Well, Tim, next time I'll give you a list of men that you could invite. It is a pleasure to be here. It's a privilege to be here with you to worship our God together and on this particular occasion to acknowledge his goodness to this particular congregation. I want to read one verse and then again ask God for his help. And I also want to start my timer. Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 17, we read, "'Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.'" Let's pray. Our God in heaven. We acknowledge that we are far too earthbound. The things of this world fill our thoughts and minds. And even as we have sought to bring you praise, it's all too easy to find our minds wandering. Now we come to your word. This is no ordinary book. Lord, we plead with you that you would continue to be with us by your spirit. that your word would come with power, that you would, as we read as we started this entire service, grant humility, deliver me from all self-confidence, bring all glory to Jesus Christ. So we pray in confidence because we pray in Christ's name for the gifts which he has promised of grace and the spirit. Amen. The writer of Hebrews is very concerned that the people of God persevere in faith, that their faith not wane, that they don't turn back to the old ways of Judaism and give up a Christ-centered life and worship. The book of 1 Thessalonians, as well as many other books of the Bible, is also focused on this matter of the people of God continuing. The Thessalonian church was a church which was precious to Paul. He saw them come to birth through the preaching of the word and he desired that they would continue. He knew that the day was coming when Christ was going to return, as we saw in 1 Thessalonians 5, and he wants them to rightly be prepared for that great day, and he wants them to live in light of that great day in the present. And so, like the writer of Hebrews in his sermon, which we know is the book of Hebrews, and as Paul writes to the Thessalonians, he tells them that one of the agents, one of the instruments that God uses to help his people make it safely to heaven is pastors. Those who shepherd them, those who care for them, those who feed them, those who guide them, those who help them. And the writer of Hebrews, and I believe Hebrews is best described as a sermon, in his sermon he says, I'm going to motivate you to have a right relationship with your pastors and persevere to the end because by the very fact that it brings joy to their hearts. Do what you're supposed to do because it brings joy to your pastor's hearts. And he says, that is good for you. It is unprofitable for you if your pastors are doing all of their work with grief because of the goats rather than sheep or because of the goatish sheepish activity that's going on in the people of God and that is hard upon them and it's not good for you. So the charge this morning, as God has given you a gift of a pastor, the charge to you this morning is to encourage you and to help you to so live that as Pastor Zeitz is recognized along with Pastor Mitch, they might labor over you with joy for your good. The passage I want us to look at is that 1 Thessalonians 5 passage, beginning at verse 12. There's many passages that we could look at, and believe me, I glanced at just about all of them, I think, at one point, trying to figure out exactly what we're going to do. Now, you don't have a nice outline, because I just don't think in those terms. So here's my outline. It's really simple, and we'll see how quickly I can get through it. Three points. One. Love exceedingly. Love exceedingly. Point two. Live peaceably. Live peaceably. Point three. Labor cooperatively. Labor cooperatively. Very easy to outline. Love, live, and labor. Those are my three exhortations to you as we come now to First Thessalonians chapter five, and as I'm going through this sermon, I have three different versions of the New American Standard translation that I have used, so if I'm not matching any of your translations, that's why. As things have grown, they've kind of come from different places. Beginning at verse 12, love exceedingly. verses 12 and 13. But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord, and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. We ask of you, Paul writing to the Thessalonians, recognizing that they have leadership among them, is calling upon them as brothers to know those who labor among them. Now notice with me, first of all, the people that it's talking about, and I'll go through this quickly because this is more for the pastors, and that is, first of all, it's those who labor. The Christian work is a work of labor, and they labor among a particular people. In chapter 2, verses 8 and 9. of 1 Thessalonians. For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day, so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed the gospel of God. This is what he was doing out of a fond affection, verse eight, for you. They worked hard because they loved the people of God. It's a word which speaks of laboring to the point of exhaustion and difficulty. but they also lead you in the Lord. They are those who are given the responsibility of rule, of direction, of guiding you in the direction that the Lord would want you to go, in the direction that would be glory to the Lord. This is what they do. They labor, they lead, and they admonish. Nuthateo. They are those who come alongside and know how to, as it were, counsel you, to come alongside and understand what you're going through and apply the Word of God to you. These are the ones, this is a brief description of some of the responsibilities of a pastor. To labor, particularly in the Word and in prayer, to lead in administration and direction, and to admonish, to come alongside or to come from the pulpit and bring the Word of God to bear upon your lives and apply it to each and every one of you. This is what he calls them to do. But he calls you, the people of God, the people there in Thessalonica, to know them. Now, for those of you who've been around long enough, you've heard the word studies on the word know, and you'd understand that that word, going clear back to the Old Testament, and even back into the first chapters of the Bible, when Adam knew his wife, the intimacy that is described by that word to know, you understand that when Paul says to them, to know them, he doesn't just want you to be able to write down their names and spell them correctly, Z-I-E-T-Z, Right? But he wants you to actually know something intimately about them, to have an intimate awareness of them and interaction with them. And so we could do a word study on to know, but we don't need to do that here in this particular text because he goes right on and says, and regard them very highly in love because of their work. Regard them very highly in love because of their work. So he's specifically saying this knowledge that you are to have for them is a knowledge which is expressed in love for them. It's the outgrowth of loving those whom God has given you to work on your behalf, to labor over you, to lead you and to admonish you. It's to have a love for them, nothing short of love. They go, okay, well, that's a nice word, love. It means I'm not supposed to hate them, but I'm supposed to love them, relatively supposed to think more. But then he adds this other word. you are to regard them very highly or esteem them highly in love. This word to esteem highly is an incredible word because it's actually the word for abundance with two other prepositions put on the beginning of it. When you do that in Greek, you're intensifying it. So it's an abundance out of something and it's an abundance that is above and beyond. You are to esteem them highly above and beyond. There's just to be this incredible love for your pastors. This is what I believe you need to labor to do. Not just to tolerate them, not just to put up with their sermons when they aren't quite as sharp as they have been on times past. Not just to, okay, well, I'll welcome you in for a pastoral visit and we'll get this over as quickly as possible and send you on your way. But love them. There's an appreciation there. There's a welcoming there. There is a delight there. In Ephesians chapter three and verse 20, this word is also used. It helps us to understand just how much Paul is encouraging them to love their pastors in chapter 3 and verse 20. beyond all that you could ask or think according to the power that works within us. To him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. When he's talking about what God is able to do in answer to our prayers to help us, he says, he uses the same word, far abundantly, exceedingly abundantly beyond what we could ask or think. Well, there's a parallel for how much love there should be between sheep and pastor, between sheep and shepherd, between members and their pastor. Now, I gotta be honest with you, I cannot, I have a hard time thinking that you can't love Tim Zeats. I mean, I've known him for 30 plus years now, or about 30 years, right? How could you not love a man who can give his whole life to teaching kids science? and trying to help them understand and want them to actually enjoy it. Do you watch any of his videos, YouTube videos? The guy really likes this stuff. And he really loves these children and wants them. Can you not love a man who can take care of his wife as she goes downhill because of a dementia that's taking over her body and sacrifices his own self to see her cared for on a regular basis? Is it hard to love such a man? It should not be difficult to love such a man. But more than that, This is not just a man who has manifested these graces in amazing ways, and has been persevering with many of you for a long time, as one of you. This is a man whom Christ has saved, whom Christ has indwelt, and who has Christ made obvious that this man is a gift of him to this church. This is not like the Christmas gift that you get from that faraway uncle that's like, what am I going to do with that? This is the gift that you have been saying, we want from God, we prayed to Christ that he would give us gifts, and now he has done that. Love this man. Esteem him highly in love for his work's sake, and he will take on as he cares for you. This is your first exhortation, love exceedingly. But secondly, live peaceably, live peaceably with one another. Back to our verses again, the end of verse 13, right after he says that you esteem him very highly and love because of his work, live in peace with one another. Live in peace with one another. Pastors have a joyful responsibility to study the Word of God and get paid to do it. It's an amazing thing to be able to go to my study and say, I get to open up my Bible, and when I'm reading my Bible, this is what God has called me to do. It's a great privilege. It's a privilege to know the people of God and have the privilege of meeting with them and interacting with them and seeking to help them and encourage them. And it's a wonderful thing. But there's a lot of things that cause acid in a pastor's heart, pain in his heart. And one of the most painful things is to see division among the people of God. If you want your pastors to watch over you with joy, live at peace with one another. This is how you show love for them. by being concerned for the flock that they're caring for, that you're not being one of those that's causing division, but you're being one of those that are called peacemakers by the Lord Jesus. Not just peace lovers, peacemakers. We'll come to that more in a minute, but if you turn with me to Ephesians chapter 4, we have some explanations of the kinds of graces that, brethren, I know have existed among you and I pray would continue to exist among you. Ephesians chapter 4, verses 1 through 3, Paul is concerned about the unity of the church in Ephesus. He describes it by saying, therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. He says, I am calling you to do, to live in light of what you are. And so walk in a manner that's consistent with what God has done for you in calling you out of darkness and calling you to himself and uniting him to yourself with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another or tolerance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Because in fact, as he goes on to say, there is just one body and one spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is over all and in all. So this is the reality, you are one, you are unified in Christ. You're all indwelt by the same spirit. You've all been redeemed by the same savior. And therefore you are one body. And in a very special sense, as you are one local representation of the body of Christ, You are one body. How can you maintain the peace and unity that the Spirit has wrought when he united you all to Christ? How can you maintain that within the church? Well, Paul tells us here's some graces that we need to manifest. One of those was highlighted in Psalm 131, humility. With all humility. Humility is that characteristic which enables us to think of others as more important than ourselves, as Paul says in Philippians chapter two. Humility is that grace that we need in order to lift up one another in honor as Romans chapter 12 describes Christian love. Laboring hard to get the other guy up on top. Because really when I come to understand who I am, I shouldn't be promoting myself. Humility and gentleness. Some people think that being truthful means being blunt. I'm going to tell you exactly as I think it. No, that's oftentimes called rudeness, that's not. and the grace that we should be manifesting is gentleness. Knowing how to come alongside somebody who's done something that needs to be corrected and be able to actually do it in a way that doesn't attack them or put them on the defensive just because you walked up to them. Oh, he's got that look in his eye. I know what he's going to tell me about. I'm going to get blasted today. No, what produces the unity is a gentleness that recognizes the people around you are fragile, the people around you are those whom Christ has died for, those who need to be helped. Gentleness is going to come up alongside of them and take, I think one of the best pictures of meekness and gentleness I can ever remember was a man talking about the racehorse who has incredible power. And if you see the chests on those racehorses, they're just amazing, but they can be held back to run in just the right track and in just the right way. Power under control, that's gentleness. Being able to come alongside, patience. One of my favorite words, long suffering. I can take a lot of suffering and keep loving. and then showing tolerance or forbearing with one another. Isn't that what you want the brethren to do with you? When you've had a, you've said something that you blurted out in a way that was hurtful and don't you want them to be a little more gentle and forbearing with you? I really didn't mean it, it just, it slipped out or I missed doing something I said I was going to do and didn't follow through. Don't you just want people to be tolerant with you? Cut your break. Well, this is some of the characteristics that are going to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, and it's something we have to be diligent at doing. It doesn't just happen. And this is the way you can show your love to your pastors, by being humble and gentle and patient and tolerant with one another. so that that peace is maintained and they can look over your souls and watch over you with joy. Live at peace with one another. Love exceedingly, live peaceably. Third, labor cooperatively. That is, labor together with him. Now notice with me verses 14 through 22. I believe what you have in verses 14 to 22 is really a further explanation of how to live peaceably together and how this peaceable life as a community is supposed to manifest itself. And so it's described laboring together. I call it laboring together because the things that he tells the church to do are the things that he calls a pastor to do. Now in a different way, with a different measure of authority and responsibility, but still the body is to labor alongside the pastor. And in these ways, verse 14, we urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone, see that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people, Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the spirit, do not despise prophetic utterances, but examine everything carefully, hold fast to that which is good, and abstain from every form of evil. There's a sermon in each of those words, isn't there? Well, let's just quickly run down through some of these words. Labor together with your pastor. Admonish the unruly. The word for admonish here is the same word that's used in verse 12 as to what the pastor's responsibility is. It's nutheteo. It is you being able to come alongside and Paul talks to the Romans in Romans chapter 15 and verse 14, I believe it is, or 14, 15, where he talks about you have, there's goodness in you enough through what God has done in your life that you can admonish one another. You can instruct one another, you can help one another. But I want you to notice some of the words that he uses here. And here's the first one, the unruly. This is the person who's out of order. This is the person who is undisciplined. In 2 Thessalonians 3 and verse 11, this word is used to describe those who are unruly, it says, for we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, an unruly life, that's the word, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. They're totally out of control, they're out of, they're undisciplined in what they're supposed to be doing, and they're putting their nose in everybody else's business, they're not working like they're supposed to be working. And so, Paul says to these brothers in Thessalonica, he says, when you see somebody like that, call the deacons because they should talk to them. No, he doesn't say that. Tell the pastor so he can correct them. No, he says, do you know the word of God? Are you one who is humble and gentle and patient? then you can go alongside them and say, hey, brother, I understand there's a problem here. It seems that you're not acting in accord with what you should be doing. You're not living according to the scriptures in your home. You're not living according to the scriptures in your responsibility to provide for your home. You're out of order. You're undisciplined in your life. Let me help you get disciplined. How about if we sign up together to go down and work out at the gym? You and I will go down there together every morning, or every other morning, such and such a time, and you're gonna help him get disciplined. Or you see that woman, she's undisciplined. She's got plenty of time for Facebook, but she has no time for cleaning her house. Call the pastor's wife. No, you can admonish them. You can get along, say, hey sister, I understand that you've, maybe you didn't have a mom who taught you, so can I help you learn how to do this? Can I help you maybe to organize this? Admonishing one another. Admonishing those who are undisciplined and out of order. It's a very extreme word that's being used in one sense. But then he goes on to encouraging the faint-hearted. And I expected to find the typical Greek word, parakaleo, coming alongside and comforting, but it's a stronger word than that. It's consoling. It's what the people came to Mary and Martha to do when they were mourning the death of Lazarus. And the people came to console them, to comfort them. And the word fainthearted is a word which means of little soul. In Exodus chapter six and verse four, it's used to describe the people of God After Moses has gone to Pharaoh and said, let my people go, and Pharaoh's response is, the people are lazy, take away their straw, make them work harder. And it says the people were fainthearted. You get a sense that that word means a little bit more than just they were a little bit downcast or a little frustrated. They were overwhelmed in one sense with frustration and with difficulty and with pain. And Paul says, when you see somebody like that in the church, console them. Come alongside them. Encourage them. Try to lift their spirits. Be that person who sees those hands that are hanging down and those knees that are weak, as Hebrews talks about, and strengthen their knees and lift up their hands. Help them to bear the burdens that they're bearing. Bearing one another's burdens and thus fulfilling the law of Christ. Encourage those who are fainthearted. Help the weak. Again, the word help here is a stronger Greek word than I anticipated. It's a word which speaks of showing a strong interest in. It's not just coming alongside and giving a dollar or two. It's coming into their problems and helping them to sort things out and give them comfort and give them strength. It's doing it out of a deep interest for them. I want to see this person delivered. I want to see this person helped. I want to see them strengthened. I want to see them going on in the faith and no longer wallowing or no longer difficult. I want to come alongside of a deep interest and support them, holding them fast. And the word for weak is a word which speaks of being debilitated. It can mean incapacitated. Again, you see, Paul's drawing this picture out. He's saying, you're seeing all these people there in Thessalonica who are in the most difficult circumstances you could imagine. And I want you to preserve the peace among the body by going in and meeting them at their point, admonishing when there's sin to be addressed, encouraging them when they're downcast and downhearted, coming alongside, supporting those who are overwhelmed in their weakness, incapacitated even by their weakness. And then he puts this word, again he uses the word long-suffering, patient, with everyone, not just that little group that you're really closest with and really love, not those who are most like you, everyone. And he's not just talking about the whole world in a sense, he's talking about the whole church, the whole group, the whole body of Thessalonians. He's saying the church there, this is what I want you to be like, this is how you can maintain that peace. Or as the writer of Hebrews says, Hebrews 10, 24, where we're considering one another, how to stimulate them, how to provoke them unto love and good deeds. I have to think about people. I have to think about somebody other than myself, and I've got to get into their shoes and realize what they're going through, and where they're struggling, and why they're struggling, and help them in the midst of their struggles, whatever they might be. He goes on in verse 15 to add to this and says, see that no one repays another evil for evil. While she said this about me, while he did this to me, Paul says, rather be defrauded. Be like Joseph, sold by his brothers, misused by his brothers, And when they're fearful that he's going to get even, what does he say? You meant it for evil. God meant it for good. I'm not going to return evil for evil. I'm not going to come with the same kind back at you the way you spoke to me. I'm going to, as Paul says in Romans 12, I'm going to overcome evil with good. And again, as he finishes out that sentence, seek that which is good for one another and for all. Philippians 2, 1 through 4, 1 through 5 are verses which the church ought to frequently, we as church members ought to frequently think about. That we are constantly seeking to think of others as more important than ourselves. And we would let this mind be in us, which was also in Christ Jesus, who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but humbled himself, taking the form of a servant. Or Paul in 1 Corinthians 9, who could say, I'll make myself a servant for all. I'm not a servant to any, but I'll make myself a servant to all. Why? That I might win some. This is what Paul is talking to these Thessalonians about. But then he goes on, he says, rejoice always, rejoice always. There's so many Psalms that talk about the loving kindness of God, the chesed of God as he gives gifts to men. And you've got Psalm 136 that just recognizes the outpouring of God's mercies in so many different ways, from the greatness of the universe down to the daily food that we eat, from the protection in the wilderness to the deliverance from bondage. And all of these things speak of God's goodness and would fill us with reasons to be thankful Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his mercies endure forever. And so there's so much that we could give thanks to God for. And Paul here stops and says, now in the midst of all this, you want to keep really, really, one of the ways to remain unified? Rejoice always. Don't be one of those people that's always grumbling. Always sees the things that are bad. Never sees the things that are good. And even in the midst of the bad, There's some folks that just always see the good. And they're always rejoicing. Isaiah 63, verse 7, highlights this reality as well. Isaiah 63, 7. I shall make mention of the loving kindness of Yahweh, the praises of Yahweh, according to all that Yahweh has granted us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he has granted them, according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his loving kindness. Or as Jeremiah writes in Lamentations 3, his mercies are new every morning. Do we not have reason to rejoice that we're not right now in hell? Do we not have reason to rejoice that he has given us a clothed mind and we can come and sit here and be at peace with one another and not be at one another's throats? Christ has given you a gift. What's the response? I think the sneeze is going to come sooner or later. Not to sneeze. Fine. So, the fact of the matter is, he's given you a gift. Rejoice! Give thanks. Well, he's not exactly the kind of man I was hoping for. I was hoping for somebody a little younger. I was hoping for somebody with a PhD in theology. I was hoping for... Rejoice! You've been given a gift from the Lord of Heaven, who said, look, you need a shepherd. Here's one. I've been taking 40 years to prepare him for you. Now you've recognized the gift that I've given. Rejoice and pray without ceasing. And in the end of this section, chapter 3 and verse 25, he says, and in particular, pray for us. Pray for us. So I would say pray without ceasing about everything. And I would really encourage you to really consider, from what we saw in Sunday school to what we're seeing now, that you make a priority of prayer meeting. Praying without ceasing doesn't just mean you do it by yourself. He's talking to the church. Gather for prayer. And in that, give thanks and especially pray for your pastors. One of those greatest encouragements I can remember back from my time at Trinity Baptist Church, I remember standing in the men's room at this row of sinks, and I think I was about, it was between Sunday school and morning, and I was gonna preach, or before the evening service, and one of the older brethren was saying there, we prayed for you last night. Yeah, every Saturday night, we pray for the pastors the next day. When Pastor Martin, those of you who knew Pastor Albert Martin, stepped down from the ministry, moved to Michigan, first thing he did for two years is we spent every prayer meeting we were praying for God to raise up another man, for God to give us another man. And then when he left, I cannot tell you how many times people came to him, we pray for you pastors every day. Pray for them, pray without ceasing for them. They labor for your souls. They labor for your good. They are God's agents and instruments to help you safely on to heaven. They are not just a nice to have, they are generally speaking a needed part of the instruments to get you safely into heaven. That's why they're put here in Ephesians, in 1 Thessalonians chapter five. That's why they're mentioned at the end of Hebrews chapter 13. What an amazing gift, gifts God has given to you. Pray for them, pray without ceasing. And he says, in everything give thanks. It's really hard to be upset with people when you're thanking God for them. You want to keep the peace? Thank God for the people sitting around you. Thank God for them now while you know you can think of good things about them and they haven't done anything to you so that when something does happen, you're already in tune to say, thank you for that person. Keep me in that posture. Thank you for my pastors. Give them the wisdom that they need. Thank you for the wisdom that you've given them. Thank you for giving them to us to help us on our way to heaven. Thank you for pastors who come to me and point out my sin and how I have fallen short of the glory of God. Thank you for pastors who preach the gospel to me, though I don't like to hear it, you young people. Or anybody else who's here who's not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Be thankful that there's somebody who's willing to tell you what your greatest need is. That you're under the wrath of God and that you're in danger of being judged by the God of heaven and earth who's giving you life and breath right now. That tells you about the Lord Jesus Christ and how he stretched forth his hands, as it were, to die upon the cross in order that he might pay for the sins of sinners like you. Thank God for one who comes to you and says, your problem is not A, B, C, D, your problem is S, I, N. Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God for those kinds of men and pray for them. Do not quench the spirit. Don't allow tensions to exist between you and other brethren. Don't allow sin to remain in you. Pray instead for an outpouring of the Spirit every time you gather together. The Spirit will use your pastors to direct the ministries. He will use your pastors when they come for a pastoral visit to know exactly the questions to ask. You know when your heart is deceitful above all else and when they come you say, I hope he doesn't ask about that. And so you kind of keep steering the conversation this way. But instead, pray, Lord, bring the spirit of God upon this man that he will ask me exactly what I need to expose, because I'm too cowardly to bring it out myself. Pray for the spirit to give to yourself that you would be open with your pastors and tell them exactly what they need to hear so they can help yourself. Pastor Albert Martin talked about preaching one time and he came to a passage and he talked about the sin that came to his mind was the sin of adultery. And so he started talking about adultery and he says, you've committed this sin and he was going after this particular sin. And for some reason he said that one time he painted the picture as though it were a woman who was committing adultery rather than a man. He said, generally speaking, I always just kind of go to the man. A woman met him at the door and says, who told you? That's what the Spirit does. He gives them arrows to shoot from the Word of God to strike your souls. Pray for the Spirit of God to be. Don't quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. And basically, I think this comes to us in saying, appreciate the Word of God as it's been given to us and appreciate the means of grace of those who open up the Word of God to us. Chapter one in verse five. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but in power and in the Holy Spirit in full conviction, just as you know what kind of men we prove to be among you. Or chapter two in verse 13. For this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. Thank God for the ministry of the word. Thank God for the men he's given you who preach the word. Examine all things, hold fast to that which is good. Have that Berean spirit that takes these things and says, I'm going to search the scriptures and find it throughout and apply it to myself at every point I possibly can. Abstain from every form of evil. Quite a calling. This is the charge. Nothing new here, I know you've heard these things from various sermons and various passages over many years. But God's given you a gift. And I want to encourage you, as Paul did to the Thessalonians, to do yet more and more in each of these areas. That you would enable your pastors to watch over your souls with joy and not with grief. that they will look forward to giving account for your souls, which they will do with delight and expectation. And I don't just stand here to exhort you, but I stand here to pray for you as well. Just like Paul did for the Thessalonians. Look at verse 23. He says, you can't do this. So he prays for them. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says here's my prayer for you as I've given you all these exhortations, and it's my prayer for you brethren here at Grace Church. The God of peace would do his work by the working of his spirit, by the power of his word, by the working of his spirit, by the word in your lives to sanctify you, to make you holy, that these things would be marks of what this church is like, made up of people who are preserving the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, who labor together, who preserve together, who live peaceably, who love exceedingly, who labor cooperatively. And I can pray that prayer with confidence, just like Paul did, because he goes right on to say, faithful is he who calls you, and he is willing to bring it to pass. I can pray that with confidence, that that will be what Grace Church will be like, because our God is faithful, and he will keep you, and he will give you the grace that you need. May God be pleased to continue to cause this work to prosper, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to your name give glory, for your mercy and your truth. Let's pray. Father in heaven, be gracious to this congregation. You have been, you have been so gracious to them. You've kept them, you've preserved them, you've caused them to grow, you've kept them unified, you've dealt with the people of God that they've grown in grace, and now you've given them another gift. Lord, thank you for these people. But now we plead with you that you would sanctify them entirely. they would be preserved in body and soul and spirit and mind that they might on the last day be without blame at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord keep this church a vibrant living body bringing glory to you and bringing the gospel to this community until Christ returns. In Jesus name