If you would please to I Timothy chapter number 6, I Timothy chapter number 6. We will be back Lord willing in the book of Nehemiah next Sunday evening. Tonight's a special night for a number of reasons and of course we were able to just celebrate what God did through the Kids Candy Outreach again this year and pray that the gospel seeds that have been planted will be cultivated and that will bring forth fruit and God will be glorified. And only heaven will reveal some things that we do as a church. You may not always see the immediate result, although we do have folks in our church as a result of that, that God has brought and they're now part of our church family. But others, somebody mentioned about children being saved, and I mentioned that there will be no doubt children, maybe even parents that are saved as a result of the gospel outreach, and maybe the little gospel card that was placed in there, the video of children's video about salvation. But heaven will reveal that. By the way, that's when it matters. That's when it matters. God's keeping score. What we do is we're faithful and we leave the results to Him. Church, thank you for being faithful. Thank you for being faithful. Then we honored our Lady Cougars tonight, JV and Varsity, and so proud of them and proud of their testimony. I knew they won because I had a preacher friend who texted me and said, you guys beat us. And let me know. They were just saying such good things. We've got good relationships with the school there and the pastor and we're good friends. And he was congratulating our girls on a great win and talking about how well they played and their testimony on the court and off the court. And I appreciate that. Proud of our young people. all of our young people, whether they're part of Calvary Christian School. We only have one kind of kid here at Calvary, and that's Calvary Baptist Church kids. Amen? And so we're just proud of all of them, proud of our coaches and the impact that they make as well. And then we're proud of John. John Snow grew up in this ministry. Had a grandmother that invested in his life. Grandfather. As a result of that, he came to know the Lord. Went through our Christian school. He's our goalie. He was our goalie in soccer. You look at him, you'll know why. He was tall, wide reach. you know, had a hard time getting the ball by him. He was a mud dauber. He loved rolling around. John, you loved rolling around in the mud. You know, I mean, I believe if John, I really believe in those younger years, and he's different now, Tabitha's really helped him. But anyway, I think in those younger years, John, if he had went into a sterile operating room, okay, he would have come out with some kind of dirt on him. I don't know, but that probably would have been it. But God called him to preach. And he came to our college for a little while, went away, and just needed to grow. And then God brought him and Tabitha back. And he's a good student. And he excelled in a number of areas. And he exhibited, God's called in his life as a preacher, has a love for children. And I appreciate that. I was praying for someone to come in and direct our children's ministry. And Brother Lane, he oversees all of the children and teenagers of our church from zero up to high school. But he couldn't do it all. We needed someone to come alongside that, be on our staff, serve in that area. And I was looking, asking, searching, and the guys kept telling me, they said, well, Pastor, he's already in our church. It's John Snow. And I said, no, it's not John. and just went on and kept looking, looking, looking, praying. And I said, I know John. I've known John since... and it's not John. And they kept coming back and they said, preacher, we're just telling you John's the guy. And so I began to pray and interviewed John and God brought him on our staff and John's done a wonderful job. And he loves children. He's made impact. And he has really no desire outside of just making great impact in the lives of the children of Calvary Baptist Church right here on our church staff. Him and his wife are very faithful. They're all in. And I appreciate him, appreciate his children. And I'm going to preach to John tonight. But I'm also going to preach to you, so don't just think it's a night off, okay? Let's look very quickly in I Timothy chapter 6 and find if you would verse number 11. There's many names that pastors are called, and I'm not going to talk about the negative ones, okay? We're only going to talk about the good ones. You know, we're called preacher. I like that name. Pastor. I like that name. The Bible uses names like bishop and elder. The word pastor, while it's not really found in the Bible, the job description of a pastor is it means under shepherd. It means to shepherd and feed and care for sheep. But I believe there's a phrase in the Bible that ought to describe every preacher. No matter the position they hold, the ministry that they carry out. And it's found in verse number 11. Would you look there with me? I Timothy 6. But thou, O man of God. You can be called by a whole lot of names. You can have a whole lot of titles. But can I tell you what really matters is what we are before God. That we're to be men of God. that we're to reflect Him to the world. But thou, O man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called and hast provest a good profession before many witnesses. Hear Paul talking to Timothy, I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth, who makes alive all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, unto the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. I could add another point right there, verse 14. Verse 15, which in his times, talking about the Lord, he shall show who is the blessed and only potentate, the most all-powerful one, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality dwelling in the light, which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. O man of God, This phrase that's used only twice in the New Testament. It talks about a man belonging to God. It's used of the preacher. The man that God's called, the preacher first and foremost, is to be God's man. He's the man of God. And it's important to understand that when it comes to this matter of preaching, that it's not a vocation that a person chooses. It is a life's calling. It's God's choice. God has reserved the right to call His preachers. We're living in a day when that's watered down, and I hear it on podcasts, you read it on blogs, you hear it even preached out in the circles that, you know, if a person desires and they want to be a preacher, you know, just go ahead and preach. But I believe there needs to be the evidence of divine call in a person's life. A divine call. That God is called. that God has placed His hand on that individual. Now can I tell you, it doesn't make that individual special. It doesn't make them any more important than the family of God, than any other person. But what it does is it lays great responsibility on that individual. Great responsibility. handling the Word of God, ministering to the Lord's flock, caring for God's people, evangelizing the world, loving and leading a flock of believers. God has reserved His right to call that man. There's a sense in which also this phrase applies to every Christian. That we're to be men of God. If we're saved, we ought to be men of God, and women of God, and young people of God, and maintain a good testimony. And so what I'm going to say to John tonight, what I'm going to say to me, and every other preacher, God-called preacher in this room tonight, also has something to say to each one of you as well. And while I may be sometimes that I look at John and make him sweat. It's so good being on this side. I've sat on the other side. I would sit in a Bible college classroom and I'd give my 50 to 100 question exam, or I'd give my syllabus that would have all my projects in it, and I would look at our students and I'd say, it's so good to be over here. So wonderful to hand it to you. But anyway. There's some things that ought to be true of a man of God. Well, to have a good name. Or to have a good testimony. And I believe here's what God's saying to us. First of all, there's what the man of God is to flee. Notice He says in verse number 11, But thou, O man of God, flee these things. What things? Well, He tells us about those in the passage above us. He deals basically with the love of money. And we'll talk about that a little bit more in a moment. But the word flee means to run away from. We get our word fugitive from this word. There's just some things in our world that every Christian ought to run away from, especially the man of God, the man that God has placed His hand on and called him to preach whatever, however that is exercised within the local church, that we ought to put distance between us and something that's harmful from our lives and for our testimonies. There are some things you ought to not run from. Can I just share that with you? Y'all never run from the devil. Did you know that? I'll never run from the devil. You say, preacher, why is that? Because the Bible tells me that I'm to submit to God and resist the devil, and he flees from me. And friend, listen, in the power of the cross, you need to put the enemy on the run and not be running from the enemy. I'll never run from a problem. I'll never run from a burden. And I'll never run from a battle. Take stands for the Lord. We ought to be willing as the people of God to stand in our day. to stand boldly and unashamedly for the cause of Christ, for the truth of God, for that that's right and that that matters. And God's looking for Christians, men and women of God, servants of the Lord, preachers of the Gospel that will fly their flag at full mass and they will be a part of the company of the unashamed. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. for it's the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believes. Young people, there's some things you ought to run from. Did you know that? Men and ladies, there are some things we ought to run from. First of all, the Bible mentions in II Timothy 2.22 that we're to flee youthful lusts. That's the sinful passions of the youth. Those sinful sexual sins that can be so devastating to our lives. Notice he called it, I believe he's talking here not just to young people but to older people because he called it youthful. It's those things that characterize us, that can characterize us in those younger years of life. Like when Joseph was tempted by Potiphar's wife and she made advances toward him to involve himself in immoral actions and he would resist her. And he comes to the point where he says to her, listen, there's nobody greater in this house than I. My master Potiphar has put everything under my power and under my control as the steward of his home. He's kept back nothing from me but you. And then he says this, How then can I do this great evil and sin against God? Ultimately, all sin is against God. I thought about some men in the Bible, David, the man after God's own heart. I thought about Samson. You know that David is probably the most spiritual man in the Bible. Samson, he was the strongest man in the Bible. I thought of Solomon, who was the wisest man in the Bible. And can I tell you, youthful lust took every one of them out. And if youthful lust will take out the wisest man in the Bible, and the strongest man in the Bible, and the most spiritual man in the Bible, it can take out you and me. And that's why God says we need to flee it. The Bible says we ought to flee idolatry. I Corinthians 10.14 says this. You say, preacher, what's an idol? That's anything that's between us and God. It can be an idol of the hand. It can be an idol of the heart. But it's anything that I love more, live for more, pursue more, or desire more than the God of heaven. I believe what he's saying is this. If we're going to be, John, if we're going to be the servants of God, the men of God that God expects us to be, there are some things that you and I ought to flee from. And there are some things that we ought to be a fugitive from. And that is sins of the flesh and sins of the heart that would lift up something. Because see, when a person commits immorality or idolatry, can I say ultimately they're saying, There's something that I love more than you. Can I tell you the best thing we can do is keep Jesus before us and the world behind us. But then if you're going to be God's man, John, not only is there some things you ought to flee from, there's some things you ought to follow after. Look at verse number 11. But the old men of God flee these things. He talks about the love of money in verse number 10, the heart of covetousness. And the Bible says that covetousness is idolatry. Notice verse 11, but follow after these things. And he begins to give a list. You know, a lot of times we'll go to these things and we'll try to take God's list, their sacred list, their inspired list, and we try to put all the same letter, whether it's all Ps or all Ss or whatever, and we'll change God's list to our list, and then we'll try to fit it in and define it. I think it's good to just give the divinely inspired list because you'll not improve on God's list. And notice he says righteousness. You see, the Christian life is not a bunch of negatives. There's a whole lot of positives. See, what we want to do is talk about the thou shalt nots, but we fail to see all the thou shalts. And the first one is that of righteousness. You know, the moment a person is saved, they're made righteous in Jesus Christ. We're given a positional right. I am unrighteous, but now I am made righteous in Jesus Christ. We've been clothed in the righteousness of Christ. God laid on Him my iniquity. He gave me His righteousness. I've been justified. I've been made. declared right in the eyes of God. And listen, it is so good to be righteous before God. Isn't that right? And Jesus Christ. But I don't believe that's what he's talking about here. He's not talking about the positional righteousness that comes to us when he's saved. I believe he's talking about the imparted righteousness, living out the righteousness of Jesus Christ in our daily lives. I think it's been said that one church member said of their pastor that that basically what he was saying was that when he's in the pulpit, we wished he would never come out because of the way he lives his life. And the reality of it is that our walk ought to match our talk. If we're not careful as preachers, we start thinking we live on the mountain. That somehow we don't have the battles that everybody else has. That somehow we're a little more righteous, a little more this, a little more that. And the reality of it is that pride can fill the heart. And can I tell you the sins that people can't see are as wicked as the sins that you can see. And God said we're to follow after righteousness. Of living right before men because we're right before God. And then He comes down to the next one and He said righteousness, godliness. To be godlike. Righteous before God. Godly before men. We need to be reflecting Christ in all of our relationships, all that we do. We need to reflect Him. One of the things that I really think looks so bad on preachers is when preachers think that because of their position or their calling that they ought to get special breaks. And they'll go places and they'll say, now what's the preacher price? Can I tell you, if somebody gives a preacher a discount, it's because they wanted to, not because I asked for it. Just being God-like in all of our relationships, all of our actions. Do you know the Bible teaches that grace, grace, grace, that denying worldly lusts, we're to live godly. Christian, do you know that we're to live righteously and godly? That's true not just of the preacher, but of the pew. It's not just of the person standing in the pulpit or leading in the ministry, but the people within the pews. We're all to live righteously and godly in this present world. Let me ask you a question. Do people see God in you? Faith. Not just trust in God. I believe that's there. I believe we ought to be people of faith. People who believe God. But I believe there's also faithfulness. I think there's the idea of a confident trust in God that leads to a confident life in God that we've decided to follow Jesus. There's no turning back. No turning back. I remember years ago when I was in Bible college and I actually was part of the staff here at Calvary before I became the pastor. Eight years ago, we're talking about a long time ago, Preacher Baker was the pastor here. And I told him, I said, he asked me about something. I said, well, I think I'm going to work on this trade school so I have something to fall back on. He said, did God call you to preach? I said, yeah. He said, why don't you just fall back on God and quit worrying about all the other stuff? That's some of the best advice I ever had. Just be faithful. You know, I believe that we as Christians ought to be faithful. Wouldn't you agree with that? Confidence, the writer of Proverbs said, in an unfaithful man in time of troubles like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint. It's hard to chew steak when your tooth's broke. And it's hard to walk or run when your foot's out of joint. Isn't that right? God said when you place confidence in an unfaithful man, it's like having a broken tooth in a time of trouble. It's like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint. I believe God's looking for people in this day that will just be faithful. You know, I believe one of the greatest things we can say of a person is she's faithful. He's faithful. They're just there. You can count on them. You don't have to worry about them. They're just going to be there. Boy, what a testimony that is. And then love. Can I tell you, John, learn to love. Learn to love the way Jesus loves. When we love Him, we'll love others. That's an identifying mark of Christianity. Jesus said by this, "...shall all men know that ye are my disciples." If you have love one to another, I believe that love marked out our Savior. And I believe love ought to mark out His servants and His people. And listen, when people come through the doors of this church, they ought to sense the love of God. A group of people that love each other. Not a perfect church, but a church that loves each other and seeks to be everything that it can be for God. When you invest in the lives of the children of the people of this church, John, those parents need to know you love them. And you love their children. It's a genuine love. A selfless love. A Christ-honoring love. And then patience. Isn't that one of those words that we reel from is patience? Being patient. But this word is not just being patient with people, it's dealing with patience in life. It has the idea of endurance, of bearing up under trouble. We would call it stick-to-itiveness. No matter the cost. Just stay at it, John. Just stay at it. Not everybody's going to see the same results. Just stay at it. Just stay at it. Christian, listen, there's going to be hard times. Even as a church, we're in a season of blessing. God is saving people. We're seeing people baptized. We're seeing lives changed. And there's times though that churches will go through the dry seasons and you don't see the visible fruit like maybe you saw the season before. But that doesn't mean that God's not working. That doesn't mean that God's not doing anything. That doesn't mean that God's not using His people. What I believe God's doing is building endurance and patience and stick to Him. Hey, God's saying you just stay at it and leave all the results to me. I'll take care of that. You know quitting is contagious. When we quit, somebody else will quit with them. They sure will. Simon Peter in John 21, he said, I go fishing. He wasn't saying that I'm just going to take the afternoon off and I'm going to wet a line and sort of relax a little bit. No, he was going back to the fishing business before God called him to be a preacher. You know what happened? Seven other disciples said, you know what Peter, I think we're going to go with you. If you quit John, somebody else is going to quit. And God will hold you accountable for it. Did you know on average every year 1,500 preachers leave the ministry? 1,500. Did you know that in an average Bible college class that I will sit there and I will look at those students? One in three will make it. The other two will wash out. No stick-to-itiveness. No willingness to stay at it. Can I tell you the Bible says that he that desireth the office of a bishop, that of a preacher, desireth a good work. It involves work, labor, intensity. We're always to be faithful. Always to be ready. Instant in season, out of season. Letting God have His way in our lives. Patient. And then don't forget this last one. Look at it with me, church. Meekness. That's not weakness. It's actually power under control. It's considering thyself lest thou also be tempted. It's the recognition that we're to have a gentle spirit with others. If you're going to be God's man, if you're going to be God's woman, if you're going to be a man of God, John, then you're going to have to flee some things. You're going to have to follow some things. But then there's some things you're going to have to fight for. Look if you would, verse number 12. The good fight of faith. You know, our enemy's not people. We're not fighting people. We're not fighting our community. We're not engaged in some kind of battle with people. No, it's a fight of faith. It's a spiritual battle. It's a spiritual warfare. Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession among many witnesses." Not all fights are good. Did you know that? Such as Christians fighting amongst themselves. I don't believe anything brings greater reproach on the cause of Christ than Christians in a church that can't get along. Battles between husbands and wives, not good. You know what? People say, we need a good cleansing fight. There's absolutely no such thing. Well, you know, the making up afterwards, can I tell you, the making up afterwards can never always heal all the scars that were caused in the battle. Parents and children. On and on we could go. But there's the fight of faith. There is a battle worth fighting. There's some things worth fighting for. As David said, there is a cause. And I believe we're living in that day where there is a cause. The Christian is waging a warfare against Satan and the forces of evil that we're to stand against sin. We're to stand against wickedness. We're to stand against ungodliness. Can I tell you, so often we're living in a day when we're fleeing these things and we need to be standing in our day against that that's wrong. The Bible said we're to earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints. We're to get a grip, God says, on eternal things when He says, lay hold on eternal life. He's not talking about being saved or keeping a person saved. It's getting a grip on eternal things and willing to stand where God stands. Can I tell you there's no greater place to stand than to stand for the truth and on the truth of God's blessed book, the Bible. I'm going to take a moment and I'm going to address a subject many of you may not even be aware that it's here. But there's a new battle for our Bible. It used to be a text issue. Now it's a reading issue. Well, we need to change the Bible because there's words in it that you don't understand. Well, you know what? About every book I read there's words in it I don't understand. How about that? I'm amazed we're so fixated on what we don't understand that we lose sight of what we do understand. I love Joe Shakur's article that he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, called Readability vs. Reliability. Can I tell you ease of reading is never more important than the reliability of the text and the translation from which you read the Bible. And young people, I want to say to our young adults here, don't fall prey to the arguments of those who are on social media and out there that will tell you that there are words in the Bible that you can't know the answer to or you can't find the definition for and therefore you need to change your Bible You need a Bible that's easier to read. What I want is an accurate Bible that's been translated and given to me in the English language where I can know what God says. I will find a way to understand what I don't understand. I was talking to my wife about this. She said, well that's not hard. I can't remember what she said. She said, and this was amazing coming from her, Kindly, in kind words, technologically deficient human being in our family. Okay? And we were talking about these words, you know, some of them quote-unquote archaic, and there are archaic words. There's words that we don't use anymore. I love what one guy said in a recent debate. He said, you don't bring the language down to the people, you raise the people up to the language. Don't water down the language for the culture. You raise the culture. But anyway, she said, when I ran across one of those archaic words, she said, I just Googled. And she would go, what did you call that again? Old World Dictionary. How about that? I didn't even know it existed. My wife found something I didn't even know was there. Old World Dictionary. You know what? English. You run across one of those words in the Bible that you're not sure about. Maybe the current dictionary doesn't have the right definition. Just type in Old English World Dictionary and you'll be amazed what you'll learn. I'm just saying there's some things we're standing for. And church, I'm just going to tell you, this word, this book right here, people have shed their blood to give you this book. And I'm going to tell you what, we need to be willing to shed our blood for this book. Because it's through this book that we know God. Don't ever change, John. We were talking at lunch, has a church ever, ever pulled somebody's ordination certificate? And I said, no, but I've wanted to. There have been times through the years that I've been a part of an ordination council, and that guy changed, and I had to pull his degree if I could, and I found out that was unlawful, illegal, I couldn't do it. Because they changed. Men change, John, but the Bible never does. Stand, John. Stand. Fight the good fight of faith. Then, focus. We ought to stay focused. Look at verse 13. He said, I give thee charge in the sight of God to quicken with all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession. That means Jesus boldly and confidently gave good testimony of who He was before Pontius Pilate, that thou keep this commandment without spot unrebukable unto the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know what that says, John? That's the last point, but I'll give it to you now. Jot this one down, finish well. I wasn't part of my notes, but it sort of hit me when I was looking at the passage and reading the notes. I believe Paul is saying to Timothy, Timothy, you just stay at it until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Finish well, Timothy. If I could say to every Christian school teacher, every Christian servant of God, every preacher in this room, every Christian, hey, just finish well. Stay at it until Jesus comes. and stay focused. Verse 15, John, keep your eyes on the Lord. Don't look at men, look at God. Can I tell you if there's anything wrong with what we call the Independent Fundamental Baptist Movement? We've been so man-centric rather than Christ-centric. We've spent so much time looking at men and trying to please men rather than pleasing God. One of the good things is that over time, the older you get, the less you care about those kind of things. You just do. After 30 years in ministry, I don't really care what anybody thinks, as long as God's pleased. Keep the eyes on Jesus, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We ought to keep our eyes on the Lord's confession. He's our example. Always have a good confession. Well, to keep our eyes on the Lord's coming, our expectation. He's going to come in His time, not ours. Time's known only to the Lord. And you know what? I believe it's good we don't know He's coming back. Church, that way we never live lax lives. We always stay faithful. The Lord can come at any moment, and therefore we're to always be ready. We ought to live as if He could come in the next moment, but yet plan as if He never comes in our lifetime. That's why I have plans. I already have plans for the next year and the years after that and things that God puts in my heart as I begin to pray and seek the face of God for our church and ministry and how God wants us to impact our community and the world and what He has for us in the future and all of these wonderful things. I plan and I pray and I search the Lord's will and seek His face. You know what I say, Lord? You can interrupt those plans anytime you want to. I just want to stay focused on Christ. Men will fail you, but the Lord never will. Never will. You heard it from all of the men in that room who sat on that ordination council. Stay close to your wife and stay close to the Lord. And if you do that, you'll be okay. You stay faithful and leave the results to God. He keeps the score. Paul said, I don't even judge myself. You know what he's saying? He said, I don't measure my fruit and the success of my ministry. He said, I'm going to leave that to the Lord. I'm just going to be faithful. I believe that's what God wants from our lives. Church, tonight could I challenge us that there ought to be some things in our lives that we flee. There ought to be some things in our lives we follow. There ought to be some causes that we fight for. And then there's some things we need to stay focused on. Wouldn't we agree with that? And I believe if we do that, that we'll witness a good confession. That at the end of the journey, when we see the Lord, the Lord will look at us and say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. You know what? To a carnal Christian or to an unsaved man, that means absolutely nothing. They don't care. But to a spiritual man or a spiritual woman, it means everything. To know that God was pleased with your life, with how you served Him through His local church, how you honored His Son, how you reflected Him to the world around you. I'm going to tell you, in eternity that's going to matter. It's going to matter. To set that before us and live to please God, it's going to matter. It will. It will matter. And I desire more than anything else, the longer I'm in ministry, that one day there'll be things in my life and ministry that God can say, Kevin, you did well. I remember when I was a kid, whether it was my granddaddy or my dad, I craved for them to say, Kevin, you did good. I wanted to hear those words. By the way, dads, Your sons and daughters, moms, they desire to hear those words. Don't let everything you say to your children or grandchildren be negative. They crave to hear you say, I'm pleased with you. I'm glad God gave you to me. I'm excited about what God's doing in your life. We crave that on the human side. Let's crave that and desire it on the spiritual side for our Heavenly Father to say, well done. John, it doesn't matter if I say well done. What matters is if the Lord does. You live to please the Lord. And if you please Him, then you'll do here what we need you to do. Amen? Make that your focus. And let's all make that our focus. Amen? Let's bow our heads in prayer for a moment. Could I just ask us tonight just a few questions and I'm going to give a short invitation and then I'm going to finish up the service.