The Night Shift

Well good morning, so glad to be here with you guys this morning. I just wanted the Nola Baptist Church. Are you guys the first Baptist Church of Nola or is that somebody else? Yeah, I know, I know you got to be careful with that. Our church was called the first Baptist Church of Muscle Shoals, but it wasn't and we got in a lot of trouble. That was before I got there by the way when they took that name because we're only about 43 years old, 42 years old. So I understand you got to be careful with that. So glad to be here with you guys this morning. Thank you for your partnership with Anchored in Truth Missions.

There's so much I'd like to share about our story and where we've come from and where we've been, but we had something of a rebirthing almost three decades ago at our church as I became the senior pastor and as associate pastor I was very involved in the leadership of the church because our senior pastor of those first eight years was an evangelist. He was gone a lot and he let me do a lot of the leadership in the church and I didn't grow up in churches. I didn't grow up a Baptist.

I had a nominal Methodist connection from my earliest childhood, but my home was somewhat agnostic in bearing and that was sort of my background and I was converted driving my car back to college as a freshman in college and just fell in love with the scriptures and fell in love with Christ and I soon found out that's normal if you're converted and I begin to visit Baptist churches, probably I've been visiting a lot of churches, but I begin to visit Baptist churches primarily because I heard the Bible there more. I couldn't tell you why I wanted to hear the Bible more.

I just knew that was what was important and some time went on and I begin to look around the churches I would visit and think what's wrong with these people? Have they experienced what I've experienced? Do they know Christ? And the more I studied the scriptures, the more I realized our congregations though they had some wonderful dedicated Christians in them, so many of our congregations were not sound spiritually and scripturally.

They were very weak and I would doubt myself and I would think well maybe you don't know what you're talking about, you're a new Christian and maybe you need to hold on and not be so judgmental and that was probably true by the way. But as some time went on I begin to read a lot of church history because I thought wait a minute the Bible's been around 2,000 years, churches have been around 2,000 years, so the things I'm seeing in the Bible that the congregations are not doing anymore can't be just brand new to me.

I didn't just discover this stuff and so reading church history I begin to realize that primarily our Baptist forefathers, if you go back 100 years and back all the way back to 600, 700, 800 years even in some places there were Baptist people and I looked at what they believed and what they taught and how they functioned and I realized Baptists have for the most part lost their bearings, they've lost their heritage and I began what we call anchored in truth ministries just to hopefully not judgmentally but to challenge and encourage our churches, let's get back to the scriptures, back to being biblically and spiritually healthy.

Things like you know in Southern Baptist life, Brother Chris probably brings us out but in Southern Baptist life we boast of about 16 million members of our churches and we might have 5 to 6 million show up for church. Well there was a day when Baptist people would have been appalled at such a thought. If you didn't clean your roll up, if the people you counted as members were not faithfully serving the Lord they would actually disfellowship you from the local Baptist Association. Did you know that was common in Baptist history?

So as I read these things I thought we need to be more healthy like that and I did not realize I actually thought as I begin to teach these things and encourage these things, Brother Chris I thought everybody would love me for it. I thought they'd say man you're just wonderful, you're helping us but I found out that they didn't like it at all, in no way is my spirit to be braggadocious but I've preached in the largest Baptist church, Evangelical church in Canada, in South America and Eastern Europe.

I spent a day with Jerry Falwell, with Adrian Rogers, some of you go back some years those were the leading men in Evangelical and Baptist movement but as I begin to teach these things I lost all those connections. I mean I no longer spoke to hundreds and thousands in conferences and in places, nobody was interested. People were just like you know you've left what works and that's what I would hear. People would say what you're teaching is biblical but it won't work. I said what do you mean it won't work? It's scriptural, it's gotta work, it doesn't matter if it works or not we need to be right with the Lord on this thing.

And literally we went for about 12, 15 years maybe a little more than that where maybe once or twice a year some little pastor somewhere would call me and say would you help me? I hear what you're teaching I want to learn this too. And now God's blessed it, it's grown and grown and now we have I think 60 church plants, partners and missionaries around the world. You guys are part of all of that now and I'm thrilled to be here. I don't care about the size, I want people who want to build a true church for the glory of God.

God is most seen and glorified in His church that's why we got to be thorough and disciplined about the church being the church. Your pastor has asked me to preach on the church and so I've kind of got some things in my heart mine I want to share with you today. Look at Psalm 134 if you would. Psalm 134 this is actually a message that I use at my church every few years because it's a biblical principle that is foundational to being a true, strong, pleasing to God, faithful witness for God kind of church. This principle has to be active in a church or you're not going to be the church God's called you to be.

And I would say if it's not the most important truth, it's one of the most important truths about Grace Life Church of the Shoals that God uses in our church to make us a blessing and hopeful to be a witness for Him. Psalm 134 the psalmist writes, "Bless the Lord all servants of the Lord who serve by night," interesting, "by night in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands to the sanctuary and bless the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth." This is what they call a Psalm of degrees or Psalm of Ascent.

It was a common psalm sung by the pilgrims as they would come into Jerusalem for the annual feast and observances. Now the scholars tell us this is a particular episode when they were coming back from captivity, from Babylonian exile and they haven't been around the things of the Lord. You know to a Jew, everything about their religious and spiritual life centered in Jerusalem and it centered in the temple. They had heard about and understood about the things of God, but it was everything to them to be back in God's country, in God's city, the Holy City of Jerusalem, God's temple there in Jerusalem.

So probably the great majority of these pilgrims are coming into Jerusalem for the first time in their lives. And as they come in, it's nighttime. Now some scholars say it really means the time of the evening sacrifice, but that's not what the Hebrew word means here. It means darkness. It means nothing much is going on anywhere. And if you lived in cities of the day before there were lights, nothing happens after it gets dark. Everything's kind of put off.

So these guys are coming into Jerusalem, coming up in there, they're seeing the temple and they see the priest working in the temple at night and they yell out to those priests and say, behold, bless the Lord, all servants of the Lord who serve by night in the house of the Lord. First Chronicles 9.33 tells us that the priest in the temple engaged in their work day and night. Now don't raise your hands, but I used to do this. How many of you have ever worked with what they call the night shift? Sometimes they call it graveyard shifts, that's something they'd use around here.

That shift in the middle of the night, I worked night shift work my senior year in high school at a shirt factory in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, my hometown. And I would go in after school and I would work till midnight, sometimes one o'clock in the morning. And we guys, I didn't take long for me to realize that the night shift guys sort of did a lot of the behind the scenes work, but the day shift guys got more of the credit. For example, there was a time when some dignitaries were coming to tour the shirt factory.

And of course they didn't come on the night shift, they came during the day, but all of us on the night shift, the night before those guys showed up, we had to clean and sweep and mock and organize. All the aisles had to be real nice and cleaned up. Everything had to look great. We did all of that work all night long and then these politicians came through the next day and went by and shook everybody's hand and patted them on the back. The day shift workers got the credit, the night shift workers didn't miss about all the work. And you know it's that way in God's church, you've got to have a lot of faithful night shift workers.

Now, there are those of us who by our calling, it's God's will. We're involved in day shift work. The Chris, myself, maybe the song leaders, church elders and others, our job requires us to be seen for the people. And we get affirmation and we get encouragement and we get credit. By the way, that's biblical. You're supposed to do that for the men who lead you, even some ladies in their areas of leadership. But there are those all important unseen tasks. The children's worker or the youth worker or the custodian worker or the nursery worker are thousand and other important things that happen that no one seems to see.

And I think if you came to Grace Life Church of the Shoals and spent much time, you'll say you've got an army of people who work behind the scenes when nobody sees them. And then for all of us, including those of us who have these scene jobs, there's night shift work that must go on if we're going to be the real deal. The night shift work of prayer, the night shift work of studying the Bible when nobody sees it, sharing a gospel witness and nobody sees that out there in the workplace or in the neighborhood, maybe discipling a young believer when that's not a real public thing.

You've got to have faithful night shift workers if you're going to be effective for the kingdom of God. And that's so especially true in the church. And that's what I see here in this passage. These exiles are coming from Babylonian captivity. They're coming into Jerusalem and their heart is thrilled that they look at the temple and in the middle of the night, the midnight lanterns are being burned and there's faithful work for the Lord going on in the temple.

And they don't just say, "Hey guys, you're serving the Lord." They say, "Behold, bless the Lord, all servants of the Lord who serve by night in the house of the Lord." They literally tell those guys, "You guys are working on the night shift. You're not getting the credit or the applause or the affirmation that the day shift priest gets because the people bring all their sacrifices to the priest here of the day. But you guys ought to praise the Lord that you get to work the night shift.

Behold, bless the Lord, all servants of the Lord who serve by night in the house of the Lord." Let me tell you, we ought to be faithful in God's church to do those night shift tasks, that night shift work with praise and joy in our hearts regardless of whether we get seen or not or get applause or not or get affirmed or not. Do it for the Lord's sake with praise and joy in our hearts. Now let me give you some thoughts about this. First of all, we ought to do this because it's essential for newer believers. It's an essential example. It's an essential model for new believers. These pilgrims are coming in from Babylonian captivity.

Now they didn't have the kind of things we have today like the internet and all the communication. So they're just hoping they're still serving God in Israel. They're hoping they're still dedicated to Jehovah. They're hoping they're still serving at the temple. You know, when you've been away a long time and all you've been around is pagan idolatries, that's a big deal. So when they come in there, they see these pilgrims, rather these priest workers working on the night, faithful to serve the Lord. So everything in the temple can run as it's supposed to the next day. It thrills their hearts. It encourages them.

And in the Old Testament, an exile coming back into the kingdom of God is a picture of one coming to Christ and coming into a service of Christ and a new life in Jesus Christ. How they need to see that example. Two thoughts under this. First of all, when they see you in the older saint of God serving in God's church on the night shift when nobody sees you, with joy and praise in your heart, whether or not anybody gets to give you the attention, it shows them it's worth it to serve the Lord. The worth. The value in serving the Lord. If those who've known the Lord the longest serve with gladness, it so encourages those new believers.

Can I tell you something, sir, there's a junior boy in this church and he's watching you. You don't know who he is. You'd never dream. But somehow you've caught his eye. I remember that myself when I would visit church as a young boy. I'd see some man, I'd know something about him in the community and I would watch him and wonder, does he really serve the Lord from his heart? Is it really real to him? And if you do serve the Lord faithfully and he is watching you, it'll teach him it's worth it to serve the Lord. Ma'am can I say something to you?

There's a teenager in this church, maybe a college student or maybe a younger girl and she's watching you. She's watching you to see, do you serve the Lord from your heart? Is it worth it to serve the Lord? I can't tell you as a skeptical, agnostic, leaning person when I was converted at age 19, how much it meant to me to go to First Baptist Church of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee and trust me, there was a lot of things there that needed to be fixed. But there were a few saints of God by the Chris who were real and it helped me so much as a brand new convert.

I considered myself an intellectual and I was very liberal in my viewpoints and I came to know Christ as Lord and Savior and I thought, is this really real? Is it really worth it? But there were some saints of God like Miss Jenny Thomas, a doctor's wife, but you'd never know it by watching her. She just faithfully honored God in the church and she seemed to never care. She was never president of the Women's Missionary Union, never was head of anything. She just faithfully served God. She was there every time the doors opened. She was one of my first Sunday school teachers after I was converted.

And to this day, watching that dear lady help me understand it's worth it. It's essential to serve the Lord. It teaches new believers the worth in serving Lord. Secondly, I want you to remind you that it teaches them the way you serve the Lord. You know, sometimes we think when a person gets converted, they're just automatically got it all together. No, when you're first converted, you're just a baby Christian. You're just beginning to learn. You still have the old man in there, the old self. And the old man in the old self is all about pride and all about self glory. I don't know about you, but I'm still repenting of those things.

Now, hopefully God's brought me down that road aways, but we have to learn to get over ourselves and just serve the Lord for His glory. And I remember one of the most important lessons I had ever learned at my first church, First Baptist Church of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, they were having, actually the whole state Baptist convention was having a project to help hunger needs in Africa. I'll never forget, it's called the Upper Volta Hunger Project.

And the goal was that we would take a jar and for I forgot how many weeks, but every how many weeks each evening we'd come in and put our change or maybe a little more in that jar and see how much we could collect as a church. I'm telling you, I was putting money in that jar, buddy. I mean, I was packing that jar full of money and the whole time I was real proud of myself for doing it. And I got my jar, it was pretty much full and the day came for those jars to be brought, we was going to put them on the front steps of the church. You know, Baptist churches don't have altars, Catholics have altars, we have steps.

Anyway, we was going to bring them down there and put them on the front steps. And I just, now I'm a brand new believer, I'd only been baptized a few months before that and you know, in a small town, everybody knew my background. And so they knew I was a Christian now and I just thought they will be so proud and excited about this great amount of money I'm bringing to help these poor folks in Africa. And I remember thinking when I got pulled up to the church that morning that they ought to be lining up down the sidewalks with trumpets blaring as I walked in announcing what a great feat I was doing. I pull up, nobody's there.

I walk up to the church steps, I've got my big jar of chains that I've been putting together for this project, nobody said a word. I walk in the church, I think the pastor was somewhere down toward the front, I said, "Hey, I've got my money for the hunger project." He said, "Okay, put it right here." And he walked out the door. And I thought to myself, "Is that it?" And it's like God spoke to me, you said, "Did he speak audibly?" No, he spoke louder than that. And God said, "So you don't get to hear the Spirit until you know God." But the Lord lived in my heart then. And I heard something I didn't hear before I was converted.

The Lord spoke to my heart and convicted me and said, "Why did you take this money up anyway? Who's this about? What is this for?" And I began, that's a reference point in my life to begin learning. You don't do what you do in God's church for your praise and your glory, you do it for the Lord. Young Christians, new believers, our junior boys and girls need us older folks to serve on the night shift when nobody sees it, with joy and praise in our hearts. It teaches them the way you serve the Lord. Just a good example, when you've been in a church 38 years, you see the folks in your nursery become leadership in your church one day.

And we have a lady in our church who just took over all of our hostess and she does all of our decorating people. We learned years ago, we don't use many committees. We find a gifted person and they get people to help them and they become the committee. And we've got a lot of property there and a lot of buildings and so keeping them up and keeping them looking nice is an important thing. But the lady who had been doing it had gotten older and she was unable and we found this younger girl to do it. And I sat her down and I began talking to her and I said, "You know, you got to be wise about this and this can't just be about you.

You've got to be flexible and you got to be inclusive of others." She said, "Brother Jeff, I know how to do this." I said, "What do you mean you're not?" She said, "I know how to do it because Ms. Jane who's done it for years, she was my Sunday school teacher and she taught me you do this job for the glory of God. It's not about how much you work and how much somebody else does not work. It's not about who sees you or who pats you on the back. You've got to do this for the Lord behind the scenes no matter what." And she said, "I learned from Ms. Jane. That's the way you serve the Lord." Brother Chris, that makes my job easy.

It teaches the new believers the way you serve the Lord. And now I've got an army of folks. Now we're not perfect. Listen, understand, we're still repenting and learning at Grace Life Church of the Shoals. But Brother Chris can tell you, anybody that's been there tell you, we have an army of faithful servants who will serve the Lord on the night shift. Nobody sees them and deal with praise in their hearts. It doesn't matter who gets the attention. Well these new pilgrims coming into Jerusalem, they needed to see this. They needed to see the midnight shift priest faithful in the temple. It encouraged their hearts so much.

Not only is it essential for new believers, but secondly, it's expected of all believers. Night shift work for our God in His church, not begrudgingly, but with praise and joy in our hearts. Would they tell these night shift priests, "Bless the Lord, O servants of the Lord." You bless God and you get to serve on the night shift in the temple. We ought to do this because it's expected of all believers. First of all, we've got to understand what He said here. He said, "Bless the Lord, O servants," a little phrase, "of the Lord." You belong to Him. You're His. You get to be God's child. Do you understand what a privilege that is?

That'd be my first sub-point here in that being essential for all believers is that it's an undeserved privilege that we get to serve our God in His local church with praise and joy in our hearts, regardless of who sees us or who gives us credit. You see, our service on the night shift in the church is not some lowly service, it's not some woeful obligation. It's a wonderful grace opportunity. There are scores of people in the world who don't understand the importance of the church. It's a wonderful privilege. Cleaning toilets in the house of the Lord is a grand glorious and sacred privilege for a person that ought to be in hell.

These pilgrims coming in from Babylonian exile are shouting out to the night shift priest, "Behold, bless the Lord, O servants of the Lord, who serve by night in the house of the Lord." What are they saying? You ought to be where we've been. Do you realize where you've been? Do you realize you are by nature a child of wrath? Do you realize naturally speaking, you're very being called for God's wrath upon you and He's taking you out of that position through Jesus Christ and giving you the lofty and glorified position of being a joint heir with Jesus Christ? It's a privilege to serve the Lord.

Now sometimes folks serve on the night shift in the local church. They have jobs nobody sees, nobody gives them credit for, and then God moves them to a different job that gets some attention. If God does it, that's wonderful. But what should it matter if you spend your whole life on the night shift in the local church doing tasks nobody much sees and nobody gives you credit for? That doesn't even come close to touching the hymn of the garment of grace He's clothed you in. It's an undeserved privilege.

Not only is this night shift work essential for all believers because it's an undeserved privilege but secondly because it's an overflow of love for the Lord. It's just an overflow of love. You know that's what you do when you love somebody. We're of the Lord. We belong to Him. One of the ways you'll know you're truly converted, are you listening this morning? One of the ways you'll know you're truly converted is there has been ignited in your heart, it may be a small flame but there's ignited in your heart a love for Christ and a growing love for His church. A love for Christ and a growing love for His church.

God didn't have to do it this way but He's ordained that He'll have preachers, elders of in a church. He'll have deacons who serve the church and have members who use their spiritual gifts and their talents to serve one another in the church. Local churches is how God purposes to get His work done in this earth. Everything else that's going on for Jesus out there is at best secondary and possibly a diversion. The centerpiece of God's work and God's purposes is this local church. And when you're converted, there are births in you, a love for Christ and a love for His church. Listen, are you listening to me?

You can't love Jesus and not love what Jesus loves. He gave His life for the church. He loves His bride. Now God has a love for all people but God has this special, unique, enduring covenant love for His church. And when we love something, you know what I found out if you love someone, secondly you'll serve them. First of all, you'll serve them, secondly you'll praise them. Have you noticed that? Come talk to me about my grandkids. It's amazing the ways you'll serve your children or your grandchildren and the way you'll praise them and nobody has to coach you on that. You ever noticed that? Nobody has to coach you to do that.

It's just something you do naturally because you love them. Boy, that's the way we ought to be about God's local church. We're Roman numeral three. We need to work on God's night shift at the local church with praise and joy in our hearts. Whether or not we get any credit for it. Number one, because it's essential new believers see that. They've got to see that model. Secondly because it's expected of those who are children of grace, whom God has rescued from this world. Thirdly, we need to remind ourselves that this kind of work is exalted in God's eyes. It's exalted in God. Now the world doesn't exalt this kind of thing.

The world you know is dog eat dog, get all you can, sit on the lid and poison the rest. It's all about you and all about getting ahead. That's the way this world looks at things. But not in God's economy. This kind of service is exalted in God's eyes. These pilgrims are coming into Jerusalem, notice what they say in verse three. And may the Lord bless you from Zion. I think the point is it's nighttime. People don't see it much. People don't affirm you much, but may the Lord bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth. In other words, you're not serving the pagan gods we served or we saw the Babylonians serve out in exile.

They serve the gods of creation, God of the moon, God of the sea, God of the sun, this and that. And he said you folks in Israel, you know the one true God, you get to serve the God of heaven and earth. Don't forget who you're serving church. The God of heaven and earth who knows everything, who's omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent. He understands all things and he says this kind of work is exalted in his eyes. Now I want to give you five thoughts and in these five thoughts I'm going to give some illustrations from my own experience how God has proven himself faithful in my life.

First of all, the first thought under this God who created heaven and earth is he sees all and he judges management. He sees all and he judges management. In other words, you've got a job in God's local church and it's not the job you may want to have. It's not the job that gets the big noise or the big attention, but your pastor has asked you to do this job, God's watching and he'll judge you on did you manage the job you had. I teach the people in my church, here's what you need to do.

Go to your small group leader, our church pastor and say is there a job that needs to be done and the pastor tells you, the small group tells you, then say if you can do it, say I'll do it and leave it right there. Now the leadership has to affirm you doing it. Everybody can't just do the job they think God's led them to do. It's not called church cooperation, it's called anarchy. There's got to be a coordination and a balancing of these works and jobs in church, even in a small church. God sees the management. First Samuel 16, 7 says man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.

Well, why should I serve on the night shift and why should I do these jobs? When so and so over here always gets the jobs that everybody sees, this lady always, doesn't matter what John does or what Jane does, you do what God needs you to do. Even on God's night shift, He sees the heart and He'll judge you for management of the task He's given you. Proverbs 5, 21 says, "For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and you watch as all His ways." I'll never forget a story that the Southern Baptist evangelist shared. He said it was a true story.

He said the pastor was in his study one day, just working along and his first great boy came running in there. And his first great boy just climbed up in his lap and said, "Daddy, look, I got my first report card. Daddy, look, I got all A's." And he sure enough got all A's. And that preacher hugged that boy and said, "Son, I'm so proud of you. Kissed him on the cheek. I'm so proud of you. You've gotten all A's. You've done so well, son. You've done so well.

I'm so proud of you." He squirmed out of his daddy's arms and around the door said, "I've got to go show mama my first report card." Well, the pastor began studying a little bit more and he felt something down at his feet. And he had forgotten that his 21-year-old severely mentally retarded boy had been sitting at his feet while he was studying. And he looked down at his retarded 21-year-old boy and he had tied his shoe up. The boy had been in a class for months and months and months to learn one task and that's how to tie a shoe. And he looked up at his daddy and he said, "Daddy, I've tied your shoe.

I tied your shoe." That pastor picked that 21-year-old boy up, put him in his lap, put his arms around him and kissed him on the cheek and said, "Son, you've done so well with what task God gave you to do, son. You've done so well. Daddy's proud of you and kissed him on the cheek and just hugged him and held him there." You think your job's not important? Listen to me. God's church is of God's providence. You're here in God's purposes. He's given you a job. Do it with joy and praise in your heart regardless of who sees. Nobody saw what that little 21-year-old retarded boy did but his daddy saw it.

He will reward you for the management of the task he's given you to do. That's the kind of God we serve, the God of heaven and earth. Secondly, not only does he see everything and will he judge you on management, he will bring down those who exalt themselves. The church is not the place for you to exalt yourself, it's a place to exalt Jesus. And he will bring down those who purposely use the church to exalt themselves. In Proverbs 15, 25, the Bible says, "God will destroy the house of the proud." You remember when old Saul went down there to destroy the people, the Amalekites?

And God said, "Saul, don't bring back anything." Have you learned in God's church that you're to function in God's church? God's way. You don't get to do church your way. I hear these foolish nonsense. Do you realize most congregations in our world today are doing it man's way instead of God's way? And a lot of them can boast of big numbers. By the way, to be where you're located, to have these numbers is a God thing. God has to do this right here. But a lot of people have big numbers, not because God's doing something, it's because they're being clever and creative and cute and entertaining. God's not doing much. That's what they're doing.

And listen to me. So since it's their doing, God will bring it down. You just give it some time. I've been in this thing almost four decades. I've been watching it happen over and over and over again. If you exalt yourselves, you've got to bring it down. We've got to do God's work, God's way for God's glory. Saul went out there and God said, "Saul, I want you to destroy the Amalekites. Don't bring back anything." Well Saul didn't do that. Brought back the king, brought back the livestock. And then on his way back, the Bible says Saul built a monument unto himself.

And immediately God said, "I'm taking the kingdom away from him." And you know who he's going to give it to, don't you? A boy who worked the night shift keeping the sheep named David. Talk about him a little bit more in a moment. He will bring down those exaltants. So do you just serve on God's night shift and God's local church? It don't matter how little the job, how many of the tasks, make sure your preaching pastor knows this job is handled and this job is handled and this job is handled. So he's freed up to do what must be done right and that's preach the word faithfully.

And you just keep serving on that night shift like these priests with joy and praise in your hearts regardless of who knows or who gives you any credit. Number three about this God of heaven and earth that we serve. If he keeps you on the night shift, his grace is sufficient. Will I ever get a job? Will I ever be the teacher? Will I ever be the leader of this and that? I don't know but if he doesn't, his grace is sufficient for you. You do what you can do and what God's called you to do. When I first began preaching, there were some churches brave enough to let me preach and I wish I could go back and change a lot of things.

You know when your young preacher didn't grow up and preach, you say a lot of stuff that you wish you hadn't said. But there was a church in my hometown, Lartsburg that was literally across the tracks. You crossed the train tracks in Lartsburg, I believe it's going north and there's government subsidized housing over there. And there was a little church over there called Mediview Baptist Church and they, Brother Chris, would have me to preach over and over again. I mean I'm just 19, 20, 21 and they would have me to preach.

Well I hadn't been asked back for several years, probably a decade or 15 years had passed and Mediview Baptist Church called me and said, "Brother Jeff, if you preached for us right after God saved you and called you to preach, would you come back and preach for us again?" I said, "Sure." I mean these are just plain old poor folks that love Jesus, just a sweet congregation. And I went back and preached for them and they built a brand new fellowship hall, just a beautiful little fellowship hall.

And we were in there eating after the Sunday morning service and I was eating at a table and two widowed sisters were eating there with me and they'd moved in together, their husbands of course had passed away and they were on a Social Security income so in order to make ends meet they moved in together to save money. And they said, "Brother Jeff, can we tell you how we got this fellowship hall?" And I said, "I'd love to hear how you got this fellowship hall." They said, "We know for years when we had a fellowship we had to meet in the Sunday school classroom, just split up in groups because we didn't have a place big enough for all of us to fellowship and have a fellowship meal.

And we kept telling the deacons of the church we need to build a fellowship hall. The deacons just wouldn't budge. They just held on to that money in the bank but it can't turn it loose. And we kept pushing and bugging and saying, "We need to build a fellowship hall." And finally to shut us up the deacons said, "Okay, if you can raise $25,000 we'll start building the fellowship hall." Well folks to those two widowed sisters $25,000 might as well have been $25 million. So they started a campaign with the deacons approval to raise money and those little ladies, how those ladies, they have nothing. How they going to raise money?

But they realized the apple trees in the churchyard that year was loaded with apples. So they started picking those apples and cutting those apples and drying those apples. You know where I'm going, don't you? And they got in their kitchen and cooked those apples down and made fried apple pies. The whole works. Iron skillets, lots of butter. You fry them on each side. Got lots of brown sugar, butter. Oh my goodness, they're the best thing in the world.

And they went to Walmart, thank God for Walmart, and asked the manager if they could put a table out in front of Walmart because they wanted to sell fried apple pies and raise money to build the fellowship hall at the church. And those ladies picked those apples, cut those apples, dried those apples, made those little fried apple pies, cooked them in those iron skillets, took them down to Walmart and sold fried apple pies and they raised $750 for the new fellowship hall. And that motivated the men of the church to get activated and they all gave and they raised enough money in just a few months to build the new fellowship hall.

That's night shift work. I thought you can have the bankers and the lawyers and the business owners give me two witted sisters who know how to make fried apple pies and we'll build a church for the glory of God. That's what we need in our church. Those ladies spent their whole lives never teaching a class, never leading anything, never president of the WMU, just doing what they could do on God's night shift. That's what we ought to do. What task has God given you to do? And it was just fine with them if they got to do that night shift work. If God keeps you on the night shift, just remember His grace is sufficient.

Number four about this God of heaven and earth, these pilgrims come into Jerusalem and say, you guys work on the night shift, may the Lord bless you, He's the God of heaven and earth. If He desires a public role for you, you can't miss it. If you'll be faithful in God's night shift work, faithful during the task, nobody else wants to do. Now listen with joy and praise in your heart, not begrudgingly, knowing it's a privilege to serve the Lord in this church. If He wants you in a public position, you cannot miss it. Old Daniel is a good example of this. Daniel exiled into Babylon and kept him just a teenage boy. Nobody knows him.

Nobody honors him. Nobody does. He just was faithful to God when nobody was looking. And God turned around a series of events and all of a sudden Daniel becomes one of the most prominent, actually the prominent influencer in all of the Babylonian kingdom. Joseph, same way, Joseph sold into an Egyptian caravan. Nobody knows Joseph, ends up in an Egyptian dungeon because of Potiphar's wife, Lai, Lai, and accusation. And then through some miracle events, he rises up becoming the prime minister of the mighty nation of Egypt. Listen, those two men, Joseph and Daniel, were faithful on the night shift. Oh, and don't forget David.

David had the most menial night shift job in the whole household. He kept the sheep. That was the lowest job you could have. All by himself, back on the back 40, keeping the sheep. But you know what David was doing back there? Writing Psalms. With joy and praise in his heart, he worked back there on the night shift. The prophet came to Jesse's household one day and said, "One of your sons is going to be king of Israel." And she said, "Oh my goodness, I'd rather bring in my best sons in." So he'd pray to all these boys in front of the prophet, one boy after the other, "Fine guys, fine looking men, able men." The prophet said, "That's not the one.

That's not the one. That's not the one." And eventually the prophet said, "You got any others?" Now, I'm ad-living here a little bit. And Jesus said, "Well, I've got one little rut, boy David. He just keeps the sheep. Bring him in here." David walked in, the prophet said, "The king of Israel. If God wants you exalted, you be faithful where he's put you." You can't miss it. Over 38 years ago, I was a newly converted Christian. And some friends of mine from high school said, "Jeff, you need to have Christian roommates.

Why don't you transfer from Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro and come to the University of North Alabama in Florence, Alabama and room with us. We love the Lord and you're a Christian now." And I thought, "Man, I'll do that." And so to have Christian roommates and Christian friends, I transferred down to the University of North Alabama. We begin to think, "We got to find a church to attend down here." So we attended church after church after church. And finally, we crossed the river from Florence, Alabama over into Muscle Shoals, Alabama and found this little square metal building. They called it warehouse baddest.

That was a derogatory term for it. And it was a little square warehouse building. The pews were about halfway back. It might have been 100 people there. And we sat on the back pew on a Wednesday night. But the pastor got up and preached verse by verse, expositional preaching. And we were just drawn to that. We came back another time and came back another time. We met a few people, but not very many people. And then one night, actually it was a Sunday night, the pastor said, "All right, we're having work nights this week." They were actually building the new Sunday school classrooms in each end of that old metal building.

"Well, having a work night, they couldn't afford to pay for a contract to do it, so the men would come up and work on the church." And so me and my roommate at college said, "Let's go help on their work nights." So we showed up, went in the back doors of what was First Baptist Church of Muscle Shoals then. And when we walked in the door, we had work clothes on. The pastor had not met me. I didn't know him. He didn't know. I just wouldn't have heard him preach, but we didn't know each other personally. And he thought we were with some sort of contractor that had been hired out to do maybe a more important task than the average guy couldn't do.

So he said, "Well, who do y'all work for?" And I said, "We work for the Lord." He said, "All right, good." He said, "You see those 15-foot-long double sheetrock pieces over there? Have you ever carried sheetrock?" He said, "We need all of those upstairs." So me and my roommate carried double-fit sheetrock upstairs all night long to put in those Sunday school classes in the upstairs of that room. That was my first job at Grace Life Church of the Shoals 39 years ago. I was glad to do it and glad to get in on it. I had no idea I'd be on staff. I had no idea I'd be the senior pastor now for over 30 years.

If God wants you exalted, you'll be faithful where He puts you, and He will exalt you in due time. Well, these pilgrims coming in from Babylon and exile, look at these night shift workings that say, "Behold, bless the Lord, all saints of the Lord who serve by night in the house of the Lord." The Lord blessed you from Zion. Now, remember, He's the God who made heaven and earth. You're not just serving anybody. He knows where you are. He knows what you're doing. You just stay faithful. One last thought. God has a way to exalt the humble. God will always see to it that in one way or another, He exalts the humble.

Proverbs 29, 23 says, "A humble spirit will obtain honor." A humble spirit will obtain honor. And Jesus said the first will be last, and the last will be first. I was talking to you earlier about the Medivhue Baptist Church literally on the wrong side of the tracks in the middle of government subsidized housing. They asked me back another time. I don't know how many years ago. It's been several years ago. And I went back and preached there. I'd probably been preaching now about 25 years. And after the service, a little grandmother came up to me.

Her name's Thelma Lufman, called Medivhue Baptist Church in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, and mentioned Thelma Lufman. They know who you're talking about. And Ms. Thelma said, "Brother Jeff, I want to take you out to eat." Matter of fact, at that time, I didn't remember Thelma's name. I remembered her face, but didn't remember her name. I said, "Well, yes, ma'am, thank you." And I didn't say it, but I don't go out to eat with ladies in the church by myself, even though there was probably about a 50-year age difference.

And I said, "Yes, ma'am, we'll get some folks to go with us, and we'll go to eat after church." So after church that Sunday night, we went to Shoney's Restaurant. Y'all know what a Shoney's Restaurant is? I don't know if we got any of them anymore. I think we still got one in town, don't we? There's not many of them left, I don't think. We went to Shoney's Restaurant and went to the salad bar and got our salads, and we were sitting down.

She said, "Brother Jeff, the reason I wanted to ask you to eat is I want to tell you something." And she said, "You know, when you first came to preach for us many, many years ago, you were just a young boy, and starting out preaching," she said, "but I sense God had His hand on you." And she said this, and I can't quote her perfectly, but this is basically what she said. She said, "You know, God didn't give me the gift of teaching. God hadn't called me to preach, obviously. I don't have the gifts of leadership. I've never led anything in the church, but you know what I can do?

I can pray." And she said, "For all these years since I first heard you preach, my time is four o'clock in the morning. I don't sleep well. I wake up at four o'clock in the morning, I go get on my knees, and I've got a prayer list, and you're at the top of my prayer list. And I've been asking God to keep you. I've been asking God to protect you. I've been asking God to guard you and use you mildly for His glory." And folks, I want to tell you, my heart just melted.

I thought, "For all these decades, this woman has been on her knees before the sun comes up praying for my ministry." And I thought, "How is it all of those times when I could have failed the Lord, but the Lord held me up? I could have fallen to temptation and ruined my ministry and ruined my reputation, but I didn't fall. And difficult seasons when God knows I wanted to quit, and I couldn't quit." What do you think the key to that is, Jeff Noblet? No, it's Thelma Luftman on her knees before the sun comes up. That's night shift work. No, we don't know what it's going to be like in heaven.

We try to picture it in our minds, so let me just picture my minds in our minds this morning rather. One day I'll get to heaven. I know I'm going there because Jesus has saved me. And I kind of figure I'll walk into heaven and the Lord will say, "Welcome home." And I say, "Lord, I'm thrilled to be here. Thank you." Then He'll say, "Jeff, you see that seat on the back? Would you sit back there?" I said, "Yes, sir." And I sit on the back, and right down there before the throne of God will be Thelma Luftman. So, Ms. Thelma sits here because she was the secret. She was the key to your ministry.

The last time we kept count, I've had over a million sermons bought or downloaded and listened to, probably closer to two million because that's been several years ago. Ms. Thelma never preached a sermon. But I believe in heaven she'll get more glory because she did a task. Nobody saw, nobody applauded, nobody affirmed, but it's being affirmed now in heaven. God has a way of exalting the humble.

I can sense this is a special place right here, but if you're going to keep on being used to God, being pleasing to God, you must keep on with the all-important night shift work in the kingdom of God, serving, ministering, taking care of stuff whether anybody sees it or not, regardless of whether or not you get any credit because it's an undeserved privilege. And God will one day exalt the humble. Let me pray for us. Father, I thank you for the ways you have been teaching me this very truth and this very principle. And I pray, God, you'll speak to our hearts in a mighty way this morning.

And every dear saint of God here will reaffirm, I don't care if they've been perfect on the night shift, I pray this morning in a spirit of repentance, they will reaffirm, Lord, I want to be faithful in Your church. I want to do what my pastor needs done. I want to fulfill some role. It doesn't matter who gets the credit and I want to do it with joy and praise in my heart, dear Lord, because I'm thankful I get to get in on it.

And Lord, may this church, Nola Baptist Church, be a witness of You to this community and literally to the ends of the earth as people look at them and see that they're faithful night shift workers in the kingdom of God. We pray all this in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen. Pastor. Amen.