Shenandoah Bible Baptist Church
The House of Mourning
- Thanks, sir. - Thank you so much, preacher, yes, sir. Oh, what a joy it is to be here with you tonight. And I've been looking forward to this. Last night, we were in Baltimore. And I got to speak at a church. That was a startup church about a year and a half ago, and they were growing alive, and then they were actually getting into their own building. So they're real excited, got to be with them. And, but there's gonna be a few here tonight. Oh, this is a wonderful, wonderful crowd. And good to have you. Of course, we're from House Anderson College, and House Anderson was started in 1972. And Pastor Jack Hiles, it was something that was a burden that was on his heart to be able to teach and train young people for the ministry. And the Lord allowed them, allowed House Anderson to open up its doors. And now 52 years later, we're still doing the same thing that we started out to do. And that is the teach and train men and women of God to go out and serve. And as Preacher said, you can come just for like a one year, general studies and degree, but that's what's basically just getting good foundation. I have a nephew who graduated last year who just came for one year and just got a, is a good, just a good foundation of Bible doctrine, of learning about the Bible, learning more about soul winning, more about helping out in a church. And that's what he's doing. He's back at his home church and helping out and just so serving. And, but also it's a place to train young people. When I was 14 years old, I had a camp. I started feeling just that itch that I couldn't scratch in my heart about serving the Lord. And then I was confirmed later on in youth conference as I heard Pastor Jack Hiles preach a message on duty. And boy, I just tell you, the fire that had been started at camp was burning in a flame. And there I decided, I said, "I don't know what got house for me, but I want in." And I had no idea what I would be doing the rest of my life, but I wanted to, I wanted to live for Jesus. And my youth pastor took me out, bus calling and soul winning. And he was there at all of my church functions, helping set up and doing all the things that you do at church. But then my graduated from high school. And I wanted to serve God. And so I went, the Lord allowed me to go to Hiles Anderson College. And I was able to squeeze four years into five because of my high intelligence. And, but I graduated in 1996. And then for the next 26 years, the Lord allowed me to be an assistant pastor at my home church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. And I loved it. I loved serving the Lord there and being an assistant pastor and helping out. And then two years ago, the Lord allowed my wife and I to move back to the college to begin teaching. And I'm on the faculty teaching faculty. I'm also on the, I'm kind of what they call me on the director of facilities. It means that I keep all the yards mode and the buildings functioning. And my wife, she's basically like kind of like a Dean of Whalen. She's a mom to 200 girls, which it gets to be. And we love it. And let me just tell you, I'm excited about what God is doing. Not at Hiles, not just at Hiles Anderson, but all across our country. God is doing a great work. God's not dead and he's not done. God is still in the soul-saving business. And he's still in the life-changing business. And just today, we had a little bit of time this morning. We went out to the Boston Harbor. Baltimore Harbor Boston Boston. That's tea party. Baltimore Harbor. And we gave them to, we wanted our tour group to get a little alone time. You know, when you're traveling in a van for eight weeks, the van can get kind of small. And so we took them to this park and we said, okay, we want you to just get some alone time away from each other before you kill each other. And, but while they had some alone time, they got to witnessing to some folks and the gentleman named Eddie. My wife got to lead a gentleman named Eddie to the Lord. And one of the park workers, I was out there cleaning and, you know, God's not done. There's still people who are wanting to hear the gospel. And that's what Hiles Anderson is all about. We're just training pastors, assistant pastors, pastors, wives, Christmas school teachers, just to go out, take, to follow God and just go punch holes in the darkness for Jesus. And we're, and we're glad to be here with you tonight. And we covered your prayers. We do have a table at the back in the lobby there. We do have some music for you to look at. We have four new CDs out the summer. We have one that's called "The Clear His Glory." I keep forgetting the name of that one. "The Clear His Glory." They have one called "The Old Time Way." And then there's one that's a piano instrumental CD. And then there's also one in Spanish. We have a Spanish CD that's an arrangement of a bunch of different songs. And just, those will be a blessing to you to look at those. But of course, most importantly, take a prayer card. You know, we've discovered something at college and this probably happens at any Bible college. And that is, if you have young people who are training to serve the Lord, they got a target on their back. And Satan does not want more preachers. Satan does not want more missionaries or servants of Christ. And so please be, pray for our college, pray for the students. If you're like me, I take a prayer card home and I put it my favorite place that I frequent often. They're a refrigerator. And, you know, two in the morning, I'm praying for the teenager, yeah. I'm praying for the college students with a door open. But why are we covered with your prayers and for that? But thank you so much for allowing us to come here tonight. And honestly, these young people, they're a fantastic group of young people. They're spiritual, godly, young ladies and men. And they are phenomenal. They're, it's called OJT, it's called "On the Job Training." While they're in college, they're out there knocking on doors. They're out there winning people to Christ, seeing a baptize, discipling them and getting them into church and seeing lives transformed in their own little world. They're different bus routes and whatever ministry they have. But we appreciate it. Thank you so much for allowing us. If you would take your Bibles this evening and the pastor says I'm good to about 930, is that what it was, about 930 to 10 o'clock? And, no, I learned long ago. They took us, they have a meeting with the tour preachers and they inform us, they tell us in one statement, they say, the people aren't there to hear you, they're there to hear the group. And so, we come out deflated. Yeah, but, so if you wanted to take your Bibles turn to me, Ecclesiastes chapter seven, if you would, Ecclesiastes chapter number seven. I would like to leave just a thought with you this evening, something that has been a blessing to me and has been a help to me. As a Christian, as a father, as a assistant pastor, and then the different hats that I've worn. But most importantly, as a child of God, this has been a blessing and a help to me in my life. Ecclesiastes chapter seven, we'll read the first four verses. Bibles says here, a good name is better to be, is better to be, is better than more precious ointment. And the day of death, better than the day of one's birth. Pursue, it says it is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men. And the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by the sadness of the countenance, the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of earth. Let us pray as we begin tonight. Heavenly Father, Lord, I ask that you just take the thoughts of Lord that you put in my heart from this passage. And Lord, may I communicate it well to Lord to be a blessing and a help to the good folks of this church. So let me ask these things in your name, amen. When I first read this book, started reading through the Bible as a teenager, you know, I'd come across a passage like this and I would read verse two where it says, it's better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men. And I would look at that and then I would do the spiritual thing. And I would skip and just keep right on reading. (laughs) Because when I look at it on his face, I go, you know, what does that mean? Why would a person, if I had two doors to choose from, I had door number one, the house of feasting and then the door number two, the house of mourning, you have to pick one, which one did I pick? I'm like, I think I'd go for door number one, the house of feasting. Because really, I mean, what is the house of feasting? I think it'd be, it's fair to say that the house of feasting is probably a place of, it's a feast. (laughs) And I like to eat. (laughs) You can tell, right? That's one thing I found out more. Before I went on tour, I was work, work, work all over the college. Then I went on tour and it's eat and preach, eat and preach, eat and preach, and then drive. But my scale is not happy with me. I can say that much. (clears throat) But if I had to make a choice, if I see a house of feasting, I'm thinking, oh, that's a place of happiness, a place of joy, a place of celebration, it's a place of happiness. There's probably some frivolities, that's just the excitement of people chatting it up and having a good time. And you think you have, we have times of feasting, times of celebration, whether it's a graduation party, maybe it's just Thanksgiving get together, maybe it's after church, you know, Fourth of July, you know, a potluck someplace. I know some of you are going to someplace, some of these house tomorrow, you know, for some Fourth of July activities. Oftentimes we do and sometimes the church will get together and it all ends up with a fireworks that some may go right or may not go right. Last year we were at Brother Baxter's church. It all, the whole box went up in about 10 seconds. And all you saw was the guy who was lighting them, he was dark out, okay. And all you saw was, we knew how these started off, he was, puh, puh, puh. Then all he hears, puh, puh, puh. And the guy comes running up over the hill, he's like, ah! And the whole thing went up in about 10 seconds. So, Pastor Baxter was like, well, they're one $400, so the fireworks. (laughing) So, be careful with fireworks. But when we think of, the house of feasting, that's what we think, we think of joy, of food, of fellowship, of fun, you know, getting together, laughing and talking. And in contrast, when I think of the house of mourning, I'm thinking, well, that's not, I guess that's not really a place where you'd hear lots of laughter. I mean, you know, usually don't, you know, when you're mourning, you don't see laughter, you don't see joking around and talking and festivities. And, you know, candles and cake and all that, you know, celebration, you know. When I think of the house of mourning, that's not what I think of. And so, on his face, when I read this, I think to myself, why would I choose to go to the house of mourning when I could go to the house of feasting? But if given the choice, the Bible says here in verse number two, he says it's better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting. For that is the end of all men. Then he almost repeats it. He says sorrow is better than laughter. For by the sadness of the count, and it's the heart is made better. Verse number four, he says, "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning." And I would read this and I go, I don't understand it. But then finally, a question came to my mind, and that's the question I wanna ask you tonight. In your life, in the events of your life, when did you feel closest to the Lord? When were the times in your life when you felt like you were in the very presence of God when he was right there with you and you were embracing God on your knees and in your mind and your heart and you were as close to God? Was it when it's the mountaintop experiences? When it was, everything was going fantastic? Was it when everything was on top side? When everything was hunky-dory, when life is just cruising? Or was it when things weren't going as well? When tragedy strikes? Was it when, or was it when you were begging, you're on your hands and knees, begging God to intervene in a situation that is completely out of your control? And the way I got to thinking about that, that's when I was closest to God. It's when those things, events happen in our life and all of a sudden, we realize we're not in control. When it's not going the way we think it's supposed to go. It's those things that draw us so close to God, we come to Him, begging Him for direction, begging Him for understanding. I guess what I'd like to do is I'd like to take some time and just kind of describe the house of mourning. The house of mourning is a very, it's a very small house. As a matter of fact, the house of mourning, there's only room for two people, you and God. You see, because we sort of a God, this is a God who, there's only one person who knows my hurts and my burdens. There's only one person who knows me better than I know myself. And that is my savor, my God. And there's only one person. So when I go to the house of mourning when something brings me to this point where I need God like I've never needed Him before, when I come to this house of mourning, it's just me and God. Not even when my wife can understand the hurts that I have. The frailty that I feel, the anguish that I have, the mourning, the frailty that I feel, there's only one person is just me and God. The house of mourning is a very small house. There's only room for me and God. When you journey to the house of mourning, you begin to cast off the baggage and the trinkets that seem so important at the house of feasting. Oh, and I'm at the house of feasting? It's, hey, look at my house, look at my car, look at my job, look at my money. Hey, look what I'm wearing, my apparel, look at me. But you know, when we, as we begin to go to this house of sorrow, when things bring us to our knees before God, all those things, they don't fit. You know, there's just certain words that can bring us to the house of mourning. Cancer, leukemia, sickness. Inoperable. You're 18 months expecting and religious problems. And you know, when those things happen, all of a sudden, you know what? I'm not too concerned about how many likes I have on my last post. All of a sudden, I'm not too as, when you're on your way to the hospital, to the ER after an accident. You know, really, you're not too concerned about, you know, how many cars you got in the garage? You know what you think you're worried about? I need God. I need God like I've never needed Him before. I need the very presence of God in my life, like I've never understood before. I need, I need God. I need God to show up and I need God to give me, to help me and to strengthen me and to guide me and to give me direction. We need to have to grave sight of a service for a loved one. You aren't looking around saying, I wonder how my investments are doing today. When you're standing beside a casket, that's not what you're thinking about. What you're thinking about is, how do I go forward? How do I take the next step without my loved one? Without my spouse, without my parent, without my daughter? That's the house of mourning. The house of mourning brings into view the important aspects of life that are eternal and truly important. When you walk through the door of the house of mourning, you come in humility, not pride. No, pride doesn't fit through the house of mourning. You can't bring it in with you. It can't be, I have to have it in my way. No, no, we have to cast that off. It has to be just God, I need you. And I'm not depending on myself. When we go through the house of mourning, even the cloak of bitterness and anger must be discarded. Sometimes we can get bitter and say, "Oh, I were mad at God because he didn't do what I wanted." I can't even bring that in. I have to come in clean of all that saying, "God, I don't know, and I can't know, I just need you." That is the house of mourning. It is the place where our eyes are completely off of ourselves and totally dependent on God. We are there, not in our strength, but we're in His strength. We're there and not in our might because we have no might, but His mercy. We're not leaning on our understanding, but we're just simply acknowledging Him and saying, "God, I need you." And as I look back at my life, I begin to understand the house of mourning. I look back and I can actually point to specific times in my life where I had to go to the house of mourning. I remember there's a time in college when you go to college with all these, "I'm going to conquer the world, I'm going to get all A's and I'm not going to have any financial problems, and then second semester I'm getting all these and I'm broke." They have what's called a financial withdrawal list. And my name, if I had a dollar for every time I was on the financial withdrawal list, I would never be on the financial withdrawal list, you know? And I remember there was times in college when I go, "God, I need you. I don't know. I can't make it on my own." If I, when I try it myself, it's just not working. God, I need you. Time's in the ministry. I could just look at times in my ministry when I just things are out of controls in 2015. Between 2015 and 2017, we went through two miscarriages, my wife and I. There's a time, her dad, her dad got cancer, glioblastoma, and just within just a few weeks, went from my loving, wonderful dad to going to be with the Lord. And it's like, we don't understand this. And we find ourselves in the house of mourning. There's a day when my pastor, my pastor of 36 years suffered a massive heart attack. Preach Sunday night, perfectly normal. Monday morning, out mowing his lawn, the Lord took him home. I'll drive you to the house of mourning. We've had, you have family difficulties. Sometimes raising children, you make mistakes and you just, and you find yourself literally at the altar. And I find myself at my home church, at the altar, late at night, begging God for His presence, begging God for His help. This is the house of mourning. But I discovered something. When I go to the house of mourning, all of a sudden things begin to happen. When I find myself before God on my face and begging Him for His presence, begging Him for His power in my life, all of a sudden things begin to happen. And all of a sudden, I find out that there's verses in the Bible and that, yeah, I saw them. I knew they were there and I even memorized some of them. But all of a sudden those verses begin to do their work. Verses like Psalm 34, 18, the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and save us such as be of a contrite spirit. Matthew 5, verse 3 and 4, "Blessed are the poor "and spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted." Psalm 23, 4, "Yea, do I walk through the valley "of the shadow of death? "I will fear no evil for thou art with me. "Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." Yeah, I knew those verses, but I never had actually felt those verses before. And all of a sudden I found myself begging God for His presence and I get to feel His very presence in my life and His comfort that comes over me. And then realizing that if I just depend on Him, He's okay, God is okay, He's all I need. All of a sudden I find out that God is, hey, when He says Matthew 11, 28 says, "Come unto me all ye that are labor and are heavy laden, "I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you, "and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, "and ye shall find rest unto your souls." All of a sudden, when I go to the house of warning, I find the comfort, I find the rest, I find His presence. We enter tired and weary, and when we find rest unto your souls. We enter in guilty of our sin, and we find that He will forgive us our sins and cleanses from all unrighteousness. We come in fear and we can find out that we can't come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy in the time of need. When you enter in the house of mourning, you know you're there. And in these times of my life, and I realize, wow, this is a place that I haven't been before. I haven't, or I haven't been here in a long time. But it's like God over shadows that says, it's okay, you can trust me. Everything is gonna be okay. I know what I'm doing. I have a plan. I am your strength. I am your shield. I am your buckler. I am the alpha and the omega. I am the beginning and the end. I got everything under control. When you go to the house of mourning, and once we realize everything we get when we are with God, we return from the house of mourning with a joy that the house of feasting could never provide. Think about this. The world is out there. They're trying to find the joy that only God can provide where they, but they think you gotta find the joy. If that's where you have to go, you have to go to the house of feasting to find it. And so you have to just, you gotta party and party and then have another party and then go have some more fun. Hey, let's go down to the bar again and do it over again. Let's watch this movie and then we'll watch this movie and then we'll have this get together and we'll do it. And they think that's where they're gonna find joy and they'll never find the joy that can only be found in the presence of God. And when we get to the presence of God, it's like, (exhales) man, God is good. And we can come from the house of mourning with a joy that passes all understanding. Many will go to the house of feasting and refuse to ever go to the house of mourning. They will try and vain to fabricate the joy that they will never get. Before every great spiritual victory lies a trip to the house of mourning. Hebrews chapter 12 verse two, "Before the joy of salvation, there was agony in the garden. Before the dawn is darkness, before the sprout and stalk is the death of a sea. Before peace can be appreciated, a storm must pass by." This evening it's okay to go to the house of mourning. If you have to choose one or the other, I'm gonna choose the house of mourning. And as a matter of fact, as I've grown in my life and as I've walked with God and I've learned to walk with God better and understanding how he works more and more over these years, I've learned to love the house of mourning because I get to come before God. And I get to peel off my pride, my self-dependence, my understanding of how everything's supposed to work. And I come before God and say, you know what, you're in charge. What do you want me to do? And he gives me the strength. He gives me the wisdom. He gives me the understanding. He gives me the spirit, his spirit to control and to guide and direct me. And I know that everything that's going on is for him. And that everything that goes on, it can bring him glory. And I'm trusting him like I've never trusted him before. So tonight, just let me leave you with this one thought. And maybe this one question, how long has it been since we've gone to the house of mourning? How long has it been since we've gone to God saying, "I'm getting away from everybody. "I'm getting away from my busyness. "I'm getting away from my position. "I'm getting away from my list of things to do. "I'm getting away from everything, "the stuff I got, all my plate, "I need to need to be good alone with God." And realize how weak I am, how desperate I am, how much I need him. And ask him for his strength, his presence, his power, his love, his grace for every day, for his presence in my life. And to walk out with a fresh, a fresh anointing of his spirit upon me, to go out and do what he wants me to do, to serve him in whatever capacity he wants, and allow him to work whatever he work he needs to do in my life. And trust him throughout that way. Don't be afraid of the house of mourning, it's a wonderful place. Because you come back with a smile on your face, that's wonderful, because we have a great God. We have a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful God who is the best thing since sliced bread. Let's have word of prayer this evening. Our Heavenly Father, thank you Lord for your goodness. Thank you Lord for loving us. Thank you for giving us the opportunity and the privilege of knowing you, not just as a God, but as a friend who stick with closer than a brother. Not just a savior, but our very best friend. Thank you Lord for your goodness to us. Lord please help us to walk with you, to be, to have a close friendship, each and every day, and to know that you are there for us. You are our strength, you are our source of joy. We ask these things in your name. Amen. - Good evening, man. Thank you, brother, appreciate that. And how true the Word of God is with that. And we all like to have fun, but how much more we grow. I was talking to John and Allie about that last night. You know, I said, I told John and I said, [BLANK_AUDIO]