1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,520 Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:06,480 where we are proclaiming the truth to the world. 3 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:09,720 My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to 4 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:10,480 this podcast. 5 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:14,680 I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen 6 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:16,080 you in the word of God. 7 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:20,160 Now, come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has 8 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:21,440 for us here today. 9 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:27,810 All right, we're going to go ahead and continue our study in first, 10 00:00:27,810 --> 00:00:28,970 second, and Third John. 11 00:00:29,130 --> 00:00:32,570 So we've preached through First John, and we just finished 12 00:00:32,570 --> 00:00:33,770 Second John last time. 13 00:00:33,770 --> 00:00:37,050 And so tonight, naturally, we are in Third John. 14 00:00:37,130 --> 00:00:39,730 So if you have your Bibles, you can turn there with me. 15 00:00:39,730 --> 00:00:41,210 It's almost at the very end. 16 00:00:41,930 --> 00:00:45,210 So if you want to find a quick way to find Third John is to go all 17 00:00:45,210 --> 00:00:48,290 the way to Revelation at the end, go back to Jude, and then go 18 00:00:48,290 --> 00:00:50,730 back one more to Third John. 19 00:00:50,730 --> 00:00:51,770 And it's a short book. 20 00:00:52,250 --> 00:00:54,890 We know here it's only one chapter, 14 verses. 21 00:00:55,380 --> 00:00:58,980 And even though we know that there are shorter books in the Bible, 22 00:01:00,100 --> 00:01:04,620 doesn't mean that they're lacking in the content that we can 23 00:01:04,620 --> 00:01:06,740 grow in and understand and learn from. 24 00:01:06,740 --> 00:01:10,100 So First John was all about having fellowship with God. 25 00:01:10,340 --> 00:01:13,820 Fellowship with God starts with faith, and then with faith comes 26 00:01:13,820 --> 00:01:17,260 the opportunity to know him in a personal relationship and walk 27 00:01:17,260 --> 00:01:21,590 in that confidence and walk in that clarity and walk in that strength 28 00:01:21,590 --> 00:01:22,430 in the Lord. 29 00:01:22,510 --> 00:01:25,630 And then in Second John, we looked at what it means to walk in 30 00:01:25,710 --> 00:01:27,710 truth and in love. 31 00:01:28,030 --> 00:01:30,670 And so how do we deal with things that are not true? 32 00:01:30,670 --> 00:01:33,590 Well, we deal with it with honesty, we deal with it with truth, 33 00:01:33,590 --> 00:01:36,950 but at the same time, we deal with it love and deal with it within 34 00:01:36,950 --> 00:01:39,750 grace, and understand that we're trying to always lead someone 35 00:01:39,750 --> 00:01:40,430 to the truth. 36 00:01:40,750 --> 00:01:43,390 So if it's an unsaved person, we're trying to lead them to Christ 37 00:01:43,390 --> 00:01:44,670 in faith and salvation. 38 00:01:45,230 --> 00:01:48,070 And then if it's a saved person, it's an individual who knows 39 00:01:48,070 --> 00:01:51,360 Christ as Savior, then we lead that person to something called edification 40 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:53,480 to build them up or to exhort them. 41 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:55,560 So you can think about those three words. 42 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:57,360 Those three words, evangelism. 43 00:01:57,360 --> 00:01:59,800 Evangelism is the term we use to lead people to Christ. 44 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:00,480 So. 45 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:03,640 So one opportunity for me with a person is to lead them to Christ. 46 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:07,480 But if they're already in Christ as a believer, the other two 47 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:10,400 steps that we can do within a situation with someone dealing with 48 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:13,480 truth is exhortation, that's challenging them and encouraging 49 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:15,720 them, and edification, that's building them up. 50 00:02:16,230 --> 00:02:18,350 So those are some fancy words there, but I think they're important 51 00:02:18,350 --> 00:02:20,310 for us to understand that as Christians. 52 00:02:20,310 --> 00:02:22,790 Those, that's really our goal with every situation. 53 00:02:23,030 --> 00:02:26,590 Either to lead them to Christ or to build them up in Christ or 54 00:02:26,590 --> 00:02:27,750 to encourage them in Christ. 55 00:02:27,750 --> 00:02:29,990 So that's all Second John, that's, that's what that's about. 56 00:02:30,070 --> 00:02:31,430 And then we see here in third John. 57 00:02:31,430 --> 00:02:32,390 What's Third John about? 58 00:02:32,390 --> 00:02:36,350 Third John is all about good examples, following good examples 59 00:02:36,350 --> 00:02:38,150 and not following bad examples. 60 00:02:38,150 --> 00:02:41,670 And we all know instances and experiences in our life in which 61 00:02:41,670 --> 00:02:43,910 we could say that's a good example to follow. 62 00:02:45,070 --> 00:02:46,510 And then we also know the other side of things. 63 00:02:46,510 --> 00:02:49,670 There's some times in our life where we've watched people and maybe 64 00:02:49,670 --> 00:02:51,990 we've been that person that has been a bad example to follow 65 00:02:51,990 --> 00:02:54,190 and we shouldn't be going in that direction. 66 00:02:54,590 --> 00:02:57,390 And so today there's so many bad examples out there in the world, 67 00:02:57,870 --> 00:03:00,790 but just as many bad examples, I believe there are good examples. 68 00:03:00,790 --> 00:03:04,910 And here in third John we see two good examples and one bad example 69 00:03:04,910 --> 00:03:07,750 of an individual who we would want to follow. 70 00:03:07,750 --> 00:03:10,550 In the case of this first guy, we're going to talk about Gaius, 71 00:03:10,550 --> 00:03:13,480 we're going to see that he is a good individual to follow. 72 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:13,800 Why? 73 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:14,840 Because he follows Christ. 74 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:18,240 Not because he's a good man, not, not because he's an honorable 75 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:18,800 citizen. 76 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:21,760 But really we even know that in the New Testament, the Bible tells 77 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:24,680 us that Jesus said, follow me, right? 78 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:26,560 We know that we're supposed to follow Jesus. 79 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:29,880 But then in the case of Paul, Paul says, follow me as I follow 80 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:30,160 Christ. 81 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:33,040 And so there's nothing wrong with looking at somebody who is following 82 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:36,880 the Lord and modeling certain aspects of our life to that person. 83 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:39,560 Again, we're not worshiping that person, but we're looking at 84 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:42,740 an example of the biblical truths that we can apply to our lives. 85 00:03:43,140 --> 00:03:44,500 And so let's look here in three John. 86 00:03:44,500 --> 00:03:47,540 We're going to just go through this slowly, as slowly as I can. 87 00:03:47,620 --> 00:03:50,180 I know that sometimes I get moving and so I want to do my best 88 00:03:50,180 --> 00:03:54,100 to kind of point out to you all the truths from this, this text. 89 00:03:54,100 --> 00:03:57,660 And 1 John, or excuse me, 3 John, verse 1 says this the elder 90 00:03:57,660 --> 00:04:01,300 unto the well beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. 91 00:04:01,300 --> 00:04:02,060 Now we'll stop there. 92 00:04:02,060 --> 00:04:02,780 That's his greeting. 93 00:04:02,780 --> 00:04:04,180 Who, who is talking here? 94 00:04:04,180 --> 00:04:08,100 Well, ultimately God speaking through the apostle John. 95 00:04:08,550 --> 00:04:09,310 The apostle John. 96 00:04:09,310 --> 00:04:11,750 This is the same John that wrote the Gospel of John. 97 00:04:11,990 --> 00:04:14,230 This is the same John that wrote first and second John. 98 00:04:14,310 --> 00:04:16,790 And this is the same John that wrote the book of Revelation. 99 00:04:16,790 --> 00:04:20,230 So the elder unto the well beloved Gaius, and so the immediate 100 00:04:20,230 --> 00:04:22,790 receiver of this letter would be this guy named Gaius, which we're 101 00:04:22,790 --> 00:04:23,750 going to learn a little bit about. 102 00:04:24,389 --> 00:04:26,670 And he says, whom I love in the truth. 103 00:04:26,670 --> 00:04:29,110 And so this greeting is wrapped up in his love. 104 00:04:29,350 --> 00:04:33,190 And the reason why he loves this individual is not because he's 105 00:04:33,190 --> 00:04:36,070 loved him, but because of the simple fact that they love each other 106 00:04:36,070 --> 00:04:39,430 in the common bond of the truth that they have in Jesus Christ. 107 00:04:39,750 --> 00:04:42,270 And so that's really one of the major reasons why we can say 108 00:04:42,270 --> 00:04:44,990 that we can love other Christians, not necessarily because 109 00:04:44,990 --> 00:04:48,390 that person does things for us, not because that person is lovable, 110 00:04:48,790 --> 00:04:51,990 but because of the simple fact that we can stand together in truth, 111 00:04:52,310 --> 00:04:55,270 maybe from different backgrounds, maybe from different 112 00:04:55,270 --> 00:04:59,470 socioeconomic classes, maybe from different countries, for that 113 00:04:59,470 --> 00:04:59,670 matter. 114 00:04:59,670 --> 00:05:02,150 And then we can come along and say, look, you know what? 115 00:05:02,150 --> 00:05:04,390 I don't know you, but I can tell you that I love you. 116 00:05:04,390 --> 00:05:04,630 Why? 117 00:05:04,630 --> 00:05:06,790 Because we can love each other in the truth of God. 118 00:05:07,540 --> 00:05:07,820 That's why. 119 00:05:07,820 --> 00:05:10,100 Sometimes from the pulpit, I'll say, I love you guys. 120 00:05:10,100 --> 00:05:12,420 And there's people like, hopefully the people here know that, 121 00:05:12,420 --> 00:05:14,380 but sometimes we'll have visitors, and they're like, you love 122 00:05:14,380 --> 00:05:14,580 me. 123 00:05:14,580 --> 00:05:15,100 How do you. 124 00:05:15,100 --> 00:05:15,740 You don't love me. 125 00:05:15,740 --> 00:05:16,500 You don't know me. 126 00:05:16,660 --> 00:05:16,980 And. 127 00:05:16,980 --> 00:05:19,060 And the truth is, is that, yeah, I don't know you, but I don't 128 00:05:19,060 --> 00:05:21,300 need to know you because God has called me to love you. 129 00:05:21,620 --> 00:05:23,900 And that's a hard pill to swallow sometimes, because sometimes 130 00:05:23,900 --> 00:05:24,900 people aren't lovable. 131 00:05:25,220 --> 00:05:25,620 Right? 132 00:05:25,620 --> 00:05:28,940 And we're taught in our society what we're taught in our 133 00:05:28,940 --> 00:05:30,820 society to love people who love you. 134 00:05:31,220 --> 00:05:34,180 We're taught in our society to love people who give things to you, 135 00:05:34,180 --> 00:05:37,750 to, you know, the whole concept of, you know, if you scratch 136 00:05:37,750 --> 00:05:40,030 my back, I'll scratch yours kind of concept. 137 00:05:40,030 --> 00:05:41,910 And that's not the biblical concept of love. 138 00:05:42,150 --> 00:05:44,950 The biblical concept of love is, I'm going to love you because 139 00:05:44,950 --> 00:05:46,150 it's the right thing to do. 140 00:05:46,550 --> 00:05:48,910 I'm going to love you even if you don't deserve it. 141 00:05:48,910 --> 00:05:51,670 That's actually what exactly Jesus did for us. 142 00:05:51,670 --> 00:05:54,550 He loved us even when we didn't deserve it. 143 00:05:54,630 --> 00:05:56,110 And so that's what he's talking about here. 144 00:05:56,110 --> 00:05:57,830 He says, I love you in the truth. 145 00:05:58,630 --> 00:06:01,310 And so we don't know this specific guy, Gaius. 146 00:06:01,310 --> 00:06:04,470 It could be an individual that's mentioned in the Book of Acts. 147 00:06:04,550 --> 00:06:08,230 There's a gas mention in First Corinthians, chapter one, and there's 148 00:06:08,230 --> 00:06:10,390 also one mentioned in Romans, chapter 16. 149 00:06:10,390 --> 00:06:13,710 It very well could be that individual, or it could be a totally 150 00:06:13,710 --> 00:06:14,150 other person. 151 00:06:14,230 --> 00:06:14,550 Why? 152 00:06:14,550 --> 00:06:18,470 Because that word Gaius, that name Gaius was a very common name 153 00:06:18,550 --> 00:06:22,510 in the Roman Empire, and so wouldn't have been outside the bound 154 00:06:22,510 --> 00:06:24,310 of thinking that this is a totally different person. 155 00:06:24,550 --> 00:06:26,350 So look at verse number two with me. 156 00:06:26,350 --> 00:06:28,390 It says this beloved. 157 00:06:29,170 --> 00:06:30,770 Again, that's another endearing term here. 158 00:06:30,770 --> 00:06:32,770 He's speaking of someone who he has fellowship with. 159 00:06:33,090 --> 00:06:38,690 He says, beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper 160 00:06:39,330 --> 00:06:42,530 and be in health even as thy soul prosperous. 161 00:06:43,170 --> 00:06:47,250 So, so even verse two here is very interesting because his prayer 162 00:06:47,250 --> 00:06:50,530 for this individual is that he would prosper. 163 00:06:50,530 --> 00:06:51,890 Now, what does that word prosper mean? 164 00:06:51,890 --> 00:06:55,490 In our culture, prosper means to get something to. 165 00:06:55,790 --> 00:06:58,830 To maybe gain funds or gain control. 166 00:06:58,910 --> 00:07:01,990 But here, in this case, the word prosper literally means to have 167 00:07:01,990 --> 00:07:02,550 a good journey. 168 00:07:02,550 --> 00:07:06,990 If you were to go back to the original Greek, this is what John 169 00:07:06,990 --> 00:07:07,950 is telling Gaius. 170 00:07:07,950 --> 00:07:09,710 He says, I hope you have a good journey. 171 00:07:09,710 --> 00:07:12,590 Now, I don't believe he's talking specifically about a real 172 00:07:12,590 --> 00:07:13,630 journey that he's having. 173 00:07:13,710 --> 00:07:16,270 I believe he's talking about the journey of being a Christian. 174 00:07:16,590 --> 00:07:16,910 Right? 175 00:07:16,910 --> 00:07:18,310 We all know that we're on a journey. 176 00:07:18,310 --> 00:07:20,590 We're all on a path, we're all in a race. 177 00:07:20,910 --> 00:07:23,390 And so he says here, I hope that you have prosperity. 178 00:07:23,390 --> 00:07:25,140 I hope you travel well. 179 00:07:25,140 --> 00:07:28,620 And then he says, and be in health even as thy soul prosperous. 180 00:07:29,100 --> 00:07:32,180 And so I think there's really interesting thing here because I 181 00:07:32,180 --> 00:07:35,660 think a lot of times people think that when I am physically prospering, 182 00:07:36,940 --> 00:07:38,780 then I must be spiritually prospering. 183 00:07:39,420 --> 00:07:43,740 And so that would mean that my physical health is always automatically 184 00:07:43,740 --> 00:07:45,700 tied to my spiritual health. 185 00:07:45,700 --> 00:07:47,420 And there's actually people that believe that. 186 00:07:47,660 --> 00:07:50,860 So, like, if I have enough faith, I will be in physically perfect 187 00:07:50,860 --> 00:07:51,180 health. 188 00:07:52,090 --> 00:07:54,010 And that's not what he's talking about here. 189 00:07:54,170 --> 00:07:56,570 He's not linking spiritual health to physical health. 190 00:07:56,570 --> 00:07:59,770 Even though there are certain spiritual decisions that can harm 191 00:07:59,770 --> 00:08:01,170 our physical health, right? 192 00:08:01,170 --> 00:08:01,610 We know that. 193 00:08:01,610 --> 00:08:04,610 We know that living in sin can cause destruction to our physical 194 00:08:04,610 --> 00:08:04,970 being. 195 00:08:05,530 --> 00:08:09,770 But we also know that because of Scripture, that there are many 196 00:08:09,770 --> 00:08:13,130 people, many people that have lived godly lives, but yet still 197 00:08:13,130 --> 00:08:18,320 face physical struggle, Job being one of them, Paul being another. 198 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:19,880 I mean, the list goes on and on. 199 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:21,360 And so what he says here is this. 200 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:24,280 He says, my prayer for you simply is this, that you would have 201 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:26,280 prosperity and physically be healthy. 202 00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:29,840 I think it is appropriate to pray for somebody's health, but we 203 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:32,879 don't link their health immediately to their spiritual condition. 204 00:08:32,879 --> 00:08:33,280 Why? 205 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:34,760 Because he says that in verse two. 206 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:38,320 He says, I pray that you prosper and you're in good health. 207 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:43,280 Even as thy soul prospereth, meaning this, your soul is already 208 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:45,879 prospering in Christ. 209 00:08:46,119 --> 00:08:49,639 As a believer, you already have your spiritual prosperity. 210 00:08:50,519 --> 00:08:53,159 There isn't anything more that we need if we're already in Christ. 211 00:08:53,639 --> 00:08:54,679 So the idea is this. 212 00:08:54,679 --> 00:08:59,639 He says, as you are spiritually prospering, as you spiritually 213 00:08:59,639 --> 00:09:03,399 have hope and riches in Christ, I hope also that your physical 214 00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:04,839 follows along with that. 215 00:09:05,239 --> 00:09:09,719 But the truth is that we can obviously, in a common phrase, basically 216 00:09:09,719 --> 00:09:11,850 say, hey, I wish good things upon you. 217 00:09:11,850 --> 00:09:14,490 But ultimately, as a Christian, we know and we have certainty 218 00:09:14,490 --> 00:09:16,810 that other Christians have the same hope that we have. 219 00:09:17,610 --> 00:09:21,530 So some people have read this passage and take the guarantee that 220 00:09:21,530 --> 00:09:27,049 there is always wealth and perfect health with Christians. 221 00:09:27,530 --> 00:09:28,290 So you've heard it. 222 00:09:28,290 --> 00:09:31,370 You know, the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. 223 00:09:31,530 --> 00:09:34,250 We have to be very careful with that, because what we have to. 224 00:09:34,250 --> 00:09:36,370 What we do sometimes is we mislead people. 225 00:09:36,370 --> 00:09:37,110 If we. 226 00:09:37,110 --> 00:09:40,310 If we preach that or if we live that way, we're misleading people 227 00:09:40,310 --> 00:09:43,710 to some sort of security that is not found in scripture. 228 00:09:44,750 --> 00:09:47,470 Now, does it mean that God wants everyone not to be healthy? 229 00:09:47,470 --> 00:09:48,190 Well, no, God. 230 00:09:48,190 --> 00:09:48,590 God. 231 00:09:48,670 --> 00:09:49,910 God wills what he wills. 232 00:09:49,910 --> 00:09:53,029 And so what we have to understand is that when we see this 233 00:09:53,029 --> 00:09:57,270 and we pray for someone's physical health, we also need to 234 00:09:57,270 --> 00:09:59,310 separate that to the spiritual health. 235 00:10:00,030 --> 00:10:02,550 And so when I pray for your, like, a lot of times we got our prayer 236 00:10:02,550 --> 00:10:03,070 sheets here. 237 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:07,960 And specifically speaking, most of the needs that are on the 238 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:09,040 sheet are physical needs. 239 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:09,640 And that's okay. 240 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:10,400 That's appropriate. 241 00:10:11,680 --> 00:10:15,000 But what we have to understand is that just because somebody is 242 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:17,840 going through a physical problem, that doesn't mean necessarily 243 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:19,519 that they're going through a spiritual problem. 244 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:22,040 Think about Job's friends. 245 00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:23,160 Remember what Job's friends said? 246 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:26,320 They said, job, you got to confess your sin because obviously 247 00:10:26,560 --> 00:10:30,010 you're sick because you have unconfessed sin in your life. 248 00:10:30,010 --> 00:10:31,290 And Job's like, no, I don't. 249 00:10:31,290 --> 00:10:34,010 And we know by the bigger picture that he didn't. 250 00:10:34,250 --> 00:10:36,490 There's another individual that Jesus heals, right? 251 00:10:36,490 --> 00:10:37,690 There's an individual that's. 252 00:10:37,690 --> 00:10:38,250 That's lame. 253 00:10:38,250 --> 00:10:38,570 And. 254 00:10:39,050 --> 00:10:40,010 Or, you know, he's. 255 00:10:40,010 --> 00:10:41,170 He's hurting and he's sick. 256 00:10:41,170 --> 00:10:43,610 And then Jesus goes, hey, it's not because of him. 257 00:10:43,610 --> 00:10:44,810 It's not because of his sin. 258 00:10:45,450 --> 00:10:48,690 And so what we can see here in this case is that he is saying that, 259 00:10:48,690 --> 00:10:52,290 hey, look, though, spiritual health is vital. 260 00:10:52,290 --> 00:10:55,840 Physical health is important, but physical health does not overcome 261 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:59,000 the spiritual health that we should be having as Christians. 262 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:02,120 And so John here makes an analogy between the condition of 263 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:04,560 our health and the condition of our soul. 264 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:11,000 And so a lot of Christians would look to physical health and 265 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:15,920 allow the physical state that we're in to dictate to us our spiritual 266 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:16,240 state. 267 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:17,360 What do I mean by that? 268 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:18,800 I mean this. 269 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:21,240 When we wake up in the morning and we feel great. 270 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:24,240 And for many of us, there's not a lot of those days anymore. 271 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:25,840 But the idea would be this. 272 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:30,760 Sometimes when we feel good in our emotions or our physical state 273 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:35,040 or our circumstances, we link that to being happy in the Lord. 274 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:36,520 You ever seen that? 275 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:38,960 Like, if you wake up and you're, everything's going your way, 276 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:39,760 praise God. 277 00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:40,480 Jesus is. 278 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:41,640 Jesus is my Savior. 279 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:42,480 Everything is good. 280 00:11:42,560 --> 00:11:45,400 But are we willing to say those same words when we wake up 281 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:48,720 and we don't feel good when we don't have the right circumstances? 282 00:11:49,680 --> 00:11:54,800 It is hard for me to praise God the same way when I'm going through 283 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:56,800 struggles as when everything's going my way. 284 00:11:57,680 --> 00:12:00,720 But what we know is that, I mean, Job would be a great analogy 285 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:03,280 of this is the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. 286 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:04,640 Blessed be the name of the Lord. 287 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:05,520 And that's. 288 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:06,320 That's a tough prayer. 289 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:08,480 That's a prayer out of maturity. 290 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:13,320 An immature Christian cannot understand the concept of, well, 291 00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:17,050 things are going bad in my life, in circumstance, but God has 292 00:12:17,050 --> 00:12:17,730 still got me. 293 00:12:18,050 --> 00:12:19,610 And that's essentially what we can see. 294 00:12:19,610 --> 00:12:22,130 Here is a testament to the idea that he says, I'm praying for 295 00:12:22,130 --> 00:12:24,930 you, but remember, there's a difference between your physical 296 00:12:24,930 --> 00:12:25,730 and the spiritual. 297 00:12:26,930 --> 00:12:29,690 And so what John does here is he says this in verse three. 298 00:12:29,690 --> 00:12:31,690 He says, for I have rejoiced greatly. 299 00:12:31,690 --> 00:12:32,130 There's. 300 00:12:32,369 --> 00:12:35,650 There's joy in John's heart as a spiritual leader. 301 00:12:35,650 --> 00:12:40,210 When he sees Gaius following in obedience, he says, I rejoice 302 00:12:40,210 --> 00:12:43,690 greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is 303 00:12:43,690 --> 00:12:46,630 in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. 304 00:12:46,630 --> 00:12:50,710 Essentially what John is doing is he's giving a testimony of Gaius 305 00:12:50,710 --> 00:12:51,230 faithfulness. 306 00:12:51,230 --> 00:12:53,030 And he's like, that makes me excited. 307 00:12:53,910 --> 00:12:55,190 There's nothing that makes. 308 00:12:56,150 --> 00:12:59,990 Nothing that should make a pastor or a teacher or even any Christian 309 00:13:00,150 --> 00:13:04,270 more excited than other people learning the truth of God and growing 310 00:13:04,270 --> 00:13:05,750 in that and walking in the truth. 311 00:13:06,630 --> 00:13:07,670 You know, we're there. 312 00:13:07,670 --> 00:13:08,070 There are. 313 00:13:08,070 --> 00:13:12,220 As a pastor, it's sometimes almost embarrassing how many people 314 00:13:12,300 --> 00:13:14,900 try to show their blessings to us. 315 00:13:14,900 --> 00:13:15,620 I mean, we're. 316 00:13:15,620 --> 00:13:16,980 We are abundantly blessed. 317 00:13:16,980 --> 00:13:19,340 People are so kind and so caring. 318 00:13:19,820 --> 00:13:23,660 And it's like, so much to say, like, as a pastor, it's almost embarrassing 319 00:13:23,660 --> 00:13:25,740 that people are that nice to us. 320 00:13:26,140 --> 00:13:29,780 But at the end of the day, the Greatest joy that I have is not someone 321 00:13:29,780 --> 00:13:31,620 coming up and giving me big gifts. 322 00:13:31,620 --> 00:13:35,980 The greatest joy as a pastor should be when someone follows in 323 00:13:35,980 --> 00:13:38,560 the truth of Jesus Christ and walks in the truth. 324 00:13:38,560 --> 00:13:41,360 That is an amazing, amazing experience to see that. 325 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:44,640 And even better when you get to be a part of that discipleship 326 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:44,960 process. 327 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:49,240 I can tell you, and some of you can attest to this, to lead someone 328 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:53,319 to Christ and then obviously not in your strength, but you get 329 00:13:53,319 --> 00:13:56,880 to be a vessel and then to walk alongside of them in discipleship. 330 00:13:56,880 --> 00:13:58,240 That is a wonderful experience. 331 00:13:58,560 --> 00:13:59,680 It's a beautiful experience. 332 00:13:59,680 --> 00:14:02,680 Sometimes it's a painful experience because sometimes the 333 00:14:02,680 --> 00:14:06,650 very people that you invest into over many, many years will eventually 334 00:14:06,970 --> 00:14:09,810 maybe turn away, maybe they'll go through a tough time, maybe they 335 00:14:09,810 --> 00:14:10,850 will stop talking to you. 336 00:14:10,850 --> 00:14:11,770 And that's painful. 337 00:14:11,770 --> 00:14:14,450 But at the end of the day, it's because of what God has done 338 00:14:14,450 --> 00:14:17,890 for us that we turn around and we impart that same type of love 339 00:14:17,890 --> 00:14:18,490 to other people. 340 00:14:18,570 --> 00:14:19,850 So what is John saying here? 341 00:14:20,569 --> 00:14:22,170 John's essentially just saying this. 342 00:14:22,810 --> 00:14:26,170 He was like, hey, I am so happy that you are walking in the 343 00:14:26,170 --> 00:14:26,450 truth. 344 00:14:26,450 --> 00:14:29,210 I am glorifying the Lord that you are walking in truth. 345 00:14:29,370 --> 00:14:34,050 And oftentimes we don't celebrate other Christians faithfulness. 346 00:14:35,250 --> 00:14:37,810 Sometimes we're, I'm speaking for myself here. 347 00:14:38,050 --> 00:14:42,210 Sometimes it's easy to jump on people who aren't faithful, but what 348 00:14:42,210 --> 00:14:45,050 we need to be doing more often, and I, I, I can attest to 349 00:14:45,050 --> 00:14:49,890 the fact that I don't do this enough to remember and ultimately 350 00:14:49,890 --> 00:14:52,930 edify and exhort people that are walking in the truth. 351 00:14:53,570 --> 00:14:55,850 Sometimes it's the ones that are always having problems that get 352 00:14:55,850 --> 00:14:56,370 the attention. 353 00:14:56,370 --> 00:14:59,470 But sometimes what the reality is is like we should be excited and 354 00:14:59,470 --> 00:15:00,910 sharing for people when they're faithful. 355 00:15:00,910 --> 00:15:03,350 Now, sometimes faithfulness is boring, right? 356 00:15:03,350 --> 00:15:05,710 Sometimes faithfulness is just doing the right thing every day. 357 00:15:05,710 --> 00:15:09,990 It's a bunch of small good decisions in the, in the grand scheme. 358 00:15:09,990 --> 00:15:11,350 And sometimes that's not as noticeable. 359 00:15:11,350 --> 00:15:15,950 What we see here is that John notices that Gaius is walking in 360 00:15:15,950 --> 00:15:16,550 the truth. 361 00:15:17,830 --> 00:15:21,990 And so this means more than just living the law and following 362 00:15:22,310 --> 00:15:22,790 rules. 363 00:15:23,270 --> 00:15:24,950 Because what does it mean to walk in truth? 364 00:15:24,950 --> 00:15:26,070 Well, essentially means this. 365 00:15:26,070 --> 00:15:30,000 To walk in Christ, to yes, be in sound doctrine, but to do it in 366 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:33,400 the right way, to have the right motivation, to have the right 367 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:35,680 heart, to love God. 368 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:36,840 You know what? 369 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:41,960 As a pastor, it would be not easy, but it would be easier for 370 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:45,040 me to say, here's the list of rules of what it means to be a good 371 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:45,680 Christian. 372 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:49,160 And then I walk around every day and I Say, okay, you know, so 373 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:49,480 and so. 374 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:49,880 How's your. 375 00:15:49,880 --> 00:15:52,400 How's your, you know, did you do point number one? 376 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:54,080 Okay, should you do point number two? 377 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:54,400 Good. 378 00:15:54,730 --> 00:15:55,930 And you go down the line? 379 00:15:56,330 --> 00:15:59,930 Now, now that is easier for us because we like to have everything 380 00:15:59,930 --> 00:16:01,690 clean and nice and on paper. 381 00:16:01,770 --> 00:16:04,650 But the reality is, is that there could be somebody who did all 382 00:16:04,650 --> 00:16:07,930 of those things, but yet their heart is not where it needs to be. 383 00:16:08,570 --> 00:16:13,690 And so as a spiritual leader, I could point people to a rule, or 384 00:16:13,690 --> 00:16:16,890 I could point people to loving Jesus with all of their heart. 385 00:16:17,530 --> 00:16:19,530 And when you do that, everything else is going to fall 386 00:16:19,530 --> 00:16:19,850 in line. 387 00:16:19,850 --> 00:16:20,570 You're going to treat. 388 00:16:20,950 --> 00:16:24,430 Know if I walk to up to a man, the first thing I'm going to talk 389 00:16:24,430 --> 00:16:24,670 to him. 390 00:16:24,670 --> 00:16:26,710 If he's married and he has children, I'm say, how. 391 00:16:26,710 --> 00:16:28,470 How's your, you know, how's your married life? 392 00:16:28,870 --> 00:16:29,870 How do you treat your wife? 393 00:16:29,870 --> 00:16:30,790 How do you treat your children? 394 00:16:31,430 --> 00:16:32,830 Well, I'm trying to be a better husband. 395 00:16:32,830 --> 00:16:35,470 I'm trying to be a better father, trying to be a good guy. 396 00:16:35,470 --> 00:16:36,310 Well, how are you trying? 397 00:16:36,470 --> 00:16:38,750 Well, you know, I'm reading this book, and it's telling me I 398 00:16:38,750 --> 00:16:40,670 got to take this step with my wife. 399 00:16:40,670 --> 00:16:41,910 I have to make sure I do this. 400 00:16:41,910 --> 00:16:43,430 You know, the truth is the real. 401 00:16:43,430 --> 00:16:47,420 The real truth, Biblically speaking, is the more that we pour 402 00:16:47,420 --> 00:16:52,340 ourselves into our love for God, the more every other human relationship 403 00:16:52,340 --> 00:16:54,100 that we have will strengthen. 404 00:16:55,540 --> 00:16:59,180 It's an amazing truth to see that our love for Christ manifests 405 00:16:59,180 --> 00:17:03,139 itself by being the right type of husband, father, Christian worker, 406 00:17:03,140 --> 00:17:06,780 boss, whatever it is, whatever roles that we have, it's pointing 407 00:17:06,780 --> 00:17:10,580 people to walking in the truth of the love of Jesus. 408 00:17:10,580 --> 00:17:15,600 And so to walk in truth means to walk in a way that's real and 409 00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:16,280 genuine. 410 00:17:17,080 --> 00:17:21,680 But ultimately, seeking after the Lord to be real and genuine means 411 00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:21,960 this. 412 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:25,360 You know, we could walk into the church building and we could 413 00:17:25,360 --> 00:17:26,760 pretend like everything's okay. 414 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:28,680 So, like, hey, how you doing? 415 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:29,680 I'm doing fantastic. 416 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:33,000 And then I go to my car and I start weeping because of all my problems 417 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:33,480 in my life. 418 00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:35,000 But I've got it under control. 419 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:36,520 No one, no one needs to know. 420 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:38,360 Everyone, I. I do this. 421 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:39,520 I do this all the time. 422 00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:40,440 People ask me, how you doing? 423 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:43,400 And I'm like, inside, I'm like, I'm about to cry, but I'm doing 424 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:44,120 fantastic. 425 00:17:44,120 --> 00:17:44,880 Everything's great. 426 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:45,520 Praise God. 427 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:47,960 And the reality is, is there's sometimes, and I think hopefully 428 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:48,720 all of us understand. 429 00:17:49,120 --> 00:17:51,000 It's not necessarily that I don't like that person. 430 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:53,840 It's because I'm Trying to hold on to some semblance of how 431 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:54,720 I'm perceived. 432 00:17:55,600 --> 00:17:58,320 But to walk in the truth sometimes means to tell people the 433 00:17:58,320 --> 00:17:59,600 truth of how you're feeling. 434 00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:03,120 And there might be days where we feel difficult, but at the end 435 00:18:03,120 --> 00:18:05,640 of the day, if the answer is walking in the truth of God, not 436 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:09,060 walking in my truth, there's a lot of people that will say, well, 437 00:18:09,060 --> 00:18:10,540 you know what my truth is? 438 00:18:10,540 --> 00:18:11,020 Is this. 439 00:18:11,100 --> 00:18:11,420 What. 440 00:18:11,420 --> 00:18:15,180 What her truth is, is that there's only one truth from the truth 441 00:18:15,180 --> 00:18:15,900 of Jesus Christ. 442 00:18:15,980 --> 00:18:16,780 The word of God. 443 00:18:16,780 --> 00:18:18,820 Sanctify them by thy truth, Thy word. 444 00:18:18,820 --> 00:18:19,900 God's word is truth. 445 00:18:20,380 --> 00:18:24,540 So he says in verse four, I have no greater joy, no greater joy 446 00:18:25,020 --> 00:18:27,860 than to hear that my children walk in truth. 447 00:18:27,860 --> 00:18:32,140 Now, sometimes that verse is used for, like, our biological children, 448 00:18:32,140 --> 00:18:35,020 which I think would certainly be applicable to that. 449 00:18:35,930 --> 00:18:38,490 Like, my prayer for my children is that they love Jesus. 450 00:18:39,690 --> 00:18:40,090 Not. 451 00:18:40,090 --> 00:18:40,890 Not that they. 452 00:18:40,970 --> 00:18:43,130 Not that they're good kids, even though I want my kids to be 453 00:18:43,130 --> 00:18:43,690 good kids. 454 00:18:43,850 --> 00:18:47,450 But they will be the right type of children if they love Jesus. 455 00:18:48,010 --> 00:18:49,450 So we want to point them to Jesus. 456 00:18:49,450 --> 00:18:50,890 We want to point them to the Word. 457 00:18:51,610 --> 00:18:55,850 But I think that this has a broader lesson in the context of 458 00:18:56,490 --> 00:19:01,010 children, meaning people that we have led to Christ or are discipling 459 00:19:01,010 --> 00:19:02,990 in Jesus Christ because. 460 00:19:02,990 --> 00:19:04,030 Because we know that the. 461 00:19:04,030 --> 00:19:05,830 The elder John is not the. 462 00:19:05,830 --> 00:19:08,310 We don't believe the biological father of Gaius. 463 00:19:08,310 --> 00:19:09,750 It doesn't ever indicate that. 464 00:19:09,750 --> 00:19:12,430 But he mentions in verse 4, I have no greater joy than to hear 465 00:19:12,430 --> 00:19:13,430 that my children walk. 466 00:19:13,830 --> 00:19:16,190 We even know that there are other individuals in Scripture that 467 00:19:16,190 --> 00:19:19,590 called their disciples, that followed them as they followed Christ's 468 00:19:19,590 --> 00:19:19,910 children. 469 00:19:21,030 --> 00:19:23,710 And so we can see here in this case that he's talking about the 470 00:19:23,710 --> 00:19:25,190 joy of discipleship. 471 00:19:25,510 --> 00:19:29,070 He's talking about the joy of showing another Christian what it 472 00:19:29,070 --> 00:19:30,910 means to walk in the truth of Jesus Christ. 473 00:19:30,910 --> 00:19:35,740 And so there's a word that I want our church to understand. 474 00:19:37,020 --> 00:19:38,300 I want our church to. 475 00:19:38,300 --> 00:19:40,140 To think about, to pray about. 476 00:19:40,700 --> 00:19:42,220 That is the word discipleship. 477 00:19:42,700 --> 00:19:45,020 It's a word that sometimes gets glossed over. 478 00:19:45,020 --> 00:19:49,140 We hear the word disciple, and what do we think of Peter, Think 479 00:19:49,140 --> 00:19:50,020 of maybe Judas? 480 00:19:50,020 --> 00:19:52,140 We think of some of the others that we can remember. 481 00:19:52,140 --> 00:19:53,100 Thomas the Doubter. 482 00:19:53,100 --> 00:19:53,740 But that's. 483 00:19:54,060 --> 00:19:57,260 That's not what we're talking about when we're talking about discipleship, 484 00:19:57,260 --> 00:19:58,930 even though they were disciples of Jesus. 485 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:02,760 Discipleship literally means to. 486 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:06,200 To teach someone how to be a follower. 487 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:08,680 The word disciple means follower or learner. 488 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:13,680 And so discipleship just means the process in which we teach somebody 489 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:17,800 what it means to be A follower of Christ. 490 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:20,840 There's a lot of people that want religion. 491 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:23,320 There's a lot of people that want some type of peace. 492 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:27,800 But the Bible speaks more of what it means to be a disciple. 493 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:30,400 What does it mean to be a disciple? 494 00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:33,920 What does it, what does it mean to be somebody's disciple? 495 00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:34,680 Right. 496 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:36,240 Someone who's being discipled. 497 00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:39,120 Well, I want to take you to just one verse. 498 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:43,360 I could take you to a lot of verses, but I won't do that tonight. 499 00:20:43,360 --> 00:20:46,360 I want to take you to just the one verse that I think we can get 500 00:20:46,360 --> 00:20:48,360 an idea of what it means to be a disciple. 501 00:20:48,360 --> 00:20:50,760 And that's in the book of John, very appropriately. 502 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:51,040 Right. 503 00:20:51,360 --> 00:20:55,830 The same human author that wrote the third John wrote something 504 00:20:55,830 --> 00:21:00,830 to us in John, chapter eight, that I think can teach us what it 505 00:21:00,830 --> 00:21:02,070 means to be a disciple. 506 00:21:02,230 --> 00:21:07,230 And then if we know that we're called to be disciples and we're 507 00:21:07,230 --> 00:21:10,030 called to lead other people to be disciples, because I, I will take 508 00:21:10,030 --> 00:21:10,230 you. 509 00:21:10,230 --> 00:21:13,630 I, I, I did kind of tell you a little bit of a fib there. 510 00:21:13,630 --> 00:21:15,710 I will take you to another verse because I got to show you something 511 00:21:15,710 --> 00:21:16,710 else that connects this. 512 00:21:17,190 --> 00:21:21,640 So we're, we're called to be disciples ourselves, and we're called 513 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:23,920 to make disciples, which we're going to see in Matthew, chapter 514 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:24,440 28. 515 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:30,920 So if we are called to be disciples and we're called to make 516 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:33,320 disciples, don't you think it would be important for the Church 517 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:35,160 to know what it means to be a disciple? 518 00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:37,840 What does it mean to be a disciple? 519 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:39,760 Well, I'm going to try to be like Peter. 520 00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:41,240 Well, no, that's not what that means. 521 00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:49,050 So In John chapter 8, verse 31, it tells us exactly what it means 522 00:21:49,050 --> 00:21:50,210 to be a disciple. 523 00:21:52,370 --> 00:21:53,490 John 8, 31. 524 00:21:53,570 --> 00:21:57,890 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if you continue 525 00:21:58,050 --> 00:22:02,210 in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed? 526 00:22:03,010 --> 00:22:06,450 So he says, here, look, you believe in me, but what does it mean 527 00:22:06,450 --> 00:22:07,290 to be a disciple? 528 00:22:07,290 --> 00:22:12,190 It means to continue in my word, to get deeper into it, to, 529 00:22:12,190 --> 00:22:16,270 to not only know it, but also believe it and obey it. 530 00:22:16,270 --> 00:22:18,270 That's what that word continue means. 531 00:22:19,150 --> 00:22:21,750 So it's not just about believing that God's word is God's 532 00:22:21,750 --> 00:22:22,070 word. 533 00:22:22,070 --> 00:22:25,790 It's continuing in it and allowing it to guide us in the path 534 00:22:25,790 --> 00:22:26,270 of life. 535 00:22:28,270 --> 00:22:31,510 Then he goes on to say in verse 32, how we do that, he says, 536 00:22:31,510 --> 00:22:35,950 and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 537 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:42,040 So the idea here is that we have amazing freedom when we walk 538 00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:43,240 in the truth of God. 539 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:46,280 And that's, and that's what he's trying to tell us here in this 540 00:22:46,280 --> 00:22:50,320 case is that we need to be those ones that, number one, you 541 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:53,479 can't be a discipler. 542 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:56,560 You can't disciple other people unless you yourself are a 543 00:22:56,560 --> 00:22:57,160 disciple. 544 00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:00,840 So if we're called, we're going to that other verse that I 545 00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:01,840 told you that we're going to go to. 546 00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:07,170 Because lest we think that, well, hey, you know what? 547 00:23:07,170 --> 00:23:09,410 The disciples are just like the super Christians. 548 00:23:10,530 --> 00:23:14,930 And you know me, I just, I just want to be, you know, a casual 549 00:23:14,930 --> 00:23:15,450 Christian. 550 00:23:15,450 --> 00:23:16,370 I just want to be. 551 00:23:16,610 --> 00:23:18,210 I call it the status quo Christian. 552 00:23:18,210 --> 00:23:21,650 I just want to keep just what everybody wants me to be, okay? 553 00:23:21,650 --> 00:23:23,690 I'm, I'm a Christ follower and all that. 554 00:23:23,690 --> 00:23:29,200 But, you know, Matthew chapter 28 gives us a command and it is called 555 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,280 the Great Commission, which basically means the big job that 556 00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:32,720 we have. 557 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:38,320 And this is not just written to pastors, even though pastors are 558 00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:40,760 included with this, or missionaries, even though missionaries 559 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:41,760 are included with this. 560 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:46,760 We see at the end of Matthew chapter 28, Jesus is about to ascend 561 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:48,320 into heaven on the Mount of Olives. 562 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:53,720 And when I praise God, speaking of how embarrassing it is 563 00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:56,280 sometimes that people bless us when the church blessed us to go 564 00:23:56,280 --> 00:24:00,680 to Israel, Alicia and I there, there were certain, like, what we 565 00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:03,600 would call cornerstone moments or moments that we just felt like, 566 00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:06,160 this is, this is something special here. 567 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:09,640 One of those was the Mount of Olives, because had an opportunity 568 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:10,800 to stand on the Mount of Olives. 569 00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:15,200 And from one angle, you can be on the Mount of Olives, you can see 570 00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:19,120 the Temple Mount, you can see the eastern gate, which depending 571 00:24:19,120 --> 00:24:22,600 on different people's philosophy of the end times, that's 572 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:24,400 the gate that Jesus is going to come through. 573 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:28,870 And nonetheless, though, even if, even if didn't believe that that's 574 00:24:28,870 --> 00:24:30,750 the gate that he's going to come through, what I will say is 575 00:24:30,750 --> 00:24:31,030 this. 576 00:24:31,030 --> 00:24:34,590 From the Mount of Olives, you can see the Palm Sunday road coming 577 00:24:34,590 --> 00:24:36,710 down the road that Jesus walked down. 578 00:24:36,710 --> 00:24:40,150 And they remember, they threw all the, the things out on the ground 579 00:24:40,150 --> 00:24:43,070 there, their clothes and the palm branches, and they said Hosanna. 580 00:24:43,070 --> 00:24:45,030 And then shortly after they turned on him. 581 00:24:45,350 --> 00:24:47,750 And then as you go down the Palm Sunday road, there's the Garden 582 00:24:47,750 --> 00:24:50,110 of Gethsemane on the right and all these different things. 583 00:24:50,110 --> 00:24:53,580 And so as Jesus is on the Mount of Olives teaching, he's. 584 00:24:53,580 --> 00:24:55,340 He's about to ascend into heaven. 585 00:24:55,340 --> 00:24:57,420 And then one of the other things I thought about when I was 586 00:24:57,420 --> 00:24:59,780 sitting on the Mount of Olives is the Great Commission, right? 587 00:25:00,340 --> 00:25:01,940 Jesus was ascending to Heaven. 588 00:25:01,940 --> 00:25:04,500 And the last thing he said was this and that, like, struck a chord 589 00:25:04,500 --> 00:25:05,940 with me again. 590 00:25:06,020 --> 00:25:06,899 This is what he says. 591 00:25:06,899 --> 00:25:09,900 He says, all power, verse 18 in Matthew 28, all power is given 592 00:25:09,900 --> 00:25:11,060 unto me in heaven and earth. 593 00:25:11,220 --> 00:25:14,260 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name 594 00:25:14,260 --> 00:25:16,740 of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. 595 00:25:17,980 --> 00:25:20,540 Now, in the original Greek, there when it says go and teach, 596 00:25:20,540 --> 00:25:23,340 because it looks redundant here it says, go teach all nations, 597 00:25:23,340 --> 00:25:25,820 baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son of the Holy Ghost. 598 00:25:25,820 --> 00:25:26,460 Verse 20. 599 00:25:26,460 --> 00:25:27,020 Teaching them. 600 00:25:27,020 --> 00:25:28,940 So it's like teach, teaching them, teaching them. 601 00:25:29,020 --> 00:25:29,940 Well, really, there's. 602 00:25:29,940 --> 00:25:30,180 It's. 603 00:25:30,180 --> 00:25:31,580 It's two different ideas. 604 00:25:31,900 --> 00:25:36,300 There is teaching involved with it, but the first reference 605 00:25:36,300 --> 00:25:37,580 to teaching there means this. 606 00:25:37,740 --> 00:25:40,140 Make disciples, he says, make disciples. 607 00:25:41,020 --> 00:25:42,340 Make disciples by what? 608 00:25:42,340 --> 00:25:45,100 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded 609 00:25:45,100 --> 00:25:45,220 you. 610 00:25:45,220 --> 00:25:47,340 And lo, I'm with you all way, even to the end of the world. 611 00:25:47,340 --> 00:25:50,710 So with all of those pieces of the puzzle together, what does he 612 00:25:50,710 --> 00:25:50,870 say? 613 00:25:50,870 --> 00:25:51,550 He says this. 614 00:25:52,510 --> 00:25:55,870 Follow me, be a disciple, and then make disciples. 615 00:25:57,310 --> 00:26:00,790 Then that's when we can have the joy of saying, look, I see my 616 00:26:00,790 --> 00:26:02,430 children walking in faithfulness. 617 00:26:03,150 --> 00:26:06,030 I. I see my children walking in the truth. 618 00:26:06,830 --> 00:26:09,310 Now, I would go back and venture to say that if we have any 619 00:26:09,310 --> 00:26:12,390 parents in the room, or anyone that's raising children still, maybe 620 00:26:12,390 --> 00:26:14,270 a grandparent, the idea would be this. 621 00:26:14,670 --> 00:26:17,470 Your first discipleship opportunity is your home. 622 00:26:18,670 --> 00:26:19,030 My. 623 00:26:19,030 --> 00:26:22,310 My wife and my children are my first priorities when it comes to 624 00:26:22,310 --> 00:26:23,070 discipleship. 625 00:26:23,070 --> 00:26:23,510 I am. 626 00:26:23,510 --> 00:26:24,710 I am locked in on that. 627 00:26:24,710 --> 00:26:29,390 Okay, but then for other purposes, we know that it should 628 00:26:29,390 --> 00:26:29,870 go out. 629 00:26:30,509 --> 00:26:33,430 But one of the travesties has been, and many of you have maybe 630 00:26:33,430 --> 00:26:36,390 witnessed this, is that there have been individuals so interested 631 00:26:36,390 --> 00:26:39,110 in others that they've missed the people that are right there in 632 00:26:39,110 --> 00:26:39,710 front of them. 633 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:41,720 But what I would say is this. 634 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:47,720 Find somebody within your life, starting from your closest 635 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:53,000 relatives or your friends and building out, and find somebody to 636 00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:54,360 disciple. 637 00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:55,440 You. 638 00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:56,440 Say, well, I'm not. 639 00:26:57,080 --> 00:26:58,680 You don't want me to cycle people. 640 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:00,280 You don't trust me. 641 00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:04,160 Well, you might not be where you need to be at this moment, but 642 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:04,680 what then? 643 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:05,880 What's the challenge then? 644 00:27:06,630 --> 00:27:08,870 Challenge then is to get to a place where I could be. 645 00:27:09,750 --> 00:27:10,110 So. 646 00:27:10,110 --> 00:27:12,710 So then be hungry to be the disciple. 647 00:27:12,710 --> 00:27:14,190 Say, who can I find? 648 00:27:14,190 --> 00:27:14,510 Who. 649 00:27:14,510 --> 00:27:15,510 Who can be my. 650 00:27:15,510 --> 00:27:16,070 My John? 651 00:27:16,150 --> 00:27:16,950 Who can lead me? 652 00:27:16,950 --> 00:27:17,790 Who can be my Paul? 653 00:27:17,790 --> 00:27:20,670 I want to be a Timothy, and I want to learn and I want to glean. 654 00:27:20,670 --> 00:27:22,070 And that's what Third John's all about. 655 00:27:22,230 --> 00:27:25,630 Looking at good examples to follow and looking at bad examples 656 00:27:25,630 --> 00:27:26,390 to not follow. 657 00:27:27,350 --> 00:27:30,670 And again, there's people that have positions of authority that 658 00:27:30,670 --> 00:27:32,870 we would say are not good people to follow. 659 00:27:32,870 --> 00:27:36,190 I mean, I would even say that there are people preaching today 660 00:27:36,270 --> 00:27:39,510 in the world that we would say not good examples to follow because 661 00:27:39,510 --> 00:27:43,790 by the way, we listen to a preacher preach, but we also look 662 00:27:43,790 --> 00:27:47,190 at an individual's life because their life has to match the 663 00:27:47,190 --> 00:27:47,790 preaching. 664 00:27:47,950 --> 00:27:50,510 They're a preaching and their lifestyle is completely off. 665 00:27:50,990 --> 00:27:53,870 That in the Bible that says like that's one of the tests to a 666 00:27:53,870 --> 00:27:54,670 false teacher. 667 00:27:54,750 --> 00:27:56,950 They might be saying very compelling things from behind the 668 00:27:56,950 --> 00:27:57,470 pulpit. 669 00:27:57,990 --> 00:28:01,030 And, and it doesn't mean that a person has to be perfect by any 670 00:28:01,030 --> 00:28:01,830 stretch of the imagination. 671 00:28:01,830 --> 00:28:04,470 I'm nowhere close to being perfect, not even close. 672 00:28:05,110 --> 00:28:08,870 But the truth is, is that when we walk in, as it says walk in truth. 673 00:28:08,870 --> 00:28:09,670 Walk in truth. 674 00:28:09,670 --> 00:28:11,270 And so it's the idea of the walk. 675 00:28:12,230 --> 00:28:14,670 So the first four verses here just simply are the greeting. 676 00:28:14,670 --> 00:28:17,790 But there's so much there even in third John that we can look at 677 00:28:17,790 --> 00:28:19,430 and say, man, we can take that. 678 00:28:19,430 --> 00:28:21,990 And I, I want to be a discipler. 679 00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:28,440 We, we have many opportunities here at our church to find some avenue 680 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:33,040 of either one, learning as a disciple E, if you will, or disciple. 681 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:34,760 Okay? 682 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:37,840 But for the sake of the argument, we have disciple E, the 683 00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:40,560 person who's being discipled and the disciple or the person who's 684 00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:41,440 doing the discipling. 685 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:42,000 Okay. 686 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:44,360 There are many avenues for you to find that. 687 00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:47,440 And, and I would venture to say that the best avenue for this 688 00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:51,800 because, because we see the example in Scripture is either one 689 00:28:51,800 --> 00:28:55,280 on one discipleship in the appropriate setting or small group 690 00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:55,800 setting. 691 00:28:56,200 --> 00:29:02,800 Because discipleship is not best over a pulpit with 200 some 692 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:03,400 people, right? 693 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:06,439 Because sometimes with discipleship there's questions. 694 00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:09,160 Now there is a time and a place to preach the word. 695 00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:10,360 It is the centerpiece. 696 00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:12,480 Because without preaching there's nothing to base anything 697 00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:13,000 off of. 698 00:29:13,080 --> 00:29:15,720 So preaching, trust me, I love preaching. 699 00:29:15,860 --> 00:29:17,060 Preaching is a wonderful thing. 700 00:29:17,540 --> 00:29:18,420 We should do that. 701 00:29:18,500 --> 00:29:20,900 We should constantly preach, preach in every setting. 702 00:29:21,220 --> 00:29:24,060 But what I will say is that there is an avenue of growth that 703 00:29:24,060 --> 00:29:26,580 needs to come outside of the Sunday morning preaching. 704 00:29:26,740 --> 00:29:27,940 You've heard me say this before. 705 00:29:28,420 --> 00:29:33,380 If the only time you're eating food is a Sunday morning for one 706 00:29:33,380 --> 00:29:36,260 hour, you're going to be full on Sunday. 707 00:29:36,340 --> 00:29:39,580 But probably, I don't know about you, but probably by Monday 708 00:29:39,580 --> 00:29:41,060 I'm getting a little hungry. 709 00:29:41,790 --> 00:29:43,350 Tuesday I'm getting a little bit more hungry. 710 00:29:43,350 --> 00:29:45,950 If I haven't eaten in three days, I'm Ready to eat anything. 711 00:29:46,430 --> 00:29:48,110 And that's the idea for a Christian. 712 00:29:48,110 --> 00:29:51,950 We cannot think that just the preaching is where I'm going to get 713 00:29:51,950 --> 00:29:52,990 my discipleship. 714 00:29:53,790 --> 00:29:56,190 That's where I get fed, that's where I get my big meal. 715 00:29:56,350 --> 00:29:57,710 But where comes my daily. 716 00:29:57,710 --> 00:30:00,510 Well, you can go to the Lord and you can study that on your own. 717 00:30:00,510 --> 00:30:03,750 But at the same time, sometimes there's not individuals 718 00:30:03,750 --> 00:30:06,750 that are, are like, I don't know if any of you have dealt with 719 00:30:06,750 --> 00:30:08,910 this yourself, or maybe you've dealt with someone who has dealt 720 00:30:08,910 --> 00:30:09,230 with this. 721 00:30:09,620 --> 00:30:11,180 You say, okay, start learning about God. 722 00:30:11,180 --> 00:30:14,260 And you give them a Bible and they're like, where do I start? 723 00:30:15,380 --> 00:30:16,660 Well, you know, just read it. 724 00:30:16,820 --> 00:30:17,940 I, I agree with that. 725 00:30:17,940 --> 00:30:18,500 Just read it. 726 00:30:18,500 --> 00:30:24,100 But it's like again, we hand, hand a steak to a six month old. 727 00:30:24,500 --> 00:30:27,980 Sometimes we have to cut it up, sometimes we have to puree it, 728 00:30:27,980 --> 00:30:30,180 sometimes we have to point them in the right direction of where 729 00:30:30,180 --> 00:30:30,660 to go. 730 00:30:32,020 --> 00:30:34,620 So just practically speaking, I don't want to speak just theoretically 731 00:30:34,620 --> 00:30:34,900 here. 732 00:30:35,140 --> 00:30:38,020 What do we do if someone comes up to us and says, hey, I want to 733 00:30:38,020 --> 00:30:40,740 know more about God, I want to, I want to start reading the Bible. 734 00:30:40,740 --> 00:30:41,540 Where should I start? 735 00:30:42,580 --> 00:30:43,620 There's a lot of opinions. 736 00:30:43,620 --> 00:30:45,620 There's not one right answer for this, by the way. 737 00:30:45,700 --> 00:30:49,100 I'm not going to say that there's one right answer, but I will 738 00:30:49,100 --> 00:30:52,020 say that a good method that, that I have seen and that I've seen 739 00:30:52,020 --> 00:30:55,620 others use is pointing someone to who Jesus is. 740 00:30:56,260 --> 00:30:58,620 I would venture to say the Book of John is a great place to 741 00:30:58,620 --> 00:30:58,900 start. 742 00:30:59,780 --> 00:31:02,820 One, one tool that I have used with an individual who says, I want 743 00:31:02,820 --> 00:31:05,920 to know more about God, but I don't know where to start and I don't 744 00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:07,280 know what questions to even ask. 745 00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:10,200 Sometimes there is questions that they know what to ask and sometimes 746 00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:11,680 they're like, I just don't even know where to start. 747 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:16,160 What I would do and what I have done and what I've seen as effective 748 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:17,520 is read the book of John. 749 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:20,400 And as you're reading the Book of John, write down your questions. 750 00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:22,320 Just write them down. 751 00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:25,880 Okay, so John 1:1, in the beginning was the Word. 752 00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:26,880 Okay, I'm gonna stop there. 753 00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:27,680 Who's the Word? 754 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:28,800 Write that question. 755 00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:30,600 Okay, what's the beginning? 756 00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:31,120 Where, where? 757 00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:32,720 What does the Bible say about the beginning? 758 00:31:33,060 --> 00:31:35,100 Great discipleship, opportunity to go back to the book 759 00:31:35,100 --> 00:31:35,780 of Genesis. 760 00:31:36,100 --> 00:31:38,660 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the 761 00:31:38,660 --> 00:31:39,540 Word was God. 762 00:31:39,540 --> 00:31:42,820 Well, how can the Word be God and also with God at the same time? 763 00:31:42,980 --> 00:31:45,460 Great opportunity to talk to Someone about the Trinity. 764 00:31:45,940 --> 00:31:49,219 Great opportunity to talk to someone about Jesus's eternality 765 00:31:49,220 --> 00:31:51,220 and the fact that Jesus is not created. 766 00:31:51,220 --> 00:31:53,660 There's going to be some people that think, well, Jesus is 767 00:31:53,660 --> 00:31:54,820 a created being of God. 768 00:31:54,980 --> 00:31:57,980 That many, many different cults and different teachings teach 769 00:31:57,980 --> 00:31:58,260 that. 770 00:31:58,510 --> 00:32:01,190 Well, know the Bible says that Jesus is eternal from the beginning 771 00:32:01,190 --> 00:32:01,510 of time. 772 00:32:01,510 --> 00:32:03,630 He was there, the Word was God. 773 00:32:05,150 --> 00:32:06,630 And so we can go through all that. 774 00:32:06,630 --> 00:32:10,430 And, and just as you can see, right, just in the first couple verses, 775 00:32:10,510 --> 00:32:14,990 we've got Trinity, we've got Jesus, we've got eternality, we've 776 00:32:14,990 --> 00:32:15,870 got all of that. 777 00:32:16,510 --> 00:32:19,310 And that's how we can disciple, Right? 778 00:32:19,310 --> 00:32:23,270 But sometimes what happens, and I'm going to get off my, my soapbox 779 00:32:23,270 --> 00:32:25,310 here in a second, but sometimes what happens is this. 780 00:32:25,800 --> 00:32:27,960 We say, okay, read your Bible. 781 00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:32,240 Or someone listens to, to preaching and then they'd like, I 782 00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:33,720 have no idea what that person's saying. 783 00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:35,560 I have no idea what Pastor Josh has said. 784 00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:36,800 He just said something in Greek. 785 00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:38,160 I don't even speak Greek. 786 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:39,320 Okay, I understand that. 787 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:42,040 So never be afraid. 788 00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:45,720 There shouldn't be a setting in which we're afraid to ask questions. 789 00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:47,080 Ask questions. 790 00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:47,800 Okay. 791 00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:49,720 If you say, well, I don't know who to ask in this church. 792 00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:53,440 Okay, well, there's a many good people to ask, but I'm just 793 00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:54,880 going to give you an open door. 794 00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:56,440 Okay, door's open. 795 00:32:56,840 --> 00:32:59,640 I will not be upset if you come up and ask me a question about 796 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:01,800 something that I said or that's something that you've read 797 00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:03,080 or something that you watch. 798 00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:06,120 I'm not going to belittle you and go, well, I can't believe you 799 00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:06,680 thought that. 800 00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:10,080 You know, it's, it's an amazing thing to start dialogue and 801 00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:10,480 questions. 802 00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:12,240 And so that's how discipleship works. 803 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:13,960 It's not this formula. 804 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:17,770 It's just discussing and talking about what it means to fit. 805 00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:21,240 Follow God, follow his word. 806 00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:23,280 Remember John 8:31. 807 00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:25,920 You continue in my word, you're my disciples. 808 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:26,480 Indeed. 809 00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:28,640 So it's continuing in the Word. 810 00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:30,480 It's not based in feeling. 811 00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:33,560 You know, I know a lot of people that say, well, discipleship 812 00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:35,920 is just like we get together and we have a good time and we have 813 00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:36,240 food. 814 00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:40,680 That can be a part of discipleship to bridge the gap, to 815 00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:46,410 get people to what the word fellowship is not discipleship. 816 00:33:46,970 --> 00:33:50,890 Fellowship is an avenue of encouragement within the church. 817 00:33:51,930 --> 00:33:55,530 But I cannot grow in the Lord by getting together with somebody 818 00:33:55,530 --> 00:33:59,130 and just having a good time if the word of God is not presented 819 00:33:59,130 --> 00:34:02,010 or talked about or grown in. 820 00:34:02,010 --> 00:34:07,010 And so I'm not Tearing down the idea that, hey, we should, you 821 00:34:07,010 --> 00:34:10,960 know, only get to, you know, for example, I. 822 00:34:11,680 --> 00:34:12,920 Maybe some of you don't know this. 823 00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:15,120 I'm not going to just sit and preach to you all day if we hang 824 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:15,760 out, okay? 825 00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:17,280 Like, I. I have other interests. 826 00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:18,640 I like to talk about other things. 827 00:34:18,640 --> 00:34:19,120 But the. 828 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:20,000 The core of it is. 829 00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:22,960 Is the word of God at the base of our discipleship and our spirit. 830 00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:26,640 And sometimes what we do is we have a lot of people that are. 831 00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:29,800 Are good, like chameleons, like, oh, I. I see that they're acting 832 00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:31,680 that way, so I. I probably should act that way. 833 00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:34,320 Or I see that person's not doing that, so I probably shouldn't 834 00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:35,600 do that, at least in front of them. 835 00:34:36,099 --> 00:34:38,699 Or I see how the people sit in church and how they open up their 836 00:34:38,699 --> 00:34:38,979 Bible. 837 00:34:38,979 --> 00:34:40,259 Okay, that's how I should do it. 838 00:34:40,499 --> 00:34:42,819 That's great, but that's external. 839 00:34:43,939 --> 00:34:46,539 If I don't know the why behind what we're doing, then it's like, 840 00:34:46,539 --> 00:34:47,419 well, what am I even doing? 841 00:34:47,419 --> 00:34:48,539 It's just a ritualistic. 842 00:34:48,539 --> 00:34:49,619 And so we have to go deeper. 843 00:34:49,619 --> 00:34:53,459 And so in those first verses, first four verses, we see it's a 844 00:34:53,459 --> 00:34:53,899 greeting. 845 00:34:53,899 --> 00:34:58,659 But I think it's also a teaching on what biblical discipleship 846 00:34:58,659 --> 00:35:00,579 looks like and what the product of that is. 847 00:35:01,470 --> 00:35:04,990 I have no greater joy than to hear my children walk in truth. 848 00:35:05,950 --> 00:35:06,830 So think about this. 849 00:35:06,910 --> 00:35:08,630 I don't know how many people we have here this evening. 850 00:35:08,630 --> 00:35:10,710 We got people spread out all over the property tonight. 851 00:35:10,710 --> 00:35:14,470 But those that are here, those that are watching, think about if 852 00:35:14,470 --> 00:35:16,190 every one of us just. 853 00:35:16,670 --> 00:35:21,910 Every one of us just took one person, one person that we were like, 854 00:35:21,910 --> 00:35:25,150 okay, I want to teach them what it means to walk in truth. 855 00:35:26,430 --> 00:35:30,420 No, I didn't go to college for math, but I think if every one of 856 00:35:30,420 --> 00:35:33,700 us picked one person, that would double the disciples, right? 857 00:35:33,780 --> 00:35:36,100 And then think about those people and think about those people 858 00:35:36,100 --> 00:35:36,540 doing that. 859 00:35:36,540 --> 00:35:36,900 Think about. 860 00:35:36,900 --> 00:35:38,260 Think that that's how it worked. 861 00:35:38,260 --> 00:35:41,300 It started with 12 guys and actually got pared down at one point 862 00:35:41,300 --> 00:35:41,780 to 11. 863 00:35:42,100 --> 00:35:43,460 And the Bible says they. 864 00:35:43,620 --> 00:35:47,100 They turned over the world, and now we're preaching the gospel 865 00:35:47,100 --> 00:35:48,500 in Middletown, Delaware. 866 00:35:48,900 --> 00:35:50,500 That's an amazing thing to think about. 867 00:35:51,140 --> 00:35:52,540 God's not done with the church yet. 868 00:35:52,540 --> 00:35:53,860 God's not done with his people yet. 869 00:35:53,860 --> 00:35:55,900 And I think that's what we have to start realizing. 870 00:35:56,770 --> 00:35:58,210 And so we're gonna come back. 871 00:35:58,690 --> 00:36:03,490 Don't have time to keep going on unless someone was like, hey, 872 00:36:03,490 --> 00:36:05,850 you know, by the way, pray for us. 873 00:36:05,850 --> 00:36:09,210 We got a trip coming up this weekend, so this, like, tomorrow 874 00:36:09,210 --> 00:36:09,410 Morning. 875 00:36:09,410 --> 00:36:13,490 We're leaving super early, so pray for us as we drive down to Florida. 876 00:36:13,490 --> 00:36:16,330 I have a wedding in our family that we're going to be taking part 877 00:36:16,330 --> 00:36:17,930 of, and so it's an exciting time for us. 878 00:36:17,930 --> 00:36:19,010 So just be praying for us. 879 00:36:19,730 --> 00:36:25,230 And then next week, remember, next week is our packing party, so 880 00:36:25,230 --> 00:36:27,670 we won't be back here next week studying. 881 00:36:28,150 --> 00:36:32,110 Third, John, I encourage you to come and help us pack boxes, but 882 00:36:32,110 --> 00:36:34,470 I would love for you to come back in two weeks. 883 00:36:34,630 --> 00:36:35,510 Yeah, two weeks. 884 00:36:35,830 --> 00:36:39,030 And we're going to look at these examples. 885 00:36:39,030 --> 00:36:39,309 There's. 886 00:36:39,309 --> 00:36:40,630 There's three examples here. 887 00:36:40,630 --> 00:36:43,190 We have a guy named Gaius, who is a good example. 888 00:36:44,150 --> 00:36:49,110 Then we have another guy, Diotrophies, who is not a good example. 889 00:36:49,990 --> 00:36:53,390 Now, I don't know about you, but I haven't heard that many people 890 00:36:53,390 --> 00:36:54,870 named Diotrephy around here. 891 00:36:55,350 --> 00:36:56,070 But the. 892 00:36:56,310 --> 00:36:58,630 I don't know if it's because he's a bad example or just it's a 893 00:36:58,790 --> 00:36:59,750 different name for us. 894 00:36:59,750 --> 00:37:00,510 But he. 895 00:37:00,510 --> 00:37:03,310 He's an example of what not to be in his pride. 896 00:37:03,310 --> 00:37:07,470 He teaches, he wants position, but he doesn't want it for the right 897 00:37:07,470 --> 00:37:07,990 reasons. 898 00:37:08,470 --> 00:37:12,950 And then at the end, we ultimately see another good example 899 00:37:13,750 --> 00:37:16,320 and in a guy named Demetrius. 900 00:37:16,800 --> 00:37:18,400 And so we'll come back and study that. 901 00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:21,200 And if you want to see what a good example is, come back. 902 00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:24,320 I would encourage you to read it yourself. 903 00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:28,120 I would encourage you to dive deeper into the word of God all the 904 00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:28,400 time. 905 00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:30,080 But if you can't tell. 906 00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:33,200 Discipleship is near and dear to my heart. 907 00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:35,160 It's something that I've want. 908 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:37,680 I admittedly have given my life to. 909 00:37:38,240 --> 00:37:39,600 And I want to. 910 00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:40,000 If. 911 00:37:40,490 --> 00:37:41,130 If I stand. 912 00:37:41,370 --> 00:37:44,530 When I stand before God one day, When I stand before God one 913 00:37:44,530 --> 00:37:48,170 day, I want to be able to say, you know, I did everything that I 914 00:37:48,170 --> 00:37:51,130 could to promote the gospel and discipleship. 915 00:37:51,130 --> 00:37:51,450 That's. 916 00:37:51,450 --> 00:37:52,490 That's really what it is. 917 00:37:52,970 --> 00:37:57,250 There's a lot of things that people can be known for and a lot 918 00:37:57,250 --> 00:37:59,770 of things that we can hang our hats on, but at the end of the day, 919 00:38:00,090 --> 00:38:01,690 man, none of that is going to matter. 920 00:38:02,090 --> 00:38:03,370 And so let's. 921 00:38:03,370 --> 00:38:06,090 Let's all get busy about that discipleship and what that means. 922 00:38:06,090 --> 00:38:10,530 And so I pray that that can speak to you as it has spoken to 923 00:38:10,530 --> 00:38:10,850 me. 924 00:38:12,130 --> 00:38:14,730 Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church 925 00:38:14,730 --> 00:38:15,330 podcast. 926 00:38:15,570 --> 00:38:17,890 I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you. 927 00:38:18,610 --> 00:38:20,890 If you would like to find out more information about our church 928 00:38:20,890 --> 00:38:24,370 or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org 929 00:38:24,610 --> 00:38:27,170 or find us on Facebook or YouTube. 930 00:38:27,970 --> 00:38:32,850 You can also email me directly at Josh Massaro@middletownbaptistchurch.com 931 00:38:33,470 --> 00:38:36,830 if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow 932 00:38:36,830 --> 00:38:39,630 along for future podcast and updates. 933 00:38:40,270 --> 00:38:41,310 Thank you so much. 934 00:38:41,470 --> 00:38:42,190 God Bless. 935 00:38:42,430 --> 00:38:43,710 Have a wonderful day.