Well, we are in chapter 5 of the book of 1 Peter. And we're coming to the end of 1 Peter, and so at the end of it, he addresses issues concerning the church and how the church is to function. And we find that at the end of the first century, that that is a prominent theme among the letters that are written. we find that Paul's last letters are to Timothy and Titus. And one of the admonitions that he gives is how the church of God, of the living God, is to live, how it's to operate, how it's to function. And so the letters are given to us, particularly at the end of the first century, at the end of the apostolic age, and the direction is that this is how the church is to function. This is how we're to operate. This is going to be the modus operandi for the rest of this age before Christ returns. And so it has great significance because of that. When we look early in the book of Acts, we find the church functioning rather loosely, but the structure, the main structure for the church in the book of Acts is the apostolic leadership, the apostles. and the apostles are leading because they are the witnesses. You and I witness only to what's being given to us. We're only second-hand information. We're not from the horse's mouth, so to speak. We're giving second-hand and third-hand and fourth-hand information, but we have faithful, reliable witnesses to whom we're appealing to. So in Acts 1-8, when Jesus tells the disciples that have been with him, particularly the 11, because Judas is already hung himself, he's appealing to them that they will be the witnesses. They're the ones that are going to testify, and what is it that they're going to testify? Everything from the baptism all the way into the crucifixion and the resurrection. So they had to be with Jesus, so the Matthias who was there to take the place in Acts 1, to take the place of Judas, the qualifications for the apostles that you had to be with them that whole time of the earthly ministry of Christ leading up to his death, to his burial, to his resurrection. You had to be a witness of that in order that they could be the witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria to the uttermost parts of the earth. But we have a continual responsibility. It's not to reduce and say to someone or another, that's not our responsibility too, but we're not the witnesses. We didn't see anything. If you go to a court of law and you've been called as a witness and the judge, the defense lawyer, he asks you, he says, so Renee, can you tell me what, or he says, Tori, can you tell me what you saw? And Torrey goes, well, I didn't see anything. But Chris told me what he saw. Is the judge going to accept that as a viable witness? No. It's hearsay. And so the defense attorney then is going to see if he can find Chris. And if Chris won't come in, then he's going to subpoena Chris to come in to give testimony. Because the only testimony that's good is someone who was actually there that was an eyewitness, correct? So you can't be a witness if you didn't see it. And so in the sense of Acts 1-8, the apostles alone are the witnesses and they're the ones that throughout the book of Acts are telling what they saw. They're the ones that are reiterating, saying, you know, we saw this. We were there. We were there from, you know, from Christ's baptism all the way to the coming of the Holy Spirit. We were there to witness even that. And so there's this framework, and then as the church is growing, leadership, we think about the leadership that's given. In Acts chapter 6, the widows are not being tended to, especially the Greek widows. The Jewish widows are being taken care of fine, but the Greek widows are those that are Hellenists, that are Jewish widows that are living outside of Palestine or Judea. are not being tended to. And so there's this uprising that comes within the household of God. And so when the apostles give the requirements of those that would be deacons, those that would serve the tables within the church, it was very minimal. It says, you choose for men, men full of wisdom and the Holy Spirit. So there was two qualifications. You had to be a person that was generally assumed as being a wise person in decisions, and you had to be full of the Holy Spirit. By the time we get to 1 Timothy 3, when the qualifications for a deacon are given, is it just those two? Absolutely not. And so what happens is, is towards the end of that first century, what the problem is that they have seen that choosing men just on the outward, what they appear to be, isn't enough. And I would have to imagine that probably they've had the experience that some of them weren't so hot, that they did not serve too well. They gave the appearance that they made good decisions and may be full of the Holy Spirit, but there were things in their life that they began to qualify and say, no, these are really what we're looking for. So the list gets more lengthy and it becomes more specific by the time you get to the end of the first century. When we look at the appointing of elders, when Paul and Barnabas in their first missionary journey, no, their second missionary journey in chapter 14, they're going back through Galatia. And in every place where they made disciples, it says they appointed elders by laying on their hands and committed them to the Lord in whom they believed. Then they went back to Antioch. And so the qualifications were, is that they were part of the believers, they were part of the leadership, and they just appointed men. They said, you're going to be the elder here, and they laid their hands on them, they prayed for them, and then they became the leadership. But by the time we get to 1 Peter and we get to Titus, all of a sudden now the qualifications become more strenuous. They become more specific. And so now we find Paul telling Timothy that if you're going to be an overseer, the difference morally is the same for a deacon and an elder or pastor or overseer, but the difference is, is that the overseer has got to be able to teach. Now there's good men that are very fine people and they minister to you well. But if they had to teach, you would sit there and just go. We love them. We really do. But I just am not getting anything out of it. Have you ever had that experience? I hope you're not having that with me. But have you ever had that experience? And the answer is yes. And, you know, they just, they don't, they're not capable of teaching. And so they chose good men But they weren't elders, they weren't able to teach. And so when we look at Paul writing through the Ephesians in chapter four, he says that the gifts that God gave, he gave pastor, teacher. That's one person, they're both. The responsibility is to pastor, to shepherd the sheep, and to teach the sheep, that they are together. It's not two distinct positions, it's one. But it's looking at two different facets of the same guy. Both of these responsibilities are there. And so when we find here with Peter writing at the end of this, he appeals to them based upon his three relationships. His present relationship, his past relationship, and a future relationship. Look at them. First of all is his present relationship. He doesn't appeal, though he did in chapter one, verse one, as an apostle. Here he says fellow elder. I am equal with you in this, and that's what he'll say in the second letter, those who have received alike equal faith. Exactly the same. So he's a fellow elder. He's among these guys that are pastoring and teaching. He's one of them. So that his position, even though he's still an apostle, his position, his function, what he's doing is different. He's not giving the apostolic leadership as such within the congregation, but more of a pastoral leadership. And that's exactly what Jesus told him to do in John chapter 21, wasn't it? When he says, Peter, do you love me? Then what's he wanting to do? Feed my sheep. Peter, do you love me? You know I do. Then tend to my flock. Peter, do you love me? Then feed my lambs. So the responsibility is to shepherd by feeding them, and feeding them isn't making sure that they all get something to eat. Did you eat today? Did you have your breakfast? Have you had lunch? What are you having for supper tonight? That's not what he's talking about, is he? He's talking about the Word of God feeding them, giving them the Word of God. And so that was the responsibility. So he sees himself in that as being a fellow elder. He looks to his past. He says, I was a witness. I was a witness of the sufferings of Christ. I saw Christ suffer. I was there. I was one of the apostles. I am there, not seeing himself as the high potentate, though he could have appealed to that. but seeing himself equal with them, but yet looking and saying, I'm one of the witnesses, the ones to whom you're building your faith upon, I have witnessed to that, I have been there to give you that foundation of faith. And he talks about the future. I too am going to share in the glory. and it's just about to be rebuilt. It's on the edge, it's on the verge. You know, there are certain times if you've been to theater, there are certain times that in the program, you know that something big is fixing to come. It's all leading up, or if you're listening to an opera, everything begins to crescendo, everything begins to lead up to it, and you're expecting this big entrance where this Baritone comes up and with a great voice just comes and brings everything into a climax, bringing everything together, tying all the loose ends, or even an orchestra. Well, it's about to be revealed. This glory is about to be revealed. And Peter says, I'm going to share in that. But not by myself, because the idea that he uses koinonia, I'm going to share in it means that we're all going to share in it. I will have a part, but so will you. that we are going to share in this glory. And so he says, I beseech you elders, based upon these things, what I am now, what I've been and what I'm going to be. So what is it that he appeals to them to do? That was just, that was last week's message. So I'm just building you into it. So what is it that he tells them to do? He tells them one thing. And it's exactly the thing that Jesus told him to do. And so we read in verse two, he says, shepherd the flock of God that's among you, overseeing them. Not as by compulsion, but willingly, according to God. And neither for filthy lucre, but rather from a willing desire. And not as lording it over them, that portion, but rather being a type to the sheep. And when the chief shepherd, his appearing comes, then he will bring with him that crown that's imperishable, that's glorious. And so we find that there's two things. The first thing is the responsibility. The responsibility is given with one imperative, one command, shepherd. Be a shepherd. That's the verbal action. That's what you're to do, is shepherd. Who are they? They're the elders. How do they do it? Overseeing. So you have all three terms, one guy, one group of men, all three terms of elder, of overseer, and of shepherd or pastor, all three used of one group of men that are called the elders. Overseeing is the broad picture, that they know what's going on in their flock. They know their people. They know what's going on, what people are talking about. They know what they believe. They've talked, they've had these conversations. They know the direction of the church. And shepherding is dealing in the daily life stuff. It's when someone comes to the pastor and says, you know, we've got these big life issues and we need some advice. Or they say, you know, we've got We're having to make a decision of a career change, and we don't know what to do, and giving them advice, and listening to them, and caring for them, or being there to pray with them when they're having surgery, or being there to pray with them when they've lost a loved one, or being there to encourage them and rejoice with them when a baby's born, or when a wedding comes. All of these things. And so shepherding is being there to be a part of it, and it's always with a reminder that the church, that the people, are not your own. See, that's a hard thing because so often times the pastors get together and the question they ask is, they say, so what about your church? Well, you know, I never died for a group of people yet. It's not to say that I won't, but I've never died yet for a group of people, but Jesus did. So whom does the church belong to? It says the flock of God. These sheep belong to God. We are under shepherds. We are not the shepherd. We are here to serve Him, and in serving Him, because see, we too are the sheep. We are not above the sheep. We are sheep as well. But there's the responsibility that these people, that these sheep, that these people are God's people. They belong to God. It's the church of God. It's the church of Jesus Christ. So when we come to it, we step back and look and say, the congregation in which I serve is God's church, it's Christ's church, he bought it with his blood. He loved it, he laid down his life for it, and I can give you verses for every phrase I've already said. Because there's a Bible verse that goes with every one of those. And so the reality is when we come to this responsibility as a pastor, and you ought to always be looking at that, when we come to this responsibility, we always remind ourself that we step back and we don't have ownership. The direction, even though we might say there might be times that I would like to do this or I'd like to do that, and these are my personal preferences, there are times I just have to step back and say, listen. Phil, this is not my body. This is Christ. This is Christ's church, and I have to give him room to do what he wants to do. And it may not be what I want to do, but it's okay. It's not mine anyway. It's God's. So I'm not at liberty to do what he's not doing among his people. And yet it says the flock that's among you. The responsibility is that we're part of this. We're not separate. It's not as though we're a different class of people that are outside of it, but we're very much in it and very much part of the life. I remember we had this conversation partly this morning in Sunday school because we were talking about death. It was while our Sunday school lesson was on. And the conversation, and when I was part of Keith's father's funeral, the gentleman that was leading the service made the comment, he says, you know, I always hold you in respect, speaking of our denomination, he says, because you know your people. We don't always know our people. Do you remember that conversation? He said, we don't always know our people. And I said, how can you not? He's been there. He raised these kids there. He's worked in the church. He's given time. He's given money. How can you not know him? You'd have to be blind not to know him, to see him every Sunday and not know him. And I knew him. I didn't know him from church. I knew him from visiting with him in the hospital and seeing him with his brother and in conversations that we'd have just sitting down and visiting with him. I knew who he was. So when I did the obituary part, I was able to speak because I knew Kee's father. I knew who he was. I knew things about him. And his pastor said, well, you know, we just don't get to know our people. We just don't know them. And I find that deeply saddening because, again, we're part. We're together. We know, you know, I'm in this flock. I'm part of this flock. And so as he describes shepherding the flock of God, he says, this is your activity. You're overseeing. You're always overseeing. You're always having to look. You've got to watch and see what's going on. You give direction. You can't impose to make people do things. You can't make anyone do anything. But you give direction. So when the children's department is asking a question and they say, we don't know how to, for example, several years ago, you know, we were not sure quite how to lead a child to the Lord. And so we had a child evangelism, we all learned the wordless book, the color book on how to share our faith and the things when, and you've heard this before, sin is anything that I, Alright, sin is anything I think, anything I do. See, I didn't even have to say the words. Why? Because we taught you how to identify sin with a child, because sin's kind of a big concept, isn't it, for anyone? But if we make it simple, so it's anything I think, anything I say, anything I do that displeases God, and if I don't know how that works, then ask yourself, does it displease my mom and dad? Does it displease my teacher? Does it displease my grandparents? Is it an offense to an adult? And kids get that. They get it really young. And then to be able to go through with them, the ABCs, you know, we've gone through evangelistic things to teach them how to do it. So the Sunday school teachers say in the children's department, we don't know how to do this. So we teach them, we do this. And Sunday school teachers may ask questions. You know, do you have a good commentary on a book? And if you ask me for a book, what do you get? Probably, yeah, I see the hands, three or four, you know, because I think you ought to have a good perspective. And some things you'll read, they won't help you. And other things you'll go, that maybe I look at them and think they're very simple. You're going, wow, that's exactly what I was looking for. And so always overseeing, always being involved and looking into that. And so that's how you do this. But in the process of this command, he gives us three contrasts. three contrasts. And the first one to me seems extremely odd, but if we go back to the early part of the book of Acts, it may not seem so strange when he says, not under compulsion. You know, you've got a group of young believers. They're brand new. They don't know much. And all of a sudden, now you're compelling one that he's going to take responsibility for the other group. When I first came here, I got visited frequently with some of our church members. And they say, preacher, we need to see you. So they come to my office. I never knew what that meant. You know, always, it's always kind of reserved. What have I done now? You know, what have I said? And generally, they come in and they talk a little bit about their family. And then they say, don't ask me to pray. That was that number one issue. Don't ask me to pray. I just don't feel comfortable to pray in public. But what if you were part of this group and Paul says, okay, you got leadership. You're going to be the elder. You're going to teach this group. You're going to keep them together. You're going to give direction. The guy's going to blah, blah, blah. But I don't talk in public. How many of you don't talk in public? We raise our hands, but you know what? I know every one of you talk in public because I've seen you talk in public. It's just in a different format. You may not talk up here so well, but you do talk in public, don't you? We all have conversations with people, and so we find ourselves that we can, and so we think about compulsion. I remember reading in the life of John Calvin, and he was a Latin student, and he was very good at Latin. In fact, he was writing commentaries in Latin on Latin works. His first work was on Seneca, and so that was an ancient philosopher, and he writes a commentary on it. But because of his religious beliefs, he had to leave France. He had to leave at night, and he had to leave on the run. He was making his way to another destination, but there was a war going on, so he had to diverge around it. He happened to pass nearby Geneva. And there was an elder there named William Farrell, and the job, the work was way too hard for him, and the carnality in the town, and all the licentiousness, those are polite ways of saying sin, all kinds of scandalous sin was going on in the city. And William Farrell said, I can't do this, God wants you to do it. And he goes, no, I want to be a scholar, and I want to go into this remote area, and I want to study in the library, I want to spend my life writing. William Farrell says God has appointed you as the man for this day and hour and if you leave here and you don't take the Responsibility of Geneva, then you are sinning against God and the wrath of God will be on your head Well, what do you do with that? He stayed And he pastored the church for about five years. And then the city council didn't like the way things were going because he was dealing with sin. So they ran him off and he was gone for two years and enjoyed it because he didn't have pastoral responsibilities. But then God called him back. The city council said, it was better when you were here than it's been since you've been gone. Come back. And he came back. And he was there under compulsion. He was compelled to do it. He was threatened with the wrath of God if he didn't come and do this. Now, I can't imagine anyone doing it that way. But didn't Paul say, if I do not preach, woe is me if I do not preach. There's something in the bones. Jeremiah eats a book, and it burns in his bones. It's sweet to his mouth, but it was bitter to his stomach. And so all of a sudden, you look, and it is said that in the Southern Baptist Convention, that 80% of pastors are looking for another church on Monday morning. Why would that be? They don't leave, but 80% of them on Monday morning are ready to go someplace else. Why? Because it's not going quite like they want it to. The results aren't like they would like it to be. And so there's this dissatisfaction that maybe the grass is greener someplace else, but God doesn't give them permission to leave. They stay. because God wants them to stay. They need to be there. There's a reason for them to be there. God called them, and if God called you there, you can't leave unless God releases you and says, I don't want you there. I'm calling you someplace else. And that may seem like an oddity in your place of profession, but in the pastorate, that's just the way it is. That's how it is with many pastors. Well, if we don't do it on compulsion, then how? And he says, no, but rather, and he uses a term of, a term of being this innermost person of who you are, coming out of who you are. So this idea of willingly, you know, we've, you've heard, there was a philosophy that, that, that deals with the ego and, and it deals with who I am. And I, you know, I am good, you know, trying to think how the term goes. I am good, you're good, you know, we're all good, kind of the idea. It's who we are. Deep down in our person, who we really are coming out of that. So this willingness is just that there's something inside of me that is just coming out and he says because this is, this willingness comes from God. It's according to God. God's the source of this. When, and I hate to be testimonial in all ways, but I think testimonies do help to at least clarify things. When I went to Criswell Bible College, I was saved in 1978, and in 1979, I was kind of called into the ministry, but not technically, not in the way that what I hear and I read in books. What was the driving force to me was, is our pastor was a great teacher. would you say he was probably one of the finest teachers I ever heard, Harlan Caton? And Harlan Caton was a very gifted and talented man, and he would say, he would be in the pulpit, and he says, the Greek literally says this, or the Hebrew literally says that. And after a year listening to that, finally, sometime in the course of that, I went up to him and I said, Brother Caton, how do you know that? Where do you get that? I'm reading my Bible. I gave up my King James. I got me a New American Standard, because that's what he preached from, and so that I could follow after him. And I said, how do you know that? Where do you get that from? And he goes, well, you'd have to go to seminary or Bible college to learn that. And I said, well, where is one? He goes, well, have you finished your BA degree yet? And I said, no, I've got, I wound up in 327 hours, but I hadn't gotten my degree yet. I couldn't figure out who I wanted to be. And I said, so where do I get this? He goes, well, there's a Bible college in Dallas. You ought to consider going there. And so my direction going to Bible college was for one reason. If God said it, I want to know what he said. I didn't want to hear I didn't want hearsay. I wanted to look and say, yeah, that's what it says, because, you know, how easy it is to stand up and say, well, the Bible literally says this. If they say literally says this, let me tell you something. Back up for just a minute and take a breath and just, you know, ignore it. What the Bible literally says is what you're holding in your hand. The guys that translated, whatever translation you've got, they have taken the literal word, and they have tried to make it as clear into English as they possibly could do. You have a very reliable Bible. I don't care if it's the King James, or if it's the New King James, or if it's, well, not the Living Bible, or not the Contemporary Bible, but most good, solid translations, NIV, or Numeric and Standard, those kinds of things, or even the Holman Christian Standard, are solid, good translations, and they give you what the literal meaning is. So, for them to say, well, it literally means, well, what they've done is they basically said, we've looked at a dictionary, and this is the definition we like the best. So, that's what it really, literally means. Have you ever looked at a dictionary? Ever looked up a word in a dictionary? Usually, a dictionary does not give one definition, does it? It has a definition, and if it's a verb, it'll say intransitive use, it'll say transitive use. So if there's not an object that's intransitive, if there is an object that's transitive. And so you look and say, well, okay, does mine have an object? What's an object? I don't have a clue. So I look in there and I guess. I say, well, I like that definition, so I'm choosing that one. A good one would be the Holy Spirit in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 14. That the Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance. And so earnest, a guarantee, it could be a wedding ring. You know, the guy gives the bride a wedding ring. So is the Holy Spirit a wedding ring? Probably not. Even though we're married to Christ, probably that's not the best way to do it. And it's also the down payment that one pays as earnest money when he buys a home. Do you think that's what he's doing? No, probably not. But it's a guarantee. It's a guarantee that the promises. So it's coming to you early. So the literal meaning is that it's earnest. If you buy a home and you've got to put down earnest money. Why? Because they want to make sure you're earnest. And if you put down earnest money and you don't buy the home, what happens to the earnest money? They get to keep it, right? Because you was earnest and you backed out. And if a guy gives a girl a wedding ring and he backs out of it, what happens to the wedding ring, the engagement ring? She gets to keep it. She's not obligated to give that back to him, is she? If he backs out, walks away. If she got a really nice wedding ring, or engagement ring, and he backs out, she gets to keep it. If she wants to keep wearing it, she can keep wearing it. If she wants to hock it for the money, she can sell it off. You know, whatever she wants to do, it's hers. Because he gave her an earnest, a down payment, some kind of a guarantee that the promise was out there. And that's what it is with the Holy Spirit. And so there's insight, there's gotta be something that God generates in us. Something that is God-driven, God-led, that we're not doing this because—I'll give you a couple examples. One of the Hunt ladies had a son named Gene. And Gene Hunt went to Baylor because his grandmother, the wealthy heiress, she decided he ought to go to Baylor, because that's where good Baptists go, is they go to Baylor. So he went to Baylor. And then she felt like he was a good candidate for gospel ministry, so she thought he ought to go to Southwestern. And he's a good Christian young man, so what do you do? Grandma wants you to go to Southwestern, and she's paying the bill, so you go to Southwestern. And she thinks he ought to be a pastor, so she helps him get a really nice church, and he goes and he pastors for one year. One year. Now he's invested four years at Baylor, and he's invested three and a half at Southwestern. Seven and a half years of his life, and then another year pastoring a church. And he backed out after the first year, and he says, God has not called me to this. My grandmother did. Well, what do you do now? She's in money. And so she said, well, son, you probably need to be an accountant. Send him back to Baylor. He did another degree and he became an accountant. And he did that for about five years. And he said, Grandma, that's not what God wants me to do. That is not what God's called me to do. So he goes back to Baylor and he gets a medical degree and he becomes a gynecologist. And he is a very fine gynecologist. He's got a great practice. And that's just where his heart is. He's got four little girls. Beautiful. Well, they're not little anymore. Four daughters. You see, it has to be according to God. You can't just put yourself in a position. When I first came here, Ben Crumb used to draw pictures of himself during the church service. Some of you've seen some of them. And it'd have him up behind the pulpit, and he's up there and he's preaching. And he had a note, future preacher at Central Baptist Church. And those are fine aspirations, aren't they? They really are fine aspirations that anyone would feel God's calling them to preach. But it's gotta be God called. God's got to put it in you. It's gotta come out of you because God's put it there. And so it becomes something that you do. So shepherding the sheep of God has got to have this divine call about it. The second thing is that this fondness, and it's this not fond of dishonest gain. How could dishonest gain come? You know, when we think about how could dishonest gain come, and I think about the scoundrels most of all, and you can look at 2 Peter chapter 2 and you'll see some of that displayed, but I think of Robert Tilton. Robert Tilton went to Southwestern, he was a Southern Baptist, and Robert Tilton figured out that there's money in Christian people. And so he had started a church in Carrollton, and it was a great faith-healing ministry, and the balcony all around, he had wheelchairs and casts and crutches and all kinds of medical paraphernalia. They didn't stick them in the closet back there. See, we messed up. We should have put them all up here on the wall, you know, from potty chairs to wheelchairs and everything in between, had them all up there. So when people came in here, they got the idea, if you come into this church, what's going to happen? you're going to get healed whatever medical condition you've got you're going to get healed and so robert tilton had that going on then he was on tv and he had this ministry and you send in your money you send in your donation with your prayer request and we'll uh and we'll pray for you and i think 2020 had done a segment on robert tilton along with two other pastors up in the Dallas area. And so they went to the dumpster and they were finding these envelopes that you could tell by the way the envelope was torn that the prayer request had never gone out of the envelope. Only the check. All they were getting is the checks. And you know who was sending in the checks? People living on Social Security, people living on limited income, people that were sitting at home during the daytime, not working in the daytime, sitting home, watching TBN, watching the James Robinsons and all the TV ministries on TV, and they were sending in their checks, sending in their checks, sending in their checks. And the whole time, you know, he's got a concubine that's living in Florida and he's built a, you know, a million point two big home down there in the Florida Keys. And, you know, just really living high on the hog. Is there money to be made on the church, y'all? How about the bakers? And their retirement, I really wanted a retirement. It was kind of an amusement park thing for Christians to come and listen to good Christian music and have good Christian entertainment. And boy, the scoundrels are out there, aren't they? There's lots of money to be made off Christian people. And that's what he's talking about. There's lots of money that can be taken. For we twist and we turn and we offer people hope for a dollar. We give them something for money, and in return, some way or another, they're supposed. He said, no, not like that. That's not how you shepherd God's flock. But rather, he says, this idea, again, the first time it was out of who we are, because God's put it there. The second time, it comes from will. It proceeds from our willingness. It's our eagerness. There's something about our desires. This is what we wanna do. You know, when I first moved to Dallas, Francis and I moved to Dallas to go to Criswell, we were going to a church in South Oakland. And the pastor, he was a nice guy, a Vietnam vet, I mean, he's a good guy and everything, but he had gotten involved in selling Amway. And so it didn't take long until our church got the nickname being the Amway Church. And there was more going on at the church for Amway than there was going on for the church. In fact, it had gotten so bad, since his interests were more in Amway, and he's spending more time on that than on the church and on his teaching and preaching ministry, it had gotten so bad that during football season, the congregation would start disappearing about 11.45. 11.45, you'd see someone get up, like they're going to the bathroom. But they didn't go to the bathroom. A little bit later here, and they're getting up out of the choir, and the next thing you know, if there was 175, 200 people in the church, by the time the invitation started, there might be lucky to have 60. And so when the church service was over, and we sang our final hymn, and you're going out, you walk past the office, and there's the big screen TV. And there's the congregation, and they're watching the Dallas Cowboys kickoff. They're all watching TV. You see, he had lost his passion, and because he lost his passion, so did the church. All of a sudden, our church just died. The whole church just died. We wound up merging with another congregation because the people ceased to be the church. Their passion on Sunday morning was not coming to worship God. Their passion was, let's get this over so we can get to what's really important, and that's the Cowboys kickoff. That may be why the Cowboys have done so poorly all these years, because of the idolatry that's associated with that kind of venue. Well, lastly, and we know this to be true, because when the disciples came to Christ, and Peter was one of them, when the disciples came to Christ and they asked them the question, you know, who's going to sit at the right and left hand? In fact, if you recall, James and John's mother even came and made that request. They said, you know, when you come into your kingdom, can my sons, you know, can James and John have one on the right and one on the left? He goes, you don't know what you're asking. You know, the rulers of the Gentiles, they lord it over them. But the one that will be greatest in the kingdom must be what? must be the least. Because the Son of Man did not come to be served, but rather to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. Again, I can give you those scripture references for all of this. And so to lord it over them, see, I think that the pastor leadership over the years, and maybe even here too, that they've been more masters than they have been pastors. that they've wanted to dominate everything and control everything, that they had to have their hand in everything, and everything's got to be done like they want, and if their people aren't in power, they're going to put them in power, so that it becomes a power issue. He said, no, not lording it over that portion, but rather being, and that's this being a type, an example to the flock. And so the leadership, pastoral leadership, requires for the pastor to first demonstrate by his own character, by his own life, what the church is to do. I can't tell you to be praying people if I am not a praying man. I can't tell you to study your Bible if I don't study my Bible. I can't tell you to be a witness of Christ if I don't witness. I can't tell you to love your spouse, your wife, your husband, if I don't love mine. I can't tell you how to do anything if I'm not willing to do it. I can't ask you to clean up the floors if I'm not willing to clean the restroom. I can't ask you to do something around here if I'm not willing to first do it. I can't ask you to go to the nursing homes unless I'm willing to go. I can't ask you to go to the prisons unless I'm willing to go first. I can't ask you to go on a mission trip unless I'd be willing to go as well. so that in everything you become the example, the type, the topos, the one that you look at and say, okay, have you watched these, what's that, where you travel, Amazing Adventure, I guess it is, where they travel all over the world? And they have projects that they have to do. And some of the neat ones that they have to do is when they've got to manufacture something, it's got to look a certain way. And the people of that culture look at it, and they say, no, no, no. And so they're looking at a picture, and they've got to, all right, how does this all fit together? And they try to put all the stuff together, like maybe one of those fruit hats that they put on, whatever it may be. They've got to make it all look like it. And if it doesn't look like it, the guy goes, nope, that's not it. Got to go back and do it again. So they've got to see what it is that they're supposed to be. what it's supposed to look like. Well, it's a great responsibility, but the pastor's got to be that. You've got to see it in me. So I think of the greatest burdens of all pastoral ministry is the fact that I know that. I know that I have to be the example to you. Paul told the Thessalonians, and I think it's one of the greatest things he said to any church, he said to the Thessalonians, that you have followed me as I have followed Christ, so that now you have become a tupos, you have become a type for all of the churches in Macedonia and Achaia, because you gave yourself first to Christ and then to us. To hear a congregation be so uplifted, that Paul would say, you followed me in the same way that I have followed Christ. You have followed my example so that now you have become the example not only to a church, your church, but to a whole district, to a whole region, that all of these churches can look to you and they can see in this church what it is to be that kind of a follower of Jesus Christ. And so I commend this congregation because you have been so, and again, you know, you're here, but I do, I commend you because when I think about our congregation, our age, our size, our financial structure, that this church has been so willing to give so much, so willing to give so much. Now, before we ever knew Celia and David, The girls at G.A. Camp a couple years ago went to Newton, and Cecilia's brother is a missionary to Ghana, and he was doing the orange buckets. Do you have any idea how many orange buckets we sent to Ghana? More than 50. You remember when Haiti had their last earthquake, and all the housings and structures went down? And there were the white buckets where we stuffed it with food. You remember the white buckets that the Southern Baptist Convention was taking down? And in a bucket, there was a month's worth of food for a family of five. Do you remember that? You know how many we sent? More than 50. When we do the Samaritan's Purse, the Christmas giveaway, how many boxers do you think we give each year? Between 70 and 80, you know, for our church our size, between 70 and 80 kids getting Christmas shoeboxes. When you think about going to Lamar State College and feeding down there, you know, most churches our size have already quit. They've given it up. We feed at least twice. And when we feed down there, there's generally over 100 students with the teachers, more than 100. In fact, it's kind of funny to go because when you look at our group that go down there, we have quite a number that are walking with canes. And yeah, I mean, you'd look at it. It's kind of funny because, you know, we've got an old group that go down there, but they give so willingly and do it so joyfully. You remember the first time you went, Margie, and the girl with purple hair and tattooed all over? She's kind of scary, but when we sat down and visited with her, she was a really neat girl, wasn't she? And you know what? We've learned to be stretched, haven't we? When you think of Shepherds Inn, you know, churches our size, they aren't doing that. But our church is still doing it. And not only to go down there, but also to provide some of the supplies and things that are needed. What I'm saying is this, that this church has been more giving and more serving, so that you have become an example to other churches. When Rita happened, our church wasn't the only one, but we were right in the fray of all the volunteers that were coming in. And our church, between Rita and Ike, had housed over 3,000 volunteers from every state but one—Hawaii. We did not have anybody here from Hawaii. But we had them from all other 49 states, including Alaska. One group from Alaska came down and fed. We had a group of girls from the University of Chicago, four or five girls there, that came down here, paid their own way, and then they gave the church a donation. You remember that? $500 or $600. And they were cleaning out. They just heard about it. They wanted to come. And we had them from seven other countries. Yeah. Mary fed them, too, back here in the back kitchen. And what I'm saying is this. That doesn't happen by accident. We see things, and we see people that are not afraid, and the next thing you know, we find ourself there. We sent 50 to Bridge City. When we were going over there on that weekend where it was Mid-County Kindness, remember that? 50 from our congregation. And I remember, again, some of our ladies said, well, we're too old. I don't think we can do any of that, and wound up in schools, cleaning up schools, and cleaning up books, and playing with kids, and cleaning clothes. And so what I'm saying is, is we become an example. We give someone an object to follow. And I thank the Lord that all of our young people at some point or another have taken a trip, have taken a trip to serve someplace else. You remember listening to the kids when they got back from Atlanta? They worked on a farm. They were raking pine leaves. They were digging holes. They were sweating. They were chasing animals around. They were building barns. And when they came back, they were thrilled to death. Trey goes, I think I want to be a farmer. If I hadn't already set my life goals. And so when we look at it and you think about it, why? Because they've seen the leaders. They've seen the adults. They've seen us. They've seen us serve, and so therefore, they want to serve. So the pastor's told, and it feeds into the congregation, and the last is the reward. And the reward's not just for the pastors. The reward's for all of us. And so when he talks about the reward, he says there's an appearing, there's something that's happening. And what's happening is the chief shepherd's coming. He's going to appear. We're going to see him. He's going to be manifest. We don't know when. We don't know where. Well, we know he's coming from the east, because the Bible says he's coming from the east. He'll come to the east gate of the city of David, of Jerusalem. So we know that's the direction. And so all cemeteries of Christian cemeteries, you're always buried facing the east. Why? So you'll be facing Christ when he comes back. When you come up out of the grave, you'll be facing that direction. He won't sneak up on you. You're going to see him. He's going to come. All eyes will behold him. Christ our Chief Shepherd is going to appear. And when He comes, He's bringing it with Him. He's bringing his reward with him. The reward's crown, a Stephanos, not a diadem, a Stephanos. You know, when they would race in the Greek Olympics, they would give them a wreath for a crown, a Stephanos. They'd weave together olive leaves or some form of temporary crown, and you know, anything that's made from plants, how long is it going to last? Not long. You know, I remember buying Frances her Valentine's flowers the weekend before Valentine's and putting them in the garage. And they were beautiful when I put them out there. By the time she got them on Valentine's, they looked sick. The petals were all over the deep freeze, the leaves were withered up, and they had lost their luster. They were not quite the prize I had bought, you know, because they had faded. Well, we don't get the diadem, not in this picture, but we get a crown that's not going to lose its leaves. It's not going to fade. The honor's not going to fall off. It's not the crown. It's not going to be wearing the royal diadem that Christ will wear, being the king of glory. But we will have this honor crown for running the race and completing the course. And he says this crown is a glory. It's glory's crown. But like you to consider, he says that in back in verse one, he says, we are fellowshipping in the glory that's about to be revealed. So the two are the same. He begins and he ends with the same. that we're as a partaker. I'm just one of the many that are going to share in this glory that's going to come. What is that glory? Christ is going to give us a crown. And we will wear a crown that won't fade off, it's not the king crown, but it will be a crown that will honor us, and it's unfading, it's undiminishing, and it will be glorious because it will come with Christ when he comes in all his glory. And so I think that as we look at Peter's admonition here at the end of the first century and here towards the end of Peter's life, I think that the things that we find is this, that when we come to church as a serious matter, that we're not, I mean, this isn't recess. This isn't when we're in elementary school and we're playing with the colors. This is serious. When we come together, there's great responsibility. There's something to be accomplished. And what's to be accomplished is the value of each one of us, that each one of us is being ministered to, and each one of us is serving, and each one of us is caring for the congregation, and that the heaviest burden of doing that and seeing it accomplished is me. And not because I chose to be, but because you chose for me to be that for you, and to be that leader. And so it's a necessity laid upon me by Christ that I pray for you, that I pray for you regularly, I pray for you often, that I know you, that you're not a stranger to me, that I know each one of you. But it's also incumbent upon you that you pray for me because the responsibility is more, Paul said to the Corinthians, we are not sufficient for this. This is not our ability. We are not sufficient for this. And yet, in these jar clays, these earthen vessels, God has chosen to place his honor. And so we all come humbly before God. And we ask the Lord, God, help us to see our responsibility, first to him and then to one another. And may your church be glorious because it's being done the way that you've asked it to be done. Let's stand. Soft and tender is Jesus's calling. See on the portal she's waiting and watching, watching for you and for me. Come home, come home. Ye who are weary, come home. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father God, we thank you that you have called us to be a church, that you've called us to love one another, and you've called us to serve you through one another. God, thank you for all that you have accomplished through us. and all that you have glorified yourself in us. God, we thank you for the men and for the women that you have called to serve here, for all the responsibilities, for everything that's done. God, to your glory and to your honor. And so we pray for one another. We ask God for you to bless those that are sitting to our right and left and in front and behind us, to bless them, bless them this week. God to give them direction, Lord. If it's at their workplace, that, God, they know how to pray for their coworkers, that they know how to speak to their coworkers. God, if it's with our neighbors at home, that, God, we know how to love our neighbors and to demonstrate Jesus Christ to them. And Father, if it's at the grocery store, at Walmart, at the gas station, wherever we may be out in the day, God, may Jesus Christ be glorified. May he be honored. May our words reflect his glory. And may we bring him great honor and pleasure. Lord, we thank you. We give you all the praise and the glory and the honor for it's in Jesus' name. Amen. Before we close with our hymn, some of you have noticed that some of our guys are running around here in shorts. And anyway, there is an ice bucket challenge. And so if you would enjoy mutual entertainment this evening, then there's a few of us that got nominated last Sunday night to get ducked. And so if you would like to enjoy the humor of it, then come outside and I think There's a few of us that are going to get wet this evening for a good cause, which is going to cost us money as well. And so I hope that you'll stay and enjoy that with us. Ron, if you'd close us with a hymn.