Father, I thank you, Lord, this morning that we can come to you and worship you. Lord, give us hearts to want to worship you more and more, not only in music, but in your word and the things that we see around us, Lord, the glorious things that you have made for us to enjoy while we're here in this place. Father, I pray that as we go through your word this morning that you would speak to our hearts, Lord. I pray for Joe and Zach as they're out hunting that you would just bless their time together and bless them with, I'm not sure if they're elk hunting or what, but just bless them, Lord. And I just thank you for all you do in Jesus' name, amen. I don't know if you've ever been around those two, but. Yeah, that's interesting. But I hope they're having a good time out there. It's really important. So last Thursday I taught, Joe will be back this Thursday, but last Thursday when I taught, I was in 1 Timothy chapter two. And it was actually talking about, there's a lot of things in there, you can go back and look at it, but we're talking about authority and having, and God's, Paul's understanding from God of, what that authority should look like in the church. And even though these books are called pastoral epistles, I really don't find any difference in how we should, what we're gonna read, how our conduct should be in a leadership position and how it should be anyhow. We're leading our homes. There's people around us all the time that hopefully we're influencing for the Lord, so our conduct I think should be the same, and it should be the same in church and out of church. So we talked about in the last chapter that men are held to a higher standard than women on their spiritual maturity or Well, it says, you know, Ephesians, it says, husband love your wife just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. So, you know, we're supposed to love our lives like Christ loved the church. That's a pretty high calling. In 1 Peter 3, 7, I'm gonna read the New Living Translation. And it says, in the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you, but she is your equal partner in God's gift of new life. Treat her as you should so, treat her as you should so that your prayers will not be hindered. So we can see that God is really concerned about men and their prayers, and I think, you know, the men have dropped the ball in general in our country. You know, you'll see, if you see single people in church, it'll probably be the women. Men aren't so apt to be here on their own. Not always, but you know, there is a high standard, and the Lord dealt with me on this when I first gave my life to the Lord, and Kim and I had just gotten married, and I was, you know, I was praying about different things, and they probably, you know, John 15, seven says, you abide in me and my word abides in you and you ask what you desire and it'll be given to you. So was I abiding in God at that time, that new part of my relationship with him? I don't know, but my prayers weren't being answered. So I came across this scripture and I'm like, oh, well, how am I treating my wife? And so obviously with my past, I had been divorced before I gave my life to the Lord and I, And I asked God, well, how am I supposed to treat my wife? How do I love my wife? Because apparently I don't know how to do that, because I've failed at it more times than I really care to share. And he said, love her like she's my daughter. I'm like, oh, wow, okay. Well, he's not only my dad, he's my father-in-law as well. So he died for her, too. So I had a lot to learn about that. So our prayers are very important to God. And the way we treat our spouses is very important. Apparently, you women don't have the same, you even treat us, you know. We're dumb. It doesn't take much. Feed us, give us, you know. But women are different. We're made different. You know, I will not ever forget my, the first church that I gave my life to the Lord, Ken Graves in Maine. He's a man's man, really is. He's a lumberjack. And he said, we're wired different. He said, God created Adam. and then he put him to sleep and he pulled the woman out of him, took the feminine part out. So the only way I can get in touch with my feminine side is if she's with me. We're different. God made us that way so we can come together and have that relationship with us and him, but he has to be in the middle of it. So we know how important our relationship is with other people as well, in hindering our prayers. We need to treat people in the way that God has told us to. So let's look at today's text. So we're gonna be in chapter three of 1 Timothy. Just read the first seven verses. This is a faithful saying. If a man desires a position of bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, a good, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous, one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence. If a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God? Not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. So there's nothing in there that, as just believers that aren't in leadership, shouldn't do. I think this applies to everybody. Okay, there's certain portions of it that are more, there's more importance, I guess, to certain parts of it, but we're gonna go through that. So, verse one says, this is a faithful saying, if a man desires the position of bishop, he desires a good work. So a good work, And Titus 3.8 says, this is a faithful saying in these things I want to affirm constantly that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. As we know, works don't get us to heaven. But there should be evidence of our relationship with Jesus Christ. We should have good works. So I want to turn to 1 Peter because this is similar. 1 Timothy and 1 Peter were written within a year of each other. So, where am I going? Chapter 5, 5-1 through 11. And I just want to read down through this as well. It's similar, but I just, this is also to the elders. It says, the elders who are among you I exhort. I, who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed, shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion, but willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly, nor of being lords over those who entrust you, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. Likewise, you younger people, submit yourself to the elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing the same suffering are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who calls us to his eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever, amen. And this is interesting, it says, you know, be vigilant, sober, vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And I think this is something that we underestimate. You know, we had one of our children that was in jail a lot, and when he got out, he would always be in better shape with the Lord, and he's like, I got this. Man, I hate when somebody says that. Because he never did. He either underestimated the enemy, or he overestimated himself. But we have to humble ourself and go, man, I hope I have it this time. You know, so, anyhow, those are interesting. There's a standard that we're called to, and really, what is too great in our lives to give up for the Lord? You know, there isn't anything if he calls us to do it. Obviously, as we go through this, we're gonna talk about a bunch of different things, but we're all called to something different, and we're all convicted by different things. You know, I'm convicted by not going near alcohol because it almost wrecked my life, and I've seen a lot of bad effects from it. Some people aren't. Some people, that's not an issue. So in verse one, he says, if a man desires a position, so he's telling Timothy, you need to look for noble, good, honorable men. He's not saying they need to be scholars, they need to be super educated, No, God can add that. He can add the Holy Spirit will take care of that. But he's saying look for people with a heart that's right, that is ready to be used. Because again, back to prayer. He's changing us so we're useful to him. It's better for our lives because there's less wreckage in it, but it makes us more useful. I'm talking about iron sharpens iron on Thursday night. A dull knife is not that useful. It's great if you wanna put peanut butter on your crackers, but if you're gonna cut something up, you have to sharpen it. Well, sharpening something is rubbing something against something else really hard, and it takes chunks off. So when this thing is going on in your life, the pieces are being peeled off, it's for a reason. So we have to sharpen each other. But the heart is what God's worried about. You remember, it's said about David, a man after God's own heart, right? And look what David did. Verse two says, a bishop must be blameless, a husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, and able to teach. So what of those, what in that list shouldn't we all be? We're not all able to teach, but we are actually, we just don't ever think we are. You know, if you wanna, we have this all the time, comes up with children's ministry. Well, I don't know if I could do that. I don't know, you know, I'm not sure about what I'm reading in the Bible or what I, well, you will, because the way to learn is to teach. And when you teach stuff and kids ask you a question, they're like, wow, I never thought of that. Well, there you go. You'll go up and you'll go and you'll look it up so next time they won't get you on that one, right? But be blameless. Literally saying, nothing to take hold of. There's nothing in your life that the enemy is gonna take hold of and use. And last chapter, verse eight, says, I desire, therefore, that men pray everywhere, holding up, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubt. If your hands are holy, there's nothing sinful in them. There's nothing that's, you know. We have these discussions when I was at camp last weekend. I said to the kids, what would you change if you knew Jesus Christ was gonna return today? Or no, I said, would you change anything? Well, probably all of us would. So what are we waiting for? Let's change it, right? So you don't want to be caught with anything sinful going on in our lives. And especially leadership, because Satan will have a field day with that. You probably all know of pastors that have been brought down by the enemy because of a sinful thing in their life they started and it turned into something they got out of hand. Philippians 2.15 says that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. So the divide between good and bad seems to be getting wider, or righteousness and worldly things that, I mean, you guys must hear, I hear it and I'm like, I never ever thought of that, that that would ever be an issue. And you know, you can just watch the news and go, They're fighting for this? I mean, abortion right off the top. But I know that's a subject that people have all kinds of excuses for. But the depth and the depravity of what's going on within that whole abortion thing with Planned Parenthood is disgusting and wicked. And the people support that. And I don't know how you can support somebody like that. But holy hands would be blameless hands. We want to be blameless. We don't want to support things that are evil or wicked. not even agreeing with what's going on that's wrong. We don't wanna be in agreement of that. And I've had that issue with homosexuality. That's the golden goose everybody picks on, but it's like I say, okay, that's sinful in God's eyes, but so is fornication. So is a male and female having sex outside of marriage. That's just as bad, so let's worry about that first. And we wanna be able to witness to those people and share Jesus with them. I mean, I assume, you know, there's nobody here that thinks they're sinless. That would, I'm not even gonna, like, we aren't. We all have stuff. So, the husband of one wife. This comes up, I've been married before. Before I was saved. I was married too many times, it's embarrassing. Trying to fill this void. The scripture does read, the way I've looked at it is, If you're a believer and you get divorced, there's really no giving you permission to be married again. Now, obviously, there's forgiveness. We do stupid things, okay? But really, the husband of one wife could be, you can only have one wife at a time. Well, again, why would you wanna have more than one spouse? I just think that's, talk about having your house in order. I think that would be chaos. So anyhow, you know, I've been asked that because of this, there's biblical reasons to get divorced, obviously. Sexual immorality, you know, people, people that are in abusive situations to separate. It doesn't say to divorce, but separate. You want to be out of that situation. So as far as the one wife thing, you know, I believe I gave my life to the Lord and I'm forgiven of that. And, you know, the biblical divorce in Matthew 5, 31 and 32, you can look that up, but that's not really the point of this. So anyhow, you know, we all have lives that are different and consequences and circumstances that we've been through, but there's forgiveness for all those things, like abortion. You know, that's something that most people aren't proud of. But there's forgiveness. So you weren't in the right place and you did these things, you know, God still loves you and he died for you. So there's forgiveness, accepted forgiveness. Some people haven't accepted forgiveness of some things they've done, and they keep reliving it. And that's kind of a, I wanna say insult to God, that he said you're forgiven, but, well, I don't feel like I am. Who cares how you feel? Feelings have nothing to do with forgiveness. If you're forgiven, you're forgiven. It's over. Done. It's in the past. So, you know, that's what we need to do. So anyhow, as a pastor and a leadership, you shouldn't be married and divorced, married and divorced. That happens. Now I do know, you guys don't know Charles Stanley. He got divorced while he was in, I mean, he's got a huge ministry, and he actually made a deal with the board that he would never get married again. And that's pretty commendable, I think, that he's like, no, I'm a servant of the Lord's, and it wasn't his idea, it happens. And he just said, this is my deal, I will not get married again as long as I'm in this ministry. And he's pretty old, so I think he's, I'd say pretty old. I looked in the mirror the other day like, what happened? But anyhow, you guys know what I mean. We're to be temperate, not excessive, cool-headed and calm. Nobody wants to have somebody in their leadership that's just out of control, running around, screaming orders. They don't have themselves in control. We want somebody that's reliable and trustworthy. And you don't have to worry about the wide swing of moods their visions, their actions. You don't want to have somebody say, this is my vision for this ministry. And then next week, no, I think I'm going to go over this. No, wait. Like, OK, that's double-minded. That's kind of like being beside yourself. And you've seen them guys walking down the sidewalk that are beside themselves. Having that argument, that's really weird and funny and sad. Sober-minded, we think of alcohol, but really this is talking about the description of the person that is able to think clearly and with clarity. to have an understanding. They're not constantly joking and horsing around. That doesn't mean they can't, but there needs to be a portion of seriousness. Warren Wiersbe said, this does not mean that he has no sense of humor or that he is always solemn and somber. Rather, it suggests that he knows the value of things and does not cheapen the ministry of the gospel message by foolish behavior. And so I have a lot of issue with some Christian comedians, because sometimes I think they're on the border of that, of being disrespectful or irreverent. But I'm weird too, so, you know. Of good behavior, or orderly. It's actually the same word that was used in 1 Timothy 2, 9 referring to women's dress. Orderly, appropriate. We should be that way. We shouldn't be You know, all over the place. Hospitable. You know, I've known preachers that are great teachers, but they're not really good preachers. That they don't really like people. It's kind of weird. They teach it great, but then they're not a people person. They're kind of not approachable. So you don't want somebody like that. You want somebody that loves the flock. Loving the stranger as well. They're willing and able to open up their home, and both friends and strangers. You know, I go today a little careful on the stranger side. But, you know, you got to have discernment. You talk with anybody for a certain amount of time, you'll understand where they're coming from and whether you should bring that person into your home or not. Able to teach. Skilled enough in the Bible to teach either in public or on one-on-one settings. Are you a student of God's word? Again, I don't think that's a leadership thing. I think if we're, especially raising young children, we need to know God's word and apply it in their lives. Not given to wine, so here's a golden calf here. This verse doesn't, actually teach against it. It just strongly discourages it. Again, it's a negative thing in my life, and I've seen what it's done in a lot of people's lives. If you're convicted of alcohol, then get rid of it. I mean, it was actually the thing that went easier in my life. It was all the pride and all the character stuff that God's still working on. But I always thought when I gave my life to the Lord, yeah, but I really like, you know, I used to make my own beer. I was, you know, and that went. The desire left for it. So the desires, God can take away the desires and give us his desires. And the other reason when I first got involved in the church is I didn't want, people knew my past from where I lived in Maine, and I didn't want to stumble anybody. Romans 4.21 says, it's good neither to eat meat or drink wine nor do anything but what your brother stumbles and is offended or is made weak. I, you know, there's nothing wrong with having beer, a glass of wine, whatever your choice is with a meal if you're not convicted of it. But the problem I had was I was involved in the church early on and I didn't want somebody to come in and see me drinking and think, oh, he can do it, so can I. It was a struggle in my life, and I've stumbled, I don't want to do that. So now I just, God's taken that away completely, which is great. Not violent. This doesn't need a lot of explanation, but like King James says, not a striker. You're not striking people. You're not, you know, the person in leadership should not be violent in church or outside of church. And to me, if you see that, call them on it. Like, what are you doing? This is not godly behavior. You know, and I'll say it all the time, but I tell my kids that if you see me in Walmart, which you won't because I don't go there, but somewhere, and I'm saying or doing something I shouldn't, you need to come up and say something. Because I'm gonna to you. I mean, it's that simple. And we should be correctable. If someone comes and says something to us, we should think about that instead of, oh yeah, well, you know what I saw you doing? And this is one of my favorite translations from New King James to King James. Not greedy for money or greedy of filthy lucre. I love that. I think I should just talk in King James sometimes. I'd say we can write in cursive and nobody knows what we say anymore, so I guess talking in King James would really mess it up. Filthy lucre. But it's important that that is not our God. In 1 Timothy 6, 9 through 10 says, but those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. So there are people in leadership. We don't count the money. We don't have anything to do with it. One person takes care of it. Another one deposits it. Joe and I and most of the board have no idea who gives what. Well, we don't actually know who gives what. We just have a number. So we don't need to because Some have strayed from the faith of their greediness. And then you start treating people differently because they give a lot. Ooh, give that person some attention. Well, that person doesn't ever give any. Huh, what's that all about? So then we start, that's not what we're here to do. We're here to share God's word. God has money. God's building us a gym. He doesn't care about that. He has plenty of money. Do you want to be blessed and be part of stuff? Me and my wife always do this thing where if there's a ministry you want to support, we go, yeah, we'll ride on that coattails and get some blessings if you want to support a ministry. Yeah, sure. And there's plenty of chances, plenty of chances to support ministries. Proverbs is another good example. Remove falsehood and lies far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food allotted me, lest I be full and deny you, and say, who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of the Lord. We want just right, the just right amount to live. And I was always impressed, because Billy Graham capped his own salary at $50,000 a year. His board wanted to pay him more, and he says, no, that's all I need. I don't need more. So as you guys, I mean, this was a few years ago, but it's not a ton of money. It's a good living. And it doesn't mean if you do make a good living that that's wrong either. God blesses us and we use that to further his kingdom or take care of our families. We live in an age where we have to have vehicles. We can't ride a horse or a donkey to work. I mean, I don't want to. I don't have a horse and don't even have donkeys either now. There's things we have to have, and we can have nice things. We have a nice camper God blessed us with. We use it and enjoy ourselves, and we go out, and we go, man, look at what God has made. I mean, this place, all states are beautiful. I've driven across the country. Maine is in the summer. If you like white in the winter, it is. We drive around here, and some of the sites are beautiful, and God gives us that. He blesses us with an income that we can do that. We don't hold that against people. I mean, we don't hold that against each other if someone makes more money than us. Be happy with where we are and where God's put us. And just, we know that we have what we need. So, we have neither poverty nor riches, right? We're just, we're living a good life. We're all blessed, we all are, I mean. But if a person has trouble or greedy for money, they'll be led by the money. And I've heard pastors, that talked about how poor they were, and it was a really bad witness, because that, first of all, that's a personal thing with you and the Lord, and if you're not gonna straighten that out, nobody wants to hear about that, the poor pastors. Well, if you're that poor, then get a job, too. There's no guarantee that the church is gonna support you. There isn't. So the next one on that list of things was gentle. You know, we need people in leadership that use Jesus as an example, not some guy. Not, I mean, there's great, I mean, I love Warren Wiersbe, well, these are all dead guys, but Matthew Henry, John Corson, he's still alive. You know, these are all great examples, but that's not our, not the example. The example is Jesus, because they're all human. They're all flawed, not quarrelsome. We should be peacemakers. Not covetous. A covetous man is never satisfied with anything. And I knew, you know, I was that guy before I gave my life to the Lord. You know, I started making good living in business, and I bought myself a Corvette. And it wasn't a new one, and I really liked it. And I had it like a month, and I'm like, but what about that one? That one's nicer than mine. And then I said, well, let me see. So I get rid of that and got a Cadillac. And I'm like, well, yeah, this one's cool, What about that new one? And it's like, and that's, I live so much of my life that way of just never being satisfied. And, you know, I don't care about any of that. I mean, I still would like to have a Corvette if you guys got one giveaway. Joe can have a Hellcat. I'm a Chevy guy. But I, you know, but that's what I strive for. I'm like, what am I doing? In that, I neglected my family and divorce and my children. And I miss them. You know, that's why it's tough being here. You know, the Lord's called us here. from Maine, and it's hard. We have 13 grandchildren, and they're all in Maine. And I miss some of those years with my kids, so those years are really tough now to be missing on. But I know what the Lord's doing, too. So, you know, what do we give up for the Lord? You know, sometimes it's really hard. So verses four and five are, one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence. For if a man does not know how to rule his house, How will he take care of the church of God? And that's exactly right, right? If somebody's marriage and everything's a mess, how are they gonna take care of what's going on here? How's he gonna be a good counselor to the couples here that need it? It doesn't mean that if you have rebellious children and they're not listening, but are you permitting them to do those things? You know, we've had these choices in our home of, yeah, well, we know you're homeless, but you can't bring your life into our house, sorry. That's not easy to do when your kid's homeless and calls you, I need money. Well, we're not going to give you money. I'll buy you a pizza. Where are you? What city? Because you never know. Oh, well, I don't really want pizza. Well, you're not hungry. So those are hard things. So is your house in order or not in order? So it doesn't take a lot of explanation, but there are cases where children just don't behave. Everybody's in leadership. Their children aren't doing what they're supposed to. But once they move from your house, what more can you do? Raise up a child in the way he should go. When he gets older, he will not depart from it. You do your part to share the gospel in your home and to do that, and then you pray for them that they'll continue in that way. And it's tough because my kids were grown when I gave my life to the Lord, but the Lord still did huge things in their lives. So it's kind of cool to see that the negative influence I had, that God fixed that on them too. So God is good, and you know, Worship incoming, worship together is awesome. I was telling Tamara, it's like I try not to sing in the second service worship because my voice is going to fade. I don't really care. So if I could get right, my voice goes, that's fine. I can't not sing. I can't not worship God when you guys are all doing it. I can't. I'll stop and all of a sudden I'm again like whatever. Okay. As long as my voice gets through the end of this. So, and that's what I like about conferences we go to. Hopefully when this all gets over with this COVID thing, we'll start them up, but there's a lot of worship in those. So verse six says, not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride, he will fall in the same condemnation as the devil. So novice means newly planted, a new believer. Are they new to the faith? They need to have time to grow. We need to have them to be a teacher to that person that we think is gonna be coming up into leadership, or to people around us anyhow. We need to be that light. We need to get settled, have deep roots in the Lord, and understand really the basics of, there's a lot of questions that you'll go through in that period of time. If you place someone in leadership too soon, they may fail, and you have to remove them from leadership. It's better to wait, and wait until they're matured and ready to go, then place them in leadership, and then you know you won't have to go through that embarrassing part of removing somebody from leadership, because it really isn't, it's really, the people that put him in leadership's fault. You know, I, last weekend I went to, Jason was teaching here, wasn't he awesome? I watched the teaching with my students. I was at camp with Isaac and Amy Kerr from Calvary Chapel, Lordsburg, and went up and helped them to check that out anyhow, and yeah, I don't know where that went. I went there, Oh, yeah, so they had a young couple that just got married a few months ago, Keith and Jade, and they were great. And they're athletes and all that, you know, fit and running around, showing up to little kids. And I said to Isaac, I said, is he teaching at the church now? And he said, actually, he's only been a believer for a few months. I'm like, wow, really? He says, yeah, we got to wait. And I'm like, yeah, that's wisdom. Wait and see what they're going to do. Are they going to continue on? 1st John, I don't remember the exact scripture, it says they departed from us because they never were of us. So sometimes people get, they think they have a conversion and they kind of fade away and they actually just, maybe me being judgmental, but they had an emotional experience that they thought that they were in the right place and then it found out that they weren't really ready at that time. So, you know, we have to be careful It's an important thing to not have somebody in leadership that's not gonna fade or mislead or doesn't understand doctrine and how it lines up with the church that you're in. So there's all different things, but we have to be careful of that. So verse seven says good testimony, and that's a fairly simple one, right? Must have a good testimony among those who are on the outside, lest ye fall in reproach and the snare of the devil. So what are the people that you're looking at, the leadership, or us, What's our conduct outside the church? Is it the same? It should be. I mean, sometimes it all depends where you work. You don't have a lot of time to witness to people, but you can by your actions, by the way you work. When I was in construction, I always had this deal where Christians would come to me and want a project done and say, well, can you give me a deal on it? And I'm like, well, no, I can't, but I'll work really hard for you. Like, I have to eat. And it kind of got me to the point of I didn't want to work for a Christian, which is terrible. Like, you can't get something for, I mean, I can't, I mean, I'll, don't get me wrong, I'll help people when I can, but when you're in business and it's building a house and that's six months pay, yeah, you can't give a whole lot of deals, but I can work really hard on that job and get you the best deals I can on material and everything else like I would with everybody else, right? Are we supposed to treat the world different? So I want to be a witness more to the non-believer and say, wow, that crew really worked hard. And I'll tell you, it's noticeable, because I have my crew, one of them now is a pastor. The other one, his dad was a pastor. And so when the Lord changed me, my crew got changed, and I had believers. And I had a guy working on the house one day, and the wife was home. And he was doing something out around the back of the house and hurt himself. And she's like, I tell you, he was out there and I heard him say, oh gosh darn it. And I'm like, thank you, Jake. That's who he was. And that's a huge witness to other people. Like, there was no foul language. There was, and we used to always, I used to do some big jobs. Like this gym, I did a grocery store that was 80 by 200. So I was a general contractor. So you want to get radio supremacy when you get there, right? So you got to get in there and get your radio station on first. So we always get there really early and blasted Christian music all day. And other people hated it, but you know. So we ought to be that witness, the same outside, inside, it doesn't matter. It shouldn't change who we are. Our testimony should be the same. So I really like what Matthew Henry said about this. He must not be a novice, one who's brought to the Christian, oh, that was kind of the wrong spot, all right. Christian religion and not one who is, but mainly instructed in it, but who knows more of religion than the surface of it. For such one is apt to be lifted up with pride. The more arrogant men are, the more proud they are. Lest, being filled with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. The devil fell through pride, which is a good reason why we should take heed of pride, because it is sin that turns angels into devils. We can be changed. We can be changed by sin and pride and all those things. So pride can lead us to some really strange places. Oh, wow, I have like nowhere near enough time left. Okay, talk less. Verse eight, likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-minded, not given to much wine, not greedy for money. Again, we're talking deacons compared to bishops. We don't have positions of deacons here. You know, we always used to say deacon is as deacon does. Somebody's doing deaconess stuff, they're deacons. It's just the title. We have people that do all kinds of things around here. So being reverent is showing respect towards God and man, both, respecting each other and God. I think there's a lack of reverence in a lot of things that happen. Do not be double-tongued. Say what you mean the first time, speak it true the first time, it won't ever come back and bite you. Not giving him much wine, again, he's just going over that. Verse nine says, holding the mystery of faith with a pure conscience. So the mystery of faith was interesting, I looked at that, and I thought, well, okay, the mystery of faith, well, they're in the New Testament, so all they had was the Old Testament. They had all kinds of things that they were, that we learned about in the New Testament that God used through Paul writing to us. So I got another Matthew Henry quote because I really just like this guy. He says, the mystery of faith is best held in a pure conscience. The practical love of truth is the most powerful preservation from error and delusion. If we keep a pure conscience, take heed of everything that debauches conscience and draws us away from God, this will preserve our souls the mystery of faith. So, you know, Paul's talking about there is a mystery, they're working through it. What else? Okay, verse 10 says, but let this also be first tested, then let them serve as deacons and be found blameless. So to be proved or tested. You know, cars that have proving grounds. They take them out there. I always like to work at one. They just beat the snot out of vehicles brand new and bring them back and see what's broke. I just, you know, I think that would be fun. You know. All right, guys, you know. You know Joe would. He'd be over at the Dodge factory. I mean, trying out Hellcats. That's okay. So be proven. We have to, we have to, has that person demonstrated their fitness and leadership in the church? Have we demonstrated our fitness for being leadership in our home? What needs to be fixed? What do we need to do? It says likewise their wives. So now we don't, it's not real clear whether he's talking about deaconesses or women deacons. Again, we don't do that. There'd be a lot of them here if there was. Or talking about the wives of the deacons. Either way, it doesn't matter. It's still, all of us should be this way. Verse 12 says, oh, wrong one. Verse 12 says, let deacons be the husband of one wife ruling the children in their own houses for those who have served Well, as deacons obtain themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith, which is Jesus Christ. So again, it's the same thing. The boldness in the faith part in 13. Are we bold in our faith? I don't know about you guys, when I gave my life to the Lord first, I was like just annoying about it. Matter of fact, I was working on a job site one day and electrician was working there and he was a believer. And one day he said to me, and I was kind of shocked, and he said, why couldn't you just get saved and get on with it? That's all you talk about. Well, I was going to hell, and I'm not, so it's pretty exciting. And I thought, wow. And this guy was instrumental in my coming to the Lord because I saw how he lived and how his family was and his kids. And it really spoke to me a lot. And when he said that, I'm like, oh, okay, I don't know. But anyhow, we do lose that after a while. And I don't wanna lose boldness for Jesus. So the position of deacon is a spiritual position too. So we know in Acts, Stephen and Philip were appointed, and look what God did with them. They not only served and did stuff, but they were spiritual leaders as well. So in verse 14, it says, the things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly, he's just talking about, he's in Macedonia, Timothy's in Ephesus, as you know. He's saying, I'm gonna write this stuff, I'm gonna try to get there, I might not. Who knows what was gonna happen in his life, right? but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of truth. So again, he's just saying, I wanna get this letter to you because I don't know when I'm gonna be there, if I'm gonna make it, and these things you need to know. I want you to set up the church in the way that God has shown me that it needs to be set up, and all these safeguards for, you know, in Matthew 18, of going to somebody if you have something against them, to get that straightened out. You know, Thursday talked about that. Our relationship with God needs to be clear of any sinful things. If we have some issues with somebody, settle it. And it says go, leave your gift and go settle it. Like right now, just stop and go fix it. Because the longer time goes by, you guys know, we've all been in it. It festers, it turns into something that really shouldn't have happened. It actually talks about there, straighten it out before you're taken to court. So, you know, I wish more. I mean, we haven't had much issues here, but I wish more Christians would come to leadership on the issue instead of going to court. I hate to see, yes, I watch Judge Judy, yes. I hate to see people that say they're believers suing each other and their brother and sister. I'm like, what is? First of all, I would never go on Judge Judy. I like what she does, but I don't wanna do it to me. But we shouldn't be, Things shouldn't be going outside the church, they should be taken care of within the church. And if you have trouble with somebody and you go to them and they haven't responded, what do you do? You come get leadership, talk to somebody, go to them. If they still don't stop, there's other steps we can take. So we need to be those people that are trusting the Lord to solve our stuff. But we can't just pray. It's like we can't just pray for, Lord, give me a job and not look for a job. You can't say, Lord, I have this relationship problem with this person, Can you fix it without actually going to try to fix it? Now, you should pray before you do it, and every time I meet with somebody, we always pray first, because we want God's hand in it, right? Because we can mess up all kinds of stuff. Or I can. So he's saying, anyhow, that there's pillars and grounds of truth that you need to have when you're setting up the church. There's things I want you to do. Verse 16. It says, and without great controversy, no, yeah, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up in glory. So we know that Jesus was manifest in the flesh. John 1.14 says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. These are all simple thoughts and ideas. Justified in the spirit. for the spirit empowered him and even raised himself from the dead. So there's healings and stuff, but raising yourself from the dead, you know, someone may have the gift of the healing, but to raise yourself from the dead, that's another whole level, right? Seen by the angels. Of course Jesus was seen by the angels. He was there when Lucifer fell from heaven, right? He saw that and the big pile of the angels, and that kind of goes back to that other thing about turning angel into demons. They turn from angels to demons because of their pride. So preached among the Gentiles. God's word was preached to the Jews. It was rejected and brought to the Gentiles. I'm so thankful that I don't have to become Jewish and go by all the 633 Levitical laws. That would be tough. And I would fail. I mean, I fail now with only, I'll say 10, but there's way more. The 10 commandments are pretty general. Jesus came and really tightened that whole thing up, didn't he, and gave us a whole bunch more stuff, a level to live at. But when we do it, he blesses us. Believed on in the world, our great commission, right, to preach the gospel and people believe. They do. It's awesome to go. I'm hoping, you know, we have the Blues Festival next year. We can set up a tent down there and talk to people. I'm always amazed by the people that will listen. I know some people just won't, but there's a lot of people that will listen and don't understand who Jesus Christ is. I grew up in Catholic Church till I was 16. I didn't know why he died for my sins. I really didn't. He was there on the cross forever. I didn't learn that he came down off that cross and that he rose from the dead and all these things that he did. So, received up in glory. Of course, we know that. We can look at that. That's in Acts 1, 9 through 11. I'm not gonna read it right now, but they watched Jesus ascend into heaven. They saw him. Imagine that. Imagine when he returns and gets, we're caught up in this heavens with him. We'll all be coming across each other and seeing what an amazing promise. I talked to the, well my wife always says, well I don't know, where I'm gonna go in heaven, it's gonna be warm. I said, honey, that's not heaven. The warm places. I'm going where it's just right. And getting a pool with a pool building is the worst thing that ever happened, because it's like 95 in there all the time. She's just sitting there in the humidity like, ah. And I go and go, yeah, see you. I'm going outside where there's a breeze. So she'll freeze to death. Any time it gets below 80 now, it's. So this chapter, I think, is set up for all of us. I think that there's nothing in here that we could go, well, I don't need to do that. Because really, we do need to treat each other better. We do need to treat each other. correct each other, to share the gospel with those around us. There isn't a standard that's too high. So what is in our way, what gets in our way, what could we give up that we could be closer to Jesus? I know we've just dealt with this, we get rid of the dish, TV, and it's really worked, because there's really not much, there wasn't anything on anyhow, I just turned it on, but what's in the way? What's taking time from our relationship with the Lord? And that's what I keep getting from the book of Timothy, is there's always things we can do for improvement to bring us closer to him. Amen? Father, I thank you. I thank you, Lord, that we have your word. And it hasn't changed, and it hasn't needed to, Lord, because your word is powerful, living, sharper than a two-edged sword, Lord. And I thank you for the time we had that we get to come and worship you corporately, Lord. I pray that you'll just continue to work in the lives of all of us here, Lord, that you would show us something new today that we didn't know about ourselves that could be changed, or some way we could share the gospel more in the days to come, or give us the boldness to do it, or a better understanding of your word, or whatever it would take, Lord. that we would walk away today with a little more ammo, a little more understanding. Lord, I pray for those in this room that are dealing with financial and health issues, Lord, and I do pray that you would work in their lives and help them to just come to you with all the problems and the sadnesses of life and the difficulties and the struggles, Lord, that you would just help give us Overflow your Holy Spirit on this place that we would trust you more today than we did yesterday. I pray in Jesus' name, amen.