Men Speaking Twisted Things

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If you would take out your Bibles and remain standing as we open the Word of God together.
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We're going to be in Acts chapter 20.
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And again we're going to read verses 28 to 38 as our text for the morning.
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My intention last week was to preach verses 28 to 38, but I got stuck on verse 28 and I didn't go any further.
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So we'll hope this week I don't get stuck on verse 29.
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Maybe be able to finish out the chapter.
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It says in verse 28, pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God which he obtained with his own blood.
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I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
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And from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them.
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Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears.
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And now I commend you to God and to the Word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
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I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel.
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You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me.
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In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus how he himself said, it is more blessed to give than to receive.
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And when he had said these things he knelt down and prayed with them all and there was much weeping on the part of all and they embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken that they would not see his face again and they accompanied him to the ship.
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Father in heaven as I seek to bring an exposition of the word I pray that you would keep me from error as I know that I am capable of preaching error and yet for the sake of my conscience and the sake of your people's hearts and ears I pray that you would protect them and me from that.
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I pray also Lord that I would focus upon Christ and his gospel in this message and that we would see it in this passage and Lord that we would understand that there are those in the world who have come to pervert the gospel.
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There are those who have come to mistreat the truth and that we are to stand in opposition to them not giving way to their false teachings.
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I pray again Lord if there are those here today who have not heard the gospel or perhaps have not bowed the knee to Christ, Lord God that you would by the work of your spirit open their hearts today to the truth, change hearts and lives for believers Lord that they would be moved toward a closer conformity to the person of Christ and it's in his name we pray, Amen.
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When I was growing up I came to church, it was actually in this church, we were in a different building at the time but I came to this church when I was 8 years old and I was coming to church and doing church things but I wasn't saved and I didn't actually get converted to Christ, my heart wasn't changed until I was about 19 years old.
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So we were looking at well over a decade of just coming to church and hearing what was said and sort of just letting it go in one ear and out the other and there wasn't a whole lot of changing in my life.
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But I remember distinctly one time as a young man somewhere in my teenage years thinking that all religions are pretty much the same.
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They're all just trying to make you do what's good, they're all just trying to keep you from doing what's bad and they all just sort of have a cultural flair, you know the Arabs and the Middle Eastern folks, well they have Islam and the Americans have Christianity and the people from Asia have Buddhism and so I just sort of in my mind just thought well everybody's sort of trying to get up the mountain and they're all taking different paths to get up to the same top of the same mountain and there was no shortage of people who were willing to agree with me and those people still exist today, there are still people today who will tell you that there is no difference between Christianity and Islam and Buddhism, it's just a difference in how you participate.
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But there's really no effectual difference between religious expressions, it's all practical but no effectual differences.
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And I remember thinking that way as a child, as a young man, particularly because this week it was brought out again, had a person say, it doesn't matter what branch you're under, we're all under the same tree.
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I'd heard the mountain analogy, but never heard the tree analogy, but it's basically saying the same thing, it doesn't really matter what you believe, it doesn't matter where you find your shade as it were, it only matters that we're all under the same tree.
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Well beloved, I hope that you know by now, many of you having been in the ministry here for several years, some of you decades, some of you half century, looking at you Jack.
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Jack's been here since the church started, so he's been here for over 50 years.
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And I hope that you all know by now that those mountain analogies and those tree analogies are not true, that it does matter what we believe and it matters what we teach, that there are things that are damnable heresy.
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And not everything, and I meant to get to this last week, and as I said, we're sort of building on what I said last week, because last week we focused on verse 28.
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Not every difference between us and other believers is damnable heresy.
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I mean, if we thought we were the only ones who had everything right, I mean if we drew the circle that tight, I mean eventually we're going to be standing on one foot.
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You know, we're not perfect.
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And we don't have everything right, we're working on it, we're trying.
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But you know, there's differences between us and like Dr.
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Sproul, I love Dr.
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Sproul, he's a great Christian teacher.
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I've been influenced by him probably more so than anybody else, maybe save James White, as far as contemporary theologians.
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Him and James White have had a great influence on my life.
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James White's a Baptist and R.C.
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Sproul's a Presbyterian.
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R.C.
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Sproul practices paedo-baptism, which means they baptize infants.
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I don't believe in that, and we don't practice that, but I wouldn't say that that would make him a heretic.
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I would say it's a difference, I would say it is something he's going to stand before God and have to give an account for one day, but I don't think it's going to affect his position in Christ.
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Now having said that, I think it's important, and I do, you know, we've debated that subject on this very chancel.
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We had a friend come in and we debated the subject of infant baptism, because we believe in it and because we teach it.
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But when we talk about heresy, when we talk about dangerous teaching, we're talking about something that would fundamentally deny the gospel.
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And when the Apostle Paul is finishing his conversation with the elders at Ephesus, he begins to address them about fierce wolves who will come in and speak twisted things.
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Beloved, I think he was talking about heresy when he said those words.
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So just by way of reminder, and then we'll begin to go through the text, I want to sort of remind you where we are.
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Some of you haven't been with us and maybe don't know where we are in Acts.
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Acts consists of several missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul.
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It begins with Pentecost, it begins with the church beginning in Jerusalem and going out into Judea and then Samaria, and then to all the world, which is actually from the first chapter, that which Jesus has promised.
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He says, you will take my gospel and it will go out from Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
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Well, here we get to the latter chapters of Acts and we see that gospel going out.
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Paul has already once gone on a missionary journey and he's come back to his church in Antioch.
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He went twice on a second missionary journey, which took him all the way into Macedonia and into Greece, and he made his way back to Antioch.
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And now he's on his third journey out.
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He's gone through Asia Minor and he's come down to Ephesus.
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He spent three years in Ephesus teaching.
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He crossed the Aegean Sea back to Macedonia, went and took a collection for the churches in Jerusalem, or the church in Jerusalem rather, that was hurting.
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And he is now on his way back to Jerusalem, trying to make it back by Pentecost, which was a celebration feast so he could present the church with the offerings and the gifts that he had received from the churches in Macedonia.
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And as he's making his way back, he goes through a port city called Miletus and he calls for the elders of the church of Ephesus.
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Remember, Ephesus, he had spent three years.
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He had established a church there, he had raised up leaders there and elders in the church, and now he wants to bid them a final farewell and provide to them a reminder of their calling.
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And we've spent a lot of time the last few weeks looking at verses 17 to 27.
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Last week we focused on verse 28 where he says, pay careful attention to yourselves.
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Remember he's speaking to the elders, he's speaking to the men who have been ordained, to the pastoral ministry of the church, the shepherds of the church.
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He says, pay careful attention to yourselves, remember we focused on that last week.
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The first thing the elder does is he looks at himself.
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Does he fit the qualifications of 1st Timothy 3? Does he fit the role of what a man of God is supposed to be? Not perfectly, because no one can fit it perfectly.
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But as he called to this ministry and he pays careful attention to the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers because they have a job.
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Their job is to care for the church of God.
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And remember what I said last week, you are the church of God.
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You are bought with a price.
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Christ's blood paid your ransom.
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You have been taken out of the slave market of sin.
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You've been seated in heavenly places with Christ as a gift from the Father to the Son.
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You are the bride of Christ.
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And so the elder's responsibility is to love the bride, to care for the bride, to watch over her sanctity, to watch over her purity, to watch over her doctrinally, to be the caretaker, the steward, the shepherd, the under-shepherd, Christ being the great shepherd.
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And he said, and I didn't get to this last week, and I don't want to get caught up again in verse 28, but verse 28 is so powerful because he says, which he obtained with his own blood.
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Now there is a little linguistic argument that sometimes linguists make at this passage because it says in the ESV, he obtained with his own blood, in the King James Version it also says which he obtained with his own blood, but in some versions it says which he obtained with the blood of his own, referring to Jesus as the Son of God.
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And we need to make a distinction here.
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When it says his own blood, when we talk about God, God is Trinity.
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He is one God, but there are three persons in the Trinity, and the three persons which make up the Trinity who share the oneness of God, only one of them came to the earth to die, and that was Jesus Christ.
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The Father didn't die on the cross.
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That's a false teaching called patripassionism, and it's not true.
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We need to understand that within the economy of the Trinity, the Father sends the Son, the Son redeems the saints, and the saints become saints by the work of the Spirit in their hearts.
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And there is a working of the Holy Spirit, the Trinity there.
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So I don't have really an issue with either way, whether you say it is the blood of his own or his own blood.
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But we do want to understand this, the blood of Christ, when he died on the cross, that was a divine sacrifice.
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Jesus Christ is God in the flesh.
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He is the God-man, and in his death, that was God the Son taking our sin debt.
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And I think that Paul, for those who deny the divinity of the Son, they run right into the face of this passage, and they are out there.
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Often times on Saturday morning, you'll have a couple come to your front door, one of them may be a little more wise and experienced than the other, and often times they are dressed quite nicely, and they have a Watchtower magazine or an Awake magazine in their hand, and they come to you, and they want to get you to deny the divinity of Jesus Christ.
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They are called Jehovah's Witnesses, and their desire is that you would understand that Jehovah is the Father only, that Jesus is a created being, not equal with the Father, not co-equal, not co-eternal, and that he exists as a created being, having been created by Jehovah, and through him created all other things.
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And beloved, that's heresy.
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That is a dangerous heresy.
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And it's interesting, because as we get into verse 29, he's going to start talking about heresies, but in verse 28, he references one of the things that's going to be the greatest of the heresies, and that's who Christ is.
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He is God's Son, but he is also himself God.
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And if you're unfamiliar with the doctrine of the Trinity, I would point you to our teachings on this and to several books that we have on the subject.
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It is something that all Christians should at least have a working knowledge of.
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The doctrine of the Trinity is hugely, hugely important.
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So verse 29, now we'll move into our lesson for today.
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Paul says this, I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
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When I read that, and I was thinking about the fierce wolves, I got to thinking about a couple of other passages, and I don't want to play Bible bingo this morning, but I am going to have you go look at a few other Bible verses, just to remind you of some other places that use similar imagery.
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So hold your place in Acts 19, and go over to Matthew chapter 7.
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Matthew chapter 7 is the third chapter, 5, 6, and 7, which make up Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.
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This is the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest preacher to ever live.
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And in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is talking about false prophets.
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If you go to verse 15, Matthew 7 and 15, he says, Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
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So Jesus tells us a little more than Paul does in verse 29, because Paul tells us that after I depart, fierce wolves are going to come in among you, and Jesus tells us that these wolves that come in are going to come in under the guise of being righteous.
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They're going to come in under the guise of being sheep.
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You know, honestly, I've studied false teachers, and I've read some things about various false teachers, men like Jim Jones.
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You know who Jim Jones was, right? Jim Jones led an entire group of people to their deaths.
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But he didn't start by walking around handing out Kool-Aid.
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Jim Jones started in the pulpit.
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Jim Jones started his work as a wolf dressed as a sheep.
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And he bewildered, and he changed the minds of many people to follow after him even to their deaths.
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And that's the scary part, because when I read this text, Jesus is telling me to beware of false prophets who don't look like it.
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I mean, honestly, you know, we could probably have a field day if we started talking about all the false prophets who it's obvious.
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I mean, there are so many guys on television that are just, they aren't even playing anymore.
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They don't even try to hide it.
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I remember one old fella, he was yelling at his congregation because somebody had said something about he had bought a Maserati.
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And he said, well, I will tell you this, I put $10,000 in the offering plate this morning, and unless you put $10,000 in the offering plate this morning, you have no right to talk about my Maserati.
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And I got to thinking, this guy is not even hiding anymore.
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He's just flaunting his foolishness.
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And the people are, woo! And you tell him! We have no end of wolves that look like wolves.
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But the danger lies, as Jesus said, in the wolves that look like sheep.
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That hide among the flock.
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And we see that here, but go back to Acts again, because I want to show you, because Paul does mention this in verse 30.
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He says, I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
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And from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things.
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That should give us pause.
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That should give us concern.
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And I don't know for certain, because I don't have perfect knowledge of what Paul is saying here, I don't know if he's saying from among you men who just did a 60 mile journey to see me, or from among yourselves, as in the flock that they are watching over.
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But isn't it possible that even some of those men that came to see him may be among the ones who after he departs will seek to draw men after themselves? It is a dangerous, dangerous thing.
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And yet it happens.
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And they draw disciples after them.
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That's one thing that usually is a very key component.
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And a person who is a dangerous teacher is a person who is seeking to draw disciples after themselves rather than trying to make disciples of Christ.
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Trying to make people who laud them for their wisdom, laud them for their knowledge, and laud them for their teaching prowess.
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And I'll add this little just side caveat.
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I've often been very grateful for the compliments and the encouragement that I've received as a teacher.
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And some of you are just sometimes overly gracious and sweet.
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But I want you to know, if I fall dead right there, somebody can come and do just what I'm doing and probably better.
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And that's what I would want to happen.
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I've jokingly said, if I die in the pulpit, somebody better come finish my notes.
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Because I've got something to say.
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I don't want this to be about me.
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I do not want to grow a cult of personality because that often leads to destruction.
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And so Paul tells us here, from among yourself will rise men speaking twisted things to draw away disciples after them.
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Therefore, remember what the word therefore means, because of this, that.
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Because of this, be alert, remembering that for three years, I did not cease night or day to admonish every one of you with tears.
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Paul had grieved over his teaching of the Ephesians.
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And for three years, he did not cease night or day to preach and teach.
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I think sometimes we don't realize how spoiled we are.
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And what I mean by spoiled is, people say, oh man, pastor, you really shouldn't preach more than 30 minutes, because that's all people can listen to.
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And you should only preach 40 minutes, that's all people can listen to, or whatever.
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You realize Paul preached every day.
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He went into the hall of tyrannists, and he taught every day, according to historical records and facts that surround the time, he probably taught from the middle of the morning to the middle of the afternoon, the time of the siesta of the people who would rest.
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He would go in during the resting time, and he would teach all afternoon.
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And the Bible says the word of God spread throughout as he was teaching daily.
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And I look at myself, and I say, I get wore out preaching three times a week.
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I get wore out preaching on Sunday morning, and Wednesday night, and Sunday school.
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I get tired, I can't imagine.
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But you know John Calvin taught every day.
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Martin Luther taught every day.
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And somebody says, well, it's easy for them, they didn't have a television.
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But the reality is, these men were dedicated teachers of the word of God, and they were teaching the word of God.
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Paul did not cease for three years to teach the word of God, and he taught it with tears.
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And they weren't fake tears.
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They weren't the tears of Jimmy Swaggart.
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The tears of Jimmy Swaggart after he was caught.
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Oh, I have sinned against you.
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No, you've sinned against God.
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And the waterworks are on.
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No, Paul's waterworks.
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Paul's was not waterworks.
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He was pleading with the people.
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He was preaching to the people, because he loved them.
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And he cared about them, and he devoted his life to teaching them.
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Have you ever been grieved over the heart of someone else? Have you ever been grieved over the heart of someone who's fallen into sin? Have you ever been grieved over the heart of someone who's been given over to a false teacher? I tell you what, it breaks my heart.
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And I have people tell me sometimes, I had a lady just a few days ago, she's a friend, she doesn't go to church here, but she messaged me, and she talked about the fact that the Jehovah Witness had come to her house, and she had been challenging them with the word of God.
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This lady is very knowledgeable in the word, and she says, well, I've been challenging them, but I'm worried about my mother.
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Because these people come to my mother's house, and my mother is not a believer, and they are so willing to fall upon her, and come at her as it were, like a wolf with a piece of meat, and just chew, and chew, and chew, until she gives in.
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And I want to pray for my mother.
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She called to ask me to pray for her mom.
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And I heard in her heart, what I think are the similar tears that Paul's talking about here.
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When I was with you, I admonished you with tears.
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You know what admonish means? It doesn't mean just to talk to somebody.
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It means to plead.
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It means to bring correction.
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It means to bring instruction.
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He was admonishing them with tears.
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He cared for them.
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And what was he concerned about? I'm going to leave one day.
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I'm going to be gone one day.
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And I don't want the last three years of your theological instruction to give way to a heretic.
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I don't want my investment in this ministry to give way to heresy.
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So watch yourselves, and watch the flock as he's speaking to the elders.
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And know that there are fierce wolves coming.
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It's not an if, it's a when.
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Several years ago, prior to our really moving in a reformed direction as a church, we were quite a bit different as far as how we accept members.
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Now if somebody wants to become a member, we have a class that they go through, and we explain to them the doctrines of the church, and we hear their confession of faith privately or in the group when we have the group meeting.
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We have a process whereby someone comes into the church.
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But when I first became the pastor here in 2005, well I was a preaching pastor for a year, then I became the senior pastor in 2006, we were a little more...
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We didn't have a solid statement of faith at the time, so we didn't really have something to sort of bind people to.
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We had a constitution, but it wasn't really binding as far as theologically.
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And we had a lady who came to the church.
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And when she came in, the very first Sunday I'm preaching, and I walk down and I say, if anyone would like to pray, you may come.
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And here she come.
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And she said, I want to join the church today, first time here.
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And I thought, well, I must be quite a salesman.
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You know, I'm a young man, not thinking straight.
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I was kind of excited.
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Here's a lady, never been to the church before, wants to join the church right off.
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So she joins the church.
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Within a week or two, I begin to notice that she begins to identify herself as the apostle.
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She had business cards that she was giving away that said the apostle.
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And then she wrote a book that she had published, self-published through an online publishing house that she was selling in the church.
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Without having talked to the elders or me or anyone else, she just began to sell and disseminate false teaching.
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Because I got a copy of the book.
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And I began to read it, and it was utter nonsense.
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And so she had to be challenged, called to correction, called to repentance.
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She did not want to be called to repentance, and she left.
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But let me ask you this.
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Should it have just been left alone? Well, you do what you're going to do, call yourself what you want, do what you're going to do.
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No.
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In some places, it would have just been no problem.
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To each his own.
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Don't want to offend each other because, hey, we have a person filling a seat.
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And so long as the seat is full, we don't care.
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Beloved, the apostle Paul was very concerned.
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He was concerned that he get into the hearts of these men the understanding that there are going to be people who come in and they are going to speak twisted things.
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They're going to speak false things.
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And those men need to be, and women, need to be corrected.
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They need to be called to repentance.
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The job of the elders is to be a watch guard.
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To be a watchman for those types of things.
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And if it is not happening, the church will devolve into chaos.
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We must keep a guard over the truth and what the truth is.
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In verse 32, he goes on to give how.
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As he says, And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
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How is it, brother, that you decide what is truth? Well, I don't decide what the truth is.
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I don't.
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I don't get to decide the truth any more than you do.
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But where do we discern the truth? Right here.
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The word of grace.
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The word of God.
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This word is the standard.
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And I know that there are some of you who have difficulty with some of the word of God and you're battling mentally, spiritually, whatever.
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But when it comes to the issue of where we need to stand as the body of Christ, we must stand on the word.
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Whether it hurts, whether it's difficult, and whether it makes us unpopular.
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We must stand on the word.
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People will call us crazy.
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And that's okay.
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It is not crazy to stand on the word of God.
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As the one Puritan said, he said, I would be a fool to give up what I cannot lose to gain what I cannot keep.
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Why give up the truth to gain the attention and the popularity of men which will fade anyway? That's all going away anyway.
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Don't give up the truth just because it's unpopular.
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I commend you, Paul says, to God and to the word of his grace which is able, he says, to build you up and give you the inheritance among those who are sanctified.
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And I, again, could spend all Sunday just talking about that phrase but when he talks about the inheritance, what is the inheritance for the sanctified? By the way, if you're a believer, you're sanctified.
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That simply means that God has sanctified your heart.
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He set you apart.
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You're his, and sanctification is the reality of your life.
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It's what he has done in your life.
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You're justified by faith, and you're sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit.
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That's you.
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What then? What then is your inheritance? You're seated in heavenly places with Christ.
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According to Ephesians chapter 1, or chapter 2, rather, you were dead in your trespasses and sins but God, being rich in mercy, changed you, reached down into the muck and mire of your sin, picked you up, washed you off, and seated you in heavenly places with Christ.
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That's the inheritance you have.
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And it's because of this word.
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You were saved because God has given us the word to preach.
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You were saved through the preaching of the word.
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Maybe not exact, maybe somebody wasn't quoting scripture to you, but they were teaching you the truth of the gospel, which is in the word.
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And that gospel saved you.
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Now I do want to finish this out and I have a few more minutes, so I'll ask for your indulging me just for, to the end of the chapter, because Paul goes, seems like maybe a right turn here, but it's not a right turn.
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It all fits together.
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Because in verse 33 he says, I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel.
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You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who are with me.
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And in all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way, we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, how he himself said, it is more blessed to give than to receive.
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Why is Paul mentioning this? I'll tell you why by asking a question.
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What is one of the most one of the one of the most common reasons why false teachers spout their false teaching? The value of followers.
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The value of followers.
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If you don't believe that, just spend a little time flipping through those channels.
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We only have one station and I can't barely hardly watch it.
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But if you got Dish, you got 50,000 religious stations, go through and see how many are asking for your seed money.
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How many are asking for your for your financial contribution.
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And these guys are using the gospel as a means of gain.
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Paul says this, when I was with you, I coveted nothing.
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I didn't want silver, I didn't want gold, and I didn't want fine clothing.
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In fact, you know that instead of that, I actually worked.
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And I physically labored while I was preaching daily.
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While I was going from house to house in the evenings, I was also working.
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You say, how did he find the time? Well, he didn't have no television, remember? He was working and he was preaching.
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And he was working and he was preaching.
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And he said, and I did so for the simple reason that you would understand that when we work hard and we labor, we demonstrate that we're not in it for the money.
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We're in it for the souls.
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And I want to say this, and I'm not trying to take a hard left turn, but I want to just say this.
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As an elder of the church, as the one vocational elder that we have, I do receive a paycheck for what I do at the church.
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And Paul is not condemning that.
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In fact, in 1 Timothy 5, he says, let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.
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For the Scripture says, you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain, and the laborer deserves his wages.
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So paying a minister is not a wrong thing to do.
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In fact, if a man has given his life to the ministry, then from the ministry he can receive his living.
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That's not a wrong thing.
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But Paul is saying here though, he's saying that I have not done it for the money.
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And I want you to understand that I've said this before, and my wife and I have even talked about this.
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I say, you know, it would be great if I didn't need money, because then I could preach and I wouldn't need anything.
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It'd be great if I just didn't need it, because I'd still do it.
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I don't play the lottery, but if I won it tomorrow, I'd still be here on Sunday.
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It's not about that.
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It can't be about that.
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In fact, I always joke, I say, what I get paid for is really the work that I do during the week.
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It's this is my gift to the Lord.
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Preaching is what I want to do.
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And this is not what you pay me to do.
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This is my desire.
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This to preach.
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But I do appreciate the fact that you support our family so that I can do this.
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But however, I said, I just wanted to point in the end, a minister should be a man who is not self-seeking.
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A man who gives generously like his Lord.
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And Paul quotes Jesus here, but I do want to make mention, this quote is nowhere in the Bible.
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You'll never come to a passage where Jesus says it is better to give than to receive.
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Which means, it is either part of the oral tradition that Paul is dealing with, and there was an oral tradition in the early church.
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Or Paul is paraphrasing some of what Jesus taught about money.
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Because Jesus taught a whole lot about money.
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And Paul could simply being in a sense paraphrasing, and he does in other places paraphrase the Lord in a simple way.
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It's better to give than to receive.
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But just know this, somebody might come to you and say, well here's a misquote, and Jesus was never quoted.
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Jesus taught so much about money.
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And what he almost every time taught, was we hold our money with an open hand.
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We give, and give, and give, and as we give, the Lord will give us more to give, not more to keep.
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And finally, verse 36 to 38, Paul goes, and he kneels down, and he prays, and they weep as he goes to get on the ship, knowing they will never see his face again.
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He is done.
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His ministry with them is completed, but that doesn't mean their ministry ends.
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Paul has commended them to God, and to the word of God, and he has called them to watch out for the wolves.
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So beloved, I think that's a good thought for us this morning.
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I commend you as Paul commended you.
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One, to God.
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Trust in God.
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Two, to his word.
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Trust in his word.
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And three, watch out for those who would try to turn you from the word.
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Let's pray.
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Father, I thank you for your word.
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I thank you for the truth of it, and I pray that you would use it, Lord God, to grow us in the faith.
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I pray, Father, that now, as we begin to turn our attention towards communion, Lord, that we would be focused on the gift that has been given to us in Jesus Christ.
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We have not earned it, we have not deserved it, but you, Lord, have given it freely because you are a gracious and loving God.
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And I pray, Lord, that we would understand the truth and that we would stand against those who seek to pervert and twist the faith.
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And we pray this in Jesus' name and for his sake.
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Amen.
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Let's stand together and sing as we prepare our hearts for communion.