Well, good morning to everyone. Good to see you all here this morning. Nice to be back here. Feels a little strange, doesn't it, to be out and about and close to so many people? No, it's good. I'm glad that we could meet again. 

And such a crazy time going on in our world right now. I saw yesterday the mayor of Chicago said that if the churches meet, they'll tear their churches down. So things are a little different in the world all of a sudden. But I also saw President Trump's little message there. If you saw that, he said, we're going to open the churches up. So that was kind of encouraging. 

We're continuing our study in 1 Timothy 4. I've been working through the book of 1 Timothy for several months. And I've come to chapter 4. We kind of had a couple of chapters here on how we should conduct ourselves in the house of God, the roles of men and women, and some of those important instructions. 

And now Paul's really getting back to what he started with in the first chapter. We come to the fourth chapter of this first letter. And you'll remember that he did start in 1 Timothy 1, particularly verse 3, giving Timothy a charge, a commission. He said, as I urged you when I went into Macedonia, remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine. They were to teach no other doctrine except the gospel of Jesus Christ, the grace of God through faith. And that's always to be the heart of the preacher's message. 

You'll also remember that there were some teachers in this fellowship who had begun to stray from the doctrine of the grace of God, a life lived by faith. They desired to be teachers of the law, Paul said. They were all wrapped up in Jewish genealogies, and fables, and words, and wisdom of men. Some of these were perhaps false teachers, wolves in sheep's clothing. But I think the point in chapter 1 was more about believing men who were being led astray by false teaching. 

And this is something that is a constant and continual danger in the church, that the leaders would be drawn away and taken captive, distracted by some other doctrine. I'm always amazed at how God will teach us a truth. He'll emphasize a doctrine or a warning from several different angles at once in our lives. I don't know if you've had that experience. But all of a sudden, you'll have the same truth kind of coming at you from several different angles. 

And this is always affirming to me, to have two or three different texts that I'm studying or teaching saying the same thing, as well as maybe a real-time example or experience going on in my life. And that's what I've had the past couple weeks. This is a steady, persistent message from God everywhere I turn. And that message is about the danger of being drawn away, of leaving the message of grace, of a life of faith and trust in God and being deceived or distracted by some other teaching, some wisdom of man or the world, some personal fetish that a man can get all wrapped up in concerning his life and ministry. 

We're studying 1 Corinthians 15 on Thursday nights. And it's a chapter all about the resurrection. This is the core doctrine of the Christian faith. For if the resurrection is not true, if men do not rise physically bodily from the dead, then Christ did not rise. And our faith is futile. Our preaching is in vain. And we're still in our sins. That's what Paul said. So it's a pretty serious issue, a core doctrine of the faith, and one that absolutely saturates the scriptures, even back to the book of Job, all the way up through the New Testament to the end of the Bible. 

And yet somehow, we see that the believers in Corinth had been drawn away, had been deceived by some false teachers to the effect that the dead do not rise. Paul says, how can there be some among you who say that there is no resurrection of the dead? Drawn away, taken captive, distracted, deceived. We see all these warnings through the scriptures from beginning to end. In God's revelation to Israel, in Jesus' words, the writing of the apostles, warning after warning against false teaching and false doctrine, being deceived. 

And here's the bottom line, my brothers and sisters. It's not just an argument over words. It's not just a matter of a difference of opinions or being a little off. It's a matter of being rendered useless as to our purpose in this world. And here's where I think many in the church just don't understand or appreciate the importance of doctrine. 

I've had many well-meaning believers, even pastors, tell me that doctrine just isn't that important, or that it's good to have a diversity of opinions among the leaders or teachers. That we should all just be happy to agree on the gospel and nothing else matters. But the problem with this thinking is, first of all, it totally contradicts the whole of the scriptures and all these many warnings that we're talking about. But the truth is that false doctrine, worldly wisdom creeping into the church, the ideas and systems of men always and eventually do damage to the gospel message as well. 

And what happens is that when a church, when a man gets off into some other doctrine, then that church body suffers. Suffers from malnutrition. Suffers from continually ingesting junk food. And is unable to grow and thrive and be fruitful. The truth is that this is Satan's ploy to render the church ineffective in its mission. The believers become anemic on a diet of false or superfluous teaching. And then they begin to fall apart in their thinking and practice. And this damages their witness and causes them to lose their focus on the gospel and personal holiness and witnessing. 

And it can be a very subtle thing. But it is for sure a great danger. And that's why we have so many warnings against false teachers and false doctrine throughout the scriptures. There will be many false Christs, Jesus warned. Paul said they would rise up from within and come from without. Savage wolves not sparing the flock. That always reminds me. I spent so many years doing wolf depredation and investigations. 

Gruesome situations. Dogs torn apart. I found dogs just a head and a spine is all that's left in a matter of moments. Cows with their hamstrings ripped out and blood all over the pasture just waiting on them. I mean, it's just gruesome. And this is the picture that Paul gives of false teachers coming in, not sparing the flock, attacking the church with false teaching and false doctrine. 

Read 2 Peter, Jude. Warning after warning. And always centered on this very thing. False doctrine leading away, drawing away, taking captive, rendering useless the believers, the church of the living God. We've been studying this and its effects in the Church of Corinth and what an example that place was. And we also see it here in the book of 1 Timothy. Paul started out warning about the men, the ones who were the purveyors of these doctrines. 

And now in chapter 4, he comes back to this topic highlighting the doctrines that they taught. Paul is going to encourage Timothy here concerning how to be a good minister of Jesus Christ. What is it that a servant in the church must do? The leaders, those teaching and preaching, what must they do in order to be good servants of Jesus Christ? And this would be true for all of us as well. This is another very instructive, edifying passage from this tremendous first letter to Timothy. 

Let's look at our text in 1 Timothy 4 at verse 1. Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer. 

If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. But reject profane and old wives' fables and exercise yourself toward godliness, for bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, for to this end we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. These things command and teach. 

Well, I have three points for you this morning. I guess I forgot to make an outline for you. It's been a while, eh? Three points on the outline: the source of false doctrine, second, the sufficiency of good doctrine, and third, the Savior of all men. 

Well, first we're going to look at the source of all false teaching for our understanding. This is something that I think is vitally important for believers to understand, and I think that we have an inherent reluctance to accept this truth. The push of our culture and world is to sort of go along to get along, to not offend, and this political correctness or cultural Marxism has crept in slowly, intentionally over time, and now we are to a point, even in the church, where we are really not allowed to debate, to argue, to seek, and to learn and grow through vigorous study and discussion in an open forum. 

Those who do not agree with what the scriptures say are not false teachers. They are well-meaning people who are just a little off, and for the sake of the new kind of love as defined by the world and often adopted by the church, we are to just all get along and set aside our differences for the sake of unity, but what this really means is that we are to compromise the truth. 

We are never to warn about or call out false teachers or churches by name and be careful not to make anyone uncomfortable with our words. The only problem with this is that this is precisely what Jesus did, what Paul did, what Peter did, what Jude did, what John did, what they all did in the word of God, and what we are repeatedly called to do in the church now today. False teaching is no small matter. 

Jesus confronted it head-on publicly, speaking directly to the false religious leaders before the crowds. Turn over to John 8 with me, please. Let's look at a passage in John 8 at verse 34. John 8, 34, Jesus answered them, most assuredly I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin, and a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore, if the son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. 

I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with my father, and you do what you have seen with your father. They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God, Abraham did not do this. 

You do the deeds of your father. Then they said to him, we were not born of fornication, we have one father, God. Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God, nor have I come of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen to my word. You are of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. 

He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. You are of your father, the devil, Jesus said to those Pharisees, Sadducees, religious leaders of his time. 

Matthew 23 says, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for you neither go in yourselves nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you devour widows' houses for a pretense, make long prayers, therefore you will receive greater condemnation. 

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. Can you imagine saying that to false religious teachers in our community today? My friends, this is the meek and lowly Jesus. This is the premier example of love, of agape, of laying down his life for us, and Jesus is the premier example of the importance of truth, of warning against false teachers and their lies which lead men to hell. 

In Romans 16, verse 17, Paul said, I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. The word translated note means to call out publicly by name. Warn them. 

Why does it matter? Why is it so important to warn the believers so that they'll not be drawn away and taken captive and rendered useless by false teaching? Where is this in the church today? Why is it that preachers and teachers are afraid to warn against false teaching, that which specifically in our communities, in our families, all around us, is leading people to hell? 

And yet we are afraid, even in the church, to warn against false teaching. And I think this may be because we do not really think about or understand the source of such teaching. Look in our text again. The Spirit expressly says, in latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. 

Paul refers to divine revelation here, a consistent, continual revelation from Genesis through revelation from the Holy Spirit where we see warning against false teaching. He says, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. And here is really the key for our understanding. Some will depart. This speaks of leaving, going from one place to another, a place of understanding of the truth, of affirming the truth, to a place of denying the truth and believing the lie. 

Now the emphasis in this text is not on the false teachers, but on those who are deceived by them. Vincent comments that those who depart are not the heretical teachers from back in chapter 1, but those who are led astray by these false teachers. They depart from the faith. Pay attention to that definite article there, the faith. Whenever we see that, it speaks of the truth, sound doctrine, the whole of the Scriptures, the gospel of grace by faith. 

They are led astray into some other doctrine. And this happens when they give heed. And here we go. Here it is, my brothers and sisters in Christ. When they give heed, the word means to point one's mind toward, to apply oneself to or give credence or weight to. And here's the rub. False teaching must be rejected. It must be clearly warned against. It must be called out for what it is and who it is from. 

And when the church, when individual believers do not understand the gravity and the source of false teaching, when they somehow legitimize it, give credibility to it or consider it, read a book. Read this book, right? Those are nice people. 

I have a lady who's been coming and buying meat from us for a while, and she's a Jehovah's Witness. She's given me literature and she wrote me a letter a little while back. So she came to get meat the other day, so I had a talk with her and gave her a tract, you know. But she's a nice lady. I like her a lot. What she believes is straight from the pit of hell. And if I don't understand that, if I just think she's a nice lady, she's just a little off in her doctrine, then I'm not going to deal with that and warn you about it and all believers. And then people who delve into those things, who read a lot of books, who go to seminary or whatever you like, who listen, who invite them into their home, right, can be deceived. 

False teaching is dangerous. It's demonic. So the answer to this, Paul says, is to consider the source. Where does it come from? What is its intent and purpose? I have to tell you, when Bobby and I were first saved, we began to read the Bible in earnest every day and there were several things that shocked us, amazed us, as we read the clear teachings of the Word of God. 

For example, when we read in Matthew 8, we found out that Peter had a mother-in-law. It was a little bit shocking for us. If he had a mother-in-law, then he had a wife. First Corinthians 9-5 tells us that he took along his believing wife when he traveled. Peter was married. It might not be interesting to you, but that was interesting to us. 

Then we read in a couple of places about the brothers of Jesus. He had four brothers, mentioned by name. This was perplexing to us, because we'd always been taught that Mary was a perpetual virgin. But Jesus had brothers, half-brothers, of course. And then we came across this passage in 1 Timothy 4 that we're studying this morning. And it says, the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods. 

What? Forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from certain foods are doctrines of demons? Now, this is not a new heresy, it didn't start with Constantine or Augustine. The Essenes practiced it in Jesus' time, it carried out through history in one form or another of asceticism. But here's the point. Paul says its source is demonic. And this is true of all false teaching. If it's not from God, if it's not truth, if it's not consistent with the Word of God, then there's only one other option, it's from Satan. 

1 Corinthians 10.20 says, the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons, you cannot partake of the Lord's table and the table of demons. False religion, false teaching has its source in demonic realms, and Satan uses his demons through human agents to promote and dispense false teaching for the express purpose of leading people away from the truth and rendering the church useless as to its God's given purpose. 

This is the simplicity of it, my brothers and sisters. It's either from God, or it's demonic. And the fact is, Satan does his best work in the pulpits. Turn over to 2 Corinthians 11. Let's see what Paul says about this in 2 Corinthians 11 at verse 1. 

Verse 1, O that you would bear with me in a little folly, and indeed you do bear with me. For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy, for I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 

For if he who comes preaches another Jesus, what would another Jesus be? Do you know there's another Jesus? They taught us about another Jesus in the Catholic Church when we were in there. You know what he was? He was insufficient. He couldn't accomplish our salvation. We needed the church to distribute his grace piecemeal through the seven sacraments. 

We had to go through all kinds of rituals and sacrifices, daily masses. We had to contribute our works and sufferings to what was lacking in his works. He had to be immolated, killed again and again and again and again and again for the expiation of our sins. That's another Jesus, isn't it? It's not the Jesus of the Bible. 

But if he comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached or you have received a different spirit which you have not received or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it. That was Paul's fear. They may well put up with it. 

Go down to verse 13. He says, for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light, therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness whose end will be according to their works. 

All false teaching, all false churches are demonic and are meant to cause people to depart from the faith, the truth of the Word of God. So what's the application for us in the church today? Do not give heed to false teaching. Do not read about it, study it. Don't allow them to influence you. Don't give credibility to those who preach a false gospel. Understand and recognize what's going on and know that any teaching, any other doctrine than that which is centered on the gospel of grace of a life lived by faith in Jesus alone is false teaching meant to lead us astray. 

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of this world, and not according to Christ. So a good minister of Jesus Christ must warn against false teaching and false teachers and must realize their source. 

Next, we see in our text that a good minister of Jesus Christ must know and believe the sufficiency of good doctrine. Look at verse 6. He says, if you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. 

But reject profane and old wives' fables and exercise yourself toward godliness, for bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. The word translated instruct literally means to put in remembrance of. Timothy was to be constantly, continually putting the believers in remembrance of good sound doctrine. This is what makes him a good minister of Christ. 

And notice what Paul says next, nourished in the words of the faith and good doctrine. This is such a major key for our understanding. The way that we can be nourished, the way that we can grow and thrive and be fruitful is to be fed the truth, the words of the faith and good doctrine. 

This reminds me of the sheep on our farm. They're a tremendous example of how proper nourishment causes growth and health. Sheep are needy animals. They are fragile. They take a lot of care and shepherding to maintain healthy animals. I saw a guy in England who'd been a sheep farmer for generations on a video, and he said, from the moment a lamb is born, he seeks how he may die. They're very fragile. 

And I think that's why Jesus calls us sheep. If they're malnourished, if they're not receiving quality food, hay, grass, minerals, and fresh water continually, they will show the effects of this quickly. And they will be anemic. They will become skinny and soon they will die. But if they're fed good hay, quality grass, if they get the nourishment they need, they will grow and thrive and have beautiful little lambs and produce wonderful meat. 

We don't see this so clearly spiritually in the church or physically in our culture among people as we should. But the truth is that if there's not proper nourishment, if people are ingesting garbage all the time, then they will be sick. And if they are sick and malnourished, then they will not thrive and they will not produce fruit. 

Paul says so clearly here that a good minister of Christ focuses on, gives himself to the Word, to prayer, to teaching and feeding the sheep the pure milk of the Word. Timothy had been raised spiritually in these things. He had continued in them. 

And Paul says now more than ever, you need to remain in them. You need to focus on them and preach and teach them to the people so that they might be nourished and grow and be discerning and bearing fruit for the glory of God. In verse 7, Paul reminds him to reject that which distracts and entangles the man of God and keeps him from the truth. 

And he says that Timothy himself should exercise toward godliness. Reject profane and old wives' fables. Exercise yourself toward godliness. This is an amazing commentary for our time. Physical exercise absolutely consumes our culture, diet, exercise, gyms, getting in shape, building muscle. 

Listen to this. I guess this is quite a thing among millennials now. But I read an article that said the average millennial will spend on average $112,000 in their lifetime on health and fitness. I'll tell you this, someone somewhere is spending a lot more than that to get the average because I work outside. But it's a huge commitment of money and time and effort in our culture to get in shape, to exercise and diet. 

And what do we see concerning these things? Most often the New Year's resolutions go by the wayside by late January. The exercise machines collect heavy dust. The gym memberships sit idle, unused. And the supplements and vitamins fill our vanities in the bathroom. Bodily exercise profits little. That's one of my favorite verses. 

But godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. Can you imagine if Americans spent the money and time and effort on exercising toward godliness that they do on bodily exercise? There would be revival for sure. Even if the church would just set its focus on exercising toward godliness, we would see fruit like we've never imagined. 

Exercise toward godliness is profitable in all things. It's good for our life now. It's profitable. It's edifying every day. And it also concerns the hope of the life to come, eternal life with Jesus Christ. 

And Paul says that this is particularly true for Timothy if he is to be a good minister of Jesus Christ. Good doctrine is sufficient for nourishment, for growth, for exercise toward godliness. It's God's way. It's the only way. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 

So we see the source of false doctrine. We see the sufficiency of good doctrine. And last in our text, we see the Savior of all men. Look at verse 9. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach. Because we trust in the living God who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe these things, command and teach." 

Paul points us back to his statement in verse 8, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. For to this end we both labor, we suffer reproach. The effort of life for Paul was one of exercise toward godliness. He was laboring to exhaustion is the meaning of the word. He was agonizing over the word, over good doctrines, striving towards godliness and a faithful witness for Jesus Christ. 

This was Paul's life and his focus and his pursuit. It was because he trusted in the living God. He believed God and what did God say? Sanctify them by Your truth. What did God say? Renew your mind to the truth. Preach the word. What did God say? He told him how to do it, he believed him and therefore that was his life. He saw God and his grace as sufficient for his own ministry. 

And if he was to be a good minister of Jesus Christ, then he must have this focus, he must have this faith, this trust. Turn over to 2 Corinthians 3 with me, please. 2 Corinthians 3 verse 2, Paul states this explicitly about where his sufficiency came from. Verse 2, you are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men, clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is of the heart. 

Look at verse 4, and we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 

Paul knew that his sufficiency, his power for accomplishing the work and will of God in his life was God's grace by faith. Verse 10 of our text, for to this end we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men. 

Jesus is the Savior of all men. What does this mean? What does the Bible say? Is this some sort of universalism Paul's talking about here? Is everyone saved? No. Notice what Paul says, he's the Savior of all men, especially or particularly of those who believe. 

If this were an isolated verse, we might want to do as the Calvinists say and say, well, it means He's the Savior of all types of people, namely those who believe. But my friends, this is not what the text says. And this is no thin doctrine anyway. There are many scriptures supporting the truth that Jesus died for all men. 

And this is an important truth to understand. Here's one you might know, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 

Clearly Jesus died for the whole world. He made propitiation for the sins of men. But who then is saved? The next verse tells us, verse 18 of John 3, he who believes in Him is not condemned. But he who does not believe is condemned already, why? Because God didn't choose him? Because Christ didn't die for him? Because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 

Romans 3.21, but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there's no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 

It seems the qualification of salvation is limited not in atonement, but limited to those who will believe. Perhaps the clearest verse on this is 1 John 2.2, listen to these words, and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. 

It would seem that John's trying to say that Jesus Christ died for every man. And this is just what Paul is saying in our text. Jesus is the Savior of all men and that He died for every man. But that salvation is appropriated, becomes effective only through faith. The scriptures are so abundantly clear on this issue, faith is the means by which God's righteousness is imputed to us. 

Faith is the requirement of God to appropriate Christ's payment to our account for our sins. This is the theme of the whole Bible, from the faith of righteous Abel, to Noah, to Abraham, all the way through the church and the epistles, even in the message we preach today, the gospel. The good news of God's grace in Christ at the cross, His death, burial, and resurrection. 

What are we to call men to do? Believe. Believe Jesus. How can I be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. There's no salvation in any other, for there's no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this salvation is not of yourself, it's a gift from God. It's not of works lest anyone should boast. 

I'd like for you to look at one passage with me, Romans 4. I just want to drive home this point. Romans 4.2. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 

Now look at these next couple verses and pay attention to these words. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Jesus is the Savior of all men, especially those who believe. He died for all men. Those who believe receive that salvation. 

And Paul ends this tremendous section with these words to Timothy, these things command and teach. This is the role, the job of the good servant of Jesus Christ, to warn the brethren concerning false doctrine and its source, to nourish the brethren through the faith, the truth of God's Word and good doctrine, and to preach the gospel, to preach Jesus Christ, the Savior of all men and call on men to believe. 

If these things are the focus of the servant of Christ, if this is what he commands and teaches, then there will be growth, there will be life, there will be vigor, discernment, and there will be fruit in the church for the glory of God. 

I want to just close with Paul's words to the church in Ephesus, the very church that Timothy pastored in chapter 3 at verse 14, just listen. Paul says, For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man. 

That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 

Now to Him, who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we're so thankful for Your words, Your truth, thankful that You continually teach us, that You've given us the Holy Spirit to guide us, to show us the truth, to illuminate the Scriptures, to point us to Jesus. Thank You for these words to Timothy and the clarity of the role of the good minister of Jesus Christ and help us to keep this focus here at Living Hope Church, to encourage one another, to love one another, to build each other up, to speak necessary things for edification and help us not to be drawn away, to lose our focus. We trust You. We believe You. In Jesus' name, amen.