The End time Call "INN-KEEPER "- Henry Wright

[Applause] how y'all doing it is so good to be back at socal thank you for inviting me back with my dear wife and just so uh grateful to the lord i was reflecting back there as my temperament is inclined to do the first time i preached at this camp meeting was 1980 i was 38 years old i'm now 76. why don't you give god a hand for his mercy and grace my dear wife is with me um carol please stand we praise god i retired in december of 2017 so i'm almost seven full months into trying to figure out what to do next but i just thank god for being god i thank your administrative team for this theme his word shaping our story his word shaping our story make it personal his word shaping you come on somebody his word shaping you going to spend some time with that over the next several sermons and pray that god will speak to your heart let's pray i'm in your hands lord amen let's read those words on the screen together come on everybody then jesus uh that was a pitiful start let's go then jesus answered and said a certain man went down from jerusalem to jericho and fell among thieves who stripped him of his clothing wounded him and departed leaving him half dead now by chance a certain priest came down that road and when he saw him he passed by on the other side likewise a levite when he arrived at the place came and looked and passed by on the other side but a certain samaritan as he journeyed came where he was and when he saw him he had compassion now paul's don't just pause let's digest what we've gotten so far read on so he went into him what's wrong with you read so he went into him and banished his wound pouring oil and wine and set him on his own animal and brought him to an end and took care of him brought him where read on on the next day when he departed he took out two daenery gave them to the to who to the innkeeper and said to him take care of him number one whatever more you spend now i don't know don't worry about the rest of it you hold the rest of it brethren let's go back here take care of him number one and whatever more you spend number two and when i come again i will repay you number three my subject the innkeeper oh well wait what pastor i thought this was a sermon on the good samaritan ah you've heard that one already all of you old adventists and christians have heard somebody preach on the good samaritan you know about the levite and the shame of the priest to walk by the poor fella beaten up and bruised laying on the highway you've heard that we i don't need to take you back through that tonight you know the story better than me but have you ever given any press to the innkeeper i like that response did you hear them and so i said oh wait wait wait wait yeah i haven't heard that before no you haven't heard that one before the innkeeper the in keeper let's let's just talk about the end keeper for a minute this this this this independent businessman found himself a corner placed his holiday inn junior right there worn down the competition people are coming and going he has staff he has employees he has people who clean people who cook people at the at the registration desk he's got he's invested quality in his rooms fine furniture draperies and so forth he has a nice free breakfast in the morning served from six to nine this guy this guy this inn keeper and i'm upset tonight because nobody talks about it we talk about the levite and we spend a lot of time as preachers at poorly how could that levite the preacher says walk by how could that priest we and and we know those of us who've read desire of ages that the priest and the levite were in the audience when jesus told the parable yeah there you go again and and and and and we know from the sermons we've heard preach that that this this poor broken up fellow represents represents uh those in the world who who've gone through rough times and and and and and been left aside and and how the good samaritan by the way christ object lessons you read that to page 381 the good samaritan is jesus now that's that's that's worth reaching for about two minutes i mean the samaritan represents jesus not a jew not one of the elite but jesus paints himself as the unexpected hero the samaritan we must pause and talk about that christ is sending a message almost immediately to his church that he represents all of us that was pitiful so i'll help you out amen amen all of us there's there's no one christ can't represent whoever whatever what background we can be represented by jesus christ so he paints himself as a samaritan and and that's why the story by the way is in luke because he's the only gentile who writes a gospel book matthew doesn't cover it in his book and and mark the memories of peter doesn't cover it in his book and john the beloved john nice guy but he says nothing about the good samaritan only a gentile can appreciate the story where jesus is represented by a non-jew so luke caught that that jesus now is represented by this unacceptable person but that's not the meat of the story there's this in keeper now some pastors when they when they when they preach the story they they paint the uh the as as the church leaders who've lost their touch and and the priest as the as the pastors and elders who've lost their touch and and of course all of us like to picture ourselves as the man beaten up because we've been beaten up and jesus helps us we want to be that person but have you ever considered that jesus only gives instructions to the inn keeper there you go again only to the innkeeper does he give instruction now why are you all so calm and i'm the only one excited the innkeeper read over passed over ignored not talked about not preached about but hey tonight i want to lift this guy up because this is the one person to whom in the parable in the parable jesus gives the innkeeper responsibility oh i read christ's object lessons just like you did and we know now that the in keeper represents the church he represents the church now i'm back with his innkeeper i like him his business runs like a clock everything is smooth everything is on time everything is organized bills are being paid income is coming he's having a great life and the last thing he needs is somebody bringing him a problem yeah somebody over here is listening the last thing he needs is somebody bringing him a problem the last thing this church member needs is jesus bringing him a problem see your theme is his word shaping our story that means that theme said to me that this camp meeting is celebrating the fact that god has the right to invade your life with his mission without your permission and until you are ready to let god's word and god's mission interfere with your flow that you might accomplish what god had in mind when he gave you life and breath until you are there you are pretending to be a disciple now i don't have time in this sermon to deal with how the good samaritan or the samaritan and this innkeeper knew each other i don't even know if they knew each other what i know is that in the midst of a busy day he drives up in his suv with this dude he's found on the side of the road broken up and says he wants a room there's no reservation there's no call ahead of time he just says we need a room and he's got this guy all bloodied up to put on these clean sheets are you listening to me are you really listening to me do you understand that god has the right any day in your life to bring you whatever problem he chooses to accomplish his task well i've been following you i've been keeping up with you i know you guys every year raise about a million dollars in in in evangelism offering and i know for some of you say here we go again gotta raise all this money give all these funds for all these various projects god does not need your permission to get your money it's his money that was weak so i will help you out again amen when you became a member of god's church you gave up ownership your life is now god's territory your path is now his path my brother and god can present you in the midst of your flow whatever problem he has and say to you take care of it take care of it so here he is this guy shows up and and and and and i can imagine see i i can imagine i have a preacher's imagination because of whatever kind of relationship this innkeeper and this good samaritan and good samaritan obviously was a guy of of wealth you know he he comes up in his his his his suv i didn't say what kind it was you know maybe a lexus maybe a fine you know he he knows him he's good for his he's good for his money and he's a man of means he is taking care of the man himself now here's the there's a here's a beautiful part of the story that's not preached about the bible is clear in the story you read it the good samaritan took care of the man himself first didn't he didn't he which means any problem god brings you he's already handled himself and decided it's your size oh shoot that was a good point you should have said amen you should have said amen that was a good point he brings you problems he's already taken care of he doesn't just dump the stuff in your lap he makes sure it's a problem you can handle he's already put the oil on he's already batted him up he's already seen to his needs he just wants you to finish the job amen god bless you my brother and so and so and so here he comes brings this guy in all this mess and stuff and bandages and so forth and and and and they work out some kind of arrangement find a room and he's probably got nothing left but one of his sweets did they go last because they're more expensive yeah yeah somebody somebody somebody's paying attention to this sermon see jesus listen listen unless you're ready to give jesus the best you have you're not ready to give him anything at all [Music] christ did not die on the cross to receive peanuts he wants all that you are in fact paul in shock in first corinthians says what what first corinthians 6 19 and 20 what no you not yeah that you are bought with a price and you are not your own i mean paul writes it in shock don't you know yet that when jesus died on the cross he bought the whole planet it's all his he can do with what he wants the innkeeper is about to find this out so so so who is this innkeeper he's us uh what was he like he was a hard working steady guy returning his tithe that's offering going to church on the weekend got his kids in the academy he's doing just so he does not need problems he's paying his staff he's keeping up with the taxes he doesn't need problems have you ever noticed have you ever noticed i have that it's when your life is just flowing along like honey somebody's listening to him i heard somebody say come on i'm gonna come on too yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah that's that's when jesus allowed something to happen i mean it was it was it was it was doing some of the best days of my of my life when when when when the lord allowed my 26 year old son to to die two miles from my house and an automobile accident we were we had just moved to a new church things were going well life was progressing right in the midst of that god drops a life test and you see folk the issue in life is not whether we can trust god the issue in life is whether god can trust you in keeper here i come with a life problem a life situation take care of it and then and then he has the nerves to say to the innkeeper brother pastor i can hardly say it and when you spend more what what you don't left me too daenery here now and you and i can imagine that when the when the when the bruised and beat up smelly god he's got to be shower in fact in fact the innkeepers got to bring in help because the the maids who clean the room they they don't they don't they don't date people they don't banish people and he's running the business and his wife is taking care of the kids who's going to take care of this sick man you see the problem he's got to hire somebody have you ever had a problem in life where you find yourself saying to the lord is there a problem somewhere with me i mean really i mean you know it's this nothing is going have you noticed nothing's going well does anybody know what i'm talking about where one problem comes piles upon another problem and you say what the what's the worth of going to church what's the worth of returning time why am i eating chocolates and vegemites instead of steak and chicken why am i doing all this stuff why am i making all these sacrifices because nothing's working for me so i imagine in my preacher's imagination he had to hire some help to take care of the guy so now so now his assignment and it's a daily assignment he's got to check on the guy himself it's it's it's it's a care assignment you know you know giving care giving have you ever been a caregiver that can drain you he's got to give care but something else hits me and jesus wanted me to tell you this tonight something else hits me see this is the church this is us he's paying bills he's taking care of taxes he's seen to his staff he's singing about his kids but in this situation listen he has to pause and focus on a person i'm disturbed tonight because something i think the church may be in danger of forgetting is that the prime purpose of the church is people ah come on come on come on people people and in the adventist church we've gotten so caught up in programs and i'm not against programs i'm very programmed myself but ladies and gentlemen programs in the church that use god's resources and that really don't help and win and improve and restore and help people are a waste of the church's time and and he doesn't know this person he may know the he he he may know the samaritan i mean this is christ you may know him he doesn't know this person and and so and so there's a lesson here folks as we move into the last days as this great conference i've had the joy of preaching at every major camp being in adventism at some point in my career and i've never seen a conference like this one so geared to making sacrifices for the sake of the extension of the gospel god bless you but remember the bottom line is people people people who show up in your church not dressed right people who show up in your church with a ring in their nose people who show up in your church with their hair fixed in strange ways and in idiotic colors i mean suggestions said that in strange colors see i'm still growing too strange colors people who don't know when to stand up you know we know when the when the you know when the doxology is sung and the you know you stand they don't understand they don't understand god's gonna drop these people all over our churches and we must receive them and forget our agenda and traditions and recognize that the purpose of the church is people [Applause] they don't know to stand when you pray they don't know to fold their hands they don't know to kneel they're doing good to be there they're broken and bruised and beat up by life and they they have no hope and there's no one to care for them and so jesus brings them in and then brings them to us this thing is costing this innkeeper money i i i i picture him again this this you have to watch us preachers we have a we have vivid imaginations i i picture him at first keeping records five dollars for bandages he said he's going to repay so it'd be bad we repay bandages and 12 dollars for fresh washcloths and then 20 dollars for sheets you know he's a businessman y'all you know twenty dollars for sales and and thirty dollars a day for the personal care but the problem is you read the text you read the text with me the guy says when i come again when it's when when is when fella is the church listening did you hear him say i will come again when when it's falling apart my life's falling apart my marriage is falling apart my kids have no sense they're just like me they have no sense when are you coming back see that's the that's the key to this story we must take care till he releases us there is no buying out of the mission there is no way of the away from the responsibility it's when he decides and one day turned into one week and one week turned into one month and by now he has stopped keeping records see that's what god wants you to do stop keeping records you remember those remember those little yellow cards or something i'm 76 some of y'all are pretty young but some of you old folk remember the old yellow cards personal ministries yeah hours of christian welfare raised three hours money cash donated the welfare three dollars and 21 cents if you're really helping somebody i'll come you know how many cents you spent but anyhow we go off that list and and and it became it became really a moment jackie for a lot of a lot of christian boasting i was so glad when we got rid of them yellow cards see if you remember they did it at the end of sabbath school remember so you sit there with the class members you don't want the person the teacher to go through the whole card and you never raise your hand and claim anything so you lie you lie you lie god wants us to stop keeping score why he doesn't keep score he doesn't count your sin somebody say amen he doesn't count your lie somebody's saying man he doesn't count your mistakes somebody say amen he doesn't keep score so we ought to stop keeping score just do it because it's right to do it so it's costly it's indefinite you know i i like to think i'm a guy that's you know you know i i think i'm pretty you know i yeah i mean so you know if you bring a problem to me you know look i need to do so and so and so and so i'll probably say yes but you know my next question's gonna be but now how how long you know do you want me to you know that's not a natural question yeah i mean i got a life here i got a life i got things to do how long do you want me to take care of about mary how long take care till i get back keep passing out tracks till i get back come on somebody keep going down to the soup kitchen till i get back keep visiting the sick and the afflicted till i get back i wish somebody would say man keep knocking on doors and giving bible studies till i get back just keep it up till i get back that is exactly what he said to this guy and the thing about it is the assignment is daily it is care oriented it is people people-focused it is costly it's indefinite and it is incalculable and the reason why in case i didn't put this in the sermon i just checked my notes see what i left out the reason why the lord wants you to reach the point where you can't fathom what it has cost you to serve him the reason why he wants you to reach that point is because you can't fathom what it cost him to save you what is the value of the cross have mercy lord what value can you put on god hung on a tree how dare you ever imply by your statements that god asks too much of you that's why we give money to evangelism it's an investment it's absolute investment because it brings people and jesus has put on measured value my dear lady on me you can talk about me as much as you please but jesus died for me so just keep on talking and i'll keep on thinking because jesus died for me i am somebody hey because jesus died for me it doesn't make any difference what my background is doesn't make any difference where i come from what i look like i am special because jesus died for me i wish somebody would say man out there there is no value you can put on henry right you can't weigh my cost because i'm worth the son of god so here he is here he is and i think i i i i just imagine that the good samaritan jesus took his time getting back there's an old song the black folk used to sing he may not come when you want him but he's right on time yeah those sisters we get to pat in the feet and shaking in the pew may not come when you want him but he's sure enough gonna come on time everybody start clapping their hands there was truth in that song god acts in the same degree as you grow he won't solve the problem till you accept the problem let me take it deeper he won't solve the problem until you accept his right to send the problem god does not bargain with you he does not bargain with his church here's the broken take it here's the situation care for it here's the problem until i get back and then he says i will repay now i would imagine me in this foolish imagination of mine i would imagine that at the at the beginning this was a spur to this businessman you know he's spending he's keeping records his accountant is toting things up but he's okay because this guy's gonna repay now when it first starts he doesn't know the guy's gonna stay till jesus comes that was not in the plan he just know and so he's okay because he's going to repay and and samaritan clearly is a guy with money drove up to the place in a bmw suv he can take care of it god has to wait until you stop calculating what he's going to do for you i want that to sink in i heard an old baptist preacher once say even the baptist has some truth you know i heard an old baptist preacher say once you should love jesus so much that if he went to hell you would join him there boy did you hear that did you hear that elder you hear him whoa yeah there's a baptist don't blame me it was the baptist who said it but there's truth in that see folk if you're going to heaven for golden streets for a road that needs no dry cleaning for shoes you follow me if you're going to heaven for the stuff my brother but god wants to bring you to the point where all you want to do is see jesus see your savior you don't care what other accruments and benefits he has you just want to finally and i don't know about you folks i want to hug him i want to lay my hand on my head on his chest and just say thank you jesus for making me so valuable and so and so the lord had to wait until this businessman was no longer calculating what he was going to receive i will repay but oh what a repayment for the time you spent in keeper i'll give you an exchange eternity for the money you spent in keeper i'll give you a life with no bills at all for the care you have spent in keeper i will care for you for eternity for the stress you've been through in keeper i will give you eternal peace for the inconvenience and folk let me pause and say here being a christian can sometimes be inconvenient they don't sit there and be pious say amen no better roses but god says i'll repay you with a life that has no inconvenience and for the uncertainty in keeper you've experienced i will give you eternal assurance and for the mission i gave you for the mission that i gave you i will replace it with eternal celebration how long have you been in this church how long you know when i retired i had been a minister for i retired in december i'd been a pastor for 53 and a half years full-time ministry no no no no i'm serious i appreciate that but no 53 and a half years and you can kind of begin to get the feeling that maybe somebody owes you something i'm going to be very vulnerable with you now very transparent you start expecting certain things because you've been a human you've pastored 15 and a half years so the brethren ought to give you some deference you know really i'm serious folk really really i mean you've been elder at your church since abraham lincoln died treasurer since methuselah missed the boat are you hearing me you can be listen to me folk i'm serious i know you're smiling you can begin to think that maybe somebody owes you something and one of the things that retirement has done for me it's been good for me i no longer i don't pastor anything i'm a pastor i don't pastor an outhouse nothing i'm not over anything i don't sit on a committee i don't care anything i don't no nobody waits for me to show up like they don't care whether i show up or not it's been good for are you listening to me good for me just and and to go to church and just sit there you know when i was in the ministry my wife would have a terrible time with me i'd visit churches and and and things weren't going right i like order i like order give me water and system see no finagling around and got yeah and so i would go places and i would get kind of and she put her head on my thigh honey honey you're not in charge of anything today we're just visiting just busy i'm learning how to go to church and just sit like one of the members yeah no no no deference no no would you come past would you come forward and say a word no no no no no henry wright goes now to church and keeps his mouth shut let me make a few more remarks inside i love the sap so that's absolute lesson my point is god has shown me in these seven months how to be happy truly happy in the church being nothing but an innkeeper and as i wrote to my new pastor he's one of my students i taught him he was my youth pastor at one of my churches and now he's now my pastor and i wrote to him and told him the various things i'd be willing to do and so forth and then i added or anything else you'd need me to do and i looked i said you actually wrote that listen to me listen to me to the innkeeper speaks to us some of us have possessed and owned we think the church is our property brothers and sisters if you have a office in the church a position in the church that's by the grace of god you're nothing but just an innkeeper he can dump a problem in your life anytime he feels like it he can wait as long as he can to reimburse you you have to become if we're going to be saved we have to become willing nobodies in god's house to be used as god sees fit somebody say a man out there [Applause] are you ready for jesus to come are you ready to stand in his place that he chooses for you that innkeeper that's the hero of the story of the good samaritan the person who accepted god's assignment and through that assignment listen to me the theme the theme the theme shaped by god's word through that assignment take care spend more you will spend more folk you will spend more i will return and i will repay you those three phrases changed his whole life [Music] those three phrases changed his whole life i had no plans to take care of a broken person i certainly had no plans to spend more money than you gave me samaritan and i had no plans to wait at infinitum till you decide to come back have you listened to this sermon you see what it's saying to you god's word shapes you yeah i'm gonna make an appeal and make an appeal it's all right you'll be fine lord i've not always been willing to let you invade my space the sermons helped me see that i have tended to want to run my life my way i have resisted when you have imposed problems issues people people some of you have had to unexpectedly take care of a relative some of you that unexpectedly take care of a teenager some of you have had to unexpectedly take care of a neighbor god has put stuff in your life and it was rough on you or some other situation and you're admitting tonight i've not always done well with that and i know we're moving to the last days and god is not going to be choosy about what he sends i want to be ready when he comes accepting of his impositions i've not always been there and you know it i want there to be an honest response if you fit this appeal you know you need to be more submissive to god's invasive tactics in your life you know that stand i'm already standing stand you're not a bad person if you don't stand the appeal may not fit you see the appeal may not fit you so how many of you think you will always remember now the innkeeper huh yeah some of you you're going home tonight you're going to read that story again yeah that innkeeper [Music] they didn't keep it as me as i will deal with tomorrow night i'm a person who's always wanted to be in charge i'm confessing i like being in charge tomorrow night i will step all over my toes in my own sermon i will step on yours too but tonight we're confessing we don't like our flow to be messed up well let's be honest most of us we have a flow to our life don't bring me problems we don't say it that way but that's how we are but tonight we're asking for the spirit elder of submission humility is an excellent word [Music] that says lord you have the right because see these are the last days ladies and gentlemen god doesn't have time to negotiate with you and ask permission he's just going to bring to you what he needs you to do he expects you to do it with a smile on your face some will pray for us not for you for us can i do that could you join hands together as i pray would you do that for me even across the aisle [Music] you've had such wonderful sermons and presentations all during this week i'm honored that they've trusted me to come to the end of this i'm honored i don't deserve this i'll do the best i can don't do the best i can folk and you're praying for me i know you are some of you walked up to me today and said pastor we're praying for you and you're welcome to be back i really appreciate that now let's pray father an innkeeper you stuck that ringer in that story and now we got to deal with that innkeeper he's too much like me i don't like that [Music] he's the one to whom you gave the assignment not the priest not the levite but the innkeeper had the problem dropped in his lap you have dropped into the lap of the church the mission sometimes we squirm we're confessing tonight our attitude has not always been positive thank you for lovingly tolerating that and even helping us when we were not willing you've done that [Music] and in the process like the innkeeper you softened us we became less calculating less self-concerned and we finally gave ourselves fully to the problem thank you for your patience jesus [Music] and nervously we know you're going to test us again so we're standing but we're also praying help me jesus because here you're going to come again after camp meeting with some broken situation i want to do better next time i want to be your servant next time i want to be humble and submissive next time lord help me it's not natural for me help me [Music] help me to stop owning the inn it's your end you can bring anybody you want red yellow black and white short tall you can bring them it's your end so we're standing on this final thursday night of this wonderful camp meeting praying for your mercy now forgive me lord for being the inadequate preacher that i am but i think your holy spirit got the message across this end we give praise and thanks and all the people said together amen amen oh you're so precious you can be seated now

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Keywords: pavel goia, pavel goia sermons, sermons room, pavel goia 2019, pavel goia 2020, emygidius george, life of prayer, prayer, The INN-KEEPER - Henry Wright, pastor henry wright sermons 2020, pastor henry wright 2019, pastor henry wright sermons

Id: _3esoEkvfTg

Length: 48min 33sec (2913 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 09 2020