A Calling into Ministry

Bible study for today, and let's see here, I'm going to crank this up just a little bit more, there we go, and let's pray. Lord Jesus with us abide, for round us falls the eventide. Let your word, that saving light, shine forth undimmed into the night.

In these last days of great distress, grant us, dear Lord, true steadfastness, that we keep pure till life is spent, your holy word and your sacrament. Through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray, Amen. All right, so at Kongsvinger, we've been working our way through the book of Numbers, and so we'll just keep going with that, and I think it took us five years to do Leviticus.

I think that's what Dwayne said, it took five years. Sheldon, if you have a question, you can type it, or do you want me to unmute you, but I got to find you in the list here. Good night. There you are, there you are.

I'm gonna unmute you. As long as you don't talk about how great the weather is in Barbados, you know, so...

No, not today, not today. The last part of the sermon about Paul's conversion, actually I'm dealing with a guy here on Facebook, and he's using that argument the same way Paul was converted, that he's called to ministry, right, before going through the process of being a pastor.

He has himself out there as, let's say, a Pastor Sheldon, and Pastor Sheldon was called because the same reason Paul was called, he is called to office. Okay, okay, that's...

Yeah, I'm gonna mute you. I've got a... hang on a second here. Let's see here. I'm going to... so go ahead and mute yourself there, Sheldon, and I'll answer your question. So here's the issue. He's right and he's wrong, and I'm already concerned.

The reason I'm concerned is because, as you heard me say in the absolution today, I'm a called and ordained servant of the Word. If somebody has to somehow say that I'm called in the same way that the Apostle Paul is called, now I'm starting to get worried because this sounds like it's flipping things, as if, you know, he's doing that to justify his authority over other people.

There is a very real aspect in, you know, when we talk about the office of pastor, that all pastors are truly called, but they're not called in the same way that Paul was called. Paul was called by Christ himself, and I'll show you the distinction.

I'm going to duplicate this tab here, and we're going to go to Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. This is the Apostle Paul's final address to the pastors, the elders of the congregations in the city of Ephesus.

And so consider his words here. So now from Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus, he called the elders. These are going to be your presbyteroi, so these are your pastors. So he called all the pastors of the church to come to him, and when they came to him he said to them, you yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and of Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

And now behold, I'm going to Jerusalem constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.

But I do not account my life of any value, nor is precious to myself, if only I may finish my course in the ministry that I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And now behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again, therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God, and then watch these words then, Sheldon, pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, and to care for the Church of God which he obtained with his own blood.

And so the idea here is that we do recognize that everybody who is a rightly called pastor, that God himself has called them into ministry. But it's not the same as Paul's calling, because he was called not to be a pastor, and he was not called by the Holy Spirit, he was called by Jesus himself to be an apostle of Jesus Christ.

And his experience is quite unique. So when somebody says, I have been called into ministry the same way Paul was called into ministry, they're either in error or they're being heavy-handed in what they believe the pastoral office is for.

I am, as a pastor, called to proclaim the Word and to administer the sacraments, and that's pretty much it. I'm a slave to the congregation. So the idea then is that then, knowing that God puts men into the office of pastor, a congregation is sinning when they remove a pastor from that office unless they do so on biblical grounds.

And so the biblical grounds for removing a fellow from the pastoral office would include indolence. He is not fulfilling the duties of his office. Two, he's teaching heresy. Or three, you have an egregious moral failing.

And so those would be your three biblical bases for removing somebody from the pastoral office. But oftentimes when a pastor has to make an appeal like that, they are overstepping their bounds. So sometimes a congregation will say, you know, we're sick and tired of this pastor because he's always preaching the Word, and we don't want to hear this much Bible, and not only that, you know, he's not interested in getting a disco ball and a smoke machine and a laser light show, and so we need somebody who wears skinny jeans and into those things.

And so they capriciously come up with a pretense for removing that man from the pastoral office. That's sinful on the part of the congregation. But likewise, if a pastor is using his call to the office as a heavy-handed way of basically exerting authority over a congregation to justify his decisions or that are just out there, that's a misuse of the call.

That's a misuse of that altogether. Hang on a second here, I want to see what this is. Okay, I don't know what that is. All right. All righty. Okay, so hopefully, does that answer your question, Sheldon?

Yeah, yes,.

No, maybe so. Okay. Can you hear me? Yes. Right, he's using the call as, because I asked him, so what qualifies him to be, qualification he has to say, well, he's a pastor, right? Okay. He's using that argument to say, well, the same way Jesus.

Called Paul, he was called. Okay, so is he using the direct call as a means of basically covering up the fact that he hasn't studied and showed himself approved, he doesn't teach sound doctrine? Yeah, that's a misuse of the call.

So note then is that when Lutherans talk about a right call into the pastoral office, Scripture's clear in the pastoral epistles that a pastor is to study and show himself approved as a workman who would need not blush with embarrassment, who can rightly handle the word of truth.

If a man has not done that, he's not qualified to be a pastor. And so you can sit there and say, God called me to be a pastor all, you know, and God called me to be a pastor, but you can't, you couldn't rightly preach God's Word if we actually just gave you a printout of a Martin Luther sermon and all I had to do was read it.

You still seem incapable of actually preaching the word correctly. And if they say, well, I was called into ministry the same way Paul was. Yeah, that's a person who has demonstrated he has no concept what the call is, nor does he understand rightly how to handle the Word of God, and he's trying to basically overcome the very obvious that biblically he's not qualified to be a pastor by saying he, by basically trumping everybody and say, well, God called me to be a pastor.

Yeah, that's a misuse of it, all that altogether. Okay, Jack asked the question, what would repentance on the part of a congregation that ran off a pastor? Yeah, that's a good question. So unfortunately I've heard, you know, too many horror stories from good pastors who've been driven off, that a congregation has to recognize that they do not have the authority to run off a pastor, they do have the ability to remove him from office for grounds, and that if you're gonna claim that you're removing a pastor from office for grounds, that there is a threshold then for the evidence.

You've got to bring two or more witnesses to establish a charge. If you do not have that, then all you have is lies. And so the idea, and then coming back then, biblically you've got the three primary grounds.

Indolence by not dispensing the duties of the office. A man who thinks that, you know, playing golf seven days a week is a good thing and, you know, it doesn't do with the duties of his office, that would be a guy, you know, that he's got to be removed.

Somebody who's had an egregious moral failing, and nobody seems to have a problem with that part. You know, some guy who's sleeping with the church secretary, everyone says, yeah, you've got to get rid of that guy.

But it's the third one, you've got to get rid of him too. If he's teaching heresy, you can bring him up on charges of heresy, yeah, he's not qualified to be a pastor, and we actually have a biblical basis for that too, so that you don't think it's just my opinion, because everyone says, well, doctrine's not that important.

Well, actually, Scripture would beg to differ with you, not me. So in the third of the pastoral epistles, Titus, it says this is why I left you in Crete, he's talking to Titus, so that you might put what remain in order and appoint elders, so these are your presbyteroi, these are your pastors, in every town, as I directed you, if anyone is above reproach, husband of one wife, his children are believers, not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination, for an overseer as God's steward must be above reproach.

He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. Nobody has a problem with this part, okay?

Yeah, so if you have a pastor who's quick-tempered, a drunkard, you know, not self-controlled, you know, and, you know, sleeping around with a bunch of women or whatever, everyone says, yeah, that guy's got to go.

But note the next part, he must hold firmly to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine, and to rebuke those who contradict it. So that requires a pastor who have actually studied.

So if somebody's in the pastoral office and he doesn't understand sound doctrine at all, and he's miserable in how he handles the Word of God, he's not qualified to be a pastor. Time to sit that fellow down, okay?

There are many who are insubordinate. By the way, the reason why sound doctrine is important, it goes on, there are many who are insubordinate, they are empty talkers, they are deceivers, especially those of the Circumcision Party, these are the Judaizers of Paul's day, and Scripture says they must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for a sinful gain what they ought not to preach.

And then Paul does something very politically incorrect, he says one of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. This testimony is true, therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth.

So you get the idea. Now, what would the congregation repentance look like, process, leadership? Okay, so if a congregation has sinfully removed a man from the office who did not meet the criteria for a biblical removal from the office, repentance is going to begin with an acknowledgement that the congregation has overstepped their bounds, and recognizing that they did not make a proper distinction between the right and the left-hand kingdom, and as a result of it they made a decision that impacted the right-hand kingdom in which they do not have authority.

And so then confessing their sin privately and publicly is necessary, and then bearing fruit in keeping with repentance may have something to do with either restoring the man or getting the next pastor instructing them on properly keeping in their bounds.

So the idea here is that when there is a vacancy in a congregation, the congregation makes a call. They call a pastor to serve them, and that call is understood as coming from not the congregation, but ultimately coming from God himself.

A pastor who then accepts that call is installed into the office of pastor within that congregation, and then he is to dispense the duties of the office, and if he's faithfully dispensing the duties of the office, it doesn't matter if you don't like his hair, if it doesn't matter if you think he has bad breath, it doesn't matter if his sermons are too long, it doesn't matter if, you know, all this other nonsense that people, you know, put around it, and you find him annoying, if he's faithful in proclaiming the Word, he's rightly handling the Word, he's fulfilling the duties of his office, and he's not morally reprehensible, then the idea then is to remove him from office as sinful, and as an overstepping of the congregation.

But oftentimes what ends up happening, and often the mitigating circumstances and having a man removed from the office wrongfully, oftentimes has something to do with somebody has read a book about Church growth, and they have come to believe that unless they stop doing all the faithful things that a pastor is called to do, that people will not want to come to their church.

And they really believe that they have to make the Church appealing, and so they'll go to the pastor and say, pastor, you know, we've got to do something, we're not going to exist as a congregation if you don't change some things up, you know, tighten up those sermons, stop talking about sin all the time, and maybe we need to get rid of the creeds and all this other kind of stuff so that we can be more appealing to the youthful generation, or whatever.

And notice that when those types of not requests, those are more like demands, are made on a pastor, and a pastor digs in and says, I can't in good conscience do that, that's contrary to my ordination vows, that oftentimes that's where conflict will arise, and then the congregation will look for a pretense for removing that man.

So in a case where that has happened and a congregation recognizes that they were that they sinned in doing that, which is a very rare thing to have happen, they need to publicly and privately confess what they've done wrong, and then bear fruit in keeping with repentance, and stay within their bounds.

So much of church conflict today exists when a congregation has usurped their authority and has wandered into the right-hand kingdom to dictate to the pastor what they will approve and disapprove of what he's to do, which part of his pastoral duties they're going to approve of, and which they want to see go away.

A pastor doesn't have the luxury of picking and choosing which of the pastoral duties he will perform, he is to fulfill them all. Otherwise he's not fulfilling his duties as a pastor, and he's unfaithful to his ordination vows.

So, all right, there you go. Okay, so we've had some interesting questions here. MJ says, some pastors make it the point where you can't question them. Run. Any pastor that does that, run, okay? Anybody can ask me any question about anything, nothing's off-bounds, out of bounds or anything.

I mean, you know, theology, what I preach, you can even ask me about my life, you know, my life's an open book. So the idea here is that when you've got a pastor who's saying, you can't question me, I am the man of God, thou shalt not touch God's anointed, run.

Run, you're dealing with a wolf, okay? She says, I've never been in a congregation where the congregants get such a voice or make such a call, this is so new. Interesting, in my current situation the congregation does not get a voice at all.

There's a small board of pastors and they decide if any congregants disagree, it's enforced by the pastor not to question authority. Good gravy. Holy smokes. Okay, so the idea here, MJ and I'll just kind of point this out, okay, so we Lutheran pastors who follow the human tradition, and I have no problem saying that, of wearing a clerical collar, okay, it's a uniform, it's designed to make us all look the same, number one.

But number two, there's a bit here that you need to know. The reason why we wear a clerical collar is it's supposed to invoke a slave shackle. I am not the master of the congregations that I serve. I am the slave of the congregations I serve.

I'm the waiter, I'm the, you know, my job is to slave for y 'all, and I'm not to rule and reign over you, I'm not a king, I'm a slave. And so my job is to slave for you. That means, and since you all are disciples of Jesus, and if you're learners, that's what a disciple is, you need to be able to ask questions.

How are you supposed to learn if you can't ask questions, okay? And here's the thing, I have no problem saying, you know what, from time to time I'm gonna get it wrong. I might say something in my sermon that isn't clear or could have been stated properly and I stated it improperly, and in that situation you have every right to say, you know, pastor, I disagree with what you just said in your sermon there because of this text in the Bible.

What do you have to say about that? I'll say, that's a good point, I was wrong. You know, so, you know, and the best part about being a slave, I got no kingdom I'm trying to build. Christ builds his kingdom, I'm not building a kingdom to myself, so you get the idea here.

Okay, so right and left hand kingdom. Somebody says, I don't understand what that means. Okay, so right hand kingdom. So in Lutheranism we talk about the right and the left hand kingdom. So think of it this way, if I were to ask you the question, which did God create?

Did he create the Church or did he create the government? The answer is yes. Okay, he made them both. Okay, so when we talk about the Church, the Church that we call the right hand kingdom, the Church is given the commission of doing what?

Making disciples of all nations, baptizing, teaching all that Christ has commanded. There you go, right? So the Church has this job to preach the gospel, make disciples, baptize, and we're only allowed to teach what Christ has commanded.

By the way, have you ever noticed that somebody sits there and says, you know, you people who believe in Sola Scriptura, you can't point me to a single passage in the Bible that teaches Sola Scriptura, so you guys are weird.

You know, I always come back to the Great Commission and I say, well Jesus said we're only allowed to teach what he commanded. Where do I find that? Okay, you know, so you know, and if I'm feeling pretty saucy, I do it with that facial expression too.

You know, it just kind of depends, but you know, so it's like, I'm only authorized to teach what Christ has commanded. The end. I mean, so my opinions are out, okay? This is Jesus's Church. It ain't my church.

I'm, you know, I'm an under shepherd of the good shepherd, and so the idea then is his right hand kingdom is the Church. Now what is the left-hand kingdom tasked with doing? Answer, punish the evildoer.

Ta-da! Okay, so you get the idea. So when we talk about right and left-hand kingdoms then, we talk about Word and Sacrament ministry, right-hand kingdom. Then when we talk about paying the bills, of, you know, keeping the lights on, making sure that the roof doesn't leak, and things like that, that's all gonna be left-hand kingdom stuff, okay?

So the idea here is that within a Christian congregation, there's always a man then who is called to fill the pastoral office. His duties are all right-hand kingdom, okay? So for instance, okay, you know, I sit when Kungsvinger Lutheran Church has their church council meetings, I'm there.

I'm there as an advisor, by the way, and when Emmanuel Lutheran Churches is an LCMS congregation that I serve, when they have their church council meetings, I'm there, you know, as an advisor too. But for the most part, this is really boring stuff, because you know what they're mostly talking about, like, you know, how do we fix the the shingles on the roof, who's gonna mow the lawn, you know, in the summertime, and stuff like that, and my eyes are glazing over and going, right?

Because none of that's my responsibility, okay? It's the congregation's responsibility to make sure the lawn is mowed, the buildings painted, you know, that the driveway has snow removal and stuff like that.

I'm called to do the Word and Sacrament part, and the congregation's that. So there's where your distinction of right and left-hand kingdom is. So the congregation is out of bounds when the congregation comes to me and says, you know, Pastor, you know, it's just way too much Bible in your sermons, and you know, you're driving away seekers, you know, there's a lot of people who would really love to hear about Jesus, but you talk about him way too much.

And so what we really need you to do is to talk more about, you know, like rainbows and unicorns and things like that, that a little bit more widespread accepted, you know. So you get the idea. And unfortunately, everything I said there is not exactly parody.

There's a lot of truth to it. So that's when the congregation has slipped into the right-hand kingdom, and they do not have that say, okay? So there's particular things I've been called to do, and there's duties laid out in the Scripture.

And listen, I always like to tell people, on the Day of Judgment, we pastors have been told, we have a stricter judgment, okay? That being the case, this is Jesus' church, it's not my church. He calls the shots, I don't get to call the shots.

And when somebody tells me to do something different than what Jesus told me to do, I tell them, you ain't the Lord of the church, Jesus is. And if you have a problem with that, take it up with Him, and as soon as He tells you it's okay for me to relax on the things He's told me to do, then I'll stop, okay?

But until then, I'm gonna keep doing what Jesus told me to do, because I got a stricter judgment coming, and I don't want to upset Him, okay? Things generally go bad for people who run contrary to the Word of Christ.

So, all right. Oh boy, we got a lot of questions today. This is great. Okay, all right, so let's see. So Josh says, that's how the Roman Catholic Church is, too. Okay, so should you be re-baptized if you really were baptized in a Oneness Pentecostal Church, but have since come to a true knowledge and understanding of God?

The answer is yes, okay? So let me explain why, okay? So if you were to ask me this question, Pastor Roseboro, I was baptized by Rick Warren at Saddleback Church. Do I need to be re-baptized? Because I've realized that the guys, his theology is like wingnut wackerdoodle.

I would say no. Rick Warren baptized you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I know exactly how he baptizes. He baptizes in the name of the Triune God. And so under no circumstances would I say that you need to be re-baptized if you were baptized by Rick Warren, or Stephen Furtick, or anybody like that, who still is baptizing as Christ has commanded, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Oneness Pentecostals are different, though. And they fall into the category, the same category as Mormons, as Jehovah's Witnesses, and what is that category? They're a cult. And so Oneness Pentecostals deny the doctrine of the Trinity, and when they baptize you, they baptize you in the name of Jesus.

And as a result of it, it's not a Trinitarian baptism, it's not as Christ has commanded, and as a result of it it's not a valid baptism. So in a situation like that, I would say you have not been baptized.

And so the idea here, then, is you need to be baptized, because Christ has promises to give you in baptism, and get to it immediately. Find a pastor to baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and get to it.

So the idea, then, is we only call for re-baptism when you've been baptized by a heretical sect, like the Oneness Pentecostals. Now, by the way, I'll show you this, since we're supposed to be doing Bible study today, this is great.

Okay, duplicate, tab, I'm going to show you something here as to how you can understand that the Oneness Pentecostals, in their baptismal formula, their claim is that you have to be baptized in the name of Jesus only.

But remember what Jesus says in Matthew 28. As you're going, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Christ says to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

But in the Book of Acts, there are a couple of places where the shorthand for Christian baptism is, they were baptized in the name of Jesus. And so they say, see, there you go, you only have to be baptized in the name of Jesus.

I say, au contraire, you're not paying attention to the details. So Acts 19 helps us out in this regard. So Acts 19, it says, it happened while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country, and he came to Ephesus.

There he found some disciples, and he said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Okay, now, a little bit of a note here. This is a legitimate question, because at this time there were people who didn't even know that there was a Holy Spirit, they only knew of the baptism of John the Baptist, and these fellows here in in Ephesus are that stripe.

So they said, no, we've not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. And watch Paul's next question. Well, and to what then were you baptized? Okay, all right, so the expectation is if they were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, they would have heard of the Holy Spirit.

So they go, no, we didn't even know there was a Holy Spirit. There's a Holy Spirit? No way! Okay, and then Paul's going, no, what do you mean there's no Holy, you've never heard of the Holy Spirit? How were you baptized?

And so they say, we were baptized in John's baptism. Paul goes, aha, aha. So John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling people to believe in the one who was to come after him, which is Jesus.

On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. So when the book of Acts talks about the shorthand of being baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, it means to be baptized the way Christ has told us to be baptized, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Otherwise, what Paul says here, and his surprise that they never even heard of the Holy Spirit, wouldn't make any sense. So you get the idea. Okay, let's see here, since we're doing, you know, stump Pastor Roseborough Day, bring up scripture about a sermon.

I perished the thought. Oh Bruce, I know you're doing that tongue-in-cheek. Okay, Thomas was mentioned in Fox's book of Martyrs by John Fox, got it. Okay, so let's see, Paul speaks of people who preach the gospel for selfishness.

This is in Philippines, by the way. But nevertheless, the gospel is being preached. What happens ultimately to that teacher that is preaching? Okay, so now this is a, this is a, you're gonna have me go beyond the text.

So let's do this. All right, so let's talk about this Philippians 1 .18, and of course I spelled it wrong. Way to go, Roseborough. All right, Philippians, hang on a second here, Philippians chapter 1, and I remember when I was in Nazarene, this was a text that challenged me, because I couldn't imagine that the gospel had power to operate in and of itself if the person preaching it wasn't sincere.

So here's the text in question, and let me, in fact, let me apply our three rules for sound biblical exegesis. They are context, context, context. So I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me, so Paul is writing from prison, has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.

And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. So you're gonna note here, all right, so Paul's in prison, and what's happened is is that more brothers now are emboldened, they're gonna go and preach the word, they're gonna preach the gospel too.

Now, then he says this, some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. Okay, so get that. Okay, so there's guys out there, I want to tell you about Jesus. You do? Yes, he's bled and died for you, and he rose bodily from the grave.

Oh, wow, that's amazing, I believe. And then you ask the guy, so why are you telling me this? Because I want to beat that guy over there who's teaching the gospel too. What a lame reason for preaching the gospel, man.

But here's the thing, okay, I mean, so let's talk about, I mean, why are you doing this? Because I'm jealous of Paul, man. I'm jealous, I'm jealous. I'm gonna tell you about Jesus because I'm jealous about him.

Okay, now let me show you another text in this context, and that'll help us out here. In Romans chapter 1, okay, we get these words from the Apostle Paul. We need to pay very close attention to them, and here's what he says, I am not ashamed of the gospel.

Okay, so note, he says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. For it, what is the it there? The gospel. The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, also to the Greek.

For in it, in what? The gospel. The righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. Now, a quick question, all right, so let me put you on the spot.

Where do I go to find how the Bible defines the gospel? Okay, because if you were to talk to, like, emergent guys like Tony Jones, you say, all right, so define the gospel for me. They'll say, well, you know, the Bible doesn't really define the gospel.

The gospel is defined as the kingdom, or something weird like this. All right, so 1 Corinthians 15, correct, that's the place to go. And Paul says, what I received, I delivered to you as of first importance that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scripture, that he was buried and raised again, you know, from the grave on the third day according to the Scripture.

This is, you know, so that's the gospel. Now here's the question, where did, who did Paul get that gospel from? Who gave it to him? Answer, Jesus. He received that gospel via direct revelation. So let me give you another cross-reference in Galatians, and let me fast-forward down in here.

Here's what Paul says in Galatians 111, I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it. I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

So there's a fellow, okay, there's a fellow, he's out there, and he's preaching the gospel. I am here to declare to you that Christ died for your sins, and that he rose again bodily from the grave so that you can be forgiven.

Repent and believe the good news. What's the reason why he's doing it? He's doing this because he's jealous of Paul and he's envious. So you know, he wants to be like Paul. But remember, the gospel is the power of God.

So in the mouth of that preacher who's preaching out of envy and rivalry does God the Holy Spirit still work through that gospel to bring people to repentance? The answer is, yeah. Okay, and so the idea here is that coming back then to Philippians, all right, so he says that some indeed are preaching Christ out of envy and rivalry.

Others are doing it from goodwill, because they want people to be saved. But he says the latter do so out of love. The people who are doing out of goodwill, they do it out of love, knowing that I'm put here for the defense of the gospel.

The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition. So here's the thing, there are legitimately, there are men who are visible in the church, and the reason why they preach the gospel is not out of love for their neighbor, but because of selfish ambition.

They want to build a little empire to themselves, and so they're kind of like corporate sales guys, you know. They want to get their monthly quota, and they want to get the Rolex at the end of the year because they had the greatest sales, and all that kind of stuff.

You know, I get that, okay. So the former proclaimed Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in prison. So others are sitting there going, well, I'm gonna keep preaching the gospel so that I can incite people, so that Paul will stay in prison.

So there. So I'm gonna tell everybody about Jesus in order to upset the Romans so that no one will let Paul out of prison. Paul's sitting there going, way to go, keep going, man, keep going. So he says, what then?

He says, only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. You want to keep inciting the Romans by preaching the gospel and upsetting them? Keep preaching, telling everybody about Jesus and what he's done for them.

I'll sit here and rot, I don't care. That's his point, okay. So you get the idea. And then, so what happens to the people who preach out of selfish ambition? Now, some of them are gonna be saved and some of them are not.

Let's just say that we pastors do the dumbest things, and the reason why is because we're still sinners. It's a mess. Anyway, so the idea here is that Christ will sort all that out, okay. And I will say this, that in 1st Corinthians, it would this, let me find this, fire, hang on a second here, I got to do a word search in 1st Corinthians.

I'm gonna search for the word fire. Okay, hang on a second here. This is a, I want a word search, and I want it in the epistles. Very good. Let's see, there it is, 1st Corinthians 3. I want you to consider this then, okay.

This is talking about what happens to pastors, alright. So I don't like to do things out of, without text, because I can't do theology without text, it's impossible. Otherwise we're just doing opinions.