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Thank you very much. Thank you. Well, good morning everyone. Welcome to Mountain Baptist Church. Take your song books and turn to song 140. Song 140 in your song books. We'll sing We Have an Anchor if you would stand. We'll sing song 140. Will your anchor hold in the storms of life when the clouds unfold their wings of strife when the strong tides lift and the cables strain will your anchor drift or firm remain we have an anchor that keeps the soul steadfast ensure while the billows roll fastened to the rock which cannot move grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love it is safely more twill the storm withstand port is well secured by the Savior's hand though the tempest rate and the wild winds blow not an angry wave shall our bark or flow we have an anchor that keeps the soul stand fast ensure while the billows roll fastened to the rock which cannot move grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love when your eyes be whole three night the city of cold are harbor right we shall anchor fast by the heavenly shore with the storms of past forever more we have an anchor that keeps the soul said fast ensure while the billows roll fastened to the rock which cannot move grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love let's pray heavenly father Lord again we just want to thank you God for a beautiful day to meet in your house and to hear your word preached I pray Lord now that you would just be with our pastor fill them with your power and spirit I pray over all of us in Jesus name Amen all right you may be seated and turn your songbooks to song number 63 song number 63 we'll sing what a day that will be song number 63 there is coming a day when no heartache shall come no more clouds in the sky no more tears to dim the eye all is peace forevermore on that happy golden shore what a day glorious day that will be what a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see and I look upon his face the one who saved me by his grace when he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land what a day glorious day that will be there'll be no sorrow there no more burdens to bear no more sickness no pain no more parting over there and forever I will be one who died for me what a day glorious day that will be what a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see and I look upon his face the one who saved me by his grace when he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land what a day glorious day that will be amen so welcome to Mount Baptist Church on this Sunday morning and just some announcements here definitely a nice sunny day but it's a little cool but tomorrow's the first day of spring so definitely something to be happy about there and get out of this cold weather but service times today are normal so we'll be back here at 4 p.m. for our afternoon service but we're gonna have our soul winning time at 1 p.m. so if you want to go out so winning today just try to get back here after lunch before 1 o'clock so we can get teamed up and go out so winning and then we have the regional times on there as well so throughout Monday Tuesday Thursday Saturday just be on the church group there as far as the official times and exact meetup times for that we have on the upcoming events we have the prayer meetings on there and then we have as you can see on here April 5th the Lord's Supper that's on a Wednesday so we're gonna be doing the Lord's Supper on a Wednesday before Easter and then we have Easter service on on the 9th and we're gonna have basically a fellowship so last year we basically had a bunch of food and everything we did like a I guess they call it a candy scramble but basically where we just throw a bunch of candy out to the grass and let the kids like fight over it and so so we're gonna do that again this year and then what we're gonna do is we're gonna move our our main soul-winning time to the Saturday before so it's gonna be probably around 10 o'clock we'll probably be meeting up here at the church building around that time and have our soul-winning time that that day now if you want to go out so winning on Sunday that's fine I'm not against it obviously I'm not against you going so winning anytime but so except if you're saying well I can't go on Saturday I'm gonna go on Sunday great and it hey we'll find you a place to go all that stuff but so yeah and then on the back of your bullets in there we are in Psalm 22 is our chapter memory for the month and then Psalm 126 5 is a memory verse for the week so this one's a shorter one so you might be you could probably get this memorized today get a piece of candy they that so in tears shall reap enjoy they that so in tears shall reap enjoy and so that is our memory works for the week birthdays I know James is coming up tomorrow so and then I think my mom's is this week too right yep Friday so my mom's birthday so we got we got some Robinson birthdays this this week and I think that's it because Lane your birthdays on Sunday that's coming next Sunday here so what the same happy birthday to James who's gonna be two years old and then my mom's birthday's coming up here too and so my dad's wanting to say something I know he is I feel it well dad you're older in her so what is it that you know that it kind of goes goes with you to there anyway but we'll say happy birthday to them and then did we get the cradles their anniversary not yet so yeah well we won't forget you so and then the Fords are not this week yet so and on the pregnancy list there we have tiara let's go Amanda Spina and Jennifer time so be in prayer for all these ladies on the pregnancy list and be in prayer for the spina's I think I think tomorrow is the funeral and right so they're obviously still out of town but just be in prayer for the spina's and you know obviously their family and and dealing with a funeral and all that stuff so just being prayer for them there and just obviously with safe travels just some announcements of upcoming stuff that's not like in the near future but July 2nd pastor Anderson's gonna be preaching on that Sunday here both services so he's doing his his road trip but instead of us being the last ones we're the first ones so he's doing it the opposite direction and then on I think it's the 21st July 21st there's a red-hot preaching conference I'm gonna be out there preaching on a Friday so just some upcoming events obviously obviously when it comes to Pastor Anderson coming you should be in your places at church but when it comes to red-hot you may or may not be going out there so but just some just some upcoming events that I can think about here we are tentatively looking at June 24th for a sewing marathon in Indianapolis Indiana I I think we're just gonna nail that down and just that's where we're gonna do and so what we're gonna do is that those that want to go out to this we're probably gonna get hotel rooms just because we driving out probably after work on Friday and then stay the night and then go soloing in the morning it's about five and a half hours or depending on where you're coming from so but I think from Morgantown it's around five and a half hours here maybe you know obviously you add a little more there but so so if you're wanting to do that obviously that's kind of in the future here at the end of June I need to figure out what we're doing when it comes to our Charleston so winning marathon or one down south because brother Charles is leading up that the Philadelphia one there's a Philadelphia marathon on June 10th I think June 10th and then we're going to Indianapolis on June 24th so it might be hard to do like another soloing marathon in the same month so we're had to figure out a time there so we're just trying to we'll figure out something so but anyway we definitely got some stuff coming up so stay tuned but yeah offering box in the back there if you want to give a tie their offering the mother baby rooms for the mothers and babies only brother Dave's gonna come up and sing another song who's reading this more I know someone posted it so brother David you read on Wednesday you're just like you're just reading all over the place so so you're gonna be reading John chapter 21 for us and obviously got some happy birthdays all that so all right take your song books and turn to song number 11 find it and all this my books falling apart wait what really there's hold on there we go all right all right song number 11 but before we do that we need to sing happy birthday to James and mrs. Robinson James and mrs. Robinson if you would both stand up all right your husband wants me to bring you up front so you can stand here we won't do that all right we'll sing happy birthday to James two years old buddy two awesome ready here we go happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday God bless you happy birthday to you he's like do it again okay you like that all right all right we'll sing song number 11 he died for me I saw one hanging on a tree in agony and blood he faced his laying with eyes on me as near his cross I stood oh can it be upon a tree the Savior died for me my soul is thrilled my heart is filled to thank he died for me sure never tell my latest breath forget that long it seemed to charge my his death though not a word he spoke oh can it be upon a tree the Savior died for me my soul is thrilled my heart is filled to thank he died for me my conscience found and owned again why me and despair I saw my sins his blood had spilled and helped to nail him there oh can it be upon a tree the Savior died for me my soul is thrilled my heart is filled to thank he died for me last I knew not what I did now my tears are vain where shall my trembling soul behead for I the Lord have slain oh can it be upon a tree the Savior died for me my soul is thrilled my heart is filled to thank he died for me a second look he gave which said I freely all forgive this blood for thy ransom paid I died that thou may slip oh can it be upon the tree the Savior died for me my soul is thrilled my heart is filled to thank he died for me all right take your Bibles and turn to John chapter number 21 John chapter 21 in your Bibles and we'll have brother David read that for us John 21 if you found your place amen and the Bible reads after these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberius and on this rise so do himself they were together Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus and the Daniel of Cana of Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and the other two of his disciples Simon Peter said unto them I go a-fishing they say unto him we also go with thee they went forth and entered into a sip immediately and that night they caught nothing when the morning was now come Jesus said on the sir the disciples knew not that it was Jesus then Jesus said unto them children have ye any meat and they answered him no and he said unto them cast the net on the right side of the sip and ye shall find they cast their fur and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes therefore the disciples whom Jesus loved said unto Peter it is the Lord now in Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord he gave his fishes coat unto him he was naked and did cast himself into the sea and the other disciples came in a little sip but they were not far from the land but as it were 200 cubits dragging the net with the fishes as soon as they were come to the land they saw a fire of coals there and fist laid the lawn and bread Jesus said unto them bring up the fist we see of now caught Simon Peter went up and drew the net to the land full of great fishes and hundred and fifty and three and for all there were so many yet was not the net broken and Jesus said unto them come and dine and none of the disciples just asked him who out there knowing that it was the Lord Jesus then cometh and taketh bread and giveth them and fits likewise this is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples after that he was risen from the dead so when they had dined Jesus said to Simon Peter Simon son of Jonas love us that me more than these he said he said unto him yay Lord thou knowest that I love thee he said unto him feed my lambs he said to him again the second time Simon son of Jonas love us now me he saith unto him yay Lord thou knowest that I love thee he said unto him feed my sheep he saith unto him the third time Simon son of Jonas love us that me Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time love us that me and he and he said unto him Lord thou knowest all things the north that I love thee Jesus said unto him feed my sheep barely barely I say unto thee when I was young while there is thyself and walkest withered thou wouldest when thou shalt be old they shall stretch both thy hands and another shall dirty and carry thee withered thou wouldest not this spake he signified by what death he's glorified God and when he has spoken this he said unto him follow me then Peter turning about saith a disciple whom Jesus loved following who which also leaned on his breast at supper and said Lord where's the seed that betrayeth thee Peter said unto Peter seeing him saith to Jesus Lord and what shall this man do Jesus saith unto him if I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee follow that me then went that saying abroad among the brethren that the disciple should not die yet Jesus said unto him he but yet Jesus said not unto him he shall not die but if I will that he tarry till I come what is that to be this is the disciple was testified to these things and wrote these things and we know that this testimony is true and there are also many other things which Jesus did the Ritz if they should be written everyone I suppose that even the world itself cannot contain the books that should be written amen that's right dear Lord I thank you for this opportunity to come back to your house and pray that you still pass with your spirit in Jesus name amen amen so you're there in John chapter 21 and I'm preaching a sermon titled feed my sheep feed my sheep and we have the story here with Peter and other disciples that basically go back to their old profession of fishing and I kind of hit on this when we were going through we're going through Luke chapter 5 about how they kind of came full circle from where they started off when they started following Jesus or when Jesus called them to follow him but I want to I want to really focus in on this discussion that Jesus has with Peter about feeding his sheep and let's look at verse 15 there and let's read these three verses here where we see this the story in verse 15 it says so when they had dined Jesus said to Simon corresponds to Peter Simon son of Jonas lovest thou me more than these he sceth unto him yet Lord thou knowest that I love thee he sceth unto him feed my lambs he said to him again the second time Simon son of Jonas lovest sell me and he seth unto him yay Lord thou knowest that I love thee he sceth unto him feed my sheep and Kavanaugh him the third time Simon son of Jonas lovest out me Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time lovest thou me And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Now, if you were to sit in a church where you have a bunch of people that think they know Greek and they're going to go back to the Greek and give you some kind of, they're going to be like, we're going to exegete this, you know, with the Greek here. They'll say, well, you know, when Jesus was saying unto him, love us thou me, he was using the term agape, you know, or something like that. Listen, the English is right to just translate this love every single time. And by the way, when people are like, well, phileo and agape, one's godly love, one's brotherly love. Now, brotherly love is when you put Philadelphia, like the city of brotherly love, and you have to put the term brother there for it to be brotherly love. But you know what? The father loves the son. You know what word to use there? You know, when it says that the chief priest or the Pharisees love the upper rooms, it uses agape. So this garbage of like, well, agape is godly love and phileo is brotherly love is just nonsense. It's not something that's consistent. And so they both mean love. Okay, so when, and by the way, every time I've heard this preached, they'll say, well, you know, he was saying, like, love us thou me, like, you know, kind of like a brotherly love type of thing. But when he said the third time, he said agape, and that's when he's just like, oh, man, but do I, but do I love you like with godly love? It's actually opposite in the Greek. It literally says the other way around. So the way I've heard it preached was literally the opposite of the way it's actually in the Greek, because the third time he says, you know, the phileo or whatever. So all I have to say is that when people try to go back to the Greek and try to like get some hidden meaning out of there, it always ends up being false doctrine. Because if you can't find it in the English text, if you can't find it in the King James Bible English text, and you can't preach it to me with that without having to go to some, you know, basically Greek lexicon to try to prove something, then you're false. Then it's not right. And by the way, even if you went back to the Greek, it would say the same thing. So, but these people are obviously trying to sound smart, try to say something that's not saying. You say, well, why was he grieved when he said it to him the third time? Love is thou me. Well, go to Luke chapter 22. And I'm going to give you my reasoning why I believe it grieved him when he said it to him the third time. And it's simply this. Peter denied Jesus three times. And actually it even talks about how he was grieved and he went out and wept bitterly because of it. So it's kind of like he denied Jesus three times. And here he's being kind of Jesus having him say, I love you three times. And so that makes more sense. That actually lines up with the Bible, doesn't it? Instead of going, well, you know, well, when he denied him, though, that third time he denied him, it was like this like great denial, you know, they never say anything like that. I'm just saying like people will literally make up all kinds of stuff. And they'll use the guy as they're going back to the Greek as far as like, because no one that they're talking to even could fact check them on that. So then they just make up a whole bunch of garbage, you know, and I'm just calling it that they're going to go back and say, well, when he denied him the third time, it was like this extreme denial, you know, like this word that means like extremely denied, you know, or something. But here's the thing. He denied him three times. Each time he denied him, it's as bad as the others, right? But Jesus foretold that he was going to deny him three times. But I want you to see here in Luke 23, before he tells Peter that he's going to deny him three times, I want you to see what he says to him. And this is why I believe these passages are linked when it comes to John 21. Luke 22 verse 31, it 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. And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee both in prison and to death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day before thou shalt, or before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. So in the same breath that he's basically saying, okay, you know, Satan's trying to sift you as wheat, and I'm praying that your faith fail not when you're converted, which shows you that it's not talking about like having faith, right? It's not talking about like a conversion of like believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's basically saying, I'm praying that your faith fail not, but when you're converted, and what's the conversion? Meaning this is that he denied him three times and there has to, and there's going to be a point where he's going to have to basically choose to go the way he goes to go. This story in John chapter 21 is after the resurrection. He's already, Jesus has already appeared unto them. Actually, it says this is the third time that he's appeared unto them. Okay, so this is after the resurrection. Jesus has already appeared to them. This is after, you know, Peter's running to the tomb and sees that it's empty and Jesus is basically showing himself, showing his hands, you know, and Thomas is there and all these other people are there with Peter when they're going fishing. And I believe this is that conversion, if you will, that Jesus was foretelling of, okay? Because people are like, well, when you're converted, that's when you get saved. Well, here it's not about him getting saved, is it? It's about whether he loves the Lord and he's going to feed his sheep, okay? And that's the conversion, I believe, that he was foretelling about. And to strengthen that brethren, I mean, how much more would you be strengthening your brethren if you're feeding them, right? Now, what you have to understand is that Peter actually ends up being a pastor. Okay, go to 1 Peter chapter 5, 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 1. 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 1. 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 1. So just so you know, 1 Peter was written by Peter. It starts off that way. So when he says the elders in verse 1, which are among you, I exhort who am also an elder. Okay, so Peter is writing this and he's saying, I'm exhorting the elders, but I'm also an elder. Okay, now in the Bible when it comes to, and it's going to prove this, but when it comes to the office, if you will, of being a pastor, there's three different terms that are used to basically describe it. And one is being an elder, which obviously has to do with not being a novice, but being an elder in the faith, if you will, as far as, you know, basically not being a babe in Christ, but being an elder, you know, as far as the faith and doctrine is concerned, right? But then you have the term bishop, which means overseer, which we actually see that term used here, not bishop, but that term overseer. And then also pastor, okay, which just means like a shepherd, right? So a pastor of a flock is the shepherd of the flock. And so when it comes to, you say, why aren't you called elder, Jason Robinson? Because the connotation of that would be really bad. It'd be like, he's Mormon, you know? Plus I'm not 17, okay? Because, you know, like every Mormon that comes over your door, they're like some 17-year-old that's got elder written on there, which is just, I mean, the oxymoron of all of that. But, and then bishop, you say, well, why aren't you called bishop? I mean, you could, but then you're gonna be like, are you like, are you gonna turn your collar around backwards? Are you a Catholic priest? You know what I mean? And all this stuff. Be like, next thing you know, people are gonna be calling me a cardinal or something. Be like, I'm not one of any of those birds or whatever that the Catholic Church props up there. Nothing wrong with the term bishop, okay? Because if any man desire the opposite of a bishop, he desires the good work, okay? So it's a biblical term. So technically, I am the bishop of the church, right? And, but, you know, when it comes to being a pastor, it's being a shepherd. And listen, that's what we're dealing with in this past year. Now, let's keep reading in 1 Peter 5 here. It says, verse 1, the 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. Feed the flock of God which is among you. Okay, so who's he talking to? He's talking to these elders. He's telling them to feed the flock. Taking the oversight thereof. There's your overseer. There's your bishop, if you will. The term, that's what bishop means. Taking the oversight thereof. Not by constraint, but willingly. Not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. So, you should be doing it because you want to do it, right? You shouldn't be doing it just by constraint or, you know, you have to do it. And you definitely shouldn't be doing it for money, right? And then it goes on to say in verse 3, Neither is being lords over God's heritage, but being in samples to the flock. So, we're not supposed to be lording over the flock. Meaning, I'm not going to tell you what, you know, I'm not going to come to your house and be like, Hey, get this junk out of here. You know, you heard me preach on Sunday. What are you doing, you know? Or, hey, you know, you need to get your wife in line, you need to get your kids in line, you know. Like, and I just start telling you, like, how to run your family. Like, that's lording over the flock, okay? Now, obviously, with the way things are run here at the church, I am in leadership, right? But outside of that, at your home and what you do at your home, listen, I don't have power over that. You know, nor do I want power over that, okay? You know, you guys, every man in here should be the head of their own home. And wives, submit yourselves under your husbands. But obviously, if you're here at the church, then, you know, I am the bishop, I am the overseer. When it comes to what we do here at the church. Now, in verse 5 here, it says, and when the chief shepherd shall appear. So notice how he uses that term chief shepherd because obviously Jesus is, he is the head of the church. He's the chief shepherd. But we're like the under shepherd. So, like, the pastors are the under shepherds. And that's where we kind of get the, we get the term pastor. Which that term is used in the Bible as well, pastor. But that's, a pastor is a shepherd, okay? And it says, but when the chief shepherd shall appear, he shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away, okay? So, this passage really speaks to me, okay? Because I am a pastor of a church. But I want you to, when I'm reading, when I'm going through this, I want you to also think about this. That husbands and fathers, you're also a type of shepherd over your own family, okay? When it comes to feeding your own flock, okay? And obviously I'm going to be hitting on the spiritual. I've kind of already hit on, like, if, you know, providing off for his own, especially if they have his own household. He has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel, right? We need to provide physically for our family and feed them physically. Bring home the physical bacon. But when it comes to the spiritual aspect, we need to feed our flock, okay? As a pastor, that would pertain to the church of God. As a father, that would pertain to your family. But ladies, this would pertain, and I'm going to be getting to this as well. This will pertain, you know, mothers to your children. Now listen, let's say you don't have children, okay? You still have an influence over the younger that are in the church, okay? Because it talks about the elder women teaching the younger women, right? So, and I don't think that's necessarily just dealing with mothers, okay? Because, you know, there's people that are in the church that, I mean, you think of Anna the prophetess, right? She was a widow of 84 years, so. But she was only married for seven years, but then she was a widow for 84 years. I don't believe that she had any children, maybe she did, but at that point all her children are probably dead. I mean, she's like 115 or whatever she is. But the idea there is that she can be an influence and she can basically help and even feed, you know, those that are younger than her, right? Especially dealing with children or younger ladies, okay? So I don't want you to tune out and be like, well, I'm not a pastor so this sermon doesn't apply to me. Well, I mean, when it comes to strengthening the brethren and feeding the flock, it actually does apply to every single one of us, okay? And so, but what I want to point out here is that, and something that I kind of was just noticing going through this passage, is that, I want to say this, is that nothing in the Bible I believe is incidental or accidental. Meaning this is that when it says something, there's a reason why it says it. And we may not always know why it says it the way it says it. I remember in 1 John where it says, there is a sin unto death, I do not say that ye shall pray for it. And it says, all unrighteousness is sin and there is a sin not unto death. And I always, like, why is it saying there's a sin not unto death, you know? It's like the whole kind of thing that's being stated here is like, there's a sin, you know, basically you can sin to where you can die physically. Like, kind of like, you know, like Saul and just different people in the Bible that basically just kept sinning to where God's just like, you're done. But then you get people that literally will take Romans chapter 1 and say that, well, they that do these things, you know, it says that they know that they're worthy of death, right? Knowing the judgment of God, that they which do these things are worthy of death. That they'll say, well, that's the wages of sin is death and every, you know, every sin constitutes death. Well, 1 John actually discredits that because it actually says all unrighteousness is sin and there is a sin not unto death, right? And at first, you're kind of like, why is it, why does it say it that way? You know, you would think it would make more sense to say it, you know, there's a sin unto death. Just so that it's clarified like you can sin to where you could physically die, you know, like to the point where you're walking in the flesh so much that you'll physically die. But there's a reason why that's there. Now, you say, what are you talking about in this passage? Well, did you notice that when Jesus says to Peter, you know, love is thou me more than these? Which I believe personally, just the simple answer to this. You're like, what are these? What do they pull in from the, from the waters? Like this multitude of fishes, right? So, I mean, if you think about like just simple logic, they have this mountain of fish over here, right? And it'd be like, do you, love is thou me more than these? And be like, what's he talking about? You know? Well, is he, you know, like is he talking about, I don't even know what people try to put in there as far as what these are. But, you know, what else would he be talking about? To me, it's like a no-brainer that he's talking about the fact that they're going fishing, and they're not doing what they should be doing, which is fishing for men, right? It says, I will make you fishers of men. And, but they're fishing, you know, for actual physical fish. And I believe it's very clear that he's basically saying, do you love me more than these right here? And, but notice that, obviously he says this three times, but Jesus, when he's telling him what to feed, notice what he says the first time, feed my lambs. And then two other times it says, feed my sheep. You may say, well, that's just incidental, it doesn't matter, you know. You know, it's just like, well, whatever, right? A lamb is a sheep, and that's true. But I believe there's a reason why he says lambs. And I believe, personally, there's a reason why he says lambs first. Go to 1 John chapter 2, 1 John chapter 2. Because when it comes to feeding the flock, I believe there are three distinct groups that are within the flock, okay? And I'm just going to state what I believe those three distinct groups are. You have the babes in Christ, which would be like the lambs. And then you have the younger that are basically growing in the Lord, and they're maturing, and they're coming off the milk and coming into strong meat. And then you have the elders, if you will, that are in strong meat, they're mature Christians, right? And you have these three groups that you're having to feed. And you say, well, why is it important to know that? Well, because I'm not going to feed a steak to my newborn, right? Samuel is on mama milk, you know? And so I'm not going to cut up a T-bone steak and be like, here, son, have at it, you know? Obviously, the way you feed is going to be determined on who you're feeding, okay? And go to 1 John chapter 2, and I kind of saw this correlation, and I think this fits as far as that there's three distinct groups. Now, just so you know, I believe John is also a pastor, because 2 John and 3 John start with the elder. He's addressing himself as the elder. It says, the elder unto the well-beloved, you know, Gaius, 3 John, and the elder unto the well-beloved, you know, or unto the elect sister. And so he's addressing himself as the elder. And so when you're in 1 John, it wouldn't be that out of the ordinary that he would be addressing this same type of thing. It's also interesting that after this whole feed my sheep conversation, Peter's looking at John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, and they're like, what's this guy going to do, right? And just the close relationship between Peter as being an elder and John being an elder, and the idea of like this story that Jesus is telling Peter, but also John recognizes this as well. Now, notice what it says here in verse 12. It says, I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. So who's he addressing first? Little children. I write unto you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. Remember in the Bible it talks about rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as what? A father. Okay? So the elders in the church are to be treated as fathers. And it says, I write unto you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. Three groups. Okay? Then it goes on and states it again, addressing these three groups, but it says, I write unto you, little children, because you have known the father. I have written unto you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked one. So notice that, then he repeats that again. Little children, fathers, young men. Okay? And you say, well, why does it say, why does it say, I have written unto you, little children? Instead, it just says both times, I write unto you. Like present tense, I'm writing to you. Because they're babes in Christ, they probably weren't even there. He couldn't have addressed them. Think about this, if they just got saved and they're babes in Christ, then how could he have written unto them before? So it's kind of like these babes in Christ, I'm writing unto you, I'm writing unto you. But he's basically, to the young men and to the fathers, he's saying, I've written unto you, but I'm also writing unto you. Okay? So notice these three distinct groups as far as you're dealing with little children, young men, fathers. You're dealing with three different age groups, aren't you? And you could look at that as just physical age. But listen, I believe more so, especially when you're dealing with feeding the flock when it comes to what a pastor is supposed to be doing with the word of God, you're dealing with more so the spiritual age. Right? And listen, you could be 80 years old and have been saved all your life and still be a spiritual babe in Christ. Because you can get saved and just not read your Bible, not learn any doctrine, and just live your life as a saved person, but you've never gone past being a babe in Christ. That can happen. So sometimes when you're dealing with little children, you may be dealing with someone that's really old. I mean, how about someone that gets saved at a really old age? Right? I mean, let's say a 75-year-old man gets saved, and that's great. But listen, they're a babe in Christ. So when it comes to doctrine, they need the milk, even though they're older. Okay? So when we're dealing with this, I believe we're dealing with spiritual age and not necessarily physical age. But I think that fits, and I think that there's a reason why Jesus says, feed my lambs, feed my sheep, feed my sheep. So he's saying, basically, feed my flock, and you say, what's the point of this sermon, or why do you think about this, or whatever? Think about Peter is basically, I don't want to say giving up, but he's basically just like not doing what he's doing. He's actually reverted back to just like, alright, I'm just going to be a fisherman. I'm not going to deal with this anymore. Right? And as a pastor, there is definitely, you know, basically, what's the word I'm looking for, like a temptation, I guess, to basically just be like, why am I even doing this anymore? You know, like, why am I torturing myself? And listen, I'm not saying like to just, I don't have the temptation to just stop living for the Lord at all. But there is a temptation to basically be like, you know what, I'd just like to sit in the pew and just listen to preaching and just go out soul wanting and not worry about like preaching all the time, not worry about like having to make all the decisions that are going on, all that stuff. And listen, and I want you to, I don't want you to think that, oh, a pastor is just like ready to just give it up. Wherefore let him to think if he stand to take heed lest he fall. So obviously, when I'm looking at this, I'm looking at this as a manner of like, I don't feel that way right now, but at the same time, it's possible for me to feel that way. It's possible for me to give up and to get out of things. I mean, Peter did. And not only did Peter do that, but Peter drug all these other guys with him. Peter, James and John were with him on the boat. And you say, well, what's the point? If I stop, let's say I were just to be, let's say, you know, obviously if I just got out completely, I'm just like, nuts to all this, I'm going, I'm just going to work and just live and drink. You probably see how a lot of people would be like, well, why are we doing this then? You know, shouldn't be the case, right? But at the same time, look at all the disciples that followed Peter. But let's say I just said, hey, you know what, I'm not going to pastor anymore. I'm just going to be a church member. And listen, there are times where pastors just need to step down and just like let someone else take the job, right? So I'm not here to say like there's not a time for that to happen. But if I did that, let's say I'm just like rip-roaring, I'm going, you know, we're doing what we should be doing. And I'm just like, you know what, I'm out. I'm going to lay hands on Brother Dave. He's going to be the pastor. And then I'm going to sit over here and just be, you know, just a normal member, okay? I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with that, right? But at the same time, do you see how that would affect other people in the church? Where they may just be like, why am I doing this? I mean, Brother Dave would be like, well, why would I do it, you know? But so you think about the fact of, okay, why keep going? And honestly, the reason throughout the years, whether there's persecution, whether it's just life getting me down, or whether it's just, you know, just the workload or whatever the case may be, the thing that keeps me wanting to do it is the fact that it's the flock. It's the need for the flock to be fed, okay? And I think about this passage and I personalize it to myself, okay? I'm not Peter, okay? I'm not claiming to be Peter. But at the same time, I personalize it to myself and the fact that, okay, if I ever have thoughts of like giving up or stopping, I just think of Jesus saying, does the love of God mean more than these? And I just think about him saying, feed my lambs, feed my sheep, feed my sheep. And just think about like, okay, you know, I just don't feel like doing this, feed my sheep, feed my sheep. You know, like I just think of the Savior just saying, feed my sheep, feed my sheep, feed my sheep, feed my lambs, feed the flock. Because that needs to be done. And I just think about the fact of, okay, someone else can do it, but then who's going to do it? Who's doing it now, right? And the job of the pastor, obviously, listen, I can't take the food and chew it up for you, okay? Meaning when it comes to feeding, you know, the old, you know, saying like you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink, right? I mean, that is true. I can't force you to eat, but I can lead you to a place where there's, you know, food, right? So go to Psalm 32 or Psalm 23, I'm sorry, Psalm 23. This is the famous, the Lord is my shepherd passage. But I just want you to think about this because obviously Jesus is the chief shepherd. He is, when it comes to this church, he is the ultimate shepherd of the church, okay? He's the ultimate pastor, bishop, elder of the church, right? I mean, he is the head, okay? I'm the under shepherd. I'm kind of like the boots on the ground, you know, kind of an ambassador, messenger, you know, of the shepherd. But think about this one. It says in Psalm 32 in verse 1, it says, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters. Now, when it comes to what the job of a shepherd is, is to basically lead you to the food, right? For example, the Bible says, the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you, but is the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as he hath taught you shall abide in him. You, as a saved person, you can understand anything I can, right? It's not like there's like some extra revelation or anything like that that's given to me. But the job of the pastor is basically instead of, let's say you have all the ingredients for a good meal here, right? My job as a pastor is to take those ingredients, make a meal, and serve it to you, okay? And so the idea there is that it's prepared, it's serving to you, and it's a good meal, here it is, okay? And sometimes the meal may be a very simple type of meal, meaning like it's going to be more like dealing with the milk of the word and stuff like that. And then sometimes it's going to be like a t-bone steak. It's going to be filet mignon. It's going to be like, hey, it's time, you're going to need some teeth for this one, okay? You're going to need to sink your teeth into it. You're going to have to chew on this. And there's going to be different types of meals, okay? And it's not just the same meal over and over again either. Nutritious meals, good meals, that's the job of the pastor. You know, go to John chapter 10, John chapter 10. John chapter 10, verse 7, and obviously this passage is dealing with Jesus being the good shepherd. But I want you to think about this too. Let's say, parents, you get out of church. Let's say you stop coming to church. Well, you're not the only ones that are not getting fed. Your children aren't either. And when you're not, if you're not eating like you should be eating, then you're probably not going to be feeding them like you should be feeding them. I mean, think about it. Let's say I just stop reading the Bible. Like today I'm just like, you know what? I've read enough, okay? I look at me like, these guys, I mean, look at other pastors and compare myself among them and be like, they haven't even read through it once. Like, I've already surpassed them like 50 times over, you know, or whatever. And just be like, you know what's going to happen? The meals are going to start getting worse. You know, I'm, listen, you're constantly forgetting what you've learned. And you have to, the amount that you're bringing in needs to, it needs to be more than what's going out. And we don't know how much is going out, but I just assume a lot is going out, right? I just assume I forget a lot all the time. So I'm just like, just bring it all back in, right? And if you stop bringing that in, eventually it's all going to just basically, obviously I'm not going to forget salvation, I'm not going to forget, you know, like the stuff to the core. But what I'm saying is that you're going to just see me preaching about salvation because that's all I can remember because I haven't been reading, okay? And parents, you need to be thinking about this as well, okay? And everybody in the church should be thinking about the fact that, hey, if you're going to feed others, then you need to know where it's at. You need to know where those green pastures are even at to lead them there, okay? But in John 10, 7 it says, Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep do not hear them. I am the door, by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture. Later on it says, in verse 11 there, it says, I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Now it goes on to talk about hirelings, but here's the thing. You know what the Bible says? Hereby I proceed with the love of God because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren, okay? Obviously I'm never going to be, I'm never going to be on par with the chief shepherd, right? When it comes to how much he loves you, how much he knows, right? As far as like that goes, I'm never going to attain unto that, but I should be trying, right? I should be trying to have the same compassion that Jesus has. I should be trying to have the same knowledge that Jesus has. I should be always trying to attain unto that as a pastor so that I can, you know, feed the flock, okay? And, you know, he's the good shepherd. He, you know, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Jesus is the good shepherd, so he is the Lord, and he's the one that's going to lead you to the green pastures, but what I believe is that God, I believe God will help me to know the word of God so that I can feed the flock, okay? And don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that there's some extra revelation or anything like that, but I do believe that God will help me to preach what's right and to find what's right and to find those green pastures so that I can feed the flock, okay? And so, anyway, go to Acts chapter 20, and when it comes to feeding the flock, and the thing that I get from John chapter 21, and I think that we should all understand, is that we need all of the word of God. We need the milk, we need the meat, and we need everything in between, okay? Because when you get, when you start knowing a lot more about the Bible, and you start, let's say you're getting into some deep doctrines, it's kind of easy to say, you know, I don't really need to review that stuff, that's the milk of the word, you know, it's kind of like salvation or just different things like that, you're just kind of like, I know that, you know, I don't need to really dive into that. No, we need to always be refreshing on every bit of the word of God. We should be preaching all the counsel of God, okay? So, when it comes to being a pastor or feeding the flock, you don't want to be just on the milk all the time, right? Because then all the people that are past the milk are just going to be like, listen, I'm not learning anything. But you don't want to just be on the strong meat because there's babes in Christ in the church, and then they'll just be like, I don't understand anything He's ever saying. It's just so high up here on, like, I'm still chewing on, like, I'm still chewing, you know, I'm still eating the salad that's before the main course of the steak, and I can't get past that because it's just so high up here. So, I should be preaching on Jonah and the whale, and I should be preaching on the fact of, you know, just these stories of like creation and things that are going to be more fundamental and just like maybe on an elementary level, okay? But I shouldn't just stay there and just be like, I'm just going to preach about that stuff, and it's like I'm in a junior church where it's just, that's all I ever talk about, right? I also need to preach on the stuff that's higher up, okay? So, there needs to be a balance there, and Acts chapter 20 verse 27 here, it says, For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Okay? So, he's talking about all the counsel of God. We are not to just give some of it, all of it. And listen, that takes time. I can't in one sermon give you all the counsel of God. It's not possible, right? So, that's why it's something that would come on a weekly basis, coming to church, hearing the word of God. This is why you need to read the whole Bible and not just portions of it. You know, Psalms and Proverbs are great, but listen, that's not all the counsel of God. And you need to be reading, other than just the Gospels and Psalms and Proverbs, you need to be reading 1 Chronicles. You need to be reading Numbers. You need to be reading Leviticus. Okay? You need to be reading all of it. And I need to be teaching all of it as much as I can, okay? And that's probably the hardest thing when I think about like preaching sermons, is the fact that I want to make sure that I'm preaching all of it and I'm not missing something. You know, where I'm like all over here, like hitting these topics over here, but I'm like missing something over here. So, that's why I always love when people like will bring up a topic to me and say, Hey, can you preach on this? Because I love the fact because I want to make sure I'm not missing something. Or there's something that, hey, I'm kind of lacking. I need to know what this is over here. Can you preach on that? And I've heard preachers say things like, you know what? I only preach what the Holy Ghost tells me, you know? And if you give me something, then you know what? Listen, unless the Holy Ghost is telling me to preach that, I'm not doing it. And they'll be to the point where they just, out of spite, won't preach on it. Because it's like, no, I preach what the Holy Ghost tells me to preach. It's like, well, the Holy Ghost isn't speaking to you audibly, first of all. So, get off your high horse. But second of all, your job is to feed the flock of God which is among you. And if your flock is literally telling you, I am hungry for this over here. And it's not like something bad. It's not like they're saying, I want a candy bar. They're just saying, I want this food over here, this nutritious food over here. And you're just like, no, you get what I tell you to eat, you know? And it's just this weird attitude that's out there. No, listen, I like all the feedback because sometimes I forget maybe. I don't know what you don't know, okay? And so, sometimes I assume you know something and then I'll preach it. And then I'll have a lot of people be like, man, I've never seen that before. And I thought everybody knew that. And then there's times where I'm like, this is going to be good. A lot of people may not know this. And then everybody's just like, yeah, I saw that the other day. So, it doesn't really matter. Sometimes I think you know something, you don't. The other way around, it works all the time that way. So, tell me all the time, what do you want? What is something that you don't know or that you would like to hear more about? I'm all about that because that makes my life easier than trying to read minds and try to figure out. Or try to look back in the catalog of sermons that I preached and be like, okay, I haven't preached on this in a while. Or whatever, okay? Now, it says in verse 28 here, it says, 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 hath purchased with his own blood. I want you to think about this. It says, all the flock. Why does it say that? Because I believe it goes back to the idea of feeding the lambs as well. Feeding the lambs, feeding the sheep, feeding the sheep. And you have these different groups of the flock that you're dealing with, and not to neglect one or the other. So, I shouldn't be neglecting the babes in Christ, and I shouldn't be neglecting those that are of full age. And I think, honestly, if I hit both those, the ones that are in the middle is kind of meeting them in the middle, right? Because they're going to get the milk, they're going to get the strong meat, and you're kind of hitting in the middle there. But in the end, we need to think about the whole flock, everybody that's there, and listen, those that are homeschooling, you probably understand this. You know, when it comes to teaching your children, that there is differences in what, maybe how to teach them, or what they understand, and you're dealing with this, maybe this classroom of just different levels of understanding, okay? And you have to adapt to that, right? You have to kind of figure out, okay, I need to teach all of them, right? But I need to figure out how do I do that to where I'm not neglecting one over the other, okay? And you're trying to give them the best education, and the best edification possible when you're dealing with a mixed group of, you know, basically age, if you will, okay? So, but notice in verse 32, it says, Now, brethren, I commend you to God into the word of His grace, which is able to build you up. And listen, when it comes to this, that's what we're dealing with. When it comes to what I'm feeding you, I'm not up here like a caterer where I'm feeding you physical food. My job is to feed you the word of God, okay? Go to 1 Peter chapter 2, 1 Peter chapter 2. And listen, as parents, this is our job to feed our children the word of God as well. It doesn't stop at me as the pastor. Actually, the buck stops on the father and the mother. But even those that don't have children or aren't married or anything like that, listen, you can feed other Christians as well, right? I mean, it's not like you have to be, you know, a pastor or a father or mother in order to feed the brethren and to edify brethren, okay? Actually, we're all supposed to be edifying each other, the Bible talks about. And by the way, you guys in the church, like, I've talked to men, I've talked to women that'll basically bring something up to me, and I'll be like, that's good. Guess what? You just edified the pastor. Now, obviously, it shouldn't be the fact that everybody in the church knows more than the pastor, right? It's like, yeah, it's just like the pastor is like the lowest on the scale when it comes to Bible knowledge. Like, that is backwards, okay? But I don't claim to be the highest on the scale on Bible knowledge, okay? But at the same time, I should be striving to be highest on the totem pole, right? I mean, that would only make sense that if I'm the one teaching you, that the teacher is above the one that's being taught, okay, when it comes to what they know. But listen, there's gonna be things that you're gonna know that certain subjects that you may know more than I do. And I can learn from that. And my job is to know more so that I can teach it. Now, in 1 Peter 2, what I want you to see is that when you're dealing with the lambs, for example, we need to be using milk. It says in verse 1, it says, Wherefore, laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby, if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. So newborn babes, he's stating that they need to be desiring the sincere milk of the word, okay? Go to Hebrew chapter 5. Hebrew chapter 5. Nothing wrong when someone gets saved to be on the milk of the word. Actually, that makes sense. Actually, it shouldn't be any other way. You should be on the milk of the word. So, you know, when it talks about being a novice, there's nothing wrong with being a novice. I mean, you just get saved and you're a novice. I mean, that's just the way it is. I mean, it makes sense. I'm not looking at Samuel and being like, why are you still a baby? Like, I can just, and I'm just like, you're a baby, and just down on Samuel for being a baby. It's like, no, you're a baby. That's the way, you know, just, I'm not angry at the baby for that. And so, when it comes to being a baby in Christ, desire the sincere milk of the word and grow. But then, but here's the thing though. If you've been saved for 10 years and you're still can't get past the milk of the word, then that's where you have problems, okay? That means that there's something wrong here. You know, you shouldn't be on the milk of the word when you're 10 years old, okay? I mean, after a couple of years of being saved, you should be starting to get into the strong meat. And I've seen Christians that get saved and they're in the strong meat like within six months. I mean, they're just like, they're just like, they got that milk and they're just like, yes. And then they're going into strong meat. Obviously, it takes time though. I mean, you're not going to have someone that's a one-year Christian that is just like ready to pastor, ready to like, you know, take on everything. You know what I mean? Like there's just not enough time. You can't retain that much stuff in that short amount of time, okay? There's time, you have to have time to retain stuff and you're just not going to be able to take it all in. Even if you just had all of the information right here. And let's say I just had this buffet and I'm like, here's everything you need to know to start pastoring. And I'm like, well you know that you can't consume that in one sitting. That that's going to take time to consume. And as you're consuming it, the time that it takes to consume that, you're going to lose some of it. And then you've got to consume it again. So there's just time that has to take involved there and we need to realize that with babes in Christ and know that that's the case. Now in Hebrew chapter 5, it's going to be dealing with people that shouldn't be babes anymore. In verse 11 it says, He's not saying they're not saved, okay? I don't believe the people he's talking to right here are unsaved. I think he's just rebuking them that they can't understand what he's talking about because they're still babes in Christ. They still need to be on the milk. Because notice what he says here in verse 12. He's basically saying you should be teachers by now, but you need the milk, right? You need someone to teach you again. So you're not ready to be a teacher. You still need to be taught is basically what he's stating. Notice what it says in verse 13. For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. So listen, if you just got saved or if you've been saved for a short amount of time, or let's say you got saved and you just haven't been in church and you're like getting into church trying to get into the things of God, listen, there's nothing wrong with that, okay? Just keep moving forward, get the milk, and learn as much as you can. But listen, if you've been in church for 10 years and you're still on the milk of the word, you need to get on the ball. At that point, you need a good kick in the pants. Be like, listen, start reading your Bible. Start actually listening to what's being preached. And the last point I'm going to be making is the fact that part of it is obviously the fault of the person because listen, you can read the Bible. If you're saved, you can read the Bible and understand it. So you can put in the work, you can make the meals yourself if you need to, and you can figure it out, okay? But it says here in verse 14, But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. So those that are of full age, you can kind of think about the fathers, right? You think about little children, young men, fathers, right? Young men are kind of like getting to being full age, but they're not necessarily there yet, okay? They're kind of coming off the milk, going into the strong meat. So they're kind of like in that in-between mode of being like a mature, strong meat type of Christian, right? Those that are full age. You've got the babes that are just strictly on the milk, okay? And then you have those that are full age that are strong meat. But listen, we don't mind having a glass of milk every once in a while. Does that make sense, right? You can still drink a glass of milk when you're full age. It's not like it's poison to us. But listen, have a glass of milk while you're eating steak, you know? And the thing is that we need to have this balance when it comes to teaching, when it comes to, as me as a pastor, I need to have this balance that I'm not just feeding the sheep, but I'm feeding the lambs as well, okay? And all of this is dealing with safe people, okay? What I'm preaching to you right now is not talking about soul winning right now, is it? It's not talking about getting people saved, because they need to be a sheep first. They need to become a lamb first, and that's by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, okay? So obviously when it comes to that, you need to preach it in the gospel. And listen, anybody, everybody that's saved, that's our calling to do that, okay? This isn't like just for the pastor to go out soul winning. It's for everybody that's a believer. That if you've received the gift, even so it manages to do the same one to another as good stewards to the manifold grace of God. And listen, every man, woman, and child that's saved has the authority by God to preach the gospel to anyone, okay? Listen ladies, and listen, even young ladies that are saved, you have the authority to give the gospel to a full grown man, okay? Give them the gospel and get them saved, okay? Now obviously you don't have the authority to come up behind the pulpit and preach to a group of, to preach to the congregation, okay? But you have the authority to preach the gospel to anybody that will hear it. And you are leading them in Christ. You are, you know, basically an ambassador for Christ giving them the gospel, and you have the authority to do that, okay? But what we're talking about here is more so this, the hierarchy as far as pastoring, being the, you know, like think about it like a husband's the head over the wife, right? So you have that authority structure in the home, but the wife is over the children. But then even in the church, listen, ladies, you can teach younger ladies and edify them. And there's nothing wrong with that. And there's that idea of edifying the church there. Now, I don't believe that the ladies in the church should be edify, you know, like going up to men in the church and being like, listen, let me tell you what's up, right? I think that's, you know, trying to assert authority over men, okay? Now, you know, obviously I'm not against like, if a guy asks a woman like, how do you do this, right? It'd be kind of like if I went up to Tabby and say, hey, how do you sew this button on? And then she tells me how to do it and I'd be like, you're assuring authority over me, you're teaching me something, right? It's like I literally asked her to show me how to do something, right? Anyway, silly example. But the last thing I want to get to here is the fact that we need good pastors. We need good shepherds that are shepherding the flock. And, you know, I kind of put it on, I'm putting it on you personally to know like, hey, you need to eat, you need to feed, you need to feed your family spiritually and all of that. But listen, a big problem is the fact that the pastors just aren't feeding the flock. You know, they're just not feeding them. And I'm talking about, and I'm just going to talk about saved pastors right now. I'm not talking about false prophets, okay, that are preaching a false gospel. I'm talking about saved pastors that aren't feeding their flock. Now, the Bible says, and go to Jeremiah chapter 2. Jeremiah chapter 2. And Jeremiah chapter 16 says this, Thy words were found, and I did eat them. And thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart, for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. So when we're talking about eating or feeding the flock, what are we talking about? We're talking about eating the word of God. Okay, we're talking about consuming the word of God. It's interesting because when Jesus is saying in John 6 that I am the bread that came down from heaven, and he that eateth me, you know, God of life. And they're like, wow, can we eat his flesh? And I love how Jesus is like, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. But then later on, he explains to his disciples, like the flesh profit is nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. And what does it say in John chapter 1? The word was made what? Flesh, and dwelt among us. So when Jesus says eat my flesh and drink my blood, he's literally talking about eating the word of God. And obviously he's basically just doubling down on what he said, and I love it. Because these guys are murmuring against him, trying to catch him in his words, trying to get him to say something wrong. But when we're talking about feeding the flock, we're talking about consuming the word of God. So number one, if you're going to a church and the pastor rarely ever gives you any Bible, that's a problem. What's he feeding you? Is it just some TED talk? Is it just like, oh, here's my thoughts on this issue. And it's just blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And some of what they're saying might be true, but is it worth anything? Are you really getting edified? Are you getting actual good doctrine? It'd be like if I got up here and I taught a calculus lesson. Let me show you how to do derivatives. Everything that I would be saying up here, hopefully it's true, hopefully I remember, right? But let's say I did that, and you're just like, okay, we learned how to do derivatives. Okay, next week, integrals. And you're just like, what's that got to do with the Bible, right? And everything I would say up here is true, it's facts. But in the end, are you really getting edified with the word of God? Are you really learning good doctrine at that point? Not discounting calculus, obviously I think there's good use for it. But at the same time, I think you get the point that the point of a pastor is to flock with the word of God. And if there's just this lack of Bible verses and lack of Bible in that, that's automatically on its head showing you you're not getting fed. Now in Jeremiah chapter 2 and verse 8 here, notice what it says. Jeremiah 2 and verse 8 says, The priest said not, Where is the Lord? And they that handled the law knew me not. The pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. The whole book of Jeremiah is dealing with how they're going to be going in captivity, but it's really showing you the reasoning of why, like what caused it, right? Because you can think like, how did we get here, right? How did we get to this point where our nation is so wicked that God's going to just completely have it being taken over and we're going to be taken captive, right? And the thing that keeps being brought up is the fact that the pastors are not feeding the flock. Okay, go to Jeremiah 10 and verse 21. Jeremiah 10 and verse 21. Jeremiah 10 and verse 21. Jeremiah 10 and verse 21, it says, The pastors are become brutish. Now brutish, if you think that guy's a brute, you know, you can think about it, oh, that person's strong. Well, brutish is really something meaning like they're dumb, right? So if you say that guy's a brute, usually what that means is like they're big and dumb, you know? They may be strong, they may be physically strong, but mentally, no. And so, it's basically saying that the pastors, they're not intelligent, okay? Brute beasts, the Bible talks about. What is that? A dumb animal, right? Stupid animal, okay? It's just like unintelligent. It's basically saying the pastors are brutish, and notice what it says. And have not sought the Lord, therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flock shall be scattered. Go to Ezekiel chapter 34. Ezekiel chapter 34. Ezekiel chapter 34. What you have to understand is that Ezekiel is during the captivity, but he's preaching. Ezekiel he's dealing with before Jerusalem's destroyed, okay? And Jeremiah's there too, right? So Jeremiah's there before they're even taking captive to begin with, but then there's this 11 years where Zedekiah's ruling, and then basically everything is destroyed. Like the temple's destroyed, all of that stuff, right? So Ezekiel's kind of there with Jeremiah talking about the same thing, okay? And it says in Ezekiel 34 verse 1, it says, And the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto them, Thus said the Lord God unto the shepherds, Woe be the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves, should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with wool, ye kill them that are fed, but ye feed not the flock. You know what this is? These are the pastors out there that are literally taking a paycheck from their church. They're getting fed, they're getting all the benefits from the church, just bringing all that in and not feeding the flock at all. And they're just like, and then the flock's scattered because they don't know doctrine if it hit them on the head. But you know what? The pastor himself, as the Bible would say, is brutish himself. It's kind of like, even if they were to teach, they don't know what they're talking about. It's kind of like, you're damned if you eat and damned if you don't, right? The idea is that if the pastor says something, he's probably going to say something wrong because he's an idiot. And then you think about, well, if he's not saying anything, then he's just basically taking in, he's getting fed, but he's getting physical food, but he's not actually working for it. So this is what we're dealing with. Listen, in America we're dealing with this a lot. We're dealing with pastors that have never read through the Bible one time. That's disgraceful. That's laughable. To think to be a pastor and you've never actually read the book that you're supposedly preaching on? Insanity. And to think, well, I've read it one time and then that's it? What in the world? To think that, the thing that you could, I would be afraid to read the Bible once in a year. Every year while I'm pastoring, I'd be afraid to do that. Just because of how much you should know if you're going to get up here and preach the Word of God. And when it comes to these shepherds, these pastors, they are feeding themselves and not feeding the flock. They're getting scattered and it's like reading a newspaper, isn't it? How many people, I mean, how many people I've heard contact me like, I go to this church, not getting fed. I go to this church, it's the same thing over again. It's one verse and then it's a TED talk. And I can't blame people for not wanting to go because you get more out of just reading your Bible. Now I'm not saying not to go because obviously there's more than just the preaching of the Word when it comes to church. There's the fellowship of believers. You know, there's exhorting one another in love. Like there's other things that are good about coming to church. But listen, one of the main reasons to come to church is to get fed, isn't it? I mean, to get fed, go out, preach the gospel. I mean, the idea here is that it's just not, people aren't getting fed. And it's sad, but listen, there's nothing new under the sun. If you want to know where our country's headed, look at what's going on in the church house. Now I personally believe there is a revival going on right now, not in Kentucky, at least in Asbury. I believe there's a revival of God's people that want to get back to good doctrine. And there's more people that are in the pews that want to get back to good doctrine than there are pastors that are wanting to preach it. Or that even know how to preach it. And I believe we need to get back to that. I believe that we need men to read their Bibles, get understanding, so that they can go out and be the pastors that God wants us to be. Go to Jeremiah chapter 23. Jeremiah chapter 23. And the last thing I want to state here is in Jeremiah 23. And as you're going to Jeremiah 23, I want to read Jeremiah 3.15 says this. It says, And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. So in Jeremiah, he's stating like there's all these pastors are feeding themselves. They're brutish. They're not feeding the flock. They're scattering the flock. Listen, I'm going to send you pastors that are after mine own heart. I'm going to send you pastors that are going to feed the flock. And I believe that there is a revival of pastors out there that are willing to feed the flock. And I'm not trying to put myself up on a pedestal or anything like that, but I know a lot of pastors that are feeding their flocks, that know their Bible. You know, I was just talking to Pastor Burzins down in Georgia. And there's a pastor right down there in Georgia that loves the Lord, loves his congregation, that's feeding his flock on a weekly basis. They exist. And there's a revival of that happening. There are people that are just saying, hey, I'm done with these churches that aren't feeding me. And we want pastors that are going to actually feed the flock. And so there's not really a shortage of people that want good doctrine. There's actually a shortage of people that will actually preach good doctrine. But in Jeremiah 23 and verse 1 here it says, Woe unto the pastors that destroyed and scattered the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, against the pastors that feed my people, ye have scattered my flock and driven them away, and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doing, saith the Lord. I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries, whither 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 more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord. I mean, get what he's saying here. He's saying, listen, you caused them all to be scattered. I'm going to put on you all the evil doings that you've been doing. And you know what? I'm going to bring all those sheep back into a fold, and I'm going to put pastures over them that actually will feed them, that will protect them, that will actually do what they should be doing as pastors. This, I believe, is something that's been going on from the beginning of the world, where you have this idea of like shepherds not doing what they should be doing, pastors doing what they should be doing, scattering the flock, not feeding the flock, and there's like a reset button, where God's like, you know what? You're done. And these pastors, these churches are dying, and their church members are leaving them. And listen, I believe God is taking those church members, and he's bringing them back to pastors that are actually doing what they should be doing. And you look at these churches, and you're like, oh, our church is dying, and we don't have any children in church, and all this stuff. And I'm just like, there's more children in our church than there are adults right now. And it's such a blessing, but listen, if you looked around right now, this is not what you see in most churches today. But it's interesting that the churches that are preaching good doctrine, going soul winning, it's a lie. I mean, literally, there's children everywhere, there's people from babes in Christ, to those that are well of full age when it comes to doctrine, and they're just like, oh, you know, you're all about doctrine. Yes, we're about doctrine. God's about doctrine. God's about his flock being fed with good doctrine, so they're not carried about with every wind of doctrine that's in the world. Because when they are carried about with every wind of doctrine, because they don't know doctrine, then they're scattered. But I believe God has, it's almost like this revolving door effect of where he knows there's going to be this time where people are just going to stop doing what they should be doing, and then there's this revival that happens where there's pastors, there's churches that will actually teach good doctrine. Go down to verse 25 of Jeremiah 23. And listen, when it comes to this passage in John 21, I think about, okay, and you can think about this too, you're like, well, what if I just stopped? What if I just, you know, I'm just done, this is a lot of work, going to church all this time, and going out soul winning and doing these different things, reading my Bible all the time, it's just a lot of work. And you're just like, I'm just going to stop. Well, you have to understand that you don't just affect yourself, okay? And when it comes to me being a pastor, if I were just to stop, you know what? There may be some other pastors that will go with me. Like, well, Pastor Robinson stopped. The next sign of persecution, you're like, what am I even doing? And think about it, Pastor Anderson, okay, stopped. You know, I look up to spiritually, because when I was just starting to read through the Bible and all that stuff, I looked up to him, and I'm not saying that I would stop if he stopped, but good night, that would be a hit, wouldn't it? If he's just like nuts to all this, I'm done, I'm out, peace out, okay? Do you see how that could affect people? Because Peter did that, and guess who, they're like, we go with you. But then I also think about the fact that if I'm not feeding the flock, who's going to do it? Let's say we disbanded this church. Let's say I'm just like, I'm done, we just disbanded, and you guys all went out, and you're just like, we got to go find somewhere else to go. Where are you going to go? I'm not saying there's not other good churches out there, but at the same time, you know how few and far in between it is to find a church that's even right on salvation, that goes soul winning, and then on top of that will actually preach more than just one verse during their sermon. And I'm just telling you what keeps me going is the fact that I hear in my ear, not audibly, okay? But I think of this passage, okay? I hear these verses in my ear, okay? He's getting Pentecostal, it's time to find another church. But I hear in my ear the Lord saying, feed my lambs, feed my sheep, feed my sheep. And that keeps me going, because you know what? There's a reason, and it's not about me, okay? It's not about accolades, it's not about the position, it's about the fact that, hey, the flock needs to hear the word of God, who's going to do it? And there's one thing that was said to me when I was younger, and going back to Pastor Anderson, is the fact that when I was in my 20s, I was reading through the Bible, and I was thinking about maybe wanting to start a church one day, maybe pastoring one day. And there was a sermon that he preached, and it was called, If Not You, Then Who? And I remember I said, I just don't know if God wants me to do it. You know, I'm not sure if I'm called, right? I'm not sure if God's calling me to that. And I just remember him saying, he's saying, hey, do you think there needs to be more good churches out there? Do you think that there are just too many good churches, and all this different stuff? And I'm like, well, of course there needs to be. And then he's like, then God wants you to do it. You know, it's kind of like, if you have a desire to do it, then yes! If you have a desire to feed the flock of God, and you want to, and you can meet those qualifications, and you actually know what you're talking about, then the answer is yes, he wants you to do it. So, anyway, I hope that was a sermon that would be a blessing to you. I just know that that passage is really kind of just speaks to me like, hey, it's kind of like, all things are hard. Feed my sheep. You know? Oh, it's tough. Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs. And you know what? Whatever keeps you going. But that keeps me going. I think about what Jesus says. So, let's end with a word of prayer to the Heavenly Father we thank you for today. Thank you for your word, and just pray to be with us as we go out soul winning later on, and as we come back to the service at four o'clock, and we just thank you for this passage, and I just thank you for the pastors that I had back in the past that fed me the word of God, and the Lord just prayed she'd help me as a pastor to feed the flock, and help us as husbands to feed our family, wives, to feed the children, and everybody in this church to feed those that they can feed with edification and with the word of God. In the name of the Lord, we love you. We pray in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. So, Brother Dave, we'll come and sing one more song, and then we'll be dismissed. There's a land that is fairer than day And by faith we can see it afar For the Father waits over the way To prepare us a dwelling place there In the sweet by and by We shall meet on that beautiful shore In the sweet by and by We shall meet on that beautiful shore