devotional by Pastor Steve. This is Pastor Steve's last time with us, so very happy that he agreed to give us the devotional. And I'll hand it over to you, brother, and I'll make a few things, I'll say a few things at the end of it, too. Our Father, we bless you for the opportunity as men of God and as men, as pastors of the churches to which you've called us to gather together to encourage one another in the things of Christ. to testify to your goodness, to share the trials that we face as ministers of the gospel. We pray that you'd be with us, you would speak to us, speak through us, glorify yourself amongst us, that we would leave this place saying it's been good to be here because you've been here. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Well, I've been tasked with bringing the devotional. Today, let's anchor it to a text. I invite you to open your Bibles. to 1 Timothy chapter 3. The Bible should almost fall open to this passage, I would think, as ministers of the Gospel. 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 1. It is a trustworthy statement if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do, An overseer then must be above reproach the husband of one wife, and that's where we'll stop. The overseer then must be above reproach. I think this is the catch-all category that really is the heading over every other one, that we must be above reproach in these various areas of our lives. We're not going to be perfect, but we're going to be above reproach. We want to be Teflon smooth washed in the blood of Christ, living a continually broken hearted and penitent life before our people and before the world so that we must be above reproach. We must be those that cannot be rightly charged with any kind of sin that we are not repenting of. But notice right after he says we must be above reproach. The first characteristic of a man in the ministry that should be above reproach is that he's the husband of one wife. Now, I speak to you men as pastors, but I also speak to you pastors as men. Lately, there have been the fall, moral departures of men of God. And we've seen this for a number of years and our Our being above reproach in this area, being a one-woman man, has to characterize us. And if it doesn't, it disqualifies us, to my mind. The Bible says much about a godly man and a one-woman man. We're to guard our hearts. We are not to look upon a woman with lust because we've committed adultery in our hearts. We are to make a covenant with our eyes that we wouldn't gaze lustfully upon a woman, were to be delivered from the adulteress who flatters with her words. And if we are proud men, we are going to be easily flattered. And flattery leads men down the road to ruin. With her flattering lips, she seduces him. A man's pride will bring him low, his pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a stumbling. We must remember that the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord and he watches his past. We all believe that God is omniscient and he's omnipresent, but when we're flattered and we fall to the wink of a wanton woman, we have basically, practically forgotten the omniscience and omnipresence of God because he follows us. Indeed, he's ahead of us wherever we go. What did the apostle Paul do? He says, in view of this, and of course, he's talking there about the coming resurrection, but we can apply this to this situation. I do my best always to maintain a conscience, a blameless conscience before God. and before men. And therefore we are to guard our heart and our eyes against these kind of sins. Jesus says it pretty radically, doesn't he? If the right hand offends you, cut it off and throw it far from you. It's better that one of your body parts perish than your whole body go into hell. Indeed, fornicators and adulterers God will judge. The Bible is very clear upon that. Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Or can a man walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So is the one who goes into his neighbor's wife. Whoever touches her will not go unpunished. If I had time, I would contrast David and Joseph. David was a man of integrity. He was a man after God's own heart, We all know that he fell into very serious sin. And when he should have been about his business leading his armies into battle, he was at home gazing upon a naked woman on a veranda opposite the palace. And it makes me wonder if he'd seen her before and he wanted to stay back and maybe get more than an ogle this time. And so he did. Like a bird who wanders from her nest, so is a man who wanders from his home. The bird that wanders from its nest puts itself in a precarious and dangerous place. I saw among the naive, I discern among the youths, a young man. Old men collect sense too, but the focus here is particularly among young men. But an old fool is far worse the fool than a young fool. Passing through the street near her corner, he takes the way to her house. I remember a sermon from a man preaching on Joseph. Joseph, remember, he had all the opportunity. Potiphar's wife dismissed all the maids, the house servants. She had him all to herself. She'd been working on him before, and now the opportunity is ripe. And what does Joseph do? He runs for his life. Run, Joseph, run. That should be the language of our tongue when we are tempted. When some nearsighted woman casts an admiring glance our way, we're not to answer it with our own eyes. We're to avert our eyes. Some things we can't help seeing, but looking at him again, we can help not to see. A man who wanders from the way of understanding will rest in the assembly of the dead. What did Paul say to Timothy? Now flee from youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart. We're to guard our home as a loving hind and a graceful doe. Let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be exhilarated, be carried away. Go astray, really, is what it says. Always with her love, her breasts, her love. So husbands ought always to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. An overseer then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife. I asked a man in our church who traveled with his his company. He worked for a food company and he traveled as an executive vice president and he flew out every week to go deal with his sales team. And he was a bird outside of his nest and he was a faithful bird that always returned to his own nest. And I asked him, I said, would you give me some tips upon how you've maintained your moral purity, being a one woman man all of these years. And he wrote me back and he gave me these tips, which I think are very helpful. He says, I would respond this way. First, all is by God's grace. He says, I watch many men, mostly ungodly and irreligious fall in this area. and a few professing believers. We are preserved only by the grace of God. We need the grace of God when we are winked at women from the world. And the older you get, I think the greater the temptation may be. because you want to be thought of as desirable, but only to your own wife. When we want to be desirable to other women, we've already taken the first step in the wrong direction. And then he says, pray, pray, pray that God will keep my heart. This is what he says, that he would help me avert my eyes. And I appreciate what he said. Here, honestly, he says, can't say I did not fail on this, but get ourselves cranked around and have our wife as the desire of our eyes, not only before our physical eyes, but before our spiritual eyes. Indeed, Ezekiel's wife was called what? The desire of his eyes. Pray that I would not lust, always a sin ready to pounce. Pray that I would not break my marriage vows to my wife. One man, one woman together, covenant union for life. As for you're asking about tips or hedges, I tried to erect, first of all, I did not leave my, now some of you men travel. These dangers are close to home, but they're more frequent when you're away from home. You're away from the safeguard of family, away from your own wife. He says, I did not leave my hotel alone very often to eat alone in places that could lead to temptation or attend things at night where the venue could lead to temptations. I always tried to let all my coworkers, we need to nail our colors to the mast. I try to let all my coworkers know, and those with whom I might be traveling, that I am a believer. Set a stake in the ground for two reasons. First of all, so they might think twice before asking me along or suggesting a venue or activity that I would possibly not like. And also so that I would be less likely to be tempted to say or do something in front of them that would harm my profession. So we need to be open Christians. We need to wear our Christianity on our sleeve, especially around those that don't know that we're professing Christians. And he says, if I do these things, I know they would think me a hypocrite if I followed them. In my last six years, mostly at the same hotel, I tried to talk to everyone about what I believed. Another hedge. If I fell in front of them, I knew it would hurt the cause of Christ. The damage that's done by sexual sin It's like ripples from a stone that's tossed into a pool. They go farther and farther out. They affect our wife. They affect our children. They affect our family. They affect our church. They affect our, our community. When the word gets out and Oh, how does it get out? Then he says, thirdly, don't flirt. Even if it seems harmless, flirting is the capitalize this flirting is the gateway drug to infidelity. especially on the road. I've watched it happen more than once. Flirting hurts my profession of Christ and would hurt me professionally in my job. Even a secular reason, such as how it would affect others who see me as a business leader, this worked as a good hedge. Fourthly, I would try to call, and he mentions his wife's name, I'd call my wife one or two times after work when I could. This keeps my mind on her. That, I hope, would let her know that I wasn't doing other things. Five, the more time one spends in his room alone, the less time to cheat. But always beware of what's in your room. TV, smartphone, computer, all of these bypass into sexual sin in the mind, if not also with the body. Sixthly, you don't have to be one of the boys. Early in my career in the 90s, I was numerous times asked to go to go with all the managers to strip clubs. all senior folks to me in job title or seniority. God helped me say no. Probably stunted my corporate growth a little bit. But again, now, if I ever did fall, I would be labeled a hypocrite, yet another practical hedge built. Finally, I did not follow the Mike Pence rule. You remember Mike Pence? He wouldn't be out in public with a woman who's not his wife, even for a meeting or a lunch engagement, perhaps, which is never to dine or meet alone with a female calling. This is a very good rule if you can do it. Now, remember, he's meeting with business people, some of which are female, but he always tried to guard himself and not put himself in a way of temptation. Yet it was not always practical in certain roles in the business world, especially as a leader. Yet I do believe it is a good rule. So if I was traveling with or dining with a female colleague, I tried to remember to tell, he mentions his wife's name, that I was doing it. Again, another hedge. He's keeping himself accountable to his wife. He's not slipping around in which he could get maybe away with it. No. He tries to build all these hedges that he can't break through. So there's a two-word way to sum up things under the topic of tips. Build hedges. Hedges that work best for each individual in each unique role or situation. Finally, I was not perfect in all of these all the time. I learned as I went, but I have by God's grace remained faithful to my marriage vows. See, not only good instruction, but a happy ending because he prayed and he did all of these things that built hedges around him to keep him from falling into the arms of a strange woman. And he says, hope this helps. And that's what I would say. I hope this helps. Very practical advice to men and to pastors. We don't want our name bandied about. Tell it not in Gath. Speak it not in Ashkelon. The mighty fall and the ripples go far and wide. And we don't want to be numbered among them. In fact, we want to encourage each other not to be among those. May God add His blessing to these considerations. Thank you for that, Steve. Since this is Steve's last meeting, I just wanted to read a couple of verses here and say my great appreciation for you, brother, my faithful friend and colleague in the ministry for 20 years now, or almost, 17 at least. But I just wanted to read these verses in Acts chapter 20, where he says, and this was his address to the elders at Ephesus. He says in verse 22, and see Now I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. None of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to me, to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy and the ministry which I receive from the Lord Jesus. to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And I just wanted to say that it's really important that each of us as ministers will finish our ministry, finish our race well. And the Lord puts us into unusual situations sometimes, like Steve, yours has been, in the last several years, a very difficult situation. And I would just say to you that I pray, and I know we all would pray together, that your ministry that the Lord gave you will continue, whether you are with that church of people or not. He's given you a gift, and he's given you a ministry. And that ministry runs, as Paul shows here, all through your life, whether you're in it formally or not. It's a calling. Paul received his ministry. It was a calling. to the Gentiles, to kings, and to the children of Israel. And he went all the way through that book of Acts and all the way to Rome, where he died there. And in the last, he was in a small rented quarters, and people would come to see him. I mean, a man like Paul, you'd think he'd have the whole stadium full of people and they'd be listening to his Messages, but it wasn't to be and God did not evidently want that or plan that for him, but still he had a ministry Even at that point and I'm just saying to Steve and to all of us be faithful In the ministry that the Lord has given to you no matter what happens to you in your ministry in terms of opposition of men even opposition from your own people sometimes and or other people in your community. I'm just saying, be faithful to realize that you've received this ministry from the Lord Jesus. And notice how, at the end of this chapter, he says, yes, you know that these hands have provided for my necessities. And for those who are with me, and I have shown you in every way by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that it is more blessed to give than to receive. And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And they all wept freely and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words that he spoke that they wouldn't see his face anymore. And brother, we won't see your face much anymore, I don't think, in our meetings, but I want you to know how valuable your ministry has been to me personally and to the people in this association. so that in years to come that you will not be discouraged but go on to fulfill what God has given to you personally as a gift. I know that you will. But I exhort you to do it anyway. And not to lose heart. Because God is so good in that He's always with us. He's always watching us, as you were saying, with the temptations that we face. But He's also watching us to see whether we will take up what he's given to us in our older years, and even though we're not in the primary position of ministry, yet he's still watching, and he's still expecting us to be faithful. So those words that I have for you, I just, I value you very much, brother. I feel that the things that you went through were unjust in terms of your own ministry, and the people that turned against you were wrong. But I do believe that the Lord has used all these things to not only build greater character quality in yourself, but will use it in terms of your whole congregation and even those who offended you and were offensive to you in the midst of that great trial. But I think the Lord has other things in store for you in the future, at least maybe not in the primary role, but whatever church you go to, don't be afraid to continue to preach. Continue to share the Lord's given you this gift. So don't be afraid to use it. And I will be, for one, very soreful that I won't see your face as much anymore. But I've been very thankful for all the years that we have traveled over here together to this place.