Well, and all God's people said, grace that is greater than our sin. Even the best sinner can't outdo God's grace, amen. No matter how good you are at sinning, he's better at saving. What a blessing. All right, take your copy of your revelation and turn to 3 John, 3 John. We're gonna look in this book a minute. The men, we looked at it a little bit this morning already, but I just wanted to pull out a couple things that I've noticed in it as I was going through it. It's 14 verses long. I wouldn't have you turn to chapter two. It don't have a chapter two, amen? And 3 John, 3 John, chapter 1, the only chapter, 14 verses. It's brief. You probably, some of you type and write more in a given day things than what is typed out when you count word-wise than what is here. But boy, it's got a powerful Powerful punch. It's sweet. It's good there's so many different dynamics that we can learn from it and draw out of it and What we what we find through it will definitely no doubt be a help to you Stephanie had mentioned that I didn't say a whole whole lot on the ride home other than she was working on stuff pretty much the whole time and I was just pondering and thinking about what was what was coming up and We didn't, I didn't get the time that I normally get to do every day of being able to indulge myself in the word and the process of writing those things out. I believe in sharing it and I believe in writing it down. I believe if you got to type it out, whatever it is. It helps you remember it. It helps process in you. At least it does for me, and I need it. I'm not a good person without having spent a lot of time in God's Word from day to day. I don't do good things. I don't think good thoughts. I don't treat people the way God would want me to treat them if I'm not in His Word. And it will manifest in my daily journey. The only goodness in me is Him. And what he plants in me, because if it's not him doing something in me, what's going to come from me is not going to bless you, it won't bless my bride, it's not really going to bless anybody else. Though each day I was in the Word and I read through and and I process and I thought about it through today meditate upon it but I like working it out and spending some time where I can share it and how I could break it down and give it away in bite-sized pieces and that takes time to be able to do that no doubt time that I didn't have when we were with them And so it was one of those things that I couldn't wait to get back yesterday morning and just jump in it. And this morning, get in it and jot a few things down of what God's been showing me. And it goes along with very similar to what we see here in 3 John. Look in verse number nine for an example. We see this. John writes this letter and he says, I wrote to the church. the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among the church, does not receive us. And because he doesn't receive us, he's not going to receive what I wrote. Now what did John write to them? We don't know. We don't know what he wrote. But I know whatever he wrote, Bone, was wisdom. And the church temporarily missed out on some of this wisdom because diatrophies took it but didn't transfer it. You see, that's one thing about the Word of God. The Word of God is designed to transform us so that we can transfer what the Word is, what it says, what it does, how it works. And here is this guy, Diotrephes, who was obviously at that time, he appears to be the pastor over this church. that John writes to and he says that because he wanted to have the preeminence, he chose not to transfer what was said. Now we then got to ask the question, how much of God's Word comes to us that we don't transfer? Think about it for a moment. How much of the word or the insight or the wisdom that God shares with each of us through his word, through his people, among when we gather, whether it be in a class or whether it be in a conversation or whether it be preaching, how much of it do we take in but never transfer to other people? This is what he was doing. And the reason he did that, I jotted this down, what wisdom was shared, And what wisdom has been shared with us but never transferred to transform God's people? You got to ask the question, why did Diotrephes not transfer the Word? Well, John tells us, because number one, he obviously put God in a box. Number two, he put his servants in a gutter. And number three, he put himself upon a pedestal. And that's really a simple process of what a lot of people do from week to week, from day to day, is that they confine God into a box that God couldn't, wouldn't, doesn't do this. And if He did, I don't like it. I only like what He does in and through me. Because He wanted the preeminence. The word preeminence is the idea He wanted to be supreme, first place, number one. He made it all about who? Did you ever do that? Make it all about who? Anytime we making it about us, you know what we do? We put other people in the gutter, put ourself on a pedestal, and we put God in the box. And because the word wasn't transformational in us, we don't transfer the word to other people. We act like diatrophies more than we want to admit it at times, and it's important for us to recognize that. You see, when we want the applause, we want the praise and affirmation, we'll make it all about us, and God's people will temporarily miss out on God's best at the time. God had a word for that church. that Diatrophes was bleeding, but because he wanted the applause and the affirmation and didn't want to give credit and adoration to what God was doing in somebody else's life, God's people temporarily missed out on what God had for them. I think about that with us in a community or on the job. How many times people on the job miss out on what God's doing? in our lives because we just don't share what He's doing. We don't transfer what He's doing. We don't tell what He's doing. But you know, you don't want to miss this, is the fact that God better than anybody knows how to get His message to His messengers. So what did He do? Instead of sending another letter to Diatrophes, John didn't give up on them. He didn't write them off. He knew that church needed something, so he found a blessable servant. He found Gaius. And what did he do to him? He wrote him a personal letter. And he reminded him of what he had been doing and how he had heard. He'd been walking in the truth. Not only did he do the truth, but he did the truth faithfully. And not only did he do the truth and he did it faithfully, but he did it lovingly. because word kept coming back that he was, he seemed to be different than everybody else, that he was welcoming the brethren in. He was refreshing them on the journey, encouraging them to continue on, and then he replenished them. You know what he was? He was a truth walker. And when you walk in the truth, and you walk in the truth faithfully and lovingly, that's the message that goes back. They went back to John and they told him, he knew what was happening with diatrophies, but he said, O Gaius was walking in the truth. He was doing it faithfully and he expressed great love toward the brethren and the fact that he was renewing them in mind, teaching them the truth that he had. He was, what? Refreshing them in their spirit, encouraging them, watering them with the bread and the water of life. AND THEN HE REPLENISHED THEM WITH WHAT THEY NEEDED, BRANDON, TO CONTINUE ON ON THE MISSION, ON THE ASSIGNMENT. HE GAVE THEM RESOURCES TO CONTINUE ON TO DO WHAT GOD ASSIGNED THEM TO DO. HE DID IT FOR STRANGERS, HE DID IT FOR GENTILES, HE DID IT FOR THE BRETHREN, THOSE THAT WERE ON A MISSION FOR JESUS. AND THERE'S GREAT, GREAT TRUTHS THAT WE CAN GLEAN OUT OF ALL THESE THINGS. BUT I JUST KEEP GOING BACK TO MYSELF THAT I DON'T NEVER NEED TO UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF GOD IN BEING ABLE TO TAKE His message, and get it to His messengers, even when other people are being unfaithful and trying to block what God's doing. God can feed His people, amen? And He's gonna get it to them, and I pray here. that you'll be fed, that I'll be fed, you'll help feed me, we'll feed one another, that we'll renew one another in mind, that we will, what, refresh one another in spirit, and that we'll replenish one another in the resources needed to do what God's called each one of us to do in the kingdom of God, and when we do that, what does God do? He gets glory, amen? And none of us are trying to seek the preeminence. There's only one who deserve preeminence, and that's King Jesus, amen? And we want to give him the glory for all that he's done and doing in our lives each and every day. Another thing that we draw out of this is what he says about wanting to see them face to face. We're getting in a day where everybody kind of wants to isolate themselves. Well, people don't want to interact with people and see people. And people would rather shop at home. They would rather stay at home. You know what I'm talking about, y'all. It's easy to get on Amazon and watch your movie. You don't even have to go to the movies anymore. You don't have to go to the store anymore. You brew your own coffee. Now see, y'all think I'm meddling with you right now, huh? But I like what he says. He says, I have plenty of things I'd like to write to you, but I would rather see you face to face. I'd rather fellowship with you and tell you what's really on my heart. And we need to evaluate that. We need to look at our own lives. How, what is it a delight for me to be able to get with God's people and celebrate with them because you got something in you you wanna give away and you know they got something in them that they can bless you with and you just wanna gather with one another. and you want God to have the preeminence, you want to renew one another, you want to refresh one another, you want to replenish one another in the work that God is calling us to do. I think in our reading today a very similar picture of this diatrophies is with one of David's sons, you know the one who jumped right on in there and tried to take over the throne and it wasn't assigned to him. And he didn't include Solomon and anybody that didn't believe he was supposed to have, excuse me, he didn't include Solomon and a couple other men because they wasn't with him. So he didn't invite them to the celebrations. He kept them away. See, Diotrephes did that. Anybody that supported John, anybody that supported the brethren, he'd kick them out of the church. Why? He wanted to be king. He wanted to be number one. And that wasn't God's assignment for him. We want the Lord to reign and rule over our lives. But I have to recognize that, look, God gives me his word so that I can not only be transformed in my own daily life, but I can transfer his word to other people. The word of God is beneficial for those who walk upright. It's good to us. We can trust it, amen? Have you ever heard anybody question is God good doing bad times? How often is God good? All the time. How often? All the time. All the time? All the time. Y'all sure about that? Yes. Do we act that a way though? No. We men, we're talking about it about praise for an example. David said this in 1 Kings 129. It stood out to me this morning. I had a little note beside that passage that jarred my memory about something else that I had written several years ago about praise. You know, if I think, if I'm thinking the enemies at work doing something in me, you know what's gonna happen? I'm not gonna give God praise and glory for what I think the enemy's doing. Think about that for a moment. I'm not gonna praise God for what I think the enemy is doing in my life. I can, but I won't if I can't see the hand of God in what I'm going through and that God allows the enemy and he's using the enemy or he's using whatever. David said this, that he shared with Bathsheba in regards to his son. He said God had delivered him through all his distresses in life. That's a testimony, amen? Did David go through a few things? He sure did. But he said God delivered him out of them all, through them all. How did that happen? How did he know that? Because the word of God and God's presence had been beneficial to him in his daily journey. People question whether God is good. They do. When they look around and they say if God was good, why did this? If God is good, why did He allow this to take place? You ever heard that before? The question is not, is God good? The question is, is God good to me? Is His Word good to me? That's the question, because God is good. And He's good when? And all the time He is what? But is he good to me? Is he good to me? Is his word good to me? Is his word, let me ask it this way. Boo, is his word beneficial to me? Diotrephes didn't think God's word was beneficial for the people, so he blocked what was coming. And his people temporarily missed out on the word, the wisdom of God. God in his faithfulness because his people were being faithful, what did he do? He made sure they got the word, right? Let me give you a couple passages of scripture just for you to go through with this thought in your mind that I think will help you and bless you to help other people who are doing what diatrophies are doing. When the word comes to them, they're not transferring it because the word is not transformational or beneficial for them. Let me give you a few places to go. Turn to Micah. I'd write these down. With in mind of diatrophies. Go to Micah, it's an Older Testament short book. You get to Daniel. And you keep going back toward the New Testament. You're gonna go through Hosea and Obadiah. You'll come to Jonah and then you're gonna come to Micah. Look at Micah chapter number two. When God gives us a nugget like this, you want to hide it away somewhere. You want to write it in your Bible somewhere. Write it in the front. And you can ask that question. It's not, is God good? Because He's always good. He cannot be but good. But the question would be, is He good to me? Is His Word beneficial to me? God gives us some insight that Diotrephes obviously didn't know, or he forgot, or he cast aside. Look in verse number seven of Micah chapter number two. He says, you who are named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the Lord restricted? And everybody said, is the spirit of the Lord restricted? Is it limited? If there's any limitations, we've put it on. It doesn't have any limitations. Are these His doings? Look what He says in that last phrase of that verse. Do not my words do good to him who, what? God's word is only beneficial for those who walk uprightly. That's why you want to pose the question, is God's word beneficial to you? Is his word beneficial to you? If it's not beneficial to you as it wasn't to diatrophies, if it's not beneficial to those that you are around, there's a reason it is not beneficial. They're not walking. RIGHTLY. TO WALK UPRIGHTLY, NUMBER ONE, YOU GOT TO HAVE A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD, AND NUMBER TWO, YOU GOT TO LIVE BY FAITH. TO LIVE BY FAITH IS TO LIVE BY THE WORD. YES SIR. MICAH 2. YEAH, CHAPTER 2. YEAH, VERSE 7. CHAPTER 2, VERSE NUMBER 7. He says, Micah 2, 7, the last phrase, do not my words, this is from God, do good, you can put in there beneficial, bring well-being, bless, mature, grow, do not my words, benefit him who walks uprightly. Oh yes it does. I tell you what, the word of God is your lifeline, but it's only the lifeline of those who are walking by faith. If you don't think the word is beneficial enough to get in it, it is obvious you're not living by faith. You're not walking uprightly with God. That's why you pose the question. It's not that you ask, is God good? Of course God is good, but is his word beneficial to me? Because I wanna tell you, there's a lot of people out there that it's not beneficial to. Why? They don't walk. uprightly, they're not living by faith. Diotrephes was not operating and living by faith. That's why he isolated himself over his people, restricted any outside source that was coming in so that he can remain upon the pedestal. He blocked it from being transferred to everybody. And when the word is beneficial and good to you, YOU BELIEVE IT'S GOING TO BE GOOD FOR EVERYBODY. SO YOU WANT TO WHAT? GIVE IT AWAY. AMEN. BECAUSE HOW GOOD IT'S BEEN TO YOU. YOU WANT TO DELIGHT IN GIVING IT AWAY. THE PEOPLE IN MICAH'S DAY, THEY DIDN'T WANT THE WORD. THEY KEPT TELLING THE PREACHERS TO STOP PREACHING THE WORD. AND GOD SAYS, THE REASON YOU DON'T WANT HIM TO PREACH TO YOU BECAUSE MY WORD IS NOT BENEFICIAL TO YOU, BUT IT IS BENEFICIAL TO THOSE THAT TRUST ME AND WALK IN WHAT I FEED THEM. Go to Psalm 119, Psalm 119. If you will do what is right, you will find my words comforting. That's, it's being good to you. And I want to tell you, his word is a comfort. His word is a delight. Psalm 119, let's look at a couple passages. Look, start in 155. Psalm 119, 155. These things explain a lot to us. And it's gonna go back to this thought process in Micah. And what we see the opposite in Diotrephes, Look in verse 155 of Psalm 119. Salvation, or deliverance, is far from who? Who are the wicked? Those who are what? Wrong. Who are those that are wrong? Those that are not right. They're just not right with God. They're not right with Him. And if you're not right with Him, it's impossible to walk uprightly with Him. You can't do that. The wicked are those who are wrong. And God's salvation is far from them. His beneficial goodness, His comfort is far from them. It's not upon them. It's not around them. They can't see His benefit and His goodness. Why? Salvation or deliverance is far from those who are wrong, for they do not seek what? your statutes. And the statutes is just another word for the word of God in essence. Salvation or deliverance is far from the wicked. Now what comes with all that? Joy and gladness and liberty and freedom. See, Diotrephes didn't have any of that. He was bound up all about himself and therefore he became defensive and he tried to restrict He tried to restrain and restrict anybody else from being exposed. Grace never does that. Grace doesn't restrict us other than our own doings. Not everybody else's doings. It restricts us. It teaches us to say no to ourselves and yes to the Lord to receive what God has got for us. But Diotrephes was not in that position. He received what came to him, he kept it to himself, discarded it, it didn't transform him and therefore he didn't transfer it to nobody else. And the work of God's delivering salvation was far from him and it was gonna hinder the people that he was leading and John didn't want the people to be hindered. He said, I'll deal with him when I come He took it personal and responsible to get a message to another messenger so those messages could get to God's people. Praise God that we're not limited in receiving a word from the Lord by those that don't want a word from Him, amen? God's gonna feed His people. Look over in 74, 119, 74. Watch how this unfolds. This is Brother Greg, one of his favorite, if not favorite, verses that he's mentioned to us. And keep in mind, all of Psalm 119 is all about the precious word of God and how it affects our life. But notice this, verse 74 of verse 119. Those who fear you, and you can't fear God apart being forgiven by God, and being forgiven by God is a work of grace, it's a work of faith. Those who fear you will be glad when they see me. Now was Diotrephes glad when he heard from John? No. Why? He didn't fear God. The Word wasn't beneficial to him. But why do those are glad when they see me? Because I have hoped in what? Man, that's one of the benefits of the Word. When you hope in the Word of God, you delight to see other people hope in the Word of God. And you're glad when you come across people that rejoice in the Word of God. It blesses you. It increases you, it helps you, it comforts you. And it does for me as well. Just the lifeline of the message from God. Those who fear you will be glad when they see me. Why? Because we both have hoped in your word. We can keep reading on down in those passages and just see some great truths. all the way through it. Notice what verse 67 says of Psalm 119. Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I what? I keep your word. Then he says in verse 71, notice what happens when the word gets in your life. Verse 71, David says, it is good for me that I've been afflicted that I may what? Learn your word. Man, Brother Shannon, the word just does a wonder, doesn't it? It does a wonder. Diotrephes was missing out on so much because the word wasn't transformational in his life and therefore he didn't transfer it to others. I don't wanna be like him. That's why when John wrote to Gaius, he told him those very things. He said, don't imitate evil. Do what is good. Don't act like him. Don't treat the word like him. Don't treat the people like him. Don't want the preeminence like him because it's gonna affect you. You're gonna block the word and restrict it in other people's lives. Turn to Acts, New Testament, Acts 20. Acts 20, I want to tell you what the Word does, it'll renew you, it'll refresh you when you're upright, amen, it's beneficial. Acts 20, I think it's about verse number 32, look there. Acts 20, 32, notice what Paul does with the church there. In verse number 32, he said, so now brethren, I commend you, I entrust you to God and to what? 20, 32. Brethren, I entrust you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are what? SANCTIFIED, THAT ARE BEING SET APART BY GOD FOR HIS WORK. SIMPLY THOSE WHO ARE WALKING UPRIGHTLY. WHEN YOU'RE WALKING UPRIGHTLY, YOU KNOW WHAT THE WORD OF GOD IS GOING TO DO? IT'S GOING TO BUILD YOU UP. DELIVERANCE FROM GOD IS GOING TO BE ALL OVER YOUR LIFE. THAT DELIVERANCE WON'T BE FAR FROM YOU. NO, YOU'RE WALKING IN GOD'S FAVOR. AND YOU WANT TO TRANSFER THAT TO OTHER PEOPLE. YOU WANT TO HELP other people. Well, one more, one more. We gotta go one more. Y'all don't mind going one more, do you? Look in 1 Thessalonians chapter number two. 1 Thessalonians chapter number two, and we'll close. In a day and time that we live in today, we must begin to ask the question, is God's word beneficial to you? If it's not, There's some kind of disconnect somewhere. Now watch this. He says it several times. I'm just gonna highlight one. In chapter number two of 1 Thessalonians 2.13, Paul says these words. For this reason also, we thank God without ceasing because when you receive what? Which you heard from us. You welcomed it, you didn't restrict it, you didn't throw it away, you didn't, it was transformational. You welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God, which also, this word, works effectively in you who what? Just say this, the word only affects those that believe. And all God's people said. When you believe the word, the word is beneficial. I think about old diatrophies, and I think about us. How many times has God spoken wisdom to us, but that wisdom didn't transform, and as a result, we kept it to ourself, and we didn't transfer it the way God intended. Oh, if God puts a word in you, yes, it's a word to help you, but it's also a message to help another messenger at some point in time, amen? Because I want to tell you, I am not that special that he will only give me alone his valuable word. He's always what he's going to do, as we learned in 2 Corinthians 1, whatever God does in us, whether it be to comfort us or afflict us, it's always to help another brother. It's never about us, amen? That's why I said it's never about the trouble you're going through. It's all about how God comforted you in the trouble you were going through, so that you can, what, be a comfort to somebody else. He never does anything just simply, only, isolated, me, with that thinking, that's wanting to be preeminent, that it's all about me, when it's never about me. It's always about His glory, about His goodness, about His grace, and how what He's done in me, He wants to have the opportunity to do it in others around me. I'm a vessel that He's working in and through to bring glory to Himself. Oh yes, it'll benefit me. It's gonna benefit me. It's gonna bless me. But that blessing is not just for me, it's to bring glory to Him and bless those around me, amen? I wanna be a truth walker. I wanna renew, refresh, and replenish others. I wanna encourage the brethren. I wanna hear from God and then make it all about me and never transfer it to somebody else. You know what happens? I told y'all this before, Romans chapter 12, one and two teaches us this. You know what precedes transformation? Adoration, praise, adoration. You know why Diotrephes couldn't praise God? He wanted the praise. He wanted the applause. And when you want the praise or I want the praise, we want the applause and affirmation. You know what happens? there is no transformation. And when there's no transformation, there is no transfer of the truths that God is doing in our life. We just shut it off, keep it to ourself, go about our business. And then we start pointing fingers at who and what and why, and we keep elevating ourselves above everybody else, rather than letting God be God and do what he does. AND PUT JESUS ON THE THRONE WHERE HE BELONGS. AMEN? AND LET HIM WORK IN HIS PEOPLE'S LIVES. I PRAY THESE THINGS HELP YOU. THEY HELP ME AS I'VE BEEN PROCESSING IT MYSELF. YOU KNOW WHAT AMERICA NEEDS? TRANSFORMED TRUTHWALKERS WHO JUST KEEP TRANSFERRING TRUTH FROM ONE TO ANOTHER. FATHER, WE THANK YOU TODAY. ASK YOU TO USE THIS IN MY PERSONAL LIFE AND MY FAMILY'S LIFE. Thank you for our church family, and I just pray that you would open up many doors for your word, not only to enter into our lives, but for your word to go forth from us to be a blessing to you. As Paul teaches us to pray that the word may run swiftly and have free course, that it will be effective in everyone who believes. Your word is so beneficial for us when we walk by faith. Thank you, in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Amen. I pray at the end of our days and currently we could say the Lord just continues to deliver us out of all our distresses. To Him be the glory.