Okay. So here we are, second Sunday together. And, uh, I would like you to turn your Bible to Matthew chapter nine. I have this title for my Sunday school lesson. And I will be asking a question for participation, just so you know, I'll do a lot of teaching this morning, but I'm also going to have hopefully some participation as well, but let's turn to Matthew chapter nine. Verses 35 to 38, and this is what I'm calling Assured Pastoral Provisions. You'll see why I entitled that shortly, okay? Matthew chapter nine, starting in verse 35. Interestingly, one of the commentators pointed out that there's this summary of Jesus' ministry in the area of Capernaum which matches the same kind of summary in chapter 4 about his ministry up in Galilee. So you have these two summaries early on in the Gospel of Matthew about the summary of Jesus' ministry. Here it is. Jesus was going through all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Now that sounds like a wonderful ministry, very encouraging. You have a lot of people who are sick, who need healing and the Lord Jesus Christ healed them. So that takes care of all their problems, right? No, actually not. In verse 36, seeing the people, he felt compassion for them because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore, beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest. So last week in our Sunday school class, we looked at what I call shepherd blessings. And I'll just summarize the points that I made last week. We saw that Jehovah God is the shepherd of his believing people. And we saw that the Lord Jesus Christ is our shepherd. And both of those ought to be comforting realities for every Christian. We have a shepherd. We have a great shepherd. The great shepherd, the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, as he's called in Hebrews, the great shepherd of the sheep. But we also saw last time that God appoints and provides human shepherds, which he has assigned for his sheep. You might think, well... If they have God for their shepherd, then the people don't really need anything else. And again, that's what logically you would think, but it's actually not true, which is why Jesus talks to his disciples the way he does and tells them, pray the Lord of the harvest. God is the shepherd of his people. Jesus is the shepherd of his people, but they are without a human shepherd, dispirited, and discouraged like sheep without a shepherd, you see. So what God does is God appoints and provides human shepherds, which he has assigned for his church, for his people. And what I'm doing now, we're going to consider this assured pastoral provision, because God has left us in no doubt that he's going to provide shepherds for his people. He does it in an overwhelming manner. If you've wondered about this question, is it right for us to expect, to anticipate, to take courage in the provision of God for shepherds? Well, I hope that by the time we've done our class this morning, You will say, well, it's very obvious. God is committed to provide shepherds for his people. And by the way, the S on shepherds, the ending S is emphatic. He doesn't promise to send merely a shepherd, but shepherds for his people. I'm gonna try to make that point. This morning, I'll make it again in the morning worship, and I'll make it again next week, because I want us to be very clear on this issue, that God has provided not just to provide a shepherd, but shepherds. You see where I'm going with that in a moment. Okay, so we are gonna dig deeper into this truth that God provides shepherds for his people. He does this in the setting of his churches. And by doing this, God displays his faithfulness and his graciousness. Why? Why does God send shepherds? Because he loves his people and he means to do them good. Well, many people, I want to say a word about the title shepherd or pastor, because many people will not be familiar with this title. of a pastor, of an elder. And I remember when I was just a young Christian, I first started attending an evangelical church in Staten Island. It was the Bible Fellowship Church, that was the name of it. It is still a denomination in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. And that was the first place I ever heard a minister called a pastor. And being brought up in the Roman Catholic Church, I just didn't understand this title, because you know what Catholics call their ministers, they call them... Priest, they call him father, right? They address him as father. I've never heard anybody say priest Cavanaugh or anything like that. It's always, no, it's always father Cavanaugh or sometimes Reverend Cavanaugh. And if you're a high church English person, it's the right Reverend Cavanaugh. So, but I was at a loss about this title. They said, I said, what? I didn't hear them call him. The man was Daniel George Ziegler, my first evangelical pastor, Daniel George Ziegler. And I heard people call him Pastor Ziegler. Pastor Ziegler, what do you call him? And why do you call him that? Well, I don't assume that everybody understands this point of the title. I didn't understand it. I didn't understand what it meant. The word pastor, of course, describes the way the minister cares for the members of his church. He cares for those who come under his ministry. And the pastor, pastor is, of course, you know this. I didn't know it. Somebody might come in here and not know it. The word pastor, it's a synonym for shepherd, and there are other titles. for the man holding the office of pastor and his class participation 101. What are the other titles for the man who plays the role or fills the office of a pastor shepherd? What are the other titles? Rocky. Okay. Elder. That's one of them. Bill. Oh, that's a good question. That's a good question. I don't know the answer to that. I'm going to find out though. Under shepherd. They are sometimes called that overseer, right? So the major ones in the Bible are overseer or depending on your version, Bishop and elder. Um, and the, the elder, refers to the agent experience of the man who holds the office. That's presbyteros. That's the Greek word presbyteros. And, um, so that's, that's one, uh, of the names of the office. A pastor is a elder, uh, uh, presbyteros. Now it's interesting because there is another word for senior man. I sometimes, uh, wrestle with calling a man an older man just like I don't really like to call a woman who is Senior a older women because that sounds a bit pejorative in our in our English vernacular, right? It sounds like you're criticizing. She's an old woman So the Greek has two words and actually used both in Titus chapter 2 the old man is a see if I can remember this, Presbutos. And the old woman is something like Presbutodos. So they don't actually use the presbyterus or the presbyter for an old man, a senior member of the church. When I preach through Titus, I use that terminology as senior male member and a senior female member. They have distinctive words so that you don't confuse a presbyterus with simply an old man. But that's what it is. The whole idea is that he is a man of experience, and age and therefore respect. The other common title is the one overseer, sometimes translated bishop. It's the word episkopos. Now in the skopos part of the word, you have those English words, those scientific words like you use a microscope to see things that are little and you use a telescope to see things that are far. And the name for a bishop or a bishop An overseer is he looks upon. Epi, upon. Scopus, he's looking. So what's an overseer doing? Well, he's looking over the congregation. He's watching out for their souls. And thus he is called an overseer. There's one more title in our New Testament that's much less commonly ever reflected upon, and that is the word leader. I'll give you a little turn for time's sake. He is a leader. That term is used in Hebrews 13.17, Hebrews 13.7, and Hebrews 13.24, three times. In the first one, Hebrews 13.7, the writer, Not sure he was Paul. I'm almost sure it was not Paul. I don't know who it was. But at any rate, he writes, remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you, and considering the outcome of their life, imitate their faith. That's 13.7. 13.17, submit to your leaders, because they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, let them do this with joy and not with grief for that would be unprofitable for you. So that's again, uh, an elder is being called there a leader and 1324 short verse, very important. Greet your leaders, and your brethren, greet them. So at Trinity Baptist Church, I have five elders. So it's very easy for me to know whether or not I have greeted all my leaders on a given Lord's day. I have to greet Pastor Chansky, Pastor Smith. Pastor Carlson, Pastor Kahn, Pastor Hoffmeier, and then I have done what Hebrews 13, 24 says, but greeting all the brethren is a much more difficult task because on any given Lord's Day, you have more than 200 people in the pews. So most Sundays I fail in the second half of Hebrews 13, 24, but you get the idea. Yes, yes, sir. You remind me of Pastor Ted Donnelly. Pastor Ted Donnelly talked about being in the car with a number of other ministers and he said, He was a friend of Bill Hughes, because they're both from the UK, and he said, I don't think a holy kiss is coming to Pastor Hughes. He said he had enough trouble sitting in a packed car with these men. That was enough of a problem for him. Yeah, so we'll talk about that in our consecutive exposition series on 1 Peter. We'll get to greet one another, right, with a holy kiss, that oft-repeated commandment. Okay, so that's a little bit about the word shepherd or pastor. It's got a very warm, caring, concerned ethos about it. And shepherds, for now, are ministers whose main task is to take care for, to watch out for, to lead and teach his flock. And that's mainly members of the church. That's the main concern. Now, a good pastor, when you see somebody visit the church, he'll go and he'll express concern for them. Greeting. Warmth, watch out for them. If they have questions, he'll answer them. If they have spiritual needs, well, I just don't know what to do about my son who's very rebellious, so what do I do with that? He can give them counsel, sure, even though he's not a member of the church. But remember that the main concern of a shepherd is the flock. That's how you can tell a shepherd. How can you tell a shepherd? Well, if there are no sheep around him, you can't tell that he's a shepherd. Looks pretty much like any other person. But a shepherd has a flock, and the flock is defined. If I'm a shepherd and I'm walking out here somewhere, there might be a sheep out here someplace in this vicinity, and I see he's limping, and his leg looks a little bloody. What would I do? Well, I might try to go over there and find out what's wrong. Is his ankle broken? Can I bind up his wounds? Just a concern, general concern, you see. You show for people who are not part of your flock, but you still care for them. Maybe you hope that they will become part of your flock. Okay? But the main concern of shepherds is their flock. And that's a very good thing to remember. Okay, so that's a little introduction. Now we get into the meat of it about our Lord Jesus and God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, all three. They are deeply concerned for the people of God, for the sheep of God's pasture. The Lord Jesus is deeply concerned. Here he is in Matthew 9, right? Telling his people, look at these sheep. These people, they're like sheep without a shepherd. They're discouraged. I've healed them, but they have deeper needs. They can only be met by a shepherd. And he understands that they need pastors who will be able to care for his flock. And God intends to provide such shepherds for his people. I wish there were a verse just like that, and actually is in the Matthew 9 passage, right? Because I would have you memorize it. It might not be a bad idea for us to do a little memory exercise in the future about this because Jesus said, beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest. There's his concern for the flock, for the needy people of God. Now, I said this in a way. I say, it's not quite right, Frank. He intends to send shepherds, to provide shepherds. But it's more than that. It's much more than that. Jesus assures us in his word that he is going to provide pastors for his people. And that's what I want to press into your minds and hearts. Early on in my Christian experience at the Bible Fellowship Church, there was a time, it was an odd denomination because they didn't allow a man to be a pastor in their churches for more than seven years. If a man was in a particular church for seven years, then he had to go someplace else. Now that's not good. That's not God's design. God designs for his shepherds to ordinarily to stay in one flock and care for one people. That was the wonderful thing about Pastor Albert Ann Morton's ministry, 40 years, 45 years to the same congregation. And it bears rich fruits to this day. Jesus, again, sees the impact of the scarcity of leaders. Right, because he sees the people. They're dispirited, they're discouraged, they're depressed. Not because they're not healed, but because they don't have shepherds. And so Jesus says, pray, pray, pray. So, the reason he tells us to pray is because God intends to answer. You may ask how we may be assured that our triune God intends to do it, to send us shepherds. He does. The question comes up in the minds of God's people when they are lacking pastors. Sometimes God permits his people to go a long time without a pastor. One of the places I preached early on, when I was in Trinity Ministerial Academy, and they would send me out to preach, was in Seattle, Washington. The Emmanuel Reform Baptist Church. Now they have Pastor Villa, and they have Pastor Price, and they have a third man, I see his face, but I can't remember his name off the top of my head. But they have a regular pastor who's full-time in the ministry there after many years. Well, I started going there when they had no pastor. many, many years ago. My children were young. But I went there and I preached for them. And then God raised up Dr. Robert Martin to go and be their pastor. And then Pastor Robert Martin got cancer and passed away. And then they were without a pastor for years, long years. God raised up two men, Pastor Villa and Pastor Price to be elders, bivocational elders. So they did have elders for a time, but then they still wanted someone who was going to be a full-time pastor. And God provided that for them. That name will pop up in my mind sooner or later. So what do the people think? What do people think when they go for several weeks, several months, years without a pastor? Well, has God forgotten us? Isn't God committed to us? Can we be sure that God really means to do this? Is God trying to close up the church? Well, no, he doesn't, as a matter of fact. And I have eight reasons for you. Eight reasons. I can tell you on the authority of God's Word that God intends to give pastors to his people. And I want you to be confident of this because that will affect the way we pray. We already have a command by the Lord Jesus to pray for pastors, for shepherds. But how sincerely and believingly you pray will depend upon your conviction of what God is going to do. We pray your will be done. Well, what's God's will? Is God going to send pastors? Well, yes. Again, that emphatic at the end, shepherds, pastors, God's going to send pastors. I won't tire of saying that to you. Okay. Sometimes God in his sovereignty We'll let a people go for a long time without a pastor. As we find in other needs we have, which God does not resolve, it is difficult, it is mysterious to understand why doesn't God send pastors? Well, there are reasons why God does this so we will appreciate and feel our need. When you have a pastor for a long time, you can't take it for granted, say, okay, He's here. He's coming. If he doesn't have the flu, if he doesn't get snowed in, if his newborn baby doesn't get sick, he'll be here and we'll get a sermon and we'll get cared. Well, God doesn't want us to take pastors for granted. And I'm not saying that you do. But sometimes God says, I want to make them understand how much they need it. He wants to draw us out to prayer. And this is the case in this passage in Matthew chapter nine. He wants us to pray. He wants to draw us out to pray. He does it in order to make us see how great a grace it is to have godly pastors. And that should create gratitude in our hearts when God supplies it. So those are some reasons, but again, I want to tell you, God's going to send pastors. This is His commitment. That's why I call this assured pastoral provision. No, no, I've got you. What are the reasons? What are the reasons? He was derived from the promises of God. He makes wonderful promises to his redeemed people. Promises that he is committed, of what he is committed to do for them. Well, he's committed to shepherd us. He's the Lord. The Lord is my shepherd, says David in Psalm 23. And Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. I know my own, my own know me. I call them by name, I lead them out, they follow me. So Jesus is our shepherd. That's a great comfort, a great comfort. You might say, and I would have a hard time disagreeing, if I know God's shepherding care, it will calm and steady my heart. And the reason God is such a good shepherd is because he knows the needs of his sheep. You get that? He knows the needs of his sheep. And he provides, that's what he is as a shepherd. And since we need pastors, human pastors, the good shepherd's gonna provide them for us. That's one, well, that makes a ninth reason. He knows our needs and He will provide. But we see in Matthew 9 36, and this is my real number one, We see in Matthew 9.36 that the Lord is aware of the troubles of the scarcity of laborers. A scarcity of laborers is a problem. Here in Matthew 9.36, seeing the people, he felt compassion for them because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. That's the problem. And it's not the only place that this occurs. You might, Take your finger, keep it there in Matthew 9, turn to Numbers 27. Numbers chapter 27. I'll tell you a little bit about this passage and what it has to do with our concern. Numbers 27. And we start reading at verse 15. My fingers don't want to separate the pages. Here it is. Okay. So, in verse 15, Moses speaks to the Lord, and the context is that God has just told Moses that he's going to die. Aaron has already died and is buried, and God tells Moses, you're going to be gathered to your people, verse 13, as Aaron your brother was. Then Moses spoke to the Lord. saying, may the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh appoint a man over the congregation who will go out and come in before them and who will lead them out and bring them in so that the congregation of the Lord will not be like sheep which have no shepherd. So here's Moses all the way back. in the wilderness, about to die. And he says, I don't want, okay, I gotta die, but we need a shepherd. The people need a shepherd. It's not good for sheep to be without a shepherd, you see. So God immediately responds and tells him to appoint Joshua. This need is something God's concerned with. And Jesus, of course, is concerned with it as well. So that's number one. There's trouble with a scarcity of shepherds, number two, and God's gonna meet that need. Number two, the Lord urges us to make a specific matter of prayer of this problem. The Lord Jesus tells us to pray to the Lord of the harvest. God gives the harvest. Hey, we need workers as well. What good is it to have a big harvest? and not have enough people to come and gather it in. Well, there's a harvest of souls. And Jesus says, pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth labors into his harvest field. Now, why does God give us a command to pray for something he does not intend to give? Does that make any kind of sense? Is that the kind of God we serve? that God's going to tell us, pray, and then he's not going to give. It makes no sense whatsoever. Think about all those places where God assures us of the answers to our prayers. Turn to Matthew 7, Matthew chapter 7. If you're still in Matthew 9, you just have the page to flip and listen to the words of Matthew 7, 7 to 12. These are the words of Jesus about prayer. Ask, and you might get it. Ask, and who knows whether or not God will give it. No, that's not what the text says. Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. There we go. A triple guarantee of answered prayer. Ask, seek, knock. You're gonna get it. Now, that would be enough. But Jesus goes further. Notice the next words. For everyone who asks, receives. And he who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks, it will be opened. Well, there's another triple assurance. God always answers prayer. Well, he does, you know, and I know sometimes he says no, and sometimes he says wait. But when God tells you to pray for something, he asks you, he commands you to pray so that you will, he can give. And you can say, I prayed, the Lord gave. Now, Jesus isn't done with it, is he? No, he's not. Or what man among you is there when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask him? You see the logic Jesus says. So you have your little child and you chow. I was a hungry little boy with two empty legs, and I told my mom, Mom, I'm really hungry. I need something. Mom was always there, always supplying. And Jesus reasons from Dad, from Mom, to God. You give good gifts to your children? How much more will God give? What is good? And is a pastor good? Is a pastor necessary? Do we need them? Well, we know we do. And God has said, you pray, pray. And you can put a little parentheses in there. You can, as they say, exegete the white spaces. If God says pray, he means to give. The very command to pray is an assurance that God will give what we need because he's a good father. He's going to give good gifts. That's reason number two. God knows the problems of the scarcity of laborers. He's told us to pray. Number three, the God who cannot lie promised this provision. God can't lie. So if God says, I'm going to do this for my people, then you know what's going to happen. Look in Jeremiah chapter 3 and verse 15. We're not going to spend much time. It would be tempting to go into the context, but we don't have time for all of that. So I'm just going to show you the passage. You can meditate upon it. In Jeremiah chapter 3 and verse 15, I remember the first place I preached where I became a pastor, I preached this text. God says to his people, I will give you shepherds after my own heart who will feed you on knowledge and understanding. And this is in the context of God gathering his people and their repenting of their sins and being faithful to God. And God says, okay, so this is what I'm gonna do for my believing people. I will give you, notice the S's, shepherds. Final S, it's not a mistake. It's not an accident. after my own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding." So there's God's promise. Even in his old coven, calling his people to return to him, he intends to bless them. He describes the blessing of the pastors. They will feed them with knowledge and understanding. That's what's good for the sheep. God promises to give it. Number four, the supply of pastors is one of the results of Christ's exaltation. Why did Christ rise from the dead? Well, a lot of reasons why he did that, to signify that his work was successful, his work was finished, to signify that he had done the will of God, purchased salvation, many of these things. But in Ephesians chapter four, we find another thing about the exaltation of Christ and why he was raised from the dead. And that's one of the, this is one of those passages you've read it many times, but you said you've never drawn the conclusion, which we ought to draw from Roman, I'm sorry, Ephesians chapter four, starting in verse seven. Ephesians chapter four, verse seven. So, in Ephesians 4, 7, Paul writes, again, about the exaltation of Christ, but to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. We all have gifts, we all have roles to play in the church, and Christ has given gifts. Therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he led captive a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. Then he talks about the, descent of Christ and the resurrection of Christ now, he says, I'll pick up at verse 10, he who descended is himself he who also ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things. So what's Christ up in the heavens doing? He's filling all things. He's giving gifts to men. And he gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as Your version may say pastor and teachers. It's really a hyphenated term, pastor, teachers. You don't have time for an extensive Greek lesson because that's what we'd need. And why does he do that? For the equipping of the saints, for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ. So why is Christ raised from the dead among all the many things that he is raised for? He's raised to give gifts to his church. And he's already done it. Now, I won't torture you with a tricky, tricky question. Are there apostles today? The answer is yes. They're all in heaven. They're all in heaven, and their work is right here. Right? The letters of the New Testament, the history of the apostles, and the directions of apostolic authority. Yeah, we have apostles, but they're in heaven. Don't make that mistake. There are no Apostles, capital A, physically on earth, but we have apostles and we need to pay attention to them. And he's given evangelists. We could talk about evangelists another time. Again, the point is the ascended Christ has given to the church lots of different gifts. One of the gifts is pastor teachers for what? for the equipping of the saints for the work of service. Do you have a task to do? Do you have a way to serve the church? Well, yes, you do. That's why the risen Christ has given gifts. That's why he's given pastors for the equipping of the saints. What happens when he doesn't give pastors? Some of the saints may figure out their gifts. I know a young man I've been counseling recently and he's asking, well, what can I do? I don't know what my gift is. Well, I'm gonna do a little Bible study with him on the gifts and maybe someday we'll import that study into these lessons. But Christ is giving gifts to equip his saints to serve him. Now, would Christ just not say, well, you know what? It's not that important. They're saved. I've shed my blood for them. They're walking with me. Is it okay if they don't do the job Christ has gifted them to do? No, it's not. Just the fact that Christ is ascended and gives gifts is a guarantee that Jesus is going to give gifts to his church. It's part of his exaltation. And remember what Jesus says in Matthew 16, 18. You could probably recite it just like that. I will build my church. What are pastors for? For the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ. How does Jesus build his church? Well, by his own sovereign outpouring of grace, for sure, but also for giving pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints to the work of service. Will he not give them then? I mean, I would make this an argument in prayer. Lord Jesus, this is what you said. This is what the Bible says about you in heaven. You're up there, why? To give gifts to your church, to build a church, which you're committed to do. Seems to me an open and shut case. Case number four. The supply of pastors is one of the results of his exaltation. Number five, and I have to hurry. Because I have three more. Through the Apostle Paul, The Lord has told us that the office is a good thing greatly to be desired. And I'll just quote 1 Timothy 3, 1. You've heard it before. Pastor Cossum, I think was probably preaching through 1 Peter, 1 Timothy 3, right? If any man desires the work of an overseer, it is a good work. He desires to do a fine work. It's a good thing to desire to fill that role. Now, everybody's not. Everybody's not filling the role. But to desire it is a good thing. And the point can't be missed. This is something to be desired and to do. And God himself is encouraging men to greatly desire it. And if you don't desire it for yourself, I understand. You say, I don't have that gift. I can't do that at this point. Well, certainly you can desire it for somebody. It's a thing to be desired. God himself is encouraging men to desire it, and this is another reason that we should understand that God intends to motivate men to want to be pastors and actually to labor to become pastors. Number six. Reason number six, why we can be sure that Christ is going to give gifts to his church, and let me do it this way, for Covenant Baptist Church. This is a promise with a great reward. A great reward is promised to those who do the work. Please turn to 1 Peter 5. And I will pick up speed here, because I want to finish this Today, next week, he's scheduled to go back to the Owen Fellowship Treatise. But 1 Peter chapter 5, Peter is speaking to the elders, the elders in five provinces of Asia Minor, now Turkey. A lot of churches involved in that. I was counting them up the other day, there are more than 12. Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as you are a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory to be revealed." So Peter is an apostle, but he's also doing elder work, as all the apostles did. And here it is. What does he tell the elders? Shepherd the flock of God among you. Exercising oversight, not under compulsion. Nobody else is doing it, you gotta do it. No, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God, not for the bucks, not for sordid gain, but with eagerness, nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples of the flock. So there's the work of a pastor. And if I ever get to preach first Peter again here, we'll come to this text. I have a list. of texts and books. Okay, verse four. When the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Now, there are carnivals that you go to. I don't know if they have carnivals. Do they have carnivals here in Lombardynia? And they have booths set up and they have games where you toss a ring onto a bottle and you earn, well, they add prizes in there. Some cheap stuffed animals. and some Xbox games or something like that, some expensive gifts, and they want you to put your money down and play ring toss, they want your money. They don't wanna give the gifts. They don't want to. If you get somebody really clever, they have to, but they don't want to. That affects their bottom line. God is not a carnival show prize giver. He doesn't make promises he doesn't intend to fulfill. He wants to give the gifts. He wants to see shepherds who are effectively pastoring their flocks, and he wants to give them great rewards. This passage is a very strong text that says, I'm going to give pastors. That's number six. Number seven, God does not hide the difficulties. God does not hide the difficulties of pastoral labor, and I don't have time to go into this, but in 2 Timothy 4, 1-8, Paul lists the problems, and he tells Timothy that they need to do this work. The needs, the problems of the work argue again that God intends to give those who will be able to do the work. That's number seven. Number eight. God in his word reveals his generosity of gifts, his generosity. He could have determined to be extremely economical with his gifts. I want you to turn to Mark 6, 7. where I'm talking about God's generosity of gifts. A couple of texts like this in our New Testament. Mark six and verse seven. Okay, there it is. And he summoned the 12. and began to send them out in pairs. Note those words, an accident, a teaching of something about God's generosity. He sent them out in pairs and gave them authority and instructed them, et cetera. He sent them out by pairs, two at a time. Now, he did this in Mark 6, with the 12. So, how many places can he reach? with six pairs, fewer than with 12 pairs, right? But it says generosity to give more than one gift in a place. It's generosity and wisdom. And in the other passage, that was a Luke 10 one. It's the 70 says it again. He sent them out in pairs. God wants His churches not just to have single pastors. He wants them to have multiple pastors. It's better for the sheep and it's better for the shepherds. And that's what God doesn't, look, over the next couple of weeks, I'm gonna tell you more about multiple pastors. I am absolutely convinced. that single shepherds in a church are an abnormality, which is a liability for pastors and for churches. So that's why I keep on emphasizing this point and I get it from our Bible. So here are eight reasons. God is generous. That's reason number eight. Generous. Generous to churches. He doesn't just want to give 70 pastors to 70 churches. He wants to give at least 70 pastors to 35 churches. And I believe, and I'm praying, and I'm laboring, that God will give plurality of pastors to a covenant Baptist Church. One last thing. About God's generosity and goodness. If you are a Christian, you are serving the best of masters. Very generous, very kind. He gives the strength that all his people need to do all that he has assigned them to do. And they have great reward. Serve God. Serve God faithfully. Because God is a great rewarder. He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. But if you are not a Christian, and if you are not faithfully serving God, you're missing out. Missing out on the best things God has to offer. And you know, The opposite of that is the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Well, there I end. And I hope this is a help to you, dear brethren, here, because I want you to be as convinced as I am that God intends to give gifts, plural, to his church. Let's pray. We are very thankful, Father, for the word of God. What great comforts and encouragements we have. because you have inspired the Holy Word of God and given us these many reasons and more why we can expect that you would give gifts to your church. So here we are, Lord, and we're calling out to you, the faithful, true, honest God, to give the gifts. You've sent your Son, Jesus, to die for us and to cleanse us of our sins and to purchase every spiritual gift in the heavenly places in Christ. So give gifts. Give gifts. Raise up laborers. Give them to Covenant Baptist Church of Lumberton. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.