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

There we are in 3 John, and look at verse 9. It says, I wrote unto the church, but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them. The title for the sermon this afternoon is Preeminence in the Church. The preeminence in the church. And when I look at 3 John, it reminds me a lot of 2 John. I actually believe it's been written to the same group of people, the same church. And I'll walk you through it as we go through, and I think it's really interesting. The challenge that John is going through, just a reminder, we see that once again here, with verse number 1, it begins, the elder. So John, once again, is reflecting that he is the elder of this church that he's writing to. And you may recall that in chapter 2, sorry, in 2 John, I'm getting confused. In 2 John, not John chapter 2, in 2 John, he's writing to the elect lady, and I had shared my thoughts around that elect lady being a church. Now, we see that he's not writing to the entire church as he were, though I do believe it's directed to the church. But it says there in verse number 1, the elder, unto the well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. So John is now attempting to write this to one major individual, Gaius, that is in this church. Now, as we go through this, I think you can start to understand why this might be. Look, the Bible doesn't give us a lot of detail what's going on, but I think what you're going to find here is that there's one wicked person in the church that's refusing John's letters from reaching the congregation. And so it's my belief that John is now targeting one person, so the letter lands in the hands of the right person, that he will then go and communicate this with the rest of this church. But first of all, there in verse number 1, we see John once again referring to himself as the pastor. And if you were here for the Thursday service, I'd explain that it looks like, at least from what we're seeing here, again, a little bit of conjecture, a bit of assumptions here, but I do believe that John is pastoring two churches. He's present at one, and he's far away from another. And so myself as a pastor, I feel like I can take a lot of relatable things from what John is experiencing here. He's trying to communicate to this church that he's far away, and he's having some difficulties of this, primarily because there's a wicked person within the church that's stopping this from happening. All right. Now, if you can please also go to verse number 12. Go down to verse number 12. Actually, 2 John, verse number 12. I'm getting confused. Go to 2 John, just the previous book in verse number 12. I want to just notice again the similarities here. 2 John, verse 12, it says, Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink, but I trust to come to you and speak face to face that your joy may be full. So you may recall on Thursday, I had to say, look, John is definitely away. His hope and desire is to be together. He doesn't want to just write in pen and ink or pen and paper. He wants to see them face to face. Now, drop down to verse number 13 of 3 John, okay, 3 John and verse number 13. What does it say here? I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee, but I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. So once again, you see the same thing that he wants in 3 John, in 2 John, and I think these letters were written basically in very close proximity. I believe he wrote 2 John, and it's not reached the target audience that he wanted, and it's once again written 3 John, and it's put in the hands of a well-beloved brother, Gaius, that he can trust. Now, not only is this Gaius called well-beloved there in verse number 1, if you have a look at how verse number 2 begins, beloved, okay, look at how verse number 5 begins, beloved. So is Gaius beloved by John? Absolutely, right. Gaius is someone that John trusts. He's someone that John is familiar with, right, someone that has been a help and a blessing to John and to the church. And so I do believe he wants this letter to land in the right hands, someone that is trusted, someone that is proven that the church may receive the teaching, the lesson that John has for this church. Now, let's look at verse number 2 again. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. So now he's writing here specifically to Gaius here. You know, his desire for Gaius is that his soul would prosper. And brethren, that is the desire of a good pastor, a good elder, that we would want the people of God, their souls to prosper, that they would walk spiritually, that they would walk a life that is pleasing to the Lord. Now, it's not that other things are not important. What does it say in verse number 2? I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health. You know what, brethren, I want you to prosper in everything that you do. I want you to prosper in your family. I want you to prosper in your employment. I want you to prosper in your hobbies and your interests and your love and your education and your growth. I want you to prosper in everything that you do in life. I think that's a good target, to do well, to be productive, to prosper. I also want you to prosper in health. You know, I want you to have lives that are healthy. You know, I don't want you to overeat and eat just junk food, destroy your body, you know, and people struggle with different sicknesses and ailments, and it's a sad thing, brethren. And you know what, it's a good thing to desire good health. It's a good thing to desire to prosper in all aspects of our life. But notice what he said there, even as thy soul prospereth. It's something that is vastly more important than our health and prospering in the world. It's our soul, our soul that prospers. And brethren, you know, I just preached this morning for a new life after church, speaking about the importance of priorities, getting the things right, getting your priorities right. And when it comes to prospering, brethren, yes, all these things are good, but where we should prioritize is our soul. Take care of your soul. Take care of your holy living. Make sure you spend time with the Lord. Make sure you spend time feeding yourself God's Word, nourishing the body, nourishing yourself with God's Word, with God's preaching, with prayer, with soul winning. Do the things that your soul will prosper in, and then give your attention to those other things, your health and prospering for your life. You know, I truly believe if you first focus upon the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and you focus upon your soul being one that pleases the Lord, the Lord will be the one that helps you to prosper in all aspects of your life. Okay? But you've got to prioritize your soul first. This is something that God has been seeing, or His testimony is, He cares for His soul. His soul is prospering. He's growing in the Lord. He's walking in the ways of the Lord. And so, brethren, you know, yeah, you know, your soul first, then other things. You can do other great things for God. Look at verse number three. For I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. So John, he's far away, right? He's a distant person. But brethren have come across John and told him, hey, man, that guy is, you know, at the church, he's doing so well, he's prospering, you know, he's walking in the truth, right? It says, came and testified of the truth that is in thee. Now, as we saw in 2 John, what was that truth that was in thee? You may recall there in 2 John, verse number two, it says, And we had to explain that the truth in us is the Holy Spirit of truth, okay? So people come testifying of Gaius and Samohe. You know, this person is being led by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is doing a great work in this person's life. You know, he's being taught by the Holy Spirit, led by the Holy Spirit. He's been filled by the Spirit. And this testimony of Gaius' life is reaching the ears of John, even though he's so far away. What a great testimony to have, that people would speak highly of you for your Christian life, for your Christian growth, for walking in the truth. And also, you may recall, because, you know, you should have 2 John, right? Just side by side. If you look at verse number four in 2 John, I just want you to notice the similarities. This is why I believe it's the same church. In 2 John, verse four, it says, So here we have in 2 John, John writing to the entire church, and I hear, you know, of your children, walking in truth. And now he's writing to Gaius, one of those children that make up that church, and he says, even as thou walketh in truth. Like, here's, Gaius is one of those guys that I believe John is referring to in 2 John. Someone that is walking in truth. And again, he rejoices greatly. And brethren, if we love our brethren, and we see our brethren just serving the Lord, committed unto the Lord, right? That they give of their time to God's soul winning. They give of your time to be a blessing to you. You know, they even take you out for a meal and fellowship and rejoice. Brethren, we ought to rejoice in one another. Rejoice in each other's success. As we see each other growing in knowledge, growing in our walk for God, let's rejoice for other people. You know, unfortunately there are Christians, and you know, I can't say that I've been completely removed from this situation, where you know, you might be in church yourself, and you know, you see other people flourishing, you see other people serving the Lord, and the knowledge of the Bible increases. Maybe they've got good memorization skills, and they're able to memorize much of the scripture, and then look at my own life and think, man, I don't match up to this. And then you start comparing yourself to other people and go, I wish I could be more like this person. I wish I could be more like that person. But that's the wrong attitude to have. The right attitude is to rejoice when others are doing well, when they're prospering, when they're walking the ways of truth, to love the brethren enough that it doesn't matter, you know, whatever success someone has, you can come alongside them and say, well, thank God, praise God that you're doing so well in your life. You know, John is able to see Gaius, and he's prospering, and he's walking in the faith, and he's able to rejoice in this fact. Now let's keep going there, verse number four. It says, I have no greater joy than to hear my children walk in truth. So once again, I believe this reinforces the fact that John is the pastor of this church, because it says, I have no greater joy than to hear my children. He's saying, Gaius, you're one of mine. You know, I'm a pastor that's far away, but I have such joy when I find my children walk in truth. And brethren, I think we can take this and apply this to our own children, for those that are parents. You know, we should desire that our children will walk in truth. You know, as our children grow, we kind of spoon-feed them the Bible. We kind of help them to, we encourage them to read the Bible and to spend time in God's Word and encourage them to come to church. I don't know, look, I love my children, but, you know, as they get older, I don't know if their heart's desire will always be to be in the house of God. I hope so. You know, I hope that my wife and I have led them enough, have taught them enough, have instilled the Scriptures and the love of God enough in their hearts, that even if Mum and Dad were not around, that they would still have it in their heart. I need to be in the house of God. I need to spend time with God. We ought to desire for our children to walk in our paths, in the paths of God, that God has laid out for us. But it's not always the case. You know, I mean, again, I've been in many churches and you see the young people fall away. You see the past as children, not walk in the ways of the Lord. Sometimes the past as children can be the worst. I think we've also maybe seen some of that, right? They can be the worst of the worst of the children. It's such a sad thing. But it's also a wonderful thing, something we can rejoice in when our children walk in truth. And let me tell you, even if you're in this church and you don't have children, I ask you that you please give the children this church attention. Please encourage them. Let the children know there are people in my church that love me, that want to see me walk faithfully for God, that I'm important in the church. Sometimes children can be neglected and ignored because they're just children after all, right? No, but that's not the right thing. We should encourage that next generation to love the Lord, to love to be in church, so they would feel important and special amongst the entire church. Verse number five. It says, So what else did we learn about Gaius? That he's faithful toward the brethren and to strangers. The word strangers there is visitors, you know? And so, you know, when we come to church and we're together with the brethren, we should be faithful to one another. We should love one another. We should serve one another. We should greet one another. We should encourage one another. But even when the strangers walk in, the visitors walk in, whether they're saved or not saved, brethren, we should make sure we give them attention as well, okay? If we have a visitor walk into our church, let's chase them before they run off. Let's grab them. Let's find out if they're saved. And if they're not saved, let's give them the gospel. I don't care who does it. You don't have to wait for the pastor to do it. Just, you know, man, this person's lost. I've got to give him the gospel, okay? Show them love, show them concern. You know, make sure we prioritize the visitors that come to our church. And that's what Gaius is like. He's a people person. He loves the people of God. Definitely the Holy Spirit of God is working in the heart of Gaius to love people, to love the brethren, to love strangers. Now, we're going to notice another person, the wicked person in this chapter, he's the complete opposite to Gaius. He doesn't love the visitors. He doesn't love the brethren. In fact, he desires to cast people out of the church. He has a very different outlook to church compared to Gaius here. But we see that, you know, Gaius is faithful, right? He shows faithfulness. He shows love and hospitality toward brethren and toward strangers. Now, I'm going to quickly read to you, just keep your finger there. I'm going to quickly read to you from Hebrews 13 and verse number 1. Hebrews 13 and verse number 1, which says, Let brotherly love continue. Let brotherly love continue. You know why it says brotherly love continue? Because sometimes it cannot continue. Sometimes we get sick and tired of each other. Sometimes we, you know, the more we meet in church, the more we fellowship in, you know, the more we're going to notice our bad habits. You're going to start noticing faults about me, brethren. I'm going to start noticing faults about you. We're not always going to see eye to eye on certain things. And sometimes that love can go cold. You know, sometimes we can fake our love and appreciation for one another. We need to make sure that brotherly love continue. But then it says in verse number 2, Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. What? I mean, this is what the Bible says. And look, I don't think these angels are just regular men messengers, like just a regular pastor that walks in as his visitor. This is completely unawares. People have entertained angels. You know what the Bible's saying here? The Bible's saying basically, we could one day have someone walk into this church, look like a complete normal human being, and they're an angel. They're an angel from God. All right? And if we go, ah, it's just a visitor, who knows, we don't know if they're saved. You know, I don't want to talk to them. I'm a bit uncomfortable. And I'm not going to welcome them. And the angel leaves. What kind of report is that angel going to give back to the Lord if we don't entertain strangers? You know, loving our visitors is important. Encouraging our visitors are important because we might accidentally, God might be testing us. He might send an angel one way, an angel from heaven, okay, in the form of man. And we don't know any better. We should just treat every visitor, every stranger that walks into this church as an angel from God. Okay? I mean, if we had literally an angel from God, we definitely knew that he was from God, he was from heaven. Wouldn't we all kind of like do the best to give this person, you know, good hospitality, you know, to show the best side of blessed-up Baptist church? I think we'd all try to do that. You know, that's how we ought to treat our visitors as well. All right, now let's keep going there in verse number six. So Gaius is hospitable to the brethren, hospitable to strangers or visitors, verse number six, which have borne witness of thy charity before the church. So this is what's coming back to John. That he's been so generous, so hospitable toward people that this witness of Gaius' charity is going before the church. Everyone knows about Gaius. He has a good reputation before the entire church. Then it says, whom if they'll bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well. All right, so when it says here that people are going on a journey, so you've got visitors, strangers coming through the church, all right, but these people are after a godly sort, meaning these visitors that Gaius has been very accommodating toward have been other ministers of God. They've been maybe other pastors or evangelists or missionaries, people that are coming through and serving the church. Maybe some of these people have been sent by the apostle and Pastor John potentially to teach the church. Gaius is always making sure that he's helping people that are involved in the work of God. He's always been hospitable toward them. My mother, she grew up in a Christian home, and she would tell me that when she was a little child, that generally speaking, they had quite a larger house compared to some other people in her town, and quite often, they will have missionaries come in, evangelists come in, different people come in to serve in the house of God or even just regular brethren that are visiting from other churches. And my mum would tell me that pretty much every Sunday, or I don't know, pretty much every week, there'll be just visitors, just random people staying in their house, they had to accommodate for them, serving them food. That's the kind of thought that I get about Gaius, that he's just constantly, well, who's here? I've got a visitor. I've got a spare room. You come and stay with me. I'll make sure you're provided for. I'll take care of your needs. I'll be there for you to guide you and support you on the rest of your journey. That's the kind of person that Gaius is, right? His charity is on show, and that communication is being received back to John. Now, before we read verse number seven, let's skip it for a moment. We'll come back to it. Let's keep going there in verse number eight. Verse number eight, it says, We, therefore, ought to receive such, these are the people that are doing God's work, we ought to receive such, that we might be fellow helpers to the truth. Interesting. That we might be fellow helpers to the truth. Brethren, if you, and many of you have been very kind to me and hospitable and generous, and you guys know I've got full-time ministry here and serve in the house of God. A lot of people have come to help me and to be a support to me, brethren. If you do that, the Bible says, you're a fellow helper of the truth. You know what? If we have other people come to visit one day, we might have a guest preacher, and we encourage that person, and we give them hospitality. You know what? We're fellow helpers of the work. And this is really important, brethren, for us to understand, and we saw this even on 2 John, that when we serve each other, when we serve those, when we help those that are doing the work of God, that God is going to reward us as a fellow helper of that individual person. Keep your finger there and go to Matthew chapter 10, please. Go to Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10 and verse number 40. Matthew chapter 10 and verse number 40. Now, you know, we see the love of Gaius. We see the love of the Brethren in him. I don't know whether Gaius was a preacher. I don't know if he's someone that could teach the Word of God. You know, I don't know if he's the kind of person that is effective in that type of ministry. But we definitely see him effective as a support and encouragement toward the Brethren. And you might say to me, Pastor, I don't think I can ever preach. I don't think I can ever, you know, serve God in that kind of capacity. But please remind yourself what we read here in Matthew chapter 10, verse 40. Matthew chapter 10, verse 40. The words of Christ, it says, He that receiveth you, receiveth me. Brethren, if we receive each other, we receive Jesus. But if Jesus Christ came to this earth and he walked through the doors, once again, you guys will be there, you'll be there down his feet worshiping Jesus. You'll be down his feet, Lord, can I wash your feet? Lord, can I get you a drink of water? Lord, have you eaten? Lord, have you got a place to say? Lord, if you need the whole house, take my whole house or go somewhere else. Wouldn't we do that if it's Jesus Christ? If we receive the Brethren, Lord, we are receiving Christ. And then it keeps going. And he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me. You receive Jesus, you receive the Father. So how do we receive the Father? How can we be hospitable? We just be hospitable to each other. We serve one another. We love one another. This is why, you know, if we have conflict in the church, let's just sort it out. Because this is our opportunity to just love and forgive one another and serve each other. We serve in Jesus Christ and by extension then we're serving the Father as well. That's why you guys are so important to me. That's why, you know, I don't rush my sermons. I spend time. I spend hours. I go over it over and over and over again. Is this right? Is this accurate? And I compare scripture and I don't want to preach wrong things to you, Brethren. Why? Because I love you. Because I'm here to serve you. Because if I serve you and I honor you then I'm honoring Christ. And if I honor Christ I'm honoring the Father. You guys are so important in this earth. You guys are so important in this church. And if I forget to greet you, if I forget to say bye to you, please don't get offended. Please understand that as a pastor I'm like John here. I've got a heart for you. I just want you to serve God. I want you to walk in truth. I just want you to do well for the Lord God. And I want us to have a church where we can love and serve so we can get great rewards for us when we get to heaven. And so Gaius, he's a fellow helper. Well actually, sorry, you're in Matthew 10. Let's keep going there. Matthew 10 verse 41. It says, He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. Did you just notice that? You can be rewarded by God as a prophet, as a worker of God, as someone in full-time ministry. I mean, this is going to happen when we get to heaven. Right? You're going to have some of the preachers, some of the evangelists, some of the pastors get rewarded by God. And then you're going to have other people who are laymen serving their life and they're going to get the same reward simply because they honored, they were hospitable, they served those that were involved in the work in the ministry. That's an amazing, you know, an amazing promise that we can claim for ourselves. A prophet's reward. It says here, And he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. Hey, maybe your life isn't that great. Maybe you know I don't really walk in the ways of God that well. You know, I'm not really living that holy and clean life. But you know what? I want to be rewarded like a righteous person. So what I'm going to do, I'm going to find the most righteous person in my church. I'm going to find the one that's trying to live a holy life and I'm going to go and serve him so I can get some of that righteous reward as well. That's how it is done. Brethren, that's how it is. That's how we're encouraged to serve each other instead of being in competition with one another. Instead of thinking, oh man, what rewards is this person going to get? Oh, Pastor Kevin has been pastoring for four years now. Man, he's going to get these rewards. What about me? We can serve each other. We can share in those rewards. That's an amazing thing. What else? Verse number 42. How important are our children? So important. You see, when our children struggle to get some water and you go get a little bit of water for them, you're going to get that reward in heaven. Every little thing we do, even to those people that we may feel like are the least significant in the church, the little children, God's going to reward us for serving them. How important is church then? It's super important. I think we all want to be rewarded by God when we get to heaven. Well, let's start by serving one another. We serve each other. We receive each other. We're receiving Christ and we receive the Father. And so when we go back to 3 John in verse number 8, Okay? So we're working together. We're a team. A church is a team. A church is a family working together, not in competition with each other, not to have conflicts with one another, that we would encourage and motivate each other unto love and good works. All right, now let's go back to verse number 7, which is skipped. Okay, verse number 7. It says there, So this is another testimony that people that are involved in full-time ministry are being provided for by their local churches. Okay? Taking nothing of the Gentiles. And so Gaius, you know, because he's so hospitable, because he's so generous, because he's looking at the needs of those that are in full-time ministry for the church, he's saying, look, they have everything they need. They're looked after. They're provided for. They don't have to go to the Gentiles here being the unsaved world. They don't have to go to the unsaved world for replenishments and get their needs taken care of. You know, the Gentiles can look at these people in full-time ministry and say, hey, they're being supported by the church. Look how God's people take care of each other. Okay? And now, you know, when I think about this, taking nothing of the Gentiles, you know, as you guys know, last year we had lockdowns, right? From June, mid-June roughly or something, late June to, I mean, we couldn't really have church until October. And brethren, you know, I got all these emails because obviously the church is registered as a business, okay? I got all these emails. Have you been affected by COVID? You can get this government handout. I don't know how many thousands of dollars it was for the church to get a government handout. Brethren, I could have applied for it. You know what? I said, no, this church is not going to get help from the Gentiles. I said, no, no way. And did we take a, yeah, you know, we're not having church service. Every now and again, you find a little bit of money there probably, you know, but you know, it's not there. Who cares? You know what? I've learnt a long time ago to just trust God. He knows what our church needs. He knows the finances that this church needs. He'll take care of our needs. And sometimes when the offering gets a little bit lower, so man, how are we going to take care of this bill, you know, we got a lease and we got things and there it is. There it is in the bank because God knows what we need. If this is the house of God, if this is the body of Christ, he knows how to provide for his people. And brethren, there are many businesses closed. I mean, I'm just driving through and I see businesses that I used to walk in or businesses that I used to see and they've closed down. Just down here, just a few shops down. There was a barber shop closed down during the lockdown. Okay. I mean, many businesses have suffered because of COVID, but you know what? Our church continues. I've got emails saying, hey, you know, if you're an employee and you know, your employment payments have dropped, you know, you can apply for this and apply for that. Now, brethren, if other churches, like if other good IFB church, I don't know, I don't know about this stuff, but if they made, if they applied for this stuff and they got the payments, that's between them and God. Okay. I'm not trying to make a point about them. You know, I love my brothers in the Lord. I've said it before. I love the churches that are serving Christ. Okay. And look, if you're illegible, you're illegible. If the government's making your life hard and you can get something in return, I mean, I don't think there's anything wrong with it in of itself, but I don't think there's anything wrong with, you know, becoming a charity. Maybe one day we'll become a charity. You know, if our church becomes, takes charity status, then we can claim back our GST. So we're not getting government handouts, but we're getting, we're not paying the, we're receiving back the taxes that we paid. You know, there'll be a lot of different benefits as far as cutting down costs on taxes. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that in of itself. Okay. But, you know, I've never wanted to be an individual to take government handouts for this church. All right. And, you know, it's just something that I said, no, why? Why do we need government's help in this area? You know, we've got the people of God. We're a church, aren't we? You know, we're the house of God. God's presence is here. You know, if we're a church that's serving God, if we prioritize God, he's going to take care of it. You know, upon someone's heart, he's going to lay it upon their heart to give what is necessary to make sure that God's presence is here. You know what? And God has shown me that true here at Blessed Hope Baptist Church. He's shown me that to be true at New Life Baptist Church, brethren. There was one time, as some of you guys know, I wasn't taking an income for like 15 months when I started the church. And then we got to a point, you know, was it about mid-2018, I think, where our finances started to get really tight in our house. Because we were living basically off our savings. I had prepared myself to start that church and I said to God, God, what am I going to do? I'm going to make sure that I can provide for my family. And you know what? As soon as those thoughts started to creep my mind, I started to plan toward that. Then all of a sudden God's hand of provision started to take care of everything. Okay? I finally started to put myself, get in some payments from the church, et cetera, et cetera. And I just saw what God's hand is involved. As long as I prioritize God first, you know what? God's people know that we have a full-time pastor here and he's got a big family and they need to be taken care of. And somehow God moves us into the house of God. But brethren, taking nothing of the Gentiles, that's what I want our church to be. I never want to receive government handouts, you know, because I don't want the government to turn around and say, well, thank God for the, no, not thank God, thank the government that Blessed Hope Baptist Church did not close down during COVID. I don't want that said at all. Say thank God that we can continue serving you, Lord, you know, in lockdown, out of lockdown, whatever, Lord, you know, you've given us the ability to continue serving the house of God. I just want to give God all the glory and all the thanks. We don't need to receive anything from the Gentiles. And brethren, this is a good testimony of our church. A good testimony. Let's keep going there. Verse number nine. Okay, now we see the enemy in the church. I wrote unto the church, but, so he wrote unto the church, but, so that's why I think Second John is that letter that he wrote to the church, right, so the elect lady, okay, but, Diotrophes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. All right, as I said, there's not enough detail here, brethren, to be conclusive. I'm not trying to be dogmatic in this area, but, you know, here are my thoughts. I believe John, you know, he's writing faithfully. He's far from the church. You know, he can't go and visit them for this time being. We don't know why exactly. He writes this letter. Diotrophes, knowing that Pastor John is far away, has lifted himself up. He wants to have the preeminence in the church. What does the word preeminence mean? The preeminence basically means to be prominent, to be superior, to have a higher importance than what he really is, okay? Pastor John, and this is what happens. When a pastor is away for a long time, you know, potentially, if we have a Diotrophes, he's going to try to lift himself up, he's going to try to be that person in authority, and he doesn't want, you know, the rest of the church to be in communication with Pastor John, okay? You know, Pastor John, he's too busy for us, brethren. You know, Pastor John, he doesn't care about you, you know, he's too busy with his other church over there. You know, he's not going to come to visit us. We haven't seen Pastor John in how long, but I'll be the one that comes and helps you. If you need anything, come and see me. Hey, that is Diotrophes. He wants the preeminence. He wants to be the one that is looked up to in the house of God. And listen, these kinds of people, they rise up when the elder is away. They rise up when the pastor is away. And notice this, Pastor John's trying to reach out to the church, but Diotrophes, he's preventing, right? It says that he receives us not. And it's not that they were visiting, it's the letters, the letters that they sent. They've not received those letters, because it's landed in the hands of Diotrophes and it's prevented the rest of the church from hearing what Pastor John has to say. This is why I believe he's writing 3 John, to make sure the letter lands in the hands of Gaius. Gaius, listen, there's a problem in the church, there's a problem in this Diotrophes, okay? You know, you're someone that is beloved, you're someone that I can trust, you're someone that I can use to communicate to the rest of this church and so Diotrophes, he wanted the preeminence. You know, these kinds of people, you know, they talk themselves up. You know, they'll be like, oh, I did this for the church and I've done this for you and it's all, you know, I'm giving of myself to you and to you and because I've done all this for you, then you need to do X, Y and Z for me. You know, when people do things for the church, my thought is you do it to the church, not for me, you do it for the Lord. You know, I mean, when you give to the church financially, you don't give to me, you're given to the house of God, you're given to God's business. You know, I mean, I'm not trying to say there's any issues with our finances, please don't misunderstand. What I'm saying, look, there are some people that get overwhelmed and overly concerned about the finances, what's the pastor doing with the money? And look, you know, that's why I do financial reports, I try to be as transparent and clear with where the money is going in the church, but you know, my heart going to church, I'd give my tithe and I'd say, whatever Lord, I've given to your work and then what they do, what they do with it Lord, that's between you and them. You know, I just trust the Lord, I'm doing my part, I'm serving you Lord, this is your house and that's it. I'm not trying to figure out, you know, who's being wicked with the money and who's doing this and who's doing that, but it is important though because, you know, some people aren't, they do have the heart set on finances and then they'll start causing issues about it and you know, that's why I do the reports, so everyone's aware of where the finances go. But look, you know, diotrophies, he wants the preeminence, right? He doesn't want John to be spoken about, he doesn't want the letter of John to be spread throughout the church because then it takes away from his importance. You know, John doesn't have time for us. Don't worry, you know, John's too busy. You know, brethren, please, if anyone ever says that to you about this pastor, he's probably a diotrophies. I just want you to be aware of that, okay? I want you to know that I'm always readily available. If you want to contact me, you want to call me, please don't have in your mind, please don't have in your mind, oh, my pastor's too busy. Just call me. And if I'm too busy, I'll say, brother, I'm just too busy right now. Okay? Let's talk about it later. You know, make sure, you know, I don't want you to think, even during the lockdowns, even when I was stuck in Queensland, brethren, you know, and I'd make videos. If you remember, I'd always say in the video, brethren, if you have any questions, please email, here's my number, here's my phone number, please give me a call because I want to be open and transparent with you guys. I am your pastor. And I don't know what's going to happen this year. You know, I don't want our diatrophies to rise up and say, well, our pastor's not here. He doesn't love us. He doesn't care about us. Brethren, we've got modern technology. We've got social media. We've got telephones. Most of us have phones in our pockets these days. Reach out to me. You know, message me, text me, whatever, email me, whatever, brethren. I want you to understand that I love you. I want you to serve God with your lives. And I want to be accessible to you to help you in whatever way I can. Okay? Don't let our You know, if you can, please, go to Colossians. Keep your finger there. And go to Colossians, chapter one. Go to Colossians, chapter one. Because I don't want you to be left thinking, okay, so the diatrophies shouldn't have the preeminence. He definitely should not. He is not Mr. Superior there. Okay? So you say, well, maybe Pastor John. He is the one that ought to have the preeminence in the church. No, that's wrong as well. Okay? There is no man, there is no church member, not even a pastor, who has the preeminence in the church. Okay? Colossians, chapter one, verse number 18. Colossians, chapter one, verse number 18. The Bible says, And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. Brevin, who has the preeminence in the church? Jesus Christ. This is all about Christ. You know, I'm preaching the words of Christ. I'm preaching the words of God. We come, we're singing to our Christ. We're singing to our Lord. This congregation is the body of Christ. Who's the head of the body? Pastor Kevin, no, Christ is the head. Yeah? This is all about Christ, the body of Christ. Christ is the head. We come to serve Christ. That's what church is all about. If a man is trying to get the preeminence, he's wrong. He's in sin. We ought to be glorifying and honoring our Lord Jesus Christ, first and foremost in all that we do, in all our service for our church. So, church brethren, I appreciate whatever it is that you do, but do it for Christ. You know what? If you do it for Christ, you will not be let down. You will not be discouraged. You know why? Because one day, you're going to do something great for the church, and I'm going to forget to thank you. Even though I appreciate it, I'm going to forget to thank you, and if you did it for me, you're going to get frustrated. You're going to be like, well, I've done all this, pastor, why doesn't he thank me? Why doesn't he recognize me? Because you're not doing it for me. That's why. We're doing it for the one and brethren, men, we fail. We let each other down, okay? But if you do it for Christ, he will never let you down. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you, okay? And what did we see earlier? We do it for Christ, he's going to reward us in heaven. We receive the brethren, we receive Christ, we receive the Father. We do it all unto Jesus Christ. I love you, brethren, because I love Christ. That's how it ought to be. We serve you, brethren, because we serve Jesus Christ. This is the body of Christ. You know what's also wonderful about church? Not only is this the body of Christ, not only is Christ the head, not only does he have the preeminence, but it says in 1 Corinthians 3.11, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Not only is Christ the head, he's the foundation. I kind of think about that, so alpha, the omega, you know Christ is the orphan, the finisher of our faith. You know what? We cannot escape Jesus Christ. He is all, you know, he's all in all things. We come to serve him. He's the head, he's the foundation. This church is about Jesus Christ. This is why I know I don't have to go to the Gentiles. I don't have to go to the lost and dying world to get support for this church to run. We don't need that. We've got Christ. This is Christ's body on this earth. Christ is the head, he's the foundation, and if this is his church, he is building the church, and Christ will build it the way he sees fit. We just have to be faithful enough to serve him. Back to 3 John, please, 3 John chapter 10. So what does diatrophies do? Okay, we know that he's preventing people from hearing from Pastor John, but it says in verse number 10, Wherefore, if I come, so John says, you know, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth. What is he saying? He says, look, when I get there, Gaius, I'm going to sort him out. I'm not going to forget the things that he's done, okay? Him trying to be the one who has the preeminence, okay, what else has he done? It says here, prating against us, the word prating is kind of like speaking foolishly, speaking stupidly, prating against us with malicious words. Malicious is harmful or evil words, okay, so not only is he preventing people to access John through his letters, now he's saying bad things about John, okay? He doesn't want the people in the church to look to their pastor. He says, no, he starts prating against them with malicious words. Then it says this, and not content therewith, okay, so he's not happy. He's not satisfied. He's a whiner. He's a complainer, right? You know, we don't have this. It's John's fault. Our church should have that. It's John's fault, right? We're not comfortable in these chairs. We need new chairs. It's John's fault. You know, this place that we're meeting, the walls are not painted, the carpet's not, thank God we're talking place now, brethren. But you know, the diatrophies, he just complained and whine and murmur and he has no patience to blame everybody else, but he won't blame himself. He doesn't take any responsibility. It's all John's fault. The Bible says here he's prating, that's gibberish, foolish speaking, against us with malicious words. He's trying to cause harm. He's trying to cause havoc in the house of God. He's trying to turn people against Pastor John and not content with him. He's not satisfied, not happy with his life. And then it says here, neither doffy himself received the brethren. He's not hospitable like Gaius to the brethren. He's not encouraging the brethren. He says, He goes, People like Gaius, when he sees other people serving God, when he sees other people walking in righteous paths and being a blessing and having a great testimony, he wants to get them out of the church because he wants attention. Me, me, me. It's all about me. I don't want other people to do well for the Lord because it's all about me. Okay? That's diatrophies. And I hope we don't have anyone like this in the church. I hope nobody ever lifts themselves up to a point trying to get the preeminence in the church. Brethren, once again, I exult my office. I have the office of a bishop. I'm the pastor of this church. I have authority in this church, brethren. But again, it's in this church. It's biblical. It's sound. I'm not trying to have some power trip. I'm not here to be a lord over God's heritage. I'm not here to just tell you to serve me and to worship. I don't want you to serve me, Jesus. I'm here to serve you. I'm the minister. That's what I am. I'm a minister. You know what? I want to be rewarded by God in heaven and the only way that I can be rewarded by God in heaven, if I don't elevate myself, if I don't exult myself, if I lower myself and I esteem you better than myself. I esteem you. Honestly, brethren, I look at you. You're all important to me. You're all children of God. You're saved. You're going to rule and reign with Christ. We need to hear God's word and I'm going to give you everything that I've got. I'm going to give you my best. Okay? Maybe you've got to find another pastor. Okay? But I'm going to give you my best. I have my limitations. I'm still just a man. Okay? But I'm here to love you. I'm here to serve you. I'm here to serve Jesus Christ. Diotrephes, though, he wants self-recognition. He wants himself to be served. He wants to have all the attention. He's not satisfied. He's a complainer and he casts out those that are hospitable toward other brethren. Verse number 11. Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. So what do we notice here? Gaius, don't follow after that which is evil. Don't follow after Diotrephes. So what do we notice in here? Diotrephes has been influential. He is causing problems in the church. He is turning people against Pastor John. Okay? And so John tells Gaius, look, don't follow after, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. And then he says this, he that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. You know what John is saying there? Diotrephes is not even saved. Because he says there, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. Diotrephes knows nothing about God. Obviously not physically. No one has physically seen God, okay? But he's talking about spiritually. This person has not spiritually seen God. This person does not know God. This person does not have God. And so you can see there is a devil. There is someone, a false brother in the Lord that's affecting this church in such a negative way. And again brethren, it can be hard to detect. Don't forget the story of Judas Iscariot. Jesus Christ chose twelve, okay, and one of them was a devil. One of them never believed on Jesus Christ. And when Christ is literally telling the other apostles, it's him. They still can't believe it. Why? Because they're wolves in sheep's clothing. They mask themselves to be like us, okay? Diotrephes. If you ever see somebody trying to elevate themselves, okay, above their station, trying to be the main person in the church, you know, trying to deflect your attention away from the pastor, brethren, it's Diotrephes. You've got to be careful. Be careful of these individuals, okay? They're going to cause harm in the church. We don't always know. We don't always know. We don't always know, okay? Anyway, so as we see here, he's left this lady in Gaius' hand. I believe that John is trusting that Gaius is going to communicate this to the rest of this church. Don't forget, John does not have Jetstar. He does not have a car that he can just travel and sort things out quickly, okay? John's probably operating with limited information, okay? But he knows that Gaius is going to do a good job. He's going to be someone that can lead this church out of these splits in division. Whatever's developing. Again, we don't have a lot of detail. We can just sort of draw some conclusions as we read this. Alright, verse number 12. So John is asking the church, not just Gaius, but the church, right? He's trying to write to the church. We saw that before. He's trying to get the church to turn away from the influence of diatrophes and to listen to someone else instead and that someone else that he points out here is Demetrius. So verse number 12. Demetrius have good report of all men. There's another good person. So this church has Gaius who's an awesome man. They've also got Demetrius who has a good report of all men. You know what that tells me? Diatrophes did not have a good report of all men. You know, we ought to be people when we come to church that we just try to get along with the brethren, that we just love each other. You know, we're not trying to create cliques. We encourage... You know what? If you just love the brethren the way you ought to, you're going to have a good report of all men. All people are going to be able to speak highly of you. That's through Demetrius. He has a good report of all men and of the truth itself. Diatrophes knows the truth. He's got good doctrine. Hey, this is the guy that church should be listening to instead of Diatrophes. And this is Yea, and we also bear record and ye know that our record is true. Because even us, we know how good Demetrius is. You know, I bear record of him because we know him. We know him. So, you know, Demetrius is the guy that, you know, we want the church to get around. Let Demetrius and with the help of Gaius to get the church's influence away from Diatrophes so they can continue serving the Lord and getting themselves ready to receive Pastor John when he arrives. And what I like about verse number 12, again, Demetrius have good report of all men. And brethren, you know, those that are, you know, if your heart is one day to be in ministry, to be in an office, you know, as a pastor or maybe a deacon or something along those lines, brethren, you have to remember that you must have a good report of all men. You must have it. Of all men. Not just the church. Okay? Because it says in 1 Timothy 3 verse number 7, 1 Timothy 3 verse number 7, speaking about a pastor, it says, Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Okay? So a pastor must have a good report, a good reputation, a good testimony of them which are without. Without means outside of. Okay? So not just a good report within the church, but other people outside of the church speak highly of this individual. Right? If you ring the employer, they'll say, Yes, he's a good employee. You know, he works hard. You know, you ring maybe a former church or a former pastor. They'll say, Yes, he served in the house of God faithfully. You know, he was not a troublemaker. He was a blessing. He was an encouragement to the church. If your heart is to get into full-time ministry, how is your report looking? You know? If I ring your employer, what are they going to say? Oh, he's lazy. He comes to work late. You know, I've got to push him to work hard. He leaves early. He always has reasons to not come to work one day or this day. Is that what they're going to say about you? Or are they going to have a good report about you? And it's so important that if someone has a heart to get into full-time ministry, that you start working on your report, your testimony, right now amongst all men. And once again, Demetrius is someone like that in verse number 12. Demetrius have good report of all men. And then we have verses 13 and 14 as I kind of covered before. It says, I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee. I wish you did. Like, I'm really interested. John, what really happened in this church? Can you please write more, John? Okay, but you know, sometimes the Bible doesn't have all these details. You know, it's more of a general approach. So then it's easier for us to apply it in many different applications, many different ways, okay? If there's a lot of detail, sometimes we get too narrowed down on that one scenario and we think it only applies then. But we know that the Bible has many layers. The Bible is very deep. It can hit many topics. And the more general the Bible is, the more easy it is for us to apply in different aspects of our life. But it says in verse 14, But I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Man, I want to see what, I wish I could see what happened there. You know, when John comes in there and sorts out diatrophies or whatever other problems are going on there. But I trust I shall shortly see thee, and shall speak to you face to face. Peace be to you, be to thee. Our friends salute thee, greet the friends by name. And again, this is another reason why I believe 2 John to the elect ladies in another church. You may recall that in 2 John at the end, in fact, let's have a look at that quickly. I'll just turn there. In 2 John, at the end of it, 2 John, verse number 13, The children of thy elect sister greet thee, amen. I said, look, the children of the elect sister here are the members of this other church that John is pastoring. Well, that makes sense if you look at verse number 14 in 3 John, But I trust I shall shortly see thee, and shall speak face to face. Peace be to you, our friends salute thee. Okay, so I'm assuming it's the church members that is part of it. They salute thee, greet the friends by name. And as I said to you, brethren, it's so important that we greet one another by name. Let's learn each other's names, amen. Let's use each other's names. Let's greet one another. This is something that we see constantly in the epistles in the Bible, how brethren are constantly greeting one another, right? You know, greet each other with a holy kiss, for example. And I know that's not the practice in our church, nor is it socially acceptable in Australia, but say in South America, it is very socially acceptable to give brethren, or a sister in the Lord, a kiss on the cheek when you greet them, okay? But the point is, let's greet one another, okay? That's what the Lord wants from us. He wants to be peaceful, to be encouraged, to be saluted when we come to the house of God. And so, brethren, please make it your habit to do all you can to greet one another when you come into church. Do all you can to say bye to one another when people are leaving, and that will help, you know, the unity and the love and the trust that we can have within our church. All right, brethren, let's end there. Let's go to the word of prayer.