We continue tonight our series on the book of First Timothy, turning again to chapter three of First Timothy. Looked in previous sermons at the qualifications for elders and then for deacons and the work of the elders and the deacons within the church. And now tonight we come to verses 14 and 15. of the chapter. We'll read again the entirety of 1 Timothy chapter 3. This is a true saying. If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, must he fall into reproach in the snare of the devil. Likewise, must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience, and let these also first be proved, then let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless. Even so, must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. Thus far, we read God's holy and inspired word. As I said, the text is verses 14 and 15. These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." Let's pray. Father, we come together to learn In the preaching tonight about the church, we pray that thou will give to us understanding of the doctrine of the church as that is set before us in this passage. Strengthen thy servant as he proclaims this word that he may set before us what is true and right concerning the church as the pillar and ground of the truth. We pray also, Father, that we may live this as a congregation. And we may learn what it is that we are to be in the midst of this world, especially as there are many who would say that the church must do something very different than this. We pray, Lord, that we would be faithful, loving the truth of thy word and defending that truth as well. We ask that through this word, thy name would be honored and praised. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. In these verses that are before us, Timothy explains why it is that he wrote this epistle to Timothy and through Timothy to the church in Ephesus. You'll remember at the beginning of the series that I said this is not only a book to Timothy, but it's a book to the church in Ephesus. You could call it second Ephesians almost, because that is the case. But Paul's explaining here in the text why he wrote the epistle. And he's explaining as well why it is that he has addressed the things that he has addressed so far in this epistle. He has been addressing good order in the church. So let's go back for a moment and remember the things that we have looked at just in a general way as we have gone through these first three chapters in the book of 1 Timothy. As I said, Paul is setting before us what is good order in the Church. In chapter 1, broadly, the Apostle Paul had in view the preaching of the Gospel. And he explained there the importance of sound preaching. The preaching of sound doctrine. In chapter 2, the Apostle Paul addressed the worship of the church. You might say there is a manual for worship within the church. And he especially focused on prayer, congregational prayer. And then, of course, that congregational prayer is to be led by the men of the church, and then that led into a place of considering the place of women within the church, and that they are to remain silent and not usurp the authority that God has given to men. And that led into chapter three, a look at the offices within the church, especially the offices of elder and deacon. But pastor is somewhat included in that as well, especially when it comes to the qualifications. God has ordained these offices in the church and he demands that the church choose spiritually qualified men. So the question is, as we look back at all of those things, the question is, why was all of that important? Paul tells us here, why a consideration of all of that, preaching of sound doctrine, right worship of God, ordaining, appointing qualified men within the offices, Paul explains here why all of that is important. It's important because of what the church is. And that's what we have set before us in the passage, what the church is. First of all, the church is the church of the living God. The church is the house of God, but this especially, the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. Because the church is the pillar and ground of the truth, All of these things that we've looked at are important, and that's what we must see tonight, the relationship of this text to everything that has gone before in the book of 1 Timothy. But what we learn about is especially this, the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. And when we consider that tonight, we should understand right at the beginning what is meant here by the church. you'll remember that there are different ways that we can think of the church. Sometimes when we think of the church, and the Bible sets the church before us, it's referring to all of the elect. All of the elect make up the one church of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not what Paul has in view here. But instead, what Paul has in mind is the local congregation, a body of believers, in which there are offices, there's a pastor, there are elders, and there are deacons. There is a membership in which there is the functioning together as a body. As Paul here is writing to Timothy about the church, he has in mind the church in Ephesus, with Timothy as their pastor, having elders and deacons as well. And so we see and understand for us tonight that this passage has in mind a body of believers, a congregation. Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church, as a body of Jesus Christ, is a pillar and ground of the truth. So we want to keep that in mind and understand what that means for us as a congregation, that we are a pillar and ground of the truth. So we consider tonight that. The church as the pillar and ground of truth. We want to understand first the idea of this, secondly the reason that the church is this, and that's rooted in what the passage teaches us about the church outside of that, and then finally the conduct that follows. Then looking back and seeing the relationship of church's pillar and ground of the truth to everything that has gone before. Pillar and ground of the truth. That's what the church is. We see there a figure of speech, pillar and ground, really pillar and foundation. So when you think of church from the perspective of a building, and that's another figure that is used in the scriptures for this, and even in this passage is called the house of God, there is building pictures that are used here. Pillar and foundation. We know what pillars do. Pillars hold up the roof of a building. And those pillars can only hold up the roof of a building when there's a solid foundation under them. Maybe you think of the large beams of our own church building here. They're very large beams. Think of those as pillars that are obviously holding up the roof And they hold up the roof because there's a solid foundation that is under each of those pillars or beams. That's the figure. That's the idea. And what that tells us is that the church, as pillar and ground of the truth, is that the church upholds and supports the truth of God's Word. The idea here is that the Church's pillar and ground of the truth supports the glorious truth of the Gospel. The Church upholds the truth of God's Word. Now, that's a striking figure. And it's very different from other figures that we find in the Scriptures. I think especially of Ephesians chapter 2 and Matthew 16 verse 18. At the end of Ephesians chapter 2, We read that the church, as the household of God, is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. And then in Matthew 16, verse 18, Jesus says to Peter, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I build my church. Peter's not the rock, but the confession that he made earlier when he said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. The idea in those passages is that the truth of the Word is the foundation for the church, and the church is built upon that foundation. I say again, that's a very different figure than what we have here in the text. Instead, as it were, the truth of the Word of God is the roof, and it's supported by the church as pillar and ground of the truth. What the text does is it teaches us here the relationship between the church and the truth of the Word of God. The church is not the source of truth. The church does not determine what truth is. But instead what the church does is it upholds, supports, and maintains the truth that God has given. That's what Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church is called to do, support that truth of the Word of God. Now before we look at what that means exactly and how the church does that, we should understand clearly as well what the truth is. The text says that the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. Three things we want to notice about that truth. Not exhaustive, but three things. First of all, that this truth is the truth of God. It's not our truth. It's not my truth. It's not the Protestant Reformed Church's truth. It's not Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church's truth. But the truth is the truth of God. That means that the source of this truth is God himself. Now, that's important to understand in our day, because remember that one of the great errors of the Roman Catholic Church is that the church determines what truth is almost to the degree that the church itself is the source of truth. That would be their viewpoint, and it's a very wrong viewpoint. It's not the Church that determines what truth is. God Himself determines what truth is, and He reveals that truth to His Church. God does that, of course, through the Holy Scriptures, through that Word of the Living God that has been sent down from Heaven, and we have in print and language that we can understand so that we can read it and know what truth is. So what is the source of truth? God is the source of truth as He reveals that truth in the Holy Scriptures. The second thing we want to understand about this truth is that this truth is the truth of the Gospel. Essentially, the truth is Jesus Christ. It's a person. It's Jesus Christ Himself. That's what Jesus himself reveals to us. John 14, verse 6, one of the great I am statements of Jesus. I am the way, the truth and the life. Along with that, we read in John 8 that Jesus Christ himself is the truth. Remember what we read in John 8, verse 32. There we read, and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. The question is, What is that truth that makes us free? Well, Jesus tells us later in the chapter in verse 36, which says, If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. So the truth that sets us free is Jesus Christ Himself. So what is the truth that God has given to the church? Well, yes, it's the truth about who I am. And it's the truth about who God is. But all of that is revealed in Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is the one who has come and revealed fully the way of salvation, and that He is the only way of salvation. Let us see and understand tonight that the truth is not simply memorizing a bunch of facts. Oh, there are facts to be memorized, and facts to be known, and facts that are collected, of course. But it's more than that. The truth is Jesus Christ. The truth is the Gospel, the good news of salvation in Him. And this is the truth that we love. This is the truth that is summarized in the Reformed Confessions. Again, that doesn't mean that the church determines what truth is and writes out what it thinks is truth. No, it's a summary of the truth of the Word of God. It comes out of the Scriptures. The authority of the Confessions is the Scriptures themselves. And so we see and understand that there in those confessions, we have summarized the truth that is found in the Word of God. So we see that this truth is from God. Secondly, this truth is Jesus Christ Himself, the truth of the Gospel. And thirdly, we see and understand tonight that this truth is absolute and timeless. This truth never goes out of style. This truth is not the latest fad. And then there's something else that comes along. No, this truth is timeless and it's absolute. How different that is from what the world says today and what many even in churches today say, no, they say that the truth changes and the truth not only develops, but there is a truth that is added to by external sources and it's constantly in flux. Now we know that the church does develop in its understanding of the truth, but the truth itself doesn't change, and the truth itself doesn't develop. Our understanding develops. But the truth is absolute, so that we say there are certain absolute statements when it comes to the truth of the Word of God. God is triune. It's an absolute. Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. Absolute. Jesus Christ is very God and very man and perfectly righteous. Absolute truth. That's the truth that God has given to his church. And now the text tells us that the church is the pillar and the ground of this truth of God. The church supports and upholds this truth that God has given by revelation. So the question that we face then is how? How does the church uphold, support, and maintain the truth of the gospel, the truth of God? How does the church do that with the truth that God has given to her? You can understand that with three D's. How does the church do this? Three D's. The first is the church digests this truth. Secondly, the church disseminates this truth. And thirdly, the church defends this truth. This is how the church upholds. This is how the church functions as pillar and foundation of the truth. First of all, the church digests the truth. The church takes the truth in. in the power of the Holy Spirit. We read the truth of the Word of God, and we hear the preaching that expounds that truth of the Word of God. We read and we hear in the power of the Holy Spirit, and we take that Word in, and we meditate upon that Word. We digest that Word in our souls, so that not only do we understand it, it's not just a matter of the mind, but also we live by it. And we love that truth so that, first of all, the church digests the truth of the Word of God. But in doing so, secondly, the church disseminates the truth. The church preaches the truth of the Word of God. The church does not keep this truth to herself. But instead, the church preaches that word and does so from the pulpit. But also the church sends out this truth among the nations of the world for the gathering of God's people out of those nations. So the church isn't quiet about this truth. And that's not just for the church and its official preaching through the ministry of the gospel from the pulpit and on the mission field. But that's also true for each of us as members of the church. We're not quiet. We don't cover it up. We speak of this truth in the midst of this world, and we live this truth in the midst of this world. This is part of how the church upholds and supports and maintains this truth. Thirdly, the church defends. So first digests, secondly disseminates, Thirdly, defense. The Church upholds the truth of God's Word by defending it. Now, this is needed because this truth is under constant attack. This truth is under attack with the teaching of false doctrine that can come into the Church The teaching of works righteousness that comes in so many different forms, and we see that and know that from church history. That's not the only error, that's a great error by which Satan seeks to turn the church away from the truth of the Word of God. And many other false doctrines as well that are a threat to the church. But often that focuses on the promotion of man and what he does, which takes away the church's dependence upon Christ. You see how this is related to the truth itself. The truth is Christ and Satan wants to take our attention off of Christ. But a threat to the church is not just the false teachings and false doctrines that can come in. Even as I prayed that earlier, one of the great threats to the church is the thinking, the philosophies of the world in which we live. We often can become a product of our own culture. Take, for example, the psychology of our day. Other things that we can learn from psychology, don't get me wrong. But they have a very different worldview and very different perspective. It's not the perspective of sin and the need of redemption in Jesus Christ. But the viewpoint of psychology is basically man is good. And sin, well, most sins can be explained as disease. The problem is disease. And probably what you need is medication or ways to learn to cope with this disease that you might have. But so easily, that kind of thinking comes into the church as well. Part of psychology is blame shifting. You've got a problem in your life, and you're struggling in your life. Well, it's probably the fault of your parents, or the fault of someone else as well. And they point the finger always at someone else. We ought to consider too, from that perspective, and many other perspectives of what the world says and teaches, how much that influences our own thinking. And so in this world today, the church is called to defend truth and say, no, this is what truth is. That sin is not a disease. That sin is sin. And what you need is redemption and the cross of Jesus Christ. What you need to do is repent of your sin and believe in Jesus Christ. So the church, in her preaching then, must defend the truth and promote the truth of Jesus Christ. That means that in the preaching, especially in the writing of the church, there must be warning about error, false doctrine, but also the thinking of this world. Pointing that out to the church, all for the sake of emphasizing positively what is the truth of the Word of God. So 3Ds. This is how the church functions as pillar and foundation of the truth. Digesting, disseminating and defending the truth. This means in the end that the church holds on to the truth. The church loves the truth. The church loves to hear the truth and loves to speak the truth. And it's not just a matter of being right. But we love the truth and we defend the truth because in the end, the truth is Jesus Christ and we love him, so we handle it very carefully, and we love it with all our hearts and mind and soul and strength. The church, as we see here in the text, is pillar and ground of the truth. And the reason that the church is the pillar and ground of the truth is because of what the church is, as that is revealed in other parts of the text that we consider here tonight, in verse 15. So at the end of verse 15, we're told that the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. Why is that the case? Well, it's because of what comes just before that. The church is the house of God, and the church is the church of the living God. So those are the two things that we want to look at and understand as it reveals to us what the church is. First of all, the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. because the church is the house of God. The house of God. That's a rich concept and idea in the scriptures. When we think of house of God, probably the first thing we think of is the Old Testament temple. And we remember the idea of the Old Testament temple. The temple as the house of God was the place in picture form, where God was pleased to dwell with His people. It pictured that reality, that God was pleased to dwell with His people, and before the temple, the tabernacle. That place, that building, pictured God's covenant fellowship with His people, and therefore the experience of that covenant fellowship that the people had with God. You also find this concept and idea found in a name that's found in the Old Testament. The name is Bethel. And the Old Testament name Bethel means house of God. You may remember that the first time that that name is given, Jacob gave a place the name Bethel. This was when Jacob was fleeing from his own family, especially from his brother Esau, after tricking his father into giving him the birthright blessing. And so Jacob heads off on his own. He's heading to the home of Uncle Laban, going out of the promised land of Canaan. Jacob's all by himself. There's no motel for him to stop at at night. And so he finds a rock for a pillow and he lays his head down. And then God gives to him that dream. Remember that dream, kids, of angels that are ascending and descending on a ladder. And then at that time as well, Jehovah God speaks to him, and after that, Jacob names that place Bethel. It wasn't about a building that was there. The building in the Old Testament pictured that. It pictured God's presence with his people. And so we want to see and understand tonight that God is pleased to dwell in his church. And it doesn't matter where the building is. You remember the first building in which Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church worship was a barn. That direction, Spulman's Barn, over there somewhere. That was the place where he first met as a congregation for worship. It wasn't about the building, but God was present yet. Because the church is his people. Now, how is that connected to the reality that the church is pillar and ground of the truth? Well, in the church, God dwells with his people by revealing himself to his people. The church is the pillar and ground of the truth, upholding that truth, because God is the one who reveals that truth to the church. He gives that truth within the church. It reveals and shows His very presence in our midst. Because the church is the house of God, and He is pleased to dwell with us, and as He is pleased to dwell with us, He reveals to us His truth, then it follows from that, That we are the pillar and the foundation of that truth. We support that truth. We uphold that truth in the work that we are called to do as a congregation. That's what I want to see and understand tonight. The importance then of the truth for us. God reveals truth to us. We experience fellowship with Him in that way. And now He says, this is what you are because I do that. Because I reveal truth to you and speak this truth to you. This is why, as part of our church life and especially as part of our worship, that the reading of Scripture is so important. Scripture reading is not just something that goes along with a sermon and we would say, well, what's really important is just the text we're looking at. Now, an aspect of our worship, part of our worship is Scripture reading. In the morning we have that, especially when you hear the law of God, and then we have a Scripture passage that's read in connection with the sermon. But this is why it's also important, because in that Scripture reading, God is speaking truth and revealing truth to us, and we are called then to be pillar and foundation of that truth. This also is why the preaching of the gospel is so important within the church. God, through that preaching, which expounds this word to us, He's speaking truth to us. The truth that we are to uphold, the truth that we are to defend, the truth that we are to disseminate in our own lives and as a church and as churches. That's even why singing is so important, and what we sing is so important, and that we sing the truth of the Word of God. We sing the truth into our souls in that way, so that we learn the Psalms and know the Psalms, and our very minds and hearts are rooted in the truth of the Word of God. We see the importance in our worship of the truth of God, because the Church is the pillar and the foundation of the truth. Secondly, the church is the pillar and ground of the truth because she is the church of the living God. Again, another description of the church. The word church in the New Testament means literally called out. Church is made up of those who have been called out. Ekklesia. is the Greek term. We're the called out ones. We've been called out of the world of darkness and sin into the light of fellowship with our God. We have been called out of this world. That means that by nature we're part of this world. We're children of wrath. Remember the Apostle Paul in the book of Colossians, for example, he says, and so were you, as he talks about the mortification of the old man and what's part of that, and the sins that flow out of that. He says, so were you. You were part of that. So that's us. We were part of that world and we are by nature, but God has called His church out of the world. This church that He calls out is the church that He has chosen from before the foundation of the world, and the church then as well that is redeemed, and that church then that is called out by the preaching to be set apart from this world. We are called out effectually and powerfully by the Word of God. And it's not just by the Word, but also by the internal work of the Holy Spirit within us. What a power there is! And what a testimony the church is to the power of God! We see many displays of the power of God. A thunderstorm last night. Winds that can blow and cause all kinds of damage. What powerful displays in the creation. But our very presence here tonight is a powerful display of God's great supernatural power. That we are called out of this world of darkness to be His people. with whom He fellowships and in whom He delights. This is what we are, a people who are called out of this world. Now, we are pillar and ground of the truth because of what He has done in doing this. And thus, we are reminded tonight that this is exactly why the church The local congregation is the pillar and ground of the truth. This truth is not found in individuals. There's a danger in that. That a man, he gets a following and decides to set up his own church. Doesn't go through any proper channels. He's going to make his own. And we should see and understand tonight part of the wrongness of that is that God doesn't just entrust His truth to individuals so that they can determine for themselves what is true and right, and then they're going to set up shop themselves. No, it's within the established church and the way that He establishes and builds those churches. But what we see and understand as well tonight is that truth is not found out in the world. Now, we have to understand that rightly. That doesn't mean that there's nothing that is right or true that can be found out there, that you cannot find out anything true and right from a medical point of view or a scientific point of view from anybody who's not a Christian. I don't mean that. But when it comes to the truth of salvation, the truth about man, when it comes to spiritual truth and what it is that we must believe, truth is not found out there. It's not we don't take what's found out there and combine it with the scriptures. We know that when it comes to the origin of this world, we would never think of doing that. We don't take what's found in science and take what's found in the Bible and try to bring them together. It's trying to bring together two religions that are opposed to one another. And that's the idea we must understand here tonight as well. Truth is found within the Church because God has given to the Church the truth of the Word of God. Not because the Church determines it, but God gives to His Church the truth. The world is blind to this. Because this is true, the truth is precious to us and we know that it is powerful within the world as well. So the Church is the pillar and ground of the truth. The church disseminates this truth. The church defends this truth. And that is powerful as the church does it because that truth is powerful to defend and that truth is powerful to save. So the church, as made up of those called out by the grace of God, and coming together and assembling together for worship, that church, because of what God has done, defends that truth, disseminates that truth, and digests this truth of the Word of God. And it is precious to us. It's everything to us. Because that truth is Jesus Christ. That truth is the truth of our salvation. This truth is the truth of our relationship to God in Jesus Christ. And that's why, then, the church maintains and upholds this Truth. So this is the why. It's because of what the church is. But now we see and understand, as a result of all of that, that Paul is explaining why everything that has gone before has been important, and why conduct within the church, right conduct, is very important. It's because of this that church is the pillar and ground of the truth. Also, Paul here in the text is emphasizing the importance of the previous instruction. See that here. Verse 14, "...these things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I tarry long, if it is a long time before I am able to come, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God." Paul is saying, this is why I wrote these things. It may be a while before I can come. Now, with these things I've written to you, you may know how you ought to behave in the church." So that's why he wrote this epistle. All based upon this, the church is the pillar and the ground of the truth. So we go back again for a moment. Remember those things that we've looked at already? The importance of the preaching, of sound doctrine and that the goal and the focus of that preaching, as we saw in the beginning of chapter one, is love. This is important because the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. Chapter two, manual for worship. Congregational prayer as part of that, the leadership of men, and the silence of women, all of that's important because the church is the pillar and the foundation of the truth. Chapter 3, getting into that. The offices in the church, pastor, elder, deacon, having men who are qualified for those offices and understanding that and appointing the right men. This is important because the church is the pillar and the ground of the truth. And we can understand that relationship from this perspective. What happens when the conduct isn't right within the church? What happens when the preaching of sound doctrine goes by the wayside? And the focus of that preaching is not the love of God in Jesus Christ. What happens when the worship of the church is turned upside down? And there's a departure from what God says about worship within the church. And what happens when God's ordained order is departed from within the church? What I'm talking about is that men are to lead in the church, and there are to be qualified men in the offices as well. What happens when the church departs from that? Well, you see it. What happens when the church departs from all of that is at the very same time, what's going to be happening is the church is departing from the truth of the Word of God. The church is not functioning as a pillar and foundation of the truth. Conduct within the church is important for the sake of the defense and the dissemination of the truth of the word. of God. This is the relationship between the text and everything that has gone before and this is exactly why Paul is writing these things to Timothy for the church in Ephesus and for Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church today. All of this conduct within the church is important for the sake of the truth of the Word of God, its defense, and its proclamation as well. If the church is not faithful in her conduct in worship and in church government, she is weakened, a weakened support. Think about a pillar that's supposed to be holding up the roof. Think about one of these large beams, that there is a leak. And that beam begins to rot. And they all begin to rot. You've probably gone to the country and you've seen old barns there. And they've not been taken care of. The roof has not been repaired. And so there develops a small hole in it, which gets bigger and bigger. And that barn begins to rot. And then a strong wind comes. And you see these barns that are kind of halfway pushed over. And then soon a strong wind will come and it'll be pushed all the way over. You get the picture, the idea, what happens in the church. The truth of the word of God falls over, as it were. God's truth never goes away. But it leaves that church. It's not there anymore. That truth can be lost in the generations. That's one of the warnings here. The truth would be lost in the generations if we're not conducting ourselves rightly within the church. The church will not be what God has ordained and called her to be. There's the danger of departure from the truth of God's Word. So we see it all goes together. It's not just about truth. Truth is very important, but the conduct all around it goes to support that truth of the Word of God. This is why, then, we must not depart from good conduct within the church. And why, as well, we must not depart from the truth of God's Word. What a beautiful text that ties that all together. And we see what it is that we are. We are, as Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church, we are pillar and ground of the truth by the grace of God. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we are thankful for thy word tonight. We are thankful for the reminder of what we are in Jesus Christ and what great gifts that was given to us that was given us the richly positive by truth. We pray, oh God, that we love that truth and defend that truth and speak of that truth and preach that truth. Also, we pray that there would be right conduct within the church, right conduct that would uphold that truth that was given to us. We ask, O Lord, that in these days in which we live, that we would not depart, that we would be defended and protected from the false teachings that are all around us. Protect us and preserve us, O Father, and do that through the offices in the church and through the preaching in the church as well. Now bless us in the rest of this week as we go forward in the work and callings that Thou has given to us. We live to glorify and honor Thee and be faithful witnesses of Thee and Thy truth. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.