Character Matters More Than Charisma | 1 Timothy 5:17–25

In 1 Timothy 5, Paul gives the church clear instructions for how to honor faithful leaders, protect them from reckless accusations, and hold them accountable when persistent sin is present.

At River Oak Church, we are a welcoming family of imperfect people who share a passion for God, a passion for others, and a passion for graciously sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.  We enjoy an informal environment and Christ-exalting modern worship, and we are committed to following the truth of God’s Word.  We welcome you to come as you are, from wherever you’ve been, and join us!

To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: https://riveroakchurch.org/give/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Alright, good morning. Welcome. I'll say this group looks a lot different than the group we had over the week. You guys are a little bit older, a little quieter. My Apple Watch went off after every song and said, You are in danger for your ears. What a great time, though, to be able to bring in children, not only our church children, but church uh children from neighborhoods to hear the word of God. Isn't it good? It is a good thing. So, as we continue, if you didn't know, my name is Pastor Eric. I am one of the pastors here on staff, and it is my privilege this morning to walk through our continuation of our series through 1 Timothy, very specifically in chapter 5 this morning. Some pretty interesting topics, some tougher situations, but we are going to preach through the full counsel of God, however it takes us and wherever it brings us. But here, Paul, again, as a reminder, is basically talking about the kind of the instructions to the church here in five. And he's writing to the church and how the church household or the church family, as we talked about last week, this is a church family, even if it's dysfunctional, it's a church family. How we together should be governed with honor, integrity, and with accountability. So Paul's telling Timothy that because you see the church in Ephesus had a great foundation. It did. It was in a good place, but then you start seeing it drift away, and as it drifted, you start seeing the leadership become corrupt. No different from our today, our time today, but we too in our churches, not only here in River Oak, but in the local churches preaching the gospel, want to see and want to establish a church that has biblical eldership for modern leadership here. Paul so far talked about how the church should handle women, talked about how the church should handle men. Last week we saw how the church should handle widows and those in need. And this week, Paul is going to address Timothy and how the church should handle elders and future leaders within the family. And even as this was written about 1962 years ago to Timothy in the church in Ephesus, it still can be very much applicable today in our time in this modern world. The issue of leadership. You see, the effectiveness of a church and carrying the gospel to the masses directly results to how good the leadership is. And oh, by the way, the problems in the church and how it falls and fails directly shows you how the leadership isn't. And so as the leadership goes, as the church goes, you can see this if you look at statistics, and I'm gonna concentrate specifically on the evangelical church. So not speaking to Catholicism or the Orthodox Church, but just we need to pay attention. We need to pay attention because these statistics show a pattern. So three to seven percent of leaders, when I say leaders, I'm talking about overseer, um, elder, or pastor. So put that all the same word, but we'll talk about that. Three to seven percent of ministry leaders leave because of a moral or ethical issue. They have failed somewhere in their leadership, in their family, and they had to leave the church. Twenty-three percent leave due to a church conflict. That can be anything. I don't like an organ. It's too loud, it's too cold. The carpet's the wrong color. Whatever. There was a conflict within the church, and the leadership left. We've all been in churches like that. 16% of leaders left just because of flat-out burnout. They couldn't know how to manage their own schedule, or their church didn't allow them to manage their schedule. 20%, 27% of church goers, so you all left the church because of a moral or ethical failure from the leader. You see, there's a lot going on there. Even if, even if I didn't leave, or you didn't leave, or our leadership didn't leave, you have to know that 75 to 94 percent experience extreme stress and fatigue as they lead. So, numbers to kind of keep in mind as we move forward and why potentially Paul may have been addressing this church. But there's a young evangelist in 1948 by the name of Billy Graham, kind of coming up. He was well known, but he wasn't that well known at this point in 1948. And he was doing these these meetings in Modesto, California. And as he's doing these meetings and having these revivals, he's noticing that the ministers around were having issues. You see, they were having financial scandals, moral failures. They were exaggerating their numbers, their reports. There were abuses of power. And even he recognized at that time that talent, charisma, public popularity could build a platform. But without integrity, without integrity, the platform would eventually collapse. So he got together with his team and they met in a hotel room to say, how do we prevent this from happening? And he came up with this thing called the Modesto Manifesto. It's a tongue twister. But it had four components to it. Had four components to protect the leadership, and we need to adapt it here at this church. And I think we actually kind of do already. One, they would maintain a strict financial accountability, there's no hiddenness of where the money goes. They would accurately report attendance and ministry results. So I'm not sure who gains from that. Maybe on some list of some church of a certain size. There's no kingdom gain in that. They would also avoid situations that would create suspicious or temptation in a relationship with women. What does that mean? They would protect themselves from inappropriate relationships, they would guard their marriages. That's a good thing. And then the fourth thing, they would cooperate respectfully with other local churches rather than compete with them. I call this the hungry hippo effect. I grew up in the 80s, loved the game, hungry hippo, throw a bunch of marbles in the middle, and you try to get as many marbles as you can. That is not how a church should run. You should partner with local churches who believe in the gospel to meet the needs and win souls. And then train individuals up. It is not a grab for as many people as you can get. So they put this thing into place, this modesto manifesto. Not because they've already failed. They wanted to lead well. So here we are in 1 Timothy chapter 5. Paul is addressing a very similar situation. See, Ephesus needed leaders. Just as our church needs leaders and needs to continue to develop leaders, and the other local churches need leaders. He saw the importance. Knowing the greatest threat to the church is not a lack of gifted leaders, but it's a lack of godly leaders. So throughout this text, Paul's gonna give him Timothy some instructions. He's gonna say, Hey, what? You need to honor those who lead well. Honor those who lead well. And he's gonna say, Hey, do not entertain reckless accusations. Hold leaders accountable when they sin. Novelty. Be careful in whom you place leadership in. And lastly, remember that character is going to eventually be revealed. The foundation. Paul's concern is not merely what leaders do, but he's concerned who leaders are. And he starts right off there in verses 17 and 18 saying, hey, this is how we need to honor elders who are serving well. Honor elders who are serving well. It says, Let the elders who rule be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the scripture says, you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain, and the laborer deserves his wages. It says, Let the elders rule. Reminder just real quickly, elders, overseer, or the elder, that word, Presbyteros, and overseer and pastor, is used interchangeably. So if you're not part of a church that had elder ruled, they did behind the scenes, but they may have had a pastor or pastors ruling in that situation or an overseer. All the same word. The New Testament does not consider a church really fully developed until they've established a group of elders. Now I'm not talking about they can't have a senior pastor or two lead pastors or whatever that number is, but they had to have a group, a number of godly men there to protect and serve the church. Scripture does not present like a specific hierarchy of what that looks like, but he does present shared leadership. In fact, that word elder in the New Testament, about 66 times it's presented in there, depending on the translation. Two-thirds of the time it said it's it's written in a plural way. It's not elder, it's elders. Meaning that this is supposed to be done in a team fashion. Acts 14, 23 says this. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting, they committed to them to the Lord in whom they had believed. You also see that found in Acts 20, 17, and 28. So we're not talking about one man ruling a church. We're talking about shared leadership. He's emphasizing the plurality here. In fact, Hebrews 13, 17 says, Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls. So they so those who will have to give an account. Understanding, not all will teach and preach, and we know all elders do different things, but they are there to rule over, to shepherd over, they are to pray for the sick, they're able to judge doctrinal issues, and as Paul emphasized here, preach and teaching of the word. Verse 18 continues to take this idea out of Leviticus and Deuteronomy talking about muzzling an ox. Hey, don't muzzle an ox as it as it treads out the grain. What he's basically saying here is do not silence an elder or a pastor or a teacher as they are toiling for the gospel. Now, mind you, they are teaching the truth of Scripture. I'm not talking about if they're teaching heresy, but as they're as they're teaching, do not muzzle the ox. And then it continues in verse 18 and it says, They deserve the laborer deserves his wages. Paul would have been very uh familiar with this. Luke had said it earlier, years early in Luke 10, 7, and remains in the same house, eating and drinking. They provide for the laborer deserves his wages. So let me stop here for a second and let me address the severe irony of what is going on here. So you have an elder, a pastor, a leader up here teaching, telling you that we deserve double honor and deserving of our wages. You see that? It's a little awkward. But here is where our text takes us. And I want to give a caveat, I want to give a statement here to the local church, to hear the church here at River Oak. You do this well. You care for your elders, you care for your pastors, and you you make sure that they deserve, they get the wages they deserve, just as scripture says. So as he's warning the church at Ephesus, he's he's warning his readers who are gonna read it in the future, but you do this well. But how is that done practically as a church? How does how does a group, how does a church take care of their leaders? And I would extend this even in the civilian world. As as we walk out, I just civilian like you guys, we're all civilian. Okay. It's military mind, sorry. But I would extend this elsewhere. As we're talking about leadership, because everybody has somebody over them. Whether you're a child or a kid, you have parents over them, whether you you work, you have uh a boss over you, whether you own the company, you have people that you answer to. So these principles are good not just for that, but also for the elders in the pastors in the church. Let me walk through these really quick. You should be praying for them regularly. You should be praying for them regularly. Hebrews 13, 18 says, pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, discerning to act honorably in all things. We want to act honorably in all things. Second thing we need to do is we need to respect their God-given role. So if you didn't know here at the church and and walked out through scripture, that if someone is an elder here at the church, there is a process they have to go through to be an elder. There's a process they have to go through. There is both a spiritual and a doctrinal scrutiny that they have to go through. They're gonna answer questions on what they believe in the Bible. There's gonna be a period of observation where we get to watch how they lead, how they interact, their consistency. And last, there's gonna be an examination of a personal call. And we see all that play out usually in months and years. And then, and at the end, we all vote as members. Is this person called into the ministry to serve at this church? So honor the authority that those put before you. Third thing, provide financial support. We've already talked about that. Fourth thing, encourage them personally. Encourage them personally. So on occasion, I'll get a little handwritten note or a typed note and get it sent to me. And sometimes I get an email that someone will send encouraging, and I don't throw those away. Every email I get, that's encouraging. If it's not encouraging, I delete it. But if it's encouraging, I have a folder that says encouragement in my inbox. And then I have a shoebox next to my desk with letters or you know, from pastor appreciation or things that whenever I am discouraged, or whenever I feel like maybe I'm not gaining anything, or things are going bad, or I have a pity party, or whatever, I can go to this and be encouraged by it. Encourage your leaders. Protect them from gossip and false accusations, protect them from gossip and false accusations. I love this. Charles Spurgeon wrote this book to his students, actually, actually called Lectures to My Students. Brilliant, right? Great title. Right? And he and he said, as a pastor or as an elder, when people come to you to gossip, this is what I want you to say. Well, all of that is very important, and I need to give that to my full attention, but my memory isn't so good, and I have a lot to think about. So I'm gonna have to ask you this: can you please write that down for me? You see, Spurgeon says that this will take care of it because nobody wants to write down their own gossip. Protect from gossip and false accusations. If you see one of your pastors at another church performing a funeral or a wedding, please do not spread the rumor that they have left a church for this new place. Stop it. Protect them from false accusations, care for their families. Care for their families. Many elders' wives are looked upon in kind of two different categories. One, they're like an extension of his ministry. Like my wife is just gonna do ministry because that's what she's supposed to do. Or two, that they have it all together or they're so busy and there's no need for care. You would be surprised the rarity is for someone just to encourage the spouse or family of an elder. That's how we take care of one another. And the last thing we can do is we can give them time for rest and renewal. And how great this is the first week of Caleb being on his sabbatical for exactly this: to care for our leaders, to give them rest, renewal so they can come back and be stronger for the gospel, stronger for the family. And that's how we can do it. We need to remember that elders, that shepherds, pastors, overseers didn't start up here in front of everybody. They started there in hearing of the word. And as God pricked them and moved them and called them, they studied, they showed proven for leadership and eventually called up to a position of eldership. See, when I retired from the military, I retired out of Coast Guard District 7, Miami, Florida. Wonderful place. I love it. I'm a Florida guy, so um, it's great. Uh I was not in a Coast Guard, but I served down there. And right before I left, a tea, a command team, we took a trip just north of Miami up to a place called Hillsboro. And they have this place called Hillsborough Lighthouse. It's beautiful. It's set up there, it's it's gorgeous. You can't even get on there unless you have like certain access. But I climbed all 175 steps. I know it's 175 steps because I have vertigo and that's a pretty difficult climb. Don't recommend it. But I heard a little bit of history about this lighthouse. It was built in 1906 in Detroit, Michigan. They took it in pieces. Imagine through the Great Lakes up and down the East Coast to where it sits today. In fact, the lenses had made, they were custom-made in Paris, France, and sent to this lighthouse. It was operated by one keeper and two assistants. And it was run on oil vapor lamps with a revolving lens, so every 10 seconds the light would show to the sailors on the water. See, this lighthouse keeper, day in and day out, faithfully trimmed the wick, polished the lens, and made sure that that light was burning each and every night. And the thing is, most sailors didn't know his name. Yet countless lives are protected because of his unseen work. The truth is, many pastors, elders, teachers, church leaders labor faithfully week in and week out without recognition. And that's what Paul is trying to tell Timothy here. Recognize though who are doing it well. Give them honor. Who is quietly helping you? Guide you through your spiritual journey. He continues there in verse 19. It says, Do not admit a charge against an elder except on evidence of two or three witnesses. And this is to protect from false accusations here. Accusations must be done with two or three witnesses. You know, this was important back in Paul's time here, but it's equally as important in today. Think of the landscape of today. Think of where all arguments and where all accusations are done online, right? In the anonymous. You don't know who everybody hides behind some kind of handle, and they and they put this accusation against somebody online where you really can't defend it. Whether it's true or not, here's this accusation put out. Many times false. People are guilty until proven innocence. You see, this two or three witnesses was established all the way in the Old Testament and Mosaic law. We saw that it was affirmed by Christ and it was also practiced by the disciples. And now you see it even in our own court system, where this is utilized with two or three witnesses. You see, leaders are not above accountability, but neither should they be vulnerable to gossip. Paul then shuffles a little bit from hey, this is how you should treat those who are doing it well, to hey, this is how you should look at elders who are not doing so well. We have both sides of the coin here. Verse 20 says this. Rebuke persistent sin publicly, is what Paul is saying. You see, this is very interesting to me coming up in leadership circles, because I was always taught in leadership that you should do what? You should praise in public, and then you should correct in private. So Paul's not talking about a one off, like, hey, I made a mistake, we're gonna we're gonna drag the pastor up here for making a bad decision or making one mistake, and we're gonna rebuke him. That's not what he's talking about. What he's talking about is persistent sin over and over and over. This persistent sin. Because Paul knows that sin, if left alone, becomes accepted. Sin left alone becomes accepted. He tells Timothy, this needs to be addressed in public. You see, we need to understand as a church, as a church family, that pointing out sin in love is kindness. It is kindness. Think about it. Any father in here or mother in here, if your child was over and over and over ruining their life with sin, both physically, mentally, and spiritually, and you did nothing, you're just saying, it's okay. However, you want to live your life, that's fine. That's cruel. That's cruel. Kindness is to come alongside and say, I love you so much. I don't want you to stay here. I want you to look at this and walk away from this and walk towards what is good. You see, when a church that is categorically accepting of everything the world has to offer, it will render itself undistinguishable from that world. Love people, yes, of course. Love people good. But people are sinful. We are sinner. I'm a sinner. You're a sinner. In fact, Romans 3 23 says that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We're all in this group together. One big happy family. But because we are sinners, we need what? We need a savior. So Paul is aware of this and understands that not even elders should be, um elders should be held accountable. And I love what the Savior says. It says, so that he come, that you may have life and have it what? More abundantly. Not just a mediocre humdrum, okay, average life, but to have it abundantly. So those of us who live, who have who have repented of our sin and believe, we have confessed with our mouth that the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God raised them from the dead, he says, What? You will be saved. Therefore, if anyone isn't in Christ, he is a new creation. The reason we need to address sin, because the old has passed away and the new has come. So back in 20 it says we should rebuke that elder where in public. Why? Because it's good for the church. Let me tell you a few things. Rebuking it in public is good for church. It protects the church's integrity. When we can say that we all hold by the same standard, that protects the church's identity. There's no darkness in this church. There's a light shining all the corners. It guards against hypocrisy. If I were to come up here every single week and say, don't do this, don't do that, and then my life is filled with persistent sin, that's hypocrisy. It serves as a warning to others. Have you ever had to discipline your child in front of their siblings? Someone's in trouble. But it's a warning to others that it is not going to be accepted. It is not okay to sit in this. Also, it restores trust. When you know that your leaders are being held to the same standard or even a higher standard, it restores trust. This article in Christianity today points to a loss of moral authority, making it hard for those of you to trust the institution. It serves in that. It protects the vulnerable. It protects the vulnerable. It preserves the church's witness. The church's witness. Hey, we're we're asking people to follow this and obey this. So we are to come alongside. And I love this. It encourages genuine, genuine is the key, repentance. Not oops, I got caught, repentance, but genuine repentance. Where there is a natural admittance. And you're able to do a real movement of rejection of that sin, walking away and running towards Christ. Still circumstances, but there's freedom in that. Continues to say we need to exercise impartial judgment. There's nothing done in partiality, it says there in verse 21. No favoritism, no prejudice. And it says we need to use truth to make our decisions. Now emotion is great, and emotion is wonderful in so many different circumstances, but we need to focus on the truth. Sometimes emotion will make us do a knee-jerk reaction, many times leading to something that is incorrect. We can't choose the truths in which we want to address who is doing this sinning. What does this mean to us? We need to pursue truth over personalities. And we need to hold all believers to the same standard. So he talks about what they shouldn't do or what they should do first with the elders, and then what they shouldn't do, kind of in that middle. And then he goes on to a few important characteristics as leaders, for leaders that we need to look at. 22 says, do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure. He said, do not be hasty. Hey, don't be so quick. When you get see somebody with talent and giftedness just to go ahead and ordain them and bring them on leadership, he's saying, hey, don't be so quick. Let there be some time. Let there be some observation, some testing. He said, Don't be hasty just to lay hands. You see, because character matters way more than charisma. No, there are a lot of gifted teachers. It doesn't mean that they are qualified teachers. Do you understand the difference? Character matters more than charisma. Church leadership should be one of the most utmost important things that we look at. If we're overseers, if we're shepherds guarding the souls, praying for the individuals, there is an importance there. And there's a warning to have new people come on too quickly. So in the military, we moved around a lot of different churches. We were at one church that was in a little bit of a transition. And they were looking for leadership, specifically deacons. And in their haste, they elected a deacon who was a brand new Christian. Now the person seemed very genuine in their faith and they were on fire for the Lord, but they elected them to become a deacon. And I will say, in very short order, that person fell apart, family fell apart, and they left the church. And it not only ruined the individual, but it affected the church. Because they had this void, filled somebody, there's hurt, and now there's a void again. So we need to be responsible with who we bring into leadership. You see, careless appointments can damage the church. And leaders have a responsibility in that selection. It says a line at the end that says, keep yourself pure. Now he's talking to Timothy, but this is something that we can talk to all of us. We are set apart. We are holy. Holy means set apart. Keep yourself pure. Do not sit in your own junk. Do not sit in the junk of the world. Keep yourself pure. And he's saying, hey, it's even more crucial that your leadership, that your elders, your overseers, your pastors separate themselves and keep themselves pure. Not like they're better or they can't do things everybody else does, but within their own spiritual walk, they need to be, it's very critical to be close to God. He says this verse here in 23, that's kind of just a little instruction that he gives Timothy. It says, no longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. A little brief instruction. Basically, the purpose of this statement is to highlight that Timothy is encouraged to care for his health. Many people take that as saying it's okay to drink. That's what it says. A little drink, a little wine. It says little, not a lot of wine. It says a little wine, but you also have to remember that back then water was not the same standard as it is today. It was contaminants, had different things in it, many times accompanied with some dysteria and some digestive issues. So the wine and the alcohol in the wine would counteract that, clean it up for consumption. He's saying, Hey, look, Timothy, take care of yourself. Spiritual leaders are not exempt from physical needs. Goes on in 24 and 25. The sins of some people are conspicuous going before them in judgment, but the sins of others appear later. So also good works are conspicuous, and he knows cannot remain hidden. Saying, basically, if you observe a leader long enough, you observe an individual long enough, both their sins and their goodness will come and rise. It'll be apparent. All the more importance of why we should take our times. Be patient in evaluating people. Trust God's timing, not your timing, and focus on faithfulness rather than appearances. So I would say in this room, most people, I could accurately say, probably test drive a car before you purchase it. Right? Would that be accurate? I don't know anybody who has just looked at a photo, whether online or old-fashioned photo, and saw a car and said I'm buying it. Now you may say, Well, I know somebody, well, good for you. All right. But I but you probably checked like what's under the hood, right? You didn't you didn't see the picture, it could be a shell and you didn't know it. You don't know there's a motor or transmission in there or any insights. Okay, that's why we do that. So we're a consumer reports family. So what does that mean? We get consumer reports, and when we buy a car, we do our research. Man, we're looking for that check mark. We look at our category of car we want to buy, we look at the recommended versions, and even the one we want is not recommended, we take it off our list. And then we go to CarMax. I love CarMax, I'm not an employee, you don't get credit or anything like that. But the cool thing is you can walk around CarMax, all the doors are open, you can sit in what you want and kind of decide, maybe test drive a few. So I've bought cars from both CarMax and Carvana because you can take it back after six days or 30 days or whatever it is now. It's a good deal. But what are you looking for when you're you're buying a car? You're you're reading what is the road test? What is what is the predictability in that? What is what is the owner satisfaction? What are what are the safety ratings in that? So if we're doing that for a car, how much more should we be doing that for a leader in the church? What is the reliability? Has this person been tested? Hey, do you think we should call their last church they were at and talk to some people in there and see how they led? What is gonna be the what is gonna happen? What is what is the owner satisfaction? What is the safety of us bringing this individual to lead the church? Leadership is similar, and Paul is telling us us that in 22 through 24. He says, just wait. You know, many people can impress for the weekend, but few people demonstrate godliness year after year. Paul's instruction is just don't admire potential, examine character. You see, people admire beautiful buildings all the time. You look at the architecture, but very rarely do you look at the foundation. Yet the foundation is what determines whether or not the building stands for decades or collapses. The same is true when we talk about ministry. Character is the foundation of ministry. Gifts, talents, charisma, influence, those are all visible above ground. Those are all what you see initially. But integrity and character is what holds everything together. Paul's concern here in 1 Timothy 5 is not simply finding gifted leaders, it's cultivating leadership whose character can support the weight of ministry. You see, the church glorifies Christ when it honors faithful leaders, when it practices impartial accountability, and carefully shows godly leadership. So where is Jesus in all of that? He just talked about the organization of a church and the eldership and the leaders. Well, you see the chief shepherd, Jesus. He is there and appoints the under-shepherds. He's the one who pricks through the Holy Spirit and calls that person out into ministry. The perfect teacher in Jesus is there for the elder to proclaim. He is here to be proclaimed, the holy judge in Jesus is there to hold every leader accountable. The gracious Savior in Jesus is there to forgive the repentant sinner, and the coming King Jesus is there when the hidden sins and the hidden faithlessness have ultimately been revealed. You see, what does this mean for us? This discussion of church organization, what does this mean for us? He says, since God cares for the leaders in the church, how much more does he care for those whom they lead? A direct byproduct of the faithfulness of the elder, pastor, overseer. We know the only authority is this, is the word of God. Apart from the man that stands up here and holds it, proclaims it, professes it, prays through it. The only authority is there. So there's a lesson for us in this. There's a lesson for the church because of the importance that God holds to the leadership and who goes before us, it is so known that how much he loves you and he cares for you. And he gives us a model here. He even talks about that. Hey, for those who are following God and doing what God is supposed to be doing, that's great. Keep doing it. Keep trucking along, keep keep praying, keep reading God's word, keep examining your heart over and over and over. Rejoice in that, live life abundantly. Do that. But those caught up in sin, specifically persistent sin, it needs to be addressed. And he gives us an outing to do that. To come before the Lord, to repent. Just like says it in Mark when Jesus goes off in his ministry. He says two words that we need to respond to. Repent and believe. Repent. Hey, understand I'm a sinner, I I've done wrong, I've fallen short of the mark. I'm repenting from what I'm doing, means I'm stopping what I'm doing. And I'm running towards Jesus. And it says believe. Believe in our heart. Understand that He is there for us. Believe does it mean you understand every single jot and tittle in this book? That's not what it means. It means that you believe what He's done in your life, that you believe that you're a sinner, you believe that He was born of a virgin, He lived a perfect life, He died on the cross for our sin, rose again three days bodily, came, and now is preparing a place for those who come for Him. So there's a response for every single person in here. And in a moment we're gonna sing some very beautiful hymns. And it's an opportunity to respond to that. It's an opportunity to allow God to move for wherever you're at. So I'm gonna pray for us. In a moment, we're gonna sing. So if you please allow God to move within your heart, Lord, I thank you for who you are. I thank you for your word that you have given to us as a love letter. The only true authority that we have in here, Lord. We just thank you for that, Lord. And I recognize that there's so many people here at the sound of my voice. Whether in the sanctuary here or watching online, Lord, I recognize that. And you're meeting each individual where they are. Your Lord, your word does not return void. And so, Lord, we pray right now as we continue to sing and as we continue to worship you, Lord, that you become open. That our heart is open, Lord, and that either we we praise you and thank you for the goodness that you've already been doing in our lives, or we search our hearts for those sins that are that are holding us back, that we may we may give them to you, and you can take them as far and throw them as far as the east as to the west. Or maybe we need to make a commitment to you this morning and ask you to come into our lives. So allow us to respond, Lord, in this Lord. And we thank you for what you have already done this morning. We thank you for what you're gonna continue to do. And we ask that you bless us in Jesus' name. Amen. Hey, we are glad you could join us this morning. We pray that this message speaks life into your walk with Jesus. If you don't have a home church, we'd love to see you in person. And don't forget to subscribe for all of our content.