Let's look at First Timothy chapter five verse number one.
First Timothy chapter five verse number one,
rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father.
The title for the sermon this evening is
how to treat church family.
How to treat church family.
I like the timing of this chapter.
You know, just recently on Sundays,
I was preaching about the importance of family.
And we looked at the family we're born into,
the family that we get married into,
and then we've got the family of God,
which we get to experience most of our time together
with the family at church.
And so what we learned in this chapter,
first Timothy chapter five,
is how we ought to deal with one another,
how we're able to treat one another.
And you can see when, by looking at this passage,
where to treat one another in a very respectful manner.
So let's start there once again in verse number one,
rebuke not an elder.
Now, I know as we've been going
for the book of First Timothy,
when we've seen the word elder, we often, you know,
I mentioned how that word can be used interchangeably
with pastor or Bishop.
But if you look at the context of the word elder here,
it's actually got to do with an older man, an aged man.
Because when you look at it, it follows up by saying,
but in treating him as a father
and the younger men as brethren, okay?
So we're comparing the elder, the older men,
with the younger men.
And we're meant to treat the younger men as brethren.
Look at verse number two, the elder women as mothers,
so we're looking at elderly women now.
And then it says the younger as sisters, we've all purity.
So the younger ladies as well,
we're to look at each other as look at them as sisters,
sisters in the Lord, because we are a family of God
that meet there up there at New Life Baptist Church.
Now, if you were to say, well, you know,
verse number one, that's definitely about the pastor.
This is where, you know, people take the liberties
of saying, well, then verse number two says,
the elder women.
So see, women can be pastors as well, they'll say, right?
But you gotta be careful.
Of course, the context there is about age, you know,
the younger men, the older men.
And I do believe, though, by using the word elder,
and we know that one of the titles of a pastor is an elder,
we can create a secondary application and say,
we also should not rebuke a pastor.
Rebuke not an elder, rebuke not a pastor.
You know what this is saying?
That there's gonna come times in the family of a church
when you're gonna wanna rebuke one another,
when there's going to be conflicts,
where a younger person may feel like rebuking someone
that is older in the faith, but the Bible tells us,
don't treat them like that.
Don't treat an older man, you know,
don't just go out and rebuke them
if they've done something wrong or they've offended you,
you've had some type of conflict.
Hey, don't go just go out and rebuke a pastor, all right?
How are we meant to treat one another?
Well, for those that are elderly or more mature,
entreat him as a father.
You ought to view the older men in the church as your father.
Okay, treat them as you would a father, okay?
You should be respectful toward your father.
You know, you shouldn't think as a young person,
puffed up and prideful against those that are older.
You should respect that they've got many years
of experience over you.
And the younger men as brethren.
You know, the other young men that we have in the church,
we ought not to look at them as competition of some sort,
but rather, hey, that's my brother in the Lord.
We're looking at each other, not from a fleshly perspective,
but rather, what is our spiritual makeup as a family?
Verse number two, the elder women as mothers.
So same thing, we ought to honor and respect
the older ladies that are in our church
and, you know, treat them same way
you would treat your own mother.
And then it says the younger as sisters,
we've all purity.
The younger as sisters, we've all purity.
Now, you know, when we look at these passages here,
once again, about the rebuking of an elder,
when it says to entreat him as a father,
the word entreat is basically to speak
or ask of one urgently and respectfully.
So if you do find a situation where you are in conflict
with someone that is older than you in the church,
instead of just going out there and just, you know,
being full of rage and out of control of your emotions,
you know, go and try to sort out that issue, right?
Go up to that person honestly and earnestly
and respectfully and treat them as you would your own father.
And as I said, the secondary application
would be to a pastor as well.
You know, just recently, just this Sunday,
I had a phone call from some guy up in Noosa
and he was asking about our church
and he was asking me different questions.
And I was saying to him what we believe about salvation,
what we believe about baptism,
what we believe about some other doctrines
like the Trinity, et cetera, about soul winning,
that's our main ministry.
And then he asked me, so basically, you know,
do you guys believe in Calvinism?
You know, and I was like, no,
we're not a reformed theology church.
You know, we reject that, we're not Calvinists.
And this guy just started to go on and on and on
about the Bible and, you know, claiming verses
that, you know, he believes he's teaching
that God selects some to go to hell
and selects some to go to heaven.
And he doesn't, you know, for a little while
I'm letting him talk so he can just get off his chest
and then I can respond to it.
But he wouldn't stop, he'd just keep going on
and I had to stop to this guy and say, hey, you know,
did you call me with questions about our church
or did you call me to discuss and to debate Calvinism?
Because if you're discussing Calvinism,
I'm not interested, right?
Right now I don't have time to discuss Calvinism
with you on the phone, but if you have questions,
you know, to me about the church,
feel free to ask me about the church.
And he'd go on and on about it and he's saying,
well, you guys don't believe the Bible,
you guys make void these scriptures.
And essentially the guy was rebuking at that point, right?
And he's basically saying, you don't believe the Bible,
you don't believe what God says, you know,
he was getting offended by the fact
that we weren't Calvinists.
And I just told him, hey, this is not the way
you need to talk to a pastor.
And I just, you know, I had a few of my own words
to say to him and I hung up the phone, all right?
But you know, we ought to be considerate toward one another,
especially those that are elderly and especially the pastor.
You don't just go, if you have a disagreement
with the pastor, you don't just go up to the guy
and just criticize and yell at him.
You know, you wanna be able to sort things out, you know?
We ought to treat one another respectfully.
What I also like about verse number two,
the younger as sisters, we've all purity.
You know, we ought to look at the ladies in our church
as our sisters.
You know, we don't wanna be this church where, you know,
the men just talk to the men
and the ladies, they just talk to the ladies.
No, we're brothers and sisters, we're a family.
We should be able to openly talk to one another.
Now in saying that, we also have to respect the boundaries
that exist within families.
We're marriages and, you know, treat ladies,
what they say, we've all purity, right?
And so, you know, I should not be a pastor
that goes to my wife and say, hey, honey,
you know, I'm just gonna hang out
with this lady in the church.
It's some other guy's wife, but I'm just gonna hang out
and, cause we're brothers and sisters in the Lord, you know?
No, we've all purity, you know?
The word purity has to do with chastity, right?
You've gotta be mindful that yes,
we're brothers and sisters in the Lord
and we should be able to talk to one another.
You know, I'm happy to talk to any ladies in the church
as long as it's in the open in public
where others can see us.
The last thing, you know,
the thing that I definitely don't wanna do
is to take one of the ladies from our church aside,
which is not my wife or my own daughters, right?
Take them aside and have our own little private fellowship.
Oh, pastor, I have some, you know,
some private things I need to talk to you about.
Can I talk to you secretly?
No, it's not gonna happen, ladies.
It's not gonna happen, okay?
Cause I have to respect, either you've got a husband
and if you wanna talk to me privately,
then we get your husband there involved as well, okay?
If you're a daughter, you're not married,
we'll get your dad involved in the conversation as well.
And if you can't get your husband
or your dad involved for whatever reason,
then I'm definitely gonna say,
hey, don't talk to me about this right now.
Let me at least get my wife here
because, you know, I'm there to treat you with all purity.
I don't want anything, any accusations to be made.
And men, we need to be aware of that, right?
Yes, we're brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Let's enjoy each other's company.
You know, don't feel,
don't be afraid to talk to the ladies in the church,
but hey, you know,
make sure that you respect the boundaries that are there.
Make sure if it's another man's wife that, you know,
you're not alone with that person individually,
they always make sure that the husband's there with you
as well if you're going to discuss something
of a private matter, all right?
So it's all about purity.
Now, you know, something else that might develop
in a church is let's say some young man comes to our church
and he's looking for a single girl to get married
or just the young people that are in our church.
You know, maybe you start to like someone
of the opposite sex and you're thinking,
hey, you know, I'd like to date this person.
I'd like to, you know, marry maybe this person one day.
Well, young men, okay, yes,
there's a sister in the Lord in the church
that you want to date and get to know better.
Hey, go to a father and treat him as a father and say,
hey, do you mind if I take your daughter out on a date?
Do you mind if I ask her if she'd be interested
in seeing me or whatever, right?
Do things decently, treat the church brethren as family.
Okay, and if you start, let's say you do go on a date,
praise God, let's say something like that, does develop.
That's awesome.
You know, we should be aiming to date
and get married to people that are saved,
to brothers and sisters in the Lord.
So we can be at least united
in our spiritual journey together.
Hey, but let's say it doesn't work out.
Let's say, you know, this is something I bring up
because I see this happening in churches,
at least in past churches that I've been part of.
Let's say it doesn't work out.
You guys aren't compatible.
You guys just aren't suited for one another.
And you decide, hey, let's just break this off, okay?
Sometimes feelings can get a little bit hurt, okay?
And you know, I've seen, you know, young men basically,
all right, you know, she didn't want me
and she rejects her and wants nothing to do with her,
stays away from her, from the church.
No, that's not how it should be.
You can still view that young lady as your sister.
All right, it didn't work out between the two of us.
I'm not going to reject.
I'm not going to make it feel like a waste of my time.
She's still my sister in the Lord.
I still want her to do well.
I still hope she finds the right man for her life
and gets married.
And I hope I can find the right girl for myself
and get married one day.
But you know, we ought to treat one another with purity.
You know, view our sisters in the Lord with purity.
You know, it's the false prophet.
It's the wicked at heart that wants to enter a church
and think, hey, you know, what kind of romantic conquests
can I have here in this church?
It's those filthy people.
There are people like that that are trying to, you know,
turn wives against their husbands
and to only trust the pastor.
It will never be that way with me, brethren.
I'm telling you, you know, if a lady comes up to me
about something, I want your husband there, okay?
Or if I'm going to respond to you,
I'm probably going to respond to your husband, okay?
So he can give you the response that came from me, okay?
I'm always going to uphold the man that has the authority,
who's the head of his wife.
Let's keep going.
Verse number three.
It says, honor widows that are widows indeed.
So the word honor there, of course,
when you think of the word honor,
we think about to esteem or to respect.
And yes, that is part of it.
But when you look at the context here
of what it means to honor a widow,
it means to basically take care of her needs.
Obviously, a widow who's lost her husband,
the husband is the main breadwinner.
And now she could be at a point
where she's struggling to look after herself.
And as a church, we ought to look at these widows
and say, hey, is this a widow
that we should be looking after as a church?
You know, should we be helping her financially,
you know, paying the bills,
making sure there's sufficient food on the table,
because that's how it would be,
especially women in this day and age
where the Bible was written,
these ladies did not have, you know, the welfare system.
You know, they did not have these pension and payouts
that the government gives out like today.
And so sometimes they needed the church to come in
and help that lady.
But notice verse number three,
honor widows that are widows indeed.
So honor widows that are truly widows, what does this mean?
It's saying there's gonna be women that come into a church
that claim to be widows, but aren't really widows.
And they come into a church
because they wanna have a handout,
but then might not even be widows, okay?
You know, and I can kind of relate to this
because I get calls almost every week,
people asking for money.
You know, are you the church pastor?
So look, I'm having some really hard times right now
and I'm homeless and et cetera, et cetera.
You know, can you help a brother out?
You know, can you help a sister out?
A brother or a sister, I don't even know who you are.
Who are you?
How do I know if you guys really need help?
But here's the thing.
One of the things that we noticed in the Bible,
you know, yes, churches should be willing to, you know,
be generous and help people.
There've been times in our past where, you know,
we've had a brother or sister-in-law that are struggling
and we've gone and put finances together
to help that family out.
And praise God for that when that does happen,
but we don't just do it for anybody
that's asking for money.
There's a criteria, right?
She needs to be proven.
This woman needs to be proven that she's in fact a widow
where only a church can provide for her.
So what we're going to read now in the following verses
is basically how to determine whether this is a person
that the church should be helping financially,
supporting them, making sure that they're looked after.
And I believe we can then take all the same principles
and apply it to anyone else
that might be in a financial need, okay?
So let's keep going there in verse number four.
It says, but if any widow have children or nephews,
let them learn first to show piety at home
and to requite their parents,
for that is good and acceptable before God.
And so before the church is the one that honors the widow,
before the church is the one that steps in
to help a widow in a financial need,
before that happens, first,
it should be her children or her nephews if she has any,
okay?
If she has children,
the children are required to look after that widow mother.
You know, I'm never going to put my parents
in a nursing home.
You know, I don't know if my parents are listening tonight.
I'm never putting you guys in a nursing home, okay?
And you know, if something were to happen to my father
and my mother becomes a widow,
you know, we're going to make sure
that we look after my mother,
that she's going to be looked after and provided for.
I'm not throwing her into a nursing home.
If there's anything that COVID taught us,
is that the elderly that are in nursing homes,
they suffered the most.
They were locked up in the nursing homes,
unable to visit family and friends, okay?
Unable to get fresh air and unable to get sunshine.
And you know, many people, you know,
many times people throw their parents into a nursing home
just to get rid of them.
It's kind of like, you know,
well, they're going to die eventually.
Let's just put them in the holding cell
and wait till they die.
My mother used to work in a nursing home
and she would tell me there were people just there
and no one would visit them.
For years, after years, after years,
nobody would visit them.
You just dump the elderly there
and well, we're looking after them, aren't we?
They've got a nursing home.
I don't like those places.
I think they're filthy and disgusting.
And what we see here is that children or nephews,
okay, if you don't have the children,
let's say she became a widow before she had any kids
or for whatever reason, the kids is not there, all right?
The nephews are to look at their aunties
and say, hey, if my aunt is a widow, I'll look after her.
This is before it comes to the attention of the church.
It says, let them first show piety at home.
The word piety means showing reverence
or meeting natural obligations.
It should be natural that if my mother's a widow
or if my auntie is a widow
and there's no one there to look after her,
it should be natural that I will be the one
to make sure she's taken care of, okay?
It says, and to requite their parents.
To requite is to repay, okay?
So yeah, you know, my mom, she gave birth to me.
My parents provided all my needs as a child.
They gave me the education.
They helped me become the man that I am today.
And so if my mother were to become a widow,
I should be saying, hey, now it's time for me
to repay my parents for all the sacrifice they've done
over the years to get me to where I am now.
Now it's my time to requite my parents.
And then it says, for that is good
and acceptable before God.
So this is why I'm not throwing my parents
in a nursing home.
I wanna do that which is good and acceptable before God.
If my mom becomes a widow,
I'll make sure that she's taken care of, all right?
This is before it becomes the church's issue, all right?
Now let's keep going, verse number five.
Now she that is a widow indeed.
Once again, let's prove she's a widow.
Let's make sure she meets the criteria
before the church steps in to help this individual, okay?
Now she that is a widow indeed and desolate.
So what does desolate mean?
It means you're alone, okay?
Desolate is like the desert, okay?
She doesn't have her children.
She doesn't have nephews.
She's got nobody in the family to take care of her.
So she's a widow indeed.
Yes, she's a widow.
She's lost her husband.
Yes, she's got no children.
She's got no nephews, but is that all?
What else I should say about this widow?
Trusteth in God.
So this widow has to be a godly woman.
She has to be a faithful woman, all right?
She's someone that has been in church
and proven to be a faithful member of our church.
It's not just some widow that walks off the street
asking for some money.
No, she's a sister in the Lord.
She's been proven.
It says, and continueth in supplications
and prayers night and day.
So she's got a testimony of a prayerful woman,
testimony of a sister in the Lord,
testimony of someone that is proven in the church,
but she's got nobody.
Then that now becomes the issue of a church.
This is the person that we ought to be looking out for
for a church.
So if I just get some random person asking me for money
because they think a church is gonna give them money,
it's not gonna happen.
They're not proven, okay?
I don't know if they're faithful to God.
I don't know if they're saved.
I don't know anything about this individual, okay?
The point is, if we're going to provide for a person
in the church, we need to make sure
that they've been proven in the church,
that they're someone that trusts in the Lord.
They are of someone of a godly character.
And again, when we look at the word desolate
in verse number five,
and now she that is widow indeed and desolate.
So again, she's alone.
She's got no one to take care of her.
So if she doesn't have her children and her nephew,
we live in 2021, we're living in Australia.
Even though she doesn't have children or a nephew,
it doesn't necessarily mean she automatically becomes
an issue for the church.
Because again, she has to be desolate.
She has to be someone without aid.
And as I mentioned earlier,
we live in a country where there is so much
government handouts, I'm not saying it's good.
Sometimes maybe it's decent, okay?
Sometimes it makes sense, okay?
But we live in this welfare system.
I'd much rather keep my tax,
and then myself generously give to people that need help,
then the government's stealing my money
and giving it to whoever they want, okay?
But the fact is many widows today,
if they're gonna be struggling financially,
they'll be able to qualify for some type of help
from the government, okay?
And so in that case, I suppose in many ways,
she wouldn't be desolate in that sense.
She'd be provided for financially,
but she still might need some help around the house
and taking care of, taking out the garbage if she's elderly
or cutting her grass or just doing those kind of nice tasks
to her help, if it's someone in our day and age,
in our country, all right?
Let's keep going, verse number six, verse number six.
So we identified in verse number five,
the kind of widow that the church should be looking after.
But there could be a widow in verse number six
that is part of our church.
She's lost her husband, but then it says in verse number six,
but she that liveth in pleasure is dead
while she liveth.
So verse number six is comparing a woman,
sorry, comparing a woman that's living in pleasure
to a woman who is trusting God, okay?
So we might have a widow in our church one day,
where she lives in pleasure.
What is this referencing?
This is basically a woman that is not Godly,
a woman who has not proven herself to be faithful
to the house of God, to Christ.
She's just living for the world.
She's got worldliness in her.
And she has no interest in the things of God, right?
She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.
Why is it saying she's dead while she liveth, okay?
Well, think about it like this.
If someone is dead,
you're not going to be providing for their needs.
Once someone's dead, they're buried and that's it.
They don't need anything taken care of, right?
And so a woman that is living after her own pleasures,
the pleasures of the world, not living Godly,
not caring about the church,
not serving faithfully in the church, and she's a widow?
Well, that is someone that we should in many ways
just consider dead as it were, not to be provided for
because she's not proven herself to be faithful
toward the house of the Lord.
Let's keep going, verse number seven.
And these things give in charge that they may be blameless.
So Paul is telling Timothy as a pastor,
charge the ladies in your church that they may be blameless.
I'm going to charge you ladies right now, okay?
Now, I hope you never get to the stage
where you become a widow.
For those that are married with children,
I hope that never happens.
But I want you to know something,
that if you ever lost your husband
and you were in a tough state financially,
as a church, we would consider helping you out.
Absolutely, okay?
But here's what's going to help you along in that journey,
that you're faithful to the church,
that you're a faithful sister to the Lord,
that you're serving in the house of God,
that you're Godly, okay?
That you're proven to care about the things of God, right?
That your soul went in,
that you're involved in the work of God.
But if it shows that you're actually quite worldly
and maybe without your husband,
you become even more worldly.
You become a seeker of the pleasures in this world,
well, the church is not going to step in there to help you.
Okay?
So I'm charging you now.
I want you to make sure, hey, you know,
it can be a scary thing for ladies to think about,
you know, their husbands dying.
Hey, who's going to look after me?
Well, if you've got nobody to look after,
no one in your family,
and you've proven yourself to be a faithful woman in church,
the church will help you out, okay?
The church will help you out.
Okay, let's keep going, verse number eight.
But if any provide not for his own,
and especially for those of his own house,
he have denied the faith and is worse than infidel.
So verse number eight,
we can't remove it from the context, okay?
If any provide not for his own,
what is he talking about?
That if you and your family have a widow,
you've got a widowed mother, okay?
Your mother is a widow.
You've got an auntie that's a widow.
If you don't provide for your own,
you don't provide for your own family,
especially those of your own house,
he have denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.
What's an infidel?
An infidel is an unbeliever.
The world says, if you don't look after your widows
in your own family, okay,
then you're worse than an unbeliever.
This is why it says, has denied the faith.
You're not doing that which what faithfully requires you
to do as a child of God,
looking after those that are elderly
and have lost their husbands, okay?
This is disgusting.
If you're not even going to look after
your own widowed mothers and widowed aunties.
And once again, if my parents are listening,
you're not going to a nursing home, okay?
We're going to look after you, okay?
We're going to look after you
because that's what the Bible commands.
That's what God commands.
And if I don't look after you, I'm worse than an infidel.
You know, I'm worse than an unbeliever, you know?
And I'm supposed to be a pastor here.
So I don't want to be worse than an unbeliever
if I'm supposed to be a pastor, okay?
But notice again, verse number eight reinforces the fact
that, you know, the church looking after a woman,
a widow, is last resort, okay?
If there's family, the family should be looking
after that widowed person.
The church is a last resort.
If there's nobody else, she's completely desolate.
She has no help at all.
Then the church should consider, you know,
looking after this woman.
Let's keep going.
Verse number nine, we continue with more criteria
of what this widow should be.
It says in verse number nine,
let not a widow be taken into the number
under free school years old.
So what's free school?
That's free times 20, okay?
Score is 20, so that's 60 years old.
So let's read it again.
Let not a widow be taken into the number under 60 years old
having been the wife of one man.
So there's two things that we need to think about here.
Number one, that if she's under 60,
if she's 59 years or under, this is not a woman
that the church should be considered looking after, okay?
We'll soon see why.
So anyone that is 60 plus as a lady, if you're a widow,
then the church should be saying, hey,
this could be a lady that we need to take care of.
But that's not the only thing.
Having been the wife of one man, okay?
So she's been faithfully married, right?
She's not a serial, you know, adult or something, right?
She's not being divorced and remarried
or divorced and remarried multiple times, okay?
She's been faithfully the wife of one man.
She reaches the age of 60 plus.
She becomes a widow.
Then this is the person that a church should be considering
to look after and to make sure
all her needs are provided for, all right?
Now let's keep going.
It says, verse number 10, so what else about this woman?
Again, it kind of repeats what we saw before.
Well reported are for good works.
So this widow has got a report that she does good works.
She serves the church, right?
She does what God requires of her.
If she have brought up children,
she's been a faithful mother of children.
If she had lodged strangers, hey, she's hospitable
to people, to visitors that come to the church.
If she has washed the saints' feet,
if she's been here to serve the brethren,
if she have relieved the afflicted,
if she have diligently followed every good work,
this is the woman that we should consider
to help financially, okay?
So again, she's proven.
She's shown herself to be godly, faithful.
She loves Jesus, she loves the church,
she loves the brethren, okay?
She's been married to one man faithfully
and now she's getting on with her age.
She's 60 plus years old, okay?
What are the chances she'll get remarried very slim, okay?
And so that's where the church will say, hey, you know what?
You're serving the church.
All the service you've done for church, let us honor you.
Let us repay you, let us take care of your needs.
If you've got nobody else to take care of you,
if you've got no family to take care of you,
then the church will be that last resort situation.
Again, this is not just some person that rings me up,
I'm a widow, I'm an orphan, I'm homeless,
can you send me money?
It's not gonna happen.
I need medication, it's not gonna happen.
I don't even know where you're spending that money.
I doubt these people are even being honest with me
over the phone, okay?
I can't prove them.
They're not going to receive our financial aid.
Okay, let's keep going, verse number 11.
But the younger widows refuse.
So what's the younger widows?
Under 60 years old, 59 and under, refuse.
You know, as a church, we should not be like,
hey, you know, let's support you financially.
There's a reason why, because it says here,
for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ,
they will marry.
So what this is saying is basically,
a widow that's 60 plus years old,
she should continue to faithfully serve the church,
and she'll get taken care of,
she'll earn some type of wage, I guess,
some type of salary to help her in life,
as she continues to work and serve in the local church.
But a woman that's under 60 years old,
she's more likely to want to get remarried, all right?
She wants to get remarried.
And so her heart is not necessarily gonna be
to prioritize the house of God.
And if she's getting some type of financial aid
and support from the house of God,
and she doesn't really want to be prioritized
in the house of God, then this is basically kind of,
it says they began to wax wanton against Christ, right?
They want to get married.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to get remarried.
There's nothing wrong with that whatsoever.
Okay, that's not the problem.
But the problem is if they're getting helped by the church,
and instead of prioritizing the church,
they prioritize a future husband, okay?
Because the future husband should be the one
that's, you know, getting married to her
and, you know, looking after her needs,
not the local church.
Verse number 12, it says,
having damnation
because they have cast off their first faith, okay?
So we don't want to risk this.
We don't want to get a younger lady
who maybe lost her husband earlier in age.
Let's say she's 40, okay?
And we say, well, let's help you financially.
Just keep serving the church.
Well, she's going to naturally want a desire to get married.
You know, we don't want her to get to the point
where she casts off her first faith.
You know, the church prioritizing Christ.
We don't want that situation
because then there's damnation, there's judgment from God
for not prioritizing the church, okay?
No, if a woman is younger than 60 years old,
loses her husband,
she should be looking at getting remarried, okay?
To make sure there is a man that can provide for her needs.
Now, let me just say this very quickly.
You know, if, let's say hypothetically, it did happen,
where, you know, in our family,
you know, a woman that's under 60 years old,
she loses her husband, all right?
I'm not saying that we won't support them financially.
You know, I believe that if something were seriously,
if something serious like that were to happen,
where a lady in our church lost her husband,
I reckon we would put our money together,
you know, help her out for a period of time,
of hardship, right?
I mean, there's nothing wrong with that in and of itself,
but we don't want to make this a long-term plan, okay?
We don't want to make sure,
we don't want it to ensure that she knows
she's always going to receive, you know,
some type of money and some type of help every week, okay?
No, because she should be looking, okay,
how do I look after myself?
Maybe my younger kids, if I have any, you know,
how do I go about looking for another man
that can help look after me and look after my family?
You know, this is just a natural requirement for a woman,
a natural desire for a woman to have a man
that look after her.
You know, my wife says that if I were to die,
she'll never get married.
Well, honey, if you're under 60 years old,
I want you to get remarried, okay?
You need somebody to lead you, to guide you,
and to protect you, okay?
Let's keep going.
I won't be jealous, I'll be dead, I'll be in heaven.
Praise God, I'll be waiting for you in heaven, don't worry.
You know, please go on with life without me.
I want you to have a happy life,
and I hope all the men can say amen to that.
Let's keep going, verse number 13.
And with all, they learn to be idle.
So these are the younger widows, okay?
They learn to be idle.
They're getting this paycheck,
or they're getting this help from the church,
and they've got nothing to do, so they become idle.
What happens when ladies become idle?
Wandering about from house to house, and not only idle,
but tattlers also, and busybodies,
speaking things which they ought not.
All right, so again, if a younger woman is receiving,
her needs have been met by the church,
she can become idle, okay?
And like instead of her deciding,
man, I need to go and find a husband,
she's taken care of, what do I do with my life?
I guess I'm gonna go house to house,
visit all the other ladies in the church,
become a tattler, become a busybody.
Now, the Bible brings us up over and over again
with the ladies.
This is a, you know, and ladies, don't get mad at me,
this is what God's word says, okay?
But the Bible's very clear,
this is a problem that ladies struggle with,
especially when they become idle.
When they've got nothing to do.
Ladies, you just love to go,
hey, let me just stop over for a cup of tea, you know?
I'll just pop over, and let's have a chat,
and let's have a chat about this other lady in the church,
and let's have a chat about brother so-and-so.
No, that's not how it ought to be, okay?
Please don't become busybodies in other people's matters.
Please don't be tattlers, gossipers,
going around spreading rumors.
You're going to destroy your reputation,
you're going to destroy families,
you're going to destroy our church, okay?
This is a very wicked thing to do, okay?
If, listen, you should have your own children,
you should have a family that keeps you busy, okay?
You become idle, you will become a gossiper,
a tattler, a busybody, okay?
And you'll notice that this is extremely wicked.
Let's keep going there in verse number 14.
It says, I will, therefore, that the younger women marry,
bear children, guide the house,
give none occasion to the adversary
to speak reproachfully.
Who's the adversary?
Who's our enemy?
Verse number 15.
For some are already turned aside after Satan.
If you become a busybody, ladies,
you go house to house gossiping about sister so-and-so,
brother so-and-so, spreading rumors and stories,
you're following after Satan.
Satan's taking a hold of you,
you're doing the work of Satan, okay?
I mean, how wicked is that?
You've essentially become a minister for Satan
to destroy people's reputations and to hurt our church, okay?
Instead of being idle, what are younger women to do?
Bear children, have children, guide the house,
be there in your house, okay?
Be the housekeeper, right?
Give none occasion to the adversary
to speak reproachfully.
And husbands, you need to manage this as well
in your wife's lives, you know?
I hope your wife's not a gossiper,
I hope she's not a busybody and a tattler,
but remember, we're looking at a younger woman
who is a widow, okay?
In other words, she doesn't have the man there
to help her manage her tongue,
she doesn't have the husband there
to help her prioritize her work,
she becomes idle and she goes gossiping, okay?
This is a woman without a husband,
meaning that a woman with a husband
should be in control of the discussions
and making sure that their wives
are not just visiting other ladies in the church
just to gossip, because that's where disaster happens.
That's where Satan loves to, Satan loves the gossip.
Satan loves it when two ladies in the church
get together to talk about brother so-and-so,
what's the pastor doing, complaining about the pastor,
complaining about this family, complaining about that,
complaining about this, and before you know it,
it's a disaster.
And here's the thing, you know,
it happens in every church.
I guarantee you it's happened in our church
and I don't even really know about it, okay?
But I bet you, guaranteed, it's even happened in our church.
Why do I know that?
Because in verse number 15, it says,
"'For some are already turned aside after Satan.'"
This is already happening in Timothy's church.
And Paul is reminding Timothy,
Timothy, this is happening in your church.
You've got ladies going around house to house,
gossiping, toddlers, being busybodies
and other people's matters,
and that they've allowed Satan to have a foothold
in their families and it's going to hurt the church.
Let's keep going, verse number 16.
"'If any man or woman that believeth have widows.'"
So now, it's all about a believer.
Any man or woman, anyone, okay?
"'If you've got widows in your family,
let them relieve them.'"
Look at this, "'And let not the church be charged
that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.'"
So once, this is the third time, I believe,
that it's saying basically,
before the widows become the responsibility of the church,
if you're a believer and you have widows in your family,
you are to relieve them.
You are to make sure they are provided for
and let not the church be charged.
Don't let it, can't get to the point
where the church has to be the one that steps in.
Again, the church is a last resort to help a widow
who is over the age of 60,
who has proven herself to be a faithful and godly woman,
okay, only that's the criteria
and she's got no one else to take care of her,
then that's the widow that the church
is supposed to take care of needs.
Okay, let's keep going, verse number 17.
So if, as we saw here,
the old context was about widows.
If honoring a widow was all about taking care of her needs,
then we will read verse number 17, what is it saying here?
Verse number 17,
let the elders that rule well
be counted worthy of double honor.
Double honor, what's the honor again?
Taking care of the needs, double honor,
especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.
You know, some people believe that being a pastor
is not a real job.
What does the Bible say here?
Especially they who labor, labor is work.
They who labor in word and doctrine.
Pastors, I'm supposed to labor,
I'm supposed to dedicate time, hours even,
to prepare the preaching of God's word.
You know, standing right here behind the pulpit right now,
preaching to you is labor, it's a labor of love.
A labor of love toward God, a labor of love toward you.
You know, in many ways, you know what,
this is probably the best labor I've ever had
because I really enjoy it.
When you really enjoy your job,
it makes it a lot easier, doesn't it?
Okay, hey, but even if you don't enjoy your job,
you should still be working.
You know, what an advantage of being a pastor.
I love it, I love studying God's word.
I love laboring in word and doctrine.
And I hope you can see that,
that I actually put the effort in
when I come behind the pulpit to preach for you all, okay?
But what did it say?
Let the elders that rule well
be counted worthy of double honor.
So if honor is to ensure all their needs are taken care of,
what would double honor be?
So not only all their needs have been taken care of,
but we wanna double that.
We wanna make sure that they are,
you know, the pastor's not, you know,
just squeezing every dollar that he has.
We wanna make sure that the pastor
is not worried about things financially
that he's well taken care of,
not just what he needs,
but he's got it in double the amount.
That's what it's saying.
You know what I'm saying?
Oh, Pastor Kevin, that's, you know,
you just want more money.
I don't care about it, honestly.
You know, I need money.
I need to, you know, to take care of my family.
I gotta be family.
What's the big deal, right?
People don't like this stuff.
People don't like it when pastors get paid.
But here's the thing,
the pastor should get a double check.
Double time is what they should earn.
That's what the Bible says.
I didn't make it up.
That's what it says, right?
I mean, if it says it's worth a double honor
and the widow is to receive honor as well,
you know, we can't just,
it's within the same context.
It's saying the same thing.
Now, look, I don't need to receive double honor as it were.
I don't need to have all my needs met by the church
and double that, you know?
Because then you'll be looking well into the six figures
because I've got such a big family, okay?
I don't need that.
Thankfully, the Lord's helped me to have some investments
and some passive income when I get back up there anyway,
don't have right now.
But, you know, just to take care of my own personal needs
and I don't need that much from the church.
But the way we've applied this recently,
just to share my thoughts around this
with the rest of the church,
is we got to the point where I started to earn,
this was only, was it a year ago now?
Bit over a year ago now,
I started to earn a minimum wage, okay?
A minimum wage as a pastor.
So the same kind of wage that a mature age
McDonald's worker would earn
is what I started to earn as a pastor, okay?
And look, it's not enough to provide for my family, okay?
This is why I've got my own investments and passive income
to take care of the rest of it, okay?
But we've got to a point where I spoke to the men
and said, look, if you guys feel
that I've ruled God's house well
and that I labor in word and doctrine,
then would you consider doubling that minimum payment?
Okay, so instead of a minimum wage being paid to the pastor,
we decided to double that, okay?
It's like receiving two minimum wages.
And as you know, the church is able to afford it
at this time, so the men that I spoke to,
they all were all in agreement.
And so I believe we're now applying this principle
of double honor.
And then when you look at how much other pastors
kind of earn, it's around that mark anyway,
unless you're like a pastor of a mega church
and forget that these guys have private jets
and Mercedes Benz and you know, they've got it all,
they got all the bling bling going on, I don't want that.
But yeah, generally speaking,
if you kind of double the minimum wage
and you compare that as a wage
to just the average pastor in Australia,
it's about the same amount.
So it kind of lined up roughly
with what I thought was right.
But anyway, that's how we've applied it as a church.
I think it's a good application, I think.
All right, let's keep going.
Verse number 18, verse number 18.
For the scripture saith, thou shall not muzzle the ox
that treadeth out the corn,
and the laborer is worthy of his reward.
The laborer is worthy of his reward.
Even the ox, okay, even God wrote about the ox
that treads out the corn, okay, that's doing work.
God wants to make sure that ox was not muzzled,
that if the ox got hungry while it worked,
it made sure that it was provided for,
it could eat of its own labor.
And that wasn't written for the oxen,
that was written for pastors,
that was written for those that enter full-time ministry
in a local church, okay?
And so you have people that say,
oh, so you're a pastor and you expect to get paid, huh?
Yeah, I mean, you know, you work a secular job
and you expect to be paid, huh?
Of course you expect to be paid.
You need to be taken care of, amen?
I mean, it's just money, you know?
It's just money to make sure, you know,
there's food on the table,
there's a roof over people's heads,
that there's, you know, I shouldn't have clothing.
For those of you that have visited me in my house,
you guys know that we don't live these excessive lives.
You know, people come to my house
and they're so surprised how little we have in the house.
And there's a reason for that.
We don't have little in the house
because we want more and we can't afford it.
We have little in the house because we've got so many bodies,
so many little feet running around that, you know,
we need the space, we need it to be open.
And the more things we have,
the more likely those things can break, okay?
And so we live a very simple life.
I mean, my car, my two cars need a paint job.
You know, we don't try to live any kind of excessive life.
We just make sure that we're provided for,
that we're comfortable, that my kids aren't going hungry.
If that is while I'm laboring in word and doctrine,
laboring and ruling the house of God,
what's the big deal, okay?
This is biblical.
This is right.
In fact, the pastor that rules well
should be receiving double honor, okay?
So the laborer is worthy of his reward.
Labor is labor.
Verse 19, against an elder receive not an accusation,
but before two or three witnesses.
Them that sin rebuke before all,
that others also may fear.
Now, what is this about?
This is basically saying that if there's a pastor
that has done such a grievous sin,
that this needs to be dealt with, okay?
And it could be very well,
because it's definitely about sin.
And verse number 20, them that sin rebuke before all, okay?
They say, well, our pastor's not supposed to sin.
Pastors sin every day.
I sin every day.
You sin every day.
We all sin every day, okay?
Obviously, we're not just talking about
the general sins that people struggle with
on a daily basis, okay?
We're talking about this pastor has sinned so greatly
that he probably needs to step down, okay?
Maybe he's done the sins of 1 Corinthians 5,
where this pastor actually needs to get kicked
out of the church, like any other brother in the Lord, okay?
I mean, he's done such a grievous sin
that this needs to be reported on and rebuked before all.
All right, now, look at verse number 19 again.
And when I talk to different people,
it's like there are different interpretations
of what this could mean.
And I believe now that I've spoken
to different people about this,
I believe there are two ways
that we can apply verse number 19, okay?
And I'm not really sure which is the primary way.
There could be a primary way.
There could be a secondary way.
We know the Bible has many layers, okay?
But one thing that we wanna do,
if we're ever going to apply any situation
to verse number 19,
we wanna make sure that it doesn't contradict
verse number 19, okay?
So I believe there are two ways to understand this
that do not contradict this passage
that is sound and properly done, I believe.
Number one, if someone comes to you
about an accusation against the pastor, okay?
Someone comes to you and says,
look, pastor has done grievous sin right here,
and you need to know about it, okay?
So how can we apply verse number 19?
Against an elder received not an accusation.
So the first thing that ought to go to your mind,
if someone comes to you,
look, I got some big news about pastor, great sin,
and this guy needs to step down, for example, okay?
First thing, don't receive the accusation, okay?
Receive not an accusation.
Say, wait, hold on, brother.
I don't wanna hear this just yet.
Why?
Because it says, but before two or three witnesses, okay?
So you wanna make sure that if someone comes to you
for your own protection, you say, brother, hold on.
Before you tell me anything about this in private,
let's bring another two or three witnesses
that will witness you tell me about the pastor's sin, okay?
Because I don't want anyone to walk away thinking
that I'm part of this,
that I'm somehow joining hands with you
maybe to take down a pastor.
I don't know.
I want witnesses for my own protection
so they know I'm not the one bringing the accusation.
I'm receiving this accusation.
I'm receiving it before two or three witnesses.
Now, that person that's bringing the accusation,
if they're lying or if they're greatly exaggerating,
they're probably going to back off
when you say let's bring two or three more people, okay?
Now, if he's been honest and he's got proof,
pastor's definitely done something wrong and sinful,
he's not gonna care that there's two or three witnesses.
It's only going to strengthen his view
if he definitely has proof that this happened.
I believe that's a sensible way we can apply
verse number 19.
It doesn't contradict that passage at all.
I think it's a good way to do things, all right?
So if someone comes to you about this pastor
or another pastor and they wanna talk to you privately,
say, no, brother, let's have two or three witnesses here
watching you give me this accusation against the pastor,
okay?
The second way you can apply this
is if someone comes to you and says,
I've caught pastor drunk, he went to the pub
and I saw him come out of the pub and he's spewing, right?
And that's one witness.
But let's say two or three other people in our church
saw the same sin, okay?
Now, it's not they just heard about it.
They actually saw pastor come out,
drunk, vomiting out of a pub, right?
And two or three said, yeah, we all saw pastor.
That's two or three witnesses there.
And then I do believe in that scenario,
again, you can receive the accusation.
You can hear, all right, tell me about the situation
because we've got three people, two or three people here
acknowledging that this definitely took place, all right?
Now let's keep going, verse number 20.
It's interesting how verse number 20 is worded.
Them that sin rebuke before all.
So if the pastor is proven to have committed
such a great sin where he potentially has to get kicked
out of the church or at least step down, right?
So some major sin that pastor needs to be rebuked
before all.
The whole church needs to be aware pastor has committed
such a grievous sin and he needs to step down.
This is the right and proper way.
If a pastor is going to receive double honor,
then he deserves the double criticism.
He deserves to be, you know, called out for and rebuked
in a very public manner if he's committed such a great sin
that others also may fear.
Keep your finger there and please go to Deuteronomy 19.
Go to Deuteronomy chapter 19, please.
Deuteronomy chapter 19, verse number 15.
Deuteronomy chapter 19 and verse number 15.
Because the way verse number 20 is worded,
it doesn't say the elder that sins rebuke before all,
it says them that sin, them that sin.
Now, if you look at Deuteronomy 19, verse number 15,
let's look at this together.
It reads, one witness shall not rise up against a man
for any iniquity or for any sin.
In any sin that he sinneth at the mouth of two witnesses
or at the mouth of three witnesses
shall the matter be established.
If a false witness rise up against any man
to testify against him that which is wrong,
then both the men between whom the controversy is
shall stand before the Lord,
before the priests and the judges,
which shall be in those days.
So you need to understand,
false witnesses might come your way.
You know, someone might have some dirt
on Pastor Kevin Sapulveda.
You know, some major sin on Pastor Kevin Sapulveda.
You know, don't be quick to believe it.
Understand, hey, this could be a false witness, okay?
This could be untrue, okay?
You're gonna have that in mind
because it keeps going there in verse number 18,
and the judges shall make diligent inquisition.
So you don't just believe what is being said.
Now you need to go and check it for yourself.
Is this true or is it false?
And behold, if the witness be a false witness
and have testified falsely against his brother,
then shall you do unto him
as he had thought to have done unto his brother,
so shalt thou put the evil away from among you.
And those which remain shall hear and fear
and shall henceforth commit no more
any such evil among you.
And thine eyes shall not pity,
but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot.
So if someone were to falsely accuse another man of murder,
and we know that if he's, you know,
he's convicted for murder and he gets put to death,
that would be the punishment for murder, right?
He'd be put to death.
But if someone came to a false witness and said,
I saw the man murder, but he's lying,
then the man, once he's found out to be a false witness,
he is to suffer the same fate
that the man that he accused would.
So he would be put to death.
He would suffer the same fate that he was trying to cause
someone to suffer with falsely, okay?
So when we go back to 1 Timothy chapter four, sorry, five,
1 Timothy chapter five and verse number 20,
it says, them that sin rebuke before all
that others also may fear.
We saw in Deuteronomy that others may fear as well.
We saw the same sort of application
that if you find once you do diligent inquisition
and you find out it's a false accusation
against the pastor,
instead of the pastor being rebuked before all,
the person making the false accusation
is to be rebuked before all.
It's the one that sins
that has to be rebuked before all, okay?
And, you know, I'm just saying this
because I've had to deal with something like this recently,
you know, down here in Sydney.
You know, people making accusations about me
and it's false, okay?
Or a grave exaggeration distorting the truth.
And it's hurtful, you know,
it's hurtful when these things happen to a pastor
and, you know, as a children of God,
we need to learn instead of just believing things
immediately, instead of receiving things without witnesses,
no, that's wrong, okay?
You receive it without witnesses, you've done wrong, okay?
Hey, respect your pastors,
respect the elders that you have in the church, okay?
You know, being a pastor is not an easy job, all right?
And you don't wanna add more burdens
that are unnecessary, false accusation,
accusations toward a pastor
when the job is already quite heavy enough.
Let's keep going there in verse number 21,
1 Timothy 5, 21.
"'I charge thee before God.'"
So Paul is charging Timothy, okay?
"'I charge thee before God
"'and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels,
"'that thou observe these things
"'without preferring one before another,
"'doing nothing by partiality.'"
You know, the pastor's job
is not to prefer one person over another.
You know, there might be two people in the church,
I might be a little bit closer to one than the other.
I might get along with one more than the other.
I might be on good friendly terms with one
and maybe not so much the other.
But if there's a contention between those people,
I can't prefer my friend over the one
that I don't get along with that much, okay?
You've gotta do things without partiality, okay?
You're not a respecter of persons.
And this is tough, this is really tough.
I got to learn the ropes a lot about this,
again, back in my business days
when I was managing people in large departments,
a lot of employees, lots of conflicts.
I learned the skill to, you know,
I needed time to remove my emotions, okay?
And to view the two parties as neutral
and be unbiased, as unbiased as I can.
And my immediate thought is I'm gonna believe both.
Even if they're contradictive,
I'm gonna just believe that what they're saying,
they believe to be true and what the other one's saying,
they believe that it's true, okay?
And then I'll pass judgment, you know,
once I've made diligent inquisition.
And I kind of got good at it
because I had to do it so much, okay?
I'm thankful for those early days
because they helped me prepare to be a pastor.
But, you know, I would often do this
and people would come back to me afterwards
after I've dealt with some conflict.
And they'd come up to me and say,
you know, I feel like I got my way, but I didn't.
Like, I feel like you believed me
and I'm getting what I want,
but I'm not getting what I want.
And the other person would say the same thing.
I feel like you've given me what I want,
but you haven't given me what I want, okay?
In other words, I've let them both know that,
hey, I'm here to listen to what they have to say,
but I'm gonna pass a judgment without preference.
Like, I'm not going to prefer one person over another.
I'm going to make the best judgment I can
with the information that I have at my disposal, okay?
And so that's the job of a pastor,
not to favor one person over another.
You know, if you have conflict one day with somebody
and I don't just jump on your side immediately,
please don't get offended.
You need to understand Timothy has been charged
to not play favoritism, okay?
Timothy has been charged to not be a respected person.
So I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ
and the elect angels.
So before God, the Father,
before Jesus Christ and the angels,
they're looking down upon me, you know,
on this commitment to become a pastor
that I would not play favoritism.
So what's gonna happen if I play favoritism?
It's going to destroy my ministry.
God's gonna make sure that I'm destroyed, okay?
So please don't get upset with me
if I don't jump to your side immediately
when there's an issue.
I'm going to listen to you.
I'm going to believe what you're saying to be true,
but I'm also going to believe
what the other person is saying to be true as well, okay?
Let's keep going.
Verse number 22, lay hands suddenly on no man.
This is not talking about grabbing someone
and fighting them or something like that.
Or you shouldn't be a striker anyway, a brawler.
That's what he's talking about.
It says, neither be partaker of other men's sins.
Keep thyself pure.
If you can just keep your finger then,
go back one chapter.
Go to 1 Timothy chapter four.
1 Timothy chapter four, verse number 14.
Just one chapter back.
1 Timothy chapter four, verse number 14.
What is this laying hands on a man?
It says in verse number 14, neglects not the gift
that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy
with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
So it's the ordination, the appointing of somebody
into an office in the church, right?
Appointing someone as a pastor,
appointing someone as a deacon, all right?
So verse number 22 in 1 Timothy five, verse number 22.
Lay hands suddenly on no man.
What is it saying?
Don't rush ordination, okay?
I have men in my church that wanna be pastors one day.
I'm sure, you know, I want our churches to produce pastors.
I want our churches to start other churches.
I have a real heart that we would start a church
in every major city in Australia, you know,
for the rest of my life.
That's my job.
That's what I'm going to aim for, brethren.
But you know what?
We're not going to do it suddenly.
We're not going to rush, okay?
Once again, just like the widow has to be proved
to be godly in the house of God before we look after her.
Well, so true as well.
Somebody that's taken her in an office,
they need to be proven, right?
They need to spend time.
We need to see that, you know,
they grow in the maturity of the Lord.
They love Jesus Christ and love the people of God
before we lay our hands upon them.
What did it say again?
Neither be partaker of other men's sin.
If we rush ordination, okay,
and this guy's a novice and he's not ready,
he's not proving himself,
and I just make someone a pastor.
They go out and start a church and people get excited.
They got a good church in the area,
and then it turns out to be just rubbish.
You know, it just turns out to be a hopeless leader
because I rushed it.
I didn't train the guy up, right?
There was no confidence into it.
Well, he's going to destroy himself.
He's going to destroy his ministry.
He's going to destroy the church,
and he's going to destroy the sheep.
Well, the sheep need a shepherd.
You know, the sheep are going to be scattered.
They're going to be disheartened.
That man has sinned.
But if you laid your hand suddenly on a man,
and you ordained him suddenly,
God says you're a partaker of that man's sins.
That's why it says, keep myself pure.
And I've already told you how important
that pure conscience is for me, the pure heart, okay?
So if I'm going to ordain a man,
I got to have a clear conscience.
I got to have a pure conscience
that this man has proven himself, okay?
He's shown himself loyal.
He's shown himself to meet the qualifications.
He's shown himself to be a leader, you know,
and someone that can take charge of a church.
And if I'm just rushing that process for everyone,
God's going to hold me up to account
for the mistakes and the sins that that man commits.
Let's keep going to verse number 23.
Drink no longer water,
but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake
and thine often infirmities.
I'm not going to go too much into this.
I've already preached a lot about this
when I preach against alcohol.
Some people believe that Paul has given Timothy
the permission to drink alcohol here.
You know, for a period of time,
I kind of thought the same thing.
When I was trying to work out some of these passages,
I kind of thought, why would Paul have to point this out?
Maybe he was alcoholic.
Maybe alcohol does have, because you know,
we might apply some alcohol lotion on an infection
and we know how to kill the germs.
I think maybe it plays out like that on the insides.
No, it doesn't.
You drink alcohol, it's not going to help your stomach.
It's only going to make it worse, okay?
There's no health benefits to alcohol,
but there definitely is health benefits to grape juice.
Okay, the nutrients and the fiber contain the grapes
have a lot of healing qualities for stomach and ulcers
and digestion, all kinds of manner of things.
So, you know, Paul here is basically telling Timothy,
Timothy, for some reason, is just often struggling
with infirmities in his stomach, okay?
He's got this sickness that doesn't seem to go away
and Paul is just giving him some good advice.
Hey, drink some grape juice.
It's probably going to be better for you,
for your stomach than just water.
Let's keep going, verse number 24.
Verse number 24.
Some men's sins are open beforehand,
going before to judgment,
and some men they follow after.
Likewise also, the good works of some
are manifest beforehand,
and they that are otherwise cannot be hidden.
So we end this chapter with both a warning
in verse number 24 and an encouragement
in verse number 25, okay?
So again, Paul is writing to Timothy, you know,
and we saw how you're to rebuke an elder
if they're in grave sin.
Well, Paul is just telling Timothy, look, you know,
sometimes it may look like that you get away with sin.
You know, a pastor might be in grievous sin.
We've heard about these stories
where pastors are in grievous sins
for years and years and years.
Well, for some people, verse number 24,
some men's sins are open beforehand.
Some people are just clearly sinners.
You know, they're clearly just the wrong person,
they're a wicked person,
and it's easy to identify, okay?
But then there are others, and some men, they follow after.
There are some men that will sin
for years and years and years,
pastors that will sin for years and years,
and grievous sins.
Like, I'm not talking about your everyday
run-of-the-mill sin, I'm talking about grievous sins, okay?
This has happened recently with a pastor
in Rockhampton in Queensland,
where this man's been sleeping around with prostitutes
for years and years and years.
And if I got the story right,
please don't criticize me if I got this wrong,
because I don't have all the information.
But it appears that he had a child
with one of these prostitutes, okay?
And he hid it from the church,
and eventually it all came out, okay?
The point being, your sins will eventually be declared.
It'll eventually come out.
The Bible tells us in Romans 32, 23,
and be sure your sin will find you out.
You know, sometimes pastors might feel like,
oh man, I've been sinning.
Hey, no judgment, no chastisement, nobody knows,
I'll just continue my sin.
Sometimes, at some point, you're gonna be found out, okay?
And what a shame, what a great shame it'll be.
What a great fall it'll be.
It's happened so many times.
I need to, as a pastor, I need to keep myself pure,
brethren, I need to keep myself safe.
And it's so important that, you know,
I've got a loving wife and I've got children.
And what a blessing to have two churches,
it keeps me busy, you know?
And please be praying for your pastor.
Please be praying that, you know,
I would not ever get into some grievous sin.
Please pray that the devil will not, you know,
find a foothold in my life,
because I've got too much to live for.
I've got my family to live for.
I've got New Life Baptist Church to live for and to serve.
God bless the Baptist Church to live for and to serve.
Please uphold your pastor in prayer.
But verse number 25, it says, likewise also,
the good works of some are manifest beforehand.
There are some people that do good works
and everybody recognizes it.
Wow, you know, what a great pastor.
Look at him go, he's building his church,
he's doing such a great job.
And then there are others that are just,
they're gonna work hard, they're gonna labor hard,
they're gonna do good works, they're gonna go soloing,
they're gonna be laboring for the faith
and for the house of God and for his kingdom,
there's not going to receive any recognition
at the beginning, okay?
It says, and they that are otherwise
that don't receive that recognition cannot be hid.
Basically, the Bible's saying that if, you know,
as a pastor, just keep laboring hard,
just as a brother in the Lord.
You know, if you're just laboring for the Lord,
serving the Lord and no one gives you recognition,
don't get discouraged.
Just because people don't recognize you,
don't appreciate you, don't become discouraged,
just keep serving the Lord,
because one day those works will not be hidden, okay?
God sees the good works that you do for his kingdom,
that you do for his service.
You know, you might do some great work
for the house of God, and I might forget to acknowledge you,
I might forget to say thank you.
And that's the first time in a long time
that I've got to say to Caleb,
hey Caleb, really appreciate your song leading, okay?
Hey, but I might've gone months and months and months
and never said thank you to Caleb,
but there he is, every Wednesday,
song leading, put his head down, serving the Lord,
hey, your good works will not be hid.
Christ sees the good works that we do for the house of God,
don't become discouraged.
You know, he's going to reward us in due time.
And so we do end on that encouraging note.
All right, Brevin, that's all we have
and first to me through five, let's go to Word of Prayer.