Alright. I I have a sermon that I preach. It's not it's not God that owes us. It's us that that owe him. We owe him everything because he gave everything for who?

He gave everything for us. Yeah. And I still think a lot of Christians are stuck in the God owes me mode. You know? God isn't a genie.

He is our savior. He gave his life for us. He created us, and and we owe him we owe him more than we could ever, ever repay. Now, if you take and turn to first Timothy chapter three, first Timothy chapter three. And one of the qualifications or expectations here of a a pastor or bishop in the church is not covetous, and I'm fighting that right now because I can't whistle.

And Dan has such a No. Good whistle. I I am I am so blessed. I am so blessed by by that. I I wish I could I've got about three notes, and that's about it, and they don't sound good.

So I can do whippoorwill. Anybody know what a whippoorwill sounds like? Yeah. Okay. I'm not gonna try it for you because it won't work.

It'll just come out and it won't come out. Alright. But that's that's the extent. But anyway, that was a blessing, Dan. Thank you.

So first Timothy chapter three, we'll begin reading in verse one again. We'll go down to verse seven. Here, Paul is speaking to Timothy as he will be helping to appoint and mentor pastors in the churches around in and around Ephesus. And so, he is giving him some instructions here, not only concerning Timothy, though it is also meant for Timothy, but also to help the churches in in choosing pastors that will lead them as good under shepherds of the Lord. So chapter three verse one, this is a true saying, if any man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.

A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober of good behavior given to hospitality, apt to teach. Not given to much wine, no striker, not greedy or filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, nor covetous, one that ruleth his own house well, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Not a novice, lest being filled lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

So let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Lord, thank you for your word this evening. May you bless us through it. May you guide and direct in our worship and in the preaching of it this evening. Lord, may Jesus Christ be exalted in our lives in this place this evening and in every day.

We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Alright. So these are instructions I mentioned. Bishop, the word bishop means overseer.

It would seem to apply here to pastors or to senior pastors of churches, those two that are tasked with teaching, preaching, and overseeing and guiding the spiritual direction, the teaching, and the ministry of the church. And there is an aspect of being a pastor that certainly does involve leadership and oversight, and the word bishop stresses that that part of the ministry of a pastor, but it would seem that the two are actually one and the same. If you look over to Titus where we read last week, you have the qualifications for an elder. It would seem that an elder is most likely because the list is nearly identical to this one. Also, speaking of pastors, some churches have pastors, elders, and deacons.

Some churches have head pastor and especially larger churches, many pastors under them and deacons. Typically, in Baptist Church, you have pastors and deacons, and elders are assumed to be the same as a pastor. And we'll get to deacons, so we do have a few deacons here. We get to you next week. Okay?

So haven't forgotten about the deacons, but but that is basically who we're looking at here. He says, it's a good thing if you desire to be to have the office of a bishop. You desire a good work. It is a good work. It's a necessary work.

Somebody needs to be the pastor. Somebody needs to lead the church. Somebody needs to to carry that that burden with the help of of the Lord, to be the under shepherd, under the true shepherd, and to feed the flock. And it is a necessary ministry of the church and a good one. But it does come with some qualifications and expectations of the Lord that are important to not only the character of a pastor or a church leader but also to the fulfilling of that particular ministry, okay?

And so, we'll kind of see some of that as we go through. We've already looked at the first seven last week. So, we won't spend a lot of time on the first seven. Number one, be blameless. Number two, the husband of one wife.

Number three, vigilant. Four, sober. Five, of good behavior. Six, given to hospitality and seven, apt to teach. And that brings us down to number eight.

Not given to, what's it say there? Make sure I got it right on my outline there. Yep, sure enough. Not given to wine or or in one place. I think maybe we're in Titus.

It says too much wine. Not given to wine. Okay. So what is that talking about? Well, the word in Greek can mean it means the fruit of the vine.

Okay? And so it can mean simply grape juice or it can mean alcohol. Okay? Which do you think it means here? Alcohol.

Okay? There's not a prohibition particularly on pastors drinking grape juice. Okay? The prohibition here is concerning alcohol. The prohibition is not against drunkenness alone, but the practice or habit of drinking, thus impairing to some degree the judgment or the testimony of the leader of the church.

And that is important. Both the judgment of a pastor is very very important because pastors lead the church, pastors counsel people, Pastors are examples that others look up to. Their testimony is important before their congregation. Their testimony is important before the world. And any any question in this regard definitely is destructive of the pastor's testimony and can impair the pastor's judgment.

And when it involves the souls of men and the direction of people in their life, you don't want to be impaired. You know, we pastors aren't perfect, and we don't always say the exact right thing. We don't always know exactly what to say for every question that is thrown at us, particularly in a a counseling type situation. But we need to be filled and led by the spirit and to take seriously those things and to seek the wisdom of God to know how to best answer those questions. And you can't do that as well if you are impaired by alcohol.

Ephesians five eighteen says, and not just for pastors, and be not drunk with wine whereas in excess, but be what? Be filled with the spirit. Don't be intoxicated by alcohol. Instead be led by the spirit. These things are not compared to one another, they're contrasting one another.

One is way over here and one is way over there. People filled with the spirit don't act like people that are what? Drunk. People that are filled with the spirit, they the next verse says, speaking in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in your heart to the Lord, and it goes on with a list of things that are godly, God honoring, wise attributes that follow those who are filled with the spirit. Alcohol, on the other hand, tends to lead in a different direction.

People say, well, you know, this this drug is bad, nicotine is bad, Marijuana is bad. Know, Coca Cola is bad. Know, hamburgers are bad. I had one for lunch. So and but you know what wine does?

Wine isn't only bad for you. Wine messes with your what? Wine messes with your head. Marijuana messes with your with your head. They they alter your ability to think and to make wise decisions.

And that really does not need to be the case with God's children at all. But it certainly needeth not to be the case with pastors. No reason for it. No reason whatsoever. And I have found the key to never having a problem with this issue.

Don't ever drink alcohol. I can't get drunk if I don't what? If I don't drink it. And that solves the problem. Leviticus chapter 10.

I think this is an important story. I think God put it in here for two or three reasons, but this is one of those reasons. In the first part of Luke chapter 10, you have two, Nadab and Abihu. These are two sons of Aaron, his two oldest sons. So Aaron was the high priest and then his sons became the high priest after him or priests after him.

And the oldest two, Nadab and Abihu, they went into the temple with the incense for the altar, but they didn't have the mixture right. They didn't have the mixture as God had prescribed. And you know what God did? He struck them dead. They had to be their dead bodies had to be pulled and carried back out of the temple, out of the tabernacle because they didn't take seriously their responsibility to the Lord.

Following that incident, right after that incident, when it concludes, is verse eight. And the Lord spake unto Aaron saying, do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou nor thy sons with thee when you go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die. It shall be a statute forever through your generations that they may put a difference between the holy and the unholy, between the unclean and the clean, that they may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken unto them by the hand of Moses. That leads me to believe that the reason they offered the wrong incense is because they were what? Is because they were intoxicated.

They weren't thinking straight because they had been drinking alcohol. They had been drinking wine, and therefore, they made a mistake. It was just a mistake. I mean, they weren't being, you know, rebellious on purpose. They just made a mistake, but they made the mistake because they were what?

Because they were under the influence of alcohol. Now the state knows if you're under the influence of alcohol and you go and get a car and you drive down the road that you are a hazard to everybody else on the road because, again, it affects your what? It affects your judgment. It affected their judgment, and it cost them their life. And while there is a difference between a priest and a pastor, okay, there are some similarities in their leadership position, and particularly in the last part of this, it says, and that you may put a difference between the holy and the unholy, between the unclean and the clean, between what's right and what's what's wrong, and that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.

So, and that is certainly that part of that ministry has does describe a part of the ministry of a pastor. Okay? To teach the difference between right and wrong, to teach those in their congregation, the statutes, the word of God which God has spoken. That is certainly also the case. And so it only makes sense as Paul tells Timothy here that a pastor is somebody that is not given to what?

To drinking wine, which is which is alcohol. Number two on our list this evening, no striker. No striker. Well, that word means basically what it sounds is a striker is someone who does what? Who strikes other people, okay?

A striker is prone to violence, to have a violent temper, okay? Whereby he lashes out in an uncontrolled anger towards others or one who deals with conflict through physical violence. Okay? Paul says you don't want a pastor who gets mad. I had a roommate in college.

His his name was David Newitt. And I like David Newitt. He was a good roommate. He was a lot of fun. He was a few years older than me.

He'd come to college kind of late in life. I mean, like, five years later, he was, like, in his mid twenties. And he was a nice roommate, but you did not want to make David Newit mad. Because if he got angry, his face turned the color of Jules' dress. I mean, it was red just and and one time he had me up against the window.

We were on the 3rd Floor of a dorm. And he had me up against the window, and he had his fist back. Anyway, I talked him down. And I don't think he was gonna knock me out of the window and down three stories onto the ground. But it was a bit scary for a second.

Is he going to control his anger? I don't know. But you don't want your pastor to be like David knew it. Pastor is someone who should be able to do what? Control their temper.

Pastor should be somebody who is not prone to physical violence to resolve conflicts. In James one nineteen and twenty, it says this, wherefore my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. So you wanna work the righteousness of God? Well, be slow to what? Be slow to wrath.

Be slow to speak. Be slow to just let everything just fly out of your mouth and be very slow to pick up your sword or throw your fist at somebody. That is not the way that God wishes for us to resolve conflicts, interpersonal ones for sure. If you're in the military and you're at war and you're defending your country, that is a different issue. But with your neighbor, you don't need to get out your sword.

Okay? With your member of your church, you don't need to lose your temper and let curse words come out of your mouth. That is not appropriate for a child of God. It certainly is appropriate for one who is leading others. The next one is not greedy of filthy lucre.

Filthy lucre. What is filthy lucre? Well, that is a term that is referring to money. Is money in itself always filthy? The answer to that is no.

But can it become filthy? And the answer to that is is yes. And that word filthy is tied to the word before it and that's the word greedy. Okay? Greedy.

In other words, a pastor should be not should not be one who is driven in the ministry by the desire to obtain more and more financial wealth to indulge his fleshly desires. That is not the right motivation to be a pastor. Now if you're the pastor of a small church, then that is not likely to be your motivation. But clearly, that is the motivation of a lot of people on television. It is the motivation of a lot of pastors of medium to large churches.

They it is sad. I have knocked on people's doors to invite them to church, and they think the only thing the only reason I want them to come to church is because I want their what? I want their money. And you say, well, that's silly. Yeah, but that is the taste that has been left in their mouth by the preachers they hear on the television and by others they may have attended church where most of the messages revolve around how much money you put in the offering plate.

I rarely preach on money unless it just happens to be right here in the text that I'm preaching from. Or if it happens to me, missions conference and part of our ministry to the missionaries is is what is what we give. Money is necessary for the ministry of the church, but it isn't the primary message. The primary message is not a message of give me, it's a message of here, take. I'm not here for you to give me, I'm here to give what?

I'm here to give you. The message of Jesus was he wasn't here to take from them, he was here to give to them. And when 5,000 plus people showed up out on the side of a hill outside of Capernaum along the shores of the Sea Of Galilee, he fed them. He didn't ask anything of them. He just what?

He fed them. In first Timothy chapter six so you're in first Timothy chapter six. If you go over to verse six and down through verse 11, But godliness with contentment is great, what, gain. You want great gain? Then do this.

Be godly and be content, and you will have great gain. We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. Having food and raiment, let us be there with content. But they that will be rich, including ministers, fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

This is a warning from Paul to Timothy, and we'll get back to it when we get to chapter six again. But it just backs up what Paul is saying right here. If you wish to be a minister, then you don't go into the ministry to make money. You go into the ministry to serve who? To serve God and to serve others.

And what did Jesus say? But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things, what? Shall be added on to you. I was a youth pastor in a small church for twelve years. I've been a pastor of a small church for twenty years, and I was able to put both of my kids through Christian school, one through four years of Christian private college.

We have nice cars. One of them is a little nicer, not as nice as it used to be thanks to the second law of thermodynamics. It's getting old. But we want for nothing. We lack nothing.

God has taken good care of us. And he does the same for all his children. That is not just for preachers. If we will put God first and not make our make our entire life about having a bigger house and a nicer car and more things, then we will have great gain and be happy and content and won't be sidetracked by the race to get wealthier and wealthier and wealthier. One of the sad things about the world is that they are so consumed with the acquiring of things.

And if you ask most wealthy people what is enough, the answer is what? Just a little bit more. But you have billions of dollars just a little bit more because money does not does not satisfy. However, having said that, Paul does say this concerning those who minister from first Corinthians nine. He said, do ye know do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple.

He's talking about the priests. And they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar, the sacrifices that in offerings that were brought, the priests got part of that, and the Levites who ministered with them. Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. And I am extremely grateful that I have the privilege to pastor a church and not have to have another full time job on the side because that allows me more time to study what? To study the word and to pray and to answer phone calls.

And, by the way, if you're a person who texts me or call me, I am not only not two two double negative double negatives here. It ministers to me when you ask. I live for texts and phone calls and questions. Okay? So don't ever feel like, oh, I don't wanna bug the pastor because you will rob the pastor of a blessing because the pastor is here to answer questions and to to do his best to help you.

That is what the ministry is about, serving others and serving who? And serving the Lord. Yes. I still have to pay my bills. Yes, I still have to feed my family.

I still have to put gas in my car. Yes. So though those things do take money. And I am grateful that I do not have to have a full time job outside of the church so that I can focus more on those things as Paul as Paul emphasizes here. If you go down to verse number and back in chapter three, if you go down a few verses to verse the end of verse three, that's on the same verse, but it'll the end of verse three says, not what?

Not covetous. And I I went ahead and jumped down there because that that ties in a lot with the idea of greedy of filthy lucre, also not being covetous. A covetous person is greedy or particularly jealous of what others possess and not content with what what God provides, which takes us back again to first Timothy six six. Godliness with contentment is great, what, is great gain. Someone who is always looking around and saying, oh, look, they have that and they have this and they have that.

I wish I had that. You know, that is the tenth commandment, not covetous. And I think in our wealthy modern society, we only have nine commandments because we kinda just forget about little old tenth commandment down here that says not covetous. Because we live in a society that's largely built on that principle. Commercials and advertisements draw upon that fleshly desire, that if they have it, then I what?

Then I should have it, and I want it. And that is certainly not fitting a child of God and certainly should not be a motivating factor behind those who are called in the ministry that they might have or be jealous of what others have. Now, there are pastors of larger churches that are in it for the money. There are pastors of larger churches who make a lot of money and have a nice house, and they're not in it for the money. Okay?

And you know something? It would be wrong of me to be jealous of them because that's God's calling and this is God's calling in my life. You know something? God knows what he's doing. And the fact of the matter is I really don't want all that stuff.

You know, it's nice to have a few things, but I don't want I don't want three houses. It's enough to take care of one house. I don't need three. I like going out on a boat on the water. Every now and then, thanks to Jules and Dennis, we get to go out on a boat on the water.

But you know something? I figured out a long time ago, I don't want a boat that I have to take care of. No desire. No desire whatsoever. Be content.

The Lord will take care of you. And if the Lord calls you in the ministry, he'll take care of you there. Next, you see back in first Timothy three in verse three again. After greedy of filthy lucre comes, patient or long suffering. Following yeah, patient.

Or the the word also carries the idea of being gentle. One who through the love of God is able to be patient and gentle and forgiving, merciful towards others, who will not return evil for for evil. A a peacemaker and someone who is long suffering with with others. First Corinthians 13, love is what? Love is patient.

Yeah. Now is that just for preachers? No. If we really love other people, if we demonstrate the love of Christ, then we'll we'll be a patient person. Now some of us are more patient by nature than others are.

Some of us are patient with some things and not as patient with others. God has to help that to grow and to change in our heart and in our life, that it is clearly an important trait for those who are ministering to others and those who oversee others and those who work with others. Because we're all human beings, we make mistakes. Sometimes we're stubborn and rebellious. Sometimes we're hardheaded and slow to learn.

That's true of all of us. And if you're trying to minister and work with others, you have to learn to be, what? Patient. You have to learn to grow a thick skin. You can't wear your feelings on your sleeve if you're in the ministry.

Else, you're going to be upset. Else, you're going to be irritated and frustrated. It is an important quality to have in the ministry to be patient and gentle and merciful. James three seventeen, but the wisdom that is from above is first what? Pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, easy to be approached, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

And if you're going to minister to others regardless if you are a pastor, then that also needs to be an aspect of your life that is growing as well. It is one of the fruit of the what? The spirit too. Love, joy, hope, love, joy, peace, gentleness, kind and there is long suffering somewhere, isn't it? Yeah.

Long suffering or patience. Of course, that's the opposite of the next one we see in the passage here, not a what? Not a brawler. Okay? Now, that that word, it it's not the striker, it's the person who's quarrelsome.

It's the person who is looking for a a good argument all the time. Okay? If you're going to be an apt minister for Jesus Christ, you can't be somebody who's always looking for a fight. You can't be somebody who is of a contrary nature, who is contentious or has a vengeful spirit. Again, you have to be able to let things go.

You have to know what is worthy of taking a stand and things that are not. We're gonna we're gonna the outside of the church, hopefully, is gonna start getting painted a week Monday. They got to do some cleanup work and then they're going to start painting the church. Now, I really don't want the church to be purple, but if you do, that's okay. It is not worth fighting.

Okay? It would stand out. Everybody would see it if it were purple. But but you know, some people are just looking for a fight. Some Christians I know are kinda they're they're contentious.

They they're just looking for something that they can, you know, pick at and go, hey, look, you know, you got this. Romans chapter 12. I'm gonna read to you from Romans 12. This should be quite familiar to you because I've read it many times. So we'll read it again.

And no, I'm not talking about verses one and two. If you go down to verse 17, it says, recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible as much as lieth in you, live what? Peaceably with all men.

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather get placed under wrath for it's written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Blessed are the, what? The peacemakers, for they shall inherit the earth. The character that one of the character traits that demonstrates Christ in us is being a what? Is being a peacemaker.

Don't pick fights. If your neighbor is aggravating, if they play music at 02:00 in the morning, you know, don't the first night it happens, don't run over there and have a fit. You know? Maybe it's not gonna happen every night. Okay?

Maybe they're not gonna leave their trash on your side of the fence all the time. Don't pick a fight. You know, be a peacemaker. And when you go talk to him, don't go with an attitude. And the same thing is definitely true in ministry.

The Bible says, speak the truth in what? In love. And that should be evident in our peaceful nature as children of God. This is something that the devil tries to take advantage of in Christians, that people don't fear us as much because we're not going to commit violence against them, and we shouldn't. In the end in the end, if you're a peacemaker and you let God take care of it, God is going to take care of it.

God is going to take care of it. And it isn't actually a weakness that the devil thinks it is. It's actually a what? It's actually a strength. Because peacemakers sometimes turn their enemies into their what?

Into their friends. And we don't conquer with the sword and with the fist. We conquer with the love of Christ and the message of the gospel. That's true of every child of God. It certainly should be true in the what?

In the pulpit as a pastor. The next one is one who rules, verse four, one that ruleth his house well, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Now, should this be true of all fathers and husbands? Yeah, it should be.

It should be. Some are more natural leaders. Some are more natural authoritarians, maybe at times too much so. Some people are more timid. God doesn't call everybody to be a pastor or a bishop, but generally speaking, God has called husbands and fathers to be what?

To be leaders in the home. And if we're not leaders in the home, then that doesn't set us up very well to be leaders in the what? To be leaders in the church. You see, one kind of blends over into the other. Clearly, there's not a whole lot left to say here concerning this because, well, Paul kind of he gives us the criteria and then he basically says, why?

Because if you can't lead your home, how are you going to lead the what? How are you going to lead the church? And it's important that pastors are leaders. They are bishops. They are overseers.

They are shepherds. They aren't always being led by their people, but they're leading them. The word pastor means shepherd. The shepherd is to lead his sheep, not to be led by the sheep. And if you can't be a leader in the home, then you're probably not suited to be a leader of the church.

Not only that, but the ministry of the pastor can be hindered by the testimony of his children. And so this one is important as well and one that shouldn't be just quickly swept under the carpet either. You know, some of these things were, oh, yes, gotta have that, you know, pastor shouldn't be. But, you know, this one over here, we can you know, that's not as important. I I don't think that this list is prioritized.

Okay? They're all things that are what? They're important. They should be important to me as a pastor. They should be important to you as a member of the church to see in your church leaders, and they should be important in your own life as well.

The next one says, not a novice, lest being filled up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. What is a novice? A novice is a new person, an immature person. Here, it's speaking of a new or of an immature convert. Such authority and position given to one so young in the faith can lead to many problems, not the least of which is pride.

What does the Bible say in Proverbs sixteen eight 18? Pride goeth before what? Destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Yeah. And a lot of times, in particular, younger people, especially if they see themselves being as successful and they've got it all figured out, the devil's going to sneak in there with some what?

Pride. Look what I'm doing. Look what I can do. Look how smart I am. And that pride will begin to grow, and then it can destroy them and their and their ministry.

Satan was was an angel. He was an angel with power and authority and position in heaven. And it went to his head and he allowed pride to sneak in. Now pride can sneak in the person who's been in ministry for fifty years just like it can the novice, but the novice is more likely to fall prey to it than the person who is mature in the faith. And so that too is something to consider when choosing a pastor is someone who has proven themselves and has had time to grow because you minister to others out of your own heart and experience and what God is doing in your life.

And if the less experience you have and the less knowledge you have, the less time you have to grow makes you a little bit easier target, especially for what? Especially for for pride, to think, hey, you know, I'm smarter than everybody else. I know good and well I am not the smartest person in this room. I'm not gonna tell you who I think the smartest person in this room is, but I'm not him or her. And that's okay because God didn't call me to be the smartest person in the room.

And then finally, number seven. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into the reproach and the snare of the devil. Not only is your character and your testimony to be blameless before those you minister to, but it should also be clean of good report to those what? To those outside outside the church because a pastor to a point represents even more than everybody else, the church and Jesus Christ. Now we all do that, and so all of us should strive to be of what?

Good report because we're all to be salt and light and we're all representatives of Christ. But to the outside world, the pastor is the the greater representative. And if we're to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ, if you're trying to reach people for Christ and you're telling them that that alcoholism is going to kill them and sin is going to destroy them and they need to come to Jesus Christ to be saved from sin and hell and yet they saw your pastor sitting in a bar drinking with his buddies, that's going to likely destroy the seed that you're trying to what? That you're trying to plant. Trying to reach people and bring them in to hear the gospel message, but if the leader of the church is not of good report in the community, then that's gonna be awful hard.

Awful hard to do. And while repentance may be accepted by the congregation for past sins and failures, the unsaved are not so likely to forgive and to forget, hindering a bishop's ministry and the church's ministry to the lost. You say, well, but if you repent, you can be forgiven. That is true. And you can change.

However, people outside, they're not as quick to accept that. And it's probably best if we go back to that first thing on the list, which is blameless, that that be true. In first Peter four, I have it up here. It says this, not just to preachers. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye.

For the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. On their part, he is evil spoken of, but on your part, he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as an evildoer or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. What should be true if we suffer for the cause of taking a stand for God's word and for Jesus Christ, then let it be because that brings glory to the one who suffered for us.

But let it not be because we are a brawler or because we are a striker or because we are greedy of filthy lucre or because and whatever else is on the list here. Because we are impatient or covetous. If it be for doing what's right, let it be. But I've I have had several conversations which people would fancy themselves as ministers of the gospel who wore as a badge of honor that they kept getting in trouble with the police. And it wasn't simply for doing the right thing.

It was because they were quarrelsome. It was because they liked to pick fights. And then they turned around and said, look, I'm suffering for the cause of Christ. And that shouldn't be. Let us all strive to be more like the person described here in first Timothy chapter three.

Blameless, faithful to your spouse, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, not violent or quarrelsome but patient, not greedy or covetous but content, one who rules his house well or takes seriously the role that God has given us in the home, one who is of a good report to them who are without. Because God just isn't watching the pastor. I mean, others aren't just watching the pastor. They're also watching they're watching us. Let's pray.

Dear heavenly father, thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to minister in this place. Lord, forgive me of my failures and sins. Make me a better minister, a better example. Help me, Lord, to be vigilant and sober and blameless, content and patient and loving and kind in the ministry, to stake a stand for that which is right, and a good and apt teacher of the word of God. And help us all to follow the teacher that you have given us, the Holy Spirit, and the word of God that you have given us, and to seek to be a light to others, to minister within and without of the church to others in the name of Jesus Christ, that others might be rescued from sin and hell, that friends and neighbors might hear the gospel out of our lips and not anger and contentiousness, that those who come in these doors would see the love of Christ and the friendliness that points them to Jesus and a message that can change their life, the message of the gospel.

Lord, may we not do anything to detract from it, to hinder the seed that is planted and watered, that it might grow and come to fruition in the lives of our neighbors and coworkers and friends. Thank you, Lord, for the ministry that you have given to us all. May we be more worthy of it every day. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.