Like a Stubborn Heifer

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge, P.O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 214-963-8626.

None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. Praise the Lord. I want to read to you a verse of scripture from the prophet Hosea.

I'm reading in the New American Standard. King James reads a little bit differently. Chapter 4 and verse 16.

I want to speak to you tonight, or the title of my message tonight is, Like a Stubborn Heifer. Like a Stubborn Heifer. I think I could explain it better if you would ask me or ask somebody and say, well, what is so and so like? You know, what's she like or what's he like? And I might answer, like a stubborn heifer.

That's what God said about Israel. Fourth chapter, prophet Hosea, verse 16. Since Israel is stubborn, like a stubborn heifer, can the Lord now pasture them like a lamb in a large field? Now if you're married to a stubborn heifer, or if you live with such a person, I pray for you and I pity you.

If living with a contentious woman is like a dripping faucet, Proverb calls it a continual dropping, then living with or working with a headstrung, stubborn person is like being hit by a tornado or trying to move a granite rock. Webster's Dictionary defines stubborn as refusing to yield or obey or comply. And here's another good one, resisting doggedly or unreasonable, resolute or obstinate, hard to handle or deal with.

Now if you've ever worked with or had to deal with such a person, you know that Mr. Webster is very accurate and he's right on. I remember when I was just a teenager, a young teenager in the church that my father pastored, we had a man who came in, never been in the church before, but he came in and in one night God did a marvelous thing in his life. He was saved, filled with the Holy Ghost, spoke in a beautiful language, spoke in other tongues just beautifully and was healed of a back condition all in one night.

A marvelous healing. The entire church was blessed by it, the man gave his testimony within the church, came back, was faithful, came and testified to his neighbors, testified to his friends, it was just a mighty, mighty work of God. And as a result of it, he started to get a lot of attention and started to get puffed up and my father tried to settle him down, tried to give him the word, tried to teach him, but he refused to listen.

He somehow felt because of this mighty work that God had done that he was beyond being discipled and somehow he maybe was up above everybody else because of what God had done. And he started getting into manifestations and interrupting the service, speaking in tongues, wouldn't listen to the word. And my father was patient with him, warned him, set him aside and tried to show him in the word to try to get him back down to earth again, but nothing worked.

And finally, one service again during the meeting, he wasn't paying attention, he was speaking to himself in tongues and my father at times would speak out at him and tell him to settle down, but he refused to settle down. And finally, one service, my father got up and tried to ask him to settle down, he refused to, and so my father said, you're going to have to leave the meeting. This is right during the meeting.

And my father asked for some assistance and nobody moved, not one deacon or usher moved. The only man who moved was the husband of a Christian lady, a sister in the church who came faithfully and he was a visitor and he was unsaved and he got up and helped my father usher him out. And the man went back and got his coat on and as he got his coat on he was going out of the coat room to go out the door.

A dear sister in the church who was carrying a great big black Bible came over and took the Bible and she banged him over the head and she said, believe the word brother, believe the word. Let me tell you something. There have been times and there have been people when I've wanted, where's that sister in her Bible, where is she? I can't get through to her, maybe we'll bang him over the head with it.

A stubborn person has a mule mentality. Now, the prophet uses the term heifer to describe stubbornness and he's correct in that a young heifer is often hard to break in and to train. He has a very strong will and can get downright obstinate.

Now we usually think of the donkey or mule as the epitome of stubbornness, but so is the heifer. And then occasionally in a relationship, in a marriage or in a relationship, you get a heifer and a donkey together. And can you imagine the outcome? Can you imagine the clash? Now the Bible addresses, did you know the Bible addresses itself to this? Listen to me, it's right here, Deuteronomy 22 and 10 says, you shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.

And I want you to look with me tonight at the meaning of a stubborn heifer because I believe there's something here. One of the reasons for a lack of spiritual progress in some cases is a refusing to yield or to obey or comply or a character trait that resists doggedly or is unreasonable and unable to receive correction. Now other pastors have addressed themselves to this directly and indirectly, but the scripture does say in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall a thing be established.

And I believe it's important enough to address ourselves to it tonight. Now what does the Bible have to say about stubbornness? Now Israel was the most stubborn people in all of Bible history and we'll look at them in a moment, but this is a New Testament subject and problem as well. Paul wrote to Titus and he said to the church, among other things in Titus 1.7 he says to them not to be self-willed, not to be self-willed, which means stubborn.

Paul writes to Timothy to remind the church, he says that you are to be subject to rulers, to the authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for such good deeds as necessary, to malign no one, to be uncontentious, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. That's 1 Timothy 3.11. Now there's nothing like a stubborn person in a group or within a church to disrupt good unity and good teamwork. I've seen stubborn leaders in churches hold back the work of God in that church for years and years.

I've seen deacons, deaconesses, a deacon or group of deacons who were self-willed and unreasonable in wanting their own way, of subjecting their own will upon an entire congregation. I've seen such churches that have run out of town more than one pastor and caused numerous good members to leave because there are certain unyielding individuals that impose their will over a congregation. Hosea 4.16 says, can the Lord now pastor them? He said, can he pastor them like a lamb in a large place? And listen, you'll never, never be in a large place.

And the reason that some churches never grow and become larger is because there are certain self-willed individuals who hold sway and hold power over it. And they can never be in a, the church can never be in a large place. And you will never be in a large place if you have a stubborn streak within you.

I remember my dad warned, my dad took over a church. Well before I tell you that, let me tell you, I knew a friend of mine who was a pastor in a church that had some very strong-spirited individuals and I, and one of them said, one is here before this man was here and I'll be here after him. And of course, that's true, he was there, but God wasn't there.

And my dad, I remember my dad took over a church, very strong-willed individuals that wanted to stand in the way of God's move in the church and he warned them. He preached a strong message and warned them, he said, listen, some of you stubborn heifers, God's gonna remove you one way or the other. God will remove you because the work of God is gonna go on.

And I remember him saying it, he said it without anger, but I very clearly, never forget it, it perked my ears up as a youngster. He said, listen, and some of them were older in years and he said, some of you are gonna die before your time, I'll bury you within this year if you don't, if you continue to be stubborn and stand in the way of the work of God. That's pretty strong stuff.

And he did, that's right, I saw it happen, I saw it happen, they didn't want to move on. There is a kind of Christian who the scripture says is obstinate like a rebellious city. Don't turn there, but Zephaniah says, woe to her who was rebellious and defiled.

She heeded no voices, she accepted no instruction, in other words, nobody could tell her anything. Another translation says she obeys no one, she accepts no correction, she does not trust in the Lord, she did not draw near to her God. Here's another interesting New Testament scripture, you know, we often quote these verses, certain verses that stand out and we quote them, but we often don't see what they're tied into when we don't read the verses that follow.

This is 2 Peter 2, 9 and 10, it says, then the Lord, we quote this, we're blessed by it, but we have to understand what mainly it applies to. He says, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment. And especially those who indulge the flesh in corrupt desires and despise authority, daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic manifestations.

And that's talking about a man who's filled with his own strong will, and it's talking about not falling into that, not falling into that kind of temptation. But in talking about stubbornness, of course, Israel was the most obstinate, stubborn, unyielding people. I read this verse, I'm going to read it to you, and I had to read it again, I read it out of the New American Standard.

And I looked at that, and it just spoke to me because this is what God said about his people. He said, for 40 years I loathed that generation. He uses the word loath.

Now, the King James uses the word angry, but a more accurate interpretation is that the Lord said, I loathed that generation. And I thought, why? Think of it, God said for 40 years he loathed that generation. Why? Because they were a stubborn, rebellious, unyielding people.

Psalms 95, 10, it goes on and says, and God said that they are a people who err in their heart and they do not know my ways. Psalm 78 and 8 warns that we be not like Israel who were a stubborn and a rebellious generation whose spirit was not faithful to God. Now, there was a word that the Lord used to describe Israel, and it was first used when they fell into sin.

You know that Moses went into the mountain, left the people for a period of time, came back down off the mountain, and they had made this golden calf, and Moses asked Aaron for an explanation. He said, well, he said they just brought all their jewelry and we threw it in the fire, and all of a sudden out came this calf. You know? And God used a term, Exodus 33, 5, for the Lord had said unto Moses, say unto the children of Israel, ye are a stiff-necked people.

Now, there's the word. The word is stiff-necked. God said ye are a stiff-necked people.

The New American Standards calls it an obstinate people. The word also means headstrong. In the New Testament, Stephen, in his message to the Jews, in Acts 7 31 says, ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in hearts and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did.

As your fathers did. He was referring back there into Exodus at the time of the golden calf. He says, as your fathers did, so do you.

And throughout the Old and New Testaments, stubbornness is associated, stubbornness and stiff-neckedness is associated with backsliding. In Hosea 4 16, in the King James says, for Israel slideth back as a backslidden heifer. And literally this means that, refers to he who turns aside from the way that has appointed him so that he does not walk in it.

To be stiff-necked is to be like a heifer that goes on a crooked way and curves itself under the yoke so that man cannot plow it. In other words, the heifer refused to keep his head in that yoke and he kept trying to go down, kept trying to get out from underneath it. And so Israel would know, they knew exactly what God meant when he said, you are stiff-necked people trying to keep your heads, curve your heads from underneath the yoke.

And you know, unfortunately today the church still has some obstinate, obstinate stiff-necked and mule-headed people, a people whose necks are never straightened. They're always, they're always trying to find a way to get away, a way to get away from the straight and narrow path and from a path of obedience. And they're the kind, and you know what they are, they're the kind of people that, they come to church, unfortunately they keep coming to church.

They keep coming. I know, I minister, when I would travel I would minister, it would take me about 15 minutes in a service and I would begin to pick out the remnant. Because thank God, mostly everywhere you go there's always a remnant, praise God.

And I'd look down and I'd pick out some faces, it's kind of hard here because of the light but I consider you're all the remnant here, for the most part. But I'd address myself to that remnant but always, I could pick out very soon the stiff-necked. I could pick out the stubborn, I could pick out the controlling spirit or spirits.

Many times, sometimes it wouldn't happen but sometimes the Holy Spirit would reveal it to me and I could pick out the stiff-necked people and those who had a controlling spirit. Sometimes it was in their body language, sometimes it was just a witness of the spirit. But they come.

And I guess what they're looking for is for some spiritual Bengay to soothe their neck. You know, they've had it curved down and trying to get out of it so long. And there are enough pastors around who will dispense some of that spiritual Bengay just to soothe them a little bit in their compromise and say, it's alright, you don't have to put your, it's been said right here, don't go to Times Square Church, they'll put your neck in a noose.

Well, bless your heart, we sure will. I like what Billy Graham said, yes, he said, I'm narrow-minded, I'm married to only one woman. And it goes on from there, the straight and narrow way, yes.

That's where freedom is. The Lord told Jeremiah, you know the story, Jeremiah gave Israel an illustrated sermon on how he felt about their rebellion and backsliding. Jeremiah 27-2, thus says the Lord, Make for yourselves bonds and yokes and put them on your neck.

The verse previous to it says that this took place during the reign of Zedekiah. And in 2nd Quran, it goes 36-12-13, it tells us what kind of king and heart Zedekiah had. Listen to it, and he said, or excuse me, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord, his God.

He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke to the Lord. He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who made him swear by God, but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord God of Israel. Now, there are many, many other things that, that's not the full word on what the scripture says about a stubborn and stiff-necked people, but it is a characteristic that is carried through from Israel on into the New Testament, and we'll see that in just a moment.

But I want to talk about what is the cause of stubbornness in the heart. You see, a stubbornness towards God is twofold. It's vertical and it's horizontal.

It's upward and it's outward. And when we rebel against God's rule, we inevitably rebel against church structures and people with whom we have to deal on a day-by-day basis. And with this in mind, I'd like to look at a few causes of stubbornness.

It's been addressed, as I said before, from this pulpit by other pastors. But behind and underneath stubbornness is a need for certain people for the most part to always, they always have a need for the most part to want to be right. You know, when Lucifer offered or said to Eve that the forbidden fruit would make her godlike, at the basis of this was an appeal to the desire to be a master of one's own destiny and to be always right in one's own eyes.

And you see, by the time of the Book of the Judges, man's rebellion and stubbornness had reached its zenith when the scripture says, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes. You see, there is that which is within man that wants to be godlike in intelligence and wants to have a sense of independence because, you see, God is totally independent of anyone or anything but himself. And there's a desire within man to want to be godlike in intelligence and in independence, but of course not to be godlike in truth or in righteousness or in holiness.

And man wants the power of God to rule but not to be ruled. Now Proverbs 21 and 2 says, Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord pondereth the hearts. And there's another translation by Moffat, listen to it.

It says, Man's ways are always right in his own eyes, but the Eternal has the verdict on his life. Now if you live with someone or work with someone who is very stubborn, chances are there is a need within that person to always be right, to want to control the situation, and be always in command of others and of events having to do with others. And at the heart of this, you see, is the spirit that originated in Lucifer.

Many people are drawn to witchcraft for this very reason. They want to control people, they want to control events. And the Bible says that such stubborn people are fools.

Proverbs 12, 15 says, The way of the fool seems right in his own eyes, but he that listens to advice is wise. But let me take this just a little step further. Another cause of stubbornness is that it is often the flip side of a hurt.

It's the flip side of a hurt. You see, a person who has been hurt or wounded by another person often gets even by returning the hurt with stubbornness. Anger and hurt are twins.

They're opposite sides of the same coin. And in fact, stubbornness is the third person of that unholy trinity. You have hurt, you have anger, you have stubbornness.

Now, Israel sinned in the wilderness because they had an unjustified hurt and anger towards God. You see, a hurt often rises from a perceived right that is taken from us. If someone violates what we feel is our right, if they withhold a felt need, we're hurt.

And Israel was hurt and was angry because they felt Moses and God had forsaken them. Listen to Exodus 32, 1. Now, when the people saw that Moses delayed, Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled around Aaron and said to him, Come, make us a God who will go before us as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. You see, Israel unjustly felt that God had forsaken them.

They felt denied of a right. And they rebelled and so they assembled around Aaron. And that's a picture of an angry, stubborn people taking matters into their own hand and demanding that their leaders satisfy their needs.

And be careful when you start thinking or acting like Israel did here. That's when we think God has unjustly delayed coming down from the mountain to answer our prayers. You may be asking God to restore your marriage.

You may be asking him to save an unsaved loved one. You may be asking him to open a certain door or supply a certain need or answer a special request or whatever. And when God delays, you can become like Israel and feel hurt and denied or forsaken.

And this can lead you to find an Aaron and surround him and demand that he make you a God to satisfy your need. And then, of course, there is a stubbornness that arises towards specific persons who have hurt us. You know, the Lord showed me a long time ago in marriage that at times when I was obstinate or stubborn over a certain thing with my wife, that that stubbornness was a payback.

It was a payback. A payback for a right that I felt that she had denied me. Or for a hurt I felt that she was guilty of inflicting on me.

And so my stubbornness might come out the next day or it might come out the next week. And she sometimes had no idea why I was being so stubborn and strong-headed. Sometimes she did, but sometimes she didn't.

And this is a game called, you didn't do what I like. You didn't do, you didn't meet my wishes. You didn't give me my way.

And so, I'm going to get back at you. You want to go shopping? You want to go get a new dress? Well, this heifer not moving. I say that because early in our marriage, my wife didn't drive the car.

And she had to wait for me. She'd wait all day long. I'd come home and she wanted to go somewhere.

And sometimes I'd just get stubborn and this heifer wouldn't move. The cart wouldn't move. And she didn't know what was going on.

It was payback because of some right that was denied. Proverbs 18, 19 says, A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city. And their contentions are like the bars of a castle.

Oh boy. Bars of a castle. When you're stubborn, you build a fortress of walls around you.

And you say, I'm not coming out and you're not coming in. And worst of all, is that that leads you to have a broken relationship with the Lord. You know, it's very interesting.

In Acts chapter 16, verse 14, Jesus said to Saul, He said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Now you remember that Saul was on the road to Damascus. He thought that he was set on his own way for God. He thought he was going for God.

He thought he was doing God's service. And listen to me, we are never free from the snare of being deceived into thinking that we're on a path as Saul was. Believing that he was on God's mission and doing God's will.

And yet, at the same time, was persecuting Christ. This is the end of Sidon. Until you and I are baptized totally into Jesus Christ, we will fall into such a snare as Saul.

You see, stubbornness and self-will will always stab Jesus Christ. Whenever we are obstinate and self-willed, and we set upon our own ambition, we hurt Christ. Every time we stand on our own rights and insist that this is what we are entitled to do, we are persecuting Jesus.

He said it, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? I want to tell you the most crushing revelation that can ever be discovered is to find that you are standing up for some personal desire and you realize that it's not of God and God reveals that to you, that spirit in you. That's a great, that's a tremendous revelation. You see, one of the characteristics of a heart unit to God is to have a teachable spirit.

There is no place or position in God's kingdom for stubborn, unteachable people. The qualifications for leadership and service in the New Testament church had to do with, first of all, having a teachable spirit. Ephesians 5, 7 says, We are not to be partakers with evil doers, but walk as children of light.

And the next verse says, proving or learning what is acceptable or pleasing unto the Lord. I've said so often when I preach how I thank God for the heritage that was handed to me by my parents. One thing that I learned from my mother that she constantly stressed is that I would have, she would say to son, I pray that you have the fear of God.

A fear or reverence for God. Not to take the things of God lightly and I thank God I received that from my mother. If there's one outstanding thing among many things that was handed down to me by my father, it was this, son, have a teachable spirit.

Have a spirit to learn. Learn. Be clay in the potter's hand.

In fact, we sing a song like that. It became my very favorite song because it related to what my father would say. And I remember how he used to, in the context in which he would teach this to me.

Being the youngest, I was still at home when some of my older brothers and sisters were gone. And some were off to college and some went off to marry or were courting and later got married. And mom and dad would discuss.

They would talk about my sister Juanita and some of the problems in her life. They would talk about David. They would talk about Jerry.

They'd talk about Ruth. Mostly they talked about David. Careful.

My father would turn to me and again, not in a condescending way whatsoever. I never heard anger in his voice. But he would share it with mother because mother was a praying woman.

Both dad and mom. Mom didn't say a lot, but she went to the cause of the prayer. But sometimes when they would discuss it, my father would turn to me.

He said, now son, I want you to listen to this now. You can learn. Learn from their mistakes.

I did my best. Didn't always turn out that way. But you know, my father in this regard was like Solomon who writes.

He says, a wise man will hear and will increase in learning. And a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels. Proverbs 9.9 says, give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser.

Teach a just man or a holy man and he will increase in learning. I've been in a position where I've had for years in ministry where I've had to hire people for positions. And sometimes fire people.

And I have found people, I've learned is that some people who are highly gifted, intelligent, capable. But who are strong-willed and self-willed and stubborn are less qualified than those who are less intelligent or less capable. But if they have a teachable spirit, God can use them.

And I'll take them any day. I'll take them any day. It's easier to mold clay than to chisel a stone.

And when Jesus said to some of his listeners or what he said to them applies here tonight, listen. Matthew 18.3 and he, Jesus said, I tell you the truth. Unless you change, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

And we enter it, we start by being like a little child. And we continue on our path in the kingdom of God by having a childlike spirit. Saying, yes Lord, I need to learn.

I need to learn. I want a teachable spirit. I visited a young minister like one of these young men on the platform tonight.

Had a church and ministry. And he was showing me around his church and all around his facilities. And he began, at one point he told me something that he did.

And I said, boy, I like that. I said, where'd you learn to do that? He said, last year when you were here, you told me about it and I did it. I thought, that's interesting.

We went on and later on he told me about something else he was doing. I said, hey, I like that. That's interesting.

When did you start doing that? He said, last year when you were here, you mentioned it and I started doing it. And I said to myself, I said, I'm going to invest my life in that young man. I'm going to give him my time.

Because he's got a teachable spirit. And I want to tell you, I've met some people in this church that scare me. They scare me.

You know why? Because they have such a teachable spirit. Almost anything I say, they say, yes pastor, yes pastor. And I realize I better give godly advice.

Because they're so willing to learn. Oh, I thank god for that spirit. I see it in this congregation.

And thank god for it. Turn with me to Titus. Turn with me to Titus and while you're turning there, I want to say this to you.

When you go home tonight or tomorrow morning or whenever, I want you to go through, I want you to read the book of Titus. As I was studying this message, the Lord said, go to Titus. I went to Titus.

And what is interesting about Titus is not only what is said, but who it's said to. Paul writes, sends a letter to Titus. And tells him in chapter 1, verse 5, or verse 4. After he gives his customary greeting, he says, To Titus, my true child in the common faith, grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

He says, For this reason I left you in Crete, that you might set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you. Now let me read it again. Look at it again.

For this reason I left you in Crete, that you might set in order what remains. What remains. Now what he was referring to was the fact that there were two kind of people in the church in Crete.

There was a people who were teachable and there were people who were unteachable. There were donkeys in the congregation and there were doves in the congregation. There were people who were obedient and there were people who were obstinate.

There were some of the, later on he refers to some of them of the circumcision, the Jews. Who stood against Paul's teaching. That not only are we saved by faith but also we're saved by following the traditions of men.

And they came into that, onto that, into Crete and they were infiltrated it. And so Paul writes and he says to them, to Titus, the letters to Titus in behalf. He says, You set in order what remains.

In other words, there's some there that are not my people. They're not following, their attitude is wrong. And so I want you to set in order what remains of that which is a godly character.

That which is of a teachable spirit. And so then he goes on and he gives instructions in the second chapter to older women. Verse 3, Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior.

Not malicious gossips, not enslaved with much wine, teaching what is good. That they may encourage the young people to love their husbands and to love their children. To be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands.

That the word of God might not be dishonored. And then he goes on, he talks to the young men. And then he ends up really in the third chapter, in verse 10.

And he says, reject, the King James says what? Reject the heretic. In other words, what had happened is some of these people were so bullheaded. They were so strong headed they would not listen to pure doctrine and to Paul's teaching.

And finally he said, you're going to have to just disassociate with them. I'm writing to the church, I want to set an order. I'm writing to my own people.

In fact, look at verse 14. He said, and let our people also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs. That they may not be unfruitful.

And so there was the contrast spirit that was in that church. Now, some people might have said, well, you know, there was an argument of spirit on the island of Crete. Because, well, these people had, that was their nature.

They had Latin blood in them or whatever. Or we might chalk it up to some cultural or ethnic characteristic. Have you ever met someone who tried to excuse his temper or his bullheadedness by saying, well, I got it from my father.

Yeah, they got it from their father, all right. Not the one they thought. Or someone might say, well, you know, we Irish, you know, that's the way we are.

Or, you know, that's the German in me. Or Italian or whatever. Somebody in this church, and I'll not tell you of what ethnic origin.

He said to me, he said, you know, when you get three of us together, you've got to have three churches. Because we all have our own opinion on what the church ought to be. But let me tell you something.

There's no culture, there's no race or nationality that has a monopoly on stubbornness. It's not Irish, it's not German, it's not Swiss, it's not Jewish. It's plain old sinful nature.

It's carnality and it's not of God. And God says that he will only move in a people that are not self-willed, stubborn. I want to tell you a story tonight.

I thought of it as these young men were here giving their testimony. I want to tell you, turn with me to Luke 19, and I'm going to tell you the story. And I want to show you what the Lord showed me through this young man's life.

Luke, let's see, Luke 19. Just open to 19 and I'll share it in just a moment. Some years ago in Teen Challenge, there was a young man, great big fella.

His first name was Alex. I can't remember his last name except for the last three letters were S-K-I. He was a big Polish fella.

And I want to tell you, he was stubborn. He was stubborn, he was bullheaded. And along with it, he had a temper.

Now there are some people who have a volatile temper along with their stubbornness. There are other people who are stubborn but they have a smile on their face. And they're gentle.

And I've had people in my office, we pastors have had people in our office. We've shared things with them and after they left, we looked at each other and said, you know. And all along they're going, yes, yes pastor, yes pastor.

And when they left, we turned to each other and we'd say, they didn't hear a word we said, did they? And yet they yessed us all the way down the line. I tell you, they're the hardest people to deal with. The people with a smile on their face.

They have stubbornness, you know, sugar-coated. But this fella did not. His was not sugar-coated.

Stubborn and dangerous. And finally, some of the staff recommended that I counsel him because he put his, one day he put his, because he didn't get his own way, he put his fist through the wall. And we were thanking the Lord for that because it was a wall instead of one of us.

And so, I called him in to counsel him. And the Lord showed me something regarding him and other people like him. And here it is in Luke the 19th chapter, verse 29.

And it came about that when he approached Bethpage and Bethany near the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples saying, Go into the village opposite you in which, as you engage, you will find a cold tide on which no one yet has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. And when I called this young man in to my office to counsel him, the Lord showed me that he was like this young colt.

No one had ever sat on him. Nobody had ever sat on him. Now, some of you have got some kids in your house, no one's ever sat, or I've seen some kids around here I wish somebody would sit on.

But, you know, I began to question him. And I said to him, I said, Do you really want to change your life? He said, Yes, I do. And I made the mistake of asking him, I said, Here's the way I put it.

I said, Where do you see yourself in the future? And I'm sitting in my office. It says Executive Director over the door. And I'm sitting at my big desk in my chair.

And when I said to him, Where do you see yourself in the future? He pointed at my chair. I thought, Boy, we're in trouble. We're in trouble.

He's got this spirit in him. He's like a young colt no one's ever sat on and he wants to be a director of Teen Challenge. But, you know, the Lord spoke to me out of this and said, You'll find a colt tied on which no man yet has ever sat.

Untie it and bring it here. Untie it and bring it here. And if anyone asks you, Why are you untying it? Thus you shall say, The Lord has need of it.

And I saw, and finally I said to him a question that nobody thought to ask him. Nobody thought to ask him. I asked him, Are you saved? He said, No.

No. And when he said that, I sat up on my seat and I looked at him and I pointed my finger and I said, Listen, you get saved or you get out of here. He said, Yes, sir.

Yes, sir. He said, Is that all? I said, Yes, you're dismissed. That was a Friday night.

I left town. I had to go speak somewhere. And I made arrangements for them to bring all the Teen Challenge Feathers to a church over in Inglewood, New Jersey on Sunday night to be at the meeting.

And I told them, I said, I'm going to be a little late, but I'll be there at the meeting. I want the Feathers to be there. About five of eight or something, I come, whatever time it was, I come walking into the church.

Coincidentally, at the very moment, this young Alex is sitting on the first pew on the end, standing there, giving his testimony. I could see by the look on his face that something had happened to him. And when he turned around, he saw me walking down the aisle.

He said, Well, you told me. You told me to get saved. He said, I got saved Saturday night.

Here I am. That young man had been untied. If anyone asks you, why are you untying it? Thus shall you speak.

The Lord has need of it. And listen, some of you, there are some of you here tonight, you're like that colt you've never been sat on. But God has need of you tonight.

And those who were sent went away and found it just as he had been told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owner said to him, Why are you untying the, you know, it's just like the devil saying, Why are you trying to untie that colt? And they said, The Lord has need of it. And here's the verse.

Here's where I'm going to close. And as he was going, or excuse me, and they brought it, they brought it to Jesus. They brought that stubborn, they brought that colt that had never been sat upon.

And they brought it to Jesus. And they threw their garments on the colt and put Jesus on it. And put Jesus on it.

Oh, listen, my friend, put Jesus on it. Hallelujah. Let Jesus sit on it.

Hallelujah. Let Jesus sit on it. Glory to God.

And he'll break the stubborn spirit within you. Hallelujah. And you'll be that colt upon which Jesus rides.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Let's stand together.

Thank you, Jesus. And sure enough, nobody stood. Thank God that's not this church.

And would to God that it never is this church. I've had the occasion to be overseas a couple of times. And...