Shall we pray and look to the Lord? Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time to call upon your name and we plead with you to speak to our hearts, enlighten our minds. Lord, we don't deserve to hear your word because your word is holy. But Lord, it is in your grace and mercy that you gave us this special revelation to speak to our hearts and enlighten our minds and pray that you please to honor your word in our lives. and may it have a deep life-changing impact on our souls. As I speak, as we listen, we pray for the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We pray for the exaltation of your name. We pray for the authority of your word to manifest. We pray that you lay your hand upon us, lead us, empower us, and use us for the glory and honor of your name. In the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Amen. Let's turn to 2 Timothy chapter 4 verses 1 and 2. And as we are appointing elders, I would like to charge what Paul has charged. It's very interesting that I didn't expect that I would be landing here, but in God's sovereign providence that it happened at this time. Paul charges Timothy, a young pastor who was in Ephesus about 2000 years ago. He was going through a lot of challenges and we see here how Paul charges Timothy that has relevance also to today's leaders. And what is the charge he gives after speaking about the beauty of the holy scripture that all scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching for reproof for correction and for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be complete equipped in every good work he now says in light of what scripture is we see Paul giving this charge to Timothy And this is the charge of God to the brothers who are becoming elders. Shall we all read this together to Timothy chapter 4 verses 1 and 2. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching. There are significant applications that I would like to bring out from this two short verses, and I believe it will be a blessing to the leaders and also to the believers, to you as well, as we have applications also. The first, if you look at all this thing in the two verses, there is a great commission that we see here that Paul is giving to Timothy. And what is the commission here? Preach the word. Preach the word. Now, when we look into this, what we understand, the first thing that I would like to highlight to the leaders here is this. This is your primary responsibility. Your primary responsibility is to preach the word. The primary way pastors care for the flock is by preaching the word to God's people. Now this is what I would like to tell and mark these words very carefully. The food for God's flock is God's food, is God's word. Shall we all repeat together? The food for God's flock is God's word. And this is one reason why although we see that, you know, if you look into... Now this is very strange actually, very interesting. When you look into the qualifications of elders, majority of the qualifications of elders are connected to character. Majority of the qualifications of elders are connected to character. There is only one competence and that competence is that he should be able to teach. Right? But here is another truth. If you look into the duties of pastor in the Bible, majority of his work is preaching the word. The character is at the background, backdrop. It is not in the forefront. It is the preaching the word that is the primary responsibility of pastors. In fact, if you see in Paul's first letter to Timothy, he says in 1 Timothy 5, verse 17. 1 Timothy 5, verse 17. Hear this carefully what the scripture says. Let the elders who rule well, Let the elders who rule well. In other translation, it says that who direct the affairs of the church. The elders who rule well, the elders rule, the elders direct the affairs of the church. How? It says that be considered a worthy honor, double honor. And then you'll see what it says. It says that especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. In my young Christian life, this word labor captivated my soul. Because in Greek, when I did a study in Greek, this word labor, you know what it means? It means work until exhaustion. You wear yourself out in the world. And I told that as I mentioned that I don't see this as a great devotion in many pastors today. And recently in the pastor's workshop, I told that given a chance, I would tell about 90% of the men should step down from the pulpit. The reason is because they don't know the word and they can't preach the word appropriately and they are not laboring in preaching and teaching. And I want to tell you, dear brothers and sisters, the primary role of a pastor is to labor in preaching and teaching, and that is how he cares for the church. And that is what I believe that I am called to do. And the elders, I want to tell you that your work is to exhaust yourself in the word. And I keep telling them, your world is the word. Your world is the word. You have no other world except the word. And until you give yourself to the word, you would not be effective in serving the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And even I don't want to boast about it, but I want to tell you that even a sermon that I prepared to Timothy chapter three verses 16 till chapter four verse four, I think I spent about 60 hours by the grace of God. Because that's what I am supposed to do. I'm not supposed to stand here with an empty mind, not knowing what I'm preaching. I should labor and I take the word seriously. And my brothers who are very close to me know that even if I preach a sermon 10 times, I will again prepare on the same sermon as if I am preaching for the first time. Because I believe that I am called to labor in the word, steady, steady, steady, so that you would build yourself and preach and teach and equip the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we go ahead, I would like to also bring another application here that the primary responsibility of the elders of the leaders is to preach, labor in preaching and teaching. And that is a commission that we see here. Paul gave to Timothy, preach the word. But there is one thing that I would like to enlighten you here, illumine you here by the Holy Spirit as we look into the word. You know what? He says here, preach the word. What word he should preach? What word should he preach? The word that he experienced in 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. And what did he say there? All scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable. Now hear carefully, dear brothers and sisters. 3.16 and 3.17 has been spoken to pastors, to Timothy, not to believers. That's a direct application to Timothy. That all scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete. equipped for every good work. The man of God there is the elder, the pastor, right? And now he says here, Timothy, you preach that word you have personally experienced in your life. What it speaks to us is that a pastor must first experience the powerful, transformating work of God in his own life. before he preaches others. If the word has no effect on him, it has no effect on the church. Because the word is not transitioning information that you have in your mind to those who don't have the information. The word is not about information. It is about transformation. We see here that whatever Timothy experienced by studying the word personally, he should now preach that word to others. What a pastor personally experiences from the scripture, he then teaches the congregation. Now here is what I would like to tell aspiring leaders and also those who are becoming elders, Beware of the temptation to preach. Beware of the temptation to become elders. Beware of the temptation and the passion that you have to preach and teach. Why I say this? Your priority should not be preaching the word. The priority should be to experience the power of God's word in your own life. The temptation is greater for leaders to preach, preach, preach, when you have no experience of the word in your own life. A pastor is not called to preach the word that has not first penetrated and shaped his own life. Your life should be penetrated. Your life should be shaped. And I told you, In the last sermon, I had no desire to become a pastor. You have no idea with what great difficulty that I became a pastor. My wife knows. I never desired to become a pastor. If there is one ministry that I was running away from in the entire my Christian life like Jonah, It was like, it was to become a pastor. I wrote in my journal also, I didn't want to become a pastor. I don't want to become a pastor. It is because of the Lord's compulsion, which was so heavy, that I became a pastor. What was my job, my priority, my passion, even now also, I don't like preaching, honestly. I don't enjoy, that is because I don't want to face the public. You know one thing why I want to write, is because I have no public before my face. I will be alone, I will be studying and I write. The reason I write is because there is no public before me. I don't like to stand before people. I don't like to preach. I will do everything possible to escape from preaching. Even at AIPC, I begged, Harshad, please don't give me preaching. I would like to come and just sit and listen. And listen, even now I pray, Lord, I don't want to be a pastor. I don't want to be an elder. I want to run away from preaching and pastoring. But what is it that I crave for? I crave for one thing. I want to know the word and enjoy the word and experience the power of the word of God in my own life. And my preaching and pastoring is the result of my devotion to the word of God. But my priority is never to be a pastor and never to be preaching the word of God. And I want to tell you, dear brothers and sisters, and especially to the men, you need to go and ask pastors sometimes to preach. And maybe we should also ask in the service review that, tell me, how did you experience the word that you preach today in your own life? Tell me, we need such congregation to hold preachers accountable. Brother, tell me, how did you experience the power of preaching, the power of the word of God in your own life as you spoke to us with humility? Not with cynicism, but with love and grace and humility. Because a pastor is not called to preach the word that he didn't experience in his own life. What he experiences in 2 Timothy 3, 16 to 17, The man of God may be complete. That's what he preaches to the congregation. The other application that I would like to bring out of this commission that Paul gives to Timothy is saying, preach the word. The first is that that's his primary responsibility in pastoring. That is to preach the word. The second is, he must experience personally the power of the scripture before he preaches to others. So brothers, be passionate to know the word and allow the word to shape your own life. Don't be passionate to preach. That's a dangerous, dangerous temptation. The third is this. The third is this. The application that we bring from 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16, 17 and also the following verses. When Paul is telling Timothy that all scripture is breathed out by God and therefore makes you complete. He was telling him to be rooted in the scripture. To soak into the scripture. And if you remember the verse that I quoted last time, I would like to again, again and again, I would like to bring it to your notice, especially to the brothers in 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 15. This is my favorite verse and challenges me personally, how I should be devoted to the word of God. 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 15. And what does it say here? Practice these things. And you see what it says, these things is the things that Paul wrote. And I love the second phrase as he says that, immerse yourself in them. In what should you be immersed? Immerse yourself in the word, so that all may see your progress. When will you progress? when your mind and heart and entire being is devoted and immersed and soaked in the word. And that is what we should be. And Paul says to Timothy that you preach the word in which you have been immersed. What does it mean? Now hear this carefully. You can only preach the word when you know the word. Are you understanding what I'm saying? Dear elders, remember this. You can only preach the word that you know it. And as I, even as I say this, I still remember the caption that was there when I was in the Bible college. All those men who come and teach, and I was teaching for a while, and I saw this caption right before my head, and it still appears to me. And I see the font also, the font, which is written in the red color, it still is light before my eyes, even after 25 years. You know what is that? You cannot give what you do not have. You cannot preach what you do not know. And when I think about Paul's commission to Timothy to preach the word, that he should know the word so that he can preach the word. And we see here that I am reminded of what the Old Testament says about Ezra. He was like Timothy. And he did what Paul told to Timothy. And we see here in Ezra chapter 7 verse 10. And you know what it says? It says that, for Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord. I love that word. Set his heart. He devoted himself to study the law of the Lord. Brothers, listen to this, more than watching television, more than hanging out with people, more than being with your phones, more than doing anything, you should set your heart on the word of the Lord. And then what do we do? We see here that, and to do it, and to teach you statutes and rules in Israel, And this is the priority of a man of God, of the pastors, of the shepherds. And that is to study the Word, know the Word, so that they would preach the Word. I love what Spurgeon said of John Bunyan. John Bunyan was a contemporary and Spurgeon seemed to have known him. And we know John Bunyan, he wrote the book, Pilgrim's Progress. And this is the testimony Spurgeon said about John Bunyan. And I think this should be the testimony that people should be giving about us, particularly elders. You know what? Spurgeon himself is a master student of the word. He immersed himself in the word. You prick him, Bible flows out of him. That's how Spurgeon was. And Spurgeon said of John Bunyan, what did he say? Prick him anywhere. Spurgeon says of John Bunyan, prick him anywhere and you will find that his blood is be blind. The very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text. for his soul is full of the word of God." Wow, what a grand testimony of Spurgeon to give about John Bunyan. Now, when I say that you need to know the word, I don't mean that you have to know everything to preach. I remember that my first mentor, Dr. David Willis was a PhD. Candidate at the time when he was teaching he was he was the teacher Personally that I know never in my life even today. I have never met a man who knows the word so deeply as that man And you know what he used to say to me when we used to spend time together? He used to tell me that, Stephen, I know very little of the Bible. There is so much for me to know about what the word of God says. And as a young student, when I heard those words, it deeply challenged me. There is so much for us to learn. And all the days of our lives will be spent in knowing the word of God, in preaching the word of God. But one thing that a man of God should be doing, and that is he must be a growing man in the world. He must be a progressing man in the world. And that progress should be witnessed by people. That doesn't mean that we do this to please people, impress people, but out of our personal devotion, when we give ourselves to the word, it will be inevitably evident to those around us. And there is another insight that we see when Paul has given the commission to Timothy, preach the word. And what is the word again? I would like to connect it to the word in 316, all scripture. All scripture is breathed out by God. So Paul is telling to Timothy, when you preach the word, you preach all scripture. You have to know and keep growing in all the scripture. And also at the same time, you should be preaching to the people. You know what is one of the strangest things that I find? There are so many pastors who never read the Bible completely. Do you know that? It's very interesting. But there are so many pastors who have never read the Bible completely. And we should be knowing the whole word and should be having understanding of the whole word. And when Paul is telling, preach the word, there is an implication of preaching all scripture. Now it doesn't mean that you will preach from the first verse of Genesis to the last verse of Revelation. But the thing is, you need to give the whole counsel of God. Many pastors are only excited about preaching their favorite passages. Maybe like John 3.16 or Matthew 7.7. What is Matthew 7.7? Very famous, right? What is it? Okay, I know that you don't remember, but you practice it. Ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and it shall find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. There are favorite passages that people speak and even there are favorite stories. David and Goliath or Abraham and Isaac and Lazarus and Jesus. You know, come out of it. There is so much for us to learn and grow and not just hanging out to these favorite passages of the Bible. The best way to preach all scripture is to preach expositionally. Expositionally, you know one reason why I chose Hebrews when I when I began preaching because a sister came to me and said that why don't you preach Old Testament? Why do you only preach New Testament? Then I thought, what is the book in the Bible that covers both the Old and New Testament? And I took it as a challenge. Even if one person tells, I take it very seriously. It doesn't mean that I take everything, but if I'm convicted of it, I really take it seriously. And I went back and thought about it, and the book that came into my mind is Hebrews. And let me tell you that, that was one book that I didn't understand for a long time. Very hard it was, but I took it as a challenge. And I am telling you that shaped my life and my mind and heart like anything. The book of Hebrews. And I'm so glad that we are finally landing in 13. But you prick me and I will tell what book of Hebrews is because I spent hours and hours and hours studying, meditating on the book of Hebrews. The best way to preach all scripture is expositionally. That is passage by passage. It is very systematic, context driven, and it will help us to go through the books of the Bible. Gives a very good balanced diet of God's word. So when Paul is telling, preach the word, he's telling to Timothy, preach all scripture. Give the whole counsel of God. Now, why should we preach the word? Why should Timothy preach the word? You know why you should preach the word? He should preach the word. He should preach all scripture because only scripture is God breached and has the power to transform lives. Only scripture is God breached. Our opinions are not God breached. Traditions are not God breached. Cultural norms are not God breached. Entertaining people with amusing stories are not God-breathed. Even of a personal experience, you can mention it to enhance the clarity of the scripture are not God-breathed. The only God-breathed word that we see is the word of God. And only the word has the power to transform lives. And because Scripture is God-bred, because Scripture has the power to transform lives, Timothy was commissioned to preach the Word. Preach the Word. In what settings that we see this preaching of the Word would happen? In what settings do we see the preaching of the Word happens? It happens in two settings. One is the public teaching from the pulpit. or from the platform in public gatherings. That is one way of preaching the word. That is a mass discipling that happens in preaching of the word. And the other is through personal counseling. That is speaking the truth of scripture into people's lives personally and pastorally. Although I preach the word from here, not a day goes by generally that I don't preach the word to people personally. As they talk, as we speak and keep speaking the word, I remember yesterday, I had to preach and counsel two people and preach the word to them, encourage their hearts so that they can be reminded of the word of God. Now, this is what I would like to clarify when I say that preaching the word happens in two settings. One is in public platform or preaching from the pulpit and from personal counseling. Now this is what we need to understand. Because people may think that preaching, if you want to be an elder, you should be a public preacher. That is not necessary. Now this is what we need to understand. Not all elders in the plurality of leadership are gifted to preach from the pulpit. In fact, I would say that very few people will be there who are gifted to speak from the pulpit. In the church, generally there are one or two elders who may be very good in preaching from the pulpit, but the other elders focus on personal counseling and care. and those who are very gifted in preaching and in doing that they have more time to study than the more time to preach and word because even in 1 Timothy 5 17 we see that Paul telling to Timothy especially those who labor in the plurality of leadership particularly those who labor in preaching and teaching so that shows that there is There are two kinds of elders within the plurality of elders. Those who labor in preaching and teaching and at the same time there are elders who are able to teach but they are not so laborious in preaching and teaching the word of God. So this is why we need a team of elders with different gifts. More elders contribute to the holistic ministry of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, because some can be good in public preaching. Others can really be good in personal counseling. And that really brings balance in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, after mentioning to Paul to preach the word, you see in what context Paul tells Timothy to preach the word. You know what he charges Timothy? He says here, now observe the words very carefully. He says here, I charge you. In other words, he's telling, I'm giving you a solemn command. And what is the command? I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word. Now in whose presence is Paul giving charge to Timothy? In whose presence? It is not in his own presence or in the presence of the church. He's telling you that in the presence of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. What Paul is telling Timothy is that preach with the awareness of God's presence. Preach with the awareness of God's presence. You know literally what Paul might be saying to Timothy? Timothy's commission is to preach the word before the face of the Almighty God. He is to preach before the face of the Almighty God. There is one phrase that has become dear to me as I kept studying the Word of God. And that is, Coram Deo. Coram Deo. Which is a Latin phrase meaning, before the face of God. You live, you preach before the praise of God. Pastors, elders must preach, whether in person or in public, with the awareness of God's presence, knowing that they are held accountable to God for what they preach. Now, why is he calling the presence of God and of Christ Jesus? Not so that he can feel good. It is because preaching the word is a sobering responsibility and you are accountable to God for that. You remember that what James says in chapter 3? Brothers, not many of you should presume to be teachers because greater is your judgment. Greater is your judgment because preaching the word is not a simple commission. It is a sobering commission. It is a serious thing to preach the word of God. You know what are the three things that he mentions here? When he speaks about, in the passage here, if you see that. When he says here, preach the word. And when he mentions here about, you know, the presence of God and of Christ Jesus. He's calling for the divine audience here. So that Timothy would understand that he must preach with reverence. And what is the description that we see about who the Lord Jesus Christ is here? After mentioning, look into the passage in verse 2, Timothy chapter 4 verse 2. After mentioning that in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, what does it say? He highlights three things about who Christ is that calls for accountability. that calls for accountability. This is where actually pastors should be capable of teaching. Why? Because if their word is wrong, If their word is wrong, it affects people. I remember when I was a young student, I was reading and there is one challenge given by the Bible teacher that deeply seeped into my mind and I remember even today. He said that if the wristwatch shows wrong, if the wristwatch shows wrong, who will be misled? Hand watch. Only I will be misled. But if the clock tower goes wrong, many will be misled. Brothers, I want to tell you, those who are becoming elders, if you don't study the word carefully, and if you don't preach the fear of God, knowing that you are giving the word of God, and if you are not right in interpreting and applying to people, You will be misleading people. And we see here that Paul is calling Timothy to do two things. One is, he must preach the word. But he should also preach the word knowing that he is accountable to God. Because why? He says that about Jesus. Three descriptions that we see here. What does he say? Who is to judge the living and the dead? Why is it that Paul is bringing the judgment of Christ rather than some encouragement comfort? Hey Timothy, don't fear, Christ is coming to reward you. That's not what he says. He is encouraging, reminding Timothy that he should preach the word in light of the judgment of Christ Jesus who is going to judge the living and the dead. Timothy, Christ is going to come. He is going to judge you. Preach and also be careful of what you preach because you are ultimately accountable to God. And how is he going to judge? How is he going to judge? That says very clearly here, who is to judge the living and the dead by His appearing. Why is it telling by appearing? Because by His appearing in His second coming, what would Christ do is that He would judge the living and the dead. Of course, He judges all people. It says living and the dead. It doesn't say just pastors. All people He will judge, but particularly pastors. For they should be faithful in preaching the word. And what will happen after the judgment? It says here that His kingdom will be coming to fulfillment. It says here that He will judge the living and the dead by His appearing and His kingdom. So when Christ comes again, he will judge and then he will establish his kingdom. Therefore, in light of what Christ is going to do by judging the living and the dead, in light of Christ's second coming and his appearance, in light of the kingdom that Christ is going to establish, Timothy, elders, pastors, preach the word. Preach the word. As I get into the second phrase in this passage, there is one thing that I would like to highlight here in light of what Paul said to Timothy even before. Since pastors are accountable to God for preaching, they must rightly, correctly preach the word. They must rightly and correctly preach the word. You know, I keep telling pastors and I keep telling brothers, you know what is the dangerous thing, the dangerous phrase you use when you preach the word? What is it? God's word says, the Bible says. And I tell brothers, that's the most dangerous phrase to use when you preach. Are you sure that's what the word says? Or are you assuming the word says? And then to prove your point, are you telling the word of God says? Are you saying in the name of God or God saying through your name or through you? And I'm telling you, dear brothers and sisters, as I don't watch sermons a lot actually. Because these days when I watch sermons, it causes me depression than encouragement. Because the way they open and say the word God is speaking, it is very discouraging. Because God is not saying that. It is their saying in the name of God. The Bible tells here very clearly in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 15. You know what it says? It says that, do your best to present yourself to God. And dear brothers, this is what the word of God says for you. Do your best to present yourself to God, not to people. Not to Stephen David, not to the church, not to anyone. If there is anyone who should approve you, it is the judge of your life. And it says, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved. Timothy was a disciple of Paul. He's not telling that, do your best so that I can approve you. It is not about my approval. He says that God should approve you. How will God approve you? A worker who has no need to be ashamed. How? It says by rightly handling the word of truths. Why is it there is a particular emphasis on rightly handling the word of truths? Because you may handle the word of truths, but may not be rightly. You may preach, but it may not be rightly. You may teach, but may not be correctly. And that is the reason those who become pastors and those who are pastors should make sure that they are rightly handling the word of truth. The Greek term here, the phrase rightly handling in Greek is orthotomeo. Which means cut straight. That is when you, for example, it is used in many different ways. When you cut the cloth, when you stitch it, before you stitch the clothes, it all depends upon how you cut it. If your cutting is wrong, the stitching goes wrong. And that is what it determines cut straight. Be careful how you divide the word, interpret the word. This term suggests precision and accuracy. you should be really be devoted to rightly divine the word. And with what tendency that you should preach? When he says here, preach the word in 2 Timothy chapter four verse two, what does he say right after preaching the word? After charging Timothy in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is the judge, and who will be judging by his appearance, and who will be establishing the kingdom, what should we be doing? Preach the word. He says, be ready in season and out of season. Be ready to preach at all times. And why the haste? Why there is a sense of urgency? In other words, he's telling that preach with urgency. Why there is an urgency? There are 3 reasons actually, within the context. We don't have time. I wish I would really have you do some group discussion on that. But if you look at verse 1, the reason why there should be this sense of urgency to preach is because Christ returned Ace near. In verse one, what did he say? In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead by his appearing. What is it telling? Preach the word out of season and out of season and, sorry, sorry, in season and out of season. Why? Because Christ is coming soon. And the other reason why is because if you look at verse two, I will be explaining now, because lives depend on the word, People are transformed by the word. Lives are built by the word. Without word, people will not grow and mature. The word of God is food for the souls. Now this shows that when Paul commissioned Timothy to preach the word, that is one of the evidences that there are gifted preachers and teachers in the church who will be explaining and teaching because others may not be understanding the word of God that clearly. They needed help. They needed someone to teach and preach. Lives depend on the word of God to be transformed. And in the next sermon that I will be preaching from verse 3 and 4, if you look at 3 and 4, chapter 4, 3 and 4, it speaks about false teachings abound. You must preach the word because false teachings are abounding. Christ is coming soon. People's lives are transformed by the word and because false teachings are abounding. Based on these three reasons, you must preach the word in season and out of season. There is a sense of urgency. And then you know what is the fourth one? Preach the word. Preach the word and we have, now we see the fourth one. What does it say here? He says that, how should you preach the word? How should you preach the word? Now brothers, pay attention to this carefully. You require a lot of boldness to preach. The phrase that I have given is, preach with boldness. Preach with boldness. Why do you need boldness? Because preaching involves, what does it say there in verse two? Preach the word in season and out of season. The first thing, what did he say? Reprove. Reprove. And what does reprove mean? Reprove speaks about confronting and exposing sin. Timothy, you must expose sin. You must point out sin. You must confront sin. When you see people going out of the Word of God, expose it. Expose it. It is not just expository preaching. It is also exposing sin through the expositional preaching, so that people would realize it. That shows that not many will realize the sins when they commit. Preaching of the word is important so that their sins would be exposed. And as I have gone through a book of Hebrews and I could see all these three things in the book of Hebrews. When the author preached to the people. And what do we see here? He reproved. For example, you see in Hebrews chapter 3 verse 12. What does he say? He said to the congregation here, take care brothers, lest there be any of you an evil unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. One of the things if you see in the book of Hebrews that the author was doing is was exposing the sin of unbelief and he must be loving and kind in pointing out the sins of people. And let me tell you, dear brothers and sisters, it is hard. It is hard, especially in this generation, because this generation has become so overly sensitive that if you speak about sin, they don't like it. They don't like it. But brothers, let me tell you, your job, whether they are elder people or older people, whether they are your fellow elders, whether they are young, whether they are new Christians, whether they are older Christians, no matter whosoever they are. In pasting, one of the struggles that I have is to confront people of their sin. Why? Because it is through confrontation that God transforms lives. And what is the other thing that he says here to Timothy? Preach the word, reproving. What is the second exhortation that he gives that he should be doing in the world? What is that? A very strong word that you see and that is rebuking. Now, what is the difference? I was struggling to understand the difference between reproof and rebuke. And I came to know in my study that rebuke is a stronger action than reproving. In reproof, you expose sin. In reproof, you expose sin. But in rebuke, you warn people to stop committing sin. You command people to turn to God with repentance. This is not just exposing. It is also commanding him to stop with the authority of the word of God. And that's why dear brothers and sisters, it is very important for pastors to be bold. And let me also tell you, please to let them to be bold. Encourage them to be bold because it is not easy to reproof. It is not easy to rebuke. A coward man cannot reprove and rebuke, and pastors should be courageous. I still remember telling to one brother, it is not a rebuke or a reproof. I just told that brother to tell something to another brother, just pass on the information. He said he was afraid to do that. And I told him the often phrase that Andy Hamilton uses, that is you should leave and forget about aspiring to be a pastor, go and sell shoes. If you can't tell people, it is very hard. It is very hard. And we see that Hebrews, we see that the pastor doing here, the pastor of the Hebrews here, doing what rebuking is. We see in Hebrews 12, 25. In fact, in the whole book of Hebrews, you see reproving, rebuking. And you see how he rebukes here the congregation. See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. In Hebrews 12, 25. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. There is a serious rebuke here that the pastor of Hebrews is giving to the congregation. Imagine that if those people have not escaped on Mount Sinai, how do you think you will escape now? Return to him. He was not scaring people away from the Lord. He was calling people to return to the Lord. And the third thing that he teaches here, preaching involves reproving, rebuking. And third word is what? Exhorting. The word exhorting speaks about encouraging obedience. After reproof and rebuke, which is very important for the sanctification of believers. He says here, urge, encourage believers to live righteously. It is like wounding them for good and now applying the balm. And you will see also in the book of Hebrews how he was very stern and reproving and rebuking. And how you see he also encourages. In Hebrews 10 verses 23 to 24, you see how he encourages obedience here. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. For he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. Do you see how gracious these words are? But not only these words, pastoral preaching should have all these three different elements, reproving, rebuking, and encouraging people to persevere in the grace of God. But how should you do this? How should you reprove? How should you rebuke? And how should you encourage? What does it say here? Do this how? Look at the verse here, verse two, what is it saying? Do this with complete patience and teaching. And as I was studying the word here, what is this complete patience? What does this patience speak about? What it says over here is that don't give room for people to grow. Give room for people to grow. Growth is slow. Different people respond differently and let them grow and be patient with their growths. And as I was doing a study on a commentary, pastor and author Tony Merida gives a beautiful explanation. Here is what he says, sanctification, which is a Christian's growth in Christ likeness, is a slow process, really slow. Sometimes pastors grow discouraged because they don't see immediate results from their sermons. Remember that there is a cumulative effect, that is a gradual effect of your preaching. Over time, as you preach, preach, preach, preach every Sunday and every week, as you go on, go on, over time, there will be fruit. It may be a long time, but with patient biblical teaching, you will see some progress. So you need to be patient to see the results of your word. And he also says that with complete patience and with complete teaching. Why does he bring the word again teaching here? What he meant to be saying here is that every reproof that you give, every rebuke that you give, every encouragement that you give should be based on the word of God. You have no authority to rebuke people and reprove people and teach people and encourage people based on your opinion. It should be based on the authority of the word of God. So dear elders, I want to encourage you, preach the word. Preach the word. Preach the word that you experience in your own life. Preach with urgency. Preach with reverence. Preach with boldness. And I want to conclude with applications for believers here. Because so far, I have spoken to pastors and finally, I would like to talk to believers here. Since pastors are commanded to preach, what should be the disposition of believers? What should be their attitude and response to pastoral preaching? The first, hear this carefully. And I bring application from all the exhortations that I have given to the pastors. If pastors are charged to preach, If pastors are commissioned to preach, then believers must devote themselves to hear God's word. Now, what is your job as a church? You should devote yourself. I use the word devote yourself to hear God's word. Just like the early church, there is a great example that we see in Acts 2 42, and they devoted themselves to apostles' teaching. Brothers and sisters, God has given commission to the pastors to preach. You know one reason why you should not miss Sunday particularly? It is good that you don't miss even other days, but most importantly, why should you not miss Sunday gathering? Why should you make every effort to be in a church? Even if you are traveling anywhere, don't miss the church. Because God has commissioned the preaching of the word for your sanctification. You have no idea how much you miss when you don't devote yourself to the listening of the word of God. So my dear brothers and sisters, make every effort to learn from pastors. Prepare yourself to listen to the word of God. When the sermon is posted, when the passage is posted, read, prepare yourself prayerfully to come, take notes, examine what they are preaching, ask questions, listen. I want to ask you, how many of you listen to the word when you miss? How many of the brothers and sisters would love to listen to the message they missed on the Sunday if they miss it? Listen to the messages that you miss, discuss, reflect, because if God has commissioned pastors to preach, implicitly, he's also commissioning church to listen to them. Don't neglect listening to the word of God. The second application that I would like to bring to believers is this. If pastors must preach the word with reverence, If pastors must preach the word with reverence, then believers must be discerning, but not be overly critical. They must listen with reverence. I am there here, so there are a lot of people may listen with reverence because it is Stephen David. And tomorrow if Ajay comes, or later Gautam comes, or Uganda comes, do you listen with reverence? Do I listen with reverence? Because it is not the man, it is the word that carries authority, not the man. Man is insignificant in light of the word of God. It is the word that matters. And I want to tell you, dear brothers and sisters, if you are listening to people based on personalities, You are not listening with reverence. Are you understanding what I'm saying? If you are listening to God's word based on personalities, based on your favorites, based on, you know, the people you like or dislike, you are not honoring God. Honor the word and listen with reverence. Be discerning but don't be overly critical. I love what Nehemiah says as an example. Nehemiah chapter 8 verse 5 to 6 says that when Ezra opened the scripture to teach, all people stood up. In reverence, I don't mean that you need to stand and listen to God's word, but look at the posture of reverence that people have bowed their heads and they worship. And even for service review people, I was corrected actually, when I was thinking about it, because sometimes as we have a service review, we become very critical when we listen to the sermon. Is there any, ah, he committed a mistake, ah, he should not be doing that. But I was corrected. This is where a man of God will be corrected by the word of God. Even pastors need correction. And I was sanctified by this scripture. I need to listen with reverence. Although there is a service review, service review people should not be overly critical because it is the word of God that is coming and I should listen with reverence. And the third application. And the third application, if pastors must rightly preach the word of God, If pastors must rightly preach the word of God, eagerly listen with discernment, whether they are preaching rightly or not, and graciously ask questions when they seem to miss the mark. You know, if pastors should become mature and solid in preaching, believers should also become mature. I remember Brother John Kim, you know that. He was a very dear friend of mine and a brother in the Lord. Brother John Kim from Korea. He said that every pastor will have at least, every pastor, no matter wherever you are, every pastor will have at least 500 books in his library. Every pastor, almost every pastor. And they labor in the world. You know why? He says that if he doesn't preach well, the congregation will go and hold him accountable. They are not going to leave him. So because he knows the congregation is solid, the pastor has to labor in the word. And brothers and sisters, this is your application. You must grow. How will you know whether a pastor is preaching rightly or not? Whether he's rightly dividing the word of God? You should be educated. You cannot be gullible in the church and just go along with whatever the pastor preaches. You must question, you must reason, you must ask questions, you must exercise discernment, you must yourself learn how to understand the word of God so that with love and humility, you would hold pastors accountable whether they are preaching the word rightly. Blessed are the pastors where there are believers who are good and humble in discernment. And I encourage you, dear brothers and sisters, I wish, to some extent, Ecclesia is, but I would like to encourage you to grow more and be like buried believers in Acts 17 verse 11, that you see the balance of it. They received with all eagerness. They were excited, eager, but at the same time, they examined the scriptures daily to see if these things were so. If these things were so. And I'm telling you, because of some brothers and sisters in the church who ask me questions, I have grown a lot in my preaching because they hold me accountable. And brothers, and brothers, please be humble. Please be humble when believers come and question you. And I encourage believers also, please be humble when you give that also, so that it would be an encouragement to the brothers. If pastors must rightly preach the word, eagerly listen with dissentment. Fourths, the last two, fourths. If pastors must preach the word, reproving, rebuking, and exhorting, then believers, church, should receive God's word with humility and not be easily offended. Not be easily offended. We are living in a touchy generation. But brothers and sisters, who gave the authority to pastors? They have every right to question you because their questioning you is to help you to submit to God's word, not to themselves. Please don't take it personally. Please don't be easily offended because their job is to follow scripture uncompromisingly and they are called to preach the word, reprove, rebuke and exhort. And you must receive it with humility and not be easily offended. You know, we should carry the poster of David as we hear this reproof, rebuke and exhortation. The poster of David in 2 Samuel 12, 13. What do we see? When Nathan came and rebuked David, how was his response? His response was this, I have sinned against the Lord. If David thought, if David decided, he could immediately chop off the head of Nathan. But how did he respond? I have sinned. That should be the posture of believers. Brothers, please do that. Please preach. Preach with boldness. We need this correction. We need encouragement. We need rebuke. And if they seem to be harsh, you can encourage them. Your word is very good, brother, but preach with little humility and gentleness. That would be a great blessing. Don't despise them because what they are preaching is God's word. And this is what I would like to tell the church at this moment. Now, it would be very hard for you to listen to a J. You know why? Because he grew up in front of your eyes, right? He grew up in front of your eyes and then he become an elder. It's easy for me, for you to listen to me because I'm a founding pastor and it is very easy. But this is where your humility comes into the picture. That anyone who becomes an elder after me and when they preach, please listen to them. Don't have the arrogant attitude that man you grow up in front of our eyes and today you are telling us he has every right to say because it is not his. It is the word of God. And we must carry that humility to listen to God's word. Encourage them to preach the word of God boldly. You know, I'm so glad when Brother Kiran and Sister Thammai joined the church. Brother Kiran, who is a retired man, used to tell me, Brother, don't fear because we are young. Say to us what you want to tell. He encouraged me. Because I'm younger than him, I should not be thinking that, you know, oh, they're older, so I don't have to say anything. Of course, they deserve respect. And when I tell them, I should do it with utmost humility and respect. But he encouraged me. Brother, tell us, tell us, teach us, preach to us. Don't show any kind of partiality because we are older people. And I think, brothers and sisters, that is what he should be telling to these young men. You should go and tell that. Oh, he may be your friend, but don't mind if you are my friend. Go there and preach with boldness. Be bold in reproving, in rebuking and encouraging. And blessed are you and God will honor you if you receive with humility and not be easily offended. And finally, And finally, since preaching the word is a sobering responsibility, brothers and sisters, out of all the responsibilities that we have in this world, there is no sacred responsibility like preaching the word of God. It is supreme. Because of that, the Bible says they're worthy of double honor. Since preaching the word is a sobering responsibility, encourage, pray, and honor your pastors. We see in 1 Thessalonians 5, we see that I have already shown you 1 Timothy 5, verse 17, but this is what I would like to highlight also, that Paul spoke to the church. I'm talking in the context of the church, so that's why I'm showing this. 1 Thessalonians 5, 12 to 13. Hear this carefully, what Paul says to the church, to the believers. We ask you, brothers, The same thing God is speaking to you through the word today. Older people, younger people, those who are new members or old members, those who are young, old, children, whatever your state of life is, hear this carefully. We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you. There is a strong word that is used, admonish you. And to esteem them very highly in love. esteem them very highly. It doesn't even say highly, very highly in love because of their work. And I'm not saying these words, I never touch this. I'm not saying because you have to do to me. I'm saying, please do that to other elders, to my fellow elders. And because of their work, what is their work? Their work is to preach, not because of their age. not because of their age, not because of their personality, because of their work of admonishment, because of their work of preaching the word, esteem them very highly in love, be at peace among yourselves. So these are my applications to believers as pastors are called to preach. Shall we all rise on our feet? And all those who are becoming elders, praying that God would shape you into this kind of men that He called you to be. And also all believers, I encourage you to respond to pastors with biblical attitude. And may the Lord give grace and mercy to all of us in this matter. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your word. We thank you for inspiring your men to write this word for our salvation and sanctification. If not for this special revelation, we would have been lost in sin and ignorance. And through your inspired word, we gain the knowledge of salvation and also grow in sanctification. Heavenly Father, we humble ourselves before you and submit to the authority of your word. And we pray that you, oh Heavenly Father, enable us, enable us to preach the word. May we elders be faithful, reverential, Be right and be bold in preaching the word. May we not fear people. May we not please people. May we not impress people. May we preach in the presence of the Almighty God because it is you who commissioned us to preach. It is you who will hold us accountable for what we preach. And give us that sacred, sober consciousness. of our primary responsibility. And Lord, pray for the church too, that we all would respond to the preaching of the word of God with eagerness, with discernment, with humility, because we are hearing your word and we are submitting to your word. And you will also hold us accountable of our submission to the authority of the word of God. So pray, Lord, that you please to build a cliche evangelical fellowship on the word of God. Let Christ be exalted. Let the word be faithfully preached. Let the church grow towards maturity. Let the lost be saved. And we pray that you make this church a great blessing to many men and women and many churches and also to the lost society. Lord, we thank you once again for the cross on which our beloved Savior died for our sins and rose from the dead, because of which we could understand your word. Because a natural man cannot understand your word. Only the mind that has been regenerated will understand your word. And we thank you for regenerating us through the work of Christ on the cross. And we thank you for your word. We praise you and worship you for this divine commission that you have given us to be faithful and stay strong and give you glory, honor, and praise. In the name of our Lord Jesus, we pray with thanksgiving. Amen. Amen. Thank you for listening to the message. We believe you are being greatly encouraged in your heart. Stephen David also writes articles that are relevant to today's generation. You may read them on his blog www.messageforourage.blogspot.com I repeat www.messageforourage.blogspot.com blogspot.com. You may also email him at cstephendavid at gmail.com. I repeat, cstephendavid at gmail.com. Grace and peace be to you.