(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) you you you Well good evening everyone welcome back to Mountain Baptist Church Take your song books and turn to song 159 Song 159 and we will not be singing any Christmas songs Sorry sorry, that's that nope still December. What does that what's that matter? No more Christmas songs my friend. No sir all right. We'll sing blessed be the name song 159 All praise to him who reigns above and majesty supreme Who gave his son for man to die that he might man redeem Blessed be the name blessed be the name blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be the name blessed be the name blessed be the name of the Lord His name above all names shall stand exalted more and more At God the Father's own right hand where angel hosts adore Blessed be the name blessed be the name blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be the name blessed be the name blessed be the name of the Lord Redeemer savior friend of man once ruined by the fall Thou hast devised salvation's plan for thou hast died for all Blessed be the name blessed be the name blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be the name the name Blessed be the name of the Lord His name shall be the counselor the mighty prince of peace of all Earth's kingdoms conqueror Whose reign shall never cease Blessed be the name blessed be the name blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be the name blessed be the name blessed be the name of the Lord Let's pray Heavenly Father Lord again. We just want to thank you God for just our church Thank you God for your word. Thank you God for our pastor. I pray Lord that you would just Bless everything and said and done tonight help it to be for your honor and glory We love you for it's in Jesus name we ask all but amen all right may be seated and 10 turn in your some books to song 188 Song 188 and your song books will sing the love of God song 188 The love of God Is greater far than tongue or pen? Can ever tell it goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell the guilty pair Bow down with care God gave his son to win his erring child he reconciled and pardoned from his sin Oh love of God How rich and pure how measure less It shall forever more endure the saints and angels Song when horrid time shall pass away and earthly thrones and kingdoms fall when men who hear Refuse to pray on rocks and hills and mountains call God's love so sure Shall still endure all measure less and strong Redeeming grace to Adam's ray the Saints and day Jell song Oh love of God How rich and pure how measure less And strong it shall forever more endure the Saints and day Jell song could we with ink the ocean fail and were the skies apartment main were every stock on earth a quail and every man a scribe by trade to write the love of God above would drain the ocean tribe nor could the scroll Contain the whole though stretched from sky to sky Oh love of God How rich and pure how measure less and strong it shall forever more endure the Saints and day Jell song Amen go back to mama Amen welcome mountain Baptist Church on this Wednesday evening and Just some announcements here but also on Sunday, I forgot to get the soul-wanting numbers for the week before Does anyone remember? what that number was or During that week that Monday So to Was there any any other that week To on Thursday So for total I'll write that down this coming Sunday. Just kind of maybe think about it and make sure and then What we're gonna do at this this Sunday, is that whatever? Souls were saved this week because I know there's already some this week, right? That we're gonna be counting up to Saturday. So Sunday is beginning the new year. So When we got soul-wanting on Sunday if we see any be saved we're gonna keep that we're gonna actually hold that number for the next Week and then after that will be normal. So because we always count the numbers from everything from Monday to Sunday essentially and This will be a little different because we're gonna be like keeping back the number from Sunday if there's any saved this Sunday And then holding that for the next then it'll be like Sunday to Sunday one week and then we'll go on from there But if you remember any others from before Christmas Okay Okay, so I'll put five here and then What we're gonna end up doing is we're gonna be adding We'll be adding another number really It's like holding on the antimatter right there So We'll be adding whatever number we have this week already and then up till Saturday As far as the number goes so that will have like a whole number for 2022 okay, and so As you can tell if you have your bulletin, we're above 700. So praise the Lord for that As far as the soul saved this this past year And then Soul-winding times there. So as far as the service times everything Everything's gonna be normal this coming Sunday. We're not doing anything as far as any type of party or anything like that for the New Year's just because I'm not staying up till midnight and then coming to church the next day and dealing with no sleep, so But all the service times will be normal on Sunday And then the soul-winding time will be there as well on Sunday at 1 p.m Now this Friday We have the men's prayer meeting, but I'm also going to be leading up a soul-winding time at 3 p.m So I tried to do that last week and then it was like the coldest weather we've had in a long time so negative 22 wind chill So we didn't go last Saturday, but this I mean this last Friday, but this Friday supposed to be 60 degrees so quite a difference in temperature and one week difference there, but so Tentatively, I'm gonna be leading that up as far as the other regional times here Obviously get with get on the whatsapp there as far as the men that are leading those up there this coming week and Then we had the women's prayer meeting there on the Saturday in the January there We have our chapter memory for until we get into January is first Thessalonians chapter 3 Isaiah 9 6 is a memory verse for the week Being prayer for my wife on the pregnancy list there as we are Coming getting closer. So the due dates February 8th We've never made it to the due date I think it's gonna be a January baby unless it comes tonight or something like that but But just being prayer everything goes well there As far as other announcements we will be Ending or finishing up the book of 1st Peter. I haven't decided yet. What book I'm going into next week, but Yeah, I'll figure it out And so Yeah, I think I might do Luke but I haven't decided yet completely yet. So but Anyway offering boxes in the back. They're going to give a tithe or an offering And then the mother baby rooms for the mother's babies only it's all I can think of right now as far as announcements and But Dave's gonna come and sing one more song and then brother Joseph's going to be reading 1st Peter chapter 5 for us All right, take your song books and turn to song number 97 Song number 97 in your song books will sing. I need the every hour song number 97 I need the every arm most Gracious Lord no tender voice like thine can peace A form I need the oh I need the Every hour I need the oh bless me now my Savior I come to the I need the every hour stay the nearby Temptations lose their power when thou are nigh I need the oh I need the Every hour I need the oh bless me now my Savior I come to the I need the every hour Enjoy your pain come quickly and abide or life is vain I Need the oh I need the Every hour I need the oh bless me now my Savior I come to the I Need the every our most holy One oh Make me thine indeed thou Blessed son I need the oh I need the Every hour I need the oh bless me now my Savior I come to thee All right, take your Bibles and turn to first Peter chapter number five first Peter five and we'll have brother Joseph read that for us First Peter chapter five And it found your place there you'll say amen The elders which are among you I exhort whom Who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed Feed the flock of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint But willingly not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind Neither as being lords over your over God's heritage of being in samples to the flock When the chief Shepherd shall appear you shall receive a crown of glory That fadeth not away likewise younger Submit yourselves unto the elder Yea, all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility For God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble humble yourselves. Therefore under the mighty hand of God That he may exalt you in due time Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you be sober be diligent Because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour Whom resists steadfast in in the faith knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your your brethren That are in the world But the God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus After that ye have suffered a while make you perfect establish strengthen settle you To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen by Sylvanus a faithful brother unto to you as I suppose I have written briefly Exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein you stand the church that is at Babylon Elected together with you salute you and so doth Marcus my son Greet greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus Amen, let's pray Lord father. Thank you for this time that we're able to gather together Lord I thank you for your pure and holy word in this study through first Peter Lord ask you be a pastor and edifies this evening in Jesus name. Amen Yeah, this lights a little it's nice up here so brother Shane He put these lights in before but he added these other three on here so so we should have enough light up here And we are finishing up first Peter and so one of my favorite books in this chapter here in chapter 5 really does kind of start off dealing with dealing with being a pastor or being an elder or a bishop and This passage actually the very beginning here kind of mentions the three The Titles if you will that are associated with that position So throughout the Bible you kind of see where it talks about someone being an elder or being a bishop Or being a pastor now In this passage here when you're dealing with elders You can have people that are just elders as far as like they're older, right? They're elderly, you know, you kind of think of that term Meaning like they're just older right? They're not young. They're they're the elder, right? But but when you're dealing with positions of authority What that's usually dealing with is not necessarily the age as much as the spiritual You know being an elder spiritually Okay, and so when we're dealing with this in verse first Peter chapter 5 verse 1 here says elders Which are among you I exhort Who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed So this tells us something that Peter actually was a pastor he actually was over Church he was an apostle, right? but just because you're an apostle doesn't mean that you're a pastor or you're a bishop because Actually apostle Paul never calls himself an elder or a bishop or a pastor though. He is an apostle. Okay, and Go to first go to tie to chapter 1 tie to chapter 1 Just so you see this correlation with elders and bit and being a bishop and you know you don't my title is not elder Jason Robinson because It's been tainted, you know that that terminology although I am an elder in the church, right? But at the same time I don't take that as a title because you're gonna think I'm Mormon, right? It's the same reason why I'm not Bishop Jason Robinson, though It wouldn't be wrong to say any of those things, but you know you when you think of Bishop you think of Catholicism right and so We we use the term pastor which pastor is synonymous with Shepherd. Okay, and so When we're using that term pastor, it means like I'm the shepherd of the flock if you will And so we'll see that that idea of elder Bishop Shepherd pastor, you know that synonymous terms they're Used in this passage, but I want you to see in Titus chapter 1 and verse 5 here It says for this cause left I the the increase that thou should have set in order to things that are wanting in ordain elders in every city as I had appointed thee so things that are wanting me and your things that are needed, right To be found wanting is meaning like you need something like and the idea here. Is that what's wanting? what's needed is that you ordain elders and You could look at that and be like well, you know They just need to be elders that you're ordaining like they need to be an elder in the faith if you will Which is a true statement, but I believe that When it says like an elder that's actually a title as well and I'll prove that to you in another passage But no says it's going to use this synonyms of ordaining an elder and it says In verse 6 which also shows you to that That that Paul appointed Titus to be an elder Right as I appointed thee right so you need to ordain elders the same way I appointed you. Okay, and In verse 6 here says if any be blameless the husband of one wife having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly Notice in verse 7 for a bishop must be blameless. So when it's talking about ordaining elders, you need to be blameless For a bishop must be blameless So when it says for a bishop must be blameless is calling you back to the elders that are being ordained Okay, and so in this passage you can see well Okay, a pastor if you will someone's gonna be leading the church. It needs they need to be an elder They also need to be that their position is a bishop which is Literally means overseer. Okay, someone that's overseeing The affairs of the church if you will but in for a bishop must be blameless as a steward of God not self-willed not soon Angry not given a wine. No striker not given a filthy lucre but a lover of hospitality a lover of good men sober just holy temperate holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught that He may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convince the gainsayers And so there's a list there and you you know in your homework You can look at first Timothy chapter 3 and see a very similar list as far as the qualifications for a pastor And it talks about if you desire the office of a bishop if any man by the way Desire the office of a bishop he desires the good work and so The op that's an office, you know being a bishop. That's a position. Okay, and To be a bishop. You need to not be a novice meaning you need to be an elder in the faith but let me give you some proof that that can be a title if you will as far as Like a pastor is a title bishops the title Go to a second John second John verse 1 second John verse 1 Another man that was also a pastor if you will was the Apostle John So the Apostle John and I'm talking about John the son of Zebedee, you know James and John that John Referred to himself as an elder. Okay, it says in first our second John verse 1 it says the elder unto the elect lady and her children Whom I love in the truth and not I only but also all they that have known the truth go to 3rd John In verse 1 the elder unto the well-beloved Gaius whom I love in the truth And I don't believe he's just saying I'm old and I'm writing to you, right? I'm the old one. I Don't that's not what he's stating The reason he's stating that is because he's showing that he has authority to write unto this this person. I am the elder okay, and Sometimes in the Bible talk about the elders of the church and but then it talks about them being overseers okay, and I'll get to those verses as well, but Here we see that Peter is an elder. Okay, so he's writing on the elders, but he's saying who I'm also an elder so this gives us some information and We already know that Peter Had a wife right because in in the Gospels, there'll be there's a story where his his mother-in-law Was sick right his wife's mother it actually says it was sick So this idea, you know, the Catholic Church wants to say well Peter was the first pope. Well, he had a wife and By the way in order to be a pastor the qualification is that you're the husband of one wife having faithful children Right not accused of right or unruly and so you need to be married with children. There's a reason for that This isn't a whole sermon on qualifications of a pastor But the reason of having faithful children or having children is so that when you're ordaining somebody You know that that person is ruling their house. Well But also if you're if you don't know how to take care of your own children How you can take care of the house of God, right? It's kind of like this test and they're like, okay He can handle his own kids like if you can't lead your wife and your children, how you supposed to lead the whole church and Listen that qualification is not something like like when I got ordained My pastor deemed me faithful and and counted me, you know worthy of being ordained and thought that I was ruling my house well and and and you know having faithful children all that and but listen if my children start being riotous and unruly and my wife doesn't listen to me and you know She's just back talking me in front of everybody and like all that stuff and you can just tell my house isn't in order And guess what? I'm no longer qualified That's not something where you know, like I was qualified five years ago, and you can't do anything about it now right, so it's something that has to be an ongoing qualification and Same thing with all the other things that are in that list as well when it comes to being a pastor You know what I need to be living You know as close to that standard as possible and none of us are perfect Obviously if you want my children to be perfect then find a pastor that has perfect children, but good luck, right and But at the same time, you know, we should be striving that our children are behaved and they're not like They're not Eli's children that are Right. They're they're like sons of Belial and stuff like that. Sorry. I need to dry my water So Anybody any pastor that their children it becomes a child of the devil becomes a reprobate They're disqualified. I mean good night At that point you would say you did not raise your children Right, and you should not be in the position of a pastor, right? It doesn't mean the person's unsaved. It just means that they're not fit for that position. Okay now Go to 1st Peter chapter 5 because Actually 1st Peter chapter 5 gives us some great information as far as what a pastor should do right meaning that you think of Titus and you think of 1st Peter or 1st Timothy chapter 3 as far as Qualifications and that's kind of telling you like you need to have this in order to even be qualified for this position But what is the position? What are you supposed to do in that position and 1st Peter chapter 5 is one of those Those passages I always look to as far as what's my job Right, what's my job and what's not my job, right? So sometimes when you're looking at your job, you're looking at like what is not my job And this passage really kind of shows you both. What is the pastor's job and what's not the pastor's job? Notice what it says here in verse 2 feed the flock of God, which is among you That alone right there gives you a job It is that I'm supposed to be feeding the flock Okay and Feeding the flock. I'm going to show you a passage on that as far as what that means but we're dealing with feeding you doctrine feeding you the Word of God and You know edifying So that you'll learn right? you need a spiritual sandwich that you can you can bite into right and Not just hearing milk, you know, not just getting milk every single You know service by getting like a t-bone steak every once in a while something you got to chew on Okay, and But notice that it also says in there feed the flock of God which is among you So who's my responsibility? Who am I pastoring the world or Mountain Baptist Church? My responsibility and where my where my job Starts and ends is right here Does that mean that I can't? Try to go outside of that and try to help and try to help other people that aren't a part of our church Doesn't mean I can't do that. But listen, it's not owed to them, right? I've had people, you know contact our church sometimes and they're just like you owe me an answer You know, like they'll contact me about some doctrine or something like that and be like you owe me this answer I'm like, I don't know you anything but to love you and maybe give you the gospel if you're not saved But at the same time like this idea that like I'm that I'm their pastor It's like no, I'm not not unless you come here and you're part of this congregation. Am I your pastor? But as a Christian obviously I could reach out and try to help people with certain things if they're if they're outside of our church I'm not against that but But I do owe you that that makes sense. Like I owe you to be fed I Am my I'm commanded to feed you and That should be the priority right meaning this is that I'm not against going outside that we put our stuff on YouTube and and we're trying to Spread the word and spread and I'm not trying to hide anything right? We'll preach it upon the housetops but My job is you This church and that should be the focus and I think sometimes Pastors that get big and like they they they get a big, you know audience and there's nothing wrong with that sometimes they can lose the focus as far as their congregation that's among them and their focus is out here in the world as far as reaching people outside that congregation and Again, it's not inherently wrong to do to reach those people out there. Obviously, it's a good thing I think you should reach as many people as you can but always keep the focus on the flock that's among you Okay, and I'm just telling you when I read this passage I'm like, this is what I'm like honing in like where what are my priorities? What are my responsibilities and listen you here at the church should love that right? And hey, listen, my passage for us first Right. It's about those that are here first and then anything that he has extra He'll give outside of that as he as he will but listen if things start falling apart or there's a problem here I'm gonna focus on that before I deal with anything else outside of this church Okay, and that's something to kind of think about when you're going through this passage and especially if there's any out there that want to Be a pastor one day This is a great guide as far as what's your role? What's not your role? What's your job and what's not your job and sometimes that'll take off that anxiety Like I feel like I need to like I must I'm it's oh, you know that I do all this other stuff But really it's not in the idea here Is that what you do? Oh is your flock to be fed and that is your job and you better be doing that. Okay now It says taking the oversight thereof now. Here's where that term Bishop comes in the term Bishop means an overseer So I'm to feed the flock and you can think about how what is a shepherd do they feed the flock, right? A Shepherd feeds the flock, but they they're also the overseer They're overseeing it and this is really where you see the authority that's in line here is That the pastor is the ruler of the church. You're like, I can't believe you'd say that word Well, the Bible is going to use that term ruler of the church meaning that this is not a deacon board run church where we it's a Democracy as far as what goes on here now Obviously Jesus is the head and the scriptures the head and you as a congregation could say hey, you're the leader But you're going down the wrong path and here's why and here's the Bible, right? So the Bible is a final authority but in the end if I'm not going against the Bible you follow my lead That's how it goes. This is a pastor led Church. I am the overseer now obviously Jesus is the head and I answer to Jesus But listen when it comes to what I preach and what I do, the only person I answer to is Jesus Okay And I pretty told sermon on us being autonomous. We're independent, but I don't get permission From anybody else besides the Bible. Hey what I preach or what we're doing now I may seek counsel and I may ask opinions right when it came to this book Well that we that I you know, I went through here. I asked what book do you want me to go through? But does that mean I'm not the leader because I'm asking you like we took a boat We did a democracy didn't we where we voted on you know on the whatsapp as far as like what book do you want me? To do but listen, if I if I didn't feel like doing first Peter, I'd been like we're not doing that Right. I'm just like yeah now that's cool that you guys want me to do that, but I'm just not gonna do it. So Now Obviously I do take your input though, but it's just like my wife, you know, like my wife I allow her to like give me her opinions When it comes to things to do and I'll ask her about that But in the end the buck stops at me and I'm gonna make a decision The same thing happens with the church. I'm the overseer and listen being the overseer meaning that I'm making the choices Becomes has great responsibility because now what happens whether it's good or bad falls on me right If I make bad decisions that I and I'm doing something that's wrong And then or I'm going down the wrong way listen, it comes back to me and so Yeah, I mean there's power there, but there's great responsibility that comes with that power and that authority now Keep reading they're taking the oversight site. They're up not by constraint, but willingly Right you want someone that's willingly doing this. They're not just being constrained to do it. Listen. I Love being your pastor. I Don't have to be your pastor, but I'm not being forced to do this. That makes sense I'm not like being held at gunpoint like you're constraining me. Like you're just like get up there and do that you know like no, I want to I desire to do this and But at the same time, you know, you need to have that person that's willing they want to willingly do that job. Okay Because the person that willingly is doing it is someone that is gonna enjoy doing it to where If I didn't enjoy writing sermons, imagine how boring and like just dry those sermons would be Don't you want a pastor that when they're preaching a sermon they're excited about it Like oh man, he actually at least he's excited about it, right? You may not be excited about it, but at least the pastor is excited about it Whatever he's preaching on you want at least to have that to where I'm willingly coming up here. I enjoy coming up here It's not like some you're constraining me to do it now It says not for filthy lucre, but of already mine So obviously not for the money this does not mean that a pastor cannot be paid right because the Bible talks about those that preach the gospel shall live of the gospel and and Obviously, it's very biblical for a pastor to be paid, but it shouldn't be for the money right like I'm doing this to make money Like and that you could look at the televangelists You know the Joel Steens and just the Benny hands and all the all the false prophets out there But listen a saved pastor could also be doing it for that reason You know just because they're doing it for filthy lucre doesn't mean that they're unsaved though That puts up some red flags, you know when I see I see you know Preachers that are doing you know to make a whole bunch of money and being a millionaire out of it then You know, I'm obviously gonna be looking at their doctrine and see if this person's unsafe now It says not for filthy lucre, but of already mine notice in verse 3 here Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being in samples to the flock and when the chief Shepherd shall appear He shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away So I'm gonna get to that that other point about being in sample unto the flock or not being lords over God's heritage But the chief Shepherd shall appear notice that it puts a qualifier or puts a you know, basically This this adjective if you will to the Shepherd right the chief Shepherd because we're talking about the elders which are what shepherds the whole idea of feeding the flock is that you are a Shepherd you are a pastor now go to Ephesians chapter 4 Ephesians chapter 4 in verse 11 There's actually only one place in the New Testament testament where it's using the word pastor and But in the Old Testament actually uses it a lot But pastor and Shepherd are synonymous think about The pasture Right, like you have like let's say you have like cattle out in the pasture, right? You can see that word pastor in that word, right? And so But you could look it up I mean if you look up the word pastor obviously gonna be like well It's a it's a man of the cloth or it's a clergyman or something like that But if you look up the etymology of the word, it's a shepherd. Okay, it's someone that keeps you know The flock or feeds the flock But that term is used in the Bible. It says in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 It says and and he gave some apostles and some prophets some evangelists and some pastors and teachers For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God until a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ notices that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cutting craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceit When it says feed the flock of God a big portion of reason why we're feeding the flock of God is so that you'll have Good doctrine so that you're not going to and fro As far as to the cunning crab There's a lot of false doctrines out there and there'll be these enticing doctrines that look good on the surface But you need a pastor that's an elder in the faith If you will that knows doctrine that can nip that in the bud real quick Because someone that's that's green as leaf in spring that does newly saved they could see a doctrine and there's a verse that they're using But they don't have all the Bible in the back of their mind to say hey, this is why that's completely messed up But if you have a pastor who's not a novice and they hear that document say this is why it's wrong Here's this verse. Here's this verse. Here's this verse Here's this verse and this completely annihilates that idea and just rejects it out of hand automatically. Listen The Bible says the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you and you need not that any man teach you But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lie And even as it hath taught you shall abide in him This is true as day as long you can as a saved person. You can understand the Bible just as much as I can But everybody's had a different level spiritually speaking as far as their Bible reading their Bible knowledge And so having a pastor that you're going to church That will help guide you to where maybe you're not at that level yet And you you hear something that that he can step in and say hey, this is why that's false Before you even get to the point of studying into it Obviously you need to study it out yourself like all these doctrines You need to study out yourself and you need to know why you believe it and where it's found that and all that right the whole idea is that all of us are coming to that Perfect man of understanding and we're all striving for that We're never gonna attain unto it in this life But at the same time we're striving pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus We're trying to attain we're trying to apprehend but everybody's at different levels the idea is that your pastor should be up here and Then the church members are like all these different levels. You may have church members that are right up there with your pastor Okay, but a growing church should have all those levels right we should have the babes in Christ down here And we should have the intermediate and we should have those that know a lot about the Bible But listen, this is the pastor should be up here and there could be people right up here with them in this realm But you don't want your pastor down here And a lot of cases in churches what you'll have is you'll have the pastor that's down here in Bible knowledge And then you'll have people that have come in that are up here in Bible knowledge and you know what happens It becomes this big conflict because now you have Someone that's in the church that knows a lot about the Bible. The pastor is the leader though, right? he's the leader and now it's like you got this is all messed up should be this way and Listen, I'm not claiming to know more about the Bible than than everybody in here But listen, there should be a noticeable You know level knowledge that the pastor has When it comes to the confidence at least be on par right It shouldn't be like, you know, like half the church knows more way more than the pastor Like that's messed up. Okay, and by the way, what are you coming to learn then? Right if I'm down here, what am I gonna teach you? Okay, and listen you can learn Something basic from someone that doesn't know a lot. I'm not saying that but listen You I know I would want to go to a church where? Listen, the pastor knows a lot and I could learn a lot from him and I want to I want to attain unto where he's At that's the ideal situation and obviously that's my goal as a pastor. Is that One I want to teach you everything I know but I'm not gonna just stop learning Right. The idea is that next year. I know more than I know now Right Each year I want to gain more knowledge So if you're if you're like, hey, I want to attain unto the pastor and I'm just using this as a hypothetical obviously They're there. There are people in here that know maybe a subject more than I do, right? But let's just say in generality here. Let's say I'm right here and this person's right here. Well, let's say in 2022 they gained a little bit of knowledge, right? I mean they're they're hearing preaching. They're reading their Bible They're going out. So any they gain some knowledge and they've they've come up a little bit Well, you know what? I'm doing when they're doing that I'm trying to gain knowledge at the same time and it should be this like basically we're just going up together But the problem is that sometimes pastors will just be like wine. I've read the Bible scores of times, you know Why do I need to learn anymore, right and It's easy for us to look at other churches to be like We already know mountains more than these churches over here that can't even spell the Ten Commandments Let alone quote them off to you, right? They couldn't tell you how to get someone saved. They couldn't tell you, you know Just simple doctrines and you can say well, we already know more than them But listen comparing yourselves among yourselves is not wise and you should be comparing yourself to the Lord As far as if you're trying to attain unto Christ and then apprehend Christ But the same thing with the pastor you should not think that you've attained ever It should always be that you're learning more and the more I read the more I learn the more I realize I don't know and That's where it gets into the increase of knowledge is increase of sorrow because you're like like man I really don't know as much as I thought it did the more you know and anybody that has learned and Studied and looked into things the more you realize like man. I had a simplistic view of what this was But how much more this opens up when you learn more about it? Okay, so You know in your in your homework you can look at Jeremiah 23 Where it talks about pastors and God is reprimanding there. You could turn there. I may read a little bit of it here for you, but But the big thing that we see with pastors here is the fact that you're supposed to be gathering those to the flock and you're Supposed to be feeding them. It says in in Jeremiah 23 in verse 1 It says well one to the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture Set the Lord so you kind of see that pastor pasture, you know Therefore that's at the Lord God of Israel against the Lord God of Israel against the pastors That that feed my people you have scattered my flock and have driven them away and have not visited them Behold I will visit you All right visit upon you the evil of your doing said the Lord And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of the countries whether I have driven them and will bring them again to their Folds and they shall be fruitful and increase and I will set up Shepherds over them Which shall feed them and they shall fear. No, no more nor be dismayed neither shall They be lacking said the Lord and listen, this is I believe dealing with coming from the Old Testament New Testament Okay, because then it later talks about the branch You know the Lord coming and the Lord our righteousness and all that But think about this in the aspect of there's a lot of churches right now that have pastors that are not feeding their flock They're scattering the flock. I believe there's a constant renewing of this where You have where you have bad and bad leadership needs to be needs to be renewed and Here's the thing There's never there's never been this broken chain of Legit churches out there that are soul-willing Okay, I don't believe that for a second because Because the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith And if churches are beginning churches and you know as far as the church is sending out people to start churches There's never been a broken chain but I do believe that there's times where There's there's a lot of churches that are just have bad leadership that aren't feeding their flock And sometimes that needs to be renewed or regenerated Right where there needs to be those that will step up and say you know what? We're done with the shallow doctrine We're done with the shallow soul-winning. We're done with this week Christianity We're getting back to the roots of the Bible back to doctrine and I believe this has happened throughout history And I believe our type of church and as far as when it comes to doctrine is that kind of rejuvenation if you will of Pastors that are preaching sound doctrine that are you know, actually feeding the flock Okay, at least that's what I'm trying to do. Right? That's my goal as a pastor. Okay, go to Acts chapter 20, Acts chapter 20 just to show you a place where overseers where someone's Where elders are being called overseers now in this passage. We're dealing with a church at Ephesus. Okay, so When the one place that pastors are actually mentioned is in the book of Ephesus or the Ephesians In Acts chapter 20 this also shows you the job of a pastor So when I think about what's my job I think of 1st Peter chapter 5 and I think of Acts chapter 20 honestly and obviously Jeremiah 23 because sometimes you can look at what you're not supposed to be doing as far as like, okay, here's what we should be doing and But in Acts chapter 20 verse 25 it says now behold I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching Whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God shall see my face no more Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men But I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God It take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock Over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God Which he had purchased with his own blood So the same kind of language that's used in first Peter right taking the oversight feeding the flock It later earlier in this passage. It talks about him calling for the elders of the church of Ephesus Okay, and they had I believe they had multiple pastors Okay, which if you have a whole bunch if you had thousands of people then maybe that would be warranted to have multiple pastors But I do think you'd always have a senior pastor you see this in the in Jerusalem the church that was at Jerusalem You had you know, basically the elders coming up But then James I believe the Lord's brother James was the senior pastor because he was the one that was basically calling the shots he's like here's what we're gonna do right and But here it's stating that you're the overseers But you're also feeding the church of God feeding the flock, right? But I know this in verse 29 that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you Not sparing the flock also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years. I cease not to warn ever warn every night and day with tears, so Another point here is to be an overseer to be a shepherd You have to be willing to fight off the wolves Right, but protecting the flock. So you're feeding the flock, but you're also protecting them So with some false doctrine comes in here. I'm gonna beat that away with a stick Right false prophets come in here You know you have you have infiltrators that will come in listen. I'm to be vigilant. I'm to be looking at that I'm the overseer and I'll deal with that And I have dealt with that in the past when either when it comes to doctrine when it comes to people in the church that have had to Had to get rid of and I'm not talking church discipline. Like we want to reconcile. No, they're gone forever and But you need to have a pastor that's willing to basically fend off the wolves Okay That's the whole point of having a shepherd right is to leave the flock where they need to go to find green Pastures so they can feed but also to keep the wolves away And there's gonna be wolves in sheep's clothing Which is kind of what they're talking about that there's gonna be some that arise up among you Right, meaning that they're gonna look they're gonna act the part and act like they're one of us and all of that and Not that the frightening be like who in here is a wolf, right? You know the idea there is that if you're vigilant and sober then That's where you're gonna spot it. Okay, you're gonna see the signs and And all of that now go to 1st Corinthians chapter 11 1st Corinthians chapter 11 another thing that the Bible says in 1st Peter is that That we're not to be lords over God's heritage, but being in samples to the flock Now this is where is that I am the I am the leader in this church I am the ruler if you will of the church. Jesus is the head I'm the under Shepherd if you will, but he's the chief Shepherd But I'm the one in authority that's boots on the grounds. I'm the one in charge, right? But when it comes to this I'm not to be a lord over you right what you do when you go home I I am NOT in charge of you I'm not in charge of your family I'm not in charge of your kids. I'm not in charge of your wife. Listen, man. I you know, I When you're here in this church, I'm in charge Right when you're here at this congregation I'm in charge, but I'm not gonna come to your house be like you get this junk out of here What are you doing over here and just start like rolling your life and telling you how to do everything? Okay? That's where you know, but there are pastors that are that way where they just like listen You know what? I don't like this person. You don't listen to him Right, I mean this is something that's pretty prevalent especially, you know with the the old IP new IP thing Meaning that you're like you listen pastor Anderson You're not to listen to him What in the world that's starting to get cultish right there, right? You're like you don't listen to him You don't turn on that. Yeah, it's like listen, I can warn you and say listen I wouldn't listen to this person right if you like me saying like listen Paul washer You don't want to listen to that fool But listen if you want to go home and listen to Paul washer weep and have that puppy dog looking Stupid face that he has when he says stuff you want to do that go nuts man, you know Like have at it. I can't control what you watch and what you do, but listen while I'm here at the church I'm gonna say he's an idiot in the false prophet and I don't know why I'm picking on Paul washer at the moment But that's just an example. Okay But the same thing would apply if there's a preacher out there that maybe I don't like or you know I'm not friends with or whatever, but you're like, I like that guy. I listen to him like I Right as long as I'm your pastor as long as you don't disrespect me You know and not coming at me with some kind of disrespect and be like hey You should be more like him and just constantly like comparing me to this preacher over here and saying you need to be like him And all that listen, but listen, but also this I'll say this There are preachers that I hold up a lot higher than I am right I mean as far as their knowledge or preaching capabilities But I'm also not intimidated by them Okay, meaning this is that if you told me I Just I'll give an example pastor Anderson is a good friend of mine and you said to me. Listen, I think he preaches better than you one It's probably not a smart thing to say to anybody right that your friends would be like they're better than you, right? It's not tactful. But listen, if you said that I'd be like, well, he's a great preacher. That's great He's a friend of mine, you know, like that's great But I'm not gonna be intimidated by that and being like man I really need to try to up my game so that this person over here and makes me number one Right. Does that make sense? I'm not in it for this competition or like at some kind of competition with other pastors if you like another pastor more than Me and you're like, but I'm kind of stuck with you As long as we're getting along and we're like going and we're going soul-winning and we got the same goal. Listen, great I don't expect everybody to me to be their favorite. Okay when it comes to that So I don't get intimidated by that type of stuff Anyway, and and listen it when it comes to doctrine you say well this person has this document over here. Bring it on If if that part if you want to defend some doctrine that some other pastor teaches that I disagree with then You know for lack of better terms come at me bro, you know with whatever you got and I'm a loving way obviously I'm not gonna fight you but I'm just saying like Like show me the verses show me why and Listen, I'm gonna show you why you're wrong Now there could be a case where I'm wrong that's actually happened believe it or not No, it's good. But obviously I have been wrong about certain things and you know what if I'm wrong then great You showed me that I'm wrong and I'm gonna switch on that because the truth is what matters anyway now When it comes to this being in a sample to the flock think about that term like sample in there Right you think of an example, right? You're setting an example, but if I will sometimes we'll use that term in sample Which I kind of think about being like a sample of what it needs to be right and in 1st Corinthians chapter 11 verse 1 It says be followers of me even as I also am a Christ the idea here is that you are to follow me as I follow Christ and but Here's a problem is when you have a pastor or a leader that doesn't do it what they tell you to do Right. Imagine if I said to you you need to go out soul-winning, but I never went out soul-winning What if I said hey, you need to read your Bible, but I don't read my Bible Well, I said you need to memorize your Bible, but I don't memorize my Bible, right? You guys need to sing your hearts out of church, but I don't sing at church, you know Does that make sense? Like do you see how that won't work and Many times when it comes to soul-winning Listen, you can have people in the church that are trying to get a soul-winning program to go But if you don't get the leadership involved, it's not gonna stick And the reason it's not gonna stick even if that even if the leadership isn't trying to like stop you if the leadership isn't involved being that in sample being that example and and and and you know, basically Pushing the path. It's gonna fade It's gonna fade and also you're not gonna have the respect for your pastor if they're not going Okay, imagine if you all went so winning and I never went but I'm up here like you need to go out soul-winning You need to preach the gospel you need to get people saved and then I'm just like, yeah, I'm not going you'd be like Why am I listening to you talk about it? Why am I listening to you get all like, you know excited about it, but you don't do it so We need a lead by example, you know, that's a part of being a pastor there And there's other verses on that first Philippians chapter 3 talks about Brethren be followers together me and mark them which walks so as you have us for an example for in samples So meaning this is that to mark others that are like let's say false prophets You use good prophets use as a mark right kind of as the rule Okay, this person's a good problem. They're going out soul-winning. They're doing what they should be doing Let's compare it to this person over here. And that's how you can have a rule right you have kind of a standard comparing things to okay and And being followers of those that which is good and those that are following Christ. Okay? Go to first Peter chapter 5 verse 5 first Peter chapter 5 verse 5 so You know when a chief Shepherd shall appear you shall receive a crown of glory that faith is not away I do believe that there is a crown of glory for those that are pastors This is where you kind of get into like the 24 elders that you see in Revelation I do think that there's an honor given to those that are pastors but at the same time You know, there's the crown of righteousness the crown of life that anybody can have as well And I'm not saying the crown of glory can't go to other people It doesn't say like this is this crown of glory is only for pastors Does that make sense? Like maybe the crown of glory is for anybody but pastors Specifically get this crown of glory because of the work that they do right, but but that kind of what that talking about there is that This is a job. This is a work. This is an office is something that you're you know, obviously Takes time and effort to do and here there is a reward for it Okay, and that's kind of what it's getting to there as far as if you want to do the opposite of Bishop It's not gonna be for naught right God's not gonna expect you to do all this extra work and take all this extra upon you and then like You could have just sat in the pews and didn't have to do anything else besides endless and I'm not saying like Like there's this big divide between us but I'm saying that it is extra work to preach the sermon It's right sermons and to pastor and to oversee and all that stuff. There is an extra amount of work That's there now going to 1st Peter chapter 5 verse 5 It says likewise you younger submit yourselves unto the elder Yea all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with Humility for God resists the proud and giveth grace to the humble and it makes me think of that verse It says rebuke not an elder but in treat him as a father Obviously that's a good role for just older people in general is that you treat them with respect But obviously when you're dealing with the office of a bishop and someone that's an elder in the church Is that you need to be respectful to that person and to obey them? Okay Now let me give you some verses on this go to Hebrew chapter 13 Hebrew chapter 13 and the fact that the Bible talks about Those that rule over you and I believe it's talking about at in the church For example, you know in the church on the pastor brother Dave's a deacon I'm obviously Higher in authority than brother David brother Dave is also in the office of a deacon meaning he does have authority in the church and You know, obviously the buck stops at me, right? but there are certain things that I just tell brother David like hey you figure that out you do that you had the authority to Do it and but it comes back to be like hey pastor We need to know like which way to go on this then it comes back to me, right? And but there is an authority structure here people that would have the rule over you in the church. So and For example with the music, right? I'm kind of hands-off with the music besides Christmas time when I say we must sing Christmas hymns and brother Dave doesn't like it I do have to pull that I had to pull rank When it comes to Christmas and pull rank and be like no we're singing Christmas songs Okay, but when it comes to the music to be honest like when when he's you know Practicing with brother Nick and the other men and women that are like leading music over here I'm not real. I'm not involved in that Right, like I'm not overseeing that particularly But obviously brother Dave has a question be like hey, we want to do this song. Are you okay with that? If it's in the you know, obviously there's gonna be songs like we've always sung this it's not an issue He's not gonna ask me about it But he does have the authority there to make the call the shots and if brother Nick came up and says hey I'm we're gonna do this one and then brother Dave's like no we're not but Dave's gonna Call shot. Does that make sense? Not that brother Nick's ever done that. Hey, no You listen to me Now in Hebrew chapter 13 verse 7 it says Remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the Word of God whose faith follow Considering the end of their conversation that kind of sums up what I'm talking about there Right is that I have the rule over you, but I'm speaking unto you the Word of God. I need to follow my lead, right? Follow me as I follow Christ and then in verse 17 it says obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as They that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable to you Or unprofitable for you and when it comes down to this when I make decisions in the church and I have to make hard decisions What you have to understand is I'm making these decisions Because I care about the flock and want to make sure the flock is taken care of and that we're doing the right thing Right and you may disagree with those decisions. I remember, you know when COVID hit for example, and I decided that Since we didn't know what was going on and all this stuff that we would do a live stream only For and it was like for to serve two Sundays or something like that And I know there were people that disagree with that. Like they didn't have to say it. I just knew it, right? But in the end I was making a decision because I was looking out for the safety of the fog Right because I didn't know like it if I know what I'm now obviously I wouldn't have done it, right? But you know when you're in that position you have no idea what's going on. Everybody's talking about is so deadly It's like the bubonic plague, you know, it's like the Black Plague and we just don't know Everybody's gonna drop like flies. We had no idea how bad it was That at that time I had to make a decision and it was based off, you know protecting the flock and protecting people physically, right and When it comes to that you just need to follow the lead there and even even if you don't agree with it and You could look back and be like see pasture. It was nothing burger, right? Well, sure everybody has 20-20 vision when they're looking back at it okay, but when you are leading a flock and you're responsible for their safety and you're Responsible for their souls and this could be on a spiritual level. This could also be on a physical level, right? because I take I want to take responsibility for you know the safety of the people in this church and When it comes to that you just need to follow the lead of the pastor even if you don't agree with it okay, obviously if you think your pastor is causing like is a Endangering the life of you and your family then you need to like Do what you got to do to keep your family safe, but if you think your past is being overly conservative on that You just need to follow their lead unless they're doing something Like like let's say I was just like still not having church services and we just shut it down I mean at that point you had to find out the church by this point, right? That church does not exist anymore, but I'm just giving that as an example of a case where it's not really a biblical thing as much as it's you know a decision that was made that I had just made and You know, I I have to own it and I do own it and listen Knowing what I know now I would have made a different decision, but knowing what I knew then I would have made the same decision Okay, and same thing going forward, you know something you're just not gonna know what is actually going on Sometimes so where you got to make those decisions now look at first Peter chapter 5 and Verse 6 there Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you now This path, you know this idea of humbling yourselves and God exalting you is throughout the Bible You think of Proverbs you think of James James chapter 4 says almost the same exact type of thing humble yourselves in the sight of Lord and he shall lift you up and Really when you when you think about this obviously There could be times where For example as a pastor I may make a decision and you're right All right, obviously if I'm making a decision, I think I'm right, right? Or else I wouldn't be making that decision But maybe there's a case where you're actually right. You just have to humble yourselves and just follow the lead sometimes This could be at your job too, by the way, right your boss is making a judgment call and you're like That's not the best way to do it You know, the answer is not just me like you're an idiot. What are you doing? Right? The answer is just like yes, sir You know, let's do it now There could be a case where your boss says hey, you know Do you have a better way of doing this and then you can kind of chime in right? You know when it comes to maybe a decision maybe I say hey, you know, can I get your advice on this? What do you think is the best route to go here in the end though? Who's making the decision the boss, right? The boss makes the decision But the boss can choose to not take any advice The boss could take advice and he also has a decision whether he's gonna even take that advice or not meaning like whether he's gonna actually heed that advice or if he's gonna say I'm gonna do what I thought was the way to go anyway, right? And so but you need to be humble this this this verse in verse 7 here is one of my favorite verses It's a very simple verse, but it's one of those verses that just hits hard at least with me personally Casting all your care upon him for you careth for you and I don't know why this verse Hits me so hard But you think about like in life and how you got like all the weight of the world on you you think about like your Job, and I think of men, you know because I'm a man so obviously I'm thinking about what men think about but when you go to work and just it's a bad day and You're just the world, you know, you're thinking about like man. What if I lose my job? How am I gonna pay the bills? How am I gonna pay my mortgage? How am I gonna get food? You know, what if this happens? What if this happens? I got this family to feed How am I gonna do this and there's just certain days you just feel like the weight of the world's on your shoulders This verse just always speaks out to me. He's just like the Lord's just saying just give to me But not only give it to me. He's saying because I care about you Or he careth for you and there's how many verses are there about how God loves us But there's just something about that phrase he careth for you. Right and thinking about like does Jesus care yes, he does care right and we have a whole him dealing with that, but this verse is just one of those verses that I just love because It's just God saying give it to me because I care about you right and You know when it comes to that we need to and it takes the humility to come to that level right to say I can't handle it I Need help, right? So you need to humble yourself to the point where you will actually cast all your care upon him but we should be to that point where Where we're going through life and we're trying to bear our burdens, but just constantly just telling the Lord look Lord I can't do this without you. I need your help Even when you don't think you need help, I think that's a good attitude to have that even when you're just like I'm getting it right We're doing great We need to still have that mind that I can't do it without God though, right without God. This is all fall apart We wouldn't accomplish any of this if God wasn't helping us in this. Okay now go to first Peter chapter 5 verse 8 and And We'll get into a verse dealing with the devil here It says in verse 8 here says be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion Walketh about seeking whom he may devour Whom resists steadfast in the faith knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world Now in James chapter 4 says resist the devil and he will flee from you So when you think about this verse that you're being sober and vigilant So that you'll be able to resist the devil right and it even says that in verse 9 whom resists steadfast in the faith So the idea here is that if you resist them he's gonna flee from me Think about Jesus when he was tempted for 40 days and 40 nights What do you do those three times that it mentions he resisted the devil those three times. What do you do? He fled away You resist the devil. He'll flee from you the more you resist them the less. He's probably gonna try to come at you All right, it's kind of like futile right it's like every time I come after this guy he keeps resisting me But then the person that keeps giving into it It's like well every time I come out of me he gives in so I'm gonna keep going after that guy right think about it that way as far as the the mentality there of Just resisting and standing your ground against the devil But the thing that really obviously you want to be sober and vigilant and that's something that a pastor should be But we should all be this way Listen that that qualifications for a pastor. It's not just for a pastor, right? The qualifications are for church members that want to be a pastor, right? You have to have this qualification before you can even be a pastor That means everybody should be trying to attain that to that. Right? The idea is that everybody is you know Keeping these things and they're not a novice and they're not double-tongued and and just going down the line as far as These attributes and features and and you know things that you should have we should all be striving for that and But the thing that sticks out here is that obviously we should be resisting the devil But when you're when the devil's coming at you the biggest thing that I think That he a lot of times will attack you at or well where he'll try to hit you mentally is that you think you're alone Okay Just from experience of dealing with persecutions or dealing with things like that The number one thing that I think about is like I'm alone. Everybody's against me right He just I think the whole world is against you everybody's against you and the devil's coming at you and you're just all alone, right and Even when Jesus was alone, you remember he said I'm but I'm not alone Because the father's with me, right and we know that if God be forth who can be against it So we're never alone because God is always with us But notice what it says here in verse 9 whom resists steadfast in the faith Knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world That verse right there that portion of that verse know this is that the same things going on with the brethren that are in the world You know that tells me is that you're not alone When the devil's coming at you and there's persecutions and trials and tribulations that are in your life That you had there are brethren all throughout the world that are dealing with that same thing and you're not alone in that and so if there's anything to know when you're dealing with trials and tribulations is that We're in this together Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution I mean all those that are living godly out in the world are dealing with these same afflictions they're dealing with the devil coming at them and You're not alone. They're dealing with the world hating them When the world hates you it's listen, I know That we should expect it. I know that the Bible says if the world hate me They will hate you right the Bible says that it still doesn't feel good does it? When the world hates you, right? Sometimes there's something in the flesh right and I'm talking fleshly speaking here spiritually speaking. You should rejoice right fleshly speaking You don't like it when people don't like you and It's something you have to deal with and the fact that But I'm not alone. They hate him over here. They hated Jesus They hated all the prophets and there's people in the world right now that are being hated for the cause of Christ being hated because They believe the Bible and you have to know that you're not alone Okay, that's a good reason to come to church too because every single time you come to the church service You're like, I'm not alone Right, you're out in this world where everybody believes crazy stuff they're not saved or you're dealing with saved people that don't believe that that aren't like holding to the Bible and all this stuff and When you come to a like-minded church, you're like, we're not alone Right. There's that fellowship of like hey, we're in this together You know all that now Go to a go to Luke chapter 22 Luke chapter 22 And verse 31, it's interesting that Peter's writing this About the devil. Okay seeking whom he may devour Remember who's writing this epistle, right? He's writing this epistle And he's talking to the stranger scattered throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithynia And he's saying I'm speaking to the elders right now that are in those provinces He's like, I'm also an elder But I want you to think about how this this this came true how this this writing right here Obviously, this is Scripture. It's under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost But it is Peter that wrote it of what Jesus says to Peter here in verse 31 So Luke 22 verse 31 says and the Lord said Simon Simon Behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not and when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren Now isn't that exactly what's going on here, right? And we know that Peter kind of faltered right Peter denied Jesus three times and then even after the resurrection he's like I go fishing and He's kind of like going back to being a fisherman and not doing what he should be doing, right? But then after the conversation with Jesus, he says feed my sheep feed my land, you know He says that three times and it's kind of like the opposite of him denying them three times But it makes sense because he's an elder now that's feeding the flock and now what's he doing? He's strengthening his brethren because the devil tried to sift him as wheat That makes sense. Like the devil was coming after him The devil was like a roaring lion seeking who he may devour and he was trying to devour Peter And he's and and Jesus saying when you're converted that doesn't mean like when you get saved It just means when you get back on where you should be at, right? meaning like he's talking about after he went a fishing and and Started doing what you should be doing that strengthen your brethren notice this verse now Think about that when you think about this verse in verse 10 here But the God of all grace who have called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus after that you have suffered a while Make you perfect Establish Strengthen settle you to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen So notice how that couples in there that you need to be vigilant because your adversary the devil was a roaring lion Walketh about seeking whom he may devour And then he's saying, you know the God of all grace let him establish Strengthen settle you and what did Jesus say when you're converted, you know, he's he's gonna try to sift you as wheat You need to strengthen the brethren That's exactly what he's doing here in this and it's written in the Bible for us to see and I love how the Bible just you know kind of comes true where Jesus is telling him to do this and you see him actually Doing it right and but also just know this that Peter was obviously a great apostle and a great man of God, but Satan tried to sift him as we it almost it almost actually happened, right Peter wasn't gonna lose the salvation but imagine Peter being taken off the soldier list if you will as far as for the cause of Christ and Think about the effect there that that would have on the kingdom of God now You think about how this this gets into following Jesus steps if you will about suffering right After you have suffered a while And this kind of gets into the whole premise of this book Remember that I told you that the premise of this book is that we're gonna have trials and tribulations and don't haven't we seen it on every single chapter Every single chapter is dealt with a fiery trial which is to try you think it's not strange Right considering the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened Here's talking about after you have suffered a while and chapter 1 chapter 2 chapter 3 dealing with the same thing that there's they're gonna Persecute you as evildoers even when you're doing well But think about this with Jesus the Bible says That and and Hebrew chapter 2 verse 10 It says for it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things and bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings You know the Bible's teaching here is that you want to be perfected as as a Christian Well, how do you perfect your faith? How do you how do you have perfect? Faith well you'd be like Abraham and not only get saved, but through the works right, and then you'll be the friend of God How do you increase your faith? Well? You know you pray fast and You can increase your faith How do you how you perfect your faith well, I mean how do you be perfect well you learn the Bible obviously All Scripture is given by inspiration of God It's profitable and it goes on to say that they may be throughly furnished perfect or perfect throughly furnished unto all good works Or that the man of God may be perfect right, but think about this how there's another element of being perfected right and that is suffering and Suffering tribulation that that will bring forth that perfection right that trial where you're gonna be refined and You know so we need to think about that when it comes to the sufferings and trials that we go through There's many verses on this talks about if we suffer with him. We shall also reign with him It will be joint heirs with Christ because we're already heirs with Christ, but it will be joint heirs if we suffer with him Okay, and there's that added You know reward if you will if we suffer with him Now getting down to the end here. It says in 1st Peter chapter 5 It says in verse 13 the church that is at Babylon, I'm sorry did I skip a did I miss a verse here verse 12 Anyway verse well let me just read here by Sylvanus a faithful brother unto you as I suppose I have written briefly exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God wearing you stand I think I yeah, I copied the wrong verse on here anyway So Sylvanus I believe Sylvanus and Silas are the same person just as much as Timotheus and Timothy are the same person Okay, it's just a different way of saying the same name, but it's basically like Sylvanus here is Is writing this with him and he's talking about how he testified of the true grace of God wearing we stand And we definitely saw that I mean chapter 1 chapter 2 we see the grace of God is by faith It's by the blood of Christ, and he's testifying of this But in verse 13 there says the church that is at Babylon elected together with you salute with you and so does Marcus my son Greet you one another with a kiss of charity Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus Peace be with you you all that are in Christ Jesus amen now the kiss of charity Let me just say this we're obviously talking about like in certain countries you kiss people on the cheek and stuff like that That's not our custom here, so when it comes to the kiss of charity Fist bump you know will do But obviously we're talking about greeting people with love and charity right and with the kiss of charity If you're in that culture obviously there's nothing wrong with that But you know what especially right now. We're not kissing anybody okay as far as the the sicknesses that are going around but But the thing that I want to point out here, and it will be done Is that the church that is at Babylon elected together with you I? Believe this is talking about the church that is at Rome okay now This is another sermon for another day, but when you're dealing with Babylon You're not dealing with just a physical location of like in the Calvary's right Babylon was completely Babylon as far as a physical Babylon was completely decimated and said that no one would ever live there again Okay, so to think that this is talking about a church That's in physical Babylon that you see like in Jeremiah and all that that's not what we're talking about And I'll give you I'll give you one I one if you want to look at this later and Ezra it talks about how King Cyrus he was the Persian right Cyrus the king of Persia. It says that it talks. It says Cyrus the king of Babylon But if you understand that seven-headed dragon is that you have all these different nations throughout the history of time That is Babylon okay, so Egypt was Babylon Assyria was Babylon Babylon in the Calities was Babylon But then you had the Medo-Persians Then you had the Grecian Empire the Roman Empire And I believe that what it's stating here is that Rome at that time was the Babylon okay? I believe today if we're in the end times America's that That seventh head if you will that were waiting that was they were waiting for back then So I believe personally I believe this isn't talking about the physical Babylon that was destroyed. This is talking about Rome Okay, because at that time the Roman Empire was in its prime, okay? Now when it says elected together with you so with you and so doth Marcus my son I personally believe that mark that wrote the book of Mark is actually Peter's son okay, now it says here that Marcus my son you could say well, it's his son in the faith and You know granted it does talk about Timothy my son But a lot of times like Timothy mine own son after the common faith or Titus mine own son after the common faith When it's saying Marcus my son I personally believe that this is actually Peter's son, and that's why we see mark being one of the Gospels right I Personally believe that mark and Luke were apostles okay now Let me give you a few verses here, and we'll be done to kind of this maybe it should be its own sermon, but go to Acts chapter 12 Acts chapter 12 is where Peter was in prison and This is where the gates open and God breaks him out of prison if you remember James the son of Zebedee was killed with the sword by Herod Peter was in prison and they were holding him until after Easter and Basically basically till after the Passover was done there. He's gonna bring forth I don't know if they he's probably gonna try to kill him who knows but but anyway he ends up escaping But notice where he goes So in Acts chapter 12 verse 11 it says and when Peter was come to himself He said now I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent his angel and had delivered me out of the hand of Herod and from all The expectation of the people of the Jews and when he had considered the thing He came to the house of Mary the mother of John whose surname was Mark Where many were gathered together praying so after he gets out of prison. Where does he go to begin with well I? Believe he's going to where his actual his wife is that okay now the Bible talks about him having a wife It doesn't mention his children But for him to be a pastor he has to have faithful children So we kind of have to assume that if he's following the Bible when it comes to being a pastor being a bishop that he Actually has children That mark would be that and and you say well How do you know that he's his son because first Peter it says Marcus my son I? Take that literally okay Which also kind of explains why mark you know you look at John mark in this passages, right? This is where Paul gets upset because he leaves them he departs from Barnabas and Paul when they're in Pamphylia and Paul's like I don't want to take mark right and Barnabas says I do and then they split off from each other right and But then you're like why is mark writing a book of the Bible if he like had this downfall or whatever But if you understand that he that he's Peter's son that you can understand that listen Peter and his wife and his children were there with Jesus from the very beginning Do you think that Peter just left his wife and children and didn't see them for like three years? Or do you think they were all there with them during that time obviously Peter was the 12th one of the 12 right mark wasn't I'm not saying mark was one of the 12 but I do believe that the New Testament was written by apostles and When it comes to mark it says in Colossians Chapter 4 verse 10 it says Aristarchus my fellow prisoner salute you and Marcus Sister son to Barnabas touching whom you have received commandments if he come unto you Receive him Marcus is giving commandments isn't he and those also that he's sister's son To Barnabas that means that mark is Barnabas's nephew Can you see why he was kind of like You know rooting for him there with with Paul He's related to him okay, and You could you could see that maybe you know, maybe Barnabas are like by marriage related to Peter and everything else. I think it's interesting to even think about that but I'll say this is that I personally believe mark and Luke were apostles and That's why mark is giving these commandments out Because you have the commandments of the apostles the Bible says and Phi Lehman Verse 24 says Marcus Aristarchus Demas Lucas my fellow laborers Luke was with Paul through all these journeys But I believe Luke also is testifying at the very beginning of Luke that he was there from the beginning and then he was an eyewitness Of these accounts. He wasn't one of the 12, okay Neither was mark, but you don't have to be one of the 12 being apostle That's another sermon for another day because James the Lord's brother was an apostle Barnabas was an apostle Okay, but I personally believe that verse shows us that Mark was actually Peter's son and you can kind of see how He would have been there from the beginning. He would have been an eyewitness of what was going on It's not like Marcus came on later. And then he he wrote a gospel. I believe mark and Luke were there from the beginning They just weren't one of the 12. Okay. So anyway something think about let's end with a word prayer Father we think today thank you for your word Thank you for the book of first Peter and just pray to be with us throughout the rest of this week and pray that you'd help us to Understand first Peter even as we move forward as we read through it later on and throughout the years and Lord Just thank you for all these passages. I pray to help us to apply them to our lives and Lord We love you in prayers of Jesus Christ name. Amen, but they will come sing one more song and that will be dismissed Alright take your song books and turn to song 101 Song 101 in your song books if you would stand we'll sing Jesus never fails song 101 Earthly friends may prove untrue doubts and fears assail One still loves and cares for you one who will