How to Stand Strong in Truth and Grace

Standing for biblical truth has become increasingly difficult in a culture that often rejects God's standards. In this message from 3 John, Pastor Chris Teien explains how believers can remain faithful to Christ by living the truth with grace, supporting those who advance the gospel, and refusing to let pride or selfish ambition derail God's work.

Through the examples of Gaius, Diotrephes, and Demetrius, 3 John teaches believers how to develop Christlike character, strengthen healthy churches, invest in meaningful relationships, and faithfully stand for the truth while demonstrating the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

In This Message:

1. Live the Truth with Grace

Truth and grace belong together. This message explains how believers can faithfully proclaim God's truth while responding with humility, compassion, and patience toward those who disagree. (3 John 1-4; John 1:14; Ephesians 4:15; 1 John 3:18)

2. Support Those Who Advance the Gospel

God calls His people to partner with those who faithfully proclaim the gospel. This message highlights the importance of hospitality, missions, generosity, and encouraging those who dedicate their lives to advancing Christ's kingdom. (3 John 5-8; Matthew 28:19-20)

3. Don't Let Power Seekers Derail the Mission

The example of Diotrephes warns believers about the dangers of pride, selfish ambition, and controlling leadership. This message encourages Christians to protect the unity of the church by keeping Christ and the gospel at the center of every ministry. (3 John 9-11; Philippians 2:3-5)

4. Be a Christian Leader Worth Following

Demetrius demonstrates the kind of reputation every believer should desire. This message challenges Christians to cultivate integrity, faithfully live out God's truth, and become examples that encourage others to follow Christ. (3 John 11-12; 1 Timothy 4:12; Hebrews 13:7)

5. Invest in Relationships That Bring Peace and Joy

Healthy Christian friendships strengthen believers and help churches flourish. This message explains why face-to-face encouragement, genuine fellowship, and Christ-centered relationships are essential for spiritual growth and perseverance. (3 John 13-15; Hebrews 10:24-25)

Takeaway

Stand firmly for biblical truth without sacrificing Christlike grace. Invest in people, support the work of the gospel, and become the kind of believer whose life encourages others to faithfully follow Jesus.

Illustrations

• Receiving a personal letter from the Apostle John illustrates the authority and encouragement the early churches would have experienced.

• Hosting a missionary for a week demonstrates how supporting those who advance the gospel often becomes a life-changing blessing for both the missionary and the church.

• The contrast between Gaius, Diotrephes, and Demetrius illustrates three very different responses to leadership, truth, and the mission of the church.

Key Quotes

"Live the truth with grace."

"Don't let power seekers derail the mission."

"Be a Christian leader worth following."

Search Topics

3 John, truth and grace, Gaius, Diotrephes, Demetrius, Christian leadership, church unity, missions, Christian friendship, Pastor Chris Teien

Full Episode & Transcript:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2285086/episodes/17377333

25.0622der

Helping you apply God's Word and follow Jesus in everyday life. Learn more at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.church  Find episode transcripts at Well.faith 

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

Chris T 0:16

So we're going to look at 3 John today. 3 John, another little book in the Bible that has a lot of helpful information for us as Christ followers and the church. So 3 John. All right, so how to stand strong in grace and truth. You know, today it seems like it's really hard to speak the truth and not have someone come against you. There's all sorts of people who have differing views. There's all sorts of media, social media now, that people just say things that are crazy to try to get you to respond, to try to get views, to try to get into an argument, to try to draw you out. Things they might not even believe in. And you believe in it strongly, and it frustrates you and it makes you feel like you're the only one who lives for Jesus. You're the only one that understands the Bible. You're the only one that lives for the truth. And we know in a church like this, in a region like this, that there's different people that have different views on different things. And so if it's not a core issue, that's fine. I'm sure that we don't agree in a hundred percent of everything. There's lots of great Bible teachers that you've heard of and know of or written, read their books or whatever, that I like this and that, but I don't agree with them on that. But I still read their stuff, and you do too, I'm sure. But uh in the story of 3rd John, if you're not familiar with it, if you didn't read it before, John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, the disciple who was there with Jesus back in the original days, the writer of the Gospel of John, is at first writing these letters, these these letters, this one's to Gaius. And so 3 John is just a short letter that says, Gaius, you're great and you're doing a great job. And I encourage you to continue on, keep up, keep it up. And then he calls out Diatrophes. He's the villain, he loves to be first, he is getting in the way, he is not helpful. And John is calling this guy out for this. And then there's Demetrius, and there's only one verse about Demetrius, but he's living the truth, he's living the life, he's doing what's right. And if I had to be talked about in the Bible, I would like just one verse that said that I was doing right, living in the truth, a good example to follow. So I just wanted to take some time on this summer Sunday in the series on God's amazing grace. So this is next week will be the last in the series on God's amazing grace, and then we'll finish the summer in the Psalms, the Psalms, which will be good. But number one, live the truth with grace. Live the truth with grace. So when you know what's right and wrong, when you are living out the truth, when you're proclaiming the truth, and people don't agree with you, people don't understand you, people don't get it. There could be a lot of reasons why. Maybe it's the first time they've ever heard it like that. Maybe they don't have the Bible as a base of authority, maybe they had been taught something different in the past, maybe they just believed what their parents or grandparents or school or somebody taught them in the past, and you're trying to tell them the truth, what the Bible says is the truth, what we'd agree is the truth, and they're pushing back, might even be angry with you. And so you don't get angry back or say, Well, if you don't agree with me, don't ever call me again. Instead, you live the truth with grace, and you kindly agree to disagree and continue to work on them and continue to share what you believe and where it comes from and why you believe it, and that might lead them to follow the truth also. It's also interesting that we talk about truth. We've got the truth of God's word, but we also know that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through him. So he is the one that we follow. He is the truth that we want to be in. In John 1:14, so the word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. As I was studying this passage, this I don't know how many times I've preached through 3 John over the years. When I was really young, I candidated at a church using this passage, 3 John. Back when I was a youth pastor, and I was reading my notes from back then, thinking about how skewed I was towards the youth of the 90s back then when I when I shared that. So incidentally, I didn't end up going to that church. Instead, we ended up coming to Chisholm, and it was a good thing. So let's look at the scripture. Let's see what it says. Verse 1. This letter is from John, the elder. I'm writing to Gaius, my dear friend, whom I love in the truth. Dear friend, I hope all is well with you, and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit. So if we look at the life of John, basically around A.D. 30 to 33, he was with Jesus. He was young, he was with Jesus, he witnessed Jesus' ministry, he was trained up by Jesus, he saw Jesus crucified, he saw Jesus resurrected. John was one of the inner three, Peter, James, and John, one of Jesus' closest friends. So after Jesus ascended into heaven, John ministered in Jerusalem and beyond and was associated with the early church until about A.D. 60 when he ministered in Ephesus and oversaw churches there. In about A.D. 85 or 95 or so, he wrote 1st, 2nd, and 3 John. And then when he was between AD, 90 and 95, he wrote the Gospel of John. And he got exiled to the island of Patmos, where he wrote the book of Revelation. Then he returned to Ephesus and died of old age, the last surviving apostle. Now, if I had received a letter from John, I would look at that with all authority. I would be, I would so quickly get that letter to the church. I'd be like, hey, everybody, you got to get together. Special meeting. I just got a letter. I got to read it to you. I gotta read it to you. It's from John. Remember John? Jesus' best friend. Let's all get together. Let's read that through together. Let's read it through a few times. Oh, I'm so excited. Come on down. And so that, I'm not sure that happened in this, in this church, in this passage when it came to Diatrophes. Now there's Gaius, and that's why I'm preferring to pronounce his name. Some say Gaius. I'm going with Gaius because I like that one. How I would pronounce it if it was my name. And anyway, there's Gaius of Macedonia, who was a companion of Paul, who was seized during the riot in Ephesus in Acts 19. There's Gaius of Derby, who traveled with Paul during his third missionary journey in Acts chapter 20. And there's Gaius of Corinth, who was with Paul and hosted the church in his home. Romans 16, 23 says, Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy sends you his greetings. In 1 Corinthians 1.14, it says, I thank God that I baptize none of you except Crispus and Gaius, the Apostle Paul says. So who is this who we're talking about in this letter? Nobody knows for sure. It was a popular name. It was a name that a lot of people had. Like, I don't know what's a popular name, like Bob or Steve. And so we don't know exactly, but we do know that John really liked this guy, really appreciated him, called him a dear friend whom he loved in the truth. So it's interesting that when we are Christ followers together, that some of our greatest friendships are in the church. Some of our greatest relationships are in the church. Sometimes our church family is way closer and tighter than our biological family. And as we get together, as we serve together, as we live out the Christian life together, we often gain great friendships, deep friendships that will last us a lifetime. We have friends from other churches we've been at. We had friends from when we were here, you know, 20-some years ago at the other church there in Chisholm, and we never burned any bridges because there wasn't any bird, and you'd need to. And so we're still when we see them, we didn't stay the closest of friends for those years, but when we see them, you know, we have a camaraderie in Christ. We have memories together. If you can go to a group Bible study like at Jerry's house or start one, or come to the men's group or women's group, or go to the Sunday school classes, often you'll learn a lot about each other in conversations. Often you'll develop deeper friendships. If you would invite people to go with you places, to encompass come over to your house, if you would invite people to get together and do things that you are doing. Things that you are doing that they want to do. So don't invite people over to your house and all of a sudden spring the a project of yard work, or I'm so glad you're here. Here, hold the ladder while I clean the gutters. You know, instead, if they want to do that later, because they're such good friends, that's good. But here you might need to travel to Duluth. So maybe you say, hey, I have to go to Duluth to go to Northern Tool to get something, you want to come with me. And then you can have a chat and you know, go out to eat or whatever along the way. But to develop those friendships, to share faith together, to serve alongside of each other. So writing to Gaius, my dear friend, whom I love in the truth. So it's interesting in this passage that John calls out his spiritual health and his bodily health, his physical health, which is a good thing. So he writes, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit. Isn't that interesting? So that we know that if we if our bodies fall apart, it's really hard to serve. It's really hard to serve Jesus when all of a sudden, you know, something's happened. We're we're sick or we're injured or whatever. So for me, Monday was a great day, and I, you know, did a lot of stuff. And then Tuesday, for some reason, all of a sudden my back hurt. And I don't, you know, I was sitting doing stuff. I don't know what happened. I think maybe I sneezed, I'm not sure. But then all of a sudden, for all week, you know, I was like walking like an old man and my my back hurt, and I've been praying for it to go away. I was wondering if it still hurt like it did on Wednesday, how I would actually stand up here and do this, but I'm good today, so God is getting me through. And we should pray and encourage people to have good health and good spiritual health. And that is a good way to live and a good way to be a friend. He continues on, verse 3. John is writing to Gaius, he's calling this out. He said, Some of the traveling teachers recently returned and made me very happy by telling me about your faithfulness and that you are living according to the truth. I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth. So John is invested. John has been sharing his life. John has traveling teachers. He's invested in maybe what we would call like missionary speakers or people that would go out into a church and share things that they're experts on to help the church grow. They didn't have the entire Bible at the time. They didn't have a wealth of Bible knowledge at their fingertips like we do. We can go to gotquestions.org and you know ask a question and get a pretty good answer. We can find like-minded teachers. We can do all sorts of things to find information. Back then, they didn't have that. You know, I really like John Maxwell, and he used to be a pastor. He's been a leadership writer and speaker. And if I remember right, in one of the audio things I listened to, he said when he was a pastor, he didn't really like, I think, preaching on all of the end times eschatology stuff, because there's just so many ways you can go about it, and it seems hard to put it all in a message when it really should be a long-term Bible study because there's so much stuff. So he's like, so I just decided anytime that was the topic, I'd bring in a guest speaker, I'd bring in an expert, I'd bring in a professional to talk about that topic. And maybe that's a good thing, and maybe that's what these traveling teachers were like in that day. So as the gospel and uh Paul's epistles and everything was being developed, they didn't have printing presses like we have now, and so they would go out and share the message. And so these traveling teachers. So it kind of seemed like maybe John was kind of like overseeing a bunch of small group churches, house churches, and leaders and things like that. And he said, I'm I'm delighted to hear that what we're doing is being successful, the way we're investing into lives in your area is being successful, that your faithfulness and that you're living according to the truth. And it makes me so happy that what we're doing is glorifying God and working for you and working for us, and to hear that you are following the truth. That is exciting. I am excited about it. And so, as they were living the truth with grace, Ephesians 4 15 says, speaking the truth and love, let us grow in every way into Him who is the head, Christ. So teaching and learning and growing in their faith to learn how to live the truth with grace. Sometimes it's easy to hear the truth and then just dogmatically say, okay, that's the truth. It's black and white, it can't be changed. The grace part comes in though when you're trying to help people understand it, when you're trying to give them illustrations or trying to help them to see how this truth values them, how it glorifies God, how it can transform a life, what happens if you don't live the truth? And so those things are important. 1 John 3 18, John writes, Dear children, let us love, let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth. So don't just say that you love God and love others. Show it with your actions. Show it by the way that you live out the truth. And that could be a good thing. So are you walking in the truth or just talking about it? Do people see the gospel in the way you live, speak, and serve? Are you growing in both conviction and compassion? And is your spiritual health something others could give thanks for? Thanks for. Alright, number two, support those who advance the gospel. Support those who advance the gospel. There's all sorts of people around us. We even prayed for the missionaries that are on the Net Lake Indian Reservation today. But if you go back to the corner cabinet there, that's the mission's cabinet. And there's information about some missionaries that we support there. And so those are people who advance the gospel in different ways in different places. We support a missionary, husband and wife couple that support missionary aviation, getting those missionaries where they need to go with the planes, training people up how to fix the planes. We support missionaries in different cultures in different places around the world, some more locally and some in places that we would never go. And I think that's the primary thing, is there places where we would never go. We don't know the culture, we don't know the language. We wouldn't be able to insert ourselves into that environment. So we support people to spread the gospel. When they're successful, we're successful. When they share Christ with the resources that we help send, with the prayers that we pray for them, then they get credit, and so do we. And it's a good thing. So third John verse five. John writes to Gaius, dear friend, you're being faithful to God when you care for the traveling teachers who pass through, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church of your loving friendship, please continue providing for such teachers in a manner that pleases God. So to not get in the way of the traveling teacher, to support the traveling teacher. So I shared this before, but I'll share it again because it was literally this verse that came to mind when this happened. So the church that I had planted was part of a group that would have missions, conferences, and missions weeks. And so they would send out a missionary that had come on furlough to your church, and the missionary would be there for a week. So they would be there for a time when they could, you know, do Sunday school and preach a message. And if you had a Wednesday night service or special meetings or whatever, so they would send the missionaries. We were a church plant. We didn't have a building, we didn't really have a place for a traveling missionary to go, and it wasn't in our budget. But this guy calls me up and he says, Hey, I'm Tom, and I've been assigned to be your missionary. What are we gonna do? I'm like, what? Who? When? And so I'm like, huh. I thought I asked them to not send us traveling missionaries because we don't, we're not really set up for it. But okay, so you represent a mission on the other side of the world in Chile, and you live in Tennessee, and you're coming for a week by yourself? Okay, well, let me call you back. So I called some of the elders from my church, and I'm like, we got this guy who said he's been assigned to come to our church, and I don't know what we're gonna do with him, but I don't even know where he would stay. And one of the guys said, he can stay at our house. I'm like, okay. And so he came up and he represented this orphanage, this mission in the slums of Santiago, Chile that provided housing for girls that were coming out of the orphanage, because when they turned 18, the door swung open, and if they weren't done with high school or they weren't ready to get on with their life, they could be put back into a bad situation in a really bad place part of town. And so they were building these houses, these monstrous houses for these girls to live in, to teach them life skills, to teach them Christian ministry skills and all these things. And so he came up to talk about that, and he was there for a week. And I really before he came, I thought to myself, okay, Lord, the Bible says I'm not supposed to get in the way of the traveling teacher, and I'm supposed to be supportive of them. I have no idea how this is gonna work, but okay. So I called him up and I said, Hey Tom, don't know what you're gonna do. I we don't really have those types of services that would, you know, lead to you having stuff to do all week long. But if you want to come out, if you want to share on Sunday, if you want to, you know, share to the youth group on Wednesday and the kids club on Wednesday, if you wanna, if you want to do that, if you want to hang out with me for the day, maybe go visit a kid at children's hospital and whatever else, come on up. So we did. And he came on up and we did all those things. And it was good. And he said, Chris, hey, I really could use you in Chile. And I'm like, I got this church here, and so what do you want me to do? He said, I want you to fix the website. I said, well, interestingly enough, I could do that from here. He said, I want you to train my guy how to do it. I said, I could do that from here. He's like, Chris, you really need to go to Chile. He's like, have you been on a missions trip before? Where have you gone? I said, I went to Son, I went to Tijuana. He's like, What'd you do in Tijuana? I said, I had dinner. He's like, What do you mean? I said, I went to church planners boot camp. And when I went over the border to Tijuana, he said, that's not a missions trip. So anyway, he said, Would you go? And I said, I don't think, I don't know. I have to pray about it. He said, if you pray about it and you think you should go, should you go? I said, I'd have to ask my wife. And he's like, If your wife said yes, would you go? I said, I don't know how I'd afford it. He said, if the money showed up, would you go? And I'm like, I that's a lot of money. And the church came up with the money really fast, and my wife said I could go. So in all those things, I went. And it was a life-changing experience. It was really awesome, and I know what it's like to make friends with people in another culture with a traveling speaker, traveling teacher. And so when I was there, I was the traveling teacher, and I had to speak through an interpreter, and I had two problems with speaking through an interpreter. One, oh three, actually. I didn't understand what they were saying, so I didn't know if they were really saying what I wanted to say. Two, I used too many sentences and talked too fast for the translator to keep up. So, third, the translator lady would go off on conversation tangents after I said like one sentence, and she'd be in this long dialogue. I'm like, what are you saying? Oh, I'm just explaining what you're trying to say. And like, huh, that's interesting. But to care for those people, to realize there's people who are being sent and you're supposed to receive them, to realize that you have an opportunity to support and care, to realize that God might be doing something not just in their life, but in your life, and so those can be a good thing. So loving friendships, providing for those teachers in a manner that pleases God. Verse 5. For they are traveling for the Lord, and they accept nothing from people who are not believers. So we ourselves ourselves should support them so that we can be their partners as they teach the truth. So, partners in the gospel. It would be so great if you found some missionaries that you really cared about, that you prayed for, that you supported. That's cool when you send them stuff, when you maybe send their kids stuff, so many things to support those people that have picked up their lives from a place that you're familiar with to go somewhere else in an unfamiliar place to be faithful, to share the gospel. What a good thing. Supporting those people who advance the gospel. Now, part of our church budget goes to support the but the gospel, the missionaries. This church, you know, squeaks by on a shoestring budget. So we're so thankful for those of you that give faithfully online and in the box and stuff like that, so we you know can continue on. But for a church of our size, for the church, for a church of things that we'd like to do, it'd be great if God provided more resources. And if God provided more resources, it'd be great if we were able to share that with people that are spreading the gospel around the world. So we pray about that and we trust that God will help us to move forward. And when that day comes, when we have more resources, we are trusting that God will help us to advance, to move forward, to always have a vision and idea of what our next stage, our next steps, what we would look like if we had more resources and more opportunities. What a great thing. But number three, don't let power seekers derail the mission. Don't let power seekers derail the mission. So this is where the villain comes in, where Diatrophes comes in. Now you could see how this could happen, right? You could see how if The church was excited to do something and we wanted to move forward and do something that we hadn't been doing before. Maybe we wanted to, you know, start a new ministry or hire a staff person to start a different kind of ministry or all those things that some of you might be really excited about and say, Yay, I believe God's in this. And somebody around here would be like, Nope, we've never done that before. I've been in this church all my life, and that's not what we do, and that's not how we do it. And I just I can't allow it. I'm not going to let it happen. Maybe that's what Diatrophes was doing. John, remember, the disciple whom Jesus loved? I wrote to the church about this, but Diatrophes, who loves to be the leader, refuses to have anything to do with us. Diatrophes. So, I mean, there were false teachers in those days. There were wolves, and maybe he was trying to protect the sheep from the wolves, and maybe he turned into a wolf. But why did why did he do this? Why did he refuse to have anything to do with John the Apostle's ministry? Crazy, right? But Diatrophes stood in the way. And maybe, maybe he did so out of the goodness of his heart because he misunderstood, because he thought he was doing the right thing, because he thought he was protecting the church, because maybe they thought that they had had they had enough information and they were comfortable doing the things they were going to do, and they didn't want to hear any more of that, you know, changing the way I live because the apostle Paul wrote something new, or because Mark wrote something new, or Luke wrote a gospel, or because John sent in another letter, maybe he's set in his ways. Maybe he liked being in control. Maybe he liked being the guy, the go-to guy that knew everything. And as you continued to present him with more information, because again, they didn't have the whole Bible like we have it now, it made him tired and confused and made him feel threatened. So maybe, maybe he thought his boldness to stand for the gospel was right. That maybe he lost sight of the bigger mission. Maybe he lost sight of what God was doing, maybe he missed sight of what was being shared as the truth. And so John says he is refusing to have anything to do with us. So I want you to know this, guys. It's possible that John had written another letter and it was sent to Diatrophes, and Diotrophes is like, I want nothing to do with this, and the letter was not circulated. Maybe it just went into Diatrophes file cabinet. So John writes, When I come, I will report some of the things he is doing and the evil accusations he is making against us. Not only does he refuse to welcome the traveling teachers, he also tells others not to help them, and when they do help, he puts them out of the church. That's crazy, right? So, but this happened, and this happens in churches today. People are in control, people feel threatened, people either have evil intentions or are confused and do wrong things. I remember when I was a new pastor in one church, somebody came up to me and they said, I just want you to know this is not your church. And I smiled and I said, You're right. I said, It's not your church either, it's God's church, and God has called me to lead this church, and so pray for me to do the best job I can. So the person was not happy with the response, but nonetheless, I don't know what it would be like to know that the apostle John is coming to complain, to lodge a complaint against someone in the church. So he puts them out of the church. The fear that's if you're gonna follow that, if you're gonna believe that, if you're gonna do that, you need to leave. And there is a place to do that, by the way. Sometimes when people, especially people that are leaders in a church, are sharing and teaching things that are opposed to the truth, that are against the truth, our false teaching, they do need to leave. And sometimes they leave gracefully and they go find a church that believes the same garbage they do and they move on. And that can be a tough thing. That's why it's good when a church has listed out their doctrinal statement and what they believe, and they can go back to that and say, well, according to our church constitution and statement of faith, we don't do, we don't follow that, we don't believe that. Okay. Verse 11. Dear friend, don't let this bad example influence you. So again, John is telling Gaius, don't let this bad example influence you. Follow only what is good. Remember that those who do good prove that they are God's children, and that those who do evil prove that they do not know God. So is it possible that Diotrephes was in a church in a position of authority and leadership and he didn't truly know God, that his heart wasn't right with Christ, that he truly didn't know the things of God? And it would be easy for Gaius to, especially if this person was a person of influence. Maybe he had a lot of financial resources, maybe he was influential in the community, maybe when he spoke, people listened and you feared him because you wouldn't want him to be on, you wouldn't want to be on his bad side. That could be a tough thing. But we need to make sure that we don't let power seekers derail the mission. Don't let power seekers influence us to imitate what is evil. Don't let power seekers influence us to compromise the gospel, to say, well, God is a God of grace and he loves us so much, so we know it might be inconvenient to be baptized. And while Jesus told us to make disciples baptizing them, you know, you don't you don't need to worry about it. And on one hand, that's true. We don't tell you that you can't be, you can't come to church here if you're not baptized. We don't say you're not saved if you're not baptized, but you can't become a member of this church if you don't, if you haven't been baptized as a believer, because we feel strongly that when Jesus told us to make disciples baptizing them, that baptizing was a big deal, and that's why we're a Baptist church. So guard the church from ego-driven leadership. So it is not Chris's church. So it's Rockwell Church, it's all of our churches, it's the church on the hill. And together as the body of Christ, we should do everything we can to glorify God together, to glorify God, to raise up other leaders, to glorify God together, to raise up leaders within the church that will serve among us for a long time, to raise up leaders in the church that we will send out, maybe into the mission field, or to plant a church or to other churches. We need to speak up when necessary. We need to, with grace, speak up when necessary and to follow God. The mission of the church cannot afford to be sidelined by pride, control, or slander, and Diatrophes tried to derail the mission, but Gaius was called to stand firm. Number four, be a Christian leader worth following. Be a Christian leader worth following. Are you a Christian leader worth following? Do people gain from your experience, from the things that you teach, from the things that you share? To be a Christian leader worth following doesn't mean you have to be the Bible answer man and know everything about everything. It just means that you need to be living, you need to be a Christ follower. You need to be living a Christian life that honors God. And you need to continually be moving forward in your relationship with Christ. And maybe it's not you sharing all your Bible knowledge and expertise, but you know, sharing what you're learning, what you've read, what you've watched from good Bible teachers that are leading you, leading us in the right direction. So Demetrius, Demetrius, be a Demetrius. The Bible says if I call you a Barnabas or I call you a Demetrius, that's good. If I say you're such a Barnabas, that means that you are so encouraging. So if I say you are such a Demetrius, that means that we love you, you speak the truth. Everyone speaks highly of Demetrius. That does the truth itself. We ourselves can say the same for him, and you know we speak the truth. Isn't that great? Isn't that great? Wouldn't you like to be living in the truth in such a way that people notice, that people take note, that people trust you? Now nobody really knows who Demetrius was. Was he part of the church? Was he part of the community? Was he one of the traveling teachers? No one really knows. There's only one verse shared about Demetrius, but everyone speaks highly about him. So, and John in his ministry says, We can say the same for him, and we know, you know, we speak the truth. He had character. Maybe he was young. 1 Timothy 4 12, Paul tells Timothy, Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, and love, in faith, in purity. Remember, your leaders who have spoken God's word to you, as you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith in Hebrews 13:7. So a Christian leader worth following. So just a quick aside here, and you may not agree with me, but I think it's pretty important because, as you know, the United States just bombed Iran the other day, yesterday, and so part of it is about the existence of Israel. And there are well-meaning Christians that say that God has replaced all the promises for Israel with the church. Form of replacement theology, a belief that the church has permanently replaced Israel in God's redemptive plan, and that we really don't need to be concerned about the modern-day country, nation of Israel, because it's not necessary. God has transferred all of his love, all of his promises, all of his future to the church. So the modern day country of Israel doesn't matter. So I would beg to disagree with that. So Romans chapters 9 through 11 says a lot about that. Romans 11:1 says, Paul writes, I ask then, did God reject his people? By no means. I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham from the tribe of Benjamin. Verse 28, he says, Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the good news, and this benefits you Gentiles, yet they are still the people God loves, because he chose their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for God's gifts and his call can never be withdrawn. In verse 17 of Romans 11, Paul says, But some of these branches from Abraham's tree, some of the people of Israel have been broken off, and you Gentiles who are branches from a wild olive tree have been grafted in. You are just a branch, not the roof. In Amos 9 14, it says, God says, I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel. I will plant them on their land, and they will never again be uprooted. So why should America care about the nation of Israel? Well, one, because God's promises to bless those who bless Israel. Genesis 12, 3, I will bless those who bless you, I will curse him who curses you. So nations that honor Israel have historically experienced God's blessing. So it's not about politics, it's about honoring the covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants. Two, because Israel is a unique ally in the Middle East. So it's the only stable democracy in the region, but it holds many of the same values we cherish religious liberty, human rights, and innovation, free speech. Supporting Israel is a stand for justice, stability, and moral clarity. And because Israel's rebirth in 1948 was a miracle, the fact that the country came back together in that time is a miracle. And finally, my last point on this aside is in Zechariah 14, 4. It says that Jesus is returning to Jerusalem. He's not returning to Rome, he's not returning to Washington, he's returning to Jerusalem. On that day, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. So I think Israel still matters today. I think that God still has a special plan for Israel. I think that we should pray for the peace of Israel in Jerusalem. And a good teacher worth following would believe that. Number five, invest in relationships that bring peace and joy. Invest in relationships that bring peace and joy. I have much more to say, John writes at the end of this letter. Man, you can tell everybody that you went through a whole book of the Bible today. That's pretty awesome. I have much more to say to you, John writes, but I don't want to with pen and ink, for I hope to see you soon, and then we will talk face to face. You can say so much more when you talk face to face. When we send text, when we send messages, when we send emails, when we send stuff out. We don't know how it's being read. We don't know how it's being received. We don't know what the person is thinking. There's not a place or a space for the person to ask clarifying questions and say, Did you mean that? Does this mean that I should? And those types of things. And that is so important. And I encourage you in your faith to do the same thing, to look for those opportunities to meet face to face. And then he finishes off the letter, peace be with you. Your friends here send you their greetings. Please give my personal greetings to each of our friends there. They have a relationship with John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, the Apostle John. They have a relationship with each other, and they have a connection. And their connection is in Christ. In Christ, rooted in Christ. And that is a good thing. So I'm going to show you a video clip. Next week when we get together, oops, not now. Hang on a second. Next week when we get together, I want to talk about in the final of this series when God's grace brings true freedom. When God's grace brings true freedom. Seems like you are, if you are any type of patriot or any type of person that is an American, that you are a Christian nationalist and everybody hates you. So I kind of wanted to look at what the Bible says about true freedom in Christ, no matter what country you're from. And I also wanted to see if we could get a grasp on what in the world is Christian nationalism. And why do they accuse us of that? But if you've never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you don't have that common relationship and bond that you could have. And I would love to talk to you about that. I would love to share with you what that means face to face. We've got the How to Find God New Testaments out there that answer some of those questions. But let me know. Let me pray. Lord Jesus, I thank you so much that you have brought us into this place. God, we pray that there would be, like Mike prayed, cooler heads and this military action would lead to peace, not more war. Lord, we pray that you would just overtake the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that we would be friends together in a common bond of truth around the world because of what you're doing and what you did and what you're doing. So Lord, we just thank you in Jesus' name. So we can skip the video actually. And so, yeah, give me give me two more minutes to talk about something real quick, okay? Because I know that it's a question in, it's the question of the day, okay? And then the worship team will come up here, but just real quick. A lot of people are thinking about, okay, so if there's going to be a war, that must mean that Jesus is coming back, because it's obviously the end times, and so it's now it's it's our time to either face persecution or get out of here, or or who knows. So 1 Thessalonians 5 2 talks about when peace people are saying peace and safety, Jesus will return. For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, while people are saying peace and safety, destruction will come on them suddenly. You can still have wars and be claiming, proclaiming peace and safety, but you don't know when Jesus is going to return. Because also Jesus said in Matthew 24, there will be wars and rumors of wars. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, and you will see, but see to it that you are not alarmed, for such things must happen, but the end is still to come. So bombs, airstrikes, military alliances, saber rattling, all the crazy things going on, all of the lies that are being told by different countries about their intentions and what they want and all of these different things. In the last days, people will be lovers of themselves. The truth will be rejected. 2 Timothy 3, verse 1. Mark these days, or mark this. There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God. And we have a whole world that will quickly show you how much they love themselves through social networking and all the things that they share. Knowledge will greatly increase in Daniel 12, 4. Many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase. Man, knowledge is greatly increasing over time between AI, surveillance technology, genetic engineering, global connectivity, all these things. And then when we look at Bible prophecy, like in Ezekiel 38 and 39, it talks about Gog and Magog, and no one really knows who that is. Maybe it's Russia, maybe China's involved, Persia is specifically named, and that could be modern-day Iran. So it's just interesting to see how this plays out. And also America isn't an end-time Bible prophecy, unless some people say, oh, it's Babylon, but it doesn't seem that it is. So what happens to America? Maybe they get pulled into a global force. Maybe God didn't think it was worthwhile to talk about America and his plan because it was insignificant. Maybe so many of us are raptured away that there's really nothing left of our country because we've all turned to Jesus. What a great thing. But the most important thing as the church is we know that the gospel must be preached to the whole world. Must be preached to the whole world. Matthew 24, 14. This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. So we should be ready and not afraid. We should live for eternity, not just today. We should strengthen the church and support the truth and pray for Israel and the nations. And we should also pray for all those believers in Iran, in Iraq, and those Christians in China and Russia and Ukraine and all these places around the world. Let me just pray. Jesus, I thank you so much that we can gather together in this place. Pretty sure that no one's gonna waste a bomb on us way up here, but who knows? But Lord, we pray for peace and restraint. Lord, we pray that there wouldn't be a nuclear exchange, that we could just enjoy peace and safety, and that we would use this time that we have to proclaim the gospel. We pray for wisdom for the leaders of the world, of our country. Lord, we pray you'd protect innocent lives. We pray for the church and the spread of the gospel. Lord, we pray for a revival and readiness. If there is a wave of anxious people who turn to you, help us to be ready to disciple them and help them to grow in their faith. Again, we thank you for this time. We thank you for this day in Jesus' name.