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Speaker 1Glad that y'all are here. The song was just too good not to finish, so we we wanted to finish. There's a song called I Will Glory in the Cross. I haven't heard it in years since she started playing it, so we finished it out. But would y'all stand with me, and we're going to start, with a couple of songs.
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I will sing the wondrous story. Hymn number four ninety nine. If you want to look for your part, four ninety nine.
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Speaker 2I will sing the wondrous story of the Christ who died for me how he left his home in glory cross the
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Speaker 1Amen. Crystal enjoys that song. When we get to the Gather by the Crystal Sea, she is doing jumping jacks before the end of. Why should he love me so? Hymn number three twenty five.
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Speaker 2Love send my savior to die in my stead meekly should my savior to Calvary go why should he on
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Speaker 1the last Hey, man. Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements this morning. First of em is that screen is not working. Did you notice it's not working?
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I'm going to look there 12 times during the sermon. I promise because I'm used to it being over there but the announcements this morning. We are still meeting and we are still eating. Monday nights at first B, usually around 06:00, it's a soft start. You don't have to be here right on time.
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You can be here a little early or a little late, and there will be a meal and some music and a message. And Carl is preaching tomorrow night on the second chapter of the book of James. Guadalupe and Felix are gonna be cooking for us, so that's a Mexican meal. And the passage is about not showing favoritism, but for some reason, when Guadalupe and Felix are cooking, there are a lot more people that show up, okay? It's really, really good anyway.
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Monday nights at First B, that's happening. Awana is also happening at the same time. And this room is where they start out playing games and gathering together, and then they go split up into age appropriate groups where we're pouring scripture into their minds to reach their hearts because kids matter to God. So that's Awana. Men's fraternity, every Wednesday morning at 6AM.
6:28
It's an early time, I know, but it is worthwhile. We came together last week and there were tables of guys around. We're going through the Resolution for Men. It's a book called Resolution for Men. It's really, really, really good, and there's time to actually get into it.
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We don't have the same kind of video that we have had. We have little clips from a good movie at the beginning, and then go from there as a way of leading discussion. It's fantastic. Men's fraternity, very, very good, every Wednesday, 6AM. Tomorrow, there is a women's retreat.
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There's a women's retreat at the White Pine Ski Lodge, and Amy Lutzeman, you all know Matt Lutzeman is our moderator right now, one of our elders. Amy is his wife, and she leads women's retreats fairly often, and they're always great. She's a wonderful worship leader, and she's a prayer warrior, and she's written several books. She's great. So Amy is doing that.
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If you want to RSVP to Pam Murdock tomorrow, it's this women's retreat. It's good. I don't know any more information about that, but it should be in your bulletin. Okay? Are you with me?
7:32
Okay. Children's I mean, children's Christmases. So we're we're going Operation Christmas Child, Samaritan's Purse. We are doing this again. So you've seen some boxes out here in the vestibule.
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Those are empty boxes that are awaiting people to pack them. There's an envelope inside each one. It has a kind of an instruction sheet so that you can follow the instruction sheet. They've learned some things over the years of doing this. Many of the children who will be receiving these packages may not receive much else for Christmas.
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So make it good stuff that goes in the box. There are good instructions inside. It costs $9 to send a box. So if you bring the box, you can pay for its shipping by giving $9, or if you just wanna give, you can give and pay for someone else's box to be shipped if you'd like. You can bring in little pieces and parts to go in there if you don't have a whole box worth of stuff that you're going to send.
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So, you can see KC McCooey or Nick Stern for more info but we are a part of Operation Christmas Child again through Samaritan's Purse. That's a great, great program. How many of y'all have been through this church in the evenings on Tuesday evening between 05:15 and 06:15, or Thursday evenings at 05:30 to 06:30? How many of you have been through here? Okay.
8:46
How many of you have been through here when this room is dark and then there's a disco ball in here? Okay. That's the same time period, alright? Refit Revolution is an exercise class. They meet in this room, very helps and clears all the chairs out of here, and then there are mostly ladies, but there are a few gentlemen too who have been a part of this.
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I didn't mean to
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Speaker 2look at you, Paul.
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Speaker 1I didn't sorry. Anyway, it's a good time. It's a really good time, and they dance and they pray together and getting fit together. It's actually really, really good. The Refit Revolution, there are three ladies that started this somewhere else in the country.
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Samantha Compton, so Jack and Babcock's granddaughter Samantha is the one who's leading this here. And it's fantastic. It's a lot of fun. It's very helpful. So if you want to do that on Tuesdays, 05:15 to 06:15, or Thursdays, 05:30 to 06:30.
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We're working with the time around Boy Scouts and other things because tons of ministries and other nonprofits meet in this building throughout the week. Community Bible study. Community Bible study is happening here. It happens on Monday mornings and on Wednesday evenings, and it is on no matter what your bulletin says. I'm gonna tell you in a minute to read your bulletin, but ignore the part about community Bible study being canceled.
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It's not canceled for this week. It is on. So they're continuing to study Hebrews. Ed Alam is presenting. Eric Pompous has been presenting.
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It's this Wednesday at 6PM. It's also this Monday at 09:30 in the morning. It is not off. It is on. Does everybody get that?
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All of have a bulletin in your hand. Cross it out if you've got that little pencil in front of you. And you can see your bulletin for all the rest of the information. That's the only thing we know of that's wrong in there. So anything else.
10:24
If there's a prayer request or any kind of other announcement, it should be in the bulletin. Do you all have anything that I've forgotten? Good. Would you all stand up then and greet one another? We've got a few folks here who have not been here, don't scare them to death, and we've got a few folks in here who are back after a long, long absence.
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Speaker 2You are my strength when I am weak you are the treasure that I seek you are my all seeking you as a precious jewel lord to give up I
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Speaker 1worthy of worship There's a theme here this morning, isn't there? Yeah. It's very very good. Worthy of worship. Worthy of praise.
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Thank you. Y'all may be seated. I'm going to ask the frontline team to come forward. Won't you all pray with me as we just pray? Just offer Tori prayer.
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God, thank you so much for being who you are that you are worthy of worship. You are worthy of praise. There is a purity of the love that you have for us, lord. That that merits any glory that we can give and all glory lord that we can give and lord where we fall short, the glory that the masses, the nations that do not yet know you, oh Lord, I pray that the offerings that we put in these plates would be extended to those who do not yet know you, that there would be a spreading circle, that the nations, the families of the earth would be glad because of you, because you offer salvation, because they, Lord, have accepted it and for those who haven't, lord, we pray that we would be constantly spreading it. We would spread your good gospel and that your kingdom would advance.
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Would you use us? Would you use our lives the way that we live em and our words, the way that we choose them? Would you use that to advance? Because of Christ, it is for his sake, lord, that we gather and we worship you through Jesus. In Jesus name, we ask this prayer.
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First Peter five, this is where we're up to in our chronological study. Now we've been going forward. One, two, three, four, we've covered every word. We've covered every word so far in first Peter, and we've been doing that for quite some time. We have not skipped anything.
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You know, we just kept on keep on moving forward. When I get to this, I have to admit, I wanna skip it. Not because it's a hard passage to understand what it means, it's just that the very open in line says, therefore I exhort the elders among you. And so the last time that I came to this passage, I had been here five weeks. So it was the fifth week that I was standing up in this pulpit, and I was presenting, and I read the passage, but at that point, I was not doing word by word expository preaching.
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I was just taking first chapter, this is kind of a highlight. Second chapter, this is a highlight. This is a good concept from the third to fourth. And so I wasn't doing topical preaching, I was kind of picky about what it was I was doing. And I was just getting my feet wet too, six years and four months ago.
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And so, when I hit this one this time, I I have become more and more convinced about just taking every jot and every tittle, every little bit of scripture and not skipping anything. I'm more convinced than ever of how important it is. And this letter was written you know, it's first Peter, so it's it's it's written to a group of people from Rome by Peter to these far flung reaches of the Roman Empire and extending also, of course, to us today. But when he says, I exhort the elders among you, he's still talking to you. Does that make sense?
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He's speaking to the elders and it's gonna be very clear in just a minute why I'm saying that this one's one that when I think of this passage, I will often send an email to all of our elders or to people who are leading in whatever other groups and say, Hey, consider this. Just think about this. Because it's a rebuke and an exhortation at the same time. There's only one imperative in this passage, but it's very profound. Okay?
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And so therefore, I exhort, hortatory, an exhortation, an encouragement towards that which is good. I exhort the elders among you. And elders up there can be used for either older people, just like in English, or it can be used for those mature believers who have and are fulfilling an office of the church. Now, in this church, we have right now eight elders who are officially elders. I'm looking around the room and I'm seeing elders who have been elders before and we often say, once an elder, always an elder.
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There are ways the Bible discusses them of how one might disqualify themselves but the once an elder, always an elder is what I generally think. As I present this today, I want you to consider your life and your walk and your ministry because my job is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry of the church. And so I want you to consider how it is that you are leading others and how you have gone a little further down the path than someone that you might be leading. Are you with me? So Peter says, Peter, the great apostle, right?
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Peter, this one who is the obvious leader of the disciples, he was in Jesus's disciples but then in the smaller group, it was Peter, James, and John and he tended to be the leader of the band no matter if it was the group of three or the group of 12, Peter was the one. And then on the day of Pentecost, Peter stands up and delivers the message. He is the one that we would call, you know, the great capital A apostle, but he wouldn't call himself that. He says, I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder, an elder together. He humbles himself and says, I'm a humble servant of the people, an elder, someone who has traveled this road and a witness of the sufferings of Christ.
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So, he's an a fellow elder, an elder together technically. There it was one time. I looked over there. I did it a bunch of times in the last. I'm starting to get used to it.
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As your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ. So he's saying that he saw how Christ was treated during his three year ministry, saw how he was treated during his passion. He even denied him the night of his passage, of his passion, right? Of his arrest So, he says, in humility, I exhort or I'm encouraging you towards the good, you elders, as a fellow elder, the technically, it says the, it's a definite article there, the fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ. Now, if he's writing to people in the far flung reaches of the Roman Empire, Cappadocia and Bithynia and all these places out there, and he says, I am a fellow elder, but he says, I'm the fellow elder that has been a witness.
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So, most of these people that he's writing to probably none of the people. I mean, all of the people that he's writing to have heard of Jesus. It sounds like they've accepted Jesus. It's a letter to Christians but they were not there when Christ was crucified. They were not there during the passion.
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They were not there for the resurrection. They were people who had heard from the word of others and Peter is saying, I am a fellow elder with you. I've been given charge over some people but I'm also a witness of the sufferings of Christ and I'm also a partaker of the glory that is to be revealed. So, we live in the already and the not yet. If you have believed in Jesus, if you put your trust in him, then God has taken you out of the kingdom of darkness and miraculously by the blood of Jesus placed you into the kingdom of light.
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If you are either lost or you are found, you're either unsaved and in peril, right? Or you are saved and you have an incorruptible hope in heaven above. Those are the two binary extremes. Now, do we immediately get sanctified immediately when we accept Christ? The process begins there, but we have to submit our will to his.
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So the already is you're already there, but you're not yet walking it out perfect. Does that make sense? I say this a lot, so it all makes sense. For most of you who are here all the time, you hear this all the time. When Peter says, I exhort you elders as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ.
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What's this whole letter been about up to this point? Suffering for Jesus, suffering for righteousness sake, unjust human suffering for the cause of Christ. I've witnessed the suffering. I know how it is. I know how it is myself.
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I've been jailed. I've been beat. I've been told not to speak the name of Jesus and that's what's happening with you and I recognize that and I am with you also. It says also right there, a partaker of the glory that is to be revealed. So, I'm a witness and I'm a partaker of the glory that is to be uncovered the last day.
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So I'm exhorting the elders as an elder, as a witness, as a partaker together. So he puts himself into the crowd with them, and then is the only imperative in this passage. There it is again. I don't know how used to these screens I am until I get up here and start looking. Shepherd the flock of God among you.
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That is the imperative. So I can say that there are eight elders in this church. One of them is right there, and one of them is right here, and there's one of them in the back right there. And then there's some others that have officially cycled off of the elder board, but they're still elders. I could say that it was just for you, but I think that this passage should be and could be taken for anyone who's attempting to lead, whether it's leading your family well, whether it's leading students at the school that you work in, if it's leading the youth group or some might just walk by.
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If it's leading anybody, you don't have be in the official role as an elder. You just need to be a believer that is somewhat more down the road, more mature than the ones you're attempting to lead. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you. So shepherd is the imperative. Shepherd.
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Actually, in this form is be shepherding or be pastoring. And it's direct. It's very direct. You're supposed to be doing this, elders. Be shepherding or be pasturing.
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It's distinct from feeding or tending sheep where you're offering food. He gets to that because he's talked about the word of God and how we are to offer to people the word. But this is specifically on tending like shepherding, guarding, guiding, and folding the flock in. You know, Jesus left the '99 to go get the one to bring them back. That's bringing them back into the fold, keeping them together to keep them harmonious, to keep them from fighting with one another, to keep them guarded and guided.
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Does that make sense? Shepherd the flock of God that is among you. What did Jesus say to Peter when he was restoring him on the beach after he had rejected him, after he had denied him the night before the crucifixion. After the resurrection, he met with him on the beach in Galilee and he said, do you love me? And when Peter responded, I love you.
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Yes, I love you. He said what? This, tend to them. Feed my sheep. Do you love me?
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And to the measure, he he was testing Peter's love for him first and then, if you love me, then be doing this. Peter, as a good servant of Christ, carries that same message and presents that same message to us as elders and leaders, right? Oh, come Keep doing it. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you. Whether it's one person, two people, whether it's a crowd of people, whether it's for one particular setting or a church, my charge right now is to be an elder at this church.
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I'm one of eight elders. We have had as many as 11 since I've been here in the last six years. We've had as many as 11 elders at a time. We've had as few as seven at a time. 11 gets a little cumbersome.
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Seven, we all felt the weight of it because we were not spreading the load quite as far. So I think that nine is a pretty good number. That's what we had at the beginning of this year. And Mark Upton was one of our elders. He's 37 years old.
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So I know the word can mean either an older guy, but he also was a mature believer. And so, our charge and I sent this out actually in May. I sent I hid it and I was thinking of when we're preaching to first Peter and just thought how important it was. I sent this sermon that I'm about to do right now. To the rest of the elders here.
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And I'll say, I have paper notes again, and these paper notes I prepared for our class when I was in seminary. I went through first Peter, and we had 10 people in the class. And so one of us was up front and we're presenting to nine other people who are supposed to be students and Greek, Hebrew scholar, whatever type people studying together, and the professor. And so I wanna start right here by asking some questions. Now I'm saying start and I'm already into it ten minutes, but don't worry.
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Thematic question here, and we had a certain format that we had to follow. I try my best not to ever say anything that's not there. If I'm saying anything that's not there, I'm trying to illustrate what is there. Does that make sense? So I've got some questions and I want you to listen to the questions.
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And they are kind of heavy. In the first service, it was a lot more somber and heavy than I thought it was going to be but I want you to listen to it and I consider that when I first preached this, I was preaching to nine other potential preachers knowing that I was coming here a month later to be the pastor of this church. So for me, it was a really heavy time. Main question number one, and I'll say this, James not Jimmy Stewart, but James Stewart was an author of a book called Heralds of God. He was a great preacher and a good pastor and he starts off his book, Heralds of God, saying you're the ones who are supposed to be heralding God Almighty, lifting him up and presenting him.
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His first question at the beginning of the book is, why are you in this work at all? Why have you undertaken to take on a Bible study or listen in Awana or lead your family? Why are you in this work at all? So, were you compelled? Question number one, were you compelled by anyone or anything outside of God?
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Now, the love of Christ compels you? Yes, that's the right reason but do you feel that you are compelled by someone other than God to do this? Or has anyone or any organization compelled you to be here even this morning? Has anyone forced you to come to church this morning? A, was it the path of least resistance after you went through homeschooling, Christian college, undergrad?
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Was it a path of least resistance thing? I know that this is what my mom or dad expects of me, and so I will do this next. Did it just seem like the thing to do? Did you feel obliged to do this because of any particular person or event trying to please someone else other than God? Is it because if you don't do what it is that you're doing in the leadership role you're in, you feel like no one else will do it?
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Well, I gotta do it because if I don't do it, nobody else will. That's the wrong reason. Is it because you're good at it or because people pat you on the back when you do what it is that you do in ministry? Is that why you do it? Is it for appreciation?
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Or is it because you just think you're good at it? Second question here, and all of these are questions and then sub questions under them. This one might seem laughable. Are you in it for the money? Are you ministering for the money?
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You might laugh at that, but is it that you want to gain through ministry? There are people who look and go, I think I could do that. And I think that think that pay me well-to-do that. And then there are others that get into it for the right reasons, and then people seeking to bless have led people down bad road. I know in Mexico, I'll go for an aside here for a second.
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In Mexico, when we would go to a church, it would often overwhelm the offering plate if a group of Americans showed up and everybody put a 20 into the plate. 20 is not that big a deal here, but if you go to a little church in Mexico, you got 40 people and you all put $20 in the plate. That's $800 That's that's as much as they might receive in a whole year, you know? And so, I saw time after time preachers that when we got there were full of fire and full of spirit and preaching to their people and then, we were just happen to be in the room at the time and it was a tremendous blessing for us but after we filled the offering plate a couple or three times, the messages all of a sudden started to be to us. And it broke my heart because it's really easy if financial gain becomes the motive for being there.
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If you're paid staff, are you here for the money? Are you here for the prestige of having the office or position? Did you seek to have this role? Do you teach or do you preach to show off your intellect or to appear intelligent? There are a lot of guys who have unbelievable recall of scripture that are way, way, way off base.
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And don't laugh about the money questions. It does sometimes get in the way. I already explained that. I I think of some other televangelists that I believe were in it for the right reasons and then money kind of overwhelmed the situation. The workman is worthy of his wages and I'm very thankful that y'all do pay me to do this.
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Very, very thankful and humbled by it. But the workman's worthy of his wages but the wages should not be driving him to do what it is he does. Does. Beyond why you're here, are you excited to be ministering in the position that you're in? Does it turn your crank to study practical theology?
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Are you thinking about it? Are you thinking about his word and how that applies to the people that have been allotted to you? You know, the ones that you're leading. Do you wake up in the morning scribbling down ideas for how we can make God known more effectively before you even comb your hair or brush your teeth? Do you keep a notebook at hand so you don't lose that moment of creative inspiration?
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Do you have a hunger to know God and his word better and better so that you can pass on what it actually says, not some distorted version of what it says. Do you could you be characterized as eager, really looking forward to and wanting to do whatever ministry it is that God has put before you? Question four, do you minister so that you'll be able to exercise control? This one is my sub question up under this or sub point under this is, there's a best seller for the ages, how to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie. You all heard of it.
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It was written in 1936. It's been on the best seller list since 1936. Apparently, people want to win friends and influence them, manipulate them into doing whatever it is that they want them to do. And so I think that sometimes we get into ministry for the wrong reasons. Are you looking to manipulate people into being the way that you think they ought to be?
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Are you looking for more followers on Twitter? Are you looking for more friends on Facebook? Is there some deep felt need that you have for an audience? Is there an even deeper need for an adoring audience? Do you need loyal subjects to feel good about yourself or about your ministry?
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When you feel that support starting to wane, will you be mad about it and incensed over it? How many of y'all and I'm gonna close my eyes and turn around the other direction. How many of y'all have ever been hurt by a church? Have been hurt by a leader in the church? Don't raise your hand, please.
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I'd cover up just in case you can't help it. How many of y'all have ever heard when a church is starting to wane and the numbers are starting to dwindle, the pastor get up and preach about Gideon's army and God's gotta get rid of all these bad eggs. I have. Are you by ministry trying to change people's behavior to fit your own theology or your own particular little brand ideology? And I say that, there's a couple of extreme examples like Jim Jones.
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Jim Jones, when he started out in California, he had a great church. This people's temple was actually a great church where racial harmony was being practiced really well, actually. Really, really well and then at some point, he became convinced of his own superiority to other presenters of God's word and he started believing that God was speaking directly to him and had new revelation for people and so he had his whole congregation up and moved to Guyana and then before too long, he was doing things that were totally against the word of God personally and he was presenting to them his own ideology, his own demonic, I believe, theology and he then had them all drink Kool Aid and commit mass suicide. That's getting away from what you're supposed to be doing, presenting what's there. David Kuresh in Waco, Texas, same thing years later.
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It happens. When we seek to control other people. There is authority in scripture. Scripture is the authority for our lives and scripture gives authority to elders in the church but it also gives pretty strong rebukes throughout for how an elder should be and how an elder should act and how they should walk. Get out.
41:53
How should we teach too? So last question I have and then we'll get back to the text because I think all of these are answered in the text. Is yours an example of Christ centered living? Are you currently living your life as an example before others? Would you rather just live anonymously, and might you not be more comfortable if you could live anonymously and just interact people at a safe distance?
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And when I presented to those nine other people that were probably going to be preaching, I asked the safe distance from the pulpit to the pews where you don't really mix it up life on life. You don't really open yourself up. Do you share your real life with the people of God? And then the last question I have before we go to the text is, what is it that you stand to gain? Considering all of the above, all the different things that I've asked questions on.
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What is it that you stand to gain? So, shepherd the flock of God. Shepherd is the imperative. Be shepherding or be pastoring those around you. The ones that you're in the midst of.
42:59
Anybody that God has placed before you that you're supposed to lead. So, so far, short form, elders, be shepherding. Now under that he says, exercising oversight. So you are supposed to be paying attention to what's going on. What does a shepherd do?
43:15
It's a great verb for this because a shepherd watches over sheep, right? And he's looking to see what's going on with the sheep. If sheep start fighting, then he needs to be a part of breaking them up where they don't fight. If sheep wander off, he's supposed to be a part of bringing them back in. If sheep need guiding besides still waters because they're thirsty, he needs to be pointing them in that direction.
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If they need to be away from a cliff, then he needs to be getting in between them and that cliff, right? Shepherd. Exercise oversight. So this is a subcategory. It's a clause under that be shepherding, but not under compulsion.
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I ask you if you felt compelled to be here, if you felt like, if I don't do it, nobody else will. The love of Christ compels us to do whatever it is he's wired us to do. It does. And so you need to be exercising oversight, but not because you got to, more because you get to. I can't believe God lets me do this.
44:12
That's the feeling. I can't believe he allows me this opportunity. And I think that we need to live in that instead of the, That's not a way to write that down. Do you know what I mean? Be shepherding, be exercising oversight, but do it voluntarily.
44:34
You know, there's some folks at the end of a football game when the game is on the line, there are folks that say, give me the ball. Please, let me carry that ball, you know? Voluntarily. I'll do it. I'll go in.
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I'll do whatever you ask of me. I'll play it just like you asked me to. Coach, that our chief shepherd, he'll mention him in a minute, is needing under shepherds that want to be in the game. Be shepherd and exercise in oversight, not in compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God. Now voluntarily because, hey, I wanna lead because I want other people to agree with me and I want pats on the back and I want for them to do what I want for them to do.
45:18
They ought not be the way they are and I'm the one to cure it. According to what? God's will. According to God's word. We have a manual.
45:27
We have a a book that says, this is the way we're we're going to do things and it points back over and over and over again to the good shepherd, to Jesus, to shepherds throughout Moses and David and all of these examples that he gives of people who learned a lot in this field. It's according to the will of God, not according to our own desires. According to the will of God and not for sordid gain. So, financial stuff, there's a delicate balance there. My dad loves to tell this joke.
46:02
He tells it all the time. He says, that pastor search committee is looking for a pastor and he said, the prayer went up something like this. Lord, you keep em humble and we'll keep em poor. I don't feel that way. I feel satisfied here.
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But this is not for sordid gain. Sordid means unheard of. It's something that you it's unmentionable. And I think that there are some gross excesses in the ways that certainly famous celebrity type televangelist in particular, prosperity gospel guys more than any other I think, it's unheard of and it should be unheard of the way that compensated or they compensate themselves in a lot of cases. Exercise and oversight, not under compulsion but voluntarily according to the will of God and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness.
46:55
There's an eagerness. This is another one where that ball analogy, I'll do it. Give me the ball. If you were playing and this is a I don't know why I thought of this example right now, but 1985. In 1985, when the Chicago Bears were doing so great, towards the end of the game, who was gonna have the ball?
47:12
Walter Payton. He was gonna give them the ball. There's no doubt about who's gonna get it. Know? Now he might have the refrigerator running in front of him.
47:19
You know, he might have, you know, McMahon, yeah, great ball player too, but they knew when the game's on the line, who's gonna get that ball? It's the guy who is the most eager to have. Be eager about it. Be eager. Waking up in the morning and going, God, I can't believe you let me do this.
47:38
What shall I do for you today? Eagerly. Nor yet as lording it over those who are allotted to your charge. Yeah. Have you all ever witnessed this where somebody lords over their authority over you?
47:55
That's a hard one because we're reading the same book, and when you go and you hear that that's not that's not quite what it says. That's not quite what it says and there's not a humility about hearing that from you. But it's like, I said this. I'm the one in charge. You just have to listen.
48:14
No doubt about it. I say, you have to do this. Well, Jesus definitely was right. We know that and the way that he led was by his godly life and example and he presented the gospel. He presented it all his ministry.
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He presented it and the people who followed him recognized it and they did so eagerly. Now, there were some of them who were in it for the wrong reasons. Judas accepted money, right? He was in the inner circle. He wanted Judas the zealot.
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He wanted for Jesus to be the military guy that took over and kicked Rome out of there. He's doing it for the wrong reason. Setting himself up for gain. Doing what he did under compulsion in some cases. John tells us nor yet is lording it over those allotted to your charge.
49:07
I think of Jesus's humble service and the fact that he was not, even though he was lord, he was not lording over them. Not lording your position over people. You know this guy? You know this this is a picture painted picture by Cranek the Elder. Cranek the Elder painted this picture of Martin Luther and this one of Katie Von Bora, the runaway nun who became his wife.
49:34
And they'd in the Protestant Reformation, there was a lot going on there. So things had gotten muddy and things had gotten off course. I believe everybody agrees that now. But the protest, the way that it was done, whether it should have been done, way that it was done, I don't know. But the Protestant Reformation started with a few other guys but this is where it really got traction and Luther nails his 95 theses up to the door of the church in Wittenberg and he wants an answer for them, a biblical answer for them.
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And it started kind of a revolution and we've been fighting about it for five hundred years. Literally, five zero one years. This is the Wittenberg Church. It's the Lutheran Church now, Protestant Church in Wittenberg. And there, Louis Cranek, the elder, has a painting there.
50:33
It's a triptych with a bottom piece down here, and this triptych has baptism and the Lord's Supper communion, baptism and communion right there. And then a picture of the Lord's Supper, which is fairly typical of the time. This was about 1547, I think. Cranach was a friend of Martin Luther's, and he understood the theology that was being presented. He understood it because Luther wrote 54 volumes.
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Literally, it's this many on a shelf. They're that long. And the elder was one of his friends and he was painting from this and trying to present it. So, the sacraments of baptism and communion. Luther felt the way things were going was not being done and he kept going back to scripture and he stood on scripture.
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I don't I don't like to glorify him quite honestly. I don't like like to glorify the message but not the man but he saw this. This is Jesus and his 12 disciples at the Lord's supper taking communion there. He's got John leaning on Jesus and it's a different arrangement than we're used to seeing where 13 of them sit on the same side of the table, you know. This is the round little table but he has a minister and it's not himself that is offering communion right there.
51:48
And he's offering communion saying these elements, this is something that it's not from a priest and since Luther himself was a priest. He didn't want for it to be that I'm the only one that can do this. It's something that we celebrate the unity of the body of Christ and humility right there. Now, the reason I put this up here right now in this part of the ceremony is because of this. So, this is Luther.
52:13
It's no doubt about who he is. He dressed a certain way and he had a certain look. So, this is Luther and this is the congregation and between the two is Christ and him crucified. So, Luther's point was was this is where it comes back to the absolute grace of God. Now, he does have his hand on the Bible and his other hand is pointing towards Jesus and so, symbolically, that's what Krennic wanted to show was that between Luther and the people, he wanted to present the crucified Christ.
52:47
It wasn't a crucifix. It was Jesus's actual crucifixion and then, between the people, when they're looking towards Luther, and it's common for them to be in a little crow's nest elevated up there. No amplification, know, to spread as far as I can. But when they're looking towards him, what they're seeing is the crucified Christ. So, I I see that and I think of this, exercise and oversight, not under compulsion by anything except for by God.
53:18
Here I stand, I can go no further but voluntarily and according to the will of God, not for sordid gain. I don't I don't think that Luther started that thinking he would be Martin Luther of the Lutheran Church. I don't I don't think he did. I don't think he did it for that reason. Again, I'm not trying to glorify.
53:36
But with eagerness, nor yet as lording it over those who are allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock, willing to take the pressure, willing to take the heat from the decisions that you make based on the word of God. Does that make sense? This is a heavy message for me being the one that does this and I I hope that you're leading and you're thinking, yeah, I want to be centered on it. It's the razor's edge. You don't want to fall to the right or to the left.
54:08
You don't want to fall off to one side feeling like, I've gotta control these people and you don't want to fall off the other that I offer or lend no direction whatsoever. The authority of scripture is primary but scripture does offer authority to those who will follow it and live as examples to the flock. So, elders, be shepherding. And then all these other things come under it. Exercise and oversight, but not under compulsion voluntarily, according to the will of God, and not for sordid gain.
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Eagerly, not lording your position over the people, but proving to be examples. And then what do you stand to gain? And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. You will achieve the unfading, or receive the unfading crown of glory. And then it says, you younger men likewise, be subject to your elders.
55:00
So it is very difficult to lead if there's not anybody following. Have you all noticed that? There are lots of famous men who have been quoted or misquoted as saying lead, follow, or get out of the way. But there's something to that. Patton said it, and he said you got to either lead or you got to follow.
55:16
You can't just not do either one. That's not an option. Lead or follow, or realize that you're not really in this. Look up to those who are more mature than you and help those who are less mature than you lovingly. Be subject to your elders and all of you, all of y'all, all of y'all, clothe yourselves with humility towards one another.
55:38
That sounds a whole lot like the summing up. In the first six verses of chapter three, we had ladies and this is the way women should be and then, wives should be and then in verse seven, it was husbands. Love your wives treat them well so that your prayers are not hindered and then he says, to sum up all of you or all of y'all, be harmonious and sympathetic and brotherly and kind hearted and humble in spirit, not returning evil for evil or insult for insult but giving a blessing instead. For y'all were created and called for this very purpose and that y'all might inherit a blessing. Be blessing other people whether they deserve it or not.
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Grace is unmerited favor and you can spread it. Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another for God is opposed to the proud but he gives grace to the humble. We read that in first Peter. We read it in James. We read it in Proverb.
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Proverb says, yes and God does. Scoff at the scoffers, the proud but he also gives grace to the humble. So the most humble place that I can think of, that I know of is the Lord's table. Because we have to recognize that nothing in my hand I bring, there's nothing that I have done to deserve the grace of God, and yet he offered and I've accepted it. So, here we are and this is an open table.
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I know that in some traditions and some denominations, they practice a closed table but if you have put your faith in Christ, I do not care the brand of Christianity that you belong to. If you put your trust in Christ, this is an open table and would you please partake? Now, if you have not trusted in Christ, you're unconvinced, you do not believe it, then just let this pass. Let it pass and I'll offer a prayer blessing for you that God would reach you through one of these in this room with you right now. So, I'm going to ask the frontline team that come forward.
57:32
Judy, if you don't mind playing something pretty, I might come over and sing with you if it's something I know. And let me pray. Lord, would you please bless the this little cracker, this little symbol. Lord, it's a meaningful symbol but it's a symbol of the body of Christ that you, lord, gave your life, that you lived it out perfectly, that you gave your perfect record. Lord, you lived it for us and you sacrificed it for us but I pray lord that when we take it in, we would think of you and that you would draw us in the greater submission and humility to your revealed will.
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In Jesus name. On the same night that Jesus was betrayed, He took bread after supper and after having given thanks, he broke it and he said to his disciples that were gathered there, this is my body which is given for you. Take this and eat and do it in remembrance of me. Lord God, we do remember you every time that we do this and I think of what a great example. Lord, but you're not just a great example.
1:01:23
You've not just made a pattern that we should follow from baptism throughout a life surrendered to Holy Spirit. Lord, I don't think that it was just an example. No sacrificial. We cannot on our own achieve oneness with God. Lord, the atonement, what made us at one was the blood of Jesus without shedding of blood.
1:01:46
There's no remission of sin. Lord, your precious blood being the only the one and only son of God. Thank you Jesus for shedding your blood on our behalf. I thank you that you made that sacrifice. Thank you God for the plan.
1:02:06
We ask that you would bless this little representation, this grape juice and a plastic cup. Pray that you would bless this meaningful symbol for everyone who would partake and for those lord who must let it pass. I do pray a prayer of blessing that that the people that they know right here would reach out with them to them with the love of Jesus that that have the words to present in a way that would be heartbreaking and heart touching and that would bring them into belief in Jesus. Lord, would you advance your gospel through us, through the blood of Jesus. And just in the same way that he had taken the bread, he took the cup after supper and he said to his disciples gathered there that this is the new covenant in my blood.
1:05:23
This is no longer a covenant of works but it's a covenant of grace. God's salvation, God's goodness offered freely to whomever, whoever would believe, place their trust in me only He said, this is the new covenant in my blood. Take this and drink and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Do y'all know the song Blessed Be the Tide that Binds? Carl, you ready to sing that other one?
1:05:58
We Believe? Will you come on up? Never mind. We're gonna sing We Believe. Blake, can you do that?
1:06:04
Would you stand? I I actually when presenting this, it should not be personality based like church. It should not be personality based. It's great that God delivers his truth through the means of people's personality but this song, when I we were singing at the first service, it's we believe in God the father. We believe in Jesus Christ, right?
1:06:22
We don't believe in Carl and Ray. Do you get what I'm? Us to sing this benediction as an affirmation of that which we believe and what we hope to live out and present.
1:06:34
Speaker 3Short chorus We believe in God the father. We believe in Jesus Christ. We believe in the Holy Spirit and he's given us new life. We believe in the crucifixion. We believe that he conquered death.
1:06:56
We believe in the resurrection. That he's coming back again. We believe. Let's sing that again. We believe in God the Father.
1:07:12
We believe in Jesus Christ. We believe in the Holy Spirit, and he's given us new life. We believe in the crucifixion. We believe that he conquered death. We believe in the resurrection, and that he's coming back again we believe
1:07:42
Speaker 1We believe. Amen. And now, I've got a a benediction for you from Colossians. Colossians three. He said, clothe ourselves with humility and this brought this to Blake's mind.
1:07:53
Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion and with kindness and with humility and with gentleness and with patience and bear with each other and forgive one another and if any of you has a grievance against someone else, forgive just as the Lord has forgiven you and over all these virtues, please put on love which binds all of them. Together in perfect unity. May it be so in our lives. Take us from this place lord with this mindset, this heart set. Jesus name, amen.
