If I'm the one that has the rule over this church,
I'm the pastor of this church,
who's spoken to you the word of God,
it says, whose faith follow considering
the end of their conversation.
So you're supposed to follow me as I follow Christ.
If I stop following Christ, then you stop following me
and get yourself another pastor.
Look at verse seven, skip down to verse 17.
It says, obey them.
So first you're supposed to remember those
that have the rule over you.
Remember your pastor.
I need prayers too, I need prayers too.
So I hope that you're praying for your pastor
because I'm trying to lead you by faith,
but it says, why would it say to remember me?
Well, I would say remember me in your prayers
is probably what it's talking about there.
But again, verse 17, obey them that have the rule over you.
And submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls,
as they must give account.
Give account, what would that be?
That would be stewardship, right?
When I have to give an account of something,
I'm stewarded with watching for your souls.
I'm stewarded with ruling over you
and giving you the word of God.
I'm supposed to be preaching the word of God to you.
And the Bible says that you're supposed to obey
and those that have the rule over you
and submit yourselves because why?
Because I watch over your souls.
I pray for you.
I'm trying to lead you the best way that I can.
And guess what, I have to give an account to God for that.
It's not you that has to give an account,
it's I have to give an account for that.
That they may do it with joy and not with grief,
for that is unprofitable for you.
So that's the part where,
try not to be a pain in the neck to the pastor
because his job is to watch over your souls
and must give an account and then he may do it with joy.
Because you know, it's not fun doing a job
when there's no joy in it.
You start working a job,
you guys know what I'm talking about,
you start doing something and you do it
and you do it and you do it and you master it.
Like I don't know if you're like me at all guys,
but once I master something and I feel like I've gotten
all my knowledge in that area that I could possibly do,
I get bored.
Don't you get bored?
But I also, if it's mundane or something
that's just like a factory job
where you're just putting something in a bag
and tying the bag and that's just what you do,
and I'm not like getting on anybody for that,
that would be a boring, I would find a new job real quick.
But like, you know what I'm saying?
Sometimes you're doing some kind of work
and ladies, you know what I'm talking about too
because you do the same job a lot,
you're cooking and cleaning and whatever else
you're doing at home, that kind of stuff
gets mundane and old, but like if people don't appreciate
the fact that you're doing it for them,
doesn't that annoy you?
Doesn't that make you not have joy?
So if I never said, hey honey, that was a really good meal,
which by the way, the meal was excellente tonight,
but just want to say that real quick while I'm here.
Or if I never said thank you for anything that she ever did,
she would probably not have any joy in her life.
So in the same way, as church members,
and I'm not saying that you guys don't do this,
I'm just saying that this is preaching for a future too
because we have a great church here,
I don't have any complaints.
So I'm not trying to say that, I'm just trying to help you
see things from my position a little bit here.
But if I have to get, the way I have to watch over
your souls is that you're always a pain in the neck to me,
then it's not going to be joyful, it's going to be grief.
And then the Bible says that that is unprofitable for you.
It's unprofitable for you because don't you want,
they say happy wife, happy life, well happy pastor,
I don't know anything that rhymes with that,
but happy pastor, obey your master, no I'm just kidding.
I'm just kidding, but I'm not supposed to be called master.
But what I'm saying is that if I'm happy shepherding
you guys, or if you guys are happy and receive joy
from me being your pastor, then I'm going to be filled
with joy to be your pastor.
And I don't want it to be this thing where I'm always
having to chase you down and find out why you haven't
been in church for three weeks.
That's not joyful to me.
That when I see people starting to phase out,
that's not joyful for me.
So stay in church, stay in church and be a blessing.
And that's going to be very helpful to me as the pastor.