Welcome to Bible Believers Fellowship and the ministry of bbfohio.com I'm Pastor Greg and I welcome you to our study in 1st Timothy chapter 3 verse 3 titled the office of a bishop part 3. We're going line upon line through this looking at the qualifications for bishops and pastors synonyms But I prefer being called pastor because I refer to myself jokingly as the most right-wing bishop of Worthington. But that word has come to be thought of in terms of highfalutin, you know, bishop of the Catholic Church kind of thing. Or some people think of someone like T.D. Jenks. Either way, I don't want to associate it with those people, you know? So just call me pastor. But I want to say this too, it actually fits right in with what we were talking about in Mark's prayer even. And that is, some people get so caught up in the current events and prophecy that they don't study the Bible. And something like this, especially with everything going on, it might seem like a little bit out of the way, you know. But let me tell you something. Your main goal in life should be found to be faithful. and that if you're studying something in the Bible that doesn't have anything to do with current events or Bible prophecy or anything like that, but God has found you to have a heart for his word, he finds you in his word and desiring his word, then you're the one he's gonna look at and say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. There's a lot of people get so caught up in politics and current events and everything, they neglect the word and prayer and preaching And those are gonna be unfaithful. Now, they may still get reward, but they're gonna lose some. We wanna be faithful to the word. So 1 Timothy 3, 3, we're gonna just read that one verse tonight. In verse two, we've been talking about a bishop. And the qualifications must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach. Now read verse 3 with me. Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous. Amen? So we continue our coverage of Paul's inspired list of what I'm now calling 16 qualifications. I was studying today and something hit me. And I was like, man, did I count that? And I did. I don't know why I didn't count the last one that we'll look at when we get down there to verse seven, having a good report. I didn't count that one. So I've changed it from 15 to 16. Of course, you know, the Bible doesn't change. but sometimes our understanding of it does. So I counted and recounted and it's 16 qualifications and we'd already covered seven. Tonight we're gonna cover six more for a total of 13. That'll leave three more for our next study. The pastor is to be an example of temperance and good judgment. If you've got a guy who is inebriated or using bad judgment all the time, he's just not fit to be a bishop or pastor. So that's where we're going to start out. Now, again, we're reviewing these line upon line. And if the Lord were to tarry and something happens to me, you're going to have to find a new pastor, and you're going to want to make sure they live up to all these qualifications. That's why we're not skipping them. We're going to cover them. The eighth qualification of a bishop here in verse 3 is they're not given to wine. Not given to wine. That to be given to wine means excessive use of wine. A lot of fundamental Baptists and other fundamental churches, number one, they have church covenants where you have to sign off on that you will never purchase or use alcoholic beverages. They used to also include that you wouldn't actually even go somewhere where it's sold. So growing up, my family could shop at Kroger in Wheelersburg because it was dry. They didn't sell alcohol. We never went to the one in Portsmouth because they sold alcohol. When we went out to eat, we, until I was about a teenager I think, we would only go to places like Ponderosa because they didn't sell beer or wine. The Nice Steakhouse in New Boston was the closest one. We didn't go there because they sold beer and wine. That was a totally bogus thing. And it's because when you start with a false idea, you build things on that. And the idea that someone drinking a glass of wine or drinking a beer is a sin is a man-made sin. I'm sorry, but you will not find that in the Bible. When you think you can start changing the Bible because you think God messed up, and God should have said, you don't touch the bottle. The devil's urine. You know that? You think I'm joking, but that's how they talk about it in these churches that are really radical in this stuff. Well, when you get that kind of an idea, then any time you see in the Bible that goes against your idea, what do they do? They changed the Bible. Jesus turned the water into wine, and somehow the sanctified reading is grape juice. And how do they do that? We're not gonna run all the references to talk about it, but I believe it's in Habakkuk, where it says that it's a sin to give your neighbor wine, and then they stop there. But the verse goes on to say, to give them wine so you can get them drunk and see their nakedness. But they cut the verse off and say it's a sin just to give your neighbor wine. And so then, well Jesus couldn't have turned the water into wine, it had to be grape juice, because he would have been in violation of how I cut that verse in Habakkuk in two, and he'd violate my idea of sin. And so they have to change the verse here to say Jesus turned the water into grape juice so that Jesus isn't a sinner in their view. Now, step back and read what the Bible actually says. It's not a sin to give a drink to your neighbor. Jesus wasn't a sinner when he turned the water into wine. And if you just take the Bible as it's written, there's no problem. Why? Because the Bible It doesn't say it's a sin to have a glass of wine, but it does say not to get drunk. Now, the churches I've been in that are hardcore like that, back in the 90s, they had more problems with drunks in their congregation than the churches who taught what the Bible says. Now, why is that? It's because you're doing things your way instead of God's way, it's never the right way. Ephesians 5.18 says, And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess. So if you are ever going to have a glass of wine or a beer, and you don't stop after one or two, and you start feeling tipsy and you keep drinking, you know good and well you're sinning. So you should stop. And if you got no self-control and you know you can't stop, then you shouldn't touch it. And I'll go one further. I've already told you what the Bible says. It's not a sin, but I do not believe that most people should have anything to do with it. And it's been years since I had anything to drink. But what we're talking about tonight is the qualifications of a minister. So here's another thing. I heard the stories, but I had somebody actually come up to me one time and say, oh, I thought you were drinking beer. Because I had an IBC root beer in my hand. Now, that woman, her heart was pitter pattering because in her mind, if that were a beer, I would have been disqualified as a pastor. Thankfully, it was root beer. That's what you get into with all this stuff, and everybody's, you know, all this. If this were to mean a pastor's disqualified for drinking wine in moderation, then Paul later encourages Timothy to disqualify himself. In 1 Timothy, the one is over to the far right for some reason, 1 Timothy 5.23, drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake. And again, what do the fundamentalists do who want to teach teetotalism? They change the Bible, and they'll say that's talking about grape juice. It's not. And if you think that it's disqualifying because you say given to wine means never drinking wine at all, then you have to believe that Paul's trying to get Timothy disqualified. And I'll tell you something. I don't care who it is. I don't care if it's your best friend or your grandma or who it is. Those changing wine to grape juice in their Bible are under the influence of a foul spirit. And it's going to get worse and worse. They're going to lie. They're going to lie. They're going to be dishonest. They're going to get sneaky. And it's going to get worse until or unless they repent. Why so many fundamentalist preachers who get up there and wail on wine and women in dresses end up Cheating on their wives. You aren't telling me anything. I know. I know there are a lot of preachers still in the ministry right now because they got by with it. It didn't get exposed openly. Why is that happening? Man, you start messing with God's book. Who knows where it's going to end up? Now, again, I don't promote drinking. I don't think that anybody has ever heard me say, oh yeah, go have yourself a snort. But you know what? There are some people who hide it. because they're so scared to death, someone's gonna see that they have a little, what do they call it, a hot toddy when they have a sinus infection or chest congestion or something. Well, I got news for ya. That hot toddy's a whole lot better than the pharmaceutical crap. Amen, brother. The stuff they're giving you in pharmaceuticals is doing a lot more damage than a snort. But somehow these fundamentalists are so hard on wine and beer, they don't say a word about all their people being on dope. Yeah. My grandma used to do it when those kids got sick. My grandma used to fix us hot bodies. There's a lot of people who tell you that story, but seeing a lot of churches you'd never admit that because it might get you, you know, in trouble. Doug? The other thing is, if you do have a drink or something like glass of wine or whatever it is, you make sure that the people that you're with, it doesn't make them stumble, you know? Yeah, there's a lot of other things that bring in the discussion. You shouldn't be driving if you have more than a little bit. And there's all kinds of things. But you know what? It's usually someone who's being taught this false teaching that will stumble about it. These people who go to these churches who hound on this issue are the ones who are always ready to stumble. I'm not contradicting, Doug. I'm telling you the truth. The people you're talking about who stumble are usually going to churches where they're taught false teaching about it. So they have this, it's just like, you know, some of our women make other women in other churches stumble because they're walking around in town with makeup on or with a dress on or whatever. Well, it's not actually a sin, but in their churches they've been taught that. And so they see somebody, oh, they claim to be Christian. Look how they're dressed. They've got pants on. The wine thing, is there any credence to Paul talking about like a new wine which is just fermented, that has a weaker alcohol content? Yeah. But the problem is, Tom, is a lot of people try to pretend that new wine is just grape juice, and it's not. It's not. It has to have an alcohol. Yeah. So let me just make it clear again. We're not saying go out and drink. What we're saying is you, a lot of us have been taught something that the Bible doesn't teach. And we do things God's way, it's the best way. So if you, now you probably, I'm not ever saying never. I was at a wedding a number of years ago and they had champagne and no one there was gonna stumble like Doug said. So I toasted and I took a drink of it. But there's a lot of people I know, if they'd seen me, they would've been, you know. But so if you ever see me drinking or anything, what I'm saying is that's not a disqualifier. But, again, it's take a step back and understand why is it that I think the way I do? Did the Bible make me feel that way or did religion make me feel that way? Huh? Some of it would, with some people it would be, but that's usually because of the church they attend. Usually. Yeah, Jessica? It's a, you take bourbon or whatever and you put a little lemon and honey and you warm it up and it just, when you drink it, it's like NyQuil. Which is another thing, all these, these people were teetotalers but they used to take NyQuil like it was, you know, because they had enough alcohol to knock them out. Yeah Brian? Proverbs 20 verse 1 says, wine is a mockery and strong drink in the raging, and he who is deceived thereby is not wise. But if you're having tea in the year or a glass of wine, it's a hard press for me to think that you are deceived by that. Right. And you know, I've been with so many Christians who are not raised to think that way, and they'll go out to eat and they'll have a drink or whatever and they don't have any problems with it. But they know, they kind of look around for the people who are in those churches because they know they've been browbeat into thinking that. Mary, did you want to say something? I was just going to say, some of those 8-bears nowadays are really big cans. They're what? Big cans of beer. Well, yeah. You buy a 24-ouncer. And there's people who have a shot of whiskey like every day and they don't realize that's upping your chances of like esophageal cancer and stomach cancer and everything through the roof. You know, you better be real careful even if you're not getting drunk. Doesn't matter, too much alcohol just spread out over a period of time can kill you. There's real good reasons to make it very rare if you do ever drink anything. But again, I've never, I've taught this consistently as a pastor for 20 years or whatever, going on 25 years, and I've never seen anybody who believed what the Bible teaches to have a problem with it. Most of the people I know have a problem with it, and by the way, I'm gonna tell you this, even some of the bigger names in Christian fundamentalism over the past 30, 40 years I know of, what they do is they get up and actually preach what they're supposed to preach on this, but then when they get a time off, they'll go off somewhere where no one knows them, and they'll smoke their cigars and drink their wine and do whatever, and they'll do that once or twice a year, and then they'll go back, come back to their church or go back into their evangelistic ministry. Judgement Seat of Christ is going to be very interesting. But the thing is, what's going to be the problem isn't that they smoked a cigar or drank wine. It's going to be their hypocrisy of standing up and preaching something they don't even believe. There's a preacher who was on half the states east of the Mississippi back in the 90s. And he preached against, he just preached on just like you would hear in a lot of these other churches. And that's what he would do. He'd go off a couple times a year and get him hotel room and just sit around and relax and smoke a cigar and drinks his wine. He wouldn't get drunk or anything like that, but he would just enjoy himself. And there's really not anything I could say against that, you know, biblically, except for the hypocrisy. That's the main thing. Yeah, Mark real quick and then I want to move on. Before I got saved, I used to, I could out drink a bar because I was so hyper and everything else and I had a high blood metabolism. And I could walk away after about 18 beers and still drive off. And the thing is, I quit all that when I got saved. I let that fly. I was touched in 50 years. I don't need it. I won't drink because I'm afraid that I would do something stupid all over again. I wasn't an alcoholic, but I was well on my way to becoming one. I just made it clear that I wasn't going to touch that. So you say, what's your message to him, Pastor? My message is keep doing what you're doing, but if you see somebody having one, don't be a fun to Pharisee. And if it's a preacher, That'd be the hard one for a lot of people if they saw a preacher and very carefully might be drinking an IBC root beer. But drunks is the point. Drunks have no business being pastors. And that's how simple God's word makes it. God makes it. I got to move on, Mark. And I appreciate it. But don't miss the simplicity. You know, Dress codes. We don't have to have a dress code. Be modest. Be modest. Now, every once in a while, I have to say something to somebody and say, you know, that's not real modest. That's it. I'm not going to run anybody out of here, even in their dress. Now, some people think I'm making this up, but I'm telling you the truth. I was pastoring down in Hamilton, Ohio, and some lady showed up. She got off the bus, and she was wearing a bikini. Came in the church. Now, I don't know, I think she was just trying to prove a point because she probably told people, I'm going to go prove these people won't really love people. You know what we did? Come on in. And I said, so-and-so, can you get one of those? We had some clothes for such situation. We didn't think that situation, but we just thought, you know, we have some extra clothes in case somebody ever need them. So they came out with this loose-fitting dress. And at first, I said, well, now, ma'am, you know, I think you have common sense. Now, we're not offended by you showing up. You say you had good reason to show up, which I know, you know, But I said, but it's not too much to ask. We just ask everybody, that's fitting for the beach. It's not fitting here. And well, OK. And she put it on. And we treated her as well as anybody there. And when she left out of there, she never did come back. But she couldn't have gone out and said, we treated her bad. She couldn't go out and say that we didn't, you know, bend over backwards, as they say, to try to prove that you're welcome here. You just got to put some clothes on that thing. Amen? So it also then goes hand in hand with booze sometimes, is the bishop must then be no striker. That has nothing to do with being in a union. Although we don't, oh yeah, but you know, there might be some unions in some of these denominations where preachers unionize, I don't know. But it's talking about being violent. It's not about self-defense. There's nothing wrong with a pastor being a striker if he's in self-defense. He's defending his own family. This is about unjustifiable, offensive, physical attacks on others. Now, again, you may not even believe me when I tell you, but I can tell you stories. and where preachers are preaching and they're having trouble with somebody and there's this one guy, I won't get specific, but he jumped down out of his pulpit and just went after this guy and just started wailing on him. right in church service. And I've heard other stories of that happening. And then there's another time where it was after church and the guy's being argumentative and then the pastor just started going off on the guy, just wailing on him. Now, Doug can tell you, he's been in a situation where a guy deserved a punch in the mouth, but I didn't punch him. And Doug grabbed him by the nap of the neck and took him out the door, you know. There's been a couple of times where people have been in my face, and I didn't, I'm just telling you, it's human to be angry in certain situations, and there are times, and we're going to get back to that in a second, but there are times, but this is talking about somebody who is the one who throws the first punch, and he's violent, kind of has a violent nature, as they say. That guy should not be pastor. Nonviolence is generally, is the general rule when it comes to dealing with people in the pastorate. But there are exceptions. Look over at Nehemiah 13. Literally. We're going to see Nehemiah did that. Nehemiah 13. I'll start reading while you turn there. Verse 23 says, In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, and Ammon, and Moab. And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people. Read 25 with me. And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves. There you go. There's an example of Pastor Nehemiah laying hands on people literally. Now again that's a kind of an extreme situation and the general rule is non-violence and I've never actually had to get physical with anyone. The next one is a bishop then must be not greedy of filthy lucre. This describes most or some of the most well-known names in Christianity today. Filthy lucre. What's that mean? Well, it's true that your money is dirty. Don't put it in your mouth. My mom used to get on to us kids, yeah, kids will do, put things in their mouth. And she tried to scare us to death from putting that stuff in our mouths, you know. But it is filthy. I was watching a show one time where they took money and they just went to the store, got the money, brought it in, and put it under a microscope. Nasty, the stuff they found on that money. But this is talking about filthy lucre in the sense that the filthy means in which you're getting it. We read of numerous examples in scripture, but I would say including the story of Elijah's sidekick Gehazi, remember that? Go over to 2 Kings real quick. 2 Kings chapter 5, beginning verse 20. I'll read while you're turning there. But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman, this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought. But as the Lord liveth, I will run after him and take somewhat of him. Remember, Elijah had healed Naaman when he dipped seven times. And Naaman said, oh, I want to give you something. And Elijah said, keep your stuff. I don't want it. Don't need it. Well then he's heading home and Gehazi's like, well, Elijah's not looking, I'm gonna go cash in. Verse 20, so Gehazi followed after Naaman, and when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him and said, is all well? And verse 22, and he said, all is well, my master hath sent me. Liar. Elijah didn't send him. Behold, even now there be come to me from Mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets. Give them, I pray thee, a talon of silver and two changes of garments. And so the text goes on. He basically gets the goods. And then he goes back in verse 25. But he went in and stood before his master, and Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? I think he knew. And he said, thy servant went no whither. I didn't go anywhere. What are you talking about? Verse 26, read that. And he said unto him, went not mine heart with thee when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money and to receive garments and olive yards and vineyards and sheep and oxen and menservants and maidservants? And read 27. The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee and unto thy seed forever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow. It's going to be worse at the judgment seat of Christ. For starters, there are going to be some of those guys that aren't going to be there. A lot of people who attended their churches are going to be shocked that they're not there. And then some of them will be there. Big bonfire. Yep. I'll come back to that in a minute, but it says then a bishop then must be patient. So you're getting the idea about this guy. Now, as I said, this is, I'd say this is the first week. This is the ideal, and if you know a preacher that might have a little shortcoming here and there on this, it doesn't mean it disqualifies him, but it would if it were persistent in something he couldn't get under control. And it says he must be patient, and I've always made sure that I err on the side of patience. without failing to do what must be done. So it just reaches a point where you've got to deal with people. But some of you might even know who I'm talking about when I mention this, but there is somebody who came here for I don't know if it's a year or so, something like that. And I dealt with them and dealt with them. I sat down with them and talked with them and talked to them. I think my rules are, if you don't believe what we believe, you're still welcome, but you just can't cause discord, can't cause trouble. And one time after another, it would be spread out over weeks, but somebody would come up and say that this person was haggling them about something that they believe or haggling them about the gospel itself. And after a while, it just reached a point where that's enough. But I don't think in that case and in any other case I've dealt with people, people can't say that I was not patient. As a matter of fact, my main concern is that people might think I'm being a little too patient. And I don't want to do that either. Things have to be dealt with. So this isn't baseball, but after two or three strikes, the time for patience is up. When I mean like big issue things, two or three times, and it's just time. If they're not repentant, then it's time to do something. That's when it's time for appropriate action to be taken. Now, you might recall 1 Timothy. chapter 1 I mean. We were back in 1st Timothy 1. What did Paul say? Verse 20, of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. Paul's the example saying there comes a time where you guys got to cut it. These guys wouldn't stop preaching false damnable heresies like we're done here. And his desire isn't that they go to hell, it's that they have their day with the devil so that they learn not to blaspheme. That would mean they would repent. And also the Lord's dealings with Israel in Jeremiah 44, 22, so that the Lord could no longer bear because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you have committed, therefore is your land a desolation and an astonishment and a curse without an inhabitant at this day." God waited, he was long suffering and he just kept trying, he kept sending prophet after prophet and doing this and doing that and they just finally, he let Nebuchadnezzar come in and just turn it into a parking lot. Same thing after Jesus. Jesus came, died, rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, Pentecost happened. Well, it's still another four decades before God finally said, all right, I've been giving you opportunity to receive your king even after you killed him, and you won't. And in came Titus, the Roman general, and he again turned it into a parking lot. So that's the example pastors are trying to follow, to be as long-suffering and patient as possible, but there does come a time where you have to deal with things. But when you do, you're not to be a brawler. That's similar to being a striker. And I haven't been in a fistfight for nearly 34 years, but there is a time for violence. Now, if someone came in here and was trying to hurt people and, God forbid, they were shooting or whatever, I'm pulling out a 9mm. If they're not shooting but they're in there and they're trying to wail on the back of Doug's head or whatever, and they, you know, throw a, you know, kick mark in the head and knock Dan off the pew, I'm going to be running back there to, you know, take my shots. That's totally different when it comes to being a brawler, meaning that you're kind of... Listen. You know, Jesus was not past being violent. Look at John chapter 2 real quick. Just don't let them take it away from you and beat you with it. That's the problem with canes. That's why guns are so much better. Yeah, they're not going to grab this gun out of my hand. John chapter 2, 13-17, And the Jews' Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and changers of money sitting. Verse 15, And when he had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables. Read the next two with me. And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence, make not my father's house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. I'm gonna show you my favorite memes. If someone asks what would Jesus do, remind them that turning over tables and breaking out whips is a possibility. Amen. All this flippity fruity Jesus that people want to believe in. He's a figment of their wicked imaginations. Jesus was a man's man. He'd make Chuck Norris and John Wayne look like something off of Little Rascals. Amen. And he's as loving and patient and long-suffering and gave his life to save you from hell, but he ain't no sissy. Amen, brother. And then number 13, a bishop then must be not covetous. And that comes back to the filthy lucre thing. This is the reason many pastors leave one church to pastor a different church. Did you know that? Oh, they'll make it sound real spiritual. Well, I'm here to tell you the Lord has been leading me and we've prayed and prevailed in prayer. We believe the Lord is leading us to move to this church. It's going to let us live in a million-dollar home where I'm going to make twice the salary and I'm going to have a car. and it's paid for already, and they're promising me my 401K, and a clothing, or what do you want to call, what do they call it, stipend allowance of three grand a year, or something like that. I've seen it. And behind the scenes, when they're talking to people about it, that's what they're talking about. But then when they announce it to the church, oh, oh, The angels, you know. It just becomes this spiritual moment. God is leading me. What's funny is, there have been a number of times where these guys did that, and then they got over there and ended up finding out it was a hell hole to pastor in, and then they wanted to come back to the other place. Too bad, we got another pastor. I've seen it. The Lord is leading usually means there's more money. I'm not saying in every case. I'm just saying I've seen enough to know the majority of preachers make the decision. They'll make it sound real spiritual, but it's all about the moolah. Now, I'm just saying this for the record. I am self-supporting. I don't take a salary, but that doesn't stop people from accusing me of being in it for the money. And I joke with them and say, well, if I'm in it for the money, I'm real bad at it. I mean, I get some, and I'm very thankful, don't think I'm not thankful, but I get like gift cards for restaurants, I get t-shirts and books, you know, once in a while for birthdays and that kind of thing. I'm not getting rich off this gig. And I don't want to. I don't, I'm not in it for the money. I'm in it so that when everything's said and done, I'm going to be able to look the Lord in the eye and He's going to say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. You can pat me on the back now. You know, because I'm diabetic, if you all start giving me black licorice, I'm going to think you're trying to kill me. That's why the gift cards and T-shirts and everything work better. Not that I don't love this stuff. But you know, people pat me on the back or whatever, and that's fine here and there. But what I'm hoping is when we stand before the Lord, you'll still pat me on the back. Amen. That's when the pat on the back will mean everything. And I'm going to pat some of you right on the back as well. Because this ain't about me. This is a fellowship of believers serving the Lord together. I'm up here teaching. There's a whole lot of work being done that don't have my fingerprints on it. And there are going to be people who are going to say, I'm listening. I've listened to that preacher because of her or because of him, and they told me to listen. And my church didn't teach me anything, but I learned by listening to you. And he or she are gonna get reward. And then all these gospel tracks, you know, we're up to 87,000 gospel tracks going out. That's just the ones we counted. How many people are gonna say, you know, I got that track. And I'm sure it's not the only thing or even the final thing, but it's gonna play a part in them being saved. Amen, amen. So we'll spend one more study on these. Yeah! We'll spend more study on these matters. Lord willing and the church don't rise. How do you like that one Mark? Father we thank you Lord for the study and we thank you for your word. We thank you for the Holy Spirit. Lord help us to stand with your word no matter who don't like it on the right or the left. We're going to stand with this Book word for word. We're not going to change it. And I do seek to be the kind of preacher and pastor that can live up to these qualifications in your sight, as well as in the sight and in the minds of those who observe this ministry. Lord, may we all be found faithful until the church does rise. In Jesus' name, Amen.