Alright, I was expecting a longer offering. I wasn't quite ready there.
Um, you turn to your Bibles, 1 Timothy chapter 5, 1 Timothy chapter 5.
While you're turning there, I just want to say I actually got a Bible phone app, so I got more text on the same line instead of having sentences jump down to the next line.
So it should be a lot easier to read. It took a little improvement here.
1 Timothy 5, the Bible reads, "Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father, and the younger men as brethren, the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters, with all purity.
Honor widows that are widows indeed. But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at home to acquire their parents, for that is good and acceptable before God."
"Now, she that is a widow indeed and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplication and prayers night and day; but she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth."
"All these things give in charge, that they may be blameless; but if any provide not for his own, especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel."
"Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, well reported of for good works, if she hath brought up children, if she hath lodged strangers, if she hath washed the saints' feet, if she hath relieved the afflicted, if she hath diligently followed every good work; but the younger widows refuse, for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry."
Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith, and withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.
I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully, for some are already turned aside after Satan.
If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.
Let the elders rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.
For scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the laborer is worthy of his reward. Against an elder, receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.
Them that sin, rebuke before all, that others also may fear. 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.
Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other man's sins, keep thyself pure. Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake, and thine infirmities.
Some man'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 hid.
Well, after Thanksgiving, this is a rule. It's been long-standing. No, I know, I'm just kidding. I don't really care, but I just want to throw that out there.
So I am just going to go through our regular Bible study in 1 Timothy chapter 5, obviously, and I have five points tonight, and I'll try to get through them as quickly as possible,
because I know that that pie is just, you know, at least for me, I'm ready to eat some pie, so anyhow, like I said, I've got five points tonight, and they all come from the text.
And the first one is how to treat and address each other.
And that first point is found in verse 1 and 2, and the first one is, "Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father, and the younger men as brethren, the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters, with all purity."
So right away, Paul is just, he's addressing, and really, if I was going to title this sermon, it would be "Instructions for the Churches."
And there's some instructions to Timothy himself, and there's also instructions to the church members themselves.
So again, 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy are pastoral epistles, and there's a lot of the qualifications for the bishops in 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus, and then some in 1 Peter chapter 5.
But he also gives instructions to the church on how to deal with pastors, and Elder is also just someone that's an older person in the church.
It's not just talking about the pastor, but also it is talking about pastors, so we don't want to go around just yelling and freaking out on old men in our church.
You know, they do deserve some respect. The Bible says that we should rise up before the hoary head, and the hoary head is someone who has gray hair.
And we should have some respect, and that seems to be like a far gone thing in our society.
It's something that I do try to keep in the back of my mind, and if I'm just sitting down and one of our older people that have gray hair or somebody that's leaving our church,
I try to stand up and shake their hand instead of just stay sitting or something like that. I think that it's a respectful thing that we should do.
And then same thing with elder women, same thing. The Bible says that, so we should try to have some sort of respect.
One thing that my wife gets on to me about a lot, because I have a bad habit of doing this, is just calling someone by their first name without saying brother or sister.
And I have a terrible habit of doing that, and I know it's wrong. I whip myself a lot with this little whip that I have at my house.
No, I'm just kidding, I don't do that. But I do try to, I am going to try to work harder on fixing that.
And it's because the Bible tells us to address people in this way. Rebuke not an elder, but entreat them as a father, and the younger man as brethren.
So brother, so-and-so, or sister, because it says, "And the elder women as mothers, and the younger as sisters, with all purity."
So, you know, we are brethren. We are brothers and sisters in Christ, and we should probably try to get in the habit of saying sister, so-and-so, or brother, so-and-so.
When it comes to elder people, sir or ma'am is probably very acceptable. I'm sure that's where the people in the South got that from, as a form of respect.
And a lot of times people, this is how far gone our society is, is that if you say sir to somebody, or if you say ma'am, they say what? What do they say back?
Don't call me that. I work for a living. You know, it's just like, well, what does that have to do with anything?
You know, I always say, when people say that, I say, well, there's a lot worse things I could call you than that.
And, you know, it's true, but I wouldn't do that. But I mean, it just, to me, it seems like an uncouth thing to say back to somebody when someone's trying to give you respect.
You know, like, "Hey, man, excuse me, ma'am." And some women would take that like they're being called an old mate or something, but I just think it's a respectful thing.
I don't think that we should overdo it. Like, the Philippines sometimes is overdone. And they are just trying to be respectful. I get that.
get that but sometimes it is overdone and it kind of gets annoying but still
we've we've dropped pretty far down in our standards in church and just in
society in general to say miss or missus is is is probably the proper way to
address young ladies and and married women and this is so-and-so or miss so
and so brother so-and-so mr. so-and-so whatever but when it comes to talking
when it says to rebuke not an elder I believe that it is not just talking about
elder men in the church I believe it is talking about pastors also and there's
an epidemic of that going on in our world today too people just think they
can talk about or to pastors in any way that they that they feel like and the
Bible is specifically saying not to do that and obviously there's nothing wrong
with taking the pastor aside and saying hey pastor you know I got a problem with
this or I got a problem with that but to just sit there and just jump down the
pastor's throat without just coming to them and treating them first is just
you know it's wrong and you know I just and it seems like once someone believes
that this is how it works is they say well I don't believe that that person's
qualified to be the pastor anymore and since I don't believe that person's
qualified to be the pastor anymore now I drop pastor from their name and just
call them by their last name Anderson Thompson you know whatever insert last
name and since they don't deem them worthy to be called pastor anymore then
you know they just drop that that title from their name and since they don't
deem them to be worthy to be called that then now it's just okay to just
disrespect them don't don't and look I know people get weird about the titles
and stuff like that I just I don't I don't care if someone calls me brother
Thompson or whatever but if someone just comes up and just always calls me Aaron
I think that they're intentionally doing that on purpose especially when they
know I'm a pastor but I do feel I still feel weird when someone asked me what my
name is when I'm out soul winning or something like that and it's you know
when I'm out doing stuff as a church you know when we're sewing or something
well they'll say like what's you know what's your name and I'll just say pastor
Thompson and then sometimes like me like this weird look like I'm just trying to
lord over them with my title or something that's not it I just want to
establish things professionally from the get-go that's nothing to do with me
feeling like I need to just you know cuz I'll say I'm like I'm the pastor of
the church sometimes I don't always say that I'm the pastor of the church but
sometimes I do or sometimes my soul winning partner will say that I'm the
pastor of the church and then they'll say oh you know what's your name and I'll
just say like pastor Thompson or pastor Aaron Thompson but I mean it's not
because I have to be called pastor or something like that it's just I just
think that if you start off on the wrong foot with someone then you know I just
think that respect is due to both people you know so I just I don't want to get
into this habit where you know because then the plexiglass pulpit
comes and the drum set behind me and the purple lights and the smoke and all
that stuff I just you know the cigars and the in the glass of scotch while I'm
preaching and all this other stuff I'm not that's not happening so I just I
think that society as a whole has become way too too casual in a lot of areas and
I'm not saying that I haven't become too casual because I think that it just
rubs off on people in general but go look at some pictures from like the
black-and-white pictures from like the 20s and 30s and and and even into the
50s and 60s where you know before men to start growing their hair out long like
in 1969 or whatever before it was even I don't even know if it was legal before
that but you know it wasn't you know it was illegal for women to wear pants in
in California in 1969 it was illegal Hillary Clinton is the first senator to
ever wear a pants suit or pants at all in the Senate and she you know that was
you know in our lifetime so and I don't know when the first woman senator was
ever around but like you know times have changed but what I was gonna say about
the black and white pictures and stuff is that when you go and you look at
people going to a baseball game just a sporting event they're not wearing cut
off tank tops and you know Budweiser shirts and stuff they're all wearing
shirts and ties all the men all the ladies are wearing dresses I'm just
saying that society but as a whole has become super casual just the way we
talk to each other the way we dress and I think my wife was telling me it she
tells me these crazy stories that she sees on in her news feed I'm just like
what kind of algorithm are you on but she said there was some CEO of some
company and he was saying stop wearing pajamas on the airplane like what was it
Department of Transportation Paul to the airport stop wearing your pajamas to the
airport I don't know what people were wearing but like I mean it must be
pretty bad you know but I mean it does look strange you know like you what you
can't put some clothes on some like regular clothes on what's wrong with you
I think it's weird when people just bring these oversized pillows that
they're playing on catches and I don't I don't know it's it's gotten bizarre I
mean I just think it's weird people go to Walmart wearing their pajamas and
their dogs too don't get me started with that stupid bringing their stupid dog
everywhere they go so I get that dog away from me pick that dog right in
front of you anyway sorry I want to be nice I'm being thankful today so we
should just address learn how to treat people and address people and hey if
we're not doing that maybe it's just something we should work on in practice
so anyway let's move on to number two number two is how to treat and deal with
widows the Bible gives us clear instruction there's actually a very
lengthy passage about how the rules for widows how to deal with them and when we
were in I was preaching about how the rules for deacons last week and in the
qualifications for deacons we read about how there was some complaints about the
daily ministration and that's why deacons were even invented in the first
place because the widows were getting neglected in the daily passing out of
taking care of them because and there must have been a lot of widows that were
widows indeed because they're just like falling behind so hard that they have to
get seven deacons to help with all this so we don't really have this you know in
a church our size happen at all well I mean we don't have any widows that we
have to take care of in this manner but and it doesn't happen a lot but the
rules are really specific about how to take care of people there's women that
are single I think pastor Anderson's had a like a pretty big controversial
hit take take him because he said that you know we shouldn't be taking care of
single whores they're just having a bunch of kids or whatever and it like
blew up on Twitter and he's getting like death I don't know if he's getting
death threats but he's getting all kinds of threats and people this one he was
like he played like a tape but like a recording of all these Twitter calls
that he was getting from it and one guy pretended like he was a member of his
church like 10 years and he totally wasn't he's like I've been going to your
church for 10 years and now I'm not coming anymore it's like you didn't go
to his church like why are you lying that's so funny but it's just the Bible
instructs us on who what single women we are actually supposed to relieve and
help in society and look at verse number three the Bible says honor widows that
are widows indeed but if any widow have children or nephews and and look the
word nephews here is not actually speaking about nephews as we know them
it's talking about grandchildren okay so this is an archaic word here so but just
because this is an archaic word doesn't mean we need to scrap the King James
and get rid of it or something but this is an instance where nephew doesn't
really mean nephew okay so it says let them learn first to show piety at home
and to requite their parents so it means to that word require it means to pay
their parents back for that is good and acceptable before God so they're supposed
to take care of their parents so their parents if they're if they have one of
their once their spouse dies then the children should take care of them and
help them is what he's saying now she that is a widow indeed and desolate
trusteth in God and continue within supplications and prayer night and day
but she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth and these things give
in charge in charge that they may be blameless but if any provide not for his
own and especially for those of his own house he hath denied the faith and is
worse than an infidel so in context this is speaking about those those children
or grandchildren that would refuse to help out one of their immediate family
members someone of their own immediate household they're worse than an infidel
I mean why would it fall upon a nephew to take care of somebody as opposed to a
grandson so that kind of makes sense as to why it would be but you know if
you're not gonna take care of your own mother that's just I mean just wicked
it's just wrong you're not gonna take care of her and she's destitute like
that it says let not a widow take be taken into the number under three score
years old how old is that at sixty years old so before sixty then you're not the
the church is not responsible to be taken care of someone financially like
that says having been the wife of one man so it's not you know what's that
lady that got married all those times in Hollywood Elizabeth Taylor thank you
yeah she got married like eight times or something like that so we're not talking
about Elizabeth Taylor here so I mean do you see how there's like multiple rules
for this having been the husband having been the wife of one man so not having
just all just you know homie hopping or whatever having all these all these
husbands in her life now I mean maybe it's not talking about maybe she had
another husband that died or something I think it's just talking about that she's
not divorced or married a bunch of times number 10 verse 10 it says well
reported of for good works if she had brought up children if she had lodged
strangers she had washed the Saints feet if she had relieved the afflicted if she
have diligently followed every good work so this isn't just you know some oh she's
60 oh she just joined the church last week oh you know oh yep she just
automatically gets a free handout from the church for the rest of her life no
no no no she she has this resume that she has to have also and it says but the
younger widows refuse for when they had began to wax wanton against Christ
they will marry having damnation because they've cast off their first faith now
damnation is not talking about like they're damned to hell or something it's
just talking about it's talking about having damnation in a different way like
salvation isn't always mean salvation as far as you know saving faith it's it's
it's just like that your life is damned basically and it says and with all they
learn to be idle wandering about from house to house and not only idle but
tatlers also in busy bodies speaking things which they ought not so they're
single they're young they're they're you know they're just going around causing
problems it says I will therefore that the younger women marry bare children
guide the house give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully so
if her husband dies she's supposed to do what get remarried if she's under the
age of 60 so obviously 60 a lot of women can't you know have children at that age
but they should talk about the younger women like the real young women maybe
their husband dies in battle or something along those lines excuse me it
says for some are already turned aside after Satan if any man or woman that
believeth half widows let them relieve them and let not the church be charged
that it may relieve them that are widows indeed so so that the church is not just
over overbearing or over having to overpay for all these people that have
lost her husbands in whatever capacity that might be that they're supposed to
get remarried not just supposed to be this perpetual widow that just never
gets remarried she's 20 her husband dies in battle or her husband just dies for
whatever reason has an aneurysm or something she's not supposed to just be
single for the rest of her life and the church takes care of her okay this is
not what the Bible is talking about so there's a lot of rules in there for
taking care of a single woman and one of those things is that she has first she
has to be 60 and then she also has to have a lot of good works and has raised
a family and has been married only once. Well thank you I have water though
thanks. Thank you Paul. So yeah so we're not as a church supposed to just take
care of a bunch of single mothers that have wrecked their lives and you know
got with the wrong dude and he leaves her and now we're just supposed to just
take care of them and their kids for the rest of their lives you know. There's
personal responsibility involved with the choices you make and it's not the
church's job to take care of you because you made some bad choices in your life.
So number three and obviously you know there's a lot of reasons why someone will
be a single mother and it's not always their fault necessarily I'm not saying
that but it's also not the church's responsibility to take care of you in
that way. So number three is paying pastors, paying full-time worker you know
positions in the church and this could be you know it could be elders or
deacons I think that deacons are also a full-time paid job or evangelists now
again if there's no there's no way to support that then obviously it's it's I
don't even think you should have a deacon unless you can pay them so as far
as evangelists if they are planning on being pastors later that's what they
want to do then also same thing that they should kind of have the same
stepping stones as a pastor would do that isn't full-time at first either so
anyway pain pastors let's look at verse number 17 the Bible says let the elders
that rule well be counted worthy of double honor especially they who labor
in the word and doctrine so when it's time about double honor it's not just
saying hey you know let's hold this person in a higher esteem than
everybody else as I was talking about when it's talking about honor is talking
about money it's talking about taking care of them in a monetary way so and
and that says for the scripture saith thou should not muzzle the ox that
treadeth out the corn and the laborer is worthy of his reward so I mean it is
tied to you know food and money and things like that obviously there was
there's different ways to be compensated and things like that but modern day and
the system that we live in you know back in the Old Testament they had where they
brought the ties to the storehouse and they brought you know the food and all
that and it was all taken care of they had treasurers that you know had that
stuff stored up but and then the Levites and the priests were were given those
things based upon whatever system they had in place but modern-day that's not
really generally how that goes so most people deal and money cash whatever
paychecks that kind of stuff so anyway it says that someone that's this what
they're worthy of double honor especially they labor in the word and
doctrine there's a lot of people that preach like one sermon a week and it's
like 15-20 minutes and they're making you know millions of dollars like maybe
Joel Osteen TD Jakes those types of guys you know guys that are whining because
they don't have a jet or something to take them all around the world like that
was a clef low dollar was that was a begging for you know a jet I want I need
a jet you know I think it really backfired on him too but what's his name
does have a you know that who's the COVID-19 guy the ones like yeah I
Kenneth Copeland yeah he's got multiple jets and yeah he's he's got warm what
what say that again yeah okay so Bill Bill said he doesn't the Kenneth Copeland
said he doesn't fly commercial because then he's trapped in a metal tube with
a bunch of demons yeah okay so that's why he has to have commercial jets for
that reason so but yeah so it's not saying that these people have to be
rich you know I don't think the pastor should be rich but obviously the Bible
is saying here that that the labor is worthy of his reward so and when it's
saying that they those that labor in the word and doctrine like are worthy of
double honor so and and so the and it says that you know because they because
here's the thing that people get weird about money especially churches and I
I've seen this happen in churches I've gone to in the past where they're just
like trying to keep the pastor poor and and I've seen I know a pastor that used
to be my pastor a long time ago and he was promised a position he was actually
lured away from the church that he was the head pastor of and he had to work
two jobs because you know the church couldn't support him or whatever and he
was like an insurance salesman on the side and the pastor but this guy I mean
he actually legitimately worked really hard for the church and you know worked
a secular job and this church I'm not gonna mention where it was or whatever I
just I don't know if he'd appreciate me saying the details but this pastor was
like old and ready to retire and he said hey you know come down and I'll be the
you can you can be the assistant pastor and you can preach for me on Sunday
nights and you know I'm gonna retire fairly soon and then you can take over
and be the head pastor and he was like okay so he went down there with the
intention that he was gonna be the pastor someday and he was there and then
the guy had never retired he just kept going he's like in his 90s or something
and so he's just at this meeting because they had their board meetings or
whatever once once every quarter or whatever they were doing and just out
of nowhere the deacons voted to remove him from being the assistant pastor just
basically fired him in the business meeting and so he just wasn't even
expecting it at all I don't think he pastors anymore at all it's been many
years since that happened but it was just messed up and so first of all it's
messed up that the deacons could do that to you but it's also messed up because
here's what they'll do is they'll they'll say oh yeah I'm gonna retire soon
and then they don't really want to retire they just want somebody that's
younger that can actually do the work to come in and do all the work and then
they can just collect their big fat paycheck they're already getting and
then you can just make this other guy your slave for however long and then he
just never retires it's a it's a it's a it's a game that they play and I'm not
saying that all pastors do that because I'm sure that some you know obviously
are really giving over the church at some point but you know I mean it's just
not right it's not right to do that to people but that's something that I saw
happen you know with my own eyes but I've just seen this happen in other
churches too where they're just like you know just trying to you know hold
pastors back or make them poor so they can barely live and even even pastors
that get hired as assistant pastors out of Bible College they keep them poor and
working like some ungodly amount of hours and not taking care of them and
I'll say this about the new IFB pastors when they hire people that work for them
I know that they pay them well I know that they do so but like other old IFB
churches I know of they'll just like pay him a very minimal salary and they might
have a multiple multitude of children and they work them like dogs and paying
peanuts and that's just like that's their proving ground or whatever so
that's that's their excuse and that I mean that just shouldn't be happening you
know people deserve to get paid a living wage and just because you're in the
ministry doesn't mean that you're some kind of a second-class citizen and as
matter of fact you know the Bible actually says right here that they are
worthy of double honor and that you shouldn't muzzle the ox that treads out
the corner like well are you an ox pastor well I'm not saying I'm an ox
but it's it's just saying that someone that's working and laboring and doing
something you shouldn't put a muzzle over them and not allow them to be able
to live you know and that's what God is saying turn to first Corinthians chapter
9 first Corinthians chapter 9 and Paul uses this as an example again where he's
actually bringing this up to the Corinthians because they're calling his
apostleship into question and he actually doesn't receive a paycheck for
the work he's doing at this point in time I think eventually he did though at
some point because I'm obviously he's getting old and beat up at a certain
point and probably not able to do the tent-making that he was doing and stuff
but anyway it says in verse 1 it says "Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I
not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are not ye my work in the Lord? If I be not an
apostle unto others yet doubtless I am to you for the seal of mine
apostleship are ye in the Lord? Mine answer to them that do examine me is
this. Have we not power to eat and drink? Have we not power to lead about a sister,
a wife, as well as other apostles and as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas? So I
mean he's he's basically just saying all the other Apostles are getting paid. All
the other Apostles do have wives and other people that they're supporting. He
says or I only in Barnabas have not we power to forbear working? So they are
working but they do have the power to forbear work is what he's saying. Who go
with a warfare anytime at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard and
eateth not of the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth the flock and eateth not of the
milk of the flock? Say these things as a man or saith not the law the same also?
And notice how he's referencing back to the law and people are just like the law
is done away completely we don't go by the law at all anymore that's just a lie
it's just not true because why would Paul be referencing back to it if it's not
in effect at all because there are still things that we go by in the law it's
still wrong to murder people it's still wrong to rape people it's still wrong
you know there's still a lot of things that are intact in the law it's not like
you just throw the whole thing out and nothing else applies to us anymore it's
ridiculous to say that it says for is written in the law of Moses thou shall
not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn doth God take care
for oxen is this what he's actually talking about he actually care about the
cows he doesn't care about the cows necessarily in the way that he cares
about men and the what is he saying he's saying here's the here's the
commentary on that passage in the Old Testament I was talking about this the
mysteries of the Bible well here's a perfect example that I that I used in
that in that sermon from Sunday is that this is an example of Paul saying the
commentary on that verse he says for it is written in the law of Moses that's
not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn that God take care for oxen or say
if he it all together for our sakes for our sakes no doubt this is written so
it's not for the cows sake even though it does apply to cows it does apply to
oxen but what is the primary spiritual application it's for human beings that
he that plow us should plow and hope and he that threshold and hope should be
partaker of his hope nobody works for free in this life you shouldn't expect
pastors and deacons and full-time workers in that work for God to just be
these poor you know wearing sackcloth and ashes and you know looking like
Friar Tuck walking around you know and obviously I don't I'm not talking about
that that's me I'm just saying that there's that's an attitude with people
that you keep the pastor as poor as possible it's an attitude in Baptist
churches not in not in our types of Baptist churches but it's an attitude in
old life beat churches it's an attitude in other in other churches period it
says or say if he had all together for our sakes for our sakes no doubt that
this is written let's go down to verse 11 it says if we have sown unto you
spiritual things it is or is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal
things so he's basically saying hey I've given you these spiritual things
and should we not be able to reap the carnal things in life food clothing
raiment a place to live this these types of things if others be partakers of
this power over you are not we rather nevertheless we have not used this power
but suffer all things lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ so because
he's saying are others partakers of this power over you because like people that
you work for they earn money off of you people they pay rent to they earn money
off of you you know you pay them but you know but you're not you're just like
people are just cheap when it comes to the things of God cheap when it comes to
the people of God a lot of times it says do you not know that they which minister
about whole about holy things live of the things of the temple and they which
wait at the altar are partakers with the altar so again those people in in the
temple how did they survive how did they eat well they lived of those
sacrifices they lived off the tithe and so it says even so hath the Lord ordained
that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel so is this
still in effect in the New Testament is that what it's saying yes it is but yet
you'll have all these gainsayers and naysayers and wicked people just trying
to tear in the pastors that are paid and acting like it's a bad thing and look
it's out there like you might not see it in your small world or whatever but look
it's out there trust me people and people that you know hate our types of
churches or whatever they will say they'll just yeah it's yeah it's never
anybody that's working for free they're always just you know let's see you work
for free and then see how happy you are with that because nobody is for very
long eventually that person wants to get paid so let's see number four accusing
pastors look at verse number 19 in our text it says against an elder received
not an accusation but before two or three witnesses so here's some more rules
about dealing with pastors so you see how this is like being directed towards
people in the church these are just you know it's same thing with you know paying
pastors well how about accusing pastors it says that an elder against an elder
received not an accusation but before two or three witnesses and what does
this do it helps the pastor it insulates the pastor from just people
just making false accusations and trying to ruin their reputation which believe
me happens a lot more than I ever thought it would I mean I really just
didn't think it would happen as much as it does but I shouldn't have been
surprised so but I actually kind of am surprised but not anymore I'm not but I
mean I have been surprised in the past but yeah there's a lot of false
accusations pastors get accused a lot of stuff and that's why I find it funny
when other pastors will hear stuff and they'll just believe what other people
say about pastors like me and other pastor friends it's like well I heard
this or somebody made this video like this and it's like people just watch a
video that someone makes and just act like everything that they said in that
video is true it's like how do you know that that's true you don't know that
that's true there's all kinds of crazy videos that people make and it's like
you don't know that one thing that they said was true you're just believing
everything that one person is saying and the Bible specifically forbids you to do
that you better find the evidence you better have two or three witnesses
before you say something against the pastor before you actually believe that
accusation before you even receive it into your mind well I just believe it
because whatever it's like no you shouldn't believe it your first your
first thing that you think should be I don't believe it not that you do believe
it so it says them that sin rebuked before all that others may fear so
really just accusing anybody though of sin or a crime is wrong without two or
three witnesses so it doesn't just insulate pastors it insulates anybody
in our church and anybody that just accuses somebody without two or three
witnesses for anything is wrong you know we can't just go around thinking things
about people without being and having a hundred percent you know validity to our
thing was you're like well I just think this well sorry but that's just not what
the Bible says well I just feel this in my gut I just have a gut feeling about
this person well your gut feeling maybe you're right you know I don't I'm not
saying that we should never trust our instincts because we should trust our
instincts but doesn't mean that your instincts are right all the time because
people are wrong that are in courts all the time I mean sometimes I'll watch
court cases and I'll be like that dude's guilty or that person is it seems like
they're guilty and then like the evidence shows that they're not beyond
the shadow of a doubt like man I really thought that was the person and this
happens all the time and that's why you have to follow the evidence that's why
you have to you know because look cops will try to just take anything and make
it seem like it's because they want to nail the person they want to clear the
books by the end of the year they have a certain if they have cases they have to
clear those cases and if they have a bunch of unsolved murders or a bunch of
unsolved crimes on their plate they want those cases cleared and they don't
really care necessarily sometimes that person's guilty or not which is really
sad but the fact that you can you can convict somebody when they're not when
when there's only one witness I mean I've told you about the time that I was
on the jury the last time I'm telling you the next time that they call me to
jury service I'm gonna tell them from the very get-go I'm not gonna convict on
one witness period let me go home because don't make me stay here for 12
or 13 hours and because I'm at the end of the day when you're asking me when
I'm when I'm the last on the last people that you're gonna pull here's what I'm
gonna tell you I won't convict on one witness I just won't do it because
that's what they want you to do and I'm just wrong it is wrong
let's look at Deuteronomy chapter 19 Deuteronomy chapter 19 because you know
but but why does it say why does it specifically spell this out for
pastors well because pastors get accused a lot of things that they don't do why
does Jesus have us go out by two I believe that he does that so that we
can't get accused of doing something wrong at the door because if we have two
witnesses then we're gonna be a lot better off all it has to be is just some
god-hating freak and you're by yourself and you're gonna it's just that that's
why I just don't believe in the going by yourself for soul anything I just don't
I don't think you should do it I think putting yourself in a bad position
because they accused us of doing stuff when we have two people at the door and
sometimes more than that they'll call the cops and say you know just flat-out
lies they'll call me and leave voice messages on my phone and say yeah the
kids they'll blame the last time they were blaming the Harrington kids and
saying that they told them that something about their place their their
their foot mat or something at their door I said you're going to hell
because of this something some some format they have to wipe their feet on
or something like I can't picture them doing that but people lie about our soul
owners all the time all the time so we gotta be careful out there and that's
why it's important to have two witnesses Deuteronomy 19 verse 15 says one witness
look at that again one witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity
or for any sin in any sin that he sinned at the mouth of two witnesses or at the
mouth of three witnesses shall the matter be established I mean case closed
right there you can't accuse anybody of doing anything any sin that's just a sin
not even saying it's a crime just any sin without two or three witnesses not
what it says 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, and the judges shall make diligent inquisition."
So, notice that you can't just accuse, you can't just even accuse someone without diligent inquisition being made in the situation.
It's not like you can just say, "I just believe him more because he's my friend. I just believe him more because he just sounds more believable.
I just believe him more because in times past, he's done these types of things."
That's the other thing. Holding people and just saying that you think that they're guilty because they've done something in the past.
You just automatically think they're guilty because you don't like them, they've done something in the past.
That doesn't mean that they're guilty. And that's another thing.
People get found guilty in the court of public opinion or on Facebook or on Instagram or whatever, on social media all the time.
They're already found guilty before they ever even get to set foot on a trial, before they ever get anything.
They're already called guilty and that's not how this country is based. That's not how God is based.
I mean, our country is supposed to be based. And look, I had to watch a video before the whole thing began, which I was like, this video is cool.
It's like, you're supposed to go based upon the evidence, if you have a reasonable doubt.
And I was just like, wow, this is cool. This video is really cool.
But then they don't even really believe the video that they make us watch as a juror.
Because in reality, they want you to convict on one witness.
How can you decide when there's no witnesses?
I mean, how can you decide if there's no evidence?
It's just one person's word against theirs.
How can you decide when people are such good liars these days?
I mean, maybe that person's just really good at being convincing liar,
and the other person's just a nervous person.
Oh, well, look how nervous they looked.
What does that have to do with anything?
Maybe that person's just a really deviant liar,
and they have shark eyes, and they're reprobates or something,
and they can just lie their way out of anything.
They can sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman in white gloves.
You know, they can sell a popsicle to an Eskimo or whatever.
They can, you know, I'm sorry if Eskimo's not the preferred,
you know, word now or whatever, but whatever.
You know what I'm saying?
But the Bible says that one witness cannot rise up.
But look, it says, "And the judges shall make diligent inquisition."
What does that mean? They're going to ask questions.
They're going to ask these people questions, and if their story doesn't add up, then it's going to get dismissed.
It says, "And behold, if the witness, he be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother,
then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother.
So shalt thou put the evil away from among you."
And man, I wish this worked today.
When they found out that they're lying or this person's a false accuser,
that that person would get exactly what they were trying to get done to them.
Like if a woman is lying about her husband, or if a husband's lying about his wife,
you know, "Hey, the other person gets the kids," or whatever it is.
Or if someone's trying to defraud someone from their business,
the other person gets the business, whatever it is.
Sometimes people are just trying to get somebody killed.
Sometimes they're lying to try to get someone thrown in prison.
"Hey, that person should go to prison for perjuring that person."
But you know what? It never happens.
People never get in trouble for that, and they should.
Then maybe people would stop doing false lawsuits
and falsely reporting against people.
It says, "And those which remain shall hear
and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you."
See, this is the cure for falsely accusing people.
This is the cure for false lawsuits.
But see, it's like our government just doesn't want to protect people anymore
from people like this.
It says, "And thine eye shall not pity, but life shall go for life, eye for eye,
tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot."
And stripe for stripe, and money for money, and whatever else.
You know, it's just basically saying whatever they were going to do,
whatever was going to be done to that person if they were found guilty,
should be done to that person.
And that's the way you deal with problems like that in society.
False accusers, hey, they get the book thrown at them.
Whatever was supposed to be done to them gets to the other person gets done to them.
Matthew chapter 18, turn to Matthew chapter 18.
This is how we deal with things in church, too.
It's not just pastors.
But this is, the two or three witnesses is an insulation against false accusers,
against false accusations.
But like, it just amazes me how so many people,
even people, you know, even "new IP people" or now ex-new IP people,
will just believe any story that they hear.
They'll just falsely accuse people all the time.
And then, when they're found to be liars, they just,
nobody ever calls them to the carpet for it.
Nobody ever does anything against, you know, about it.
It's just wicked.
It says, "Moreover, if thy brother, verse 15, trespass against thee,
go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone."
This is another thing that people don't do.
They want to go tell everybody else about what happened
instead of telling the person to their face.
Because people are just cowards, and instead of just dealing with the person,
they just go to other people instead of going to the person themselves.
But see, people skip this step, but this is the step that's really necessary
because hey, maybe that person will just say, "Hey, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry if I offended you. Let's fix this."
But it says, "If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more
that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established."
See, this is when the ante gets upped.
And this is talking about offense like you didn't pay somebody that you owed money to.
These are serious offenses. This isn't like you gave me a dirty look at church.
Now I need to bring the witnesses against you.
Don't do stupid things like that, please.
Because if you tell me that someone gave you a dirty look at church
and you want to Matthew 18 them, I'm going to just tell you to go away.
Look at verse 17, "And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church;
but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican."
Which is basically like they don't belong in church anymore.
"Verily I say unto you, whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
"Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything
that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
So again, people use this as saying, see this is church, two or three is just church.
Is that what it's talking about though?
No, it's talking about judgment in a matter between believers.
But people are like, "Yeah, every time I go duck hunting, I'm in charge."
It's like, no you're not.
You're worshiping the creation is what you're doing.
You're worshiping your shotgun.
Alright, 2 Corinthians chapter 13.
2 Corinthians chapter 13, and we'll move on to the next point after this, to the last point.
But 2 Corinthians chapter 13, and Paul is just always getting accused of stuff.
That's why you just know that, and Paul is the beloved apostle.
I mean, would you disagree with me that Paul, I mean, Paul is obviously the greatest Christian in the New Testament.
There's just no doubt about it. I mean, maybe he would disagree.
He says he's the least and the chief of all sinners.
And I would agree with him before he got saved. He probably was.
But I mean, afterward, he was just a, you know, he was a door knocking machine.
He was a preaching machine. He was a doctrine machine. He's a great guy.
But people are constantly leaving him and forsaking him and ditching him out on the on the field.
And they're saying that he's not an apostle. They're calling his credentials into question.
And here's another instance, even to the Corinthians, again, the Corinthians are accusing him of stuff.
It says, "This is the third time I'm coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established."
So he's pissed off now. It says, "I told you before and foretell you as if I were present the second time.
And being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned and to all other that if I come again I will not spare."
So he's like, "If you're going to make me come down there, don't make me come down with a rod because I'm going to tear it up."
But notice how he says, "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established."
You want to accuse me of not being an apostle? You want to accuse me of taking money, trying to get rich or whatever?
When Paul is actually just collecting money for the saints and taking it to Jerusalem,
you want to just keep accusing me of saying stuff? Well, we're going to establish everything in the mouth of two or three witnesses.
And if you want to make me come down there, then I'm going to come with the rod.
So it's very clear, obviously, that you don't just go around accusing pastors of things without having...
Even pastors that you don't like. And look, there's some pastors I don't like, too.
We're not supposed to bring railing accusations against anybody, even the devil himself.
Michael the Archangel did not bring a railing accusation against the devil, but he said the Lord rebuked him.
Because the Lord knows what Satan is doing. But do we know what he's actually doing?
To say, "Well, the devil made me do it." You don't know that he made you do it. You probably made yourself do it.
We have flesh and blood. We're flesh. We make ourselves do stuff all the time.
You just blame the devil for everything you do wrong, because that's just a scapegoat for you not being able to control yourself.
But we shouldn't be just accusing people even.
I mean, I think about Sam Gip when he had that weird stuff that went on his Twitter.
Yeah, Twitter's a weird thing. If you don't know how to operate Facebook, you definitely don't know how to operate Twitter.
So you can click on something and it can put a virus on your page or whatever and sometimes that stuff happens.
But especially if you're an old boomer that's never been on Twitter before.
So now old boomers, I think they all left because of the Israel stuff.
But anyway, let's move on to number five. Further charges and personal instructions to Timothy.
So this is kind of how he ends the chapter.
So Paul is going to give further charges and personal instructions to Timothy and any pastor reading this
and any church member of any church.
So verse 21 says, "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."
So this is called being respectors of persons.
We don't want to be respectors of persons.
So he says, "I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ."
And what does it mean to charge?
It means to have a responsibility of taking care of or control of something or someone
or the duty entrusted to someone or something.
So Paul is saying, "Hey, I'm giving you this charge.
I'm charging you.
You have the responsibility to do this.
This is your duty before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels."
Now, this is an interesting phrase here.
Angels doesn't always mean the ones that have the wings and appear to men and are guardians and stuff like that.
And since it says elect angels, I might tend to think that this might be talking about other pastors or other godly men or something.
But I don't know.
Because elect is usually talking about saved people.
So that's just my thought.
I don't know for sure, but it says that thou observe these things without preferring one before another.
And so we shouldn't have favorites is basically what it's saying.
And obviously we can't help but have favorites in some things, but when it's talking about in respect to how you run the church,
how you do things, and even how we do things as individuals in this church,
we shouldn't have respective persons and do things impartiality.
So what does that mean, being partial towards somebody else and giving other people preferential treatment?
Because I have this birthday party rule or whatever, where because, and this is hard for people to understand,
but this is why we do it, because if our church got so big and everybody has like 12 kids,
we'd be having a birthday party at our church like every day of the week.
And so if we're just always having birthday parties at our church, then it just gets, you know,
it's something that I was, you know, knowledge that I was passed on to.
Because I honestly wouldn't care, but I just, it could get wild.
So, and then so if I do it for one person, then I have to do it for everybody.
But if I just do it for one person because I like that person, it's like, yeah, you could do it, it's okay.
But then people see me do that, then it just shows that I have favoritism towards somebody else.
And I'm not, I'm doing one thing for one person, but not doing it for everybody else.
And that can cause people to be upset, that can cause people bitterness.
And so that's why I should not do anything by preferring one person above another.
So it says, lay hands suddenly upon no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins, keep thyself pure.
So when it's saying lay hands suddenly upon no man, it's talking about ordaining someone that's not qualified,
not ordaining someone that's not ready to be ordained, neither be partaker of other men's sins.
That's pretty self-explanatory I think. Keep thyself pure.
Don't put wicked things before your eyes. Don't put things, obviously don't get involved in things that is clearly against Christian conduct.
And obviously these apply to everybody, not just me.
I mean everybody in here is a Christian so we should all follow these things as well.
So I wouldn't be right to ordain novices. They should be watched, they should be approved, not divorced.
Even evangelists. Evangelists don't have to be married to be ordained.
But I will never again ordain a divorced evangelist. Just won't do it.
But there's no qualifications for evangelists. But we know that Paul was not, he was not married.
So he definitely wasn't divorced. So evangelists don't have to be married.
But my personal preference is that I would never ordain a divorced man. So ever.
So partaking of other men's sins. When you know that they are sinning, of course.
You know, obviously we know better than to do that. And to keep ourselves pure.
Look at verse, I'm just going to read Titus 15 because I just want to hurry up and get this finished.
But it says, the Bible says in Titus 1.15, it says, "Under the pure all things are pure.
But unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled."
So we definitely don't want to be behaving like someone who is defiled and unbelieving.
So under the pure all things are pure.
So as Christians, our character should be that we try to keep our minds pure, our bodies pure, and our thoughts pure.
It says, "They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate."
So we definitely want to be the opposite side of that.
And last verse, "Drink no longer water."
I think it's the last verse, maybe it's not.
Okay, it's not the last verse, sorry.
But, "Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake, and thine often infirmity."
So this is kind of a personal message just to Timothy, but I think it's helpful to us to understand something,
because in the qualifications for the bishop, it's said that they're not to be given to wine.
So is this a contradiction in the Bible? Of course it's not a contradiction in the Bible,
because it's not talking about alcoholic wine, obviously.
Because, look, there's this study that came out, it's been years now,
that a glass of red wine with your dinner will help you live a long life or whatever.
But what if I told you that a glass of grape juice at dinner would give you the exact same effects,
and you wouldn't turn into an alcoholic wino at the same time?
Because it's true.
A glass of red grape juice, or any grape juice for that matter, will have the same effect.
And it's funny how he says, "Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake."
How much did he say? A little.
He didn't say, you know, "Go buy a big jug of Carlos Rossi and, you know, just chug one every night."
No, he said a little bit.
Because, first of all, grape juice is probably something that you shouldn't be just drinking vats of anyway,
because it's got a lot of sugar in it.
But he's just saying this is a medicinal purpose.
And 100% grape juice, you know, can be good for you due to its antioxidants, which benefit your health.
And over in Europe, they drink it as a treat, you know,
that sometimes makes it with sparkling water, you know, kind of like as a fizzy drink or something.
But it's kind of a popular thing they get, you know, to have grape juice with their dinner or any kind of juice.
But it's a treat. It's not something they do every night.
It's usually like if they have like people that are hosting for dinner or something like that.
But I'm sure in like Italy and these big wine countries that they probably do have.
I mean, that was probably brought to you by, you know, Winos of Winos United.
You know, have a glass of red wine with your dinner and it will help your health or whatever.
Yeah. Brought to you by every drunkard ever.
So, but, you know, I just did a little research, but I'm not going to go over it.
But, I mean, basically, it's just saying, yeah, don't drink a lot of it.
It does help. It can help with your stomach problems and things like that.
And so Paul is just telling Timothy, hey, if you're, you know, you're having some infirmities,
you're having some stomach issues, just drink a little bit of wine.
And wine just means fruit of the vine, okay?
And depending on the context, it's going to be either --
because, like, the butler of Pharaoh, when he was restored,
he, you know, in the dream, I think in the dream with Joseph,
he squeezes fresh grapes into his cup.
So what is that called? It's called grape juice.
And I don't think it fermented from the time he squeezed that
or pressed it into his cup.
So people drank grape juice.
The wine that Pharaoh drank sounds like it was just freshly squeezed
grape juice into his cup.
And you know who gets to do that? Kings.
Because grapes are still expensive.
And I don't think any of us in here press grapes into our cups every morning.
Does anybody do that? Didn't think so.
I think you might do it if you're just looking for some time to waste or something.
But I think most people would probably just go grab some welches if they really wanted it.
But anyway, look at verse 24.
It says, "Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment,
and some men they follow after."
So this is basically just kind of helping us understand that
sometimes people's sins are easy to see.
When obesity or behavior that they're doing is easy to see,
or drinking or smoking or whatever,
people can see the outward sins are easy to see,
but some people they follow after.
What does that mean?
Well, I think it might be alluding to people that are like reprobates.
Nobody's going to know what their sins are until after they die.
Or it might not even be reprobates.
Maybe just something that they were doing in their life is found out after they die.
Like, well, you didn't know this, but he had a girlfriend on the side the whole time,
or he was married to somebody else.
My grandmother was married to this guy, and when he died,
she found out the hard way that he was married to some other lady that lived in Idaho.
And by the rules of whoever you're married to first, she got nothing when he died.
Everything went to the first wife, because you're null and void,
and so she wasn't really technically legally married to him because of that.
So, it sucks, right?
I mean, tough way to find out. He died in like a logging accident or something.
But, yeah. So, I mean, some sins are found out afterwards, right?
But it doesn't mean necessarily that he was a reprobate.
I'm just saying that sometimes you might find out something that you don't want to know about somebody after they're dead.
It's easy to pick at people because you know, well, that person has this issue because you can see it.
But some people's sins are in their heart. Some people's sins are in their mind.
And we don't get to see those things. And it's easy for people to make fun of people.
They're overweight or have some other kind of sin that they have a problem with.
And it's like, yeah, it's easy. What about you? Because obviously you have sin too.
So you better hope that nobody finds out what your sin is because when they do, they're going to mock you also.
So you should be careful how you make fun of people because maybe that's going to come full circle and you reap what you sow.
So you should maybe give people some grace because maybe your sin is going to find you out too.
Verse 25 it says, "Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand and they that are otherwise cannot be hid."
So those that work hard and do many works, it's pretty obvious that they're doing those things, right?
And those that are do nothings are pretty obvious also, right?
So that's just kind of how the chapter ends.
So let's go ahead and bow our heads for prayer and I'm going to go ahead and pray that God somehow miraculously takes the calories away from us
and that He blesses us. Hey, it says nothing to be refused, right?
And that it's sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.
Bless this pumpkin pie that we're about to receive and the pound of whipped cream. No, I'm just kidding.
Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for this evening in church and all those that came out.
And just pray that you'd bless the food, bless the fellowship, and bless each person as we go home and keep us safe.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.