The doctrine of the church and we're trying to be a healthy church. Ecclesiology. uh matters and that's a little bit about what i want to talk about tonight is is yes i hope you're not getting sick of that word sick of that topic or thinking that it's being overemphasized um i could jump up and down and wave my arms but hey let's think about what's at stake let's think about where we came from let's think about uh what what is going to happen going forward depending on how healthy we are how in line we are with scripture uh So I hope we're convinced, but I hope we leave tonight more convinced and to know why and what to do with it. Ecclesiology absolutely matters. It's not much to do about nothing. It's not squibbling, squabbling over semantics. It's not infighting over, you know, minor things between fractions. And we understand that better when we think about and have an educated understanding of the heritage of the healthy church. I want to talk about where we came from a little bit tonight. It was about 400 years ago that the pilgrims came over on the Mayflower, 1620, and when they got off of that historic vessel at Plymouth Rock, or maybe it was still on board the ship, that they drafted this famous document we know as the Mayflower Compact. One phrase from that talks about why they came. It was, quote, for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith. End quote. Within a year, half of those pilgrims were dead, but the other half were part of what we celebrate as a first historic Thanksgiving feast. That's debatable about who was first and where and all of that, but that famous meal that we kind of commemorate this week was started really essentially by this group of people who had at least according to what they wrote, this as their goal, the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith. And we're very thankful for a Christian heritage. I know that many of those pilgrims and colonists, probably some didn't come with good motives and some were, maybe abused the land or abused the inhabitants of the land or things like that that really historians are trying to open our eyes to right now. But the reality is many of those, many of those, especially those that came over on the Mayflower, a primary, if not for most of them really, it was the primary determining factor that caused them to flee England for Holland and then Holland to the Americas was the search for religious liberty. They wanted to be able to worship God according to what scripture said, not according to what the state or the state church demanded. And that is really, as Baptists, we identify very well with that as part of our heritage, a desire for individual soul liberty, a freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our conscience as informed by scripture. So I wanna invite you to 1 Timothy 3 tonight. There are criticisms about, as we think once again, about all the different denominations available and even non-denominations available where people can learn and worship and all of this. Baptists, as a denomination with that title only started around that time, about 400 years ago. And so I've seen these attacks leveled. Maybe you've come across this where it's like, well, you know, if they hadn't been around for thousands of years and Baptists just showed up within the last few centuries, how are you going to say that you're right? Like did 1600 years of church history, were they all getting it wrong? And no, of course we would say, we would say they're not. They're, you know, Baptists in name maybe can be traced back to the last three, four hundred centuries. But the beliefs that we're standing for, we like to try to trace through history. And we can do that when we look at our heritage. And that's not the purpose tonight, to go back through and some of the accounts of groups or individuals that championed Baptistic beliefs through the centuries. Definitely want to encourage you to do some digging there. I can recommend some resources to get you started. Going all the way back, what do we read in Ephesians 2.20? Christ is the cornerstone. So our heritage as a church has to go back there. Our faith in God goes all the way back to Eden, so we go six millennia plus. But in terms of a church, in terms of ecclesiology, in terms of denominational beliefs or our doctrines, we go back to our goal everyone's goal ought to be this to go back to well what did christ teach what did he stand for who is he what does that mean for us how is he going to be our cornerstone and against that cornerstone were built the foundational Ministries, the teachings of the apostles, Ephesians 2.20 tells us. A primary writing apostle in terms of the doctrine that we have preserved for us in scripture, who would be the primary writing apostle for our preserved New Testament doctrinal writings? The apostle Paul. Paul, as an apostle, was used of God to build on this foundation this cornerstone with a corpus of Christian doctrine and entrust that doctrine to future generations. And so you see him presenting what he's writing under inspiration this way. In 2 Timothy 2, he says to Timothy, these things, these doctrines that you've heard of me, commit thou to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. There's this trust of doctrinal truth that Paul got from Christ, and Timothy got from Paul, and faithful men got from Timothy. And the idea of scripture is that this can be preserved, passed along, carried along by future generations. And we want to, we are nothing if we don't get to where that is supposed to be and then carry it along. in that line of doctrinal purity to continue this heritage. So we're taking a look back. Where do we come from? And also a look forward. How do we keep this going? It was the 1936 Olympic Games. games that started this idea of the lighting ceremony with the torch relay. It does go all the way back to the original games in Olympia, Greece. There was a sacred flame that burned during the games at all times. And that idea was kind of resurrected in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Well, from Olympia, Greece, all the way to Berlin, Germany. We're talking almost 2,000 miles, runners, one runner at a time. It was about Well, it was 3,331 different runners in this relay that carried the torch 1,980 miles. It took them 12 days and 11 nights. And the idea was, we've got this sacred flame, and it's got to get from where it began to where its destination is and each one of us running a leg on that relay have to do our part to keep it lit to hold it high to to keep going until it gets to that next person we can safely pass it on to and they can keep carrying it so friends we are We're a leg of a relay of a sacred flame that from the Christ to the apostles to Timothy of the early church, that we have to, A, make sure we've got it right. What did Paul teach? What did the Spirit inspire him? What did Christ give to Paul as a gospel that we are to carry forward? And then let's make sure to carry it, to hold it high, to not let it burn out. Well, in 1956, the games were in Melbourne. a local student there by the name of Barry Larkin. Maybe you've heard about this. He called himself a protester. I would consider him a prankster. He knew about this relay that was going on. He took a chair leg and put a plum pudding can on it, which I guess could be found in 1956 in Melbourne, empty can, and lit on fire within that can a pair of underpants. And he went into where that relay was going to be coming. He came in ahead as an imposter, pretending to be that torch carrier. And he actually was able to pass that fake torch to the mayor of Sydney at the time, Pat Hills, who accepted it, thinking it was the real torch. And so this Barry Larkin escaped without being noticed. And goofy story, you probably You can forget that as soon as you heard it, except really it illustrates, yeah, if the torch is to be a sacred flame that's passed from one to another, we have to be mindful of the fact that, yes, there are imposters that sneak in falsehood that, if you're not looking closely, can get by as the real thing, but is really a mockery and a travesty. So Paul writes to Timothy with the concern of the protection and the succession of pure doctrine. This is important, this is why we have scripture, this is why we have church, and this is to be a believer, what we are to be edified into, this truth that we, what did the Great Commission include? That disciples would be made, that they'd be baptized, and then that they'd be taught to observe everything that Christ has commanded, all of New Testament revelation. So look at the opening, I know I said 1 Timothy 3, but let's look at the opening verses of the epistle. It's verse one and two of chapter one that Paul introduces himself. He's this apostle, he has the commandments of Christ, God, our Savior, and he's writing to, verse two, Timothy, that son in the faith, with this goal of succession of pure doctrine. Verse three, I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went to Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine. So there's this, right off the bat, after saying hello, Paul's concern is, I am writing to you for the sake of the proclamation, the preservation, and the advancement of pure doctrine, and that it be protected from counterfeits. I want you to be careful that you charge some that they teach no other doctrine. The concern is doctrinal. Flip ahead to chapter four and the opening words of that chapter. 1 Timothy 4, now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times shall some depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron. And this isn't something that is gonna happen hundreds of years from now. We are told in Hebrews that in these latter days, Christ has spoken to us through scripture. So these are those latter days. We've been in them for some time. Paul was concerned even that his immediate audience there in Ephesus under Timothy's leadership would be facing false teachings. And then just a few chapters later here, he says it's seducing, it sounds good, it's often hip, it's often trendy, it tickles the ears, we're told later. Really, ultimately, it has Satan behind it. Doctrines of devils is what he calls it in chapter four and verse one. So one thing to recognize, and I think we've seen this, but let's make sure we don't leave this theme this year without being on the same page about these things. One, healthy ecclesiology is developed through history. So this isn't like we're claiming that 2,000 years ago the church was started and it took two millennia for us to get it right, and now here we are, Thompson Row Baptist Church, we got it all figured out. Nor are we trying to claim that it was right at first but these false teachers, it just really got off and no one's been able to sort it out and everyone has their arguments and opinions and we kind of think we've got it right. Rather, the simple truth is that perfect doctrine was delivered to us in that first century But in the ensuing 20 centuries, we've had imperfect people trying to understand it. And that's what church history is, is imperfect people trying to understand it, hone our knowledge about it, and be able to teach it and pass it on. And along the way, there were those who tried sincerely but erred badly. There were those who, with bad motives, came in and taught false things to gain a following for their own benefit. But knowing that pure ecclesiology and healthy doctrine is really developed through history ought to give us not a resignation, well, no one really can know what is right, I guess, but no, it ought to give us a humble diligence to say, well, I've got to dig in. I've got to apply myself. We've got to, as a church, make sure that we are not just kind of asleep about this and accepting every wind of doctrine, that if these things are you know setting us apart from other churches and we want to be unified we don't want to divide over things that don't matter so let's take a careful look if you can think back to our time in the summer where we looked in the opening chapters of revelation to those seven letters to the seven churches in the first century. What we see is clearly in those chapters that within just one to two generations of church history, church health across the known world of that time really represented a gamut of different conditions. All right, so there were within that first century, you know, John is writing probably in the 90s. Paul, this is one of his last letters that he's writing to Timothy about 30, 30 some year, maybe 30 years earlier. But what did we see? If you bring up that map that's got the seven churches that are addressed in those letters, and we remember that Each of these had a lampstand, and the lampstand represents God's presence there at that church. Each of these churches had a messenger, represented by a star. And Jesus, as he's preaching to these churches, says that he walks among these lampstands, and he holds these stars in his hand. And yet there is a church where he says, unless something changes, I will remove your lampstand. So there are true churches, and there are false churches. There are healthy true churches, and there are unhealthy true churches, and then there are false churches that don't even have Christ's lampstand there, don't have his messenger there, that he does not walk among them. All right, so if you think about those seven addressed in the letters, Sardis and Laodicea, there's just nothing positive about them. They're very unhealthy, yet there is still a lampstand there. There's a chance for repentance. In the middle, you have Pergamos and Ephesus and Thyatira, where they were a mixed bag. Some good things happening, some bad things happening, and it just needed attention if they were going to be healthy. And then Smyrna and Philadelphia, nothing negative mentioned against them, but words of encouragement to persevere through persecution. So here are these seven churches, and they're all true churches, but they're healthy, unhealthy, and some had mixture somewhere in between. But what we have to understand is that sprinkled in around these seven were many churches that couldn't even be considered true churches. And that's inferred straight from those texts that we won't go back to look at, but if your memory is sharp, you recall that Jesus, for example, said, thank you for rejecting the teachings of the Nicolaitans. That's a false teaching and you are healthy because you've kept away from that. Another church had to be reprimanded for allowing some people that held to those beliefs. So let these gray dots kind of represent that for every true church there in modern-day Turkey, ancient Asia Minor, there could have been one or two or a dozen churches that weren't even true churches at all that Jesus would say, don't even fellowship with them, the Nicolaitans. Judaism's synagogues. Some of these believers in these churches addressed were getting pressure from Jews who had rejected Christ as Messiah and were still worshiping at the synagogue. Jesus calls those synagogues in Revelation 2 and 3 the synagogue of Satan. So in no uncertain terms, he's saying, here are these religious institutions that think they're worshiping God. They're not with me at all. They're not true churches. They're to be condemned. Along with those there in those first three chapters, it's implied that there's idolatrous worship to the pagans, emperor worship of the Romans, all of these religious practices that don't even make the cut to be considered a church. And so not only is healthy ecclesiology and healthy doctrine developed through centuries, but unhealthy ecclesiology is too. Unfortunately, people divide and are too stubborn to really dig into scripture and find truth and get an idea that they get attached to and proud about and decide, well, I'll just start my own new thing and get my own new following. And so unhealthy doctrine has clearly developed throughout history as well. So again, it's biblical to speak of true churches, false churches. We see that in Revelation 1-3, and it's exactly what Paul is warning against here in 1 Timothy 1, 1 Timothy 4. Are we together so far? Point number two, healthy doctrine is to be, must be upheld and advanced in the true church. we must be a part of the ones entrusted with carrying this out. All right, so now we're in 1st Timothy 3, and I want you to look at starting in verse 14. These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. This is our memory verse from last month. Alright, so you see what's going on? Be careful, Timothy. There's false teaching out there. I want you to charge people not to teach it. But as for you, as for what is taught at the church, make sure it's truth. The church has to be the pillar of truth. The church can't be waffling. The church can't be compromising. The church can't be kind of, you know, taking halfway positions everywhere and still trying to figure things out. And, well, we want to show grace, so who could really have the answer? We don't want to condemn. There has to be a pillarly, a steadfast, a buttress of truth, and God entrusts that duty, that responsibility, that stewardship to the church. The true church has to hold on to and carry forth right doctrine. That's a torch that's got to stay lit, and it's got to be carried forth. Healthy doctrine is central to the true church's identity and mission. Doctrine. We saw that in chapter four, verses one and two. Well, there's these seducing spirits, doctrines of devils. We saw it in chapter one in verse three. Charge them not to teach these other doctrines. Look at a few more verses. Chapter four, verse six. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, that thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourish up in the words of faith and good doctrine where unto thou hast attained. Paul told Timothy, Timothy, you want to be a good shepherd, want to be a good teacher of this church in Ephesus, you've got to just remind people of good doctrine. That's kind of a number one thing. If the church is gonna be a pillar and ground of truth, the people have to be well informed of what scripture teaches and what error and falsehood is out there so that we can stand fast. And honestly, that's part of my motivation for bringing this message again tonight. Some of you might be like, well, do we need to hear more of this? I just wanna be a good minister. And this verse says to be a good minister is to hold forth these things and make sure people are well grounded in these things. Verse 13, till I come give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine, the scripture, read what it says, proclaim what it says, and then teach what that means. Reading, exhortation, doctrine, we've gotta be well versed in this. And I wanna look at one more, 2 Timothy chapter four. His second epistle, he writes in chapter four and verses three and four, Reference this a moment ago. The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine But after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables and picture that relay runner with the Torch and someone off of the path says hey come this way. It's a detour. It's over here. This is a shortcut This is a better way. Believe me. It's okay, and they veer off track because it's attractive and seems Harmless. Kids, if you're following along in your kid's bulletin tonight, your key word is doctrine. It just means teaching. It's truth. The early church was healthy at Pentecost because that was a group that continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. Healthy ecclesiology, it requires care and effort. It's hard to nail down because some of the teachings of the Bible, you really have to compare between each other and do some deep digging and consider nuances and implications. It's actually easier to mess up your ecclesiology than it is to keep it pure. All right, hence the potpourri, the smorgasbord of options out there because there's one way to get it right and there's so many ways to go astray. And when I say one way to get it right, I'm not talking about secondary issues where you've got to have this particular philosophy of your ministry and this particular format and this particular day that you meet and time that you meet and how many times and what song you sing and all of those things. There are many different ways to to apply ministry and doctrinal truth correctly, but doctrinal truth is not customizable or varying. It's the pillar of truth that the church is to hold forth. And the spirit has to lead us in this. And we have to do it with the spirit of humility. We say, well, we've got it right. And all those other churches out there, their torches are out, their candlesticks are gone. And no, of course not. We don't assume that we're healthy. Okay, we've got great doctrine here, but we need to grow. We need to be better versed in it. We don't assume to be the healthiest church even in town. No, thank the Lord for good, healthy churches that are sprinkled in amongst the potpourri of those that have made something other than this their driving influence. But Paul does just give a quick summary of what that truth is, what it is at core, the kernel of pure doctrine that we wanna stand forth and hold high and carry forth, and he gives that in the very next verse, verse 16. Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. This truth that has been held by God and now is revealed through the gospel, it's this. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed in the world, received up into glory. These are not the only non-negotiables, but these are the heart of it. So here's healthy doctrine. Let's divide that into four bullet points from verse 16. One, Christ's divinity and incarnation. What does Paul say? God was manifest in the flesh. Boy, how do you try to argue that Jesus isn't God when Paul writes to Timothy and says, this is the truth the church must stand for, that God was manifest in the flesh. We've got to believe in Christ's divine incarnation. And that's connected, of course, with his earthly ministry, ultimately his vicarious death on the cross to pay for our sins. manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit. And with that word justified, think of a close synonym that could work equally well in this context, vindicated. It's not justified like you and I are justified because we were unjust and had to be made just. Jesus was always just, but that always just nature was vindicated at his resurrection. So the second point is Christ vindicating resurrection. He was justified in the spirit. Okay, so after his time in the flesh, his resurrection in the spirit vindicates that yes, this man, this prophet, this teacher was and is everything he said he was. God, the way, the truth, and the life. Third point, the gospel's faithful proclamation. God was manifest in the flesh, one, justified in the spirit, two, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles. So there's this proclamation to you and me, the uttermost parts of the earth, the Gentile nations of the gospel, and then finally, Believed on in the world received up into glory Christ's ascended glorification these are the kernel of doctrine and the again Scripture isn't only one verse long. It's not that that's a All we need, the rest of it helps us flesh that out and see what that exactly entails and how we can get it right and warns us against how to get it wrong and all of this, but at least you've got to start here. And these should be points of focus in any healthy ministry. A healthy church has to accurately understand, carefully articulate, and faithfully uphold these doctrines. We ought to know how we ought to behave ourselves in the church of God. Now, behave yourself kind of sounds like not that, like, life or death. It's kind of, we say that about trivial things. I had a friend in the church I grew up with. If he was goofing off and being wild in church, his dad would look at him and say, behave thyself. And he was referencing this 1st Timothy 3.15, behave yourself in the house of God, which is the church of God, of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. But we memorize it together. And so thou, how thou oughtest to behave thyself. We used the New King James when we memorized it together, how to conduct yourself. It's to know the right path, the right way to behave and act and conduct ourselves and believe and hold forth that truth. In the language of verse 15, just in the weight of verse 16, doesn't it just get across for us how this stuff really, really matters. This is important. Okay. Encouraging note, point number three. Healthy doctrine, I said, you know, it can be a mess. There's so many ways to miss it. But here's an encouraging note. Healthy doctrine will remain. Though some will veer off that path and fail their leg of the relay, God's going to make sure that pure doctrine carries on. And we base that confident proclamation on what Jesus said in Matthew 16, 18, our first verse of the month this year. Jesus said, I'm going to build it. Jesus said, the gates of hell will not prevail. In that promise is an expectation for us that the gates of hell are gonna try. There's going to be what Paul warns about these doctrines of devils, these seducing spirits. The gates of hell are gonna try. And many will be turned aside. We're warned of that in here in 1 Timothy 4. But healthy doctrine will remain. There will always be at least that scriptural idea of a remnant of those that are holding forth the word of truth. We want to be careful to make sure we're in it. Don't be guilty of saying, well, so many people couldn't be wrong. Or, wow, these sincere people that really seem to love the Lord, they couldn't really be wrong, could they? healthy ecclesiology, healthy doctrine, healthy church will remain. We've just got to really make sure that we're a part of it, be a part of it. And that's what I really, what all of this was driving toward is this appeal to you and me, to us as a church, Moving forward into 2024 and beyond, we want to be a part of Christ's building of the church against which the gates of hell will not prevail. There are churches out there that are doing okay, but in 2024, the gates of hell will prevail. We need God's grace, his mercy, and a commitment to stay on the right path. Baptists, again, the whole point of this isn't to say, well, you've just always gotta be Baptist, and that's how to make sure we're holding the torch high. But let me just make this claim that Baptists tend to care very much about church health. Baptists have historically been very careful, very faithful, I might even say very rigid in our insistence upon purity of doctrine, practice, affection, and association. We have historically been, Baptists have, and by God's grace we want to continue to be. May God help us to be a group of believers who submits to Christ as head, who diligently looks to scripture as our sole authority, our solitary directive for determining what we must believe, orthodoxy, how we must behave, orthopraxy, and how we are to love or order our affections, orthopathy. So let's be part of it. I know we've hit this hard this year, but listen, every year, young people in particular go out from healthy churches and make compromising associations and relationships and church memberships that just kind of leave behind a very rich heritage. And it's so easy to do. someone who is very attractive and speaks very well who pays attention to you and can tell you well my catholic church believes that jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins and we pray and try to do right and love our enemies and all of these things and And it seems like, well, I could be in a marriage relationship or, you know, the church that you visit one of the services and everything is just so appealing and so palatable and maybe they kept you laughing and left you crying and it was just, you know, such a great experience and it didn't seem like anything was too terribly off. You've got to dig. You've got to search, you've got to apply yourself diligently to rightly handle if you want to be approved. Rightly handle the word of God and stand for truth. I know careful attention to doctrine doesn't sound exciting, doesn't sound easy. It's usually not hip. It's pretty much never trendy. And it can seem like, oh, what a fuddy-duddy. But listen, look at these scriptures. Does this matter to God? Is this important? What is at stake? Are there churches that are admixtures of poor health? Are there churches that, yes, they have the gospel. They're a true church. The lampstand is still there. There's nothing else good to commend, and they're at risk of it being removed. Are there churches, there aren't even true churches, that have no lampstand, that Christ never was there or he abandoned long ago? Yes, it behooves us to use special care with humility, with diligence, and being spirit-led. All right, so here's four ways to be part of it. Be part of what God's doing to bring forward a healthy church, healthy ecclesiology, healthy doctrine, from that heritage into next generation and beyond. Be a faithful learner. Be a faithful learner. Hey, all of the things that we do here at church that have teaching components to them, it's not to fill time. It's not because we've got people who just love to talk and want someone to listen to them. We give careful attention. to doctrine because there's much to learn. And it's kind of like some of you who are in professions where you learned it, you went to school for it, and now you're in that career, but every so often you have to keep going back and getting updated and getting recertified and getting this training because there's new threats out there all the time. It's so easy to stray. We've got to be renewed in our spirit of our minds. by being faithful learners daily as you study scripture on your own, weekly as we gather together and continue steadfastly in the Apostles' Doctrine. Number two, seek to serve and to lead. If you're going to be part of it, that doesn't mean just come and sit and soak. It doesn't mean just to be a learner. It also means to be a participator. Okay? We could sit by the side and go, oh, there goes the torch. Yep. Hey, good job. Hold it high, yep, keep going. Or we could get there and say, you look tired, give me that. Or run alongside and say, let me hold you up. And so we're serving each other. I want to say specifically to the young, you know, teens, young adults. Just as Jesus passed that pure doctrine to Paul, who passed it to Timothy, who passed it to faithful men, who passed it to others also, we've got a generation, all right, you know, like I said, teens or if you're a college or young adult, I already look fairly ancient to you. We are starting to get wobbly, all right, with this torch. We need someone to pass it to. We need energy, we need youth that is ready to not sit back and say, oh, well, I hope I hope these old folks keep the doctrine pure at this church. No, take some ownership. Grab the torch and carry it along and say, how am I doing? Am I going the right way? And be part of it. These instructions in chapter three that we just kind of skipped over from verse one all the way down to verse 12 give instructions for pastors and deacons and their wives and the character traits that need to be there and ought to be striven for if that church is going to be healthy, and that's so important. But again, to our young people, verse one there of chapter three says, if you desire The office of a bishop, of a pastor, you desire a good thing. That's a healthy aspiration. That's good to want to be involved, to want to be a torch bearer, to want to be a pastor, to want to be a pastor's wife. It's a good thing, verse one, a good thing to do with your life. Look at verse, about the deacons, verse 13. They have used the office of a deacon Well, purchase to themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. Doesn't that sound wonderful? There's a really good reward and benefit attached with serving and leading in ways like pastoring, in ways like deaconing, in ways like being a pastor's wife, being a deacon's wife. But I understand we can't all be pastors and deacons. or pastor's wives and deacon's wives, but we've been talking about this in men's book study. These character traits described in verses 1 through 12, aren't they character traits that every believer ought to strive for? God's not going to make all of us pastors and deacons, but we all ought to be pastor material. deacon material, pastor's wife material, deacon's wife material, because even if God doesn't call you and lead you and open the door for you to serve in that way, and more of you might be called on for that than you would imagine, or even deaconess, if you find yourself in a church that recognizes that as an office, not in spiritual leadership, but in service as deacons do, There are great opportunities to serve and to lead. And even if you don't have that title or that office, just to be part of it, to strive to be that type of believer that's described here. Let's skip over, well, maybe just bring up our Baptist distinctives one more time. And it's that point that we haven't talked very much about, number six, those two offices of pastor and deacon. And take some time, would you, this week in chapter three, to go over those character traits and say, God, how can I develop this in my life? And how might you use me as I grow in these areas to be part of what you want to do for service and leadership in your church moving forward? Third way to be part of it as we go away from this and keep it going. Be grateful for a godly heritage. Hey, today is about giving thanks and this week is about gratitude. We will not be good stewards of what has been entrusted to us if we fail to appreciate the sacrifice of those who made it available. um so again you know i had in mind that maybe tonight i might give some highlights of people and groups from church history that we would identify with and say those baptistic believers down throughout the ages there's just not time for that but i want to really encourage you be a reader about church history be a student of the reformation and of baptist heritage and Even Betty's got some resources in the bookstore that will get you off to a great start. Even just a couple pages a day with maybe the Dr. Cummins book that she can point you to in there. Give thanks to God and give thanks to the seasoned saints around you that have helped to keep this going for decades. Psalm 16.5, the lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. I have a goodly heritage. God has given us much. Let's steward it well. A beautiful inheritance. Finally, faithfully steward this trust. Know how to behave yourself. Know how to conduct yourself in the house of God, the living God. It's the pillar and ground of the truth, the church. Center your life on this. Be a pillar here. Pillars are strong. Pillars are stable. Pillars are faithful. Pillars are reliable. The church is to be this to the truth. But remember, the church is you and me. It's us. We have to be. It's not this building or this really just, you know, kind of nebulous idea of this organism, but it's these believers coming together and holding forth the truth. Receive the torch. Keep it burning. Carry it on toward the finish line. We've got to recognize how important our doctrine is, our ecclesiology is. Hone it, yes. Doesn't assume that you just take everything you've been given and assume that nothing could be re-articulated and blindly carry it forth, but be invested and study it up and maintain the direction that's faithfully been set for you. It's not to you or me to try to change a direction or something like that, but to be sure we're on the right one and to keep it going. So one more time, yes, ecclesiology matters. It's our prayer that God would use what we've learned, emphasize this year what we've reviewed, and use it to fortify us and to grow us as a healthy church who upholds true doctrine, who upholds this cause and keeps advancing it until Christ comes. Let's bow in prayer.