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Welcome to Straight Pass Baptist Church, could you please find our seats in front of our terminals to song number 412. We begin our Sunday evening service by singing song number 412, Onward Christian Soldiers, again that is song number 412. With the cross of Jesus, holy, holy, Lord. Christ the Lord, O Master, leads against the world. Over into heaven, sing his prayer, Lord. On our Christian soldiers, marching as we roar. With the cross of Jesus, glowing on through, And the sign of joy, sing it with me. Onward Christian soldiers, marching with the wind. Let your patience ring, let the shout of praise. Onward Christian soldiers, marching as we roar. With the cross of Jesus, glowing on through, And the mighty Lord, leads the church in power. Let this be our journey, where the saints are drawn. We are proud, we are happy, all are proud and free. Onward Christian soldiers, marching as we roar. With the cross of Jesus, glowing on through, And the sign of joy, sing it with me. Onward Christian soldiers, marching as we roar. Let the shout of praise, let the shout of praise. Christ the Lord, the Savior's man and angel sing. Onward Christian soldiers, marching as we roar. With the cross of Jesus, glowing on through. Christ the Lord, the Savior's man and angel sing. Christ the Lord, the Savior's man and angel sing. We'll be singing a song number 13. Must Jesus bear the cross alone? Give us a song number 13. Jesus, Jesus, bear the cross alone. Let the whole world go free. The winds have crossed for everyone, And winds have crossed for near. The rocks have made it cross again, And winds have set me free. Let the whole world go free. The winds have crossed for near. The wind has made it cross again, And winds have crossed for near. The whole world has crossed for near. The winds have made it cross again, And winds have crossed for near. The winds have made it cross again, And winds have crossed for near. The winds have crossed for near. The winds have crossed for near. The winds have crossed for near. The winds have crossed for near. The winds have crossed for near. The winds have crossed for near. The winds have crossed for near. to that. I won't name any names, but you know who you are. Below that, of course, the donuts, there were no donuts this morning, this is a complete nutter lie in the bulletin, right, but you know, there will be donuts next week. I'll make up for that. Just because, you know, there was just, we were having the potluck kind of last minute, you know, I feel like I need to explain why there were no donuts. You know, this is a Baptist church, like, let me, you know, just put everybody at ease, okay, you know, there will be donuts again soon, I promise. Okay, but we'll have them next week. And of course, the important part is the fact that we have some folks celebrating some birthdays, as well as an anniversary this month, so be sure to congratulate and wish those that are celebrating a happy birthday as well. And that'll do it for announcements, I believe. Let's go ahead and just count up the soul winning, going back to, oh, the one thing I wanted to mention, too, is just to kind of explain where we are with the transition from Faithful Word. When it comes to the offerings, so we do not yet have a bank account set up, you have to kind of go through the whole process, I won't bore you with the details of setting up, you know, a corporation and filing the state, getting a federal tax ID number, then you can go open up account. That ball is in motion. I got that rolling the next day after the ordination, hired a local filing company to take care of that, pay that, they expedited the process, so hopefully that should come through within the next two weeks, you know, 14 business days or so. That's what I was told anyway around the 18th, that should all be taken care of and then I can go and actually get a bank account. So if you're making out checks to Straight Paths Baptist Church, they will not be cashed until that happens. So if you've written one and you want to come tell me, hey, just, I don't want to have to deal with, you know, balancing my checkbook until that happens, whatever, just let me know, I'll tear it up. But just so you know, that's kind of the situation and for the time being, any offerings that do come in are going to be deposited into Faithful Word's account simply because of the fact that they're still paying me wages to make this transition. You know, we're an independent church, but they are paying my wages in the meantime until we can get all that set up. Just because of the nature of how it took place, you know, it was kind of from one day to the next, we didn't really have time to get all these things in place. And let me just say something about, you know, the suddenness of the ordination here. This was the right move for our church. This was the right move for the work of God down here. Obviously Faithful Word and Pastor Anderson in particular is under a lot, a great deal of attack right now, a lot of persecution being thrown his way, a lot of just slanderous things being said, a lot of just outright lies and exaggerations being thrown his way. And he and I just both agreed that, you know, unfortunately for the time being, it might do us more good to not be associated with Faithful Word right now, just because it's going to be a while before this thing blows over, but it will blow over. You know, and I told him when he called me, I will, I will stand by you. I will take that smoke. You know, I will, I will go with you through this. And he said, I know, and that's why I want you to go independent now, because it's not about me. It's not about, you know, me proving that I'm the stalwart, you know, bulwark of faithfulness and loyalty. It's about the work of God down here. And we don't want that to suffer as a result of, again, I'm not saying there's any credence to what is being, he's being accused of, but we're just trying to, you know, keep in mind, you know, what would be best for the church down here. And it was honestly, going independent was already something, my wife knows she can attest to this, that I've talked about, you know, several times over the course of the last few months, I've been kicking this idea around. It was, before everything kind of blew up, there was already kind of thinking, you know, about going independent within the next couple of months. I didn't go to, I was thinking about going, actually this fall, was kind of thinking, I was looking at the numbers, thinking this could work, we could make this happen, we might have to make some changes personally on our end. But I was reluctant to go to pastor with that, because one, I didn't want him to think that I was jumping ship, because Lord knows he's got enough of that going on right now. And I also didn't want to just let it, have it be perceived, you know, wrongly by others out there, you know, in internet land, you know, that they would say, oh, the deacon's going too. He's starting, you know, we, yes, we've gotten independent in the midst of this turmoil. But let me just remind you, that's like kind of the status quo for me. You know, I got ordained as deacon, and the next day there was this huge blow up with, you know, the past, the former pastor out at Steadfast Baptist Church, you know, and the sin that he had gone into and passed. You remember that? That was like my first day as deacon, was like when that whole thing blew up. And I'm not, I don't, you know, and I don't want to bring up names. We all know who I'm talking about, because that person needs to be allowed to just live that down and carry on with his life. Okay. So, but I'm just saying, you know, that's kind of like how it goes for me. Whenever there's turmoil, whenever there's tumultuous times, that's when I get ordained, you know, so be, be aware of what, I think this is the last ordination though. We're not like the, someone was telling me this morning if I got it, was it the Pentecostals or Church of Christ or somebody like that? Like you can, I can be a bishop. I can move on to being an apostle. I can move, you know, I can get several ordinations and climb the ranks here. I'm thinking about changing denominations because I tell you, every time you get ordained, you get fed like I got fed today and a gift card, you know, it might be worth it. No, I'm just kidding. I'm totally, I'm just making a total joke out of it. But what I was beginning to say is that, you know, just when it comes to, you know, the suddenness of the ordination down here, the suddenness of us going independent, you know, it was what the best move for the work of God at this time. It was something I was already thinking about doing in the very near future. I was thinking around the first year anyway. I was thinking about talking about pastor, about this, how it would work with the transition. And, you know, that's probably what would have happened anyway, but it was just, hey, let's just do this and kind of let us get out of, you know, any collateral damage that might come as a result. And let me just say, you know, the church in Tempe had, you know, people are trying to make it out like we're done, like put a fork in Faithful Word or something like that. Far from it, my friend. There's a lot of people that are staying faithful. I mean, we've like 10, like, you know, maybe 10% of the church has gone. That's not, you know, we've had bigger church. I wouldn't even call those splits, I call them splinters, you know, small break offs. They're not, a split is like when it's half the church. That's a split, right? We've had splinters. I wouldn't even call this a splinter with what Faithful Word's going through. I was telling my wife, I would call it like, like shaving stubble, right? It's just like, it's just like, you know, just this minute fraction of people that are going. And look, a lot of those people, some of them anyway, are going quietly and some of them are just sitting it out and will probably come back when everything blows over. Okay. Some of them, not all of them. But anyway, I just did want, I did want to mention that. So I remember what I was starting to say, but just keep that in mind. You know, the, with, with the offerings for now that it's going to be a few weeks before we actually start making deposits into a bank account. But yeah, that's really all I have to say about that. Let's just count up the soul winning going back to Friday the fourth, if there's anything report from Friday. And I know there was two for the group, right? On Saturday. Anything outside of the group on Saturday? And then what, I don't, I know you guys kind of hung out today, got the place cleaned up. And let me say, I really appreciate the every, you know, the, the festivities or whatever you want to call it this, this morning after the service. It was great. I really appreciate the food was awesome. The beauty of it was great. So I appreciate everybody cleaning up too. That was, it's nice to see. So does anybody have a salvation report for today? I'll just ask anyway. All right. Well, we'll keep up the great work soul winning and let's go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching this evening. Please lift up your hymnals. Songs are 327. We'll be singing song number 327, Higher Ground. Then that is song number 327. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift the up and then we stand. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. 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We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We'll lift up our hymn, higher ground. We're going out and bringing the gospel to the lost. We're going out and we're pulling them out of the fire. We're going out and we're taking it to the devil. We're going out and taking them out of his kingdom and bringing them into our father's kingdom. That's an attack. We take out of his army and add it to ours. That's who the devil is going to attack, the people that are doing that. Be vigilant on this point and understand that. I hope that the people in this church in the years to come, should I ever come under attack, should I ever be slandered or falsely accused, would remember this. I fully anticipate at some point something like that is going to happen to some degree. There will be an attack on this church at some point. Just because we got that quick ordination, we're dodging this bullet somehow or whatever. Now we're just free and clear. No, we're going to continue to do the work that we're here to do. All we've done is just given the devil another target that he has to focus on. And I'm glad because now we're depleting his resources. Now he can't just try to get one man or one church and bring down us with him. And by the way, I'm not in fear of that happening. But now that devil has two targets he's got to worry about here. Two targets here in Tempe, another target here in Tucson that he has to focus on. And all I'm saying tonight is be vigilant. It's a real attack. It's not a fairy tale. The devil attacks. And look, he's going to come after me, he's going to come after you. And he seeks whom he may devour. Meaning there are people out there that are going to be devoured. And they will be devoured if they are not vigilant. If they are not sober. If they are not alert. If they're not aware. If they're not realistic about the spiritual attack that is brought upon the men of God. I better move on or I'm going to start saying some things I probably shouldn't. He says here, a bishop then must be blameless. The husband of one wife vigilant. What's the next one? Sober. And sober obviously, the meaning that we use today is he's not under the influence of drugs and alcohol. And obviously that is a perfectly fine application. But to me that seems like it almost goes without saying. Let's not make the wino, the local wino, the pastor. Let's not have Pastor Jim Bean or Captain Morgan up in the pulpit. Let's keep him out. And obviously there's nothing wrong with that application. But to me this speaks more to being a grave and serious person. A person who takes things seriously. Look, I'm not saying you have to be someone who never cracks a joke, doesn't have a sense of humor. Because I'd be out. I like to think I have a sense of humor. People told me I'm a funny guy. I know looks aren't everything. But you know, when it's time to be serious, to be serious. To be serious about the word of God, to be serious about the work of God. To be serious about people whose lives are being affected. Take life seriously. And obviously not a drunk. If you would, go to Titus chapter 2. We'll be in Titus a little bit towards the end too if you want to keep something there. In Titus chapter 2 verse 1 he says, But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine, that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate. These are kind of all meaning the same. When you look at these qualifications, some of them are kind of redundant. And it's not just because, you know, Paul is kind of running out of things to say maybe. Or what's going on is he's trying to emphasize these points. You know, someone who is sober is somebody who is serious. Someone who is grave is somebody who is serious. Somebody who has gravity. Someone who is temperate, you know, someone who has self-control, who takes things seriously. It's all kind of related. Sound in the faith. These kind of all speak to the same kind of just general characteristic. You know, someone has to be sober, grave, temperate. Sound in the faith, right? This is what is expected of a pastor. But again, the aged men also. Also it applies to, it actually applies to everybody if we take the time to study it out. To be grave, to be sober. Temperate, sound in the faith, and charity. Again, young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded. So again, you know, these qualifications, it's not like, well, that's the pastor's job. He's the one that has to be all these things. I don't have to be like that. No, the pastor has to be like that so that he can show you how important it is that he has to model that way. And show you what that's like. In all things, showing thyself a pattern of good works and doctrine, showing uncorruptness, gravity, there it is again, sincerity. Sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he is that is a contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. So we're going to move on there from sober. It's not just, you know, don't be a drunk. You know, don't be hooked on drugs. Obviously, that kind of almost goes without saying. I think it speaks more to being somebody who's serious and who takes things seriously, who has some gravity about them. Of good behavior, right? That's the next one here in 1 Timothy. He says, if a man desire the office of bib, he desire the good work. A bishop must be blameless, the husband of wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior. And what does he mean by being of good behavior? If you're still there in Titus chapter 2, we can get a sense of what is meant by this. It says, verse 3, the aged women likewise that they be in behavior as becometh holiness. I think that's kind of the same thing. The pastor, it goes for everybody. Maybe it's something that the aged women need to maybe work on and create where he's writing to, I don't know. But he's saying, you know, they need to have behavior as becometh holiness. To me, those are kind of being the same thing. You know, good behavior, what does that look like? Well, it's the kind of behavior that is becoming of holiness. Meaning basically you're not the type of person who says or does inappropriate things. You know, we want to make sure we're not saying things or doing things that are just out of place, inappropriate. You know, and you can take that for whatever it means. Good behavior. The next one, and if you would, go over to Romans chapter number 12, Romans chapter number 12. The next one is, we have blameless, the husband of wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality. Given to hospitality. Now this, back in Paul's day, had a much more practical meaning. Today, when we're living in the day and age of Expedia and online booking, we really don't have to practice this in the way that they did back then. You know, if we travel to a foreign town, we don't have to hit somebody up for a place to stay because there's hotels, there's always this logic. I mean, that's kind of what is meant by hospitality, taking care of somebody's basic needs, you know, when they are in need. You know, we're living in a land of prosperity, we don't really have to worry about this as much today. Today, we would kind of interpret this as, you know, being welcoming, right? Being somebody, like when we have visitors, we want to be hospitable, right? We want to use hospitality. So when you think about it, you know, the hospitality industry, that is lodging. That's providing food and lodging to people, basically. And so this had a real, more practical meaning, I think, back in Paul's day. Now that's obviously still something we can practice today. You know, if someone needs help, and again, it doesn't even have to be that the pastor or others have to throw their doors open. We can get somebody a hotel room, we can put them up for a night, we can, you know, pay rent, maybe, or whatever. You know, we can help people with food and lodging, okay? And I believe that's what he's kind of referring to here. If you look at Romans chapter 12, look at verse 9, he said, Let love be without dissimulation aboard that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. Be kindly and affectionate one to another with brotherly love, and honor preferring one another. Right, so he's talking about how we ought to behave with each other. Look at verse 13. Distributing to the necessity of the saints, given to hospitality. So what is hospitality? Providing the necessity of the saints. Distributing to the necessity of the saints. It's providing somebody's needs. Okay, and it's, I think, really, what it's getting down to is providing basic needs. You know, if we find somebody who, especially, you know, those that are of the household of faith, that are, you know, in danger of being on the street, you know, we should be hospitable enough to take them in. Or put them up. You know, today it's such an advantage, we don't even have to worry about having unwanted house guests, right? You know, we can just put them up in a hotel. But, you know, and again, I kind of say that jokingly, but, you know, that's his command because that's not easy to do. To welcome people into your home, I mean, it's a private setting, right? It kind of disrupts how your things go in your house. It's not easy to do. That's why it's being commanded. And that's why the pastors expect it to be somebody who's given to hospitality. That would provide those needs to people when they need it. And, you know, that doesn't mean we provide it to every person who's just, you know, down and out, right? Every person that calls the church and asks for money. Asks for them to pay for another night in their hotel. So they can continue to shoot up or smoke whatever. You know, and that happens all the time, right? The Bible, and I don't want to go off on that. The Bible says if a man will not work, neither will he eat. But, you know, sometimes, neither should he eat. There's times in people's lives where they just fall on hard times. Things happen. People have unexpected, you know, expenses. There's just, you know, medical, whatever. You know, people get in a bind and we should be willing to help people out in that way. And the pastor most of all. Giving to hospitality, right? And again, this kind of reminds me of 1 Timothy chapter number 5. Where you have the qualifications for widows that are being taken under the number, right? There's a whole list of those. And one of them is if she had washed the saints feet, right? If she had lodged strangers. That's in 1 Timothy 5. You know, she had brought up children. She has been the wife of one man. Having brought up children, you know, if she had washed the saints feet. If she had, you know, provided lodging to strangers. I'm kind of paraphrasing. It's been a while. Since I've tried to quote that. But, you know, that's kind of the same thing. You know, it's being hospitable. Welcoming people in. You know, people that are on a journey. Providing for their needs. And, you know, that could play out in different ways today. We're not going to have to wash any feet today, thankfully. Okay? Let's move on though. The next qualification here is apt to teach, right? He's going to have to be given to hospitality. The last one of verse 2. Apt to teach. And I think this is more than just having the knowledge. Okay? Obviously, as the pastor, you have to have the knowledge. But you also have to be able to explain that. You actually have to be able to, you know, explain that knowledge in a way that people can understand and learn. Because that is the purpose of church to a large degree. That's why Paul told Timothy to preach the word with what? All long suffering and doctrine. To approve, rebuke with all long suffering and doctrine. You know, the Bible should be taught in the house of God. Doctrine should be taught in the house of God. So, in order for that to happen, obviously the pastor has to be somebody who has an ability, right? Or an aptitude to teach the word of God. Okay? You have to be apt to teach. Look, not everybody has that. Okay? You know, a guy might, and again, if you want to be a pastor, you have to check these boxes. You can't be like, well, I'm close. Right? I've got nine of them. You know, you've got to check them all. And you might have a guy who's got all these other things down. But if he just doesn't have kind of that natural, God-given talent, if you want to call it that, or just that inclination, that disposition, where he can just get up and speak and form coherent thoughts. I know I struggle from time to time. You know, and get whole sentences out. Right? It makes sense. And explain things. Well, you know, you're probably not cutting it. And explain things. Well, you know, you're probably not cut out for the job because that's a big part of it. And look, I'm not saying every person that gets up here, gets behind a pulpit, has to, you know, be this phenomenal Bible teacher. But they at least have to have the potential to get better over time. I mean, you all know, those of you who have been with me, you know, through my trials and temptations, know that hopefully you feel the same way. I know that the preaching has been an upward trajectory here. We've gone up. You know, it's gotten better over the years. You know, because it takes work. You know, it's funny now. It's like guys are asking me the same question I asked Pastor Anderson years ago. Like, how do you get over being nervous? Right? You get up in the pulpit. You're preaching. It's like, what do you do about nerves? And, you know, his answer was, well, just do it a thousand times. And that's not much of an encouragement. Right? You're kind of like, okay. You know, you're looking for like a quick fix, but really that's it. You just have to get up and you have to do it a thousand times. You have to get up and just preach sermon after sermon after sermon. Just hundreds of sermons and just kind of get comfortable standing up in front of people. And look, some people are never going to have that. Some people are never going to have that aptitude. They're introverted. They're just so deathly afraid of speaking to a crowd of people that then that's fine. You know, you don't have to be on the pulpit to be able to serve God. Okay? But I'm just saying that if you want this job, this is something that has to be there. You have to be able to get up and speak publicly to people. And again, you don't have to, you know, wow everybody right out of the gate. You know? But there should be at least the aptitude. We should be able to see that there's at least the potential and the ability that can be improved and worked upon and exercised. Let's move through these. I know I got a lot. 1 Timothy chapter 3, we're getting into the next verse. So we just went through several qualifications in verse 2. And he goes on and says, Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous. Now I think, again here, there's some redundancy, okay? Because Paul's emphasizing some points. First of all, he's saying not given to wine. And again, this kind of talks about, people can take that as well, just not being a drunk. Obviously, the Bible forbids the drinking of alcohol. Okay? So to me, it almost seems like that's kind of a no-brainer. Right? You can't be one, you can't be a wine bibber and a pastor. You can't be someone who's partaking in what the Bible clearly calls a sin. Okay? The Bible says to look not upon the wine when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. Okay? So, I think another way to interpret this as not given to wine is, he's not supposed to be someone who's given over to a lot of expensive tastes. Okay? Somebody who doesn't have to have the best of everything. Right? Because quite frankly, if you're going to be a pastor, you're going to make sacrifices. You know, you might not be able to go out and make the income to where you can afford all those things and have all this nice stuff. And, you know, you don't want to fall into that trap of wanting all these things because that might cause you to become a compromiser. You know? You might end up more concerned with the coffers. You might be more concerned with, you know, how full did the plate get during the offering? What's the bank up? Because you just want to live some lavish lifestyle. Right? So I think, you know, that's another way to apply not given to wine. You say, how does that apply? Well, because wine back then was in the luxury. This is such a foreign concept to us when we can just go pay 89 cents at, you know, Circle K and get a nice thing of a sugary beverage like that. Have sweet drinks just constantly. You know, and here's the thing, you know, that was not the case throughout most of human history. You know, we have, you know, it's like I want to preach a whole sermon on this. You know, Thanksgiving's coming, but we just have so much like we just don't even realize how good we got it. Like, how about just having a hot shower? Do you realize that's like a that's a new thing? Like the vast like night over, just like the vast majority, like over 90 percent of human, like 99 percent of human history. Like you'd have to boil that water and then get in it and let it cool down. You can't just turn a tap and just, you know, oh, it's too hot. You know, and just dial it in just right, just where you like it. I mean, we are spoiled here. OK, so that's why I think, you know, not giving a wine might be more more so talking about because this is not given to wine. Right. Meaning, you know, there is there is, you know, wine could mean fruit juice. Right. Because that's another use of the word wine, the Bible. And I'm not going to go into all that tonight. But that is a perfectly biblical doctrine. Right. That that wine can mean one of two things, an alcoholic beverage or simply fruit juice. And people scoff and laugh at that. It's like, well, the Bible talks about water. The Bible talks about milk. The Bible talks about bread. The Bible talks about alcoholic wine. But it doesn't talk about fruit juice by name. Well, it does, but it uses the word wine because that's what wine is. It's just fermented fruit juice. So I think what he's saying here is not to be somebody. Yes, obviously not a drunk, but also not somebody who's just has to have all the luxuries in life and have all these just the best of everything in life and constantly have the best foods, the best, best clothes, the best of everything. Because and it's kind of redundant with not covetous. Right. He kind of repeats himself, not greedy, a filthy lucre, not covetous. That's kind of the theme of this verse. Not be a pastor can't be somebody who just, you know, wants things and stuff. Obviously, he doesn't have to be a pauper. He doesn't have to be in the poorhouse. He should be, the Bible says, let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially the labor of the word and doctrine, that the labor is worthy of his reward. And thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. Obviously, there's nothing wrong with a pastor, you know, receiving a salary, receiving wages for his work because it is work. He should be able to take care of his own right and not be a burden to others. But, you know, he shouldn't be riding high on the hog either, in my opinion. Pastors need to be careful about that. Even if they, you know, or even just being perceived that way potentially sometimes. Those are, those can be some waters that can be a little difficult to navigate sometimes. But that's what the meaning there. He goes on and says, no striker. And I believe this is, you know, in conjunction with not a brawler, that these things go together. Can you see that in the verse? Not giving a wine, no striking, not greedy, a filthy lucre. And then it kind of repeats itself, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous, right? Because sometimes people, and I can see where people are coming from on this, they'll say, well striker, brawler are two different things. You know, striker just means you're not somebody who flies out the handle and goes and socks somebody for no reason or whatever. You sucker punch people. But here's the thing, go sucker punch somebody, guess what you're going to be? You're going to be in a brawl. Now you've gone from striker to brawler, right? Because, you know, there's not a lot of people that are going to take one. You go around being a striker, you're also, you're a brawler, right? So sometimes people try to make a distinction there, but I think that Paul's just emphasizing this here by repeating it. He's saying, don't be a striker, don't be a brawler. To me, it's the same thing. Just like not greedy, a filthy lucre, and covetous. Just like not giving a wine, you know, not wanting the best of everything, not covetous. Okay? And if you would, go over to 1 Peter chapter number 5. 1 Peter chapter number 5. You know, and the last one I'll point out here, not greedy, of filthy lucre, you know, kind of tie this in with not being a brawler, not being covetous, right? Filthy lucre, covetousness, these are things that cannot be in a pastor. These are things, when Moses, you know, was told to find out, you know, search out, you know, officers that were going to help him in his ministry, he had to find men that were what? Hating covetousness. This is something that you have to be on guard against in your life. This is, and by the way, this is a major sin. Like, I've thought about preaching on covetousness, and I do from time to time, but this is such a major sin, especially in the day and age that we live in, where, you know, we're just constantly, people are trying to, they're just constantly putting things in front of us. Buy this, you need this, you gotta have that, the latest and greatest of everything. And again, I'm not against people having nice things and owning nice things, but our lives should not just be about the next latest and greatest things. Our lives should not just be about collecting stuff. You know, the motto, the who has the best, most toys at the end of life wins, is not biblical. Okay? And this is something that pastors have to be on guard against in their own lives. Because what a pastor can end up doing, if they're not careful, is they can become so obsessed about these things, you know, they can become covetous and actually begin to fleece the flock. Look at 1 Peter 5 verse 1, The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Verse 2, feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being in samples to the flock. So he's saying, feed the flock of God, take the oversight thereof, willingly, and not for filthy lucre. Right? You don't want to be somebody who's in it for the money. Okay? Because what will happen is, if you're a pastor and you're in it for the money, you're going to compromise. You know, we could fill this church up. You know, we could compromise our music standards. We could bring in the smoke machines and the purple lights. Look, there's churches in this town that are filled with the brim. And the money's rolling in. And they're building bigger facilities and they're painting, you know, all kinds of stuff on the side of their building. And they've got all kinds of plans and programs and everything. They've got day cares and schools and all kinds of stuff going on. And they've got a lot of money. And they've got multiple pastors. You know, they've got a pastoral team, you know, where each one works on one sermon to preach once a month or something like that. And they have all the emotional support group for those pastors, you know, to guide them through. You know, the reason why they can afford a lot of those things is because they're not preaching the whole counsel of the word of God. You start preaching the Bible the way you ought to, you'll start clearing out some seats, friend. It's true. You know, people will start leaving and never coming back. And look, I'm not saying every single person that leaves a church, you know, is wrong with God or whatever. But that is the case in a lot of places. You start going into one of these... Jesus would not be welcome in some of these churches, these mega churches and things like that. And you say, why is that? Because the people are there, whether they want to admit it or not, whether they even know it or not, they're in it for the money. They're in it for filthy lucre. And they suppose that gain is godliness. And while we're here, verse 3, not as being lords over God's heritage, but being samples to the flock. This is something that I've tried to be mindful of over the years. Because here's the thing, when you have good people in a church that want to serve, you know, it's possible that the pastor can take advantage of their generosity. You know, and start to ask them to do things, you know, and put things on them that, you know, quite frankly, it's not really their place to do. You know, look, I'm all for people volunteering and helping in the church and stuff like that. And I've seen this, not a faithful word, praise God, but I'm not going to be one of these pastors that starts calling up my church members and asking them to run errands for me. You know, or do things for me, you know, on their personal time. You know, to me that's kind of being a lord or fleecing the flock, right, being a lord over God's heritage. And also another thing you want to be careful of as a pastor is not being a meddler. I'm not interested in meddling in your personal life, okay? You know, and I'm not interested in getting overly involved in your life. Look, I'm here to help with advice as needed. I'll give you biblical advice, I'll tell you what the Bible says, I'll counsel with you, I'll sit down with you, I'll speak with you. But I'm never going to, you know, stick my nose in your business where it's not welcome. Because people want to come to me and ask me, hey, what do you think about it? You know, by all means, I'll give my opinion. You know, but just be careful that you're not just looking for me to rubber stamp something, okay? Because you might just get told what you don't want to hear, okay? But it's going to be biblical, right? But I'm not going to lord over God's heritage, you know, and try to get in everybody's business and stuff like that. Anyway, let's move to qualifications. Again, not brawler, not covetous, I think that's just redundant of the previous points in the verse. 1 Timothy 3 verse 4, one that ruleth his own house well, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Now, what I really like about this verse is that it's showing us that if you can't do one, you won't be able to. I'm not going to go and try to rule over your house. I'm not going to go over and try to tell, I'm going to preach the Bible, and if the way you're running things in your house is contrary to scripture, that's your problem. You work on that. And I'll help you as much as you would want me to. I'm not going to preach the Bible, but I'm never going to come to you and tell you, you know, you need to work on this and you need to work on that. I'm just going to preach the Bible and let that stuff work itself out. Because I'm not going to be a lord over God's heritage, and I'm more worried about ruling my own house. Now, I'm going to rule here. I'm going to rule in God's house. I'm going to lead the church here. I have the final say in how things are done in this church. It doesn't mean I'm not going to consider what people have to say. It doesn't mean I'm not going to maybe change the way, you know, based upon the advice of other people. By all means, I'm open to suggestion. And I'm open to listening to what people have to say, but somebody has to make the final decision. That goes for in a house, and that goes for in a church. He's saying here, having his children in subjection with all gravity. Obviously, this is talking about the children that are living in his house with him. Let me just make this point here. This includes his wife. This means he keeps his children in line, but it also means his wife. And I know that's a very unpopular message, but that's what the Bible says. I'm going to quote some verses on this because there's several. Titus chapter 2 verse 3 of the Bible says, There's some women out there in internet land that could learn that one right there. There's some husbands that need to learn to rule their house as well in that area. Not giving them much wine, teachers of good things. That one was for free, by the way. That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands. That the word of God be not blasphemed. This is Bible. Part of a man ruling his house is ruling his wife, keeping her in line. And look, I'm blessed because my wife makes my job really easy. But I'm not so foolish as to think that other men might have more struggles in this area. Everyone's different. Some men might have to work harder at ruling their children. Some children have more spunk than others. Some children have more gumption than others. Some children are just more stubborn than others. Same with wives. And same with husbands, too. I get it. But the Bible's clear here. If a man is going to rule in the house of God, he has to rule his own house. And that includes his wife. The Bible says in 1 Peter 3, verse 1, Likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they may also without the word be won by the conversation of the wives. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 22, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be unto their own husbands in everything. I mean, to what degree should a wife be in subjection to her husband? The same degree to which the church is to be subject unto Christ. In everything, in everything, the wife is to be subject unto the husband. And look, that doesn't mean she has to agree with it all. It just means she has to go along with the program. It doesn't mean she has to think that maybe she's thinking in her mind, you're making a terrible decision right now, but the Bible says I have to go along with it and I'm just going to pray and ask God to give you wisdom. You know, I'm just going to pray. If you think your wives, if you think your husband is making the wrong decision or leading your family in the wrong way, you know what you need to go to about that? Not another woman, not somebody else in the church, not online, not some other pastor, not even to your pastor. You need to go to God, because that's who your husband's authority is. I'm not your husband's authority, folks. You know, I'm just the head of this church. Christ is the head of this church, obviously, but I'm the under shepherd here. I'm just here leading and guiding the flock here in the church, when it comes to the church. But I'm not your boss's husband. I'm definitely not your boss's husband, but I'm also not your husband's boss while I'm at it. Man, someone needs to get some shut-eye tonight. In all things, we speak, we offend all, right, as Paul said. But I'm not your husband's boss, you know what I mean, okay? And you wives, if you've got a problem with the way your husband's doing things, go to God about it. My wife, you know, she did that once. You know, and it worked out. Maybe more than once, all right? Don't go, oh, my husband this, my husband that, get online, call your girlfriend, start going around the church, start bad-mouthing your husband. It's wrong, it's wicked. Be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good and obedient to your own husbands. That's what the Bible says. And I know that flies in the face of this feminist culture that we're living in, but that's what the Bible says. You can take it or leave it. That would clear a church out. You know, the Bible says, again, Colossians 3, just over and over and over again. Wives, submit yourselves and your own husbands as is fit in the Lord. It's right for you to do that. That's how God, that's the way God wants things to work in a home. He wants the husband in authority and to rule his house. Period. Let's move on through these qualifications here. 1 Timothy 3, verse 6, not a novice, just basically meaning not somebody that's new to the faith, right? Not someone who's just newly saved, hasn't really learned the Bible, hasn't really learned what it means to live the Christian life. You want someone who's seasoned, right? He doesn't have to be some gray-haired old man, but it has to be somebody who's kind of been seasoned. He doesn't have to be someone who's just newly saved, He doesn't have to be some gray-haired old man, but it has to be somebody who's kind of been tested and tried and gone through some things and been found to have been faithful. Not a novice, not new. Why? Unless being lifted up with pride, you fall into the condemnation of the devil. You ordain a guy too soon, it's going to go to his head. What's the condemnation of the devil, the judgment of the devil? What was his sin? Pride. Pride was found in him. You know, we don't want that to be found in a pastor. So that's why we don't just ordain newly saved people and lift them up, because it is, it is a lifting up. It is, you know, when you're being put in that position, you know, it is kind of an exaltation to some degree. You know, it demands a certain level of respect and people admire their pastor, and rightfully so. You know, he's supposed to be modeling the way. There's nothing wrong with that. But if that happens to a guy too soon, he can let that go to his head. Verse 7, Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach in the snare of the devil. And that just kind of goes back to the first qualification, blameless, right? Having a good report of those that were without. Go to Titus chapter 1. I want to just touch a little bit more on this idea of ruling his own house when it comes to specific, you know, I picked on the wives, now I'm going to pick on the kids, okay? 1 Timothy chapter number 5, he says, For this cause I left thee in Crete, now he's writing to Titus, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting and adoring ordained elders in every city as I had appointed thee. So what's God's will when it comes to elders? Pastors, bishops, that there would be one in every city. God wants a church at every city, town, and village, okay? And so we need men to step up to the plate and go out there and start churches and lead soul-winning churches and win souls and preach the word of God. But they have to meet these qualifications, okay? If any be blameless, the husband of one wife. So there's a lot of obviously parallel with 1 Timothy 3 here. Having faithful children not accused of riot and unruly, for a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God, not self-wooled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre, but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine, both to convince, except we need to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. So you can, I'm not going to take the time, but a lot of that's probably repetitive. You're hearing the same words that you just read in 1 Timothy 3. The part I want to point out here in verse 6, he says, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. Because some people like to take this and run with it and misapply this. This is still in reference to children that are in his own house. Because again, we're going to compare scripture with scripture. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 3 that he has to have his house, ruling his own house well, having his children in subjection. That's a parallel passage with Titus. It doesn't mean this whole other thing in Titus. Oh, this is talking about adult children. Wrong. I don't believe that. And by the way, I've studied this. I've looked into this. That is the vast, the most popular take on this verse. The vast majority of people inside of IFB, outside of IFB, throughout denominations, the vast majority of people that I've seen agree that a pastor is not accountable for the behavior of adult children that are out of his home. How can he be? Look, an adult child that is living on his own, that's his own house now. The Bible's clear it's ruling his own house well. You're kind of setting a precedent. You're kind of opening up a door you might not want to open. If I can rule over my son's house, maybe I can come rule over your house too. My son, when he grows up and he's his own man, he's in his own house and my daughters are married off and living in their own house, I no longer have any authority of them. And therefore, I'm no longer accountable for how they behave. That doesn't make any sense. Having his children in subjection, this does not apply to outside of the home. And if you would, I know I'm going long tonight, but I want to talk about this for a second. Go to 1 Samuel chapter number 2 because this is the objection that people bring up. Well, what about Eli's sons? Well, what about Eli's sons? Well, what about them? What about Eli's sons, right? It's like, go on? They just say, well, I don't even know what the argument is here out of 1 Samuel chapter 2, but people just need your reaction. Well, I mean, you know, we should tell that pastor to step down because Eli's sons. Eli's sons, the Bible says, were children of Belial. They were sons of the devil. They were literal reprobates. Eli was the high priest and his sons were Levitical priests serving in the tabernacle, taking up the offering, working at the altar. But the Bible says, and I won't take all the time to read this tonight, that they were laying with the women in the tabernacle and they were robbing the offering, they were taking the offerings of the Lord by force. They were going to people and say, you know, give us meat and not sodden, for we will have fresh meat. They wanted to take what was going to be offered to God on the altar and go roast it because if you study it out, and I believe the Bible isn't abundantly clear, but if you carefully study in the Old Testament, the priests did not eat of what was offered on the altar. They ate, you know, they were given a portion of raw meat and then they boiled it. And a lot of times they ate the boiled meat in the tabernacle, in the holy place. The Bible talks about this. They weren't just, you know, what was on the altar got consumed. What was boiled they would take. They were allowed to have that. But Eli's sons, they're taking offerings from the people by force and roasting it. They're eating the fat, which was supposed to be offered unto God, which is why Eli is described as a very fat man when he heard that the Philistines had taken ownership of the Ark of the Lord. He fell backward off his chair to break his neck, right? That's what was going on there, okay? But in all of this, you know what doesn't happen? Is you don't see God, you know, coming down on Eli because, well, you do see him coming down on Eli, but the reason why he came down on him is because he just gave them a verbal rebuke, right? And it's just so funny to me when people, they want to hold a pastor accountable and say, you need to rule your house well, and then he does, and then they say, you ruled your house too harshly. Well, which is it? You know, do you want a pastor to rule his house well and keep his children in line while they're under his authority? And then you're going to start criticizing by the manner in which he does it? First of all, what business is it of yours? And it's so funny to me when they want to go back and talk about, well, what about Eli? The problem with Eli is he just said, oh, you know, what you do is not good. He just gave them a verbal rebuke. I mean, what's the Old Testament punishment for an adulterer? It's death. You know, but I bet in this day and age, if Eli had brought his sons to the gates of the city and said, these, my sons, are gluttons and drunkards. They will not heed the voice of their father after I've rebuked them. And then they were, as the Bible prescribes, executed. There'd be people today, there'd be pastors behind pulp that say, oh, that was a little too harsh. Oh, you went too far with that. You know, I'm not even going to read 1 Samuel 2 at this point, okay? You get the point. You know, it's just funny to me that the pastor is told to rule his house, have his children in subjection. And he does that, and then people want to start criticizing him for it. And they say, well, you know, if a pastor turns out ungodly children, then he failed. Oh, okay. You sure you want to go with that? Because we can start going through Bible story after Bible story after Bible story where good godly men who served God had wicked children. And look, don't take this the wrong way. I'm not trying to be blasphemous. I don't want this to be taken that way. But how about the first son in the Bible, Adam, whose father was literally God, who walked in the garden with the Lord himself. He disobeyed. So is God a failure of a father now? No one would dare say that, rightfully so. But here's the thing. I don't care how good a situation a child is in, I don't care how godly a parent is, I don't care how on top of things they are, they can still turn out wrong. And it goes back to what I was saying earlier. The devil walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Be vigilant on this point. You know, I heard somebody today say, you know, it could be that those kids went bad because it was a coordinated attack by the devil. But I don't know. Well, yeah, you got it right. Right there. That's it. That's it. You just had it right. Well, you know, if he turns out wicked kids, then obviously he's disqualified. Okay, well, how about Gideon? Right? Gideon, Abimelech, went and killed all of Gideon's other children, all his other sons. What about Samuel? They said, we're not going to have your sons to rule over us. They rejected his sons because they were, you know, they walked not in thy ways. They weren't doing what Samuel did. Look, a man of God, a pastor, a father, even, just take the pastorate out of it. You can be in the best situation and the kids can still outrun. This is something I was told years ago. I remember my old pastor telling me this. He said, you know what? You can be in the best situation possible and still turn out wicked kids and you can be in the worst situation possible and have great kids. You just don't know. And let's not just be so quick to rule out the fact that the devil does attack and the devil does seduce and the devil does go after people's kids. Who more so than a pastor? And look, I'm going to say this right now and I don't want anyone to take this the wrong way but I'm going to nip this in the bud tonight, okay? And I know people have said this jokingly and in the right spirit but I'm going to nip this in the bud, okay? My children are not pastor's kids. They're kids, okay? And look, I get it. It's been said by several people and they're saying it jokingly, lovingly, kindly. I understand that but I'm nipping this in the bud. My kids are my kids. Please do not put any extra pressure on my kids to be anything other than that. The same goes for my wife. What do you call my wife? Mrs. Ressel. Shelly. Sister Shelly. I do not subscribe to this thing of my wife as a pastor's wife. I believe this is like some other, she's not, you know, her ministry is me, okay? And she's got her hands full, right? And her ministry is her children. Her plate's full, okay? She'll be a help and encouragement to other ladies in this church and she'll pitch in where she can but her ministry is like any other wife's ministry. You know, she's in subjection to me and my house. That's it, okay? You know, it's a lot to put on a person when you start saying, Oh, you're the pastor's wife. You're the pastor's kid. We're going to hold you to this, you know, this next degree of scrutiny and expectation. That's not fair, friend. That's not fair. I don't want my kids growing up with this extra layer of pressure of having to, you know, be approved by everybody in the church as the pastor's kids. They're just kids and if I rule my house well as a pastor and they turn out well, then praise God. You know, they're accountable to me and nobody else, okay? So I just wanted to mention that and again, I'm not offended by anybody that's made that or said that or joked about that. I know it was all said in good spirit but I'm just trying to nip that in the bud because I've seen it. Where it goes too far, where it's not just a joke now. Where it's now like the pastor's kids get, you know, segregated and treated differently than anybody else's kid. They're held to some higher unbiblical expectation. Well, you're the pastor's kids. You need to walk on water. It's like they want the pastor's kid to be Jesus all of a sudden. You know, and then you wonder why some pastor's kids rebel. Why they reject all of it when they've had to deal with a bunch of sycophantic church members and things like that that have, you know, just weirded them out. I'm not saying it's right but it's understandable. I can see sometimes where people, where that could be, where they're coming from, where that could be the cause of some of this rebellion. Okay? So, not here. Okay? Not here. But, you know, these are the qualifications. I know I'm really ranting here at the end. And look, I'm really ready to move on from all of this stuff. Okay? And get back to preaching other things but this is the last little bit here. And I still think this is edifying for us and a good learning opportunity for us to just look over these qualifications. It was good for me to remind myself once more, hey, you're the pastor now, you know, rightfully so, I should be held to a higher standard. I understand that. That's fine for me. But please do not apply that to my family. Okay? And, you know, I will be the best pastor that I can be to this church. I will endeavor to be an example to you and lead this flock. And I look forward to it, honestly. And it's a great privilege. And, you know, but I would just expect that, you know, I'm given a little grace from time to time too. Okay? So, not that I haven't been. Alright? Anyway, I'm kind of ranting here at the end. Let's just close in a word of prayer. Dear Lord, again, thank you for the opportunity to serve you here in this church. Lord, thank you for the privilege and the honor to be a pastor of a local flock. Lord, I thank you for the people that are in this church. I thank you for the faithfulness that people have shown here over the years. I thank you, the friends that we've made here, the friendships that we have with these folks. And, Lord, the brotherly love and kindness that is here. Lord, I pray that we continue. And, Lord, I pray to help us to be laborers together with Christ as we seek to do your will, each of us, in our respective roles. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. Alright, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we are dismissed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .