Six Realities at the Heart of My Ministry

Introduction: The Principle from Paul's Farewell

0:03 Now I would invite you to turn with me in your own Bibles to the book of Acts and chapter 20, Acts chapter 20.

0:22 And I shall read beginning at verse 17 through to the end of the chapter.

0:30 Speaking of the activity of Paul the Apostle, Luke writes, And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. And when they were come to him, he said unto them, You yourselves know from the first day that I set foot in Asia, after what manner I was with you all the time, serving the Lord with all lowliness of mind and with tears, and with trials which befell me by the plots of the Jews, how I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Spirit testifies unto me in every city, saying, Let bonds and afflictions abide me. But I hold not my life of any account as dear unto myself,

1:52 so that I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I receive from the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that you all, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, shall see my face no more. Wherefore, I testify unto you this day that I am pure from the blood of all men, for I shrank not from declaring unto you the whole counsel of God. Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you bishops or overseers, to feed or shepherd the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood. I know that after this, I will be able to do the same. For my departing, grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock. And from among your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.

2:58 Wherefore, be watchful, remembering that by the space of three years, I cease not to admonish every one night and day with tears. And now, I commend you to God. And to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all them that are sanctified, I coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered unto my necessities and to them that were with me.

3:35 In all things, I gave you an example that so laboring you ought to help the weak and to remember the Lord. For the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all. And they all wept sore and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the word that he had spoken, that they should behold his face no more.

4:08 And they brought him on his way unto, unto the ship. As I prayerfully reflected on what to preach to you in this, my last sermon preached in this place as one of your pastors, I'm sure it does not surprise many of you that my mind was drawn to Paul's farewell discourse to the Ephesian elders recorded for us in summary form here in Acts 20, 17 to 35. However, The more I looked at the passage, it became very clear to me that in many ways there are so many things that were unique to Paul's situation that have no parallel in my situation that I could not expound this passage as a farewell sermon. Not the least of those discrepancies is this was Paul's final farewell. He said in verse 25, I know, I know that you shall see my face no more. And he says that another time later on in the passage, they wept, sore,

5:28 sorrowing most of all for the word he had spoken, that they should behold his face no more. Well, that's not so with me. God willing, in four months I will return for the 25th annual pastors conference to be held in this place in October. God willing, next spring, in the will of God, I'll return for the fourth pastoral theology module, and if I behave myself, the elders may just invite me to preach here in this pulpit in connection with those visits. Furthermore, Pastor Dave will have a formal installation service sometime in the coming weeks or months, and I would like to think, maybe it's self-flattery, that I just might be asked to share in that service as well. So, it just doesn't fit. Paul knew he would see these people no more, and much of the whole flavor of that passage is conditioned by that reality. I am relinquishing my place among you as an elder, but there still will be these visits, and not because I feel that I've got to be a part of it. I feel that I've got to be a part of it. I feel that I've got to be a part

6:44 of it. I feel that I've got to be a part of it. I feel that I've got to be a part of it. I feel that I've got to be there in the wings and periodically come back in order to check up on you. That's not the motivation at all, but rather, I leave you under the canopy of undiminished mutual affection and respect, and with the convictions that there are yet ministries in which we can still labor together for the advancement of Christ's kingdom. So, if I cannot force Paul's farewell address into the mold of my farewell address, why in the world have I read it to you? Well, I've read it to you because it contains a principle that I want to extract, and based on that principle, I want to bring my farewell address to you.

7:35 And the principle is this. Without any carnal self-serving, Paul reviewed before the men who had sat under his ministry both the spirit and the substance of his three-plus years among them, thus demonstrating the legitimacy of such an activity when a man of God is among the people of God to whom he has ministered the word of God and he is leaving them. It is not wrong for that man to speak out of a good conscience and to speak out of a good conscience before God and man concerning the spirit and the substance of his ministry without in any way indulging in carnal self-serving. So, I begin my farewell address by setting before you six realities that have been at the heart of my forty-six years of labor among you. And as I do so, I remind you of the text that I quoted when I gave my farewell address to Paul. And I remind you of the text that I quoted when I gave my testimony a couple of weeks ago and then gave a history of the church when Paul said

Reality 1: A Life Embodying the Preached Word

8:51 in 1 Corinthians 15.10, but by the grace of God I am what I am. And then with respect to his labors he said, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. And I'm able to say what I'm about to say as the first part of my farewell address with a good conscience before God only because of the grace of God to me as a man and the grace of God that has been operative in my ministry among you. So, the first of the six things that comprise the bulk of my farewell address is this. For forty-six years, by the grace of God, I have sought to live before God. And I have sought to live before God. And I have sought to live before God and before you as a man of God embodying in my life that which I have preached to you. For forty-six years, I have sought to live before God and you as a man of God

10:04 embodying in my life that which I have preached to you. The men in the academy often quote the saying that I quoted again. Then and again to them, I first found it in Bridges' book on the Christian ministry where he says, quoting someone else whom I have forgotten, the life of the minister is the life of his ministry. The life of the minister is the life of his ministry. And one of the most formative texts in my life that took its place deeply in the theater of my conscience. The first text before God was Acts 24 and verse 16 where Paul said, Herein, in the light of the coming day of judgment, herein, I also exercise myself. And he uses a strong verb, the verb one would use for Olympic discipline. Herein, I exercise myself. I place myself

11:08 under strict spiritual discipline to have a conscience void of offense. I have sought to live before God and man always. And for forty-six years, I have sought to live before my God and before you, his people, embodying in my life that which I preach to you. In secret, when there have been thoughts and desires and attitudes that are sinful and contrary to the law of God, I have sought to mourn over them. And I have sought to repent of them, to plead for deliverance from them as much as if those thoughts had given birth to deeds. No one in this church has confessed sin publicly more frequently than I. I thank God I have never had to confess sins of gross moral deflection or doctrinal deflection or outburst of temper or anger. But I have had many sins of injudicious speech to confess. James, as a writer of the book

12:24 of James, says, In many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. I have not been a perfect man. But I have stood before you and acknowledged my sins, and I have sought your forgiveness for my sins. And I have sought to walk before God with a conscience void of offense. Now, my father, it was such a rash thing to do. Every man's sin is just so wrong that no one has ever considered it right. He would have made a grave mistake. He would have strain on his heart and mind. But I have sought to write, to write, to write, to write, to write, to write, to write, to write, to write, to write, to write, to write, to write, to write, to write, to write. And I now see what this is for. I have heard for the most of the people in the church who have been doing sinning and harming others. So they get rid of sin.

13:13 I am not feeling guilty. I have seen this. I have seen God do things for the good of me. I am not feeling guilty of sin. Then when we come to our own sins, what might we do that was unclean. That man touched me. That man held me in a way that made me feel uncomfortable.

13:26 For 46 years, I've sought to embody, by God's grace, what I preach. The four great giant killers of preachers, money, pride, unbridled ambition, and women have killed their thousands by the grace of God. They've not slain me. And over the years, when I've anticipated the fact that at some time there would be a farewell sermon, my mind has gone again and again to 1 Samuel chapter 12. And I've said, Lord, I want to be able to do what Samuel did in the great congregation. 1 Samuel 12, verse 1, Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I've hearkened to your voice in all that you've said to me, and have made a king over you. And now, behold, the king walks before you. I'm old and gray-headed. And behold, my sons

14:28 are with you, and I have walked before you from my youth until this day. I came to North Jersey as a 28-year-old young preacher, and I've walked before you to this day in which I'm now an old man. 1 Samuel 12, verse 1, Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I've hearkened to your voice I am. Witness against me before Jehovah and before his anointed. Whose ox has I taken?

14:54 Whose ass have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or of whose hand have I taken a ransom to blind my eyes therewith? And I will restore it to you. And they said, You have not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither have you taken off at man's hand. And he said unto them, The Lord is witness against you. And I thank God that I can stand and make that challenge without any fear, that I can be justly charged with those sins that have killed their hundreds, if not their thousands. It's a wonderful thing to be able to say that, By the grace of God. And it is the grace of God. But when God's grace has worked it,

15:53 we do not honor him by denying it. To say with Paul, You are witnesses, and God also, how holily, righteously, and unblameably we behaved ourselves toward you that believe. While confessing my sins, yes, not sinlessly, but blamelessly. And I have sought so to live before you that you, the people of God, could say to any skeptic who denies the reality of the Christian faith, that you would be able to say, If the gospel is not real, explain the life of that preacher. And with all my heart, I've wanted to give you that as my greatest gift to you. Do you think that's been easy? You have no clue.

Reality 2: Preaching the Whole Counsel of God Without Fear

16:52 The secret wrestlings, the temptations, you have no clue. But I thank God that I stand before you and can make that statement. Secondly, for 46 years, by the grace of God, I have sought to minister the whole counsel of God to you, not fearing the face of any man. I've sought to minister the whole counsel of God to you, not fearing the face of any man. And I take that language from the Acts 20 passage, where Paul could say, first of all, in verse 20, I kept, I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was profitable. The indication being, he was tempted at times to shrink back, but he said, I did not shrink. When I felt the temptation, I resisted it, and I held back nothing that was profitable to you. Then in verse 26, wherefore I testify unto you this day that I am pure from the blood of all men, for, here's the same language, I shrank not from declaring unto you the whole counsel of God.

18:16 In Galatians 1.10, Paul said, if I should yet fear men, I should not be the servant of God. And in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, Paul gives a similar emphasis, verses 4 and 5, as we've been approved of God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak not as pleasing men, but God who proves our hearts. For neither at any time were we found using words of flattery, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness. God is witness, nor seeking glory of men, neither from you. Nor from others. The apostle was unashamed to say, I preach to you the whole counsel of God without fear of your faces, and that God should take a naturally sensitive boy who felt sick to his stomach when scolded by a teacher, and make me bold to fear none of your faces. It's the grace of God. Left to myself, I'd be a wimp,

19:24 and too little to fear. And too little frowns or pouts on your faces when I preach would turn me into mush. And I've seen the looks that some of you have given me. Even in the previous hour, some of you teenagers, you didn't like the things I was saying about your relationship to your parents.

19:43 I could see written all over you, I will not cower before your face. For 46 years, I've sought to minister the whole counsel of God to you, not fearing the face of any man. Whether preaching unpopular doctrines, unfashionable practices, opposing fads in worship, moral compromises to accommodate current consensus. Again and again, we've said, Isaiah 8, 20, to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, there is no light in them.

Reality 3: Unsparing Passion and Earnestness in Preaching

20:23 Thirdly, for 46 years, I've sought to minister the whole counsel of God to you, and too little to fear none of your faces. Fourthly, for 46 years, by the grace of God, I've given myself to you with unsparing passion and earnestness in the preaching and teaching of the word of God. It's one thing for a man to preach things that are matters of life and death. It's another thing to preach them in a manner that convinces people that if no one else believes they're matters of life and death, the preacher does.

20:55 That's earnestness. And passion.

21:01 I don't know how to pace myself. My two fellow elders met with me to pray in the back room after the Sunday school, and they said, Pastor, do you have anything left after the first hour? No, I didn't. I left it all in the first hour.

21:18 I might be dead before the next hour. Spurgeon said, every time I stand to preach, I empty the barrel to the last dark drop, and then I bring my prayer to the Lord. I bring my empty barrel to God and say, oh God, fill it up again. And God knows I have not spared the energy of mind, of soul, of body.

21:45 The current that has run over my emotional system, I have no question, is what has contributed perhaps to some of my neuropathy in my feet and my legs. Perhaps even the neurological problem that has caused me to live, and I've had a lot of trouble with that. I've had a lot of trouble with that. lose about 80% of my hearing, but I'd do it all over again. For 46 years I have given myself to you with unsparing passion and earnestness in the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. And again, Paul is my model, for he could say in verse 8 of 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, even so being affectionately desirous of you, we were well pleased to impart unto you not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because you were become very dear to us. Fourthly, for 46 years, by the grace of God, I sought to labor among you with respect

Reality 4: Respect and Appreciation for Fellow Office-Bearers

22:55 and proper appreciation. For all my fellow office-bearers and my many fellow workers, I sought to labor with respect and proper appreciation for all my fellow office-bearers and my many fellow workers. I stand before you this morning and bring this farewell message, conscious that I, Albert N. Martin, by the grace of God, have been privileged to have you with me.

23:28 I have a significant role in the founding and the development of this congregation.

23:36 I'd be an irrational fool not to know that. It's the grace of God, but that's reality. However, however, Trinity Baptist Church is not Al Martin's church. If it were, may it die and be buried. It's a fulfillment of Christ's promise, who said, I will build my church.

24:03 The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And Christ has built this church, and he's done it by gifting many men, many women, for specific roles and functions without which you as a people would not be what you are, nor do what you do. And no one understands that and believes that more firmly than I. I've never allowed myself to be called the senior. I've never allowed myself to be called the senior. I've never allowed myself to be called the senior minister or the senior pastor of this place. Advertising blurbs must put me down as one of the pastors of Trinity Church. Some people haven't liked that I insisted be that way wherever I've had anything to say. I don't like the term. Never have used it. No sympathy. Many

24:58 of you do not know that in 1976, I was made a doctor. I received an honorary degree, a doctor of divinity degree, from Geneva College out near Pittsburgh. Before I went out to receive that degree, having sought counsel from my confidants who said I should receive it and accept it, I said to the congregation, I'm Pastor Martin standing before you. I'm going out for a weekend to Pennsylvania to get doctored. But when I come back, if any of you call me doctor, and remember, 76, that's 32 years ago. I said, I'll take you out in the back alley, and when I'm done with you, if you call me doctor, you're going to need a doctor. I don't know if there are any other witnesses to that, but that's what I said. Why? Because I wanted, by the very way I'm addressed, Pastor Martin, Pastor Smith,

26:02 Pastor Carlson, Pastor Blaze, Pastor Robert Fisher, Pastor Robert Martin, by those things to make it every day. I said, I'll take you out in the back alley, and when I'm done with you, that I was one among many whom Christ had given to this place. And I believe my fellow office bearers, the deacons, the secretaries who've worked with me can bear witness that they've always felt appreciated and affirmed in their significant role in the life of this church. By the grace of God, by the grace of God, I have lived and labored with respect and appreciation for my fellow office bearers and the many fellow workers. Number five, for 46 years, by the grace of God, I've labored to help you, to help you make sure that you are satisfied with nothing less than a vital, spirit-wrought, heart-and-life-transforming union with Jesus Christ. For 46 years, by the grace of God,

Reality 5: Laboring for Vital Union with Christ

27:27 I've labored to help you make sure that you are satisfied with nothing less than a vital, spirit-wrought, heart-and-life-transforming union with Jesus Christ. In other words, to be nothing less than a real Christian. For my Bible says, if any man is in Christ, a new creation. The old has passed, the new has come. God's not in the business of patchwork. He's in the business of making new creatures. We are His workmanship, created and created. We are His workmanship, created and created. We are His workmanship,

28:14 created and created. We are His workmanship, created and created. We are His workmanship, created and created. We are His workmanship, created and created. In Christ Jesus unto good works.

28:18 One of the first series I preached, back in that denominational framework, was preaching large sections from the book of 1 John under the title, The Birthmarks of a True Christian. And then when I moved into my first verse-by-verse exposition, the Sermon on the Mount, I came to verses 13 and 14, entering by the narrow gate. For narrow is the gate, and constricted is the way that leads unto life, few there be that find it. And while God's aggregate of the redeemed will be a multitude whom no man can number in any given place at any given time, even in the midst of a lot of truth and religion, few find the narrow way. And I press that issue. Then we were soon into verse 21 to 23. Not everyone who says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of my Father who is in heaven, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?

29:27 Then will I profess unto them, depart from me. I never knew you, you that work iniquity. And I press the issue. I've brought series of sermons.

29:37 Some of you will remember them. Are you for real? We've looked together at passage after passage where God, presses the issue. Be not deceived.

29:48 Let no one deceive himself.

29:52 And for 46 years, by God's grace, I've labored to help you to make sure that you individually are satisfied with nothing less than a vital, spirit-wrought, heart-and-life-transforming union with Jesus Christ. That's why Paul could say to the Ephesians, in Acts 20 and verse 21, he kept back nothing that was profitable, testifying both publicly and privately what was the center of his message, repentance toward God, faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. He pressed the issue of the absolute necessity of deep and thorough evangelical repentance, saying no to self and sin and the world. No! No! No!

30:47 I will now be God's possession. I will now belong to Christ, casting oneself upon Jesus Christ in all the glory of His person and the perfection of His work. Dear people, if you go to hell under my preaching, my hands are clean of your blood. How many times have I stood here with tears and begged you to be sure you're in Christ, your conscience, your conscience affirms what I say.

Reality 6: Cultivating Enamoredness with Christ

31:22 When I say these things, there's none of you who's been under my ministry and say, what in the world is he talking about? You know exactly what I'm speaking about. And then, for 46 years, by the grace of God, I've labored to see you become enamored with Christ and passionate to know Him and to please Him more and more. I've labored, to see you become enamored with Christ and passionate to know Him and please Him more and more.

32:01 Paul could say as a mature Christian, his great passion, Philippians 3, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. He could say in 2 Corinthians 5-9, wherefore we are ambitious to be well-pleasing unto Him, he could say in Philippians 1-21, for to me to live is Christ. Christ is central, foundational, circum, whatever it would be, around and in and under and over. He said, for me to live is Christ.

32:41 I have called you to obey the imperatives of the gospel based upon the marvelous provisions of the indicatives, of the gospel. And I have sought by God's grace to see you become enamored with Christ and passionate to know Him and to please Him more and more. Well, then you might say to me, well, pastor, if you can say those six things with a good conscience before God and know that you carry the conscience of your people, then surely you must come to this day with unmixed joy and gratitude, looking back, over 46 years of such a ministry. But that's not the case. As I think of 46 years of ministry, I also think of two major sins of omission.

Confession of Sins of Omission

33:40 The thought of this would drive me to despair. Did I not believe that I am in Christ with a righteousness comprised of His perfect obedience to the will of God? As well as His perfect sacrifice under the anathema of God. And those two sins of omission are these.

34:09 My failure in the realm of intercessory prayer for you. When I read the letters of Paul and see the breadth and the depth of his intercessory prayer ministry for all the churches, I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed.

34:25 I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed.

34:25 I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed.

34:26 I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed. I've taught the men in the academy on ministerial intercession. I have made many, many fresh starts with renewed determination to be more fervent and frequent and passionate and regular in praying for every one of you by name and your children.

34:49 But God knows, I cannot say by the grace of God that I have lived up to the standard that I know. And I must confess to God my failure. And I confess to you and to whatever degree your struggles and your disappointments have had some relationship to my prayerlessness. I can only ask your forgiveness and trust by the grace of God to do better in the days to come.

35:23 And then the second area of the sin of omission is in the area of more doubt. To be more direct, frequent, personal, pastoral dealings with you, as God's people. I've never turned anyone away who has sought to come to me with a need. When you've called, I've made time for you.

35:45 But I'm talking about being more assertive in one-on-one, hands-on, invasive pastoral involvement. It is in that area when I read the apostles' words, words in Acts 20 20 where he says not only publicly but house to house Colossians 1 28 whom we whom we preach warning every man teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ when I read first Thessalonians 2 in verse 11 where Paul could say of his dealings with the Philippians Thessalonians as you know how we dealt with each one of you as a father with his own children exhorting encouraging and testifying my conscience smites me that I have not been the faithful pastor that I ought to have been and so I ask your forgiveness to the extent again that there are issues in your life that would have been addressed and could have been addressed had I been more assertive in the one-on-one pastoral dealings I can't go back and make it up but I

37:01 can confess it and ask your forgiveness and the one good thing that comes out of facing these realities is it draws me back again to the fact that though I could say those six things of my ministry by the grace of God they do not enter into the ground of my acceptance of my ministry but they do not enter into the ground of my acceptance of my ministry before God the only ground that I want to stand on in the presence of God is a perfect righteousness made up of the perfect obedience of my Savior and obedience even to the death of the cross not one thread in that robe of righteousness has been constructed on the loom of Al Martin's ministerial labels every time Jesus should be in the presence of God I want to stand on the 냄usazai every time he should be in the presence of God I want to stand on the Captain so that the Schmidt familyert all of them are gone preaching I could do anything about it every time he should be praying he was praying and not preaching every time he should be preaching he was preaching and not pray every time he should have been speaking to a crowd in the synagogue or from a boat or in some other setting he was preaching to the crowd every time he should have been with an individual whether a woman by the well or Nicodemus at night he was with the individual Jesus had a perfect state of mind he was shoulder man or faith earner he cannot change a person orquela neither one shall fall nor shall he be washed let alone be called aQue de care cannot change wings not even his soul shall nor bepción of those that touch the centre of his eyes for son who do not possess brain and mind nor insufficient at all praying

38:29 perfectly balanced ministerial life that was part of the righteousness of his obedience and I Albert Martin hide in that righteousness for my acceptance with God and there's nothing I've done or not done that enters in to that righteousness perfectly provided by my precious Savior. Now I've given you those six areas in which by God's grace I leave you with a good conscience the two areas in which I believe I have been guilty of sins of omission and now before I'm done there are several things I want to say to you God's people in Philippians 1 3 to 5 Paul could say of the Philippians these words which by God's grace I can say of you I thank my God upon all my remembrance of you always in every supplication of mine on behalf of you all making my supplication with joy for your fellowship in the furtherance of the gospel from the first day until now. This is what I want to say to you my dear people for 46 years by the grace of God

Commendation of the Congregation

39:57 you have demonstrated and obedience to the word of God which has made my labor a joy and a delight.

40:10 Your faces would be red if you knew how I've bragged about you all over the world when I've been in various places ministering and often in pastors conferences in many places throughout the world and the matters come up in discussion what do you do when people won't follow the word of God you teach it and preach it and they buck against it. I've been able to say, well, I can give you some principles from the Word, but I thank God that's not the context in which I minister. That I've been able to do for you and of you and concerning you what Paul did. He boasted of the Corinthians.

40:49 He boasted of the Macedonians. He writes about it in 2 Corinthians 7.14 and 8.24b.

40:57 He boasts of the people of God. And he was boasting of the grace of God that was operative in them. And as I often would tell the men in the academy, in the work of the ministry, if you're committed to a biblical ministry, you have no backup system. You lay out the Word of God if people don't follow the Word.

41:17 Then you pack it up and go somewhere and find some people who are ready to follow the Bible. You've got no backup system. If they're not ready to do what Christ says through the Word, then you've had it. And I thank God that for 46 years you have shown yourselves to be essentially an obedient people, ready to embrace and believe whatever has been established by responsible exposition, ready to embrace and obey in obedient faith what God has revealed.

41:50 That's why the writer to Hebrews could say in verse 7 of chapter 13, Remember them that had the rule over you, men who spoke unto you, the Word of God. That was their distinguishing trait. They spoke unto you the Word of God. They spoke it out of a context of a validating life, yes, but they spoke unto you the Word of God.

42:17 I'm standing here after 46 years and commending you. If the Lord tarries and spares Jeff, Bart, Pastors Carlson and Smith, Pastor Chansky, will you give them the privilege of saying what I'm saying?

42:37 I trust you will. They are men who will speak unto you the Word of God. Prove your love to Christ by being obedient to His Word. Secondly, for 46 years, by the grace of God, you have loved me,

42:58 tolerated my idiosyncrasies that Mr. Heist so beautifully captured in his poem,

43:09 I have them. I have my quirks. I know it.

43:14 I'm still wearing my wingtip shoes. I'll be buried in them. And my blue Oxford shirt. Deacons won't let me wear anything else.

43:25 I can't wear it. Did you know that? The deacons dictate my wardrobe.

43:30 I've heard heavy-handed shepherds, but they're heavy-handed. They told me I can't wear white shirts up here because they just blend in and all people see on the videos is my hands and my face.

43:42 I don't know if they're going to, if they're going to mandate that I'm buried in one as well. I don't know. But seriously, you've loved me. You've prayed for me in my manifold trials, my dozen or so surgeries over the years,

43:59 the lengthy trial of two of my three children,

44:08 two children that one time sat in this church as young adults, members in good standing, professing Christians. You've wept. You've wept with me. You wept with Marilyn.

44:24 You stood with me through Marilyn's losing battle with cancer.

44:31 You rejoiced with me when at age 72 I was like a silly teenager with his first crush when God brought my dear Dorothy into my life.

44:42 This is reality, folks. I'm not imagining these things. By the grace of God, you've loved me, prayed for me in my manifold trials, my, my surgeries, the trials with my children, Marilyn's losing battle with cancer. You've generously provided for all of my temporal needs.

45:04 For these things, I thank you with all of my heart. And I know you will continue to pray for me as I seek to know how I can do the most good for Christ's kingdom in whatever time is left for me. Amen. Amen.

Future Ministry and Final Exhortation

45:22 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

45:22 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

45:23 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

45:23 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

45:23 Amen. Amen. You will pray God will help me to live with this affliction. You do not know how I've struggled even this morning with my ears.

45:33 You perhaps have seen me fooling around with the volume on them and times when I just can't figure out where my voice is and whether I'm speaking too loud, not loud enough, et cetera. And unless God performs a miracle, this is going to be one of my companions to the end of my days. If you saw the report from the latest MRI, I'm going to say, on my back, you'd marvel that I'm even standing before you with a herniated disc and arthritis and all other kinds of stuff going on in my lower back. I say that not to get maudlin sympathy, but just to let you know the fact that this old man stands up here and preaches with energy and vigor.

46:13 I'm not the 40-year-old man who used to do that. I'm an old, worn-out man in many areas. But I want to serve Christ to my last breath. As I've told people, I don't want to fall off a rocking chair, break my neck, and go to heaven.

46:28 I want to be shot out of my saddle.

46:33 So when people say, oh, I hear Pastor Martin's retired, jump all over them.

46:39 Say, you heard wrong.

46:42 Tell them, you heard wrong. I don't know where you heard it. You heard wrong. I got it straight from the old horse's mouth.

46:46 He ain't retiring.

46:49 He's changing where he lives, changing what he's going to be doing from being a primary leader in the pressure cooker of the manifold ministries of church. Trinity Church, and whether God wants me to be primarily an encourager of younger men, whether He wants me to write, I don't know. But I'm confident as long as He gives me life and breath. He has work for me to do.

47:15 And I thank you that I have the confidence of your love and of your prayers. I have two verses with which I want to close this morning. 1 Thessalonians 2 and verse 19. 1 Thessalonians 2 and verse 19.

47:29 1 Thessalonians 2 and verse 19. For what is our hope or joy or crown of glory are not even you before our Lord Jesus at His coming. You are our glory and our joy.

48:00 Dear people, you're my life's work. It's right here.

48:07 The man that helped build a cathedral can walk with people and say, here's the cathedral. I did all of the stonework here. I did all of the roofing work. Or I did this.

48:20 You're my life's work.

48:24 And I thank God for the privilege I've had to labor in that work.

48:31 And as you cling to Christ and continue to abide in Him, when the voice of the archangel sounds and the trumpet blows and Christ returns, you will be my joy and my crown of glory. I want to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. That's the language of the apostle. And if that's to be so, then the second text is Acts 20 and verse 32.

49:02 We go back to Paul's farewell discourse, Acts 20 and verse 32. And now I commend you to God,

49:17 commend you to God, the triune God, and to the word of His grace, which is in you. He is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all them that are sanctified.

49:33 I have confidence that God's word, ministered by God's servant in this place in days to come, will be the means by which you will be kept, by which you will continue to grow and develop, and by which you will have usefulness as a church. That you've never yet known. I believe with all my heart that God intends blessing upon His people in this place. And it is my prayer that God will get glory to His Son even until the day of the Lord Jesus Himself.

50:17 I know there are people waiting in the wings saying, ah, yeah, you watch. Al Martin goes, Trinity Church goes down the tubes. Yeah, there are people that have that naysayer mentality.

50:31 By the grace of God, prove them wrong. Prove them wrong.

50:36 Prove by your attachment to Christ, by your obedience to His word of grace, that Christ is the Lord and head and life of this assembly and will continue to be so in the days to come. Let's pray together.

51:04 Our Father, what thanks can we give to You for all that You have been pleased to do with poor, unworthy sinners in these years together. How I thank You for the privilege that has been mine to stand in this pulpit, in the pulpits, in the schools through the many years of our wandering, the initial days in that church in North Caldwell, and to open up Your Word and to have a people, ready to hear, to receive, to believe, and to obey all that You have revealed. We thank You for Your grace that has preserved us through times of disruption and difficulty. You have kept us to this day. You have given us the privilege to be useful in Your kingdom here and to the ends of the earth. We thank You and we just don't know how, Lord, to express our gratitude for Your grace and for Your mercy.

52:14 And now we commend Your people to You and to the word of that grace that is able to build them up and to keep them until they come into that inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for us. We commit to You Your servants who will continue their labors in this place, that You will come upon them with fresh and ever-increasing measures of the spirit of grace and of power, of utterance, of wisdom, and all that they will need to guide Your people well in the days to come. Bless the servants who serve as deacons. Thank You for each of them and all of their labors. We pray that You will continue Your grace upon each one of them as they seek to so labor that those men set apart to pray and to preach will be able to give themselves without distraction to those labors. We pray especially, Lord, for those who have withheld, resisted all of the overtures of Your grace. We pray that You would be merciful to them, that even this day You would come forth to conquer their rebellious unbelieving hearts and take them captive

53:43 unto Yourself. Dismiss us then with Your blessing, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.