(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

As we finish Second Timothy chapter four here, I think you're going to see a lot of similarities as far as the challenges that I go through as a pastor, at least. And it's really good for us to go through First and Second Timothy, even though you aren't pastors, I am, but it's just to know what the role of a pastor is, what the responsibilities are. And I hope now that we've gone through Second Timothy as well as First Timothy, you guys have a better appreciation or a better understanding of the role and responsibilities of a pastor. Sometimes we look at pastors in this world, we look at what they do, and sometimes, yeah, they do do the things that God wants a pastor to do, but many times pastors are not doing the things God wants them to do, or they're being distracted on other activities that God never asked them to do. If you look at verse number five here, Second Timothy chapter four, verse number five, it says, but watch now in all things and do our afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make foolproof of thy ministry. The title for the sermon tonight is foolproof of thy ministry, to make foolproof of thy ministry. What does it mean to make foolproof? Well, basically it means to fulfill your ministry. You know, don't drop the ball, make sure you cover all aspects of your ministry, okay? So Paul is helping Timothy in First Timothy, Second Timothy, I'm showing you all your responsibilities, Timothy, make foolproof of your ministry. Don't drop the ball, do everything that's required from you as a pastor, and don't be distracted with all the false teaching out there, don't be distracted with all the false prophets that are out there, you know, rebuke those things, you know, lead people in sound doctrine, et cetera, et cetera, pray for the brethren, we see many things that pastors are commanded to do. And you know what, as Paul says to Timothy, make foolproof of your ministry, you know, my desire is that I make foolproof of my ministry. You know, my ministry for New Life Baptist Church, my ministry for Blessed Hope Baptist Church, I wanna make sure I don't drop the ball, I wanna make sure that I fulfill all tasks and responsibilities that God wants me to have. You know, sometimes I talk to people and they've got crazy, well not crazy, I shouldn't say crazy, because people are people, I'm not trying to say crazy, I'm just saying people have ideas of what pastors ought to be doing. You know, I get requests all the time, and yet, look, sometimes they are crazy ideas, okay? I do get some requests and I'm like, but you know, that's, no way in the Bible does it say that a pastor ought to do that. Or I'll get a request and it'll be like, you know, I just want you to do this and that, like other pastors do. Yeah, other pastors do that. I mean, if you want those other pastors, then go find those other pastors, if that's what you need them to do. But you know what, I'm gonna make full proof of my ministry. I'm gonna make sure that I focus on the things that God wants me to be focused on and not be distracted on the things that God does not want me to be distracted on. And so that was the whole point of going through these books, is that we have a better understanding of what is required for my pastor, okay? So let's start there in verse number one. Second Timothy chapter four, verse number one. Paul writes to Timothy, I charge thee therefore before God. So this is a final charge from Paul to Timothy, okay? So there's a lot packed in in this final chapter. And you know, I look at it, I say, well, Paul's given me this charge as well, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. I love that. So the Lord Jesus Christ here, so first of all, Paul is charging Timothy before God and before Jesus Christ, but it says that Christ is the one who will judge the quick, and the quick there means the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. So we know there's coming a time when the Lord Jesus Christ is going to judge all, the living and the dead. All right, now let's get an idea around this. Can you please keep your finger there and turn to John chapter five, go to John chapter five, verse number 22. John chapter five and verse number 22. And I believe when Paul refers to the quick and the dead here, that the quick, the living, he's referring to the saints, those that have been born again, those that have eternal life, and the dead, referencing those that have already died spiritually. Hey, maybe they've died physically as well, but those that have rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, I believe the judgment there of the quick are the saved and the dead being the unsaved. Because when we look at John chapter five, verse number 22, John chapter five, verse number 22, the Bible reads, so these are the words of Jesus. He says, for the father judgeth no man. And that's interesting. I mean, that would be consistent with what we read there in second Timothy four, because it says that Jesus Christ will be the judge of the quick and the dead. And so it says in John five 22, for the father judgeth no man, but have committed all judgment unto the son. We are all gonna stand before Jesus and be judged. You know, the unsaved, you know, I don't have time to cover all this right now, but the unsaved, they're gonna stand before Christ, great white throne judgment, where the names are not gonna be found in the book of life, and they're gonna be cast into hell. But for the rest of us that are saved, brethren, we're gonna stand before Christ's seat of judgment, where he's going to judge our works. He's not gonna judge our salvation because the foundation of Christ is sure, the foundation of Christ is there, but he's going to judge us on the works that we've done for him. He's going to judge us for the things, the traditions that we've laid up in heaven. The fire's gonna pass through, the fire of judgment, it's going to reveal the eternal things that we've done for Jesus Christ on this earth. And so we're all gonna stand before the judgment of Christ. But let's keep going there in John five 23, that all men should honor the son. You know, all men are gonna honor Jesus Christ, even the unsaved. Even though when Christ judges those into hell, they're still gonna give honor to Jesus Christ. They're gonna realize that he is the Lord of Lords and that they'll have no choice but to confess Jesus Christ as Lord. That all men should honor the son, even as they honor the father. He that honoreth not the son, honoreth not the father which have sent him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life. Now I wanna park it there in verse 24, just very quickly. You know, so we are gonna be judged, those that are saved, those that honor the son on this earth that we are saved, we honor him in that sense, yes. We are going to be judged but also those that do not honor him on this earth, those that do not believe in Christ, they are gonna be judged as well. But brethren, we're going to receive everlasting life. We already have it, okay? But the moment we close our eyes and open up, we're gonna be in heaven before Jesus Christ. And it says, and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life. Now, when we look at verse 24, what is it that gives us everlasting life? Well, for a church like ours, it's no surprise. It's believing, as it said there, right? And believeth on him that sent me. Salvation is believing on Christ, believing that he was sent to die on the cross for our sins to be risen again three days later, amen? So what I want you to do, just understand, that's what Christ is speaking about. That's how we honor the son, okay? And that's how Christ is gonna judge us. He's going to judge us on whether we receive eternal life, everlasting life by believing on the son or by not honoring the son, by rejecting Jesus Christ. Drop down to verse number 28, please. It says then in John 5, 28. Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice. And so even those that have already died and passed on, they will one day also hear the voice of Christ. Look at verse 29. And shall come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. You see, everybody is going to receive a resurrection. You know what? If you've done good, I'll explain to you what good is in a moment, but if you've done good, you receive the resurrection of life, everlasting life, amen? But if you've done evil, you receive the resurrection of damnation. You're gonna be damned, okay? Damned to hell. But it is a resurrection. You are conscious of that torture and torment that that person is going to go through day and night forever and ever. You know, the torments of hell. Now, I've heard it used, I've heard verse 29 being used as see, you do need to do good works to be saved, you know? Or if you do evil works, if you sin too much or whatever, you are damned for hell, okay? But again, when it says they that have done good, who has done good, okay? They that have done good. Well, once again, if you go back to just a little bit further, where I parked on verse 24, verily, verily, I send to you, hear of my word and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. So what is doing good in this sense? Doing good is believing that Christ has been sent to die for us. That's what it means to do good. It is a good thing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you believed on Christ, then you will be resurrected to life, everlasting life. Those that have done evil, those that have not honored the son, those that have not believed on the son will be resurrected to damnation. And so just going back to first, sorry, second Timothy chapter four, please. Second Timothy chapter four, truly, Jesus Christ will be the judge of us all. And you know, people often talk about, you know, they don't like the God of the Old Testament, but they like Jesus, you know, cause Jesus was meek and mild and lowly. Everyone loves Jesus. But one day, all those that do not believe in Jesus, you know, they're gonna see a different side of Jesus. They're gonna see Jesus the judge. And if they've not honored the son, if they've not believed on him, they're gonna be cast into eternal fire. Let's keep going there. Second Timothy chapter four, verse number two. Second Timothy chapter four, verse number two. So what is the charge about? Number one, preach the word. Notice that. That is the main job of a pastor, to feed the sheep, to preach the word. And brethren, this is what keeps us grounded in life. It's the word of God, you know, and when we preach the word, we wanna preach what is clear, what is black and white, what is understandable, comparing scripture with scripture with the power of the Holy Spirit, we're not here to preach imaginations. You know, every now and again, you know, we may have some conjecture, we might feel some gaps with our thoughts and our ideas, but that's not what our preaching ought to be. Our preaching should primarily be the word of God being proclaimed boldly, okay? That is the main job of the preacher. Preach the word. Then it says, be instant, in season and out of season. You know what that means? Just preach it. Doesn't matter if it's popular. Doesn't matter if it's unpopular. There are different times, different seasons that people wanna hear different things, but when it comes to preaching, you gotta preach all things at all times. It doesn't matter what is in fashion. It doesn't matter what is popular. You know, right now, preaching against the homosexuals is not popular. It's not in season. You know, preaching against the LGBT filth, you know, these people that have rejected God, these people that are on their one-way ticket to hell, you know, preaching this is not popular in 2021. And you know what? It's not going to be popular in 2022. But you know what? We preach in season or out of season. It doesn't matter. We preach God's word, regardless of how the rest of the world feels. That is the job of the preacher. It says, reprove. Reprove is like to correct. Rebuke is like to call out, you know, sins, to name them, right? Exhort, we've all long suffered in, and doctrine. Notice there's two negatives and one positive, right? The two negatives, reprove and rebuke. Then you've got the exhort. The exhort is to encourage. You know, I don't wanna just, you know, preach against sin and preach against the evils of this world. Cause if that's all we do, if we're just tearing down, tearing down, you know, it's going to leave people on a downer. It's not going to lift people up. So once we've torn down the sins and the weakness, and we've called out the false doctrines, we also need to build up. We also need to encourage, right? We've all long suffering and doctrine. And so I'm to encourage you, build you up with doctrine. Yeah, I'm to teach you the words of God, the things that we believe grounded in the word of God, but also we've long suffering. Because preachers, we know that, you know, no matter what we preach, you know, the church is not going to necessarily receive it straight away, or they're not necessarily going to grow and learn it all. It takes time. Everyone requires time. We're all at different levels. That's why the long suffering is, you know, if you don't have the long suffering for the brethren, you're not suited to be a pastor, okay? Because you're going to have certain expectations and look, those expectations, they're not going to be met, okay? Then you get stressed and frustrated and short tempered. No, we've got to be long suffering for the brethren. Everyone requires time to be encouraged and to grow in their knowledge and in their walk of faith. Let's keep going, verse number three. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. And this time has come already, brethren. I mean, people do not want to hear sound doctrine. Well, what do they want to hear instead? It says, but after their own lusts, shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears? Brethren, let's not be like this. Let's never get to the point where you just, you know, you're looking for other teachers that will teach things what you want to hear, okay? You know, you might get frustrated one day at this pastor. You might get upset one day at our church, okay? And you know what's going to be tempting when you get frustrated and upset? You're going to be tempted to walk away from everything you've learned, all the doctrines, and you'll be like, surely there must be a better preacher out there preaching the things that I agree with. And you're going to start heaping to yourself, teachers, and you're going to have those itching ears, wanting those teachers to just scratch your ears, to give you what you want, brethren, but that's not how it ought to be. This is why we need to preach the word of God, which I'm trying to not just teach you the truth, but I also want to warn you from evil. I want to warn you from false doctrines, right? I mean, if I can preach the word of God, honest and truthfully enough, and establish it upon the word of God, then you should be stable where you won't be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. Let's keep going there. Verse number four, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables, turned away unto fables. So we've got the truth and we've got fables. Fables are made up stories, aren't they? They're made up stories, maybe, hey, they might, there's nothing wrong with fables in of themselves. There's nothing wrong with stories in of themselves, but when you're replacing truth with fiction, when you're replacing the truth of God's word with the imaginations and the wisdom of man, you've got a problem, okay? And I hope you can see at least within me, brethren, a heart for God's word. I'm trying to stay grounded in God's word. You know, I'm not here preaching conspiracy theories, which may be true or may not be true. I'm not trying to preach things that are half true or without assurance. No, you know, anytime I get up to preach, brethren, it's because I've studied God's word. I've grounded myself in God's word. I've compared scripture with scripture. I feel coughing when I'm preaching and I want to give it to you because I don't want you to be moved. I don't want you to be chasing fables. You know, I don't want you chasing thoughts that, you know, God's angels in Genesis 6 looked down on women and married them and then they started procreating with giants and take you down a rabbit hole of stupidity and fables. You know, but so many Christians love the fables and we need to make sure that we keep ourselves from those stupid thoughts, okay? Not heaping to yourself teachers wanting to scratch those ears of yours. Let's keep going, verse number five. But watch thou in all things, watch thou in all things. And so the pastor is also to watch, is to be an overseer. That's where you get the word bishop from or the supervisor, the bishop, okay? Watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work on evangelists, make foolproof of thy ministry. Now I'm gonna quickly read to you from, actually let's turn there, keep your finger there and go to Hebrews 13 for me. Go to Hebrews 13. I forgot my cup of water, I'll be right back. Turn to Hebrews 13. My apologies, brethren. I don't have a helper tonight, it's just me. So I'm gonna get my kids to help me out. All right, Hebrews 13, verse 17, please. Hebrews 13, verse 17. The Bible reads, obey them, they have the rule over you. Brethren, the Bible says that you ought to obey me. Hey, preach in season and out of season. I don't know what you feel about me, brethren. That's what the Bible says, all right? And I realized what the Bible is asking here, okay? I've got authority over you in the house of God. When we meet for church, hey, listen, when you leave church, I have no authority over you. All right, if I tell you what job to do and who to marry and what to cook and how often to eat and how often to exercise, brethren, that's me, I'm not ruling over you the way God wants me to rule over you, okay? I'm to rule over you in the house of God. It says, and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls. You see, we're to watch all things, we're to watch for your souls as they that must give accounts that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you. Brethren, I've one day got a given account for New Life Baptist Church. Jesus Christ, he's the judge of all things and he's going to judge New Life Baptist Church. He's going to judge how we served in the house of God and he's going to come to me to give an account of your performance at the church. All right, so please don't leave, don't let me give a bad report. You know, please make sure that the report that I give, I'll have no choice but to tell the truth, brethren. I'm going to have a new resurrected body by then. I can't lie, I can't sin, I can't exaggerate. Now please serve God's house to the best of your ability. I want to give God the best report that I can possibly give you because I want it to be profitable for you. I want you to be rewarded in heaven. I want Jesus Christ to say unto you, thou good and faithful servants. You know, you served me by serving New Life Baptist Church. That's what I want, okay? So where to watch? What else? I'd say do the work on evangelists. What's an evangelist? Imagine someone that preaches the gospel, amen? He preaches the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He's out winning souls. He's out knocking doors. He's out reaching the community with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Reverend, that is the job of a pastor as well. Now obviously the evangelist, you know, if someone has that office, they're going to be dedicated to that job full time. That's their primary role. Now for a pastor, it's obviously not his primary role, but it's one of his roles to do the work of an evangelist. You know, every saved pastor should be out there knocking doors of the community. And so many pastors are not doing it. Make foolproof of thy ministry. Okay, we saw it already, make foolproof in that verse. Hey, fulfill everything that is required from you in your ministry. This means pastors are to knock doors and to preach the gospel. Pastors that are not doing it, brethren, are not making foolproof of their ministry. Why don't they preach the gospel? Why don't they do it? You know why? Because they're distracted on other things that God never asked them to do. They're distracted with conflicts and problems of different families and different people. They're out there visiting people. Hey, you know, yes, you know, everyone loves them. Because pastor's always there. But how many times have we seen in First and Second Timothy that pastors are to go into everybody's problems and sort them out? Zero times. No times, brethren. Why? Pastors that do that, they run out of time, and then they don't make foolproof of their ministry. They're not serving Christ the way God wants them to serve. They're not preaching the gospel anymore. And guess what? When the pastor's not preaching the gospel, the whole church is not gonna be preaching the gospel. This is how it is. Because the pastor's trying to set the example, okay? I would hate to have a church that is not preaching the gospel. I would, you know, if I'm not doing it, brethren, I'd rather just step down and say, God, please raise up a man who is able to make foolproof of the ministry, okay? Because I failed. No, brethren, I'm supposed to be out there preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, you know, if you find one day, you find that, you know, you're not at New Life Baptist Church, you're in some other church, and you're trying to figure out what church to be part of, you know, please have this as a high priority. You know, if the pastor that you wanna get yourself under is a pastor that's preaching the gospel to the lost, okay? He's doing the work of the evangelist. Pastors must be soul winners. And as I said to you, make foolproof. So don't drop the ball. Many pastors have dropped the ball in this ministry. You know, let me tell you a quick story. One of my old churches, we once went out doing the tractor distribution. We went really far. I went past, we went down south past Wollongong, if you know the Sydney area, and the New South Wales, you know, or the local area around Sydney. I can't remember what church it was, but you know, I took my car, and I took a whole bunch of young people in my car, and it was meant to be a tract distribution. As you guys know, it's not something we do in our church, but we came and brought invitations to the church, and we just letterboxed, letterboxed, letterboxed, letterboxed, you know, for several hours, in the morning and in the afternoon. And I was so frustrated by this ministry, but you know, the pastor had asked me if I could go, if I could drive certain people. And so, you know, I just wanted to serve the church as best as I could, you know, to be as obedient to my pastor, as much as I could be. And so even though it wasn't my favorite ministry, I did it, you know, cause I was being asked. But I remember, you know, my pastor was elderly. And I remember, you know, when we all got, I think we were back at lunch or something, or toward the end of the day. I don't remember the timing exactly. And I went to my pastor and I said, you know, so, you know, while we were out dropping the tracts, you know, what did you get up to? Like, what were you doing? Cause I knew he was there, but I knew he wasn't tract distribution cause he was older, you know? And he said to me, I went house to house as well, but I was actually knocking on doors and preaching the gospel. And I just thought, well, praise God for your pastor, but why weren't the rest of us doing that? Like why are we being sent out, doing tract distribution, giving papers to letterboxes, not opening our mouths boldly, proclaiming the gospel, you're doing it, praise God, you're doing it. But listen, if it's that important to you, why isn't that our ministry? Why is it, you know, we spent all this time, all this manpower, all these hours, and all we've done is being mailmen. But I was thankful, at least that my pastor was doing it. You know what? Again, many pastors, they drop the ball, many churches, they drop the ball, they don't do the work that God has asked our church and the pastors to do, and they're doing everything else, okay? And you know what? I'm not against putting a tract in a letterbox. You know what? If I knock a door and no one's home, or I just can't get in, and all I have is the letterbox, I'll drop the tract in the letterbox, okay? But our job is to knock that door, to open our mouths, to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and people will be saved. People will be saved, okay? We could go a long time where we have a big drought, but you know what? You go out there, you do the work of God, and you will see people saved. And that is the work that God has left all of us to do. Let's keep going there. Verse number six. "'For I am now ready to be offered, "'and the time of my departure is at hand.'" So we know this is the end, toward the end, at least, of Paul's life, okay? He says in verse number seven, "'I have fought a good fight. "'I have finished my course. "'I have kept the faith.'" So we notice a few things. The Christian life, number one, is a fight, but it's a good fight. It's a good fight to get involved in, amen? You know, serving the Lord Jesus Christ, doing the work that God has given us to serve Jesus Christ, especially in our local church, it is a good fight. You know, we are good soldiers of the faith. Then he says, "'I have finished my course.'" And I love that about Paul. He's finished his course. You know, Paul says, "'I've done everything that God has left me to do "'on this earth. "'I've done my ministry. "'I've done the calling that God has given me.'" And I'm gonna quickly read to you from a familiar passage in Hebrews 12, one. It says, "'Whereforeseen, we are also compassed about "'with so great a cloud of witnesses, "'let us lay aside every weight, "'and the sin which doth so easily beset us, "'and let us run with patience "'the race that is set before us.'" We've all got a race to run, brethren. And Paul is able to say, toward the end of his life, "'I have finished my course. "'I've run the race.'" You know, I've gotten to the end line, to the end. Praise God for Paul. Can you say the same? Are you running the race? You know, did you even start? Have you started the race? Sometimes Christians don't even start. They get saved, and that's all they do. They get saved, and they never serve God in any capacity. Hey, maybe you've started the race. Maybe you're running backwards. Maybe you're not running the direction that God wants us to run. Or maybe you started the race, and now you're just a spectator. You've stopped on the side, and you're watching other people run the race, and you said, well, it's just a bit too hard for me. You know, brethren, we're coming to the end of the year. We're heading into a brand new year. You know, this is a great time to assess where are you in the race, yeah? You know, have you dropped the ball? You know, are you making foolproof of your service for God? You know, are you fulfilling all the requirements God has for you in your life? And I would encourage you, you know, if we come toward the end of the year, please assess your spiritual life this past year, 2021. You know, has it gotten a little bit cold? You know, have you got a little bit further from the Lord? Have you dropped the Bible reading? Have you dropped the soul winning? You know, where are you with the Lord Jesus Christ? And you know what? Don't beat yourself up. Get back on the race. In fact, we'll soon see someone that got off the race and got back on as we keep going through this chapter. But you know what? The start of a new year is a great time to reflect on where we've come short, right? Where we could have done better, you know, where we're not serving God in the way that we would have liked. And you know, to say, you know what, God, you're giving me a new year coming around the corner. Help me to serve you even better in 2022. You know, help me continue running the race that we've started, Lord. Help me get to the finish line. I want to be like Paul. I want to finish my course when it comes to the end of my life. He says, I have kept the faith. And so he's remained faithful. He's remained faithful the entire way in the race that he's run for the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse number eight, henceforth. So because he's fought a good fight, because he's finished his course, because he's kept the faith, he says, henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. Paul says, I can't wait to be rewarded with that crown of righteousness. Again, how's he going to get it? Well, Christ, we saw earlier, is the judge. And when he passes judgment on the work that Paul has done for him, Paul has no doubt whatsoever that crown is mine. I'm getting that crown of righteousness. Now, brethren, we ought to desire to be crowned by Jesus Christ, to receive the great rewards he has for us in heaven. And you know what, when I look at the crown of righteousness, it doesn't look like it's an exceedingly hard crown to get, okay? But let's think about it. Let's have a look at this. It says, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day. And then it says this, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. So notice, you don't have to be an apostle like Paul. You don't have to be like a missionary going from city to city, studying churches, and doing the great works that Paul has done. You know, we don't need to necessarily do as much as Paul has done in our lives, because it says here, unto all. We can all achieve this crown of righteousness that love his appearing. There's the condition. Now, brethren, I think we all should be aiming for this crown, the crown of righteousness. And all we have to do is to love his appearing, to be looking forward to seeing Christ face to face. Is that you? Do you love his appearing? Are you looking forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ? And look, here's the other thing that I want us to think about. And, you know, I think if I talk to any Christian, regardless of what church, whether it's Blessed Hope Baptist Church, New Life Baptist Church, or some other great church that's in the area, I'm pretty confident. I'm like 99.9% sure that most people say, I can't wait to see Jesus. Like, I can't wait for Christ to come back. I can't wait for the rapture. I can't wait for Christ's millennial reign, et cetera, et cetera. I think I would say the vast majority of people would say, you know, I love his appearing. And so it seems almost a little too easy to get the crown of righteousness, right? I mean, it's just loving his appearing. That surely, pastor, that's not too hard. And yes, I agree. You know, it's probably not that hard, but, you know, I think there's a lot more going in this than what we realize. Because when we talk about loving his appearing, what are we talking about exactly? You know, what takes place when Jesus Christ comes back? Well, let me quickly read to you from some very familiar passages. The first one is 1 Thessalonians 4.17. We know it's the most famous chapter on the rapture. It says, then we, which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. So notice loving his appearing, when Christ comes back, what is so special about that event? That we'll be ever be with the Lord. That we'll always be with the Lord Jesus Christ in sweet fellowship with him forever, okay? Now, if that's the truth of Christ coming, then I'm kind of thinking, how can we measure the love for his appearing? Well, definitely one way we can measure it is whether you love his fellowship, whether you love the presence of Christ. And you know what? The local church is the body of Christ. Jesus Christ says where two or three are gathered in his name, he will be there in the midst of us. You know, one way we can love the appearing of Christ is just to be in church, just to be amongst the brethren, to be in the presence of Jesus Christ, to fellowship with Christ. And then I asked, how's your personal fellowship with Christ though? Do you spend time with the Lord? Do you pray to him? Do you sing him praises? You know, in your own personal time, how much do you love the fellowship of the Lord? How much did you fellowship with him this week? Maybe you say, well, pastor, actually, you know what? I've not been fellowshiping with Jesus. Well, maybe you don't love his appearing because that's what we're going to be doing when he appears. We're going to be with the Lord forever in fellowship, in his presence. So you know what? I think loving his appearing is more than just looking forward to him coming back. I think it's all the aspects that go together with his appearing. Hey, another very familiar passage about the resurrection, the rapture, is 1 Corinthians 15 verse 51. 1 Corinthians 15, 51. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. You know what else takes place when Christ comes back? Our bodies are changed. This corruptible body receives an incorruptible body. This sinful flesh receives a body, a flesh that cannot sin. And so what else is exciting about Christ appearing is that we're never going to sin again. And so brethren, the next thought that I have for you then is if we're gonna love his appearing, which means we'll never sin again, or how is your victory over sin today? How well are you living a holy and acceptable life for Jesus Christ? And I know we sin every day, brethren. Okay, I realize that, that's the truth. Let's not beat ourselves stupid about this because we know we're all sinners, brethren, but we should never get comfortable where we are. We should always be striving to be more pleasing for the Lord, to offer this body as a living sacrifice to Jesus Christ, to renew this mind, to not give in to the temptations of this flesh because that's what we're going to receive at the coming of Christ. To love his appearing is to love his fellowship and his presence, but also to love victory over sin. How much do you love victory over sin today? Or do you actually prefer to sin? And so, brethren, I think, you know, loving his appearing, we should look at this and consider, hey, I want us all to get that crown of rejoicing, but how much are you spending time right now in fellowship with God, in fellowship with Christ? Because that's what we're going to be doing at his appearing. How much are you having victory over sin? Because you are finally going to defeat sin when he gives you that new resurrected body. And so I believe loving his appearing is more than just excited that he's coming because all Christians are like that. But actually, what are the elements that make up that coming? I think that's what we ought to love. That's what we ought to live for and to live for today. You know, be excited for the hope to come and clean up our lives and live lives that are more righteous for God in 2022 than maybe what we lived in 2021. Now let's keep going back in 2 Timothy 4, please. 2 Timothy 4, verse number nine. Paul then says to Timothy, do thy diligence to come shortly unto me. Now, Paul is in Rome. He's under arrest in Rome. Timothy is the pastor in Ephesus. He's the pastor to the Ephesians. And so what else do we learn now that Timothy is a traveling pastor? Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me. Paul is saying, Timothy, I need you in Rome. I know your pastor in there in Ephesus, but I need you in Rome. And brethren, Ephesus to Rome is not close distance. Ephesus is in Turkey, Rome is of course in Italy. And I looked this up, it's about 2000 kilometers, a little bit over 2000 kilometers in distance of traveling. You know how far the Sunshine Coast is to Sydney? About a thousand kilometers. So going from Ephesus to Rome is double the travel between Sydney and Sunshine Coast. And look, Timothy did not travel on Jetstar. Timothy did not have a car. This would be a long trip that he would have to take. You know, he'd have to prepare very well. And I'm saying this brethren, because you can see that one of the responsibilities sometimes of pastors is to travel. And you know, I'm here in Sydney, I'm stuck here. You know, if I could be there this afternoon, I'd be there. You know that, I hope you know that. That if I could just as easily catch a plane and be on the Sunshine Coast, preaching to you face to face and fellowshiping with you, I will do that. You know that. And you know that if I could get my family, yeah, there tomorrow, we'll be there tomorrow. All right. And I'm saying that because we've overstayed our initial plans. We were meant to return back in October. And I don't want New Life Baptist Church. I don't want it to ever cross your mind that I just want to stay in Sydney and I don't care about the church. And because it will cross your mind. I guarantee it will cross your mind. Okay, I'll tell you why. Because if I was a church member of New Life Baptist Church and my pastor was stuck in Sydney, longer than planned, I'd be thinking the same thing. I think it's just natural. But I never want you to think that, you know, we've made a mistake, pastor's made a mistake coming down to Sydney. You know, the church here needed me a lot more during the lockdowns and restrictions that we've gone through here than what you guys needed. You know, I did not know that. I did not know that was gonna be the scenario. Of course, who knew? Okay, but the Lord knew, the Lord knew. And you know what? Sometimes pastors have to travel. Sometimes they need to go from Ephesus to Rome. Sometimes they need to go from Sunshine Coast to Sydney. And it's in God's hands. He knows what our pastor needs to do, okay? And you know, it's out of my hands. I wish I could be in Queensland, but it's out of my hands, brethren. I ask that you would pray for me, please. You know, do that diligence to come shortly unto me. I wanna get there as soon as I can. Please keep this pastor in prayer. Please keep our family in prayer. We can't wait for us to get up there. But at the same time, I don't wanna neglect the work that God has given me to do here in Sydney. There's definitely work to be done. And so, you know, it's in God's hands. And please be in prayer. And please never think that I'm forsaking you guys or deserting you guys. I am the pastor of that church, you know. I love you guys. I love every family. I love you all, brethren. I miss you so much. You know, I love watching the live stream, Brother Caleb, you know, song leading, Brother Jason reading the Bible. You know, I wish I had just been fellowship with you guys. I really miss you guys. And I think Paul is really missing Timothy. Timothy has been far from him and he's called Timothy to come to him. Now, I want you to think about, why is it that Timothy is being called by Paul all the way to Rome? You know, why is it that I'm in Sydney? Why is that? Well, let's keep going there in verse number 10. For Demas have forsaken me. So Paul once had a guy called Demas. Look, Demas is not an unsaved man. He's a Christian man. He's saved, okay? But Demas, he was a helper of Paul, but he's forsaken Paul, okay? Why? Having loved this present world and is departed unto Thessalonika. Demas decided, look, I've got too much to live for in this world. You know, yeah, I've been serving God, but you know what? I just want to live for this world. I want to live for myself a little bit. You know, I've been giving myself too much to the work of God. And so Demas has forsaken the work of God for this world for the pleasures of this world. It says, Cretians, Cretians to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. Now Cretians and Titus, I'm not saying that these guys have deserted Paul. They've just got other work to do. They've gone to other places, other cities, other churches that needed their help. And so the reason Paul is asking Timothy to come, what do we learn here? That he's run out of people. He's run out of helpers. Reverend, the answer is there's not enough men. That's the answer. Why am I in Sydney? There's not enough men. Why do I have to travel? Why was I traveling almost every week to Sydney back and forth Sunshine Coast? Why am I pastoring two churches? There's not enough men. Okay, brethren, you know, it's not like it's my desire to just get on a plane, you know, once a week and travel down. I mean, when you think about it, we've got 52 weeks in a year. 52 weeks, that's 52 times, you know, initially before the lockdown, the whole COVID, I was traveling almost every week. You know, that's almost two months if you work it out, 52 days. Okay, I'm gone for 24 hours basically. That's almost two months in a year that I'm away from my family. Like you think, you guys know my family, man. You know, you guys know I love my wife and love my children. Do you think I really wanna be away from my family two months a year, you know, every year traveling down to Sydney? Do you really think like, we want the instability of not knowing where we're going to be living? Like, do you think this is like, something a pastor just loves to do? You know what, if it was any other job, besides being a pastor of a church, if it was just any other job where I've got the instability of where I'm living, the instability of whether there's gonna be enough finances to support me, you know, not knowing if I can travel, not, you know, being away from my family two months, you know, in a year. If it was any other job, brethren, I would have quit a long time ago. You know, this is why I just can't believe when people think pastors are like just, like pastors that love the Lord and love the church, like they've got some type of selfish needs or selfish desire. There must be some selfish reason why, you know, pastor Kevin's in Sydney. It's not selfishness, brethren. It's selflessness. You're giving yourself to God's work. You're giving yourself to his kingdom. You know what I want? I just wanna get to heaven and for Christ to be my judge and for him to say to me, thou good and faithful servants. You know, you loved me like that the church, you loved blessed up at the church. You love the families. You know, you encourage your help, the brethren there to come together to serve the Lord. That's all I want. And I want each one of you to serve Christ at your fullest capacity, that Christ would reward you full, that we would be all rejoicing in heaven when Christ judges us. Brethren, being a pastor is not easy. You know, being a traveling pastor is not easy. You know, I'm not whining or complaining. I love it because I love the Lord. As I said, any other job, I wouldn't do it. I don't like that side of it, but I love the fact that I can serve Jesus Christ. And if this is the capacity that I can serve him in, and he's given me that ability, brethren, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it, okay? And I know that God's gonna bless me, bless my family, bless the churches. And, but you know, as we saw here, brethren, there's just not enough men. This is why men have to travel from place to place. Pastors need to, Pastor Timothy, needs to be taken out of his church there for a period of time to go to Rome to help support Paul in his time. Let's keep going there, verse number 11. And before we keep reading, let me encourage you now, if there's any men that wanna get into the ministry, you know, you want, you one day wanna get into full-time ministry, you've gotta count the cost. You have to realize you have to give of yourself, okay? You just do. You know, you can't just expect it's all just gonna fall into place. Well, there's gonna be struggles. But look, if you see it through, if you keep going through those afflictions and trials and hardships, and you walk by faith and you just do it to love God and to serve him, and you don't do it for selfish reasons, God's going to come through and he's gonna give you everything you need into your time, okay? It's just a matter of patience. You need the long suffering. You need to have a heart for the people of God and a heart for the work of Jesus Christ. Verse number 11, Paul says, only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry. Now, he says only Luke. So he's only got one helper while he's in Rome. Luke is with him. We know that Paul is also preaching in Rome, okay? So he's got a ministry going on. Even though he's arrested, he's under house arrest. He's still able to preach the gospel. He's got a ministry in Rome and Luke is helping him out there. It's just the two of them in a big city like Rome. And so he needs help right now. And not only has he called for Timothy to come and help us to take. Take Mark, bring Mark with you, for he is profitable to me for the ministry. Now, let me remind you who Mark is. Maybe you already know, but let me just remind you. Keep your finger there and please go to Acts chapter 12. Go to Acts chapter 12. Go to Acts chapter 12 and verse number 25. Acts chapter 12 and verse number 25, brethren. Acts chapter 12 and verse number 25. This is basically what we're looking at here is the first missionary journey of Paul. Remember, he went with, he went with, oh, I've forgotten, Barnabas, okay? Paul and Barnabas, they're out there, you know, on their first missionary journey. And it says here in Acts 12, 25. And Barnabas and Saul, Saul is Paul of course, returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry and took with them John, whose surname is Mark. So this is John Mark, all right? Now this is the same Mark that Paul is telling Timothy, bring with you when you come to Rome to come and see me, all right? So we see that Mark is someone that has helped Paul in the past. Now let's go to the next chapter, Acts chapter 13, verse 13. Acts chapter 13, Acts chapter 13 and verse number 13. It says, now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Pergma in Pamphylia and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. So John here, departs from them. John Mark, departs from them. Now the Bible doesn't give us exactly why he left, but I think we can draw some conclusions based on what we're going to then see in Acts 15. Please go to Acts 15, verse number 37. Acts 15, please, Acts 15, verse number 37. So now they're on a new, the second missionary journey now. And this is when Paul and Barnabas have a great contention amongst themselves. They split, in fact, they had a big argument, but it says in verse number 37, and Barnabas determined to take with them John, that's John Mark, okay? Whose surname, oh, there it is, whose surname was Mark, all right? So even though John, in the first missionary journey, departed, he didn't see it through, he didn't finish the job, now Barnabas wants to take John Mark again, all right? But Paul doesn't want to, okay? It says in verse number 38, but Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia and went not with them to the work. And the contention was so sharp between them, and they departed asunder one from the other, and so Barnabas took Mark and saved unto Cyprus, and Paul chose Silas and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God. And so you can see Barnabas took Mark. Hey, Mark was the quitter, he quit. He went back to Jerusalem. He didn't fulfill the work that they had done. And at this time, Paul did not want Mark involved, all right? He wasn't, you know, he wasn't dependable. He didn't fulfill his word to go and complete the missionary journey that they had set at hand, right? He departed from Paul when they needed him to keep working with them. And so Paul wants nothing to do with Mark once we get to this occasion. But I want you to ask the thing about now, we've gone several years now into the future, as we're reading about there in 2 Timothy 4, and now what is Paul asking for? Hey, take Mark and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry. And so brethren, I don't know what your 2021 has been like, you know, because I've not been up there, I guess, you know, I chat with you every now and again, but I really don't know. You know, I feel like I've lost a big chunk of, you know, your life while I've been stuck here in Sydney. But brethren, if you've gotten cold, if you've been like John Mark in 2021, and you're not running the race, as I said, okay, John Mark is a classic example of someone that started the race. Hey, man, that must be a great race to run alongside Paul and Barnabas, and then to quit halfway through, you know, to go back to Jerusalem, to go back home, and to the point where Paul doesn't want him anymore. Okay, he didn't do the work. And brethren, maybe that's you, maybe you're not doing the work. Maybe you're not serving Christ. Maybe right now in 2021, you're not serving him like you used to. You're not fulfilling all the work that God has for you, brethren. Don't be discouraged. God's given us a brand new year, 2022. You know what? It's time to get back in the race. It's time to pick up your Bibles again. It's time to go in prayer again. It's time to serve Christ again. It's time to make it to every church service that you can possibly make again. You know, it's time to go soul-willing again, preaching the gospel to the lost. Mark had another opportunity. Now he's profitable. Brethren, maybe you've gotten off, maybe you've gotten cold, but you know, God gives us other chances, a second chance, a third chance, and we need him, brethren, because we all sometimes stop running. We all get tired. We all get weary from time to time. And I love it when we have these starts of a new year, because it lets us stop and reflect. Where are we? Where are we at? In 2021, God has given us a brand new year to serve him faithfully. And it doesn't matter what COVID is going to do to this world or to Australia or to Queensland, brethren, we can still serve Christ, all right? We might be restricted in how we can serve him, but we can still serve him, okay? Please take the opportunities that God has given you. All right, back to 2 Timothy 4 and verse number 12. 2 Timothy 4, verse number 12. You might be wondering, well, if Timothy leaves, you know, Ephesus, well, you know, that church is going to suffer. They're going to be without, you know, Pastor Timothy. But look what Paul says, "'And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus.'" So Paul, knowing that Timothy is going to have to leave, he sends Tychicus to Ephesus, all right, to make sure the work continues, that there are other men serving in the absence of Pastor Timothy. All right, so I love that about Paul, because yes, he's pulling resource out of one place, but he's making sure that the church doesn't just fall apart, that there are other men willing to serve. And brethren, you know, I'm very thankful for the year that, you know, I've been able to serve in Sydney. You know, there were several men that got up to preach and to song lead and to, you know, carry on the soul winning and the work that's being done. And we need Tychicus. You know, you may never be Pastor Timothy, but you know what? We need Tychicus. We need you guys when the pastor's away. You know, blessing up at this church needs Tychicus as well. You know, when I'm able to get back to Queensland, you know, we need men from this church to stand up and to fill the gaps where needed. All right, I never want to be a pastor that just deserts the church. We've seen examples of that already. You know, pastors that start churches, people get excited and then they leave the church and they don't communicate. They want nothing to do with it. And they just, they just desert the church. That's not a pastor's heart, okay? We see Paul here being very careful. I'm going to pull resources out there, but we need to make sure there's enough men that are at least able to carry the work forward. All right? And so I'm very thankful for all the men that have been serving a new life of this church. Please continue to serve. You know, please look for more opportunities to serve, Reverend. You guys know I'm stuck here. It's out of my hands, Reverend. But listen, if there's something in the church that's not being done that needs to be fulfilled, you want to put your hand up and serve in some capacity, Reverend, be a ticker, okay? You know, do the work, you know, while the pastor's away. Let's keep going there, verse number 13. The cloak that are left at Troas with Karpus, when thou comest, bring with thee. And the books, but especially the parchments. Now, we don't get much about this verse. It's quite interesting. So Paul has a coat, you know, a cloak or a coat that he's left behind. I guess he's getting a little bit cold. Maybe the season has changed. Yeah, in fact, we'll soon see. Because it says later on, you know, come before winter. So I think he's getting ready for the winter season. He needs his warmer clothing, he needs his coats. But he's also asking that, you know, Timothy will remember to bring the books and the parchments. I do believe this is, I think it's safe to assume these are the scriptures. We know Paul has written many scriptures out. You know, there's been copies of copies being made, probably not just the New Testament scriptures, but probably also just copies of the Old Testament scriptures. I remember back then it was just hard to get copies, you know, expensive and difficult to have their own personal copies. And I guess Paul is stuck there in Rome. He's probably missing, you know, the reading of God's Word. He doesn't have everything at his disposal at this point in time. And he's asking Timothy to bring the writings, the parchments, the writings. Don't forget in 2 Peter 1, verse 21, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God's spakers that were moved by the Holy Ghost. So even though Paul is writing his epistles, you know, he still needs to read them himself because it's the Holy Ghost that's causing him to write those things. He still needs to read them. He still needs to study. He still needs to grow from his own writings because it's really the work of God. Amen. Let's keep going, verse number 14. Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil. The Lord reward him according to his works, of whom be thou where also, for he have greatly withstood our words. Now, Alexander the coppersmith, I believe is a complete reprobate. Not only because he's done great evil to Paul, but it says here, he have greatly withstood our words. Now, when we had a look at the previous chapter about the reprobate, I'll quickly show, if you can turn back there, if you want, 2 Timothy 3, verse number 8. It says, now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth. What is Alexander the coppersmith doing? We've stood our words. He's resisting the truth, as it were. Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith. And also, if you just go back to 1 Timothy, just go back to 1 Timothy chapter one, verse number 20. 1 Timothy chapter one, verse 20, we get introduced to Alexander in 1 Timothy actually. 1 Timothy 1 20, of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander, there's Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. So what are they doing? They're blaspheming God. So Alexander is clearly not saved. I believe he's a reprobate, but he's also being delivered unto Satan. And you may recall that 1 Timothy 5, when you conduct church discipline, you're basically handing that member over to Satan to destroy the flesh, all right? So what we saw here, if you go back to 2 Timothy chapter four, verse number 14, how does Paul deal with these reprobates that creep into churches? Number one, he conducts church discipline upon them. He gets them out of church, all right? But secondly, in verse number 14, Alexander the coppersmith did be much evil. The Lord reward him according to his works. Paul doesn't take it in his own hand to take vengeance or take revenge on these wicked people. He leaves it unto the Lord, the Lord rewarding. The Lord will take his vengeance upon that individual. And as we know, if someone gets kicked out of church, part of the Lord's vengeance on that person is to be delivered unto Satan, that Satan would destroy him. Okay, verse number 16, 2 Timothy chapter four, verse 16. At my first answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that he may not be laid to their charge. Now, I do believe when it says here at my first answer, no man stood with me. Remember Paul is arrested and he's gone through many, like hearings, court hearings, et cetera. So I believe the answer that he's given is like his first hearing as arrested. It says that no man stood with me. They all departed from Paul the moment he got arrested. Okay, they didn't want to be associated with someone that's in trouble with the law. And, you know, it'd be a sad thing that you're being arrested for serving the Lord Jesus Christ and no brethren support you. They don't pray for you, they don't encourage you. You know, and let me just remind you, you know, there's a time where some of our brethren down in Brisbane were arrested. You know, they were taken to court for, you know, basically entering a mosque and causing some issues there. And don't forget, you know, we prayed for those brethren, didn't we? You know, I spoke to them almost every week, you know, trying to get an update on their situation and trying to encourage them. You know, and even on their final court date, you know, myself and brother Jason, we went down to spend time with them to encourage them. You know, we should not be people that if we see our brethren in trouble with the Lord to just neglect them. But that's what they had done to Paul, right? That's what they had done to Paul. Verse number 17. Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me. I love that positive side of Paul. No one stood with me, no brethren. Hey, but the Lord was there. The Lord stood with me and strengthened me that by me, the preaching might be fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. So praise God. You know, as he's arrested and he's been brought before people, magistrates and witnesses, he's preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says the Lord stood with him. And so brethren, even when you're alone, you're not truly alone. The Lord is always with you. Hebrews 13, five. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. You know, Matthew 28, 20. And lo, I'm with you always, even unto the end of the world. You know, I love brother Michael. Sometimes he's out soul winning and he's by himself. And I say to him, oh, brother, are you by yourself? He's like, no, no, no, I'm soul winning with Jesus. Soul winning with Jesus, praise God, right? And not withstanding, the Lord stood with me. The Lord Jesus Christ is always with you. He never neglects you, you know, and I don't know what your Christmas has been like. I don't know if you've been alone. I don't know if you're struggling with loneliness, brethren, but the Lord is always with you. The Lord is at your side. You know, man will, we fail. You know, we're not always there for each other, but the Lord will always be there with you. Let that be encouragement for you as you go into 2022. Verse 18, it says, and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom to whom be glory forever and ever, amen. And so when he says I'm being preserved, okay, unto the heavenly kingdom, well, basically he wasn't, you know, he's not being delivered. He did not fall into the mouth of the lion, as it were, right? What he's saying is that he's been preserved to continue in the ministry, you know, until his death, even though he has hindrances, even though he's been arrested, even though he's been put in prison, he's still able to accomplish the works for the Lord. You know, many of his epistles are written from jail and they're some of the greatest epistles that we can gain encouragement from. You know, God used Paul in a mighty way, even when he was going through hardships. And so that's what the preservation comes from, the preservation to continue, not quitting, to continue doing the work for God. Let's keep going, verse 19. Salute Prisca and Aquila in the household of Anasaphorus, Erastus abode at Corinth, but Trophimus have I left at Militum sick. Now this is where I got, verse 21, do thy diligence to come before winter. And this is why I think Paul needs his coat or his cloak. You know, he needs some warm clothing. It's just simply, look, come before winter. Try your best to come before winter. I think that if you look at those two things together, it kind of makes sense, right? Eubulus, Greed of thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren, the Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit, grace be with you, amen. And brethren, I think we do need the Lord's grace. We definitely need the Lord's grace this coming year in 2022. We're going to need it. We're definitely going to need it. You know, new life at this church, we need the grace of God. Well, you've been without your pastor, you know, for a long time. I mean, I've not been able to travel up there since June and we need God's grace. We, you know, I'm not this special guy or anything. I hold an office and you know what? We're one body of Christ. We need each other, we need to support each other, we need to pray for another, we need to love one another, we need to serve each other. And part of that is having the pastor there. You know, while things are a little bit challenging at the moment, we do need God's grace to get through this the rest of this year and into 2022. But brethren, in conclusion, foolproof of thy ministry, make foolproof of thy ministry. As I said to you, pastors can get distracted. I get strange requests, all right, strange requests. Can you do this? Can you do that? You know, like other pastors would. Well, I'm not just like any other pastor. I wanna be a biblical pastor. I wanna take 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and make sure I commit myself to the work that God has given me to do. I'm not here to get distracted with every little issue that pops up. I'm certainly not a voice for the anti-vax movement. I'm certainly not a voice against the corruption in this world. Brethren, this is not my world. I've got a world to come. I'll get involved in that world. And I've got eternal matters to take care of. And I'm here to preach the gospel to the lost. I'm here to instruct you in God's word. I'm here to lead this church, brethren. I'm here to feed the flock. I'm here to oversee the church and run the affairs and to watch for your souls. I'm here getting myself ready to give a report to Jesus Christ for our church and the work that each one of us have done for him. All right, brethren, but we are not to get distracted. And I hope you can, as we've now completed 1 and 2 Timothy, you have that better appreciation for the work of a pastor. And sometimes pastors have to travel, okay? And you know what? I'm not here to fulfill my will. I'm here to fulfill the will of God. And, brethren, I need your prayers. And we need more men. If you've got it in your heart to one day get into full-time ministry, prepare yourself. You know, when we started New Life Baptist Church, that was 2017. And I remember when I first came and visited Sunshine Coast, I'm pretty sure it was 2012, and I met Brother Callum and some other families as well, some other people as well. So from 2012, from identifying the Sunshine Coast as a place to start a church to 2017, that's five years, brethren. Five years that I prepared myself to get into the ministry up there at New Life Baptist Church. And you know what? That's what it takes. It requires preparation. It is sacrificial. There is a lack of men. And, brethren, I wanna start more churches, okay? But it won't be me. It has to be other men. We need other people that are willing to be pastors, maybe deacons. You know, we need other people that are willing to give them of themselves to prepare themselves even for five years to go and do a great work for God. And we need them. We need men. And so, brethren, if it's in your heart, please be praying to the Lord that he would use you in a great capacity here in Australia. All right, brethren, let's.