My powers of perception, and my wife can tell you that this is true, my powers to perceive things, to see things, to notice things, are somewhat limited, to the point where I really don't notice when minor changes have been made. I really don't notice when furniture gets moved, or when someone changes a hairstyle, or when a landmark or something gets torn down. I'm just not that perceptive. But I'm not so dense as to miss the changes which have occurred in this worship center over the past three months and particularly over the past three weeks. What a change. Tom Hackett, would you do me a favor, sir? Would you please stand? We got this wallpaper to match Tom's coat. Thank you. Boy, you walk in and you just notice all the changes in here. Some people say, well, you know, pastor, not everyone's going to like it. That doesn't matter. It looks good. It looks good in here. It looks much better. Changes are evident. They hit you the second you walk in the door. But you know what I really long for as a pastor? I long to see that the actual church, and remember that the actual church is the people. I long to see that the actual church would also dramatically, visibly, noticeably change for the better, that the actual church would change and grow in love for the Lord Jesus Christ. And you who are the members of North Shore Baptist Church, you are the church. And it would be interesting if someone were to have come in here three months ago before this project began And they were to look at the actual church, which is the people of North Shore Baptist. And they would say, wow, they really, they really love each other. And then they were to come back three months later and say, but now they really love one another. And they're really involved in one another's lives. It would be interesting if someone would come in three months ago and they would say, man, man, man, the worship services back then, they were great. But now. Every heart is tuned in to the Holy Spirit. Every eye is wet with the love for Jesus Christ. Hands are lifted up. Voices are raised. People are freely praising their Lord and their God. This church is different. This church has changed. This church is praising the Lord with great excitement and zeal and zest because they're so in love with Jesus. Wouldn't it be great if three months ago said, you know, these people, they really do a good job of getting out and giving the gospel out and passing out tracts and sharing the love of Christ. But now everybody has a burden for their family members and for their friends. That's the actual church. And oh, I long to see the actual church grow and change. See us rooted and grounded in the truth. Let me tell you something. as an individual believer. Let me be straight with you. You are either growing or you are declining. You are not standing still and you know yourself in your heart which direction you're going. You know if you're going down or you know if you're going up. And the truth of the matter is this, that the church is made up of the people and you are contributing either positively or negatively to the sum total of the spiritual growth or the spiritual decline of this church. you know what kind of contribution you're making. It's very simple, friends. As your pastor, I don't want us to be a people with a nice-looking building, but not have the love and zeal and just fire for the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want us to go through the motions. I don't want us to be a status quo church with a nice building. I want us to be on fire for God. I want us to be a biblical church in every sense of the word. Let's grow. Let's grow not only as a nice building, but let's grow as individuals. And as we grow as individuals, the church will grow. Not in number, but the church will grow strong and it will grow deep. will grow in its love for the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray as your pastor, as a pastor of this church, that it would be indeed noticeable to those that are on the outside. Well, as you know, for the past several weeks, we've been doing a series on the church. And the reason why we've been doing this series on the church is because I'm preaching through the Gospel of Matthew. And in Matthew 16, 18, the Lord Jesus Christ says, I will build my church. That's the first place in the Bible where the word church appears. And for the past several weeks, we have defined the church. And you can see this in your bulletin. The church is made up of local assemblies of baptized believers. We have looked at how Christ built the church, how he died for the church, and how he's purifying and cleansing the church through the word, how he gave the Holy Spirit to the church, and how he is the one who is adding to the church those who are being saved. And then we looked at the leaders of the church, and this morning on the fourth part on this subject of the elders of the church, we looked at the name Elder. Presbyterus, Poimin, Episkopos, Elder, Bishop, Overseer. They all mean the same thing. And we have four pastors at North Shore Baptist Church. Charlie Volz, Ken Boodrum, Jim Wetterow, and myself. We looked at the function of an elder to teach and to preach and to protect the people and to pray. We looked at the qualifications last week of an elder, to be above reproach, the husband of one wife, not addicted to wine, not greedy for money, et cetera, et cetera. Now today, we're going to give you a sermon which is a little bit more applicable to you, and that is, what is your responsibility to your elders? There are six of them, there are six of them. We will not get to the deacons today, we'll just be looking at the elders. What is your responsibility to the four of us? There are six of them, and there's a place there where you can take notes in your bulletin under Roman numeral 1. First one is in 1 Timothy 5, verses 17 and 18. Now, for those of you who are first-timers at North Shore Baptist Church, or maybe even the first time in a Baptist church, probably all you have ever heard about Baptist churches is that they just ask for money. And isn't it amazing that the first point in this sermon deals with that very subject, but those who are sitting around you can attest to the fact that this is a subject which is seldom brought up, and you'll see the manner in which I bring it up this morning is not that we will be asking for money. In 1 Timothy 5, 17 and 18, you have a responsibility to pay the elders who labor in word and doctrine. It says, let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor. The word double honor there is another word for financial remuneration. especially those who labor in word and doctrine. For the scripture says, you shall not muzzle the ox while it treads out the grain. The laborer is worthy of his wages. There are four elders in this church, as I mentioned earlier. One of us, that being me, is full-time in the Word and Doctrine. Another of our elders is part-time, half-time in the Word and Doctrine. And two of our elders, they support themselves. They financially take care of themselves. They're supported by outside employment. Now, I'm speaking for myself and for my family at this time when I say that this is a responsibility which you, North Shore Baptist Church, have met up to, to the greatest part of our expectation with nothing lacking or nothing wanting. All of our needs and more are cared for. I don't bring this point before you to say, you know what, you ought to pay your pastor and you ought to pay him better. Friends, I am fully taken care of. This is a command of scripture which you are following and you are following well. And I speak for my wife, for my two sons and I, for Charlie and for his family, we thank you for the love which you share with us in that way. It is a command of scripture which you are fully meeting. But while I'm on this point, I want to clear up some misconceptions that people sometimes have about how the finances of North Shore Baptist Church are handled. First of all, you need to know that I do not control, nor do any of the other elders in the church control, the finances of the church. I was told of a church in Columbia, South Carolina, that one of my friends went to. This is a true story. The offering would be passed and at the end of the service, The pastor would take the offering home and he would distribute it as he saw fit. As much as he wanted for his salary, that's how much he got. He paid the bills and everything. He took care of the money. The elders in this church do not handle the finances of the church. Secondly, I do not, and Charlie does not, we do not set our own salaries. The elders do not control the finances of the church. They are controlled by the deacons. We, furthermore, do not know who contributes what. I have no idea who gives what in this church. The only thing that we as elders have control over financially in the church, as you'll see in your bulletin, there's a little category there, where it says General Missions Building Elders. That fund there for elders, first of all, some people actually thought that this was just like a slush fund for the elders. You know, Chem needs a new tie, we dip into the elders fund. No. The funds are not for us. It is a discretionary fund which we have, which is by and large a benevolence fund where if there's someone needing or hurting or a financial need arises or someone is without work or something like that, we have access to that fund to distribute to the needs of the saints as the Lord provides in that fund. But by and large, the elders do not have control over the finances. That is given to the deacons. Point number one, you're responsible to pay your pastor. You do that very, very well. First Corinthians 9, 14 and Galatians 6, 6 also say that you're responsible to do this. The second responsibility that you have to your elders is from the very next verse in First Timothy, and that's First Timothy 5, 19. and that is you are to protect your elders. It says, do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses. You see, the Apostle Paul knew that people would be out there who would love to complain, and he knew that there would be people who would be unstable, who would single-handedly try to wreck the church and to bring accusations against elders. He knew that there would be bitter, hateful, and envious, misguided people who would try to do the same. Paul knew that in the Old Testament that people like Joseph and Moses and Jeremiah and Nehemiah were all falsely accused. And he knew that the Old Testament law of Moses says that it has to be established by two or three witnesses in order for it to be listened to, in order for it to be true. Now, In my experience, I have found, and this is true of the other elders also, that when you make a stand against sin and you confront someone concerning a sin that is in their life, then the chances are accusations against you will fly. In fact, the better job you're doing as an elder at confronting sin, the greater risk you are of being accused of something falsely. When people become angry at us, they think they have the right to say whatever they want about us or to accuse us in some way. And quite frankly, oftentimes you think you have the right to listen, but according to scripture, you don't because it clearly says, do not receive an accusation against an elder, except by two or three witnesses. The Bible is clear. You have a responsibility to protect us. If this accusation is coming from one person by not taking that in now, This is a very, very hard thing to do because at the heart, and I'm just like you. I'm just like you. Let's not pretend. Let's not play games. I'm like you. I like to hear things about other people. I enjoy that. I'm as depraved and wicked as anybody in this room. We all love that sort of thing. But the scripture says we're to resist it. Proverbs 18.8 says that the words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels. They go down into the innermost parts of the body. But true Christians are grieved by rumors and by gossip. Let me turn you to a passage in Proverbs. This is just kind of a foretaste of what we'll be dealing with starting next Sunday night. Proverbs 18.17. Proverbs 1817. And Glenn, I'm still getting kind of an echo in this thing. I don't know if it's the microphone or what, but. Proverbs 1817. Says the first one to plead his cause. seems right until his neighbor comes and examines him." In other words, the first time you hear someone reporting something about someone else, well, that sounds right because they do a very good job of presenting their side. Wow, that sounds great. But when someone else comes along and examines him and says, well, you didn't tell him about this, and you didn't tell him about that, and you didn't tell him why he said that, well, then it all begins to come together. Friends, concerning anyone, you shouldn't be receiving a report, but it says concerning an elder, do not receive an accusation except by two or three witnesses. Silence the reports whenever you hear them, especially against an elder, because it's destructive and harmful to the entire body and to the church. So does this mean that elders have carte blanche and they can do as they please? And as long as no, no, no more than one person sees them doing it, they get off scot free. No, absolutely not. The apostle Paul is protecting the elders against one person who is unstable and making false accusations. But he says, if there are two or three witnesses, that means that the matter is to be investigated. I remember one time hearing of a church where a lady came to the board of elders and she said, this has burdened me for years, but I have to tell you this. Several years ago, the pastor of this church and I were fooling around together. The elder body said, I'm not going to listen. Sorry, I can't. It's I cannot, according to scripture, Listen to you. I cannot believe this report. I have to reject it. That very same week, another woman in the congregation, apart from the knowledge of the first lady, came to the elders and said, the Lord has convicted my heart about this. The pastor of this church and I are currently involved with one another. What should I do? Immediately, the elders took action, and by the following Sunday, that pastor was asked to resign. Two or three witnesses come, and he was confronted about it and did affirm it, but two or three witnesses come, it has to be done. Step number one, what do you do for your elders? Number one, you pay those who labor in word and doctrine. Number two, you protect us by not receiving an accusation as it comes from just one person. Number three is closely related to Number two, and it's a point that I would just assume not preach, but if I'm to be true to the Word of God, I'm going to have to bring this point out, and that is. That you are responsible as a church, and this falls upon the other elders to rebuke publicly elders that are sinning back to 1st Timothy 5. And I I pray the Lord to help me get through this point. First Timothy 5. Verse 20. Those and it's referring to the elders. Says those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all. that the rest may fear. This is a job for the other elders. A sinning and the word sinning there is in habitual sin. A sinning elder is to be rebuked in everyone's presence. That means in the congregation. Now, how many of you have ever been in a church service where an elder has been stood up in front of the congregation and he has been publicly rebuked? Wow. I wish I didn't know anything about this particular subject, but unfortunately I do. In 1990, I took, as the minister of youth, a group of teenagers on a mission trip to Philadelphia, and we were there going door-to-door, passing out tracks, doing the work of the Lord, having street preaching. One night we had finished our work early, and I very, very foolishly said to the group, this is a group of 16, 17, 18-year-old kids, I said, well, you know, Atlantic City's just about an hour away, why don't we drive over there? We drove over there, The kids waited outside of the casino. I went into the casino. That was step number two that was very, very wrong. Someone handed me a chip. I never had held one in my hand before. It was a chip to play blackjack. So I played it. And I won. Or so I thought. As I walked out of the casino, the kids said to me, what's it like in there? Oh, it's great. There's lights, and it's very, very fascinating. They said, did you gamble? I said, yeah, yeah. And they were all appalled. And when they were appalled, I became frightened. Because now I realized what I had done. I had just taken a group of miners to Atlantic City as the minister, and I had gambled. And it hit me what I had done. So I said to the kids, and my greatest sin was at this point, as we were driving back to Philadelphia that night, I said to the kids, you know, I think that this might be a real stumbling block for others if they were to hear about it. So why don't we just make this kind of our little secret? August, September, October, November, December, they all passed. I had forgotten about it. In January, one of the parents walked into my office. He says, I know about what you did. That afternoon, I sat in the no-name diner with Dennis Newell and two of the other elders from the church. And they had known what I had done, but now it was time for the church to hear. Following Sunday morning, I stood in front of the congregation. And I confessed before the entire congregation that I had misled their children. And that I had covered up my sin that I had tried to hide it. At that point, I was publicly rebuked by one of the other elders. I was suspended without pay for two months, had to go out and actually get three jobs in order to make ends meet. People came to me afterward and said, I just don't agree with what they did to you. What they did to you was wrong. No, friends, what they did to me was right. What they did to me was scriptural. They rebuked me publicly for a sin. Any man that takes a group of teenagers and does what I did and then tries to hide it and to cover up deserves to be publicly rebuked. I don't say that this morning in any way. to brag or to boast, because I'm very, very ashamed of that which I had done. But I say it, first of all, to illustrate that when it's done, it can produce good results, because I believe in many ways it saved my ministry, because I was carrying a sin around, like David, that I had not brought out. Thank God that the sin came out. Thank God that he loved me enough to chasten me. And I also say it by word of warning to myself, to Jim and to Charlie and to Kim. The last thing in the world you want gentlemen is to stand up before a congregation and to be rebuked publicly. And Paul says to these, to Timothy and to this church at Ephesus, Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all that the rest may fear. Let me tell you something, ladies and gentlemen, the rest of the elders. Were from that point forward, very, very serious. And they already were at that point, but they became very, very serious to look at their walk before the Lord. Practically, it serves a purpose that the rest may fear. But notice what Paul says in verse 21. He says, do it without partiality. He says, I charge you. This is your audience. This is who you're doing it in front of. I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice and do nothing with partiality. If someone's an unpopular elder, it's great. Man, march him up there. I didn't like him to begin with. Rebuke him. Boy, if it would be one of your beloved elders. Paul says, I don't care if it's Charles Stanley or Charles Spurgeon. If he's sinning, rebuke him in the presence of all. That's a responsibility that we elders have to one another, and that is something that you, as a congregation, have a responsibility to accept if it's done. You're to pay your elders, you're to protect your elders, you're to rebuke publicly, but now we move on to number four. Number four, Hebrews 13. Verses seven and 17 in Hebrews 13, seven, it says, remember those who rule over you who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow considering the outcome of their conduct. Before I read verse 17, just let me say in reference to that last story, after two months, I was fully restored. I was immediately fully forgiven by the church and everything did, I mean, there were no ramifications following that because it was dealt with scripturally. Sort of breaking up the point here, but Uh, in verse this, this, this point, this point number four is that you are to obey the elders. Look in verse 17 of Hebrews 13. It says, obey those who rule over you and be submissive where they watch out for your souls as those who much must give an account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief for, for that, for that would be unprofitable for you. Contemporary personal values and attitudes about authority are radically different than they have been in days gone by. In baseball, we hear people saying, so-and-so cannot manage such-and-such a team because he's too much of a disciplinarian and he can't handle a ballplayer from the nineties because a ballplayer from the nineties doesn't want to be told what to do. What it is basically saying is that ballplayers in the nineties do not respect authority. The truth is, that's true of not just ballplayers, but it's true of people in society. People in society do not respect authority. People do not respect their parents. Husbands do not get the respect they deserve from their wives. People do not have a respect for the authority of Scripture. They do not submit to the authority of God. This past week, we went out looking for window coverings, for drapes, for valances, and these sins are even evident in my own heart because when we went in to look for some drapes, the man immediately said, well, I would just as soon know that you're not, I don't want to know that you're a church because you have to buy, what's it called? Flame retardant drapes. And I'm saying to myself, look, The heck with the law, let's just get some drapes that look nice. You get the flame retardant stuff on there, you don't have much to choose from, and plus it's a lot more expensive. Authority! I fight authority. Authority always wins. Authority! I hate authority. No, that shouldn't be the attitude. By the way, we did buy flame retardant drapes, so feel free to smoke in here if you like. No. J.I. Packer says anyone who respects authority will stand out as being odd, and that's true. There's a weirdo if he respects authority. I remember we were down in the city with Parker and Charles, and Charles just hauled off and hit Parker. And there was a guy standing there, and he was like 16 or 17 years old, and he was like this junior security guard or something. I don't know. He was just a punk. And he said, and stood there in front of me in his little uniform, he said to Charles, I like Charles is gonna understand, he goes, young man, stop pushing your brother. And I'm standing there, I'm thinking, man, I'm gonna wrap this guy around a tree, that's my kid. But I can't say that. And I didn't say that, because I want my little boys, regardless, I want them to learn how to respect authority. And this, acne-faced little punk with braces on his teeth was an authority. And that authority is to be respected. Ann David, who is a professor of sociology, says, we have a lot of grown-up two-year-olds in our society who are out there expecting to be happy right now. And thus, what happens is that we have no understanding of community life, no understanding of responsibility, no understanding of obligation, no understanding of moral accountability. And she's right. People demand that churches keep out of their business and keep out of their personal lives and out of their choices. We live in a society that believes that abortion and homosexuality and divorce are matters that no one has the right to interfere with. How then do you take people from a society like that and get them to understand that they are to be submissive to the elders of a church? Sounds foreign, doesn't it? It sounds very different to what our society is. In this self-centered rebellious age that we live in, the church must not follow society, but the church must take a stand regardless of how weird we may seem or how odd or how undated we may seem. The Bible clearly teaches that elders are to shepherd and to oversee and to care for and lead and to admonish the sheep, and that the sheep are to submit and to honor and to love their leaders. You mean that we're supposed to do that even when we disagree? No, I mean you're especially to do that when you disagree because it's not hard to submit to someone that you agree with. It's only when you disagree that it becomes an issue. You say, well, I can't submit to the leadership of the four men that are in this church friends. I'm not being mean. I'm not trying to be smart or cute or Kurt or anything, but you do need to then go find a church where you can submit and you will respect the leaders and the authority of the church. And I'm not saying that you should, you should, I'm just saying you don't like it. You can leave. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying before God, when you became a member. You should have investigated who the leaders of the church were. And to be able to submit to them, that's a scriptural command. The command is obey those who rule over you and be submissive. Doesn't mean that you'll say, well, I'll do it, but I don't want to do it. No, it means to submit with a humble heart. And I'll say this for the other three elders and for myself. We're not perfect. We do not make all the correct decisions. We make mistakes. Friends, I'm sorry to say sometimes we make them constantly. But speaking for the other three men, I will say this also, that we do indeed have your best interest in mind. And we do pray about the decisions we make. And we do love you. And we do do the very, very best that we can when it comes to shepherding your souls. Number five, it's in the very next verse. Not only are you to submit, but in Hebrews 13, 18, it says, pray for us. Pray for us. You are to pray for your elders. Just think how much more godly and how much more wise we would be if we had each and every one of you praying for us daily. Marvin Bessinius, who was with Church Growth Services, came here and gave us some advice concerning our building and our direction. And as he was getting ready in my house, he took off his shoe and when he took off his shoe, he pulled out a quarter. What are you doing with that? He said, when this quarter gives me a little bit of discomfort in my foot, it reminds me to pray for my pastor. Man, that's a dedicated church member. He was praying for his leaders. He was praying for his elders. Some of you might say, well, I just can't agree with you guys. I just basically don't like some of you guys. The best way to get over not liking someone is to pray for them. That'll change in a big hurry. That will change in a big, big hurry. Final point this morning. The final point is from Hebrews 10. 25. What are you responsible to do for your elders? Let me read verse 24 also, and it says, let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. There's that verse, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. I don't know what it is about me. I don't know if I'm just a kickback to another generation. I don't know if it was the way I was raised. I don't know if it's just by force of habit. But I was raised that you went to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. That's not biblical. There's nothing in the Bible that says you have to come to church Sunday night and Wednesday night. especially goes against everything that the church growth experts say about the 90s, that you can't invade people's time, that you have to have a privatization factor in the church. But I want to put an admonition before you this morning about forsaking the assembly, particularly as it applies to Sunday night and Wednesday night. Now, I know that as I'm saying this, 20% of you are going to be here on Sunday night no matter what. If I put on the cover of the bulletin, tonight, in church, we are going to count from 1 to 1,000 and then from 1,000 back to 1, be here. 20% of you would be here just because you're just going to be here. There's another 20% that if I said, I don't know. Charles Stanley was going to be here tonight, and he was going to be passing out $100 bills to everyone that comes. you wouldn't even think about coming. 20% of you just simply are not going to show up on Sunday night. And some of you with good reason, because of health reasons or because of work or because of distance. That I understand. What I'd like to speak to is the 60% of you that are somewhere in the middle that, ah, well, I don't know. All right, talk to me. All right, let me talk to you. When you don't show, that's your vote saying, I think we should cancel that service. I believe you have a responsibility to the elders and to the other members of the church to be present when the body of saints gathers together. Nothing scriptural or magical about Sunday night and Wednesday night, it just happens to be when we meet. I'll give you a little history lesson. When I worked at Three Rivers Baptist Church, I was shocked when I first went to that church because the church basically was about this full on Sunday morning, and it was about this full on Sunday night, and it was about this full on Wednesday night. The pastor would preach a series. He'd start it on Sunday morning. He'd do part two on Sunday night, part three on Wednesday night, because basically it was the same crowd coming out for all of the services. When I first came to North Shore Baptist Church, it was a nice attendance in the morning. Basically, it was the traditional church in the sense that you can take your Sunday morning crowd, cut it in half, and that'll be your Sunday night crowd. Take your Sunday night crowd, cut that in half, and that will be your Wednesday night crowd. And that's basically what we were looking at. Well, over time at North Shore Baptist, Sunday night became a really important service, where more and more people were coming out, and it was growing. There was a good spirit of worship, and there was a good representation of the body here. But I'd have to say, though, over the last couple of months, there has been a decline from some of you who used to be faithful on Sunday night. When you'd walk out the door on Sunday morning, I wouldn't even have to ask, you know, we'll see you tonight. I knew that in less than six hours I would see you. Some of you will argue, well, I don't come back on Sunday night because I don't get that much out of it. Friends, if the reason why you come to church is to get something out of it, You need to rethink your Christianity. Not saying you're not saved. I'm saying you need to rethink why you do things in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. The reason why we come together is not in order to get something out of it. It's in order to give to one another and to give to the Lord and to praise the living God and to encourage one another and exhort one another and to love one another. The reason we come is to give. That's what worship is. Not to get. And if it just so happens that you get something out of it, we'll praise the Lord, but we're coming to give to Him. However, let me take some of the responsibility for this. I was recently confronted by a fellow pastor in speaking about Sunday night attendance, and he asked me the question, well, how much time do you put into your Sunday morning sermon as opposed to your Sunday night sermon? And I told him, and he said, well, that's probably the reason why you see the decline on Sunday night. is because the people know that you think Sunday morning is more important than Sunday night is. Friends, I'm standing before you this morning to make a fresh commitment to you that I am going to put my very best effort into this series that I'm going to do on Proverbs. And it's something I think all of you need to hear about the wisdom of God. You need to hear the truths that are contained in this book written by Solomon. That begins next Sunday night. And now while I'm on the subject, let me address Wednesday night prayer meeting. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. I know some of you can't attend Wednesday night because of sickness or because of the hour or because of distance or because of work. I realize that. I also realize that our Wednesday night attendance is up, but I also realize that the reason that our Wednesday night attendance is up is because of Pioneer Clubs. And that's good. I'm glad. That's great. But do you realize as a church member the responsibility that you have to be here for prayer meeting? Because what happens at prayer meeting every week is that someone will raise their hand and they'll bring up a prayer request. something that's deeply hurting them, someone in their family who's deathly sick, something that desperately needs to be prayed for. And friends, if at all possible, you have a responsibility to gather with the saints, to hear those requests, to take those requests home and to pray for them. In other words, your brothers and sisters, your family is depending on you to pray. Is praying easy? No. Praying is the most difficult thing to do in the whole world. I know it's true for me sometimes on Wednesday nights that I'm tired. And I come walking into the building and I'm dragging. And I am, I mean, you know, if confession is good for the soul, a lot of times I'm walking in on Wednesday nights saying, I would rather be asleep, I would rather be sitting in front of the tube, I would rather be reading a book, I'd rather be looking at the newspaper, I would rather not be here. Sometimes I say that. But there has never, never been a Wednesday night that I have walked out those doors, but what I haven't said, man, I'm glad I came. That has given my soul some food. I have been built up. I have prayed to my God. I have worshiped my God. I have heard the word. I am rejuvenated. You say, well, you have to be here. Maybe you would stay home. All right, maybe I would. but I'm always glad I came." You can say to the saints that come, you can poll them, you glad you come on Wednesday night? Every single one of them will say, yes, I'm glad I gathered with the saints. The admonition is do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together. So what's the responsibility of the elders? The responsibility of the elders is to rule you, to teach you, to protect you, to pray for you, to be examples to you, and what's your responsibility to us? Your responsibility to us is to pay, to protect, to rebuke, to obey, to pray for and to not forsake the assembly. This sermon this morning was for Christians, but maybe there's someone here this morning who is not saved, who's not born again, who does not know our Lord and our God. And what is all of this stuff you're talking about? What we're talking about is a relationship with God in Jesus Christ. You need to know this morning that God is holy and that he created you. You need to know this morning that you are a sinner and that you're separated from God. You need to know that God loves sinners so much that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to come and to die on the cross for sinners. And you need to know that the promise of Scripture is that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Friends, if you're not saved this morning and you've listened to what I've said and you've said, I really don't identify with that, You need to enter into a relationship with God through Christ and cry out to Him in your heart and say, Oh, dear Lord, dear God, save me in Jesus name. Amen.