't kill Saul though. He said, "I'm going to wait for God's time. For now, I need to play the role that God has given me." Now, you can't find it in exactly those words, but we see that from David's meaning. This story fills much of the book of 1 Samuel, and if you will, I want to, go to 1 Samuel. And we're going to start in chapter 30, eventually, but I want to, lead up to that because after running and hiding from Saul for so many years, finally, David said, "You know, sooner or later, I'm going to fall into his hands and he'll kill me. There is nothing better for me than that I should go to the Philistines."

The Philistines were Israel's perennial enemy. But David led his men and he went to the Philistines and got in good with the king of Gath. And he was in an awkward situation for quite a while, you know where he appeared to be serving the Philistines but really he was helping God's people. And David had been finding ways to help God's work all along. We know from the story of when he met his future wife, Abigail, that he and his men were protecting the livestock of the people of Israel. At times, they were saving them from wild animals from marauders. They were, you know, a wall out there. At times, they were probably helping to stop the Philistines. So David is playing this unusual role. And without turning there, but you can see in chapters 28 and 29, there is a time when the Philistines are about to go to war against Israel, once again. Well, the king said, "David, you and your men are going to come fight with me.”

David says, "Well, you know what we can do. You know what we're capable of." So he's ready to go. Fortunately, he's not put in the position where he's got to show his true colors, so to speak, because the other leaders say, "Now, what are these guys doing here? You can't bring those Israelites. That's how he'll get back in good with his master with our heads. Send him back." Now back was a village that they had given David and his men. And I meant to mention this earlier, but my storytelling is a little out of joint. You know, David had said, "Well, why should I live in the Royal city with you? Give me someplace where I can live." They gave him a town with the name of Ziklag. What you got to say? Ziklag. Say it three times fast, Ziklag, Ziklag. It's not hard. It's cool sounding. That became David's village. That was their headquarters.

So now instead of going to fight the Israelites, they're sent back to Ziklag. Let's pick up the story in chapter 30 of 1 Samuel because when they get back there, they discover something bad had happened while they were gone. “It happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag, on the third day, the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire, and had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great; they did not kill anyone, but they carried them away and went their way. David and his men came to the city, there it was, burned with fire; their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive.” What a tragedy. “Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep.” You can imagine, you go off and you come back, and everything's gone. They don't even know for sure if they're alive or dead or what's going to happen? What do you do? Well, they check with God and they decide, "Yes, let's go after them."

Let's drop down to verse 8. "So David inquired of the Lord, saying, ‘Shall I pursue this troop? Shall we overtake them?’” The answer, “‘Pursue, you shall surely overtake them and without fail, recover all.’ So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him,” so 600 highly trained, fighting men is a pretty substantial force. There's another place where his mighty men, the most powerful of them are described. But they went “and they came to the Brook Besor, where those stayed who were left behind.” That's interesting. Some don't cross as it says in verse 10, “But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so weary, they could not cross the Brook Besor.” Now, that's intriguing.

I think they must have all been pretty weary. And, you know, think of what they'd been through. They didn't just get up one morning and say, "Oh, let's pursue this troop of Amalekites." No, they'd gone to join the Philistines. So they'd had a march to go off to battle, carrying supplies. In my mind, I think of this being somewhat like military campaigns in the 19th century and 18th and before. And if you studied the American Civil War, you see, they carried packs with 50 or 60 pounds, and they didn't have the best rations. David's men might have been like that. They might have been marching many miles carrying a lot of weight to go to join the Philistines, then marching justice far back, not getting much sleep. Then there's the emotional turmoil, that's harder to say than it looks, emotional turmoil of seeing their city burned and their families are gone. And now they set off in a fast pursuit, double-time, trying to overtake them.

No wonder some of them were exhausted. They must have all been very tired, but some of them were stretched to their limits, and to the very end. They didn't all have the same physical abilities. Some of them were strong enough to continue. Some said, "We just can't go any further." And they got a different assignment. We'll get there in a moment. But in verse 24, it says they stayed by the supplies. Now that could just go in passing, "Yeah, they stayed there with the supplies," but I think we could read a bit more into that because staying by the supplies means, the 400 who went forward were able to leave some of their weight. They had less to carry. And I suppose those who stayed didn't just sit there and watch the plants grow. They probably set up camp. They got fires burning. They were preparing food. They were doing different jobs that needed done.

Now, I'm speculating a little bit on that, but I think it's well-founded. Let's look ahead to see some of the results. If we go to verse 17, chapter 30. Now, of course, David and his men reached the Amalekites, and “David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled.” Which I think if they killed a whole bunch and 400 fled, David only had 400 with him. This is a big group. "So David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. Nothing of theirs was lacking, either great or small, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that they'd taken from them; David recovered all." And this tells me God's hand was in this. He obviously wanted David to be successful and protected those people.

So David and His warriors are obviously very happy. But imagine how exhausted they were now. The things I described before about marching to go join the Philistines, marching back, going in fast pursuit. Now they'd gone even further and had fought a battle that went all day and into the next. How exhausted were they? But still, it had to be worth it. They got their families back plus a lot of spoils. So they're heading back and they reach the other men. Here's where imagine what relief if they come to a camp set up. As I said, fires are burning, food is cooking. They can collapse. And the other guys can say, "We'll take it from here. We're on guard. Get some rest. Here, have some food." I would imagine most of them were glad some men stayed behind. That's my thought.

Now, not all of them were. Verse 21 shows that… Well, let's pick it up in verse 21. "David came to the two hundred men who had been so weary that they could not follow David, whom they'd also made to stay at the Brook Besor. So they went out to meet David, to meet the people who were with him.” As I said, I imagine they'd say, "Come on in, take a rest. Here, we've got something for you." But not everyone is so happy. And verse 22 says, "The wicked and worthless men of those who went with David." So there's some men that aren't up to par. And they said, "Well, because these didn't go with us, we won't give them any of the spoil we've recovered, except every man's wife and children, that they may lead them away and depart." That attitude to me is saying, "Those guys aren't good enough. Only the physically strongest are best."

You know, if you line up on the playground and you're chosen last, you just go home, you don't get to be on the team. But David didn't agree with that. I don't agree with that. I don't think God agreed with that. David said in verse 23, "My brethren, you shall not do so with what the Lord has given us." Here it's clear why they had this victory. It was from God, “‘… the Lord… who has preserved us and delivered into our hand this troop who came against us. Who will heed you in this matter? But as his part is who goes down to the battle, so shall his part be who stays by the supplies, they'll share alike.’ So it was from that day forward; he made it a statute and an ordinance in Israel to this day.” And David said, "God gave us what we have. And He gave some of you more strength and stamina. Some of you, He gave less, but He gave different abilities, but the reward needs to be the same." That matters to me.

You know, again, being the guy who can't shoot a basketball very well, can't dribble, can't pass, but I've participated in some teams where, you know, we all won or lost together. This reminds me of, you know… I like to watch football on television on Sundays, hoping we get a season next year. You know, the team that finally makes it to the Super Bowl and wins, everybody on the team gets one of those championship rings. The quarterback gets one and the kicker gets one. You know, the linemen get one, the backup special teams players, the coaches, you know, everybody. They all play their part. It's a very complex thing to put together a professional football team. I don't think the NFL base that practice on 1 Samuel 30, but they could have.

And the point is, God gives different abilities and talents to different people. And he calls a team. He's called us into His Church to work together, and to each do our part. And that’s… You know, the reward needs to be equal and shared. I think we could see that in one of Christ's Psalms. If you'll turn with me to Matthew 25. Did I say Psalms? Proverbs. I'm glad I caught that. Proverbs [Matthew] 25 was commonly called the parable of the talents. And I know there's another place that the parable of the talents ones that have a similar message. Let's pick this up in Matthew 25:14. "The kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, called his servants, delivered his goods to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. And he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, made another five talents. Likewise he who received two gained two more also. He who received one, went and dug in the ground, and hid his money. And after a long time, the lord of those servants came in settled accounts with them."

Now, it's worth mentioning that, of course, this is talking about a unit of money when it says talents. And the English language we think of talents as ability to do things. But they did seem to have differing abilities. You know, and that's why they got different amounts of money. But interestingly, the reward they got would be the same. We go on in verse 20. "So he would receive five talents came, brought five other talents saying, ‘Lord, you delivered me five talents; look, I've gained five more besides them.' His lord said, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I'll make you ruler over many things. Enter the joy of your lord.’" Now a being ruler over many things, that could be considered a blessing or a curse. Entering the joy of your lord, That's the real reward.

Let's look at verse 22. "He also who received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered me two talents; I've gained two more besides them.” And the lord said the same thing. "Well done, good and faithful servant; you've been faithful over a few things, I'll make you ruler over many. Enter the joy of your lord." Now the one who received one, as we know, he said, “'Lord, I knew you are hard man, reaping where you haven't sown, gathering where you haven't scattered seed. And I was afraid, I hid your talent. Well, here you have it.’ The lord said, ‘You wicked, lazy servant. If you knew that I reap where I haven't sown, and gathered where I haven't scattered, you ought to have deposited my money in the bank, and I would have received back my own with interest. Take the talent and give it to him who has ten.’" Now, I know we could spin this out and apply that to us in the Church.

But I'm going to compare it back to what we said about David's men. They didn't all have the same abilities. But David said, "Look, we all work together to achieve this result. Let's share-alike." And in this parable of the talents, entering the joy of the Lord is the end result, whether the person is capable of handling 2 talents, capable of handling 10, capable of handling 1. In the parable, not trying at all is the only thing that's not acceptable. That's one thing we never want to do. And I say we're God's chosen people. We're called to do His work on earth. Now I can say, I'm thankful when God starts calling people, He doesn't line us up out on the playground. You first, you next. You know, if He did… You know, have we ever put it that way in our mind? Oh, I know some people in the Church are the ones God calls first. You know, the ones who are writing articles for Beyond Today Magazine. You know, the ones in front of the camera, pastors, or do we see them like the bigger faster kids on the playground?

Now, that could make some of us feel like smaller, slower kids who don't matter. I don't think it's that way. But let's stop and think about the meaning of the Holy Day that starts tonight at sundown. We're the firstfruits. Now, so I'm not making the case that those chosen first are better. But if you think of the billions of people on this planet, most of them aren't called. You are. You've been called, so it's like when you're lined up on the playground, and God said, "Start my team with that one." I don't like to go there too far because, like, you know, that's a little… You know, are we that good? Well, here is where it's important to say, "Well, no." I'd be remiss if I didn't have us turn to 1 Corinthians 1. Because, yeah, we are calling it special. Being in God's Church is amazing, and special, and wonderful, and so we're better off because of that. And I like that phrase, "We're not better, we are better off.

1 Corinthians 1 beginning in verse 26 reminds us of our situation. Paul wrote, "For you see your calling, brethren," your calling, your choosing. You know, as I said, if you're in that lineup, “not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, He's chosen the weak things to put the shame to the things are mighty.” He's chosen the kids who can't dribble a basketball very well to put to shame the ones who can hit three-pointers. Now, Paul didn't write that, but he might have. That verse 29, he says “that no flesh should glory in His presence."

Again, we were chosen first from mankind and we are the firstfruits. That's fabulous. And it's because God is great, not because we're so great. But even so, we have differing roles that we play within God's Church. And I think we know that but it's good at a time like this when we talk about the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, we talk about the Body of Christ that the Church is that we remember that God has different roles in mind for us. And we don't always know why, but we play the part we're given. You know, some of us might be staying by the stuff at times and some going into battle. I remember some years ago when my wife Sue and I were called to serve in the pastoral ministry. We were sent to serve congregations in Southern Ohio, Eastern Kentucky, on what we call Appalachia. Now my grandparents are from Appalachia, so I've got a deep appreciation for that area. And we bought a very nice house in Waverly, Ohio. And we were settling in, and I remember, you know, it's a ranch house with a basement, and if you walked down to the basement, and I don't know if it was the people we bought the house from or someone before them had painted, you could call a motto on the wall.

And it stuck with me a lot. It said, "Bloom where you're planted." I'd never seen or heard that phrase before. Now I've since seen it in a number of places. I guess it's common, but ignorant me. But that helped me a lot when I was settling into a new role. You know, I wondered, you know, what inspired someone to paint it there? Was it because they weren't so sure about being an Appalachian, you know, America, but that's where they were, so they needed to serve, you know, and make it good? You know, and I say that because Appalachia is a beautiful, wonderful place, but it doesn't have a thriving economy that's drawing lots of people in. I think a lot of the people who live there are happy about that. You know, as a matter of fact, when I served in Portsmouth, Ohio, I said, "This is the best-kept secret in the Church. We are one of the best congregations. This is wonderful and most people don't know it." Sorry, I just gave away the secret. But anyways, I remember my wife, Sue and I, you know, in a short period of time, we just had a baby, moved, changed jobs, and trying to figure out how to do this. And seeing those words on the wall sometimes came to mind, "Frank, this is where you've been planted. Bloom." I needed help to do it. I'm thankful, again, that was a congregation of wonderful serving people that helped a lot. And I think that might be the position of many of us in God's Church. We've been called into a body and sometimes we're here saying, "Oh, what am I supposed to do? How can I contribute?" Well, wherever you find yourself in whatever situation, bloom where you're planted. You know, we can't all be pastors. We can't all do the Beyond Today TV program. You know, we can't all direct camp programs. This summer, none of us can, it seems.

Well, maybe we'll get some later on. I think these jobs might be in the future for more of us than we think. But you could say, "Well, what am I to do? What's my role?" It brings back memories. And starting my freshman year at Ambassador College, I remember a forum near the beginning of the school year and might have been the Dean of Students, one of the leading ministers told us, you know, he was talking about how glad he was to have us here, but he said, "Most of you are not going to be hired by the Church when you graduate." And he was pointing that out because there were decades in the Church in the 1950s and 1960s, you know, we needed to hire pastors as fast as we could train them. But they were telling us that time has passed. "We're glad you're here. We want you to learn God's way, become well-grounded in His word, and then go home, and become stable parts of your congregation." They used the term "be pillars in the Church." That's a role that we need people to play. Let me say that again. We tell Ambassador students that still today. You know, a matter of fact, we've got some graduates here. I think I might have said something similar to that. And it's still true.

If you're in 1 Corinthians, let's turn to chapter 12. So it's a reminder that we are given different abilities to use within God's Church in different ways as God chooses us to. And on Pentecost weekend, you know, we want to focus on that. As a matter of fact, I hope neither of the men that are speaking tomorrow feel like I'm stepping on their toes. I'll almost be disappointed if they don't turn here too because it's something we want to focus on.

But 1 Corinthians 12:4, Paul says, "There are diversities of gifts, same Spirit," that's the Holy Spirit that Dr. Fouch spoke of. "There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. Diversities of activities, but it's the same God who works all in all.” Same God who's working in all of us, no matter what our position. “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. That's something we want to come back and emphasize. Whatever gifts we're given by the Spirit, it's not for our own sake, it's for the profit of all. And He lists some of these gifts. "To one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another, working of miracles, to another prophecy, another, discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another interpretation of tongues. One in the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually.”

Something I'm embarrassed that I didn't notice when I was younger being in the Church most of my life, but a few years ago, I looked at this and I said, “Huh! You know, when I think of gifts of the Spirit, I think of healing. You know, I want to walk on water, turn water into wine, you know, fly, see through walls." You don't see much of that here. You see, basically, gifts that deal with communication and thinking. You see wisdom, discerning. You know, it says prophesy, and here that's not foretelling the future but inspired speaking, interpretation of tongues, wisdom, faith. These are powerful gifts of the Spirit.

You don't have to be working a miracle, or maybe I should say that is a miracle. Which of these gifts of the Spirit do you have? Likely more than one of them. And you can put them to use. Do you have words of encouragement, words of wisdom, the ability to discern, the ability to exercise faith. And as I pointed out, regardless of what gifts God gives us through His Spirit, they're not for us to show off, they're for the benefit of all. As it says in verse 7, "The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all." Paul is going out of his way here to say that wherever we were lined up on the playground and what order we were chosen or what position we're playing, we're all vital and necessary.

I like to say in class, sometimes here at ABC, "You didn't get here by accident. You're not in God's Church just because of your parents, God chose you." You know, Jesus Christ said, "No one can come to Me except the Father draw Him." And God didn't say, "Okay, he's left, I'll take him.” I don't see it that way. I don't think Scripture says it that way. God chose you. He wants you on His team.

Let's continue in 1 Corinthians 12:12, it says, "As the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that body, being one many, are one body, so also is Christ. By one Spirit we were baptized into one body— whether Jews or Greek, slaves or free— we've all been made to drink of that one Spirit. The body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I'm not a hand, I'm not of the body,’ is it not of the body?” Well, that's not true. “If the ear should say, ‘Well, I'm not an eye, so I'm not of the body,” Well, is it not of the body? Well, if the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would we be smelling? Now God set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. If we're all one member, where would the body be?”

And I say that, you know, I'm not sure how many of you are out there, you're looking at a screen or whatever, and you just see the sky. And you saw some others up here. But right now, I'm the one speaking but there's some fellas back there at tech tables, monitoring and making sure this can go out. I have no idea how to do what they're doing. You know, I'd be useless without them. I think, you know, I've been privileged to be in the Beyond Today studio when they're recording. And, you know, you got Mr. McNeely, and Mr. Myers, and Mr. Petty, and they work on their scripts. They get up and speak, but there's a team of people. Each one is necessary, you know, contributing. And then after the recording, there's a group of people that do what's called post-production, getting all these things ready, and they have that part in preaching the gospel. And those are only the things that I know about. Who knows how much more there is? It's all vital.

We're all vital to God's Church. It's funny, I think, you know, staying with the supplies is necessary. I had something else I was going to say that I don't see my notes here, but I'm going to push on. Because, you know, we sometimes have ideas of how we want to serve. Well, I remember when I was younger, in my teens, especially, I had this idea that I was going to grow up to be a writer, and I was going to write articles for The Plain Truth magazine.

And we don't have a Plain Truth magazine anymore. So it's just as well because I wouldn't have articles in them. My writing I don't think was good enough. And, you know, that's not my talent. You know, maybe one of these days, I could get there. But God's prepared different people in different ways. And we each have something that we're going to be ready for. And whatever position it is we have right now, whatever position you have, whatever part you're playing, it's probably not your final assignment. And it's important for us to realize that we're in a training ground. You know, we're called to be kings and priests.

I'll mention Revelation 5:10 without turning there. But we're preparing for roles in God's Kingdom. And that role of kings and priests, that's not just for a choice for you today. That's not just the pastors and all that, that's all of us. Now, I don't think God will force any of us into a position that we're uncomfortable with or don't want, but He's getting us ready. And there might be a delay in how we get there. And to sort of explain that, I want to go to another story in God's Word. It's in the book of Judges, the story of Gideon, Gideon, and his army. So we're going to start in Judges 7. But like I did with David, let me summarize a little bit first. So we know that the Midianites were oppressing Israel, coming and stealing their crops, and making the people hide, and it was a bad situation. And God sent an angel to tell Gideon, "Gideon, God wants you to be in charge. God is going to use you." And Gideon was like, “Right! I'm not so sure I believe this.” He wanted some miracles to prove it. And God worked the miracles, you know, with the sheep that… not the sheep, the fleece off of the sheep, you know, let it be wet and the ground dry. “Well, let the ground be dry and the fleece wet.”

And finally Gideon's convinced, and then God's going to work on who will help Gideon. So we pick up in Judges 7. So I didn't have my glasses on. I was in Joshua 7. That's a different story. In Judges 7, starting in verse 1, "Then Jerubbaal, (that is, Gideon) and all the people who are with him rose early and encamped beside the wall of Harod, so the camp of the Midianites was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley. And the Lord said to Gideon, ‘People who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, "My own hand has saved me.”’" So God is saying, "That's too many." "Therefore," this is verse 3, “proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and afraid, let them turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.’" So, if you're afraid, you don't really want to be here, you can go home, and says “twenty-two thousand people left, and ten thousand remained.” So there were 32,000 there, but 22,000 of them really didn't want to be there, and when they got a chance to leave, they left.

I don't want to focus on them so much as the ones we have here, the 10,000. We get 10,000 left who stayed, who were devoted. They said, "I'm not afraid. I want to do my part. I want to fight for God." But sometimes a person who's eager to serve doesn't get to when they want to. And that’s… You know, maybe you've been one of those people, not wanting to go out and fight and carry a sword, but maybe wanting to serve but being told not yet. Because let's look, within this 10,000, if we go to verse 4, “The Lord said to Gideon, ‘Still too many; bring them down to the water, and I'll test them for you there. It'll be, that of whom I say to you, "This one will go," the same will go. Whomever I say, "This will not,” they will not go.’ So he brought them down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, ‘Everyone who laps water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you set apart by himself; and likewise, he gets on his knees to drink.” Which I remember reading and said, "What? It seems what He means is like if you take and “Slurp, slurp, slurp…” I've done this from streams or do you just stick your head down in the water?

Of those who brought the water with their hand to their mouth, there were 300. All the rest got down on their knees. And God chose the 300. "Okay, these guys are the ones. Tell the 9,700, 'Your services aren't needed.’" Do you think they might have said, "What? But I'm here. I didn't leave. I want to serve." "Sorry, just these 300." I can imagine maybe some chagrin, maybe some relief as well. As it turns out, God didn't even really need the 300. What did He have him do? Hold a torch, blow a trumpet? No, I'm not going to say that's easy. I can't play a trumpet. Matter of fact, if you're familiar with VeggieTales, it's one of my favorite versions because they do the marching band music and it's really cool. But it's funny because they didn't have to fight, God had the Midianites get turned around and fight each other, and then the rest of them fled. And in the VeggieTales version, that's where the story ends, except for the parade. Those of you have kids, you know what I'm talking about. But the story doesn't end. That's where I want to focus on those men that didn't get their chance then.

If you look at verse 23, I'm skipping ahead to chapter seven, verse 23, "And the men of Israel gathered together from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh, and pursued the Midianites. Gideon sent messengers throughout the mountains of Ephraim, saying, ‘Come down against the Midianites, seize them from the watering places of the Beth Barah and Jordan.’ The men of Ephraim gathered together and seized the watering places,” and they captured Oreb and Zeeb. What do you know? I'm pretty sure those 9,700 men got their chance. Maybe some of the 22,000 who are fearful, their chance didn't come at first, not when they were expecting, but they got their chance if they were still willing.

Again, I could say, "You know, I wanted to write for The Plain Truth magazine when was younger, and that didn't happen," but I've been given chances to contribute to the work, you know, later. And that can happen for a lot of us. You know, and in my case, I'd say, back when I was 20 something years old, I wasn't as qualified as I thought. Matter of fact, I'm still not as qualified as I wish I were. God works through a person with their abilities and their talents, getting them ready for when and how He wants them to serve. Now, and again, I don't mean to emphasize me, but I'm more familiar with my story than the other people in the room or yours. But we all have some stories like that.

God getting ready to have us serve in different ways than we might think. You know, how can you preach the gospel? If you don't get an invitation from Mr. Eddington to write a script and come here in the studio, and record Beyond Today, you know, I haven't had that invitation and I thank God for that. But we need people to do these different things. And the Church, you know, does print magazines. We operate websites, TV programs, but God uses other means too. And I don't want to say, "Yes, see, you can, you know, do your own little thing." Every little thing counts. Remember 1 Peter 3:15, yes, "Be ready to give an answer or person who ask a reason of the hope that lies within you."

Or I think the New King James says, "Be ready to give a defense." Can you explain when someone asks? I think you can. And I want to tell a story of someone who didn't expect to be preaching the gospel who had a chance like that? It happened to a teenager some years ago at the Feast of Tabernacles. And actually, the Last Great Day, you know, you know how wonderful the Feast is, we're planning for it. If you've been a teenager at the Feast, many of us have, you go and you make friends, and you love all that time. Day eight comes, you want to spend as much time with your friends as you can, maybe go out to lunch for some, and you have that last service. This teenage boy, 14 years old, the last service is over. He's going around seeing as many friends as he can, especially the girls that he met during the Feast. You know, even get some phone numbers, email addresses, that kind of thing. Finally, get to the point where the family's out at the parking lot. "Come on, you got to get there.” “Okay.” You know, running behind, so hurrying a bit.

As he's coming down the steps though outside, somebody on the street approaches him, you know, a young man, 20s or 30s. He's in street clothes. He doesn't look like he's there keeping the Feast. "Excuse me. Can I ask you a question? I've seen people all dressed up here all week, these crowds of people, what's going on? What's this group doing here?" You know, the teenager tells him, "Well, it's a church festival." And he thinks that'll be it. But other questions follow. "What festival? Is that in the Bible? What churches keep this? Why is it different from others? What does it represent?"

And this conversation that, you know, goes on for several minutes and looking back at it, that was preaching the gospel, maybe in an important way. At least that's when the fellow reached his family now later than ever, "What in the world held you up?" "This guy's asking me all these questions." Yeah, you're going to be a minister someday. Yeah, right. And you might have guessed, you know, that boy was me. You know, so I laughed when they said I'd be a minister one day, but I guess you got to be careful what you laugh about.

But, you know, I look at it back now and say, "You know, why did that fella walk up to me as I was coming out?” Not because I look special. You know, this was in, I'm trying to think, the mid to late 1970s. So I dread to think of what I was actually wearing. If you've seen fashions of the 1970s, I know I must have looked not special. And that's probably why he was willing to come up, "Here's some ordinary guy. You know, I'll ask him." I was just another kid in the Church. Yeah, as a matter of fact, it was the Feast in Norfolk, Virginia, Scope Arena, back when we used that. How often does God accomplish things like that, through us in the Church? Your neighbor learns a bit about who and what God is, by seeing your acts of kindness, the way you live your life. Does he learn a little bit about what the love of God is, he, she? Does a cashier at Walmart learn a lesson about honesty because you stopped him from giving you too much change when he's about to make a mistake? Your barber or hairstylist, now that you can go see him again, you know, they learn about God's festivals because they ask, "Well, why did you have to change your appointment that was set up in the fall? You were on a trip? What was going on with that?" Well, I got my first real haircut in three months, this week.

You know, my point is, God has a part for each and every one of us in His work. Each of us is important. We each have an important job, whether we realize it or not. And we're each preparing for a greater job in His Kingdom. As I said, God called you to be a king, a priest. I prefer to say a teacher, a leader. But I trust He's preparing you in a way that He feels is best. And what He's preparing us for might not be reflected in our appearance now today.

It brings back to mind when I was serving in Southern Ohio and Eastern Kentucky, there was an older man named Raleigh in the congregation. I met him when he was in his 90s, poor health, not a person of advanced education, and he needed help. You know, he couldn't do a lot of things on his own. And I remember you know, it was an honor to serve, but it wasn't always convenient or easy. But I remember once talking to some of the men in the congregation about, you know, helping Raleigh, and one of them said something I think was probably very wise. He said, "You know, in the kingdom, we'll probably work for him." I thought, you know, I wouldn't be surprised. And I've heard others say, "How many elderly ladies, widows in the congregation are going to have high positions in the Kingdom of God?" I suspect quite a few. Women aren't ordained to preach in the Church today, but in the Kingdom of God, there's not going to be married or given in marriage. A lot of those ladies that, you know, help in other ways are probably going to be rulers over many cities.

And I guess, you know, I need to prepare myself to be willing to take orders and direction from them because I think God is preparing them to do so. I think, you know, the Father and Christ have a long view of preparation in getting us ready. So whatever our current roles and responsibilities, we do need to continue learning, growing in them. We need to continue serving God and serving each other. And I hope it helps you think about those words that were on the wall in my house. "Bloom where you're planted."