Calvary Evangelical Free Church in Rochester MN

What does it mean to be "burdened" for God's glory? For Christ's Kingdom? For lost and hurting people?

Part of being an ambassador for Christ involves simply telling our own salvation story with those God puts in our lives.

How do we serve each other well within the Body of Christ? What can we learn about serving others from the church described in Acts 6?

Sharing a meal is one of the most significant activities for building relationships - modeling grace, inviting intimacy, overcoming barriers.

Bad sheep who fail to follow won't be where the shepherd wants them. What does it mean to be good sheep?

Those who demonstrate excellence in the office of overseer are worthy of high regard. How do we honor our pastors and other leaders?

Good afternoon, Church. Happy birthday, America. Hey, if you have a Bible, open up to 1 Timothy 5:17-18. We'll be spending all of our time in that chapter and some of the surrounding chapters. First Timothy Chapter five, verses 17 and 18. We're continuing our series, preparing our hearts to be led as we are anticipating the future arrival of our next lead pastor and preparing our hearts to receive him, welcome him, honor him and encourage him in a way that's worthy, as God has laid out in these these verses that were about to read on how we can encourage our elders. Let me pray for us and we'll read the text. Please join me in prayer. Father, if we haven't stopped to hear you say you love us today, would you slow us down? Would you remind us of your grace that's always present, of your spirit that resides in us, of your sovereignty, God, that you don't sleep nor slumber nor grow weary, that there's millions of people in this world and they could be praying and you're not overwhelmed nor do your resources run out, that Jesus is alive today making intercession for us even as we speak, advocating to the father. We thank you, God, that all that we need for life and godliness is provided in you. Help us not to put in earthly treasures; help us not to put in temporal things. Give us eyesight for that which is spiritual, that which is eternal. Help us invest more wisely our time, resources and energy.

Lord we surrender, we give it back to you if we've taken it from you because you own everything, even our hearts. Even if it's a small piece, God, we repent. We ask that you would invade and permeate every ounce. We love you. We thank you. Jesus name. Amen.

All right. So first, Timothy, chapter five. And you guys have it, but I can't see it, but that's OK. Chapter five, verses 17 and 18. It says, Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching for the scriptures say you shall not muzzle and ox when it treads out the grain and the laborer deserves his wages. Let me start by asking a question. Right. We're talking about preparing our hearts for the next lead pastor at Calvary. If I said, what were you looking for in the next lead, pastor? What qualities, characteristics? What would you say? Don't say it aloud. Maybe you thought of something. It's in your head right now, whatever it is. Initially, if it was like, hey, I wish he was taller or whatever, you know, whatever it is, think about what that is. Maybe some of you said, you know, I wish the next guy was a great orator, that he would just be able to woo us with his words, weave these tales, engage us not just with our heads, but our hearts as well. I wish he was a great speaker. Maybe you're saying I wish he would come from a large church because he would have that experience and that background, know how to handle systems, know how to draw the masses towards us, know how to put things in place to grow us. Maybe you said, I wish he was highly educated. He knew Greek and Hebrew back and forth, Aramaic and he could recite it. He knows it so much, he says in his sleep and I wish he came from the top Christian university. Maybe you're thinking I wish the guy was an author because then he can sign my books, you know. Or he looked the part, that when he walked into the room, that guy commanded respect, that that guy commanded a sense of an air about him. They're like, I want to get to know him. I want to listen to what he has to say. Or maybe you're saying this. I just hope he's not boring. Right. I see you guys sleeping out there. I'm kidding. Your like, I wish, I just want to stay awake and stay engaged. I want to have my emotions stirred, affections moved, I want to have my heart pricked and whatever else you may have added. Maybe that's some of the things you did say. Maybe you didn't. What are some of the qualities or some of the things that came to your mind when I ask that question? I want you put a pin in that and I'm going to share a story.

This past Christmas, we exchanged gifts. I'm more of a practical gift giver, like, give me a shovel, give me something to use. I don't want a pillow pet, you know, or a snuggly or whatever they call, you know, I want something that I can use and its not going in the garage sale next year. I do like sentimental gifts though. If you walk by my office, there's a mannequin leg that's hanging in my room. There's a great story behind it. But that's one of my favorite gifts two years ago, three years ago. My favorite gift last year was this piece of wood right here. The story behind this was I had a tree that I cut down and I was splitting it. I cut it down with a chainsaw and then I was breaking it apart for firewood and my son comes running out. This is sometime in the summer, late fall maybe. And he's like, Dad, Dad. He's like my sister asked me to help her with a project. And I need you to cut out a piece of wood for me, like your sister. And you were happily getting out here on a nice day. Why isn't she out here? That sounds kind of fishy.

No, no, no. It's for her. Trust me. I'm like, whatever. And so I cut this piece of wood out. Here you go. And he takes it. Thanks, my sister will really appreciate that. And he runs off. I never see this piece of wood again for several months. I don't know how long it was right. And unbeknownst to me, my son went to somebody else's house. He sanded it - it's still kind of jagged. It's really heavy. He sanded it. He stained it and he wrote or he used some epoxy to put some lettering on it and what he did is he wrapped this for Christmas and he put it under the tree and I think he was waiting and watching to see if I would notice this hunk of tree underneath the Christmas tree. And I had no clue. And then as Christmas came, he got the present. He gave it to me, look what I got you. And I still don't recognize it because it was so early in the year that he did this. I mean, he was ahead of the game. Right. And I was like, that looks familiar. Why does that look strangely familiar. It's really heavy. I go, is this. He goes, yeah. I go, Oh, cool. You got me a cutting board, right? I was like, nice. This is will last the rest of my life. And then I begin to open it and was a very first present I opened on Christmas and as I opened it I read these words:

The Christian faith, simply stated, reminds us that our fundamental problem is not moral, rather our fundamental problem is spiritual. It is not just that we are immoral, but that a moral life alone cannot bridge what separates us from God. Herein lies the cardinal difference between the moralizing religions and Jesus' offers to us. Jesus does not offer to make bad people good, but to make dead people alive. Signed Ravi Zacharias.

If you guys know who Ravi Zacharias is, let me take a moment to explain who he is. Ravi Zacharias is a great orator. The man can wordsmith like nobody else's business. He travels all around the world, or he did - he's passed now and he would speak. I remember one of his first ever trips was in Vietnam. He spoke to the soldiers. He spoke to the Viet Cong. Anybody that would listen to him, he gave them the gospel in danger of being shot at occasionally. And since that point, he would jet all around the world, Africa, Asia, universities. He was at Ohio State. He was at Iowa. He would go to hostile areas, places where religion or especially Christianity, is not welcomed. And he would speak at prestigious universities. He would speak to dignitaries. He spoke to the UN prayer breakfast. The man was a great speaker. The man had a huge following.

Millions of people were probably influenced by him around the world in his decades plus ministry. He was highly educated. Check that box off. Studied at some of the best universities. Talk about writing books. He wrote dozens upon dozens, many of which I purchased and read from him and he looked the part. I've actually met Ravi Zacharias. One time I met him at Moody. He's about this tall, so he's taller and he has this crown of white hair. It's like the crown of wisdom that sits upon his brow. And when he walks into the room, you can look up to him and he looks different and he stands out. But then he has that command. If you've ever heard him, you're like, oh, this is a giant among men. And he wasn't boring. I don't recall a time where I was listening to him where I fell asleep or was not engaged based on his storytelling abilities, based upon how he would make the most complicated, controversial questions and make sense. Like you've ever had a doubt about your faith. You ever had a question about Christianity? He would weave it and say it, not like in a manipulative way, but like, whoa, that's true. I resonate with that. He passed away not too long ago and postpartum, they found out that he lived in the end of his years. He struggled with some moral things.

When I opened this up it was the first gift I got for Christmas. And I bawled like a baby because I knew a hero of my faith was taken down. He stumbled. I just cried. I didn't finish reading it. My favorite gift that Christmas.

When we look for things in leadership, especially in spiritual leadership, we're looking for more than just abilities and talents. We're looking for spiritual virtue and integrity. I like the fact that he made this plaque because it represents to me, it's heavy, it's jagged, it's not finished. And the burden for leadership is like that. In fact, James says this, James 3:1, not many of you should become teachers my brother's for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness because you're the example. I don't know how many people knew Ravi and potentially walked away, struggled, doubted. Or simply checked out. In fact, maybe, you know, people who are not going to church right now because they've been hurt by elders, they've been hurt by leaders, they've been hurt by somebody in the church, and they're just floating, coasting. Maybe you're barely here yourself. That's why it's so important that leaders not only have these skill sets, which are important. Ravi was a great man and I am still impacted by him. And I pray that God's grace was even greater than his hiddenness of sin. When God raises a people to serve his church, he looks for those whose hearts are right with him. He's concerned not about, as I said, their abilities or talents, but their spiritual virtue.

The most important quality, probably in a leader is who they are when no one else is looking. It's called integrity. For a man can not only preach, he must also live it. This is what the great preacher Charles Spurgeon describes as a good preacher and a bad Christian: quote: He preached so well and lived so badly that when he was in the pulpit, everybody said he ought to never come out again. And when he was out of it, they all declared he never ought to enter it again. What a man is will influence his followers to be fully committed to what he says. Let me say that again, what a man is, what he demonstrates, what he models, what he does when no one's looking, what a man is, will influence how his followers are committed to what he says.

Teaching sets the nails into the mind, but example is the hammer that drives them deep into our thoughts. Well, what Paul here is doing in first Timothy is instructing Timothy to find elders that will rule well. So what is an elder? An elder, it's a general term, referring to those who are called overseers in chapter three verse one. The word there's overseer, someone who has command or is in charge of, but the same unbroken letter talking about the same person uses overseer and elder interchangeably in chapter five, verse 17.

In fact, elder, overseer and pastor are all interchangeable terms that refer to the same office and the same person. So when you read that in Scripture, whether it's Timothy or Acts 20, those offices all had the same standard, the same strictness that they're judged by, as James would say. Maybe they function or maybe they feature different parts. The pastor focuses more on the shepherding and the feeding of the flock. The overseer functions more with the authority and the supervision of the church managing it, and then the elder, which doesn't just mean someone who is old, although it can mean that, but more spiritually, more specifically, it's somebody who is mature in the spirit, mature as a believer. Paul is calling the elders in Ephesus to rule well. The word here in Greek for rule means to stand first to set or place before in a presiding fashion, to be an example of, to preside over, to hold authority by leading. So an elder is someone who is spiritually mature and is responsible for taking care of the church. I think the emphasis, though, on this verse appears to be not on the verb of the adverb well. And I like how that verb is translated elsewhere to excellence or beauty, that an elder should lead with excellence or in a fashion that is beautiful. We'll come back to that.

So where does it all start when we get an idea of what a good elder looks like? We have to go back to Chapter four. So if you just turn over one chapter in First Timothy, Chapter four starts in verse six. This, I think, is the root of what we're looking for. First Timothy chapter 4, verse 6: be a good servant of Christ Jesus. A qualified leader, firstly, is a qualified follower. A qualified leader, firstly is a qualified follower and a good servant dedicated to Jesus Christ. Well, what makes a good servant? The text following these verses or that verse gives us three indications of what a good minister does. Verses one through six of chapter four a good minister preaches the word of God. Verses seven through twelve. A good minister practices the word of God. Verses 13 through 16. A good minister progresses in the word God. See Ravi Zacharias - man that guy could preach. That guy could teach. Somewhere along the lines later in his life, he stopped practicing. Somewhere along the lines, he stuff progressing. Let me ask you a question, are you practicing? Are you progressing even a little bit, even incremental steps?

So let's break this down one by one. A good minister preaches the word of God, starting in verse six. If you put these things before the brothers and the previous verses of Chapter four, he's talking about a warning against fables and false doctrine that's been creeping in, being Bereans. If you put these things for the brothers, be a good servant of Christ, Jesus being trained in the words of faith and the good doctrine that you have followed. So a good teacher identifies that which is false or misleading, preaches and trains the congregation, his brothers and sisters up in admonition and encouragement and God's word. Secondly, the good minister practices the word of God. I'm going to focus in on verse eight of Chapter four here, Paul transitions to an analogy of athleticism. He says this is my verse for exercise, my life goal. For while bodily training is of some value (Phillipians says very little) godliness is a value in every way as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. So he says, when you look at athletes, right, the Olympics are coming up. They started in Greece, so they would have some maybe competitions going on. When you see an athlete, when I've seen these track sprinters, do you know that these people seclude themselves away for a year or two in places where they like: I have to not watch TV because it's too much a distraction? I got to run this much. I have to eat this much. I can't do this. I can't do that. They are so disciplined because they know they're playing and competing at the best. Elsewhere scripture says run to acquire the prize, right. And right here a good elders will call to. And by the way, all believers are called to. The elders are supposed to be the example and are called to a stricter level. It says we should strive. We should be like an athlete who puts aside distractions. In fact, it says in verse ten of chapter four for this end we toil and strive. That works strive there is agonise, in English the word, agonize. We need to be stretching so much that it's causing even some discomfort or pain to pursue that which is holy, that which is good, that which is godly, that we are practicing. You know, as an athlete, you know, I don't like running. I just don't. I had to chase the ball, otherwise I just won't run. Right. So baseball and football. All right. Soccer, that was too much. But I would be so tired unless I, but then when I put my mind to it and I got into it, I actually enjoyed it. And it's the same thing as Christians. We are supposed to be striving and pursuing and training like an athlete does. And exercising, living out and practicing, not just reading, not just hearing, not just teaching, but putting into practice.

Now, let's define what godliness is. Godliness is a proper response to the things of God, which produces obedience and righteous living. When you interact, when you meet, when you are in relationship with God, he's naturally going to woo and encourage you into a relationship where you be encouraged. You'll be desiring to walk in obedience. It says that we loved him because he first loved us. His grace encourages and admonishes us. And it says here that godliness is also profitable, not just for the now, but also for the future. Let me give an example of that. So one of the qualifications for an elder in Chapter three is to not be quarrelsome. Somebody is not quarrelsome as a peacemaker. Somebody's that's not quarrelsome, is more concerned about other people than their own. Let me put it a different way. Somebody who is not quarrelsome, is more concerned about understanding than being understood. Somebody who is not quarrelsome, is looking to reconcile even when it costs something. Somebody who is not quarrelsome will rebuke or turn away I should say, a harsh answer or harsh question with a soft answer. Somebody who is not quarrelsome is looking to find a solution, not start more strife. In fact it says in First Corinthians that a sign of immaturity and infancy is somebody who brings division, serves up strife, causes enmity. That person is actually spiritually an infant, that they are on the milk of the word still and they can't handle the meat. Somebody who is quarrelsome, causes fights is actually spiritually an infant. When I read that and I understood that I had to do some soul searching guys. Because it's easy for us to say that's not me, that's my defense, that's not me.

And then if you're brave enough, ask other people and they'll tell you hey, do you think I'm quarrelsome and if they don't answer right away, the answer is probably yes, they just don't want to quarrel with you right now. But here's the thing when you're not quarrelsome. So here's the promise of godliness. And the blessing of it is when you recognize and you work on that. You know what happens when you when you when on it? You have less conflict, needless conflict, with people over small, infinitesimally nominal things. You focus on the big things. Ok, I'm going to - this is not in my notes. When I venture off, I get in trouble sometimes. I wish sometimes we would stop the fighting amongst ourselves and we'd fight towards winning more souls for Christ. I wish we would focus less on our differences and we'd focus on our common ground in our common salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, I wish there was more energy being poured into those who don't know Jesus and those who are hurting and need serving, than the people go, you know what? I don't like how you said that creed or you're this ism or this schism. And I just I just find that to be unproductive. So not only does it - and I don't think conflicts bad, I think sometimes conflict can resolve the lack of intimacy and remove the obstacles that keep me and you from going deep in a relationship.

And here's the thing. When people offend me and I forgive them or vice versa, you know what happens? We get closer sometimes. May take some time. But now I have struggles that I have wrestled through with them and we're still together. That bond grows and I know I'm wrong and I need tp be open to being wrong and being corrected. And I need you guys to help me with that as well. And you need vice versa. But that's the blessing that we grow closer in relations and more intimate. And here is the future promise. What if our neighbors saw what we did? What if right now there's somebody in your mind? You know what my neighbor is the one I have a quarrel with. Yep, I don't like their dog or their kids are too loud or they're always playing that loud music late at night, you know? And I just last time they came over or last time I saw them. I just gave them a mean look and I said something. I whispered it and they heard me this time, you know, whatever. And what you need to do maybe is go over to your neighbor and ask for forgiveness and reconcile with them, own up to it and say, you know what, I'm sorry I did that. I lost my cool. I want to work on it. Can you please forgive me? And what happens is when we're less quarrelsome, we draw people into the kingdom, we're more like Christ.

We're less pushing or more pulling inviting and drawing. And someday somebody come to you. You know what? You may think this is a big deal, but when you said this to me, when you did that to me, I just I couldn't get out of my mind that you were like that. And I want to know why you didn't lose your cool when everybody else in this world is. And you weren't quarrelsome. So there's future promises living in a godly life now and I'm sorry, present promises and future promises in the future. You know, I'm going to stay here on this idea that he uses this athletic competition here. I was thinking about this. It got me thinking actually of the game of soccer, even though don't play soccer because soccer is known as the beautiful game. I've got on mission trips across the world. You know, the most famous sport is soccer. You'll find it everywhere. You can take trash bags. There it is. Boom. Go. And I'm playing against these little kids - they are like this small. And I try to keep up and they're just too good. Right. And everywhere. It's known as the beautiful game. You know why it's called the beautiful game partly was because of Pele, which you see here doing the bicycle kick. He was an exceptional soccer player.

That word for really well, for elders, it's a Greek word, CAYLUS, which can mean exceptional or excellent or beautiful. He didn't coin the phrase, but he really encapsulated it because when he would play, he would do things that you would watch and go, that is amazing. He makes it look easy. He does it with such joy. He does it so that it makes it look beautiful. Maybe it's not athletics, maybe it's a composer. Maybe you listen to music and when you listen with your eyes closed and you can put yourself in the orchestra pit and you hear and you see all that's going on, you begin to weep because the music is moving your soul, whatever it may be. I'm here watching. I don't like dancing. Well, I do like dancing. I'm watching dancing show. And they do this contemporary dance and there was no words and they just were dancing on the floor. And I was like, I totally am tracking with the song and with what's going on and the story they're telling through dance. And I was I was like, that was beautiful. As much as there are people. And I love Ravi and I do believe God's grace is big enough. I hope one day I have a face to face conversation with him and thank him for what he did. But he did leave a blemish. He left a tarnish because he didn't rule towards end of his life.

For every people that's like that. There are Christians who are living a beautiful life and are drawing people like Pele, drawing people to soccer. There are Christians in this church who draw people to Christ. Let me give you some qualifications that they lay out in First Timothy Chapter three of qualifications for overseer's elders and preachers. They need to be above reproach, need to be blameless. They need not do anything that would ever bring a mark against God's glory, God's church that would discourage somebody from coming to Christ, above reproach. Husband of one wife. You know, it's beautiful. And literally there it means in a Greek. He's a one woman man. I am a one woman man. You know what's beautiful is when you see an elder who not only preaches on this, but then you go in his home and you see him love his wife well. I share this earlier and I'll share it again this service. There was a person in our church that I respect a lot. And it was it was really, really like in passing. And his wife calls out of the blue and just how he answered the phone, how he was respectful. I was like, you sound like you're still dating her and you've been married like a long time. And I was just in wow. Of how gentle, how beautiful his conversation with his wife. And I was like, I want a marriage like that.

That was beautiful. I didn't say this to him. So he still doesn't know it. But people are watching. There are lives that struggle. But an elder needs to be above reproach. He needs to be have that beautiful game for lack of a better term, like Pele in soccer, able to teach hospitable, gentle, not violent.

Here's the other half. Not a lover of money, it's more blessed to give than to receive. Even though this text, we don't talk about how a pastor is worthy of his wages. He's not to be overwhelmed or driven by the love of money. Manages his household well. You know, what is beautiful as a youth pastor. I love it when I see kids in families. I love it when I see them get along. I love it when I see them even go through tough moments. You know why? Because those tough moments lead to like the iron sharpening iron. I know it's not like it sounds cliche, but it grows that family. It's sanctifies your love for one another. I know kids want to have good relationships for their kids. I know parents do as well. And we have a lot of help to do that. But I'll be the first to say it's tough sometimes, but when they manage your house well, it's a beautiful thing, is it not, when you see, like in - not only that - there's people out there who are nonbelievers when they say, hey, your kids talk to you, your kids do this.

And I'm like, yeah. And I'm like, what do you do? What's your secret? I go, It's right here in the Bible. You want it? And they're like - no, something else. It's not working for you? Is it, you know? But it's a beautiful thing.

Upright, somebody who is upright is concerned about justice, making sure that people who are not not able to advocate themselves, they're being advocated for.

Somebody who's holy is not somebody who has one foot in the world and one foot in Christ. They are solely, single-mindedly committed to God. Understanding that, hey, I have my doubts. Yeah, I struggle, but I am all in as best I can. Lord, help me with my unbelief. Lord, I fear right now. It's because my minds off of you. Help me to fear the living God and not the not the creation. It's a beautiful thing when an elder obeys and follows through as God laid out in his word.

Let's continue on in verse. Or the last part was progresses in the word. If you talk about preaching the word, practices the word - critical, and progressing in the word. Verse twelve. The second half: set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and purity. That's the example. That's the standard that the elder is supposed to do. He is the model to which we model ourselves after which points to Christ.

Then in verse fifteen. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them so all may see your progress, that you're maturing, you're growing, and keep a close watch on yourself and on your teaching. Every single thing you invest yourself in people you invest yourself in God, you invest yourself in the Holy Spirit. Some of you guys may say, John, this sounds like a high calling because it is. You know what I think that the scriptures saying here is we're not looking for the perfect elder. We're looking for the elder who has a perfect person in him because there's no such thing as a perfect person. But there's a perfect Holy Spirit who works in you and through you and sanctifies and matures you in your walk. We're not looking for somebody who is using their own strength, but somebody who is relying upon the spirit, growing, preaching, practicing and progressing, even if it's incremental.

In closing, let's go back to Chapter five verse seventeen. So that's the elders who rule well. Let them be considered worthy of double honor. The word there for honor can mean respect or high regard. All elders by default should receive respect because of what they do, what they're held accountable to, and we don't always see what they do. A lot of things happen behind the scenes, guys. A lot of people are calling and asking for help and counseling.

And I know our leaders are there doing a great job. They're worthy of honor, but those are worthy of double honor I think they're also talking about not just respect in high regard, but renumeration, because in context, he talks about for the scripture says you shall not mussel an ox when it turns out the grain as that ox is making food for the farmers, he says let the ox eat as well. And then he quotes Jesus here. The laborer deserves his wages. So double honor as in renumeration and high respect, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching, those who teach the word of God and those who proclaim it.

Let me give you an example of what that may look like. I didn't know this, but the Medal of Honor, I knew was the highest award you could receive in our armed services. But I didn't know a lot of these things. And I'd like to share a couple of stories with you in closing. This is actually the first African American who received the Medal of Honor in United States history. This is William Harvey Carney. He was awarded the Medal of Honor. He was born a slave in Virginia, but eventually made his way to freedom in Massachusetts. When the Union Army began accepting volunteers he joined the Fifty Fourth Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, the first African American unit organized by the northern states though it was led by white officers.

You ever seen the movie Glory? It is based on that. The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, led by Robert Gould Shaw was tasked with taking Fort Wagner, a beachhead fortification that guarded the southern approach to the Charleston Harbor. A previous attack on it failed, and the fifty fourth was chosen for the next attempt. As the soldiers storm the fort walls, the union flag bearer was killed. Carney grabbed the flag, held it for the duration of the battle. Carney, along with the rest of the 54th was forced to retreat. And throughout the battle, Carney never lost possession of the flag despite suffering multiple injuries. He says, quote, Boys, I only did my duty. The old flag never touched the ground, he said at the battle. Carney was awarded the Medal of Honor in nineteen hundred, years after it ended. Imagine walking in his shoes.

Let me share one more story. This is Jason Dunham. Jason Dunham was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for sacrificing himself to save his fellow Marines during the Iraq war. Dunham's unit was conducting a patrol in Hassiba, Iraq, when a firefight erupted nearby. His unit was ordered to intercept cars in the area that had been spotted in the attack. As Dunham approached the vehicle to search it, an insurgent jumped out and engaged him in hand-to-hand combat. After wrestling the insurgent to the ground, Dunham noticed that he pulled the pin of a grenade and dropped it.

Dunham, immediately and without hesitation, covered the grenade with his helmet and body bearing the brunt of the explosion and shielding his Marines in the blast, Dunham was mortally wounded but saved the lives of two Marines. He was evacuated to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland in a coma. After it was determined he would not recover. He was taken off life support and died later.

This is the highest medal you can receive in the armed forces. Did you know also there's also renumeration that goes with it. Everyone who receives it receives a monthly check as a way of honoring the fallen, honoring those who sacrificed. It's the same thing with our elders. They deserve our respect. Both in high regards and renumeration, I think Colby does a good job and I appreciate their support.

Let me leave you with this. Like the officers I mentioned, the last one, there is a beautiful man that will never let you down, who has always kept God's law that was perfect in his obedience and yet willingly laid his life on the on the line when he jumped on the grave of sin for you and me, took it willingly without hesitation, embraced it so you and I could have forgiveness of our sins and eternal life. That is what a beautiful man does. That is our good shepherd. Our high priest. He is our elder, our head elder, and if you don't know him and you're unsure of your relation with him, would you please do yourself a favor? Come talk to one of the pastors here. We will love talking more about how you can start a relationship with Jesus Christ and get to know what happens to be the most loving relationship you'll ever experience.

Let's pray. Father, I thank you, Lord, for your word that gives us hope, that gives us encouragement, Lord, for your example of love, God, that as a husband I'm supposed to love my wife as Christ loved the church who preferred her, laid his life down for her and made her holy and blameless and presentable to God the father. That is what beautiful leadership looks like. I pray, Lord, for every husband here and every desiring husband to be here, that that's what we would do for that example, that we'd follow that. God for every believer here, God it says no man knows a greater love than to lay down his life for a friend. And you died for us, while we were enemies with you as Roman five says. But we thank you, God, that you are a holy, loving just and patient God. That is the most beautiful picture of love. May we never forget it when we're down and we're surrounded or deflated. That all we have for life and godliness is in you for both today and the future. Thank you. We love you, Jesus. In your name we pray. Amen.

Like the demon-possessed man in Mark 5, we all need Jesus to deliver us. Then we go and tell others what He has done.

On the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, there was at the time a town called Garasa. Today, the town is called Cursi. And actually what you see up on the screen, there is an aerial photo of the area where Cursi is. So this is thought to be the approximate area of where this story that you just heard read takes place. You can see a little bit of the geography. You can see the hills, you can see the cliffs. You can see the hills coming down to the edge of the lake to the edge of the sea. The area around that is all known as the the region of the Garasenes. Because if you live in Gaza around there, your a Garasene and on the outskirts of that town, you really can't see it in this photo. But on the outskirts of that town is what we would think of today as a cemetery or a graveyard. What was known in that culture as the Tombs. Tombs were the burial chambers of the dead that were carved into the rocky hillsides. They were usually high enough that a person could stand in them. Sometimes multiple bodies would be placed in them and there in the tombs lived a man with an unclean spirit, Mark tells us in verse 2. Mark later in verse 15 and 16 and 17, refers to him as a man who is possessed by a demon. So Mark uses those two terms synonymously, having having an unclean spirit and being demon possessed.

Now I know as soon as we begin to talk about demons, some people check out. Some people think of that realm of the supernatural as something that is from a prior age that we as learned educated people. We've come a long way. We dismiss the supernatural. But I've found that all you have to do is to travel to different places in the world. And you see that what may not be obvious to us here in our culture is very obvious in many other places in the world. But let me especially if you're new to this, let me just define what it is we're talking about. What is a demon? A demon is a spiritual being. It is a spiritual being, but not a spiritual being like God. God is the uncreated one. God created everything natural, earthly human beings as well as spiritual beings. So God created what we now know as demons. He did not create them as demons. He created them as angels. He created them as good beings. But a segment of those angels we read about in scripture rebelled against God, chose to go their own way, chose to define what was right and wrong in their own terms. And they became what the Bible refers to as demons. They not only rebelled against God, they hate God.

They hate God intensely. So they hate all that God has created. And now, while God permits them still for a time to operate on this earth, their intent is to do whatever they can do, to degrade, to deface, to defile, to destroy what God has created. They are limited by God. And if they were not limited, they would destroy us all. But within those limits, that's basically what they exist for. Their mission is to defile us, to deface us, to deform us, ultimately, to destroy us. The term demon possession that Mark uses here, demons certainly can make their presence known. They can oppress someone, they can oppress a believer. They can be some kind of force in a believers life that causes them pain, that causes them trials. But in the life of an unbeliever, the life of someone who is not filled with the spirit of God because Jesus is their savior and Lord, they can and do take possession of an unbeliever. And to take possession of an unbeliever is for a demon or demons, sometimes more than one, to come into that person in such a way that they have control of that person internally and they can speak through that person's voice. They can make that person do things that would not naturally be the inclination of that person. And and of course, that's the kind of situation that we find here as we encounter this man. Now, there's indicators, even if Mark hadn't told us that this man was demon possessed, there's indicators that this man is demon possessed.

First of all, Mark tells us he lived in the tombs and he lived in the tombs. That was something that people of that day who were insane or socially unacceptable for other reasons and were driven out of the towns. That to some extent is the only the only way that they could have any shelter is to go among these tombs, these burial chambers, where they could find shelter from the elements. So this is an indication, first of all, that this man couldn't fit in to Garasa or the surrounding villages and towns, that he'd been driven out by the people. He is isolated. He is experiencing social isolation. Again, a sign of demonization that we also read that there had been made efforts to control his behavior. They had tried binding him with shackles and chains. So to some extent, while he was still in Garasa, he must have been so disruptive in his behavior that, you know, their version of law enforcement tried to control him by restraints, but he being possessed with demons. He demonstrated supernatural strength and he broke the chains and the bonds that hold him. And again, in case you tend to want to write that off, as how could anyone do that? There are documented cases today around the world in different areas of people being demon possessed who demonstrate supernatural feats of strength.

This fits in with what we see in other places of the world. So no one was able to restrain him anymore. And since they couldn't restrain him and they couldn't control him, they drove him out of the tombs. Or out of the city. And he lived in the tombs, the only place that he could find shelter. And we see Mark tell us he lived a wretched, miserable existence night and day, Mark tells us, he cried out. And torments. He was internally tormented in addition to the social isolation, in addition to the pains that the restraints had caused him. And then there was some self-destructive tendency that no doubt was demon inspired. Mark tells us that he cut and he gashed himself with stones. And again, that is behavior that today in cases around the world of demon possession, that we see self-destructive attempts to hurt and destroy one's self that are in documented cases today. So we see in this man, we see typical signs of demonic possession where it occurs today. We see we see that tendency towards social isolation. He lived in the tombs away from the town. We see uncontrollable behavior, disruptive, socially unacceptable behavior. We see that in why they bound him with shackles and chains and tried to restrain him. We see self-destructive tendencies, self-destructive behavior and how he cut and he gashed himself with stones.

And we see internal torment as he cried out night and day. One day this man saw a boat nearing the shore of the lake and he came out of the tombs and ran down towards the shore of the lake. Now, this is where Mark doesn't give us all the detail. But if we read the parallel account in Matthew, Matthew gives us a little bit more, Matthew tells us that this man was so violent that no one could pass by, Matthew 8:28 if you want to look that up. And that would indicate that man being demon possessed, being rejected, having his mind set altered, this man would actually try to attack, would challenge and attack anyone who came that way. So we don't know this for sure. But my speculation, from what Matthew tells us, is that he was running towards this boat, coming to the shore to challenge and attack whoever was coming up on the shore. When he approached the boat, he saw that the man getting out of the boat was Jesus. And we don't know if he'd ever seen Jesus before. I think it's probably doubtful that he had ever seen Jesus before. So who is it that sees and recognize that this is Jesus? It's the demons in him while many people that Jesus encountered didn't really recognize him for who he is, the demons always did. This is not the first occurrence in Mark of the Demons encountering Jesus, so this man, through his demonic possession, recognizes that this is Jesus.

And Mark tells us when he sees that it was Jesus, he ran and he knelt down before him. Now kneeling down both then and to some degree now kneeling down is an act of submission. It's an act of surrender. So why would he why would he kneel down and submission or surrender before Jesus? And again, Mark doesn't tell us exactly, but I think we can we can infer that that the human part of him, that part of him that that was in torment, wanted to be rescued. And so he was kneeling down as an appeal to Jesus to free him from this demonic possession. But it also may have been that the demons recognizing Jesus, getting too close to turn around and run back to the tombs, the demons were compelled by this superior, this ultimately superior spiritual force to kneel down in submission before Jesus submitting to his greater power. Jesus spoke to this man. Come out of the man, you unclean spirit. He doesn't lay hands on him. He doesn't use any formulas or anything like that. He had just spoke. And if you read in the previous chapter, he just spoke into the natural elements, the storm on the Sea of Galilee and with the words be still just his words, the storm stopped. And now with that same authority, he speaks again.

Just the words come out of the man, come out, you evil spirit. Now the man speaks. But although it is the voice of the man, it is undoubtedly really the demons who are speaking here through the man's vocal facilities, the man, the demons who control them. And they say, why are you interfering with me? With us? Jesus, son of the most high. Again, that that title is interesting. That is a messianic title. The disciples still don't really have a clue who Jesus is. The crowd certainly don't understand who Jesus is, but the demons understand who Jesus is. Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the promised one. Jesus is the one that spells their doom and their final defeat. Jesus is divine. He is the divine son of the most high God. Elyon in the Old Testament and they know, they know, recognizing who he is as the Messiah, they know that he has come to set the captives free, including this captive. And so this is a venting, I think, of their anger and their frustration and their despair. Why are you interfering with me? They knew their end was coming, but now Jesus has shown up earlier than they expected. Their time they worry is being cut short. Why? Why, why are you interfering with us now? And they know that he has the authority and the power to cast them into the abyss, into the hell. And they beg him, do not torment me.

They know about his ultimate coming. They're surprised by this coming and they think the end is in store for them and their torment is coming. And so they're pleading and begging. Jesus responds. What is your name? Now again, Mark doesn't make this absolutely clear, but I don't think he's speaking to the man asking the man his name. I think he's speaking to the demons. And this is not some formula for deliverance. This, I believe, is bringing their identity into the light. I believe Jesus wants this man to recognize what it is that has a hold of him. I believe Jesus wants the disciples and any other people who were there as witnesses to understand who and what it is that is enslaving this man. One demon speaks for all of them. My name is Legion because we are many. Again here, a little bit of the cultural history helps in understanding. A legion is that unit in a Roman army that is made up of 6000 foot soldiers and one hundred and twenty horsemen and various support personnel. It was it was the primary unit in the Roman army. And when there would be a Roman occupation of a town, they would send in a Roman legion. And so the name here, we're not exactly sure that it literally means there's six thousand one hundred and twenty demons in this man. More likely, it describes how there were many demons in this man who were all combined as one force to possess this man.

It may also communicate the strength of the demonic hold on this man. But in spite of that, whatever odds, however many demons to one messiah, to one Jesus, they are totally in submission before him. And the demon then begs, the demon speaking for them. Do not send us out of the region. Now again, Mark is really sparing on details here. And he doesn't tell us. He doesn't explain the reasoning behind their request. Their fear, though, I think we can logically infer - it is likely that their time has come before they think it really was supposed to be up and their great fear is they're now going to be thrown into the abyss. And so they're looking for any way out. If they can't stay in this man, maybe at least they can stay in the area. And that's why they, looking around probably, see the only other living being that potentially they could enter. And that is the pigs. The demons plead with Jesus, send us to the pigs so that we may enter them. Mark tells us that there was a herd of two thousand pigs feeding on the nearby hillside. And again and that that aerial photo there, you can kind of get a glimpse of how it may have been an area that that you could pasture animals in. Well, for reasons we don't fully understand, Jesus gave the demons permission to enter the pigs.

Now, this is not a compromise. This is not two warring, struggling forces and they come up with a compromise. This is not Jesus making an appeasement in any way to these demons. Jesus is in complete command here. The demons are his vanquished enemy. So why did Jesus permit this? Why did he grant their request? Again, we're not exactly sure. The best explanation that I've heard is Jesus permitted this because this was a visual demonstration to the man and to the disciples and any other witnesses who were there. It was a visible demonstration of this man's absolutely helpless condition. It was a visible demonstration of the stronghold of demonic oppression, possession that he was under. And it was a visible demonstration of Jesus's complete power to deliver this man. Well, the herd of pigs rushes down the steep bank. Again, that aerial photo gives you a little better way to imagine how this might have happened. And they ran down into the sea and they were drowned. Again, Mark doesn't give us background information here, but I don't think that's what the demons intended at all. I think the demons intended to enter other living beings so that they could continue their existence, however limited it was, and they could continue somehow their destructive work, even if it was through a herd of pigs. But the pigs are probably weaker than even the man.

And the demons entering the pigs probably quickly drove the pigs insane. And in that insane condition, they stampeded into the lake and they were drowned. So before you call the SPCA or PETA or any anyone like that, before you complain that that Jesus is somehow here cruel to animals, I would just point out it was the demons who killed the pigs, not Jesus. Well, the man who the men who treated the pigs ran off and they ran in probably into Garasa and they reported to the people what had happened. And people begin to come out of that area of Garasa and the surrounding villages to see what has happened. And when they came to see Jesus, who do they see? They see not only Jesus, they see the man who had been demon possessed. Only now he's sitting there calmly and he's dressed implying that he had been naked when he was living in the Tombs and he's now in his right mind and it reasonably causes them great fear. What has happened here? Jesus has completely delivered this man from his demonic possession. This man had been involuntarily controlled by the demons and now he's free. This man had been violent. Had been uncontrollable and now he's calm and he's at peace. This man had had been reduced to nakedness and now he's clothed, this man was being defiled, he was being deformed, he was being destroyed, and now he's a witness to the power of Christ.

Now there's a little aside of what the people around do. That's not where I want to go with my main point today. I want to stay focused on this man because as Jesus is getting into the boat, he's now preparing to leave. The people have asked him to leave. What does this man do? This man who has now been freed, the man who'd been formerly demon possessed. He was begging Jesus to be with him, to go with him, even that language, to be with him. Jesus chose the twelve to be with him. Same language. He's begging Jesus, let me go with you. Let me join and be one of your disciples. But Jesus tells him, go back home to your own people and report to them how much the Lord has done for you and how he's had mercy on you. We don't know exactly why Jesus did not allow this man to go with the twelve, but we're very clear on Jesus's mission. Jesus knew that this man's mission, the fulfillment of his mission, would be most effective by sending him back to the people who knew the condition he'd been in. The most impact that this man would have would be going back, now calm and clothed and free and in his right mind, and telling the people who known him, how he was under his demonic possession, telling them how God had mercy on him, how God through his son, the Messiah, had delivered him.

I want you to think about that man, that man is me, that man is you. And what do I mean by that? We all need deliverance. You're here and you're in one in two places this morning. You either have been delivered at some time in your past like I was in my early teenage years. Or you have not yet been delivered. And even though you may not be in a state of demonic possession, the indicators there are similar. We need to be delivered from darkness. This man was in spiritual darkness. The first 13, 14 years of my life. I was in spiritual darkness. You, before you came to Christ, you were in spiritual darkness. We need to be delivered from defilement to the demons. Satan starts very early in our life to, in different ways and in different methods, knowing our weaknesses, knowing our vulnerabilities, to defile us, to deform us, to deface us. He works sometimes through other people who do sinful things to us. He works as well for our own flesh and our own misshape tendencies. His goal is to defile and to deform and to deface us. We need to be delivered from bondage. Even early in life, we begin in patterns of of sin that take a hold of us in unique ways, again, depending upon our unique personality and makeup. And it's like being bound in chains that we can't free ourselves from.

We need to be delivered from isolation and our selfishness and other circumstances of our life. We move away from community, not towards community. We are created not to be alone. And yet that's where sin moves us. That's where our imprisonment moves us. We need to be delivered from torment. You don't have to go very far in life till the things that have happened to you, the things that you have done that you regret, begin to cause internal torment in you that we need to be delivered from. We need to be delivered from self-destructive tendencies. Our sin leads us to defile ourselves. Our sin leads us to engage in behaviors and patterns of behavior that ultimately will destroy us. We need to be delivered from that. Jesus shows up on the shores of our life wanting to deliver us. It's interesting, I, and many of you know this, I grew up as a child here in Rochester, then moved away for forty five plus years and now I'm back for a season and I've had the opportunity of being back to walk through my childhood neighborhood here in Rochester. And while there's many good memories I was blessed with a great childhood, there are memories. I look at houses and I remember yeah. My friends and I in that house, we began to do and I won't fill in the blank here, but we were led into patterns of sin.

We were led into patterns of of self defilement. We were led into patterns of self-destruction. I walk around and I see different places where where we pursued sinful things, where where things happened to us, even at the hands of other people. I think of how, while I feel very blessed for my childhood. I think of how Rochester represents for me really coming to a consciousness that I needed deliverance. It was that that part of my growing up where I began to realize I want to think of myself as a good person, but I am not a good person. I have done things that that are not pleasing to the Lord. And things have happened to me that that now shaped me and and have a hold on me. Jesus showed up on the shore of my life when I was about 13 or 14, and he showed up in the invitation of a friend to attend a church youth retreat. And it was at that youth retreat that I first heard, the gospel message that I first heard who Jesus is, son of the most high God, the Messiah, the savior, the Christ. It's there that I first heard that all of this that I carried, all of these chains that bound me that that he offered forgiveness. More than that. He offered freedom. He offered cleansing and freedom and new life. Think about your own life, think about your own life, what is the circumstances of your life that you needed to be delivered from, and then think about the mercy of God of Jesus showing up on the shores of your life.

And maybe it was through a church retreat like like me. Maybe it was through a friend in your neighborhood. Maybe it was through a family member. Whatever it was, that's God in his mercy, sending Jesus to the shore of your life, bringing you the message that there's freedom, that there's deliverance, that there is forgiveness, that there's cleansing. And if you're here this morning and you do not yet know that, but maybe this morning the spirit of God is even convicting you of the ways that you do need deliverance and that you still are imprisoned, that you haven't yet met the savior. Well, he is showing up on the shores of your life even this morning, and he is offering you deliverance from darkness to light. He's offering you deliverance from defilement to cleansing to purity. He's offering you deliverance from bondage to freedom. He's offering you deliverance from isolation to community. He's offering you deliverance from torment to peace, even to joy. He's offering you deliverance from self-destruction to sanctification to becoming more and more made into the image of Jesus. It doesn't end there, though, because when Jesus delivers us, he commissions us. He doesn't just save us so we have our ticket into heaven.

He commissions us like he did with this man. He sends us out as examples of witness and witnesses of his deliverance. He wants to use me. He wants to use you as part of how he's going to show up on the shore of other people's lives with his message of deliverance. Now, there are opportunities that the people in our church have experienced of being able to take that message even around the world. But where is the way that he does this in all of our lives? Where does he first send us to in this commission? It is, as the man was told, go home to your own people, go home to your own people, tell them what has happened to you. Tell them how God has had mercy upon you. Home there, it's the Greek word Oikos. Home describes not just your immediate family, the family that you grew up in home as that term was used in that culture, it describes a person's entire social system. So certainly it is your immediate family, but it is also your extended family. But even beyond family bounds, it is friends in your social system. It is people who we would think of as our neighbors. It is people who we work with. All of that is encompassed in this term. That's what Jesus is communicating, not just go back to your immediate family, but to go to all of those in your social system, your spheres of influence, who knew you, who knew you as you once were and can now see you as you as you are.

Think about the impact of that. If each of us being delivered by Christ, we go into to the spheres of those who who know us best. I've read studies even recently that show that the great majority of people, the great majority of people who who know Christ, who are Christians when they're asked to trace their their spiritual roots, you know, what is it that that led you to first hear about Christ and respond to it? In other words, where did Christ begin to show up on the shore of your life? They can trace their spiritual roots back to a relative or a friend or a neighbor or a co-worker who is the major influence on them first beginning to hear about the deliverance that Jesus offers. That's probably true of most of you, that that it is somebody in your spheres of influence who is the first one who where Jesus used as he showed up on the shore of your life. And with that in mind, you know, we want to introduce to you a way that you can intentionally do this, because if you're like me, if you do not have natural gifts of evangelism to be able to even go into these social spheres that, you know, your relatives, your neighbors, your friends, your co-worker.

It is incredibly intimidating, unless there's an intentional way, even a natural way to do it, and that's why we want to make available to you a book that that we're all going to be reading. I've read it and we're all going to be reading together over the next six weeks leading up to Neighbor Fast, our event on August 8th. Here's my great fear. If we do not do something intentional, neighbor fest, it'll stay on the calendar August 8th, and most of you will begin to think about it seriously on about August 7th. And you'll kind of make your decisions about whether you're even going to attend based on what's going on in your life. Those couple of days leading up to it and you'll have given no thought to. Is there someone I can bring with me? Is there somebody who this would be a good natural way to give them some initial exposure to my church? Well, this is a way to do this in preparation for neighbor fest, but actually to go well beyond what is blessed. Bless is certainly an Old Testament term when when the Lord appeared to Abraham and commissioned him, one of the things that he told him is that through him, through Abraham and his people, he wanted to bless all the nations of the Earth. But bless is also as it's used in this book. It's an acronym. It's an acronym that describes a simple way to bring the love of God to others, to be part of Jesus showing up on the shores of their life.

It's an acronym for an everyday rhythm of praying and listening and eating and serving and sharing your story with people. It's a way to build a relational foundation that you can begin at some time as the spirit moves to share, like this man, how God has had mercy upon you and what it is that he's done and what he has delivered to you from. So we're going to go through this in more detail in the coming weeks. But let me give you the very brief elevator speech overview. B is simply begin with prayer. If you're not sure you know who it is, who it is it that I'm supposed to be developing a relationship with, who is it that potentially I could invite to Neighbor Fest on August 8th? Who is it that Lord that you even want me to be investing in? You begin with prayer, Lord. Show me. Show me one, two, three, four, five people that you want me over these next weeks as we at Calvary, we seek to be intentional about doing this. You want perhaps to use me to show up on the shores of their life. If you're sitting here and already people come to mind then bless begin with prayer can even be I'm going to begin to pray for the movement of the spirit in their life.

I'm going to begin to pray for opening's I'm going to begin to pray for natural ways to begin to build that relational foundation with them. L is for listen, as we begin to pray for people, we identify who we're praying for and we begin to pray for them. It's amazing how the spirit of God orchestrates opportunities for us to be in conversation with them. And as we're in conversation with them, the important part is for us to listen. How how do we even know their needs? How do we even know what it is that they're struggling from unless we listen to them? So there's just some very easy practices described in this book, briefly described in this book of how can we be better listeners? And then E is for eat. As we're praying for someone and we're now in conversation and we're listening to them. The next natural step, the step that kind of takes somebody from an acquaintance to actually a friend is when we share meals together with them. So creative ways described in here. How might you even go about and do that? Could you hold a barbecue in your neighborhood? Can you invite those neighbors over for a meal? Can you take somebody out to a restaurant? That is where relationships often are built, is around meals. And then that leads to the first S, which is serve. As we get to know them and we know their needs, it's providential how God then orchestrates opportunities where they have needs that we can actually meet. And maybe it's visiting somebody while they're in the hospital or bringing somebody a meal while they have need. Or offering some skill that we have to meet a need that they have. But through meeting their needs, through serving them and meeting their needs, that relational bridge is built a little further. And then finally, in God's timing, that leads to opportunities to share our story. When relationship has been built on that foundation is existing and growing stronger. That's when people finally feel safe enough and open enough to listen to even maybe ask you about your story. This is a natural way. This is an intentional way, but a natural way for us to begin to intentionally develop relationships that ultimately lead to what this man is commissioned to, what we're all commissioned to - go out to those people and their spheres of influence. Tell them how God has had mercy on you. Tell them what the Lord has done for you. This is the way that we fulfill the mission of making disciples of Jesus who live out passion for Christ and compassion for people. So we would love for all of you to join us in this. There's copies of this book out there for every household. We're going to encourage our small groups to take six to eight weeks and work through these.

We're going to hit these the different points of the acronym through the services over the next six weeks leading up to Neighbor Fest. However, you can participate, however little or much, we would love for you to join us. You can join us by simply making the commitment right now as you sit right there, I'm going to get a copy of the book at the Welcome Desk as I leave today, and I'm going to begin to read it and I'm going to read it with the rest of Calvary. And I'm going to allow the spirit of God to use it to help me to be intentional and reaching out to people in my home, my spheres of influence. We cannot do this apart from the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. We all falter if we try to do something like this on our own. So even as I close today, we're going to pray and we're going to ask the Lord to grab hold of this vision, this vision of Calvary and make it each of our vision. We're going to ask the Lord to do the work in our hearts, to give us the intentionality to to act upon this even today. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your mercy, just like this man. If Jesus had not shown up on the shores of his life, he would have died.

And the self-destruction and all the other defacing, deforming tendencies of that demonic possession. Lord, if you had not shown up on the shores of our life, we would have died in the spiritual darkness of our lives and all that that it's accompanied with. So we first of all, thank you for your mercy upon us in reaching out to us in having in one way or another having Jesus show up on the shores of our life. And Lord, now we want to hear your commission like you spoke to this man. We we want to go to our home. We want to go to our family and extended family, our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers. We want to as we build this relational foundation through blessed by blessing them. Lord, we want to work towards those opportunities where we can share with them what it is that you've done in our lives, how you have had mercy upon us, how you have freed us, and ultimately how you can free them. So I pray, Lord, that your spirit would give us each the resolve that this is something we're going to intentionally do over the next six weeks and beyond. And I pray, Lord, that as you work through this vision and Calvary that Calvary would become a little more in line with our our mission. Lord, we want to make followers of you who love you, Lord, and have compassion towards others. We pray this all, Lord Jesus, that you would be lifted up, that you would be glorified. Amen.

We take a closer look at a well-known Psalm. What is the significance of the sheep metaphor? Why and how should we follow this Shepherd?

Thank you, worship team. Welcome, everybody. Thank you very much for being here. For those that are joining us online, thank you for joining us today. Many of you will know that this is an exciting time for our church. We're in a transition, but we're getting close to having a new lead pastor. And some of the sermons that you've been hearing for the last few weeks have all been about leaders and qualities of leaders and then choosing to follow leaders and choosing to follow even when some of the instructions might be tough in the future may look a little challenging, as we heard last week. But today, we want to talk a little bit more about what it means to be a follower. And you just heard Psalm 23, which is one of my favorite psalms read, and we read it together and many of you know it really well. And as you can see, I titled The Talk, Follow the leader. But I want to put a little challenge out there as we are kind of thinking about things, is that we all said and enthusiastically said in our hearts, the Lord is my shepherd. David said, the Lord is my shepherd. The question is, what does that say about you? If he's the shepherd, your the sheep. I must say, I am not super excited about being a sheep, and I'm going to share with you today. Why? Because sheep are kind of dumb and sheep are kind of stupid, and I don't like being that. And sheep need to be led and sheep need to be instructed and sheep need to be helped. David said, The Lord is my shepherd, the king, the boss is my shepherd, but that makes me a sheep. And so as we kind of go through what we're going to be talking about today, I really encourage you to put on your your sheep outfit, kind of put on your mindset of I'm a sheep, and what exactly does that mean when I talk about following the leader? So I want to tell you a story as we start, a true story about following leaders, and I hope that as you see how they in this true story, follow the leader. And then as we turn our attention to talk about Psalm 23, you put in your heart and attitude of what does it mean to be a follower? What does it mean to be a sheep? How can I be a good sheep and not a feral, vagrant, runaway kind of sheep? So I'm going to take you back 100 years, and in a newspaper in London, this advert appeared. The advert said men wanted for hazardous journey, low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful; honor and recognition in event of success. Well, it's kind of astounding because hundreds of people applied a bunch of women too, even though it said men wanted; good for them. And you might say, well, what was this all about? Well, this was an advert placed by someone called Ernest Shackleton and you might say - never heard of him.

Well, I hope that after today you'll know who Ernest Shackleton was. But at the time, he was Sir Ernest Shackleton, actually a very famous explorer. This was around the time where they were trying to be the first to get to the South Pole. And you might remember the story that actually Shackleton was beaten by a fellow Englishman, Scott, who was beaten by a Norwegian Amundsen, who actually got to the South Pole and planted the Norwegian flag there first. So Shackleton was a bit miffed about that and decided he needed a new adventure where he could be the first person to do something. So this is where this expedition came from. So what he was going to do and hopefully you can see this on the screen, is he was going to come with his boat from South America and land at this place called Vassall Bay and then go across Antarctica to the South Pole, right across to the other side to McMurdo Sound and get picked up by a different boat. So he and his team were going to be the first people to go right across the South Pole, right from the one side of Antarctica to the other. This is him, this is Ernest Shackleton right here. This is his team, 18 of them were actually going to be the folks that would do the work as far as going across the whole of Antarctica with a few extra people.

They are mainly manning the boat. I want you to notice that date. August 8th, 1914. I didn't have a way to have a little time ticker kind of going across the bottom of the screen, but I want you to watch as you hear the story of the timeline of how this story transpired, it sort of went on. So they started out headed down towards Antarctica from South America, you might say, well, what were they doing this in December? Or remember, seasons are switched around. So this is summertime. You can tell summer in Antarctica is not super exciting, but the idea was you could break through the ice. So there are these ice floes, but you can find your way with a big boat like they head through the ice floes because that was the point. I want you also to notice right here, it's already now getting into December. Four months into and they grinding their way slowly through the ice floe, getting closer to Antarctica. Problem was, the boat got stuck completely stuck in the ice floe, noticed February 14th, but remember, it's an ice floe, so they flowing. So they are sort of getting closer to Antarctica. So they go, well, this is OK. Everyone jumps out the ship. There's no point in sitting in a ship that's not really moving. They're playing soccer, other things kind of waiting for something to happen.

Needless to say, the ship is not doing particularly well now because the ship is actually at an angle that I wouldn't be excited to be in that ship. It's totally stuck. In the ice. Note the date, February 14th, six months they've already been on this boat. Now, again, many of you know, seeing we live in a cold part of the world, if you've ever been up on the north shore of Lake Superior, how the ice, when the wind blows can start to get kind of packed up in these great big giant bits of ice that gets stuck together? Well, that started to happen. The ice started to kind of get a little broken up. The wind was blowing. It started to make these great big mountains of ice. And you can tell that even though they were trying to now break their way through this with sort of pickaxes wasn't going particularly well. July 19, 15, nearly a year. What happened then was the boat got crushed and they all had to get out of the boat onto the ice floe. So now they've got no way back - boats gone. They're all standing on the ice. This is Antarctica or the ice floe next to Antarctica slowly floating along. And it's October, more than a year, they've just been standing, sitting, waiting, and now the boat is crushed. So they thought, well, again, it would be a good idea maybe to now try and at least get across the pole because it would be important to try and get to the other side.

Maybe they could hike across this ice floe to try and then make it across to the actual land. Problem was, every time they tried to do that, took like three days to go two miles because it was all the ice and snow and clearly they were not making much progress at all. Called it Patience camp while they were waiting their little message for us right in there. Remember, this is now more than a year waiting April 9th, almost a year and a half later, still stuck on the ice. Then disaster really struck, if you thought that wasn't bad. Got a lot worse, I started to break up and they couldn't actually even stay on the ice. So they had these three little boats and they got on the boats and they sailed to Elephant Island. Elephant Island is just a little piece of rock, but at least it was solid. So they got onto Elephant Island, but there's nothing there. So they're stuck, all 18 of them with their little boat and actually three little boats stuck on Elephant Island. So I want to just highlight how this went, so here they came, they got themselves stuck in the ice floe. They went all the way up the ice floe, eventually both broke up. Then they just floated along on the top in Patience camp.

So they got to here where the ice started to break up. You notice the flow didn't go where they wanted it to go. It went this way. Eventually they got on Elephant Island, but they realized we can't just stay here forever and no one's going to come and find us and fetch us. So what to do? Five of them got in that one little boat and they sailed 800 miles to this place called South Georgia Island, where they knew there was a whaling station and they landed there. So Shackleton and four of his crew members sailed there. And then those guys came back and saved them. Notice the date, August 30th, 1916, two years stuck on the ice.

So what do you think you can learn from that? Well, it's remarkable there was no mutiny, there was no suddenly Shackleton has no clue what he's doing. He got us stuck here. We will do something different. They waited patiently two years. They did what they were told. Together, they worked together, and when they were finally freed, nobody had died. A few people lost a few fingers and toes from from frostbite, but that was the worst of it. But pretty hungry they had actually eaten some of their dogs because they had nothing else to eat. But they trusted the leader.

So as we now take our attention and we focus on scripture and we look at Psalm 23 and we think about David, who is writing about his leader, the shepherd, the Great Shepherd, and Jesus who said, I am the shepherd of the sheep. I am the real shepherd. I want us to really think about what kind of follower am I? Am I somebody who will listen, who will do what they're told, who will be patient and who will trust the leader? So although we are going to focus on Psalm 23, I think it's important just to remind ourselves about what it means to be a shepherd in Jesus' time. And again, I'm grateful to Kyle, who read part of this earlier, but I want us to just focus on John. Chapter 10, verses two to four. This is Jesus talking. This is the one who enters by the gates is the shepherd of the sheep. The gate keeper opens the gate for him and the sheep - note this - listens to his voice. He calls his own sheep - note - by name and leads them. When he has brought out all of his own, he goes ahead of them and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. The sheep follow him because they know his voice. So I don't know what you experience with sheep herding is. Can't say I've done any of it myself, but where I grew up in South Africa, the way in which sheep are herded about little guys, youngsters called pickanins, and their job is to herd them. And they're usually like 10 year olds and they basically all just run behind the sheep, kind of herding them.

If you went to England, you know, you might have a sheep dog and the sheep dog would be herding the sheep. And maybe here you'd be like ranchers out there and the ranchers would have horses and be kind of herding the sheep. Not in Jesus day and even today, not in the Middle East. The shepherd knows the sheep. The shepherd knows the sheep by name. The shepherd calls the sheep and walks ahead and the sheep follow him. So, again, thinking about what it means to be a sheep following the great shepherd, think about the shepherd in the front, not the shepherd herding us from behind. So turning to. To Psalm 23, I want you to put in your mind what David was writing. This is King David. What is he writing as he writes the psalm? He says this. The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing, he makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul. He guides me through the right paths for his namesake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows, surely your goodness and love will follow all the days of my life and I will live in the House of the Lord forever.

So I want us to think about four things that good sheep should remember and the things I want us to think about: Every time as you're thinking about what David is saying here, the shepherd is not some abstract person and head, the shepherd is calling the sheep by name. So I'm not a number, I'm not just one of many sheep. My shepherd, Jesus Christ. He knows me personally. Second thing we're going to talk about is the path is not always easy, but the shepherd will always be with me. Many times the sheep were kind of quick to get lost. We don't really know where we're going. I don't know the way, but the shepherd does and he's the one who's going to lead me. And finally, the shepherd loves me and provides me with everything that I need.

So I learned a lot about sheep this week because I was reading up about sheep, and I must say it didn't help me much. I cannot really tell one sheep different from another. So I don't know about you, but when I look at that flock of sheep. I have a lot of trouble recognizing that Billy is the second sheep on from from the right or Jill is the one that stood in from the left. They look exactly the same to me. Maybe if I was fortunate and I got up close and I read the tags, I might see they had a number and that would help me tell the sheep different.

But quite frankly, those sheep look exactly the same to me. Hard to tell sheep apart. But not to the great shepherd, not to my great shepherd. Jesus said, I am the Good Shepherd. He said, I know my sheep and my sheep know me. He says he calls me by name. And he does it for his namesake. So, again, it's a beautiful picture that it's not just about me, it's about him. But yet there's a personal touch where he knows me by name. And if you read Psalm 23 again and read it from David's perspective, David understands this perfectly because read it again. Notice the number of personal pronouns. I counted them: 17. 17 personal pronouns where David says, I know this shepherd knows me. He says, the Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his namesake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil. For you are with me. Your rod and your staff. They comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, unite my head with oil, my cup overflows, surely your goodness and mercy will follow me, me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

So what's the point of that? Maybe you go, nobody cares. In my life stuff's happening and I just don't feel anybody cares. Nobody really knows. Nobody really understands. Wrong. The Good Shepherd says, I know your name. I call your name, I want you to follow me. I love you. You're important to me. I want a relationship with you. We're not just a number. Jesus knows us by name.

So the second thing is the path's not always going to be easy. So, again, looking up things about shepherds, this is a true story. This is actually a photo essay from 2019 and this is in a country called Georgia and this is the Tusheti Mountains, the Albano pass. Now, maybe a little difficult to see this, but this is thousands of sheep being herded over these paths. And you may not appreciate it from the picture very well, but these are sheer cliffs just straight down. And these shepherds are taking the sheep from one set of pastures, which dry up because of no rain across the mountains to the other side so that they can get to green pastures before there really isn't anything remaining behind. Six of them and tens of thousands of sheep, the shepherds just leading them over the mountains, not an easy path, but the shepherds are there to make sure it happens. So you might say, well, how does that tie in to Psalm twenty three? Well, many times sheep are frightened, and I think you could safely say that, David, this was a time in his life when he was frightened he was in a cave writing this.

And the reason he was in the cave is that his son, Absalom, had just affected a coup in his country, and they had kicked him out as the king and they were looking to find him, to kill him. So when he writes The Darkest Valley or the valley of the shadow of death, that's real, he's looking out of the cave expecting Absalom's soldiers to find him and kill him in the presence of my enemies. The sad part here is the enemy he's talking about is his son. So, again, totally understands the fear, but you note he says, I fear no evil. Because why? Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You're anointing my head with oil in the presence of my enemies and one day I will be with you forever. So as we think about that many times, there are hardships in our lives, many times things are challenging. Many times you might feel I'm actually afraid and fearful of circumstances, the future. The Good Shepherd says. I know it's not easy, but I'm with you. Nothing will happen to you that isn't my will. Says, I have you in the palm of my hand. Well, similarly, I think a good thing for us as sheep to remember is we don't know the way, but the shepherd does and he's going to lead us.

So the same sheep being taken over those mountains through the Albano pass, the shepherds, they know it because they do it every year. I'm sure many of the sheep don't. It's actually kind of terrifying because mists blow in. I don't know if any of you have hiked hills and mountains and been there when a mist is blown in and you really can't see where to go. And you worried that you could just fall off the mountain at any time. And that's not just abstract. I have a friend who who died on a mountain like that, got up there and got into the mist and got lost and froze to death. So bad things can happen and I don't know the way and I can feel terrified, but my shepherd does and he will lead me. We can very easily get lost. But the shepherd goes, I know, and he leads me and he leads me along the right path and he is taking me one day to the House of the Lord. That's where I'm going. So when you look at your life and you say things really to me, you don't seem very clear. I don't know where things are going. My job is challenging and I feel lost. My family's got challenges and and I feel, you know, I don't know where this is leading. These relationships I'm in. It's just hard. We have a good shepherd who says, follow me, I know where you're going, I will lead you, I will take you down the right path.

The fourth thing is the shepherd loves me and provides everything that I need. So let me introduce you to Chris, the sheep. So, Chris, the sheep that you can see on the left is actually a world record holder. Now, I didn't realize this until I read up about sheep, but just to reiterate, I said this earlier, but it's probably true. Sheep are remarkably dumb and sheep are remarkably needy. And the reason they're needy is you need to shear a sheep. If you don't actually take the wool of the sheep, the sheep will eventually grow so much wool that they will no longer be able to stand up straight and will fall over. So this is a feral sheep who in Australia managed to get away from the herd and for eight years kind of did his own thing and there was 91 pounds of wool on this here sheep. That is a world record. Look it up. Beaten out. Shrek the Sheep was another one of their world record holders before that, or Barak, which was the one before that one. But the funny thing is, ninety one pounds equates to 30 sweaters. Or if you say in Australia, that would be 30 jumpers. But what's the point of that? The sheep need to be tended to. They need to have something done for them, because if you just let the sheep do what it wants to do, it'll end up like Chris the sheep and actually be in danger of its life because it didn't get what it needs.

My shepherd loves me. My shepherd knows what I need. My shepherd will sometimes do some shearing and we could probably have another whole conversation about what shearing the wool of us might look like. But again, my shepherd loves me.

The other thing I learnt about sheep that I thought was kind of interesting is sheep don't really plan ahead, they don't store things up, they're not like squirrels and put the acorns away for the days they might need them. They basically will eat everything and they'll eat it right down to the dirt. And then when it's run out, it's run out. But again, the shepherd understands that and the shepherd says you will get nothing, you will lie down in green pastures, you'll be led by still waters refreshing your soul. A table will be laid before me. My cup will overflow. Everything I need, my shepherd will provide, not everything I want. Everything I need he will provide. So you might say with me thinking about what it means to be a sheep, is the Good Shepherd really worth following? And I would say absolutely. Jesus, the Good Shepherd says, follow me. And why might we want to do that? Well he lay down his life for his sheep and he says, I know you by name. And he says, I will always be with you and I will lead you and I will provide everything that you need.

So with those four kind of things that we might remember taking us back to the story of Shackleton and his and his team, what are some principles that we should maybe take away about being a good follower? So the three things I want us to think about are patience, obedience and trust. Waiting patiently for God's timing. Doing exactly what Jesus tells us to do and trusting our leader, Jesus Christ, who knows what's best. So you might say, where do I get that from Psalm twenty three? Well, the first one is waiting patiently. It says in verse two David says he makes me lie down in green pastures. I think that's kind of interesting. I lie down, you know, I might bring a frolic in those green pastures, says the Good Shepherd makes you lie down. And the thing I learnt about sheep, sheep don't sleep much about 15 percent of the time of the day would be sleeping and most of it is just little naps, most of it standing up. If they lie down, they really just lie down on their chest and never lie down on their side. Sheep lying down on the side is in big trouble. It's going to die. But generally speaking, and this was interesting because it came from Philip Kellar, a shepherd look at Psalm 23, he says there are four reasons why sheep generally won't lie down, won't lie down because they're frightened. They won't lie down because other sheep around them are agitating them and they won't lie down because they're bothered by pests or they won't lie down because they're hungry. So, again, I see a lot of parallels there when Jesus says - God, our father says, lie down in green pastures. We should be able to do that because the Good Shepherd is looking after us. We don't need to be frightened. Those around us who may agitate us, things that irritate us, people that irritate us, news that may irritate us. He says, lie down, rest, don't let it be agitating you. Might be bothered by pests, things that are troubling us, flies and the like, but we think about comparisons. You might think about things like, you know, finances, other things that are really troubling you says just rest. Just lie down, maybe hungry. Again, our Good Shepherd provides what we need. We need to do exactly what Jesus said we should do. Again, it comes from verse three. It says, He guides me along the right paths for his namesake. He prepares a table in the presence of my enemies. Really interesting. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't have expected him to put down the table in the presence of the enemies. I would think we would rout the enemies first and then we'd celebrate afterwards at the dinner table. But this putting the table in the presence of my enemies, that doesn't seem to me to make a lot of sense.

But yet, if you think about it, that's what Jesus is telling us to do, and that's what we as sheep are just following, what Jesus is telling us to do. If he is setting a table for us and it may be in the presence of what we think are unfavorable circumstances, just do it, because by doing it, the Good Shepherd will take care of the enemies, if you like. One of the other things that for me was really a blessing is I was thinking about how Good Shepherd leads us and tells us exactly where we need to go. In my mind, I was thinking again of Psalm 119:105. It says your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. And the reason I love that verse is - again, if you think about a light and a lamp, it just shines over here. So it doesn't give me the whole path, it doesn't illuminate the entire environment, it just tells me what's next. And then I take a step and then it illuminates the next step. And then I take another step and then it illuminates some more. So when the Good Shepherd leads me, he doesn't say, let me sit you down and map it out all for you and show you exactly where you need to go. He says, All I'm going to do is give you enough light for the next step. And when you take it, he'll give you enough light for the one thereafter.

And the last thing is trusting in Jesus, who knows what's best for us. So again, David says he refreshes, he restores my soul in verse three. Really interesting word that's used there. I often think of refreshing and restoring like, you know, I'll just have a glass of water and that will kind of refresh me and I'll be fine. That's not really the word here. The word here is refurbish, rebuild. It's a little bit like that junker car that needs to totally be stripped down to kind of the to the chassis and then rebuilt and refurbished. That's what he does when he's restoring. He's taking it from a shadow of its former self and giving it all of its former glory. That's the kind of restoring our good father is giving us. The rod and staff comfort me again, trusting my leader. Well, the rod was ready to beat off predators and wolves and other things, and the staff was to catch that sheep before it made a run for it. And kind of the crook, if you like, grab it by its neck and pull it back. Surely goodness and mercy, goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. Again, our father Shepherd, who is going to take us to what he knows is the future for us. And we know that also from Romans, Chapter eight verses twenty seven and twenty eight. It says, and God who sees our hearts knows the thoughts of what the spirit is, because the spirit pleads with God on behalf of these people and in accordance with his will. We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.

So when I told you the story about Shackleton, I left one piece out. This is really interesting. So remember how I told you they got stuck on that little island, Elephant Island, a little bit of a rock. And then five of them got in one boat and headed for South Georgia Island where they knew there was a whaling station. And they went 800 miles rowing in high seas, took them a few months, got all the way their, got to south Georgia island. Interesting thing. They landed on the wrong side of the island and it was just granite cliffs and glaciers and ice. And the five of them landed and three of them were too weak to go on. So they left them. And two of them, Shackleton and one other guy, hiked for weeks over the mountain all the way until they got to the whaling station, even when they got there, getting back to getting the other guys took a massive attempt. Three attempts, three months is how long it took. The first time they went ice floes were too thick, couldn't get to them, backed off, came back the next time.

The seas were so heavy they couldn't actually get in to actually help the guys. Took them three months to get there. But the point the leader came back to get all the men eventually. Our Good Shepherd did more than just come back, our good shepherd died on the cross for us. John 10:11 says, Jesus says, I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. And as we can see him, Psalm 23, his goal is that we might have a relationship with him one day in heaven. David is saying, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

So what's my challenge to you today? There are lots of voices out there, lots of people saying, follow me, lots of teams. You know, different situations saying, I know what to do, follow me. There is really only one good shepherd and the Good Shepherd is Jesus Christ, and the Good Shepherd says, follow me. So what kind of sheep are you, because if you say the Lord is my shepherd, you're basically saying I am a sheep. Am I going to be the kind of sheep that obediently follows after Jesus, wherever he says, patiently waits for whatever he has for me and trusts the Good Shepherd to do what is right in my life, even when things don't seem ideal? Follow Jesus Christ.

What does it mean to follow Christ well? How are others affected by the way we choose to follow Him?

Good morning. I don't know what this will reveal about my musical tastes, but I remember a few years back a popular rock group, Bon Jovi, had a hit. And the name of the hit was You Weren't Born to Follow. Now, why was that a hit? It wasn't just the music, it was that sentiment reflected where our culture is at. We are a culture that believes it's weak to follow. I was listening to a Nigerian pastor recently and he now pastors here in Chicago, but much of his upbringing was in Nigeria. So he comes and he brings a different perspective, a different set of eyes to see American culture with. And he says this: US culture primes us to be disdainful of being followers. He recounts how many people he hears say things like following is for sheep. I'm a leader. I don't follow. I lead. I wonder if some of us experience that even on a subtle basis. You know, we think of ourselves, I'm educated, I have accomplished a lot in my profession, in my vocation. People listen to me and I give direction. I'm not really one who follows. I'm one who leads. And I wonder how much of that spirit we bring into our Christian faith and into the church and yet the very definition of being a Christian is being a follower. That's what Jesus says of us in John 10:27. My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me.

When we hear the voice of Jesus in the darkness, the spiritual darkness of our lives. And we're called into the light, the very definition of what it means to be a Christian is to follow him. And out of that, to follow those that he raises up as his under shepherds over us in the church that he created. Why is this pertinent? I have been thinking about a lot about this, a lot about followership recently, because as most of you know, we are in the midst of the search for Calvary's next lead pastor. And as I reflected on Calvary's history, most of it I've learned just by reading it or hearing it, it does raise the question to me, are we prepared to follow as God raises up the next lead Pastor, God's under Shepherd, under the Great Shepherd. Are we prepared to follow? I think of the very definition of a pastor. Ephesians 4:12 is to equip God's people for the work of service, for the building up of the body of Christ, for the expansion of God's kingdom, and if that's really what we're calling a lead pastor to do. Here are some questions that I would put out to you rhetorically to think about. Are you open to being equipped? Are you really open and ready to be equipped to do the work of ministry? Are you ready to join the mission? Calvary has a new mission to make disciples of Jesus who live out passion for Christ and compassion for people.

And if we call a lead pastor to lead us in fulfillment of that mission, are you ready? Are you prepared to follow? Are you prepared to be led as we call the next lead pastor? And this all reminds me of a story, the story I will just call the story of the 12 followers, and it's in numbers 13 and 14 if you want to follow along. I'll kind of loosely hit the high points of the story. If you have your Bible, the story actually takes place at a location in Palestine called Kadesh Barnea. We're not exactly sure where we are, where we think this is, but this picture is the likely site or Kadesh Barnea is. Kadesh Barnea is an area somewhere near the wilderness of Peran in the Sinai Peninsula and the wilderness of Zin in the high country that's known as the Negev. And if it's this area that you see in the picture there, there is at least four springs. So it's an oasis area. It's the area where, as God led the nation of Israel out of Egypt and across the Red Sea and then to Mount Sinai, where he gave them the law. Then just before he was going to take them into the land, the promised land, he had them camp at Kadesh Barnea.

And it was there at Kadesh Barnea that God first spoke to Moses, the leader that he appointed, and he says to Moses, send men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each tribe, send one of its leaders. Send 12 men. Send 12 men up into the land of Canaan to spy out the land, to check out the land. And so Moses, the leader of the nation of Israel, hearing from God, takes that command, that mission, and he speaks it to the people. He sends them on a mission. And the mission is this. Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country, see what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, many or few. So think about that mission for a moment. Moses sends these 12 men on a mission and it's really a two part mission. The first part of the mission is check out the desirability of the land. See what the land is like. Is it good or bad? Is the soil fertile or poor? Are there trees growing on the land? He even commissions them. Bring back some of the fruit of the land, some evidence that this is a good a desirable land. So the first part of the mission is check out the land's desirability. The second part of the mission is check out the land's defenses, see whether the people are weak or strong, see whether there's just a few people or are there many people. Are there cities? Are there towns? Are they unwalled? In other words, easy to to enter or are they fortified? Do they have walls and thick defenses around them? See how defended the land is.

So he sends them with this two part mission on this forty day journey. And they go up through through the Hill country. They go through Zin they go to Hebron. They end up finally at what's called the Valley of Eskol. And then we pick up the story of their return. At the end of forty days, they return from exploring the land. They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh, and they reported to the whole assembly and they showed them the fruit of the land; and apparently the fruit was huge there. They brought back a cluster of grapes that had to be carried on a pole between two men. So just these few evidences of fruit were were enormous, showed that the land was incredibly bountiful, that the land was incredibly desirable. Now, here is the report that all twelve of the followers, all twelve of - you may think of them as the spies. This is what all twelve had to say. We went into the land. We went into the land that to which you sent us.

And it does flow with milk and honey. It is bountiful. It is desirable. Here is its fruit and they show them the abundant fruit. But then they continue on with some reality. And here is the reality in verse twenty. But the people who live there are powerful and their cities are fortified and very large, and we even saw descendants of Anak there. That was a race of people that that that were large in stature and powerful. So we might think of them as giants. So this is, at this point, this is still objective observation that all 12 of them are giving. And really, I point this out to say that all 12 of these men, these followers, they understood the magnitude of the task. This is going to be a big deal to go up and to take this land, even though it's a highly desirable land that God is providing to us. At this point the 12 followers divide and two followers say one thing and the other 10 say something else. Here is what two of the followers say. Joshua and Caleb. We should go up. We should take possession of the land for we can certainly do it. So they understand the magnitude of the task. And and what is their counsel to the nation of Israel? Let's go do it. Let's trust and obey and let's go take the land that God has given to us.

But the other 10 respond in a very different way. And they basically say this, we can't attack these people. Didn't you just hear us? Did you hear us that there are giants in the land. Didn't you hear us, that the cities are fortified, they are stronger than we are. They are all of great size. I think a little exaggeration is going on there. And we're just grasshoppers and their eyes. Two see one thing, 10 see something very, very different. And what happens? Well over, I'm guessing, the next several hours after this public report is given these 10 filter into the crowd. So they go back into the tribes that they were leaders from. And we pick this up in verse thirty two that the ten spread among the Israelites, a bad report about the land that they had explored after giving this public report they're back with their tribes and that same spirit in which they they said, you know, they're giants, that were grasshoppers compared to them. That begins to filter in their conversations with the different people and their tribe and the effect, the impact of that bad report we see at the beginning of Chapter 14. That night, all the people of the community, they raise their voices. They wept aloud. They grumbled against Moses and Aaron. Those 10 filtering into their tribes and giving that bad report has now created this mass movement, this grumbling.

And what is it that now all the community is saying? Here are some of the things they are saying. If only we had died in Egypt, if only we had died even in this wilderness, why is the Lord taking us to this country only to have us die in battle? Wouldn't it be better for us to return to Egypt? And they said to each other, we should choose a leader and we should go back to Egypt. There they are on the verge of a mutiny at this point. The ten had filtered into the crowds. Their spirit has spread among the tribes. And now that attitude has just infected the whole community. And now the community is ready to rebel against the very leaders that God has raised up to lead them on and to his blessing and to what he has promised to them. Now, Joshua and Caleb, they are still faithful. They're basically saying, wait, the land that we traveled through and explored is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into the land, a land flowing with milk and honey. He will give it to us only do not rebel against the Lord and do not be afraid of the people of the land. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.

Two voices against ten voices against what is already spread among the community. Does it make a difference? Not noticeably. We read the whole community began to talk about stoning. Now Joshua and Caleb, let's let's silence these voices. But then something happens. Then, in the midst of what is becoming maybe a mutiny, God makes his presence known, then the glorious presence of the Lord. Maybe that's the pillar of cloud or the pillar of fire in which God has manifested himself over his tabernacle before. The glorious presence of the Lord appeared to all of the Israelites over the Tabernacle. And now the Lord speaks. And the Lord says to Moses, How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me? In spite of all the miraculous signs that I have performed among them? They have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness. And they have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed me. And here's where we really have to go back and we have to read the first thirteen chapters of Numbers, because this is not the first time this has happened. This is by God's counting, the tenth time. Israel's grumbling, Israel's complaining, Israel's doubting began shortly after God led them through the Red Sea. And this is produce this rebellious spirit. And so this event is is not a one off.

This event really in God's eyes, is the last straw as far as he is concerned. And we see this in what he says. I will disown them. I will destroy them with a plague. But you, Moses. I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are. So God basically says I'm ready to start over. I'm ready to wipe them all out. And out of you, Moses, I'll fulfill my promises, but I'll raise up a new nation from your loins, from your descendants. And yet, Moses and all his humility, he pleads on behalf of the people. He prays to the Lord a prayer on behalf of the people, according to your great mercy, according to your great love. Forgive the sins of these people just as you'll pardon them from the day that they left to Egypt until now. Oh, God. Give them your mercy. Oh, God forgive them. Oh, God. Overlook their sin and forgive them. The Lord hears that prayer from Moses. The Lord replies, I have forgiven them. I have forgiven them, as you asked, nevertheless God truly does forgive them. God determines he's not going to wipe them out. He's not going to start over. And yet, even though that forgiveness meant that God would not destroy them all on the spot, it didn't mean that they would escape all the consequences of their grumbling of the rebellion, of their sin.

And he goes on to speak to them the consequences of this pattern of grumbling and doubting and rebellion, I swear to you that none of you will enter the land that I promised to settle you in except Caleb and Joshua. So all of that generation that had come out of Egypt and across the Red Sea and was now at Kadesh, all of that adult generation, God says you're not going to live to see going the entrance into the promised land. Your children, they'll see it, but they're going to be here. They're going to be shepherds for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness until you are all buried in the desert. The consequences even go further for those 10 followers, those 10 followers who saw the same thing as Caleb and Joshua, and yet they give a bad report. They produce this mass uprising. 14:36 tells us that the ten men who incited rebellion against the Lord with their bad report, they were struck down with the plague before the Lord. They died as a result of what they did in spreading the bad report. Now the story goes on. But I want to pause here. I want us to dwell here even as we think about how this may speak to us today, individually and corporately as a church body. Let me make a couple observations.

All of the followers, all 12 of the followers saw the same challenge. They all made the same observation. The people who live in that land, they're powerful, their cities are fortified and very large. There are giants in the land. They all made objective observations that were true. And that was part of God sending them. God wanted them to understand the magnitude of the challenge. This is not going to be easy. In fact, God wanted them to understand that this challenge was humanly impossible, that they could not do it in their own human strength. So all of the followers saw the same challenge. But what was the difference between the two and the ten? The difference among these followers was their perspective. Consider the perspective of Caleb and Joshua. The land is exceedingly good. They are focusing on the blessing that God has before them. They are focusing on God's goodness. He has set this before us. This is what he wants for us. They're focusing on God's goodness. They say he will lead us into the land and he will give it to us. Are you hearing that? There is a trust in God's goodness. There is a trust even in God's greatness. Yeah, this is humanly impossible. But he will lead us into the land. He can do it by his greatness and they say we should go up and we should take possession of the land. They're saying we need to trust and obey.

Yeah, we can't do this in ourselves, but we can do it if we trust and obey. And that's why the Lord said of them in 14:24, my servant Caleb has a different spirit. He follows me wholeheartedly, all of his heart, in other words, is given to follow me, I will bring him into the land. But the perspective of the other 10 followers was quite different. And what is it that they were saying? We can't attack these people, they're stronger than we; they are focusing on their human limitations. And, yes, they were very humanly limited. They are letting their human limitations stir up their anxieties and their fears. They are saying if only we died in Egypt, if only we died in the wilderness. You know, in essence that's saying it would just be better if we stayed here. Yeah, even if we die out staying here, this is more comfortable. This is easier. It just would be easier to stay where we are right now, even if we know that leads us nowhere. They're even saying we should choose a new leader and we should go back to Egypt. They're saying the past is better, the past that we don't remember accurately by this point, the past is better, we should try and go back to the past. And they are passive aggressively now beginning to rebel and beginning to say, we don't want to follow those that God has raised up to lead us.

We want to be our own leaders. And that's why the Lord said of these 12, they have treated me with contempt. God considers their lack of faith. God considers their grumbling contempt not just towards Caleb and Joshua, not just towards Moses and Aaron, but contempt towards him. They will not trust in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them. They have grumbled against me and he sums it all up in 14:33 as unfaithfulness. Unfaithfulness. That's his judgment upon these ten. I think you can draw the logical conclusion from this even to us today, the way that you and I follow affects other people. The way that you and I are followers influences other people, we see this in the 10, the ten spread a bad report among their community. And what did that result in? That resulted in the people of the community raising their voices and weeping aloud. In other words, they spread anxiety and fear among the community. And as a result, all of the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron. Do you understand what grumbling is? That word is used throughout scripture, it expresses the sullen dissatisfaction that we feel about our about our circumstances, about the the situation that we're in when we dwell on what's unpleasant that God is allowing in our life right now.

And we allow that to embitter our hearts, that causes that grumbling, especially as we express it to others. And not only grumbling, it resulted in rebellion. Rebellion is active opposition to authority, whether that's done passive aggressively or that's done is an outright rebellion. The way that we follow affects others. And in the case of the 10, you see, it had a dramatic effect with dire consequences. Now it can go the other way as well. Just as our grumbling and our doubting and our resistance influences others, so similarly our faith and our obedience can encourage others. It can inspire others. Are you facing a Kadesh moment right now, just you individually in your life, whatever you're facing, maybe it's in a marriage, maybe it's in your family, maybe it's in your work, maybe it's financially, maybe it's in your extended family. I don't know what it may be. Are you facing a Kadesh moment? Where right now, when you think of where you are, you are wandering in the desert, you are Kadesh Barnea. The Lord has blessing ahead for you, the Lord has places that he wants to lead you and bless you. And right now, you're in the wilderness and you are being tested for how you are going to follow him. You may even know God wants you to lead you into the land.

God wants to lead you into a place of blessing in your marriage or your family or whatever sphere it may be. But your doubts, your fears are causing you to focus on the giants, the obstacles, the things that you look at and you say, I cannot humanly overcome those. It's easier sometimes when we're in those Kadesh moments just to say I'm going to stay here in the wilderness. I'm going to stay here in the desert, I know it's not going to get me anywhere, but it's just easier. I don't have to fight it. It's just easier to stay here even if it means I'm going to die here. Or maybe in your Kadesh moment, you're even longing to return to Egypt, you're remembering the past, probably not with a very accurate memory and you're thinking, if I could just go back there, if I could just go back to that time in my life, if I could just get back to those circumstances before I was married or before I had kids or before I made those educational choices or whatever it may be. Are you facing a Kadesh moment right now individually? Now, let me make it corporate. Calvary is at a Kadesh moment. God is calling Calvary to go up and take possession of the land. We've set that out. I know it may seem vague to you, but we've set it out in a new mission that we exist to glorify God by making disciples of Jesus who live out passion for Christ and compassion for people.

We are we are sharing this with lead pastor candidates. We are we are asking them, how will you help lead us in fulfillment of that vision? We are sharing with our lead pastor candidates, we have a new value, love the lost and make followers of Jesus. How will you help us do that? How will you help us get out from the walls here, become more outwardly focused and love the lost and lead them to Christ? We're sharing with them our new core value of make disciples of Jesus who make other disciples of Jesus, and we're asking our lead pastor candidates, how will you lead us? How will you lead us and help us create a disciple making pathway so that we are more intentional and more focused on making disciples of Jesus who may go on to make other disciples of Jesus themselves? Calvary is at a Kadesh moment. Will we go into the land that God has promised? And we believe and we are praying that God will raise up a leader to lead us into the land, and by making that statement, I don't mean at all to equate the next lead pastor with Moses. All right. He is only going to be a man, but God uses men. The Great Shepherd uses under shepherds. And we are praising we are praying that God would raise up and under Shepherd to lead us into the land and lead us in fulfillment of that mission and those core values.

But here's the challenge, the challenge of going into the land, of reaching out into the community, of loving the lost, of making disciples; that challenge, just like the challenge to the spies it looks, and it is humanly impossible. They were seeing the defenses in the land of Canaan, I look out and I see the defenses in our culture. I see the growing cultural hardness to the claims of Christianity. I see the growing hostility to the gospel and the Christian message. You can see it. You can look all around you and you can see that going out into the world is to go out into a world, a culture that is full of growing strong defenses against penetrating it with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It looks, and it is humanly impossible. We cannot do this in our own strength. So here's the big question, when God raises up the next leader for Calvary, what kind of follower will you be? If God answers our prayers to bring us a man who will help us fulfill our mission, a lead pastor, what kind of follower will you be? Will you trust in God's promises and his power that this is really what he has for us.

He wants to lead us into this blessing. Will you follow like Caleb wholeheartedly, even when it seems humanly impossible? Or will you focus on your doubts and fears? Will you focus on the defenses in the world? Will you focus on how uncomfortable this may make us? Will you decide it's easier just to stay here in the desert, yeah, you know, we're we're really not going anywhere. But, you know, at least it's predictable, at least it's somewhat comfortable. At least I know a few people that I can say hello to every Sunday. Will you even long to return to Egypt thinking something like, you know, the problem is we just really need to get back to where we were 20 years ago or you put the timeline on it whenever it is, we really need to get back to fill in the blank. That's akin to saying we want to go back to Egypt, let's find a leader who can take us back to Egypt. Will you begin to grumble. Will you begin to let that that dissatisfaction of the current circumstances of the current situation grow in you, heat up in you till it spews out in grumbling, grumbling to each other, grumbling ultimately against the Lord. Will you passive aggressively resist? And even rebel, when God brings in a leader. What kind of follower will you be? Here is the reality, brothers and sisters, no matter how talented, how gifted, how experienced, how godly the next lead pastor is, Calvary will remain in the desert unless your hearts are prepared to follow.

And here's the real truth about all of us, we don't become better followers just by trying hard. In fact, our fallen condition is this. If you'd go to the next slide for me. Our fallen condition is described by the last verse in the book of Judges, everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Everyone does or wants to do what is right in their own eyes. Jon Bon Jovi. We weren't born to follow. That's the natural state of our hearts. I don't want to follow somebody else. How do I know they're reliable? How do I know they're a good leader? I don't want to follow somebody else. At the heart of that is really I want to follow myself. I want to live life my own way, even if that means without God, I want to be the leader of my life. That is the natural fallen condition of every one of us. And so we can't follow we can't follow in and of our own strength, but there was one who was the perfect follower. And this is where our hope is, God sent one into the world, the only one who has ever perfectly followed him. The one Jesus Christ who said of his mission, of his whole purpose, I do not seek my own will, I seek the will of the father who sent me.

And that one died on the cross, died in our place, died as a substitute, died as a sacrifice for your and my rebellion for your in my grumbling for your and my unwillingness to follow. He took his perfect followership, his perfect righteousness, and he paid the price, giving up his life in order to forgive us for our rebellion and our grumbling and our lack of of wanting to follow. And as we place our faith in him, as we allow him to be not just savior, but Lord of our life, his spirit fills us and enables us to follow. Enables us to follow Christ, enables us to follow the shepherds that he raises up under him as they follow Christ. Will you follow? We pray that God is raising up the next leader who will lead us in fulfillment of our of our mission, which we believe is leading us into God's blessing and into the fulfillment of God's will. Will you follow? You only can follow as you look to the one who perfectly followed, as you put your faith in him, as you follow the leading of the spirit that he has poured into your heart.

Let's pray. Jesus, we begin by confessing that we are like the 10, we see the reality around us, Lord, and we look at our human limitations, we look at our human desires, and we don't have faith to go forward.

Lord, it is just too easy to stay where we think it's comfortable. It's even easy, Lord, to want to go back to something, some previous time in life that we don't even accurately remember. And Lord, we are prone like these 10 men to grumbling. We are prone to resisting passive aggressively and actively. We're prone to rebellion. Lord, we are no better than Adam and Eve, our first father and mother, who were the first ones who turned away from following you, wanting to make their own choices. We need your work in our lives. Lord Jesus, we need you, the perfectly righteous one, the perfect follower. We need what you have done on the cross for us. We need the cleansing power, transforming power of the gospel in our lives. We need that individually, Lord, and we need this corporately. We want to be a church Lord that is on mission for you. We want to be a church that is faithful to you Lord. We are trusting that you raise up under shepherds under you the Great Shepherd Lord. And what we need now is a spirit where we can follow, we can follow in faith, we can follow. Trusting that you are good and that you are great. Give us the spirit Lord. Convict our hearts where they need to be convicted. Transform our hearts as we look to Christ. We pray this all in his name. Amen.

How does a church keep from going off course? What kind of shepherd/pastor is needed, and how should this individual lead and teach?

Thank you, Andy. We do trust in God's timing, but we do believe we're in the final season of the pastoral search. So we felt it is appropriate in this final season to prepare for the calling and the coming of the next lead pastor; prepare, even as we look at the word through the next couple months in our sermon time. Specifically, we are going to be working through some select texts that Paul writes to Timothy in first and second Timothy, that speak to what is it that we should be looking for and expecting in an elder, a pastor. It applies to really all levels of leadership. In one way it's a definition of spiritual maturity. So it applies to all of us who follow Christ, but it has very definite, specific application to what we're looking for in the lead pastor. And so today, if you have your Bibles, I will take the first of those sections, which is in First Timothy, chapter one. I want to begin with just something that caught my my eye over the last year. Maybe you remember back in March, you remember in the news this cargo ship that got caught in the Suez Canal. This cargo ship is called the Evergreen. It's one of the largest container ships on the on the oceans. Literally its length is skyscraper-like, that's how long it is. And somehow as it's making its way through the Suez Canal it got turned. So it was almost perpendicular to the canal, the direction of the canal. It got stuck in the side of the canal. And for five days they puzzled on how are they going to get this unstuck? It was a problem, of course, not only for the container ship, but for all the ships that were coming through the Suez Canal behind it. Over those five days three hundred and sixty ships backed up behind the the evergreen, waiting for it to get unstuck. It literally costs billions of dollars and lost time of the shipment of goods, all because somehow - it's still under investigation. Somehow this ship got off course. Well, we have an example of this closer to home. The last year, I believe it was last July up in Duluth. Maybe you recognize the Duluth lift bridge there. There was a ship that similarly going through the Duluth Lift Bridge on its way out of the harbor in Duluth, out into Lake Superior, got stuck. It's the Presque Isle. I've seen that ship. It's one of the largest ships on the Great Lakes. This is a ship that has gone through this passage many, many times. But again, for some reason, this ship got turned slightly and got stuck against the breakwall for a period of time. Again, not only stalling its progress, but backing up ships behind it. And again, not all the details have not been disclosed, but I think it would be very easy to say that, like the Evergreen, the Presque Isle got off course.

So I've been thinking about that image, that metaphor of getting off course. It really is a picture of what what Paul is warning Timothy about. Now, he is writing specifically about the situation in the church of Ephesus, but he could be writing to Calvary. So what is true of what is happening in Ephesus very well could be true of what's happening in Calvary or if you're visiting from another church, your church. This is really a threat both then and now. It is the threat like you see on the screen of churches going off course. And while there's many ways churches could go off course, probably the most fundamental, the most dangerous is churches going off course in their teaching. Why is this so important at this season? Because as we evaluate candidates for our next lead pastor, while that's not the only teaching role here at Calvary - there's others who teach from the pulpit, there's others who teach from from our adult Bible communities and in small groups and in other settings - this is a significant role. And the selection of a man who is at least going to be up here a majority of the time and the way that he will direct the ship of Calvary, so to speak, through its teaching, through its doctrine, if that gets off course, it presents a real danger to Calvary and, you know, if you wonder if that's just an idle warning;

No, I mean, we look at churches all around us today, even in our Rochester community, that years ago were perhaps on course that have become for various reasons off course and a ship getting off course has ramifications that affect many a church getting off course. And it's teaching has ramifications that that affect many. So let's look a little bit about how Paul addresses this with Timothy. We open verse three. I urge you, Paul writes, I urge you, Timothy, when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus. Let me just give you a little bit of a background context. Again, this could be written to Calvary. Ephesus was a church in a city, much like Calvary is here in Rochester. It was it was an area where because of its location on the eastern shores of the Aegean Sea, the western boundary of Asia Minor, it was an important place. It drew lots of people. It drew lots of intelligentsia. You know, Rochester certainly with the Mayo Clinic and and IBM and all the rest that goes along with that draws that same kind of people. Paul planted a church there, probably in the early 50s of the first century. We're not exactly sure there. It was on his second missionary journey. You can read about that in Acts 16, 17 and 18. And planning that church he spent almost three years there preaching and teaching, and then he moves on, moves on because there's other errands, specifically he is going to gather a collection for the poor, the people who are suffering in Jerusalem.

He goes over to Macedonia on the other side of the Aegean Sea to collect that. And he leaves Timothy, his young protégé, a young new pastor, somewhat green, inexperienced pastor in charge there, in Ephesus. But what he hears in the years that pass concern him. What he hears as we'll see is a ship, a church, getting off course. So we see that as we go on here in verse three, he wants Timothy to stand fast there in Ephesus, stay in the church, stay in that helm. Why? So that you may command certain people not to teach other doctrine. We don't have a lot of explanation - there's actually very little explanation in scripture of what's going on here - but I think we can make some reasonable assumptions. Who are these certain other people? Acts 20 records what he speaks to elders in Ephesus. So the leaders of the church sometime later, based on what's happening, we read in Acts 20 what he is concerned about going on in the church. And I think it helps us identify who these certain people are who are teaching different doctrine. He writes Acts twenty. I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you. There would be people he was concerned about who would come in to the church from the outside and maybe they presented themselves as believers and yet they had a motive.

They had a motive actually not to serve the sheep, to feed the sheep, but to prey upon the sheep, to take advantage of the sheep. And he says to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, it's not only those coming in from the outside that he was concerned about. He goes on to say, even from among you, from within the church in other words, some will arise teaching perversions of the truth to draw away the disciples after them. He knew that there would be people who who grew up in the church who were saved through the church, who for some, you know, based upon different complexities of motivations, would become wolves who who rose up from within and would teach perversion of the truth, would teach different doctrine. Why? To draw off a following after them. So I think that's what we see here in First Timothy 1:3 - other doctrine. Some of your versions, if you have a different version, may translate that as different doctrine as strange doctrine, as false doctrine. It's teaching. It's truth that is other than what Jesus and the apostles taught, that we have in the New Testament. What kind of false teaching was he learning about that they were teaching in Ephesus. We read that in verse four: myths and endless genealogies.

Now there are some particularities to that setting that may not apply specifically, but there are principles here that I think we need to be on guard against here at Calvary. What is a myth? A myth is basically the invention of the human mind. You might think of Greek mythology. Human minds made made up those stories of of Greek mythology. The myth here would describe the nature of any false teaching, anything that draws from human ideas rather than divine revelation, anything that draws from human perspectives rather than God's perspective represented in his word would qualify as a myth. He speaks about genealogies here. Again, we don't have a lot of detail, but there are genealogies of the patriarchs in the Old Testament. They had the Old Testament at that point. And what we believe was probably happening is that these teachers were starting with these genealogies. They were picking names of people identified in those genealogies and developing legends around them, developing allegorical interpretations from which they claim there was truth, that is authoritative. But again, it was mythical. It was the invention of their minds. It may have started with a real name in the scripture, but what they did with that name was certainly mythic. And Paul says that these are endless. In other words, it's their speculations without limits, without any biblical boundaries. And that would really, I think, be the principle here.

How do we know when when this teaching when teaching is false? Here's what's common to all false teaching. It goes beyond what the Bible teaches. It goes out into human inventions brought in to scripture in some way. Well, how do we see that today? In lots of ways that we see it today. Let me just mention three that I see all around us. I see under the broad tent of evangelicalism, this is by no means an exclusive list. There's a teaching that goes on in many churches today where we're some who are teaching would claim that they have an authoritative word. And what I mean by that is they claim to hear some direct revelation from God that goes beyond what is said in the scripture. And they claim to be able to give that and teach that as authority, that you should be bound by what they believe God has personally, directly revealed to them. And that happens. That happens certainly in certain areas of evangelicalism. But I hear it popping up more and more. Even even somebody saying something as simple as God told me that can drift into that idea of somebody claiming to have an authoritative word that is beyond what scripture says. Well we see this kind of thing, I think in those who Samuel Davies says it like this, who lose the fundamentals in the nonessentials. The fundamentals, as we'll get to in a minute, is the gospel, is the saving truth.

The nonessentials are things that are out on the periphery that may come from scripture, but to elevate a non essential to become the fundamental, the the highest priority can get a church off course. We see this as well as those who mix the word with current philosophies and with political affiliations. You get current philosophies, as I do, from the world around you. Every day we are inundated with the worldly philosophies about how we should think about human sexuality. And there are many teachers today who are mixing in those current philosophies of human sexuality with scripture, mixing it in and teaching it as authoritative and it is a different doctrine. It goes apart from what God has designed. You and I are inundated every day with with with human philosophies about race. And there are many who are teaching, taking secular, worldly philosophies about how we should think about race and mixing that in with what they claim to be biblical teaching. And that, too, is leading many churches astray. And then political affiliations, any time that a teacher takes and claims to teach from the word of God and steers that in one direction or another, attaches it with one political party or another, regardless of where it is on the spectrum. They're doing this. They're teaching a different doctrine because they are mixing it with something that goes beyond what scripture has to say. Well, how does this kind of teaching and there be many more forms that we could we could talk about if we were in discussion about this, how does this kind of false teaching pull a church off course just like those ships got off course? Well, we we see this in the second part of verse four.

These promote empty speculation. What is a speculation? A speculation is basically a theory. It's opinion. It's something that we reach by our own conjecture. Let me give you one example of of of a speculation that that made it to prime time in the evangelical world. It's been a few years, but you may remember a number of years ago, not so long ago, there was a book that became a bestseller. It was called the Bible Code. The Bible code was a book written by an Israeli mathematician. And what he claimed to be able to do is to decode the Bible and with the use of computers and mathematical formulas he claimed to run all of the Bible through this computer using these mathematical formulas. And he claimed that, as you did, that the mathematics revealed three thousand year old prophetic events that were that that nobody's ever seen in scripture before. He claimed that these mathematical formulas running the Old Testament prophecies through them clearly predicted the Kennedy assassination, the moon landing, the election of Bill Clinton and many others. That's pure speculation. You know, no man, no matter how good you are at mathematics, when when you create some kind of system like that that goes beyond scripture, that claims to read into scripture, something that has never been seen before, that's empty speculation.

And Paul warns about anything, whether it's the use of mathematics, nothing wrong with mathematics, but the use of anything that would be speculation that goes beyond what God has given us in his his word. There genealogical myths were nothing more than human speculation, taking a name and a genealogy and making some legend around it or spinning some allegory around it. Instead these lead us away from rather than going straight through the channel. What they lead us away from is God's plan. God's plan here or as some of your versions may say God's administration that refers to God's method of saving us from our sin. This is the gospel, the gospel that we are sinful, rebellious creatures and we are lost and we are perishing. And God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. God reaches into the darkness, out of his mercy and by his grace. And he brings us the light of Christ, the son of God, the perfectly righteous one, the one who, because he is the only perfectly righteous one, is able to die in our place, died in our place, taking upon himself all human sinfulness and bringing us forgiveness and bringing us new life and filling us with the Holy Spirit as we put our faith in him.

Any teaching that that takes us off course from the Gospel is exactly what's warned about here. Why is this so relevant? It's certainly relevant as we think about selecting those who teach. But I think why is it that we're even here? I had a striking event happen on Friday. I was in my apartment. I was coming home to my apartment and the elevator was blocked off. But the elevator doors open and there's policemen in there and they had one of those carts and there's a body on the cart. And as it turns out, as I learned later, that a neighbor, someone I didn't know well, but enough to wave on had a drug overdose and died. And I know this kind of thing happens all around us, but when you see it so close, it just reminds you of the reality of the world that we live in, that people are perishing, people are perishing all around us. People are perishing in our families. People who are neighbors are perishing. Those are people - I don't know for sure this individual. But but those are people who are in all likelihood, are perishing eternally, are perishing because they have not heard God's plan. They're perishing because they have not received the gospel. So any church that gets off course, whether it's the Bible code or whatever way they get off course and racial issues or in gender issues or whatever it may be, is like that ship, those ships crashing into the side rather than going straight through.

People need the church to be going straight through the channel, to be changed by the gospel ourselves and to be taking the gospel out into the world, to our neighbors and to our family members who are lost. Saving faith is based upon the historical truth of the gospel. It's not based on speculation. Saving faith is revealed by divine revelation, not by some code, not by some invention, some fable, some allegory. So teaching that does not point us to God's redemptive plan, it takes us off course as a church. You see why it is so essential that in our selection of anyone who fills this role in the pulpit, but as well as any other teaching role at Calvary, why it is so essential that it is someone who teaches the word and teaches the apostolic doctrine of the Christian faith. And actually to not do that, to go astray in one of these ways. Again, that not only keeps the church from making forward progress in its mission, but it holds everyone back as well. So what kind of teaching what kind of preaching keeps a church on course? Paul speaks to that in verse five when when he writes the goal of our instruction. What instruction is he talking about? He's certainly talking about his teaching.

He's certainly talking about Timothy's teaching, but he's talking about all our teaching. He's talking about what should come from this pulpit here at Calvary. He's talking about the kind of instruction that should come from our adult Bible communities. He's talking about the kind of instruction that should come from your home small group, the goal of our instruction. Why is it that you sit and you listen to to somebody preach or teach? Why is it that you participate in a small group Bible study? What is the goal? The goal is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Here's the standard that we should be applying not just to our pastoral search, but to how we look at anyone who's going to have a teaching role here at Calvary. And this has become, for me, one of my life verses as God has called me into pastoral ministry. Why? Because it goes beyond even the content of what we teach to my motives, to what is in my heart. So what is the motive? What's central to the motive that should be in all of our teaching? Well, you see it, there - it is love. It is love. And I know that term is overused and I know the definition of that word is is stretched beyond all limits by our culture today. But we know what that says.

We know what Jesus taught us in Matthew 22. He teaches us it's about loving God and it's about loving your neighbor. We encompass that in our mission here at Calvary. Why is it that we make Disciples of Jesus, we make disciples of Jesus who are going to live out their faith in Passion for Christ. That's the love for God. And compassion for people. That's love for people. You know, when I came and I began my interviewing as part of my transitional role here and I interviewed many of you, one of the phrases that I heard over and over again is well Calvary loves a deep teaching. And I believe what was meant by that is Calvary loves preaching and teaching that gets deep into scripture. And that is a good thing as long as it's not an end in itself. If deep biblical teaching is an end in itself, we just want to fill our minds with more and more knowledge of scripture. That can get us off course. Filling our minds deep teaching is a means to an end. But here's the end. The end is is love and is the character of Jesus Christ being reproduced in our lives. The end of deep teaching, of filling our minds with biblical knowledge is a growing love for God, Passion for Christ, and a growing love for people, compassion for people. How does this love grow?

It grows first of all, from a pure heart and again, you can hear this and you can just apply this to what we should look for in our next lead Pastor. I take it beyond that, this is what should be the standard for anyone in any leadership role at Calvary. This really, because it's a definition of Christian maturity, should be what we all aspire to. So it speaks to us on each of these levels. A pure heart. Our heart is where our attitudes are formed. It's it's where our motives are developed. It's where our priorities are shaped. So think about that. What does it mean to have a pure heart? None of us has a pure heart. Our hearts are washed by salvation when we come to Christ. But our hearts live in the world and our hearts are polluted by our own flesh. So we need the continual cleansing. We need to continually cleanse our selfish attitudes and our selfish motives and our selfish priorities by the word. We're looking for a lead pastor who models that. What is it to be real about who we are as people in this fallen world, as people still with the flesh at war with the spirit in us? We need our leaders to model this, but we each need to be growing in this to, that continual cleansing of the world, not just from a pure heart, but love from a good conscience.

I think you have a sense of what conscience is. It is that inner sense that lives in your head that says this is right and this is wrong and our conscience is really polluted by the world until we come to Christ. But as we come to Christ, Paul tells us in Romans chapter two that God's law written on our hearts becomes the voice that either accuses us - you've gone astray, or it teaches us that we're doing right. So what does it mean for our lead pastor and our leaders and all of us as we grow in Christ to have a good conscience? Well, again, I think as we think about how this applies to all of us, it means that when my conscience is marred by sin. First of all, I'm to deal with that immediately before God through confession. But it also means that when I have sinned against someone else or offended someone else, I'm to address that through the immediate confession of sin. This is certainly true of who we're looking for in our next lead pastor. But this is true of every one of us who claims to follow Christ. From a sincere faith. Sincere means, genuine, sincere means without hypocrisy. It means without any pretense. But I think there's something more here. You know, when I began preaching, at least when you begin to preach as a young man, there's an initial excitement, wow, I got people's attention and and they're listening to me.

It doesn't take very long of doing it before you realize I have nothing to say. I have nothing of value worth listening to. In fact, if I don't believe what it is that I am representing from this word, I would better serve this congregation by closing my mouth and sitting down. And so what does it mean to have to have a sincere faith? It means that it is more than a competency to present the word. It is a conviction that this word actually changes and transforms as the Holy Spirit uses it. And that's true of all of us. We need to not only be men and women who know the word as we follow Jesus, we need to be men and women who actively believe the promises and the principles of the Bible. And we believe them so much that we are willing to act on them. That's what we need in the man who fills this pulpit. And so we need in anyone who teaches in any setting, that's what we each need to grow in our own lives. You know, when the Evergreen and the Presque Isle, when they went off course, two things happened. They stopped going forward. No more forward progress. And they blocked everything behind it. They blocked the progress of any other ships. And to have a teacher who is teaching different doctrine, have a teacher who is really a wolf, who is really in it for themselves and what they can get out of it, that causes the church to go off course to stop making progress in its mission to impede anybody else from making progress. We see a little bit of that in verse six. When they deviate from these, when they deviate from love, from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith, they turn aside to fruitless discussion. I like how some versions translate useless or fruitless discussion, useless talk, empty arguments. How often do we in the church get caught up in arguments that really are useless, that are vain? They they don't advance the course. They get us off course. Steven Cole says we in the church often get caught up with the trivial and we neglect the crucial, the gospel. We argue finer points of theology, but then we shred relationships. We focus on knowing the Bible, but we forget that the goal of knowing the Bible is to change our lives and not just to fill our heads. Fruitless. Maybe the thing that we should ask for before we get caught on that into that next deep theological argument is, is this discussion, is it actually producing fruit? Is it edifying? Is it helping people grow more and more into the character of Christ or instead of producing fruit, does it have the tendency to produce thorns and make us more thorny, argumentative people? The goal of our instruction and what we're looking for in our next lead pastor and what we seek for all of our teaching forms at Calvary and what each of us seek as we grow in following Christ, the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

What does this mean as we look for our next lead pastor? What does this mean to apply this as we think about what you and I, what we expect in our next lead Pastor? What's most important as we evaluate what our next pastor - who he is and what he is like? What does this mean as we identify and raise up future leaders here at Calvary and bringing it home individually, how does it shape us in how we believe that Christ is calling us to grow?

I want to close. I want to pray two scriptures that just really have impressed upon me as I think about not just our pastoral search, but the growth and the maturity of our body together and individually. Let me pray, Lord, you brought Hebrews 4:12 to mind that your word Calvary claims to love your word, Lord. Your word you say is living and it is active and in the hands of your Holy Spirit. It is sharper than any two edged sword, that it pierces to the very heart of us. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. That's what we need, Lord.

We each need that that ongoing heart surgery. Those who are here yet, who don't know you as savior and Lord Jesus, they need the word piercing you piercing into the darkness of their lives and bringing the light of the gospel. Those of us who that has happened, Lord, we need that ongoing conviction and that ongoing transforming work, your sanctifying work in our lives. That happens as we listen to your word, as we hear your word taught, as your Holy Spirit presses it in. And then, Lord, you brought to my mind Romans 1:16. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. What it means to be going straight through the channel Lord is to focus on the gospel, to have our teaching not get caught up in abstract arguments, certainly not in human speculations, but our teaching to continue to lead us back to the Gospel, to lead people to the foot of the cross. My neighbor needed that Lord. Every one of us here can think of people in our lives who need that. We need that. So we pray, Lord, as we search for the next lead pastor, we pray as we think about the future of Calvary. We pray as each of us, Lord, contemplate what does it mean to follow you faithfully and allow your spirit to continue your transforming work in our lives? Let your word driven and empowered by your spirit, change us and transform us and make us more like Christ. We pray in your name. Jesus. Amen.