1 Timothy 4, the text tonight will be verse 10, and we'll read the entire chapter. This is the Word of God. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. For, therefore, we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe. These things command and teach. Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things. Give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee." Thus far we read God's Word. The text, as I said, is verse 10. For therefore, we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe. Let's pray together. Father in Heaven, we need this Word tonight, and we're thankful for it. We need this Word because we need to be encouraged in godliness. It's one of the great struggles that we face in this life, walking in godliness, when that is contrary to our own sinful flesh, and it's contrary to the wicked world that is around us. We pray, Father, that we would see and understand that godliness is not easy, but yet in the midst of that, may we be encouraged because of what lies ahead. The hope that there is for us in Jesus Christ, And so we pray that through this word that thy servant brings to us, we would be encouraged to live and practice godliness. Grant to thy servant the strength he needs to proclaim this word in truth. He does this work completely dependent upon thee and dependent upon the Holy Spirit working in him and that it will work in us as well. This we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Begin with this question, why should we have a sermon on this text? It might seem like a bit of a strange question because why not have a sermon on any text of the Word of God? We might say, well, it's in the Word of God, have a sermon on it, it's in the series. It will be easy to skip over this verse tonight. because it's so connected with what goes before when we consider the calling to exercise ourselves unto godliness. But two reasons why it's important for us to consider this text. The first is because of what's found at the end of the verse. In fact, after the last time I preached in the series and looked at verses 6 through 8, we read this entire chapter, a couple of people came up to me afterwards and said, I'm looking forward to getting to verse 10 because of the end of the verse when it says that God is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe. I think any one of us as Reformed Christians can sit down and study this and come to an explanation of the end of this verse quite easily. So my reason for preaching the text is not primarily that, but it's an important part of why I have a sermon on this text. But more importantly, it's because of the connection to the context that we must hear this word that is found in this text tonight. This passage explains why we must exercise ourselves unto godliness. It's a further explanation of that. And so that means for us, we have to go back and remember a few things that we considered in the context. And I want to show to you that the verse here is very strongly connected to the context. I'm going to give a couple different readings, translations, of what we have here. Better translations, we might say. It's not that the King James Version is wrong, but just a better translation that helps us understand a couple of things. First of all, at the beginning of verse 10, we read in our Bibles, For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach. Better translation. For into this also we labor and suffer reproach. Into this also we labor and suffer reproach. So the question is, what's the this? And that this refers back to godliness. So you could even insert that. For into this, into this godliness also, we labor and suffer reproach. So we see from that that the text we consider tonight is strongly connected to its context. And so we have to remember tonight what godliness is. Remember what we said about that a few weeks ago. Godliness is to have an awe and reverence for God. And where there is an awe and reverence of God, it's not that we're afraid of Him and run from Him, but there's a desire for Him. Where there's godliness, there's a hunger and thirst for God Himself. And then that godliness, as it's found in our lives, is a Christ-likeness. It's to be recreated in the image of Jesus Christ, and we're being molded and shaped by God to reflect Christ, and really to reflect God Himself in righteousness, holiness, and true knowledge. And then this godliness is reflected in a life of obedience. And you'll remember that when we looked at the passage before, we said that this godliness is the great goal of God for our lives, that we're growing in this. And therefore, we are to exercise ourselves unto godliness. The text is explaining why we should do this. But doing so from this perspective, it's being realistic about godliness. Where you find godliness, there's labor and there is suffering reproach. There will be persecution. There will be despising of this godliness. Now, on the surface, when we consider that, who of us wants to be involved in something that involves toil, labor, and involves reproach, being hated and despised? It's our natural inclination to resist those things, to run from those things. If there's something that's going to cause me suffering in this life, and it's really hard work, we might say, I don't want that. I don't want that. And that might be our tendency with godliness as well, to just be, well, God works godliness, I'm just content where I'm at, and that's okay. And then we don't exert ourselves, we don't exercise ourselves, we don't practice this godliness because we don't want that labor, we don't want that toil, and we don't want the reproach that comes with it. But the passage is telling us, yes, there's labor and reproach, but there's hope. Beautiful hope. Hope that's set before us here in the future. And so that's the big picture of the passage. It's speaking to us about why we practice godliness, even though there's labor in it and reproach. And then, why we go through all of that is because the hope that we have in the living God. So we consider this text then, really with this question, why practice godliness? We notice in the first point that toil, That labor and reproach, which is hard and difficult. But secondly, the hope that we have in God. This is why we go through that toil, that labor and reproach, and then for whom this is, for those who believe. So notice first, the labor and reproach. But keeping in mind the question, why practice godliness? A godliness that means labor and reproach. The idea here of the text is that where we are practicing or exercising ourselves unto godliness, there will be labor and there will be reproach. First of all, we look at the labor. Where you're practicing and exercising unto godliness, there will be labor. What is labor? Well, the idea of the word labor is it refers to the toil and hard work that there is. But now, this is not referring to the toil and hard work that we might have in our everyday lives in the work and callings that God has given to us. As God has called us to labor, to work in six days, and then we rest the seventh, It's not speaking of that kind of physical labor or the labor of the mind in the work that we have, but instead it's talking about the labor and toil of the ministry on behalf of the Kingdom of God. Paul has in mind here the labor specifically of the ministry of the Word. That's evident from the wording here of the text, for we both labor. He's speaking of we. He's speaking of himself and Timothy as ministers of the Gospel, first of all. So he's talking here about the toil and labor that there is for the minister of the Gospel on behalf of God's kingdom. Remember what the goal of that is. The goal of the ministry is the aim and goal of godliness. So we'll keep that before our minds as well. Godliness. It was striking looking at this whole concept, how often the Apostle Paul speaks of the labor and toil of the ministry. He does it in this book later on in chapter 5, verse 17, when he says, let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor In the Word and Doctrine, the same word is found there in verse 17. If you go back to 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 12, he speaks of it there, And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you. Colossians 1, verse 29, speaks of that same labor in the work of the ministry. He says, Whereunto I also labor, striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily." So there's work, there's labor, independence upon the Spirit, independence upon Jesus Christ, but nonetheless, there's labor involved in the work of the ministry. I don't intend here to set before you some kind of explanation of the work of the ministry so you feel sorry for it. No, we all have our labor and our toil. A specific kind in the ministry. And Paul knew that. Think about his own life and his work. As he brought the Gospel on mission fields, he was dealing with many who were first Jews and then others who were Gentiles. Dealing with different backgrounds. He was dealing with people who were young in the faith, so that they would lay hold of the truth of the Word of God and do so with great excitement at first. But then, over time, false teachers would come, like in the churches in Galatia. the Judaizers, who were saying, yes, you need Christ, but you also need to keep all of the Old Testament laws, and you can't be saved apart from keeping those. And then Paul had to go back and said, oh foolish Galatians, who had bewitched you? Who had taught you something different? Why are you following them? I taught you something very different. He was dealing with that within the church, the difficulties of that, of planting churches and doing mission work, and making disciples of people in obedience to Jesus Christ in the Great Commission. There's the labor of preaching sound doctrine, establishing proper church government, and worshiping God in a way that is right and good. Paul's speaking of that labor and toil in the ministry. But why is there labor and toil? And it's not just for the ministry, but for all of us. The answer is the same. There's labor and toil because of sin. Now, it wasn't that Adam and Eve didn't work hard before the fall. But we know what the fall did to their work. It meant that work was hard because there was opposition to that work. The farmer knows that, and anybody who has a garden knows that. The weeds very quickly take over if you don't do something about the weeds. It's because of sin. And so to have a garden, to be a farmer and to labor there, there's labor involved with that. So also in the work of the ministry, there's labor in that the struggle is because of sin. It's because in their sin people hold on to wrong teachings and wrong thinking as well, like the Galatians that I spoke of a moment ago. There's a struggle with godliness. We hear the Word, we're to live in godliness. We sing of the godliness that we're to live in. But for every one of us here tonight, it's a struggle. It's a struggle. And we, because we want to live for self, and we live for the pleasures of this world, and we want to do what feels good for us, instead of doing what God calls us to do and dying to self, as we are called to do. It's a struggle for pastors, not because we as pastors are dealing with people who are struggling with sin and struggling with wrong thinking. It's not just because of that, but because we have the same struggle. I have the same struggle that you have. struggle to live in godliness and to live by truth and not to be influenced by wrong thinking in this world or in the church world as well. So there's a labor here, a labor that's part of preaching and teaching the same things over and over again because we need to hear the same things over and over again. But understand that when we speak of this labor with the goal of godliness, That it's not just something that's difficult for the minister of the gospel, but this labor is something that we all experience on behalf of God's kingdom. Any parent tonight does exactly what I'm talking about when I say, labor on behalf of the kingdom. Parenting is labor. It's hard work on behalf of the kingdom. Because how often don't you mothers repeat yourself to your children? Say the same things over and over again. You discipline them for the same things. You discipline them over and over again. That's the labor and the toil of parenting. We want instant parenting. We want instant sanctification for our children. But it does not happen that way. The great struggle is the sinful nature of man in our children and in us as parents. This is the struggle in witnessing to others. Maybe we're talking to others about the truth of the Word of God and they may lay hold on something. They say, yeah, I agree with that. I see that. And then a while later, then they don't. Or we're working with someone and talking to them about godliness and they see it, but then they slide. And that's also what happens when we stand alongside others within the church in messy situations. Maybe for a while a person listens to us and it's going well when we admonish and love with the truth of the Word of God, but then there are times it doesn't go well. And they don't listen. They don't want to hear us. And they resist it. And they turn away from it. And it's hard work. And we just as soon be done with it all. No, it's labor. Labor on behalf of the Kingdom of Christ. But also we know this labor in our own lives for godliness. to grow in godliness, to exercise ourselves into godliness requires labor. Not that we do it ourselves. We depend upon the Holy Spirit. But there's labor involved with it. It's hard work to grow in godliness. It's not just opening our Bibles for a few minutes and flipping through and reading a few verses. But it requires study, diligent study, taking that Word and applying it to our very lives There's prayer involved, and prayer can be hard work as well. Even though we're talking to our God, there's a labor that is part of that. And then, living that out daily, striving against the old man of sin, and the struggle that there is within us, and all of the influences of this world. It's labor. Labor and godliness. Along with that, This practice of godliness results in suffering reproach. Suffering reproach essentially is persecution for the sake of the gospel. It's to be despised and hated for the sake of the gospel and for the sake of living in godliness. Sometimes that reproach can take the form of words that are spoken against us. Sometimes this can result in physical persecution. torture, beatings, imprisonment, and even death. The Scriptures give to us examples of this suffering reproach. The highest example of this, and it's striking, the very word that we have in the text, is used for what our Savior Jesus Christ endured in His suffering, especially at the hands of the malefactors who were hanging next to Him upon the cross, and even before the one was converted. The word that is used is the word that we find here in the text. They reproached Him so that Jesus suffered reproach as He hung there upon the cross that was part of the suffering that He went through. And then Romans 15 verse 3 speaks of this as well. Romans 15 verse 3. For even Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell on me." So the word reproach is there. Same word we have here in the text. Jesus himself was reproached. Why? Because of course he was godly. He's the Son of God, and he was perfect in his life, and he was doing what was right, and he was hated and despised for it. The Apostle Paul knew this kind of reproach. He speaks of this often in the epistles. He went from being a persecutor to being persecuted. And then we have a description of that in 2 Corinthians 11. It's quite a description. 2 Corinthians 11, verses 23 through 28. I'm just going to read this. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. In labors more abundant. So there he uses the word labor, the toil of the work. And this is what's included in it. In stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods. Once was I stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I have been in the deep. and journeyings often, and perils of waters, and perils of robbers, and perils of mine own countrymen, and perils by the heathen, and perils in the city, and perils in the wilderness, and perils in the sea, and perils among false brethren, and weariness, and painfulness, and watchings often, and hunger, and thirst, and fastings often, and cold, and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care, of all the churches. Labor and suffering reproach. Right there in those verses, that's what Paul is speaking of. This also is what we as the people of God experience in our lives when we stand for what is true and right. We will be reproached for godliness. We are today and it will only increase as history goes on. Think of the many ways in which we might endure this and suffer this already and will in the world in which we live. When you, in our day, call divorce sin. When you say that remarriage also is sin if the spouse has not died, the spouse is still living. Think of the reproach that comes, not only from the world, but even from many within the church world. When we stand for biblical truth, there will be reproach. When it comes to homosexuality and transgenderism today, there's reproach. When we stand for protecting life and the sanctity of life and say abortion and euthanasia and everything that goes along with it, that is all wrong. There will be reproach in our day and in the days to come. For men who stand strong on Sabbath observance and say, even though their employer may be pressing them and squeezing them and saying, we need you to work on Sunday. And we say, no, we will not. There will be reproach. And the Bible tells us that one day even, we will not be able to buy and sell because we're standing with Christ And for the truth of His Word and in godliness, are we ready to go through that? That's the suffering reproach of which the text speaks. That's difficult. Who wants that? We would much rather have a life of ease and convenience and little reproach and little labor. This goes against the very thinking of the world in which we live. Work as little as possible to get as much as you can. There's the age of entitlement that this age is called, where so many think they're entitled to things without working for them or laboring for them. We just deserve them and we ought to have them. These are our rights. But the Word of God says, no one, there's godliness. There's labor. There's toil. And there's persecution. So we might ask with all of that, you children might ask, you young people might ask, we all might ask then, if the pursuit of godliness, if the practice of godliness includes this, why? Why go through it? Why endure all of this, this labor and this reproach? That's what the text here is getting at for us. Why go through it when that's all part of it? And the answer of the text is, it's because of the hope that we have in the living God. Now, here's the second translation matter that I set before you tonight. Because we trust in the living God. That word trust there, It's good, but there's more to it. It's the trust that there is because of hope. The actual word there is the Greek word for hope, because we hope in the living God, and part of that hope is trusting in the living God. We practice godliness, even with the labor and reproach that is involved in it, because of the hope that we have of full salvation in the living God. Beloved, what we're doing tonight is we're counting the cost of discipleship and godliness. We're counting the cost. We're weighing things. On the one hand, there's labor and reproach, but on the other hand, There's hope in the living God. Or maybe some of you are list makers. You're going to make a decision about something, you make a list of the pros and the cons. So here it is with godliness. This is what's included with godliness. It's labor, toil, reproach on the one side, but on the other side, there's hope in the living God. And what the text does is, it says really there's no comparison. the labor, the toil, the reproach, it's all worth it because of the hope that we have in God. What is this hope? Well, hope is this. It's the certainty of future good. With hope, there's a future idea of that which is to come. So, you have that contrast here in the text. On the one hand, presently, Labor. Reproach. But future, there's something good to come. There's something good to come. So hope has to do with the future, and it's the certainty of future good. When it comes to that future, there's a certainty of good that will come. There is that certainty, which is a full confidence that there is good. That's very different than the way that we speak of hope. You think about the future, we hope something will happen. Hope it will be a nice day tomorrow. Hope maybe the first day of school it's not going to be too hot. Whatever it might be. But we don't know if that will happen for sure. We don't know the future. But this part of the future we do know because God says it will come to pass. The future is certain. We know what will happen. It's very striking that even going back to the Old Testament in a moment, in the Old Testament, there's a prophetic tense. So as prophecies come to the people of God in the Old Testament, they came in such a way that in the grammar of the Hebrew, it was as if it was already completed. That's how we ought to think of future hope, of that which is to come for us. It's so certain, it's as if it's already done. The Old Testament saints, the coming of Christ was so certain, according to the plan of God and the Word of God, it was as if it had already happened. And so also, that's true for us when it comes to this hope. That's how certain it is. It's not 99.9%. It's 100%. This will happen. That's what we understand and know regarding the future. And that's why it is then that we're willing to go through the labor and the reproach that is found in godliness now. So the question is, what is this future good that outweighs the labor and the reproach that we go through now? A couple of things. First of all, it's growth and sanctification. It's the work of God in purifying us. It's the work of God in refining us. He's putting us through the refiner's fighter so that the dross of our sin is burned off and we reflect God and our Savior Jesus Christ more and more. The future good that God has for us is not just future, meaning after this life, but it's future as we go forward that God is sanctifying us. He's giving us growth in holiness and in godliness. Remember what godliness is. It's a Christ-likeness reflected in obedience. It's an awe and reverence for God and godliness that in this life is growing in us. That's the sure hope we have. This growth. God's working all things in our life for the accomplishing of that. I'll be more like Him. The second thing is the end of everlasting life with God that we just sang about a few moments ago in Psalm 17. It's a life of perfect fellowship with God without sin. The best of this life should be our fellowship with God. But, it's a fellowship that's still stained with sin, our sin. It's not full and complete yet. And that's the beauty of heaven. Then, life with God, full and complete. Why? No more sin. No more struggle with that sin. No more labor against that sin. And no more of the reproach that comes with that as well, living in a sinful world. No more temptation. No more attacks of the devil as well. But everlasting life with God, serving and glorifying Him, perfect godliness before Him forevermore. We know the beauty of good friendships, of close friendships, and of close and godly marriages as well. How sweet that is. But as sweet as that is in this life, the Word of God tells us there's something higher and better. It's our relationship with God. The love that He has for us and the love that we have for Him and serving Him and glorifying Him forever. One day when we die, we're going home. That is our sure hope. 100% certain. This is ours. This is ours as the people of God. This future good is certain. And this is why we exercise ourselves into godliness. The future hope has implications for what we're doing right now. That future hope encourages us in a life of godliness. It doesn't discourage us. It doesn't say, well, you know, in the end, it really doesn't matter. God's taking me to heaven anyway. So it doesn't really matter so much how I live. No, having hope, this hope changes everything, including what we live for. When we have this hope, we're going to be living for godliness. This is why we'll walk in godliness, why we want to grow in godliness, why we're going to fight against sin in our lives. There's that connection between a certain future hope and my present, everyday life. There's one other thing we have to face here when we consider this hope. What makes it certain? Why can I tell you this is 100% certain? Not 99.9%, not 90%, not 80%, not 50% or lesser, but 100% certain. Well, the text tells us. The text says, we hope, we trust in the living God. There it is. We trust in the living God who is the Savior. Those two things. He is the living God. What does that mean? Well, it means that God is always living. He is a God who cannot and does not die. He is a God who does not change. He is always the living God. He is the God who eternally lives. He is the God who has no beginning and no end. What an amazing thing to be called the living God. It has his eternity part of it, but also the fact that he doesn't change. He is this eternal, unchanging God who is living. And that's why this hope of ours is certain. God cannot be defeated. His purposes cannot be defeated. This hope that we have cannot be taken away. Nothing can, because He is the living God. And part of that is that He's the source of life. He's a life-giving God. We sing that in Psalter number 287, versification of Psalm 104. What we sing is, Thy Spirit, O Lord, makes life to abound. What we find in Psalm 104 is that God is a God who, through His Spirit, gives life to this creation. And the point is to see not only that He gives life to the creation, but He gives life to His people. He's the source of life for us, and when He gives life, He doesn't just give it partially, He gives it fully. That's the hope we have. The fullness of everlasting life. Spiritual life with Him forevermore. And this is certain as well, because this living God is our Savior. This living God is our Savior. He is a God who saves us from our sin. And of course, we know how He does that. It's by the finished work of Jesus Christ. On the cross, He sealed our pardon and washed away all our sins, because there He bore the punishment of our sins. He bore what we deserve for every one of our sins, and He earned for us all of the blessings of salvation. But also, God in salvation gives to us the Holy Spirit. On the basis of the cross, God through Jesus Christ pours out the Spirit upon His church so that we have life. spiritual life, abundant life, He gives us new hearts. He takes away the stony and hard hearts that we have by nature, and He restores us in the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. And now, this is why this hope is certain. It's because God is the living God who saves, and He saves to the very end, with that Meidelberg Catechism just recently. Jesus Christ is not only the only Savior, but He's the complete Savior. Lord's Day 12. He's a complete Savior. He saves us to the very end. God saves us to the very end. And so this hope for us is certain because it's built on who God is and what God does in Jesus Christ. So again, the encouragement. Walk in godliness. Yep, there's labor. There's reproach in it. But walk in godliness. Why? Because here's the end. Here's the reward of grace. Here's what is ours in Jesus Christ. Everlasting life with God and on the way, growth in godliness. Who is this for? Well, that's the end of the verse. And for some, what you've been waiting for, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe. What's the idea here? Why is it put this way? There are a couple of wrong explanations of this. Let me deal with those wrong explanations first. Some would say that this means God saves all men. God saves all men. There it is. The living God is the Savior of all men. especially of those that believe. So there would be the universalistic interpretation of the passage saying, God will save everybody and everybody one day will believe. But that, of course, is not what the text is teaching. Because who is saved is qualified by those who believe. And not everybody believes. And the Scriptures are very clear on that. The second explanation of this text is the more prevalent one. It's the explanation that God desires to save all men, but He only saves those who believe. So when we read in the text that He is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe, they say there are two categories of the goodness or the grace or the mercy of God. There's a grace and mercy of God for all because He desires to save all men, but then there's the actual saving mercy of God only for those who believe. As I said, this is the prevalent explanation of this in the church world today. But that is not at all what the text says. The text does not say that He is the Savior who desires to save all men, but only those are saved who believe. That's to add something to the passage. What is the right explanation of it? Well, God is the Savior of all men. We came across this concept earlier in our study of this book of 1 Timothy in chapter 2, verse 6. I call your attention to that. It speaks of Christ who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. And then verse 4 with that as well, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. I believe the Apostle Paul is using the all here in the very same way that he did in chapter 2. The all there and the all here refers to all kinds of men. God doesn't just save Jews, but He saves Gentiles. He saves His people out of all of the nations of the world. And so that's what Paul is saying here. He's saying here that He is the Savior of all men, And then specially, you could put in there instead of specially, that is those who believe. And that's consistent with the teaching of Scripture in so many other passages. God saves believers. That's who God saves. It doesn't mean salvation is dependent upon their belief. It's not at all what it's saying. But instead, this is who God saves. Believers out of all the nations, of the world, all of his people that come to faith. Who come to faith in Jesus Christ because God works in their hearts so that they believe. And that's how scripture so often describes those who are saved. It's from the perspective of the faith that God works in them. So that's the understanding of it. Now, we have to face this question. Are we believers? Are we believers? Are we believers in Jesus Christ? Do we know Christ? Do we know not only about Him, but know His love, know His promises, know the promises of the Word of God? As a people of God, we say, yes, by the grace of God, I am a believer. I am what I am by the grace of God. How beautiful to make such a confession. That means we have hope. The hope of growth unto everlasting life. But that also means then practicing godliness is worth it. The labor, the toil and the persecution is worth it. Godliness is beautiful. before God. And the result of that in Jesus Christ is everlasting life. How beautiful that is. So why practice godliness because of this hope? May we be encouraged. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we are thankful for this word that thou has given to us tonight. and encouragement to walk in godliness. We need that because we understand and know the labor and toil of walking in it, and the labor and toil that is part of being a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. And we know reproach. How difficult it can be to stand for what is true and right, and be scoffed and ridiculed by those who are around us. Father in Heaven, strengthen us presently that we would practice and exercise ourselves unto godliness and the power of the Holy Spirit, knowing that which is to come, the hope that is ours in Jesus Christ. May that which is to come encourage us right now, so that we would live for what is true and right. Father in Heaven, go with us in this week, that we would live in godliness, that we would reflect Thee, our God, in the way in which we live our lives, in our homes, and in our work as well. We ask for thy blessing upon us in this night and the fellowship that we enjoy. Pray for thy blessing upon time we have together as well to discuss biblical counseling. We pray, O God, again for thy blessing upon that time, but also the consistory and the decisions that they must make. May we come to understand together how it is that we are to proceed and what is true and right before thy face. We pray all of this in Jesus name. Amen.