Mid South Conference 1981-12 Ezekiel 34: — Lew Clarkson

And really, I do more than play ball. I've been coming down south for years, and I think most of these people down here think all I do is play ball and speak to teenagers, but I do have a thing that's called business.

Sometimes there are things that really come across your mind that really shakes you up. But I feel kind of like a chihuahua now that's all the St. Bernard. When you follow Brother Horton, Brother Fan, and then they ask me to speak, just think of that poor little dog down there looking like St. Bernard.

Then you'll know how I feel this morning. But I'll tell you what, believe it or not, I stay in the farm fields of Iowa, and however, Vernon got me and some of the other brethren to come up to Canada last fall to speak to the Workers' Conference.

Now, if you don't think that's a job when you try to straighten out 200 preachers. But they figured there was no one in the United States that could do at least a decent job more than I could. Ask Eddie, ask Hal, ask Johnny.

But anyhow, it was a thrill. And we are going to have the Workers' Conference in Des Moines, Iowa. Take out that little blue book, put it right down there, and mark it, Des Moines, Iowa, the Cornfields of Iowa, October the 6th.

And you people from the South, come on up and join some fellowship up there as well. You know, the war is over. But we would like to have you come up there and really see how we do things. And you might change things down here for the better.

You might be more satisfied. But anyhow, I do have some things upon my mind and my heart that is laid upon my heart. Because you see, I wasn't raised in the jungles of Africa. And you weren't either. And how I really do and all sincerely appreciate that ministry that he gives us.

And brother Fan, I might say that I spent one day at Baruch and I saw those beautiful buildings before they were destroyed. And then I saw those mountains over there. And no wonder he says, over here, everything is hurry, hurry.

While in Des Moines, Iowa, it's hurry, hurry, hurry. And so we were not raised in the jungles of Africa, but most of us here are witnessing and feeling upon the asphalt jungles of our city. And this morning, there's a few things I would like to bring before you.

Leaders Must Feed and Care for the Flock

As just a couple of thoughts for we who desire to be leaders in the assembly, rather we are the ladies, the mothers of Israel, or those who are elders or those who desire to be elders. Shall we pray? Our father, we pray at this time that whatever is upon our hearts and our mind that would be preoccupied about that vocation back home, about that business transaction, or even about that personal problem that we have within our family.

We would ask you that this may be laid aside this morning as we gather here in this quiet place. And as we open up by word, we pray our living father that everything is said and done this morning. My glory by the name of Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.

The two verses I shared, and it certainly is a different message altogether, but I want you to turn with me, please, to Ezekiel. Ezekiel 34. And there's three verses there that has been heavily upon my mind recently.

And one is also found in the 13th chapter of Jeremiah and the 21st. And as it says in Ezekiel 34, there's some questions here. And our brothers have been bringing before us some of the questions that we find in the word of God.

And I would like to zero in with what they've been already saying so far in this conference, and what they will continue to say in this particular conference. And there are three questions, thought-provoking questions that we find this morning.

And in Ezekiel 34, in the last part of verse two, it says, should not the shepherd feed the flock? Verse 15. I will feed my flock. I will cause them to lie down. Oh, how important it is today. How important it is today.

I will cause them to lie down. Saith the Lord God. Verse 31. And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord. And one verse you don't need to turn to. In Jeremiah 13, verse 20.

And the question is, where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock? Where is that flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock? Well, in my early days of Christian experience, I failed to realize that man is really a tripart being.

And there was so much emphasis on the saving of the soul. And thank God that there is. But I paid a little attention to the feelings and the emotions of people today. And it seems like that I was part of the decision.

The reason Jesus Christ hasn't taken you is because you're left here to be a witness. And I do believe that God, after he saved us, has left us here in his mercy and in his grace that we might be witnesses for our Lord Jesus Christ.

But oh, it's more than that. He left you here and he left me here that we might be a matured Christian growing, being attracted members in the family of God. And I must remind myself that I'm not left here on this earth to make a living, but I'm left here on this earth to make a life.

And these are the things that I guess, as the older you get and you see the things that are produced by the world, and you see those who are clamoring after the things that satisfy our time. And as our brother reminded us that our time is running out, you know, it makes you realize and take the top priority of things and view them very differently.

I guess businesses also taught me that there's a way of persuading people, but people are not as merely persuaded as they are attracted. I can sell you a home, believe me. Come on up there, we need some clients anyhow.

You think it's bad in Sunbelt? Come on up north. Anyhow, the point is that I've got a real estate home up there and I can sell it to you because you need a shelter. You need a place to live. You need an income tax deduction.

And instead of renting, you know what you do? You take it off the income tax. And oh, you want me to talk to you about real estate? Sit here and I'll talk to you for hours about real estate. And you know what?

But when it gets down to it, you've got to like the home and you've got to be attracted to the home or you won't buy it. A lot of the byproducts that we have with Jesus Christ, eternal life that he gives us, peace of mind and peace of heart.

We don't need to worry anymore. We do worry. And you know what worry is? We talk about all these sins. Worry is nothing less than sin. You're telling God he can't take care of the situation. But one thing more than even the byproducts that we receive through Jesus Christ himself, we must be attracted to him personally.

And if we're attracted to him personally, then other situations just seem to fall apart. And I don't view them as like I used to. And so it's very important that we must be thinking in regards to that.

You know, my heart cries out every morning as I think of the psalmist. And we've been talking about the psalmist. In the eighth chapter of Psalms, it says, you know, oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth who has set thy fingers above the heavens.

And then he goes ahead and he says, for thou hast made him a little lower than the angels. And he says, and what is man that thou art mindful of him? What is man that you even care for him? And I can see this psalmist that a brother of mine reminded us and the shepherd out here as the fold is there.

And here he is sitting as it were in the gates. And he looks up to the galaxy of heaven. And you know, it begins to dawn on him even many, many years ago, the glory of God, what he really has. And it's only to the degree that we appreciate the glory of God and what Jesus Christ has done for us will we realize how unworthy man really is.

And I can see him looking up and says, what is man that you even care for him? That you even care for him? Well, I'll tell you what, man was made in his tripod being, he was made. He wasn't made just body, soul, and spirit.

Man is body, man is soul, man is spirit. They have emotions and feelings, but beyond that motions and feelings and that body is a spirit that lives forever and ever. And I ask God as I get up in the morning and I do have a nice place.

I'm not there very much, but we have a little farm and glass in the back. And you know what I used to do every morning? Get up to go to my business and say, hey Lord, remember this problem? God, I pray that this transaction might go through and just think how much money I can give you here.

And besides, look at these people, they're poor people, they need a house and you can reason, reason, reason all you want. But I've come to the degree lately that first of all, I thank him for who he is, who he is.

Then I get down here and then I thank him for what he is doing. And you know what? Time I get through with that and I'm not a prayer warrior and I'm not trying to tell you I am a prayer warrior. Then I get down and start asking him for things.

And you know what? I find out I don't have too many things to ask for. I really don't. Oh, if we could only realize the one that we're coming into, the presence, and what he can do. And then we will hear what we've talked about, this still small voice.

And I don't care between all the commercial world's intrusions and all the things that take your time and my time. You know, we must remember that we were made in the image of God. And then I ask you when we consider this and we look around and we see our fellow man and our fellow Christian.

Then I ask the question, where is thy flock? Thy beautiful flock. I want to speak for a while this morning for those who are elders and those who desire to be elders. And for those who are young sisters here that would like to be deaconess.

Oh, there is such a big work out there. And I can labor the point and turn you to 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. And I could read all about the qualifications of the elder. And you know, one thing that you wouldn't agree with me on that I may say, so therefore I wouldn't say it.

But one thing you will agree with me is that he that desires the work of an elder, he that aims at the work of an elder, desires a good work. Is there anyone here would tell me it's not a work? You know, I'll tell you the biggest sin and what's wrong in our Christian gatherings today, whether you be in a conservative church or in assembly testimony, is today our biggest problem is we as Christians are lazy.

Just lazy. We've got the word of God. We've got the knowledge. We got theology, but we're lazy. Jehovah's Witnesses, the moonies, name them. What are they doing? And what are they doing? They're witnessing.

They're distributing literature. And I'll tell you, we still have the truth. And Christ is still on the throne. And I'm not one of these that's willing to bury the assembly. I thank God that I can go around and correct all the problems there are in assembly.

There's too many of them. And don't tell me your problems are plenty more when I get through. But nevertheless, there's one thing I can do. I can go there and I can exhort and I can edify Christians. And I think that's important.

And by the way, you know, we talk about intellectually, you know, there's only 12 inches between being saved and lost, head knowledge and heart knowledge. Just 12 inches. But there is also only 12 inches difference between a chick in a pan and a pan on the back.

Remember that. The next time we would like to condemn or talk about our brother or our sister, oh, it's so different, you know, when we just really get out there and we see what people's needs are and what is really happening.

And I really believe that it's very important. Now, to be this leader, to be what you really want to do, I say this, that time is a unique resource. Time is a very important thing. Believe me. If anyone realizes it, I think that that's one part that I can grasp to some extent.

The one thing about time, it cannot be accumulated like money, nor can it be stockpiled like raw materials. We are forced to spend it, whether we choose to or not. It's at a fixed rate of 60 seconds per minute and 60 minutes per hour.

And it's irretrievable. Unless our time is not managed, I'm sure very little will be managed. And so I was thinking of this in regards to being disciplined. And one thing about being disciplined, it isn't that we can discipline ourselves whatsoever, that must come from God himself.

But someone says, I am only one, I can't do everything, but what I can do, I ought to do, and by the grace of God, I shall do. There's been a lot of books that have been written on management. Dozens of different types of lifestyles would tell us how we should live.

But I'll say this here, that more than ever before, that no matter who you are and where you are and how busy you are, if you don't have that quiet time, you're going to blow it. There's no importance, I have never had any time in my life between eight and eight at night.

I don't know if people are following me or pushing me. You know you're the same way. They tell you it's time to sew up. You better start taking it easy. But just by the moment, do you have a moment, Eddie, just to do one more thing.

One thing we got to watch out is too many Christians are getting burned out. Right or wrong, professional men are getting burned out. They're retiring early. Christians can get burned out. We need to stay in the Word.

We must realize there's no retirement as far as the things of God are concerned. There's too much of it. And we can get involved. And oh, if we could only go back and realize that I am doing what I am today because God would have me there because he can close doors as well as he can open doors.

And as long as he hasn't closed that door, you accept what you're doing today as from God to honor Jesus Christ and you'll be happier than you've ever been before. There's too many people enduring life instead of enjoying life.

There's too many people afraid of dying and never began to live. You know, these things seem to grasp me very much recently in regards to, as you see, that the perplexity and the many problems you talk about, you talk about, the problems in this world.

Listen to this. The Wall Street Journal, I took out of my Wall Street Journal just before I came down here. Tax cut picture is clear, but effective of economy remains very cloudy. Some economists see surge.

Others see stagnation, inflation, credit crunch. Did it tell you anything? No, it doesn't tell you anything. Take confusion, you know. Now, this is what, if you're looking for a result in Washington, you're not going to be satisfied.

But all we as Christians, sometimes we become so worldly invested in trying to find a solution that way that we forget to look up where Jesus Christ is. And I speak to my heart on that. I don't speak to anyone else.

Not at all. You know, you've got to have a time for quiet time. You've got to have time for prayer. But one thing, don't ever do what I did. You know, time don't mean much to me. Sometimes I'll wake up at three o 'clock and leave at four or five and go back to bed and get up.

Or sometimes I get up at five o 'clock and go back. But I get my sleep. But one time I looked at my clock wrong. And my wife and I were eating breakfast at 4 .30. That is a good way to lose a happy home.

And then of course, she don't sleep much more than I do. And one morning, I had one of the most pitiful thoughts about seeing the Lord. I forgot what time it was. It was about three or 3 .30. And actually sometimes she's awake, so I thought she was awake.

So I started to share this pitiful thought about seeing the Lord. And you know what she said? You're going to see him quicker than you think if you don't shut up and go to sleep. So really, these are family secrets.

But I mean, this is life. This is what you see in business. This is what you see in the home. These are things not up here, but down here that we must face. And so time is very important. And whatever it is, use it as unto the Lord.

Giving While Alive and Practicing Empathy

And then I was thinking in regards to some of these things that we not only must realize that time is very precious, but if we're going to be a leader of any type in the assembly, in our local church, we must have compassion and empathy.

Not necessarily sympathy. Sympathy can get you in trouble. But empathy is putting yourself in the very shoes that that person walked in. And this is the difference. That if we can only do that, we would really realize that.

You know, there's a story here about the pig and the cow coming from Iowa, I'm going to tell it to you. A rich man once said to his friend, why is it everybody's always criticizing me for being miserly?

When everything goes the way the vision is left, that I possess the charity, when I die, this rich man's going to give everything away when he dies. Well, said the friend, let me tell you about the pig and the cow.

The pig was lamenting to the cow one day about how unpopular this poor pig was. He said, people are always talking about your gentleness and your kind eyes, said the pig. Sure, you give milk, you give cream, but I give him more.

I give bacon, I give ham, I give brisket. In fact, when I died, I even pickled my feet. Still nobody likes me. Why is there? The cow thought for a minute. And then he said, well, maybe it's because I give while I'm still living.

And oh, there's so many people that's always going to give something to the Lord when the time comes. They're going to get their life in order. And it's going to be there. And pretty soon, it's come and gone.

Life at best is very brief. It's like the falling of a leaf. It's like the snowflake on the river. It is here, then it's gone forever. Last December, I went to Las Vegas. Didn't spend a dime in a machine either.

Straighten that out. But we had a Century 21 convention, 10 ,000 people there from our own. One night, I was on the eighth floor of the Hilton Hotel, looking out over that beautiful city. And I looked over there and just three weeks ago was a hotel that was sabotaged and burned, you know?

And pretty soon, I saw the fire truck coming down there. You talk about love your brother. I saw that fire truck coming down there. I was on the eighth floor of the Hilton Hotel and I watched those lights, those sirens, those blue lights, those red lights, and every other kind of light.

And boy, as they came to that hotel, my heart sunk. But as I passed that hotel, went on to some other place, I was elated. That's love your neighbor as yourself, you know? But the point is, we don't seem to relate to the very fact of having empathy of putting ourselves into the shoes of other people.

And you know, I get home four weeks later and I check out the paper and you know where the fire started on the Hilton Hotel? Eighth floor, you know? God is a God of circumstances as well. We've been hearing about that.

Well, anyhow, I think what we need to do more than anything is to observe our pews as we go back next Sunday morning. You know, there's a lot of pews that are full and there are more of those that want to receive than give.

Now, if you receive, you might be able to eat better, but if you give, you sleep better. What do you want to do? Do you want to eat or do you want to sleep? That's the difference. And what we need to do more than anything else, as we think of this, and as we've been thinking of the sheep and the shepherds, and I'm not a Philip Coward, believe me, I'm not a Philip Coward.

I live on a farm, but I've never had a sheep on my farm, okay? But anyhow, they tell me one thing about it, that the first thing the shepherd does when they get up in the morning is be sure that the sheep is able to stand on their own feet.

It's very important that their feet are in shape and that they are fit and they are content because you see, if the feet are not right, they will not find the green pastures. They will not find the clear water.

They will not be able to sit and have the exercise that they should have. And why is the sheep's feet not in shape? It's because of the rough terrain that they've been going over. And Christian friend, I want to tell you, there's a lot of Christians with sore feet.

It's because they haven't been walking in the path that they should walk in. And what we need to do more than ever is to help each other, to tenderly take care of them. And when you go out and you find that sheep that was lost, and I'm so thankful that the Lord Jesus Christ left the 99 and He went out to the one.

But when you go out and you find that sheep, take a little oil. Take a little oil. Leave the hot water at home. What we need more than ever is this empathy and sympathy, this understanding, this compassion of being able to understand the problems that there is there.

Where is thy flock? Thy beautiful flock? You know, should we give less time to the most beautiful occupation there is than the vocations that we have just to make a buck? I never forget one transaction I had, and I lifted the home just that afternoon, and boy, things were different.

Then you could sell them a little faster, you know. And so this is a friend, and I lifted his home, and so I got the offer. He said he was taking it. I went out there at 8 o 'clock this night, and I says, Dutch, got your home sold?

And I thought he'd sign that offer just like that, and I'd run out the door. He says, yeah, Lou, I told you I'd take that offer. Well, I says, sign it so I can get going. No, he says, you know, I got a particular, just a little bug.

He says, I never sign an instrument the same day that's presented to me. I said, well, Dutch, you told me you'd take it. You know what that guy did? He's not a Pollock, but I almost called him that. He made me sit there to the very fact that I had to sit there, and he wasn't going to sign it the next morning.

And I said, well, I don't have anything else to do either. I'm going to sit right here, and I'll tell you why I'm going to sit right here. Someone else wasn't going to come in with an offer. And about quarter after 12, oh, I had never ate so much cake in my life and drank so much coffee in my life.

He won his point, I won my point, and the result was he took the pen, he signed it, and everything was fine. What is my illustration here? Would we give him more time if we heard the bleeding of the sheep?

We spend time over time. All these brethren that work five-day hours tell me how much overtime they have to work, and the result is that no responsibility seems to come in. We just seem to go on by. You need to get your priorities right.

Leadership Through Compassion and Personal Availability

When I was at this convention, I heard Mr. Larkin, one of Reagan's economists, say, let me ask you a question. 10 ,000 gold coats out there. He says, if you only had one year to live, what would your goals be?

So all these real estate people get out, and they start writing their goals down. And boy, we have $2 million producers, $3 million producers, and all the goals seem to be that direction. Then he said, I want to ask you a question.

If you only had one month to live, what would your goals be? Well, your goals would change, wouldn't they? They really would. Then he came down hard, and I don't even think he's a Christian, but he says, if you only had 24 hours to live, what would your goals be?

I don't think that's the kind of a good question that we as Christians should ask ourselves once in a while. What really are my goals when the time comes? You know, the world look at things very differently.

And some of them measure how far a man has come, how many he's passed on the way, and how much power and how much possession does he have. But you know, what we need to do is to take that time to be that leader that God wanted us to be.

I was reading a verse in scripture here that was just kind of hitting me strange. And I never read it before, but anyhow, King Solomon said, he says, some people are poor and some people are great. And there is wealth.

And we will never know the richness of that person until we really carefully get back to that arrangement of that mask that person has on. You think you know people because you go to a certain place and Sunday morning you walk in, they got a mask on.

They got a mask on, you don't know. Unless we as leaders got our antenna out like this to really feel for the sorrows, the broken hearts, the troubles there are in the home and in the families and everything, you're never going to know that person.

We got to get underneath that exterior. And I know you don't have this problem in your church or your assembly, but one of the problems that I have and I've fought for 30 years is a little quick to sometime form.

And you know what? You can't throw those brethren out of the seat to go some other direction, to shake hands with someone they haven't shaken hands for quite some time. And yet it doesn't look this way.

So I want to ask you, do you get up at two every morning and you go out to the same aisle? Do you shake hands to the same person? How about that person that just slipped in in the back and has never been to him before?

How about that widow lady that has been loneliness and no one has spoken to her for quite a while? How about that young divorcee that has three children? And we kind of say, well, too bad. These are the things that we're talking about.

If our theology, if our position in Jesus Christ, if what you and I really believe does not affect our heart enough to touch those people, we don't have much. We don't have much. This is the practical ministry you find on the street.

Oh, I tell you, I could go ahead and tell you stories and I only got about 10 or 15 minutes, but we've had the sweetest relationship with two situations. You know, raising five boys and having five more you raise, we thought we got our family done.

Our house was robbed three times about quite a few years ago now. They came in when we went to church on Sunday night. They broke our window. I happened to be treasurer. They took the money. And you know what happened?

They were quite hungry. They came back Wednesday night because I was going to be in church, you know? And they broke in again. Well, you know, I don't catch on too quickly. But one time I had a highway patrol guy that worked for me.

So I said, hey, we're going to church tonight. Now, when you leave the light yard, you come, you go in my house, you stay in the back bedroom. These corporate comments that whatever you do, he says, get him.

So he had a shotgun. He goes in the back room, my bedroom. He turns off all the lights. Pretty soon we leave one door open and one door unlocked. Here comes the kids. And they've been there so often, they do my home.

And so they came in there and they went right to the back bedroom. And they took out the drawer and put it down there and started to take the money out. He says, drop your pants and put your hands over your head.

You know, you don't run very far with your pants down. You know, when the Lord told Moses, when the Lord told Moses, take off your shoes. I want to tell you right now, you try to run when you're taking off your shoes.

You can't do it. So this is what happened. And he caught him. Well, it's a long story, but anyhow, they're about three different groups. And I helped him in Little League and everything else. And they knew our home and they were meeting at the mall.

And therefore they came there. But one person we never knew who broke into our house. My phone rang months later, just a few months ago. And he says, this is Darryl Atkinson. I said, yeah, Darryl. He says, can I talk to you?

I said, not today, Darryl. I said, I'm so tied up. Well, he says, how about tomorrow? And he came into my office. There was a fellow who did seven years in prison. Seven years. And he came, became a Christian.

And it was wonderful. He came in and told me his problem. And you know what? We got people in my chapel who have never figured out what that long-haired guy is doing that was a bald-headed man. You know, this is what is so great.

But you know, he stayed with us and he's had a little trouble, but he's coming along. And he's in Dallas, Texas right now. And Ronnie knows him and he's staying in Ronnie's apartment. But what I got to tell you about, I asked him to come home.

He says, I won't go in before you get there this time, Lou. And when Margaret, who's fed millions of people to our house, when he got through the meal, he didn't say, whew, that's a beautiful meal, Margaret.

Thank you. He said, gee, it's so nice you don't have to run. You know, we've got to communicate. We've got to get down out of the clouds. It's nice to be in the heavens, but we're still here on earth.

And these are the things that you relate to and everything like that. And just before we left, Friday night, phone rang at 1115. Margaret, Lou, this is Gerald, down in Texas. And you got a job, doing well, got a few problems, but he said, I love you.

What greater things are that? You know, these are the things that have happened because we have to be in contact. We're out there, be available. It's not our ability, someone says, it's our availability.

And this is what is so great about it. And then the phone rang here about a month ago Vernon, my name is in the assembly roster for Des Moines. So I get a call, Lou Clarkson from New Jersey. Yeah, this is so-and-so.

Say, there's a fellow who's running away from home and I was running out the door to business meeting. I am trying to take care of a sheep that's floating around here in the wrong pasture. He shouldn't be in that wrong pasture in the first place.

Don't he know where the green pastures are? But anyhow, when he told me about that particular story and he says, he's going to be in Des Moines. He's on the Greyhound bus when you go down and meet him.

So we take off as usual and we go down, tell him I can't be at the meeting. I explained later, well, I won't be at the meeting. We go down the bus and the only description I had was a 16-year-old redhead with braids on his teeth.

And I walked in that Greyhound bus and there's no one there. And I saw a sign here, Los Angeles, because the bus was on its way to Los Angeles. And I go in there and I'll tell you, talk about guilt complex, brother.

I was stressed to kill. I do have a suit, by the way. I wear it every day in Des Moines. But I went down there and I looked those guys in the eye that's on the bus and everyone's just going like this.

90 of them are running away from something. There had to be the guilt complex. And this is what we got out here. Hearts filled with problems and everything. Well, you want to know what happened? I got out of the bus and looked in the terminal once again.

I heard someone saying, Lou Clarkson, Lou Clarkson. His dad was calling. His dad had already called us twice. Now we received the information through a brother who was a correspondent in the assembly.

His boy led this boy to the Lord. It was a Catholic background family. The mother was just a newly Christian. The father and sisters and brothers were not Christian. And that father called me up before I ever went down there and cried like a baby.

If we would go down and get his son. Well, needless to say, we got his son. We brought Willie home and took him out for a walk and put my arm around him and said, Willie, we all feel like running away.

He said, do you really? I said, if you're in real estate business today, you know what I'm talking about. Sure, you'd like to run away. But I says, I would like to as well as anyone. I gotta be honest with you, Willie.